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]
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 Dzwina, the old boundaries
- ↑ d'Angeberg, Recueil des Traités, Conventions et Actes Diplomatiques concernant la Pologne.
