collected a great number of manuscripts, and to which he has bequeathed all his papers. He was a political speaker, a poet and a prose
But as it is not always in our power to serve her with arms in our hands, as political means are only accessible to the few, let us endeavour to be useful to her in a way open to every Pole: let us keep up, nourish, and strengthen this spirit, this national character, this sentiment of our imperishable rights, the glorious inheritance of our past, and the surest guarantee of our future. Antiquam exquirite matrem, such was the motto of one of our most celebrated historians! It should now be ours.
Whilst foreign rulers undermine and destroy the foundations of our ancient national existence, persecute the faith of our fathers, efface from the soil our institutions, and proscribe even the language of our country, whilst the sanctuaries of our patriotic traditions, our libraries, our archives, become the prey of the conqueror, it behoves us exiles, unfortunate but free, to repair all these losses and spoliations. In order to contribute as much as possible to the accomplishment of this duty, we have just established at Paris a Polish Historical Committee.
The first and principal measure which this committee has adopted, is simple and modest, and by the
