Effect of the news of the Lithuanian disasters on the minds of the people.—Distrust of the National Government.—The Russian army resumes the offensive under general Paszkewicz.—He decides to pass the Vistula.—Examination of the merits of this plan.—Plan of general Skrzynecki to act on the different detached corps of the enemy.—Advantages of general Chrzanowski over the corps of Rudiger.—The Russian forces execute the passage of the Vistula.—General Skrzynecki crosses the Vistula at Warsaw to operate against the enemy on the left bank.—An inquiry into the conduct of general Skrzynecki, and the appointment of a Council of War is demanded by the nation.—Arrival of the corps of general Dembinski at Warsaw.
While the nation was afflicted by the treasons at Warsaw, their hopes had been still kept alive by looking towards Lithuania. What, then, can express the disheartening effect produced by the intelligence that the Lithuanian corps existed no longer;—that that pillar, so essential to the support of the fabric we had been rearing, had fallen; and that this disaster had been brought on by the gross negligence, if not the treason, of those to whom that all-important expedition had been entrusted. They felt that this was an almost mortal blow. They saw a horrible future opening upon them, prepared by parricidal hands. After such renewed outrages, the people fell into the greatest exasperation. That people, whose confidence had been so basely abused, whose holiest purposes had been so shamelessly sported with, seemed at last to have changed their nature. So often betrayed, they lost confidence in all, and seemed to see in every one a traitor. If, in the frenzy of indignation, which such an experience had justified, they allowed themselves to be carried away by their feelings, and to be guilty of acts of severity, it can scarcely be wondered at.
Immediately after the arrival of the sad news from Lithuania, the nation demanded explanations of the generalissimo. They demanded to know how he could have given the command of so important an expedition to a man like Gielgud, one who had never been esteemed by the nation or the army, and who had not even the reputation of a general of talent. How could an expedition which demanded the very highest talents, and the most undoubted patriotism, have been confided to a man like him? With him had been associated general Chlapowski, who was the brother-in-law of the Grand Duke Constantine. That circumstance alone, they justly considered, should have been enough to suggest suspicion, and to have at least indicated the expediency of keeping him near the eye of the commander in chief, and subject to his constant observation. Such were the complaints of the people, and they went to the heart of the commander in chief, and the president of the National Government; for they were conscious, but too late, of their justice.[81]
The Russian army, the command of which, on the death of general Diebitsch, was taken by general count Paszkewicz, and the main body of which remained in a state of inaction at Ostrolenka, having no longer any apprehensions from Lithuania, could now act with freedom, and the offensive was recommenced under the command of its new chief, who decided to pass the Vistula, and to act upon the left bank.
I may be allowed to detain the attention of the reader a moment upon this passage of the Vistula by Paszkewicz, a manœuvre of which so much boast has been made, and to consider whether it is really to be regarded as a great and bold step, or one of necessity. What was the state of the Russian army after the battle of Ostrolenka?—A month had passed, and that army had not made a single movement, but was kept there merely to be fed by Prussia. Was not this inactivity an infallible evidence of weakness? Does it not show that, alarmed by the prospects in Lithuania, it was in a state of hesitation, not daring to advance into the kingdom, and holding itself in readiness to evacuate it on an occasion of necessity, which indeed seemed near at hand? In this period of hesitation, the new general arrives from the regions of the Caucasus. He must do something. The question presents itself to him,—what course is best to be taken? His army, now reinforced by the corps which had been in Lithuania, amounted to perhaps near one hundred and fifty thousand men. Although this force was considerable, yet to attack the fortifications of Praga, which, as is known to the reader, had been augmented, and which the Russian army in their primitive and unimpaired strength had never had the temerity to attack, was out of the question. What other course could he take, unless he could submit to continue in this state of inactivity, but to pass the Vistula, and under the assistance of Prussia, to make his attempts against Warsaw on the other side, a step, however, which he never would have dared to have taken without that assistance. This is the natural explanation of that boasted plan, in which we can see nothing but an almost necessary movement, encouraged by a reliance on Prussia.
In the first days of the month of June the Russian army began to approach the Vistula, in order to execute the passage. Their march was in three principal columns, and was arranged in the following manner:—general Witt, commanding the columns of the left wing, took the direction of Sochoczyn. The centre, under marshal Paszkewicz, left for Sonk and Luberacz, passing the river Wkra at Maluszyn. The column of the right, consisting of the imperial guard, under the command of the grand duke Michael, marched from Makow, by Ciechanow and Racionz. General Pablen commanded the advanced guard. A considerable train of ammunition, with provisions for twenty days, and a park of artillery of reserve, formed the fourth column, and followed the imperial guard. Detached posts towards Modlin and Serock, covered this march on the left. One regiment of dragoons remained at Pultusk. This combined force consisted of 80,000 men and three hundred pieces of cannon. Besides these forces, there were in the kingdom, the corps of general Rudiger at Kaluszyn, and that of general Rott at Zamosc. Those two corps might now number about 20,000 men, and some thirty pieces of cannon. Opposed to these forces, we had an army of 40,000 men, a hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, not counting the national guard of Warsaw, and the garrisons of the two fortresses of Modlin and Zamosc.