L E T T E R S

425Letter Nr. 95Paris, May, 1836My Dear Joseph!I am only writing a few words to you, and that in a hurry. Your visa hasnot yet been issued, for from the time of the ill-fated confederacy 402 all favorabledecisions on Polish request have been withheld, and by order of the Minister,rather the Vice-Minister, the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Gasparin 403 . Theyhave not even been presented to the minister by the head of the bureau. There is ageneral decision to reduce the number of Poles living in Paris, even down to 200.This order, apparently, was given a long time ago, but never put into execution.Perhaps it will not be applied at this time either. To make a long story short, it hasbecome very difficult to obtain permission to come here. However, next weekyour case will be taken up with Mr. Gasparin himself, and there is hope thatthings will go well.I am truly awaiting your arrival in Paris with genuine impatience. Thereare so many, many things I want to talk about with you, and seek your counsel.May God grant that we will see each other very soon. I also have a request tomake of you regarding Marszewski: If he is truly the respectable person yourfather and Ziomecki say he is, we would be very happy to have him with us. But,explain to him that if his convictions are really those he expressed in his. letter toZiomecki, if he sees the truth and his salvation in Christ and the Catholic faith,then without any consideration for one position or another, looking forward tojoining Ziomecki and us sooner or later, he must begin to give witness to the truthby his action, by living, as a Catholic, by way of complete reconcilation with Godin the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. Joseph wrote him about our402 Confederation of the People of Poland - a recent attempt by General J. Dwernicki and deputyJohn Ledóchowski to unite the Polish emigrants in France. The only result was the arrest anddispersal of the exiles.403 Andrew Stephen Peter de Gasparin (1783-1862). French politician and statesman; at this timehe was the director of the Department of Justice and Vive-Minister for Internal Affairs; he wrotebooks on agronomy.