HISTORY OF EUROPE. . [23 
depart till they had agreed to sign 
the treaty. This menace was ex- 
ecuted ; and the commander of the 
detachment posted himself, with his 
officers, in the hall of the diet; but 
on the king declaring he would not 
proceed to business in their presence, 
the officers withdrew, and the com- 
mander only remained; but he 
openly declared, that no member 
should retire before consent was 
given to the treaty, ‘he sitting 
continued till three o’clock next 
morning, when, after the most vio- 
lent debates, the diet solemnly re- 
solved to declare to all Europe, af- 
ter appealing to it so often in vain, 
that, in defiance of the faith of 
treaties, that one especially entered 
into with the king of Prussia at his 
own desire, in the year 1790, and 
by which he bound himself to gua, 
rantee the independence of Poland, 
they were now deprived of their 
free will, and surrounded by an 
armed force; which, being unable 
to resist, they were compelled to 
consent to the signing of the treaty, 
di¢tated and imposed upon them by 
the Russian ambassador. 
After terminating, in this man- 
ner, the negotiation with Russia, 
the two courts resolved to efteé the 
conclusion of thatnow pending with 
Prussia, in the like manner. On 
the twenty-third of September, pre- 
viously to thesitting of the dict, the 
Russian ambassador ordeted four 
members to be arrested, and station- 
ed a body of soldiers round the 
eastle. The diet demanded the li- 
berty of those members, but were 
gefused. The assembly — remained 
inactive during five hours, openly 
declaring, they were deprived, by 
main violence, from proceeding to 
business with freedom of delibera- 
tion, Meanwhile, they were insult- 
ed by a Russian general, who ad. 
dressed them insolertly, withthreats 
and with admonitions, tosign, with. 
out disputing the terms, the treaty 
required by the king of Prussia. It 
was moyed, at length, by count 
Ankwitz, the deputy from Cra. 
cow, to draw up.a formal protest, 
against this unlawful and tyrannical 
violation of public and personal li. 
‘berty by the Russian ambassador, 
and that, when the treaty should 
again be proposed, their total dissent 
should be marked by the profound. 
est silence, 
In consequence of this determi. 
nation, the treaty, when it wag 
again proposed, according to the 
usual forms, meeting with no oppo- 
sition, passed of course; and the 
cession of the Polish provinces seiz- 
ed by Prussia, was signed. The 
protest that followed it was diftat- 
ed by a deep sense of wrongs, that 
could not be remedied; and con. 
veyed, with great energy, the sen. 
timents of a noble-minded people, 
and a virtuous monarch, oppressed 
by a fatal concurrence of inauspici- 
ousircumstances, which nowisdom 
could avert, nor the most spirited 
exertions of patriotism or of courage 
oppose, 
The protest concluded with these 
remarkable words; ‘¢ I, the king 
of Poland, enfeebled by age, and 
sinking under the accumulated 
weight of so many vexations and 
misfortunes, and we, the members 
of the dict, hereby declare, that 
being unable, even by-the sacrifice 
of our lives, to relieve our country 
from the yoke of its oppressors, 
consign it to posterity, trusting, that 
means may be found, at some hap. 
Pier period, to res’ it from oppres. 
sion and slavery; such gneans, un. 
fortunately, are not in our power, 
[C 4] “and 
