Mega Polish Genius : Earl Karol Brzostowski

Karol Brzostowski (born February 11, 1796 in Michaliszki, died July 25, 1854 in Paris) - social reformer, landowner, founder of the Republic of Sztabińska, manufacturer of agricultural machinery and designer of a mechanical pedal milking machine and a forage harvester. The son of Michał Hieronim and Ewa Chreptowiczówna, daughter of Joachim Litawor Chreptowicz, he was born on February 11, 1796 in Michaliszki in the Vilnius region[2]. When he was 10, his father died and a few years later his mother died. From his father he inherited the estates in Lithuania: Michaliszki, Czechy, and Markuny, as well as the right to the estates of the Bystrzyca starosty. Inherited from his mother, he received the Szabin estate and the palace in Warsaw, which he sold to Elert. The Brzostowski family's connections with the Chreptowicz and Radziwiłł families and other famous families paved the way for him to pursue a military and state career. He spent his childhood and early youth in his parents' house and the Chreptowicz estate. He attended schools in Vilnius and France. He became fluent in French, German and Latin. From his youth, he showed extraordinary talents in the field of science, especially mechanics and physics. This helped him master military engineering during his service in the army and advance quickly.In 1815, while still a minor, he was emancipated. He tried to sort out his financial affairs, especially the huge debts from his parents. Discouraged by the mounting difficulties and complicated claims of creditors, Brzostowski decided to try a military career. He joined the army of the Kingdom of Poland and served as field adjutant to General Rożniecki. On March 10, 1818, he resigned due to poor health and was allowed to wear a uniform. During his service, he studied military engineering. He probably completed an apprenticeship in one of the arms manufacturing plants. After leaving the army with the rank of captain, he took up property matters again.After solving the most important difficulties in the Lithuanian estates, Brzostowski settled permanently in the Szabin estate in 1819. He chose the manor house in Cisów as his place of residence, from where he began his persistent work and fight with creditors.

What is striking is the extraordinary strength of character, the ability to live without luxury despite his aristocratic origins, and the desire to recover his homeland after the fall. Brzostowski worked not only for himself. He was a man of ideas that gave him strength and perseverance in work. This idea is to create an agro-industrial complex on the Sztabin estate - the Republic of Sztabin. Here he wanted to implement his ideas and beliefs, which appear to be humane and progressive in relation to this era. Brzostowski believed that every person must earn his own living and be sufficient for himself, otherwise he is a social parasite and such a life has no meaning. Here's what we read about it in the notes he left behind: "I am proud that I am enough for myself. If I lost this belief, life would disgust me. I would stop living if I couldn't earn a living. Luxury and living beyond one's means as well as immoral sources of income disgusted the count. He expressed his attitude towards serf labor in words addressed to his subjects: "I free you from all forced labor, because all forced labor humiliates a person, turns him into a beast, exposes him to thousands of injustices, and hinders his moral development." An important moment in Brzostowski's life was the November Uprising. He began his service in the army of the Kingdom of Poland, first in the arms depots in Suwałki, then he was transferred to Warsaw. Here he was appointed to the staff of the Reserve Corps, commanded by General Ludwik Pac. He was appointed major on April 14, 1831, retaining his previous duties, and then assigned to specific regulations of the Minister of War. Brzostowski took part in the Battle of Ostrołęka, where he distinguished himself with great bravery, was seriously wounded and in recognition was awarded the Golden Cross of Virtuti Militari.

It is believed in the literature on the subject that after the failure of the uprising, Brzostowski emigrated with thousands of soldiers and officers to France and England for fear of the invader's repression. However, there are serious reasons to claim that Brzostowski did not participate in emigration. An act of the oath taken on September 7, 1831 by Karol Brzostowski of allegiance to the Tsar has been preserved. The note contains a note that Brzostowski is going to his Szabin estate. So Brzostowski did not have to emigrate, and he could later travel abroad legally. Probably at the beginning of the uprising he "simulating" bequeathed co-ownership of the Szabin estate to his sister Izabela, fearing that the property would be confiscated by the tsarist authorities. After taking the oath, he returned to Cisów and continued the reforms he had started.The years after the November Uprising were spent by Brzostowski working on the development of the Republic of Sztabin. He invested, reformed, expanded industry and agriculture, and educated his subjects to be independent.

The Krasnoborsk-Stabin estate inherited by the count from his parents was in a deplorable condition. It was a large estate, 770 włókas (500 włókas were forests; 270 włókas were suitable for cultivation), but it had poor soil and was extremely devastated as a result of the predatory farming of the tenants. The manor owned 3,600 acres (2,015 ha) of arable land, meadows and pastures; 4,500 morgas (2,519 ha) were cultivated by peasants, the rest was occupied by forests, mostly cleared of old trees, meadows, sand dunes and vast swamps. The population of the estate did not exceed 3,000 people, including about 2,400 peasants. In June 1819, Brzostowski began an action to rent serfs In the same year, he concluded contracts for a one-year lease of plots, land, gardens and meadows, each amounting to 15-20 morgas, with all the peasants of eight villages (Długie, Janówek, Jasionowo, Krasnybór, Krasnoborki, Kamień, Kunicha, Kryłatka). In this way, Brzostowski concluded lease agreements with 79 farmers. He soon rented the remaining farmers. The land was measured and divided into square plots. The area of ​​each was one morga. Brzostowski organized an auction for the leased morgas. The arable lands were divided into four shifts. In addition to winter and spring cereals and a piece of fallow land on the fourth plot, each peasant was obliged to plant potatoes. Each year, a certain number of them had to be handed over to the manor. It was the so-called potato dumplings. In addition, each peasant was obliged to keep the sowing rotation of the crop, under penalty of having the crops sown incorrectly sown and auctioned off. In addition to potatoes, new crops were introduced. These were the so-called hop plantations. "hops" and cabbages "cabbage cabbage". Fodder beets, clover and parsnips also appeared. Animal breeding was developed. Karol Brzostowski adopted and implemented a new idea - industrialization of rural farms. Realizing that he would not achieve income otherwise, and taking advantage of local natural resources, he decided to develop industrial activities. Already in 1819, he signed an agreement with the master of liberated glassworks, Gustaw Uklański, living in the Kingdom of Prussia, to build and lease a glass factory in Kozia Szyja. So, Brzostowski set up an ordinary glassworks half a mile from Cisów, and when the tenant was unable to make a living and went bankrupt within a year, Brzostowski, at considerable expense, had to continue running the factory himself. Brzostowski imported technical books and trained as a steelworker. After a few years, the factory began to generate significant income. It became famous for its products not only in the Kingdom of Poland, but also in the western provinces of Tsarist Russia. The glass factory became the beginning of a factory settlement called Huta Sztabińska. The glassworks buildings were erected in the years 1819–1820 and consisted of a glassworks hall, a glass sheet straightening plant, a crushing plant, a potash plant, and a glassware warehouse. The steelworks hall was one of the largest in Poland at that time, while the area of ​​all the industrial buildings of this factory was equal to the most famous facilities of this type in the country and the Russian Empire. All buildings were built of wood on stone foundations. In 1854, the warehouse of finished glassware included over half a million bottles of various shapes and capacities, 18,000 glasses, over 117,000 glasses of various shapes, over 40,000 jars, carboys and jars, 13,800 carafes, 2,500 inkwells and over 100,000 pieces of laboratory and apothecary vessels, jugs, bowls, flower vases, lamps, cans, butter and salt shakers, glass "mothers", decorative cologne bottles. The staff of the steelworks consisted of foremen and craftsmen of German nationality, brought from the former territories of East Prussia, who first opened the factory and then trained peasants' sons to work. Over time, they naturalized and learned the Polish language. The actual manager of the steelworks was its writer Szymon Walejewski, and his deputy was foreman Fryderyk Wencel. A dozen or so apprentice peasants also worked here. About 50 people - peasants from Sosnów, Budziska, Budy and other villages, were always busy burning coals and ashes, cutting and delivering wood, transporting raw materials and finished products. Thus, the glassworks provided employment and earning opportunities for a large number of people. Joachim Litawor Chreptowicz was already developing the metal industry in the Szabin estate, using the bog ore deposits existing there. His grandson developed this activity and soon Sztabin became famous as a major center of this industry. When in 1824 the government of the Kingdom decided to build the Augustów Canal connecting the Neman and Narew basins in order to bypass the Prussian customs blockade, Brzostowski took advantage of this opportunity. Taking advantage of the fact that there were no iron factories nearby and the price for supplies was very high, Brzostowski took it upon himself to deliver the iron castings needed to build the canal locks. He imported a molder named Gize from Prussia and set up a makeshift workshop in Janówek in a shed - a former brewery next to an inn. The constructed locks gave Brzostowski a large sum of 70,000 Polish zlotys. From then on the sky brightened up a bit. I was about to turn around; I could already show up for business.

Having some experience supported by knowledge from professional reading, Brzostowski decided to build large metal industry plants in the village of Huta. He set up a modern foundry here, a blast furnace "welded" using a steam engine he built himself, and a factory for agricultural machines and tools, along with all kinds of warehouses and workshops. So a large factory settlement was established here. In the main industrial building, in the room housing the cash register and the office, an electromagnetic telegraph was installed, running on a line to Cisów. Brzostowski was the first to build this device in Poland.

There were mechanical workshops next to the foundry, where some castings were processed. In 1848, many objects and machines were cast here, with a total weight of 1,680 hundredweight, i.e. 68.5 tons. In 1850 this number increased to 127 tons, and in 1852 157 tons were cast. The following were made here: cauldrons, iron pots, cauldrons, sagans, saucepans, crucibles, spoons, forks, mortars, candlesticks, crucifixes, bells, bells, and pickets. Thousands of pieces of metal accessories were also made here: devotional statuettes, historical and mythological figures, decorative vases, holy water bowls, tombstones, monuments and many other utilitarian and decorative objects.

The agricultural machinery factory produced many pioneering products, including the mechanical pedal milking machine constructed by the count and the forage harvester of his idea[1]. Several types of "English" threshers were produced here, one- or two-knife forage harvesters of the Lester system, seeders for grain and vegetables, potato diggers, beet leaf mowers, various types of treadmills, grain cleaning mills, machines for mechanical peeling and rinsing of potatoes, machines for land drainage, for mixing bread dough, oil mills, fire pumps, elevators for pulling loads; peasant carts and sleighs, sun and wall clocks, plows, cultivators, potato cultivators, harrows, and all parts needed for agricultural machines and tools. In summer, work at the plant lasted 11 hours. You worked from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m., from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. The workers stood for roll call three times a day. The metal works in Huta Sztabińska employed 52 employees, including 2 officials and 19 journeymen and apprentices. There were a dozen or so workers involved in various auxiliary works. Approximately 60 people - peasants from the Szabin estate constantly had the opportunity to earn money by transporting raw materials and products, earthworks and construction, cutting wood, etc. All this served the good of the population, which had additional opportunities to earn money and was the recipient of modern machines and tools.

In Sztabin on the Biebrza River, the count built a harbor for berlines, through which he sent his products via Goniądz and Wizna to Łomża and Ostrołęka. He sent products to Suwałki, Grodno and Kaunas by cart. In addition to the above-mentioned glass and metal enterprises, there was a brewery, a factory of flavored vodkas in Cisów, and a distillery located on a former farm called Popowszczyzna. Smaller plants include a brickyard, a tannery and a sawmill. In Cisów there was a savings bank with an interest rate of 5%, from which savings could be withdrawn at any time. In addition, there was a so-called loan fund. country pawn shop. The condition for using it was the borrower's impeccable reputation. Loans that had to be secured on buildings, inventory or future earnings in the manor were granted at 6%. The amounts could be repaid over several years, annually, half-yearly, as well as in small installments every Saturday. A year before the count's death, loans were granted without any bills of exchange or other security. The count established a specific Penal Code, which detailed penalties for various offenses: theft, negligence, etc. Other provisions aimed to combat the problem of alcoholism. The innkeeper's duty was to keep an eye on the drunkenness of those arriving at the inn. The innkeeper paid 6 zlotys for each drunk person. fines. In the case of habitual drunkards, a card with the name of such a person was hung on the door of the inn, thus prohibiting him from entering. People who spent a lot of time in the inn were also fined. Even the innkeeper was subject to a fine if he did not notify the court about such people. Everyone was also paid for coming to the court unjustifiably if he was summoned unnecessarily due to the fault of the officials. Penalties for offenses and misdemeanors were collected in village piggy banks and allocated for social purposes. Because citizens were aware that this was being done for the common good, some paid the fine themselves before they were asked to do so. he was demanding and punished severely, but he supported the peasants when necessary. When, as a result of a natural disaster, famine occurred in the country in 1846, peasants could buy grain and hay in the warehouses established by Brzostowski at prices much lower than market prices. Moreover, they were exempt from burdens, taxes, etc., and peasants could receive loans from manor funds. Brzostowski's subjects were also provided with health care: he brought medicines to those in need and established rural pharmacies, supported by money paid by the population in connection with various penalties. When many of Sztabin's houses burned down in the spring of 1846, after receiving compensation from the Insurance Directorate, he built new buildings. Karol Brzostowski, being an enlightened man himself, attached great importance to education and schooling. They were educated in factory schools, Sunday schools and from traveling teachers. Brzostowski himself was also a teacher, who personally taught workers and apprentices complex production technologies in foundry, machine construction, precision mechanics, and spirit distillation. In his will, he wrote about the public's obligation to support teachers and schools. The effect was that in 1860 most of the inhabitants knew how to read and write (according to the visiting man Ludwik Pietrusiński), which is impressive at a time when 79.2% of the people in the Kingdom of Poland were illiterate.

An extremely important issue from the "educational" point of view was the introduction of rural self-government on estates. Every Monday, the council of village heads met in the manor for working meetings. Disputes were resolved by voting. Village heads had the right to impose penalties for evading the potato tax, teacher contributions, manor fees, and failure to pay state taxes. They adjudicated disputes between peasants. The decisions of the deputy mayor of the commune and the village head were appealed to the manor administration or Brzostowski himself. Another local government body was the so-called a council of elders composed of a dozen or so oldest, exemplary farmers enjoying universal authority. The most controversial and sensitive issues were discussed here: removing a tenant from the land for drunkenness, neglect of the farm, theft, as well as more serious offenses against the physical integrity of the estate's inhabitants and against morality.

On the basis of Karol Brzostowski's will of November 29, 1853, the peasants of the Szabin estate obtained the right to full ownership of the land, instead of the former usufruct. In total, peasants received approximately 7,200 acres of arable land, meadows, pastures and gardens. Article 6 obliged peasants to pay manorial stamp taxes and to discharge debts and mortgage obligations on the estates. The amount of these fees could not exceed half of the rent paid so far. All necessary surpluses were to be covered from the income of the factory fund. The owners of the land were the farmers of the following villages: Budziska, Budy, Chomaszewo, Długie, Ewy z Podgórze, Fedorowizna, Janówek, Jasionowo, Kamień, Karolin, Kobyli Kąt, Krasnoborki, Krasnybór, Kryłatka, Kunicha, Lebiedzin Dworny, Motułka Mała, Motułka Wielka, Pogorzałe , Promiski, Sosnowo, Suchy Grąd, Sztabin, Ściokła, Wolne, Żmojdak. In his will, Brzostowski also established the Sztabin Agro-Industrial Institution. It consisted of agricultural estates and industrial workshops. The document contains detailed provisions regarding the management and administration of the Institution. Adolf Gerszow, Brzostowski's friend and comrade in arms from military times, became the administrator. The administrator had extremely broad competences, but he had great demands on him. The condition for being appointed to this position was to have higher technical education and an engineer's title. He was to live permanently in the commune. He had to be free from his gambling addiction. He was to set a good example for others with his actions and life. Administration was to be carried out openly, and all regulations were to be issued in writing. There were many duties and prohibitions that fell on the administrator, but his salary, power and earnings were extremely high.

Count Karol Brzostowski suffered from heart disease. In December 1853, he went to France to undergo treatment with Parisian specialists. He never managed to return to the country. He died in Paris on July 25, 1854 in the house at ul. Boulevard des Italiens, at 59 years old. He was initially buried in the Montmartre cemetery, later, in accordance with the will recorded in the traveler's will, his body was moved to the Montmorency cemetery.