THE CONGRESS KINGDOM 233At last the day of blood has dawned.
May it be the day of our deliverance!
See the white eagle in all its splendour,
Whose eyes were fixed on the rainbow of France
When it took to the wing in the sunshine of July.
Now, as it soars aloft, hear its cry.
'My noble country! For Thee, we pledge our doom:
Either the Sun of Freedom, or the night of the tomb!'
Poles, to the bayonet!
That is our chosen cry
Relayed by the roll of the drum.
To arms, to die!
Long live Freedom!Poland, for you, your sons will fight
In a happier time, than that when Victory
Mingled their ashes with the sands of Memphis,
Or when the Kremlin crumbled beneath their glory.
From the Alps to the Tabor, from the Euxine to the Ebro,
They perished for twenty years on the foreign shore.
But those that give their lives for the Motherland now
Shall sleep safe in her bosom for evermore.
Poles, to the bayonet! (etc.)Sound the trumpets! Poles, to your ranks!
Follow your eagles through the fire as you advance.
Liberty sounds the charge at the double,
And Victory stands at the point of your lance.
All hail to the standard that exiles crowned
With the laurels of Austerlitz, with the palms of Idumee!
O beloved Poland! The dead are free already;
And those who live shall win their liberty.
Poles, to the bayonet! (etc.)In Warsaw, an explosive political situation developed rapidly. Rumours that
the Tsar might use his Polish army to suppress the revolutions in France and
Belgium caused general consternation. Unrest in the Cadet Corps reached fever
pitch. Wysocki's band of conspirators were joined by others outside the army,
including Maurycy Mochnacki. Plans for an armed demonstration were accel-
erated. In October, a strike at the Fraenkel Factory over working conditions
spread existing tensions to the civilian population. In November, the police
launched a wave of preventive arrests. On 19 November, the press carried the
first notices for General Mobilization, both of the Polish Army and of the
Lithuanian Corps. In a situation where the authorities knew that mutiny was
afoot, and where the conspirators expected to be seized at any moment, it was
an open question who would strike first.