Civic mindset of Wincenty Ignacy Marewicz and its biographic contexts. "Ofiara dla Ojczyzny… roku 1792, maja dnia 14 w Wilnie"

Abstract

Wincenty Ignacy Marewicz (1755–1822) – a little-known writer of the Polish Enlightenment with a rich and varied legacy. His works and biography are still not fully studied. The material presented here is a critical study with an introduction. It is a copy of the civic sacrifice made by Marewicz and recorded in the Vilnius Civil and Military Commission at a time when the homeland, threatened by war with Russia, was facing mortal danger. The writer published it in a separate print and sent it to Stanisław August, as we know from his letter to the ruler dated 31 May 1792.
Undoubtedly, Ofiara dla Ojczyzny is evidence of Wincenty Marewicz’s patriotism, his civic responsibility and devotion. It is at the same time a somewhat untypical readiness to provide for the motherland’s vital needs, as it reveals the whereabouts of a “skinny writer”, who is at the same time an impoverished nobleman, honesty, reluctance to cover up difficult economic and financial matters. The text also includes a number of other constant elements of Marewicz’s attitude, visible in his stricte literary activities. Ofiara dla Ojczyzny is a public, and at the same time deeply personal, document, which is worth commemorating.