Lord Napier’s appreciation of the decree exactly represented the feeling with which it was received at Warsaw. The Poles were lashed to fury, and the torch of revolution was lighted. A so-called Central Committee was formed, which was neither more nor less than a secret society issuing its orders for murder and arson, orders faithfully obeyed, with every aggravation that the ingenuity of cruelty could suggest. The mystery of this modern Vehmgericht was well kept. All the cunning and vigilance of the Russian police was at fault. No man knew who were its members, where they met, or what was the machinery with which they worked. Death, swift and secret, followed upon their decisions. Their blows fell in darkness, their vengeance was assured, and none could tell who would be the next victim. Only the murderer was safe, and he only so long as he continued to murder without question. To the peasants a big bribe was held out—such a bribe as is not unknown in history elsewhere. Here is the proclamation of the Central Committee: Art. 1. Land held under any title whatsoever, corvée, rent or otherwise, by small farmers, together with all buildings thereon, becomes from this date the freehold property of the holder, without any obligation of rent or otherwise, except the duty of paying taxes and serving the country. Art. 2. The former proprietors will receive compensation from the national funds by means of Government stock. Art. 3. The amount of compensation and the nature of the stock will be settled by separate decrees. Art. 4. All ukases, laws, etc., published by the usurping Government on the subject of peasant leases are declared null and void. Art. 5. The present decree applies not only to private estates, but also to Crown lands, lands bestowed by the Crown, Church property, etc.[36] Such an edict as this, taken in conjunction with the crimes and horrors for which the Central Committee was responsible, led to reprisals which were hardly less terrible than the deeds which they avenged. I do not propose to go into any detail in regard to the insurrection. The appointment of Langiewicz as dictator, his abandonment of the cause in a way which suggested something very like cowardice, his submission to the Austrians at Cracow, the rebel bands hiding in the forests, the destruction of railways, the attempt to poison Wielopolski and his family, all the incidents and tragedies of a great rebellion, make picturesque reading, but it must be sought elsewhere.