The paper is an interpretation of J.-J. Rousseau's book on the government of Poland. The central part of the paper is devoted to complex relations between the notions of nature, nation, childhood, and civic education. Methodologically, the analysis involves interpretation of historical contexts and positions significant in the writing of the book, and deconstruction of its key categories. In the latter respect, the idea of "strangeness" of Poland is the point of departure, and the role it plays in the construction of national and European identity is the aim of analysis.