honesty and refolution enough, neither to be debauched by rewards, nor compelled by threats. It is faid of this weak prince, that the converfion of a Diffident, the demolition of one of their churches, or the founding of a new college of Jefuits, were more prized by him, than the gaining of a victory, or the prefervation of a province.

That the whole courfe of his adminiftration was fo odious, that even the Catholics, and the great Zamoifky, his protector, who had placed him on the throne, were highly incenfed at his conduct, and reproached him bitterly in public for it. That by a conftant perfeverance in this conduct, his whole reign was a continued feries of lofs and difgrace; that by it he lost the kingdom of Sweden, as well as the noble provinces of Livonia, Wallachia, and Moldavia. That the misfortunes incurred by it, were not confined to his reign, but are entailed upon the lateft pofterity; for the great revolt of the Coffacks, which gave fo irretrievable fhock to the republic, was a confequence of it, and concerted during his life. And matters were carried to fuch a pitch at home, that a great part of the nation were at one time upon the point of dethroning him.

People who take a tranfient and diftant view of the affairs of Poland, and who, from its name and form of a republic, look upon their kings to be nearly nominal, and their power circumfcribed within very narrow limits, will be furprifed how fo weak and bigotted a prince could have the power of doing fo much harm. But the Kings of Poland have ftill,

in fome refpects, very great powers, one of the principal of which, befides the dependence that is naturally created by the difpofal of governments and all offices and places of truft or emolument, is, that thefe very offices are what conftitute the fenate, none of the members of which hold by any here. ditary right; fo that this body bears a more just resemblance to a king's private council and adminiftration, than to an English houfe of lords, to which the Polifh writers fometimes compare it. It fhould alfo be remembered, that, in the days of Sigifmund the third, the Polish nation were only newly emancipated from the government of a long line of hereditary kings, from whom he was defcended on the mother's fide, and under many of whom, they had arrived at the highest degree of fplendour and glory. The kingdom of Sweden, which he poffeffed for a part of his reign, muft have done more than contribute to dazzle the eyes of the people; and if we take all thefe caufes together, we cannot avoid fuppofing that he had very fuperior degrees

of power and influence, to what have been poffeffed by later monarchs.

It is no wonder then, that fuch a prince, during the courfe of fo long a reign, with emoluments, honours, and preferments to beftow in one hand, and perfecution to threaten in the other, fhould have made an infinite number of

profelytes. The event was anfwerable to what might have been expected: bishops abandoned their flocks; the priests and people were compelled to follow them. Every gentleman who embraced the Catholic

Catholic faith, immediately demolished all the churches of the Diffidents that were built upon his eftates; the tradefmen that were fettled there difperfed themfelves to other parts, and the peafants were converted without difficulty. If the priest or any of the vaals were firft converted, they were fupported against the lord, who was compelled at length, by a variety of chicanery and vexation, either to become a convert, or to difpofe of his eftate. In this manner the Diffidents loft, during the reign of Sigifmund, upwards of an hundred churches; and the Catholics increased to that degree, that from five only, who were members of the fenate in the beginning of it; at his death they amounted to three parts of the whole affembly.

Though the Diffidents were not uniformly oppreffed during the fucceeding reigns; yet they met with fuch difcouragements, as daily decreafed their numbers; and means were at length found to keep them entirely Anno 1660 out of the fenate. By the treaty of Oliva, notwithstanding the general intention which then prevailed to deprive the Swedes of every pretence for ever again re-entering Poland; yet it is ftipulated by the fecond article, "That all the fubjects of the kingdom of Poland, of what condition or religion foever, were to enjoy for the future all the rights and privileges, as well temporal as fpiritual, which they had enjoyed before the war." This is the celebrated treaty, which we have formerly taken notice of, and which is fo often

quoted upon the prefent difputes; and it is to this treaty, that the great mediating powers became guarantees.

A fevere law was paffed in the following year, and in the fame reign of John Cafimir, against the Arians; who were charged with blafphemy, and declared heretics; it was alfo ordained, that all profecutions against them, as being the caufe of God, fhould be decided in the feveral courts, before all other caufes. It was at the fame time declared, that this law had not the leaft reference to the Diffidents, who were affured in the moft folemn manner, in the body of the law itself, that they should for the time to come be continued in the enjoyment of all their rights, employments, and honours, as before. Notwithstanding thefe exprefs ftipulations, this law has fince proved a fevere fcourge to the Diffidents; to whom the clergy have applied it in all their fuits; efpecially during the reigns of the two Saxon kings; who, as new Catholics, affected to be very zealous to that religion, and violently attached to the clergy of it. To this very time, the trials of the Diffidents are determined ex Regiftro Arianifmi; and as a caufe of this kind is branded with the epithet of " abominable"; fo no one perfon will venture to efpoufe the part of a perfon accufed under this title.

Though the Diffidents met with various and numberlefs oppreffions and injuries, during the courfe of the last century; yet they were still regarded only as acts of fudden violence or outrage, and acknowledged to be contrary [B] 2

to

to the laws; which were open to applications for redrefs, when the temper of the times was tranquil enough to allow of it. But in the prefent century, an advantage has been taken, during the confufion which attended the troubles in which the republic has been fo deeply involved, to get laws paffed which ftruck directly at all the rights of the Diffidents, and almoft at their very exiftence; by which it was intended, in procefs of time, to bring the fecular power to the aid of the ecclefiaftic; and from that means to profecute them, under an appearance of juftice.

The first attempt of this nature was in the diet that fucceeded the troubles in the year 1717; and which met to ratify the treaty of peace then concluded between Peter the Great, Auguftus the Second, and the republic. At this diet, through the cunning of Sieniawfky, Bishop of Culm, an article was inferted in the treaty, as explanatory of an ambiguous article of a conftitution, which had - paffed in the year 1632; by which explanation, it was falfely prefuppofed, that the Diffidents were forbidden, by the faid article, to build any churches after that period. This was managed fo artfully, that the very deputies of the princes who figned the treaty, and Auguftus himself, imagined that it only regarded the abufes introduced by the Swedes during the war, who had exercifed pub lic worship in fome of the royal cities, where the Dissidents had no churches originally.

For the better understanding of this paffage, it is neceffary to ob

ferve, that frequent tumults having happened, and much blood having been fpilt, by the rifing of the populace in the great cities, to demolish the Diffidents' churches, the latter, for the fake of peace, and to prevent bloodshed, confented to a conftitution which was paffed in the year 1632, by which they were bound to build no new churches in any of the royal cities. But by this new explanation, which now had the force of a law, and the effects of which foon began to appear, all churches which had been built in any part of the kingdom, fince that period, were ordered to be pulled down; and divine fervice was only allowed in thofe that were anterior to it. The nobles who kept minifters in their houses, and the minifters themselves, were, in confequence of this inference, punished by fines, imprisonments, and banishment; and the fenfe of the punishments and indignities was increased, from their being inflicted by inferior courts, compofed chiefly of clergymen. This method of procedure was the more extraordinary and unjaft, as it was a direct violation of the exprefs laws of the kingdom, by which it had been always decreed, that ecclefiaftical differences in which the Diffidents were concerned, could only be brought before the diet; and were neither to be tried or judged by any other tribunal.

Though the true defign of this proceeding was not avowed, yet fuch were the measures taken, and fo violent were the party who fupported it, that at the time the treaty was read, no perfon durft

give his vote, or speak one word against it; even the Prince Primate was not allowed to speak, who thereupon, with many other Roman Catholics, quitted the affembly; which has ever fince, from that caufe, been ftigmatized by the name of the Mute Diet. The treaty was read to the affembly, and they all ftanding; and though an affair of fo much confequence in other refpects to the nation, yet to carry the favourite point, it was without debate, or deliberation, hurried through almoft inftantaneously. Many of the Diffident deputies, however, protefted againft it, and immediately quitted the diet. The Primate, alfo, and many Roman Catholics refufed to affent to it; and as, by the conftitution of Poland, no conclufion can be valid, that is not unanimously agreed to by the whole diet; fo nothing but the most injurious and unjuft force could pafs this explanatory article as a

law.

Peter the Great' wrote a very ferious letter, in which he expreff ed great difpleafure, at the oppreffions that enfued in confequence of this article. Auguftus alfo publifhed an edict, to maintain the Diffidents in poffeffion of their former liberties; and a declaration, that the obnoxious article fhould not be prejudicial to them. Neither the letter nor the edict were of any ufe to the Diffidents. Peter, who was their best friend, was at the prefent taken up with other affairs; and when he was going to afford them effectual redrefs, by fending an army into Poland, he unfortunately for them died. Auguftus had not power to ferve them, nor had he inclina

tion to difoblige the prevailing party.

The oppreffions of the Diffidents grew every day greater. To fuch a degree did the Bishop of Wilna inflame the minds of the people againft them, that they were by force drove out of the church, in which they were to have taken the oaths to qualify themfelves for counfellors of the tribunals of Lithuania, to which they had been legally chofen; and from which they were excluded under pretence of the explanatory article, though offices were not at all mentioned by it. In every other refpect matters were carried againft them to the most extravagant pitch, under the fame fpecious pretext; infomuch that endeavours were used to prevent even their repairing their old churches, which were not in any degree included in it.

In this fituation did their affairs continue till the election of Auguftus the IIId. and the diet which fucceeded to the troubles upon that occafion in 1736. From this diet the Diffidents received a deeper wound than they had ever before experienced; for the conftitution of 1717, was not only confirmed in its fullest extent, but they were alfo excluded from all public offices; and to fhut them out from every hope of relief, it was decreed, that fhould they implore the interceflion of any foreign power, they were declared traitors to their country, notwithftanding those were the very powers that were the guarantees of the treaty of Oliva. The Proteftant country deputies of Pruffia were prefent at this diet, and protefted against the proceedings; but they were refused to be heard,

neither

From this period, till of late, there were no permanent diets in Poland, and the affairs of the Dif. fidents fell every day into greater confufion. At the diet of 1764, both the two former fatal conftitutions were confirmed; and it was enacted, that, for the future, accufations might be brought againft the infractors of thofe laws, before any of the courts of juftice without diftinction.

Our readers have already feen in the laft volume, the proceedings in the diet of that year; the applications that were made in favour of the Diffidents by the mediating powers; and the declaration made by the diet at its breaking up, in anfwer to them. We then forefaw that the conclufions of the diet were as little likely to give fatisfaction to the powers who had interested themselves upon the occafion, as they were to redrefs the grievances of the fufferers. The promife made by the declaration, that the Diffidents fhould be fupported in their privileges according to the conftitutions of 1717, 1736, and 1764, and that the bifhops fhould confider their religious griefs; was, in fact, an affurance, that the three violent and deftructive laws, which at once ftruck at their rights, liberties, and fafety, fhould be enforced to the utmoft against them; and that their grievances fhould, for the future, be referred to their most implaca

ble enemies.

As this evafive, pitiful declaration, unworthy the reprefentatives

of a great nation, could not fucceed with the powers for whom it was intended; fo the Emprefs of Ruffia, as one of the nearest and the most immediately concerned, was the first who fhewed her difapprobation of it. In the mean time the Diffidents, being fenfible that mildnefs and fubmiffion would only increafe their dangers and hardships, under the prefent prevailing party, who fought their deftruction to increase their own ftrength, and perhaps with a view to unhinge every part of the commonwealth, in this fituation began to form confederacies in the different parts of the kingdom, for their mutual prefervation and defence. Though their once numerous and boafted nobility were at prefent reduced to little more than two hundred families, exclufive of thofe in the dutchy of Courland; yet they were animated to a bold attempt, by a fenfe of the wrongs they had fo long endured, the immediate injuries which they all experienced, and the total deftruction which they believed was preparing for them.

The first act of confederacy was en- March 10th, tered into at Sluck, 1767. by the nobles and citizens of the Greek communion, and the two evangelical confeffions in the great dutchy of Lithuania. This act of confederacy was figned by a number of the nobility, who appointed Major General Grabowfki to be their marshal, and a council to affift him. About the fame time, a confederacy