In this series of articles about Vinnitsa, the history of the city is mentioned in detail, and various monuments, including temples and chapels, which are associated with Poland are also listed (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1880, Series 3, T:10, pp. 99, 125, 133-134, 149-150, 174, 182-183, 194, 220-221, after: University of Łódź Digital Library).

A modernised reading of the text

The city of Vinnitsa past and present

It would be hard to imagine a more attractive and picturesque place for the establishment of a large city than Vinnitsa, which is a peninsula surrounded on three sides by the swift and clear flow of the Bohu river, and on the fourth side adjoining the fertile and fertile Podolsky meadows, where, under favourable conditions, it could expand to infinity. The clear water of this fast river, with a mostly rocky or gravel bottom, provides abundant and excellent fish, turns many mills with its swift current, and could have one more great advantage, which depends only on human efforts, if it was made navigable, for which its fast course and the depth of its waters would be well suited. The benefits of making the river navigable would undoubtedly be numerous: the river flows through the most fertile eastern districts of the Podil province and the fertile Kherson steppes, absorbing many smaller rivers and streams on its way, and near the Zakhakiv liman it flows into the Black Sea through an ever-widening channel. Hence, the navigability of the river would be an unquestionable advantage for the country, which mostly disposes of its agricultural products on the Black Sea.

As for the banks of the Bohu itself, throughout its entire course, their picturesqueness possesses a considerable allure for the artist's brush and pencil, for the very fact that the river passes through fertile and beautiful country, rich in agricultural produce and magnificent nature, but no less for the fact that, by some strange whim of nature, it constantly changes the shape of the banks, always having one flat and the other rocky, with lush forests. Under the Vineyard itself, twisting into serpentine shapes, it changes the nature of the banks several times, which contributes greatly to the beautification of the position of the town itself.

Indeed, one should be surprised at the present decline of this city, which has so many conditions for development and prosperity; for it is itself surrounded by fertile land and the more prosperous estates of its rural owners, situated on a great road connecting the more important strategic and economic points and trading cities, such as Kyiv and Berdyczów with Odesa and many others. And if one bears in mind that for almost two hundred years this city was the capital of one of the most prosperous Braclaw voivodeships, and even under the present government it was the capital of the Braclaw guberniya, or governorate, until the new division of the province in 1786, when the guberniya was moved to Kamieniec Podolski... then, reflecting on its sudden demise, one would have to say blindly: "Habent sua fata oppida!".

Atoli, without anticipating the facts, let us better go into the content of the history of the city, from the beginning of its foundation.

It is difficult to trace a firm truth in ancient history. Therefore, we should agree with serious historians that the first beginning of Vinnitsa dates from the XIV century, when Olgierd, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, having recaptured the Podolia lands from the Tatars, gave them to his sons Koryatovich, who laid the first foundations of the castle and the town. Although the old chronicles show that Vinnitsa was called a town and a castle (oppidum, castrum) from the very beginning, it is safe to say that in view of the dense Tatar invasions of the region at that time, the towns tended to fall rather than to rise, oppressed by enemy raids on the one hand, and by an oppressive government on the other, On the other hand, they were oppressed by the arbitrary rule of the magnates, whose power was only curbed somewhat by King Alexander Jagiellon, and after him by Sigismund Augustus, who regulated the serfdom and tribute payments of the townspeople in relation to the aldermen. The first of these monarchs was also to grant the town the Magdeburg Law.

Only then did the history of Vinnitsa become clearer, as it began to join the ranks of the cities of the Commonwealth. Before we go any further, however, it is necessary to say how it got its name. Most historians claim that it was named after the river Winnicka, which flows into the river Bohu below the city, as we forgot to mention above. After all, Fr. Marczyński in his work "Statystyka gubernii podolskiej" (Vilnius, 1830, vol. III) cites: "The town got its name not from the vineyards, but from the burning of booze, i.e. wine breweries, of which there was the greatest number here near sufficient forests." To what extent this claim is valid, I cannot say.

In spite of royal privileges, the local towns, mostly exposed to the ravages of savage invaders, were unable to increase their fortunes. Annually, the chronicles record several minor or major Tartar raids, and what is worse for the town, the wild boars often plundered without retaliation. It was not until 1541 that the chronicles report on Bernat Pretwic, a brave warrior who was the first to bravely resist the Tartars and chased them away for some time. Let us quote here what Bielski says about it in his chronicles: "In 1540 nothing significant happened in our country at that time, also in the second year, only when the Tatars entered Rus, in the month of March, and did great damage around Winnica. Bernat Pretwic, the starost of Borsko, worthy of remembrance by all Poles, went after them with a bunch of Cossacks and Chemeris, and came as far as Cheżaków. He saw the people being taken captive to Kala. He cried, looking at them, saying:

"If I could, I would gladly rescue you. After all, he avenged himself greatly when he chopped up the Tartar wives and children and drowned them, so that they drowned as puppies on the water, and the other Chemeris shot at the water as ducks. He took a harvest of people and their possessions back and many children and Tatar wives. He did the same for the second year."

This is the first, one might say, more serious preaching of the Tartars in Rus. Admittedly, these Pretwits, having come to us from Silesia, were valiant fighters against the Bisurmans. Paprocki rightly calls this St Bernard the Wall of the Podolia region, admitting that he fought 70 battles against the Tatars. His son Jakub took after his father this impulse to fight the Tatars, and Siarczyński says of him: Siarczyński says of him: "In numerous battles with the Tatars and Cossacks during the reign of Sigismund III, he showed his bravery and courage to his enemies. Standing at the King's side, he chastised the rebels; at Zbaraż and Rastawica he defeated a large Tartar invasion, dispersed and took the spoils; at Piatki he beat the Cossacks on the head; Podole was cleared of enemies. He deserved to be appointed Voivode of this country by King Sigismund (died 1613). The memory of him or his father was preserved in the chant of the people:

"In the time of Mr. Pretwic,
Spała from the Tatars border."

It is only a pity that there were no more Pretwits to shield the borders of the Braclaw province from constant invasions, and that the Tatars on the banks of the Bohu plundered with impunity. In particular, Braclaw, the stronghold of the voivodeship, also located on the Bohemian River about eight miles from Vinnitsa, suffered constantly from Tartar incursions, and only after one destruction did it rise a little, while another attack turned it into a ruin.

The collapse and destruction of Braclav became the reason for the growth of Vinnitsa, which appeared for the first time in history as a city, or provincial town. The nobility of Braclaw, concerned about the land records destroyed by the incessant Tartar attacks on the provincial capital, Braclaw, asked at the 1598 Sejm to move the castle to Vinnitsa. The resolution of that sejm reads:

"At the request and need of the Braclaw deputies, which they have translated to Us, the land and town courts and records, all court jurisdiction and district assemblies from Braclaw to Vinnitsa, which land and town courts and assemblies in Our court for these times and days, as before in Braclaw, under the title of Vinnitsa will be held. The records are to be buried there in the Vinnitsa castle, which the starost shall allow, while preserving the validity of all records held in Braclaw until that time." (Vol. Leg. t. 2, p. 1470).

The resolution mentioned above mentions a castle, which would have been built by whom, and whether the castle of the Koryatovichs, having survived the Tartar attacks, would have survived until that time... I cannot find this in the histories. There is only one tradition which attributes the erection of a stronger, brick castle to Queen Bona, and there are still traces of a brick castle in Vinnitsa, on a clump of the Bohu river, which they call "Queen Bona's castle". However, it is known that where there are only ruins, which are not mentioned in the history, people used to attribute it to the foundation of Bona, who, if these legends are to be believed, would have provided almost the whole of Poland with castles.Although it is certain that there was a castle at that time, in which land and municipal records were deposited for security, it is certain that from that time onwards the growth of Vinnitsa began, and this castle has already taken a more serious place in the pages of history.

As for the castle itself, the first historical trace of it can be found in the Constitutions of 1613, where it was said "Rewizya zamku Winnickiego" (Vol. L. g. 111 p. 189):

"The Vinnitsa castle, having decayed that by the born Valentin Aleksander Kalinowski, our starosta of Braclaw and Vinnitsa, at his own expense and with the advantage of de nova radice, we have appointed our revisors (here follow the names), who, having made an agreement with each other at an opportune time, are to come to Vinnitsa, there to see the construction of the castle, with the walls and fortresses, diligently and carefully. They should give us and the Republic a complete and sufficient message at the future Sejm, which they will inspect according to their duty".

However, in the constitutions of the next Sejm, which took place in 1616, we do not find any traces that the above-mentioned inspectors reported to the Estates on the inspection of the castle, or perhaps their report was kept at the Sejm chancellery, and as a result Kalinowski was decorated with a few villages from the Vinnitsa starosty without paying a quarter. In any case, this castle, built by Kalinowski "de nova radice", must be the same one, which tradition calls "Bona's castle". From this Valentin Alexander, the forests of Vinnitsa are connected to the Kalinowski family, who, with small breaks, son after son, are the governors of Vinnitsa until the end. It will not be out of place to go through the history of these Kalinowskis who were governors of Vinnitsa. The first of them, Walenty Aleksander, General of Podolia, built a castle in Vinnitsa, for which, as we have seen, the state of the Republic rewarded him by giving him several starosty villages, without paying a quarter to the treasury.

He deserved no less in Niececki's eyes, having founded a Jesuit college in Vinnitsa, for which he donated 30,000 zlotys (a generous donation for those times); he also bestowed upon them the villages near Vinnitsa, Kajdachycha and Kozanicha, and provided the Order with a considerable jurisdiction in the town itself, as well as two villages in the Bracław district, Bondurówka and Piasoczyn. Niesiecki was so moved by this that, contrary to contemporary chronicles, he said: "at Cecora, he died fighting to the last of his strength with hetman Żółkiewski", while Pr. Siarczyński, also a priest but following the just voice of history, thinks of this Kalinowski in the following way:

"...The same much-awarded Kalinowski, hating Żółkiewski, in the need with the Turks at Cecora, disregarding orders, orders and requests even from the hetman, disgracefully left the first Polish camp at night and attracted others by his scorching example, thus becoming the cause of the Cecora defeat. However, apart from the disgrace, he suffered the punishment of an ignoble act, for when, preferring to appease his hatred rather than save the public cause, supporting the hetman's intentions, he escaped, he drowned in a rush to cross the river Prut as if frightened of the enemy, and his body could not be found, 1620.

However, it is safe to say that Kalinowski's governorship of Vinnitsa rendered a considerable service to the city and the country; for by erecting a new castle, and, in addition, providing it with an armed and vigilant garrison, the governor contributed greatly to the prevention of Tartar incursions. Moreover, by erecting the walls of the Jesuit college itself in the shape of a fortress - to which the present ruins also bear witness - it is fair to say that he provided the town with two defensive castles. In spite of the relief from external enemies, the townspeople fell "from the rain into the gutter", because what the raids of the wilderness on the one hand ceased to rip them off, the greedy staroste's rule did on the other.

The privilege of the Magdeburg law was almost forgotten, and the starost's courts took control of everything; rents, tolls, fees and taxes in general were doubled, and the burghers, who were allowed to serve as soldiers, were turned into serfs. On the other hand, the Jesuits, having taken over the greater part of the town for their own jurisdiction, exacted heavy rents from the Christian townspeople, and even more so from the Jews. This will become clear later when we come to the town's vetting and royal decrees against the oppression of the starosts. After Valentin Alexander, his son Adam took over the Vinnitsa starosty, and after the death of the latter (1638), his younger brother George. At that time, the town, already calmed down from enemy ravages, was consumed by a terrible fire. King Ladislaus IV, wishing to bring relief to the town afflicted by the calamity and to assist in its recovery, in particular by stopping the starosts' arbitrariness, thus resumed the former rights of the townspeople to brew beer, mead and liquor freely; the revenues from measures, scales, tar, pitch and other market facilities were taken out of the starosts' power and assigned to the town's revenues.

The same decree repeals all tributes, fees, donations and duties unlawfully chosen by starosts for ever. Furthermore, this wise decree draws close attention to the arbitrariness of the starost's courts, which began to appropriate the attribute of Magdeburg law, by establishing three new orders of holding courts: 1st, made up of a council of eight people or magistrats; 2nd, of a mayor and five jurors; 3rd, of twelve communes for life. The jurors and communal officials (says the decree) are to present three persons, of whom the starost is to replace the mayor, and the alderman is to replace a separate one from the other three candidates. In cases of 200 zlotys, which do not involve personal punishment or infamy, the mayor with the jurors is the judge, from which an intermediate appeal to the starost's court and a supreme appeal to the provincial court is allowed, which before was resolved by the starost himself in the last instance. Criminal cases are subject to the alderman's court, but it is strictly forbidden to move this jurisdiction beyond the town boundaries for the purpose of sentencing criminals.

Finally:

"prescribing extensive laws by the king as to the manner of electing officials, their taking oaths and performing their duties, he abolishes torture in the alderman's court; and he orders cases of sorcery and superstition to be tried in the alderman's court; he assigns Monday, Wednesday and Friday to the alderman's courts, and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to the alderman's court".

The same privilege granted the town a coat of arms, which is as follows: in the red field there are two white swords crosswise with their blades facing each other, and in their centre there is a cross whose lower part ends in the shape of an anchor. There is no doubt that, under the wings of a wise and benevolent privilege, the town soon made up for the losses caused by the fire, and the town grew and flourished with rapid steps. However, the poor town of Vinnitsa was not destined to enjoy a long period of peace and quiet, and having barely shaken off the heavy yoke of the aldermen, the city began to rise with freedom, when the fateful year of 1651 arrived.

In that year, rebellious Cossacks took over the town and the castle and wreaked havoc there; Hetman Maj. Mikołaj Potocki was tempted in vain to retake the town, and having been informed of the new and considerable increase in the enemy forces, he threw himself against them and beat them on the head at Bercstezki, which was the last victory of this warrior, as he died soon afterwards. Marcin Kalinowski (Aleksander Valentin's third son), as a field hetman who had just returned from a three-year imprisonment for ransom, having taken command of the army, rushed to the relief of Vinnitsa and cleared the city from the enemy, and having followed him as far as the banks of the Dnieper, surrounded by the overwhelming forces of Timothy Khmelnytsky, joined by the Tartars, he lost his army and, fighting bravely and covered with wounds, died on the battlefield (1652), together with his only son Samuel, born of Helena, the Princess of Korets. This Marcin Kalinowski was educated in foreign academies, and was well trained in the art of war as well as in sciences.

Although Vineyard was cleared of enemy garrisons by Hetman Kalinowski, during the whole of the Cossack wars, as it was located on the main route of all war operations, it constantly became the scene of enemy attacks. It would be superfluous to say that, after so many disasters, the city could not recover, and in fact was in decline. The death of the brave Marcin Kalinowski not only dealt a blow to his homeland, depriving it of one of its bravest men in times of hardship, but was equally detrimental to the Kalinowski family, which was beginning to rise rapidly and was coming to a great crescendo. The Potockis, an ancient family, who were just now taking advantage of their popularity with the nation and the King to establish themselves in the fertile lands of Russia and Ukraine and lay the foundations of their future and immeasurable fortunes, looked on this with reluctance. Naturally, the new Kalinowski family looked on with envy at the rise and rivalry of the new house of Kalinovskis, who seized for themselves the Ukrainian starosties, among them the lucrative Vinnitsa.

If Marcin had not died at Batov, and he had been given the Crown Hetmanhood, which he was entitled to by law and by merit, the fight would have been uneven and it would have been unknown to which side it would have leaned. However, after the death of the hetman and his only son, there remained a younger and less distinguished line of the family, which the Potockis slowly began to expel from the starosty. This mainly concerned the most important starosty of Vinnitsa, from which they also dismissed the Kalinowskis, and through their adherents at the Sejm of 1662 provoked the following resolution:

"It is necessary for the securitati of the Braclawski voivodeship that our city Vinnitsa should have praesidium adequatum, for the security of the citizens there; therefore, with the consent of all the states, we allow the noble Andrzej of Potok Potocki, the Braclawski voivode, to hold the Vinnitsa starosty insimul with the voivodeship pro hoc sola vice ea conditione, that he should always have at his residence present 200 infantry at his own expense in praesidio of the place there" (Vol. leg. vol. IV, title: "Braclawski voivodship securitas").

But he too fortified himself in the castle and kept vigilant. Kaniowski began to use other means, playing various farm tricks on Kalinowski. He would move the borders, then he would wrestle with the land, and so on. This was undoubtedly a convenient pretext for the Potocki family to enter a high-profile starosty and push aside the growing house, as anyone would gladly take on the holding of a lucrative starosty for the stipend of two hundred militia, which they could recruit from the burghers and starosta's peasants themselves. To give a measure of how much Vinnitsa suffered in the last war, suffice it to mention the fact that the land registrar, who took office in the year of Potocki's death, submitted a manifesto on 18 January 1664, stating that he found no pen and inkwell in the jurisdiction, no book or deeds, which had been burnt during the Cossack rebellion.

The situation in Vinnitsa was better under the new aldermen, who would take too long to list, especially as Vinnitsa lived longer, ceasing to be a theatre of wars, as frequent royal privileges raised the city, and vetting helped to curb the starost's arbitrariness. However, for several decades the Kalinowskis waited to regain the starosty, which the Potockis had seized. It was not until sixty years later that one of the Kalinowskis was granted the Winnicki starosty under the patronage of the Potockis, having associated himself with them through Potocki's wife, starostess of Jablonowo, widow of Puzyn, a Lithuanian writer. He was Ludwik Kalinowski, son of Marcin, Castellan of Kamieniec, a virtuous and pious gentleman. To his stewardship the vineyard owes its blissful state of flowering.

Firstly, for the sake of public safety, he improved and renovated both castles at his own expense, and did not even ask the Sejm to cancel the costs, as his ancestor Walenty Aleksander did. He renovated the Jesuit college of his family foundation, rebuilt it and enlarged the jurydyka from the starost's land. He was not greedy about rents, donations and taxes, and was not deaf to human misery. Both he and his wife showed a lot of mercy to people. The kindness of this gentleman has been preserved in the living tradition of the inhabitants to this day. Ludwik Kalinowski immortalised the memory of his rule in Vinnitsa by building the Capuchin church and monastery, which has survived all others and is the only parish church.

More peculiar details of this foundation are worth mentioning. Sadly remembered Mikolaj Potocki, the starost of Kaniów, famous last century for his bloody antics, unrestrained fantasy and cruelty, competed with Kalinowski for the Vinnitsa starosty; against the strong patronage of his family, the Vinnitsa starosty eluded him. It was difficult to expect otherwise, as he was said to have been deprived of the Kaniów Starosty, which he held after his ancestors and his father, the Bełz Voivode and Crown Guard, for his frivolity; but the family did not allow this despair for the sake of their own ambition. Therefore always Kaniowski (as he was commonly called) could not forget Kalinowski that he had clothed him in the starosty of Vinnytsia; and as he was a wealthy man, as his mother Sieniawska, Voivode of Volhynia and Crown Field Hetmaness, had left him a great fortune, it was a difficult matter for Kalinowski, who, although also a magnate himself, did not match his antagonist's strength.

Short of Kaniowski's onslaught were the trials; the chamberlain's courts, always escorted by the starost's militia, descended, and yet more than once had to escape Kaniowski's Cossacks, having done nothing. However, this did not satiate Potocki's vengeance. In order to achieve his goal, he decided to return his bullets elsewhere and thus purchased the neighbouring villages around Kalinowski's estate in Kyiv Voivodeship, where, it is understood, his starost's authority did not reach, in which he let himself be tricked. Kalinowski owned ponds with mills in the Kyiv estate; Kaniowski bought them all up and drained them, under the pretext that the dykes were adhering to his banks. The case was brought before the Zhytomyr chamberlain court, whose verdict sentenced Kaniowski to repair the dikes and make restitution for the damage.

Kaniowski, with inappropriate humility, perhaps uniquely submitted to the verdict for once in his life, got down to work earnestly, spent all his manpower, and sooner than could be expected, the dykes were repaired and the sluices bricked up far better than those he had destroyed. He even sent a submission to the starost Kalinowski, and with his humble humility, he managed to convince him to act as an intermediary, asking the starost to forgive him his guilt and, as proof of this, to accept, together with the commission of the chamberlain's court, the treaty on the causeway which had given rise to the misunderstanding. Kalinowski, not suspecting malice and deceit, together with the chamberlain's court went to this causeway, where in fact Kaniowski was waiting with a splendid feast. He began by submitting himself, and then ended with a sumptuous treatise, which everyone was pleased with, supposing that it would put an end to neighbourly feuds and dilemmas. Once they had eaten, and perhaps even warmed themselves with drink, Kaniowski proposed that boundary mounds be made, and for the sake of neighbourly peace, offering a large piece of his land, the matter seemed to end amicably.

The court agreed to this goodwill, and Kaniowski nodded at the Cossack team, inseparable from him, who in a flash made the mounds. The law required that at least six landowners living in the villages to be demarcated should be present as witnesses at neighbouring demarcations, and as there were none, Kaniowski sent some of his Cossacks to summon them. There was also another barbaric custom, whereby peasants from the villages were summoned and beaten with rods on the mounds so that, when the mounds dried out over the years, they would testify to their presence.

Kaniowski ordered the Cossacks not to let the young men in, but to summon only the old and serious peasants, and when they had finished, noticing that there was no one to beat according to the custom, he said: - Well, the whole job was for nothing. - And why is that? - No one took it. - Is it necessary? - The mounds will crumble without it and our agreement will be for nothing. Hey, boys," he added, turning to the Cossacks, "take the starost and the excellent chamberlain's court and give them fifty each on the mounds. They are young and will live a long time, so they will testify if necessary. The act of rape, contrary to law and humanity, has come true. This arbitrariness and lawlessness, although already practised by Kaniowski on more than one occasion, but never to a similar degree of audacity, outraged the whole country. The starost and the chamberlain's court brought a criminal case against Kaniowski. It was no longer a matter of a fine and restitution, but simply a case of taking off the head of an impudent troublemaker for insulting the office.

So there was a scramble; Kaniowski fled abroad, and as he had been outlawed for years, he was to be declared an outlaw and have his property confiscated, which would have been the case had it been a simple nobleman. However, the Potockis, not wishing to allow this infamy to be heaped on their family, as they began to go about the matter, appeased the wronged and resolved to put an end to the severity of the law. Kalinowski, a pious man who had been harassed by the clergy, agreed to settle the matter with monetary compensation, and gave everything he received from this source to the glory of God. He erected six magnificent churches, which he generously equipped, and among these the beautiful Capuchin monastery and church in Vinnitsa, which he completed in 1760. The chamberlain's court used the land for its own benefit, and the chamberlain himself founded on it the prosperity of his successors, which has lasted until now.

The strict Capuchin Order, living on alms, shared their benefactors' gifts with those in need, and by their virtues spread salutary examples among the faithful. The Vineyard of the Capuchins had a beautiful, carefully and skilfully cultivated garden, from which fruit trees and bushes spread the taste for gardening. It also had a beautiful and select library, and educated many people during their studies at the monastery, some of whom, known for their learning and exemplary life, I would like to mention here. These were: Fr. Jozef Dołkalski, Maciej Kucharski, Marian Berezowski, Modest Tatarkowski, Zacharyasz Błotnicki (who died young, superior of the Vinnitsa monastery) and, finally, the last one almost alive from that time, the superior of the Khodorkovo monastery, Fr. Zeliryn Sliwinski.

Since we have spoken of the Vinnitsa churches, it will not be out of place to mention here the extraordinary ways in which the glory of God spread in Vinnitsa. For a century and a half, when the Jesuits settled here, having a parish, the so-called cura animarum and public education in their hands, they would have been reluctant to share their spiritual authority with another order. Meanwhile, unexpectedly, the opposite happened: the Jesuit Fathers, dissatisfied that they kept most of the city under their juridica, wished to expand. Along their monastery wall there was a manor house with a large plot of land belonging to a certain Porębiński, the Winnicki magistrate, who, laid on his deathbed by illness, decided to donate the land to the Jesuits, disregarding that it constituted the only fund for his future widow and several orphans. However, the then land judge of Winnicki, Michał Grocholski, a regimental officer of the armorial mark, purchased the land from the dying Porębiński, in order to prevent this ruin and cut off any possibility of it happening.

The fathers, disappointed in their hopes of enlarging the jurydyka, moved all their resources to seize the land, and, unable to deal with Grocholski, began to slander him that, as a judge, he had extorted the land for free from a subordinate magistrate. In order to prevent any slander, Grocholski decided to turn the land he had acquired from Porębiński to the glory of God and to found a monastery there for the Dominicans, who had already had a convent there for over a hundred years. It goes without saying that the Jesuits were strongly opposed to this plan. The Dominican Order had a considerable reputation in the country, already as a preaching order, more proficient than any other in the sciences; it devoted itself to the ransoming of prisoners long before the arrival of the Trinitarians; and finally it shed a great deal of blood during the Tartar and Cossack raids.

These antagonists were therefore more dangerous to the Jesuits than the meek Capuchins. At the same time, not being able to oppose Grocholski's intentions in court, who, as a magistrate himself and a well-trained lawyer, could not have feared this, the Jesuits tried to hinder them in various ways, cursing them and keeping workers away from the construction, so that in only ten years the founder was able to place a few Dominicans in the half-finished monastery, and if it had not been for the abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773, there is no telling what would have happened to the foundation. It was only the famous bull of Pope Clement XIV, which suppressed the Jesuits, that established the Dominicans in Vinnitsa and their church, which had been persecuted until then, became a parish church, replacing the Jesuit one, which had been closed.

By the same token, the Dominicans regained all their former endowments without any legal rights. In 1832 the monastery was turned into an Orthodox church. Besides, the former Vinnitsa had two Orthodox churches, and next to one of them - the Monastery of Basilian Sisters. Having described the houses of God in Vinnitsa, we return to the further history of the city. In spite of these turbulent matters, Vinnitsa rose considerably during Kalinovsky's rule, and it is enough to look at the result of the lustration of 1764, which is quoted below for comparison with another, to see for yourself. But after the blissful moments came the sad days for Vinnitsa, under the administration of Joseph Wincenty Colonna Czosnowski, a harsh and implacable starost, especially for the Jews, who not only did not forgive tributes and rents, but moreover invented new ones, and tormented the people with duties and donations.

Thousands of various anecdotes circulate in Vinnitsa about this Czosnowski. It is said that he had only one answer to all the translations of the Jews, which for him became a proverb: "And for what did you torment Christ?". There is a tradition that a certain joker once said to an elder: - We did not torture Christ. - Who did?" shouted Czosnowski. - The starost," replied the Jew, "because it is written in your books that he died for the sins of men, and the starost is also a sinner. But it was of no use, because the starost, whom the Jews called Pharaoh, was implacable to them, so they complained to the king about his rule. The royal letter, issued as a result on 23 February 1780, reads as follows:

"We have been told by the unfaithful Jews how they have to endure the wrongs and unlawfulness from the starost Józef Czosnowski, which they would like to do legally, but they fear through the power of the starost; The Jews who are at our side are requested by the Lords of the Council to take them under our protection and to protect them with our authority and to give them a warrant from any violence of the starost, his commissioner, the treasurer, and all those who have any authority. We accept this request as just, and we take the Jews under our protection and give them our voucher from all violence; supported by this voucher, they can safely pursue their own claims, stand in any place, and perform all their needs and duties without the slightest hindrance or fear; however, they should be modest in their conduct, obey their superiors in just matters, pay the usual taxes, and not misuse our benefits...".

A rescript of this kind was the pride of its time, bearing witness to the progress by which the absolute power of the privileged classes over the lower ones had come to an end; hence the case of the Winnicki Jews against Czosnowski attracted so much attention that it was discussed at the Sejm. However, more important political events interrupted its course. Czosnowski, meanwhile, took advantage of the delay to do his job as before, which can best be attested to by the lustration, carried out by Andrzej Waligórski, the swordsman, and Gabryel Porczyński, the Winnicki stolenman. Here is how this vetting speaks emphatically of the starost's affairs.

The town does not have a Magdeburg office and does not rise from its ruins; the townspeople are unable to trade or build houses to decorate the main town in the province; craft guilds remain unregulated. The burghers, deprived of their liberties, rights and privileges, obtained a privilege from the King in order to deal legally with Józef Czosnowski, the starost; nevertheless, hardly everyone suffered grievous blows to their person and were obliged to pay more and more fees, tributes and duties, until the grievousness came to an end with the starost's death (1782). And although the undue proceedings with the burghers ceased under the present Prince Prefect, freedom according to the privileges is still not fully restored, and the burghers are used to serfdom.

The whole town is surrounded by a multitude of Jews; their houses, untidy and cramped, are a daily fire hazard; the streets and houses are strewn with manure, causing inconvenience and annoyance to the citizens arriving as to the capital city. The Jews maintain trade and consumption, all kinds of goods, liquors, meats and all kinds of food, anticipating the Catholics. They bribe at fairs and markets and sell at unbelievably high prices; the craftsmen have no significant and proper power over each other; everything contrary to the law, justice and municipal liberties is sadly experienced by everyone in this border town, and nowhere can anyone complain about the disorder, the price and the harm suffered... It remains for us to borrow one more passage from the same survey, in order to give the reader an idea of the superficiality of the old town:

"...The ex-Jesuit church empty, much in ruins, in whose college the academic schools; the Dominican and Capuchin churches, girded with milliards. After one church burned down, 2 remained; next to one of them the Basilian convent. A castle on a knoll outside the town, flanked by the Bohemian River and a branch of the same river; by the bridge a wooden gate, with two cells for slaves on the sides, and on top of it a chamber for a tower for citizens; in the courtyard a large building made of wood, quite comfortable, a kitchen building and 3 cells for prisoners; further on, a storehouse, a rampart made of earth, much dilapidated, and in the spacious square a chancellery began to be built.".

Finally, in order to show to what extent the starost Czosnowski contributed to the collapse of the city itself, here is a comparative tariff of the houses in Vinnitsa, both in the city itself, and in the suburbs, from the inspection carried out in 1775 and 1789: In 1775 In 1789. Christian inns - 147 79 " Jewish . . Noble manors (not bearing the burden of the starosta) . . 102 80 36 99 Total. . 285 258.

This means that the total number of houses paying tributes to and performing duties for the starost fell to 27; but excluding noble manors, probably acquired for nothing, of which 63 increased between 1775 and 1789, the number of rented houses fell to a respectable 90. The starost's income amounted to 81,881 zlotys. Prince Stanislaw Poniatowski, by royal privilege, ceded the Vinnitsa starosty to Prot Potocki, Voivode of Kyiv.

In order not to return to the history of this starosty a second time, let us anticipate the facts and tell about its further years. Thus, in 1801, when the estate of Proto Potocki was partitioned, the right to the starosty was acquired from the Warsaw Banking Commission by Kajetan Skopowski, stolnik of Brest-Kujawy, and his successor gave up his rights in 1819 to Count Mikolaj Grocholski, vice-governor (later governor) of Podolia. In 18M, this starosty was donated to the successors of Chancellor Muraviev after the completion of Prince Poniatowski's life tenure; nevertheless, the starosty passed to the treasury after the death of the life tenure holder in 1833. The Russian government set the starosty allowance at Rs. 7,048, which shows that the income was more than double that determined by the last inspectors of the Republic. This concludes the history of Vinnitsa in the past, going back to 1789, as in recent events, many of which took place in the vicinity of Vinnitsa, the city itself had no involvement.

But before we proceed to shorten the more recent history, it seems to me that it would not be out of place, in order to complete the whole, to give a description of the last Vinnitsa assembly. Relacya sejmiku w Winnicy roku 1790, written down by an eyewitness.

"In September 1790 the last sejmik took place in Vinnitsa. Szczesny Potocki arrived and stood in Porczyński's manor house; the nobility hurried to the sejmik in carts and carriages, on horseback and on foot. The roads to Vinnitsa were filled with a great crowd of brother lords, who rushed with great eagerness and haste; there were up to 6,000 assembly nobles. A large proportion of them were brought to Vinnitsa at the expense of Szczesny Potocki and supported by him at the assembly. Numerous hereditary noblemen from Pilawa, the Desna River, Witawa and Granów came to the assembly. The two Chołoniewski brothers arrived, well educated and well known in the province, together with the Grocholscy, Szczeniowski, Ostrowski and Bykowski, who was the speaker of the assembly. "Immediately after all the gentlemen of the gentry had assembled, two parties appeared: one of Potocki, in favour of the election, and the other of the Chołoniewskis, the royal party opposing Potocki. The Chołoniewskis and Grocholscy, sympathetic to the King, were very much in favour of reform in the spirit in which the King and the Czartoryski princes supported it. People of higher culture themselves, they had behind them a polished, smoother nobility, formed in modern schools, speaking French. Potocki's party was incomparably more numerous; being on the lord's bread, they were able to persevere longer, not hurrying home. The brothers of the Chołoniewski party, living on their own dime, were more urgent to return. "The Chołoniewskis were anxious to bring about a resolution of succession at the Sejm, but the nobles could not be joined; they rushed to the sabres and clashed everywhere. Those in favour of the election fought with those who supported the succession. Mr Rycbliński, a member of the bar, and Mr Witowski, a member of the nobility, led the way in the municipal circles; they were the most prominent, the bravest, had a strong hand, a powerful voice, and overwhelmed everyone with their influence. They were the most prominent, the bravest, had a strong hand, a powerful voice, and encompassed everyone with their influence; the nobility flocked around them most of all; the more powerful lords sought their friendship and relations, and when a dispute arose between the nobility, they united and reconciled. There were no bloody scenes or disturbances, even though it looked like there was going to be a storm; there was only hustle and bustle throughout the town, in all the streets. The old nobleman had no taste for novelties and found the new laws and customs distasteful. "Meanwhile the Chołoniewskis had warned Potocki, unexpectedly announced a dinner at their place and invited all of Potocki's supporters. Two manors, the whole of the town street and the courtyard having been occupied, they set the tables, served the brothers as generously as possible, and, not looking at their opinions to the contrary, received them in a truly fraternal, most hospitable manner. "As soon as the dinner was finished, after having tasted the chalice, after having drunk several times the health "let us love each other," Mr Stanislaw Rola Janicki, procurator of the Braclaw lands, a man of eloquence and knowledge, stood on a ladle turned upside down and began to speak, calling on everyone to conciliate, reconcile and sacrifice. He then began his lecture on the meaning of succession, how other nations came to power, strength and trade under hereditary kings, how many disasters Poland received as a result of its laws. He began to speak in a fluent, high-pitched way, with strength and courage, and he puffed and puzzled, capturing the moment when everyone became disillusioned and softened. "No one dared to object, with a simple word it was not so easy to go against fluent enunciation; there was complete silence among the speech and after it was over. Someone from the Kholonievsky party called out: "Long live our king!" And then all the plans for the election were brought in, and a resolution was passed that one election, one way, that the undivided succession to the Polish throne should be innate to Mr Stanislaus Augustus. "All this in the hall of the town hall, by which stood a black stave under the ceiling with a brass heart and crown, which were to nail and make an alliance for ever, for the happiness of the nation. "Out of this hall came all the nobility exulting and pledging allegiance to the new monarch, and this sejmik was passed as the last land sejmik in Vinnitsa."

So ends the account of the last land sejmik of Vinnitsa.

Vinnitsa, although once a royal and capital city, did not regain its former glory. The decline of the town and the starosty was closely linked to the Czosnowski government and further political and administrative changes, which significantly reduced the rights and freedoms of the burghers. The 19th century brought changes in ownership and the starosty passed into the hands of successive owners and the Russian authorities, until it was taken over by the treasury after the death of the annuitant.

This is the history of Vinnitsa up to the beginning of the 19th century, concluding a chapter of its history before further events, which were no longer directly connected with the town itself.I have presented this picture of one of the sejmiks to convince you that the lords of the nobility did not always blindly follow the opinion of their breadwinner. Kindness, grace, bread, help, aroused sincere friendship; but in public, when, after the death of Marcin Grocholski, Pietniczany came to vote, the nobleman finally followed the higher regard and sometimes defied his patron, for the satisfaction of rights and duties. In this picture we also see the ways of quelling tumults and introducing unity.

A nation that introduced such customs into public life was worthy of the power it possessed, and if it eventually relinquished it itself, it thereby gave proof of its love of the public good and readiness to make sacrifices. Szczesny Potocki was already suspected at that time of personal views and superfluous self-love; that is why, at the Sejm in Vinnytsia, he was abandoned by his own clients. At this assembly, Jaroszyński, Moszczeński, Szczeniowski, Szwejkowski and Leżeński were elected deputies to the Sejm from the Bracław voivodeship. A word about the Winnitsa area. One of the more picturesque areas is Petniczany on the Bohemian River, which, although now a village, can hardly be supposed to have once been part of the city. There are traces that Petniczany was a suburb of Vinnitsa until 1563 and only in that year it became the property (probably as a result of domiciliation, the traces of which are nowhere to be found) of the Deszkiewicz family (coat of arms Khoržwie), to Bogusz, a Braclawski ensign, whose son Lazarus, in a transaction conducted in the Lublin castle (April 20, 1602), gave the estate to his uncle Semen on Obodne.

O Bodeński, land judge of Braclav and Vinnitsa. After the extinction of the Obodeński male line, Petniczany passed by marriage into the Radzimiński house. Marcin and Teofila's son, V Chala Radzimiński, stolnik of Bracław, left only one granddaughter Anna out of five children. Having married Michał of Grabów Grocholski, she brought the estate into the Grocholski household, in whose possession it has remained to this day. This Michał Grocholski was an exceptional figure of his time, a brave soldier and a man of great merit to his country. Born in 1705, he began his military career at an early age, first in the armoured banner of Duke Janusz Wiśniowiecki, Castellan of Cracow, in which he reached the rank of lieutenant. Subsequently, on behalf of Józef Potocki, Great Hetman of the Crown, as regimental officer of the Ukrainian and Volhynian parties, he often repelled the audacious Haidamak incursions on the borderlands of the Republic of Poland, in reward for which King August III appointed him rotmistrz of the royal sign, and border provinces proclaimed him their defender and liberator. He was twice a deputy in the Sejm from Bracław and fulfilled various deputy and commission functions; he also rendered great service to citizenship in the office of Bracław land judge (1). Michał Grocholski, married in 1752 to Anna Radzimińska, mentioned above, in addition to Pietniczany, took the estates of Sabary, Seroczyń, Voronovica and Stepanówka, and having made a fortune, gave much to the church and mankind, as we have seen above.

His sons Marcin and Franciszek inherited 32 villages and two towns as well as three manor houses in Lviv, Dubník and Vinnytsia; his five daughters each received a dowry of 60,600 zlotys, which was a substantial sum for those times. Pietniczany was given to Marcin, who established a palace with a tasteful garden there. On November 19, 1781, King Stanislaw August Poniatowski spent the whole day in Pietniczany as a guest of Marcin Grocholski, at that time Castellan of Bracław, and the next day he went to Vinnitsa, where he listened to a solemn mass and Te Deum in the Dominican church; then Castellan's brother Franciszek Grocholski, the Crown Chamberlain, made a welcome speech to the king on behalf of the province.

They were given to his son from Cecylia Choloniewska, Michał, starosta of Zwinogródek, captain in the national cavalry, knight of the Orders of the White Eagle and St. Stanislaus, and after him to his son, Michał, starosta of Zwinogródek. Stanislaus, and after him his son Henryk, born of Sliznicówna, who with Ksawera Brzozowska left sons Stanislaus, married to F. Zamoyska, and Tadeusz, and daughters Maryna, married to Duke Witold Czartoryski, and Helena to Jan Brzozowski (3). B. Vinnitsa county town. After being annexed along with other lands to Russia, the Braclaw Province, by a decree of Empress Catherine II, from 22 May 1795, was left within its former boundaries, with the only change being that instead of the three districts of Vinnitsa, Braclaw and Zvinogrod, two hundred were delimited within the same area, which comprised the so-called Braclaw Governorate, namely: Braclaw, Bershad, Hayashin, Lipovets, Lytyn, Machnov, Mobyl, Pyatyhor, Skvir, Lyubyn, Khmelnytsky and Vinnitsa districts.

To give you an idea of the sad state of the city at that time, suffice it to say that the first governor of Braclaw, Br. Bergman, having arrived to take over the administration, and having nowhere decent for his time and jurisdiction, occupied the Grocholsky palace in the village of Petniczany, which, due to its proximity to the city, was a kind of suburb of it. However, Vinnitsa did not remain the capital of the new province for long, as the decree of Emperor Paul I from 1797, changing the old division of the country into gubernias, annexed Vinnitsa with its district to the Podil province and moved the guberniya offices to Kamenets Podilsky. Thus, from 1598, when the town was moved from Braclav to Vinnitsa by a resolution of the Sejm of the Estates, Vinnitsa was the capital of the province for almost 200 years, which, however, did not contribute to its growth and flourishing, as according to a statistical analysis made in 1800, Vinnitsa, already a district town, had only 217 houses, both Christian and Jewish.

It was not until a dozen years later, when perhaps it least expected it, as a forgotten little town in the district, that it was to shine for the first time with fame and prosperity, as a beacon of education for a large part of the country, through the establishment of the so-called Podolski Gymnasium. This scientific institution grew so much and became so closely connected to the history of the city and the country that a conscientious researcher cannot and should not remain silent about it. Following the order of things, something should be said about the former means of education in Vinnitsa. Also from the beginning of the XVII century, i.e. from the founding of the Jesuit college there, there was a great deal of attention paid to it. The old proverb of this order about the school is known:

"even though you are roasted and fried in tar, never tell what goes on in the school".

So, for the most part, nothing much has come down to us about Jesuit schools in general, their condition, numbers, etc.; about the Vinnitsa college, despite earnest searching, I have found nothing, except notes on some old calendar, where, between calved cows and foaled mares, it is written under the year 1762:

"My son John, second in order after my daughter Salomea, and after he had reached the age of eleven from birth, I placed him in the Collegium of the Jesuits of Vinnitsa, in the rector's convent. May it be to the glory of God and to the benefit of mankind! Vide licet collegium is gaining more and more popularity and trust, because, as I was told, the fathers have all the disciplines for this year 242, and the conventuals in the convent where my son John is, 18.".

If, according to the notator's understanding, the number of 252 pupils signifies the growing "popularity and confidence" of the college after almost a century and a half of its existence in a country that was not rich in public schools at the time, then there is really nothing to boast about. After the dissolution of the Jesuit order, who alone maintained schools in these distant provinces, the fate of such schools was entrusted in part to the Kraków academy, and in part to the Basilian priests, who soon after the Jesuits left, established parochial and even grammar schools in Bara, Kaniów and Humań, and these were then maintained by the university in Vilnius, as they were exemplarily run. Vinnitsa fell into the hands of the Krakow Academy, which, after the Jesuits had left, established an academic school with six grades, and entrusted the organisation and running of this school to four experienced professors: Zajączkowski, Kopijowski, Chruścielski and Dobrzański, who was also the school's supervisor. This new school, meeting the requirements of the time, was well attended, and tribute is due to its heads, of whom Kopijowski was a well-known mathematician of his time.

Although the new partition of the country separated the school from both the authorities and the academy, these people, dedicated to the public good, continued in their positions, making a living from their own, albeit meagre funds, and from public donations. A few years after Podolia was annexed by Russia, the administration of the schools came under the control of the provincial government. Things remained this way until 1803, when, on 4 April, Emperor Alexander I issued a decree approving the University of Vilnius. At the same time, the decree provided for the opening of a Podolia grammar school in Kamieniec or Vinnitsa. In 1804, a monarch's decree entrusted the establishment of schools in Volhynia, Podolia and Ukraine to Tadeusz Czacki, who was untiring in the field of education.

It is a difficult mystery as to why this zealous promoter of education delayed so long in setting up this new institution, even though he already had a quota of posts, especially as he could not fail to see the urgency of the situation. One can therefore assume that Czacki, having endowed his beloved Volhynian gymnasium in Krzemieniec with this fund, wished to accelerate its development, and having postponed the founding of the Podolia grammar school, was in the process of gathering new funds for this purpose; or sooner (and I would gladly agree to this) Czacki himself, preoccupied with founding a new higher school, did not have at hand a capable and trusted person to whom he could entrust such a great task with confidence. However sad this delay was for the education of Podolia, it lasted for several years.

It was only when the former academic school began to disintegrate, when the professors died out, or when they had to abandon their duties due to old age, that the Vilnius university was in a way forced to start establishing a Podolia grammar school. Two towns presented themselves at this end: Kamieniec Podolski and Vinnitsa; the latter was given priority, already because Kamieniec, occupied by guberniya offices, tightly built-up, squeezed between rocks, had no space for a town to spread; and again, the Jesuit walls there, quite lean, could barely accommodate a district school.

In Vinnitsa, on the other hand, there was a better and healthier place for this purpose, and the post-Jesuit walls, though very shabby, were nevertheless spread over a large area; and finally, Vinnitsa forms a central point for Podolia, several districts of Volhynia and the Ukraine being devoid of a higher school. Having chosen the place for the foundation of this great work, the Revd Michał Maciejowski of the Piarist congregation was appointed, who, as the teacher of the Prussian King's successor, had had the opportunity to listen to men abroad who were famous in pedagogy; the Prussian King then recommended him to set up a model grammar school in Białystok. Maciejowski, responding with dignity to this great trust, ruled the school he founded for twenty years.

Thus, the choice of the university could not have fallen on better footing than that of Fr Maciejowski, who had already given evidence of his unquestionable proficiency and knowledge in the pedagogical profession. There are traces that Fr Maciejowski was on closer terms with Czacki, and that the latter tried several times to get him to be the director of a grammar school in Volhynia, which, for some unknown reason, Maciejowski did not accept, even though, at Czacki's call, he undertook to establish a grammar school in Podolia a year before his death.

The new headmaster, accompanied by five teachers, went to Vinnitsa and on 27 September 1814 solemnly performed the act of opening the Podolia grammar school, an act - dare we add - of great courage, for he found nothing ready, from the funds, the scarcity of which we can easily judge from what we have quoted above, to a suitable room for the school. There were the Jesuit walls, or rather huge ruins, which housed not only prisons but also a few official offices, and the rest stood empty; even the building, vacated by the academic school on the arrival of the new director, was in danger of collapse. What to speak of the library, offices and other scientific auxiliary facilities, of which there was not a trace. Much more needs to be said to provide a detailed picture of the activities of the director, who intended to create a good school out of almost nothing.

He acted as a fund-raiser at Kyiv's contracts, appealing to the hearts of merciful citizens; he was also a generous donor himself, having purchased two post-Jesuit villages, Kajdaczycła and Kazanieba near Vinnytsia, with the last of his meagre funds, and allocated all their income, serfs' fees and duties to the school. Then again, he appeared before the court as a juror bitter against the insolvent providers of educational funds, from which he almost obtained a lot by violence; finally, he was a nuisance to the university, asking for funds and resources - in a word, this man, zealous for education, did not neglect anything, which only had the good of the school in mind. As a result of these efforts and endeavours, for which there are few words to praise him, he accomplished in one year what had been awaited in vain for many years: He cleared the entire building of rubble, arranged the classrooms in accordance with the sanitary requirements, built a magnificent library and performance hall from new foundations, arranged the teachers' flats, established scientific gardens and took care of the botanical shrubs for them, created the study rooms - in a word, everything was taken care of by this versatile man with his sharp mind and tireless work.

It may seem to someone that such a truly Sisyphean work could take a whole year for material preparations alone; however, Maciejowski, in spite of all the struggles and difficulties, put science at the forefront of his mind; as a proof of that, and in order not to interrupt the flow of our story, here I will quote as an answer that the first school year of 1814/15 was closed by Fr. Director, in spite of the struggles and difficulties with the 400 students, which neither the academic school nor the Jesuit college had ever achieved before - and he did it in spite of the hard battles and resentments aroused. Every time has its faults and shortcomings, and what future generations see as a good thing, contemporaries do not always want to see. Already, the Principal had outraged some by his insistent demands for bequests and educational funds, others by his incessant begging, and others... were reluctant, as they say, par esprit de corps. Perhaps the greatest resentment lay in the caste of the more powerful, spawned by the spirit of the times. To describe it, let me use the simple and blunt words of Father Marczyński (author of "Statistics of the Podolia Gubernia"), also an outstanding educator of his day, superior of the Kamieniec district school.

"From now on (i.e. from the founding of the Podolia Gymnasium) a new era began for public instruction in these parts, which, founded on the same principles as in the whole country, produced one result, though not always to the same extent.".

The reason for this was mainly that, if in what parts, then in these provinces there always prevailed a certain unfriendly prejudice towards public schools. The abundance of the country and the good property of the landowners, giving everyone the means of private education at home, brought in and propagated rules unfriendly to national schools. This public opinion was used by foreigners, especially the French, who had been deprived of their homeland by the Revolution, who flooded into a country so rich and able to feed thousands of new inhabitants. These, welcomed into the homes of the citizens with the kindness and hospitality characteristic of the local inhabitants, tried to persuade them to regard the French language as the most important part of their education; hence the unfriendly prejudice against their compatriots that only foreigners could have a thorough education and that the public schools taught nothing or poorly.

Foreigners were skilful at using their first impression to their advantage, and the young people who came out of their education at home, despising everything that was national, would even have renounced civic virtues, had they succeeded in changing the nature of the Pole, who was always attached to the fatherland, the government and the reigning monarch. It is fortunate for the Podolia province that this era of deception from foreigners did not last long. Nowadays, one is convinced that one can speak French and yet be ignorant of everything and despised if one does not know the national language and those sciences the knowledge of which is indispensable for a handsome and honest life, and useful in citizenship.

Fr Marczyński aptly describes this French mania of ours, which unfortunately continued to survive even in his time, and today perhaps has not yet suffered the final blow, although it has diminished considerably, becoming the preserve only of parasites and half-wits. After all, the memory of Napoleon's ranks was fresh in those days, from which, besides scars, disability and glory, a love of French, or more correctly, a blindness to it, flowed into the country. Thus, while working in the grateful field of science, apart from personal dislikes, the director had to fight a stubborn battle against the prejudices and superstitions of the time, a battle that was unequal, since it was a difficult spectre to reach, and one that could only be overcome with perseverance and constancy. After all, this battle could not have been fought by a man, however strong in spirit and firm in endeavour, if there had not been brave fencers standing behind him, striving for the same salutary goals. We would like to dedicate here a word of remembrance to Onufrem Szczeniowski, the president of the border courts, and the honorary caretaker of the Vinnitsa school, which owes much to his zealous activity, generosity and understanding of the great aims of education. In fact, it is impossible to describe the history of Vinnitsa at that time, so that this beautiful character, in spirit and deed, as if taken out of the old Polish framework, would not be depicted.

Onufry Szczeniowski, the starost of Trachytamir, the last deputy to the Sejm from Bracławski, as mentioned above, and a great lover of the country and the general good, gathered around himself a selection of the society of the day. He did not hog the limelight or seek to elevate himself above the general public through vain vanity, but united everyone by his accessibility and loving heart. A satirist in the old-fashioned way, in a gentle and moderate tone, he was sometimes able to sweeten the bitter pill of truth with a pleasant laugh. The Szczeniowski house, which still survives in Vinnitsa as a nice reminder of the old days, was a sanctuary of hospitality and fun, during which many a useful thought developed and many a good thing was done to the country. The host of the house had his wit at the ready, and was as cheerful as a man can be, who answered every call with dignity.

Having rendered good service to his country and society, Szczeniowski seemed to have taken a rest in Vinnitsa and established a large garden near the manor, when... as he himself used to say:

"on my misery, the poor thing has brought the Rev. Director, who is pacing here like Marek in hell and will not let me rest."

Immediately, at the first election, the nobility unanimously elected the starost as the honorary caretaker of the Vinnitsa school and, indeed, could not give it a better guardian. The new caretaker, with the help of his son Ignacy, the then governor of Vinnitsa, did a lot to raise funds for the school. Often, with an innocent joke, he would raise funds for the school.

Let me mention one of these many, because it concerns the school. One of the richer citizens, and a keen landlord, visited the school with the starost, from which none of his guests shirked. They found a piece of unfinished brickwork there, for which there was not enough money. The caretaker, in his customary manner, asked his guest to make a donation, which the latter answered in silence, while the starost made a mental note of it.

When they returned home and sat down at the table, which was not in vain, the guest began to talk about the farm, and as he was a great lover of pigs and was happy to talk about them, he began to tell what new species he had brought in and about the expensive cowshed he had built for them. - I asked you a long time ago to marry me," said the starost when things had quietened down and everyone strained to hear, guessing at the usual joke in this beginning. - O Starosta! God forbid that we should be able to enjoy such noble children," burbled the riddled man. - Don't ask me in vain, because you won't have me as your son; but if you agree, take me as a piglet. - What is the Lord Mayor saying! - Well, yes, I'll choose something better, because you are kinder to piglets, you build pigsties for them, when you begrudge your own children schooling.

The disturbed nobleman began to protest and not only gave a donation for the completion of the wall, but also earmarked a fixed fund from his estate for the school. Continuing along these sometimes unpleasant paths of charity, Szczeniowski did a lot for the school. It is impossible to enumerate everything here; suffice it to say that a few years after its foundation, thanks to Maciejowski's zeal and the efforts and care of Szczeniowski, father and son, the school had an independent existence and much more income than its full-time funds, so that many poor pupils were provided for, as no tuition was charged, and those graduating with honours received travel and first-time university allowances.

The school's study rooms, library and all the teaching aids had already been brought up to a more or less desirable state, and around this the headmaster was constantly and tirelessly working.Alongside teaching, these men of noble deeds paid equally close attention to the well-being and health of the young people entrusted to their care. It is worth mentioning that in the year of the school's opening, a private charity society was set up with the permission of the authorities to provide care and assistance to sick pupils. The initiative for this noble idea was provided by the noble doctor of the district at that time, Dr Adam Chądzyński, who at first made disinterested efforts to care for the sick pupils, and in time obtained the title, approved by the university, of gymnasium doctor, as it is understood that the headmaster, eager to expand the general welfare, grasped the idea and would not let it go until he had turned it into action. For the very reason that a similar institution would be of great use to our schools, we shall here write down its by-laws, so simply drawn up and executed that they may serve as an example of what a good and honest desire is capable of accomplishing with even meagre means;

"First: there will be established in the Podolia Gymnasium from January 1, 1815 a voluntary contribution, under the name for poor sick students of the Podolia Gymnasium. Repeatedly: to this contribution belong: the teachers of the grammar school, all pupils and all others who would like to contribute to this work of mercy out of their own free will. Thirdly, each member of this benevolent society will contribute at least 15 kopecks of silver a year to the health fund. The rich are free to donate more; however, if poorer students wish to donate one or more kopecks, this will also be accepted. Fourth: A ledger will be made in which the names of contributors to the fund for the sick, together with their offerings, will be written on one side of the income, and the outgoings will be recorded on the other side. Fifth: the sick fund will be kept under two keys, one of which will be with the assistant principal or prefect of the grammar school and the other with one of the teachers. Sixthly: the outgoings of the health fund are to be made with the certificate of the gymnasium doctor only; his prescriptions are to be signed by the prefect for the poor pupils' pharmacy, and he is to sign such prescriptions, together with the receipts and expenditures. At the end of the school year a short table of the income and outgoings of the health fund is to be made, signed from the teachers, cashiers and doctor, and given to the school assembly in session, together with a string book, and the annual expenditure from the assembly signed. Seventh: out of this treasury shall be paid the persons ministering or watching over the sick of the poor pupils, who shall be chosen by the doctor of the grammar school, together with the prefect, to be healthy, obedient, of good manners and full of humanity. Eighthly: from this fund of sickness will be maintained the barber, whom the doctor together with the prefect will annually settle in this intention. Ninthly, the money will be used, in their discretion, to provide the sick person with the food that the doctor prescribes, should the sick person be unable to have better food, especially in diseases in which recidivism is to be feared due to bad food. Single: in the case of a superannuation, the assembly will meet annually to establish a perpetual fund, and the whole assembly will decide on its placement. Subsequent: The school assembly reserves the right to extend this provision and, in special cases, to apply it, and, when experience and time reveal more truth, to ask the school authority to approve it. In the meantime, the assembly's decision regarding the rescue of poor pupils in times of illness is to be publicly announced with solemnity by the principal in the schools, and the prefect is to be entrusted with the task of bringing it into effect immediately after the New Year.

It would seem difficult to think of something simpler when it can be said that the teacher's zloty and the pupil's kopecks play the most important role; meanwhile, what goodwill and dedication can do - let the extract from eight years of the society's activities given by Fr. Marczynski (Statistics of the Podolsk gub. brio diorrcli pupils: of these died In 1815 ... 77 ... > " 1816 ... 55 ... 1 " 1817 ... 54 ... 4 " 1818 ... 63 ... - " 1819 ... 54 ... - " 1820 ... 40 ... - " 1821 ... 85 ... - " 1822 ... 15 ... 1 Total 443 ... 11

The astonishingly low mortality rate alone proves that this charitable institution has achieved its intended purpose. In the same year 1822, at the closing of accounts, the society's capital represented in cash rsr. 831 kop. 28 ½, while the endowment fund was invested at rsr. 936, which was to be used to build a separate infirmary or, if these funds increased significantly, to establish a free quasi-school for poor pupils. But these pia desideria have been disrupted! Since its foundation, i.e. during the eight years under review, the Society has spent rsr. 7,974 kop. 63.

Unfortunately, the society survived for only a few years and then collapsed, not through its own fault, but due to unforeseen circumstances. There can be no doubt that the benevolent hand and tireless will of Szczeniowski also contributed a great deal here. It would be too long to enumerate the subtle and witty ways this man of action chose to stimulate the public's charity. After each year's public showpiece, his daughter, then a child under recruit duty, was released from her time at schools. In order to make it easier for the poor to attend school, he also obtained from the university authorities an exemption for the poor from wearing uniforms, which this authority, at his instance, made a general law for all schools. For hitherto it had been in the School Act:

"All pupils shall be obliged to have and wear academic uniforms; none without a uniform shall be admitted to the schools ... and at the request of the Rev. still a maiden (then Countess Chodkiewiczowa) of great education and beauty, performed in a public concert for this charitable purpose. No one can deny the words of Fr Marczyński, who says of Szczeniowski: "This virtuous citizen, a true protector of the young in education, full of civic spirit, was everywhere and always the first to show himself when it came to expanding enlightenment and securing the benefits of education.".

Maciejowski's merits in this respect were also unquestionable as a headmaster, who aroused interest in the school among all classes, by facilitating access to the school for all classes, and thus strictly warned against any exaltation of the more affluent pupils over the poorer ones, by persuading the government to allow young Maciejowski's university to enrol in the school, he added and proclaimed in 1821: "the baby had an official certificate of evil with his true deity.".

Aiming to make the school unite with the family, the headmaster held all its activities in public. The annual examinations were announced by printed programmes, and there were 300 and 500 guests, each of whom had the right to indicate which pupil and what they were going to ask, thus making it easier for parents to check their children's diligence and progress. These public displays, the distribution of prizes and the closing act of the school year were a national celebration, dare we say it. In the same way, at the opening of each school year, examinations of pupils entering the school were held in public, so that any complaints of parents about imaginary injustice in this respect were dismissed; and the programme published in 1816 under the title "Lecture on the sciences and the manner of teaching them at the Podolski Gymnasium", as generally distributed, made it easier to know the requirements of the school from the entering pupils.

In addition, Fr Maciejowski convinced the school board of the need and usefulness of giving young people an annual certificate of diligence and progress in their studies and manners, which was first introduced by him, and later generally accepted. Seeing the growth of the school, which was already a part, so to speak, of all the families in the country, seeing the efforts and zeal of the headmaster to constantly improve its already flourishing state, it is hard to suppose that he would have taken any interest in it at all, and at the election of 1817, where the headmaster himself appeared, one-off and perpetual bequests for the school were poured in, as a result of which it grew in scientific resources and spread its activities more and more. Maciejowski, as a man of action, did not need to be seduced by modesty, and in his address to the citizens he himself boldly stated the high importance of the school, and ended his speech in the following way:

"From what has been said above it appears that the Podolia Gymnasium is a first-class educational institute and that the school government has introduced everything that is useful for institutes of this kind. It deserves the confidence and favour of the national government. The young people coming out of it have so far distinguished themselves by their good manners and thorough studies. To expand this institute, to equip it with the necessary sciences, to perfect its teachings to such an extent that they can be used in civic life, will be the work of the generosity and grandeur of the rich owners of this land.". .

It remains for us to speak of the lecture and order of the sciences and of Maciejowski's noble and zealous associates, on whom no small part of the credit also falls. I complete this by sticking to a pamphlet by Fr. Maciejowski himself, printed in Kamieniec Podolski (1816), "Lecture of the sciences and the manner of giving them in the Podolia gymnasium." These are the parts that make up the gymnasium: First, six classes, of which two are initial, or preparatory, i.e. first and second; and four, that is, third, fourth, fifth and sixth, are gymnasium classes. The repetitions of these classes are formed in the prescribed hours: a) Russian of class three, b) French of class three, c) German of class three, d) drawing of class three. As for the spiritual sciences, the pupils are divided into three divisions: the first encloses the first and second classes, the second the third and fourth classes, the third the fifth and sixth classes. The sciences taught in the primary grades: reading, Polish and Latin writing, Polish and Latin grammar, translation of Latin excerpts, homework, moral science, present-day geography and arithmetic. All these subjects are divided between two teachers and each is given twenty hours a week.

The four middle school classes have five teachers for all the separate skills, which are: 1-mo. mathematical sciences: higher arithmetic, flat, solid and spherical geometry, applied higher geometry, algebra and logic. The teacher of this today is Jan Miładowski, Doctor of Philosophy, who is also the assistant principal, or prefect, of the gymnasium. 2- for physical sciences: natural history, zoology, botany, mineralogy, general physics, astronomical geography, detailed physics with experiments and chemistry. This is taught by Pawel Bielecki, Master of Philosophy. 3- is political moral science: moral science strictly taken, law of nature, political law and law of nations, Roman law, ancient and universal history.

This is taught by Jozef Uldynski, magister of both laws (and after Uldynski moved to Krzemieniec in 1818. Aleksander Katyński mag. ob. pr.). 4- is the study of pronunciation and native poetry: Polish grammar, style, rhetoric, poetry, models from native writers, home exercises. This is taught by a candidate of philosophy, member of the Cracow Society of Sciences, Jan Gwalbert Styczyński. 5- is the study of ancient literature: history of Greek and Roman literature, Latin pronunciation and poetry, Latin writing patterns, home exercises and Greek language. This is taught by Ignatius Jagiello, a doctor of philosophy. In addition to the teachers of the gymnasium classes listed here, the teachers of the lower classes are: (a) Polish grammar and Latin in the first and second grades, Tomasz Jurkowski, (b) moral science, geography and arithmetic in the same grades Stanislaw Ilundius, (c) Russian language Basil Kotelski, (d) French language Piotr Deborcs, a native of Paris, e) German language Hilary Wojewódzki, f) drawing and architecture Ignacy Brzuszkiewicz, g) dancing teacher Daniel Kurz, a native of Italy, h) fencing teacher Józef Orsini, a native of Italy (from 1821). Above we have given an account of Principal Maciejowski and his important services to the school. We will take a moment to look briefly at the director's enlightened and zealous co-workers and managers of this school.

The prefect Jan Miładowski, as if created to be an educator and guide of the youth, combined fairness and unparalleled tact with strictness, through which he won the love of the pupils. An exceptional mathematician, passionate about his subject, he taught his pupils to great advantage. Having numerous connections and popularity among the more affluent citizens, he was eager to help poor pupils, found them qualifications, and facilitated many a trip to university for further education, often sparing his own or scarce funds for this purpose. Moreover, as a lover and expert in music, he spread a taste for it among his pupils and, together with the well-known musician Dobrzynski, arranged church choirs from his pupils very well. Miładowski devoted his entire life to the education of young people, to their undeniable benefit.

Under his influence, Count Bolesław Potocki established a gymnasium in Niemirów in Podolia, which he organised and was its director for a long time. It was not until he lost his sight that he was forced to abandon his teaching vocation, to which he devoted his entire life with benefit. Józef Uldyński was universally loved, not only by his pupils, but by the whole of society. A man of exceptional learning, who knew how to make learning accessible to the general public, and moreover how to base it in his lectures and in the practice of life on sound and moral principles, he gained popularity and general respect both in Vinnitsa and in Krzemieniec, where he moved in 1818. He died just ten years ago. He bequeathed his numismatic and antiquities collection, which he had painstakingly collected over his long life, to the University of Krakow.

He was the author of Ancient Geography, greatly valued by scholars and Lelewel himself. It would perhaps be difficult to find a more apt choice for a teacher of style and poetry than in Jan Styczyński. The poet himself, somewhat of a dreamer, an uncommon declamator, gifted with feeling and enthusiasm, was able to arouse in his pupils a desire and love for his teachings. Our well-known writer, the late Aleksy Groza, remembered this teacher with reverence and gratitude. There is no doubt that only Maciejowski, who had the university's favourites, was able to get Ignacy Jagiełło from him, as well as from Gródek's professor, whom Gródek, as his first pupil, was preparing for a university chair as his deputy, and who, at the strenuous insistence of the Reverend Director, only agreed, saying: "I am not giving him to you, I am lending him." For this reason, Grodek always spoke Latin with students arriving at the university from the Vinnitsa school and savoured in them the pronunciation of his once favourite pupil. Jagiello, as a Latin scholar and expert in ancient literature, was well-known not only at home but also abroad.

He is famous for his commentaries on Tacitus, known to the Germans, and his translation of Livy, which has unfortunately remained in manuscript until now. If his university chair passed him by, it was only due to unforeseen changes. He remained in a modest teaching post at the same school during its various reorganisations, and only retired in 1840, working on his favourite subject until his death (1849). There is no doubt that such co-workers greatly facilitated Maciejowski's great work, but justice still has to be done to him in that he knew how to use those strengths and turn them to the good of the school. The main task of the principal, in order to achieve this goal, was to instil in the teachers the sanctity of the duties of educators, and the principle that a teacher's vocation should not end with the end of teaching hours, and that he should influence his pupils outside the classroom, both by his own example and by exercising vigilant supervision. The pupils' states were divided into districts by the professors, and each of them was obliged to visit each state in his district at least once a week, and to write down the results of the visit or any disorders noticed, whether in the upkeep or in the condition of the pupils, or, finally, in the way the tutors provided the tutoring, etc., in the visit book established for this purpose.

It was a great advantage in running this school that the headmaster was able to bring the teachers together with the pupils and merge them into one family, as this created a kind of control between them and the teachers themselves, serving as an example to the pupils, had to be on their guard. The civilisational significance of the Krzemieniec school, created by Czacki, was divided between Vinnitsa and Krzemieniec with the establishment of the Podolia grammar school. From then on, both these institutions became the seedbed of higher education across three vast provinces.

We would also like to point out that the Krzemieniec Gymnasium, although advanced to the level of a high school, differed very little in its single-entry programme from that of Vinnitsa. Krzemieniec's schools were, if I may say so, more splendid, as having richer auxiliary institutions, formerly collected by Czacki and originating from donations of wealthy people, and in general as being richer in funds. After all, Vinnitsa again had the special favour of the Vilnius University behind it. "Vinnitsaren", as they were called there, had priority for government scholarships at the university and great behaviour with the professors.

Among the educational establishments in Vinnitsa was also the Ignacy Platon Kozlowski musical institute. In 1834, this excellent musician and composer, and as a pianist, a pupil of the famous Field, founded a music school in Vinnitsa and at his own expense built a suitable building on a lofty rock, in a picturesque position on the banks of the river Bohu, from where the town, after the name of its founder, kept the name "Kozlovsky Rocks". Initially, Kozlowski himself taught piano at the school, while his wife, an exceptional singer, taught singing, and there was a music school for ladies, which already had up to ten regular pupils. Z

Intending to raise the school to the size of a music conservatory, Kozlovsky intended to bring other musicians to Vinnitsa, when unforeseen obstacles thwarted these noble intentions and the establishment was closed after 1840. Kozłowski moved to Odesa, and in 1859 settled in Warsaw, where he soon ended his life. Among the more proficient pianists, pupils of Kozłowski from the Winnicki era, were Mr Kajetan Russanowski and Maria Bykowska, née Wilamowska. Kozłowski's Rock, a beautiful and picturesque village, had several owners after him; it now passed to the recently deceased Tytus Szczeniowski, a well-known writer, grandson of Onufry, MP for Bracław, and active caretaker of the Podolski Gymnasium, about whom we wrote above. We should also mention the late Kozłowski as an excellent composer whose "School for the Piano", which has had several editions, is still popular with many music teachers. Moreover, Kozłowski once wrote an opera, Marilla or Dożynki, to words by J. B. Zaleski. His songs, polonaises, mazurkas, etc. are well known and unforgettable in Podolia. Extracts from his operas were published in Odesa, and his song "The Ukrainian Nightingale" in Warsaw.

Many of his works remain in manuscript form, among which the beautifully arranged 'Duma o księciu Józefie Poniatowskim' (by J. U. Niemcewicz) stands out. One should be surprised that of the many wealthy disciples of Kozłowski today, none thought to bring to light his valuable legacy. In order to avoid the long-windedness which we have in any case committed ourselves to in order to give an idea of the state of this grammar school, let us just quote from the records the result of his visit, written in his own hand by Duke Adam Czartoryski, the curator of the University of Vilnius, after a three-week visit, on 19 October 1818.

"Bearing in mind the short time which has elapsed since the foundation of the Podolia Gymnasium, the scarcity of ways and the difficulties which have to be overcome in the elementary establishment of each institute - I cannot fail to express my guilty gratitude to the headmaster and the teaching congregation for the flourishing state in which this more valuable (emphasis in original) school has already been found. As many national needs there are, as many ways of serving the homeland. The teaching profession has the advantage and honour above all others that the effects of its work can most bravely influence the well-being and prosperity of the nation: for by educating young minds, by instilling in them the principles of religion, morality and thorough enlightenment, it lays in them the seeds of future public opinion, which such a valiant influence always has, not only on the private happiness of everyone, but on the spirit and conduct of the common people.".

A word more about the Podolia Gymnasium, which not only had the separate importance of a single educational institution, but moreover, by virtue of the 1804 imperial rescript on the establishment of the Vilnius University, all academic and district schools in the province were unconditionally dependent on the director of each Gymnasium in the province; and regardless of this, it was entrusted to his zealous care to expand the parish schools as much as possible. Father Maciejowski was therefore in charge of other grade schools in the province, the existence of which was improved and the number of pupils increased by his untiring zeal. Since the scope of our article, as a monograph of one town, does not allow us to go into further details, we give here a list of these schools, dependent on the management of the Podolia Gymnasium, with a list of pupils in 1818, during the mentioned visit of the Prince Superintendent. 1818, the pupils of the Barska 6-class school of former academic rights - 736.

A similar 4-grade school in Kamieniec-Podolsk - 348. A similar 4-grade school in Międzyborky, maintained at the expense of the Duke Superintendent - 301. A similar school in Nemirovsk, opened in 1815, largely financed by the Potocki family... The Podolia Gymnasium in that year had 747 pupils, so that in 1818 there were 2,508 pupils in higher and intermediate educational institutions. As far as the implementation of another point of the monarch's decree was concerned, namely the spreading of education through the zealous multiplication of parish schools, this great and useful work had already been started by Czacki, but he was busy organising the Krzemieniec Gymnasium, so he could not manage it so soon, and in the meantime his death cut short these days, so useful for the country.

During Maciejowski's reign, the number of parochial schools in Podolia, which fulfilled their purpose and were established mainly due to the director's efforts, amounted to 43; in 1817, during one of his visits, there were 1,101 students in them, which is 3,609 in all in the province, which equals 1 student for every 157 inhabitants out of a total male population of 569,853(1). We have given only the male population, for in those days women hardly used the public educational institutes. We have even dwelt longer on the details of the Podolski Grammar School, because it had a major impact on the fate and development of the town. This school, which entered into the public confidence, with more than seven hundred pupils each year, contributed greatly to the prosperity of the town. During the time of the writer's memory, there was a shortage of accommodation in the inns to accommodate those arriving for public examinations and the closing of the school year. Korzeniowski, the school's honorary caretaker and zealous protector, was popular with the general public, finding various amusements to attract them, and his frank and hospitable home alone was a lure for many.

The school brought a large number of private teachers to the town, followed by students. Soon after the gymnasium was founded, two boarding schools were opened, the first in this country (by Mrs Maczyńska and Mrs Bessoc, French). Parents, in order to educate their children, settled themselves in Vinnitsa, and dense brick houses were built in the town for their convenience. Merchants also did their best to expand trade, and while the provincial town, as we said above, had 285 houses in the best times, and the district town reduced this number to 217, it was only the Podolia Gymnasium that brought Vinnitsa, as the sui generis capital of education of a part of the country, to a flourishing state, as in 1822(2) it had 799 houses, in spite of the terrible fire that destroyed half the town in 1817.

With the death of Reverend Maciejowski, who, having left the school's management, died in the Reverend Piarist congregation in Warsaw in 1829, the gymnasium lost its former splendour, and the town itself, as it were, on the growth it had begun. In 1843, the gymnasium was moved to the White Church, and the walls that housed it collapsed. Today's Vinnitsa, although it has had a railway station for several years, cannot rise, and its beautiful houses, standing empty, are falling down. The only thing that revives it is the hope that it will regain its former glory, becoming a school town; one of the citizens of Vinnitsa, Cal Weinstein, who died five years ago, donated a large sum of money for the foundation of a secondary school, but this noble desire has not yet been crowned with success.