The world: historical and actual . ore ambitious natives resorted to ob-tain, by flattering the imperial confidants, the digni-ties of the republic. Every intimation, howeverslight, from the northern metropolis, was animperious obligation on the feeble king and his ser-vile minister; and not on them alone, but on thegreat body of the nobles, who had lost all sense ofthe national dishonor, and who transferred theirhomage from Warsaw to St. Petersburg withoutshame or remorse. Of course the rejntblic couldnot long survive such a state of affairs. Famine,anarchy, rapine and desolation were everywh
The world: historical and actual . ore ambitious natives resorted to ob-tain, by flattering the imperial confidants, the digni-ties of the republic. Every intimation, howeverslight, from the northern metropolis, was animperious obligation on the feeble king and his ser-vile minister; and not on them alone, but on thegreat body of the nobles, who had lost all sense ofthe national dishonor, and who transferred theirhomage from Warsaw to St. Petersburg withoutshame or remorse. Of course the rejntblic couldnot long survive such a state of affairs. Famine,anarchy, rapine and desolation were everywhere. The population dwindled away, and poverty tookthe place of thrift. Catharine of Russia resolvedto end the shame, and erase the republic from thepolitical map of Europe. Stanislas Augustus fee-bly swayed the scepter of Poland during the expir-ing hour. The Poles had the bravery necessaryto defense, but the incongruous and unstable ffov-eminent afforded unfriendly neighboring powersfacilities for devising ways and means to dis-. member the distracted nation. The evil camegradually. When too late the nation was arousedto the danger of the situation, and the cause ofnational independence found a grand leader in theheroic Thaddeus Kos-ciusko, one of theheroes of the Ameri-can revolution. Hehad rendered import-ant service in thecause of AmericanIndej>endenee, and re-turning to his nativeland, made a grandeffort to rescue it fromthe allied and Warsaw Kosciusko. both opened their gates to him. Kosciusko wasprudent and kindly no less than brave, but thefrenzy of the French Revolution, rather than thecalm patriotism of the Americans, pervaded theranks of the nationalists. Wild scenes of bloodwere enacted, and the salvation of Poland renderedhopeless by these excesses. In 1795 the end fell before a Russian army. Austria, Prus-sia and Russia divided the territory between them,the latter taking the lions share. It was the Mus-covite who had done the fatal
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectworldhistory, bookyea
