Stanislaus Leczinski. When the diet, however, was assembled for electing a new sovereign, the deputy Icrozalski spoke with great spirit, and exhorted the Poles not to place their timidity upon record, and transmit to posterity the infamous submission they paid to a foreign prince. This bold and unexpected speech considerably embarrassed the Swedish general, who was present in the assembly, and who threatened to reduce the deputies to reason by force. Nothing, however, could shake their resolution, which seemed to strengthen by opposition. "Here," said they, "let us sacrifice our lives to the free"dom of our country, and prefer death to the "loss of liberty." At length, the bishop of Posnania, perceiving that nothing could be gained by threats or promises, exclaimed,

66

Long live Stanislaus Leczinski, elected king " of Poland!" The nomination was echoed by the Swedes, and a few of the nobility; but the deputies entered their protest and retired. Thus was Stanislaus raised to the throne by the influence of a foreign power, without swearing to the pacta conventa.

Charles XII. imposed rigorous conditions on the deposed monarch; and, besides compelling him to acknowledge Stanislaus as the legitimate Sovereign of the republic, and to renounce all rights to the crown and dominions of Poland, required him to write a letter of congratulation to the new king, upon his accession to the throne. Augustus complied, and by the style of his epistle evinced his regret, and the violence which was offered to his inclinations. The plea of necessity alone can exculpate him for this condescension; and even that may be

deemed

deemed insufficient to rescue his character from the imputation of pusillanimity. Certain it is, the young Swede entertained so mean an opinion of him that, accompanied only by four persons, he went to brave him in the midst of Dresden and of a numerous garrison, and to eat and converse familiarly with him, while the dethroned monarch dared not to testify to him any other sentiments than those of astonishment and respect.

The event of the battle of Pultowa determined Augustus to avow his intentions of breaking the treaty he had contracted with Charles XII. and of re-ascending the throne of Poland. He, therefore, published a manifesto in justification of his conduct, in which he mentioned the arbitrary and oppressive proceedings of the king of Sweden, reasoned on the nullity of the election of Stanislaus, declared his intention of re-establishing himself on the throne of Poland, and concluded with requesting the assistance of all Christian kings and princes. In the mean time, Stanislaus, who saw himself abandoned by his friends, his protector a fugitive, and his rival supported by the most powerful monarch of the north, was no sooner informed of the approach of Augustus to the dominions of the republic than he declared that, as he had taken the sceptre with no other view than the preservation of liberty, he was now ready to restore it, provided that sacrifice would promote the tranquillity and peace of his country.

1709.

Accordingly, having abdicated the A. D. throne, Augustus was re-appointed king of Poland. Stanislaus, who was of a mild and humane disposition, was rewarded for

those

those virtues by the good fortune of his daughter, who was married to Louis XV. king of France. A donation being made to him of the duchy of Lorraine, he there led a peaceful and retired life in the midst of the arts which he had admired, and with all the honours of sovereignty unattended by its burdens. On the contrary, Frederic Augustus reigned in the midst of factions. Conspiracies were formed against both his power and his life. He was, nevertheless, a good father, a good husband, a sociable companion, and distinguished by such manners as suit a republic.

A. D.

On the death of Frederic-Augustus, Stanislaus Leczinski was re-elected king 1733. of Poland; but the emperor of Germany and the czar of Russia declaring the election void, the elector of Saxony, son of the late Polish monarch, was raised to the throne, under the name of Augustus III. Though Stanislaus was favoured yet too little supported by France, whose monarch, Louis XV. had espoused his daughter, he was obliged to relinquish his pursuit. Nor did he, without incurring a thousand dangers, escape from the Russian and Saxon armies, which had united in favour of his competitor. It was not, however, till his title had been recognised by an assembly called the "diet of pacification," that Frederic-Augustus III. was universally acknowledged as king of Poland. After those first shocks, the reign of this monarch was tranquil and peaceable.

On the death of Frederic-Augustus III. A. D. which took place on the fifth of October,

1763.

his son, who was become elector of Saxony, sued for the crown which had been worn

by

by his father. At this time Russia, by the permanent conquest of Livonia, by her influence in Courland, and by her prodigious military force, might be said to have acquired a domineering and almost irresistible ascendancy in the affairs of Poland. Prussia, after a war of seven years, sustained under circumstances of unparalleled inferiority, had extricated herself, and was become a power of the first consideration. The peace of Hubertsburg left the Prussian monarch at liberty to turn his views and efforts towards Warsaw. The deep and capacious mind of his brother, prince Henry, had seized and digested in silence the project of the partition of Poland. He communicated his ideas on the subject to Frederic, who, after expressing his admiration of it in theory, was brought over to his opinion; and they began to concert measures for the completion of the plan.

The first step taken by the Prussian monarch in this affair, was artfully to flatter the new empress of Russia, to awaken her vanity, and to represent to her the honour, as well as the advantage, of giving a sovereign to Poland, after having placed herself on the throne of the czars. Catharine, who was anxious. for every species of glory, listened with pleasure to suggestions, which were calculated to make impressions on her ambitious mind. Impelled by her partiality for count Poniatowski, and, perhaps, likewise induced by her perfect knowledge of his character, she signified to Frederic her intention of elevating him to the throne. The court of Berlin having approved of the choice, Catharine's forces aud treasures overcame all opposiVOL. XXII. S

tion.

tion. On the sixth of September, that A. D. candidate, supported by two powers, 1764. mounted by violence the throne of Poland; while the Russian ambassador, prince Repnin, became in fact the despot and the oppressor of the Poles.

CHAP. IV.

From the Accession of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, the last King of Poland, to the present Time.

IF

F ever any sovereign had reason to think his crown heavy and beset with thorns, StanisJaus Augustus Poniatowski stood in that predicament. Born of a noble Polish family, his election, though effected by violence, might be considered as not more illegal than the three preceding ones; in each of which, Saxon, Swedish, or Muscovite troops, aided by gold, had raised the pretender, whose cause they espoused, to the throne of Poland. Apprehensive lest the monarchical party should prevail over the republican, in the mixt government of that coun- / try, the diets had during a whole century attentively laboured to circumscribe the king's authority within very narrow limits, and to diminish the revenues, and weaken the army of the crown. Poniatowski, therefore, on his accession to the throne, found himself destitute of money and of troops. The unfortunate king -retained little more of royalty than the name, and seemed only an instrument in the hands of the court of Petersburg.

The