Article citation information:
Rutkowski, M. Commencement of a new road
network in the Kingdom of Poland in the period 1816-1817. Scientific Journal of Silesian University of Technology. Series
Transport. 2017, 97, 131-146.
ISSN: 0209-3324. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20858/sjsutst.2017.97.12.
Marek RUTKOWSKI[1]
COMMENCEMENT
OF A NEW ROAD NETWORK IN THE KINGDOM OF POLAND IN THE PERIOD 1816-1817
Summary. The
main aim of this article is to introduce road repair and building programmes
and procedures that took place in both the Kingdom of Poland, as a whole, and
the Masovian Province, in particular. Starting
with legal matters, this article describes the variety of combined activities
on the part of the state government and local authorities undertaken between 1816
and 1817, which shaped the future development of Polish routes for many years
to come.
Keywords: road network; Kingdom of Poland;
19th century
1. INTRODUCTION
The establishment of a new state
entity, namely, the Kingdom of Poland, during the Vienna Congress of 1815
automatically implied the inauguration of a number of national and local
economic projects of crucial structural importance. One of the main and most
spectacular areas of government activity of the newly established state was the
construction of a modern, state-of-the-art transport network. This process,
which was extremely complex at the national level, involved: a) defining a
general and specific legal framework, within which road construction would be
effectively implemented; b) making overall arrangements with regard to the
“dimensioning” (i.e., fixing the main directions of pathways), control and
technical aspects of construction of the transport network; and c) issuing
government decisions concerning the repair and construction of specific roads
and the supply of building materials, which were necessary for road
construction purposes[2].
The local aspect of the constructing a transport network (which, in this
article, is described in relation to the most representative of the whole of the
country area of the Masovian Voivodeship) focused on issues such as: a) initial
repairs to existing roads; b) assessing the initial repairs process; and c)
proper “regulation” of the routes. The following paragraphs will attempt to
describe these issues during the initial period of the repair and construction
process of roads, i.e., from 1816 to 1817, both in the Kingdom of Poland as a
whole and in the Masovian Voivodeship.
2. ESTABLISHEMENT OF A LEGAL BASIS FOR
ROADWORKS IN THE KINGDOM OF POLAND
The first session of the
then-government, i.e., the Administrative Council, which covered the initial
technical conditions and rules for the construction of the Polish road network,
was held on 12 March 1816[3].
The petition submitted on this matter by Tadeusz Mostowski, the head of the
Government Committee for Internal Affairs and Police (Minister of the
Interior), was passed by the tsarist state’s Governor General Józef Zajączek,
for consideration by the General Assembly of the Council of State, Warsaw’s
main legislative body[4].
Very soon, namely, on 20 April 1816, a formal decision was made on the division
of Polish roads into three types: large, secondary and minor/small roads[5]. On that same day, the tsar’s governor in the
kingdom issued provisional regulations, defining the division of national roads
(as stated above) into “big, secondary and minor/side” roads. The new law also
defined the standardized dimensions of tracks to be used in the whole of the
newly emerging road system. As precisely written in its legal preamble, this
provision was issued “to facilitate communication” in the Kingdom of Poland.
Another postulate clearly visible behind the issuing of new legislation was the
profound need to meet the requirements expected for such a system of Polish
transport communications, which would not only be wholly suitable for the
economic conditions of the time, but also fulfil social expectations (in the
original: “would be adequate to the task of improving public comfort”).
Finally, it was stated that new law was introduced in consideration of the need
for “making the country more beautiful”[6].
3. TRANSPORTATION NETWORK DECISIONS MADE BY THE
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT FORUM BETWEEN 1816 AND 1817
3.1. First legal solutions concerning
transportation structure planning, construction and control of the road system
by the state
One did not have to wait too long
for any further government activity related to the construction and further
expansion of the transport network in Kingdom of Poland. The first provisions
describing detailed rules of works carried out in the construction of, and
repairs to, routes were introduced by the Administrative Council at its meeting
held on 15 May 1816[7].
Subsequently, after the Government Committee for Internal Affairs and Police
prepared a thorough report on “dimensioning” of the main roads of the kingdom,
the Ministry of Interior proposed that its key aspects be finally approval by
the decisive authorities. Upon preliminary acceptance by the Administrative
Council on 22 June 1816, General Zajączek decided to hand over the relevant
documents to the Government Committee for Internal Affairs and the Police once
more. On this occasion, it was envisaged that the ministry would issue some
relevant instructions regarding “regulation” of the main transportation lines
in the Kingdom, which would be done with the participation of local civil
authorities[8]. In
addition, the Administrative Council issued, on 8 April 1817, another four
important provisions concerning the road repair process in the kingdom, with
particular reference to upgrading the quality of street pavements in the
capital, Warsaw[9]. On
the basis of the above, it can be said that, between spring 1816 and spring
1817, the Kingdom of Poland adopted preliminary, yet binding across the whole
country, solutions for the repair and construction of roads of all kinds.
One of the most pressing problems
that occupied the minds of senior Polish authorities in the kingdom at that
time was the alleged lack of skilled road construction and maintenance
supervisors, as well as available working. With the foreseen and somehow
expected lack of top-class specialists in the field, the Administrative Council
decided, on 6 July 1816, to bring at least one person with the rank of
conductor of roads from Austrian Galicia, as well as several people who would
be proficient in the art of constructing transport routes[10].
From here, it can be said that, at the very beginning of the construction of
the new road network in the kingdom, some “alien” examples were emulated, even
if taken from controlled Polish territories following the partitions by
Austria.
Due to the initial lack of
candidates for the positions of road builders and inspectors, many of these
posts were still unoccupied by 1817. Thus, budgetary savings in the state-owned
road sector were reported. On that basis, on 7 October 1817, the Administrative
Council made a surprising decision, under which - unforeseeable initially in
the state budget - any wage increases for already employed inspectors and builders
were to be covered by eventual savings made because of the lack of sufficient
newcomers to take up jobs as builders of the transportation network[11].
3.2. Decisions of the
Administrative Council on repairing and constructing specific roads
In the Kingdom of Poland, the very
start of the actual implementation of new road solutions was in May 1816. As
early as 3 May of that year, the Administrative Council issued five resolutions
on commencing Warsaw’s street outreach programme, which paid particular attention
to those streets that led to the city limits[12].
In order to strengthen the effect of its previous decision, on 20 May 1816, the
government ordered that all the “economic roads” circumferencing Warsaw should
be addressed[13]. On
the same day, the Minister of the Government Committee for Interior Affairs and
Police, Tadeusz Mostowski, presented to the Administrative Council an extensive
report on the genuine progress made in repairing and rebuilding roads located
in the neighbourhood of the Polish capital. At the same time, the minister
explained why the transport authorities refused to agree to change the course
of one of the roads in the vicinity of Warsaw, which presumably was intended
to lead through the village of Rożniszew[14].
After resolving some of the disagreements related to the capital’s transport
network, on 13 July 1816, the Administrative Council issued an extremely
significant, first order to change the course of the communication tracks,
other than just in the neighbourhood of Warsaw. Such a decision concerned the
expected changes to the course of the route leading from Prague to Serock,
located on the banks of the Narew River[15].
Initially, in some cases and
specific regions of the country, there were some divergences in determining the
scope of local roadworks. A similar situation was, for instance, analysed by
the government on 10 June 1817, this time in relation to the Cracow Province[16].
As a result, in less than two weeks, the Administrative Council proclaimed “a
guiding order”, addressed solely to officers from the Polish Army Headquarters.
It was decided on June 21, 1817, that they had to effectively cooperate with
the civilian officials of Government Committee of Internal Affairs and Police,
who personally run the road works program in the area of Cracow Region[17].
The changes to route tracks, which can be easily detected in the first phase of
implementing the national programme for the construction of roads, confirms the
obvious lack of a rigid and, in principle, steady and firm attitude of the
authorities in relation to their basic plan for constructing the Polish
transport network.
3.3. The decision of 11 December 1817 to
deliver raw materials used in building the main roads leading from Warsaw
into the Kingdom of Poland
It could be considered as an event
of particular importance when, in the autumn of 1817, the government of the
kingdom decided that it would commence overall construction works on Polish
transportation network in spring 1818, focusing in the beginning on tracks
leading from Warsaw as far as the first postal stations situated on selected
routes. This decision was made “with the intention of hastening the
facilitation of land communication by the thorough arrangement of the main
roads”. The following road sections were firstly to be built, starting from
Warsaw: a) on the St. Petersburg main route: as far as the Jabłonna locality,
via Praga, Karczma, Świdry and next to the village of Dąbrówka; b) on the Brest
route: reaching the Miłosna locality, via the Grochów Turnpike and Wawer; c) on
the Lublin route: as far as the Jeziorna locality, via Mokotów, Królikarnia, Wilanów
and Powsin; d) on the Cracow route: reaching the Raszyn locality, via Raków; e)
on the Poznan route: as far as the Ołtarzew locality, via Wola, Odelany,
Jelonek, Chrzanówka, Karczma, Mory, Bronisze and Ożarów[18].
On the basis of Provision No. 313/1
462 of the Government Committee for Internal Affairs and Police of 29 October
1817, it was decided to prepare in advance some of the necessary quantities of
stones and gravel for roadworks to be undertaken in an area up to two miles
from Warsaw’s city limits. In order to obtain possession of these supplies, the
authorities decided to prepare a public tender for that cause. The best
solution seemed to be to firstly organize an oral auction, where verbal
declarations for the delivery of the necessary building raw materials would be
heard. The Masovian Voivodeship Commission’s office buildings, located at 500
Podwale Street in Warsaw, were chosen as the place of this initial meeting,
which was scheduled for 10 o’clock on the morning of 29 December 1817. Only after
the initial oral declarations were officially made, alongside a presentation on
the preliminary decision-making by the Government Committee for Internal
Affairs and Police, was it possible to set a final deadline for a proper tender
for the road building raw materials. The Masovian Voivodeship Commission even
proposed to those individuals who wanted to undertake this task that “having
come to participate in first stage oral declarations, [they] should rest for a
few days in the capital in order to wait for the terms of the final auction”[19].
The delivery conditions for the raw
materials (namely, the aggregate crushed stones as well as some gravel) were as
follows:
a) The
delivery for works undertaken on the St. Petersburg route was to be carried out
at a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the road itself, directly from
the banks of the Vistula River; the stones could be also brought from the
terrain situated about two miles from the working site, namely, from the
Wiązowna and Okuniew localities. At the same time, the authorities suggested
the possibility of an easier delivery of the required stones by using the
watercourse, mostly from other locations along the banks of the Vistula, or
even from the vicinity of where the Pilica River flowed into the main Polish
watercourse.
b) Some
gravel needed for the construction of the Brest route was supposed to be
delivered from a range of different distances, varying from one quarter of a
mile to two miles from the road. The stones could be delivered in this case by
land from the vicinity of Wiązowna and Okuniew, and from the neighbourhood of
the Miłosna locality, or possibly taken from the Vistula River coastal area.
c) It was
suggested that supplies of raw material needed for works on the Lublin route
could be taken from a distance of about one mile from the built road itself,
situated on the shores of the Vistula River. Some of the gravel and stones were
to be delivered there by land, from the vicinity of Drwalew and Piaseczno
localities.
d) On the
Cracow route, gravel delivery was expected to be accomplished from the
neighbourhood of the Raków locality, while the stones themselves were to be
taken from the area situated as far as two miles from the road.
e) The
most difficult situation involved construction of the Poznań route, mostly
because, in the vicinity of Warsaw, there were no nearby stone deposits
suitable for a relatively easy supply for this main track. Furthermore, due to
the considerable distance from the Vistula River, the delivery of stone raw materials
via a watercourse was not practically available, taking into account the
extremely high cost of such a combined logistical operation. Hence, the
necessity to provide some gravel for the construction of this part of the
Poznań tramway from the area of the Broniszewo and Ożarów localities emerged.
Given the insufficient amount of raw materials, which were soon exhausted
there, another place was identified, close to the Piotrówek locality and
located two miles from the main road[20].
The administrative rescripts
presented here precisely described, in fine detail, the technical principles of
the transport and storage of gravel and stones required for the construction of
roads, extending beyond Warsaw. Gravel was to be brought in special boxes, with
a cubic capacity of 8 ft3, manufactured by default by government
craftsmen. Entrepreneurs received them from state administration
representatives as reimbursement of costs spent on road construction.
In view of accepting the general
principle that any public road with an official overall width of 21 cubits or
less was to have in reality only 13 cubits of proper width, the Masovian
Voivodeship Commission reiterated on 11 December 1817 that gravel should fill
the middle of the road to a thickness of 12 in, before spreading it so that it
“fell” on the edges of the road, where its thickness should not be less than 4
in. It soon became obvious that it was necessary to supply 45 standard wooden
crates filled with gravel in order to properly cover the surface of the road
with a length of one perch, equal to 15 ft, and with a width of 13 ells.
In the same rescript, it was pointed
out that, in places where tracts were properly levelled and thus adequately
prepared for gravel delivery, entrepreneurs should supply and dispose of gravel
according to Article 4 of the same provision. In turn, where a new road was not
properly prepared for it to be covered with raw or aggregated gravel material,
entrepreneurs should be careful to count the exact amount of one ore, which was
expected to fill the area of every perch, and to put the desired amount of
gravel on the side of the road.
On the other hand, the stones had to
be laid on the sides of the road in piles equal to the size of six cubits in
length, three cubits in width, and one and a half cubits in height. It appeared
that such a typical dimension of piles of stones was enough to pave the surface
of a road measuring 1.5 ft in length and 13 cubits in width. Entrepreneurs were
therefore called upon to deliver stones to these side road piles, bearing in
mind such an approximate enumeration.
The authorities also claimed, in
December 1817, that full economic freedom for all individuals (not only for the
winning auctions’ entrepreneurs) willing to dig stones and gravel from all
known and indicated local mines would be preserved. Even more importantly, the
state administration took over the privilege of calculating the dues collected
from usage of privately owned gravel or stone deposits[21].
It should be noted that, by securing, in late autumn 1817, the general
conditions of the proper supply of raw materials, the Government Committee for
Internal Affairs and Police laid a firm foundation for the widespread
continuation of the recently commenced road network construction programme in
the Kingdom of Poland.
Fig. 1. Variety of road construction
activities as drawn by Franciszek Ksawery Christiani
in 1825[22]
4. UNDERTAKING ROADWORKS IN THE AREA CRUCIAL
FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERRITORIAL TRANSPORTATION NETWORK (MASOVIAN
VOIVODESHIP)
4.1 General command of
20 May 1817 to commence rapid road repairs
The available documentation confirms
that the most important roadworks undertaken in the Kingdom of Poland, i.e., in
the Masovian Province (not only because the capital of the state was located in
its territory) started on a larger scale in the spring of 1817. According to
the rescript of the Administrative Department of the Mazovian Voivodeship
Commission of 20 May 1817 (No. 1343), at the explicit command of the tsarist
state’s Governor General Józef Zajączek, the province authorities ordered their
district commissioners to carry out road repairs. These actions had to be
continued in strict accordance with a detailed publication issued by Rajmund
Rembieliński, head of the Masovian Province. This document, called the Device (Manual) on Regulating and Improving
the State of roads and public tracks, was signed on 29 April 1817.
Moreover, district commissioners were expected to improve the status of local
transportation systems by carrying out “diligent work”. The aim was to meet a
well-understood goal of increasing the economic capacity of the Kingdom of
Poland, and the Masovian Province in particular, where a “decent and desirable
order” would prevail. At the same time, the administrative authorities demanded
that “every work would bear a sign of quality and permanent integrity, because
every temporality in a similar undertaking becomes a burden to the country”.
The Voivodeship Commission, at least formally having no doubts as to the real
nature of the positive and creative commitment of local commune officials (as
well as that of the so-called “general public”) to the issue of transportation
network improvements, simultaneously ordered the chiefs of specific districts
to use the strictest forms of execution against those “resisting” their new
duties. Similarly, mayors were threatened with “exemplary” punishment when
failing to properly fulfil their formal duties in terms of taking part in
diverse procedures of rapid road repairs.
On 20 May 1817, the Mazovian
Voivodeship Commission also called on those residents who, “having fallen in
love with proper order, embraced the responsibility of road surveillance”, such
that, especially in the very beginnings of their activity, they showed
extraordinary zeal in meeting their entrusted duties. The promise was given
that the most effective of these citizens were to be presented with an award by
Governor General Zajączek himself.
Lastly, the authorities ordered that
all detected “road deformities” would be adequately described (which, of
course, was linked to the imposition of a suitable penalty on these
responsible). Furthermore, the Masovian Voivodeship Commission announced a tour
of all repaired and construction works to be undertaken in the second half of
July 1817 by the voivodeship main engineer, as well as by the president or vice
president of the voivodeship’s administrative structures[23].
In this way, in the spring of 1817, not only did the general idea occur to
review and repair the existing roads in the Masovian Voivodeship, but also
adequate and reliable control protocols of the ordered actions were assured.
4.2. Moderate success of the initial repairs
process of Masovian Voivodeship tracks during the spring of 1817 and the
assessment of basic causes of this poor state of affairs
Generally speaking, the newly
commenced construction and “regulation” of roads in the Masovian Province were
to be carried out in such a solid way that it would be possible to provide “a
constant order, public comfort and a certain embellishment of the country”.
While working on road construction, the local government hoped to bring about
this important task to an effective ending, in the properly understood interest
of local citizens and the Kingdom of Poland as a whole.
Despite
these highfalutin announcements, the reality seemed to be somehow different,
especially when, in the so-called “terrain”, a large amount of errors and
inaccuracies in “designing” occurred, as well as changes in courses and even in
the “restoration” of public roads. Consequently, on 30 May 1817, the Masovian
Voivodeship authorities publicly issued a special notice (of an extraordinary
nature) and ordered its widespread dissemination. In this formal letter, the
errors identified in the repair and construction of the transport network were
strongly highlighted, mostly referring to existing legal regulations.
It was described, in this warning
note, that, shortly after completion of the first stage of endeavours
concerning improvements to the general condition of local roads, the President
of the Masovian Voivodeship Commission, Rajmund Rembieliński, went on a tour
that was supposed to allow him to see the eventual progress of transportation
works in his province. This visit was carried out according to the previous
announcement, which stated that such a tour was to be made after 15 July1817.
Unfortunately, the result was somewhat negative and highlighted significant
irregularities in all of the repair and building processes. The main conclusion
reached by Rembieliński was that, in spite of a) previously repeated
“reminders” about how to conduct proper roadworks and b) the provisions of the
Act of 29 April 1817, on the regulation and improvement of the transport
network, these guidelines were not generally observed in the spring and early
summer of 1817. According to the head of the Masovian administration, any
constant and common will to follow government regulations concerning the
“transportation matter” was not evident among many of the local inhabitants. It
even transpired that, in the majority of visited places, the same errors were
almost always repeated, which the authorities referred to in their previous
explanatory note of 30 May 1817[24].
From the carefully constructed
analysis, a picture of two basic causes, gravely influencing this negative
situation, emerged. The former cause referred strictly to the behaviour of
officials of the state and local administration, who most probably did not pay
enough attention when carrying out their tasks. Instead of being active, they
restricted themselves to the exercise of their duties by simply distributing
formal correspondence, including so-called “circulars”. In addition, these
officials usually only dealt with their indoor office activities, rather than
participate in the effort to monitor the progress of road investments in situ.
The second group of difficulties prevailing at the time of the primary
implementation of the transport programme in the Masovian Province was
generally related to a rather selfish attitude among the local landowners of
those areas through which new or refurbished roads were to pass. These
landowners, while commonly holding positions as commune administrators of
individual villages, or heads of whole economic and agricultural complexes, were
strongly accused by the President of the Masovian Voivodeship Commission of
deliberate sabotage (in the original: “weakening”) of state administration
activities, aimed at upgrading Polish roads.
The negative attitude of the accused
landowners was most often caused by a) a misunderstanding of their own
interests, as they usually tried to protect themselves from a small piece of
their private land being taken over by the state, or b) their willingness to
avoid cutting down a few trees in their own forests (both of these examples
often proved to be necessary to straighten the course of modernized or
re-established roads). As a consequence, these accused individuals not only
neglected any attempts by the local administration to improve the Polish road
system, but also acted openly against the interests of the public good of the
country as a whole, and especially of their own province.
According to Rajmund Rembieliński,
any other reasons than those previously mentioned for such detrimental
behaviour among noble owners of land estates and dominions may have been rooted
in the Polish gentry’s well-known unwillingness to fulfil any command issued by
the government administration (in the original: “harmful habit of opposing the
government”). Another possible reason was the selfish need to act according to
one’s own imagination and self-determined purposes and priorities (in the
original: “willingness to act according to his own fantastic will”). For
administrators of the time, both of the above-described reasons for negative
behavioural attitudes among local landowners even seemed to have surprisingly
been much more likely than any purely economic considerations.
The conclusion was obvious: the
inadequate work of lower-level officials of the provincial administration, and
the somewhat destructive attitude among landlords towards the very idea of road
improvements, would not have left the government with any another alternative:
as long as the authorities’ goals were met, it would act with a greater
stubbornness and determination than before. Underlining the adequate amount of
resources remaining at the disposal of the state, in order to carry on the
transport enhancement programme (let us add: a programme aimed mostly at the
proper development of the so-called “public wealth”), at the end of July 1817,
Rembieliński openly announced the widespread use of economic and administrative
coercion, directed against “reluctant” landowners. The head of the Masovian
Voivodeship authorities also announced the recommencement of those works,
which, at that point, had not been properly accomplished. The latter was
motivated by the simple fact that, especially given the obvious appearance of
considerable errors and omissions made so far in the road repair procedures,
“the deeds wrongly taken and made must have gone to lay waste in a form of vain
work”.
While including some thoughts of a
rather philosophical nature to his arguments, on 20 July 1817, Rembieliński
finally and wisely declared: “so the disregard of superior orders, instead of
intended advantage, must bring about the damage itself”. Bearing in mind the
sort of collective responsibility involved, he added that, “contrary to some
citizens’ conviction, these innocent inhabitants must also suffer, even though
they are overwhelmed by the desire of increasing of public good”. Thus, in a
rescript issued on 20 July 1827, it was declared that, under any circumstances,
the Masovian Voivodeship Commission would not give up, even for one step, in
its pursuit of full implementation of the rules promulgated in “the law
regulating roads” of 29 April 1817. The aim was clear: all those inhabitants
who were suitable for that purpose must be engaged again, but this time in
proper and adequate works concerning the development of the province’s road
tracks. This, in turn, finally led to the simple liberation of all the
inhabitants of the province from the unwelcome necessity regarding frequent participation
in the future repair of poorly constructed roads. These possible, constantly
repeated remedial works were not only considered as casual and urgent, but
above all as being run without any profit. In addition, they deprived rural
people of their time, which could otherwise have been used for suitable
agricultural work[25].
As can be seen, the first-time regulatory works in road construction undertaken
on a large scale in the Masovian Province during the Spring of 1817 ended up as
a relative failure, which in turn provoked an angry reaction among the local
authorities.
4.3. Assumptions and orders to regulate routes
in the Mazovian Province in the autumn of 1817
This extensive deliberation on the
state of roadworks in the Masovian Province at the end of July 1817 seemed to
become a firm basis for drawing up, on 20 July of the same year, a series of
official provisions relating to the continued pursuit of these endeavours. The
new demands were developed and made public, not only to strengthen the already clear
general position of the Masovian administrative authorities regarding the
procedures and progress of works in the field of improving and enhancing the
transportation network, but also to “enable” landowners to fully comply with
all the combined formal requirements, and thus to “protect” them from possible
legal and economic consequences of failure when following the existing rules.
Firstly, it was ordered that, in the
period immediately following the harvest of 1817, the limits, regulation and
literal erection of all public roads in the voivodeship should be defined.
These roadworks, carried out in accordance with Article 2 of the Law of 29
April 1817, had to be carried out: a) on major and secondary national roads; b)
on minor roads leading from one town to another; and c) on all roads leading
from one village to another[26].
Secondly, the same width of both road tracks themselves and their side ditches
had to be maintained during all the works undertaken in autumn 1817, again in
full compliance with the provisions of the Act of April 1817. Thirdly, it was
categorically forbidden, under threat of the complete loss of crops to be
harvested in the disputed area, to continue with any further cultivation of
agricultural land, which was purposely intended for inclusion in parts of the
transport system (both main and ground roads). All categories of land were
equally subjected to this disclaimer, which was published “without distinction
on which sort of soil and in whose possession such an arable field would be found”.
Fourthly, according to Article 4 of the 29 April 1817 rescript, the obligation
burdening sectional guards, as selected by district commissioners, to mark the
course of public roads of all three selected categories (i.e., main, secondary
and minor ones) was restated. Fifthly, the lowest-ranking representatives of
commune authorities were ordered (again according to Article 4 of the general
instructions concerning the building of roads, dated as of April 1817) to
proceed with the final settlement of roads leading from one village to another.
It was also the responsibility of the governing representatives in specific
villages, i.e., local commune administrators, to ensure that the typical
regulatory and road signs on those roads were installed. Sixthly, district
commissioners were forced: a) to verify in situ the state of road markings; b)
to assess the quantity of gravel and other raw materials; c) to perform an
assessment of the required storage location of these materials; d) to assess
the required number of working days (corvée),
as of autumn 1817; e) to show the specific locations of the works to be
undertaken for pedestrians and driving carts to unpaid employees; e) to
designate further necessary works in road construction, doing so in full
accordance with the main principle of the commencement of works, starting with
the most difficult and most demanding tasks, performed in the “worst” places.
Seventhly, the district commissioners were ordered to distribute, by 15
September 1817, among particular municipal associations, all of the complete
work schedules. These schedules were to contain very precise details of corvée
duties, performed by inhabitants of each commune, municipality, manor or
farmer’s quarters in the whole of October 1817. The lists of duties,
distributed in such a manner to all interested corvée,
formally included: a) a precise indication of the place of work; b)
determination of labour time; c) indication of the name of the local
supervisor, responsible for completing of the job[27].
The Mazovian Voivodeship Commission
added to its rescript, of 20 July 1817, a detailed list of the main, secondary
and minor roads located in each administrative district of this province. The
purpose was to precisely indicate the extent of the work envisaged in the
autumn of 1817, as all the tracks mentioned in these lists had to be
“straightened up and regulated” [28].
According to territorial affiliation to individual districts, the main and
secondary roads provided for settling in the autumn of 1817 were as follows.
Tab.
1
Main
tracks provided for settling in the autumn of 1817 in the Masovian Voivodeship[29]
|
|
|
|
District |
Main routes |
|
Stanisławów
District Warsaw District Rawa District Sochaczew
District Gostynin District Łęczyca District Kujawy District |
From Praga to Wyszków, via Kraszew, Niegów From Praga to Liw, via Okuniew, Stanisławów From Praga to Siedlce, via Mińsk, Kałuszyn From Praga to Zegrze, via Jabłonna From Praga to Ząbki, via Kobyłki From Praga to Okuniew, via Grochów From Praga to Mińsk, via Grochów From Warsaw to Sochaczew, via Błonie From Warsaw to Bolimów via Błonie From Warsaw to Rawa, via Raszyn, Nadarzyn, Mszczonów From Nadarzyn to Nowe Miasto, via Tarczyn, Grójec,
Mogilnica From Warsaw to Mniszew, via Jeziorna, Góra From Mszczonów to Wolborz, via Rawę From Mszczonów do Inowłodz From Inowłodz to Łowicz, via Rawa, Skierniewice From Łowicza do Piątku, via Bielawy From Mogielnica to Nowe Miasto From Błonie to Łowicz, via Sochaczew From Błonie to Bielawy, via Bolimów, Łowicz From Sochaczew do Złaków, via Rybno From Sochaczew to Gąbin, via Kocierzew From Łowicz to Główno From Łowicz to Skierniewice From Sochaczew to Płock, via Gąbin From Gąbin to Kowal, via Gostynin From Sochaczew to Kutno, via Złaków From Łowicz to Kłodawa, via Kutno, Krośniewice From Płock to Gostynin and Krośniewice From Krośniewice to Chodcz, via Dąbrowice From Bielawy to Łęczyca From Łęczyca to Zgów, via Zgierz From Stryków to Kłodawa, via Łęczyca From Kłodawa to Koło From Gostynin to Thorn (Toruń), via Kowal, Brześć,
Służew From Brześć to Kruszwica, via Radziejów From Dąbrowice to Brześć, via Chodecz From Kłodawa to Śleszyn, via Babiak, Sompolno |
Tab.
2
Secondary
tracks provided for settling in the autumn of 1817 in the Masovian Voivodeship[30]
|
District |
Secondary routes |
|
Stanisławów Warsaw District Rawa District Sochaczew
District Gostynin District Łęczyca District Kujawy District |
From Praga to Garwolin, via Karczew From Praga to Stoczek, via Wiązowna, Siennica,
Latowicze From Praga to Kosów, via Klębów, Jadów From Warsaw to Zakroczym, via Łomna From Warsaw to Wyszogród, via Brochów From Grójec to Białobrzegi From Piątek to Piotrków, via Stryków, Łódź From Inowłodz to Stryków, via Lubochnię, Brzeziny From Stryków to Łowicz, via Głowno From Rawa to Stryków, via Jeżów From Rawa to Nowe Miasto From Mszczonów to Skierniewice From Łowicz to Piotrków, via Głowno, Brzeziny, Bąków From Stryków to Łęczyca From Sochaczew to Kiernozia From Łowicz to Jeżów From Łowicz to Gąbin From Sochaczew to Kutno, via Kiernozie, Żychlin From Gostynin to Łęczyca, via Kutno From Krośniewice to Łęczyca From Łęczyca to Uniejów From Łęczyca to Szadek, via Parzęczew From Łęczyca to Kutno From Chodcz to Włocławek From Włocławek to Płock From Włocławek to Nieszawa From Włocławek to Sompolno, via Brześć, Lubraniec From Włocławek to
Kowal |
|
|
|
According to the order issued on 20
July 1817, while going through the process of allocating workers to discrete
road projects, local commissioners had to abide by the rules by firstly calling
for those unpaid employees who lived in the immediate vicinity of the place of
investment.
There was also a predicament whereby
the whole process of regulation and straightening of all public roads might not
have been wholly finalized before the end of autumn 1817. Nevertheless, under
such circumstances, it would have been necessary to continually work on the
main and secondary routes, irrespective of “how much force would be given to
the corvée workers during the proper and intended time”. It was simultaneously
emphasized by the authorities that there was an absolute necessity to lay out
all the roads (in the first, second or third categories) in the autumn of 1817.
This had to be done, even if it was not possible to work on regulating and
remodelling all these communication lines at the same time. Such a reservation
did not, in any case, refer to the roads connecting the individual villages.
These local road tracks had to be “immediately” brought to a proper state of
usage, as these land roads did not require much of a workforce to be engaged,
nor too many days involving corvée duties. In any case, everyone’s basic
responsibility was to ensure rigour, reliability and accuracy of the tasks
performed, which, needless to say had to be implemented only in accordance with
existing regulations. Works accomplished inaccurately and contrary to legal
regulations were to be considered by the voivodeship authorities as being
“non-existent”. That said, the Masovian Voivodeship Commission restated, in
July 1817, the key principle of the exclusion, from ongoing cart and pedestrian
traffic, of those parts of recently regulated highways that provided completely
new track routes. This rule was to be in force until the entire task of
modernizing the transport network was finished[31].
Finally, in order to ensure the
effective application by district commissioners, departmental guards, workers,
etc. of the main articles of the Act of 29 April 1817, the Masovian Voivodeship
Commission reminded, in its rescript of 20 July 1817, of selected basic
principles already in force in this province. Thus, some attention was drawn to
the following issues. Firstly, it was required to straighten all roads (major,
secondary or minor roads, leading from city-to-city roads), putting aside inns
or villages, which were too far from the hypothetical straight line of old or
completely new roads. Secondly, the standard width of all roads in the province
was recalled: 21 cubits for the main roads, 18 ells for the secondary roads and
15 ells for the minor tracks. Thirdly, the ditches were ordered to be dug along
the entire length of the main and secondary roads, while the minor roads were
to have “trenches”, albeit only in the muddy areas. It was pointed out that,
when the two first categories of tracks were regulated, in the areas where they
passed through sandy terrain, the sand taken from excavated ditches had to be
removed from the road, so as not to make it “harder to drive”.
Subsequently, seven other thematic
groups were repeated in July 1817 by the Masovian authorities, referring to the
Road Law of 29 April of the same year. This reminder had one essential purpose.
As Rajmund Rembieliński openly threatened, persons responsible for the
non-observance of road provisions had to pay administrative fines. The head of
the Masovian Province administration “promised” even more serious consequences
for poorly performed work: namely, any official who was directly responsible
for an unacceptable public road section “depending on the gravity and scale of
his offense of wrongly regulated road track would have to repair it on his own
account”[32].
Having detected, in July 1817,
numerous irregularities made previously during the initial road repairing
process, which took place in the Masovian Voivodeship earlier that spring, the
local administrative authorities seriously addressed the problem of the further
regulation of the transport network in this key province of the Kingdom of
Poland. While announcing, on 20 July 1817, a wide range of roadworks for the
autumn of the same year, the Masovian Voivodeship Commission did not forget
anything that could improve, accelerate or control these endeavours, which were
of such importance to the proper development of the Kingdom of Poland.
5. CONCLUSIONS
There is an astonishing divergence
between the primary goals and actions undertaken in (Vienna) Congress Poland
between 1816 and 1817 in the area of road repair and construction at the
national and provincial level. While the national authorities articulated the
basics of a new legal transportation framework and, with relative caution,
decided to set out a schedule of roadworks for the majority of the Kingdom of
Poland, the administration of most importance in the whole of the country,
i.e., the Masovian Voivodeship, not only creatively developed far-reaching and
detailed transport laws, but began repairing and then building its roads with a
clearly passionate attitude. Regardless of the final results of these trials,
it is obvious that the keen willingness to modernize the Polish transport
network was not only a top-down idea, generated to some extent by: a) the tsar
himself, acting at the same time as the “Polish king”, b) his governor, who
presented himself as a representative of both the Polish elite and, above all,
the Muscovite authorities; and c) the central government of this small part of
Poland, which after partition and the “re-establishment” of its Vienna Congress
origins, bore the name of the Kingdom of Poland. Hence, it only takes a small
step to reach a surprising conclusion, confirming a full understanding of the
necessity to build a fully modern and efficient transport network in Poland, as
shared by Polish middle-level administrators at the turn of the second and
third decades of the 19th century.
References
1.
Central Archives
of Historical Record in Warsaw. The
Administrative Council of Kingdom of Poland (1816, 1817). Signatures 1-5.
2.
Christiani
F.K. Wyciąg ze zdania sprawy o postępie robót około dróg bitych w Królestwie
Polskiém: w latach 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822. [In Polish: Extract from the
Report on the Progress of Works Concerning Paved Roads in the Kingdom of Poland
in 1819, 1820, 1821 and 1822.] No date and place of printing.
3.
Christiani F.K. 1825. “The iron monument to
commemorate the construction of the road from Warsaw to Brest Litewski. Drawing
of a project for a monument, fragments of plates of the monument itself”.
Available at:
https://polona.pl/item/obelisk-zelazny-na-pamiatke-zbudowania-drogi-bitey-od-warszawy-do-brzescia-litewskiego,MzM3OTM4/0/#item.
4.
Dziennik Urzędowy
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Warsaw: Commission of the Masovian Voivodeship.]
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Warsaw: Commission of Masovian Voivodeship.]
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Warsaw: Commission of the Masovian Voivodeship.]
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Kowalczyk
R. 2004. “Rozwój sieci dróg kołowych w Królestwie Polskim w latach 1815-1918”. In Przegląd nauk
historycznych 1 (5). Łódź: Instytut Historii Uniwersytetu Łodzkiego. [In
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years 1815-1918”. In Review of Historic
Sciences. Łodź: Institute of History of Łódź University.]
8.
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warunki dalszego rozwoju”. In Przegląd
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ordinary roads in the Kingdom of Poland. In Technical
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9.
Nestorowicz
M. 1913. “Stan dróg kołowych Królestwa Polskiego”. In Przegląd Techniczny 50 (31). Warszawa:
Feliks Kucharzewski. [In Polish: “Conditions of roads for vehicles in the
Kingdom of Poland. In Technical Review.
Warsaw: Feliks Kucharzewski.]
10.
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Rady Stanu”. In Kurier Litewski, 13 June 1830, No. 71. Wilno: Andrzej Bucharski. [In Polish: “Reports of the State Council”. In Lithuanian Courier. Wilno: Andrzej
Bucharski.]
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“Raport
Rady Stanu z działań rządu od czasu ostatniego sejmu Królestwa Polskiego”. In Rozmaitości, 23 September
1825, No. 38. Lwów: Józef Bensa [In Polish: “The State Council report of
government activities since the time of the last parliamentary session. In Variety. Lviv: Jóżef Bensa.]
Received 03.09.2017; accepted in revised form 29.10.2017
Scientific Journal of Silesian
University of Technology. Series Transport is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License