HISTORY OF EUROPE,. 
people indiscriminately to the use of 
arms ‘and military exercises, and 
thus to convert every able-bodied 
man into a soldier. 
Had this plan been adopted, at 
the time when it was proposed, it is 
highly probable, that the Know- 
ledge of tactics which would have 
been acquired, when added to the 
warlike disposition of the Poles, 
and the patriotic spirit that ani- 
mated all men, must have thrown 
many more obstacles in the way of 
their enemies than those, unfortu- 
nately for Poland, they had to con- 
tend with, The pian itself was uno}y- 
jeGtionable; but the spirit of self- 
ish pride, so long and so rootedly 
‘the character of the Polish nobility, 
frustrated this wise and patriotic 
scheme. To confide in an army of 
citizens was repugnant to the prin- 
ciples in which that order had been 
bred. Terrified at what had happen- 
ed in France, they protested against 
the project of arming the nation, 
lest, when having arms in their 
hands, the people should claim more 
authority than became them, and 
conscious of theirstrength, should 
refuse obedience, and challenge an 
equality of rights and power. 
Fatally for Poland, the prudence 
and patriotism of the king were un- 
able to surmount the prejudices of 
the Polish nobles. They continued, 
notwithstanding his remonstrances 
and expostulations on the temerity 
of their conduct, immoveably fixed 
in the determination to expose their 
country to all hazards, rather than 
part with those privileges, that 
enabled them to tyrannize over 
their countrymen, . 
It was inthe midst of this opposi- 
‘tion to the just and salutary views 
of the king, that the court of Pe- 
tersburgh, having completed its pre- 
ported by an outrageous mob. 
[7 
parations against- Poland, ‘ ordered 
the Russian ambassador at Warsaw 
to declare its intentions to the king 
andthe diet. This declaration as- 
serted a right and an obligation, on 
the part of Russia, to take partin 
whatever related to the government 
and the affairs of Poland. It com- 
plained, in violent terms, of the 
change that had taken place in the 
constitution, which it represented 
as a total subversion of the ancient 
Polishliberty ; andas effeted chief 
ly by faétious. violence, and sup- 
It 
charged the diet with countenan- 
cing opprobrious language, respeet- 
ing the conduct and intentions of 
the empress. It recapitulated a va. 
riety of particulars, tending to cri- 
minate the Poles, as guilty of ops 
pression and barbarity towards the 
subjects of Russia. It asserted the 
new government to be a tyranny, 
established against the sense of the 
nation, the most respeiable part of 
which had applied for prote@tion, 
and a restoration of the former go- 
vernment, to the court of Peters. 
burgh, Induced by these motives, 
the empress had determined to take 
an a¢tive part in their behalf; and, 
at their request, to restore the an. 
cient order of things in Poland ; 
and to treat as enemies all those 
who should oppose her endeavours 
to accomplish that object. > 
Such was the substance of the 
declaration, delivered on the 18th. 
of May, 1792, by M. Bulgakow, 
the Russian ambassador at Warsaw, 
to the Polish government. A noti- 
fication. of this kind had been some 
time expected, and excited, there. 
fore, no surprise. On laying it be. 
‘fore the diet, the king observed, in 
explicit terms, that the design of 
the court of Petersburgh was evi- 
{B4] dently 
