of December, the diet adjourned to the 3rd of February,

1790.

Meanwhile Russia had intimated to the court of Berlin that she should not throw any impediment in the way of an alliance between Prussia and Poland. This declaration

Soon afterwards

was officially communicated to the diet. the Prussian ambassador informed the deputation of foreign affairs that his master approved the project of a reform undertaken by the diet; that he was ready to offer Poland a defensive alliance; and that he proposed to reduce the duties on the productions of the republic imported into his dominions one half: but he acknowledged that the king was desirous of possessing the cities of Thorn and Dantzick, with their districts, for which he was disposed to make an advantageous compensation. He added that he was instructed to wave this point if it should meet with opposition and difficulties; he therefore insisted more particularly on the treaty of alliance and commerce. In a confidential communication, Lucchesini stated that Russia had offered to put his master in possession of Great Poland if he would continue neutral during the war with the Turks. This communication, which passed from mouth to mouth, silenced all the opposition members; the treaty with Prussia was unanimously voted, concluded, and ratified on the 5th of April.

It was now rumoured that Austria would be required to restore part of her Polish acquisitions to the republic as a compensation for Thorn and Dantzick, if these were ceded to Prussia. The emperor Leopold, who had succeeded his brother Joseph, was no party to this proposal, which had well nigh produced a rupture between the two monarchs, whose differences, however, were adjusted in the conferences at Reichenbach in July, 1790. The convention to which they led was of great importance to Poland.

There was no further question of the cession of Gallicia as a compensation for Thorn and Dantzick; and Leopold learned that Russia had suggested this plan to punish him because he was not disposed to continue the war with the Turks. Catherine would not have scrupled to rob the emperor in order to conciliate Prussia; and Poland would gladly have given Thorn and Dantzick in exchange for the provinces ceded to Austria.

A report was also circulated soon afterwards that Poland was threatened with a new partition: this the king ordered his ambassador at Warsaw to contradict in the most positive manner, and to declare that not only was there no question of a further partition, but that he should be the first to oppose such a measure. The conferences of Reichenbach, by bringing the courts of Berlin and Vienna closer together, naturally tended to excite suspicion and uneasiness in the Poles. Those conferences, however, had no relation to the affairs of Poland. The Netherlands were in rebellion to the emperor, and Hungary threatened to assert its independence. He was sensible that he could not reduce the one or curb the other till he had put an end to the war with the Turks. He knew that Prussia had instigated the Porte to continue the war; he knew, likewise, that the court of Berlin could prevent him from marching an army to the Netherlands. His situation, therefore, as well as his naturally peaceful disposition, caused him to reject the counsels of his minister, Kaunitz, who would have plunged him into a new war. Frederick William assented without difficulty to the march of the Austrian troops to the Netherlands, with the proviso that those provinces should not be treated as a conquered country, but left in the enjoyment of their ancient privileges. A second condition which he required of the emperor was, that he should make a truce with the Turks,

preparatory to a treaty of peace, by which he should engage to restore all his conquests to the sultan. These stipulations were punctually fulfilled.

For more than a year and a half Poland had attracted the attention of all Europe. The king of Prussia had declared that he considered it a particular honour to be the first ally of so brave and so noble a nation. England and Holland promised themselves, from the change of the political system in Poland, far greater advantages for their commerce with that rich and fertile country than it had hitherto enjoyed. The French government assured the diet of its friendly sentiments in the strongest terms; while the partisans of the revolution hailed with enthusiasm the dawn in Poland of those principles of liberty, which they fondly hoped to see spreading from one end of Europe to the other. But this was a false calculation, for the members of the constitutional diet acted upon principles widely different from those of the French revolutionists, though they were in the sequel accused of Jacobinism.

To avoid the inconvenience of separating before the new constitution was finally arranged, as the time fixed for the closing of the diet was approaching, the assembly resolved that a new election of representatives should take place, and that these should be added to the former, by which means the numbers would be doubled. The new members took their seats on the 10th of December, 1790; and this increased number seemed to bring an accession of energy and determination. Alarmed by reports of a new partition continually arriving from abroad, the patriotic members conceived the idea of submitting the entire project of the new constitution, and urging its acceptance in a single sitting. To carry this measure, it was absolutely necessary that it should be communicated to the king.

The plan drawn up by the deputation was accordingly submitted to Stanislaus, who desired to keep it a short time that he might examine and make remarks upon it, and expressed his intention to lay it before the assembly himself. He made no alterations in it; and the 3rd of May was fixed for its presentation to the diet. On the evening before that remarkable day, the patriotic members met in the Radziwill palace to hear the new constitution read. It was hailed with universal applause, undisturbed by the slightest opposition, although some Russian partisans had inadvertently been admitted. The members then repaired to the house of Malachowski, marshal of the diet, where part of the night was spent in collecting their signatures.

The sitting of the 3rd of May took place in the presence of several thousand spectators, whom curiosity had drawn at an early hour to the king's palace. After a suitable address from the marshal, the deputation of foreign affairs was requested to read the reports transmitted by the Polish ambassadors at the different foreign courts, that the assembly might be informed of the designs of their neighbours which threatened the safety and existence of the country. After the reading of these interesting despatches, from which the danger impending over Poland and the necessity for establishing the new constitution without delay were but too apparent, marshal Potocki, stepping forward, emphatically addressed the king in these words: "It is for you, sire, whose rank raises you above every assault of jealousy, and who possess a conciliatory disposition, the most extensive knowledge, and correct judgment -it is now for your majesty to propose the means which can alone save the country from destruction."

The king then addressed the assembly. Under existing circumstances, he said, nothing would conduce more to the welfare of the state than to approve at once a consti

tution digested with not less wisdom than skill, and which remedied the ancient abuses that had crept into the present system. He added that, deeply impressed with this truth, he had a plan to communicate to the assembly: but he had to observe that there was one article-that concerning the succession to the throne-on which he thought it right to withhold his opinion till the assembly had expressed their sentiments on so important a question. The plan was read by the secretary; a warm discussion of several hours ensued, and, though the opposition members were extremely violent, there was manifestly a great majority in its favour. At length one of the deputies, named Zabiello, said that he had ever been a determined enemy to arbitrary power; but, as he could not discover, in the plan submitted to the assembly, any thing perilous or alarming to liberty, he besought the king and the deputies to lose no time in taking the oath to the new constitution. The proposal was greeted with a general shout of applause. Rising with one consent, the members moved towards the throne, and surrounded the king.

Stanislaus, having called the bishop of Cracow to read the oath, repeated it after him in a loud voice, adding, “I have sworn, and shall never repent it. I beg all those who love their country to follow me to the church, and to repeat the same oath there." Descending from the throne, he proceeded from the palace to the church, followed by the whole assembly, with the exception of twelve members, and by an innumerable concourse of citizens and spectators. The procession stopped at the steps of the high altar. The interior of the church presented a magnificent spectacle. The bishops in their pontificals, the ministers, the ambassadors, the lay members of the senate, the representatives of the people in their splendid national costume, with the king at their head, were assembled, and solemnly swore to uphold that constitution, which was to