The universities of Warsaw and Wilna were broken up; and the rich libraries of these institutions were carried to St. Petersburgh.  The emperor declared openly, that it should be his aim to annihilate all traces of Polish nationality, and to metamorphose it into a Russian people.  Even the lower schools were in great part deprived of their funds, and changed to Russian government schools.  After some years of utter privation as to all means of higher instruction, a new university for the Poles was founded at Kief; of course on a Russian model and in a Russian spirit.  In a most consistent and energetic manner the language and the national peculiarities of the country were every where checked and persecuted; and attempts of every kind were made to replace them by Russian customs and the Russian language.  The union of the Greek and Catholic churches was dissolved; and in that way thousands were compelled to join the Russian church.  In the higher schools prizes were set forth for the best essays in the Russian language; and in 1833 a law was made, that after 1834 no Pole could hope for employment in the Russian service, without a complete knowledge of the Russian language.  In the White Russian provinces, so called, that is in Lithuania, Podolia, and Volhynia,—­countries which formerly had been under Russian dominion, and are still inhabited by a Lithuanian and Russian peasantry, while the nobility is Polish,—­these severe and arbitrary measures were surprisingly successful in respect to the youth then in training; and the minister of the School department, Ouwarof, in his report of 1839, expressed his satisfaction in the strongest terms.

But Poland as a whole was far from giving satisfaction to the government.  There was indeed a certain stoppage of mental life, which seemed to favour its views.  Literary productions were few in proportion to the former productiveness.  In the year 1837, not more than 118 books were published in the whole kingdom; and of these only 75 were Polish; the rest in Hebrew.  The press and all other organs of public feeling were under the strictest control.  Yet the very topics, which were chosen by the literati for their researches and commentaries, proved best of all that the love of their country was not extinguished.  The history of Poland became more than ever a chosen study.  Private libraries and archives were searched for materials; and detached parts of the past, and single branches of history, were made the subjects of a closer examination and research, than had ever before been devoted to such topics among this active and restless people.  One of the most important works, issued immediately after the revolution, was Prof.  Maciejowski’s History of the Slavic Legislatures.[69] It was well received by the numerous German and Slavic scholars, who devote themselves to similar pursuits; but they soon found that it did not fully satisfy the claims of the deeper criticism of our days.  It has come finally to be considered rather as a preparatory work, which was shortly afterwards partially completed by another production of the same author:  “Contributions to the History of Slavic events, literature, and legislation.” [70] A work by J. Hobe, “On the Slavic rights of inheritance,” appeared about the same time; also, a publication of the oldest Slavic documents relating to law by Prof.  Kucharski.[71]