"
Tears stood in the monarch's eyes while he spoke. Sobieski, with
hardly a steadier utterance, answered, "I come to receive your
majesty's commands. I will obey them in all things but in
surrendering this sword (which was my grandfather's) into the hands
of your enemies."
"I will not desire it," replied Stanislaus. "By my acquiescence with
the terms of Russia, I only comply with the earnest petitions of my
people. I shall not require of you to compromise your country; but
alas! you must not throw away your life in a now hopeless cause. Fate
has consigned Poland to subjection; and when Heaven, in its
mysterious decrees, confirms the chastisement of nations, it is man's
duty to submit. For myself, I am to bury my griefs and indignities in
the castle of Grodno."
The blood rushed over the cheek of Thaddeus at this declaration, to
which the proud indignation of his soul could in no way subscribe,
and with an agitated voice he exclaimed, "If my sovereign be already
at the command of our oppressors, then indeed is Poland no more! and
I have nothing to do but to perform the dying will of my mother. Will
your majesty grant me permission to set off for England, before I may
be obliged to witness the last calamity of my wretched country?"
"I would to Heaven," replied the king, "that I, too, might repose my
age and sorrows in that happy kingdom! Go, Sobieski; your name is
worthy of such an asylum; my prayers and blessings shall follow you.
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