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

'NHL SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 16, 1863.

diers of them all when we get on the other side of
the frontier."

As for the officers, they were all men who had
seen plenty of service in foreign armies, or who had
distinguished themselves in the present Polish insur-
rection. Horodycki, the chief of the detachment,
will be remembered by persons familiar with the
incidents of the Hungarian war of 1848.9, as having
defended the bridge and the passage of the canal at
Temesvas against an overpowering force while the
Hungarian army was effecting its retreat. Major
Horodycki lost half his battalion, but he succeeded
in keeping the enemy at bay. He was a simple,
straightforward man, a good deal sterner than the
majority of Poles, and apparently not much given
to seeing visims. Accordingly .I could not help
attaching importance to his words when about half
an hour before he crossed the frontier he began
speaking to me about the general prospects of the
insurrection. He had been occupied all day in
giving directions on one subject or another, and
now, at half-past 9 in the evening, sat down to take
some refreshment. Ho had a little claret in his
flask, and before drinking part of it wished pros-
perity to England, and said how glad ho was to
find that the English had so much sympathy for
Poland. I answered that, although this sym-
pathy existed and was sincerely felt, it was by

no means certain that it would lead to a decla-
ration of war against Russia. He replied that the
time for intervention had not yet come; that be
had never expected there would be any intervention
before the spring; and that before then the Poles
would make such efforts and prove themselves so
strong that we should not refuse to give them a
helping hand, and that no more would be necessary.
I do not think Horodycki shared the opinion of
some of his country men as to the good will of the
peasants towards the insurrection. At least, he
turned some Ruthenian peasants out of the camp
who had come there with gifts of fresh butter,
sheep's milk cheese, and potted cream. He feared
these Greek Catholics et dona ferentes, and said,
when I asked him whether their offering was not
a good sign, " They are with us now that we are
here, they will be with our enemies when we are
gone. I know them, and have sent them away." I
must add that a Ruthenian priest and his wife
brought something more than butter and cheese ;
they brought their nephew. This was a testimony
of sympathy which could not be mistaken, and the
young man was accepted with thanks and sent
across the frontier. Several ladies also visited the
camp, and so inundated the place with strawberries
and cream that Horodycki, fearing no doubt that
discipline would be relaxed and the forest of Nak-
washa converted into a Capua, turned back and
gave orders that no more women should be suffered
to approach.
Then Horodycki had to preside at a trial, and
though there was no execution I saw the execu-
tioner. A certain cavalry man, who spoke Polish,
Russian, German, and French very imperfectly, and
swore from time to time in what was supposed to
be a sort of Moldavian patois, had got drunk on
the march, and used his sabre in lieu of a riding
whip. When remonstrated with, he said it was
all right, and at the same time broke his weapon
over the back of the unhappy beast ridden by the
man who had dared to interfere with him. Thought-
ful beneath the Polish beech, in the notorious posi-
tion of Tityrns sub tegnaine fagi, reclined the chief-
tain when the culprit was brought before him in
the custody of two sentinels and a third person,
who I was given to understand had the functions
of provost-marshal assigned to him. Outward appear-
ances were decidedly against the offender, and when
Horodycki drew himself up on the grass, looked at
the broken blade, and began to expatiate on his
crime, I thought his last hour had arrived. The
sentence, however, passed on the prisoner was sim-
ply that he should be turned out of the detachment.
He entreated so earnestly to be allowed to remain
that I thought he must be begging for his life, and
ultimately the chief told him to go and lie down and
get sober—the first part of which injunction was
faithfully performed.
The second officer, the major commanding the
infantry, was Synkiewicz, son of the historian of
that name, and captain in the army of the Kingdom
of Italy. Synkiewicz, without knowing his country

from personal observation, had fallen in love with
it through imagination ; but he said that he found
the Poles what he had always imagined them to be.
Some of the Poles do, indeed, come up to the ideal
which their warmest admirers have formed of them,
and these were the men that Major Synkiewicz
habitually associated with. This does not alter the
fact that the greaterpart of the detachment consisted
of persons whom honest scavengers would have had
a right to despise. It would have been inspiriting to

most persons, but to me was saddening, to see the
delight with which this officer looked forward to the
hour fixed for entering Volhynia—for I knew that
he must die there, or come back disheartened, He
would not allow that anything was wrong in the

detachment. If some one said that the arms were

a little clumsy, he replied that the greatest battles
of modern times had been gained with arms not
nearly so good. As to the men, they were not pre-
possessing in appearance, but would know how to
fight. As to numbers, if four hundred and fifty men
were really determined to cut their way through an
opposing force, they could do it, however large
that force might be. As he was talking to me
about the Opera, and of the invigorating dr:et which
music, or even the recollection of music, had upon
him, I said it was a pity (as it really was) that Mario
could not see his costume, which was a sort of intel-
ligznt first tenor's version of the Garibaldian make-
up. He was told that the Russians would be sure
to pick him off; but he replied that he wished to be
conspicuous for the sake of his men, and that the
Russians, if they aimed at him, would nut hit
him. They, however, sent a bullet through his long
chestnut• coloured beard when he was inside Radzi.
wilow, and afterwands brought his horse down, an
unpleasant animal, when in the darkness of night
it was all but impossible to saddle, and which ought
not to be regretted.
" Good bye," said Synkiewicz, as ho mounted his
beast ; " the Russians are close at hand. We shall
attack them at 3, and be in Radziwilow at 4." I
said I would look for him there. " Don't do any-
thing of the kind," be replied, '• until you are quite
sure the place is ours ; and remember that we may
be in the place one hour, and out of it tne next.

The first half of the detachment, consisting of
200 infantry and an advanced guard of cavalry, had
already been taken across the frontier by Captain
Tehorszewski, an officer who served with Horodycki
in Hungary, and who has probably many friends in
England, as he was attached to the British Head-
quarters during the Crimean war. Capt. Jagninski,
another of Horodycki's comrades in Hungary, took
charge of the second half, and was accompanied by
H
and Synkiewicz. The rearguard (ca-
valry) followed some hours afterwards, under the
direction of a Polish officer, late of the Russian
had been brilliantly beautiful until 10 o'clock,
asuramdrayeeh.nlryr se night which, like the first night of the
m
darkened, just as the detachment began to
croos—and the rearguard went over the frontier in
the midst of thunder, lightning, and such torrents
of rain that after the lapse of a minute the dense
wood afforded no protection whatever against it*
The last man to leave was an enterprising and watch- i
ful Hungarian servant, who had
into the camp but an old horse, with a piece of rope
outon nothinga
magnificent tie
charger,droundhisnose,a spndwlehno gdaldidlyloped
arrayed
broughtyed and
equipped,
andhad brandishingon one
a lar
m ina
theon g s sabre.
We afternoon,
a few
passing shots having been directed at the outposts,
who returned the fire, but without any effect beyond
had
that of causing Horodycki to disturb the sleepers in
the camp and order a general call to arms. The
and
rearguard had just left the wood, when firing was
it had ceased, bat
again heard.' We listened,
soon afterwards a messenger rode up from the Gali-
cian side with the news that the Austrians at Pod-
kamen (a town about six miles distant) had found
out the position of the camp, and would be in the
weed soon after daylight. It was now getting on
towards 3 in the morning, but still too dark to ride,
drive, or even to walk, for there was no footpath
through the slush, and had there been one it would
have been impossible to bee it. Our position was
enlivened by two of the horses having broken loose,
but it was only
when the lightning shone through