disheartened and consented to the | opposed her views; she excluded confederation, which from that time was called the Confederation of the Crown. Felix Potocki, a man sold to the foreigners, and who had raised himself by creeping, became marshal of it. All was then thrown back into the old state; the charter given to the towns was even revoked, and the country was told: "The time is at hand when the republic will see its liberty and its independence assured, when the citizen will enjoy all his just rights. Nation, you will do justice to those who have risked life and fortune and suffered injuries to give thee back thy happiness." At this very moment, however, the King of Prussia was declaring that the Jacobinical maxims spread throughout Grand Poland obliged him to occupy it; then, announcing that he acted on an understanding with Russia, he for his own security incorporated with his states Dantzic and Thorn, as well as the greater part of Grand Poland, thenceforth known as Southern Prussia. At the same time Catherine made it known that she had resolved, conjointly with the emperor, to restrain the Polish republic still further, in order to make it better behaved and more tranquil. The diet was stupified. Stanislaus thought of abdicating a crown which he could no longer keep without shame; but again courage failed him to carry out this noble intention. Russia ordered prosecutions and confiscations against those who had from the new diet whoever had shown any attachment to the statute of '91; the deputies who, though elected under this rule of terror, warmly opposed her will, were arrested, and it was necessary to consent to the proposed treaty. It provided that Russia should take 4,553 square miles, with 3,011,685 inhabitants; that the integrity of the rest should be guaranteed to Poland, as well as its sovereignty, and that it should be free to constitute itself as it liked; that Russia should leave to the Roman Catholics who came under her rule the free exercise of their religion. The Poles had persuaded themselves that they were thus detaching Russia from Prussia; but Prussia ordered them to satisfy the demands of the former power, had the recalcitrants arrested, talked of Jacobins and conspiracies; and as the diet kept silence all day and part of the night, this silence was taken as approval. In consequence 1,061 square miles were handed over to Prussia, with 3,594,640 inhabitants; the republic found itself reduced to 3,861 square miles, containing 3,153,629 inhabitants, and it allied itself indissolubly with Russia, that is to say, it renounced its independence. In this new partition nothing fell to the share of Austria, seeing that, it is said, compensation elsewhere had been secretly assigned to her. The diet, still confiding in the assurances that had been given it, set itself to reform its constitution; but it had scarcely decreed some arrangements which did not quite please Russia, when this power threatened it anew, and its minister, who was the general of the army, bluntly laid down the law. The discontent became extreme, and Kosciusko planned a revolt which the example and perhaps the instigation of France caused to burst forth at Cracow, where were proclaimed the constitution of '91 and the integrity of the kingdom. The Russians were massacred at Warsaw and whereever they were found scattered through the country. Vilna and Grodno responded to the signal, and on all sides the work of vengeance began. Exalted personages were sent to the scaffold as traitors; the feeble Stanislaus was spared, but the government was confided to a national council. Russia, Prussia, and Austria set their troops in motion with the common purpose of preventing the spread of the conflagration; the Poles were vanquished, and Kosciusko himself, made prisoner, exclaimed Finis Polonia ! 1 Suwarow possessed himself of Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, after a sanguinary struggle, in which twelve 1 It seems that this should be added to the list of celebrated historical utterances which owe their origin to imagination. Kosciusko himself, who ought to have known best, afterwards denied having made use of these words. thousand of the defenders out of twenty-six thousand fell fighting; the others tried to retreat to the farther bank of the river, and two thousand were drowned. Those chiefs of the insurrection who could not gain refuge in France were carried off into Russia. Austria, coveting Cracow and its dependencies, came to an understanding with Russia, which was already embroiled with Prussia; and a new partition was agreed upon between them. The result was that Russia had Courland and Semigalle, Wilna, Wolbinia, and other territories, in all 2,030 square miles, with 1,176,590 inhabitants. The States of Courland and Semigalle made their submission; and Peter Biron, the last duke, retired to Silesia, where he lived till A.D. 1800 on a revenue of fifty thousand ducats. Austria secured Cracow and several palatinates which formed Western Gallicia, comprehending 834 square miles, and 1,037,742 inhabitants. Prussia, which was invited to agree to this new partition, had 997 square miles, and 939,297 inhabitants. She wished also to obtain Cracow, and was for keeping it by force of arms, but Russia threatened her, and she had to give it up. An order of abdication was sent to Stanislaus, who up to his death drew a pension of two hundred thousand ducats. THE BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. (Washington Irving's Life of Washington.) A.D. 1775. man suddenly shot down had agitated the nerves of his comrades, unaccustomed to scenes of war. Some of them, in fact, quietly left the hill, and did not return to it. To inspire confidence by example, Prescott now mounted the parapet and walked leisurely about inspecting the works, giving directions, and talking cheerfully with the men. In a little while they got over their dread of cannon balls, and some even made them a subject of joke, or rather bravado, a species of sham courage occasionally manifested by young soldiers, but never by veterans. Ar dawn of the day the Ameri- | Prescott saw that the sight of this cans at work were espied by the sailors on board of the ships of war, and the alarm was given. | The captain of the Lively, the nearest ship, without waiting for orders, put a spring upon her cable, and bringing her guns to bear, opened a fire upon the file. The other ships and a floating battery followed his example. Their shot did no mischief to the works, but one man, among a number who had incautiously ventured outside, was killed. A subaltern reported his death to Colonel Prescott, and asked what was to be done. "Bury him," was the reply. The chaplain gathered some of his military flock around him, and was proceeding to perform suitable obsequies over the "first martyr," but Prescott ordered that the men should disperse to their work, and the deceased be buried immediately. It seemed shocking to men accustomed to the funeral solemnities of peaceful life, to bury a man without prayers, but The cannonading roused the town of Boston. General Gage could scarcely believe his eyes, when he beheld on the opposite hill a fortification full of men, which had sprung up in the course of the night. As he reconnoitred it through a glass from Copp's Hill, the tall figure of Prescott, in military garb, walking the parapet, caught his eye. "Who is that asked he. The question was answered by Counsellor Willard, Prescott's brother-in-law, who was at hand and recognised his relative. "Will he fight?" demanded Gage, quickly. "Yes, sir! He is an old soldier, and will fight to the last drop of blood; but I cannot answer for his men." "The works must be carried!" exclaimed Gage. Pres officer who appears in command ?" | the Americans on their rudelyfortified height of an impending attack. They were ill fitted to withstand it, being jaded by the night's labour and want of sleep; hungry and thirsty, having brought but scanty supplies, and oppressed by the heat of the weather. cott sent repeated messages to General Ward, asking reinforcements and provisions. Putnam seconded the request in person, urging the exigencies of the case. Ward hesitated. He feared to weaken his main body at Cambridge, as his military stores were deposited there, and it might have to sustain the principal attack. At length, having taken advice of the council of safety, he issued orders for Colonels Stark and Reed, then at Medford, to march to the relief of Prescott with their New Hampshire regiments. The orders reached Medford about eleven o'clock. Ammunition was distributed in all haste, two flints, a gill of powder, and fifteen balls, to each man. The balls had to be suited to the different calibres of the guns; the powder to be carried in powder horns or loose in the pocket, for there were no cartridges prepared. It was the rude turn-out of yeomanry soldiery destitute of regular accoutrements. He called a council of war. The Americans might intend to cannonade Boston from this new fortification; it was unanimously resolved to dislodge them. How was this to be done? A majority of the council, including Clinton and Grant, advised that a force should be landed on Charlestown Neck, under the protection of their batteries, so as to attack the Americans in rear and cut off their retreat. General Gage objected that it would place his troops between two armies; one at Cambridge, superior in numbers, the other on the heights, strongly fortified. He was for landing in front of the works and pushing directly up the hill; a plan adopted through a confidence that raw militia would never stand their ground against the assault of veteran troops; another instance of undervaluing the American spirit, which was to cost the enemy a lamentable loss of life. The sound of drum and trum-taining the fire from the ships pet, the clatter of hoofs, the rattling of gun carriages, and all the other military din and bustle in the streets of Boston, soon apprised In the meanwhile the Americans on Breed's Hill were sus and from the battery on Copp's Hill, which opened upon them about ten o'clock. They returned an occasional shot from one corner They made a splendid of the redoubt, without much harm | Howe. to the enemy, and continued and formidable appearance with strengthening their position until about eleven o'clock, when they ceased to work, piled up their entrenching tools in the rear, and looked out anxiously and impatiently for the anticipated reinforcements and supplies. About this time General Putnam, who had been to head-quarters, arrived at the redoubt on horseback. Some words passed between him and Prescott with regard to the entrenching tools, which have been variously reported. The most probable version | is, that he urged to have them taken from their present place, where they might fall into the hands of the enemy, and carried to Bunker's Hill, to be employed in throwing up a redoubt, which was part of the original plan, and which would be very important should the troops be obliged to retreat from Breed's Hill. To this Prescott demurred that those employed to convey them, and who were already jaded with toil, might not return to his redoubt. A large part of the tools were ultimately carried to Bunker's Hill, and a breastwork commenced by order of General Putnam. The importance of such a work was afterwards made apparent. About noon, the Americans descried twenty-eight barges crossing from Boston in parallel lines. They contained a large detachment of grenadiers, rangers, and light infantry admirably equipped, and commanded by Major - General their scarlet uniforms, and the sun flashing upon muskets and bayonets and brass field-pieces. A heavy fire from the ships and batteries covered their advance, but no attempt was made to oppose them, and they landed about one o'clock at Moulton's Point, a little to the north of Breed's Hill. Here General Howe made a pause. On reconnoitring the |