258 MEMOIRS OF A REVOLUTIONIST
known through the proceedings of the court, pro- duced a commotion in Austria, and Austria interfered in favour of the Galicians who had taken part in the revolution of 1863 and had been sent to Siberia. Soon after the Baikal imsurrection the fate of the Polish exiles in Siberia was substantially bettered, and they owed it to their insurgents—to those five brave men who were shot at Irkutsk, and those who had taken arms by their side.
For my brother and myself this insurrection was a great lesson. We realized what it meant to belong in any waytothe army. Iwas away; but my brother was at Irkutsk, and his squadron was dispatched against the insurgents. Happily, the commander of the regiment to which my brother belonged knew him well, and, under some pretext, he ordered another officer to take command of the mobilized part of the squadron. Otherwise Alexander, of course, would have refused to march. If I had been at Irkutsk, I should have done the same.
We decided, then, to leave the military service and to return to Russia. This was not an easy matter, especially as Alexander had married in Siberia; but at last all was arranged, and early in 1867 we were on our way to St. Petersburg.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME
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