272 



1'OI.AM) 



from public offices. In 1764 Stanislaus Augustus 

 Poniatowski was elected kiinj. chiefly t lirmi^li the 

 intrigues of the Empress Catharine. Although a 

 man of refined manners, he was weak, and not 

 fitted to serve the country at such a crisis. The 

 reforming, or Czartoryski party (so called liecaiise 

 it was headed by a menil>er of this celebrated 

 family), had succeeded in abolishing the libemm 

 re/o, and effecting many other improvement* ; but 

 they at the same time more severely oppressed the 

 Dissidents, whom the Russians pretended to pro- 

 tect. 



The Confederation of Bar (so called from Bar in 

 Podolia) was now ( 1768) formed by a few patriots, 

 an army of about 8000 men was assembled, and 

 war declared against Russia. But they were not 

 successful, and a hold attempt to carry nil' the king 

 also failed. Frederick the Great of "Prussia, who 

 had formerly gained the consent of Austria to a 

 partition of Poland, made the same proposal to 

 Russia in 1770, and in 1772 the j?r< jmrtition was 

 effected. The territories seized by the three powers 

 were as follows : 



EnflUh m>. milt*. 



H .-- ...42.000 



Prniwia ...................... 13.000 



Austria ...................... 87.000 



PopnUUou. 



1,800.000 



416,000 



2,700,000 



The whole country was now aroused to a sense of 

 its danger; and the diet of the diminished kingdom 

 laboured to amend the constitution. In 1788 a 

 remarkable diet was opened which lasted four years. 

 Manv changes were introduced. The liberum veto 

 was formally suppressed, and the throne was declared 

 hereditary. The burghers were to send deputies 

 to the diet on the same terms as the nobles ; the 

 |>ea.sants were not set free, but their condition was 

 improved ; and the I >issidents were granted complete 

 toll-ration, although the Roman Catholic was de- 

 clared to be the dominant religion. In this they 

 were encouraged by Prussia, whose king, Frederick- 

 William, swore to defend them against Russia. 

 The new constitution was promulgated May 2, 

 1791. But some of the nobles wen- discontented 

 at the loss of their privileges by the new order of 

 things, and formed in 1792 tin- Confederation of 

 Targovica (q.v.), and at their instigation Russian 

 troops invaded I'oland and Lithuania. Prussia now 

 joined the Russians, and a second fruitless resist 

 ance to the united troops of Prussia and Russia, 

 which was headed by Joseph Poniatowski (q.v.) 

 and Kosciusko (q.v. ), was followed by a second 

 jmrtition (1793) between those two countries as 

 follows : 



KmlUh . mil*. ropuUUon. 



Kiuala ....................... S,000 3,000,000 



Prus.la. ...................... 24,000 1,100,000 



which the diet was forced to sanction at the point 

 of the bayonet. The Poles now became desperate ; 

 a general rising took place (1794), the Prussian- 

 were compelled to retreat to their own country, 

 and the Russians were several times routed. But 



Russia ... 220,500 



Prussia.... 29.000 

 Anatria.... 34,500 



Austria now appealed on the scene ; her army 

 advanced, and fresh Russian troops also arrived. 



Kosciusko was defeated at the buttle of Macic- 

 jowice and taken prisoner. Suvorov | Sn\\ arrow ), 

 the Russian general, took Warsaw, and the Polish 

 monarchy was at an end. The Ihinl >nl /\t 

 fKii-titinn (I7!l.")) distributed the remainder of the 

 country as follows : 



EnjlUh iq. mlta. Pupultl,,. 



Russia... 43.000 1.200.000 



Prussia 21,000 1.000,000 



Austria 18,000 1,000,000 



King Stanislaus resigned his crown, and died at 

 St Petersburg in 1798. He lies buried in the Roman 

 Catholic church there. 



The main causes of the fall of Poland appear to 

 have lieen ( 1 ) the want of patriotism and cohesion 

 among the nobles, each pursuing his own interests, 

 and the country thus being divided among a mini- 

 l>er of petty tyrants; (2) the want of a Hiitinnn/ 

 middle class, the trade of the country l>eing almost 

 entirely in the hands of Jews and Germans; (3) 

 the intolerance of the Jesuits, who persecuted on 

 the one hand the Dissidents, which caused them to 

 sympathise with Prussia, and on the other per- 

 secuted also the Orthodox inhabitants of the eastern 

 provinces and the Cossacks, who thus looked to 

 Russia; (4) in a less degree than the first three 

 causes, the weakness of character of the kings 

 though with such a turbulent nobility it must be 

 confessed that they had no fair play ; (5) the want 

 of natural frontiers. 



The subsequent success of the French against the 

 Russians and the promises of Napoleon to recon- 

 stitute Poland rallied round him the Poles, who 

 distinguished themselves in several campaigns 

 against their old enemies; but all that Napoleon 

 accomplished in fulfilment of his promise was the 

 establishment, by the treaty of Tilsit ( 1807), of the 

 duchy of Wai-saw, chielly out of the Prussian share 

 of Poland, with a lil>eral constitution and the Elec- 

 tor of Saxony as ite head. In I sii'.i Western Galicia 

 was taken from Austria and added to the duchy, 

 but the advance of the allied army in 1813 put an 

 end to its existence. After the cessions by Austria 

 in 1809 the duchy contained , r >8,2!H) EngHdl sq. in., 

 with a population of altout 4,000,000. Danzig was 

 also declared a republic, but given hack to Prussia 

 (February 3, 1814). 



The division of Poland was rearranged by the 

 Congress of Vienna in 18H>; the original shares of 

 Prussia and Austria were diminished, and that 

 part of the dnchv of Warsaw which was not rcstoied 

 to Prussia and Austria was united as the kingdom 

 of Poland to the Russian empire, hut merely by 

 I he bond of a personal union (the same monarch 

 l>eing the sovereign of each), and the two states 

 liring wholly independent of each other. The 

 remaining part* of Poland were bwarpmtod with 

 the kingdoms which had sei/ed them. The parti- 

 tion of Poland as thus finally arranged was as 

 follows : 



Fop. rnxnt PolllloU UlTl.lon. 



(Provinces of Courland, Vitebsk, Orodno, Minsk, Mohileff. Volhynia. Kleff, Podolla, and the 

 Kingdom of Poland (see below). Of these portions of the original kingdom of 1'olnnd now 

 U'longiiiK to Russia It must be remarked that Courland was i-.it.il to Uusi in iln-n IK "f 

 Catharine by the free action of the Inhabitant* ; Kleff had belonged to Russia by conquest 

 since 1867. 



3,000,000 Posen, most of Wet Prussia, and aeveral districts of East Prussia. 

 5,000,OoO Oallcla, Bukowlna, Zips, Ac. 



Cracow, with a small surrounding territory, was 

 declared independent under the protection of 

 Austria. Alexander I. gave the Poles a con- 

 stitution, including biennial diets, a responsible 

 ministry, a separate army, and liberty of the press. 

 General Zajacck was appointed viceroy, and the 

 (land duke Const an tine took command of the 

 army. For some time matters seemed to go on 



smoothly, but a spirit of discontent soon developed 

 itself. Complaints were made that the freedom of 

 the press was interfered with, and secret societies 

 were formed. An insurrection broke put in 

 November 1830; the grand-duke was obliged to 

 quit the citv, and General Chlopicki was appointed 

 dictator. Early in 1831 a large Russian army, 

 under Diebitsch, entered the country. Chlopicki 



