Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/222

those who were with me, and who had been left for more than twelve months without being relieved, perceiving my discretion, and the interest which I took in their fate, came, during the absence of the Praporszczyk, to pour their complaints and their bitter sorrows into my bosom. They had been taken, for the most part, from the remotest provinces of the empire, were married, and had children; most of them, seized and enlisted soon after marriage, had not seen their wives and children for many years, and did not even hear from them, or at least very seldom. We had our mutual complaints. I endeavoured to console them, and as I had no money, I gave them my clothes, linen, everything that was not indispensable to me. Nothing inspires greater confidence, nothing links men more closely than common misfortune! Everything that they learnt, they communicated to me secretly. I even prevailed on them to take my two notes to General Kosciuszko, in which I described to him my situation, and the almost unprecedented severities to which