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Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 3 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
c The foreign armies extended from one end of Poland to the other , and sited in concert against the confederates , who were soon obliged to disperse . The more numerous part returned to their homes . The rest vented , in foreign nations , their just complaints and accumulated injuries . ' Ail Europe had its eyes fixed on Poland . It was hard to conceive how three formidable powers could think of invading , in the time of profound peace , a country , whose independence was guaranteed by the most solemn
treaties . The object of the continual negociations that occupied these powers was likewise a subject of inquiry . At length all was discovered . The Minister of his Imperial Majesty was the first to notify to the Kins ; and senate of Poland the treaty of Petersburg . The Russian Ambassador and the Prussian Envoy followed it up , almost immediately , with declarations in support of that treaty . < The indi gnant Poles cried out against this violation of Justice . They
claimed the intervention of all those powers , by whom the treaty of Oliv ' a was guaranteed ; a treaty that had assured to them the integrity of the kino- ' , dom , and which had been long regarded as the grand charter ' of the North . Some of these powers made remonstrances ; but they were as unavailing as the complaints ofthe Poles . Not content with having already seized on a . part of the provinces of Poland , the three despoiling courts demanded iron the diet a solemn cession of those provinces . tie met
• A was immediately convoked , and assembled on the 19 th of April , 1773 . Promises and money were prodigally lavished to gain over the deputies . However , the majority of these , for a longtime , refused their consent to the partition . Irritated at an opposition which was totally unexpected , the Ministers of the three courts menaced the diet with the severe animadversion oftheir respective Sovereigns . They threatened them with the arrest and deposition of their King ; and their emissaries secretly reported , that if the diet refused to ield
y , Warsaw would be delivered up to pillage . By such stratagems of art , the diet was at length forced into compliance . At the same time a decree was passed , limiting their sittings to a small number ot days ; it broke up in the month of Mav , and commissioners were appointed to settle with the Ministers of the three courts the conditions ofthe partition . It may easil y be conceived that these conditions were dictated by the Ministers ! They were si gned in the month of September following . ' Some nobles of the invaded .. provinces had the resolution to protest against tlie _ treaty , and published manifestos . But what availed these isolated ^ complaints against numerous armies ?
' Before the convocation of the diet , and during its sittings , the Kinoloudly declared against the partition . Notwithstanding which , it " was asserted that he secretl y favoured the plan ; and those who knew his former attachment to Russia could not persuade themselves that he would renounce it . _ ' The accession to this treaty was no sooner voted than several ofthe principal members of the diet waited upon the King , and loudly reproached him with the ruin of their country . His Majesty ' at first replied to them with mildnessBut
. soon perceiving that his moderation onl y served to embolden their audacity , and render them more unjust , he rose up , threw lvs hat upon the ground , and fiercely replied , " Gentlemen , I am weary of hearing you . The division of our unhappy country is the consequence ot your ambition , of your dissensions , and eternal disputes . To yourselves alone you may attribute your present misfortunes . As for me , should no more territory be left to my possession than what is covered by my hat , in the eyes pf all'Europe , 1 should nevertheless be still acknowledged your lawful -but-unhappy Sovereign I " ' By the dismemberment of Poland , that unhappy country lost nearly five
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
c The foreign armies extended from one end of Poland to the other , and sited in concert against the confederates , who were soon obliged to disperse . The more numerous part returned to their homes . The rest vented , in foreign nations , their just complaints and accumulated injuries . ' Ail Europe had its eyes fixed on Poland . It was hard to conceive how three formidable powers could think of invading , in the time of profound peace , a country , whose independence was guaranteed by the most solemn
treaties . The object of the continual negociations that occupied these powers was likewise a subject of inquiry . At length all was discovered . The Minister of his Imperial Majesty was the first to notify to the Kins ; and senate of Poland the treaty of Petersburg . The Russian Ambassador and the Prussian Envoy followed it up , almost immediately , with declarations in support of that treaty . < The indi gnant Poles cried out against this violation of Justice . They
claimed the intervention of all those powers , by whom the treaty of Oliv ' a was guaranteed ; a treaty that had assured to them the integrity of the kino- ' , dom , and which had been long regarded as the grand charter ' of the North . Some of these powers made remonstrances ; but they were as unavailing as the complaints ofthe Poles . Not content with having already seized on a . part of the provinces of Poland , the three despoiling courts demanded iron the diet a solemn cession of those provinces . tie met
• A was immediately convoked , and assembled on the 19 th of April , 1773 . Promises and money were prodigally lavished to gain over the deputies . However , the majority of these , for a longtime , refused their consent to the partition . Irritated at an opposition which was totally unexpected , the Ministers of the three courts menaced the diet with the severe animadversion oftheir respective Sovereigns . They threatened them with the arrest and deposition of their King ; and their emissaries secretly reported , that if the diet refused to ield
y , Warsaw would be delivered up to pillage . By such stratagems of art , the diet was at length forced into compliance . At the same time a decree was passed , limiting their sittings to a small number ot days ; it broke up in the month of Mav , and commissioners were appointed to settle with the Ministers of the three courts the conditions ofthe partition . It may easil y be conceived that these conditions were dictated by the Ministers ! They were si gned in the month of September following . ' Some nobles of the invaded .. provinces had the resolution to protest against tlie _ treaty , and published manifestos . But what availed these isolated ^ complaints against numerous armies ?
' Before the convocation of the diet , and during its sittings , the Kinoloudly declared against the partition . Notwithstanding which , it " was asserted that he secretl y favoured the plan ; and those who knew his former attachment to Russia could not persuade themselves that he would renounce it . _ ' The accession to this treaty was no sooner voted than several ofthe principal members of the diet waited upon the King , and loudly reproached him with the ruin of their country . His Majesty ' at first replied to them with mildnessBut
. soon perceiving that his moderation onl y served to embolden their audacity , and render them more unjust , he rose up , threw lvs hat upon the ground , and fiercely replied , " Gentlemen , I am weary of hearing you . The division of our unhappy country is the consequence ot your ambition , of your dissensions , and eternal disputes . To yourselves alone you may attribute your present misfortunes . As for me , should no more territory be left to my possession than what is covered by my hat , in the eyes pf all'Europe , 1 should nevertheless be still acknowledged your lawful -but-unhappy Sovereign I " ' By the dismemberment of Poland , that unhappy country lost nearly five