THE THAW AND THE JANUARY RISING 257coined to describe the relaxations which followed the thirty-year ice age of his
father's reign. Alexander was no liberal, and was firmly opposed to all separatist
national movements. But in the humiliating circumstances of the Crimean
defeat, he was convinced that limited concessions must be made in order to
avoid a general explosion. In St. Petersburg, his government was headed by
Prince Alexander Gorchakov, and in Warsaw by Gorchakov's cousin,
Paskievitch's successor as Viceroy. On his first visit to Poland in 1856, the Tsar
made a point of warning against exaggerated expectations. 'Pas de reveries,
messieurs', he warned (No daydreaming, gentlemen!). Yet his words were not
taken at their face value. By declaring an amnesty for Poles still lingering in
Siberia from 1831, by reopening the Polish Academy of Medicine and Surgery,
and above all by inviting Polish landowners to contribute to the topical debate
on Peasant Emancipation, the Tsar inevitably created the impression that lim-
ited change was at last possible. He gave an inch, and his Polish subjects imme-
diately thought of taking a mile. With the approval of the new Viceroy, the right
of assembly was restored. A host of new organizations and institutions whose
real function was not immediately apparent sprang up. In 1857, the Agricultural
Society was formed for the improvement of land management, and presided
over by Count Andrzej Zamoyski (1800-74), whose own estates at Klemensow
were a model of progressive management. In February 1861, in Warsaw, a City
Delegation was formed by the industrialist Leopold Kronenburg (1812-78),
ostensibly as a body for transmitting the opinions of the leading citizens to the
Viceroy. In effect, both these societies were active political organs in disguise.
The Agricultural Society, with 4,000 country members, and seventy-seven
branches scattered through Poland and Lithuania, bore a remarkable resem-
blance to the noble Sejm of the old Republic. The Delegation soon produced a
City Guard capable of assuming the duties of police and Cossacks. Among the
more radical elements of society, secret conspiratorial circles were re-created.
There appeared Polish variations on the Russian populist Narodniki, like the
Zwiqzek Trojnicki (League of the Yoke), formed by Polish and Ruthenian stu-
dents in Kiev intent on evangelizing the peasant masses. There were groups of
dissident officers in the army, working closely with Russian counterparts. There
were political discussion groups, like the Millenerzy (Millennarians) of Edward
Jurgens (1827-63), who began to speculate on the political strategy of national
movements. All these served to swell an unmistakable change of mood, which
came to be called 'the moral revolution'. Forbidden subjects were openly dis-
cussed. Pulpits resounded to appeals for fraterna-1 reconciliations. Catholics
and Jews, Poles and non-Poles, joined in declarations of mutual reconciliation.
Following the example of Kronenburg, and the encouragement of the Chief
Warsaw Rabbi, Dov Beer Meisels (1798—1870), Jewish assimilation came into
vogue. A steep rise in patriotic fervour was clearly observable. Demonstrations
were organized on the flimsiest pretext. Bote cos Poiske. was openly sung in the
streets. There was a rally organized on the occasion of Prince Napoleon's visit,
and another for that of Francis Joseph. On n June, the funeral of General