tional and illegal. It was, however, not to be decided by equity, but by intrigue, money, or the sword. The primate proposed to refer the differences that subsisted between the two competitors to the decision of another diet; but being over-ruled, he wrote to the elector of Saxony that the prince of Conti had been elected, and, therefore, requested that he would relinquish his claim to the crown, and thereby restore peace and tranquillity to Poland.

But Augustus, having an army in the neighbourhood, and being weil provided with money, paid little regard to this request, and procured himself to be crowned. The ceremony, accordingly, commenced, and a pompous procession was made to the church of St. Stanislaus, where the confession of faith was read, and the sacra ́ment administered. The crown was placed on the head of the elector by the bishop of Cujavia; and the ceremonies being finished, he received the homage of the nobility and gentry who were present. The prince of Conti, who was accompanied by only a small detachment of Frenchmen, and who was disappointed of the Lithuanian troops, whose aid he had been taught to expect, abandoned all hopes of obtaining the crown, relinquished the project entirely, and returned to France, notwithstanding the expence and trouble which this undertaking had cost the court of Versailles.

The departure of his rival brought a fresh accession of power to Augustus; and several districts acknowledged his sovereignty, and took the usual oaths of fidelity. A greater number of the nobility joined him, and declared the legality of his election. The army, which had hitherto

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rejected

rejected with disdain the pecuniary offers he had made, sent deputies to swear obedience to the new sovereign; and proposals were made by the king of Sweden and the czar of Russia to assist him with a numerous and powerful body of troops. Thus did Frederic-Augustus gain the elec

A. D. tion, and was acknowledged by the diet, 1697. and by all parties, as king of Poland. His ambition impelled him "to purchase repentance” at a dear rate, like those whose passion led them to Corinth in the days of Laïs.

We have not marked the epoch when, from a monarchy, Poland became a republic; and the precise period would perhaps be difficult to ascertain. By insensible degrees, the republican principles were introduced into the monarchical constitution, by means of restrictive conditions imposed on the candidates. They are denominated pacta conventa, and are charters of liberty, which the people are ever disposed to enlarge, and the monarchs, on the contrary, to abridge. Hence a struggle, which has constantly kept Poland in a state of disturbance and disquiet.

In ratifying the election of Frederic-Augustus, even his own partisans limited the number of forces that he should be allowed to introduce into Poland, and specified the circumstances which should authorise him to require the assistance of his Saxon troops. But though his sovereignty was in general acknowledged, the king did not think himself perfectly secure without the assistance of soldiers, on whose fidelity he could rely. And neither the terms of the convention were so precise, nor the events so well foreseen, as to prevent him from hastening, under plausible pretexts, the march of an army exceeding the stipulated force,

force, from putting it in possession of the fortresses, and placing it in positions capable of giv ing umbrage and uneasiness to the republic.

These transactions happened under the new king, who surrounded himself with Saxons, because, being his native subjects, he could place greater confidence in them than in the Poles; and, in order to attach them the better to his person, he loaded them with favours, and bestowed on them the most lucrative and honourable offices of the state. The Saxons became extremely odious, not from their own misconduct, but from the jealousy which the Foles always entertained of foreigners. In this state were affairs when the diet assembled, and demanded that the Saxon troops should be withdrawn. Augustus endeavoured to wave the requisition by every art and intrigue; but finding the debates become serious, and fearing the consequences of a refusal, he assured the assembly that part of the German forces had received orders to quit Poland, and that the remainder would shortly follow them. Such was the popularity of this declaration, that the diet confirmed by unanimous consent an act projected for the safety and authority of the king, and annexed a clause by which the most rigorous punishments were denounced against those who should make any attempts upon his person or dignity. But, notwithstanding the assurances given by the king to the diet, the Saxon troops still remained in Poland. "To what purpose,

said the Poles, 66 so many soldiers in a time of "peace, unless to enslave us?" In order, therefore, to elude the force of this objection,

and

and to occupy the minds of the public, he began to prepare for hostilities.

Having secretly conspired with the czar of Russia and the king of Denmark against Charles XII. who was a minor, and had not yet exhibited proofs of his valour and abilities, Frederic-Augustus declared war against Sweden under flimsy pretences; but that contest, instead of contributing to strengthen his authority, plunged him personally into an abyss of misfortunes. The Swede, who was equally politic and brave, fo

mented the discontents in Poland. He attacked and defeated the Saxons near the Duna, and compelled them to take refuge under the cannon of Birzen. This advantage inflamed the victorious Charles with the desire of extending his designs beyond the revenge which he at first meditated; and he hoped by the end of the campaign to dethrone Augustus. Vast and ideal as this project appeared, it was justified by the event; and, indeed, a variety of circumstances concurred in rendering the issue of the war peculiarly unfortunate to the Polish monarch.

The victories of Charles gave weight to the manifestoes of the Polish confederates, whose manifestoes, on the other hand, sanctioned his victories in the eyes of the nation. The opinion which the Poles had entertained of the king at the time of his elevation to the throne, was changed, because he was become unfortunate. To complete the embarrassment of the Polish sovereign, the Saxon troops were too few in number to oppose the Swedes, and too much dispirited by their defeats to contend with an

enemy,

enemy, whom they considered as invincible. Finally, to complete his misfortunes, the address and intrigue of the primate induced the diet to pass a resolution, which declared Augustus deprived of his right and title to the crown of Poland, for having violated the liberties of the people, who by the pacta conventa were released from their oaths of obedience, and engagements of fidelity and allegiance.

Severe and unexpected as this stroke must have been to the unfortunate sovereign, he was not discouraged; but hoped that some change of circumstances, the tyrannical spirit of Charles, the inconstancy of the Poles, his own perseverance, and the interposition of the maritime powers, whose interest it was to check the aspiring ambition of the Swede, would operate in his favour. But though Frederic-Augustus displayed great personal bravery at the head of his troops, he exhibited something worse than weakness in the cabinet. Posterity will ever reproach him with the sacrifice of Patkul, formerly a subject of Charles, who, being disgraced by that prince, threw himself into the armies of the Saxon, had well and faithfully served him, and was basely delivered up by the Polish sovereign to the resentment of the Swedish monarch, who put him to a cruel and ignominious death. A prince may nobly fall from the throne, when expelled from it by an irresistible force; but meanly to kiss the hand which smites him, and drives him from his seat, is the completion of ignominy in a monarch. Charles XII. having thus wrested the crown from Frederic-Augustus, deter- 1704. mined to confer it on a noble Pole, named

A. D.

Stanislaus