THE MONTHLY VISITOR. JUNE, 1797. MEMOIRS OF GENERAL KOSCIUSZKO. F thofe changes which have convulfed the political exiftence of Europe, there is not one which creates, in difpaffionate minds, a ftronger intereft than the difmemberment of Poland. To fee a nation that was formerly but a branch of the Polish territory, now erected into the kingdom of Pruffia, enflave its parent foil, is a circumftance not lightly to be viewed. Till the reign of Frederic the Great, the importance of Pruffia was unimportant; and her now ambitious fpirit was confined to a Polifh fief. The prefent inferiority of Poland is an evil of accumulated growth. A bad conftitution had enervated the fpirit of her fons, and by foftering contentions and divifions, prepared them for invafion and fubmiffion. That they thould fo eafily have become a prey to the views of their ambitious neighbours, as it is an event that has been accelerated by circumftances, fo it could not be readily forefeen. Ruffia feemed willing to protect the Poles, while they adhered to the diet of 1771; nor is it probable that Catherine would have ever confented to the partition of their territory, had fhe been in a condition to refift it. But he was engaged in a war with the Turks, and confented to the fpoliation of Poland, agreeable to the inftances of the Emperor; who agreed, on that condition, to detach himself from the alliance of the Porte. VOL. I, $ f So So ftrong is the intereft of Ruffia in the existence of Poland, that the conftitution of 1791, which provoked the hoftility of the former, if we may form a conjecture, would, in other times, have failed of that effect. The king of Poland had ever been fufpected of favouring Ruffia. It is not to be denied, that he favoured that power in preference to Pruffia, and from a conviction that an alliance with Ruffia tended more to the welfare of his people. The event has justified his difcretion. The revolution of 1791, was begun on different principles-it boafted the fanction of Pruffia. And what a fanction! We will hear this patronizing monarch: "The eagernefs," fays his Pruffian Majefty, in a letter to the king of Poland, May 23, 1791, "I have fhewn to declare my fentiments on this fubject (the revolution) will convince your majesty, and the whole Polish nation, of the intereft I take in this measure. I am happy to have been able to contribute to the fupport of the liberty and independence of Poland, and one of my moft pleafing cares fhall be to maintain and ftrengthen the ties that unite us." Juft after this comes the declaration of Ruffia; which proved, to an astonished world, that, at the very moment in which the king of Pruffia was promifing his fupport to that liberty which he had "contributed" to promote, he had planned, in concert with Ruffia, a moft formidable oppofition to its progrefs. Ruffia had fome plaufibility on her fide, in the breach of the paɛa conventa, if that treaty had not been forced on the unhappy, and the degraded Poles. Not doubting the intentions of their patron, they apply to Pruffia for fucCours against the arms of Ruffia: and his answer is not lefs explicit than the promife which had preceded it. LETTER LETTER OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA TO THE KING OF POLAND, "SIR, MY BROTHER, "Berlin, June 8, 1792. "The grand marshal of Lithuania, the comte de Potocki, has delivered me your majefty's letter, dated the 31st of May. I there fee, with regret, the embarraffment in which Poland finds itfelf now involved. But I will acknowledge, with equal frankness, that, after all that has paffed for the laft twelve months, these embarrassments were to be forefeen. Your majesty will recollect that, on more than one occafion, the marquis de Lucchesini was charged to manifeft, not only to you, but to the preponderating members of the government, my just apprehenfions on this fubject. From the moment that the general re-establishment of tranquillity in Europe permitted me to explain myfelf, and that the emprefs of Ruffia had fhewn a decided oppofition to the order of things eftablished on the 3d of May, 1791, my way of thinking, and the language of my ministers, have never varied; and in observing with a tranquil eye the new conftitution, which the republic has given to itself, without my privity and concurrence, I have never had the idea of either fupporting or protecting it. I have predicted, on the contrary, that the threatening measures and the warlike preparations which the diet unceasingly deliberated upon, one after another, would infallibly provoke the refentment of the empress of Ruffia, and draw upon Poland the evils which they were undertaken to avoid. The event fully fatisfied thofe appearances; and one cannot diffemble, in the prefent moment, that, without the new form of government for the republic, and without the efforts which they have announced for fupporting it, the court of Ruffia would not have determined on the vigorous proceedings fhe has now embraced. "Whatever "Whatever be the friendship that I have fworn to your majefty, and the intereft I take in every thing ( that concerns you, you will, yourself, believe that the ftate of things being entirely changed, fince the alliance that I contracted with the republic, and the present conjuncture, brought on by the conftitution of the 3d of May, 1791, posterior to my treaty, not being applicable to the engagements therein ftipulated, it does not belong to me to refift the attack made on your majefty, if the intentions of the patriotic party are ftill the fame, and if they perfift in the defire of maintaining their own work; but if, re-tracing their fteps, they fhall confider the difficulties that are arifing on all fides, I fhall be ready to concert measures with her majefty, the emprefs of Ruffia, and to explain myself, at the fame time, with the court of Vienna, to ftrive to reconcile the different interefts, and to agree on measures capable of reftoring to Poland its tranquillity. "I flatter myfelf that your majefty will find, in thefe difpofitions, and in thefe affurances, the fentiments of fincere friendship, and of the confideration with which I am, "Your majefty's good brother, "FREDERICK-WILLIAM." The reader will not fail to collate this paper with the former promifes of the Pruffian king: he will also recollect, that this king had bound himself by every tie of honour and religion to fuccour his "good brother;" and recollecting this, he will know how to appreciate the above letter. What a part has this Pruffian performed on the diplomatic ftage of our day? If he "forefaw" the deftruction of Poland, he did not fail to allure her to it, by a temporary connivance at her proceedings. Like one who, countenancing the elopement of a female, fhould protect her in feduction till the arrival of her enraged father, and then commit her to |