252 WIOSNA
to lose but your chains.' Nationalists demanded the redrawing of the entire map
of Europe, and to replace the old dynastic empires with new democratic
republics based on the principle of the self-determination of peoples. This was
a signal moment in the history of Marxism, of the Italian Kisorgimento, in the
German Vormarz, and in the reassertion of Hungary. The Polish cause
appeared to have numerous active allies, all inspired by cognate aims. Thomas
Meagher, invoking 'the sword of Poland sheathed in the shroud of Kosciuszko',
was but one of many orators to pay his respects to the Polish cause.^1
Yet the Poles lay low. In Russia, Nicholas I was one of the very few monarchs
whose realms were not seriously disturbed. In Warsaw and Vilna, memories of
the November Rising were still too painful to permit a new adventure. Peasant
emancipation could not be publicly discussed. In Galicia, memories of the
Jacquerie were still more recent, and inhibited nationalist activities on any large
scale. The National Committee in Lemberg framed its demands for local auton-
omy in the text of a loyal address to the Emperor (18/19 March 1848). In
Cracow, the National Committee lasted less than a month. In Prussia, in March
and April, when the King momentarily lost control in Berlin, the Duchy of Posen
was left to its own devices, and a National Committee was formed there also.
But the extent of the revolutionary intentions of the Posnanians at this juncture
has been much exaggerated. The German liberals proved no more intolerant of
the Polish element in their midst than the Hohenzollerns had ever been. The
Rising in Posen, launched on 20 March, had been dispersed by the end of April.
It could not be compared to the much more radical and far more determined
resistance of the German proletariat of Breslau, whose barricades were not
demolished until May 1849. Elsewhere in Silesia and in Pomerania, the embry-
onic Polish movement confined itself to the language and educational issues, and
to successful demands for the abolition of residual feudal services.^2 (See pp. 000,
000.)
The Polish contribution to 1848 was less in evidence at home than abroad. In
Italy, Adam Mickiewicz formed a Legion under the slogan: Ubi F'atria, ubi male
(Wherever there is evil, there is our homeland). It was a generous gesture which
antagonized all the governments, and brought the Polish cause no known
benefits. The Legion never exceeded five hundred men. It fought in August 1848
against the Austrians in Lombardy; in April 1849 in Genoa against the Royalists;
and in June in the vain defence of the Roman Republic. Having failed thereafter
to break through from Italy to Hungary, it was disbanded in Greece.^3 Elsewhere
in Italy, unemployed Polish generals offered their services to all and sundry.
Mieroslawski briefly appeared at the head of the rebel forces in Sicily. General
Wojciech Chrzanowski (1793—1861) left his refuge in Paris to take command of
the Piedmontese Army fighting the Austrians. General Wladyslaw Zamoyski
(1803-68), sometime adjutant to the Grand Duke Constantine, travelled from
London to help with the reorganization of the army in Sardinia.
By far the most celebrated Poles of 1848 were those who served in Hungary.
Jozef Bern, who had made his reputation as an artillery officer in the