Gurowski was a son of Count Władysław Gurowski, an ardent admirer of
Tadeusz Kościuszko. Having been expelled in 1818 and again in 1819 from the
gymnasia of
Warsaw and Kalisz for revolutionary demonstrations, young Gurowski continued his studies at various German universities. He studied under
Hegel at
Berlin University and obtained a degree from
Heidelberg University. Returning to Warsaw in 1825, he became identified with those opposed to Russian influence, and was in consequence several times imprisoned. He was active in organizing the
November uprising of 1830, in which he afterward took part. On its suppression, Gurowski lost the greater part of his estates and escaped to France, where he lived for several years. and adopted many of the views of
Charles Fourier. He helped found the Polish Democratic Society (TDP) in Paris. The remainder of his estates had in the meantime been confiscated and he had been condemned to death. From 1861 to 1863, he was translator in the
State Department in Washington D.C., being acquainted with eight languages. Count Gurowski died in May 1866 and was buried in
Congressional Cemetery. Whitman considered the tempestuous count a friend and attended his funeral. "His funeral was simple but very impressive—all the big radicals were there," Whitman wrote. ==Works==