Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/87

Rh forward us a letter full of tenderness and friendship. But, alas! this was the last time that we had intercourse with our countrymen, and received proofs of their generous and compassionate interest! We were approaching the fatal hour which was to separate us from the rest of the world.

It was, if I mistake not, on the 17th of November that Suwarow’s courier arrived with the intelligence that Warsaw had capitulated, after Praga had been taken by assault, and that horrible attrocities had been committed by the Russians in this unfortunate suburb of our capital. The same courier was the bearer of dispatches, and secret instructions concerning us. We suspected this from the whisperings of Titow and his officers, from their frequent intercourse, and especially from a secret conference which they had, shut up in a room for an hour. We learnt nothing else after this, but that our generals, officers, and soldiers, who had hitherto marched with us, were to continue their route with Chruszczew, and that General Kosciuszko, Major Fischer,