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STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS. 



STANLEY, REV. EDWARD, D.D. 



070 



himself entirely to the welfare of his new subjects and to literary 

 pursuits. He patronised literature with great zeal, nor did he forget 

 his native land, which ho served most effectually by educating a great 

 number of his countrymen at Luneville. He died in 1766, at the age 

 of 89, in consequence of an accident, his clothes having taken fire 

 when he was standing near a chimney, He was so much burnt that 

 he died in a short time. He left some productions in Polish and 

 French. Those in French appeared in 4 vols. at Paris, in 1765, under 

 the title of ' (Euvres du Philosophe Bienfaisant.' 



STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS, the last Polish king, the son of 

 Count Stanislaus Poniatowski, [PONIATOWSKI, STANISLAUS, COUNT,] 

 was born in 1732, at Wolczyn, an estate in Lithuania, and received a 

 most careful education. He was of an exceedingly prepossessing 

 exterior; and he was well informed and highly accomplished, having 

 improved the advantages received from his education by his subse- 

 quent travels in various parts of Europe. Sir Hanbury Williams, 

 who was English envoy in Poland, became very intimate with the 

 Princes Czartoryski, uncles of Poniatowski, and took a particular 

 liking to this young nobleman. He persuaded Poniatowski to accom- 

 pany him to St. Petersburg, where he was appointed British minister, 

 and facilitated his liaison with the grandduchess of Russia, afterwards 

 Catherine II. This circumstance, and the influence of the Czartory- 

 skis [CZARTORYSKI], prevented the appointment of Poniatowski as 

 Polish ambassador at St. Petersburg, where he continued his intrigue 

 with the grand-duchess. The Czartoryskis determined to put forward 

 Poniatowski as a candidate for the throne of Poland, which was 

 supported with the whole power of Russia. 



The projects of the Czartoryskis, becoming known, created a great 

 sensation even before the death of Augustus III. A Russian force 

 having entered Poland to support the election of Stanislaus Ponia- 

 towski, the Czartoryskis availed themselves of the assistance of that 

 force, in order to compel the Diet of Convocation to adopt several 

 laws by which the power of dissolving the diet by the veto of a single 

 member was considerably limited, the executive authority of the 

 crown strengthened, and the excessive privileges of the nobles were 

 restricted. Their project of abolishing the veto altogether was pre- 

 vented by the foreign ambassadors, and the proposition of electing the 

 king by deputies chosen for that purpose was also defeated. The 

 same diet declared that the confederation continued to exist, which 

 prevented future diets, as long as it was not dissolved by veto. The 

 same preponderance which brought about those reforms, effected the 

 election of Poniatowski in 1764, and the diet of his coronation con- 

 firmed the reforms to which we have alluded, and introduced other 

 important improvement?, particularly in the financial department. 



Russia soon perceived how dangerous to its influence in Poland were 

 the reforms which ttreugthened the government of that country, and 

 it gave its support to the opposition, which was composed of many 

 patriotic individuals, and was too blind to see the advantages of those 

 reforms, being afraid lest they might conduct to a despotic form of 

 government. The diet of 1766 restored, with some few exceptions, 

 the ancient force of the veto. The same power, under the pretext of 

 defending the rights of the anti-Roman Catholic confessions, created 

 division all over the country, and finally, in the diet of 1798, in 

 addition to the equitable law of restoring all Christian confessions to 

 equal rights, passed several others of a different character, which 

 tended to weaken the government, and the acceptance of a Russian 

 guarantee declared that state of things immutable. 



In order to save the country from foreign influence, a confederation 

 was organised at Bar, a little town in Podolia, by the patriotic bishop 

 of Kamieniec, Adam Krasinski. Ill supported and without any 

 regular troops, it struggled for several years against the forces of 

 .Russia, until it fell by exhaustion. The Turks, who had taken up 

 arms in favour of Poland, after having represented in vain to the 

 cabinets of Europe the danger of Russian predominance in Poland, 

 were defeated, and the first partition of Poland, which was planned by 

 Frederic II. of Prussia, took place in 1772. By this partition Poland 

 lost, of the 13,500 square miles (15 to a degree) of its territory, 3925 

 square miles, which comprehended its best provinces, and were 

 unequally divided between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The 

 spoliating parties called a diet to sanction this iniquitous transaction, 

 and imposed on the country a permanent council, which deprived the 

 king Poniatowski even of the shadow of authority. This great 

 calamity roused the nation, which now strove to compensate its 

 heavy loss by internal improvements. An excellent system of public 

 education was introduced, and literature was encouraged ; industry 

 was re-animated, and every kind of improvement rapidly advanced, 

 through the exertions of many distinguished individuals and of 

 Stanislaus himself, who earnestly strove to ameliorate the condition of 

 the country, and was an ardent patron of literature and science and 

 the arts. The chancellor, Andrew Zamoyski, an enlightened and 

 patriotic nobleman, prepared a new code, which removed many ancient 

 abuses and partly emancipated the peasants. The code was rejected 

 by the diet of 1780, but an improved public opinion produced in a 

 few years a general wish for a reform in the constitution of the 

 country. The diet which assembled in 1788, having declared itself 

 permanent, continued till 1792, when, on the 2nd of May, it pro- 

 claimed a new constitution, which abolished the veto, made the 

 throne hereditary in the Saxon family, which was to succeed after the 



demise of Poniatowski, the reigning king, and introduced some useful 

 regulations. It acknowledged at the same time the necessity of 

 further reforms by enacting that there should be a revision of the 

 constitution after the lapse of twenty years. But a fatal error was 

 committed in neglecting to organise a national force capable of pro- 

 tecting the new constitution from the aggression of its enemies. 

 Russia, who had guaranteed the former state of things in Poland, 

 excited a party composed of a few factious nobles, who, assisted by 

 her troops, formed a confederation at Targovitza, in order to over- 

 throw the now constitution. The king, instead of marching against 

 his enemies, betrayed the cause intrusted to his defence, and, instead 

 of opposing the advance of the Russians, as he had most solemnly 

 promised to do, and ordering a general levy, or arriere ban, he 

 paralysed by his orders all measures of defence, and soon became a 

 party to the infamous confederation of Targovitea. On the other 

 side, the king of Prussia, who had encouraged the patriots to amend 

 the constitution, joined the Russians and invaded Poland. The con- 

 sequence of all this was a second partition of the Polish territory in 

 1793, by which Prussia took 1061 square miles (15 to a degree), 

 Russia 4553, and Poland retained 4016. The remaining part of 

 Poland was subjected to every kind of vexation from the confederates 

 of Targovitza, who, encouraged by the presence of Russian troops, 

 persecuted the partriots in every possible manner, and the chief 

 persons among them were obliged to seek refuge abroad. The spirit 

 of patriotism was however not quelled by these circumstances. An 

 extensive conspiracy was organised, and insurrections broke out in 

 several parts of Poland. In 1794 Kosciusko arrived at Cracow, and, 

 having assembled a number of peasants armed with scythes, he de- 

 feated a superior number of Russian regular troops. The inhabitants 

 of Warsaw, which was occupied by a strong Russian army, rose against 

 their oppressors, and expelled them after a bloody contest. Vilna did 

 the same. Several individuals were convicted of high treason and 

 executed, but the king was treated with respect. The Poles fought 

 with the utmost bravery, but their courage and patriotism proved 

 xinavailing against the overwhelming numbers of Russia and Prussia. 

 Kosciusko was defeated, wounded, and taken prisoner at the battle 01 

 Maciejovice, and Praga, the suburb of Warsaw, was carried by storm 

 by Suvaroff, and all the inhabitants were massacred. Warsaw capitu- 

 lated, and the remainder of Poland was divided in 1795 among 

 Russia, Prussia, and Austria. 



When the final dismemberment of Poland was effected, Stanislaus 

 retired for some time to the town of Grodno in Lithuania, where he 

 signed the abdication of his throne ; a step which he is said to have 

 been induced to adopt by the promise of the payment of his private 

 debts. He was then transferred to St. Petersburg, and a large pension 

 was assigned to him by the Emperor Paul, who treated him with great 

 kindness in many respects, but subjected him to the humiliation of 

 assisting at his coronation at Moscow. He died at St. Petersburg in 

 1798, and was buried in the Roman Catholic church of that capital. 



Stanislaus Poniatowski had four brothers : 1, Casimir, born in 1721, 

 who was grand-chamberlain of Poland; 2, Francis, born in 1723, who 

 had entered the church, but died young; 3, Andrew, born in 1734, 

 died in 1773, a lieutenant-general in the Austrian service ; 4, Michael 

 George, born in 1736, died in 1794, archbishop of Gniesno and primate 

 of Poland. There were also two sisters Louisa, born in 1728, married 

 to Zamoyski, palatine of Podolia; and Isabella, born in 1730, married 

 to Branicki, castellan of Cracow, and the last scion of an illustrious 

 house. This family was invested with the princely title at the corona- 

 tion of Stanislaus. 



. The family Poniatowski rose to great distinction in a short time, 

 but it soon passed away, and became extinct. The last of that family 

 was Prince Stanislaus Poniatowski, son of Prince Casimir, the grand- 

 chamberlain, and who died in 1833 at Florence, after having lived for 

 many years in Italy. The last of the Poniatowskis who supported the 

 honour of that name, and whose chivalrous death at the battle of 

 Leipzig in 1813 gave a new eclat to this family, was Prince Joseph, 

 son of Andrew and Countess Kinsky, born in 1763. [PONIATOWSKI, 

 PBINCE JOSEPH.] 



STANLEY, THE REV. EDWARD, D.D., Bishop of Norwich, was 

 born iu London on the 1st of January 1779, the second son and seventh 

 child of Sir John Thomas Stanley, Bart, of Alderley Park, Cheshire, 

 by Mary, daughter and heiress of Hugh Owen, Esq. of Penrhos in 

 Anglesea. His elder brother, who inherited the baronetcy on his 

 father's death, was raised to the peerage in 1839 by the title of Baron 

 Stanley of Alderley. In his boyhood the future bishop had a passion 

 for the sea and would have preferred the navy to any other profession. 

 Being destined for the Church however he was sent, in 1798, after a 

 desultory education at various schools, to St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridge ; and here in 1802, he graduated B.A. and was 16th Wrangler 

 of his year. He took the degree of M.A. in 1805. In that year, 

 having meanwhile travelled on the Continent and having had for some 

 time the curacy of Wendlesham, in Surrey- he was presented by his 

 father to the family living of Alderley. In 1810 he married Catherine, 

 eldest daughter of the Rev. Oswald Leycester, rector of Stoke-upou- 

 Trent, Shropshire. He continued rector of Alderley for the period of 

 thirty-two years (1805-37) during which he discharged his duties in a 

 manner so conscientious and so thorough as to gain the affection of all 

 his parishioners in an unusual degree. He worked assiduously among 



