His father was long known, not only as a nobleman of
the first rank in Poland, but as one of the most accomplished
scholars in Europe. Such was his reputation, that at the period
of the last vacancy in the throne of Poland, Poniatowski
(afterwards king) was deputed by the diet to propitiate the
Empress Catherine, to second the election of Czartoryski; but
the deputy's handsome form found such favour in the licentious
eyes of the modern Messalina, that he ceased to urge the suit of
the diet, and returned the avowed nominee of his imperial
mistress. Prince Czartoryski's claims on the throne, popularity,
and consequent influence, rendered him odious to the court of
St. Petersburg, and when the last act of spoliation was
perpetrated, his lands were ravaged, his beautiful Castle of
Pulawy destroyed, and a sentence of extermination pronounced
against him, unless he would consent to send his two sons, one
the subject of this notice, and the other Prince Constantino
Czartoryski, as hostages to St. Petersburg. To avoid this
wretched alternative, the prince and his princess, who still
survive, consented to the separation, and the two young
noblemen, were placed under the eye of those who were deemed
worthy, by the Autocrat, of reforming their principles.
Pages:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41