They were met
in the vestibule by an hussar officer of a most commanding
appearance. Sobieski and he having accosted each other with mutual
congratulations, the palatine turned to Thaddeus, took him by the
hand, and presenting him to his friend, said with a smile,
"Here, my dear Kosciusko, this young men is my grandson; he is called
Thaddeus Sobieski, and I trust that he will not disgrace either of
our names!"
Kosciusko embraced the young count, and with a hearty pressure of his
hand, replied, "Thaddeus, if you resemble your grandfather, you can
never forget that the only king of Poland who equalled our patriotic
Stanislaus was a Sobieski; and as becomes his descendant, you will
not spare your best blood in the service of your country." [Footnote:
Kosciusko, noble of birth, and eminently brave in spirit, had learnt
the practice of arms in his early youth in America. During the
contest between the British colonies there and the mother country,
the young Pole, with a few of his early compeers in the great
military college at Warsaw, eager to measure swords in an actual
field, had passed over seas to British America, and offering their
services to the independents, which were accepted, the extraordinary
warlike talents of Kosciusko were speedily honored by his being made
an especial aid-de-camp to General Washington. When the war ended, in
the peace of mutual concessions between the national parent and its
children on a distant land, the Poles returned to their native
country, where they soon met circumstances which caused them to
redraw their swords for her.
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