26] 
cause of their country. The diet 
also was glad of this opportunity of 
shewing its gratitude to those on 
whom it had no other recompense 
to bestow. This was the last act 
of the famous, but unfortunate, diet 
of Grodno, which terminated on 
the twenty-fourth of Nov. 1793. 
But the revival of this order was 
attended with fatal consequences : 
jt irritated the empress to sucha 
degree, that she direéted her am- 
bassador to quit Warsaw wi*hout 
taking leave. Alarmed at this 
proof of her resentment, the king 
and council instantly agreed to-sup- 
press this order, and to send adepu- 
tation to Petersburgh, torequest her 
oblivion of the imprudence of the 
late diet in reviving it. This trans- 
aétion seems, nevertheless, to have 
sunk deep into her mind, and to 
have influenced much of her subse. 
quent conduét towards the Poles, 
whom she was led to consider asir- 
reconcileably averse to her person, 
as well as to-the measures enforced 
upon them, and unalterably deter. 
mined to seek every opportunity of 
throwing off their obedience. 
Herein the was not mistaken; but 
it was no less certain that her seve- 
rity afforded them ample reason to 
be dissatisfied. Baron Ingelstrohm, 
who succeeded count Seivers in the 
embassy at Warsaw, was ordered to 
demand a solemn abrogation of all 
the aéts of the diets of 1788 and 
17915 both which had been remark- 
ably inimical to the interests of 
Russia. After complying with tl#s 
jnjunétion, the Polish government 
was ordered to reduce the army to 
sixteen thousand, But this, toge- 
ther with.other despotic measures, 
proved a signal of general insurrec- 
tion, ‘the oppressive treatment of 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
the Polish gentry and peasantry was 
become intolerable. They were 
compelled to find food and quarters 
for the Russian soldiery, and to fur. 
nish them with all necessaries, at the 
price which these were pleased to 
fix, without certainty, however, of 
any payment. They were treated 
with insolence, and liable to the 
harshest usage. Such behaviour in 
the Russians did not fail to render 
them odious, and to create a thirst 
of revenge. When, to these oppres- 
sions, the insulting mandate was 
added to disband the army, the 
patience of the Poles was exhausted, 
and they refused to obey. The first 
who refused compliance was Mada. 
linski, a nobleman highly respect. 
ed, and a brigadier in the Polish 
army. Several regiments followed 
his example, and the defeétion at 
length became general, 
On receiving intelligence of this 
insurrection, the court of Petersburgh 
immediately dispatched fifteen thou. 
sand men into Poland, and the Rus. 
sion ambassador required the Polish 
government to send 4 body of forces 
against the insurgents, and to put 
every suspected person under arrest, 
But his demands were refused ; the 
latter particularly, as contrary to 
Jaw. The insurrection continued 
daily to increase; all the military 
had joined it, and every man able 
to bear arms seemed heartily ready 
to unite in one trial more, for the 
deliverance of his country. 
An individual now arose, who 
fixed at once the eye and expecta. 
tion of the public. This was the 
celebrated Kosciusko, whose cha- 
rater pointed him out as the pro- 
perest man to head the resistance of 
his countrymen to the Russians, 
He had, from early life, been bred 
a soldier, 
