"
HIS POLISH ANNOTATORS: ADAM AND LADISLAS MICKIEWICZ.
HIS POLISH ANNOTATORS: ADAM AND LADISLAS MICKIEWICZ.
Krasinski - The Undivine Comedy
THE
ANONYMOUS POET OF POLAND,
COUNT SIGISMUND KRASINSKI.
THE UNDIVINE COMEDY,
AND
OTHER POEMS.
BY THE
ANONYMOUS POET OF POLAND,
COUNT SIGISMUND KRASINSKI.
" He burned, a never consumed offering, upon the altar of his country. "
HIS POLISH ANNOTATORS: ADAM AND LADISLAS MICKIEWICZ.
POLISH POETRY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, BY JULIAN KLACZKO.
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF THE POET.
TRANSLATED RY
MARTHA WALKER COOK.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1875-
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. ,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
PEMMftYLVAWI^j
^
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE 7
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI ^S
PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION . . . • -3^
ANALYSIS OF THE UNDIVINE COMEDY 4^
POLISH POETRY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . • • 53
THE " FRAGMENT," OR UNFINISHED POEM . . • • ^3^
THE UNDIVINE COMEDY ^73
IRIDION
THE LAST
TEMPTATION
RESURRECTURIS
IN MEMORIAM •
275
467
487
508
512
PREFACE.
It is certainly the duty of a translator to be thoroughly
convinced of the intrinsic merit of any work he may pro-
pose to translate, for he will be in a measure responsible
for its influence upon the minds of those to whom he may
introduce it. No hope of sudden success should dazzle
him into unworthy labor. Let him first ascertain if the
proposed work be one of general human interest, calcu-
lated to increase the moral worth of the people to whom
it is to be offered, to express the influential conceptions
of an original mind, open a new literature, throw light
upon the hidden history of an epoch, or develop the char-
acteristics of a nation ; — if any one of the above condi-
tions be met, then is the translator justified in transplant-
ing the quickening germs into the mental being of his own
countrymen, to bloom in wider consciousness, in fairer
actions.
It is claimed that the translations herewith offered meet
not only 07ie, but all of the above conditions.
That the works of Krasinski are of " general human
interest' ' is proved by the fact that, even under their anony-
mous publication, they were enthusiastically received by
the critics of Europe, and immediately translated into
French and German; that "they are calculated to in-
crease the moral worth of the people to whom they are
offered," is evident in that they contain a genuine attempt
to introduce the sublime ethics of Christianity into the
vexed and vicious sphere of modern politics; that "they
embody the influential conceptions of an original mind,"
may be read in the fact that these " conceptions" modified
the character of an entire People; that the translations
open a " new literature" is clear, since they are the first
specimens of modern Polish poetry as yet given to Amer-
8 PREFACE.
ican readers ; that they " throw light upon the history of
an epoch and develop the characteristics of a nation," is
manifest in the strange truth that, as stated by Julian
Klaczko, only through the lessons of Krasinski can some
of the startling occurrences of the last Polish revolution
be interpreted at all.
A curious spectacle is spread before the utilitarian and
material spirit of the nineteenth century in the closely
interwoven history of our author and his unhappy country.
A Christian Poet teaching only forgiveness, patience, and
self-abnegation, — the possession of whose works in his
native land was Siberia or death, and who, to shield those
dear to him from the vengeance of the oppressor, was
forced to publish anonymously, — has so influenced the
action of a brave, injured, and fiery people, that only in
his poems can be found the clue to deeds which puzzled
the despot and astonished the world ! Thus only can be
explained that startling scene which occurred in Warsaw
in February, i86i,when unarmed vixtw, women, and chil-
dren bared their breasts, and fell without resistance before
the Russian battalions maddened by the sight of the un-
furled Polish banner. For their poet had sung :
" Holy Spirit, who hast taught us that the most sublime
power on earth is the power o\ self-sacrifice , that the most
mighty of arguments is virtue, grant that through love we
may win the nations to the end whereto we aspire ! "
" To each Nation Thou hast given avocation, O Christ !
A profound idea springing from Thee lives in each, and in
it is the secret of its destiny ! Some Thou hast elected
to defend the cause of celestial Beauty, and to offer to the
world an angelic example by hopefully bearing their heavy
cross along a weary way overflowing with their blood . . .
until they have given loftier and more divine ideas to
men through their sublime struggles ; given a holier char-
ity, a wider fraternity, in exchange for the sword that
has been plunged into their bosoms !
" Such a nation is thy Poland, O Lord Jesus ! "
— Psalms of the Future, Krasinski.
And with such ideas did this patriot-poet succeed in
impregnating a nation ! To the eternal glory of Poland
PREFACE. g
be it said, that, strengthened by the divine lessons of her
Poet, she has hitherto been strong enough to resist all the
temptations to avenge herself held out to her by Russia
in the fell scheme of Pansclavism ; that, having shed her
generous blood on almost every battle-field in Europe, and
having been deserted and betrayed by those whom she so
faithfully served, she still bares her own breast to the piti-
less knife of the Czar, rather than aid him to whet it anew
for the heart of the civilized world ! She knows the fury
of the Russian Bear too well to let slip a single link of the
chain she still holds in her manacled and wounded hands.
Let the Russianized pansclavists of Bohemia call her the
"Judas of the Sclaves;" England continue to temporize
until India is lost and her own doom is near ; Greece
change the indolent Turk for the Muscovite Czar ; France,
conquered of old under the Great Napoleon in Russia
because of his treachery to the martyred nation, and fallen
beneath the armed heel of the ruthless Teuton under
Napoleon the Little, seek a new ally in Russia as she cries
in her terror "a bas les Polonais;" Italy wrap herself in
her old indifference with regard to the fate of all " North-
ern Barbarians ;" Austria in her fright strive to conciliate
Galicia while losing Boliemia ; Prussia rejoice in irritating
stolen Posen, and join the o])pressor in his designs until,
having found his way through Vienna to Constantinople,
the prophecy of Frederick the Great is fulfilled : " When
Russia possesses Constantinople, two years later she will be
in Konigsberg; young America bend her spotless brow as
the bandage is wound round her flashing eyes, that she may
not see the pool of blood surrounding the Autocrat; — the
Polish Eagle does not quail ; finding no home on earth, she
spreads her snowy wings, mounts into the sky of holy sacri-
fice, and hopes, ' because she there sees God ! ' "
These works of Krasinski " introduce a new literature
to the American public. " Translations from the French,
German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Norwegian, Swedish,
Arabic, Persian, Hindoostanee, etc. , are placed before us,
but, as if the Russian censor ruled our press, for us Niem-
ciewicz, Mickiewicz, Chodzko, Vincent Pol, Slowacki,
Lelewel, Duchinski, Trentowski, Ostrowski, etc. , etc. ,
have suffered, written, sung, reasoned, and prophesied in
2
lO PREFACE.
vain. Have we any life of the great and good Kosciuszko,
or the brave and fiery Pulaski ?
In 1855 the astute Russian, Pogodin, wrote to his own
government: "The time has come in which we should
seek an alliance with America. " If an assassin can ob-
tain the friendship and recommendation of a powerful
friend of known honor and magnanimity, his nefarious
schemes against the innocent may be pursued in com-
parative safety. Much has been said on the unbridled
license of an untrammeled Press, but as great a danger
lies in its purchased silence. Falsehood and exaggera-
tion o'erleap their aims, destroy themselves, and perish
in the light of liberty ; but silence veils ghastly secrets,
and crime securely revels under its close shroud. How
is the alliance of America to be won ? Silence ! Stifle
the cries of the victims who for the last hundred years
have been crimsoning with their blood the white deserts
of Siberia ; the rattling of chains in the wastes of
Tobolsk and the mountains of the Caucasus ; the moans
and sobs of an entire People we have resolved to de-
stroy ; the multitudinous cries of widows and bereaved
orphans ! This subtle policy has been skillfully pursued ;
and where silence has been impossible, history has
been falsified, ethnography outraged, religious prejudices
evoked, and the character of the Polish People traduced,
that the deception might be complete. For, with Poland
crushed and Constantinople won, Europe lies at the feet
of the Mongolian-German, and, robed as an angel of
emancipation and communistic light, he may Russify
civilization at leisure.
With every generation since her partition, Poland has
entered her united rejection of the iniquitous rule of her
foes, by an attempted revolution, in which the awful
protest has been signed in the blood of her martyred
children, — men, women, and children alike ready to die
in this solemn denial of voluntaty subjugation.
The last disastrous attempt of Poland to arise from her
sepulchre, occasioned by measures insulting to universal
humanity, occurred during our own civil war. Russia
endeavored to make it appear that the rebellion in Amer-
ica and the attempted revolution of the Poles were phe-
PREFACE.
II
nomena bearing a similar character. No idea could be
more erroneous, for the struggle in Poland was to restore
legitimate authority to its rightful holders, to a govern-
ment truly liberal, representative, and Polish; while our
revolted States sought to wrest authority from the legally-
elected rulers, the Congress of the United States. The
resurrection in Poland meant union, life; the rebellion,
division and destruction. The one sought to bring about
general emancipation, the other to prolong slavery.
But in the hands of Russia all facts are wax, which
her political artists mould to serve their own purposes.
While branding the Poles throughout her own realm and
monarchic Europe as freethinkers, republicans, and jaco-
bins, she makes a sudden turn, and denounces them here
as bigots, aristocrats, slaveholders, and despots, and their
insurrection as but an attempt of the nobility to regain
their ancient status, — di. feudal coxi's. ^vcz. o. y ! Hear, shade
of Kosciuszko !
Poland has long been anxious for the emancipation of
her serfs, not only as moved by the advancing humanity
of the world, but as a means of national power. Sword
in hand, she defended it in the confederation of Bar, in
1768; discussed it in the diets of 1776, 1780, 17S8, and
finally adopted it by the famous Constituent Assembly of
1 79 1. Kosciuszko, May 7, 1794, then Dictator of Poland,
issued a document giving entire personal freedom to all
the serfs; and on the 22d of January, 1863, the mem-
bers of the National Polish Government decreed that the
peasants were not only free, but were entitled to a cer-
tain portion of land, of which they should be sole pro-
prietors. But emancipation would have made Poland
too strong for her enemies, by uniting all classes, — and
the oppressor would not permit it ! Only six months
after the noble decree of Kosciuszko occurred the terrible
massacre of Praga, which quenched the contemplated
emancipation in gore, and the following year the very
name of Poland was — at least for a time — effaced from
the political chart of Europe! In later days, the peti-
tions addressed to the Emperor Ferdinand I. , by the
States of Leopol, 26th September, 1845, f^'" ^^^ suppres-
sion of serfage and corvee, led to the massacres in Gal-
12 PREFACE.
Hcia, and the destruction of the Republic of Cracow.
Poland has been literally drenched in blood ever since
her last emancipatory act of 1863. It is about as fair to
accuse Poland of the permission of serfage during the
last hundred years as it would be to accuse Abraham
Lincoln and Whittier of being promoters of slavery !
Yet this is precisely what Russia did, in order to assim-
ilate the insurrection of Poland with our own rebellion,
representing it as originating in the desire to support
feudalism, in the very face of the first words promulgated
by the Polish Committee, January 22, 1863 : ^^All the
sons of Poland, without any distinction oi faith or race,
descent or station, zx^free and equal citizens of the country. ' '
Strong and startling are the contrasts between the
United States and Poland. We are young, powerful,
active, happy, the bulwark of freedom, the hope of
oppressed Peoples ; — Poland has lived through many cen-
turies ; has been since her dismemberment so fettered
that all action, save in the spasms of her revolutions, has
been impossible; has been rendered utterly wretched,
her body mutilated and thrice stabbed to the heart, and
all that is material about her stifled in a living sepulchre.
And yet there are striking points of resemblance. Both
nations are daringly brave; both are confederatively
formed, — Poland, Lithuania, and Ruthenia, uniting in
1569, being the first voluntary confederation in Europe ;
both prefer elective governments ; both are opposed to
religious persecution and oppression ; both detest foreign
domination, and love liberty better than life. And as if
Heaven itself would draw the two countries in still closer
communion, the idolized heroes of both nations, Washing-
ton and Kosciuszko, bound by congenial friendship, stood
breast to breast in the great contest for American freedom.
Material aid being utterly impossible, and in every aspect
impolitic, yet in the higher world of justice the moral sym-
pathy of the triumphant with the wronged and murdered
Nation must be deep and true ; her injuries will be ex-
])osed by the statesmen of freedom, and the tortures to
which she is constantly subjected will flow in the burning
words of fiery indignation from the eloquent lips of the
freemen of America ! Is this so? Alas! silence! silence!
PREFACE. I,
But why call up this terrible spectacle of a great Aryan
Nation in her agony, with the prolonged death-rattle in
her throat; why lift the shroud of anguish from entire
generations, fathers, sons, daughters, infiints, all driven
into dissolution by a barbaric and relentless foe, the ruin
of schools and universities, the destruction of libraries,
the deportation of students, the transplantation and con-
sequent slaughter of thousands of innocent children, the
forcible transportation of thirty thousand helpless inhabit-
ants into the Caucasus, the desecration of maidens, the
tortures of patriots, the knoutings of heroes, boys and
matrons, and the persecution of the oldest form of Chris-
tian faith ? Because the victim is not dead, and there is
vast moral power in the force of public opinion. Because
the American mission is the actualization everywhere of
not merely nominal, but real freedom, founded upon jus-
tice and eternal truth. But chiefly it is done in the present
relation, because it is our ardent desire that the Polish poet
should be understood in all his sublime patriotism by
American readers, and to show that his deepest hues are
not so dark as the truth they depict ; because, for full sym-
pathy with his original conceptions, we must recognize his
own sad stand-point, and the melancholy position of the
country he so earnestly loved. For poet and people hold
positions entirely exceptional in the history of the world,
Poles and exiles ! it is with no light feeling of self-
distrust that the daughter of a distant land has ventured
to lay her daring hands upon the master-works of your
poet, patriot, and statesman. She would fain have called
the high poets of her country to the task of transmuting
the thoughts of the Polish Dante into fitting English;
but none seemed ready to begin the work. Wreathing
their lyres with their own immortal flowers, singing their
songs of freedom for the emancipation, cultivation, and
delight of humanity, — some of them perchance momen-
tarily charmed by the mystic might of Russia, — none were
prepared to burn the torch of their own genius to illume
the spiritual and majestic features of your illustrious dead.
Feeble as may be the fire of this torch as now borne,
sway and flicker as it may in the uncertain hands, may its
light yet be strong enough to manifest something of the
2»
14
PREFACE.
valiant "Polish soul" to my countrymen ! Strong enough
to point out to future translators the unexplored treasures
of Polish literature, in order that in more inspired ver-
sions they may yet place "The Undivine Comedy" and
" Iridion" where they deserve to rank, — after Dante and
Shakespeare, among the loftiest creations of human genius.
I know that through the medium of a less impassioned
language, and deprived of their exquisite form and bold
and undulating rhythm, these poems will seem cold and
imperfect in your eyes, but I beg of you to pardon the
deficiencies, because of the difficulty of the task and the
love and reverence which prompt its execution.
Whatever the material, venal, and passing phantoms of
the hour may seem to say, believe not that American
hearts have ceased to beat in unison with yours ! Your
courageous struggles for "a country" maybe still mis-
represented and misunderstood ; the brilliant serf-eman-
cipation in Russia may for a time dazzle us into ignorance
of the atrocious torments to which you are subjected, but
misconception not voluntary cannot long endure, the Sun
of Truth is everywhere rising and everywhere dispersing
the mists of falsehood under its happy light, true republi-
cans will learn that "the path to freedom lies not through
the charnel-house. " Right, not might, is the corner-
stone of God's kingdom upon earth !
Liberty, justice, equality before the law, and self-govern-
ment, are the normal dogmas of our political creed ; to
renounce them were to stultify ourselves. They are corner-
stones in the temple we are building for the refuge of
men; to uproot them were to bring it in ruins about our
own heads.
We know that, tortured and mutilated, Poland still
lives, and that, at every banquet of the " Holy Alliance,"
|ier grand and bloody form rises from her three graves to
appal the three crowned and rival murderers of a nation.
For she is buried, not in the corruption of the grave, but
in thp loyal h|earts of her patriotic and tortured children,
in the living sympathies of all who love virtue, self-sacri-
fice, and heroism, and in the eternal justice of God ; —
therefore is her resurrection certain !
Translator,
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKL
The following imperfect sketch of the "Anonymous
Poet" is the only account we have been able to find of
him in European literature. It is translated chiefly from
" Unsere Zeit Jahrbuch zum Conversations Lexikon.
No. 5^. 1862. L. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig. "
"The silent organ loudest chants the master's requiem. "
So chants the fact that as yet no details of the life of the
great Pole can appear, because they might compromise
friends once very dear to him, living within reach of the
vengeful arm of Russia. He renounced all fame while
living, ever publishing anonymously, and the manifold
experiences of his internal life, with his numerous his-
torical and political letters, must slumber in the shroud
of silence, until Polish patriotism is no longer crime, and
confiscation and exile cease to be the doom of all con-
nected with those daring enough to defend their native
land.
The reader may, however, round this skeleton biogra-
phy into flesh, by clothing its bones from the veined
tissues he will not fail to find in the nervous pages of
Julian Klaczko.
When Napoleon entered Poland, in 1806, the leader
of the Polish Legions, General Dombrowski, summoned
the fiery patriot, Wybicki, to unite himself with armed
hand to the conqueror of nations ; and as Napoleon
spoke freely of the reconstitution of the country, such
summons fell not upon unheeding ears in Poland. Many
patriots of high distinction offered up property and life
15
l6 BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
in the new-born hopes for fatlierland, and, captivated by
the fallacious promises of Napoleon, hurried to join the
French eagles. Count Vincent Krasinski, then about
twenty-four years of age, a man of great wealth and high
distinction, was one of the first to greet the French Em-
peror on Polish ground, and afterwards accompanied him
in his campaigns as adjutant.
For a time Count Krasinski resided in Paris, in which
city his wife, Maria, a princess of the house of Radziwill,
presented him with a son, born on the 19th of February,
1812, who received in baptism the name of Sigismund
Napoleon. This boy became the "Anonymous Poet of
Poland. "
Bitterly deceived were the high hopes of the Poles.
After the signing of the act of abdication by Napoleon,
April II, 1814, Count Vincent Krasinski, then under
orders from the Czar Alexander, led the unhappy rem-
nants of the Polish legions back from France into
Poland.
His countess soon after joined him there with the
little Sigismund, then about three years old. Upon the
immense estates of his forefathers, under the tender care
of a devoted but very sickly mother, lived for many
happy years the young Sigismund, a dark-eyed boy with
long, fair curls, remarkable from his earliest years for rare
powers of wit and intellect, for rapid and acute answers
to difficult questions, for true and chivalric feeling, for
high-strung and self-sacrificing ardor. His health, how-
ever, was exceedingly delicate. When but five years of
age he was presented to the Czar, an especial friend of
his parents, and recited for him the lines of Voltaire,
"Tu dors, Brute! " meantime fearlessly gazing with
childlike confidence into the keen eyes of the autocrat.
Two years later he was introduced to the Empress, whom
he pleased greatly. She said laughingly to him, "lac-
knowledge you as my knight. Will you accept the ap-
pointment, and defend me against my enemies? " His
answer was as acute as chivalric. "I cannot," he re-
plied ; " your Majesty has no need of defenders, since
you have no enemies. "
He had instructors of great ability, and so rapidly was
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
17
he advanced in his studies, that he was soon able to enter
the sixth class in the College of Warsaw. Uncommon
powers of intellect, i>nited with a great memory, ardent
and unceasing efforts for thorough mental cultivation,
distinguished him in his intercourse with his fellow-
students. But however rapid his advances, he failed to
satisfy his eager desire for exact and wide learning.
His mother died in 1822, and so bitter was the distress
of his father, that he withdrew himself from all social
intercourse, save that forced upon him by his official po-
sition, and devoted himself exclusively to the advance-
ment of his idolized boy. He followed his mental and
spiritual culture with eyes of constant watchfulness, and,
at an examination to which the savants interested in the
cause of education had been invited, he had the gratifi-
cation of seeing his son, then but twelve years of age,
astonish all present by his accurate knowledge of gram-
mar, literature, geography, and history.
Although Sigismund was too young as yet to take any
part in the meetings and discussions of the learned Poles
so frequently held in the house of his father, they never-
theless exerted great influence over the precocious boy,
and aided in preparing him for the vocation of an
author. His susceptible nature readily seized upon what-
ever appealed to the imagination or soul, and he would
often reproduce his impressions for tlie entertainment
and instruction of his companions. When but fourteen
years of age, he wrote a tale which he caused to be
secretly printed, and then presented to his father, who
approved the gift, but forbade all further essays at that
time, fearing that the facility of composition might lead
his son astray from more severe studies. But the boy
stole from the hours allowed for sleep the time to write
another tale, entitled "The Grave of the Family of
Reichstal. " This was followed by another, "Ladislaus
Hermann and his Court," written in the style of the
novels of Sir Walter Scott, of whose works he was at that
time deeply enamored. Both of these tales were printed
in 1829.
But a dreadful crisis was approaching in the fate of the
dutiful, loving, beloved, and patriotic son. His father
1 8 BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
and his country were to stand in deadly opposition to
each other, and his young dreams of fame to be forever
sacrificed. His life was a long penitential offering to his
incensed country for the faults of his father. He sacri-
ficed all glory to win silence and pardon for the illustrious
offender.
The year 1825 was a memorable one in Russian history,
in consequence of the sudden death of Alexander, and the
outbreak of a wide-spread conspiracy for a constitutional
government in Russia, of which the leaders were Pes-
tel, Orloff, Ryleief, Bestuchef-Rumin, and Kachowski.
During the inquiries instituted at St. Petersburg, it became
evident that there were societies existing in Poland whose
principal object was the restoration of that country to
independence. Uminski, Jablonowski, Soltyk, Kryza-
nowski, Lukasinski, and others, members of one of these
societies, were indicted for high treason. The trial fell
under the jurisdiction of the ancient kingdom of Poland,
whose capital was the city of Warsaw.
The reduced Poland of the Congress of Vienna en-
joyed a nominal constitution, and the Polish Senate was
convoked to preserve, ostensibly at least, a legal form.
Some Senators were then living abroad, as Prince Adam
Czartoryski, but they hastened home to record their pa-
triotic votes. The President of this high tribunal was
elected in the person of the Palatine, Peter Bielinski. The
Commission of Inquiry classed the accused under five
categories, and the Senate was charged to decide on their
fate. It appointed lawyers as counsel for the prisoners ;
the proceedings were public, and lasted a month, when
the court, with the exception of one dissentient voice,
set aside the charge of high treason, and gave tlieir de-
cision : "Not guilty;" a decision based on the- principle
that all Poles naturally desire the independence of their
fatherland. The one dissenting Polish voice was that
of General Count Vincent Krasinski, the father of our
Poet!
The Emperor ordered the judges to be reprimanded, a
thing before unheard of, and consoled himself by con-
fining the accused in the dungeons of St. Petersburg, in
direct violation of the constitution, — and this was one of
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
19
the grievances subsequently alleged in defense of the
Polish revolution.
The constitutional victory of Poland, so full of pa-
triotic joy, was, however, greatly saddened by the fact
that a patriot so distinguished as Vincent Krasinski
should have voted on the side of the absolute Russian
Government, then represented in Warsaw by the Grand
Duke Constantine, famous for his persecution of all pa-
triotic Poles, as well as of the students of the univer-
sity.
Peter Bielinski, the President of the Senate and Com-
mission of Inquiry, died soon afterward, and, on the day
of his funeral, the fiery fellow-students of young Sigis-
mund Krasinski made a strong demonstration, in the
way of threats and insulting expressions, against the
young man, judging him utterly unworthy of their fel-
lowship, because of the unpatriotic vote rendered by his
father on the trial above mentioned.
An eye-witness, Professor Podbielski, then a fellow-
student of young Sigismund on the benches of the uni-
versity, thus describes the occurrence: "On one of the
subsequent days, after the public lecture to the students
in common of the faculties, I observed quite a commotion
among the young men ; many leaving the hall, rushed to
Krasinski, and as they tore the badges of the university
away from him, I heard them cry : 'You are not worthy
to be our fellow-student, because your father cast his de-
cision against our brothers, our noble patriots ! ' Sigis-
mund, with chivalric and undaunted bearing, though of
exceedingly slight form and delicate and refined ap-
pearance, met them fearlessly, and with true Polish spirit
offered them a sincere pardon for their insults to himself,
so utterly innocent in his own person of all wrong ;
but their leader, young Lubinski, and others, refused to
listen to his manly explanations. I was astonished at pro-
ceedings so unjust, but our Professor, with some friends,
finally interfered; I left the hall, and never again saw
our great Anonymous Poet, our long unknown, pure, and
noble patriot. "
This college occurrence was, without doubt, the origi-
nal of the scene described by "The Young Man" to
ao BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
" Dante" in the first part of " The Unfinished Poem" or
" Fragment. "
Constantine was greatly enraged at the decision of tlie
Polish Senators, tortured Lukasinski in prison, and sent
Krzyzanowski to Siberia. The Polish revolution broke
out in 1830, November 29th. Flying with the Russian
army from Poland, Constantine, cruel to the last, caused
the unfortunate Lukasinski to be chained to a cannon
and dragged with the flying troops.
There is but little doubt that the iron entered deeply
into the soul of the brilliant and enthusiastic boy at the
epoch of the mortifying scene above described. The
struggle must have been terrible in the heart of this
devoted son, this enthusiastic patriot. It was probably
at that time he made the double resolve which filled his
entire life with conflict. He piously determined to do
all in his power to contribute to the happiness of the
father who idolized him, never to desert him, and yet to
make his whole life a silent expiation for the crime of that
father ; to live only for the moral elevation of the wronged
country ; to devote all his powers to her resurrection ;
never to yield to the seductions of ambition ; never to
permit himself to wear the laurel crown with which his
unhappy country would so gladly have wreathed his brow
of genius. Is there in the whole range of literature a cry
more full of heart-rending pathos to be found than in the
sole allusion he ever suffered himself to make to his father,
in the appeal to his country, found on the last page of his
weird tale, "Temptation"?
From the time he quitted the university, his life was
but an unbroken chain of wanderings in search of health.
Always delicate, the shock he iiad received told sadly
upon him, and, as he grew older, his sufferings assumed
many depressing and severe forms. Henceforth the
reader must expect little but dates, reading the history of
his mind and soul in the original works marking the
times and places of his pilgrimage.
On quitting the university, he went first to Geneva,
where he wrote for the journals ; among such articles,
were some written in French for the "Revue Encyclo-
pedique. " Falling ill, his physician advised him to seek
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
2X
a milder climate, and he spent the winter in Italy. Re-
turning again to Switzerland, he met there with Mickie-
wicz, and they made together the tour of that romantic
country.
"
HIS POLISH ANNOTATORS: ADAM AND LADISLAS MICKIEWICZ.
POLISH POETRY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, BY JULIAN KLACZKO.
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF THE POET.
TRANSLATED RY
MARTHA WALKER COOK.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1875-
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. ,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
PEMMftYLVAWI^j
^
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE 7
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI ^S
PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION . . . • -3^
ANALYSIS OF THE UNDIVINE COMEDY 4^
POLISH POETRY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . • • 53
THE " FRAGMENT," OR UNFINISHED POEM . . • • ^3^
THE UNDIVINE COMEDY ^73
IRIDION
THE LAST
TEMPTATION
RESURRECTURIS
IN MEMORIAM •
275
467
487
508
512
PREFACE.
It is certainly the duty of a translator to be thoroughly
convinced of the intrinsic merit of any work he may pro-
pose to translate, for he will be in a measure responsible
for its influence upon the minds of those to whom he may
introduce it. No hope of sudden success should dazzle
him into unworthy labor. Let him first ascertain if the
proposed work be one of general human interest, calcu-
lated to increase the moral worth of the people to whom
it is to be offered, to express the influential conceptions
of an original mind, open a new literature, throw light
upon the hidden history of an epoch, or develop the char-
acteristics of a nation ; — if any one of the above condi-
tions be met, then is the translator justified in transplant-
ing the quickening germs into the mental being of his own
countrymen, to bloom in wider consciousness, in fairer
actions.
It is claimed that the translations herewith offered meet
not only 07ie, but all of the above conditions.
That the works of Krasinski are of " general human
interest' ' is proved by the fact that, even under their anony-
mous publication, they were enthusiastically received by
the critics of Europe, and immediately translated into
French and German; that "they are calculated to in-
crease the moral worth of the people to whom they are
offered," is evident in that they contain a genuine attempt
to introduce the sublime ethics of Christianity into the
vexed and vicious sphere of modern politics; that "they
embody the influential conceptions of an original mind,"
may be read in the fact that these " conceptions" modified
the character of an entire People; that the translations
open a " new literature" is clear, since they are the first
specimens of modern Polish poetry as yet given to Amer-
8 PREFACE.
ican readers ; that they " throw light upon the history of
an epoch and develop the characteristics of a nation," is
manifest in the strange truth that, as stated by Julian
Klaczko, only through the lessons of Krasinski can some
of the startling occurrences of the last Polish revolution
be interpreted at all.
A curious spectacle is spread before the utilitarian and
material spirit of the nineteenth century in the closely
interwoven history of our author and his unhappy country.
A Christian Poet teaching only forgiveness, patience, and
self-abnegation, — the possession of whose works in his
native land was Siberia or death, and who, to shield those
dear to him from the vengeance of the oppressor, was
forced to publish anonymously, — has so influenced the
action of a brave, injured, and fiery people, that only in
his poems can be found the clue to deeds which puzzled
the despot and astonished the world ! Thus only can be
explained that startling scene which occurred in Warsaw
in February, i86i,when unarmed vixtw, women, and chil-
dren bared their breasts, and fell without resistance before
the Russian battalions maddened by the sight of the un-
furled Polish banner. For their poet had sung :
" Holy Spirit, who hast taught us that the most sublime
power on earth is the power o\ self-sacrifice , that the most
mighty of arguments is virtue, grant that through love we
may win the nations to the end whereto we aspire ! "
" To each Nation Thou hast given avocation, O Christ !
A profound idea springing from Thee lives in each, and in
it is the secret of its destiny ! Some Thou hast elected
to defend the cause of celestial Beauty, and to offer to the
world an angelic example by hopefully bearing their heavy
cross along a weary way overflowing with their blood . . .
until they have given loftier and more divine ideas to
men through their sublime struggles ; given a holier char-
ity, a wider fraternity, in exchange for the sword that
has been plunged into their bosoms !
" Such a nation is thy Poland, O Lord Jesus ! "
— Psalms of the Future, Krasinski.
And with such ideas did this patriot-poet succeed in
impregnating a nation ! To the eternal glory of Poland
PREFACE. g
be it said, that, strengthened by the divine lessons of her
Poet, she has hitherto been strong enough to resist all the
temptations to avenge herself held out to her by Russia
in the fell scheme of Pansclavism ; that, having shed her
generous blood on almost every battle-field in Europe, and
having been deserted and betrayed by those whom she so
faithfully served, she still bares her own breast to the piti-
less knife of the Czar, rather than aid him to whet it anew
for the heart of the civilized world ! She knows the fury
of the Russian Bear too well to let slip a single link of the
chain she still holds in her manacled and wounded hands.
Let the Russianized pansclavists of Bohemia call her the
"Judas of the Sclaves;" England continue to temporize
until India is lost and her own doom is near ; Greece
change the indolent Turk for the Muscovite Czar ; France,
conquered of old under the Great Napoleon in Russia
because of his treachery to the martyred nation, and fallen
beneath the armed heel of the ruthless Teuton under
Napoleon the Little, seek a new ally in Russia as she cries
in her terror "a bas les Polonais;" Italy wrap herself in
her old indifference with regard to the fate of all " North-
ern Barbarians ;" Austria in her fright strive to conciliate
Galicia while losing Boliemia ; Prussia rejoice in irritating
stolen Posen, and join the o])pressor in his designs until,
having found his way through Vienna to Constantinople,
the prophecy of Frederick the Great is fulfilled : " When
Russia possesses Constantinople, two years later she will be
in Konigsberg; young America bend her spotless brow as
the bandage is wound round her flashing eyes, that she may
not see the pool of blood surrounding the Autocrat; — the
Polish Eagle does not quail ; finding no home on earth, she
spreads her snowy wings, mounts into the sky of holy sacri-
fice, and hopes, ' because she there sees God ! ' "
These works of Krasinski " introduce a new literature
to the American public. " Translations from the French,
German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Norwegian, Swedish,
Arabic, Persian, Hindoostanee, etc. , are placed before us,
but, as if the Russian censor ruled our press, for us Niem-
ciewicz, Mickiewicz, Chodzko, Vincent Pol, Slowacki,
Lelewel, Duchinski, Trentowski, Ostrowski, etc. , etc. ,
have suffered, written, sung, reasoned, and prophesied in
2
lO PREFACE.
vain. Have we any life of the great and good Kosciuszko,
or the brave and fiery Pulaski ?
In 1855 the astute Russian, Pogodin, wrote to his own
government: "The time has come in which we should
seek an alliance with America. " If an assassin can ob-
tain the friendship and recommendation of a powerful
friend of known honor and magnanimity, his nefarious
schemes against the innocent may be pursued in com-
parative safety. Much has been said on the unbridled
license of an untrammeled Press, but as great a danger
lies in its purchased silence. Falsehood and exaggera-
tion o'erleap their aims, destroy themselves, and perish
in the light of liberty ; but silence veils ghastly secrets,
and crime securely revels under its close shroud. How
is the alliance of America to be won ? Silence ! Stifle
the cries of the victims who for the last hundred years
have been crimsoning with their blood the white deserts
of Siberia ; the rattling of chains in the wastes of
Tobolsk and the mountains of the Caucasus ; the moans
and sobs of an entire People we have resolved to de-
stroy ; the multitudinous cries of widows and bereaved
orphans ! This subtle policy has been skillfully pursued ;
and where silence has been impossible, history has
been falsified, ethnography outraged, religious prejudices
evoked, and the character of the Polish People traduced,
that the deception might be complete. For, with Poland
crushed and Constantinople won, Europe lies at the feet
of the Mongolian-German, and, robed as an angel of
emancipation and communistic light, he may Russify
civilization at leisure.
With every generation since her partition, Poland has
entered her united rejection of the iniquitous rule of her
foes, by an attempted revolution, in which the awful
protest has been signed in the blood of her martyred
children, — men, women, and children alike ready to die
in this solemn denial of voluntaty subjugation.
The last disastrous attempt of Poland to arise from her
sepulchre, occasioned by measures insulting to universal
humanity, occurred during our own civil war. Russia
endeavored to make it appear that the rebellion in Amer-
ica and the attempted revolution of the Poles were phe-
PREFACE.
II
nomena bearing a similar character. No idea could be
more erroneous, for the struggle in Poland was to restore
legitimate authority to its rightful holders, to a govern-
ment truly liberal, representative, and Polish; while our
revolted States sought to wrest authority from the legally-
elected rulers, the Congress of the United States. The
resurrection in Poland meant union, life; the rebellion,
division and destruction. The one sought to bring about
general emancipation, the other to prolong slavery.
But in the hands of Russia all facts are wax, which
her political artists mould to serve their own purposes.
While branding the Poles throughout her own realm and
monarchic Europe as freethinkers, republicans, and jaco-
bins, she makes a sudden turn, and denounces them here
as bigots, aristocrats, slaveholders, and despots, and their
insurrection as but an attempt of the nobility to regain
their ancient status, — di. feudal coxi's. ^vcz. o. y ! Hear, shade
of Kosciuszko !
Poland has long been anxious for the emancipation of
her serfs, not only as moved by the advancing humanity
of the world, but as a means of national power. Sword
in hand, she defended it in the confederation of Bar, in
1768; discussed it in the diets of 1776, 1780, 17S8, and
finally adopted it by the famous Constituent Assembly of
1 79 1. Kosciuszko, May 7, 1794, then Dictator of Poland,
issued a document giving entire personal freedom to all
the serfs; and on the 22d of January, 1863, the mem-
bers of the National Polish Government decreed that the
peasants were not only free, but were entitled to a cer-
tain portion of land, of which they should be sole pro-
prietors. But emancipation would have made Poland
too strong for her enemies, by uniting all classes, — and
the oppressor would not permit it ! Only six months
after the noble decree of Kosciuszko occurred the terrible
massacre of Praga, which quenched the contemplated
emancipation in gore, and the following year the very
name of Poland was — at least for a time — effaced from
the political chart of Europe! In later days, the peti-
tions addressed to the Emperor Ferdinand I. , by the
States of Leopol, 26th September, 1845, f^'" ^^^ suppres-
sion of serfage and corvee, led to the massacres in Gal-
12 PREFACE.
Hcia, and the destruction of the Republic of Cracow.
Poland has been literally drenched in blood ever since
her last emancipatory act of 1863. It is about as fair to
accuse Poland of the permission of serfage during the
last hundred years as it would be to accuse Abraham
Lincoln and Whittier of being promoters of slavery !
Yet this is precisely what Russia did, in order to assim-
ilate the insurrection of Poland with our own rebellion,
representing it as originating in the desire to support
feudalism, in the very face of the first words promulgated
by the Polish Committee, January 22, 1863 : ^^All the
sons of Poland, without any distinction oi faith or race,
descent or station, zx^free and equal citizens of the country. ' '
Strong and startling are the contrasts between the
United States and Poland. We are young, powerful,
active, happy, the bulwark of freedom, the hope of
oppressed Peoples ; — Poland has lived through many cen-
turies ; has been since her dismemberment so fettered
that all action, save in the spasms of her revolutions, has
been impossible; has been rendered utterly wretched,
her body mutilated and thrice stabbed to the heart, and
all that is material about her stifled in a living sepulchre.
And yet there are striking points of resemblance. Both
nations are daringly brave; both are confederatively
formed, — Poland, Lithuania, and Ruthenia, uniting in
1569, being the first voluntary confederation in Europe ;
both prefer elective governments ; both are opposed to
religious persecution and oppression ; both detest foreign
domination, and love liberty better than life. And as if
Heaven itself would draw the two countries in still closer
communion, the idolized heroes of both nations, Washing-
ton and Kosciuszko, bound by congenial friendship, stood
breast to breast in the great contest for American freedom.
Material aid being utterly impossible, and in every aspect
impolitic, yet in the higher world of justice the moral sym-
pathy of the triumphant with the wronged and murdered
Nation must be deep and true ; her injuries will be ex-
])osed by the statesmen of freedom, and the tortures to
which she is constantly subjected will flow in the burning
words of fiery indignation from the eloquent lips of the
freemen of America ! Is this so? Alas! silence! silence!
PREFACE. I,
But why call up this terrible spectacle of a great Aryan
Nation in her agony, with the prolonged death-rattle in
her throat; why lift the shroud of anguish from entire
generations, fathers, sons, daughters, infiints, all driven
into dissolution by a barbaric and relentless foe, the ruin
of schools and universities, the destruction of libraries,
the deportation of students, the transplantation and con-
sequent slaughter of thousands of innocent children, the
forcible transportation of thirty thousand helpless inhabit-
ants into the Caucasus, the desecration of maidens, the
tortures of patriots, the knoutings of heroes, boys and
matrons, and the persecution of the oldest form of Chris-
tian faith ? Because the victim is not dead, and there is
vast moral power in the force of public opinion. Because
the American mission is the actualization everywhere of
not merely nominal, but real freedom, founded upon jus-
tice and eternal truth. But chiefly it is done in the present
relation, because it is our ardent desire that the Polish poet
should be understood in all his sublime patriotism by
American readers, and to show that his deepest hues are
not so dark as the truth they depict ; because, for full sym-
pathy with his original conceptions, we must recognize his
own sad stand-point, and the melancholy position of the
country he so earnestly loved. For poet and people hold
positions entirely exceptional in the history of the world,
Poles and exiles ! it is with no light feeling of self-
distrust that the daughter of a distant land has ventured
to lay her daring hands upon the master-works of your
poet, patriot, and statesman. She would fain have called
the high poets of her country to the task of transmuting
the thoughts of the Polish Dante into fitting English;
but none seemed ready to begin the work. Wreathing
their lyres with their own immortal flowers, singing their
songs of freedom for the emancipation, cultivation, and
delight of humanity, — some of them perchance momen-
tarily charmed by the mystic might of Russia, — none were
prepared to burn the torch of their own genius to illume
the spiritual and majestic features of your illustrious dead.
Feeble as may be the fire of this torch as now borne,
sway and flicker as it may in the uncertain hands, may its
light yet be strong enough to manifest something of the
2»
14
PREFACE.
valiant "Polish soul" to my countrymen ! Strong enough
to point out to future translators the unexplored treasures
of Polish literature, in order that in more inspired ver-
sions they may yet place "The Undivine Comedy" and
" Iridion" where they deserve to rank, — after Dante and
Shakespeare, among the loftiest creations of human genius.
I know that through the medium of a less impassioned
language, and deprived of their exquisite form and bold
and undulating rhythm, these poems will seem cold and
imperfect in your eyes, but I beg of you to pardon the
deficiencies, because of the difficulty of the task and the
love and reverence which prompt its execution.
Whatever the material, venal, and passing phantoms of
the hour may seem to say, believe not that American
hearts have ceased to beat in unison with yours ! Your
courageous struggles for "a country" maybe still mis-
represented and misunderstood ; the brilliant serf-eman-
cipation in Russia may for a time dazzle us into ignorance
of the atrocious torments to which you are subjected, but
misconception not voluntary cannot long endure, the Sun
of Truth is everywhere rising and everywhere dispersing
the mists of falsehood under its happy light, true republi-
cans will learn that "the path to freedom lies not through
the charnel-house. " Right, not might, is the corner-
stone of God's kingdom upon earth !
Liberty, justice, equality before the law, and self-govern-
ment, are the normal dogmas of our political creed ; to
renounce them were to stultify ourselves. They are corner-
stones in the temple we are building for the refuge of
men; to uproot them were to bring it in ruins about our
own heads.
We know that, tortured and mutilated, Poland still
lives, and that, at every banquet of the " Holy Alliance,"
|ier grand and bloody form rises from her three graves to
appal the three crowned and rival murderers of a nation.
For she is buried, not in the corruption of the grave, but
in thp loyal h|earts of her patriotic and tortured children,
in the living sympathies of all who love virtue, self-sacri-
fice, and heroism, and in the eternal justice of God ; —
therefore is her resurrection certain !
Translator,
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKL
The following imperfect sketch of the "Anonymous
Poet" is the only account we have been able to find of
him in European literature. It is translated chiefly from
" Unsere Zeit Jahrbuch zum Conversations Lexikon.
No. 5^. 1862. L. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig. "
"The silent organ loudest chants the master's requiem. "
So chants the fact that as yet no details of the life of the
great Pole can appear, because they might compromise
friends once very dear to him, living within reach of the
vengeful arm of Russia. He renounced all fame while
living, ever publishing anonymously, and the manifold
experiences of his internal life, with his numerous his-
torical and political letters, must slumber in the shroud
of silence, until Polish patriotism is no longer crime, and
confiscation and exile cease to be the doom of all con-
nected with those daring enough to defend their native
land.
The reader may, however, round this skeleton biogra-
phy into flesh, by clothing its bones from the veined
tissues he will not fail to find in the nervous pages of
Julian Klaczko.
When Napoleon entered Poland, in 1806, the leader
of the Polish Legions, General Dombrowski, summoned
the fiery patriot, Wybicki, to unite himself with armed
hand to the conqueror of nations ; and as Napoleon
spoke freely of the reconstitution of the country, such
summons fell not upon unheeding ears in Poland. Many
patriots of high distinction offered up property and life
15
l6 BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
in the new-born hopes for fatlierland, and, captivated by
the fallacious promises of Napoleon, hurried to join the
French eagles. Count Vincent Krasinski, then about
twenty-four years of age, a man of great wealth and high
distinction, was one of the first to greet the French Em-
peror on Polish ground, and afterwards accompanied him
in his campaigns as adjutant.
For a time Count Krasinski resided in Paris, in which
city his wife, Maria, a princess of the house of Radziwill,
presented him with a son, born on the 19th of February,
1812, who received in baptism the name of Sigismund
Napoleon. This boy became the "Anonymous Poet of
Poland. "
Bitterly deceived were the high hopes of the Poles.
After the signing of the act of abdication by Napoleon,
April II, 1814, Count Vincent Krasinski, then under
orders from the Czar Alexander, led the unhappy rem-
nants of the Polish legions back from France into
Poland.
His countess soon after joined him there with the
little Sigismund, then about three years old. Upon the
immense estates of his forefathers, under the tender care
of a devoted but very sickly mother, lived for many
happy years the young Sigismund, a dark-eyed boy with
long, fair curls, remarkable from his earliest years for rare
powers of wit and intellect, for rapid and acute answers
to difficult questions, for true and chivalric feeling, for
high-strung and self-sacrificing ardor. His health, how-
ever, was exceedingly delicate. When but five years of
age he was presented to the Czar, an especial friend of
his parents, and recited for him the lines of Voltaire,
"Tu dors, Brute! " meantime fearlessly gazing with
childlike confidence into the keen eyes of the autocrat.
Two years later he was introduced to the Empress, whom
he pleased greatly. She said laughingly to him, "lac-
knowledge you as my knight. Will you accept the ap-
pointment, and defend me against my enemies? " His
answer was as acute as chivalric. "I cannot," he re-
plied ; " your Majesty has no need of defenders, since
you have no enemies. "
He had instructors of great ability, and so rapidly was
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
17
he advanced in his studies, that he was soon able to enter
the sixth class in the College of Warsaw. Uncommon
powers of intellect, i>nited with a great memory, ardent
and unceasing efforts for thorough mental cultivation,
distinguished him in his intercourse with his fellow-
students. But however rapid his advances, he failed to
satisfy his eager desire for exact and wide learning.
His mother died in 1822, and so bitter was the distress
of his father, that he withdrew himself from all social
intercourse, save that forced upon him by his official po-
sition, and devoted himself exclusively to the advance-
ment of his idolized boy. He followed his mental and
spiritual culture with eyes of constant watchfulness, and,
at an examination to which the savants interested in the
cause of education had been invited, he had the gratifi-
cation of seeing his son, then but twelve years of age,
astonish all present by his accurate knowledge of gram-
mar, literature, geography, and history.
Although Sigismund was too young as yet to take any
part in the meetings and discussions of the learned Poles
so frequently held in the house of his father, they never-
theless exerted great influence over the precocious boy,
and aided in preparing him for the vocation of an
author. His susceptible nature readily seized upon what-
ever appealed to the imagination or soul, and he would
often reproduce his impressions for tlie entertainment
and instruction of his companions. When but fourteen
years of age, he wrote a tale which he caused to be
secretly printed, and then presented to his father, who
approved the gift, but forbade all further essays at that
time, fearing that the facility of composition might lead
his son astray from more severe studies. But the boy
stole from the hours allowed for sleep the time to write
another tale, entitled "The Grave of the Family of
Reichstal. " This was followed by another, "Ladislaus
Hermann and his Court," written in the style of the
novels of Sir Walter Scott, of whose works he was at that
time deeply enamored. Both of these tales were printed
in 1829.
But a dreadful crisis was approaching in the fate of the
dutiful, loving, beloved, and patriotic son. His father
1 8 BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
and his country were to stand in deadly opposition to
each other, and his young dreams of fame to be forever
sacrificed. His life was a long penitential offering to his
incensed country for the faults of his father. He sacri-
ficed all glory to win silence and pardon for the illustrious
offender.
The year 1825 was a memorable one in Russian history,
in consequence of the sudden death of Alexander, and the
outbreak of a wide-spread conspiracy for a constitutional
government in Russia, of which the leaders were Pes-
tel, Orloff, Ryleief, Bestuchef-Rumin, and Kachowski.
During the inquiries instituted at St. Petersburg, it became
evident that there were societies existing in Poland whose
principal object was the restoration of that country to
independence. Uminski, Jablonowski, Soltyk, Kryza-
nowski, Lukasinski, and others, members of one of these
societies, were indicted for high treason. The trial fell
under the jurisdiction of the ancient kingdom of Poland,
whose capital was the city of Warsaw.
The reduced Poland of the Congress of Vienna en-
joyed a nominal constitution, and the Polish Senate was
convoked to preserve, ostensibly at least, a legal form.
Some Senators were then living abroad, as Prince Adam
Czartoryski, but they hastened home to record their pa-
triotic votes. The President of this high tribunal was
elected in the person of the Palatine, Peter Bielinski. The
Commission of Inquiry classed the accused under five
categories, and the Senate was charged to decide on their
fate. It appointed lawyers as counsel for the prisoners ;
the proceedings were public, and lasted a month, when
the court, with the exception of one dissentient voice,
set aside the charge of high treason, and gave tlieir de-
cision : "Not guilty;" a decision based on the- principle
that all Poles naturally desire the independence of their
fatherland. The one dissenting Polish voice was that
of General Count Vincent Krasinski, the father of our
Poet!
The Emperor ordered the judges to be reprimanded, a
thing before unheard of, and consoled himself by con-
fining the accused in the dungeons of St. Petersburg, in
direct violation of the constitution, — and this was one of
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
19
the grievances subsequently alleged in defense of the
Polish revolution.
The constitutional victory of Poland, so full of pa-
triotic joy, was, however, greatly saddened by the fact
that a patriot so distinguished as Vincent Krasinski
should have voted on the side of the absolute Russian
Government, then represented in Warsaw by the Grand
Duke Constantine, famous for his persecution of all pa-
triotic Poles, as well as of the students of the univer-
sity.
Peter Bielinski, the President of the Senate and Com-
mission of Inquiry, died soon afterward, and, on the day
of his funeral, the fiery fellow-students of young Sigis-
mund Krasinski made a strong demonstration, in the
way of threats and insulting expressions, against the
young man, judging him utterly unworthy of their fel-
lowship, because of the unpatriotic vote rendered by his
father on the trial above mentioned.
An eye-witness, Professor Podbielski, then a fellow-
student of young Sigismund on the benches of the uni-
versity, thus describes the occurrence: "On one of the
subsequent days, after the public lecture to the students
in common of the faculties, I observed quite a commotion
among the young men ; many leaving the hall, rushed to
Krasinski, and as they tore the badges of the university
away from him, I heard them cry : 'You are not worthy
to be our fellow-student, because your father cast his de-
cision against our brothers, our noble patriots ! ' Sigis-
mund, with chivalric and undaunted bearing, though of
exceedingly slight form and delicate and refined ap-
pearance, met them fearlessly, and with true Polish spirit
offered them a sincere pardon for their insults to himself,
so utterly innocent in his own person of all wrong ;
but their leader, young Lubinski, and others, refused to
listen to his manly explanations. I was astonished at pro-
ceedings so unjust, but our Professor, with some friends,
finally interfered; I left the hall, and never again saw
our great Anonymous Poet, our long unknown, pure, and
noble patriot. "
This college occurrence was, without doubt, the origi-
nal of the scene described by "The Young Man" to
ao BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
" Dante" in the first part of " The Unfinished Poem" or
" Fragment. "
Constantine was greatly enraged at the decision of tlie
Polish Senators, tortured Lukasinski in prison, and sent
Krzyzanowski to Siberia. The Polish revolution broke
out in 1830, November 29th. Flying with the Russian
army from Poland, Constantine, cruel to the last, caused
the unfortunate Lukasinski to be chained to a cannon
and dragged with the flying troops.
There is but little doubt that the iron entered deeply
into the soul of the brilliant and enthusiastic boy at the
epoch of the mortifying scene above described. The
struggle must have been terrible in the heart of this
devoted son, this enthusiastic patriot. It was probably
at that time he made the double resolve which filled his
entire life with conflict. He piously determined to do
all in his power to contribute to the happiness of the
father who idolized him, never to desert him, and yet to
make his whole life a silent expiation for the crime of that
father ; to live only for the moral elevation of the wronged
country ; to devote all his powers to her resurrection ;
never to yield to the seductions of ambition ; never to
permit himself to wear the laurel crown with which his
unhappy country would so gladly have wreathed his brow
of genius. Is there in the whole range of literature a cry
more full of heart-rending pathos to be found than in the
sole allusion he ever suffered himself to make to his father,
in the appeal to his country, found on the last page of his
weird tale, "Temptation"?
From the time he quitted the university, his life was
but an unbroken chain of wanderings in search of health.
Always delicate, the shock he iiad received told sadly
upon him, and, as he grew older, his sufferings assumed
many depressing and severe forms. Henceforth the
reader must expect little but dates, reading the history of
his mind and soul in the original works marking the
times and places of his pilgrimage.
On quitting the university, he went first to Geneva,
where he wrote for the journals ; among such articles,
were some written in French for the "Revue Encyclo-
pedique. " Falling ill, his physician advised him to seek
BIOGRAPHY OF KRASINSKI.
2X
a milder climate, and he spent the winter in Italy. Re-
turning again to Switzerland, he met there with Mickie-
wicz, and they made together the tour of that romantic
country. The daily association with that far-famed poet
kindled the slumbering sparks of creative genius in the
soul of Sigismund.
The close of the year 1830 found him in Italy, where
he received the distressing intelligence of the disastrous
events occurring in Warsaw. They made a profound
impression on the enthusiastic and patriotic young Pole,
but he was thoroughly unable to follow the dictates of his
heart. His moral strength would have been sufficient to
have supported him through the conflict then so wildly
raging in his breast, but he was forced to succumb to
physical weakness : the consequent struggle brought upon
him an illness which chained him to his bed during a
whole year. He has often declared that this was the
most painful period of his existence, and a state of bodily
suffering began in it which was to last as long as life
endured.
