The Letter That Wasn’t to Dembiński: Rediscovering a Forgotten Witness to Polish Independence

Some discoveries begin with a famous name. Others begin with a mistake.

A nineteenth-century letter appeared on the international market identified as a communication connected with General Henryk Dembiński, one of the leading military figures of the November Uprising. The attribution was understandable: Dembiński belonged to the same generation of Polish leaders, the same political world, and the same circle of exile that emerged after the defeat of the 1830–1831 uprising against Russia.

But the letter itself told a different story. Through the combination of handwriting, historical context, contemporary records and comparison with surviving archival descriptions, it became clear that this was not a letter to Dembiński at all. It was something considerably more important.

It was the original manuscript behind a lost communication from General Lafayette to Joachim Lelewel, preserving one of the most revealing moments in the formation of the Great Emigration.

Poland after the November Uprising

The defeat of the November Uprising in 1831 transformed the political history of Poland. The Russian Empire had suppressed the insurrection, dismantling the hopes of restoring Polish independence through armed struggle. Thousands of soldiers, politicians, intellectuals and activists were forced into exile. This exile community became known as the Great Emigration. Paris quickly became its political centre.

Among those who arrived in France was Joachim Lelewel (1786–1861), historian, revolutionary politician and former member of the Polish national government during the uprising. A leading intellectual figure of the defeated nation, Lelewel became president of the Polish National Committee, attempting to continue the struggle for Polish independence through international political action.

Supporting the Polish cause in France was one of the most famous political figures of the age: General Marie-Joseph Lafayette (1757–1834). Hero of both the American and French Revolutions, Lafayette had become one of the strongest French advocates for the Polish cause. His connections within French political life gave him influence that few other supporters of Poland possessed.

The present letter captures the moment when that influence met the limits of French policy.

Thiers writes to Lafayette

The letter is written entirely in the hand of Adolphe Thiers (1797–1877), then Minister of the Interior under the July Monarchy, the future President of France. Dated 24 December 1832, it was written in response to Lafayette’s intervention on behalf of Lelewel and Leonard Chodźko, another important Polish émigré figure.

The French government found itself in a difficult position. On one hand, France had welcomed many Polish refugees and wished to present itself as sympathetic to the defeated nation. On the other, the government feared revolutionary political activity within Paris and was unwilling to allow Lelewel’s organisation to continue operating from the capital. Thiers’ letter reveals that contradiction with remarkable clarity.

He begins by expressing his desire to relieve “all misfortunes, and particularly those of the Poles”, discussing financial assistance for members of the former Polish political establishment. He mentions support for Józefat Bolesław Ostrowski, formerly secretary-general in the Ministry of Justice of the Polish revolutionary government. But when he reaches Lelewel and Chodźko, the tone changes: “Mais quant à MM. Lelewel et Chodzko, je ne puis encore rien promettre…” (“But as for Messrs. Lelewel and Chodźko, I can promise nothing yet…”).

Thiers explains that they must come to him after receiving government orders, and that he will see what can be negotiated. But one thing was already decided: “Il m’est toutefois impossible de leur épargner la sortie de Paris.” (“It is nevertheless impossible for me to spare them departure from Paris”).

In a few lines, the entire political reality of the Great Emigration appears. France would assist Polish refugees. France would provide money. France would negotiate individual circumstances. But France would not allow the revolutionary leadership of the Polish movement to remain in Paris.

Reconstructing a lost documentary chain

The importance of the manuscript becomes clear when placed alongside the surviving documentary evidence.

Three days before this letter was written, on 21 December 1832, Lafayette wrote to Lelewel that he had met Thiers in the Chamber of Deputies. On 24 December, the same day as the present letter, Lafayette wrote again to Lelewel, confidentially forwarding an extract from a communication received from the Minister of the Interior.

When the Biblioteka Narodowa prepared its 1934 exhibition devoted to Lafayette, the transmitted extract was recorded with the distinctive passage: “Mais quant à MM. Lelewel et Chodzko…” The sequence can therefore be reconstructed:

21 December 1832
Lafayette approaches Thiers regarding Lelewel.

24 December 1832
Thiers replies in the present manuscript.

24 December 1832
Lafayette sends the substance of Thiers’ response to Lelewel.

The present letter is therefore not simply related to the episode. It is the original document from which Lafayette’s communication derived.

The fate of Lelewel

The consequences followed quickly. Unable to remain in Paris, Lelewel sought refuge at Lafayette’s estate at La Grange, where the French statesman attempted to protect him. But on 9 March 1833 French authorities removed Lelewel under escort and sent him to Tours.

Two days later Lafayette defended him publicly in the French Chamber of Deputies in a speech later printed as: Discours du général La Fayette en faveur de M. Lelewel, ministre polonais réfugié à La Grange. Lelewel ultimately settled in Brussels, where he remained until his death. The episode marked one of the defining early moments of the Great Emigration: the transformation of the defeated Polish political nation into an international exile movement.

 

The manuscript that survived when Poland’s copy disappeared

The survival of this letter is particularly remarkable because the corresponding Polish documentary record was lost. Lafayette’s letters to Lelewel from December 1832, including the communication transmitting Thiers’ decision, entered Lelewel’s papers in the great Rapperswil Polish collection. They survived into independent Poland and were displayed by the Biblioteka Narodowa in Warsaw in 1934.

The surviving catalogue record later notes simply: “nie zachował się” - “has not survived.” The Rapperswil manuscripts disappeared during the catastrophic destruction of Polish libraries and archives during the Second World War. 

The Polish-held documents recording Lafayette’s receipt and transmission of Thiers’ decision were lost. The original French ministerial letter that began the exchange survived separately, and I found it.

 

Why this document matters

Few manuscripts concentrate the history of the Great Emigration so completely. On one sheet appear: Adolphe Thiers, the French Minister of the Interior and future President of France; General Lafayette, the international champion of the Polish cause; Joachim Lelewel, historian and political leader of defeated Poland; Leonard Chodźko, Polish émigré activist and collaborator of Lelewel; and Józefat Bolesław Ostrowski, representative of the former Polish revolutionary administration.

This is not merely correspondence. It is a document recording the moment when the Polish independence movement changed form: from an unsuccessful uprising at home into a political and intellectual movement abroad.

 

A lost copy, a surviving original

The market initially saw a letter connected with a familiar Polish name. Research revealed something much rarer. The letter was not to Dembiński. It was the original manuscript behind Lafayette’s lost communication to Lelewel: the surviving French government response that shaped one of the earliest crises of the Great Emigration.

The copy preserved in Polish memory disappeared. The document that created it survives.