He was born in Piotrowice in the Lublin District on the 7th of May, 1836, into a family with strong traditions of patriotism. His father, Andrzej Edward, was associated with the Hotel Lambert camp, while his grandfather Kajetan was among the leading poets and publicists of the Congress Poland in the first half of the 19th century. Stanisław Koźmian was educated in Kraków, Bonn, and Paris. In his youth, he was under a strong influence of liberal ideas. He involved himself in organizing aid and support for the January Uprising of 1863, but after its fall considered the outbreak of the insurrection a political mistake and, from then on, condemned conspiratorial schemes aimed at sparking off another national rebellion. In 1866, together with Stanisław Tarnowski, Józef Szujski and Ludwik Wodzicki, he founded “Przegląd Polski”, a magazine that propagated the views of a Conservative political group in Galicia which was later called ‘Stańczycy’. Koźmian led an active political life in Galicia, which, however, did not prevent him from playing a significant part in the theatrical life of Kraków: he was, in fact, the manager of the theatre and largely contributed to its reform. In 1898 he moved to Vienna and only returned to Kraków in 1919. He died there on the 3rd of July, 1922. His most famous work – highly controversial and widely discussed – was Rzecz o roku 1863, his critique of the January Uprising published in 1895. Also his versatile analysis of the policy of the founder of united Germany - O działaniach i dziełach Bismarcka (1902) met with approbation of the readers.