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36]     ANNUAL REGISTER

justice and dignity of the three courts prescribe bounds to their moderation; a truth which is strongly recommended to the attention of his Polish majesty, and which can neither escape his discernment, not be indifferent to his heart, if the cries of his people have any influence there. It is therefore hoped that he will not expose his kingdom to events, which must be the consequence of his delay to assemble a diet, and enter on a negociation, which alone can save his country, and restore vigour to the constitution of the republic, which has received so many, and so dangerous shocks.

Such was the language held to a once free and great state, and the treatment to which it was obliged to submit. Unhappy that country indeed, whose active principle is become weak, and which is lulled into security, from a vain dependence on the lustre of its former actions. Its being harmless, inoffensive, and even useful to its ambitious neighbours, will be a poor plea in its favour.

Nothing less than the desperate state of public affairs, and the hopes that arise from the smallest delay, to those who are in the utmost extremity of distress, could have excused the effect which there menaces produced in the court of Warsaw. What would be the height of rashness, in certain cases, becomes prudence in others, even among common men; and there are situations, in which dignity is, perhaps, the only thing left, that is worth a king's remembrance. Little was now to be hoped for, either from the lenity or the justice of the confederate powers; and the eagerness they shewed, to obtain some appearance of a legal function to their usurpations from the suffrages of a diet, would have warranted a considerable degree of perseverance in refusing to comply with their demands; but it would seem, as if the insolent menaces, and haughty tone of their arbitrary mandates, would have excused, if not justified, the most inflexible obstinacy in such a refusal. The unfortunate kind and his council, were, however, single and alone, surrounded by their enemies, and abandoned by all the rest of mankind: the resolution must be firmly braced indeed, which will not sink in such a situation.

Dec. 14th.
An answer was accordingly returned in a few days, in which the king declares, that with a view of taking away all pretext of aggravating the evils which afflict Poland, and under the hopes, that this mark of regard will operate on the generosity of the three powers, so, as to induce them to put a speedy end to the present troubles, in a manner the most equitable and advantageous to the republic, he will comply, as far as it is in his power, with their desires respecting the convocation of a diet. That in consequence thereof, he has issued circular letters for the convocation of a full council of the senate, which must indispensably precede the summoning of a diet; and had fixed their meeting to the 8th of the ensuing February; a term, which leaves no more than the time absolutely necessary for the arrival of the distant senators.

During these transactions, the Poles suffered more than the miseries of war or of conquest. In these cafes, upon the taking of a town, or the subjection of a province, it
is

For the YEAR 1772     [37

is usual among civilized nations, to afford protection and full security to the inhabitants during the continuance of the war; and though they are not to hold any correspondence, or enter into any engagements to the prejudice of the conqueror, it is neither expected or proposed, that they should renounce their former allegiance, until their original government discharge them from it upon a peace, by the cession of its rights; even in those circumstances, such as do not chuse to live under a new government, are allowed a reasonable time to dispose of their lands and effects, and to depart in all safety. It must generally happen, that some of those who have the principal possessions in the country, are in arms against the enemy, and continue so to the end of the war, and from their knowledge of the country, and interest in it, are more troublesome and dangerous to the conquerors, than any others. Their estates are accordingly sequestered during the war, and are liable to heavy contributions, and perhaps to plunder; but they are never considered as forfeitures, not are their owners supposed guilty of treason, for doing their duty in the service of their country. Upon the return of peace, they are allowed an equitable option, either to keep their lands, and submit to the government of the conqueror, or to dispose of them, and follow the fortunes of their ancient lords; the rights of individuals being still so far respected, as to consider each man a free agent, in the alternative of submitting to a new government, previous to the utter dissolution of the old; and without such submission or acknowledgment, no act of his, is considered as treason. Conquerors have also found it their interest, to indulge the new subjects, under the mask of tenderness and equity, with the preservation of such of their ancient laws and customs, as do not seem inconsistent with the safety of the state; the utility of this practice being in itself so evident, and so fully confirmed by experience, that it is in general received as an established system of policy.

In Poland, however, all the barriers that have been erected in the various history of mankind, to protect individuals, or to alleviate the calamities to which they are liable, in those wars that too frequently arise, from the rage, the folly, or the ambition of their rulers, have been torn up, and totally overthrown. No formal dissolution has taken place, of the government of that country, nor is any such design acknowledged. No war subsists between the republic, and any of the partitioning powers; nor has she ceded any of her territories, nor made a renunciation of any of her rights to them. In this situation of things, great provinces are seized, without any natural or hereditary claim to the submission of the people, being so much as pretended; but on the contrary, they are rather represented as equivalents, for some other claims with which they are not acquainted, and for some other people and provinces, for whom they are not answerable. The people, who are no judges of claims of this nature, and have not power to decide on them if they were, must naturally leave them to the discussion of the governments on both sides, and patiently await their determination: and
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