The Polish revolution.
A correspondent of the
London Daily News, who writes from Cracow under date of May 4, gives an interesting account of a visit to the camp of the Polish insurgents on the Gallician frontier, commanded by
Gen. Jezioranski.
He describes the appearance of the camp as follows:
‘
From afar we could descry the camp fires scattered in all directions among the trees, and as we drew near and began to distinguish the picturesque groups of insurgents sitting round cash, with their horses picketed beside them, it seemed so like a brigand spectacle scene out of an opera that it was hard to believe there was a terrible earnestness and reality about it. Approaching one of these groups we found some dozen motley dressed, bandit-looking fellows seated round a caldron, in which lead was molting for the stern work before them.
Winnicki, the chief of the staff, a noble looking fellow, wearing a Polish tunic, with cap and feathers, was standing in the midst, and in the act of stirring the molien lead with the point of his sword.
At our request he brought us to the
General, who received us very warmly, and expressed great satisfaction at the arrival of an Englishman in his camp.
Jezioranski is a little man, with remarkably penetrating eyes, but otherwise unremarkable features, and does not present, by any means, a military appearance.
That he possesses the talents of good generalship is quite undisputed, and the manner in which he handled his troops on the occasion of the fight on the 1st won him the warmest approbation of the Austrian officers who were watching their frontier.
’
The character of the insurgents is thus sketched:
At earliest dawn the whole camp was affect, and I proceeded to inspect the general appearance of the troops.
Each man is armed with a first-rate Minnie rifle and bayonet, and many have pistols in addition.
They have besides a good-sized knapsack for carrying a few necessaries, and several companies present a very military appearance.
On their caps and cartouche-boxes the Polish white eagle is conspicuous, and each true patriot feels intense pride in seeing their own supplanting the hated
Russian eagle.
Even a stranger can hardly regard the enthusiasm unmoved especially when he reflects what would be the condition of these young fellows in the ranks of the
Russian army, where their bright hopes would at once be converted into despair.--Considering that Jezioranski's detachment was only brought together ten days since, a wonderful amount of order already reign.
The organization of the various departments is very complete.
Two experienced surgeons follow the detachment into the field, one of whom, Troczewski, made the campaign in 1831, and since then served for 16 years in
Algiers, after which he was attached to the
French army through the Crimean and Italian wars.
Two military chaplains perform mass before battle, and, raising the cross, lead the troops when they go into action.
Five mounted
gendarmes keep up discipline in the camp, and altogether you are perfectly astonished to find such order where you expected chaos.
It was a very striking sight to witness the troops at mass.
A rude altar of pine branches had been constructed between the two crosses marking the graves of the Russians and Poles, and round this the wild bandit like insurgents were collected.
It seemed strange business for men such as they looked to be about, but their great earnestness showed that the scene was not to them a mere farce, but a sacred duty.
As the hair of the priest was agitated by the wind, and the sun shone full on the heads of the assembled throng, it seemed to me that, compared with the great vaulted sky above them, the fairest shrine that ever was raised was a most insignificant worshipping place.
It seems that the Russians have the most exaggerated idea of the strength of the in
Sargents, for a dispatch of Mednikow's to the
Governor of Zamose, requesting reinforcements, fell into the hands of Czerwinski, the commander of a detachment of three hundred insurgents also in this neighborhood, and he forwarded it to Jezioranski.
In this dispatch the
Russian General admitted having suffered very severely in the fight of Friday, and reported it quite out of the question to think of a future attack until the arrival of reinforcements.
In the course of yesterday and to-day nearly one hundred and fifty fresh recruits found their way into camp, including a dozen perfectly equipped Lancers on capital horses, looking, as an insurgent remarked to me in
English, "very pretty fellows."
Some of these belonged to the detachment of Lelewel, who was driven across the frontier ten days ago. To night Lelewel himself got safely across the frontier, and will remain with Jezioranski till the numbers of the detachment swell so considerably as to render it desirable to split it up in two.
The camp presented a very animated appearance to-day, and I never saw such a motley collection of costumes.
Austrian Hussars, Jews with all sorts of provisions for man and horse; wild looking peasants, with straight, long black hair, hanging down over their shoulders; insurgents, in brown,
red,
blue,
black and
green uniforms, were mingled together indiscriminate confusion.
As the evening sun threw the long shadows of the trees, forming a most chequered shade, the aspect of the camp was picturesque beyond description, and at the moment a troop of lancers; riding in from a reconnaissance, gave the finishing touch to the picture.
