The local Polish government (Administrative Council), taken by surprise by the rapid unfolding of events during the night of November 29, assembles immediately to take control and to decide on a course of action.

Unpopular ministers are removed and men like Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, the historian Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz and General Józef Chłopicki take their places.

Loyalists led by Prince Czartoryski initially try to negotiate with the Grand Duke and to settle matters peacefully.

However, when Czartoryski tells the Council that Konstantin is ready to forgive the offenders and that the matter will be amicably settled, Maurycy Mochnacki and other radicals angrily object and demand a national uprising.

Fearing an immediate break with Russia, the Government agrees to let Konstantin depart with his troops.

Mochnacki does not trust the newly constituted ministry and sets out to substitute in its place the Patriotic Club, organized by him.

At a large public demonstration on December 3 in Warsaw, he denounces the negotiations between the Government and Konstantin, who is encamped outside the city.

Mochnacki advocates a military campaign in Lithuania to spare the country the devastation of war and to shield the native sources of food supply.

The meeting adopts a number of demands to be communicated to the Administrative Council, including the establishment of a revolutionary government and an immediate attack upon the forces of Konstantin.

The Polish army, with all but two of its generals, Wincenty Krasinski and Zygmunt Kurnatowski, now joins the uprising.

The remaining four ministers of the pre-revolutionary cabinet leave the Administrative Council, and their places are taken by Mochnacki and three of his associates from the Patriotic Club—among them Joachim Lelewel.

The new body is known as the Provisional Government.