EXILE
The great and romantic chapter of Kosciuszko's history is now closed.
Twenty more years of life remained to him. Those years were passed in
exile. He never again saw his country.
The third partition of Poland was carried out by Russia, Austria, and
Prussia in 1795, while the man who had offered his life and liberty to
avert it lay in a Russian prison. Not even the span of Poland's soil
which Kosciuszko and his soldiers had watered with their blood was left
to her. To that extinction of an independent state, lying between Russia
and the Central Powers, barring the progress of Prussia to the Baltic
and the East, the most far-seeing politicians ascribe the world-war that
has been so recently devastating the world.
It was therefore in bitter grief of heart that Kosciuszko set out for
Sweden. Besides Niemcewicz, he had with him a young Polish officer,
named Libiszewski, who had eagerly offered himself to serve Kosciuszko
in any capacity till he reached the United States. He carried Kosciuszko
to carriage or couch, and distracted his sadness by his admirable
playing on the horn and by his sweet singing. He died still young--of
fever in Cuba.
In the short northern day of four hours the party made a long and
tedious journey, impeded by the bitter weather, through the pine forests
of Finland. The country was buried in snow, and so rough was the
travelling that the three Poles had to pass a night in the common hall
of the inn, with pigs as their sleeping companions. Kosciuszko's fame
had spread all over Europe. Sweden held herself proud that he was her
guest, greeting him as "one of the greatest men of our century." At
Stockholm the notables of the city crowded to pay their respects--on
foot, in order not to disturb the invalid with the sound of carriages
and horses. He was not, however, very accessible. By temperament he
shrank from either publicity or fame; and in his state of physical and
mental suffering he had no heart for the honours showered upon him. He
systematically discouraged the forerunners of the modern interviewers
who were eager for "copy," and as far as he could he kept to himself,
his relaxations being his own drawing, and the music of which he was
always passionately fond, and with which his Swedish admirers were
careful to provide him. A Swedish writer, who was staying in the same
hotel, desired to visit him, but dared not do so, partly for fear of
intruding upon him, and partly because he owned that he could not keep
from tears at the sight of the Polish patriot, so deeply had
Kosciuszko's history affected the public of those days. Finally, he made
the plunge, and asked Kosciuszko's permission for a young Swedish
painter to take his portrait. Kosciuszko courteously refused; but an
engraver surreptitiously took notes of his features, and reproduced them
in a likeness that travelled all over Sweden, depicting him, as our own
Cosway did afterwards, reclining, "his face," says the Swedish
description, "expressing the sufferings of his soul over his country's
fate."[1]
[Footnote 1: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]
From Stockholm Kosciuszko passed on to Goteborg to await a ship for
England. Here too the inhabitants vied with each other to do him honour,
and arranged amateur concerts for him in his rooms. On the 16th of May
the Poles embarked. After three weeks' passage in a small merchant
vessel, they landed at Gravesend, and thence reached London.
"Kosciuszko, the hero of freedom, is here," announced the Gentleman's
Magazine; and indeed the English papers were full of him. He stayed in
Leicester Square. The whole of London made haste to visit him. The
leading politicians, including Fox, men of letters, among whom we find
Sheridan, the beauties of the day and the rulers of fashion, all alike
thronged his rooms. To Walter Savage Landor, then a mere youth, the
sight of Kosciuszko awoke the sympathy for Poland that he never lost, to
which English literature owes one of his Imaginary Conversations. More
than half a century later he looked back to the moment in which he spoke
to Kosciuszko as the happiest of his life. The Whig Club presented
Kosciuszko with a sword of honour. The beautiful Duchess of Devonshire
pressed upon him a costly ring, which went the way of most of the gifts
that Kosciuszko received: he gave them away to friends. All such tokens
of admiration had never counted for anything in Kosciuszko's life, and
now they were the merest baubles to a man who had seen his country fall.
In the portrait that, against his wish and without his knowledge, Cosway
painted, said by Niemcewicz to resemble him as none other, we see him,
lying with bandaged head in an attitude of deep and sorrowful musing.
The face, the whole attitude, are those of one absorbed by an
overmastering grief that filled his soul to the exclusion of all else.
The fine portrait has found its way to Kosciuszko's native land, and is
now in Warsaw. The English doctor recommended by Rogerson attended
Kosciuszko assiduously, and the Russian ambassador's kindness was so
unfailing that Kosciuszko, sending him his farewells as he left England,
wrote: "If ever I recover part of my health it will be sweet to me to
remember that it is to your attentions, to the interest that you took in
me, that I shall owe it."[1]
[Footnote 1: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]
Bristol was at that time the English port of sailings for America. It was
there that after a fortnight's stay in London Kosciuszko betook himself,
passing a night in Bath on the way. He found in Bristol old friends of
his American days. He was the guest of one of them, now the United
States consul, as long as he stayed in the town. A guard of honour
received him, long processions of the townsfolk flocked to catch a
glimpse of him, a military band played every evening before the
consulate, and the city gave him a handsome silver service. An
Englishman who visited him in Bristol records the impression that
Kosciuszko made on all who saw him, of one whose whole being breathed
devotion to his country. The same witness speaks of a soul unbroken by
misfortune, by wounds, poverty, and exile; of an eagle glance, of talk
full of wit and wisdom.
The course down the Avon to the point where Kosciuszko's ship lay at
anchor was a triumphal progress. He was accompanied by English officers
in full dress, by the American consul and a host of well-wishers. All
heads were bared as he was carried on board. The whole length of the
river handkerchiefs were waved from the banks. Farewells resounded from
every rock and promontory, where spectators had crowded to see the last
of the Polish hero. Boats shot out from the private dwellings on the
waterside, laden with flowers and fruits for the departing guest. Not a
few men and women boarded the ship and accompanied Kosciuszko for some
distance before they could bring themselves to part with him.
For nearly two months Kosciuszko and his Polish companions tossed on the
Atlantic, running on one occasion a near chance of shipwreck.
Philadelphia was their destination. Once in America, Kosciuszko trod
soil familiar and dear to him. "I look upon America," he said, replying
in French to the deputation of Philadelphia's citizens who came on board
to welcome him, "as my second country, and I feel myself too happy when
I return to her." The cannon from the fort and a storm of cheering
greeted him as he landed, and amidst cries of "Long live Kosciuszko!"
the citizens drew his carriage to his lodging.
Washington had just ceased to be President. His successor, Adams, wrote
congratulating Kosciuszko on his arrival, "after the glorious efforts
you have made on a greater theatre."[1] Washington wrote also:" Having
just been informed of your safe arrival in America, I was on the point
of writing to you a congratulatory letter on the occasion, welcoming you
to the land whose liberties you have been so instrumental in
establishing, when I received your favour of the 23rd. [A letter of
Kosciuszko's with a packet he had been requested to convey to
Washington.] ... I beg you to be assured that no one has a higher
respect and veneration for your character than I have; and no one more
sincerely wished, during your arduous struggle in the cause of liberty
and your country, that it might be crowned with success. But the ways of
Providence are inscrutable, and mortals must submit. I pray you to
believe that at all times and under any circumstances it would make me
happy to see you at my last retreat, from which I never expect to be
more than twenty miles again."[1*]
[Footnote 1: _Op. cit_.]
[Footnote 1*: _Writings of George Washington_, ed. Jared Sparks.]
The story of the meeting between Washington and Kosciuszko, of
Kosciuszko's words, "Father, do you recognize your son?" is a myth. They
met neither in Philadelphia nor elsewhere. The above letter is the last
indication of any intercourse between them. Washington at this period
was regarded with no favour by the democracy. Kosciuszko's sympathies
were with the latter and with Jefferson, and he never accepted the
invitation to Washington's home in Mount Vernon.
Yellow fever breaking out in Philadelphia, Kosciuszko went for a time
elsewhere: first to New York, to the beautiful house of his old friend
and commander, Gates, later to New Brunswick, where he stayed with
another friend of the past. General White, in a family circle that
attracted his warm regard. He was still confined to his sofa, and amused
himself by his favourite pastime of drawing and painting, tended by the
ladies of the house with a solicitude which drew from him after he had
gone back to Philadelphia a charming "hospitable roof" letter. I have
been unable to see the original English in which Kosciuszko wrote this
letter, which is given in a privately printed American memoir. I am
therefore obliged to translate it from the Polish version, which is in
its turn a translation into Polish from Kosciuszko's English. We
therefore lose the flavour of Kosciuszko's not wholly correct
manipulation of our language:--
"Madam,
"I cannot rest till I obtain your forgiveness in all its fulness for the
trouble I gave you during my stay in your house. ... Perhaps I was the
cause of depriving you of amusements more suited to your liking and
pleasure, than busying yourself with me. You never went out to pay
visits. You were kind enough to ask me daily what I liked, what I did
not like: all my desires were carried out; all my wishes were
anticipated, to gratify me and to make my stay agreeable. Let me receive
an answer from you, forgiving me, I beg Eliza [her daughter] to
intercede for me. I owe you too great a debt to be able to express it in
words adequate to my obligation and my gratitude. Let this suffice, that
I shall never forget it, and that its memory will never be extinguished
for even one moment in my heart."[1]
[Footnote 1: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]
He gave these ladies some of the splendid presents he had received from
the Russian Tsar: magnificent furs, a necklace of Siberian corals, and
to White himself the Duchess of Devonshire's ring. His memory went down
through the family, and Mrs. White's grandson often heard his
grandmother tell of her Polish guest, and how she held no other man his
equal--with the patriotic exception of Washington! White was a valuable
auxiliary to Kosciuszko in a somewhat intricate piece of business. To
live on the gift of money which Paul I had given him was an odious
position that Kosciuszko would not tolerate. It was his intention to
return it, and to claim from Congress the arrears of the stipend owing
to him from 1788, and that through some mischance had never reached him.
With White's assistance a portion of the American sum was handed over to
him; but the return of the Tsar's present was not so easy. Niemcewicz
pointed out that such a proceeding would infallibly rouse the revenge of
the Tsar upon the Poles in his dominions. This decision was against
Kosciuszko's personal feeling on the matter. He bided his time, and, as
we shall see, at a more propitious moment took his own counsel. A bevy
of visitors and admirers again surrounded Kosciuszko in Philadelphia.
Among them were the future Louis Philippe, with the Princes de
Montpensier and Beaujolais. They called themselves citizens of France,
and sported the tricolour. They often spent the evening with Kosciuszko,
and on their farewell visit Kosciuszko gave the younger prince a pair of
fur boots. But the man with whom Kosciuszko was on the closest and
warmest terms of intimacy was Thomas Jefferson. The pastel portrait that
Kosciuszko painted of this dear friend is preserved among Poland's
national relics. "He," wrote Jefferson to Gates, "is the purest son of
liberty among you all that I have ever known, the kind of liberty which
extends to all, not only to the rich."[1] To Jefferson Kosciuszko
confided the testament of his American property, which he had been
granted from Congress on the close of the War of Independence, and which
lay in Ohio on the site of the present city of Columbus; to Jefferson,
again, was entrusted the conduct of Kosciuszko's secret departure from
the States in 1798.
[Footnote 1: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]
Some time in the March of that year a packet of letters from Europe was
handed to Kosciuszko. His emotion on reading the contents was so strong
that, despite his crippled condition, he sprang from his couch and
staggered without a helping hand to the middle of the room. "I must
return at once to Europe," he said to General White, with no further
explanation. Jefferson procured him a passport to France under a false
name, and then with only Jefferson's knowledge, with no word either to
Niemcewicz or to his servant, for both of whom he left a roll of money
in a drawer in his cupboard, he sailed for France. Before he embarked he
wrote out the will that he sent to Jefferson in which, more than half a
century before the war of North and South, the Polish patriot pleaded
for the emancipation of the negro slaves.
"I, Thaddeus Kosciuszko"--the text is the original English--"being just
in my departure from America, do hereby declare and direct that should I
make no other testamentary disposition of my property in the United
States thereby authorize my friend Thomas Jefferson to employ the whole
thereof in purchasing negroes from among his own as any others and giving
them liberty in my name, in giving them an education in trades or
otherwise, and in haying them instructed for their new condition in the
duties of morality which may make them good neighbours, good fathers or
mothers, husbands or wives, and in their duties as citizens, teaching
them to be defenders of their liberty and country and of the good order
of society and in whatsoever may make them happy and useful, and I make
the said Thomas Jefferson my executor of this.
"T. Kosciuszko.
"5th day of May, 1798."
There seems to have been some difficulty in the way of putting the
bequest into effect, perhaps, suggests Korzon, on account of Jefferson's
advanced years by the time that the testator was dead. It was never
carried out; but in 1826 the legacy went to found the coloured school at
Newark, the first educational institute for negroes to be opened in the
United States, and which bore Kosciuszko's name.
The secret of his movements is easily deciphered in a man of
Kosciuszko's stamp. It was the call of his country that drew him back to
Europe.
For we have reached that period of Polish history which belongs to the
Polish legions: the moment of brilliance and of glory when; led by the
Polish flags, Polish soldiers in the armies of Napoleon shed their blood
on every battlefield of Europe. In the hope of regaining from Napoleon
the freedom of their country, the former soldiers of the Republic, no
less than the rising young Polish manhood, panting with passionate
patriotism and with the warlike instinct of their race, enrolled
themselves in the French army. "Poland has not perished while we live,"
was the song, the March of Dombrowski, with which they went to battle,
and which to this day forbidden though it has been by their oppressors,
we may hear Poles sing at national gatherings. The leader of the legions
was the gallant Dombrowski. "Fellow-citizens! Poles!" cried he in his
manifesto to his nation in language strangely prophetic of the hour that
is scarcely past, when we have seen a Polish army in Polish uniform
fighting for liberty by the side of the Allies in the European War:
"Hope is rising! France is conquering. The battalions are forming.
Comrades, join us! Fling away the weapons which you have been compelled
to bear. Let us fight for the common cause of all the nations, for
freedom."[1]
[Footnote 1: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]
In these early days Napoleon's betrayal of Poland was a tale still
untold; but to the end the Poles fought by his side with a hope in him
that only died with his fall, with a love and loyalty to his person that
survived it.
Such was the news that travelled across the Atlantic to Kosciuszko with
dispatches that informed him that his two nephews, sons of his sister
Anna, who had borne arms in the Rising, had been sent in the name of
Kosciuszko by their mother to Bonaparte with the prayer that they might
serve in his ranks. By the end of June, 1798, Kosciuszko was in France,
in Bayonne.
The accustomed acclamations greeted him there. Some _fête-champêtre_ was
arranged at which Kosciuszko, the guest of honour, watched peasants
laying their ploughs at the feet of soldiers, in exchange for the
weapons of war. "It would have been thus in Poland," he was heard to
murmur to himself, "if fate had not betrayed us."
In Paris he heard sympathy with himself and the Polish cause expressed
on all sides. Public toasts to the defender of the nation who was
pouring her blood like water in the cause of France were the order of
the hour. Kosciuszko was moved to tears as he listened to the utterance
of these good wishes for his country's liberation. His first task was to
confer with the various foreign ambassadors and with Dombrowski's
adjutant, Dombrowski being in Italy. He then definitely broke the bond
between himself and Paul I. He returned the money received from the Tsar
with the following letter:--
"I am profiting by the first moment of liberty which I am enjoying under
the fostering laws of the greatest and noblest of nations to send you
back a gift, to the acceptance of which I was forced by the
manifestations of your benevolence and the merciless proceedings of your
ministers. If I agreed to accept it, let Your Majesty ascribe this only
to the unconquerable strength of the attachment which I bear to my
compatriots, the companions of my misfortunes, as well as to my hopes of
still serving my country. It seemed to me that my unhappy condition
moved your heart, but your ministers and their satellites did not
proceed with me according to your wishes. Therefore, since they have
dared to ascribe to my free resolution an act to which they forced me, I
will disclose their violence and perfidy before you and before all men
who know the worth of honour, and may they only be answerable before
you, Sire, for the proclamation of their unworthy conduct."[1]
[Footnote 1: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]
At the same time that Kosciuszko forwarded this letter to the Tsar he
published it in two French papers. The Tsar's reply was to return the
sum through the Russian ambassador in Vienna, with the remark that he
would "accept nothing from traitors." It lay untouched in an English
bank till Kosciuszko's death.
Even before the repudiation of Kosciuszko's oath reached Petersburg the
fact of his arrival in France had roused the wrath of Paul's envoy in
Berlin, who deliberated with the Prussian ministers how to impede "the
criminal intentions of the chief perpetrator and instigator of the
revolution in Poland." Kosciuszko's instant arrest was decreed, should
he ever be seen within the boundaries of Russia's domination, and any
one who entered into relations with him there was branded as a traitor.
Austria and Prussia followed suit. Thus was Kosciuszko's return to his
own country barred before him.
Closely watched by Russian and Prussian spies, who communicated, often
erroneously, to their respective governments the movements of "that
adventurer," as one of them styles him, Kosciuszko had his headquarters
in Paris. He was there when Kniaziewicz, fresh from the triumphs of the
legions in Italy, brought him, in the name of Poland, Sobieski's sword.
It had been preserved at Loreto, whither the deliverer of Vienna had
sent it more than a century ago, after his triumph over the Turks. The
newly founded Republic of Rome presented it to the officers of the
Polish legions in 1798, who destined it for Kosciuszko. "God grant,"
said Kosciuszko, in his letter of acknowledgment to his fellow-Poles,
"that we may lay down our swords together with the sword of Sobieski in
the temple of peace, having won freedom and universal happiness for our
compatriots."[1]
For a while Kosciuszko, continuously corresponding with the French
government, acted more or less as the head of the legions. But when in
October, 1799, the government officially offered him the leadership of
the legions, he refused, for the reason that he saw no sign that France
was prepared to recognize their distinct entity as a Polish national
army, and because he suspected Bonaparte would use them merely as French
regiments--a "corps of mercenaries," as the Polish patriot bitterly
exclaims--for his own ends. He had written--September, 1799--to the
Directory, eloquently reminding France that the Polish legions were
founded to fight for the independence of Poland, and that in the hope of
freedom the Poles had gladly fought "enemies who were, besides their
own, the enemies of freedom," but that their dearest hopes had already
been deceived. "These considerations impel me to beg you to show us some
ray of hope regarding the restoration of independence to our
country."[2] He required guarantees from Bonaparte, and these he never
received.
[Footnote 1: _Letters of Kosciuszko_.]
[Footnote 2: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]
Young Bonaparte and the Pole met for the first time on the former's
return from his brilliant Egyptian campaign, when he called on
Kosciuszko, Kniaziewicz being also in the room. The interview was brief
and courteous. "I greatly wished," said Napoleon, "to make the
acquaintance of the hero of the North." "And I," replied Kosciuszko, "am
happy to see the conqueror of Europe and the hero of the East." At a
subsequent official banquet at which Kosciuszko was present, some
instinct warned him of the course Napoleon's ambition was to take. "Be
on your guard against that young man," he said on that occasion to
certain members of the French government; and a few days later Napoleon
proclaimed himself First Consul. From that time Kosciuszko began to
withdraw from relations with French officialdom, and to concern himself
only with the private matters of the Polish legions, not with their
public affairs. Lebrun reproached him for showing his face no more among
the high officers of state. "You are now all so grand," replied the son
of the simple, far-distant Lithuanian home, "that I in my modest garb am
not worthy to go among you." In 1801 came the Treaty of Lunéville with
Napoleon's bitter deception of Poland's hopes. Rage and despair filled
the Polish legions. Numbers of their soldiers tendered their
resignations. Others remained in the French army, and were sent by
Napoleon, to rid himself of them, said his enemies, on the disastrous
expedition to San Domingo. Done to death by yellow fever, by the arms of
the natives and the horrible onslaughts of the negroes' savage dogs,
four hundred alone survived to return.
Henceforth Kosciuszko would have nothing further to say to Bonaparte.
Before a large audience at a gathering in the house of Lebrun the latter
called out to Kosciuszko: "Do you know, General, that the First Consul
has been speaking about you?" "I never speak about him," Kosciuszko
answered curtly, and he visited Lebrun no more. The anguish of this
fresh wrong to his nation went far to break him. He again suffered
intensely from the wound in his head, and old age seemed suddenly to
come upon him. Many of the Polish soldiers who had left the legions were
homeless and penniless. These Kosciuszko took pains to recommend to his
old friend Jefferson, now President of the United States. "God bless
you"--so Jefferson ends his reply--"and preserve you still for a season
of usefulness to your country."[1]
[Footnote 1: _Memoirs, Correspondence and Miscellanies of Thomas
Jefferson_, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph. Charlottesville, 1829.]
Kosciuszko's intercourse with his American friends did not slacken. At
the request of one of them he wrote a treatise in French on artillery
that, translated in the United States into English, became a textbook at
West Point.
About this time Kosciuszko came across a Swiss family whose name will
ever sound gratefully to the Polish ear as the friends under whose roof
he found the domestic hearth that gladdened his declining years. The
Republican sympathies of the Zeltner brothers, one of whom was the
diplomatic representative of Switzerland in France, first attracted
Kosciuszko to them. Their relations soon grew intimate; and Kosciuszko's
first visit in their house, his sojourn with them in the country at
Berville, near Fontainebleau, that reminded him of the Poland he had
lost for ever, were the beginning of a common household that only death
severed.
Napoleon became emperor. He crushed Prussia at Jena, from Berlin
summoned the Poles in "Prussian" Poland to rise, and sent his minister,
Fouché, to Kosciuszko, as the leader whose name every Pole would follow,
to engage him to place himself at their head. Kosciuszko received these
proposals with the caution of a long and bitter experience. Would
Napoleon, he asked, openly state what he intended to do for Poland?
Fouché put him off with vague promises of the nature that the Poles had
already heard, and of which the Treaty of Lunéville had taught them the
worth, coupled with threats of Napoleon's personal vengeance on
Kosciuszko if he opposed the Emperor's desire. "The Emperor," answered
Kosciuszko, "can dispose of me according to his will, but I doubt if in
that case my nation would render him any service. But in the event of
mutual, reciprocal services my nation, as well as I, will be ready to
serve him. May Providence forbid," he added solemnly, "that your
powerful and august monarch shall have cause to regret that he despised
our goodwill."[1]
[Footnote 1: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]
But the tide of Napoleonic worship ran too high not to carry all before
it. Kosciuszko's was the one dissentient voice. Before the interview
with Fouché had taken place, Wybicki and Dombrowski, unable to conceive
that Kosciuszko would take a different line, had given their swords to
the Emperor. Józef Poniatowski did likewise. In November, 1808, Napoleon
entered Poznan (Posen). In the same month the French armies were in
Warsaw, and the Poles, in raptures of rejoicing, were hailing Napoleon
as the liberator of their nation. Fouché, already cognizant of
Kosciuszko's attitude, issued a bogus manifesto, purporting to be from
Kosciuszko, summoning his countrymen to Napoleon's flag. But Kosciuszko
himself only consented to repair to Warsaw, and throw his weight into
the balance for Napoleon, if the Emperor would sign in writing and
publicly proclaim his promise to restore Poland under the following
three conditions:--
(1) That the form of Poland's government should be that of the English
constitution;
(2) That the peasants should be liberated and possess their own land;
and
(3) That the old boundaries of Poland should be reinstated.
He wrote to this effect to Fouché, and privately told a Polish friend
that if the Emperor consented to these conditions he would fall at his
feet and swear to the gratitude of the whole nation.[1] The reply given
by Napoleon to Fouché was that he attached "no importance to Kosciuszko.
His conduct proves that he is only a fool."[2]
[Footnote 1: General Paszkowski, _History of Tadeusz Kosciuszko_.
Cracow, 1872 (Polish).]
[Footnote 2: Napoleon I, _Correspondance_. Paris, 1863.]
Active service for Poland was thus closed to Kosciuszko. Anxious to
leave a Napoleon-ridden France, he requested permission to retire to
Switzerland. It was refused, and he had nothing for it but to remain in
his French country retreat, under police supervision. He stayed there
for the five years that Napoleon's conquests shook the world, condemning
with his whole soul the spread of an empire on ruin and bloodshed,
occupying himself with his favourite hobbies of gardening and
handicrafts, working at his turning and making wooden clogs. The family
with whom he lived was as his own. His name was given to the three
children who were born since his residence under its roof: the only one
of them who survived infancy--Taddea Emilia--became the beloved child of
Kosciuszko's old age. The eldest son learnt from him love for Poland and
fought in the Polish Rising of 1830.
The story of the Russian campaign of 1812, with the passion of hope that
it evoked in the Polish nation and its extinction in the steppes of
Russia, need not be repeated here. In March, 1814, the allied armies and
the monarchs of Russia and Prussia entered Paris.
Alexander I, the youth who had visited Kosciuszko in prison, was now
Tsar of Russia. In the days when Alexander was a neglected heir at the
court of Catherine II young Adam Czartoryski was a hostage at the same
court, concealing his yearning for his country and loathing for his
surroundings under the icy reserve that was his only defence. One day
Alexander drew the young prince aside in the palace gardens, told him
that he had long observed him with sympathy and esteem, and that it was
his intention when he succeeded to the throne to restore Poland. This
was the beginning of that strange friendship which led to a Pole
directing the foreign policy of Russia in the years preceding the
Congress of Vienna, and ended in Alexander's betrayal of Czartoryski's
nation.
But in the spring of 1814 Alexander was still of liberal and generous
tendencies. That Kosciuszko must have left a strong impression on his
memory is evident; for on entering Paris he performed the graceful act
of charging the Polish officers about him with courteous messages for
the patriot of Poland. Kosciuszko never lost an opportunity of
furthering the cause to which his life was devoted. He at once wrote to
the Tsar, venturing, so he said, from his "remote corner" of the world
to lay three requests before him. The first was that Alexander should
proclaim a general amnesty for the Poles in his dominions and that the
Polish peasants, dispersed in foreign countries, should be considered
not serfs, but free men, on their return to Poland; the second, that
Alexander should proclaim himself king of a free Poland, to be ruled by
a constitution on the pattern of England's, and that schools for the
peasantry should be opened at the cost of the state as the certain means
of ensuring to them their liberty. "If," he added, "my requests are
granted, I will come in person, although sick, to cast myself at the
feet of Your Imperial Majesty to thank you and to render you homage as
to my sovereign. If my feeble talents can still be good for anything, I
will immediately set out to rejoin my fellow-citizens so as to serve my
country and my sovereign honourably and faithfully."[1]
[Footnote 1: d'Angeberg, _Recueil des Traités, Conventions et Actes
Diplomatiques concernant la Pologne, 1762-1862_. Paris, 1862.]
He then asks a private favour--not for himself: that Zeltner, who had a
large family to support and whom Kosciuszko was too poor to help, might
be given some post in the new French government, or in Poland.
He received no answer; and so came into Paris and obtained an audience.
Alexander greeted him as an honoured friend, and bade him be assured of
his good intentions towards Poland. A stream of visits and receptions
then set in, at which Kosciuszko was the recipient of public marks of
esteem, not only from the Tsar, but from his brother, the Grand Duke
Constantine, whose ill-omened name was later to win for itself the
execration of the Polish nation. But Kosciuszko was too far-sighted to
content himself with promises. He asked for a written statement of what
his country might expect from the Tsar. Alexander answered, on the 3rd
of May, 1814:
"Your dearest wishes will be accomplished. With the aid of the Almighty
I hope to bring about the resurrection of the valiant and admirable
nation to which you belong. I have taken upon myself this solemn
obligation. ... Only political circumstances have placed obstacles
against the execution of my intentions. Those obstacles no longer exist,
... Yet a little more time and prudence, and the Poles shall regain
their country, their name, and I shall have the pleasure of convincing
them that, forgetting the past, the man whom they held for their enemy
is the man who shall fulfil their desires."[1]
[Footnote 1: _Op. cit_.]
Further personal interviews followed between Kosciuszko and the Tsar.
Later, Kosciuszko called upon these as his witness when, at the Congress
of Vienna, Alexander went back upon his given word. The question of
Poland was now to come up in the European Congress, as one of the most
pressing problems of the stability of Europe. Alexander I's intention
was to found a kingdom of Poland of which he should be crowned king.
Adam Czartoryski, Alexander's Minister for Foreign Affairs, requested
Kosciuszko to repair to Vienna and deliberate with himself and the Tsar
upon the matter. Napoleon was back from Elba and marching on Paris, and
to ensure the possibility of prosecuting a journey under the
complications of the hour Kosciuszko was advised to have his passport
made out under some name not his own. He chose that of "Pole."
With considerable difficulty, constantly turned back by police
authorities, forbidden entrance by the Bavarian frontier, sent about
from pillar to post, the white-haired, frail old soldier at last reached
the Tsar's headquarters at Braunau. The Tsar and he conferred for a
quarter of an hour. Kosciuszko derived small satisfaction from the
interview, and immediately proceeded to visit Czartoryski in Vienna.
Czartoryski had nothing good to tell. The wrangling over the Polish
question at the Congress, the mutual suspicions and jealousies of every
power represented, nearly brought about another war. In May, 1815,
Russia, Austria, and Prussia signed an agreement for a renewed division
of Poland between them. An autonomous Kingdom of Poland was, it is true,
to be formed, with the Tsar as king, but only out of a small part of
Poland. As regards the remaining Polish provinces that remained under
Russia's rule, they were severed from the Kingdom and incorporated with
Russia.
Kosciuszko heard these things. Under the shock of his apprehensions he
wrote to the Tsar, pleading in the strongest language at his command,
that penetrates through the diplomatic wording he was compelled to use,
against the separation of lands that were Polish from the mother
country, the mutilated Kingdom of Poland.
After expressing his gratitude for what the Tsar was prepared to do in
the foundation of the new Kingdom of Poland, he proceeds:
"One only anxiety troubles my soul and my joy.
Sire, I was born a Lithuanian, and I have only a few years to live.
Nevertheless, the veil of the future still covers the destiny of my
native land and of so many other provinces of my country. I do not
forget the magnanimous promises that Your Majesty has deigned to make me
by word of mouth in this matter, as well as to several of my compatriots
... but my soul, intimidated by such long misfortunes, needs to be
reassured again." He is prepared faithfully to serve Alexander: let the
writer descend to the tomb in "the consoling certainty that all your
Polish subjects will be called to bless your benefits."[1]
[Footnote 1: d'Angeberg, _Recueil des Traités, Conventions et Actes
Diplomatiques concernant la Pologne_.]
In vain he waited for an answer. Then, openly, as to the Tsar he could
not write, he wrote to Czartoryski:
"My Dear Prince,
"You are certainly convinced that to serve my country efficaciously is
my chief object. The refusal of the Tsar to answer my last letter
removes from me the possibility of being of service to her. I have
consecrated my life to the greater part of the nation, when to the whole
it was not possible, but not to that small part to which is given the
pompous name of the Kingdom of Poland. We should give grateful thanks to
the Tsar for the resuscitation of the lost Polish name, but a name alone
does not constitute a nation. ... I see no guarantee of the promise of
the Tsar made to me and many others of the restoration of our country
from the Dnieper to the Dzwiha, the old boundaries of the Kingdom of
Poland, except only in our desires." [That restoration alone, says
Kosciuszko, can establish sound and friendly relations between Poland
and Russia. If a free and distinct constitution of such a kingdom be
conferred upon Poland, the Poles might enjoy happiness.] "But as things
go now, and from the very beginning, Russians hold together with ours
the first places in the government. That certainly cannot inspire Poles
with any great confidence. On the contrary, with dread each of us will
form the conclusion that the Polish name will in time be held in
contempt, and that the Russians will treat us as their conquered
subjects, for such a scanty handful of a population will never be able
to defend itself against the intrigues, the preponderance and the
violence of the Russians. And can we keep silence on those brothers of
ours remaining under the Russian government?" [Lithuania and Ruthenia.]
"Our hearts shudder and suffer that they are not united to the
others."[1]
[Footnote 1: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]
Again Kosciuszko's unerring single-mindedness and high patriotism had
pierced through all illusions and foretold the truth. His words were
literally verified. Fifteen years later Europe saw his nation driven
into an armed conflict for the rights that had been promised to her by
Alexander, that were trampled upon by him and his successor, and the
man, to whom the above warning was addressed, outlawed by the Russian
Government for the part he played in the insurrection.
Kosciuszko also wrote to Lord Grey to the same effect. Grey replied:
"To that first violation of the sacred principles of general liberty
which was effected in the partition of 1772, and those that followed in
1793 and 1795, we must refer all the dangers to which the whole of
Europe has been subsequently exposed. ... No real safeguard can exist
against the return of these dangers, if Poland remains excluded from the
benefits of a general deliverance, which, to be perfect, must be
guaranteed by the solemn recognition of her rights and independence. If
the powers who sought to profit by injustice and who, in the sequence,
have suffered so much because of it, could learn the true lesson of
experience, they would see that their mutual safety and tranquility
would be best preserved by reestablishing among them, as a genuinely
independent state, the country that a false policy has so cruelly
oppressed." (Portman Square, London, July I, 1814.)[1]
[Footnote 1: d'Angeberg, _Recueil des Traités_.]
This was written a hundred years ago, and the Nemesis of history is
still with us. The Congress of Vienna was a fresh partition of Poland.
If, so Kosciuszko wrote to Alexander, he could have returned "as a Pole
to his country," he would have done so. As it was, he refused to return
to what he knew was treachery and deception. With the aspect of a man
who had suffered shipwreck, he left Vienna, and retired for good and all
from public life.
He was now sixty-nine, with his health, that he had never regained since
he was wounded at Maciejowice, broken. All that he asked was to spend
his declining years in free Switzerland with a little house and garden
of his own. When it came to the point he took up his abode with the
devoted Zeltners in Soleure, and his last days passed in peace among
them. He prepared his morning coffee himself in his room, upon the walls
of which hung a picture painted in sepia after his own indications of
that glorious memory of his life--the battle of Raclawice. He dined at
the family table, and enjoyed his evening rubber of whist with the
Zeltners, the family doctor, and a Swiss friend. Every hour was
regularly employed. In the mornings he always wrote: what, we do not
know, for he left orders to his executors to destroy his papers, and
unfortunately was too well obeyed. In the afternoons he walked or rode
out, generally on errands of mercy. The little girl of the house was his
beloved and constant companion; and we have a pretty picture of the
veteran hero of Poland teaching this child history, mathematics, and
above all, drawing. His delight was to give children's parties for her
amusement, at which he led the games and dances and told stories. He was
the most popular of playmates. His appearance in the roads was the
signal for an onslaught of his child friends with gifts of flowers,
while he never failed to rifle his pockets of the sweets with which he
had stuffed them for the purpose. He loved not only children, but all
young people. The young men and girls of the neighbourhood looked upon
him as a father, and went freely to him for sympathy and advice.
Kosciuszko's means were slender, and his tastes remained always simple.
An old blue suit of well-patched clothes sufficed for him; but he must
needs have a rose or violet in his buttonhole, with which the ladies of
Soleure took care to keep him supplied.
The money he should have spent in furbishing up his own person went in
charity and in providing Emilia with articles of dress, for the family,
chiefly through the father's improvidence, was badly off. He was known
by the poor for many a mile around as their angel visitant. Outside his
doors gathered daily an army of beggars, certain of their regular dole.
Kosciuszko's rides were slow, not only on account of his wounded leg,
but because his horse stopped instinctively whenever a beggar was
sighted, in the consciousness that his master never passed one by
without giving alms. He was a familiar visitor in the peasants'
cottages. Here he would sit among the homely folk, encouraging them to
tell him the tale of their troubles, pinching himself if only he could
succour their distress. He would explain to his domestic circle long and
unaccountable absences in wild wintry weather by the excuse that he had
been visiting friends. The friends were peasants, sick and burdened with
family cares, to whom the old man day after day carried through the snow
the money they required, as the stranger benefactor who would not allow
his name to be told.
Into this quiet routine broke the advent of distinguished men and women
of every nation, eager to pay their homage to a man whose life and
character had so deeply impressed Europe. An uncertain tradition has it
that Ludwika Lubomirska visited him, and that in his old age the two
former lovers talked together once more. Correspondence from known and
unknown friends poured in upon him. Among these was the Princess of
Carignano, the mother of Carlo Alberto, herself the daughter of a Polish
mother, Franciszka Krasinska, through whom the blood of Poland flows in
the veins of the present Royal House of Italy. Nor was England left out.
A book, now forgotten, but largely read in a past generation, in which
Kosciuszko's exploits figure, Jane Porter's Thaddeus of Warsaw, was sent
to Kosciuszko by its author. Jane Porter had heard her brother's
description of the Polish hero, to whom he had spoken when Kosciuszko
was in London. She had seen the Cosway portrait. In his letter of thanks
Kosciuszko told her jestingly that he was glad that all her eulogies of
him were "in a romance, because no one will believe them." Either from
him or from a friend of his she received a gold ring or, as some say, a
medal, with a representation of himself engraved upon it.
Through these last years Kosciuszko's heart ever clung fondly to his own
land and language. On the French letters he received his hand, as he
read, was wont to trace Polish proverbs, Polish turns of phrase. Tears
were seen to rise to his eyes as, gazing at the beautiful panorama from
a favourite spot of his in the Jura, a French friend recited Arnault's
elegy on the homeless and wandering leaf, torn from the parent oak, in
which the Pole read the story of his own exile. Education of the lower
classes, for which he had already made so strong a stand, continued to
be one of the matters in which he most keenly interested himself. During
his stay in Vienna he had drawn up a memorandum on the subject for those
responsible for the department in the Kingdom of Poland then forming.
One of his last expeditions before his death was to a great Swiss
educational establishment where Pestalozzi's system had been
inaugurated, and where Kosciuszko spent two days among the pupils,
watching its working with the idea of its application to Polish
requirements.
So his days went by till his quiet death. His death was as simple as had
been his life. He put his worldly affairs in order, bequeathing the
money of Paul I that he had never touched and that he would not affront
Alexander I, with whom his relations were always friendly, by returning,
to a Polish friend who had fought under him in the Rising and to Emilia
Zeltner. The remainder of all that he had to give went to other members
of the Zeltner family and to the poor. He directed that his body should
be carried by the poor to the grave, that his own sword should be laid
in his coffin and the sword of Sobieski given back to the Polish nation.
Then, with a last look of love bent upon the child Emilia, who knelt at
the foot of his bed, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the greatest and the most
beloved of Poland's heroes, gently breathed his last on the evening of
October 15, 1817.
His body now rests in the Wawel in Cracow, where lie Poland's kings and
her most honoured dead; his heart in the Polish Museum in Rapperswil,
Switzerland, among the national treasures that have been placed in a
foreign land to preserve them against spoliation by Poland's conquerors.
To his memory three years after his death his nation raised a monument,
perhaps unique of its kind. Outside Cracow towers the Kosciuszko hill,
fashioned by the hands of Polish men, women, and children, all bringing
earth in shovel and barrow, to lay over dust, carried thither with no
little difficulty, from the battlefields where Kosciuszko had fought for
Poland. That act is typical. To this day the name of Tadeusz Kosciuszko
lives in the hearts of the Polish people, not only as the object of
their profound and passionate love, but as the symbol of their dearest
national aspirations. He has given his name to the greatest poem in the
Polish language that is read wherever the Polish tongue has been carried
by the exiled sons of Poland. His pictures, his relics, are venerated as
with the devotion paid to a patron saint. Legend, folk-song, national
music have gathered about his name: and after Warsaw had risen for her
freedom on the November night of 1830 it was to the strains of the
_Polonaise of Kosciuszko_ that the Poles danced in a
never-to-be-forgotten scene of patriotic exultation.
A Prussian fiction has attributed to Kosciuszko as he fell on the field
of Maciejowice the phrase _Finis Poloniæ_. In a letter to Count
Ségur, Kosciuszko indignantly denied that he had uttered a sentiment
which is the last ever to be heard on Polish lips or harboured in the
heart of a Pole; and with his words, to which the Poles themselves have
borne the most convincing testimony by the preservation of their
nationality unimpaired through tragedy almost inconceivable, through
nearly a hundred and fifty years of unremitting persecution, I close
this book on the noblest of Polish patriots.
"When," so Kosciuszko writes to Segur, "the Polish nation called me to
defend the integrity, the independence, the dignity, the glory and the
liberty of the country, she knew well that I was not the last Pole, and
that with my death on the battlefield or elsewhere Poland could not,
must not end. All that the Poles have done since then in the glorious
Polish legions and all that they will still do in the future to gain
their country back, sufficiently proves that albeit we, the devoted
soldiers of that country, are mortal, Poland is immortal."[1]
[Footnote 1: d'Angeberg, _Recueil des Traités_.]
CHIEF WORKS CONSULTED
d'Angeberg. _Recueil des Traités, Conventions et Actes Diplomatiques
concernant la Pologne_, 1762-1862. Paris, 1862.
Askenazy, Szymon, _Kiaze Józef Poniatowski_. Cracow, 1905.
Bartoszewicz, K. _Dzieje Insurekcji Kosciuszkowskiej_. Vienna, 1909.
Baudouin de Courtenay, R. _Nowe Materyaly do Dziejow Kosciuszki_.
Cracow, 1889.
Cambridge Modern History, VIII. _The Extinction of Poland_, by Professor
Richard Lodge.
Chodzko, L. _Zywote Narodowe. Usque ad Finem_. Paris, 1859.
Choloniewski, A. _Tadeusz Kosciuszko_. Lwów, 1902.
Dyboski, Roman. _Powstanie Kosciuszki w Powiesci Angielskiej_. Cracow,
1908.
Eversley, Lord. _The Partitions of Poland_. 1915.
Falkenstein, K. _Tadeusz Kosciuszko_. Wroclaw, 1831.
Grappin, H. _Histoire de Pologne_. Paris.
Greene, George Washington. _Life of Nathaniel Greene_. New York, 1871.
Jefferson, _Thomas. Memoirs, Correspondence and Miscellanies_. Ed. by
Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Charlottesville, 1829.
Johnson, William. _Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathaniel
Greene_. Charleston, 1822.
Kollataj, Hugo. _Listy_. Poznan, 1872.
Korzon, T. _Kosciuszko_. Cracow, 1894, and later edition, 1906.
_Kosciuszko_. Periodical Publication. Cracow, 1893-96.
Kosciuszko, T. _Listy_. Ed. by L. Siemienski. Lwow, 1877.
Kunasiewicz, S. _T. Kosciuszko w Ameryce_. Lwow, 1876.
Mickiewicz, Adam. _Histoire Populaire de Pologne_. Paris, 1867.
Napoleon I. _Correspondance_. Paris, 1863.
Niemcewicz, J. _Notes sur ma Captivité à Pétersbourg_. Paris, 1843.
Niemcewicz, J. _Pamietniki Czasów Moich_. Paris, 1848.
Oginski, M. _Mémoires_. Paris, 1826.
Paszkowski, F. _Dzieje Tadeusza Kosciuszki_. Cracow, 1872.
_Powstanie T. Kosciuszki z Pism Autentycznych Sekretnych_. Poznan, 1846.
Raczynski, E. _Obraz Polaków i Polski w XVIII wieku_. Poznan, 1841.
Rychlicki, F. _Tadeusz Kosciuszko i Rozbiór Polski_. Cracow, 1875.
Szujski, Józef. _Dzieje Polski_. Lwów, 1866.
Tarnowski, St. _Nasze Dzieje w XIX wieku_. Cracow, 1901.
_Tygodnik Illustrowany_. Warsaw, 1881. _Pamietnik J. Soroki_; and for
Kosciuszko's letter to Karl Schmid.
Washington, George. _Writings_. Ed. by Jared Sparks. New York, 1847.
INDEX
Adams, President of United States, 177
Alexander, I, of Russia,
visits Kosciuszko in prison, 168, 191;
friendship with Czartoryski, 168, 191;
relations with Poland, 168, 191-6;
enters Paris in 1814, 191;
Kosciuszko's efforts for Poland with, 191-5, 197;
promise to Kosciuszko, 193; 201
André, 44
Arnault, 200
Arnold, 44
Augustus, III, king of Poland, 26, 27
Bar, Confederation of, 31, 39, 40, 130
Bartos, Wojtek, _see_ Glowacki
Beaujolais, de, 180
Brandys, Tomasz, 106, 107
Branicki, X,, 71, 72, 79, 81, 83
Burgoyne, 38
Burke, Edmund, 71
Carignano, princess di, Maria, 199
Carlo Alberto, 199
Catherine, II, of Russia,
relations with Stanislas Augustus, 27, 33, 77, 80;
intrigues in Poland, 31, 71, 72, 77, 81, 83. 87, 94; 92; 99; 130;
attitude to Prussia at siege of Warsaw, 146;
treats with Prussia for third partition, 149;
sends Suvorov to Poland. _ib_.;
relations with Kosciuszko, 167;
death, 168; 172; 191
Charles, XII, of Sweden, 30
Clinton, 41
Constantine, Grand Duke, 192, 193
Constitution of the Third of May, 53, 59. 71, 72, 81, 89, 117, 128
Cornwallis, 46
Cosway,
portrait of Kosciuszko, 175, 176, 200
Czartoryska, Princess,
Kosciuszko's letters to, 79-81, 84, 121; 87
Czartoryski, Prince Adam,
relations with Kosciuszko, 27, 50;
relations with School of Cadets, 27-29
Czartoryski, Prince Adam,
meets Kosciuszko in youth, 87;
hostage in Catherine II's court, 87, 191;
friendship with Alexander I, 168, 191;
Russia's foreign minister of affairs, 191, 193;
interview with Kosciuszko, 194;
Kosciuszko's letter to, 195, 196;
outlawed for share in Rising of 1830, 196
Danton, 90
Denisov, 129
Devonshire, Duchess of, 175, 180
Dombrowski,
leader of Polish legions, 143, 183, 189;
_the March of_, 143, 183;
at siege of Warsaw, 143;
successes in Great Poland, 150;
takes Bydgoszcz, 154;
manifesto to Poles, 183; 184
Dzialynski, 157
Estko, Stanislas, 56, 85, 183
Estkowa, Anna, 30;
affection between Kosciuszko and, 33, 56; 54; 55;
Kosciuszko's letters to, 56, 57, 60, 61;
Kosciuszko's farewell letter to, 84. 85; 183
Fersen, Kosciuszko marches against, 153;
Kosciuszko's captor, 159-162
Fiszer, 156, 158-165
Fouché, treats for Napoleon with Kosciuszko, 188-190
Fox, 175
Franklin, Benjamin, 40, 50
Frederick William, II, of Prussia, 99;
at Szczekociny, 132, 133; 138;
at siege of Warsaw, 141;
summons Stanislas Augustus to surrender, 145;
treats with Catherine II for the third partition, 149
Gates,
relations with Kosciuszko, 38, 39. 43. 44. 178;
at Saratoga, 38, 39; 41;
defeat Camden, 45; 181
George III, 92
Glowacki, Wojciech, 109
Greene, Mrs., 48
Greene, Nathaniel,
relations with Kosciuszko, 43-46;
leads war in Carolina; 45-9,
on Kosciuszko, 48, 49
Grey, Lord,
Kosciuszko addresses him on restoration of Poland, 196;
his answer, 196, 197
Grzywa, Jan, 106, 107
Igelstrom, 92, 95, 112, 113
Jefferson, Thomas, 44;
Kosciuszko's friendship with, 178, 180, 181, 188;
Kosciuszko's portrait of, 180;
on Kosciuszko, 181;
executor of Kosciuszko's legacy to the negroes, 181, 182
Kachowski, 76, 78
Kamienski, 142, 143
Kapostas, 94, 128
Kilinski,
takes part in Rising, 112, 140, 141, 143;
on Polish National Council, 128
Kniaziewicz,
in Polish legions, 64, 185;
in _Pan Tadeusz_, 70;
at Dubienka, 76; 81;
at Maciejowice, 158;
prisoner of war, 158-164; 185; 186
Kollontaj, Hugo,
member of Commission of Education, 53;
collaboration in Rising, 53, 89, 92. 95, 121;
as political reformer, 54, 61;
friendship with Kosciuszko, 61, 153;
on Kosciuszko, 89;
member of National Council, 127
Kopec,
leads soldiers to Rising, 130;
at Maciejowice, 157;
prisoner of war, 157-164
Korzon, T., 35, 37. 59, 69, 85, 86, 135, 166
Kosciuszko, Józef, 30, 31, 33, 54, 55
Kosciuszko, Ludwik,
position of, 24;
character and household, 24, 25; 26; 32; 34
Kosciuszko, Tadeusz,
type of national champion, 23;
character, 23, 26, 29, 30, 33, 34, 41, 42, 45, 47, 49,
51, 57, 62, 70, 80, 83, 93, 102, 105, 107, 111, 115,
122-124, 127, 131, 134, 138, 147, 148, 174, 175. 196;
birth, 23;
early life, 24-6;
efforts for the serfs, 25, 55, 85, 116, 117, 190, 192;
patriotism, 26, 32, 33. 43. 50. 58. 70. 83, 84, 93, 115,
122, 123, 144, 167, 175, 176, 182, 188, 191, 196, 200;
relations with Adam Czartoryski, 27, 50;
life as cadet, 27-30;
relations with Stanislas Augustus, 27, 30-33, 35, 59, 60,
76, 79-81, 113, 119, 122;
his appearance, 29, 144;
financial difficulties, 30-33, 54, 55;
studies in France, 31, 32, 35;
in American War of Independence, 31, 32, 36-52, 57, 59, 82, 91, 132;
returns to Poland in 1774, 32, 33;
affection for Anna Estkowa, 33, 56;
Ludwika Sosnowska (Lubomirska) and, 33-35. 51, 59, 163, 199;
leaves Poland in 1775, 35;
in Paris, 35, 36;
relations with Washington, 37, 39-44, 49, 177, 178;
relations with Gates, 38, 39, 43, 44, 178;
meeting with Pulaski, 39, 40;
relations with Greene, 43-46;
sympathy for negroes, 45;
Greene on, 48, 49;
American testimonies to, 49;
American honours for, 49, 50;
friendship with Niemcewicz, 50, 51, 61, 105, 144, 160, 165, 170;
leaves America, 51;
democratic sympathies, 51, 58, 59, 90, 91, 128, 178;
returns to Poland from America, 53;
life in the country, 54-8;
letters to Anna Estkowa, 56, 57, 60, 61, 84, 85;
friendship with Zaleskis, 57;
letter to Michal Zaleski's wife, 57, 58;
letters to Michal Zaleski, 58, 72, 73, 82, 83;
his ideas on peasant army, 58, 91-4, 108, 110, 116;
command in Polish army, 59-62, 73;
friendship with Ignacy Potocki and Kollontaj, 61, 153;
Orlowski's letter to, 62;
love for Tekla Zurowska, 62-70;
letters to Tekla Zurowska, 63-7, 69;
in _Pan Tadeusz_, 70;
part in Ukraine campaign, 74-6, 78;
his MS. on Ukraine campaign, 75. 76, 78, 91, 92, 119;
honours after Dubienka, 76, 77;
resigns command, 79-81, 84;
letters to Princess Czartoryska, 79-81, 84, 121;
audience with King, 80, 81;
last days in Warsaw, 81, 82;
letter to Felix Potocki, 82;
bequeathal of estate, 84, 85;
goes into exile, 85, 86;
in Galicia, 87, 88;
friendship of Czartoryskis for, 87;
in Leipzig, 88, 89;
Kollontaj on, 89;
in Paris during Revolution, 89-92;
relations with Lebrun, 90, 187;
characteristics of his government of Poland, 91, 114,
115, 121, 124;
returns to Leipzig, 92;
chosen as national leader, 92, 93;
preparations for Rising, 93, 94;
in Italy, 94;
in Dresden, 95;
enters Poland as liberator, 95;
enters Cracow, 96;
his Act of the Rising, 96-102, 127;
opens Rising in Cracow, 97, 98;
made dictator, 100;
character of his manifestos, 102, 123;
manifesto to the Polish and Lithuanian armies, 103-5;
to the clergy, 105;
to women, 105, 106;
receives offering of boatmen, 106, 107;
organizes Rising, 107;
his victory at Raclawice, 108, 109, 132, 198;
relations with peasant soldiers, 108, 109, 122, 144;
his report on Raclawice, 109;
organizes Rising after Raclawice, 110;
enthusiasm for him, 110, 121-3, 144;
manifesto to Sandomierz, 111, 112;
appeal to Warsaw, 112;
manifesto on Rising of Warsaw, 113;
Provisional Council of Wilno on, 113, 114;
difficulties of his task, 114, 115;
letters to Mokronowski, 115, 122, 148;
to prince Sapieha, 115, 116;
manifesto to Volhymia, 116;
mandate to churches, 118;
conception of the war, 118, 130;
manifesto regarding Ruthenes, 118, 119;
to Ruthenian clergy, 119;
letter to King, 120, 121;
relations with his officers, 122, 123;
manifesto to Lithuania, 124, 125;
manifesto on his government of state, 126, 127;
regularizes civil government, 127, 128;
reception of Poniatowski, 127;
against Denisov, 129;
description of his camp and person, 130, 131; 131;
defeat at Szczekociny, 132-4;
Austria orders arrest of, 134;
summons to peasant war, 134, 135;
his desperate position, 135;
letter to citizens of Warsaw, 135, 136;
manifesto after Szczekociny, 136;
march to Warsaw, 136, 138;
manifesto on loss of Cracow, 137;
letter to Warsaw on street murders, 138-140;
tact in dealing with men and affairs, 140;
his defence of Warsaw, 141-6;
conduct of affairs from Warsaw, 144, 145;
attitude on Rising in Great Poland, 145;
letter to Zakrzewski, 145, 146;
letter of National Council to, 146, 147;
reply to National Council, 147;
religious tolerance, 148;
conduct to Jews, _ib_.;
and to prisoners of war, 148, 149;
position after deliverance of Warsaw, 149, 150;
journey to Lithuania, 150;
manifesto to Lithuanian army, 150-152;
his last manifesto, 152, 153;
last night in Warsaw, 153;
ride from Warsaw to Sierakowski's camp, 153, 154;
last march, 154. 155;
attitude on Dombrowski's victory, 154;
on eve of Maciejowice, 155, 156;
at Maciejowice, 156-158, 197, 202;
wounded and taken prisoner, 158;
prisoner in the Zamojski manor, 159, 160;
journey to Russia, 160-165;
message and gift from National Council to, 161;
grief in Warsaw for, 161;
Warsaw offers to exchange Russian prisoners for, 161, 162;
Niemcewicz on indignity shown to, 162;
failure and moral effect of his Rising, 163;
imprisonment in Petersburg, 165-168, 170, 171, 173;
subjected to inquisition, 166, 167;
relations with Catherine II, 167;
Rogerson on, 167;
visited by Paul I in prison and freed, 168;
visited by Alexander I in prison, 168, 191;
colloquy with Paul, 168-170;
subsequent interviews with Tsar, 170;
interview with Niemcewicz, 170, 171;
takes oath of allegiance, 171;
farewell audience with Imperial family, 171, 172;
leaves Russia, 172;
journey through Finland, 173, 174;
in Sweden, 174, 175;
Swedish portrait of, 174, 175;
Cosway's portrait of, 175, 176, 200;
leaves Sweden for England, 175;
life in London, 175, 176;
effect on Savage Landor, 175;
letter to Russian ambassador, 176;
in Bath and Bristol, _ib_.;
departure from Bristol, 176, 177;
journey to United States, 177;
in Philadelphia, 177, 178;
Adams' letter to, 177;
friendship with Jefferson, 178, 180, 181, 188;
friendship with White family, 178-180;
letter to Mrs. White, 179;
returns to Philadelphia, 179;
Paul I's gift of money to, 180, 184, 185, 201;
financial dealings with Congress, 180;
visited by Orleans princes, 180;
his portrait of Jefferson, _ib_.;
Jefferson on, 181;
returns to Europe, 181-183;
will for the negroes, 181, 182;
nephews join legions, 183;
honours paid him in Bayonne, 183, 184;
in Paris, 184, 185;
repudiates oath to Paul I, 184, 185;
measures taken by partitioning powers against, 185;
presented with Sobieski's sword, 185, 186;
relations with legions, 186, 187;
relations with Napoleon I, 186-190;
withdraws from relations with French government, 187;
furthers interests of disbanded legionaries, 188;
his textbook on artillery, _ib_.;
friendship with Zeltners, 188, 190-192, 198, 199, 201;
his conditions for Poland's restoration, 190, 192;
life in France until Napoleon's fall, 190, 191;
Emilia Zeltner and, 190, 191, 198, 199, 201;
relations with Alexander I, 191, 201;
pleads for Poland with Alexander, 191-195, 197;
promise of Alexander to, 193;
sent for by Czartoryski, 193;
journey to Austria, 193, 194;
interview with Czartoryski, 194;
letter to Czartoryski, 195, 196;
fulfilment of his predictions regarding Poland, 196;
writes to Grey, _ib_.;
Grey's answer to, 196, 197;
retires from public life, 197;
last years, 197-201;
love of children and youth, 198;
love of poor, 198, 199, 201;
corresponds with Princess di Carignano, 199, 200;
correspondence with Jane Porter, 200;
interest in education, 200, 201;
death, 201;
last resting place, _ib_.;
the hill of, 201, 202;
Polish cult of, 202;
his refutation of _Finis Poloniæ_, 202, 203.
Kosciuszko, Tekla,
relations with husband, 25;
character, 26;
death, 30
Krasinska, Franciszka, 200
Krushtzov, 162
Lafayette,
acquaintance with Kosciuszko and Pulaski, 40
Landor, Walter Savage, Kosciuszko and, 175
Laurens, 47
Lebrun, relations with Kosciuszko, 90, 187
Lee, Harry, on Kosciuszko, 49
Libiszewsld, 173-175, 177
Louis Philippe, visits Kosciuszko, 180
Louis XVI,
recognizes United States, 38;
execution, 89, 90, 119
Lubomirska, Ludwika, and Kosciuszko, 33-35. 51. 59. 163, 199
Madalinski, 96, 108, 109, 134, 142, 143
Marek. Father, 130
Marie, Empress of Russia, 172
McDougall, on Kosciuszko, 41
Mickiewicz, Adam,
on patriotism, 23;
his poetry, 60;
his _Pan Tadeusz_, 70, 202
Mokronowski,
in Rising, 113, 150;
Kosciuszko's letters to, 115, 122, 148
Montpensier, de, 180
Napoleon I,
Polish legions and, 182, 183, 186, 187. 189;
betrays Poland, 183, 187;
enthusiasm of Poles for, 183, 189;
relations with Kosciuszko, 186-190;
becomes first consul, 187;
becomes emperor, 188;
victory at Jena, _ib_.;
summons Poles to banner, 188, 189;
on Kosciuszko, 190;
his victories, _ib_.;
marches on Paris, 193.
Nicholas, I, of Russia, 196
Niemcewicz, Julian,
friendship with Kosciuszko, 50, 51, 61, 105, 144, 160, 165, 170;
patriot and poet, 51, 61;
in Florence, 94;
Kosciuszko's companion in Rising, 105, 143, 144, 150, 153-156;
at Maciejowice, 156, 157;
description of battle, 156-8;
taken prisoner, 157, 158;
Kosciuszko's companion as prisoner of war, 159-165;
on indignity paid to Kosciuszko, 162;
imprisonment in Petersburg, 165, 167; 168;
interview with Kosciuszko, 170, 171;
leaves Russia, 172, 173;
journey through Finland, 174;
journey to England, 175; 176;
journey to United States, 177; 180; 181
Oginska, Princess, 150
Oginski, Michal, Prince, 138, 147, 161
Orlewska, Tekla, 64
Orlowski, 31, 62, 87, 145
Parsons, 41
Paszkowski, 190, 201
Paul, I, of Russia,
visits Kosciuszko in prison and frees him, 168;
colloquy with Kosciuszko, 168-170;
subsequent interviews with Kosciuszko, 170;
exacts oath of allegiance from Kosciuszko, 171;
farewell audience with Kosciuszko, 172; 179;
gift of money to Kosciuszko, 180, 184, 185, 201;
Kosciuszko repudiates oath to, 184, 185
Perronet, 31
Pestalozzi, 200
Poniatowski, Józef,
Polish leader in Napoleonic wars, 74, 189;
in Ukraine campaign, 74-6, 78, 91;
in Rising, 122, 127; 143;
Kosciuszko's reception of, 127
Poniatowski, Stanislas Augustus, _see_ S.
Poninski, 133, 157
Porter, Jane, 200
Potocki, Felix, 71, 72, 75, 79, 81;
Kosciuszko's letter to, 82; 83
Potocki, Ignacy,
member of Commission of Education, 53;
collaboration in Rising, 53. 89, 92, 93, 95, 121;
friendship with Kosciuszko, 61, 153;
patriotic reformer, 61, 89;
member of National Council, 127;
consulted by Kosciuszko regarding oath, 171
Potocki, Stanislas, 75
Pulaski, Kazimierz, 31, 39, 40
Radière, 41
Repnin, 31
Robespierre, 91
Rogerson, on Kosciuszko, 167; 171, 172, 176
Rzewuski, Severin, 71, 72, 79, 81, 83
Sanguszko, Eustachy, 133
Sanguszko, Princess, 163
Sapieha, Franciszek, 115, 116
Ségur, 202
Sheridan, 175
Sierakowski, 150, 153, 154, 158-164
Sobieski, Jan, 87, 185, 186, 201
Sosnowska, Ludwika, _see_ Lubomirska
Sosnowski, Józef, 33, 34
Sroki, Wojciech, 106, 107
Stanislas, Augustus,
succeeds to throne of Poland, 27;
relations with Catherine II, 27, 33, 77, 80;
relations with Kosciuszko, 27, 30-33, 35, 59, 60, 76,
79-81, 113, 119, 122;
character, 30, 32, 80;
patron of art and letters, 53;
speech to Diet, 73, 74;
conduct in Ukraine campaign, 75;
adheres to Targowica, 77, 78;
Kosciuszko on, 78, 91, 92; 81;
adheres to Rising, 112, 113;
Kosciuszko's letter to, 120, 121;
in siege of Warsaw, 145
Staszyc, 54
Suvorov,
marches against Kosciuszko, 149, 153;
beats Sierakowski, 150;
his massacre at Praga, 153, 163;
his siege of Warsaw, 161
Targowica, Confederation of, 72, 73, 77. 78. 81-83, 120, 138
Walpole, Horace, 71
Washington, George,
relations with Kosciuszko, 37, 39-44, 49, 177, 178; 43; 45;
50; 180
Wejssenhof, 121
White, Eliza, 179
White, General, 178, 180, 181
White, Mrs., 179, 180
Wilkinson, 38
Wilmot, 47, 48
Wodzicki, 97, 132, 133
Wybicki, 189
Zajonczek, 93, 94, log
Zakrzewski, 113;
summons to citizens of Warsaw, 140, 141; 143;
letter of Kosciuszko to, 145, 146;
Kosciuszko's last evening with, 153
Zaleski, Michal,
Kosciuszko's friendship for, 57;
Kosciuszko's letter to his wife, 57, 58;
Kosciuszko's letters to, 58, 72, 73, 82, 83
Zeltner, Emilia, and Kosciuszko, 190, 191, 198, 199, 201
Zeltner, family of, 188, 190-192, 198, 199, 201.
Zurowska, Tekla,
Kosciuszko's love for, 62-70;
Kosciuszko's letters to, 63-67, 69;
marries Kniaziewicz, 70
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Poland and the Minority Races
By ARTHUR L. GOODHART, M.A.
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