The same causes which influenced the Poles to neglect agriculture, operated as forcibly in counteracting the inte rests of commerce. A Polish nobleman could not engage in traffic, even on the most liberal and extensive principle, without immediately forfeiting his rank and dignity ; and the wealth of burghers was either so limited, or so much at the mercy of the nobles and of the government, that they had no encouragement for entering on speculations which, with all their enterprise or success, might not to them be productive of any emolument. The natural facilities and resources of a country, great as these may be, will never succeed in obviating and surmounting disadvantages such as these ; and by consequence, the spirit of commerce in Poland has yet hardly displayed itself. What has been effected in this department has been accomplished chiefly by the Jews, a race of people of whom we shall soon speak, and who, in every country, are remarkable for the same cha racteristic features,—love of money, industry, and wealth. The number of manufactories in Poland are, as may be ex pected, extremely few, and these few are by no means on an extensive scale, or brought to any thing approaching to perfection. Towards the end of last century, the Poles made attempts to manufacture silks, fine woollen cloths, &c., but these succeeded only so far as Stanislaus pro tected them, and were, in a great measure, relinquished when he was forced to resign his throne. In Warsaw, a considerable eminence has been attained in Polish produc tions. Several manufactories in linen and woollen cloth, black soap, carpets, stockings, and hats, have been esta blished there. The great manufactory of what has been denominated Turkey carpets, situated about half a league from the city, is still in a very flourishing condition. But the only articles they make well in Warsaw are all kinds of carriages and harness work. In this capital there are indeed no fewer than fifty coach-making establishments, of no inconsiderable extent. There are several branches of industry to which the soil, the climate, the natural pro ductions of the country, are favourable, and which they are now beginning to cultivate, namely, glass, leather, linen and coarse cloths, distillation, &c. With the exception of coaches, however, their exports in the mean time con sist almost entirely of raw produce, corn to a great amount, about 4,000,000 of English quarters annually, hemp, flax, cattle, timber, honey. An account of the trade of Dantzick, Elbing, and Thorn, may be found under the article PRUSSIA.
Among the many natural facilities with which ancient Poland abounded, and which might have raised her high in the commercial world, her rivers may well be men tioned. This advantage, however, the present Poland does not possess in any very eminent degree. The only great river now belonging to her is the Vistula, which cannot, indeed, be permanently counted upon for any other pur poses but those of internal navigation, as, before it reaches the sea, it passes for 200 miles through the Prussian do minions. It rises in the circle of Teschen, on the north of the Carpathian mountains, becomes navigable at Cra cow, and after passing Warsaw, Plock, &c. it falls into the Baltic at Dantzick. In its course, it receives the waters of several tributary streams, of which the Pilica, the Na rew, and the Bug, are the most considerable. Poland can yet boast of no canals ; a mode of conveyance to be found only in rich, civilized, and commercial countries. It may be mentioned here, that conveyance by land is cheap and expeditious ; the roads are good, and posting has been brought to considerable perfection ; but (what may be ex pected in a country where there are few travellers) the inns are wretched, insomuch that travellers are obliged to carry with them their bed and provisions.
The towns of Poland are not of a very elegant or inte resting description. Warsaw, the capital, affords a sick ening contrast of magnificence and meanness, the public buildings, the churches and palaces, being large and beau tiful, while the houses of the ordinary citizens are small, mean, ill-constructed hovels. It consists of a long street, strait and dirty, intersected at right angles by cross ones, all ill paved, and otherwise entirely neglected. The houses originally were formed of wood, but these are gradually disappearing, being supplanted by new and splendid edi fices of stone covered with tiles ; and it is no longer lawful to erect buildings of wood. The castle, situated on an imposing eminence, commands the Vistula, and its oppo site banks. It contains many superb and interesting apartments, adorned with pictures, marbles, and bronzes. Many of the streets, squares, and /daces, are spacious and beautiful ; some of them ornamented with statues and pillars. A statue of the illustrious Copernicus, who was a native of Poland, is about to be erected ; and Thorwald son is employed on a bronze equestrian statue in memory of Prince Joseph Poniatowski, to be placed in one of the principal squares. The usual public promenades in War
saw are the giirdens of Saxe and Krasinski, both occupy ing a considerable space within the city. The avenue of trees, conducting to Uiazdow, may rival in effect those of the Prater near Vienna ; and, on Sundays and festival days, is crowded with citizens, who resort thither for recreation. At Uiazdow is a well-provided botannic garden. Twice a year there is a fair at 'Warsaw, when the city is filled with merchants from the remotest corners of the kingdom, and from foreign countries. Its manufactories, of which we have formerly spoken, have not of late increased in number or in value, except, probably, in the department of coach-making. The fine collection of pictures which the late king commenced and patronised, have been re moved to Russia. His library, which contained 45,000 volumes, and the library established by two brothers (Bishops) of the family of Zaluski, comprising 200,000 volumes, in which were many rare books and MSS. rela tive to Polish history, have experienced the same fate. This capital, however, still possesses many distinguished advantages. It can still boast of a university, founded in 1766, by Stanislaus Augustus, in which are taught the Polish, the French, the German, and Latin languages, mathematics, fortification, drawing, military tactics, his tory, &c. It was meant at first to receive only the sons of the nobility. Nor do we know that the original inten tion was ever departed from, though for the sake of lite rature, and of the social intercourse of the nation, such a plan is extremely impolitic and destructive. This uni , versity seems to have been abolished, or to have been re modelled, and, as it were, re-instituted, in 1816, by the pre sent sovereign, the emperor Alexander. Few universities in Europe are more flourishing than that of Warsaw. It is composed of five faculties, Divinity, Law and Admini stration, Medicine, Mathematics and Physical Science, and Literature and the Fine Arts. There are no fewer than forty-two professors in it, many of them writers of considerable learning and celebrity ; though we are led to believe that the number of students have not yet corre sponded with the advantages and endowments by which the seminary is characterized.' Warsaw is yet possessed of other literary recommendations. It is distinguished by fifteen printing presses, with a suitable number of book shops, two lithographic establishments, several schools for the instruction of engravers, academies for designing after nature, an annual exhibition of paintings, an academy for the deaf and dumb, and schools on the Lancasterian mode. It has, besides, several benevolent and charitable institu tions, conducted on sufficiently liberal principles. saw also produces various newspapers and literary maga zines, written with no mean ability, and circulating through the different districts of the kingdom. This capital, which is an open town, having neither walls nor gates, is situated partly on a plain, and partly on a gently rising ground on the western banks of the Vistula, which flows from south to north, and is hardly so deep or so broad as the Thames at London. The river separates it from Praga, reckoned its suburb, but which may be regarded as a considerably large town of itself. In 1782, it contained 7000 inhabi tants; but, in consequence of the barbarous visit of Su warrow, that number was reduced fully one-half. The united population of the two places amounts to nearly 100,000 souls, independent of the garrison, which contains about 20,000. In addition to Praga, there are other three conterminous towns, regarded as suburbs to Warsaw. Their names are Leszno, Szolec, and Grybow. They have each their exclusive privileges, and their respective town-houses. • Villanow, a palace in the Italian style, remarkable as having been built by the illustrious Sobieski, and as having formed his favourite residence, stands within a league from Warsaw. To it he retired while not engaged in the active services of war, and in it he closed a life uniformly devoted to the honour of his country. Having been sold at his death, it went into the noble family of Zartoriski, who granted it to Augustus II. a monarch who consi derably enlarged it, and ornamented it with various bass reliefs, illustrative of the principal victories of Sobieski. It is now the property of Count Potocki. In the extensive park by which it is surrounded, there still exist various poplars, planted by the hand of its distinguished founder. There is also another remarkable palace in the neighbour hood of Warsaw, namely, Lazienki, the country seat of the last king, Stanislaus, which is adorned with numerous paintings of the first masters, and with marble busts of all the Polish kings.