Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/65

Rh the General arrived with his luggage, and Francis, my footman, with a portmanteau. The Supreme National Council had sent with them one of the General's aides-de-camp, with a letter to him, written in terms full of sensibility and nobleness; they offered to the Russian General, commanding in chief, in exchange for General Kosciuszko, all the Russian generals, officers, and soldiers, who were prisoners of the Poles, and whose number exceeded three thousand men. I translated to the Russian generals the proposition of the Polish government, but the offer was not accepted. With the letter to General Kosciuszko were sent four thousand ducats in gold, a box and three watches; he kept the half of the money, and gave the other half to the officers and soldiers, his fellow-prisoners. As soon as our luggage arrived, they appointed a committee of officers to examine it. They opened our trunks and portmanteaus, and emptied their contents on the floor, where every article was unfolded, and turned over and over again, to see if there