Kosciuszko was conveyed to Russia, where he remained till the accession of Paul in 1796. On his return on Dec. 19, 1796, he paid a second visit to America, and lived at Philadelphia till May 1798, when he went to Paris, where the First Consul earnestly invited his co-operation against the Allies. But he refused offers even of high command unless Napoleon undertook to give the restoration of Poland a leading place in his plans, and lived in retirement at Berville, near Paris, where the emperor Alexander visited him in 1814. At the Congress of Vienna his importunities on behalf of Poland finally wearied Alexander, who preferred to follow the counsels of Czartoryski ; and Kosciuszko retired to Solothurn, where he lived with his friend Zeltner. Shortly before his death, on April 2, 1817, he emancipated his serfs, insisting only on the maintenance of schools on the liberated estates. His remains were carried to Cracow and buried in the cathedral, while the people, reviving an ancient custom, raised a huge mound to his memory near the city.
Kosciuszko was essentially a democrat of the school of Jeffer son and Lafayette. He maintained that the republic could only be regenerated on the basis of absolute liberty and equality before the law ; but in this respect he was far in advance of his age, and the aristocratic prejudices of his countrymen compelled him to resort to half measures. He wrote Manoeuvres of Horse Artillery (New York, 18o8) and a description of the campaign of 1792 (in vol. xvi. of E. Raczynski's Sketch of the Poles and Poland, Posen, 1843).