It is computed that the Protestant Poles amount in
round numbers to 442, the great majority of whom
are found in the Prnssian portion. There is a considera- ble number of Protestants in Poland itself, bnl tl chiefly German Bettlers. In that part of Poland which was annexed to Rnssin by the treaty of Vienna, it was calculated in 1845 that, in a popnlation of 4,867,250 souls,
there were 252, Lutheran-. 3790 Reformed, and f.4C,
Moravians. In Prnssian Poland, iccording to the census of 1846, there were in the provinces of ancient Polish Prussia, iii a population of 1,019,105 Bonis, 502,148 Protes- tants; and in that of Posen, in a popnlation <>f 1,304,399 souls, there were 416,648 Protestants. As the Russian government is determined to make the Poles adopt its nationality, the Russian language only is tolerated in the churches where a popular tongue is used, and all hymn and prayer book-, as well a< school-books, must be in the Russian tongue. The Prussian government, too, anxious to use ail mean- of Germanizing its Slavonic Bubjects, caused the worship in almost all the churches of Prussian Poland to be conducted in the German lan- guage, and the service iir Polish is discouraged as much as |i issible.
On the modem ecclesiastical history of the former kingdom of Poland. Bee Prussia and Russia. See also Ropell, Gesck. Polens (Hamb. 1840) ; Lengnich, Diss. de Religion. Christ, in Polonia initiis 1 1734 | ; and Friese, Gesch. Polens (Breslau, 1786). On the Reformation: Stanislaus Lubieniecius, Hist. Reformationis Polonica (Freistadii, 1685); Krasinski, Historical Sketch of the Reformation in Polan I | Lond. 1838, '_' vols. 8vo), pari i treating of the introduction and progress of Christianity in that country; Maclear, Hist, of Christian Missions in ih Middle Ages; Gieseler, Eccles. Hist, (see Index in vol. iii); Brit, and For. Ev. Rev. 1843, p. 502 sq.
POLAND, Mission vmong the Jews in. The Polish mission was commenced by the London Society for promoting Christianity among the dew- in the year 1821. The lir-t missionaries there were the late Dr. A. M'Caul (q. v.), at thai time a simple graduate of the University of Dublin, and the Rev.W. F. Becker. The centre of i heir operation was made in Warsaw. For a while all seemed promising, bul the missionaries were
c pelled for a time to quit Warsaw. Early in the
year 1822 the missionaries were summ >d to appear
before the "Commission of th,- Religious Confessions," and had to sign a protocol as to whal was their object,
of which ii was said that it would be sent to St. Pe- tersburg. Learning, however, thai the answer which would be given them would be thai foreign missiona- ries were nol wanted in the country, and thai if the ■leu.- wished to be com erted there were priests enough for thai purpose, the missionaries -in order to avoid ;| oul oftl ountry, and hoping to gel per- mission from the emperor Alexander lefl Warsaw and wi m to Posen. The permission "a- obtained nol only for Poland, bul also for Russia. 'I he iii-i two mission- novt joined by two other-, Messrs. Wendl and I loll', and in the winter of 1822 missionary operations
Her., fairly commenced at Warsaw. Ill the year 1828 a
service according to the ritual of the < hurch of England
was established in the Reformed church. Mr. M'Caul
having received ordination in England; and t hi-, in 1824,
wed up by the commencement of a German
POLAND, JEWISH MISSION IN 343
POLE
service in the same place in the afternoon. As the labor increased two more missionaries were sent, Messrs. Reichardt and Wermelskirch. Visits were paid to va- rious towns, and for a time Lublin was made the scene of missionary labor. The chief work of the winter of 1825 was the preparation of a translation of the Word of God, for the use of Hebrew women more especially. It was completed by M'Caul, with the assistance of the other missionaries, as far as the end of the Pentateuch, by the spring of 1826, and has proved a work of con- siderable value.
The death of the emperor Alexander rendered it nec- essary to apply to his successor for a confirmation of the permission which had been accorded to them. The answer to their application was of a modilied character: it gave them liberty to labor among the Jews of Po- land, but was silent concerning Russia itself, and as was afterwards stated by the grand-duke Constantine, that, as far as Russia was concerned, the permission was with- drawn. All efforts to reobtain it were without success.
In 1829 Lublin was permanently occupied as a mis- sionary station, and proved a success, for no less than forty-four Israelites were there admitted into the visible Church. The year 1830 was marked by some events materially affecting the state of the mission and the po- sition of the missionaries: by an'order from St. Peters- burg the missionaries were placed under the General Protestant Consistory, and their correspondence with the committee was required to be laid before it, the Commission of the Interior, and the police. On Nov. 29 in the same year the Polish revolution broke out, without affecting materially the missionary labors. This year may be regarded as marking the close of the second period in the history of the Polish mission, last- ing from the year 1823 to 1830.