[25] The proclamations of the Emperor on the 17th and 24th of December were in effect the same. There was a perfect correspondence between them in severity of language and spirit. We will give the last.
'By the grace of God, we, Nicholas the First, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, make known to all our faithful subjects that an infamous treason has convulsed the kingdom of Poland, which is united to Russia. Evil-minded men, who had not been disarmed of their bad passions by the beneficence of the immortal emperor Alexander, the generous restorer of their country, under the protection of the laws he had given them, have secretly concerted plots for the subversion of the established order of things, and began to execute their projects on the 29th of November last, by rebellion, effusion of blood, and attempts against the life of our well beloved brother the Cæsarowicz Grand Duke Constantine Paulowicz. Profiting by the obscurity of the night, a furious populace, excited by these men, precipitated themselves upon the palace of the Cæsarowicz; while, spreading throughout the city of Warsaw the false report that the Russian troops were massacring the peaceable inhabitants, they collected the people about them and filled the city with all the horrors of anarchy. The Cæsarowicz, with the Russians who were about his person, and the Polish troops who remained faithful to their duty, determined to take a position in the vicinity of Warsaw, and not to act with hostility, in order that, avoiding all occasion of shedding blood, they might prove in the clearest manner the falsehood of the report which had been circulated, and give the authorities of the city time and means of bringing back to their duty, in concert with the well-intentioned citizens, those who had been misled, and to restrain the discontented. This hope was not fulfilled. The council of the city were unable to re-establish order. Incessantly menaced by rebels, who had formed some illegal union among themselves, and had gained an influence in the council by separating from it some members named by us, and filling their places with others named by the chiefs of the conspirators, there was no course left to it but to beseech the Cæsarowicz to send back the Polish troops who had left Warsaw with him, to protect the public and private property from new pillage. Soon after this council was entirely dissolved, and all its powers were united in the hand of one general. In the interval, the news of the revolt was spread through all the provinces of Poland. Everywhere the same means were employed. Imposture, menaces, falsehood were used to inveigle the pacific inhabitants into the power of the rebels. In this unfortunate and serious state of things, the Cæsarowicz considered it indispensable to yield to the request of the government. He permitted the small body of Polish troops which remained faithful to him to return to Warsaw, in order to insure as far as possible the security of persons and property. He himself quitted the kingdom with the Russian troops, and entered on the 13th December the town of Wlodawa, in the government of Volhynia.
'Thus was executed a crime which had been resolved upon, probably, for a long time before. After so many misfortunes, and when at least in the enjoyment of peace and prosperity under the protection of our power, the people of the kingdom of Poland have plunged themselves again into the abyss of revolt and misery, and multitudes of credulous men, though already trembling in fear of the chastisement which awaits them, dare to think, for a moment, of victory; and propose to us the condition of being placed on an equality with ourselves! Russians, you know that we reject them with indignation! Your hearts burn with zeal for the throne. Already you appreciate the sentiments we feel. At the first intelligence of the treason, your response was a new oath of unshaken fidelity, and at this moment we see but one movement in the whole extent of our vast empire. But one sentiment animates all hearts; the desire to spare nothing, to sacrifice all, even life itself, for the honor of the Emperor and the integrity of the empire. We witness with deep emotion the strong manifestation of the love of the people for ourselves and for their country. We might, indeed, answer you with tranquillity, that new sacrifices and new efforts will not be necessary. God, the protector of right, is with us, and all-powerful Russia will be able, with a decisive blow, to bring to order those who have dared to disturb her tranquillity. Our faithful troops, who have so recently distinguished themselves by new victories, are already concentrating upon the western frontier of the empire. We are in readiness to punish the perjured; but we wish to distinguish the innocent from the guilty, and to pardon the weak, who, from inconsiderateness or fear have followed the current. All the subjects of our kingdom of Poland, all the inhabitants of Warsaw, have not taken part in the conspiracy and its melancholy consequences. Many have proved by a glorious death, that they knew their duty. Others, as we learn by the report of the Grand Duke, have been forced, with tears of despair, to return to the places occupied by the rebels. These last, together with the misguided, compose, no doubt, a great part of the army and of the inhabitants of the kingdom of Poland. We have addressed ourselves to them by a proclamation on the 17th of this month, in which, manifesting our just indignation against the perjured men who have commenced this rebellion, we gave orders to put an end to all illegal armaments, and to restore every thing to its former footing. They have yet time, then, to repair the fault of their compatriots, and to save the Polish kingdom from the pernicious consequences of a blind criminality. In pointing out the only means of safety, we make known this manifestation of our benevolence toward our faithful subjects. They will see in it our wish to protect the inviolability of the throne and of the country, as well as the firm resolution to spare misguided and penitent men. Russians! the example of your Emperor will guide you, the example of justice without vengeance, of perseverance in the combat for the honor and prosperity of the empire, without hatred of adversaries, of love and regard for the subjects of our kingdom of Poland who have remained faithful to the oath they have made to us, and of an earnest desire for reconciliation with all those who shall return to their duty. You will fulfil our hopes, as you have hitherto done. Remain in peace and quietness; full of confidence in God, the constant benefactor of Russia, and in a monarch who appreciates the magnitude and the sacredness of his duties, and who knows how to keep inviolable the dignity of his empire, and the honor of the Russian people.
'Given at St Petersburgh the twenty-fourth of the month of December, 1830.
(Signed) 'Nicholas.'
[26] The following is part of a conversation, in presence of the Emperor, between generals field marshal Diebitsch and Benkendorf, and colonel Wielezynski, (one of the deputies sent by the Polish Dictator,) at the close of a short interview, which took place at a council on the affairs of state to which those generals had been called by the Emperor.
'Well, gentlemen of Poland,' said marshal Diebitsch, 'your revolution has not even the merit of being well timed. You have risen at the moment when the whole force of the empire was on the march toward your frontiers, to bring the revolutionary spirits of France and Belgium to order.'
When the colonel observed that Poland thought herself capable of arresting the torrent long enough to give Europe the alarm, and to prepare her for the struggle, marshal Diebitsch answered,
'Well, what will you gain by the result? We had calculated to make our campaign on the Rhine; we shall now make it on the Elbe or the Oder, having crushed you first. Consider this well.'
[27] According to the testimony of colonel Wielezynski, the proclamation of the Emperor was in entire contradiction to the sentiments he expressed in the conversation above mentioned. The tone of that conversation was anything but severe. He even conceded that the Poles had just reason to be discontented, and admitted many of the barbarities of his brother, the Grand Duke Constantine. He promised colonel Wielezynski that he would act with the strictest justice, and would consider it a duty to inquire scrupulously into, and carefully distinguish all the circumstances of the case, in regard to which a manifesto should shortly be published. As he took leave of the colonel, in presence of Diebitsch and Benkendorf, he declared that he loved and esteemed the Poles, and that these his feelings should be the basis of his course with regard to them. How inconsistent such language with that of the proclamation!
[28] Some letters of the Emperor Nicholas were found among the papers of Chlopicki, in which the Emperor expressed his thanks to him for having taken the Dictatorship, and for the service which he had done to him, by the preservation of public tranquillity. The emperor exhorted him to follow 'the conditions which had been prescribed to him.' The conditions here referred to could not be found. The reader will permit me to dwell, for a moment, upon the mode of conduct, on the part of the Emperor Nicholas, which is here indicated.
What conditions could Nicholas propose to the Dictator, which the nation should not know of? If those conditions were compatible with justice and with the honor of the nation, why was all this secrecy necessary? If they were incompatible with justice and our honor, the Dictator certainly could not have it in his power to make the nation accept of them. On the contrary, the nation who had given him its confidence, the moment that it should have been convinced that the Dictator had intended to compromise its honor, would have despised him as a traitor, and he would have fallen a sacrifice to its indignation. To wish to induce him, on his own responsibility, to commit acts contrary to the honor of the nation, is to be willing, for selfish ends, to induce him to do that which would render him infamous in history.
Is this a course becoming a King? A conduct so insincere, Machiavelian, and even malignant, is based on the system of intrigue, and is in correspondence with the accustomed policy of the Russian cabinet,—a policy which has always brought divisions and misery upon the nations who have been under her power. Such a system, however, is far from being ultimately favorable to the interests of Russia herself, for it can never lead to a sure result. Sooner or later duplicity will be discovered, and the more a nation has been deceived, the deeper will be its determination of vengeance.