by Prussia, invasion, war,
desertion of the national cause by their own king and his joining the
conspirators of Targowica, and then the second partition of Poland
(October 14, 1793), implying a further loss of territory and population.
Now, indeed, the events were hastening towards the end of the sad drama,
the finis poloniae. After much hypocritical verbiage and cruel coercion
and oppression by Russia and Prussia, more especially by the former,
outraged Poland rose to free itself from the galling yoke, and fought
under the noble Kosciuszko and other gallant generals with a bravery
that will for ever live in the memory of men. But however glorious the
attempt, it was vain. Having three such powers as Russia, Prussia,
and Austria against her, Poland, unsupported by allies and otherwise
hampered, was too weak to hold her own. Without inquiring into the
causes and the faults committed by her commanders, without dwelling on
or even enumerating the vicissitudes of the struggle, I shall pass on
to the terrible closing scene of the drama--the siege and fall of Praga,
the suburb of Warsaw, and the subsequent massacre. The third partition
(October 24, 1795), in which each of the three powers took her share,
followed as a natural consequence, and Poland ceased to exist as an
independent state. Not, however, for ever; for when in 1807 Napoleon,
after crushing Prussia and defeating Russia, recast at Tilsit to a great
extent the political conformation of Europe, bullying King Frederick
William III and flattering the Emperor Alexander, he created the Grand
Duchy of Warsaw, over which he placed as ruler the then King of Saxony.

Now let us see how Nicholas Chopin fared while these whirlwinds passed
over Poland. The threatening political situation and the consequent
general insecurity made themselves at once felt in trade, indeed soon
paralysed it. What more particularly told on the business in which the
young Lorrainer was engaged was the King's desertion of the national
cause, which induced the great and wealthy to leave Warsaw and betake
themselves for shelter to more retired and safer places. Indeed, so
disastrous was the effect of these occurrences on the Frenchman's
tobacco manufactory that it had to be closed. In these circumstances
Nicholas Chopin naturally thought of returning home, but sickness
detained him. When he had recovered his health, Poland was rising under
Kosciuszko. He then joined the national guard, in which he w