Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/249

ciuszko received a thousand peasants each, and the latter, in spite of his entreaties, was obliged to take the oath of allegiance first, and we followed his example. By this political stratagem patriotic citizens were compelled to declare themselves Russian subjects, and to receive by force gifts from the hands which had enslaved their country. Wielhorski, with his friends, seeing his efforts crowned with success, believed that the weight of his ignominy would now be alleviated, and his political character confounded with ours, but he remained, very probably, alone in this opinion, as neither the public nor posterity will be deceived by this gross and cunning subterfuge. But this man's want of principle arose more from vicious habits than nature. I remember, when at college, that he was considered the most amiable gentleman at the court of Warsaw, and I saw him as such on my début in society; ruined, however, by gambling, vain, and accustomed to luxury, he sacrificed to his cupidity and ambition, all the duties of a citizen.