244 KONGRESOWKA
spite of an official amnesty, transported. The rankers were drafted into Russian
regiments serving in the Caucasus. These military measures affected up to
100,000 men. To examine the conduct of the civilian population, field tribunals
were set up in every district. Nobles implicated in the Rising were declared
confiscate. Some 2,540 manors were sequestrated in the Kingdom — almost I in
10- and some 2,890 in Lithuania. Civil servants were dismissed from their posts.
Active rebels were sentenced, together with their families and associates, to
penal servitude in Russia. The so-called 'cantonists', who were the dependants
of rebels sentenced in absentia, were obliged to pay the penalty by proxy. By
these means, a further 80,000 Poles were condemned to deportation. Some 254
political and military leaders were condemned to death. It took years before the
endless lines of convict wagons, with their clanking chains and groaning
inmates, wended their way to their final destinations four and five thousand
miles away in distant Siberia. In the case of Prince Roman Sanguszko, a prince
of the blood, the Tsar personally insisted that he should make the whole of the
terrible journey on foot. The lands, possessions, and offices of the convicts were
distributed among loyalists, or more usually among Russian newcomers. Some
10,000 Poles left the country of their own accord, forming the core of 'The Great
Emigration'. The remaining population was subjected to punitive taxation, and
to reparation payments totalling 2 million roubles. A huge army of occupation
was settled on the Kingdom at the Kingdom's expense, and put to work to con-
struct a complex of impregnable fortresses.
The spirit of the Tsar's dispositions was evident in the meticulous detail of his
every behest:
Order a search to be made in Warsaw for all the flags and standards of our former Polish
Army and send them to me. Find also all those captured from us and dispatch them to the
commissary. All revolutionary objects, such as the sword and sash of Kosciuszko, should
be confiscated and sent here to the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. Similarly, all the ban-
ners should be taken out of the churches. Find me all the uniforms of the late Emperor,
together with all the things which belonged to him personally. Take away thrones and all
related items and send them to Brest. After a period of time, order General Berg to detail
some competent person to seize, pack, and dispatch to Brest the University Library, and the
collection of medals, as well as the library of the Societe des Belles Lettres. In a word, grad-
ually remove everything that has historical or national value, and deliver it here; also the
flag from the Royal Castle. Order the Archives and the Bank to be sealed...^22
The defeat of the Rising spelt an end to the Constitution. The provisions of
the Treaty of Vienna in this regard were flouted. In theory, the Constitution of
1815 was superseded by an Organic Statute of government published on 14
February 1832. But even this was ignored. In practice, the Kingdom was ruled
by military decree. All civil rights were suspended, except by grace of the Tsar.
The Army, the Sejm, the Universities, all the higher institutes of learning, were
abolished. There were no more political events to record.
By virtue of the Rising, the Holy Alliance was given the opportunity of tight-
ening its grip on the international scene. The papal encyclical Cum primum of