The general was not engaged in the Polish insurrection of 1831, but he did not fight against his countrymen; and after that unhappy war did much good to them, even to some who were known to be his enemies. Here is a proof of his kindly disposition and his influence in this respect. A short time back, the Kussian governor of Kamienietz Podolski having a spite against a Polish gentleman, named Ratsiborowski, endeavoured to extort £2,520 from him, by accusing him with being connected with an imaginary plot, and also carrying on treasonable correspondence with the Countess Cordule Fredro, of Austrian Poland, a kind, affable lady (Countess Krasinska's de domo), who never interferes in politics, and has a splendid seat near the Carpathian mountains, close to the corner of the Austrian, Russian, and Turkish boundaries. To prove the guilt of the unhappy Ratsiborowski and other Poles, the rascally governor concocted, and produced, several letters and suitable answers, in sympathetic ink. The Russian authorities required the iVustrian government to deliver up the Countess, but this was refused, though some of her tenants were arrested, and confronted (at Kiof), with other victims of the governors infernal artifice. They would, as a matter of course, have been condemned and exiled to Siberia, but luckily for them General Count Krasinski arrived at Kiof, on his way to his estates. Hearing that a Russian subaltern (an agent of the governor) was hovering previously about the Coimtess Fredro's estate, for the purpose of collecting evidence respecting her correspondence, and so forth, the general suspected some trick. He therefore lost no time in communicating his suspicions to Count Bekendorf (the head of the Russian police.) The result of the general's interposition was that the subaltern was placed under arrest, and the first night of his incarceration hung himself — the letters were satisfactorily shown to be forgeries— the iniquitous governor was dismissed— and his intended victims liberated.
General Count Krasinski is about sixty-eight years of age. He is of middle size, though stoutly built, and his features are marked by two large scars, one extending across his face, the other on his forehead; he is a celebrated pistol shot, and could, formerly, so well manage the lance, that surrounded at the battle of Wagram, in 1809, by several Austrians, he defended himself with it several minutes, killing two and disabling some of them without himself sustaining any injury. He dedicated to Napoleon a well-written pamphlet on the advantages of the lancers, and the use of the lance, for which he received a brace of pistols and a double-barrel gim from Napoleon valued at £3,000.
On another occasion, in the Russian campaign in 1812, he was ordered to make a reconnoissance with a small party of soldiers: he met three battalions of Russian infantry, advanced, contrary to the advice of his friends, within gun-shot of the Russians, alone, and, wishing courageously to fulfil his duty, quietly inspected their lines. The Russians fired a volley at him, and missed him; he bowed to them, and continued to observe them; they twice reloaded their guns and fired; twice more he bowed, and departed unhurt. A Colonel of the Cossacks, however, having an excellent horse, dashed so furiously at the general, that had not one of the Polish lancers parried the thrust of the Cossack, he would have in all probability killed the X former. The Colonel was taken prisoner, and cried like a woman when obliged to part with his horse; he was kindly treated by the general and soon exchanged, and before leaving the Polish lancers a purse of gold was given to him. The Cossack swore never again to fire at a Pole, and was lost sight of.
In 1814, in France, the Cossacks were constantly at the heels of the French, and the general made a bet with Lefevre Denouette, that in the first encounter with the Cossacks he would not use his sword; he gained the bet, and narrowly escaped being shot or taken prisoner. Most fortunately the same Cossack colonel recognised him, came to his assistance, gave him a glass of brandy, did not allow any one to fire at him, called hira his friend, and exchanged almost every day some friendly words with him. This anecdote, which the general often mentioned, was corroborated by a Frenchman, at Chantilly, who was the eye-witness of it.