ere is a free state--but with an unchanging
attachment to my country which I might serve no longer, as I saw nothing
to convince me of the amelioration of the government or that gave any
hope for the future happiness of our country in the measures at present
taken"--meaning, of course, under the rule of the Confederation of
Targowica. "I would not enter into undertakings of which the end is
unknown: I feared lest, if only indirectly, they should contribute to
the unhappiness of the nation. I do not doubt that there are men even
among the Targowicians who are trying to serve their country, but I know
not if they can, and if they are in the way of doing it. With my whole
heart and soul I long that some one experienced in affairs could
enlighten me, for I am in the darkness of night."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_.]

Told in the light of subsequent events, from standing ground removed
from the passion and confusion of a present strife, with, moreover, the
diplomatic intrigues of Russia and Prussia laid open before our eyes by
modern research, the issues of this period of Poland's history are
intelligible enough; but to the combatants in the arena the line was not
so defined. Some among the Poles of the period, even including men of no
mean capacity, wavered as to whether Catherine II were not genuinely
prepared to guarantee a free Poland under Russian protection. The
leaders of Targowica have been branded with the name of traitors, and
justly; but it seems as though they proceeded rather as hotheaded and
unpatriotic malcontents than with the deliberate intention of betraying
their country. Kosciuszko was ill-versed, either by nature, training, or
inclination in the art of politics; but through this tangled web of
perplexity and uncertainty, when present and future were equally
enveloped in obscurity, his singleness of aim supplied him with the
unerring instinct with which through the whole of his life he met and
unmasked the pitfalls that were spread before the unhappiest and the
most cruelly betrayed of nations. Under the dictates of this pure
patriotism he directed himself unfalteringly through the most difficult
and involved hours of his nation's history, allowing neither friendship,
tradition, nor personal advantage to obscure for one moment the great
object he had at stake--his country's good. He now laid down high rank,
parted with fortune upon which his hand had barely had time to close,
and prepared to face an uncertain