arley, oats. Plant small birches in
the walk immediately behind the building."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Letters of Kosciuszko_.]

"Why on earth don't you write to me?" he says, reading her a fraternal
lecture. "Are you ill? Your health is bad. Take care of yourself; do not
do anything that might trouble you. Say the same as I do, that there are
people worse off than I, who would like to be in my place. Providence
will cheer us, and can give us opportunities and happiness beyond our
expectations. I always commend myself to the Most High and submit myself
to His will. Do you do this, in this way calm yourself, and so be happy.
Here is a moral for you, which take to the letter. For Heaven's sake get
me some trees somehow. Let the buds have sap, not like they are at the
Princess's. Goodbye. Love me as I do you with all our souls."[1]

In the course of his duties Kosciuszko had constantly to make journeys
to Warsaw on business. When there he entered into close relations with
those noblest of Poland's patriots and reformers, Ignacy Potocki and
Hugo Kollontaj, both holding office under the Crown and employed in
drawing up the reforms that the Great Diet was passing. Here too
Kosciuszko often saw his already friend, Niemcewicz, who was bringing
out patriotic plays and taking an active part among the enlightened
political party. The high esteem in which Kosciuszko was held, not
merely by those who loved him personally but by men who only knew of him
by repute, may be illustrated by a letter addressed to him, not then,
but later, by Kollontaj, in which the latter tells Kosciuszko that words
are not needed to express how much he prizes the friendship of one "whom
I loved, honoured and admired before fate granted me to know you in
person."[2]

[Footnote 1: _op. cit_.]

[Footnote 2: _Letters of Hugo Kollontaj_. Poznan, 1872 (Polish).]

In 1790 Prussia concluded a defensive and offensive alliance with
Poland, which, as the sequel shows, she was prepared to break at the
psychological moment, in order to secure Polish help in the probable
Prussian war against an Austrian-Russian coalition. Poland began to make
ready for the field. Kosciuszko was sent southwards, to Lublin, where he
remained for the summer months. His employment was to train the recruits
for approaching active service. Against the difficulties always to beset
him throughout his career of lack of ammunition and want of funds, he
devoted himself to his task with the energy