The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-13 00:00:00

THE INSURRECTION IN POLAND.

(From the limes' Special Correspondent.)
BRESLAU, April 8.

Leaving the Cracow hills and the immediate scene
of the Langiewicz catastrophe, we have only to go
a little distance to fall in with one of the most re-
markable specimens of guerilla enterprise. As the
reader may recollect, Langiewiz, shortly before the
last battles, tried to diminish rather than increase
the numbers under his command. Among the
corps then detached from the main force a few
squadrons of horse were destined to distinguish
themselves above others. About 400 strong, and
headed by Cieszkowski, they left the common camp
at Gosvez on the 19th. Their ordersjwere to infest,
tear up, and damage in every way the railway line
in the southern half of the kingdom. Dashing
away for the west, while Langiewicz marched to
the east, to fall a premature victim at Welce, he
first appeared at Radomsk, a station 20 miles north
of Czentochow. Having relieved the Government
Board of 6,000 roubles, he tore up the rails the
day after at Z twierciez, a few miles south of the
last-named place. A Russian column interposed,
fired a few shots, and sent the Poles hurrahing to
the wood, Twenty four hours more sufficed to bring
him to Czenstochow, where he alarmed the garri-
son, and, collecting horses and provender, made off
to Wielun, 30 miles to the north-west, and about as
many from the railway line. To leave the latter for
a few days had become imperative, half a dozen
Russian columns having been set upon him, and
marching to and fro incessantly between Piotrkow
and Czenstochow. The line was now protected
from his destructive tendencies, but the troops were
detained in the south, notwithstanding the urgent
demand of General Brunner to send him succour to
Kalish. By nailing down the garrison of Czensto-
chow, he thus saved from utter defeat the band of
Mielencki, fighting about 100 miles to the north,
and which otherwise would have received the
finishing blow from General Brunner. After this
useful service on the 22d, he seized the Government
moneys at Dziloszya (ten miles south-east from
Wielun) on the 23,1, and on the 25th tore up the
rails at Kuznica, an hour's distance from Czensto-
chow. On the same day the Government Gazette
destroyed him for the first time ; but, as on the
27th he had returned to Dzialoszyn, the scene of his
last raid, we shall be excused for believing that the
encounter was just enough to scare him from the line
and send him back to his former haunt. All this futile
pursuit on the part of the Russians—all this sud-
den re-appearance and victorious retreat of the
Poles, as the reader will not fail to observe, was the
work of a few days, and confined to an area of 50
miles square. He repeatedly intercepted communi-
cation between Warsaw and the south, delaying
the transport of troops, and making it necessary for
the trains to drive at the slowest possible rate, to
guard against running into a cut intersecting the
embankment. For provisions he had to rely upon
the villages, as none could be carried about in his
swift and spasmodic movement over the country.
Carriages, too, had to be demanded frequently of the
peasants, as 100 infantry (or some hundreds accord-
ing to other sources) had been gradually added to
his successful band. On the 27th, however, he came
to grief. While encamped at Rodoszewice, near
Dzialoszyn, the Russians, in great strength, fell
upon him during the night. Whether owing to the
negligence of his sentinels or the fatigue of the men
it is probable that the sixth or seventh part of his
corps had to pay with their lives for the escape of
the rest. Among the booty made by the Russians
were seven guns small calibre, 50 horses, and about
as many prisoners. This being the time the Russian
troops were pouring in to the south from the northern
garrisons, Cieszkowski thought it as well to place
a greater distance between himself and the rail,
which was fast becoming tabooed. Before marching
off towards Kalish (50 miles north-west from the
place of his defeat) he told off a few daring charac-
ters to penetrate to Zarki and Lazy, and burn the
railway bridges as a parting kindness to his friends.
The commission was partly executed, this being
the second time that all inflammable in the Lazy
bridge disappeared before the application of his
torch. To inflict this defeat upon him, and cause
the removal of his camp some 30 or 40 miles to the
north, he had been tracked, dogged, and pursued
for the last fortnight by three Russian columns,
averaging between 1,000 and 1,500 men, and sup-
ported by six pieces of rifled artillery. His de-
parture was the signal for the military occupation
of every terminus by garrisons varying between a
few hundred and a thousand men. At the same
time, the station masters have been superseded by
officers, and pickets placed upon every locomotive
to protect or keep up the loyalty, as the case may
be, of the engineers. Day and night, and night
and day, Cossacks and Tartar patrols ride up and
down the lines until meeting with their comrades
from the next station. if the English and espe-
cially the military reader, should be astonished at
the difficulty the Russians experience in protecting
the line, the fact of there being one rail only ac-
counts, I believe, for the trouble they have had
since the first rise of rebellion. A railway may be
protected with some degree of efficacy by keeping
engines ready at every station, and sending soldiers
up and down in rapid succession; but, to admit of
this plan, a double line is required, especially with
Polish guards, and when the action of the telegraph
cannot be relied upon. It may be said, without fear
of contradiction, that, apart from the strategical
m'stakes committed at the outset, decisive measures
might have been accelerated in the south by at least
a fortnight had the Russians succeeded in keeping
open their communication with Czenstochow. But
to have to look after the cuts across the line, and
being obliged to pass the innumerable rivers, rivu-
lets, and morasses of Poland, minus the convenience
of bridges, proved a serious obstacle amid the exi-
gencies of the time.

At the time Langiewicz met his fate in Cracow,
the district of Kalish promised to become another
hotbed of rebellion. There was the large force of
Kurowski near Dombrowa, the band of Oksniski
near Wielun, and a constant influx of Prussian sub-
jects congregating under Mielencki in the neigh-
bourhood cf Konin. All of a sudden, however, the
bands, formerly so active, determined upon a dif-
ferent line of policy, and have of late given but few
signs of life. liTielencki, with his 2,000 Prussians,
all well armed, and the majority Landwehr men, de-
feated Prince Wittengenstein on the 21st,was himself
defeated on the 22d, and with part of his men
returned to Prussian ground. The Poles lost 100
wounded and killed in this obstinate fight, which
is differently called the battle of Biniszew, Slesyn,
or Konin. This feat accomplished, the Russians
retired to the garrisons of Wloclawek, Konin, Len-
czyn, and Kalish, which are the only places occupied
in an area of 60 miles square. About 2,000 men,
however, were distributed over Peisern, Kazmirz,
and Slupza (40 miles east of Posen), to guard
against fresh visitors from the adjoining kingdom.
The remainder of Nlielencki's band drew off to the
morasses of the Warta, and in some unknown
locality conceals itself under the command of one
Malczewski. Half-a-dozen minor encounters have
lately taken place near Konin ; but it is impossible
to ascertain the strength of the insurgents, the issue
of the fights, and the exact locality they haunt.
Guerilla tactics seem to be excessively developed in
that part of the country, causing the observer to
doubt whether what he has before him is the conse-
quence of design or unintentional weakness. From
a paucity of men, as well as a desire to exhaust the
enemy, the Poles may be shifting about with a ra-
pidity that defies an estimate being formed of num-
bers and purpose. The same circumstance, it is
obvious, militates against pronouncing any very
positive opinion as to the success of the Russian
operations in that province. We perceive the flames
of rebellion breaking out here and there, and sub-
spina again after a short-lived flash, but we are
unable to distinguish at this moment whether the
eclipse is produced by want of fuel or the applica-
tion of the damper. As things look, neither of these
alternatives is, however, as probable as a desire of
the insurgents to keep back for a while, and, by the
very fact of their continued existence, give the
people time to recover from the blow sustained in
the south.
The latest
news goes to show that the garrison of
Kalish has
been seriously alarmed by the approach
of a powerful force. With the late reinforcements