samedi 6 août 2016

279 The Lithuanian Society (1831)

Some information about the Lithuanian Society, founded in Paris in 1831, known as Towarzystwo Litewskie i Ziem Ruskich or Société Lithuanienne et des Terres Russiennes







This is a page in English of the French blog 

                    Frédéric Chopin Questions historiques et biographiques.

Introduction
The Lithuanian Society was founded by César Plater in December 1831 in Paris with the following names (in Polish and French) Towarzystwo Litewskie/Société Lithuanienne, but in 1832, the official names became Towarzystwo Litewskie i Ziem Ruskich/Société Lithuanienne et des Terres Russiennes.
It seems that these latest forms have no equivalent in the English historiography (they could be translated « Lithuanian and Ruthenian Society » or « Society of Lithuania and of the Ruthenian Lands »). There is a problem in English because it is not possible to make a difference between « Russien » and « Russe » (« Russian ») ; « Russien » (which is no more in common use in French) must then be translated by « Ruthenian ».
The name of the Society (Towarzystwo Litewskie i Ziem Ruskich/Société Lithuanienne et des Terres Russiennes) concerns the territories of former Poland (more exactly of the « Republic of the Two Nations ») annexed by Russia after the partitions of 1772, 1793 and 1795, territories which the Poles called Ziemie Zabrane (« Stolen Lands ») and the Russians Западный край/Zapadnyj kraj (« Western district »).

Blog links 
The following contents are a simplified translation of the page (in French)
and a complement to the pages

Contents
1) Main source : a commemorative book (1832)
2) Second source : the statutes of the Society (1832)
3) Other information

1) A commemorative book
Reference
This book is a collection of speeches made in Paris on the 29 November 1831 (commemoration of the Polish Uprising of the 29 November 1830) and on the 25 March 1832 (first year of existence of the Lithuanian Society).
Some historical information can be found in the page 26.
According to this book, the Lithuanian Society was founded on the 10 December 1831 and its Statutes (infra) were published on the 10 March 1832 (with the new name).
The Society had the aim « to collect sources and documents about the revolution of these provinces, in order to write a complete relation of it ; to make a historical and statistic description of the country ; and last, to care for the common nationality of those same regions. » (p. 26).
The direction was formed by : César Plater (president), Lafayette (honorary president), Leonard Chodzko (secretary).
Some important members (who spoke on the 25 March) were : François Szemioth, Wladislaw Plater, Charles-Edouard Wodzinski, Marc-Antoine Jullien.
Notes
*César Plater (Cezary Augustyn Plater, 1810-1869). 
*Lafayette (Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, 1757-1834), founder and president of the Comité central en faveur des Polonais (1831)
*Léonard Chodzko (Leonard Chodźko, 1800-1871), member of the Comité central en faveur des Polonais
*François Szemioth (Franciszek Szemiot, 1803-1882)
*Wladislaw Plater (Władysław Ewaryst Broel-Plater, 1808-1889), César's brother
*Charles-Edouard Wodzinski (Karol Edward Wodziński, 1807-1837) (not related to the family of Maria Wodzinska)
*Marc-Antoine Jullien alias Jullien de Paris (1775-1848), member of the Comité central en faveur des Polonais

The ceremonies of the 25 March 1832
Quotation of the same book:
« The first anniversary of the Lithuanian and Ruthenian revolution was celebrated in Paris on the 25 March 1832, at the house n° 18 rue de Rivoli. The hall, with more than 400 people, had been ornated with French and Polish flags, and also with the two American flags, which had been destinated to the Polish legions, and had been offered to the Poles on the 29 November 1831. […] With the ladies and the many friends of Poland, - French, Germans, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Irish, English and American -, it was a brilliant assembly. Mrs. César Plater, Joachim Lelewel, François Szemioth, Wladislas Plater, Léonard Chodzko, Charles-Edouard Wodzinski and M. A. Jullien de Paris, pronounced the speeches […] »
Notes
*n° 18 rue de Rivoli : between the Hôtel-de-Ville of Paris and the place de la Bastille
*the two American flags : they had been brought in Europe by Samuel Gridley Howe in 1831 (see the page The American Polish Committee)

2) The Statutes of the Society
Reference

After an introduction in French, the text of the statutes is given both in Polish and in French.

About the « Terres russiennes »
The front page gives a quite detailed explanation about the « Terres russiennes » : 
 « The inhabitants of Polish Russias : of White-Russia (Biała-Ruś), of Black-Russia (Czarna-Ruś), of Red-Russia (Czerwona-Ruś), of Wolhynia, of Podolia and of Ukraine, are Russiens, or Ruthéniens or Rousniaques, according to the different authors who have given a name to those peoples. These Ruthenian provinces must not be identified with the Empire of Russia itself (Rossya or Rassiéia), formerly named Tzarat of Moskovia. […]
The Lithuano-Ruthenian Society includes the Duchy Starostia of Samogitia and the following  Palatinates : 1° Wilna, 2° Troki, 3° MińskPolock, 5° Livonia, 6° Witebsk, 7° Mścisław, 8° Nowogrodek, 9° Brześć Litewski, 10° Wolhynie, 11° Kiow, 12° Czernichow, 13° Braclaw, 14° Podolie, 15° Russie (Halicz), 16° Bels, 17° and the Land of Chelm. »

Prologue 
Page 3, line 11 :
« [...] the Lithuanian refugees living in Paris have established (on a proposition from César Plater), on the 10 December 1831, a society which, initially with only ten members, has quickly got rich of a greater number and is growing every day.
Some children from the Ruthenian Lands, Red-Russia, Wolhynia, Podolia, and Ukraine, being in the same position as their Lithuanian brothers, […] have believed they were welcome to take part to the activities of the Society. […]
The Society took the name of Society of Lithuania and of the Ruthenian Lands ; its objectives and statutes have been approved on the 10 March 1832 […] ».

Introduction
Page 4
« The objective of the Society of Lithuania and of the Ruthenian Lands is : 1° the collection of sources and documents about the revolution of Lithuania and of the Ruthenian Lands, in order to write a complete relation of it ; 2° the historical and statistic description of the country ; 3° the common nationality of those same regions. »

Articles
There are 31 articles concerning :
a) the organisation of the Society (I to XII),
b) the conditions of adhesion (XIII à XVIII),
c) the conditions of publication by members of works related with the objectives of the Society (XIX à XXIII)
d) some issues of internal proceeding (XXIV à XXVIII)
e) the feast of the Society (25 March) (XXIX)
f) the extraordinary sessions (XXX et XXXI).

The signatories
After that, there is the list of the people who signed the statutes (page 9) :
César Plater, Wladislas Plater, Antoine Przeciszewski, Adam Kolysko, Joseph Zienkowicz, Louis Zambrzycki, Valérien Pietkiewicz, Jean Grotkowski, Antoine Hluszniewicz, Charles-Edouard Wodzinski, Joachim Lelewel, Alexandre Wolodkowicz, Joseph Straszewicz, Jules Slowacki, Eustache Januszkiewicz, Cajétan Leszczynski, Michel Skibicki, Ignace Chodkiewicz, Boleslas Dobrowolski, Pierre Kopczynski, Joseph Mikulski, Xavier Oranski, Erasme Rykaczewski, Michel Wollowicz, Lucien Kollupaylo, Michel Lisiecki, Albert Sowinski, Jean Népomucène Uminski, Henri Dmochowski, Edouard Mokrzecki, Constant Zaleski. 

Elementary biographical datas (alphabetical order)
*Ignace Chodkiewicz (Ignacy Chodkiewicz, ??)
*Henri Dmochowski (Henryk Dmochowski, 1810-1863) 
*Boleslas Dobrowolski (Bolesław Kazimierz Dobrowolski, ??)
*Jean Grotkowski (Jan or Jan Wojciech Grotkowski, ??)
*Jules Gruzewski (Juliusz Grużewski, 1808-1865)
*Antoine Hluszniewicz (Antoni Hluszniewicz, 1793-1861)
*Eustache Januszkiewicz (Eustachy Januszkiewicz, 1805-1874)
*Lucien Kollupaylo (Lucjan Kołłupayło, 1808-1872)
*Adam Kolysko (Adam Kołyszko, 1796-1870)
*Pierre Kopczynski (Piotr Kopczyński, ca 1793-ca 1859>)
*Joachim Lelewel (1786-1861)
*Gaëtan Leszczynski (Kajetan Leszczyński, ??)
*Michel Lisiecki (Michał Lisiecki, 1803-1882)
*Joseph Mikulski (Józef Mikulski, 1800-1856)
*Edouard Mokrzecki (Edward Mokrzecki, ??)
*Xavier Oranski (Ksawery Orański, 1811?-??)
*Valérien Pietkiewicz (Walerian Pietkiewicz, 1805-1843)
*Antoine Przeciszewski (Antoni Przeciszewski, 1797-1856)
*Erasme Rykaczewski (Erazm Rykaczewski, 1803-1873)
*Michel Skibicki (Michał Skibicki, ??)
*Albert Sowinski (Wojciech Sowiński, 1805-1880)
*Joseph Straszewicz (Józef Straszewicz, 1801-1838)
*Jean Népomucène Uminski (Jan Nepomucen Umiński, 1778-1851)
*Michel Wollowicz (Michał Wołłowicz, 1806-1833)
*Alexandre Wolodkowicz : either Alexander Wołodkowicz (1806-1861), or Alexandre (Vitold Henri) Wolodkowicz (1805-1875)
*Constant Zaleski (Konstanty Zaleski, ??)
*Louis Zambrzycki (Ludwik Tadeusz Zambrzycki, 1803-1834)
*Joseph Zienkowicz (Józef Zienkowicz, 1807-1833)

3) Other information
The Polish Wikipedia page
In the Polish Wikipedia, there is one page concerning the Society ; for the most part it is a quotation from Lubomir Gadon’s book, Emigracya polska (1901-1902).

Introduction
« The Lithuanian and Ruthenian Society is a Polish organisation of the Emigration, formed of citizens of the stolen country*, who, when the November insurrection had been defeated, were in a situation of exile. »
Note
*stolen country : kraj zabrany (cf. supra Ziemie Zabrane).

Lubomir Gadon’s text :
« The Lithuanian Society was founded in Paris, as soon as the 10 December 1831, on the initiative of César Plater and of some Lithuanians who had joined him. The reason for that was that the Lithuanian had the desire to inform – considering the gaps and the errors in the way Europe thought of their country since its separation from Poland – that they were and could not cease to be a European people, which had formerly constituted the half of the Polish Republic. The ends of the Society, defined by its Statute, were : the reunion of material and of documents in relation with the Revolution of Lithuania and of the Ruthenian Lands, in order to write a complete report of it ; the historical and statistical description of these countries ; the preservation of their common nationality ; besides, there was the idea that the texts written about these themes should not create a risk of persecution by the Russian government for the brothers who had remained in the country.
The president of the Society was César Plater ; in a first period, Léonard Chodzko was secretary, before he was replaced by Félix Wrotnowski*.
From the 4 March 1832, compatriots from Volhynia, Podolia and Ukraine joined the Association, and that’s why it took the name of Society of Lithuania and of the Ruthenian Lands.
A notable thing is that at the beginning of the Emigration, the people from the Kingdom of Poland* did not show much brotherhood towards the Lithuanians, as they considered themselves as a higher sort of Poles and felt some contempt towards their compatriots from beyond the rivers Niemen and Bug. Probably this attitude of the people from the Kingdom of Poland was one of the reasons which made the Lithuanians think of uniting each other in an association.
[…]
It must be said that the Society did not attract only Lithuanians, Volhynians and Podolians ; some members came from other parts of Poland : for instance Lelewel, general Uminski, colonel Potulicki, Aloysius Biernacki, André Plichta, Stephan Kozmian and others. Two of our great poets joined it : Julius Slowacki on the 8 January 1832 and Mickiewicz, introduced as an active member by Januszkiewicz, attended for the first time on the 13 August ; in November of the same year, he made a lecture about : « Where and how is it convenient to look for national spirit ? », and on the 10 December, he was chosen as the vice-president of the Society. […] » 
Notes
*Lubomir Gadon (1831-1908), a jurist from Lithuania ; a protagonist of the 1863 insurrection ; exiled in Paris ; director of the Polish Library ; from 1894 in Cracow (then under Austrian domination)
*Félix Wrotnowski (Feliks Wrotnowski, 1803-1871)
*people from the Kingdom of Poland : the original word is Koronarze (the people of the Crown)

Biographical precisions
*général Umiński : supra
*colonel Potulicki : not found
*Aloïs Biernacki (Alojzy Prosper Biernacki, 1778-1854)
*André Plichta (Andrzej Antoni Plichta, 1797-1866),
*Stanislas Kozmian (Stanisław Egbert Koźmian, 1811-1885),
*Jules Slowacki : supra
*Mickiewicz : Adam Mickiewicz (1799-1855)
  


Creation : 6 August 2016
Update : 
Corrections : 3 July 2017
Author : Jacques Richard
Blog : Sur Frédéric Chopin Questions historiques et biographiques
Page : 279 The Lithuanian Society (1831)
Link: http://surfredericchopin.blogspot.fr/2016/08/the-lithuanian-society-1831.html








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