The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-16 00:00:00

and was saying " what nice people the Poles were."
This gentlemen was full of the historical remi-
niscences of Cracow, whence he had jui- rrived,

and I ventured to ask him how he felt on seeing
that the funeral mound of Kcsciusko had been eon-

verted into a fort. Ho said that he It pleased,
for if he found himself growing weak in battle

he should only have to think of such insults as
these to be able to give one more thrust.
Among the insurgents belonging to Wysocki's
corps I found a young iady so timid and so afraid
of being looked upon as a wonder that sne kept
herself in almost perpetual seclusion, but so brave
:hat on the day of battle she insisted on being

placed in the first line, and greatly distinguished

herself in the action. Her relations had donetheir

utmost to persuade and even force her to remain at

home,but she had threatened to commit suicide if she
were detained, and they feared that she :eight keep
her word. She had changed her name from "Marys"
to " Maryan " (the Christian name of Langiewicz),
and was known in her company as "Panne. Maryan,"
or, as Englishmen, if they had met her in the woods,
would have called her " Maid Marian." Maid
Marian has now returned to her family, and I am
sorry to have to add that this prodigal daughter—
prodigal, at least, in acts of daring—is badly
wounded.
I had been told that early on Sunday morning
some one would cell for me and drive me somewhere
in the middle of a wood, where I should meet some
friends, who would then show me where the detach-
ment in whiela they were to serve was concealed, and
enable me to accompany it to the frontier. The
person expected came at the appointed time, men-
tioned a name, and then, instead of taking me to the
heart of the forest, drove me through a beautiful
woodland country to the house of a neighbouring
proprietor, where, besides the host, I found one of
the chief promoters of the expedition, two of the

principal officers of Horodycki's corps, and few other
insurgents lying down on the lawn, and engaged in
the peaceful occupation of smoking. One of the
officers took out the map of the country about to be
entered (it was a photographic print from the pri-
vate map of the Elusion Staff); and pointed out to
me the place of assembly in the forest, the spot at
which the frontier wat., to be crossed, and the road

by which it was intended to march on Radziwilow.

At lunch I had 75 pamphlets on the Polish question
given me to read, but preferred eating. Afterwards
the men who were not going to fight occupied them-
selves with pistol shooting, towing, and other war-
like pursuits until dinner, while the officers
went singly to visit the first place of en-
campment, and came back with the alarming
news that an Austrian patrol had been seen
hovering about the spot where most of the
arms lay buried. In the evening a" revision" was
announced and the house cleared of insurgents. All
through the night messengers were continually ar-
riving, and the first news in the morning was that
the arms had been seized, that the labour of three
months had been lost, and that the expedition could
not start. Ultimately it was discovered that abaft
a hundred rifles had been taken, hut that there was
still nearly three hundred in a place of comparative
safety. The question was raised as to whether it
would be advisable to postpone the departure of the
expedition until more arms could be procured, but
it was soon decided not to risk, by further delay,
the seizure of the whole stock.

At last, early on Monday afternoon we got into a
cart, built without springs for the same sort of rea-
son for which Highlanders are said not to wear trou-
sers, and went into the wood. Turning from the
high road into a cross road, from the cross road into a
lane, and from the lane into a private path, we came,
after many windings, to a little glade, where the
long grass had been crushed and flattened as if by a
roller. The former presence of human beings in this
sequestered spot was indicated by an old boot, which
Hoby would have disavowed, and a cask containing
gin—from which, as it was not yet empty, it was
presumed that the insurgents could not be far distant.
They were so well concealed, however, that although
we had good guides (including a forest keeper
of the estate), it was not easy to find them. At last
we burst upon a band of brothers, who were engaged
in the difficult and to them evidently novel occupa-
tion of trying on boots. The boot so contemptuously
abandoned in the first halting-place had apparently
been the only one among some 30 men. The major
was answering questions on all sorts of subjects from
boots upwards, and was at the same time superin-
tending a distribution of pistols, which, being

larger than any pistols ever seen before or after-
wards out of a pantomime, looked very terrible, and
produced (as they were intended to do) a fine and
healthy effect on the Ruthenian village population.
The peasants looked a good deal scared as the in-
surgents marched through the fields, but were soon
reassured, or pretended to be, when a few words
were spoken to them in kindness. Of attacking or
molesting the insurgents in any way there was, of
course, no thought, more particularly as the half-
detachment, consisting of 200 men, looked in the
moonlight, as it straggled along in double file, like
a much larger force, and was pronounced by impar-
tial spectators to be at least a thousand strong. Two
peasants, however, were overheard whispering that
they had a great mind to go off and tell the Aus-
trians. They were arrested, asked if they wanted
to be hanged, and, replying in the negative, were
told how to avoid that fate so far as it was likely to
be inflicted upon them by their Polish compatriots.
They were then put into a cart and driven along
after the detachment, and were not liberated until
everything had been made ready for crossing the
frontier.

We marched during nearly all the first night,
passing from the moonlight into the darkness of the
dense wood', where nothing but glowworms, and
here and there in the insurgent column the light of
a cigar, could be seen, and then again into the moon-
light, until at last we came to a river, or mountain
stream (running down from the Carpathians), and
sat down by the side of the waters and supped.
Most persons said that it was one of the best suppers
they had ever had (of some of our friends it was the
last);and the breakfast to which a select number
were
invited was also much admired, especially
some tea-soup made in a saucepan, and served out
in saucepan-lids, wine glasses, and wooden ladles.
During the halt, of which advantageNvtasecom-
mander taken
to eat a hurried breakfast, Horodycki, h
of the detachment, joined us, bringing with
him 200 infantry and from 40 to 50 cavalry. The
rifles, bayonets, and scythes were now disinterred,
or pulled out of their hiding places in the brush-
wood, and I found that this particular batch had
all been concealed at about 20 paces' distance from
through the middle of the
awopoudb.lic
TrhoeadAnrunning
hwadhenroet
tfhouendAntheterminnbsecwauesree
they had been hidden
sure not to think of looking for them. .
As we were about to go away from the cottage
where we had taken our early
tea a plain and shrill-
voiced woman came out and complained that her
husband had deserted her in order to go and fight
the Russians. It was impossible not to understand
that he had chosen the least of two evils. The poor
man who preferred his country to his wife, and
death to his home, was in the cavalry, and now
galloped to the front and was soon out of sight, and
I hope out of hearing. Afterwards another patriot
was pointed out to me who had deliberately aban-
doned his family, leaving them in great want, and
all on the plea that he loved his native land. The
great majority of the intantry, however, could have
had nothing to leave.i .12hey
steeped were men who were
dishoennourhakbelethpeomverlotyu,n
lounging
when
one n
of their officers
evidently
afterwards told me that
h ohatdwseheitneeshwaapremi,swithapl was calumniated.
One like inecaben
minor disadvantage of employing such men is
that it is disagreeable, and even painful, for decent
persons to remain in their neighbourhood. It must
be with the view of avoiding them that so many o
the sons of the proprietors go into the cavalrymhichf,
composed as it is, of all sorts of horses and all sorts of
riders, is utterly useless, except for the service of the
camp, and is scarcely ever employed in action. I saw
that some of the newcomers were dispirited atthe idea
of having such riffraff for their comrades, and one
of the officers, noticing the fact, said to me, " These
young men have come to the camp under the ira-
pt.:l:Lica that they would find every one here as
good as theinselvez. I wish such were the ease, but
we must do our best, and we will try to make aol-