Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/21

Rh The following year, in the month of July, Niemcewicz being acquainted with the English language and manners, was sent by the National Government to plead the cause of his country before the British Cabinet; this was just at the time when the French Cabinet made proposals in London regarding the common mediation of the two Courts in the affairs of Poland. But the obstacles which were thrown in his way by Prussia did not allow him to arrive in time at London; and soon the fatal intelligence of the capitulation of Warsaw gave a deadly blow to the hopes of the Poles. Niemcewicz, more than seventy years old at that time, did not, however, hesitate to undergo his fourth exile, and share the fate of his countrymen who left Poland. He continued, at first, to labour in order to influence public opinion in England and Ireland in favour of his country, and contributed to the establishment of the Literary Society of the Friends of Poland in London. He afterwards came to reside in Paris, where his noble efforts in the cause, which