332 
place to insurrection; and were 
arrered and thrown into prisons. 
Whn the judges who were com- 
- misoned to try these people, found 
no‘aces of the crime they stood 
imeached for, they had recourse 
tohe torture, to extort a confes- 
sid; and after having in this man- 
nt forced it out, these. hard-heart- 
€ judges condemned them to die, 
ad absolutely had the sentence 
«tried into execution. The first 
say of inhumanity, injustice, and 
rnelty, opened a vast field for in- 
uisitions of all kinds, by which the 
rovinces were chiefly oppressed, 
vhose inhabitants confess the or- 
hodox Greek religion. The Bi- 
ihop of Pazejastaw and Abbot of 
3luck, though an imperial subject, 
fell a victim to this persecution. 
Notwithstanding his high ecclesias- 
tical dignity, purity of manners, and 
austerity of principles, he was ac- 
cused of crimes which malice, and 
the eagerness of encreasing the once 
effectuated fermentation, invented 
upon every occasion. The prelate 
was arrested and conducted to War- 
saw, where he was doomed to Jast- 
ing imprisonment.—Even in the 
very centre of the metropolis, and 
towards the Empress’s ministers, 
the Jaw of nations was as little re- 
spected ; for their chapel, which is 
considered as a part of the hotel oc- 
cupied by them (and the Russian 
arms being suspended, clearly proves 
to every body that itis a privileged 
place) was forced by Polish soldiers, 
who seized upon a minister of the 
ittar and carried him before an in- 
‘ompetent tribunal. The satisfac- 
ion which the minister has de- 
aanded on this subject has been 
efused, upon vague and insignifi- 
ant pretences. In short, not only 
ae solemn treatise which connect- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1702. 
ed Russia and Poland were violat= 
ed and transgressed in the most im- 
portant articles, but the animosity 
has been carried so far as to send an 
extraordinary deputation to Turkey, 
then in open war with Russia, offer- 
ing to this power an offensive trea- 
ty aimed against Russia :—a fact of 
which the archieves of the ministe~ 
rial correspondence of the cabinet 
of Warsaw contain the documents 
and clearest proofs. 
The respect due to the person 
and the exalted rank of the Em- 
press, was not observed in the 
speeches held in public sessions in 
the diet; and this rudeness, instead 
of being reprimanded, as it deserv- 
ed, was even encouraged and ap- 
plauded by the chiefs of the party 
that subverted the laws of the con- 
stitution of the republic. 
The least of these grievances, 
without mentioning those which 
are voluntarily suppressed for the 
sake of brevity, would already jus- 
tify, in the face of God and men, 
the resolution of her Majesty to 
take signal vengeance. Yet it is 
not with this view that her Majesty 
publishes this declaration of the 
said grievances. Her innate equity 
does not suffer her to confound all 
the Polish nation with one of the 
parties which has betrayed her Ma- 
Jesty’s confidence. The Empress, 
on the contrary, is fully convinced 
that the greatest number had no 
share in any of the things attempt- 
ed against herself and the republic. 
For this very reason she’ is wil- 
ling to sacrifice her just resentment 
to a hope more compatible with her 
generous and pacific sentiments, of 
seeing all those grievances remedied 
by means of a new diet, ‘which shall 
more strictly adhere to the orders of 
their superiors, and the immutable 
funda- 
dS et 
—-  . | 
