en, making their army
one hundred and twenty thousand strong, while in cannon they outnumbered
the Poles three to one.

Such was the state of affairs in beleaguered Warsaw on that fatal 6th of
September when the Russian general, taking advantage of the weakening
of the patriot army, ordered a general assault.

At daybreak the attack began with a concentrated fire from two hundred
guns. The troops, who had been well plied with brandy, rushed in a
torrent upon the battered walls, and swarmed into the suburb of Wola,
driving its garrison into the church, where the carnage continued until
none were left to resist.

From Wola the attack was directed, about noon, upon the suburb of
Czyste. This was defended by forty guns, which made havoc in the Russian
ranks, while two battalions of the 4th regiment, rushing upon them in
their disorder, strove to drive them back and wrest Wola from their
hands. The effort was fruitless, strong reinforcements coming to the
Russian aid.

Through the blood-strewn streets of the city the struggle continued,
success favoring now the Poles, now the Russians. About five in the
afternoon the tide of battle turned decisively in favor of the Russians.
A shower of shells from the Russian batteries had fired the houses of
Czyste, within whose flame-lit streets a hand-to-hand struggle went on.
The famous 4th regiment, intrenched in the cemetery, defended itself
valiantly, but was driven back by the spread of the flames. Night fell,
but the conflict continued. The dawn of the following day saw the city
at the mercy of the Russian host. The twenty thousand men sent out to
forage were still absent. Nothing remained but surrender, and at nine in
the evening the news of the capitulation was brought to the army, to
whom orders to retire on Praga were given.

Thus ended the final struggle for the freedom of Poland. The story of
what followed it is not our purpose to tell. The mild Alexander was no
longer on the Russian throne. The stern Nicholas had replaced him, and
fearful was his revenge. For the crime of patriotism Poland was
decimated, thousands of its noblest citizens being transported to the
Caucasus and Siberia. The remnant of separate existence possessed by
Poland was overthrown, and it was made a province of the Russian empire.
Even the teaching of the Polish language was forbidden, the youth of the
nation being commanded to learn and speak the Russian tongue. As for the
persecution and sufferin