200 INTERFERENCE OF CATHARINE II. [CHAP. XLIX. counted a million Protestants. At first the dissentients had enjoyed an equality of civil rights with their Catholic fellowcountrymen. These rights, however, were gradually restricted; and towards the beginning of the eighteenth century, and especially after the time of Charles XII., who had indiscreetly attempted to render Protestantism the dominant religion, persecution became more vigorous and methodical. A Diet in 1717 ordered the destruction of all Protestant churches built since the Swedish invasion, and forbade the Reformed worship in all places where it had not existed before that event. In 1724 the intolerance of the Jesuits produced a bloody persecution at Thorn, which had nearly involved the Republic in a war with the guarantors of the Peace of Oliva. The decrees of a Diet in 1733, confirmed by another in 1736, excluded Dissenters from all offices and dignities. The Dissenters availed themselves of the election of Stanislaus Augustus to invoke the protection of the Czarina. Nothing could be more acceptable to Catharine than such a pretext for meddling in the affairs of Poland. In a note presented by her Ambassador, Count Kayserlingk, and her Minister, Prince Repnin, which was backed by another from Frederick II., she demanded that the dissentients should be allowed the free exercise of their religion, and enjoy the same political rights as Catholics. By thus interfering in favour of liberty of conscience, as well as by helping to maintain the Elective Monarchy, Russia and Prussia seemed to be acting in accordance with the enlightened spirit of the age, when, in fact, their object only was to serve their own purposes by keeping up the anarchy in Poland. Toleration was to be established by 40,000 bayonets. But the Diet assembled in 1765, instead of lending themselves to the views of the Empress, renewed, in a moment of enthusiasm and reaction against Russian domination, all the most objectionable constitutions against Dissenters. Our space permits us only briefly to indicate some of the leading events which preceded the partition of Poland.' The King, by his Among the principal works on this subject may be mentioned: Rulhière, Hist. de l'Anarchie de Pologne; Ferrand, Hist. des trois Démembremens de la Pologne (a continuation of the preceding work); Görtz, Mémoires et Actes authen tiques relatifs aux négociations qui ont précédés le partage de la Pologne; Frédéric II., Mém. depuis la Paix de Hubertsburg; Dohm, Denkwürdigkeiten meiner Zeit, Lemgo, 1814; Souvenirs du Comte de sur le premier Démembrement de * ** la Pologne, in the Lettres particulières du baron de l'iosménil sur les affaires de la Pologne, p. 87 sqq. An accurate and valuable account of all the circumstances which preceded the first partition of Poland, from the election of Stanislaus in 1764 till its final consummation, chiefly compiled from the MS. despatches of Von Essen, the Saxon Minister at Warsaw at that period, will be found in Hermann's Gesch. Russlands, B. v. S. 381 556. CHAP. XLIX.] CONFEDERATION OF RADOM. 201 weakness and vacillation, lost the confidence of all parties. He had at first lent himself to the Russian plans in favour of the dissidents; but finding that the carrying of them through the Diet would be incompatible with the schemes which he had formed for extending the power of the Crown, he broke with Prince Repnin, the Russian Minister at Warsaw, and joined his uncles the Czartorinskis. These Princes, after the election of their nephew, had endeavoured to introduce some order into the State. They wished to abolish the liberum veto, to establish a regular system of taxation, and to put the army on an adequate footing; and they formed a Confederation to carry out their views; but although Stanislaus Augustus, in the Diet which met in October, 1766, declared himself against the Russian plans in favour of the dissidents, yet the anti-Russian party suspected his sincerity, and refused to give him their confidence. Catharine, on the other hand, enraged that her creature should presume to show any will of his own, resolved, not indeed to dethrone him, but to leave him nothing but an empty title. Defeated in her projects by the Diet above mentioned, she resolved to effect them in another way. Her chief instrument in this work was Prince Charles Radzivill, a man of great authority in Lithuania, whom she had bought. Through his influence, and with the aid of Russian gold, no fewer than 178 Confederations were formed in Poland in 1767. These consisted not only of dissidents, but also of malcontent Catholics, who were led away with the idea that the King was to be deposed; but were perhaps more governed by Russian money than by any political or patriotic views. These Confederations, which are said to have numbered 80,000 members, were united into one at Radom, a town in the Palatinate of Sandomierz, under Prince Radzivill and Brzotowski as Marshals, June 23rd. According to Polish customs, a general Confederation thus formed exercised a sort of irresponsible dictatorship. Laws and magistrates were silent in its presence; the King, the Senate, the holders of the highest offices and dignities, were amenable to its jurisdiction; persons who refused to join it were liable to have their property confiscated. Having effected this object, Prince Repnin now threw off the mask. A manifest was laid before the general Confederation of quite a different tenour from the propositions made to the separate ones. In these little had been said about the dissidents; but now a complete political equality was demanded for them; and the assembly was still further disgusted by the intimation that they were to request the Russian guarantee 202 POLAND OBTAINS A RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION. [CHAP. XLIX. to the laws and constitutions which they were to promulgate. As they had also discovered that Russia would not consent to the dethronement of the King, they refused to sign the Act of Confederation; whereupon the Russian Colonel, Carr, surrounded the assembly with his troops, and would permit nobody to depart till the Act had been signed. To the 178 Marshals of the various Confederations views of self-interest were also held out, and thus partly by force, partly by persuasion, they were induced to take an oath of fidelity to the King, and to invite his accession to the Confederation. Repnin now ruled despotically. Under his auspices an extraordinary Diet was opened, October 4th, 1767, whose decisions, as it was held under the form of a Confederation, were regulated by a majority. Repnin arranged its proceedings in daily conferences with the Primate, Prince Radzivill, the Grand Treasurer of the Crown, and the King. The Bishops of Cracow and Kioff, the Palatine of Cracow and his son, and a few others who seemed inclined to oppose the proceedings, were seized and carried into the interior of Russia. A delegation or committee of sixty members, and another smaller one of fourteen, were now appointed; and the Diet was prorogued to receive their report. The smaller Delegation was empowered to make binding resolutions by a majority of votes, and thus eight men could decide upon the future fate and constitution of Poland, although by the will of Russia and Prussia the liberum veto-in other words, unanimity in the proceedings of the Diet-was to remain the fundamental principle of the Constitution! Repnin governed all the proceedings of the Delegation, and the report laid before the Diet contained only such matters as had been approved of by him.' On March 5th, 1768, the King and the two Marshals of the Confederation signed an Act comprizing, in the name of the nation, the resolutions of the Diet, and the Confederation was then dissolved. The result of their deliberations was incorporated in a treaty with Russia, and two separate Conventions, which established the future Constitution of Poland. The treaty confirmed the Peace of Moscow The following anecdote will show his absolute authority. A resolution had been passed in the smaller delegation which almost annihilated the authority of the Papal nuncio in Poland. Catha rine disapproved of it, and Repnin, in the greater delegation, drawing a paper from his pocket, said, with an air of condescension, "Gentlemen, here is a project of the committee, annulling all the autho rity of the Pope in this Kingdom, but I as Essen's CHAP. XLIX.] RISING OF THE POLES. 203 of 1686. By the first separate Act,' the Roman Catholic religion was made dominant in Poland. It was provided that the King must be a Papist; that the Queen could not be crowned unless she belonged to the Romish communion; that any Pole who abandoned that creed after the establishment of this Act, should incur the penalty of banishment. But, on the other hand, the Protestant Confederation was recognized as legal; Dissenters were authorized to retain the churches and foundations of which they were in possession; and were to be admitted into the Senate and public offices on the same footing as Papists. The second separate Act contained the cardinal laws of the Republic, as settled with Prince Repnin. The liberum veto was retained, so far as it subserved the purposes of foreign intervention. For though, during the first three weeks of a Diet, during which only economical questions were discussed, a majority of votes was to decide, yet, during the last three weeks, which were devoted to affairs of State policy, it was required that the votes should be unanimous. Some really good regulations were, however, introduced. Thus the wilful murder of a serf by a noble was no longer to be redeemable with money, but was to be punished capitally. These proceedings excited great discontent among the Poles, which was increased by the brutality of Repnin. The nation became convinced that the King had sold himself and them, that he had always been the secret ally of Russia, and that the apparent breach between the Courts of St. Petersburg and Warsaw was a mere sham and delusion. Radzivill received the reward of his treachery in being restored to his Palatinate, from which he had been driven in the Czartorinskis, as well in as large sums of money. The fanaticism of the populace was excited by the priests, who gave out that Russia, in accord with King Stanislaus, intended to abolish the Roman Catholic religion. The discontent was fanned by France. Choiseul, the French Minister, endeavoured, but without success, to detach Frederick II. from Russia; but he succeeded in raising the Poles, and at length in persuading the Porte to enter into a Russian war. In March, 1768, a Confederation was formed by the Polish Catholics in the town of Bar, in Podolia, a Province neighbouring on Turkey, for 1 The preamble states that it was concluded between the Emperor of Russia, the Kings of Prussia, Denmark, England, and Sweden on the one part, and the King and Republic of Poland on the other. But though it is true that the four Powers named employed their in fluence in favour of the dissidents, and though their ministers assisted at the sittings of the Commission, the Act was signed only by Prince Repnin and the Polish plenipotentiaries. Wenck, Codex Jur. Gent., rec. t. iii. pp. 651, 701; Martens, Recueil, t. i. pp. 391, 398. 204 STATE OF TURKEY. [CHAP. XLIX. the purpose of dethroning the King, driving out the Russians, and restoring Polish freedom.1 The principal leaders were Count Krasinsky, who was elected Marshal, Pulmoski, and Potockipersons of no great consideration. This Confederation gave rise to others in Great and Little Poland and Lithuania. Even Radzivill himself, a fickle, drunken, and despicable character, was for a while carried away by the stream, and joined one of these associations; but surrendered immediately the Russians appeared before his fortress of Nieswicz. The separate Confederations were finally converted into a general one, which, on account of the Russian troops, held its council abroad; first at Eperies in Hungary, and then at Teschen in. Silesia. From this place the deputies of the Confederation betook themselves to the little town of Bielitz, close to the Polish frontiers, and separated only by a small stream from the lordship of Biala, belonging to the Sulkowski family, so that the necessary papers could be signed on Polish ground. France assisted the Confederates with a small subsidy till the fall of the Minister Choiseul, and sent to their aid the afterwards noted Colonel Dumouriez, and some other officers. But she never lent them any effectual help. Almost ten years before, the French Cabinet had contemplated the partition of Poland as highly improbable; and even in the event of its occurrence, had · decided that it was not likely to interest France. Although want of discipline and subordination among the Poles, and the disunion which prevailed among their leaders, caused them, in spite of their bravery, to be worsted in almost every rencounter with the Russians; yet the insurrection was found difficult to suppress, and the fate of Poland was postponed a few years longer by a quarrel between Russia and the Porte. 2 Turkey had now enjoyed a long interval of tranquillity. Sultan Mahmoud I., who reigned above twenty years, though not endowed with great abilities, and entirely governed by his ministers, encouraged the arts of peace. He built numerous mosques, and founded several schools and professorships, as well as four libraries. He encouraged the art of printing, which had been 1 Rulhière, Hist. de l'Anarchie de Pologne, t. iii. p. 13 sqq. 3 2"Lors même que, contre toute vraisemblance, les quatre puissances (including Turkey) s'arrangeraient pour partager la Pologne, il est encore très-douteux que cet événement pût intéresser la France." -Mémoire lu au Conseil 8 mai 1763, ap. St. Priest, Partage de la Pologne. 3 For this period of Turkish history may be consulted, Tott, Mém. sur les Tures et les Tartares; Turkey, its History and Progress, from the journals and correspondence of Sir James Porter, edited by Sir George Larpent; London, 1854. Sir J. Porter was ambassador at Constantinople from 1747 to 1762. |