Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/105

Rh Czernihow, the chief-town of the province of the same name, which, as well as Kiow, belonged to Poland, until John Sobieski, being engaged in his wars with the Turks, had abandoned it definitively to Russia. The inhabitants of this province preserved, until this time, sincere attachment to their mother country. After dinner, two old officers brought us a plateful of fine apples, and begged us to accept them. Our guards not being present for some time, they talked to us in Polish, with an interest which touched us deeply. “The Polish blood runs in our veins,” said they. “We sincerely pity your