against Russia itself, was to be its last. In 1831, on the outbreak of
the Revolution, Mr. Nicholas B. was the senior captain of his regiment.
Some time before he had been made head of the remount establishment
quartered outside the kingdom in our southern provinces, whence almost
all the horses for the Polish cavalry were drawn. For the first time
since he went away from home at the age of eighteen to begin his
military life by the battle of Friedland, Mr. Nicholas B. breathed the
air of the "Border," his native air. Unkind fate was lying in wait for
him amongst the scenes of his youth. At the first news of the rising
in Warsaw all the remount establishment, officers, vets., and the very
troopers, were put promptly under arrest and hurried off in a body
beyond the Dnieper to the nearest town in Russia proper. From there they
were dispersed to the distant parts of the Empire. On this occasion poor
Mr. Nicholas B. penetrated into Russia much farther than he ever did in
the times of Napoleonic invasion, if much less willingly. Astrakhan was
his destination. He remained there three years, allowed to live at
large in the town but having to report himself every day at noon to the
military commandant, who used to detain him frequently for a pipe and
a chat. It is difficult to form a just idea of what a chat with Mr.
Nicholas B. could have been like. There must have been much compressed
rage under his taciturnity, for the commandant communicated to him the
news from the theatre of war and this news was such as it could be,
that is, very bad for the Poles. Mr. Nicholas B. received these
communications with outward phlegm, but the Russian showed a warm
sympathy for his prisoner. "As a soldier myself I understand your
feelings. You, of course, would like to be in the thick of it. By
heavens! I am fond of you. If it were not for the terms of the military
oath I would let you go on my own responsibility. What difference could
it make to us, one more or less of you?"