258 REVERIES
Sowinski's widow turned into a giant religious procession. So did a demonstra-
tion on the thirtieth anniversary of the November Rising. On 25 and 27
February 1861, huge crowds gathered to welcome the Annual General Meeting
of the Agricultural Society. After less than five years, the thaw was turning into
an uncontrollable flood.^2
To contain the situation in Warsaw, the Tsar turned to a man whose advice
had been persistently rejected over the previous months. Count Alexander
Wielopolski, Margrave Gonzaga-Myszkowski (1803-77), was an aristocrat of
the old school. He combined the Whiggish politics of Prince Czartoryski, with
the temper of a sergeant-major. As he once said: 'You can't do much with the
Poles, but with luck you might do something for them.' Impervious to the
promptings of public opinion, and entirely sanguine about the futility of diplo-
matic action, he felt confident that he was the one person in the world who, by
timely reforms and forceful action, could redeem the shortcomings of his coun-
trymen. His aims were strictly limited. In the constitutional sphere, he proposed
to give effect to the Organic Statute of 1832, and-to appoint a State Council with
advisory functions. He proposed to introduce loyal Polish officials into the civil
bureaucracy, and to open a Szkota Glowna or 'Main School' of university sta-
tus in which to train them. He proposed to form Commissions to inquire into
Land Reform and Jewish Emancipation. These proposals were first aired in
February 1861 in the crisis which preceded Wielopolski's appointment as
Commissioner for Education and Religious Cult, although they were not
definitively approved by the Tsar until 1862. In the meantime, Wielopolski
pressed forward. In April 1861, he became Commissioner for Justice and even-
tually in June 1862 the formal Head of the Civil Administration of the Kingdom.
Never had one man possessed so much power and influence in the Kingdom's
affairs. From the start, the Tsar's one condition was that 'discipline' should be
restored.^3
The restoration of discipline was no simple matter, however, in spite of
Wielopolski's ruthless determination. The use of coercion multiplied the trou-
bles it was supposed to quell. On 27 February 1861, when five demonstrators
were killed by a police salvo, Wielopolski fiercely reprimanded General
Heidenreich for the pointless brutality. On 8 April 1861, when one hundred
civilians were killed on the Castle Square, he stopped the massacre in person by
rushing in front of the Cossacks at great peril to himself. Yet, in a sense, he was
directly responsible. It was on his orders that the Agricultural Society and the
City Delegation had been forcibly disbanded; and he could not complain too
loudly when the popular outcry caused the forces of order to panic. Viceroy
Gorchakov died of a heart-attack. In the summer of 1861, when the conspiracies
and demonstrations continued, Wielopolski was obliged to authorize a cam-
paign of more rigorous repression. The funeral of Archbishop Fijalkowski
prompted another vast procession, and the risk of further bloodshed. On 14
October, a state of emergency was declared. Cossacks broke into the churches
to disperse the worshippers. Patriotic hymns were banned. Catholic and Jewish