POLISH GENERAL DEMBINSKI HAND WRITTEN DEDICATION ON THE COVER of his book 1832

Dembinski, Henryk born January 16,. 1791 in Strzalków, died June 13, 1864 in Paris, Polish general. In 1807-09 studied at the Academy of Engineer ing in Vienna; 1809-14 an officer in the army of the Warsaw Duchy, took part in the 1809, 1812, and 1813 campaigns; for the battle at Smolensk promoted to the rank of lieutenant by Napoleon; for the battle at Leipzig decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honor. In 1825 deputy in the Diet of the Polish Kingdom. During the November Uprising 1830-31 D. organized security guard and then military troops in the Cracow region; in the summer of 1831, as colonel and commander of a cavalry brigade, he proved himself in the battles at Dab Wielki, Kuflewo and Ostroleka, and was nominated general of brigade; in June and July 1831 D. made a name for himself by successfully carrying out the retreat from Lithuania and was nominated general of division; in August the same year, at the peak of his popularity, D. was nominated governor of Warsaw; on August 11, 1831, after the dismissal of General J.Z. Skrzynecki, D. was nominated temporary commander-in-chief of the Polish army corps. Politically connected with the conservative camp and under the influence of Skrzynecki, D. implemented his anti-Jacobin policy; an enemy of left-wing leaders of the Uprising gathered in the Patriotic Society [Towarzystwo Patriotyczne], he attempted to assume dictatorial power and to carry out the plans of the reactionary generals; dismissed from the general command of the Polish army on August 19 the same year, as a result of his conflicts with officers, deputies and the government; after general Krukowiecki's taking over the general command of the army, D. commanded a division. After the collapse of the November Uprising he emigrated to France and advocated further military struggle against Russia; put forward proposals for Polish participation in Turkish and Egyptian armies. Connected with the Hotel Lambert, D. was for a time its political agent in Strasburg; in 1833 a member of the secret Stowarzyszenie Jednosci Narodowej [Association of National Unity], gathered around Prince Adam Czarto ryski, and modelled after freemasonry lodges; its purpose was to support a national spirit, reconciliation of political factions of the Polish emigration, and to prepare the Polish society to regain in dependence. In May 1848 D. participated in a meeting of deputies from the Austrian and the Prussian sectors of Poland in Wroclaw; then in the Slav Congress in Prague. In the Hungarian uprising of 1848 chief of the general staff; then temporarily commander-in-chief of the revolutionary army; after the defeat at Temesvar in August 1849, he left for Turkey; after April 1851 in France; died suddenly in Paris; buried in Montmorency. Author of memoires, political pamphlets, articles, occasional speeches, and addresses, including: Jenerala . . . pamietniki o powstaniu w Polsce r.1830-31 [Memoires on the 1830-31 uprising in Poland by general .. .], 2 vols (1875; 1877); Mein Feldzug nach und in Litauen, und mein Rueckzug von Kurszany nach Warschau (1832); Pamietnik . . .jene rala wojsk polskich [Memoires of a general of the Polish army] (1860; 1911).