Arcissevius Christopher, (Polon. Arciszewski,) was the younger brother of Elias Arcissevius, Junior, and the intimate friend of Andrew Wissowatius, Junior, with whom he became acquainted in Holland. The following particulars respecting him are given by Count Krasinski, who mentions his name in connexion with those of Prince Janus Radzivil, and Adam Kisiel, the Richelieu of Poland.

"Arciszewski was born towards the end of the sixteenth century, in Grand Poland, where his father, Elias Arciszewski, who was a particular friend of Socin, and a great propagator of his sect, of which he was a Minister, possessed some estates. He received an excellent education, and applied himself with great success to all the sciences relating to the military profession. He left his own country, as it appears, being involved in a quarrel with some Roman Catholic Priest, where he had acted with great violence, and went to serve abroad. He entered the Dutch service, and was appointed to an important command in the Brazils, which the Dutch had just conquered from the Portuguese. Arciszewski defended that conquest with great success against the Spaniards, notwithstanding the inferiority of his forces; opposing the enemy's numbers by his great valour, extraordinary activity, and superior knowledge of military science. He constructed several fortresses, and his justice and impartiality gained for him the esteem of the conquered populations. The best proof of his disinterestedness is, that after having commanded for many years in so rich a country as Brazil, he left it poorer than when he assumed that command. He says in one of his letters, with a noble pride, 'I have always preferred glory to riches, and I have only once taken, as a ransom of a Spanish town, because they had hanged a good soldier of mine, two thousand dollars, which I immediately distributed amongst my troops.' A dispute with Count Mauritius of Nassau, who was sent to the Brazils by the Dutch government, induced Arciszewski to leave that country in order to lay his complaint before the States of Holland. The services which Arciszewski had rendered to Holland must have been of great importance, and his complaints against Count Mauritius of Nassau just, when the General States of that country, notwithstanding the great influence possessed by the Nassau family, did not blame Arciszewski's conduct; but, on the contrary, assigned to him a large sum of money for the levy of new troops, and a golden medal was struck in his honour. The medal contains on one side Arciszewski's family arms, suspended on a column, surrounded by trophies and a wreath of laurels, with the two following inscriptions:—' Victricem accipe laurum;' and second, 'Hastes Hisp. prqfligat.' On the reverse, the following inscription: 'Heroi, generis nobilitate, armorum et literarum scientia longe preestantissimo Christ, ab Arcischau Arciszewski rebus in Bresilia per triennium, prudentiss. fortis. feliciss. gestis. Societas Americana suce gratitudinis, et ipsius fortitudinis, acjidei, hoc monumentum esse voluit. A Ch. Nato CIOIOCXXXVII.' This medal was engraved in the Medallic History of Holland, by Gerhard Loon; and in the splendid work published by Count Edward Raczynski, in French and Polish, entitled, The Polish Medalier, Breslaw, 1838.

"Arciszewski, who apparently remained in the Dutch service till the peace with Portugal in 1641, was invited in a very honourable manner, by King Vladislav the Fourth, to enter the service of his own country. He accepted that proposition, and was created Master of the Ordnance in 1646; he was also made Castellan of Przemysl, and received the starosty of Kamieniec. His nomination to the office of the Master of the Ordnance expresses that he was an Admiral in the Dutch service. He died in the beginning of the reign of John Casimir, at Leszno, whither he had retired in his old age; his body was deposited in the vaults of the Protestant Church of that place, where it was burnt with that Church during the conflagration of 1656. He was educated in the Socinian tenets, but he conformed to the Reformed Church during his residence in Holland." The Count should have added, that the condition on which he joined the Reformed communion was, that he should be allowed to dissent from the received opinion concerning the Trinity, and to retain his views respecting the Unity of God. He was accustomed to say, that the Arians, or Photinians, as they are commonly called, held purer sentiments concerning God than other Christians; a declaration which he did not scruple to make in his letter, addressed to King Vladislav IV., on his return into Poland.

When he was about to set sail for America, he invited his friend, Andrew Wissowatius, to accompany him; and held out to him, as an inducement, the wide field of exertion, and the ample means of promoting the divine glory, which that country would open to him. Nor would he have found it difficult to procure the assent of Wissowatius, whose wishes had for some time been that way inclined, if he had not been deterred by the thought of leaving his parents at such a distance, and undertaking a voyage so long and perilous, without consulting them, or obtaining the sanction of the Church of which he had the care, and whose concurrence he deemed necessary, before he embarked in any new project. (Vide Art. 294.)

Krasinski states that Christopher Arciszewski left several writings, which were held in high estimation: but no account is given of them either by Sandius or Bock.

(Vidend. Sandii B. A. p. 141. Bock, Hist. Ant . T. I. pp. 41, 42. KrasimkCa Hist. Sketch, &c Vol. II. Chap. xii. pp. 269—271, Note. )