‘No doubt, but constantly letting their thoughts run back, as they do, to the brilliant periods of their history, they would fain see their country assume the proud and independent attitude it adopted under the Bathoris, the Sigismunds, and the Sobieskis; and in this beautiful dream of the past, and, moreover, deceived by the actual state of politics in Europe, they will not stop their ambition at the point imposed by their geographical position. They will only find a country in the strictest sense through us and with us,’ the councillor went on. ‘Poland, completely independent and organised on the very risky basis of its erewhile constitutions, would only secure an ephemeral existence; she would carry her own germ of destruction. Is she to form a permanent camp in the centre of pacified Europe, or shall she arm all her nomadic sons like the Sarmatians of old, in order to make up by living ramparts for the natural frontiers and fortresses she lacks? She must have a support in order to insure her independence. Truth, I know, can only triumph slowly over the power of prejudice; but what is there to oppose the fact which henceforth is only too palpable? The hope of a better future, a hope which can only be indulged by unthinking creatures whom the disasters of their country have failed to restore to reason and coolness of mind.’ ‘Burke has said somewhere,’ replied the prince, ‘that the division of Poland would cost its authors very dear; he might have said the same of the defenders of the nation, for it is probable that the active share of Napoleon in the affairs of Poland has contributed in no small degree to his downfall. May the projects of Alexander remain exempt from a similar fatality! Everything will depend upon the guarantees given for the maintenance of the Polish nationality! A people may resign itself to having been vanquished; it will never resign itself to being humiliated.’ ‘The solicitude of the emperor for his new subjects admits of no discussion,’ observed M. Nowosilitzoff. ‘To be convinced of this, you have only to glance at this manuscript. It is the draught of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland, and it is corrected by the hands of Alexander himself. If it be true that great thoughts proceed direct from the heart, there is ample evidence here of the nobleness of Alexander’s. The laws and the constitution of the kingdom will be the keystone of the peace of Europe.’ In fact, the few pages he read to us from the manuscript redounded as much to the honour of the statesman as to that of the philanthropist. Poland would indeed have been a happy country, if an erroneous policy had not struck all those dreams of a moment with utter barrenness.[55]