Have you heard about Krystyn Lach Szyrma?
He was a Polish philosopher and writer who visited England and Scotland in the 1820. Like many
Poles, he took part in the November Uprising of 1831 and after it was crushed, had
to go into exile and chose to start a new life in England. He had visited England and Scotland on earlier occasions as
tutor to the son of an eminent aristocrat.
Krystyn Lach Szyrma was not
the first one to observe the following:
‘The common
people constitute the majority of every nation,
so all reforms should commence with the
people.’
This man has been one of my
favourite historical characters since I was given his book in the 1990s by one
of the tourists from a group I took to England and Scotland.
Krystyn Lach Szyrma travelled around these countries in the 1820s and later
wrote a detailed and very readable account of his journeys. Later on I read
relevant bits from this book to the next groups of tourists while travelling on
the coaches from Poland.
To save my voice and for the fun of it, I would often invite a tourist to the
front of the bus to do the reading. It was fun! BTW, in the recent years the
book was translated into English!
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