army of the Poles was posted as a battery of two hundred pieces follows. A great road proceeds of artillery, which opened a trefrom Praga westward to Milosna mendous fire upon the whole exand Minsk. To the right of this tent of the Polish line, the Rusroad, on leaving Praga, are the sians, after continuing this for marshes of Goclaw adjoining the some time, marched their colVistula; to the left is a small for- umns against the left wing of the est of alders, beyond which is Poles, but were quickly repulsed the village of Kawenzyn. Near by a charge of the whole Polish the road, in the rear of the line of cavalry collected together for that operation, is the village of Gro- purpose. Next followed a murkow, where the Polish head quar- derous attack on the Polish centers were stationed. There is an tre, with the intent of carrying obelisk of iron in the same line, the forest of alders, and thus diplaced on the road to commem- viding the Poles into two parts, orate its construction. The Po- so as to insure their destruction. lish right wing under Szembek, Fifty battalions of the Russians, consisting of 7,000 infantry, and amounting to 40,000 men, and 24 field pieces, occupied the supported by 120 pieces of canspace between the road and the non, endeavored for the space of marshes. The centre, occupying four hours, by reiterated attacks, the forest of alders, comprised to gain possession of the forest of two divisions, of 15,000 infantry alders, and were nine times reand 60 pieces of cannon, under pulsed with immense loss, leaving the command of Skrzynecki and the ground literally covered with Zimirski. The left wing, under their dead. It was only by perKrukowiecki, occupied Kawen- forming prodigies of valor, that so zyn, with 6,500 men and 12 field small a number of Poles could pieces. Four divisions of caval- withstand such a disproportioned ry, consisting of 9,500 men, un- force. Of course, the destrucder Uminski, Lubinski, Skarzyns- tion of life was already great. ki, and Jankowski, stood ready to be employed wherever necessity might require, without being posted at any fixed station; and there was a small reserve of 5,400 men in charge of Pac. Such being the numbers and disposition of the two armies, the battle commenced with a furious charge of the Russian right wing upon the Poles at Kawenzyn, which the latter steadily sustain ed without yielding an inch, until at length the Russians suspended their efforts on that point, to resew them elsewhere. Forming After this course of operation had continued from eleven to three o'clock, the Polish generals, each of whom had had his horse shot under him, and several of whom were severely wounded, resolved, by means of a retrograde movement of their centre, to draw the Russians into pursuing them, and then, having assumed a new and more favorable position near the iron obelisk, to renew the battle.-The feint perfectly succeeded. Diebitsch, thinking the Poles had been compelled by their losses to fly, began to reckon upon Warsaw as his. In superintending the manoeuvre, General Zimirski was struck with a cannon ball, which caused his death in a few hours; but the misfortune occasioned no disorder in the Polish ranks, the movement being continued by Colonel Czyzewski. Meantime, Colonel Pientka, who had greatly distinguished himself during the whole engagement in command of a battery of artillery, continued to hold in check the advancing Russians, until the last moment, when about forty squadrons of Russian cavalry were seen moving forward to the charge, followed by the infantry and artillery. Pientka then retreated to the main body of the Poles. At this moment, General Chlopicki, who, as the adviser of Prince Radzivil, was in effect the head of the army, was wounded by a grenade; but Skrzynecki and Czyzewski had already formed their squares and were prepared to receive the Russians. As the Russian cavalry advanced upon the trot, a discharge of rockets was poured into their ranks, which, united with the steady fire of the Polish squares, rendered the horses ungovernable, and threw the whole mass of cavalry into confusion. In a short time, the Russian squadrons were completely cut up, so completely, indeed, that one regiment of cuirassiers was destroyed to a man; and the wrecks of the routed cavalry, being closely pursued by the Polish lancers, and driven back on the columns of Russian infantry, carried the latter along with them in their flight, and compeled a general retreat of their for ces, leaving to the Poles a splendid and glorious victory. The Poles lost but 5,000 men, the Russians 20,000; and if the Poles had possessed a leader of sufficient boldness and skill to have followed up the victory, the consequences might have been utterly fatal to Diebitsch. A short period of inaction followed the bloody day of Grokow. The Russians had suffered too much in the battle to resume of fensive operations immediately, and it was not the plan of the Poles at present to undertake any. In fact, on the withdrawal of Chlopicki from the army in consequence of his wound, Prince Radzivil was unwilling to attempt anything of a hazardous nature; and as he apprehended that the Vistula might become impassable by the breaking up of the ice, he resolved to cross the river to Warsaw, and employ the interval gained by the late victory, in recruiting the army. Te Deums were sung in all the churches of Warsaw, as well as in the chapels of the camp, and for three successive nights the city was illuminated in honor of the defenders of the country. On the 27th, Prince Radzivil resigned the chief command, avowing, with a modesty and a dignity of sentiment quite as honorable to him as the exhibition of the highest military science would have been, that the crisis demanded a leader more capable to fill so responsible a post. The Poles had no hesitation in fixing upon General John Skrzynecki to succeed him in command. Skrzynecki held the rank of colonel at the breaking out of the Revolution, and was the officers being so much susafterwards advanced to be gene- pected by their chiefs that all disral of division, in which capacity cussion of political subjects was he displayed all those brilliant rigorously prohibited. The Poles, qualities of decision, energy, read- of course, were not without hopes iness of resource, rapidity of coup of succor from abroad, or of a d'ail, and capacity of seizing con- diversion by insurrection among junctures, which combine to form the Russians themselves, even the great general. His appoint- beyond the limits of ancient Poment gave universal satisfaction land. They were induced to in the army and the nation, infus- expect the latter event, by reason ing new zeal into all ranks and of an attempt of General Yermoclasses of the people. low to excite a revolution in the Skrzynecki began, from the Russian department of Orenburg, first moment of his possessing au- on the borders of Asia, of which thority, to form new forces, to intelligence arrived about this complete those already on foot, and time, but which, as it happened, to supply the losses of those regi- led to no serious consequences. ments which had suffered from And they hoped for aid from service. His energy, prompti- France at least, because they tude, and familiarity with all the knew that Nicholas had fully redetails of war, soon gave a new solved to attempt the restoration aspect to affairs. Unlike his pre- of the Bourbons and of William decessors, he was constantly of Nassau, by marching an army among the soldiers or in the arse- into western Europe. nals, urging on the organization, When Skrzynecki assumed the discipline, and equipments of the chief command, the total amount troops by the personal presence of disposable forces possessed by of their commander, the most ef- the Poles, exclusive of garrisons, ficacious of all methods for invig- was 33,900 infantry, 10,100 cavorating the movements of an ar- alry, and 106 pieces of artillery. my. By such means the enthu- When organized anew, they consiasm of the Poles was raised to sisted of four divisions of infantry its height, as may be inferred and cavalry as before, the infantfrom the circumstance that three ry comprising 45,000 men, uncompanies of infantry were actu- der the Generals Rybinski, Gielally formed from among the Po- gud, Malachowski, and Muhllish women, under the command berg,-and the cavalry 14,000 of ladies of distinguished families. men under their former comAnd while the Poles had every manders, Uminski, Lubinski,Stryspecies of moral influence to stim- inski, and Pac. The changes in ulate and strengthen their resolu- the command of the infantry were tion, the Russian army, on the made necessary by the death of other hand, was disheartened and Zyminski, the advancement of discontented, the soldiers being re- Skrzynecki, the appointment of luctantly forced into the field to Krukowiecki to the government fight against their brethren, and of Warsaw, and a difference be tween Szembek and Skrzynecki as to the distribution of some decorations among the subaltern officers, which induced the former to resign, to the general regret of his countrymen. In addition to the efforts made by the Poles at this time to place the army on a good footing, they labored indefatigably upon the fortifications of Warsaw. The army was posted in or about Warsaw for the time being, with the exception of the corps of Dwernicki, of whose operations we shall speak hereafter, and three divisions of cavalry, which patroled the river to keep open the communication between the fortresses of Modlin and Kozienice. The citizens, male and female, were busied in widening and deepening the ditch around the city, in rendering the outer ramparts defensible against artillery, constructing a chain of lunettes around the whole, and filling the streets with barricades. So indiscriminately did all ages and both sexes, male and female, labor on these works, that one of the lunettes, was called 'the lunette of the women,' from having been constructed wholly by the hands of the gentler sex. On the heights of Dynasow and Zoliborz, situated on the left or Warsaw bank of the Vistula, but commanding the whole of Praga and its approaches, batteries were placed so as to protect equally both sides of the river. While the events which we have been describing, were going on near Warsaw, and with the main body of the army, Dwernicki, who, as we have already mentioned, left the army with a detached corps immediately after the commencement of hostilities had obtained extraordinary success in the duty whieh he undertook. This duty, it will be remembered, was to intercept the march of Prince Wirtemberg upon Warsaw down the left bank of the Vistula. Dwernicki crossed the Vistula for this purpose, on the 17th, near Ryczywol. It appeared that Wirtemberg had crossed further up at Pulawa, after having wreaked his vandal vengeance upon the beautiful domain and residence of Prince Czartoriski. On the 18th, Wirtemberg's forces began to present themselves on the plain of Ryczywoł; and on the 19th, Dwernicki fell upon them at a place near there, called Swierza, and succeeded by a well conceived manœuvre in attacking them at the same time in flank and rear, the consequence of which was a total defeat of the Russians, who fled up the river in great disorder, and continued their flight until they had placed the Vistula between them and the victorious Poles. But Dwernicki gave the Russians no respite. He hung on their rear, continually cutting off stragglers, until they had securely posted themselves in Pulawa. He then caused Colonel Lagowski to cross the river secretly below Pulawa, with a small detachment, and to attack the enemy unexpectedly on that side. The manœuvre succeeded perfectly; and the astonished Russians, although far more numerous than the whole of Dwernicki's corps, again fled in consternation before Lagowski's hand ful of troops. But the punishment due to the meanness of Prince Wirtemberg was close at hand. After being driven from Pulawa, the Russians made for Lublin, the capital of the palatinate in which they were, by the main road through Kurow. There is another road to Lublin, a small cross road through the forest, not two miles from the other at their widest separation. Whilst Dwernicki, with the main body of his troops, pursued Wirtemberg along the high road, he caused Lagowski to march by the nearly parallel way, with orders to keep himself constantly abreast of the enemy, and so soon as he heard the fire of cannon to hasten across the intermediate space, and attack the Russians in flank or rear as circumstances should dictate. Wirtemberg being so pressed by the Poles that he could not avoid giving battle, took a strong position at Kurow, on the 2nd of March, and thus awaited the approach of Dwernicki. The battle commenced with a fire of skirmishers only, so as to occupy the Russians until Lagowski should have time to come up. Wirtemberg fell unsuspectingly into the snare, never dreaming that Dwernicki's forces were divided, until he found himself all at once subjected to a galling fire in front and rear at the same moment. The consternation and confusion of the Russians, upon discovering how matters stood, were so complete, that they were completely broken up, and ceased to act as a corps. Many were killed in the charge and pursuit, many were taken prisoners, and the rest got off as they could, but in such a panic, that the mere sight of the Poles was enough to send them flying across the country in disorder. So complete was the success of Dwernicki, that with his small force of 3,000 men, and a loss of only 500 in killed and wounded, he destroyed a corps of 15,000 men, taking 8,000 prisoners, besides 19 pieces of cannon, 1,000 horses, and a large quantity of inilitary stores. Wirtemberg was degraded from his post by the Russian commander in chief, for his incapacity and misconduct, which hadthus compelled the Russians to evacuate the palatinate of Lublin. While these auspicious events were transpiring in the southern part of the kingdom, under the direction of Dwernicki, there was also a small detached body of Poles, acting successfully to the north of Warsaw. They were commanded by Colonel Valentin, whose orders were to hold in check the right wing of the Russians, so as to prevent them from effecting anything below Warsaw. In case of necessity, he could receive aid from the garrison of |