Chlopicki, JOSEPH

Chlopicki, JOSEPH, a Polish soldier and patriot, was born in Galicia in 1771. Entering the army early, he took part in the first insurrection of the Poles, next entered the French service, and served with great credit under Napoleon in Italy, at Eylau and Friedland, in Spain, and next at Smolensk and Moskwa. After the taking of Paris by the allies in 1814, he led back to Poland the remains of the Polish troops who had fought under Bonaparte, and was well received by the Emperor Alexander, who made him a general of division. When the second insurrection of the Poles broke out in 1830, Chlopicki, who foresaw the hopeless nature of the attempt, was forced against his will to be dictator, but after six weeks of contentious opposition from the hot-headed and rashly extreme patriotic party, he resigned his office. But with a heroism all the more heroic that he knew too well the cause was hopeless, he re-entered the Polish army as a simple soldier, and fought with reckless bravery at Wawre and Grochow. Severely wounded in one engagement, he retired to Cracow, where he died 30th September 1854. (The name is pronounced Chlopitzki.)