682 
violation of all principle, after a forcible 
election, by means of. foreign merce- 
It was then, that the neighbouring 
courts, who were prepared for a new and 
hitherto unheard of system of plunder, 
under the name of partition, encouraged 
the claims of the dissidents, or dissenters, 
to equal rights,-privileges, and immuni- | 
ties. By a denial of these, the diet ren- 
dered them at once enemies of their 
native country, and the allies of Russia, 
which had protected them; it is not a 
little remarkable too, that England, by 
means of her ambassador at Warsaw, 
supported their- just pretensions. At 
length, in 1769, a general anarchy seemed 
to.take place, and the Poles, who beheld 
their king supported by a Russian army, 
and a feeble minority of his countrymen, 
established confederacies, organized a 
general revolt,and were secretly assisted 
im all their operations bythe French, who 
sent money and officers thither. | 
If we inquire with M. Rulhiere, what 
could produce the subjugation of a great 
nation, which had once held Prussia in 
vassalage, given sovereigns to. Russia, 
and freed the house of Austria from the 
dominion of the Turks by the existing 
sovereigns of those very states, it must 
be allowed to have sprung out of a vici- 
ous constitution. By it, the king, or 
bead of a nominal republic, was to be 
elected by the nobility and clergy, assem- 
bled on horseback on the plains of 
Warsaw; and in case there should bea 
’ gefractory minority, a.civil war became 
inevitable. Immediately after his nomi- 
nation, the new seyereign was Zo sign the 
pacta canventa, by which he engaged 
that the crown should be elective, that 
his successor shonkl be appointed during 
his life, that the diet should be assembled 
once every two years; that every noble- 
man should haye a-yote,.and that in 
case the king should infringe the laws 
and privileges of the netion, the subjects 
should be absolved from the oath o7 al- 
lance, im consequence of which it 
_ would be lawful to-take ap arms against - 
hm. -. 
Thus . the 
seeds af its own’ destrgctionswithin, it- 
self, as:an elective. menarchy assuredly 
produces a. civil wet, joreign interven- 
tion, and domestic feuds. “The doerum 
_ vetotoo, was another source) of disorder, | 
for by this any Wancio could stop the 
‘proceedings of the diet, at his own wall 
andaleasure. That,however, proves to 
chavedeen an innovayone!comparatively 
constitution carried the , 
eer aN 
modern times, for it did not eccur until 
the reign of John Casimir, during which, 
in 1652, Scinski, a Lithuanian deputy, 
first exercised this real or pretended 
right. While it was thus in the power - 
of a single individual, by pronouncing 
only one word, (veto) to break up: the 
diet, and put a stop to its proceedings, 
the people at large had no. share what- 
soever jn the measures of the legislative 
and elective bodies. Sad 
_ The representative system extended 
no further than the equestrian order, 0 
class of reputed gentlemen, for the bulk 
of the people were not, only destitute of 
all manner of rights, but actually reduced 
to the station of villains or slaves, in the 
same manner as was practised throygh- 
out the rest of Europe four or five cen- 
turies before. Accordingly, Poland, 
with an exception on the part of Russia 
and Bohemia, was far behind all her 
neighbours in respect to civilization; 
and to this fatal circumstance, M. 
Rulhiere justly attributes the catas- 
trophe that ensued. It was in vain that 
-the Polish nobles, who were exclusively 
patriots—for they alone possessed any 
rights and franchises—summoned the 
whole nation to take. part against the 
foreign spoilers. ‘The great body of the 
people, seeing only a change of masters 
in contemplation, and having but little 
property, and no. liberty, to fight for, re- 
mained absolutely indiflerent during the 
contest. Nay, it has been insinuated, 
aud may be, readily supposed, that a 
large portion of them, actuated by re- 
venge, secretly rejoiced at the downfall 
of their domestic. oppressors, to whom 
they would not afford any manner, of 
help whatsoever. pap i ies 
While tracing the causes that finally. 
produced. the dependence and subjuga- 
tion of Poland,the author before us con- 
templates the character of the Czar 
Pete; 1., with whom this measure origi- 
nated, in a way far different. from that 
in which he was, viewed by Voltaire and 
the other philosophers of Exrope, about 
half.a century ago. ‘The illegal nominae 
tion of Augustus 4. divided, and disgust- 
edi a Jarge portion of the nation, on one 
hand, while the LeINBOFAR elevation of 
Stanislaus on.the other, Jed to a civil 
war. Under the Saxon dynasty, corrup- 
tion spread her baleful influence, and 
most of the great states of Europe ap- 
pear, sometimes by turns, and, at other 
times, all at.once, to have exercised qn 
influence. of a most degrading kind. 
France, which had bejore. attempted 
a to. 
