retired in his friend M. Zeltner's house at Berville, near Fontainebleau. A body of Poles, forming a part of the allied troops, occupied the village of Cugny, in the environs of Berville, and indulged in the great est excesses. The respectable old man appeared amongst them in a dress of rustic simplicity, which disguised him even more than his years. "Poles," said he, in their own language, "Have I set you such an example? Did you learn under me to lay waste fields, to illtreat peaceable citizens, and murder women and children? Such conduct becomes only slaves, who seek to indemnify themselves during war for their servitude in peace; is it worthy of men who were once free?" These words, pronounced with mingled firmness and feeling, struck both soldiers and officers with astonishment. The contrast between the dress and language of the old man, his noble air, and the serenity of his countenance, kept them silent for some time; at length they cried out, " You are not what you appear to be, you know us, you speak our language, who are you, what is your name?" For some time he sought to elude this question; but no longer able to resist their solicitation, he said, "I am Kosciusko!" The Poles immediately fell at his feet, embraced his knees, asked his pardon a thousand times, shed tears, and could not satisfy themselves with looking at the scarred face of their old General. The village of Cugny, the chateau at Berville, and all round it, were respected; and this was owing to Kosciusko. General Platoff sent him, soon after, a guard of honour. His habitation, his person, and the family of his host, which had become his own, were placed under the special protection of the Emperor Alexander. It was delightful to see, in the midst of war, this homage paid to virtue by soldiers elated with success and eager of spoil, and by a powerful and victorions sovereign. When the Emperor Alexander arrived at Paris he expressed a desire to see Kosciusko, and a carriage was sent for him to the Hotel-de-Suede, Rue du Bouloy, where he had stopped on his arrival from Berville. The Emperor cordially embraced him, and conversed with him some time with an air of affection and familiarity. The following letter was written to the Emperor Alexander by Kosciusko, who was entirely occupied with the interest of his country and his friends, from Berville, 9th April, 1814: SIRE,-If from this, my obscure retreat, I presume to address myself to a great monarch, a great captain, and above all a protector of huma nity, it is because his generosity and magnanimity are well known to me. I beg of you three favours; the first is, to grant a general amnesty to the Poles, without any restriction, and that the peasants, dispersed in foreign countries, should be considered as free if they return to their homes. The second is, that your Majesty proclaim yourself King of Poland, with a free constitution similar to that of England, and that schools be established and maintained at the expence of government, for the instruction of the peasants; that their slavery be abolished at the end of ten years, that they may enjoy their property in safety. If my prayers are granted, I will be the first, though very ill, to throw myself at your Majesty's feet to thank you, and do homage to you as my Sovereign. If my poor talents would be of any use, I would immediately join my countrymen and serve my country and my Sovereign with honour and fidelity. My third prayer, Sire, is in behalf of an individual very dear to my heart. For fourteen years I have resided in the respectable house of M. Zeltner, a native of Switzerland, formerly ambassador from his country to France; I owe him a thousand obligations, but we are both poor and he has a numerous family. I ask for an honourable place for him either in the new French government or in Poland. He is wellinformed, and I will answer for his fidelity. (Signed) "KOSCIUSKO." Kosciusko hoped to see schools of agriculture and industry, and institutions for the education of peasants and the amelioration of their condition, established throughout his country. With this view he had often visited the excellent institutions for education and agriculture, founded by M. Fellenberg, at Hofwil, near Berne. He wished, himself, to found in Poland an institution for the poor. In the year 1815, he was strongly invited by several of his countrymen, and by a man (formerly member of the central government in Switzerland) whose honourable cha racter he particularly esteemed, to go to Vienna to plead the cause of Poland at the Congress. He set out from Paris with the son of his host, M. Zeltner, but the difficulty of communication and untoward cir cumstances detained him so long on his journey, that he did not arrive at Vienna till the Congress broke up. In his way to Braunau he had a conference of two hours with the Emperor Alexander, who was returning from Vienna. He continued his route, and arrived at that capital, where he often saw Prince Adam Ksartoryski, one of his countrymen, whom he esteemed and loved very much. He lived as a private indi vidual, and sought for no audience from the Emperor of Austria, but merely gave some members of the Congress a note and observations relative to the interests of Poland, and retired to the town of Soleure in Switzerland, to M. Zeltner, bro ther of his friend at Paris; a great friendship subsisting between them, founded upon mutual esteem. In this place was terminated his mortal career, graced by benevolent actions that do honour to humanity, and by conversations on the amelioration of the state of his country. Several journals of the time applauded his signing a legal instrument at Soleure, by which he made the Serfs of an estate, belonging to him in Poland, free. Let us hope that this noble example, set to the wealthier Poles, will find many imitators. The active beneficence of Kosciusko was exercised on all around him; his compassion to the poor and unfortunate was evinced in the most affecting manner in every circumstance of his daily life, like the good and sensible man, who, far from the observation of mankind, obeys the simple and pure dictates of his conscience and his heart. He never could endure to see any one of his fellow-creatures suffer, without endeavouring to help him. During the time he spent at Soleure he was accustomed to go in search of modest and indigent men, the more worthy of aid as they were backward in asking it. He visited the asylums of the unfortunate, and mingled his consolations with his benefits. When he knew that a poor person was sick he sent an apothecary to him, and, having learnt the state he was in, furnished him, at his own expense, with every thing necessary for his recovery. Accustomed to ride out every day on horseback, when his health and the weather would permit, he generally took a Louis to distribute to the poor. His horse was so used to see him give alms that he stopped of his own accord when he saw a beggar ask for charity. Two indi gent families, in the winter of 1806, were arrested for the payment of taxes; they were informed that if the debt was not paid in four-andtwenty hours, their effects would be sold and themselves driven from the village. The two mothers of these miserable families went and des cribed their situation to Mad. Zeltner, and begged her to speak of it to the General. This lady was deeply affected, but had no power to help them. She did not like at first to address herself to Kosciusko, who had been besieged all day by the poor, and who had given away more than ever. After supper the General observed Mad. Zeltner's low spirits and wished to know the cause, He immediately gave her the necessary sum to pay the debts of these two poor families, and begged her to go directly, though the night was far advanced, to carry them the money. He would have gone himself, if his state of health would have permitted it. "Do not defer it," added he, "if the poor people are asleep, wake them; they will sleep the better when they know that they need not quit the town tomorrow, and that their effects will not be taken from them." Many other anecdotes of the same kind could be mentioned. His great benevolence made him seem to be rich, while the extreme simplicity of his manner of living denoted him to be poor. He had but few wants, and exercised the most rigorous economy in his personal expenses. He employed the greatest part of his limited income in relieving the poor, or helping his unfortunate friends. His manner of obliging, always delicate and respectful to the unfortunate, gave additional value to his benefits. There are few such devoted friends as Kosciusko. He was not only useful to his friends, but if he ho noured any one with his confidence and friendship, which he did with much reserve, except when he saw a conformity in thinking and feel. ing, he then entered into the interests and affections of his adopted friend with the utmost ardour. While at Soleure he would only see the family and confined society of his host. He avoided paying visits to any distinguished persons in the town, when he knew their opinions and circumstances formed a barrier between them and the few men whom he knew, and thought worthy of his esteem. "I am at tached to you," said he to one of them, "not only because you are a worthy man, and a friend to your country, but because you have a character. I wish to prove to your countrymen, that I have one also, and that I partake in your sentiments." A noble pride, which is the distinguishing characteristic of a good conscience and a great soul, was, in him, united with extreme modesty. Though he knew what was due to himself, and though he had constantly been the object of consideration wherever he lived, no one exacted less than he did. He carefully avoided the honours they would give him, and his pride consisted in doing noble actions worthy of a great man. He hated pride, and detested all who were guilty of this vice, whatever might be their rank. When a poor person asked alms of him, with his hat in his hand, he first ordered him to put it on, and then relieved his wants: he never could endure to see two men conversing together, one with his haton and the other uncovered, whatever difference there might be in their rank or fortune. He never wore the decorations which his services and reputation had gained him. He felt contempt for those vain and frivolous beings who are covered with decorations very often undeserved," who would rather," said he, " go without their clothes than without their ribbons and crosses." He greatly blamed the chiefs of free states who are not ashamed of wearing foreign orders, or the key of chamberlain to a prince; and he thought that this forgetfulness of their dignity ought to degrade them from the honourable rank to which the confidence of their citizens had raised them. During his stay in Switzerland, General Kosciusko paid a visit to his old and respectable friend Pestalozzi, founder of an institution for the education of youth at Yverdun, in the Canton of Vaud. An amiable and clever Polish lady, a great admirer of virtue which she was well able to appreciate, the Princess Jablonowska, and her son Prince Antony Jablonowski, lately arrived from Warsaw, accompanied General Kosciusko, together with his friend M. Zeltner and the Polish Countess Potocka. I must be allowed to mention the last time I enjoyed the conversation of Kosciusko. I went to see him at Soleure, and he invited me to walk with him, and his friend Zeltner, to a hermitage not far from the town, One of my sons and a young American, Mr. Morton, a pupil of M. Pestalozzi, accompanied me, and contemplated him with feelings of respect and enthusiasm. A fine autumnal evening embellished the picturesque and solitary place we went to see. The romantic coun> try, and the presence of this illus trious exile, recalled to my remem brance the following lines of M. Arnault, whom misfortunes and the vicissitudes of a wandering life, occasioned by his country's misfortunes, placed him in a situation similar to that of Kosciusko. De ta tige détachée, Pauvre feuille desséchée, La patric. The good old man could not help shedding tears on hearing these lines, which he felt were applicable to himself; he stopped to take a copy of them in pencil, not choosing to defer it till his return to Soleure; he repeated them in such a touching manner, that all those around him were affected. The latter part, especially, seemed a presentiment of his approaching death, in a foreign land, far from his native country to which all his feelings and thoughts were directed. A little time after he also went were every thing goes, "Où vont les roses et les lauriers." He now only exists in the hearts of his friends, and in the pages of history; or, rather, his pure and virtuous soul, freed from terrestial ties, is now returned to whence it came, and reposes in the bosom of the Divinity. On the 15th of October, 1817, at ten o'clock at night, he breathed his last sigh in the arms of his friend M. Zeltner, and surrounded by a family eager to render him every care and attention. A nervous fever, which his age, his ancient wounds, and the fatigues he had undergone, rendered his constitution less able to resist, occasioned his death, which was erroneously attributed in some of the public papers to a fall from his horse. He had no fall of this kind; but in a journey to Veray, some months before, in getting off his horse, he received a slight contusion on his leg, of which he was perfectly cured; and after this time he took several rides in a carriage and on horseback in perfect health. He was never married, and his family was reduced to one nephew, General Estkau, who lived estranged from him. Since the death of Kosciusko, unanimous homage has been paid to his memory in Switzerland, Poland, France, England, America, and event in Prussia and Russia, by religious and funeral ceremonies, by articles published in journals, and by letters written by sovereigns or their mi nisters. The Viceroy of Poland, General Zaioncheck, formerly the companion in arms and friend of Kosciusko, having informed the Emperor that the general wish was to see the ashes of the Polish hero deposited in his native soil, this Monarch gave his consent in the most flattering terms, ordering his minister in Switzerland to demand the remains of the General, and the young Prince Antony Jablonowski, one of the gentlemen of the chamber to his Majesty, to go and accompany them from Switzerland to Poland. M. Zeltner, of Berville, who, with his brother, was executor of the last wishes of their friend, joined Prince Jablonowski at Soleure, and accompanied him to Poland with the body of Kosciusko. The mortal remains of this virtuous man, who only lived for his country, though always far from her, arrived at Ulm, and were embarked the 29th of May upon the Danube to be carried to Vienna, and thence to Cracow. Mad. Fischer, a Polish lady, widow of General Fischer, who made a journey to Paris in 1800, being then Countess Kulieska, published at Warsaw, soon after the death of Kosciusko whose virtues she ad * Country, mired, a note in which is a faithful portrait of our hero. "Kosciusko," says Mad. Fischer, "felt during his whole life the inconvenience attached to a decided character. He seldom gained a point, for he was always the same, whilst the scenes of the world changed, and he would not follow these variations. Too firm to change his opinions with circumstances, he renounced his public character. He contented himself with doing his countrymen all the good that was in his power to do devoted to friendship he confined himself within a narrow circle; he preserved the love of those around him, and the respect of strangers; he made for himself a family of good men in every country he lived in. Poland was again at different times the theatre of important changes, and he was called upon in each of these circumstances. He is now dead, without having deviated from his principles. "Few public men, in our days, have deserved this eulogium. "Kosciusko began his career under Washington; he ended his days in the birth-place of William Tell. Modesty and simplicity are the attributes of a superior man. These qualities were natural to him; he practiced them without effort. He had all the vivacity of youth; his conversation was gay, affectionate, and familiar; but his intimacy was always founded upon esteem; and then he gave himself up to it without reserve. Entirely devoted to his friends he made use of them with the same frankness, and gained them by the amenity of his manners. Utterly different when out of his intimate society, he became silent in mixed company, or when he was the object of vain curiosity, which he always disconcerted. He had not the gift of conversation, but he had momentary bursts of eloquence which came directly from his heart, and which can only be felt by those who have one. His benevolence was not charity in an humiliating sense; it was love for his fellow-creatures, respect for men of whom he knew but two classes-the good and the wicked." THE ORPHAN. I was but a child when my father fell, And, 'mid all, my young heart smiled-and was gay. On the ground I saw my Sire reclined- And still I prattled, and smiled, and turned Tho' so faintly he breathed " My son, my son," And there was my mother sitting by, And her watch beside my Sire she kept, Eur, Mag. Aug. 1823. S. R |