History of the Late Polish Revolution and the Events of the CampaignHordynski, Joseph
History
History of the Late Polish Revolution and the Events of the Campaign
Hordynski, Joseph
Poland -- History -- Revolution, 1830-1832
abuses, but the government only insisted upon the prohibition with
the greater severity. Nowachowiez, indeed, employed a guard, who wore
uniforms. All the environs of Warsaw were filled with these guards,
and the greatest excesses were committed by them. A poor day-laborer,
after having purchased at some distance from the city, some brandy and
tobacco, carried these articles at evening to Warsaw. On his way he was
stopped by these men. They took all from him, and demanded a heavier
fine than the articles were worth. As the poor man was unable to pay
the fine, they abused him, and were about to carry him to prison.
He succeeded, however, in making his escape, and, as it was in the
vicinity of the residence of a nobleman by the name of Biernacki, he
sought shelter on his estate. The guards in pursuit entered the mansion
of this nobleman. Biernacki heard the tumult of the guard seizing and
roughly handling the poor man, and, ascertaining the cause of the
disturbance, he censured them for their inhumanity about such a trifle.
In order, however, to save the man from farther insults, he retained
him, with the intention of sending him the next day with a note to
Nowachowiez for his exculpation. The very moment that Biernacki was
occupied in writing the letter, an officer of the gens d'armes, with
four privates, stepped in. Biernacki inquired the cause of this visit,
and was told in answer, that he was arrested for having protected a
defrauder. Thus, surrounded by four soldiers, this man was publicly
carried through Warsaw to the prison of the Carmelites. Not satisfied
with this, Nowachowiez succeeded in obtaining from the Grand Duke, who
hated Biernacki as a patriotic Pole, a squadron of Russian Hulans,
consisting of 200 horse, to quarter for a whole week on his estate,
_in execution_, as it is termed. The Russian soldiers took possession
of all the buildings on the estate. In the apartments which they used
for barracks, they broke all the furniture, lustres, pianos, &c, and
carried in their straw for sleeping. In the court-yard they made a
fire, for which they used the pieces of furniture for fuel. They took
the wheat from the barns to feed their horses, and butchered the
cattle. In short, the most shameful depredations and excesses were
committed by officers and soldiers, regardless of the situation of
the lady of this nobleman, who was confined in childbed, and who for
a whole year was in danger of her life from the consequences of her
terror. This barbarous order of the Grand Duke ruined the fortune of
that unhappy man, and the amount of his property destroyed may be
estimated at least at from 70,000 to 80,000 gilders. Biernacki was
imprisoned for a whole year, after which he was dismissed to weep over
the sufferings of his wife, and his ruined fortune. The poor offender
was punished with 800 blows of the knout, of which he died in a few
days.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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