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Prince Adam Czartoryski
was the most renowned member of a princely family,
descended from the Lithuanian royal house, which wielded
great power in Poland in the 18th century. He received a
thorough education in his native country and traveled
widely in western Europe. On returning to Poland in
1791, he played a distinguished part in the anti-Russian
1792 campaign that precipitated the second partition of
Poland (1793).
A friend of Alexander I, he helped
the tsar in his reform of the government, served as minister of foreign
affairs, and spoke for Poland at the Congress of Vienna, 1815. Disillusioned
with the tsar, he retired from public life, returning later as President
of the Polish provisional government. After the Polish Insurrection of
1830 he fled to Paris. His home there became a center of political activities
aimed at restoring Polish independence.
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