In the year 1793, Poland perished!

For centuries, circumstances had been gathering, slowly brewing this sad and dreadful epoch. Neither bravery nor courage could avert it. Even the strongest love for defending the Fatherland was unable to accomplish it.

I shall not dwell here on the causes and consequences of our misfortunes. Surely every one of my Readers knows them, and every Pole has them engraved upon his heart. Yet I will with pride recall here the last years of that Poland, which were ennobled and made glorious — first by the final Sejm, and afterwards by rare proofs of devotion to the Fatherland, given by all those who at that time offered their lives and fortunes for its defence.

There our youth perished! There the pupils of the Knights’ School covered themselves and the one who had instilled in them the principles of virtue and valour, with glory. There soldiers and civilians alike shed their blood. There every Pole believed himself happiest when he fell in so noble a cause.

Providence did not permit our Sex to share with them in these services. It left us only our wishes, our prayers, and our tears in those days when grief and despair wounded our hearts.

Every Pole must have felt how strong are the bonds that bind us to our Homeland — that land where we first begin to live, where the remains of our Forefathers rest, and where our Children grow! Where Friendship, gratitude, and trust offer us the sweetest expressions. That Land, where language, customs, places, memories, hope — in short, everything — attaches us; can it ever be indifferent to us?

It was that Land which was drenched in blood, scorched with fire, and struck with the sword. It was then that the thought first came to me — to collect Polish relics to entrust to posterity. It seems that anyone, having lost a mother, children, or a friend, grows attached to even the smallest mementos left behind. Every such thing becomes dear. And though these mementos awaken sorrow, still their sight brings some comfort.

The same feelings should be stirred by these remnants, these Polish Relics, that still remain to us.

In this collection are traces of Bolesław the Brave, Casimir the Great, Stefan Batory, Jan Zamoyski […] rest of the text omitted.