Offices under the Penalties aforemention'd This space of three years was afterwards Contracted to two years as appears by the following Edict WHereas in the Diet of the Year last past 1668. the Arian or Socinian Sect was Banish'd out of our Dominions by Us with the Consent of the States and Three Years time was allow'd them to Sell off their Goods By the Authority of the present Diet We grant them Two Years for Selling their Goods to Commence from the time of the last Diet and to end precisely on the Twelfth of July in the Year next ensuing 1669 which shall not be prejudicial to those who shall hereafter return into the Communion of the Roman Catholick Church But forasmuch as several Absconded in the Kingdom and many others were Protected by the Favour of the Nobles after the Foreign War in which Poland was engag'd was over they were all Banish'd the Kingdom by a Severe Edict which is as follows We Returning due Thanks to the Lord of Hosts for the Benefits of the last Year who has given us so many Signal Victories over our Enemies and desiring by this our Gratitude to continue the Divine Favour towards us when We shall have Banish'd out of our Dominions those who oppose the Praeeternity of his Son According to our Edicts made in the Assembly of the States in the Year 1668 and 1669 against the Arian or Socinian Sect We for the preventing the Absconding of any of the said Sect within our Territories of Poland and Lithuania and that the foresaid Laws against them may be put in Execution do require all our Officers and Judges to be strict therein And in the Great Dutchy of Lithuania we assign a Court of Judicature to Determine all such Causes By this last Law Publish'd and Ratify'd in an Assembly of the States under the Reign of the late King in the Year 1673 The Socinians were driven out of the Kingdom How Miserable their present Condition is and to what Dangers and Troubles they in their Exile were expos'd appears by this Sorrowful Letter of one of them to the rest of his Brethren A LETTER giving an Account of the Present state of the Socinians YOu desire that I should give you an Account of our present Calamity and Distress Alass you command me to renew an unspeakable Woe to run over again the Remembrance of our Sorrows and to make our Wounds raw and gaping as they are to Bleed afresh My Soul shivers at the reflexion of those many Fatal Blows we have receiv'd Not only my Mind but my Hand and Pen shake at and fly back from the Recital of those Misfortunes which have hitherto pursu'd us and whereof I my self was an Eye-witness We were ah we were a happy People and now the very remembrance of that Felicity which our Churches for so many years by the Divine Favour did enjoy does render the sense of our present Troubles the more severe So that we are loth so much as to remember when how and by what steps we fell from being what we were And did not the goodness of the Cause for which we suffer and the Consolations of this kind of Patience support our Minds it would be better for us who are almost overwhelm'd with such a vast weight of Calamity to forget all that is past that so our present Miseries might be born the more easie Yet because you are desirous of having some description of our present Condition we will give it you not drawn in its own proper and lively Colours but set off in the plainest Dress and such things as are but a trouble for us to insist long upon these we shall but lightly touch Nor do I think it worth the while to give you in a long train a Catalogue of unknown Names if the Faithfulness of the Relators be suspected upon the account of the Inraged or at least ignorant Witnesses and Judges of our Cause 'T is a great Enhancement to the Misfortunes of the Miserable But tho' fortune has abandon'd us in our Misery yet we still retain our Integrity It is best therefore to shew you the Beginnings of our Troubles and when these are once known it will be visible to every one how absurd and unjust it is to discredit the Truth of those things which by the very Nature of our Sufferings cannot be otherwise The first Rise of our Troubles we may date from the War begun in our Country with the Cossacks in the Year 1648 whereby several Inhabitants of the Country and many of our Countrymen especially those of us who were borderers on the Boristhenes were rifled of our Estates and Possessions or at least suffer'd irreparable Losses Upon this long before the Law of Proscripion made in the Year 1668 I with the greatest part of my Estate was ruin'd and for the full space of Ten years before the Banishment was an Exile and with several others of our Friends were as it were cast away before the Storm came Immediately after this the Muscovites and within a while the Swedes and at last the Transilvanians made Incursions into our Country which put the whole Kingdom into great Confusion and not the least Creature in it was free from these Outrages For their own Soldiers were so insolent and the Auxiliary Troops of Scythia and Germany so violent that they could neither escape by flight nor repel by Armes their unjust Force We were not indeed the only Persons who suffer'd by the Wars but we alone were those who exhausted by so many Wars and almost Expiring were harrass'd by a Peace more cruel than any War at a time when others were at quiet and by our Constant strugling with an adverse Fortune it seems as if the former Wars had inspir'd a Spirit of Persecution into the Peace which follow'd Altho' in the very heat of the Wars our Enemies were so industrious as to find out means whereby the heaviest Weight of the War might fall on our heads For upon the Abdication of King Casimire while the Swedes were Masters of Cracow the Deputies from all Provinces of the Kingdom flock'd thither to adjust Matters with the Enemy and their Armies with their Generals separated and almost all Orders bought their Peace by Surrendring But that we might not share the benefit of that short Peace our Inveterate Enemies fell upon us and Plunder'd us whilst we dream'd of no such danger and were every one of us quiet in our own Habitations This sudden Evil was the Death of some of our Party and of some of my own Relations but several who with much ado escap'd from these Pillagers fled to Cracow which was then Govern'd by a Swedish Garrison Tho they were forc'd upon this Flight through Fear and had long before this voluntarily thrown themselves under the Protection of the Swedes yet this was afterwards most unjustly laid to their Charge as a Crime and no Course of Law was us'd in the Oppressing of our Friends The Romish Mass-Priests who
Prince's Flying from His Kingdom like Henry II. King of Poland and III. of France who having receiv'd Advice of the Death of Charles the IXth His Brother by a Courier that was dispatch'd to Him by the Queen His Mother secretly departed from Cracow after he had enjoy'd the Crown of Poland Five Months with the Love of all the Nobility who were so troubl'd at His Flight and the loss of so good a Prince that they Wrote on the 12th of May 1574. a very Pressing and Respectful Letter to perswade Him to Return The Polanders look upon the Interregnums as the most Favourable Occasions to confider of the Surest and Most Effectual Ways to Preserve their Liberties and though the Royal Authority is then properly Lodg'd in the Senate 't is in some measure Represented by the Archbishop of Gnesna as Primate of the Kingdom and the First of all the Senators as I intimated before During the Interregnum some of the Senators and Noblemen are sent to the Generals of the Army to stay with them and to assist them with their Advice in Matters relating to the War Some Senatours are also Deputed to the Castle of Cracow to Visit the Treasury of the Crown and to make an Inventary of it with those that have the Keys which they present at the next Coronation Commissioners are also appointed to enquire into the State of the Revenue that is set apart for the King's Table and to give an Account of it to the Republick During the Interregnum and till the New King be Proclaim'd the Republick pretends that all Soveraign Princes and even Crown'd Heads themselves are obliged to give them the Title of Most Serene But when the King of France Writes to the Republick Assembl'd in a Diet of Election he makes no mention of Serenity and only Writes in these Terms To our most Dear and Great Friends Allyes and Confederates the States of the Kingdom of Foland and Great Dutchy of Lithuania Nor is it reasonable that a King of France should give the Republick of Poland the Title of Most Serene since they do not give their own King either the Title of Most Serene or of Majesty I shall only observe further on this Subject that as soon as the Archbishop of Gnesna has Notify'd by his Circular Letters that the King is Dead all the Courts of Justice are shut up and are not open'd again till after the Coronation of the New Elected King except the Marshal's Court which continues open and another which is establish'd for deciding Controversies that may happen during the Diet of the Election But as for all other Causes and private Law-Suits they are not Try'd till after the King's Coronation CHAP. XIV Of the Election of a King SINCE the Kingdom of Poland is Elective all Christian Princes may Pretend to the Succession and send Ambassadours thither whether they be Catholicks or not But those who Aspire to that Crown must either profess the Roman Catholick Faith or resolve to Embrace it after their Election for otherwise he cannot be Chosen and 't is only for this Reason that the Pope sends a Nuncio to the Diet of Election that he may represent to the Republick that 't is the Interest of the Whole Church that they should Chuse a Catholick Prince who is a zealous Assertor of the True Faith of Christ The Polanders usually Chuse a Foreign Prince for their King because they cannot without Reluctancy submit to those who were formerly their Equals They esteem it their happiness that they have the Liberty to Chuse such a Prince as they please But 't is certain that their Liberty is frequently the Cause of Fatal Divisions They will not Choose a Prince who is King of another Realm least after his Election and after he has remain'd for some time among 'em he should leave them to Return to his own Country 'T was for this Reason that after the Death of Casimir III they would not Chuse Vladislaus his Son because he was King of Hungary and Robemia and this was also one of the Reasons which in a Diet held at Radom in the Year 1382 made the Republick Exclude Sigismund of Luxemburg Marquess of Brandenburg who pretended to the Crowns of Poland and Hungary as having Marry'd the Eldest Daughter of Lewis King of those Two Kingdoms Before the Ambassadours come to Warsaw they are to Notifie their Arrival to the Archbishop of Gnesna who appoints Lodgings for 'em at some distance from the City and sends a Polish Gentleman to each of 'em to observe their Actions and to hinder them from making Parties But those Rules are seldom put in Execution for the Ambassadours of Princes live openly at Warsaw 't is true there is a Polish Gentleman appointed to attend every one of 'em during the Diet that the Republick may be inform'd of their Proceedings and that they may not have an opportunity to Bribe or Corrupt the Deputies But this is an Inconveniency that cannot be avoided by all these Precations for the desire of Money is so reigning a Vice in Poland and attended with so little Scandal and Infamy that the Fidelity which a Polish Gentleman owes to his Country would not be Proof against 1000 Crowns 'T is the Interest of the Ambassadours to Manage all the Senators and the whole Order of the Nobility since the disobliging of one of them may render 'em incapable of Compassing their Designs Thus the Quarrelling with Chancellour Patz in the Diet of the Election Anno 1668. was the true reason why the Duke of Newburg was Excluded and Michael Vicznowieski was Elected King In the mean time it must be acknowledg'd that the Election was Tumultuary that the Nobility had not a Free Vote and that they were in a manner hurry'd away by the Violence of the Multitude which was so great that Prasmowski Archbishop of Gnesna was forc'd to Proclaim Him which he was unwilling to do because he was sensible of the Dangers that threatn'd the Republick in that Juncture and of the great need they had of a Rich and Valiant Prince At the same time he knew that King Michael wanted both those Qualities For he was so poor that during the Life of Queen Mary Louise he had nothing to subsist upon as I intimated before but a Pension which She allow'd him of 6000 Livres a Year And as for his Courage it may be guess'd at by what happen'd immediately after his Election when he durst not resent the Affront he receiv'd from the Marquiss of Brandenburg who without asking his Permission caus'd a Prussian Gentleman who had fled to Poland for Protection to be seiz'd and carryd away before the King's eyes and almost under the Windows of His Palace 'T is plain then that the Polanders ought to have Chosen a Prince that was equally Brave and Rich and able to Support their Tottering State For if they had consider'd their true Interest in the choice of a Soveraign the Turks wou'd never have had the
is a Twisting of the Hair in such a manner that 't is impossible to unravel it These Twisted Locks cannot be compar'd to any thing more fitly than to those long and nasty Ropes of Hair upon some Spaniels The Polanders give this Account of the Original of this Distemper They say That the Tartars having made a Furious Irruption into Poland in the Year 1279 and having killed a great Number of People they Poyson'd their Hearts and threw 'em into the Waters which Infected those who drunk 'em with this Loathsome Disease the True Cause whereof is still a Secret to Physitians Strangers generally believe that the Plica is the effect of Slovenliness and not of any Distemper and they are confirm'd in this Opinion because they are never troubled with it even tho they live a long time in the Countrey for if their Hair begins to Twist when they fall Sick they cause it immediately to be Cut off which the Polanders dare not do for fear of losing their Sight which they imagin is an unavoidable consequence of Cutting off the Hair in this Distemper Yet I have known some whose Hair was actually Cut off without any dangerous Accident But the People are so perswaded that the Plica is a Distemper that there are some Old Women who pretend to bring it out upon Children that are troubled with Languishing Diseases by mixing and twisting their Hair and making their Mothers believe that the Children are only Sick because the Plica cannot break forth CHAP. XXIV Of the Religion of the Polanders THE Polanders Received the Faith of Christ in the Reign of Mieceslaus in the Year 964. and have ever since remain'd in Subjection to the See of Rome except some who in the last Age Embrac'd the Doctrins of Luther and Calvin At present the Polanders are generally Roman Catholicks except in Russia where there are still a considerable number of Persons who observe the Rites of the Greek Church and in Prussia where there are many Lutherans as at Dantzick Elbing Thorn and Mariemburg There were also some Socinian formerly but King John Casimir Expell'd 'em out of the Kingdom in 1658 and oblig'd 'em to sell their Estates in Three years In the Reign of Sigismund Augustus Nicholas Radziwill was the first who turned Calvinist and Protected those of that Perswasion in his House at Vilna where they Sung the Psalms Translated into the Vulgar Tongue But that Branch of the House of Radziwill is now wholly Extinct the last having left only one Daughter who was Marry'd to the Elector of Brandenburg's Second Son The Ecclesiasticks in General are very much Respected in Poland but the Monks or Regular Clergy are more esteemed than the rest and well entertain'd every where They Read Homilies in the Churches and carry the Sacrament privately to Sick Persons and even sometimes Bury the Dead without asking the Consent either of the Bishop or Curat The Mendicant Friars who go about Begging Alms enter boldly to the very Closets without Knocking at the Door The Monks in Poland are generally Rich but they are neither Regular nor Modest for they usually Drink in Cellars which are the Taverns of that Country and sometimes to that Excess that they are not able to walk in the Streets without fearing either to be Censur'd by their Superiors or to give any occasion of Scandal to the People The Fasts that are observ'd by the Monks and by all the Polanders in General consist only in Abstaining from Milk Eggs and boiled Fish at Night for they may eat dry'd Fish for their Collation and provided they Fast at that time they imagine that they may Eat and Drink all the Day long They Abstain from Butter Eggs and Milk on Friday and Saturday for they believe there is no difference betwixt Milk and Flesh As for the Secular Clergy there are some of them who have not only Two Canonships but Two Parsonages but there are none of them who take care to perform the Duties of their Function The Curates make the Monks Instruct their Parishioners and leave the other Duties of their Offices to be perform'd by Vicars The Canons are never present at the Offices and give a poor Scholar Two pence a day to say their hours for them in the Quire And the Bishops themselves are so careless of their Episcopal Functions that they dare not Correct the Inferior Clergy The Polanders seem very Devout and bestow considerable Gifts upon their Churches but they are neither Liberal to the Poor nor careful of their Sick Servants They Pray aloud in the Church and at the Elevation of the Sacrament at Mass they Beat themselves and knock their Heads against the Pavement or against the Bench on which they sit with so much Violence that on such occasions there is always a great Noise in the Church The Women commonly use their Prayer-Books with a Chaplet of Beads drawn thro' the middle of ' em In Winter all the Ladies of Quality and even some Men cause a Furr'd Bag to be brought to Church in which they put their Feet for the Weather is extreamly Cold especially for the Women who have Fine thin Shooes they wear also a little Furr'd Mantle upon their shoulders The Churches of Poland are very Fine and well-adorn'd The Jesuits of Leopold have a Chasuble cover'd so thick with Pearls and so heavy that they cannot use it when they say Mass 't is valu'd at above 100000 Livres They Sing somewhat in the Polish Tongue every where especially in the Parishes at High-Mass The Rosary is also daily repeated in the same Language in all the Churches of the Dominicans where the Women are seated on one side and the Men on the other the Men alone Singing the Ave Maria and the Women alone the Sancta Maria. There are Monks of all Orders in Poland except Carthusians and Minimes CHAP. XXV Of the Administration of Justice THERE are two sorts of Jurisdiction in Poland Ecclesiastical and Civil The former is in the hands of the Bishops who execute it by their Officials from whose Judgment there lies an Appeal to the Archbishop of Gnesna the Primate of the Kingdom And besides the Authority of the Pope's Nuncio is so great that he may Judge all Ecclesiastic Causes by Appeal The Civil Jurisdiction is in the hands of several sorts of Judges The Starosta's hold Courts within the Extents of their Territories and each City has a Right to give Judgment in certain Cases Every Palatin Marshal and Chancellor has his respective Jurisdiction The King the Senate and the General Diets determin Civil and Criminal Causes And besides the Nobility have Three Courts where they give Final Judgment in Causes without further Appeal There are Two of those Courts for the Kingdom and one for the Dutchy Those of the Kingdom Sit at Peotrkow in Lower and Lublin in Upper Poland and that of the Dutchy is held one Year at Viina and another at Minsk or at Nowogrodeck by turns They are compos'd
of a certain number of Gentlemen both of the Clergy and Laity who are chosen in each Palatinat the Lay-members once in Four Years and the Ecclesiasticks every Two Years The Judgments are given by Plurality of Voices but in Matters that are purely Ecclesiastical the Number of the Ecclesiastical Judges must be equal to that of the Secular There are also Two Courts for Affairs relating to the Finances one at Radom in Upper Poland and the other at Vilna The Palatins take Cognizance of nothing but such Matters as relate to the Jews The Marshals give Final Judgment without further Appeal in all Causes both Civil and Criminal relating to the Officers of the King's Houshold and to the Domestick Servants of the Senators who remain with the King The Jurisdiction of the Marshals extends over the Merchants and over all Forreignners who are scarcely able to procure Justice in this Countrey The Chancellors only determine such Causes as are brought before them by Appeal as the Judgments of the Magistrates of Cities and of Palatins when the Difference is between a Christian and a Jew The Punishments of Malefactors are of several kinds some for Example are Hang'd and others Beheaded The variety of Punishments does not proceed from the different Qualities of the Criminals but from the difference of the Crimes For they Hang a Robber of what Quality soever he be and they Behead all sorts of Persons for all other Crimes but Robbery unless for some Enormous Villanies which are Punish'd by Breaking the Malefactor on the Wheel or by Cutting off two Thougs or Long Pieces of the Skin of his Back Masters have also a power to Correct and Chastise their Servants which they do in this manner if the Servant that is to be Punish'd be a Gentleman they make him lye down upon his Belly on a Carpet that is spread upon the Ground then a Man Beats him on the Back with a Cord or Stick giving him as many Blows or Lashes as the Master who is usually present orders after which he who is Beaten embraces the Knees of him who caused him to be Beaten and calls him his Benefactor This Correction seems a little too severe but the Humour of the People makes it Necessary Since I have mention'd the way of Punishing Servants who are Gentlemen 't will not be improper to observe that Polish Gentlemen may serve as Coachmen Grooms Cooks and do all the meanest Offices without derogating from their Nobility or rendring 'em incapable of the Highest Preferment For I have known some of them who after they had been Foot-boys to some Great Lord and others who after they had been Drummers to a Company of Dragoons were advanc'd to the Dignity of Senators And in the General there is nothing but a Handicraft-Trade that derogates from Nobility in this Countrey CHAP. XXVI Of Marriages and Funerals MArriages and Funerals are extreamly Chargeable in Poland For when a Gentleman Marries whether he be Rich or Poor the Wedding must last three days The Marriage of a Waiting-Gentlewoman puts her Lady to almost the same charge as if one of her own Daughters were Marry'd As for the Marriages at Court of the Queen's Maids of Honour or of the Daughters of some Great Lords on the first and second day the King makes the Wedding-Feast which is held in a Great Hall where Three Tables are spread the King and Queen sit at the first fronting all the rest of the Hall the Bride and Bridegroom are Seated by the Queen's side and the Pope's Nuncio and Archbishop of Gnesna sit next the King The Ambassadors are also seated at the same Table opposite to the King and Queen so that they are all under the Canopy of State Yet there are some Examples to the contrary For at the Feast which Sigismund III. made at Cracow upon occasion of His Marriage with Constance of Austria in the Year 1606 he caused the Cardinal Maciejowski the Pope's Nuncio who was nominated to the Archbishoprick of Gnesna to be remov'd from under the Canopy The Ladies Senators and all the Officers except those who are to serve the King are seated on both sides of the other two Tables which are very long Before they sit down they are all call'd over in order that they may take their Places according to their Rank The Feast begins usually about Four or Five a Clock in the Afternoon and they continue Drinking and Dancing till Two in the Morning The Senators rise from time to time from the Table and go before the King to Drink His Health and do Him Obedience by bending the Knee Tho the Tables are cover'd with all sorts of Provisions yet they Eat but little at those Feasts but they Drink abundance of Hungary Wine which is very Excellent and one may say that tho 't is very dear 't is more common and less spared than Water and there is not a Lady at Table who has not before her a Dozen of Glasses of Wine of all the Healths that were Drank round For their Modesty obliges 'em only to touch the Glass with their Lips so that they spill more Wine upon the Tables and in the Dishes than they Drink After the Entertainment has lasted Five or Six hours they begin to Dance to the Musick of several Violins and small portable Organs All sorts of People Dance in Poland both the Old the Young the Poor and the Rich. The Old Senators and the Old Ladies begin the Dance which they do so softly and modestly that one would think it was a Company of Monks and Nuns walking in Procession But the Exercise grows warm by degrees and ends at last with a Great Noise On the Second Day every one Presents the Bride with a Piece of Plate all those Presents are made before the Queen and the Bride who sits by her Those who Present 'em make Harangues which are oftentimes long and troublesom and the Queen's Chancellor Answers them all So that this Ceremony which commonly does not begin till Noon lasts sometimes till Three a Clock after which they begin to place themselves at the Tables On the Third Day the Ceremony of the Marriage is perform'd all the Young People Accompanying the Bridegroom and Bride to Church on Horseback In their return they pass before the King's Pallace the Trumpets and Kettle-drums continually Sounding from the Balconies on each side After which the same Train Conducts the King and the Queen with the Bride to the Bridegroom's House where there is a Magnificent Entertainment prepar'd for them After they rise from the Table they Dance and the Ball being over every one retires Then the Bride begins to Weep for 't is the Custom of all the Polish Gentlewomen to shed Tears on that occasion and to seem very much afflicted because otherwise they would run the hazard of being lookt upon as Impudent and Shameless Women Having given an Account of the Weddings I proceed to speak something of the Funerals which are so Pompous and
Circular Letters to Summon the Nobility and to notify the Day of the General Diet And in those Circular Letters he mentions every thing that is to be Treated of in the General Diet All the Gentlemen in Poland have the Privilege to assist at the Petty Diets where they Chuse their Nuncio's or Deputies to whom they give Instructions Containing all they ought to grant or refuse in the General Diet. Those Nuncio's were first establish'd in the Reign of Casimir III. who to raise Money for the Payment of his Army order'd all the Palatinats to send their Deputies to the General Diet to find out the most proper Means to supply his Necessities and since that time no General Diet can be held without Deputies from all the Palatinats The General Diets are wont to depute 16 Senators who are Chosen among the Bishops Palatins and Castellans 4 of whom are to be always with the King to take care that nothing be done contrary to the Laws and since the Year 1649 they have joyned to them a Deputy of the Nobility who is chosen by all the Palatinats Every thing that is concluded and ordain'd by those Deputies with the King's Approbation has the force of a Law and if they neglect to reside at Court or to perform their Duty they are Fin'd a Lay-man in 2000 Livres and an Ecclesiastick in 6000. All the General Diets are begun by the Election of a Speaker or Marshal of the Deputies who must be Chosen out of one of the three Nations First Among the Deputies of Upper Poland Secondly Among those of Lower Poland And in the Third and last place among those of Lithuania which frequently occasions Debates that lasts for several days The Marshal of the Deputies being Chosea the King gives him his hand to kiss and afterwards makes the same Compliment to all the Deputies After which the Chancellor Proposes the Points that are to be consider'd of in the Diet which are always different according to the various occasions of the Republick In the mean time I cannot forbear observing that the Polanders spend more time in Drinking than in Deliberating concerning their Affairs for they never enter upon Business till they begin to want Money to buy Hungary Wine After the Chancellor has in the King's Name proposed to the Diets all the Articles they are to Deliberate upon the Speaker or Marshal of the Deputies acquaints the King in the Name of the Nobility with what they desire of him which is to Redress the Grievances and Regulate the Abuses committed either against the State or Particular Persons to dispose of the Royal Gifts the Benefices and Offices that are vacant and to distribute them according to the Laws which forbid the bestowing of Two of them that are Inconsistent to one Person After which the Chancellor makes Answer for the King That His Majesty will satisfie 'em after he has taken the Advice of the Senators The Marshal of the Deputies has a great Authority over them in the Diet For 't is he who Imposes Silence and Speaks to the King and Senate And consequently since his Authority enables him either to Animate or Moderate their Heats he is always extreamly respected and the Court is particularly kind to him 'T is no wonder then that there is so much Intriguing at his Election and that the Contest is usually so hot For 't is the business of the Court to procure a Marshal that will promote their Designs in the Diet and on the other hand the Deputies who chose him have a different Interest from that of the Court and are always afraid of losing their Liberties or of seeing their Privileges abridg'd by some New Laws Those different Interests are frequently the reason that there are some Deputies who regarding only their private advantage oppose the Election of him whom the Court would have Chosen that the King may Bribe them with some Benefice Employment or Royal Gift and there are not only Deputies who make a Noise at the Election of the Marshal but during the whole Progress of the Diet that they may extort Favours from the Court Nay there are some who force the King to comply with 'em by threatning to break up the Diet if he does not answer their Expectations For there are so few of 'em that have a sincere regard to the true Interest of the Republick that there is scarce one to be found among 'em that is capable of resisting the Temptation of 2000 Crowns Thus the Court may purchase the Votes of the Members or dissolve an over-bold and obstinate Diet by seattering sufficient Sums among the Mercenary Deputies And even not only the Neighbours but the Enemies of the Kingdom may by the same means procure a Rupture in the Diet when they find the honest Party resolv'd to take effectual Measures for the security of the Republick Before any thing can be resolv'd in the Diet it must be propos'd by the Deputies and approv'd by the King and Senate And before it can pass into a Law it must be revis'd by the Marshal of the Deputies and two of the Deputies besides or else by three Senators and six Deputies After which it must be read in the Senate in the King's Presence and the Chancellors must ask with a loud Voice Whether the King Senators and Deputies will have the Seal put to it Then 't is seal'd and inserted in the Registers of Warsaw or in those of the Chancery of the Kingdom and one of the King's Secretary's takes care to get it Printed at the Charge of the Publick Treasury that it may be sent to the Petty Diets and to the Courts of all the Palatinats They Treat in all Diets not only of the Affairs of the Republick but also of particular Persons Thus in one of the Diets they took cognizance of the difference betwixt the Order of Maltha and Prince Demetrius Vicznowieski who took possession of an Estate which the Duke Ostrog his Brother-in-Law had given to that Order And in another Diet those who Murder'd Gonczeski Petty General of Lithuania were Prosecuted and Condemn'd to be Beheaded But in cases of Treason against the King the Polanders pretend that neither His Majesty nor the Order of the Nobility ought to be present at the Judging and Determining of the Cause and 't was on this score that the Marshal Lubomiski complain'd against K. John Casimir who caus'd him to be Condemn'd for Contumacy in the Diet held at Warsaw Anno 1664. Nevertheless in a Diet held in the same City 1582. King Steven Batteri brought several Deputies into the Senate to be present at the Tryal and Judgment of Sborowski who was accus'd of Treason against the King Which that Great Prince did that all the Nobility might be Witnesses of the Justice of his proceedings 'T is in a General Diet that they give the Indigenat that is the Right of Nobility to Strangers which renders 'em capable of Possessing some small Pensions or Gifts of the
World In the Ducal Prussia near Coningsberg they have at present a Church and publick Shcools being protected by the present Elector of Brandenburgh contrary to the Laws and Privileges of the Prussians who every year in their Diets exclaim against this Injustice of the Elector But at Racovia the Seat and Sepulcher of Faustus Socinus after many Changes the Printing house and Academy being first demolish'd came at last by right of Inheritance to the Grand Daughter of James Sieninski Palatine of Podolia and Governor of Racovia who embrac'd the Roman Catholick Religion and is still Living And this is the present State of the Socinians of which none else can give a Fuller or Larger Account A SHORT ACCOUNT Of the Late INTERREGNUM IN POLAND AND THE ELECTION OF THE Present KING HAVING given the Reader Page 221. a short Epitome of the Most Glorious Actions of John Sobieski late King of Poland it will not be amiss to Compleat his Caracter to take notice here of his Conduct during the latter end of his Life which has so little answer'd the Glorious beginning of his Reign That Prince entered into a Common League with the Emperour the Republick of Venice and the Pope against the Common Enemy of Christendom And notwithstanding the Emperour and Venetians carry'd on the War with so much Vigour and Success as to give a fair Opportunity to the Poles to regain Caminiek and the Provinces the Turks and Tartars have got from them yet to the great Amazement of the World the Polish Army did nothing at all and was not able to Protect their Country against the Excursions of their Enemies who committed unspeakable Disorders and carryed a Great Multitude of People into Slavery This occasion'd Great Murmurs amongst the Poles against their King and was such a Blot as tranish'd the Lustre of his former Actions Several have Inquired into the Causes of so odd a Conduct for that Prince wanting neither Courage or Ability every body thought that the Miscarriage of the Affairs of Poland was owing to the King Himself There have been many Conjectures on this Subject but the onely who appears to me well grounded is that Princes Covetousness and after an impartial examination this seems to me the only Remora who stopp'd the Vigorous Resolutions that were Yearly taken Old Men generally speaking are Covetous the reason whereof is plain enough but besides this almost natural Byass the little Esteem the Poles had for Prince James was a great Motive to ingage his Father to heap up Money tho' to the visible Detriment of the Republick That Prince seeing as I have said that the Poles expressed little esteem for his Eldest Son and consequently having no prospect that he should Succeed him meerly upon account of his being Born of the Royal Family and on the other hand knowing by Experience that Money is the best Argument to recommend a Prince to the Choice of the Poles resolv'd to Hoard up Money and therefore left His Army unpaid the Magazines unprovided and lived very Parsimonious in his House The same reason obliged him to set a Tax upon several things that were formerly given Gratis at his Court as Passes Petitions and the like France on the other hand being sensible that the Turks could hardly make head against so many Enemies if all of them carry'd on the War with Vigour made a good use of the Covetousness of the King of Poland and by means of a Yearly Pension to that hungry Prince disappointed all the Designs of the Polish Nobility who could hardly bear without Murmur that Caminick should continue so long in the hands of the Infidels A Violent and very Extraordinary Distemper King John laboured under giving him a sufficient Warning of his Death drawing nigh he tryed several ways to have his Son Chosen his Successor in his Life-time but all in vain for that being contrary to the Laws and Constitution of Poland it has been rarely practised and the King was not beloved enough to oblige the Poles to Act against their own Laws Thus stood the Affairs of Poland when King John Dy'd which happen'd the 17th of June at Nine a Clock at Night 1696. The News of the King's Death was immediately carryed by an Express to Dardinal Radziowsky Arch-bishop of Gnesna Primate of the Kingdom and Regent during the Interregnum who made his Entry into Warsaw on the 24th of June that is Seven days after the King's Death in a most Solemn and Magnificent Manner All the Senators and Nobility then in Town Rode forth above a League from the City to meet him with Colours flying and Kettle Drums beating in the midst of an incredible Crowd of People His Eminence went directly to the Castle and ascended into the Room where the King's Body lay exposed in His Royal Robes and having said a short Prayer went to the Queens Apartment to Condole her Majesty He did the like to Prince James and his Brothers and took upon him the Government of the Kingdom calling a General Dyet to Meet on the 29th of August following to Choose a Successor As the Cardinal Primate has made a great noise since that time it will not be improper to give his Caracter in this place He is of a very good family in Poland and Son to the famous Radziousky who called in the Swedes under Charles Gustavus He is a Man of great Parts but somewhat obstinate Pope Innocent XI made him a Cardinal without any other recommendation but his own merit the then King of Poland tho' his Relation nor the French King were pleased with his promotion tho' time has discover'd that his Eminence is absolutely in the Interests of France He went to Rome after the doath of Innocent XI and was present at the chusing of a new Pope which fell on Cardinal Ottoboni He lived like a Prince and his magnificence and Liberality acquired him a great many Friends Upon the 29th of August the Dyet assembled with the usual Ceremony and after the Mass of the Holy Ghost had been celebrated by the Cardinal Primate they began to talk of the Election of a Mareschal or Speaker of their Assembly which gave occasion to many disputes The Lesser Poland pretended that it was her turn to have a Mareshal chosen out of her Body and Greater Poland put in the same claim but was inclinable to wave it The Lithuanians opposed it pretending that the Greater Poland was to take their turn now that Lithuania might have theirs in the next Dyet and their dispute grew so high that People were affraid the Dyet would break up without coming to any conclusion The Bishop of Posen thought of a new way to put an end to the controversy and came to the Assembly in procession at the head of his Clergy pretending to allay their heats by the Charms of his Benedictions but this provoked the Deputies who told him in great scorn they were not possest and therefore had no need of his Exorcisms At last the