Chapter IV: Concerning the infallible teaching of the Roman (10)

"The new king, who was elected out of respect for the memory
of the house of Jaguello (being the son of the sister of
Sigismond Augustus), was not the kind of monarch Poland at
that time required. … He was too indolent to take the reins of
government into his own hands, but placed them in those of the
Jesuits and his German favourites. Not only did he thereby
lose the affections of his people, but he also lost the crown
of Sweden, to which, at his father's death, he was the
rightful heir. This throne was wrested from him by his uncle
Charles, the brother of the late king.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1523-1604.

This usurpation by Charles was the cause of a war between
Sweden and Poland, which, although conducted with great skill
by the illustrious generals Zamoyski and Chodkiewicz,
terminated disastrously for Poland, for, after this war, a
part of Livonia remained in the hands of the Swedes." During
the troubled state of affairs at Moscow which followed the
death, in 1584, of Ivan the Terrible, Sigismond interfered and
sent an army which took possession of the Russian capital and
remained in occupation of it for some time.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1533-1682.

"As a consequence … the Muscovites offered the throne of the
Czar to Ladislas, the eldest son of the King of Poland, on
condition that he would change his religion and become a
member of 'the Orthodox Church.' Sigismond III., who was a
zealous Catholic, and under the influence of the Jesuits,
wishing rather to convert the Muscovites to the Catholic
Church, would not permit Ladislas to change his faith—refused
the throne of the Czar for his son. … By the peace concluded
at Moscow, 1619, the fortress of Smolenski and a considerable
part of Muscovy remained in the hands of the Poles. …
Sigismond III., whose reign was so disastrous to Poland, kept
up intimate relations with the house of Austria. The Emperor
invited him to take part with him … in what is historically
termed 'the Thirty Years' War.' Sigismond complied with this
request, and sent the Emperor of Austria some of his Cossack
regiments. … Whilst the Emperor was on the one hand engaged in
'the Thirty Years' War,' he was on the other embroiled with
Turkey. The Sultan, in revenge for the aid which the Poles had
afforded the Austrians, entered Moldavia with a considerable
force. Sigismond III. sent his able general Zolkiewski against
the Turks, but as the Polish army was much smaller than that
of the Turks, it was defeated on the battlefield of Cecora
[1621], in Moldavia, [its] general killed, and many of his
soldiers taken prisoners. After this unfortunate campaign …
the Sultan Osman, at the head of 300,000 Mussulmans, confident
in the number and valour of his army, marched towards the
frontier of Poland with the intention of subjugating the
entire kingdom. At this alarming news a Diet was convoked in
all haste, at which it was determined that there should be a
'levée en masse,' in order to drive away the terrible
Mussulman scourge. But before this levée en masse could be
organized, the Hetman Chodkiewicz, who had succeeded
Zolkiewski as commander-in-chief, crossed the river Dniester
with 35,000 soldiers and 30,000 Cossacks, camped under the
walls of the fortress of Chocim [or Kotzim, or Khotzim, or
Choczim] and there awaited the enemy, to whom, on his
appearance, he gave battle [September 28, 1622], and,
notwithstanding the disproportion of the two armies, the Turks
were utterly routed. The Moslems left on the battlefield,
besides the dead, guns, tents, and provisions. … After this
brilliant victory a peace was concluded with Turkey; and I
think I am justified in saying that, by this victory, the
whole of Western Europe was saved from Mussulman invasion. …
The successful Polish general unhappily did not long survive
his brilliant victory. … While these events were taking place
in the southern provinces, Gustavus Adolphus, who had
succeeded to the throne of Sweden, marched into the northern
province of Livonia, where there were no Polish troops to
resist him (all having been sent against the Turks), and took
possession of this Polish province.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1611-1629.

Gustavus Adolphus, however, proposed to restore it to Poland
on condition that Sigismond III. would renounce all claim to
the crown of Sweden, to which the Polish sovereign was the
rightful heir. But in this matter, as in all previous ones,
the Polish king acted with the same obstinacy, and the same
disregard for the interests of the kingdom. He would not
accept the terms offered by Gustavus Adolphus, and by his
refusal Poland lost the entire province of Livonia with the
exception of the city of Dynabourg." Sigismond III. died in
1632, and his eldest son, Ladislas IV., "was immediately
elected King of Poland, a proceeding which spared the kingdom
all the miseries attendant on an interregnum. In 1633, after
the successful campaign against the Muscovites, in which the
important fortified city of Smolensk, as well as other
territory, was taken, a treaty advantageous to Poland was
concluded. Soon afterwards, through the intervention of
England and France, another treaty was made between Poland and
Sweden by which the King of Sweden restored to Poland a part
of Prussia which had been annexed by Sweden. Thus the reign of
Ladislas IV, commenced auspiciously with regard to external
matters. … Unhappily the bitter quarrels of the nobles were
incessant; their only unanimity consisted in trying to foil
the good intentions of their kings." Ladislas IV. died in
1648, and was succeeded by his brother, John Casimir, who had
entered the Order of the Jesuits some years before, and had
been made a cardinal by the Pope, but who was now absolved
from his vows and permitted to marry.

_K. Wolski,
Poland,
lectures 11-12._

POLAND: A. D. 1610-1612.
Intervention in Russia.
Occupation of and expulsion from Moscow.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1533-1682.

POLAND: A. D. 1648-1654.
The great revolt of the Cossacks.
Their allegiance transferred to the Russian Czar.

Since 1320, the Cossacks of the Ukraine had acknowledged
allegiance, first, to the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and
afterwards to the king of Poland on the two crowns becoming
united in the Jagellon family [see COSSACKS]. They had long
been treated by the Poles with harshness and insolence, and in
the time of the hetman Bogdan Khmelnitski, who had personally
suffered grievous wrongs at the hands of the Poles, they were
ripe for revolt (1648). "His standard was joined by hordes of
Tatars from Bessarabia and the struggle partook to a large
extent of the nature of a holy war, as the Cossacks and
Malo-Russians generally were of the Greek faith, and their
violence was directed against the Roman Catholics and Jews.
{2551}
It would be useless to encumber our pages with the details of
the brutal massacres inflicted by the infuriated peasants in
this jacquerie; unfortunately their atrocities had been
provoked by the cruelties of their masters. Bogdan succeeded
in taking Lemberg, and became master of all the palatinate,
with the exception of Zamosc, a fortress into which the Polish
authorities retreated. On the election of John Casimir as king
of Poland, he at once opened negotiations with the successful
Cossack, and matters were about to be arranged peacefully.
Khmelnitski accepted the 'bulava' of a hetman which was
offered him by the king. The Cossacks demanded the restoration
of their ancient privileges, the removal of the detested
Union—as the attempt to amalgamate the Greek and Latin
Churches was called—the banishment of the Jesuits from the
Ukraine, and the expulsion of the Jews, with other conditions.
They were rejected, however, as impossible, and Prince
Wisniowiecki, taking advantage of the security into which the
Cossacks were lulled, fell upon them treacherously and
defeated them with great slaughter. All compromise now seemed
hopeless, but the desertion of his Tatar allies made Bogdan
again listen to terms at Zborow. The peace, however, was of
short duration, and on the 28th of June, 1651, at the battle
of Beresteczko in Galicia, the hosts of Bogdan were defeated
with great slaughter. After this engagement Bogdan saw that he
had no chance of withstanding the Poles by his own resources,
and accordingly sent an embassy to Moscow in 1652, offering to
transfer himself and his confederates to the allegiance of the
Tsar. The negotiations were protracted for some time, and were
concluded at Pereiaslavl, when Bogdan and seventeen,
Malo-Russian regiments took the oath to Buturlin, the Tsar's
commissioner. Quite recently a monument has been erected to
the Cossack chief at Kiev, but he seems, to say the least, to
have been a man of doubtful honesty. Since this time the
Cossacks have formed an integral part of the Russian Empire."

_W. R. Morfill,
The Story of Russia,
chapter 6._

ALSO IN:
_Count H. Krasinski,
The Cossacks of the Ukraine,
chapter 1._

POLAND: A. D. 1652.
First exercise of the Liberum Veto.

See POLAND: A. D. 1578-1652.

POLAND: A. D. 1656-1657.
Rapid and ephemeral conquest by Charles X. of Sweden.
Loss of the Feudal overlordship of Prussia.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1644-1697;
and BRANDENBURG: A. D. 1640-1688.

POLAND: A. D. 1668-1696.
Abdication of John Casimir.
War with the Turks.
Election and reign of John Sobieski.

"In 1668, John Casimir, whose disposition had always been that
of a monk rather than that of a king, resigned his throne, and
retired to France, where he died as Abbe de St. Germain in
1672. He left the kingdom shorn of a considerable part of its
ancient dominions; for, besides that portion of it which had
been annexed to Muscovy, Poland sustained another loss in this
reign by the erection of the Polish dependency of Brandenburg
[Prussia] into an independent state—the germ of the present
Prussian kingdom. For two years after the abdication of John
Casimir, the country was in a state of turmoil and confusion,
caused partly by the recent calamities, and partly by
intrigues regarding the succession; but in 1670, a powerful
faction of the inferior nobles secured the election of Michael
Wisniowiecki, an amiable but silly young man. His election
gave rise to great dissatisfaction among the Polish grandees;
and it is probable that a civil war would have broken out, had
not the Poles been called upon to use all their energies
against their old enemies the Turks. Crossing the
south-eastern frontier of Poland with an immense army, these
formidable foes swept all before them. Polish valour, even
when commanded by the greatest of Polish geniuses, was unable
to check their progress; and in 1672 a dishonourable treaty
was concluded, by which Poland ceded to Turkey a section of
her territories, and engaged to pay to the sultan an annual
tribute of 22,000 ducats. No sooner was this ignominious
treaty concluded, than the Polish nobles became ashamed of it;
and it was resolved to break the peace, and challenge Turkey
once more to a decisive death-grapple. Luckily, at this moment
Wisniowiecki died; and on the 20th of April 1674, the Polish
diet elected, as his successor, John Sobieski—a name
illustrious in the history of Poland. … He was of a noble
family, his father being castellan of Cracow, and the
proprietor of princely estates; and his mother being descended
from Zalkiewski, one of the most celebrated generals that
Poland had produced. … In the year 1660, he was one of the
commanders of the Polish army sent to repel the Russians, who
were ravaging the eastern provinces of the kingdom. A great
victory which he gained at Slobadyssa over the Muscovite
general Sheremetoff, established his military reputation, and
from that time the name of Sobieski was known over all Eastern
Europe. His fame increased during the six years which
followed, till he outshone all his contemporaries. He was
created by his sovereign, John Casimir, first the
Grand-marshal, and afterwards the Grand-hetman of the kingdom;
the first being the highest civil, and the second the highest
military, dignity in Poland, and the two having never before
been held in conjunction by the same individual. These
dignities, having once been conferred on Sobieski, could not
be revoked; for, by the Polish constitution, the king, though
he had the power, to confer honours, was not permitted to
resume them. … When John Casimir abdicated the throne,
Sobieski, retaining his office of Grand-hetman under his
successor, the feeble Wisniowiecki, was commander-in-chief of
the Polish forces against the Turks. In the campaigns of 1671
and 1672, his successes against this powerful enemy were
almost miraculous. But all his exertions were insufficient, in
the existing condition of the republic, to deliver it from the
terror of the impetuous Mussulmans. In 1672, as we have
already informed our readers, a disgraceful truce was
concluded between the Polish diet and the sultan. … When …
Sobieski, as Grand-hetman, advised the immediate rupture of
the dishonourable treaty with the Turks, [the] approval was
unanimous and enthusiastic. Raising an army of 30,000 men, not
without difficulty, Sobieski marched against the Turks. He
laid siege to the fortress of Kotzim, garrisoned by a strong
Turkish force, and hitherto deemed impregnable. The fortress
was taken; the provinces of Moldavia and Walachia yielded; the
Turks hastily retreated across the Danube; and 'Europe thanked
God for the most signal success which, for three centuries,
Christendom had gained over the Infidel.'
{2552}
While the Poles were preparing to follow up their victory,
intelligence reached the camp that Wisniowiecki was dead. He
had died of a surfeit of apples sent him from Danzig. The army
returned home, to be present at the assembling of the diet for
the election of the new sovereign. The diet had already met
when Sobieski, and those of the Polish nobles who had been
with him, reached Warsaw. The electors were divided respecting
the claims of two candidates, both foreigners—Charles of
Lorraine, who was supported by Austria; and Philip of Neuburg,
who was supported by Louis XIV. of France. Many of the Polish
nobility had become so corrupt, that foreign gold and foreign
influence ruled the diet. In this case, the Austrian candidate
seemed to be most favourably received; but, as the diet was
engaged in the discussion, Sobieski entered, and taking his
place in the diet, proposed the Prince of Condé. A stormy
discussion ensued, in the midst of which the cry of 'Let a
Pole rule over Poland,' was raised by one of the nobles, who
further proposed that John Sobieski should be elected. The
proposition went with the humour of the assembly, and
Sobieski, under the title of John III., was proclaimed king of
Poland (1674). Sobieski accepted the proffered honour, and
immediately set about improving the national affairs, founding
an institution for the education of Polish nobles, and
increasing the army. … After several battles of lesser moment
with his Turkish foes, Sobieski prepared for a grand effort;
but before he could mature his plans, the Pasha of Damascus
appeared with an army of 300,000 men on the Polish frontier,
and threatened the national subjugation. With the small force
he could immediately collect, amounting to not more than
10,000 soldiers, Sobieski opposed this enormous force, taking
up his position in two small villages on the banks of the
Dniester, where he withstood a bombardment of 20 days. Food
and ammunition had failed, but still the Poles held out.
Gathering the balls and shells which the enemy threw within
their entrenchments, they thrust them into their own cannons
and mortars, and dashed them back against the faces of the
Turks, who surrounded them on all sides at the distance of a
musket–shot. The besiegers were surprised, and slackened their
fire. At length, early in the morning of the 14th of October
1676, they saw the Poles issue slowly out of their
entrenchments in order of battle, and apparently confident of
victory. A superstitious fear came over them at such a strange
sight. No ordinary mortal, they thought, could dare such a
thing; and the Tartars cried out that it was useless to fight
against the wizard king. The pasha himself was superior to the
fears of his men; but knowing that succours were approaching
from Poland, he offered an honourable peace, which was
accepted, and Sobieski returned home in triumph. Seven years
of peace followed. These were spent by Sobieski in performing
his ordinary duties as king of Poland—duties which the
constant jealousies and discords of the nobles rendered by no
means easy. … It was almost a relief to the hero when, in
1683, a threatened invasion of Christendom by the Turks called
him again to the field. … After completely clearing Austria of
the Turks, Sobieski returned to Poland, again to be harassed
with political and domestic annoyances.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1668-1683.

… Clogged and confined by an absurd system of government, to
which the nobles tenaciously clung, his genius was prevented
from employing itself with effect upon great national objects.
He died suddenly on Corpus Christi Day, in the year 1696; and
'with him,' says the historian, 'the glory of Poland descended
to the tomb.' On the death of Sobieski, the crown of Poland
was disposed of to the highest bidder. The competitors were
James Sobieski, the son of John; the Prince of Conti; the
Elector of Bavaria; and Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony.
The last was the successful candidate, having bought over one
half of the Polish nobility, and terrified the other half by
the approach of his Saxon troops. He had just succeeded to the
electorate of Saxony, and was already celebrated as one of the
strongest and most handsome men in Europe. Augustus
entertained a great ambition to be a conqueror, and the
particular province which he wished to annex to Poland was
Livonia, on the Baltic—a province which had originally
belonged to the Teutonic Knights, for which the Swedes, Poles,
and Russians had long contended; but which had now, for nearly
a century, been in the possession of Sweden."

_History of Poland
(Chambers's Miscellany, number 29 (volume 4)._

ALSO IN:
_A. T. Palmer,
Life of John Sobieski._

POLAND: A. D. 1683.
Sobieski's deliverance of Vienna from the Turks.

See HUNGARY; A. D. 1668-1683.

POLAND: A. D. 1684-1696.
War of the Holy League against the Turks.

See TURKS: A. D. 1684-1696.

POLAND: A. D. 1696-1698.
Disputed Election of a King.
The crown gained by Augustus of Saxony.

On the death of Sobieski, Louis XIV., of France, put forward
the Prince of Conti as a candidate for the vacant Polish
throne. "The Emperor, the Pope, the Jesuits and Russia united
in supporting the Elector Augustus of Saxony. The Elector had
just abjured, in view of the throne of Poland, and the Pope
found it quite natural to recompense the hereditary chief of
the Lutheran party for having reëntered the Roman Church. The
Jesuits, who were only too powerful in Poland, feared the
Jansenist relations of Conti. As to the young Czar Peter, he
wished to have Poland remain his ally, his instrument against
the Turk and the Swede, and feared lest the French spirit
should come to reorganize that country. He had chosen his
candidate wisely: the Saxon king was to begin the ruin of
Poland! The financial distress of France did not permit the
necessary sacrifices, in an affair wherein money was to play
an important part, to be made in time. The Elector of Saxony,
on the contrary, exhausted his States to purchase partisans
and soldiers. The Prince de Conti had, nevertheless, the
majority, and was proclaimed King at Warsaw, June 27, 1697;
but the minority proclaimed and called the Elector, who
hastened with Saxon troops, and was consecrated King of Poland
at Cracow (September 15). Conti, retarded by an English fleet
that had obstructed his passage, did not arrive by sea till
September 26 at Dantzic, which refused to receive him. The
prince took with him neither troops nor money. The Elector had
had, on the contrary, all the time necessary to organize his
resources. The Russians were threatening Lithuania. Conti,
abandoned by a great part of his adherents, abandoned the
undertaking, and returned to France in the month of November.
… In the following year Augustus of Saxony was recognized as
King of Poland by all Europe, even by France."

_H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.,
volume 2, chapter 4._

{2553}

POLAND: A. D. 1699.
The Peace of Carlowitz with the Sultan.

See HUNGARY:. A. D. 1683-1699.

POLAND: A. D. 1700.
Aggressive league with Russia and Denmark
against Charles XII. of Sweden.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1697-1700.

POLAND: A. D. 1701-1707.
Subjugation by Charles XII. of Sweden.
Deposition of Augustus from the throne.
Election of Stanislaus Leczinski.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1701-1707.

POLAND: A. D. 1709.
Restoration of Augustus to the throne.
Expulsion of Stanislaus Leczinski.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1707-1718.

POLAND: A. D. 1720.
Peace with Sweden.
Recognition of Augustus.
Stanislaus allowed to call himself king.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1719-1721.

POLAND: A. D. 1732-1733.
The election to the throne a European question.
France against Russia, Austria and Prussia.
Triumph of the three powers.
The crown renewed to the House of Saxony.

"It became clear that before long a struggle would take place
for the Crown of Poland, in which the powers of Europe must
interest themselves very closely. Two parties will compete for
that uneasy throne: on the one side will stand the northern
powers, supporting the claims of the House of Saxony, which
was endeavouring to make the Crown hereditary and to restrict
it to the Saxon line; on the other side we shall find France
alone, desiring to retain the old elective system, and to
place on the throne some prince, who, much beholden to her,
should cherish French influences, and form a centre of
resistance against the dominance of the northern powers.
England stands neutral: the other powers are indifferent or
exhausted. With a view to the coming difficulty, Russia,
Austria, and Prussia, made a secret agreement in 1732, by
which they bound themselves to resist all French influences in
Poland. With this pact begins that system of nursing and
interferences with which the three powers pushed the 'sick man
of the North' to its ruin; it is the first stage towards the
Partition-treaties. Early in 1733 Augustus II of Poland died:
the Poles dreading these powerful neighbours, and drawn, as
ever, by a subtle sympathy towards France, at once took steps
to resist dictation, declared that they would elect none but a
native prince, sent envoys to demand French help, and summoned
Stanislaus Leczinski to Warsaw. Leczinski had been the protege
of Charles XII, who had set him on the Polish throne in 1704;
with the fall of the great Swede the little Pole also fell
(1712); after some vicissitudes he quietly settled at
Weissenburg, whence his daughter Marie went to ascend the
throne of France as spouse of Louis XV (1725). Now in 1733 the
national party in Poland re-elected him their king, by a vast
majority of votes: there was, however, an Austro-Russian
faction among the nobles, and these, supported by strong
armies of Germans and Russians, nominated Augustus III of
Saxony to the throne: he had promised the Empress Anne to cede
Courland to Russia, and Charles VI he had won over by
acknowledging the Pragmatic Sanction. War thus became
inevitable: the French majority had no strength with which to
maintain their candidate against the forces of Russia and
Austria; and France, instead of affording Stanislaus effective
support at Warsaw, declared war against Austria. The luckless
King was obliged to escape from Warsaw, and took refuge in
Danzig, expecting French help: all that came was a single ship
and 1,500 men, who, landing at the mouth of the Vistula, tried
in vain to break the Russian lines. Their aid thus proving
vain, Danzig capitulated, and Stanislaus, a broken refugee,
found his way, with many adventures, back to France; Poland
submitted to Augustus III."

_G. W. Kitchin,
History of France,
book 6, chapter 2 (volume 3)._

POLAND: A. D. 1763-1773.
The First Partition and the events which led to it.
The respective shares of Russia, Austria and Prussia.

"In 1762, Catherine II. ascended the throne of Russia.
Everybody knows what ambition filled the mind of this woman;
how she longed to bring two quarters of the globe under her
rule, or under her influence; and how, above all, she was bent
on playing a great part in the affairs of Western Europe.
Poland lay between Europe and her empire; she was bound,
therefore, to get a firm footing in Poland. … On the death of
Augustus III., therefore, she would permit no foreign prince
to mount the throne of Poland, but selected a native Polish
nobleman, from the numerous class of Russian hirelings, and
cast her eye upon a nephew of the Czartoriskys, Stanislaus
Poniatowsky, a former lover of her own. Above all things she
desired to perpetuate the chronic anarchy of Poland, so as to
ensure the weakness of that kingdom. … A further desire in
Catherine's mind arose from her own peculiar position in
Russia at that time. She had deposed her Imperial Consort,
deprived her son of the succession, and ascended the throne
without the shadow of a title. During the first years of her
reign, therefore, her situation was extremely critical." She
desired to render herself popular, and "she could find nothing
more in accordance with the disposition of the Russians … than
the protection of the Greek Catholics in Poland. Incredible as
it may seem, the frantic fanaticism of the Polish rulers had
begun, in the preceding twenty or thirty years, to limit and
partially to destroy, by harsh enactments, the ancient rights
of the Nonconformists. … In the year 1763 a complaint was
addressed to Catherine by Konisky, the Greek Bishop of
Mohilev, that 150 parishes of his diocese had been forcibly
Romanised by the Polish authorities. The Empress resolved to
recover for the dissenters in Poland at least some of their
ancient rights, and thus secure their eternal devotion to
herself, and inspire the Russian people with grateful
enthusiasm. At this time, however, King Augustus III. was
attacked by his last illness. A new king must soon be elected
at Warsaw, upon which occasion all the European Powers would
make their voices heard. Catherine, therefore, in the spring
of 1763, first sounded the Cabinets of Vienna and Berlin, in
order, if possible, to gain common ground and their support
for her diplomatic action.
{2554}
The reception which her overtures met with at the two courts
was such as to influence the next ten years of the history of
Poland and Europe. … At Vienna, ever since Peter III. had
renounced the Austrian alliance, a very unfavourable feeling
towards Russia prevailed. … The result was that Austria came
to no definite resolution, but returned a sullen and evasive
reply. It was far otherwise with Frederick II. of Prussia.
That energetic and clear-sighted statesman had his faults, but
indecision had never been one of them. He agreed with
Catherine in desiring that Poland should remain weak. On the
other hand, he failed not to perceive that an excessive growth
of Russia, and an abiding Russian occupation of Poland, might
seriously threaten him. Nevertheless, he did not waver a
moment. … He needed a powerful ally. … Russia alone was left,
and he unhesitatingly seized her offered hand. … It was
proposed to him that six articles should be signed, with
certain secret provisions, by which were secured the election
of a native for the throne of Poland, the maintenance of the
Liberum Veto (i. e., of the anarchy of the nobles), and the
support of the Nonconformists; while it was determined to
prevent in Sweden all constitutional reforms. Frederick, who
was called upon to protect the West Prussian Lutherans, just
as the aid of Catherine had been sought by the Greek Bishop of
Mohilev, made no objection. After the death of King Augustus
III. of Poland, in October, 1763, Frederick signed the above
treaty, April 11th, 1764. This understanding between the two
Northern Powers caused no small degree of excitement at
Vienna. It was immediately feared that Prussia and Russia
would at once seize on Polish provinces. … This anxiety,
however, was altogether premature. No one at St. Petersburg
wished for a partition of Poland, but for increased influence
over the entire Polish realm, Frederick II., for his part, did
not aim at any territorial extension, but would abandon Poland
for the time to Russia, that he might secure peace for his
country by a Russian alliance. … Meanwhile, matters in Poland
proceeded according to the wishes of Catherine. Her path was
opened to her by the Poles themselves. It was at the call of
the Czartoriskys [a wealthy and powerful Polish family], that
a Russian army corps of 10,000 men entered the country,
occupied Warsaw, and put down the opposing party. It was under
the same protection that Stanislaus Poniatowsky was
unanimously elected King, on September 1st, 1764. But the
Czartoriskys were too clever. They intended, after having
become masters of Poland by the help of Russia, to reform the
constitution, to establish a regular administration, to
strengthen the Crown, and finally to bow the Russians out of
the kingdom." The Czartoriskys were soon at issue with the
Russian envoy, who commanded the support of all their
political opponents, together with that of all the religious
Nonconformists, both in the Greek Church and among the
Protestants. The King, too, went over to the latter, bought by
a Russian subsidy. But this Russian confederation was speedily
broken up, when the question of granting civil equality to the
Nonconformists came up for settlement. The Russians carried
the measure through by force and the act embodying it was
signed March 5, 1768. "It was just here that the conflagration
arose which first brought fearful evils upon the country
itself, and then threatened all Europe with incalculable
dangers. At Bar, in Podolia, two courageous men, Pulawski and
Krasinski, who were deeply revolted at the concession of civil
rights to heretics, set on foot a new Confederation to wage a
holy war for the unity and purity of the Church. … The Roman
Catholic population of every district joined the
Confederation. … A terrible war began in the southern
provinces. … The war on both sides was carried on with savage
cruelty; prisoners were tortured to death; neither person nor
property was spared. Other complications soon arose. … When …
the Russians, in eager pursuit of a defeated band of
Confederates, crossed the Turkish frontier, and the little
town of Balta was burnt during an obstinate fight, … the
Sultan, in an unexpected access [excess?] of fury, declared
war against Russia in October, 1768, because, as he stated in
his manifesto, he could no longer endure the wrong done to
Poland.

See TURKS: A. D. 1768-1774.

Thus, by a sudden turn of affairs, this Polish question had
become a European question of the first importance; and no one
felt the change more deeply than King Frederick II. He knew
Catherine well enough to be sure that she would not end the
war now begun with Turkey, without some material gain to
herself. It was equally plain that Austria would never leave
to Russia territorial conquests of any great extent in Turkey.
… The slightest occurrence might divide all Europe into two
hostile camps; and Germany would, as usual, from her central
position, have to suffer the worst evils of a general war.
Frederick II. was thrown into the greatest anxiety by this
danger, and he meditated continually how to prevent the
outbreak of war. The main question in his mind was how to
prevent a breach between Austria and Russia. Catherine wanted
to gain more territory, while Austria could not allow her to
make any conquests in Turkey. Frederick was led to inquire
whether greater compliance might not be shown at Vienna, if
Catherine, instead of a Turkish, were to take a Polish
province, and were also to agree, on her part, to an
annexation of Polish territory by Austria?" When this
scheme—put forward as one originating with Count Lynar, a
Saxon diplomatist—was broached at St. Petersburg, it met with
no encouragement; but subsequently the same plan took shape in
the mind of the young Emperor Joseph II., and he persuaded his
mother, Maria Theresa, to consent to it. Negotiations to that
end were opened with the Russian court. "After the foregoing
proceedings, it was easy for Russia and Prussia to come to a
speedy agreement. On February 17, 1772, a treaty was signed
allotting West Prussia to the King, and the Polish territories
east of the Dneiper and Duna to the Empress. The case of
Austria was a more difficult one. … The treaty of partition
was not signed by the three Powers until August, 1772. … The
Prussian and Austrian troops now entered Poland on every side,
simultaneously with the Russians. The bands of the
Confederates, which had hitherto kept the Russians on the
alert, now dispersed without further attempt at resistance. As
soon as external tranquillity had been restored, a Diet was
convened, in order at once to legalise the cession of the
provinces to the three Powers by a formal compact, and to
regulate the constitutional questions which had been unsettled
since the revolt of the Confederation of Bar.
{2555}
It took some time to arrive at this result, and many a bold
speech was uttered by the Poles; but it is sad to think that
the real object of every discussion was the fixing the amount
of donations and pensions which the individual senators and
deputies were to receive from the Powers for their votes.
Hereupon the act of cession was unanimously passed. … The
Liberum Veto, the anarchy of the nobles, and the impotence of
the Sovereign, were continued."

_H. von Sybel,
The First Partition of Poland
(Fortnightly Review, July, 1874, volume 22)._

"One's clear belief … is of two things: First, that, as
everybody admits, Friedrich had no real hand in starting the
notion of Partitioning Poland;—but that he grasped at it with
eagerness as the one way of saving Europe from War: Second,
what has been much less noticed, that, under any other hand,
it would have led Europe to War; and that to Friedrich is due
the fact that it got effected without such accompaniment.
Friedrich's share of Territory is counted to be in all, 9,465
English square miles; Austria's, 62,500; Russia's, 87,500,
between nine and ten times the amount of Friedrich's,—which
latter, however, as an anciently Teutonic Country, and as
filling-up the always dangerous gap between his Ost-Preussen
and him, has, under Prussian administration, proved much the
most valuable of the Three; and, next to Silesia, is
Friedrich's most important acquisition. September 13th, 1772,
it was at last entered upon,—through such waste-weltering
confusions, and on terms never yet unquestionable. Consent of
Polish Diet was not had for a year more; but that is worth
little record."

_T. Carlyle,
History of Frederick the Great,
book 21, chapter 4 (volume 6)._

ALSO IN:
_W. Coxe,
History of the House of Austria,
chapter. 119 (volume 3)._

[IMAGE: EASTERN EUROPE IN 1768 A. D. SHOWING SUBSEQUENT CHANGES DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. PARTITION OF POLAND ETC.

HOHENZOLLERN (PRUSSIA). HABSBURG(AUSTRIA). RUSSIAN. POLISH. TURKISH. VENETIAN. THE TERRITORY WON BEFORE THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY BY THE THREE POWERS PRUSSIA. AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA SHOWN IN BORDER LINES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE COLORS.]

[IMAGE: CENTRAL EUROPE AT THE PEACE OF CAMPO FORMIO (1797). AUSTRIAN PRUSSIAN RUSSIAN FRENCH SWEDISH DANISH PAPAL STATES ECCLESIASTICAL STATES OF THE EMPIRE. THE BOUNDARY OF THE EMPIRE SHOWN BY THE HEAVY RED LINE.]

POLAND: A. D. 1791-1792.
The reformed Constitution of 1791
and its Russian strangulation.

"After the first Partition of Poland was completed in 1776,
that devoted country was suffered for sixteen years to enjoy
an interval of more undisturbed tranquillity than it had known
for a century. Russian armies ceased to vex it. The
dispositions of other foreign powers became more favourable.
Frederic II now entered on that spotless and honourable
portion of his reign, in which he made a just war for the
defence of the integrity of Bavaria, and of the independence
of Germany. … Attempts were not wanting to seduce him into new
enterprises against Poland. … As soon as Frederic returned to
counsels worthy of himself, he became unfit for the purposes
of the Empress, who, in 1780, refused to renew her alliance
with him, and found a more suitable instrument of her designs
in the restless character, and shallow understanding, of
Joseph II, whose unprincipled ambition was now released from
the restraint which his mother's scruples had imposed on it. …
Other powers now adopted a policy, of which the influence was
favourable to the Poles. Prussia, as she receded from Russia,
became gradually connected with England, Holland, and Sweden;
and her honest policy in the care of Bavaria placed her at the
head of all the independent members of the Germanic
Confederacy. Turkey declared war against Russia; and the
Austrian Government was disturbed by the discontent and
revolts which the precipitate innovations of Joseph had
excited in various provinces of the monarchy. A formidable
combination against the power of Russia was in process of time
formed. … In the treaty between Prussia and the Porte,
concluded at Constantinople in January, 1790, the contracting
parties bound themselves to endeavour to obtain from Austria
the restitution of those Polish provinces to which she had
given the name of Galicia. During the progress of these
auspicious changes, the Polish nation began to entertain the
hope that they might at length be suffered to reform their
institutions, to provide for their own quiet and safety, and
to adopt that policy which might one day enable them to resume
their ancient station among European nations. From 1778 to
1788, no great measures had been adopted; but no tumults
disturbed the country: reasonable opinions made some progress,
and a national spirit was slowly reviving. The nobility
patiently listened to plans for the establishment of a
productive revenue and a regular army; a disposition to
renounce their dangerous right of electing a king made
perceptible advances; and the fatal law of unanimity had been
so branded as an instrument of Russian policy, that in the
Diets of these ten years no nuncio was found bold enough to
employ his negative. … In the midst of these excellent
symptoms of public sense and temper, a Diet assembled at
Warsaw in October 1788, from whom the restoration of the
republic was hoped, and by whom it would have been
accomplished, if their prudent and honest measures had not
been defeated by one of the blackest acts of treachery
recorded in the annals of mankind. … The Diet applied itself
with the utmost diligence and caution to reform the State.
They watched the progress of popular opinion, and proposed no
reformation till the public seemed ripe for its reception." On
the 3d of May, 1791, a new Constitution, which had been
outlined and discussed in the greater part of its provisions,
during most of the previous two years, was reported to the
Diet. That body had been doubled, a few months before, by the
election of new representatives from every Dietine, who united
with the older members, in accordance with a law framed for
the occasion. By this double Diet, the new Constitution was
adopted on the day of its presentation, with only twelve
dissentient voices. "Never were debates and votes more free:
these men, the most hateful of apostates, were neither
attacked, nor threatened, nor insulted." The new Constitution
"confirmed the rights of the Established Church, together with
religious liberty, as dictated by the charity which religion
inculcates and inspires. It established an hereditary monarchy
in the Electoral House of Saxony; reserving to the nation the
right of choosing a new race of Kings, in case of the
extinction of that family. The executive power was vested in
the King, whose ministers were responsible for its exercise.
The Legislature was divided into two Houses, the Senate and
the House of Nuncios, with respect to whom the ancient
constitutional language and forms were preserved. The
necessity of unanimity [the Liberum Veto] was taken away, and,
with it, those dangerous remedies of Confederation and
Confederate Diets which it had rendered necessary.
{2556}
Each considerable town received new rights, with a restoration
of all their ancient privileges. The burgesses recovered the
right of electing their own magistrates. … All the offices of
the State, the law, the church, and the army, were thrown open
to them. The larger towns were empowered to send deputies to
the Diet, with a right to vote on all local and commercial
subjects, and to speak on all questions whatsoever. An these
deputies became noble, as did every officer of the rank of
captain, and every lawyer who filled the humblest office of
magistracy, and every burgess who acquired a property in land
paying £5 of yearly taxes. … Industry was perfectly
unfettered. … Numerous paths to nobility were thus thrown
open. Every art was employed to make the ascent easy. … Having
thus communicated political privileges to hitherto disregarded
freemen, … the constitution extended to all serfs the full
protection of law, which before was enjoyed by those of the
Royal demesnes; and it facilitated and encouraged voluntary
manumission. … The storm which demolished this noble edifice
came from abroad. … The remaining part of the year 1791 passed
in quiet, but not without apprehension. On the 9th of January,
1792, Catharine concluded a peace with Turkey at Jassy; and,
being thus delivered from all foreign enemies, began once more
to manifest intentions of interfering in the affairs of
Poland. … A small number of Polish nobles furnished her with
that very slender pretext with which she was always content.
Their chiefs were Rzewuski … and Felix Potocki. … These
unnatural apostates deserted their long-suffering country at
the moment when, for the first time, hope dawned on her. …
They were received by Catharine with the honours due from her
to the betrayers of their country. On the 12th of May, 1792,
they formed a Confederation at Targowitz. On the 18th, the
Russian minister at Warsaw declared that the Empress, 'called
on by many distinguished Poles who had confederated against
the pretended constitution of 1791, would, in virtue of her
guarantee, march an army into Poland to restore the liberties
of the Republic.'" The hope, meantime, of help from Prussia,
which had been pledged to Poland by a treaty of alliance in
March, 1790, was speedily and cruelly deceived. "Assured of
the connivance of Prussia, Catharine now poured an immense
army into Poland, along the whole line of frontier, from the
Baltic to the neighbourhood of the Euxine. The spirit of the
Polish nation was unbroken. … A series of brilliant actions
[especially at Polonna and Dubienka] occupied the summer of
1792, in which the Polish army [under Poniatowski and
Kosciusko], alternately victorious and vanquished, gave equal
proofs of unavailing gallantry. Meantime Stanislaus … on the
4th of July published a proclamation declaring that he would
not survive his country. But, on the 22d of the same month …
[he] declared his accession to the Confederation of Targowitz;
and thus threw the legal authority of the republic into the
hands of that band of conspirators. The gallant army, over
whom the Diet had intrusted their unworthy King with absolute
authority, were now compelled, by his treacherous orders, to
lay down their arms. … Such was the unhappy state of Poland
during the remainder of the year 1792," while the Empress of
Russia and the King of Prussia were secretly arranging the
terms of a new Treaty of Partition.

_Sir J. Mackintosh,
Account of the Partition of Poland
(Edinburgh Review, November, 1822;
reprinted in Miscellaneous Works)._

ALSO IN:
_H. Von Sybel,
History of the French Revolution,
book 2, chapters 1 and 6,
book 4, chapter 1, and book 6 (volumes 1-2)._

_A. Gielgud,
The Centenary of the Polish Constitution
(Westminster Review, volume 135, page 547)._

_F. C. Schlosser,
History of the 18th Century,
volume 6, division 1, chapter 2, section 4._

See, also, GERMANY: A. D. 1791-1792.

POLAND: A. D. 1793-1796.
The Second and Third Partitions.
Extinction of Polish nationality.

"The Polish patriots, remaining in ignorance of the treaty of
partition, were unconscious of half their misfortunes. The
King of Prussia in his turn crossed the western frontier
[January, 1793], announcing in his manifesto that the troubles
of Poland compromised the safety of his own States, that
Dantzig had sent corn to the French revolutionaries, and that
Great Poland was infested by Jacobin clubs, whose intrigues
were rendered doubly dangerous by the continuation of the war
with France. The King of Prussia affected to see Jacobins
whenever it was his interest to find them. The part of each of
the powers was marked out in advance. Russia was to have the
eastern provinces, with a population of 3,000,000, as far as a
line drawn from the eastern frontier of Courland, which,
passing Pinsk, ended in Gallicia, and included Borissof,
Minsk, Sloutsk, Volhynia, Podolia, and Little Russia. Prussia
had the long-coveted cities of Thorn and Dantzig, as well as
Great Poland, Posen, Gnezen, Kalisch, and Czenstochovo. If
Russia still only annexed Russian or Lithuanian territory,
Prussia for the second time cut Poland to the quick, and
another million and a half of Slavs passed under the yoke of
the Germans. It was not enough to despoil Poland, now reduced
to a territory less extensive than that occupied by Russia; it
was necessary that she should consent to the spoliation—that
she should legalise the partition. A diet was convoked at
Grodno, under the pressure of the Russian bayonets," and by
bribery as well as by coercion, after long resistance, the
desired treaty of cession was obtained. "The Polish troops who
were encamped on the provinces ceded to the Empress, received
orders to swear allegiance to her; the army that remained to
the republic consisted only of 15,000 men." Meantime,
Kosciuszko, who had won reputation in the war of the American
Revolution, and enhanced it in the brief Polish struggle of
1792, was organizing throughout Poland a great revolt,
directing the work from Dresden, to which city he had retired.
"The order to disband the army hastened the explosion.
Madalinski refused to allow the brigade that he commanded to
be disarmed, crossed the Bug, threw himself on the Prussian
Provinces, and then fell back on Cracow. At his approach, this
city, the second in Poland, the capital of the ancient kings,
rose and expelled the Russian garrison. Kosciuszko hastened to
the scene of action, and put forth the 'act of insurrection,'
in which the hateful conduct of the co-partitioners was
branded, and the population called to arms. Five thousand
scythes were made for the peasants, the voluntary offerings of
patriots were collected, and those of obstinate and lukewarm
people were extracted by force." On the 17th of April, 1794,
the inhabitants of Warsaw rose and expelled the Russian
troops, who left behind, on retreating, 4,000 killed and
wounded, 2,000 prisoners, and 12 cannon.
{2557}
"A provisional government installed itself at Warsaw, and sent
a courier to Kosciuszko." But Russian, Prussian and Austrian
armies were fast closing in upon the ill-armed and outnumbered
patriots. The Prussians took Cracow; the Russians mastered
Wilna; the Austrians entered Lublin; and Kosciuszko, forced to
give battle to the Russians, at Macciowice, October 10, was
beaten, and, half dead from many wounds, was left a prisoner
in the hands of his enemies. Then the victorious Russian army,
under Souvorof, made haste to Warsaw and carried the suburb of
Praga by storm. "The dead numbered 12,000; the prisoners only
one." Warsaw, in terror, surrendered, and Poland, as an
independent state, was extinguished. "The third treaty of
partition, forced on the Empress by the importunity of
Prussia, and in which Austria also took part, was put in
execution [1705-1706]. Russia took the rest of Lithuania as
far as the Niemen (Wilna, Grodno, Kovno, Novogrodek, Slonim),
and the rest of Volhynia to the Bug (Vladimir, Loutsk, and
Kremenetz). … Besides the Russian territory, Russia also
annexed the old Lithuania of the Jagellons, and finally
acquired Courland and Samogitia. Prussia had all Eastern
Poland, with Warsaw; Austria had Cracow, Sandomir, Lublin, and
Chelm."

_A. Rambaud,
History of Russia,
volume 2, chapter 10._

ALSO IN:
_R. N. Bain,
The Second Partition of Poland
(English Historical Review, April, 1801)._

_H. von Sybel,
History of the French Revolution,
book 7, chapter 5,
book 9, chapter 3 (volume 3);
and book 10, chapters 2-4 (volume 4)._

See, also, FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER).

POLAND: A. D. 1806.
False hopes of national restoration raised by Napoleon.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1806 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER); and 1806-1807.

POLAND: A. D. 1807.
Prussian provinces formed into the grand duchy of Warsaw,
and given to the king of Saxony.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1807 (JUNE-JULY).

POLAND: A. D. 1809.
Cession of part of Bohemia, Cracow, and western Galicia,
by Austria, to the grand duchy of Warsaw.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1809 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

POLAND: A. D. 1812.
Fresh attempt to re-establish the kingdom,
not encouraged by Napoleon.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER).

POLAND: A. D. 1814-1815.
The Polish question in the Congress of Vienna.
The grand duchy of Warsaw given to Russia.
Constitution granted by the Czar.

See VIENNA, THE CONGRESS OF.

POLAND: A. D. 1830-1832.
Rising against the Russian oppressor.
Courageous struggle for independence.
Early victories and final defeat.
Barbarity of the conqueror.