HISTORY OF EUROPE, 
fancy, yet sustains you. Can you 
resign our brethren, our fathers, 
and that land which has fostered 
your youth? All that as king you 
possess, as king has been conferred 
by the Poles ; they have loaded you 
with blessings, will you reward 
them with slavery ? 
«¢ Such athrone will havenocom- 
fort; you must disdain to purchase 
it at such a price. The general opi- 
nion is, that you have been indebt- 
ed to Catharine for its security. Let 
the universe see, that it was God 
alone who destined you to be a 
' King, and established your throne. 
Demonstrate that you will reign 
with glory, and faithful to your en- 
gagements; then, too, when a 
greater force submits every thing to 
its will, and menaces all with de- 
struction, for you to wear a crown, 
as the s/ave of despots, can haye no 
eharms. . 
«« You, sire, who are our mo- 
narch and our father (for here you 
will be styled so by all, and, in Si- 
beria, our hearts shall treasure up 
those tirles ineffaceably), conduct us, 
if it must be so, into Siberia. Let us 
go, where we are menaced, into those 
melancholy wastes: there, yet, 
our virtue, and your own, will co- 
ver with confusion those who con- 
spired our ruin. (Here the deputies 
cried unanimously aloud, ‘ Let us 
go into Siberia.”’) We are your 
children, and will follow you with 
the enthusiasm of grateful love ; and 
the measure of your suffering shall 
[25 
be- exceeded by our eirnest venera- 
tion.’’ 
In one of the articles of the al- 
liance with Russia it was stipulated, 
that without the assent of this pow- 
er, no alteration should ever take 
place in theold system of its govern- 
Ment, now re-established. This 
confirmed, at once, the perpetual 
dependence of Poland upon Russia. 
In‘order to render this dependence 
complete, the revenues of the king- 
dom, now diminished by two-thirds, 
through an equal diminution of its 
territories, were so reduced by the 
late confusions, that it was found 
necessary to apply to the guarantee 
of Russia, for the raising of a loan to 
discharge the public debts.*—-Not- 
withstanding the degraded state of 
the Polish nation, it could not be 
brought to dissemble its resentment 
at the principal agent in its depres. 
sion. Anorder of knighthood had 
been instituted, by the diet that es- 
tablished the revolution of 1791, 
for the reward of military virtue and 
patriotism; this order had, in 
compliance with the representations 
of the empress, been abolished: 
but a spirit of opposition to Russia 
suddenly arose, that prompted seve- 
-ral members of the diet to demand 
its re-establishment. It was ac. 
cordingly decreed, to gratify the 
wishes of the public, which seemed 
to think, that a badge of honour, 
at least, was due to those patriots 
who had made such conspicuous, 
though fruitless, exertions in the 
* By the second partition of Poland, in 1795, the share of Prussia was, in extent 
ofcountry, 1061 square leagues, 262 towns, 8272 villages, 1,136,381 inhabitants; 
taxes, 3,594,640 Polish florins. 
The share of Russia, in extent of country, square leagues, 4553; towns, 455; vile 
lages, 10,081; inhabitants, 3,001,688; taxes, 8,691,072. 
Remainder of Poland, 
inextent of country, square leagues, 4016; towns, 697; villages, 10,599; inhabis 
tants, 3,512,710; taxes, 12,559,181. 
cause 
