THE REPUBLIC OF CRACOW 247northern bank of the Vistula. Its population, numbering over 145,000 in 1843
was about 80 per cent Catholic and 20 per cent Jewish. Its Militia, commanded
by 11 officers, could muster 500 infantrymen and 50 cavalrymen. Its frontiers on
the west bordered on Prussian Silesia, in the north near Miechow on the
Congress Kingdom, and the south bank of the river Austrian Galicia. Its citizens
were protected by explicit guarantees of civic and personal liberty, and its econ-
omy by the principle of Free Trade and by the absence of external tariffs.^1
For ten years, Cracow prospered. So long as Warsaw remained the centre of
Polish political life, the older capital could devote itself to trade, and to smug-
gling. It soon established itself as a major entrepot of Central Europe, a clearing-
house for all the forbidden goods and wanted men of the neighbouring states.
The Jagiellonian University reclaimed its autonomy, and reintroduced Polish as
the language of instruction. The Towarzystwo Nauk (Society of Sciences)
expanded the system of local schools. The local landowners took to coalmining.
Nothing untoward occurred until 1827. But in that year, the three Residents
refused to confirm the Senate's choice of a new President, reinstating instead
Count Stanistaw Wodzicki (1759-1843) for a fifth term. Wodzicki, a dis-
tinguished botanist, was the entrenched opponent of radical trends emanating
from the University, and by grace of Russian patronage had been serving simul-
taneously as a Senator in the Congress Kingdom. His reinstatement was con-
trary to the spirit if not to the letter of the Constitution, and clearly indicated
that the Free City's freedom was less than complete.
The outbreak of the November Rising in the Congress Kingdom shattered
Cracow's short-lived idyll. The Free City became the first refuge of Poles fleeing
from the Russian army, and in this way attracted the attention and the wrath of
the Powers. In September 1831, when the remnants of Rozycki's Corps, together
with Prince Czartoryski fled to Cracow, they were closely pursued by a Russian
force under General Rudiger. For two years, the Constitution was suspended.
The Presidency was kept vacant. Secret ballots and open debates were termi-
nated. The representatives of the University were rusticated from the Sejm. The
City was ruled by a Conference of Residents.
In the 1830s, revolutionary activities mounted inexorably. Smuggling gave
way to political conspiracy. For the next fifteen years, Cracow acted as the main
link between the Polish lands and the headquarters of the Emigration in Paris.
The emigre conspirators were in close touch with the radicals in the University,
and felt that they could count on the city mob and on the local miners. The
Polish 'Carbonari', 'Young Poland', and the Stowarzyszenie Ludu Polskiego
(Association of the Polish People) were all at work in Cracow. So were the police
and the spies of the Powers. Both the Russians and the Austrians kept armies
close at hand. In 1836, the death of a police agent provided the pretext for a joint
occupation of the Free City. The Austrian, General Kaufmann, deported five
hundred people to Trieste for shipment to the USA. New repressions followed
a further incident in 1838. When the Austrians formally withdrew in 1841, they
kept their forces at the far end of the frontier bridge in Podgorze. Whilst a loyal