onsiderable loss.

But the contest was too unequal to last; the patriots were
overwhelmed by enemies from without, and betrayed by traitors
within, at the head of whom was their own sovereign. The Russians
took possession of the country, and proceeded to appropriate those
portions of Lithuania and Volhynia which suited their convenience;
while Prussia, the friendly Prussia, invaded another part of the
kingdom.

Under these circumstances the most distinguished officers in the
Polish army retired from the service, and of this number was
Kosciusko. Miserable at the fate of his unhappy country, and at the
same time an object of suspicion to the ruling powers, he left his
native land and retired to Leipsic, where he received intelligence
of the honor which had been conferred upon him by the Legislative
Assembly of France, who had invested him with the quality of a
French citizen.

But his fellow-countrymen were still anxious to make another
struggle for independence, and they unanimously selected Kosciusko
as their chief and generalissimo. He obeyed the call, and found the
patriots eager to combat under his orders. Even the noble Joseph
Poniatowski, who had previously commanded in chief, returned from
France, whither he had retired, and received from the hands of
Kosciusko the charge of a portion of his army.

The patriots had risen in the north of Poland, to which part
Kosciusko first directed his steps. Anxious to begin his campaign
with an action of vigor, he marched rapidly toward Cracow, which
town he entered triumphantly on March 24, 1794. He forthwith
published a manifesto against the Russians; and then, at the head of
only 5,000 men, he marched to meet their army. He encountered, on
April 4th, 10,000 Russians at a place called Wraclawic, and entirely
defeated them after a combat of four hours. He returned in triumph
to Cracow, and shortly afterward marched along the left bank of the
Vistula to Polaniec, where he established his head-quarters.

Meanwhile the inhabitants of Warsaw, animated by the recital of the
heroic deeds of their countrymen, had also raised the standard of
independence, and were successful in driving the Russians from the
city, after a murderous conflict of three days. In Lithuania and
Samogitia an equally successful revolution was effected before the
end of April, while the Polish troops stationed in Volhynia and
Podolia marched to the reinforcement of Kosciusko.

Thus far fortune seemed