Poland being thus overthrown, the two usurping pow ers were about to form a partition of it betwixt them, when Austria unexpectedly stept forward, and declared that she could not permit the entire destruction of Poland, unless she were allowed to share in the division. The conse quences of a refusal they were not willing to encounter ; and Austria had thus her ambitious views realized, with out having incurred the smallest danger or expense. Stanislaus, who had all this while remained in his capital, was at length removed to Grodno a second time, where he was compelled to resign his crown, and was thence carried to Petersburgh, where he resided as a state prisoner in solitude and exile till his death, which took place in February, 1798.
Of this territory, the partitioning powers appropriated to themselves those districts that lay most convenient to their respective dominions, the acquisitions of Russia being larger than those of the other two taken collec tively.
Such was the fate of Poland ; and the arrangements made by the partitioning powers have remained more sta tionary than their unjust nature, or the state of Europe. could have led any one to suspect. The first alteration which they sustained was made by Bonaparte, who, having carried his conquering arms into Poland, (1807,) stripped Prussia of a part of her Polish dominions. Of these he assigned a small portion to Russia, who had al ready obtained so much ; and he erected the remainder into a new state, denominated the Grand Duchy of ifTar.saw, which he bestowed on the king of Saxony. Having forced Austria, in 1809. to relinquish Gallicia, he conferred part of that province on Russia, while the rest was added to his new duchy But the fate of this extraordinary person, as finally decided in the great battle of Waterloo, affected in no inconsiderable degree the history of Poland, and set tled it in those circumstances in which we at present be litml it. The congress of Vienna (18 i5) restored to Aus tria and Prussia part of what they had lately ceded, in obedience to the order of Bonaparte, and while they con firmed to Russia all her former acquisitions, conferred upon her in addition the sovereignty of the central pro vinces, under the name of the kingdom of Poland, of which we now proceed shortly to give an account.
The kingdom of Poland thus recently erected, and the only portion of the country just described, that officially retains the ancient name, comprises the greater part of that district which formed the duchy of Warsaw. It con sists of the central provinces, comprehending the palati nate's of Cracow, Sandomir, Kalish, Lublin, Plock, Maso via, Podlachia, and Augustow, and is bounded by the re spective acquisitions of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. And with the exception of a detached tract extending in a north-east direction towards Lithuania, it resembles a square of 200 miles, of which Warsaw, the capital, stands nearly in the centre, and it contains about 2,800,000 inha bitants.
The climate of Poland is by no means so mild and sa lubrious as the geographical situation of the country would lead us to expect. Vegetation is considerably later than in the parallel latitudes of Germany and France ; and the winter in Poland is frequently as rigorous as in Sweden, ugh the latter country is situated nine degrees north of the former. The air is always strongly impregnated with moisture, originating in the vast extent of marshy ground hitherto uncultivated ; but the deleterious effects w hich this moisture has a tendency to produce, are, to the natives at least, in a great degree counteracted by the high `winds for which Poland is so remarkable. Comparatively
ungenial, however, as the climate of Poland is, it is re markable also for another quality, equally unfavourable to health and vegetation,--it is extremely changeable and czqu icious. The crops in the neighbourhood of the Car ptntian mountains have frequently been destroyed in the noddle of summer by snow showers, which are very com mon in all seasons of the y ear On these heights. The ri vers have sometimes continued frozen from the beginning of October till the vernal equinox ; while, on the contrary, the months of winter have nut unfrequently exhibited the phenomenon of a second vegetation, which, however, a single night's frost has been known to blast and destroy. The climate of this country, however, like that of every other place in a state of nature, is susceptible of great im provement ; and this change might be effected by cutting down the forests, so abundant in Poland, by draining the marshy lands, by constructing canals, and by the general introduction of agricultural pursuits. By these means the climate of Poland, it is supposed, might be rendered as genial and mild as that of any of the corresponding lati tudes of Europe Poland is an extremely level country, diversified by few or no eminences, except a ridge of hills branching off from the Carpathian mountains, which anciently' formed the southern boundary of the country. The rivers are unadorned with banks, and flow lazily in a flat monotonous course, insomuch that when, as previously stated, heavy falls of rain take place, the country for many miles is com pletely inundated. The number and extent of marshes and forests, neither of which the Poles have hitherto seemed very anxious to remove, uniformly strike stran gers as one of the great characteristics of Poland. The soil, which is chiefly either of a clayey or marshy descrip tion, is, in many places, so extremely fertile, that, with the least cultivation, it is calculated to produce the most luxu rious crops of corn ; and it is distinguished for the richest pastures in Europe. Agriculture with the Poles, how ever, is completely in its infancy. For many ages they neglected this useful art, as they neglected every art of peace and domestic comfort ; they were a warlike people ; and, besides, the produce of the fields was not the property of the peasants, but their master., and they were them selves doomed, without hope of advancement, to continue in the same rank of life, whatever had been their industry or their skill. But, though these disabilities have now been greatly removed, though the Poles are rapidly emerg ing from that state of laziness and inactivity in which they remained so long sunk, vet. in the department in question, they have nearly every thing to learn. Of the use of ma nure they are almost entirely ignorant ; their common practice is to crop a field till it be exhausted, and then for a few years to abandon it. Their ploughs are scarcely sufficient to penetrate the surface of the ground ; and their fields, when reaped, exhibit from this circumstance as rich a verdure us if they had remained for years unbroken. This ignorance, however, is diminishing every day. Some portions of Poland have been denominated the garden of Europe ; and a period may not be far distant, when the term may, with much propriety, be applied to the whole territory. Societies for the encouragement of agriculture have been established in Poland ; and the vast tracts of forests and marshes with which it abounds certainly open up an extensive field for the display of skill and enter prise.