ven and the cannon fired
from the castle. The citizens took up their places in the entrenchments
with an order and a precision that won high praise from Kosciuszko as he
went his round of inspection. With undisturbed equanimity Kosciuszko
prepared with his body of 26,000 men, of whom 16,000 were regulars, the
rest peasants armed with scythes, to defend Warsaw against 41,000
Russians and Prussians and 235 cannon. Despite the labour of the
townsfolk, the defences of the city were weak and incomplete when the
enemy first appeared; but during the fortnight while the hostile armies
lay encamped before Warsaw, waiting for their heavy cannon, Kosciuszko,
by dint of his great gift of organization, put the fortifications into
strong working order.

"His creative power," said of him one of his adversaries, a Prussian
officer, who took part in the siege, "is worthy of admiration, since he
alone, in the midst of creating an army, fought with it against the two
best armies of Europe, having neither their stores nor their discipline.
What would he not have shown himself at the head of a good army, since
he did so much with peasants who knew nothing? Equally great in
character, in devotion, in love of his country, he lived exclusively for
her freedom and independence."[1]

[Footnote 1: A. Choloniewski, _Tadeusz Kosciuszko_.]

The story would be long to tell, of how the Poles, peasants, burghers
and soldiers alike, with the inheritance of the fighting blood that runs
in the veins of every son of Poland, with the fire of patriotism and of
measureless devotion to the chief who led them, fought day after day the
besieging army till it was beaten. The diary of the siege is the daily
record of deeds of gallantry, of steadfastness, of a few carrying off
the honours against many. Nor is there wanting a touch of that wild and
romantic spirit of knightly adventure which runs all through the history
of a country that for centuries defended Christendom against Turk and
Tartar. Thus we find a Polish officer, Kamienski, who had already
crowned himself with glory at Szczekociny, choosing to celebrate his
name-day by inviting his friends to come with him and stir up the
Russians, hitherto entirely passive in the operations of the siege.
This, so to speak, birthday party was swelled by a band of eager Polish
youths and by General Madalinski, who hastened to offer himself as a
volunteer. They attacked a Russian battery, spiked the cannon and cut
the