PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.
The original, of which this volume is a translation, was written, nearly fifty years ago. during the Author's residence in the United States of America, and left by him, before his death in 1841, to the Polish Historical Committee of Paris, by whose order it was first published last year.
Russia has been, for the last ten years, a favourite field of investigation. Many tourists, English, American, German, and French, have employed their pens in the description of that colossal Empire, and have enriched the literature of their respective countries with interesting and popular works. The intrinsic value, however, of these works varies according to the means their authors had of obtaining correct information regarding a country, in which truth, like many other things, is the exclusive monopoly of the Autocrat, and of whose language and customs foreign writers are comparatively ignorant.
Niemcewicz, from his knowledge of the language and manners of Russia, and from his opportunities of becoming acquainted with the different classes in that country, has a peculiar claim to our confidence. It does not fall within his province to give a complete description of that Empire, but, in relating the incidents of his own captivity, and the political events which ultimately led to the downfal of his unhappy country, he pourtrays with a masterly hand the Russian Court, statesmen and public functionaries, at the end of last century, giving, besides, many incidental sketches not less interesting.
The Editor believes no apology is necessary for introducing such an Author to the notice of the British public, and if there were, it could be found in the sacrifices he himself has made in the same holy cause, and the interest he cannot but feel in every document calculated to throw light on the barbarous injuries inflicted on his dismembered country.
Edinburgh, July 25th, 1844.