During the massacre of the rebellion, a great many Polish families, driven from their houses by fear, wandered shelterless in the plains of Moldavia. The hospodar, however, was ordered to cause them to withdraw from his province. They had then no asylum nor place of refuge whither they could betake themselves; but as the Turks were favourable to Poland, it was suggested to them, that they should proceed further into the heart of the country, to be more removed from the observation of the Russian agents. They accordingly retired into the interior of the province, when the Russians proclaimed the restoration of tranquillity in the Ukraine, and invited them to return, that they might repossess their estates, to prevent them falling into the hands of unauthorised occupants. This was a dark and infamous snare laid to entrap them; and all those who returned during the year 1769 were put to the sword, by a new band of assassins organised by Tymienko. The dissolution of all social order was universal throughout the Ukraine. No one who was known to have signed the confederation of Bar escaped destruc- tion. Persecution, anarchy, and vengeance, exercised their direful sway during the space of several years, and the judicial executions did not cease till 1773. It is not possible to determine the exact number of those who were the victims of this terrible outbreak, more terrible, perhaps, than any which history records.
In the space of a few months the Ukraine was changed from its flourishing and beautiful aspect into a vast desert, where " death and fire had altogether gorged the spoils of victory." Five towns, sixty boroughs, and a thousand villages were destroyed; more than two hundred thousand of the inhabitants, without reckoning those that were assassinated by Tymienko, lost their lives. The number of judicial executions amounted to six thousand; a number more than sufficient to entail upon the authors of this sanguinary carnage the execrations of posterity to the remotest ages. The Russian agents doomed beforehand to the scaffold those whom they excited to revolt in the sacred name of religion, while Russian policy reaped in this expedition two advantages — the subjection of the Ukraine, and the weakening of the Zaporoguians.
The most numerous body of Haidamaques, under Zelezniaque never amounted to more than fifty thousand men; but there were several other bands under different leaders. At this time there lived in the Ukraine an aged Cossack, named Vernyhora, who by his influence and humane feeling, often prevented the shedding of blood. He even predicted the fall of Poland, but also foretold its future regeneration. The confederation of Bar was fraught with more danger to Russia, than any other insurrection hitherto directed against her.
Gonta was a man of middle stature, and was thin, beardless, and feminine in his features. He had neither the ferocious look nor the vigorous frame of Zelezniaque, but he surpassed him in quickness of invention, and in the arts of dissimulation. There was an evident perfidiousness lurking in his cat-like eyes; but he seldom looked his interlocutor in the face, while the honied words of persuasion flowed from his lips. He paid the penalty of his fiendish career in the very prime of his life. The town of Houmagne still exists; its ancient fortifications were razed by the orders of the Russian government in 1812, and a wooden palisade now only surrounds it. Its owner. Count Alexander Pototski, is amongst the emigrants from his country. He was a colonel in the Russian army, and only a few weeks before the conclusion of the last fruitless irruption against the Russians he put on the Polish uniform, which cost him a little kingdom. This nobleman is passionately fond of music; he is a genuine lover of the fine arts, and is remarkable for the suavity and amenity of his manners, as well as for his many excellent qualities. His features and look are Ukrainian. He often resides in Paris, and appears to attract the admiration of the ladies of high rank by his elegant conversation and dignified manners. It is said that he refused to avail himself of the amnesty in which the emperor of Russia intended to include him. He is the brother of the amiable Countess Kisielef, whose charming disposition, united to a romantic turn of mind and distinguished elegance, were,'a few years ago, the theme of admiration in the high circles of Parisian society. This it is said excited the jealousy of the czar.
In sketching the political events of the Ukraine, and the fate of the two principal Moloch-destroyers of its inhabitants, during the sanguinary rebellion which has been the subject of our narrative, we may for a moment employ our imaginations, while thinking of that soil which has imbibed the gore of so many of the unhappy sons of men. "We may contemplate the cupolas of the churches, reflecting the red rays like waves of blood from the broad crimson disk of the setting sun, and we may console ourselves with the reflection that blood barbarously shed cries to Heaven for vengeance; thousands of accusing voices will be raised to the footstool of mercy, and Heaven is just.
See Anarchic dePologne; Pamietniki XiedzaMladanowicza; the works of Lesur, sur les Cosaques; Life of Catherine II.; L'Histoire de Pologne, by Lelevel; La Pologne Pittoresque; W. Took; Les trois Demembremens de Pologne, par Ferrand; Cox's Travels; Swientski, &c.