In January 1831 he joined the diplomatic staff of the revolutionary Polish National Government, led by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski. Initially he served as a copyist. On 8 March 1831 he was sent on a courier mission to Dresden (some sources say this was not an official mission but a private journey). Many others left Warsaw around that time, in the aftermath of the Battle of Olszynka Grochowska and in expectation of a Russian advance on Warsaw. In Dresden, Słowacki was well received by the local Polish émigré community, and even welcomed as "the bard of fighting Warsaw." In July 1831 he volunteered to deliver messages from the National Government to its representatives in London and Paris, where he heard about the fall of the Uprising. Details of his mission (what letters he was carrying, and to whom) are not known.