future in a foreign land. On the eve
of his departure from Poland he wrote to Princess Czartoryska:

"I was faithful to my country; I fought for her and would have offered
myself a hundred times to death for her. Now it seems as if the end of
my services for her is at hand; perhaps this uniform which I am wearing
will be the badge of shame. I will cast it off betimes, and lay my sword
in the grave till future better times. ... I will once more bid farewell
to you. Princess, whom all adore for your virtues and devotion. I kiss
the hands which have often dried tears shed for our country."[1]

[Footnote 1: T. Korzon, _Kosciuszko_.]

Before leaving his native land, as far as he knew for ever, he sent,
together with his farewell to the sister whom he never saw again, his
last disposition of the home to which his heart clung with deep
affection, and which was to be his no more.

"Permit me, my sister, to embrace you, and because this may be the last
time I shall be given that happiness I desire that you should know my
will, that I bequeath to you my estate of Siechnowicze, and that you
have the right to bequeath it either to one of your sons or to any one,
but under one condition: that Susanna and Faustin shall be kept in every
comfort until their death; that the peasants from every house in the
whole estate shall not do more than two days of forced labour for the
men, and for the women none at all. If it were another country where the
government could ensure my will, I would free them entirely; but in this
country we must do what we are certain of being able to do to relieve
humanity in any way, and always remember that by nature we are all
equals, that riches and education constitute the only difference; that
we aught to have consideration for the poor and instruct ignorance, thus
bringing about good morals. I am sending you my signature so that you
can act legally according to my wish, so that later no disputes shall
arise against you or your sons. Farewell! I embrace you with the
tenderest heart.

"Embrace Susanna for me," he adds in a postscript. "Thank her for the
friendship she has shown me. Remember me to Faustin and to your son
Stanislas. Let him give his children a good republican education with
the virtues of justice, honesty, and honour."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Op. Cit_.]

The letter has come down to us with its small clear handwriting, a few
words in the postscript erased with the scrupulous neatness of the wh