Margrave Gonzaga Myszkowski, born on 13 March 1803 in Sędziejowice (near Pińczów). He received his education, among others in Germany; during the November Uprising. Wielopolski co-founded the Civil Society (Towarzystwo Obywatelskie), which defended the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland, and in August 1831, he was elected a deputy to the Sejm. Sent on a diplomatic mission to London, he unsuccessfully tried to convince the British authorities (especially Lord Palmerston) to support the uprising in Poland. In 1833, he co-authored a memorial in defense of the autonomy of the Jagiellonian University, and in the years 1835-36, he collaborated with A.Z. Helcel in editing "Kwartalnik Naukowy", which expressed the conservative views of the so-called Kraków Circle (grono krakowskie), a group also including – in addition to Wielopolski – Paweł Popiel. After the peasant uprising in Galicia (1846), he sent an open letter to Prince Metternich (Lettre d’un gentilhomme polonais sur les massacres de Galicie adressée au Prince de Metternich. A l'occasion de sa dépčche du 7 mars 1846) (Paris 1846), in which he attributed the blame for the outbreak of the uprising to the machinations of the Austrian authorities and championed collaboration with Russia, whose ruler respected – according to the author of the Letter – the fundamental principles of traditional political order, and in particular, did not put into question the customary relationships between the individual social classes. Following the demonstrations in Warsaw in the early 1861, Tsar Alexander II appointed Wielopolski Director of the Government Commission for Religious Denominations and Public Education (26 March 1861); thanks to him, the Municipal Committee (Delegacja Miejska), which was to restore peace and order, was disbanded, the Agricultural Society, headed by Andrzej Zamoyski, was dissolved, an ukase on the abolition of serfdom was issued, and local governments and the Council of State of the Kingdom of Poland were restored. In October 1861, in protest against the brutal repressions of the Namiestnik, General A. Lüders, Wielopolski resigned. From 18 June 1862 till 12 September 1863 (in fact, till July, when he went on a leave), he led the civil government of the Kingdom of Poland. The office of the Namiestnik of the Kingdom of Poland was entrusted to tsar’s brother, the Grand Duke Constantine Nicholaevich, who was inclined towards liberal reforms, proclaimed ukase on the rentification of peasants under individual contracts and on a reform of the school system foreseeing that schools of all levels would be fully Polish. On 6 October 1862, the Russian authorities announced the so-called branka (forced recruitment to the tsarist army), which accelerated the outbreak of the January Uprising. On 16 July 1863, Wielopolski emigrated. He died after a long illness in Dresden on 30 December 1877. He is one of the most controversial figures in Polish history, perceived by some as a traitor, or at least an unskillful politician who failed to match his policy to the moods of the Polish nation (which meant that Wielopolski’s plans were doomed to fail), by others as a political realist whose achievements were wasted, leading to the January Uprising.