Polish Post-November refugees in western France and the 1833 Portuguese expedition project

The idea produced by general officer Józef Bem and price Adam Jerzy Czartoryski to form a Polish Legion in Portugal in 1833 is an interesting subject in the context of international situation, French policy towards Polish post November refugees and as far as the situation within Polish emigration is concerned. Polish Legion was intended to participate in the Portuguese civil war on the side of the liberals and the supporters of constitutional monarchy. The Poles wanted to fight for the freedom of nations and were attracted by the perspective of military service in the Portuguese Army. French government informally supported the Poles expedition to Portugal perceiving it as a prospect of limiting expenditures on political refugees as well as an opportunity for calming down social anxiety, since the presence of Polish refugees in France caused numerous manifestations and riots. The Poles were allowed to gather on the West Coast of France. Initially, more than a dozen people went to the Breton island of Belle-Île where they spent a year and a half waiting for the opportunity to depart. Later on, the Poles were gathering in Nantes. As general officer Józef Bem’s idea was becoming less and less probable, some of them were directed to settle in Côtes-du-Nord department. Those determined to leave headed for the city of La Rochelle. The article presents the preparations for the Portuguese Expedition mostly from the perspective of the French authorities: how government decisions regulated the issues of the possible leave of the Poles and the engagement of French local authorities in this Polish project.

The idea produced by general officer Józef Bem and price Adam Jerzy Czartoryski to form a Polish Legion in Portugal in 1833 is an interesting subject in the context of international situation, French policy towards Polish post November refugees and as far as the situation within Polish emigration is concerned. Polish Legion was intended to participate in the Portuguese civil war on the side of the liberals and the supporters of constitutional monarchy. The Poles wanted to fight for the freedom of nations and were attracted by the perspective of military service in the Portuguese Army. French government informally supported the Poles expedition to Portugal perceiving it as a prospect of limiting expenditures on political refugees as well as an opportunity for calming down social anxiety, since the presence of Polish refugees in France caused numerous manifestations and riots. The Poles were allowed to gather on the West Coast of France. Initially, more than a dozen people went to the Breton island of Belle-Île where they spent a year and a half waiting for the opportunity to depart. Later on, the Poles were gathering in Nantes. As general officer Józef Bem’s idea was becoming less and less probable, some of them were directed to settle in Côtes-du-Nord department. Those determined to leave headed for the city of La Rochelle. The article presents the preparations for the Portuguese Expedition mostly from the perspective of the French authorities: how government decisions regulated the issues of the possible leave of the Poles and the engagement of French local authorities in this Polish project.