as 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 Traites, 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