[30] I cannot forbear to dwell for a moment upon the occasion of the departure of our troops from Warsaw and the other towns. It was one of the fine and touching moments of our revolution. Every friend of liberty would have desired to have brought together all the autocrats of the world to witness the animation with which our national troops went forth to engage in the combat for liberty. Perhaps they would have been involuntarily struck with the conviction that this liberty must be a blessing when men will sacrifice themselves so cheerfully to achieve it. When the march was commenced, all the inhabitants of the neighboring country left their homes to witness the departure, and all the plains about Warsaw and the road sides between Warsaw and Siedlce were covered with people. The soldiers, in marching through the streets of the city, passed between lines of people composed of senators, officers of the government, the clergy, children from the schools, the members of the national guard, and in short an immense assembly of both sexes, reaching even to two miles beyond Praga. All the regiments passed in review before the general in chief, and each regiment took the oath to defend their country to the last drop of their blood. Exclamations such as these were constantly uttered: 'Dear General, if you see us turn from before the enemy, point the artillery against us, and annihilate our ranks.' The fourth regiment, the bravest of the brave, knowing that our magazines were ill provided with powder, refused at first to receive any cartridges; but on the remonstrance of the chief, they agreed to take thirty each man, (half of the complement for one battle,) saying that they would furnish themselves afterwards from the Russians. They then entreated the commander in chief never to send them against a smaller body of the enemy than a division, and to use them wherever a decisive blow was required. 'Forget, dear general,' said they, 'that we have no powder; but trust to our bayonets!'
It was truly affecting to witness the parting of the soldiers from their friends and relatives,—fathers taking leave of children, children of fathers, husbands of wives,—and to hear the cries of sorrow mingled with animating shouts and patriotic hymns. These are moments of which I am unequal to the description; but which every freeman will form a conception of,—moments of the struggle between domestic happiness and public duty; moments which show that the love of country is the most powerful of all sentiments, and that men will sacrifice every thing under its impulses.
[31] A service of ten years in the army, in person, or by substitute, was required by law of every citizen.
Entrance of the Russian forces into the Kingdom.—Proclamations of Marshal Diebitsch.—Their effect.—Disposition of the Russian and Polish forces.—Plan of operations of the Poles.
The Russian forces, simultaneously with the Polish, began to concentrate themselves on the frontiers of the kingdom, (See Plan No. 1) particularly at Bialystok (11) and Grodno (10). Four general points were designated for the entrance of this enormous force, viz. Zlotoria (12), Ciechanowiec (9), Brzesc (8), and Wlodawa (7).
Marshal Diebitsch, on entering the kingdom, published a proclamation to the Poles, a copy of which is given in the note.[32]
