Upon his return to Poland, which had been partitioned by Russia, Austria, and Prussia three years earlier, he found no employment in the army (the Polish army at the time was reduced to 10,000 soldiers).

He had no property (his brother ran the family farm), which was an obstacle to his marriage plans linked to Ludwika Sosnowska, daughter of Lithuanian Field Hetman Jozef Sylvester Sosnowski.