The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution

by Alex Storozynski

While the Patriots were celebrating the new constitution, in April 1792, Felix Potocki, Seweryn Rzewuski, Francis Branicki, and several other collaborators traveled to St. Petersburg to meet with Catherine the Great in her palace to plot the overthrow of Poland’s democratic government. Turning reality on its head, the traitors allowed the czarina’s minions to draft the Act of the Targowica Confederation, claiming that an international conspiracy had been hatched with revolutionary France, and that Russia needed to send its army to protect the security and freedom of Poland. The defectors coordinated the timing of the invasion with the Russian army and then rushed to the small town of Targowica in southeastern Poland to issue their proclamation. On May 14, 1792, the traitors made their goals known: They had officially declared war on the constitution.