n them
at a ball in the town they chose Kosciuszko as their spokesman to
present their grievances to the King, who took a personal interest in
the school. Something about the youth attracted the brilliant, highly
cultured sovereign, the man who wavered according to the emotion or fear
of the moment between the standpoint of a patriot or of a traitor. After
that interview he often sent for Tadeusz; and when Kosciuszko passed out
of the school as one of its head scholars or officers, he was
recommended to Stanislas Augustus as a recipient of what we should call
a State travelling scholarship.

In 1768 Kosciuszko's mother died, leaving her two daughters married, the
eldest, spendthrift, and most beloved son out on his own, and Tadeusz
still a cadet. With his mother's death Kosciuszko's financial troubles
began. For the greater part of his life he never knew what it was to
have a sufficiency of means. His brother held the estate and apparently
the control of the family money, that was no considerable sum and had in
latter years diminished. Public affairs, moreover, were now assuming an
aspect that threatened the very existence of Kosciuszko's country.
Catherine II's minister, Repnin, with Russian armies at his back, ruled
the land. The Poles who stood forward in a last despairing attempt to
deliver their country were removed by Russian troops to exile and
Siberia. Then in 1768 rose under the Pulaski father and sons that
gallant movement to save a nation's honour that is known as the
Confederation of Bar. For four years the confederates fought in guerilla
warfare all over Poland, in forest, marsh, hamlet, against the forces of
Russia which held every town and fortress in the country. These things
were the last that Kosciuszko saw of the old Republic of Poland. In the
company of his friend Orlowski, who had been one of four cadets to
receive the King's stipend, he departed from his country in 1769 or 1770
with the intention of pursuing his studies abroad.

Five years passed before Kosciuszko saw his native land again. Very
little is known to us of that stage of his history. It is certain that
he studied in the school of engineering and artillery in Mezieres and
conceivably in the Ecole Militaire of Paris. He took private lessons in
architecture from Perronet, and followed up his strong taste for drawing
and painting. Sketches from his hand still remain, guarded as treasures
in Polish national museums. French fortifications e