character rendered him very odious to Constantine. He courts danger for the sake of honour.

Koss, a colonel of engineers at the head of the staff of the expeditionary force into Lithuania, ranks among that class of officers of science, such as Prondzynski, Chrzanowski, Bem, and others, who form as it were a nursery of warriors, the most necessary for the future fortunes of Poland. Under Constantine, Colonel Koss was director of the military school.

Zaliewski in person directed the first movements in Warsaw. Latterly he has headed the military partizans, who have been carrying on so desolating and harassing a warfare against the Russians in the province of Augustowo.

Jaraczewski, a general of brigade, first known in the wars of Napoleon. After the revolution, the palatinate of Lublin, having formed a strong regiment of irregular light horse, called Cracus (from having been originally formed in the province of Cracow), entrusted him with the organization and command of it. He soon distinguished himself so much that he was speedily promoted. Having escaped the balls of the enemy, he fell a victim to cholera, after a few hours illness, at Plotsk.

Jagmin is known throughout the army as an experienced officer. Before the revolution, he commanded as colonel the regiment of the chasseurs à cheval of the guard. Having signalized himself on every occasion, he has been promoted to the rank of general of brigade his known courage and integrity give the assurance of increasing fame.

Szeptycki learned the art of war in the regiment of the Lancers of Napoleon's guard, which was so well known; and there was no officer in that corps whose reputation was better established. Alexander, after having assumed the crown of Poland, entrusted him with the organization and training of the new royal guard; but his feelings as a gentleman and a soldier did not permit him long to retain service under the Grand Duke Constantine. He retired from active employment, and, having married, devoted himself to rural pursuits. At the call of his country last year, he re-appeared in the field as a general of brigade. He has an extraordinary talent for forming new troops, whom he inspires with the most unbounded confidence.

Count Joseph Zaluski also served first in the Lancers of the guards, and, though very young, he established a brilliant reputation. The Emperor Alexander made him his aide-de-camp. He afterwards served in the same capacity under the present Emperor during the Turkish war. He commanded a brigade of guards, and ou one occasion was entrusted with carrying a point of some importance; but the Russian regiments whom he commanded, from, it is supposed, national feeling if not cowardice, would not fight. An example being necessary, a Polish officer was the natural victim. Irritated by this injustice, he quitted the service, and kept aloof until the present crisis. He holds the rank of general of brigade, and commands the levée en masse in Masovia, which has been remarkable for harassing the Russian army.

Charzewski, the worthy son of one of those Polish patriots who expiated in Siberia the resistance to the nefarious partition of Poland. His immense fortune was confiscated. The subject of this short notice entered the service in 1806, in the artillery. He was distinguished in 1809 and 1812, and was decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honour by Marshal Macdonald. Previous to the revolution, he commanded the horse artillery of the guards which decided the fate of the capital. He placed the only artillery there in the hands of the patriots, and, by playing on the Russian carabineers, prevented them from assailing the half-armed insurgents. At the battle of Grochow, he was severely wounded by a shot in both legs, which incapacitates him from field service. His loss is severely felt by the army, for he is as intelligent in counsel as he is gallant in the field. It is said, that though he can only move on crutches, he now commands the artillery that defends Warsaw.

Bontemps. In 1807, Napoleon sent this officer to Poland; and, from that time to the present, he has superintended the manufacture of the artillery with great ability. In utter disregard of his rank as general, he will teach the workmen with his own hand the use of the instruments employed, and by his dexterity excites strong emulation among them. He has on every occasion shown the utmost fidelity to his adopted country.

Romarino. This officer was sent to Warsaw by the Polish committee at Paris, to join the standard of renovated Poland; and it is therefore difficult to obtain very precise information respecting him. He is, however, a Corsican, and is said to be the son of the nurse of Napoleon. His military education, the fruits of which are now felt by the cause in which he is engaged, was in the best school. He has been appointed general of brigade, and for his gallantry has been created a Knight of the Order of Military Merit of Poland.

The preceding sketches do not pretend to be perfect, even in the enumeration of distinguished officers; but refer chiefly to those, who have in any way been brought prominently forward during the last few months of powerful excitement.

Originally it was our intention to have kept perfectly distinct our notices of the living civil and military personages of Poland; but there is one individual holding high rank in the councils of his country, whose general services have been so varied as to entitle him to a distinguished place, either among the grave and renowned senators, or the most devoted of that gallant band, which has never ceased to exist, from the earliest history of Poland to the present glorious struggle. So rare a union of qualities entitle the friend and companion in arms of the illustrious Kosciusko,-even, though chiefly pre-eminent for eloquence, wit, and all the mighty witchery of song, -to maintain his station as a gallant and devoted warrior. That man is Niemcewicz,1 who has shared from his early youth in every glorious effort to sustain the fortunes of his country. While very young, being scarcely twenty, he was named as deputy from one of the districts of Courland, and was one of the most active members

This eminent man is now in London, having arrived since the above went to

press.

of that Diet, which, by the Constitution of 1790, attempted to restore the ancient glories of united Poland. The part which this youthful statesman performed on that memorable occasion established his reputation on a very solid foundation; for, not content with labouring to perfect the political institutions of his country, he aimed at making them the superstructure, resting on the perfection of moral opinions. In this his success has been great, whether as a public writer, or as one of the most exquisite of poets.

Among other modes of instruction, he essayed to blend political topics with the drama. The difficulties are immense, and the attempt has scarcely ever been made without being wearisome or offensively personal. Niemcewicz has mastered these difficulties; and in a comedy celebrated throughout Poland, "The Return of a Deputy to Home," (Pomrot Posla,) he has exhibited a most lively and animated picture of Polish habits and manners. He has also written a variety of similar pieces, which, though not equally successful, indicate the same distinguished talents.

But Niemcewicz has been elevated to the head of modern Polish writers by his tales. In these he chides and corrects human infirmity with a delicacy and dexterity which have never been surpassed: always the indignant corrector of vice, he never ceases to be the friend of erring man.

So distinguished at an early age, he might, without reproach, have devoted himself to his intellectual pursuits; but literary fame faded into insignificance when his loved country was in peril. As soon as Kosciusko had put himself at the head of the insurrection to resist the splendid spoliation of the crowned anarchists, Niemcewicz joined the national standard, and was immediately selected as the friend and aide-de-camp of the commander-in-chief. Throughout the whole of that illustrious man's short but brilliant career of resistance to the northern hordes of the northern Semiramis, the warrior poet was his. inseparable companion; and at that glorious, though unsuccessful struggle, which laid Poland prostrate at the feet of the invader, both fell. On the field of Macizowice, after the battle, Kosciusko was found nearly dead, and his aide-de-camp close by his side, most desperately wounded.

In violation of the capitulation entered into at Warsaw by the Russian General-in-Chief, both these brave sufferers, accompanied by the most distinguished of their patriotic countrymen, such as Ignace Potocki, Matowski, and others, were consigned to the dungeons of St. Petersburg, where they groaned until the accession of Paul. Thousands of their favoured countrymen were sent to people the deserts of Siberia.

Released from his confinement, Kosciusko revisited America, where he had served during the revolutionary war. He was accompanied by Niemcewicz, who remained there until 1807, when Napoleon having reanimated the dormant spirit of Polish independence, he returned to his native country. The King of Saxony appointed him secretary to the National Senate, and bestowed on him the Grand Cross of the order of St. Stanislas.

On the restoration of Russian supremacy, the warrior, who had bled for his country; the poet and historian, whose most eloquent effusions had been dedicated to her cause,-could not expect to be

regarded with complacency; and as soon as Alexander's generous intentions were checked by the dark suspicions infused into his mind, he became the object of persecution. His warning voice could not be raised, and his precepts would have been unheard, had he not availed himself of the opportunity of pronouncing the funeral oration on Kosciusko, and gave vent to his feelings and opinions in a strain of eloquence transcending even his best efforts. The glowing sentiments of patriotic virtue that beam forth in every line make it the text-book of every Pole.

But though injured, neglected, and even persecuted by his sovereign, Niemcewicz retained the affections of his countrymen; and this was manifested in the most gratifying manner to his feelings on the death of the philosophical minister of state, Statzie, who filled the post of President of the Royal Literary Society of Warsaw, by electing him to that honourable situation; and to that distinction he was fully entitled; for, independently of his political fame, he is the Walter Scott of Poland. History, poetry, romance,—all bear testimony to his rare powers. His works have been translated into French and German; and it is a matter of regret that they have not yet assumed an English garb.

The day of the last revolution was his day of triumph :--he guided public opinion; and, by calming all excited spirits, he essentially prevented excess from staining the day-dawn of his country's freedom. Since that event, he has been called to the senate in a way the most flattering that can be imagined. The Polish constitution requires that every senator should be a large landed proprietor. This Niemcewicz is not; yet he was unanimously chosen a Castellan : he declined the honour in a discourse of splendid eloquence; but his resistance was unavailing, for the Diet had resolved to break through ordinary rules to grace their ranks with a member whose life had been devoted to one sole object-POLAND.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF

SCOTLAND.'

THE first day of the assembly is occupied with matters of routine: the Moderator is elected, generally without a division, after a good deal of complimentary oration, in which the past and present Moderators receive the largest share. The King's commission is produced, and is the subject of gratulation by the house and the Commissioner. This meeting was more than usually crowded. It so chanced that an office of some consequence in the church was vacant at this time, and there had been a smart competition for it. There are many temporal interests in which the church is concerned. As to these, and generally as to all legal business not strictly ecclesiastical, the clergy are in the practice of taking the advice of a lawyer, who, when installed into the office, receives the name of Procurator: the situation is

Continued from page 344.

highly respectable, and, considering the usual rate of Scottish livings, the emoluments are considerable. These arise from a fixed sum out of the funds of the church, which, I am sorry to say, are greatly too limited to permit of any considerable allowance for any purpose whatever, and of the professional fees which the Procurator is sure to obtain in the courts, if, as he ought, he attains a distinguished name as a church-lawyer. The last tenant of the office was a learned knight, who had held it for more than twenty years, but in whose hands it may perhaps be said, without injustice to his memory, that it did not retain all the importance which was attached to it in the days of some of his predecessors. Sir John Connell was a good lawyer, a good speaker, and a good man; but having come forth in early life under circumstances greatly too favourable for the continued exertion of talent, and been proportionably much more successful than his real merits justified, it was his fate to experience a reaction in his later days, which was far more undeserved than his former success. He who, in the earlier part of his career, commanded more business than he could conveniently accomplish, and, as the near relative of the head of the court, was supposed to have what is wellknown by the name of its ear, was now briefless, and outstripped by juniors who were certainly his inferiors. The long exclusion of the Whigs in Scotland from place made them exceedingly bitter on those of the rival party who enjoyed the good things, which an undeviating adherence to the minister, rather than any professional accomplishment, was the certain means of securing. For very many years, it is but too true that the promotion and the talent did not run in the same parallels. Nothing was more common than to hear a stupid oration from a heavy, ill-informed member of some good family with much county influence, answered by all the point of Erskine, or the bitter, but admirable replies of Clark, without any such influence; and to know that the first orator was on his way to the bench, while the respondent was doomed to a stuff gown for life, and endless twoguinea fees. This state of things produced infinite ridicule to those of the fortunate party, and Sir John Connell belonged to the latter. It is a fact, not unworthy of comment in the history of the provinces, as showing the wholesome decline of the influence which then unhappily predominated, whereby the voice of the minister for Scotland, or the minister's friend, was omnipotent,--that at the former contest for the office of Procurator, some twenty years ago, the candidates were Mr. Moncrieff and Mr. Connell; and the latter secured a majority in all classes of the assembly of somewhere about four to one. Mr. Moncrieff stood upon his talents and the great reputation of his father. His talents were confessedly of the very first order, and certainly placed him, without dispute, at the head of the law. The respect for his father was unbounded; no man was more sincerely beloved, nor more willingly honoured. Yet the men of a wise generation thought it better to give their votes to the son-in-law of the Lord President; and this gentleman was accordingly placed at the head of a very long poll.

The duty of proposing the respective candidates brought out some of the chief men in the assembly. There was a good deal of squab