Year 1386. by the Duke de Jagillon who embrac'd the Christian Religion that he might marry Hedwige Daughter to Lewis King of Poland and Hungary and who with his Religion changed also his Name and was called Viadislaus For the Polanders were Christians long before having received the Faith of Christ ann 964 in the Reign of Miecislans I. who after he had divorced seven Pagan Wives was converted and marry'd the Daughter of Boleslaus King of Bohemiae who was a Christian These two Estates are contiguous to one-another and are now but one Body being united in the same Interest under the Government of the same King and in the Profession of the same Religion especially since the Diet held at Grodeck on the River Bug between the Polanders and the Lithuanians in the year 1413. where the Union was renew'd and where it was concluded that for the future they should have the same Laws and Privileges and that the King should be elected by the joint Consent of the Nobility of the two Estates which was ratified and signed by all the Senators of Poland and Lithuania Nevertheless they are governed by distinct Officers each of them having a Grand Marshal and a Petty or Sub-Marshal whom they call the Marshal of the Court a Chancellor Vice-Chancellor and Treasurer who are all Senators those of the Crown for Poland and those of the Dutchy for Lithuania and are equal in Dignity and Power only those of the Crown take place of those of the Dutchy The Office of the Grand Marshal is to keep the Peace and prevent Tumults or Disturbances both in the Diets and in the King's Houshold to punish Offenders even with death and without Appeal from his Judgement except in cases of great Importance which may be brought before the King He has also Power to command Silence to give leave to speak to introduce Ambassadors to appoint them their Lodgings and to fix the prices of all Commodities and Merchandizes This last Branch of his Authority is extreamly advantageous to him for the Merchants give him very Considerable Presents that they may have leave to sell their Goods at exorbitant Rates The Chancellors and the Vice-Chancellors of the Crown are chosen by turns out of the Clergy and Laity But those of the Dutchy are always Lay-men The Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor make use of the same Seals and either of them may be used indifferently for they have both an equal Authority only the latter gives place to the former and never gives judgement but in his absence The Chancellor by his Office is the Judge of all Civil Affairs and matters relating to the Kings Revenue 'T is also his Duty to take Care that nothing be done contrary to the Laws or Injurious to the Liberty of the People and that the Intrigues of Foreigners may not be prejudicial to the Republick The Authority of the Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors is so great that in several cases they may affix their Seals without the Kings Order and refuse to seal such things for him as are contrary to the Constitutions of the State 'T is the Office of the Chancellor or in his Absence of the Vice-Chancellor to answer all the Harangues that are made to the King by Ambassadors and he of the two who is a Clergyman hath power over the Secretaries Priests and Preachers of the Court and over the Ceremonies of the Church The Treasurer is properly the Keeper of the publick Treasure which is brought to him by four other Officers who keep an exact Account of it and are obliged to give one Copy to the King and another to the Treasurer His Office impowers him to prevent the wasting or embezelling of the Revenues of the Republick and of those which are appointed for maintaining the King's Table and therefore he ought to sign all the Contracts the King makes which otherwise would be void He ought also to take care that the Republick do not sustain any damage by the Contracts that are made for the Coyning of New Money When the Treasurer is called to an Account the General Diet orders a Committee of a certain Number of Persons to examine his Accounts and to give him an Acquittance without which the Republick may still call him to an Account for the Administration of his Imployment And therefore since this Acquittance is of such vast importance to the Grand Treasurer great Interest is always made about the Nomination of the Commissioners that are appointed to examine his Accounts because he is obliged not only to entertain the Commissioners but also to give them considerable Presents to obtain his discharge The Petty or Sub-Marshal or the Marshal of the Court who is the last of the five Officers that are Members of the Senate executes the Office of the Grand Marshal in his absence and in case of the Death or Demise of that Officer he succeeds in course as the Vice Chancellor is in such cases promoted to the dignity of the Chancellor So that before a Man can be Grand Marshal or Chancellor he must first be Petty Marshal or Vice Chancellor CHAP. II. Of the Division of Poland into Provinces THE Kingdom of POLAND formerly contained Fifteen great Provinces which the King retains still in his Title as King of Poland Duke of Lithuania Russia Prussia Massovia Samogitia Livonia Volhinia Kiovia Podolia Podlassia Smolensko Siâ—eria and Czerniechovia But at present there are no more than nine Provinces subject to the Crown of Poland viz. Great and little Poland the great Dutchy of Lithuania Russia Prussia Massovia Samogitia upper Volhinia and Podlassia or Podlachia Great POLAND is so called because Lechus first King of the Polanders settled his Residence at Gnesna in this Province It is also called Lower Poland and Posnania is the principal City This Province contains eight Palatinates viz. Posnâ—â—â— Kalisch Lencici Brest Inowlocz Siradiae Kawa and Ploosko It is bounded on the North with Prussia on the South with Little Poland on the East with Massovia and on the West with Silesia and the New Marquisate of Brandâ—nburg The River Warta runs through the middle of the Province Little POLAND which is also called Upper POLAND contains three 〈◊〉 Cracow Saâ—domir and Lublin It borders with Massovia and Great Poland on the North Mount Crapat on the South Black Russia on the East and Silesia on the West and the River Vistula runs through it The City of Cracow is the Metropolis of this Province and of the whole Kingdom The Starosta of Cracow is not only Governour of the Castle but also the Defender of the Peace and of the publick Tranquility which entitles him to a large Jurisdiction both over the Inhabitants of Towns and the Gentry As for the great Dutchy of Lithuania tho Jagillon began to unite it to the Crown of Poland Anno 1386 and tho that union was afterwards renew'd in the Diet held at Grodeck between the Polanders and the Lithuanians in 1413 yet it still retained its own Dukes and
Antoninus Pius took a greater Care to Defend the Empire than Inlarge its Bounds and as to Marcus Antoninus the Philosopher he was not able to Compass the Design he had of Reducing Sarmatia into a Province of the Roman Empire Maximin had no better Success against them and since his time the Empire declin'd apace till Probus reviv'd their Spirits again This Great Man Subdu'd the Germans and gave the Sarmatians so many Overthrows that they were forc'd to quit the Territories they had Usurp'd during the Reign of His Predecessors They were again Defeated by Dioclesian and Constantius but it does not appear that they became Subjects to the Romans Valentinian Defeated them some time after in such a Manner that they were forc'd to quit Pannoma and Moesia and Retire into their own Country and Began to Form a Common-wealth under Lochus about the Year of our Lord 550. They have preserv'd their Liberty ever since though they have been often reduc'd to great Extremities but they never paid Tribute to any of their Neighbours 'T is true that their King Michael VVieznowisky had the Weakness to agree to Pay a Yearly Tribute to the Turks but the States of Poland refus'd to Ratify the Treaty and boldly Asserted their Right and Liberty under the Conduct of John Sobiesky Grand Mareshal of the Crown who was afterward Elected King and forc'd the Turks to Renounce the Pretended Tribute that Michael had Promis'd them The Nobility of Poland is so Numerous and Brave that it seems Morally Impossible to Conquer their Country so long as they are well United and the Surprising Progress of Charles Gustavus King of Sweden who in Three Months Time Conquer'd almost that Kingdom signifies nothing in this Case for that Prince was called in by some of the Polanders themselves and the others would not Fight for their King The Precipitated Retreat of the Swedes when the Poles Returned to their Duty sheweth how little they were able to Conquer Poland But I leave off this Subject to speak a word as to this Book The First Part giving an Account of the Constitution of the Polish Government of the State of Poland in respect to its Neighbours of the Prerogative of their Kings of their Dyets Customs Manners Ceremonies Religion Coyns c. is Owing to a Person of Quality who has Resided many years in that Kingdom and who by reason of his Merit as well as Character could better inform himself of the Matters he Treats of than Men of ordinary Birth and Capacity The Appendix containing a Chronological Abridgment of the Kings of Poland some farther Remarks on the Government of that Kingdom the Instrument of the â—bdication of King John Casimire the Rise Progress and Destruction of the Socinians is partly abstracted from History and Private Memoires of Persons that may be depended upon The Account of the late Interregnum and the Election of Frederick Augustus is grounded upon the best Intelligence that it was possible to have from Poland considering the Confusion of the Affairs of that Country and the Pretentions of the Competitors are stated and related as they have been communicated by the Eye-witnesses of those Transactions THE CONTENTS Chap. I. OF the Constitution of the Polish Government and the Principal Officers of State p. 1 Chap. II. Of the Division of Poland into Provinces p. 4 Chap. III. Of the State of Poland with respect to its Neighbours and of the various Success of the VVars in which it has been Engaged with them p. 12 Chap. IV. Of the Tartars their manner of Fighting their Original Division of their Country Manners and History of their Actions and how they became Subject to the Turk p. 27 Chap. V. Of Ukrania and the Cossacks with an Account of the Lithuanians and Livonians p. 37 Chap. VI. Of the State of Poland p. 76 Chap. VII Of the King p. 81 Chap. VIII Of the Senate in General p. 97 Chap. IX Of the Senate an particular and first of the Bishops p. 98 Chap. X. Of the Palatins Castellans and Officers of State who are Senators p. 107 Chap. XI Of the Order of the Nobility and Gentry p. 113 Chap. XII Of the Officers who are not Senators p. 118 Chap. XIII Of the Interregnum p. 120 Chap. XIV Of the Election of a KING p. 124 Chap. XV. Of the Diets in general p. 128 Chap. XVI Of the Diet of the Election p. 137 Chap. XVII Of the Election of a Successor p. 144 Chap. XVIII Of the Pacta Conventa or the Contract betwixt the King and the People p. 147 Chap. XIX Of the Kings Coronation p. 153 Chap. XX. Of the Queens of Poland p. 161 Chap. XXI Of the Polish Army p. 164 Chap. XXII Of the Estates and Revenues of the Polanders p. 174 Chap. XXIII Of the Customs Humours and Inclinations of the Polanders p. 184 Chap. XXIV Of their Religion p. 191 Chap. XXV Of the Administration of Justice p. 194 Chap. XXVI Their Marriages and Funerals p. 196 Chap. XXVII Of the Diet and Entertainment of the Polanders p. 200 Chap. XXVIII Their way of Travelling p. 205 Chap. XXIX Of the Polish Money p. 209. A Chronological Abridgment of the History of Poland p. 212. A Panegyrical Character of the Last King John III. with an Account of his Principal Actions and Death p. 221 Further Remarks on the Government of Poland and the Extraordinary care they take of their Libertys and Priviledges p. 223. The Form of King Casimire's Abdication p. 225. The Instrument of the States Publisht on that Cecasion p. 228. The Rise of Socinianism in Poland and of the Present State of that Sect. p. 230 Edict of King Sigismund against the Socinians p. 233. Edict of King John Casimire against them p. 236. A Letter giving an Account of the Present State of the Socinians p. 238. A Petition of the Socinians sent some years ago into England representing briefly their Miserable Condition p. 248. Where now Setled p. 250. Account of the late Interregnum and Election of the Present King With some further Remarks on the late King and a short Character of the several Candidates for that Crown p. 251 The Proposals made by the Baron de Fleming in behalf of his Master the Elector of Saxony p. 274. The Pacta Conventa Sworn to by the Baron de Fleming in the great Church of Warsaw p. 278 A great Ambassy appointed to go and offer the Crown to the Elector with the Remarkable Speech of the first Ambassador on that Occasion p. 281. The Kings Speech to the Nobility assembled to Congratulate him p. 288. His Corronation p. 293. The Prince of Conty's arrival at Dantzick c. p. 295 THE Present State OF POLAND CHAP. I. Of the Constitution of the Polish Government and the Principal Officers of State POLAND is a Republic compos'd of two Estates the Crown and the great Dutchy of Lithuania The Crown is properly the Kingdom of Poland and the great Dutchy of Lithuania was United to it in the
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
which he restores the Keys and makes some of the Burgesses of the City or of some other place Golden Knights by striking them softly with his Naked Sword upon the Shoulders This done the Treasurer of the Crown scatters some Pieces of Silver among the People at the same time the King goes to a House that looks into the Square and afterwards returns to the Castle with the same Train that Accompany'd him to the Town-house I have already observ'd that 't is the Interest of the King of Poland to get himself Crown'd as soon as 't is possible and I shall take this occasion to shew what advantage he receives by it 'T is certain that assoon as the Polish Noblemen have Chosen their King they begin to look upon him as an Usurper of their Liberties and on the other hand the King looks upon the Nobility as a Formidable Body that opposes all his Designs Now he cannot either weaken them or strengthen himself more effectually than by making 'em pay dear for the Favors he bestows upon ' em For 't is in his power to dispose of all the Offices Benesices and Royal Gifts which amonnt to a third part of all the Revenues of the Kingdom which he cannot do till after his Coronation Nevertheless the late King was so far from observing this Maxim that tho' he might have been Crown'd immediately after the Day of his Election which was May 19. 1674. he did not appoint the Day for his Coronation till Feb. 2. 1676. during which time he made Two Campagnes one in Vkrania and the other in Podolia As for that in Vkrania he set out from Warsaw August 22. 1674. and advanc'd towards Leopold where his Army was to Rendezvous There he was inform'd that the Queen his Wife lay sick at Casimirs upon the Vistula Whereupon he left the Camp at Leopold and arriv'd at Casimirs on the 8th of October Not long after he return'd to the Army because the Nights began to grow so cold that the Turks who are not accustom'd to such a Cold Climate began to think of retiring After the Turks had withdrawn their Forces the King led the Army of the Crown and that of Lithuania which both together amounted to about 30000 Men into Vkrania where he kept them so long that the Lithuanian Troops under the Command of the Great General Patz abandon'd him to avoid the Miserable Fate of the Polish Army which was so harass'd with Hunger and Cold that it was reduc'd to less than 3000 Men for the King staid in Vkrania till April and arriv'd on the 25th of that Month at Sloczow whither the Queen was come to receive him The Turks understanding that the Polish Army was ruin'd in Vkrania that the King was gone back with the Miserable Remnants of his Forces and that those of Lithuania had left him against his will they return'd with a Great Army in the beginning of July 1675 when the King was at Jawarow thinking of nothing but to refresh himself after the Fatigues of the Preceding Campaign But upon the first Advice of the March of the Ottoman Army which consisted of 30000 Turks and 80000 Tartars he set out from Jawarow the 10th of July and Marched in hast to Leopold which the Turks threatned to Besiege He Encamp'd near the City with about 3000 Men whom he had drawn together and the Turks being inform'd of his weakness sent a Body of 14000 Tartars to force his Camp but they durst not Attack him 'T was given out that a great number of Tartars were killed on the 24th of August 1675 in the Attack of the Camp at Leopold tho' 't is certain that there was only one Horse wounded with an Arrow For the Tartars retir'd without losing one of their Men or wounding one of their Enemies The Turks as I intimated before are not able to bear the extream coldness of the Winter in Poland for having once enter'd Russia with a formidable Army and not returning soon enough they were surpriz'd with so violent a Cold that above 40000 of 'em were Frozen to death and many were found dead in their Horses Bellies into which they had crept to secure themselves from the Cold. And 't is this that obliges them to retire out of Poland by the end of October at farthest CHAP. XX. Of the Queens of Poland HAVING Discours'd at length of the Kings of Poland and of their Election and Coronation it will not be improper to give some account of the Queens 'T is certainly of great Importance to the Republick that a King when he Marries should choose a Princess whose Alliance may be advantageous to the State And therefore this Article is inserted in the Paeta Conventa which the New King Swears to observe that he shall not Marry without the Consent of the Republick For they are as much concern'd as the King himself in the Choice of a Queen tho' the Polish Nobility are not oblig'd to Choose any of his Children to Succeed him So that a King of Poland cannot Marry without the Consent of the Republick unless he resolve to violate his Oath and expose himself to the Jealousy and Hatred of His people who are not easily pacify'd on such occasions Thus when Sigismund III. Marry'd Ann of Austria without the Consent of the Republick and caused her to be Crown'd at Cracow in the Year 1592 he met with so much opposition in the Diet that was afterwards held at Warsaw that he was forc'd to acknowledge his Fault As a King of Poland cannot Marry without the Consent of the Republick so he cannot Divorce his Wife without the same Approbation For when Sigismund Augustus the last of the Race of the Jagellons separated from Elizabeth of Austria because of a Crime with which she was falsly charg'd and after her Death Marry'd one Radziwill a Widow of a Palatin of Troki The Senators were so exasperated that they had almost proceeded to declare the Throne Vacant because he slighted his Fair and Chast Queen and Wife and Marry'd the Widow of a simple Palatin without the Consent of the Republick But Vladislaus the IV. pursu'd wiser Maxims He was sensible of the danger of Irritating a stubborn and seditious People and had a more tender regard to the Articles he had Sworn to observe For when the King of England offer'd him his Niece the Elector Palatine's Daughter in Marriage he declin'd the Match and declar'd that he neither cou'd nor wou'd Marry without the Consent of the Republick which in that case he could not expect to obtain because the Princess was a Protestant When a King of Poland Marries after his Coronation the Queen cannot be Crown'd without the Consent of the Republick But if he be Marry'd before he may cause her also to be Crown'd without asking their Consent So that the Report which was spread abroad after the Election of the late King John III was false and groundless for 't was given out That the Queen his Wife would
the said Deputy Who being Ask'd why he thus Dissented Answer'd That he did it that by this means the Privileges of the Nobility might be safe and lodg'd within his Power tho all the rest of the Nobility were corrupted Having said this and caused his Protestation to be enter'd into the Records and Archives of the Kingdom he presently consented with the rest to the Election of Vladislaus the Fourth The Polish Nobility being endow'd with so many Privileges and the Deputies having always a free Vote the Aristocratical State of Poland cannot well be chang'd by any of the Kings of Poland into an Absolute Monarchy For whosoever offers to do this is declar'd by the Senate to be Perjur'd and no more a King which appears by the late King John the Third's Oath in Harnoc Besides the Nobility uses immediately to complain in the open Senate of the Tyranny of those that attempt such Innovations as did a certain Deputy out of the Palatinate of Posnania King Stephen Bathori after many Victories which he gain'd and several Provinces with which he enlarg'd the Kingdom of Poland began at last to endeavour to make himself Absolute Monarch of Poland whereupon this Deputy exprest himself in a Speech with so much Freedom Boldness and Vehemence that the King Ambitious and Passionate in his Nature not being able to let the Deputy run on any longer upon that Topic interrupted him in these words Hold your Tongue you Rascal To which the Deputy made Answer I am no Rascal but a Gentleman of Poland an Elector of Kings and a Deposer of Tyrants Whereupon the King said to him If I were not a King And the Deputy Answer'd If you were not By which Imperfect Reply the Deputy hinted to the King that he did not want Courage to engage with him hand to hand for Liberty if he had not been check'd by his Respect for the Majesty of Kings The King afterwards having buried all His Resentments advanc'd him to the Highest Dignities nor did he believe that this had any ways lessen'd His Majesty on the contrary he always esteem'd him one of the Best Patriots and Lovers of his Country If any of the Kings of Poland aim at Arbitrary Government or Act contrary to the Religion and Laws of the Country he is immediately Depos'd or forc'd to Abdicate the Throne The Form which King Casimire us'd in His Abdication is as follows WE make known and Declare to all the World that being sensible of our Weakness which grows daily upon us with our Age we are unable any longer to bear up under the Burden of so great Weight as the Government of this State is Wherefore we voluntarily and of our own accord have resolv'd upon Abdicating the Throne that we wight spend the remainder of our declining Life quietly and in private and in preparing for a better Life that never ends For this reason having call'd a full Senate at Warsaw on the Twelfth of June in this paesent Year we open'd our Mind to our Senators and Counsellors Who being struck with the Greatness and Novelty of the Affair and reverencing the Laws of their Country and referring the Consideration of the whole matter to all the Kingdom we accordingly appointed a General Diet of all the Orders of our Kingdom to be held on the Six and Twentieth day of August and at the first opening of the Diet made known our Intention of Abdicating the Throne We have had Experience of the Love and Affection of our Loyal Citizens and Subjects who bearing a Grateful Memory of the Deserts and Good Actions of our most Serene Predecessors and paying a Deference to the Great Cares Troubles and Dangers me underwent for Twenty Years together in Various Turns of Fortune in so many Camps and in so many Diets endeavour'd by importunate Intreaties and earnest Requests to keep us upon the Throne But forasmuch as we constantly persisted in our Resolution it was agreed that we should make our Abdication or Resignation of the Polish Crown in a Real and Solemn Manner Vpon Mature and Serious Deliberation and by the Consent of all Orders of the State we being in full souundness of Body and Mind do freely and without constraint Abdicate from this time and for ever the Kingdom of Poland the Great Dutchy of Lithuania and the Principalities thereunto annex'd We restore in full form into the hands of the Senate of the Marshals and of the State our Regal Dignity and whatsoever else of Ancient Right does belong to the Kings of Poland and the Great Dukes of Lithuania We Absolve all the States and Orders and every one of our Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance taken to us and we release them from the Obligation of Homage and Fealty The Duke of Prussia as to what concerns us only we declare free from all Obligation due to us upon the account of any Contract made for the Dukedom of Prussia and upon the account of any Right of Fealty for Bitovia and Lawenburgh and the Duke of Kureland we likewise declare freed from Homage and all other Obligations whatsoever The Authentick and Original Grant of our Election made in the Year 1648 We Restore Cancel and Annul without pretending to claim any or the least Right of Soveraignty to our selves or any of our Heirs within the Kingdom of Poland the Great Dukedom of Lithuania and the Principalities thereunto annex'd By which Abdication or Resignation of the Regal Power rightly and lawfully made and ratify'd by these Presents it shall be and is within the Power and Authority of the most Reverend Father in Christ the Arch-bishop of Gnesna Primate of Poland and Chief Minister of State to declare the Throne Vacant and to perform all that of Right and Custom does belong to the Archbishop of Gnesna during the Interregnum And the States of the Kingdom are empower'd to proceed to the Election of a New King according to the Laws and Customs of Poland And we further Promise that we will by no means hinder it from being a very Free Election that we will not promote the Interest of any Candidate and that during the time of the Election we will remove and abide at a distance from the Place of Election In Testimony and Confirmation thereof we have commanded these our Letters Patents to be Published under the Royal Seal Dated at Warsaw at the General Diet of the Kingdom Sept. 16. This Solemn Abdication made by King Casimire was afterwards Publish'd by the Senate of Poland The Substance of which I thought fit to Insert here that so the Abdication and Vacancy of the Throne after the Departure of King James II. Publish'd by the Parliament of England might not seem a Novelty and it is as follows WE the Senate and Officers both of Church and State within the Kingdom of Poland and the Great Dutchy of Lithuania and the Marshals of both Countries being Assembled in the Diet do manifest and Declare That after the Examples of our Predecessors
AN ACCOUNT OF POLAND An Account of POLAND CONTAINING A Geographical Description OF THE COUNTRY THE Manners of the Inhabitants and the Wars they have been Engag'd in the Constitution of that Government Particularly the Manner of Electing and Crowning their KING his Power and Prerogatives With a Brief History of the Tartars By Monsieur Hauteville who Resided about 25 Years in that Kingdom To which is Added A Chronology of the Polish KINGS the ABDICATION of KING John Casimir and the Rise and Progress of SOCINIANISME Likewise a Relation of the Chief Passages during the Last Interregnum and the Election and Coronation of the New KING Frederic Augustus The Whole Comprehending whatsoever is Curious and Worthy of Remark in the Former and Present State of POLAND London Printed for T. Goodwin at the Queens-head in Fleet-street and H. Newman at the Grashopper in the Poultry 1698. To His EXCELLENCY The Earl of GALLWAY Lieutenant General of the King's Armies one of the Lords Justices of Ireland and General of His Majesty's Forces in that Kingdom My Lord THis Treatise I make bold to Present to your Excellency and I hope the Consideration of the Subject it Treats of will make Attonement for the Freedom of it The Republick of Poland is justly Ranked amongst the Greatest Dominions in the World and the Dispute between Two Great Princes who both Pretend to the CROWN draws all the Eyes of Europe on that side Therefore I hope that tho' your Excellency is Perfectly Acquainted with the Laws and Constitutions of all the States in Christendom yet you will please Favourably to Receive this Book which I think gives an Exact Account of Poland and of the Pretentions of the Two Illustrious Rivals who Dispute that Throne However I design not to Prepossess the Wâ—â—â—â—â— in Favour of this Book by the Prefixing of 〈◊〉 Illustrious Name to it I know I could nâ—â— make choice of a Better Protector but I only 〈◊〉 tend to give your Excellency a Publick Mark of my Profound Respect Neither did I propose to my self to make the Eulogy of the Great Virtues which are so conspicuous in your Excellency such an Vndertaking is above Vulgar Pens and too great to be Treated in the narrow bounds of an Epistle Dedicatory Whoever attempts that must give a Relation of the Sieges of Candia Athlone Galway Limerick and Cazal Describe the Bloody Batters of Aghrim and Landen Relate the Important Negotiations committed to your care speak of the Prudence Intrepidity and Bravery you have expressed in the greatest Dangers and commend in Terms suitable to the Subject that admir'd Penetration and Sagacity of your Excellency which discover'd the Secret Intreagues of a Court notwithstanding the most refin'd Dissimulation that ever Italy made use of These great Qualities are so well known that Envy and Jealousie are forced to be silent and dare not attack a Merit esteem'd by all the Princes of Europe and admir'd by all the World I am afraid that I should displease your Excellency by proceeding any farther on this Subject yet I would beg leave to observe that these great Vertues are hereditary in your Excellency and not the effect only of an happy Education My Lord Marquiss of Ruvigny your Father was equally fit for Council and Action His great Courage and Prudence raised him to the Dignity of Lieutenant General of the Armies of the French King and would have certainly advanc'd him to that of Mareschal of France had not his Religion been an Invincible tho' Glorious Obstacle to it Every body own'd he deserv'd that Great Trust and his Prince thought he had no Subject in his Kingdom so fit to Represent His Person in the Courts of the greatest Kings in Europe Your Excellency will pardon me if I cannot forbear to carry the Parallel somewhat further and therefore my Lord give me leave to say That you are like him Pious and Charitable You both Generously quitted a Great Estate and a private Life with the Testimony of a good Conscience had more Charms with you than all the Dignities and Dazling Splendor of a Court. You are as he was Sensible of the Miseries of the Poor They had always Access to your Person and were never sent back without Relief The Widows and Orphans find in your Excellency what they have lost and the Prayers of so many Relieved People sent up to Heaven fall down again upon your Excellency in Showers of Blessings But what shall I say of the Vertues of my Lady Marchioness your Mother It is impossible to draw her Character without Exhausting all the Qualifications ascribed by Solomon to his Virtuous Woman The Merit of your Excellency is so generally known that England and Ireland have Applauded the Choice His Majesty made of you to be one of the Lord Justices of Ireland and every body agrees that the Titles and Employments Conferr'd upon your Excellency are not so much the effect of His Majesty's Favour as the just Reward of your Eminent Virtue and Services That your Excellency may long enjoy that unspotted Fame will be the Constant Prayers of My Lord Your Excellency's most Humble and most obedient Servant THE PREFACE THE Dispute about the Crown of Poland makes now such a Noise in the World that 't is Believ'd an Account of that Country cannot but be Acceptable to the Ingenious Reader This Book which is offer'd to your Consideration is not Exstracted out of several Authors as most Accounts commonly are but contains the Observations of a Person of Quality who Resided 25 Years in Poland and had an Opportunity of Informing himself of every thing worthy a Gentleman's Curiosity being very Intimate with the Ministers and all the Great Men of that Kingdom * See Journaux des Seavans An. 1687. Epâ—em 23. Mots d' Avril Also the Pibliotheq Vniver Tom. 7. p. 574. And the Republiq des Lutres Mots d' Aâ—ust An. 1687. Though Poland is not very Remote from us yet one may say it is almost unknown few Persons going thither to Travel However it deserves our Curiosity it being one of the most Ancient States of the World the only one which has Preserved and Maintain'd the Right of Electing their Monarchs and indeed the only one that was never Conquer'd The Original of the Poles as well as other Nations is very uncertain and Fabulous but the Sarmatians are so Ancient that there is still some Monuments at this day that Jupiter Belvs one of the Assyrian Monarchs made War upon them though Unfortunately The Grecians and Persians were not more Successful against that Warlike Nation nor even the Romans themselves They had nothing to do with them till Augustus's time who Beat them off of the Banks of the Danube Domitian was very Unhappy against them and in short it does not clearly appear that any of the Roman Emperours penetrated into Sarmatia no not Trajan Himself though Eutropius relates he received under his Protection a Sarmatian King Adrian allow'd them a Yearly Pension Marcus
Controversies by the way of Arms in publick This was their way of Living then which is not yet altogether abolished in some places But in Process of Time Princes and then Kings were brought in among them Yet with a more limited authority than in other Countries and after an Elective manner As for Laws King Casimir introduced the Teutonick there in the Year 1368. and Established a Soveraign Court of Justice at the Castle of Cracow as in the middle of his Kingdom for Poland was then of a far greater Extent than 't is now so that the City of Cracow was in a manner in the middle of that Great State whereas at this time it may be almost call'd a Frontier Town since it is but twelve Leagues from thence to Silesia which was then a province of Poland and now belongs to the Emperor of Germany on the account of the Kingdom of Bohemia The Kings us'd always to have a right to make the People take up arms as often as it was necessary and every Man was excited to give some proofs of Valor because there was no other means to rise and obtain the Right of Nobility neither was there any other Reward to be expected As for those who were not stirr'd up by the desire of honour and advancement the fear of punishment us'd to prevail with them for those who did not obey the King's Orders were either whipt with Cords or cudgel'd into fighting which convinc'd the rest of the Necessity of taking arms with all speed In those days it was not the Custom to levy Military Men with Mony in Poland for there was none at that time in that Kingdom where they then till'd the Ground barely to supply the Necessity of the Inhabitants and had no thoughts of exporting Corn out of the Country nor of importing those things that serve only for Superfluity and good Chear The Soyl which is fruitful of it self suppli'd every one with a sufficient subsistance so that the Peasants were not compell'd to work hard for if they wrought never so little they did enough for their Masters and for themselves But as soon as the Polish Gentlemen began to exchange Corn for foreign Merchandises and Riches and Luxury were brought into that Kingdom the Military Vigour began to abate and the Slavery of the Peasants became intollerable Poland is now properly a Republick and 't is by that Name that the Polanders call it looking upon their King as being no more than the head of their Common wealth This makes them lessen the King's authority more and more when a new one is to be elected still enlarging their own privileges and taking care that his prerogative may not grow too great They are indeed so jealous of their Liberty and so afraid of losing it that they will not have any fortyfied towns upon the Frontiers for fear the King should put a Garrison in it and so should make himself absolute Master of all the Nobility by degrees That sentiment is so strongly rooted within their hearts that they prepossess their Children with it betimes making them believe that their native Freedom would soon be lost if ever they suffered any town to be fortyfied upon the Frontiers But they do not consider that while they design to shun a great Evil they fall into another that is worse since their Neighbours who are all of them their Enemies finding the Country open easily invade it and from time to time make themselves Masters of some part of their state before the Polanders can be in a Condition to oppose their Irruptions as the Swedes did which I have already mentioned The Republick of Poland is composed of three Orders the King the Senate and the Nobility or Gentry Thus all the Rites and Privileges are joyntly holden by those three Orders insomuch that there can be no Laws made nor abrogated no War levied no alliance concluded with Foreigners no Impositions laid 〈◊〉 nor no money coyned but with the joynt Consent of the whole Republick or of the Senators that are deputed for that end therefore some of these are always near the King's person in order to preserve the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom CHAP. VII Of the KING THe King disposes of all the consistorial Benefices and of many others as also of all the Offices and Places of profit in the Gift of the Crown for he cannot keep them to himself and is obliged to bestow them upon the Gentlemen of Poland and not upon Foreigners tho' they have never so much personal Merit or have done never so much service to the Republick for the Polanders are so jealous of Foreigners that they cannot endure that the King should make them any connderable Gratification As for Instance In the Reign of King Stephen Batori the Hungarians had been very serviceable to the Republick in the War against the Muscovites Now that brave Prince who had invited many of 'em into Poland to repell that encroaching Enemy with their Assistance thought himself obliged to bestow some suitable Rewards upon them but he had no sooner done this but that several of the Great Men of Poland were strangely exasperated particularly the Great General who resented it so highly that he resigned his place upon that Account Many others also murmur'd openly against that Prince which usage may seem the more ungenerous and ungrateful seeing they were so much obliged to that Warlike King who had atcheived braver and greater Actions for Poland than any of his Predecessors Thus all that a Foreigner can pretend to in that Republick can amount to no more than the obtaining the Command of a Regiment of Foot or the Grant of some little Royal Gift Besides that he may be duely qualified for the possession of it he must first be made a Gentleman of Poland for otherwise the King cannot bestow any such thing upon him however there are some little Royal Gifts and Benefices which a man may hold without being a Gentleman of Poland But in the main 't is so certain that there is a necessity of being made a Gentleman of Poland to possess an Estate or Place of considerable Profit in that Kingdom that King Stephen Battori whom we just now mentioned thought fit to procure the Indigenate that is the right of Nobility to two of his Kins-men at the Sessions of the Diet which he had summon'd to meet the 13 of December 1386. For as he had no Children he was desirous of advancing those of his Brother and was perswaded that this Naturalization would enable him to prefer them to something more considerable But that Great Prince was prevented by Death in the fifty fourth year of his age after he had reigned ten years One would be apt to think that this mighty Power which the King of Poland has to dispose of so many places of Trust and Profit of so many Lands by Royal Tenure and of so many Benefices must need gain him the Love and Affection of those on whom they
Lutheran perswasion in the last Age as did most of the Northern Nations They began to imbibe that Doctrine in the Year 1525. in the Reign of Sigismund the first who did not dare to oppose it because he was afraid of engaging in a War with the Teutonic Knights the Truce which he had made with them being then near expir'd Sigismund Augustus having afterwards receiv'd the Homage and Oath of Fidelity to himself and the Republick from Albert Duke of Prussia he confirm'd the people of Prussia in their Ancient Rights and Privileges and gave them leave to make open profession of the Lutheran Belief according to the Augsburg Confession The greatest part of the Inhabitants of Dantzic are Lutherans and the other part Calvinists there being only some few Roman Catholiks and Anabaptists for there is an entire Liberty of Conscience yet in such a manner that the whole Government is in the hands of the Lutherans none of the other Sects being admitted to a share The Roman Catholiks have a Church there which is a Convent of Dominican Monks which serves for a Parish to all those that reside in the Town The Jesuits have also a House in the Suburbs where there is likewise a Nunnery As for the Lutherans they have that Stately Church which was of Old enjoy'd by the Roman Catholicks and which is one of the finest Buildings that I have seen in Poland 'T is Worthy Observation that at Dantzic even among the Lutherans they acknowledge the Popes Nunicio that resides in Poland in several Eclesiastical Cases as for Licenses and Dispensations to Marry in a degree forbidden by the Canons I have no more to say of the City of Dantzic but only that it disclaims the Jurisdiction of Poland its Inhabitants saying that it did not submit to the Polanders but only to the King To vindicate that right of Exemption the Dantzickers took Arms in the Year 1576. and march'd as far as Ditschow upon the Vistula with some Forces which they had rais'd under the Command of a certain Officer call'd John of Cologn who had before that defended Marienburg But they were defeated by the army of Poland however the King afterwards forgave them at the Intreaty of the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg The King of Poland cannot send any Ambassadors to foreign Princes nor receive any from 'em without the Senates Consent tho' 't is he that is to give them Audience Neither can he leave the Kingdom upon any Account let the Importance be what it will Sigismund III having heard of the death of his Father John King of Sweden summon'd a Diet at Warsaw in the month of May 1592 that the Republick might consent to the Journey which he intended to take into Swedeland And Lewis King of Hungary who was chosen King of Poland in the year 1370 having a desire to return into Hungary was obliged to ask consent and to enlarge the Privileges of the Nobility that he might obtain it The King of Poland has a right to judge and determine civil and criminal Cases The definitive Sentences in all Jurisdictions are past according to the Majority of Votes But in criminal Cases the King 's single Vote saves the Offenders Life And this because he has a right to pardon all manner of Criminals by what Tribunal soever they be condemned But 't is otherwise in the Decision of those affairs that concern the Republick which are handled in a general Diet where all the Nobility is assembled by its Deputies for then it is absolutely necessary to have the unanimous Consent of all those Deputies whose number is considerable before any thing can be concluded and determined So that as often as any one Member of the Assembly will not consent and enters his protestation the Diet breaks off and all the Deputies depart nor can the King oblige 'em to stay nor get another Diet to assemble till three months after that which then broke off But tho' a King of Poland can hardly do any thing by himself yet he may take Cognisance of the payment of the Soldiers regulate their number and command the Army Not but that he that is great General of it still has a great Authority over the Soldiers as I will shew hereafter CHAP. VIII Of the Senate in General THE Senate of Poland is Compos'd of the Bishops Palatines Castellans and the Ten Officers of State whose Dignity Entitles them to a place in that Assembly It was Instituted to Regulate according to the Justice and Equity of the Laws all that is Transacted for the Good and Security of the State The King Creates the Senators and before he Advances them to that Honour makes them take an Oath of Fidelity to the Republick But after they are once admitted into that Body they cannot be afterwards displac'd In the General Diet they sit at the Right and Left hand of the King according to their Dignity and not according to the Seniority of their Reception 'T is they who with the King Approve and Ratifie all the Constitutions which the Nobility propose to them by their Deputies So that the Senators are as it were Mediators betwixt the King and the Nobility to preserve and defend the Authority of the Republick For 't is in this order that the Authority is properly lodg'd not by reason of the great Number of Persons of which it is Composed but by a Power they derive from the Laws which determine their respective Duties and Privileges The Senators value their Dignity so much that they despise all the Titles of Honour which the Emperours are wont to bestow Thus when Sigismund King of Poland and his Brother Vladislaus King of Hungary went to Vienna the Emperour offer'd to confer upon the Senators who accompany'd them the Title of Princes of the Empire which they refus'd to accept of saying That since they were Gentlemen of Poland and had Power to Treat with their King both of Peace and War he did them an Injury to think that the Title of Prince of the Empire could either be more honourable or great than that of Senatour of the Republick of Poland The Senators Swear to maintain the Rights Liberties and Privileges of the Republick against all opposition So that if the King should attempt to extend his Power beyond the Laws and Liberties which he is obliged by Oath to preserve the Senators may put him in mind of his Duty and Oath without losing that respect which is due to His Majesty And therefore there ought always to be Four Senators at Court both to assist the King with their Counsel and to see that nothing be done contrary to their Privileges which the Polanders believe to be the only way to secure the Liberty of their Republick 'T is also to be observed that none of the Senators must go out of the Kingdom without leave obtain'd of the Republick not even for change of Air or to drink the Waters c. for the Recovery of their Health CHAP.
which they may rise to that of Chancellour and both those Officers must be Ecclesiasticks Next to the Great Secretaries are the Referendaries of the Crown and Dutchy there are Two of them in each State one a Lay-man and the other an Ecclesiastick They present Petitions to the King and return His Majesty's Answer And tho' they are not Members of the Senate they have a Privilege to sit by the Senators in Judgements of Processes upon Information to give their Advice and afterwards to Pronounce the Sentence that is given 'T is to be observ'd that all the Judges and Officers of Justice all the Advocates Proctors Registers and Notaries wear a Sabre or Scimitar by their side and do not lay it aside either when they Judge or Plead a Cause and that they have no other Garb than what they usually wear There are Four General Officers of the Army in Poland 2 for the Crown and 2 for Lithuania viz. A Great General and a Petty or Lieutenant-General Those Generals of the Army have no Place in the Senate unless they be Palatines or Castellans or be possest of some of those Offices which Entitle 'em to a Place in the Senate The Great General Commands the Whole Army and has Power to Quarter the Troops where he pleases the King himself not being able to hinder him And this Power is so considerable that it makes a Great General formidable to all the Nobility His Office is to take care that the Soldiers which are Levy'd for the Service of the Republick commit no Disorders that the Members of the Diets may not be over-aw'd by the Army He Helds the Army Orders its Encampments puts it in Battalia and gives the Signal of Battel and of Retreat he takes care of the Convoys and Ammunitions sets a Price on every thing that is Sold in the Army Regulates the Weights and Measures and Punishes Offenders The Office of the Petty General is to take Care of those who are appointed for Guards and of the Parties that are sent out to discover the Enemy He Commands the Foreign Troops and even the Whole Army in the absence of the General and succeeds him in course upon the occasion of a Vacancy There are many other Offices in the Army the most considerable of which is that of the Great Standard-bearer and the next that of Great Master of the Artillery As for the Offices of the Court the most Considerable are those of the Great Chamberlain Great Master of the Horse and the Steward or Master of the Houshold Besides all those Offices there are others in the Palatinats as Chamberlains Masters of the Houshold and many others for the Provinces of Poland were formerly divided among several Princes each of whom had their particular Officers and tho' those Provinces have been long since Re-united to the Crown yet the Officers still contiâ—â—e and enjoy certain Honorary Privileges the chief of which is that they serve the King in their Palatinates when the Officers of the Court are absent CHAP. XIII Of the Interregnum AN Interregnum may happen Four several ways by the Death of the Prince by His voluntary and Public Abdication by His Forc'd and Iavoâ—â—ntary Deposition or by His Flight 〈◊〉 Going out of the Kingdom but the most usual is by the Death of the King whose Body is immediately laid upon a Bed of State and some Senators both Ecclesiastick and Secular are chosen to attend him In the mean time the Republick Orders all the Necessary Expences for the Ceremony to be taken out of the Treasures left by the Deceased King The same Honours are also given to the Queens after their Decease as I had occasion to observe at the Death of Queen Mary Louise who dy'd at Warsaw May 10. 1667. in the Palace which King John Casimir her Husband had in the Suburbs The next day She was carry'd to the Castle where She was expos'd on a Bed of State till She was remov'd to Cracow to be Interr'd She Dy'd about the end of a Diet and almost suddenly of a Defluxion upon Her Lungs occasion'd by a too long and earnest Dispute with General Patz about an Affair She had propos'd to him which he would not consent to For that Princess was so fond of Intriguing and so desirous to Govern the State alone that She was in a manner Jealous of the King her Husband who durst not speak to any Woman in private least she shou'd imagine that he was Govern'd by another This troublesome Constraint made him so uneasie that he was not much afflicted at Her Death for the same Night he return'd from the Diet to the Palace to see a Person whom He had Lov'd before but durst never entertain during the Queens Life The Interregnum may also happen by a Voluntary Abdication when a King freely Resigns the Crown into the Hands of the Republick But 't is very rare to see a King Descend Voluntarily from the Throne and few will imitate the Example of King John Casimir who after he had Reign'd Twenty years with the Love of all the Nobility made a Publick Resignation in St. John's Church at Warsaw Septemb. 16. 1668. Notwithstanding the Earnest Solicitations of the Whole Senate and of all the Nobility to make Him alter His Resolution and the Tears that were shed by all the People at the Sight of so Dismal a Revolution For he was so Universally Belov'd by the Nobility and Senate that they voluntarily Assign'd Him a Yearly Pension of 50000 Crowns as a Testimony of their Acknowledgment towards a Prince who had Govern'd them so well Nevertheless that Pension was never Paid tho it was afterwards Inserted in the Pacta Conventa which King Michael Swore to observe after His Election The Abdicated King went to France where he died at Nevers December 16. 1672. I cannot on this occasion forbear taking notice of an odd Circumstance in the Fate of that Prince and His Queen for the latter quitted France and went to Poland where She dy'd in Her Husband's City and the former left Foland and went to France where he dy'd in His Wive's City Innovation are always dangerous to a State and threaten it with some Fatal Revolution which the Polanders considering endeavour'd to prevent the consequences of so unusual an Action causing an Article to be Inserted into the Pacta Conventa which they made King Michael Swear to observe That never any King should be suffered to Abdicate for the future but that Article was left out in the Pacta which King John the IIId Swore after his Election in the Church of St. John at Warsaw June 5. 1674. An Interregnum may be also occasion'd by the Deposing of a Prince either for Heresie or some other Notorious Crime as in the Case of Locticus who was Depos'd for his excessive Debauchery and Succeeded by Wenceslaus King of Bobemia was chosen King of Poland in the Year 1300. But those Instances are very rare as well as the Examples of a
Republick That right is now given to those who are in Favour at Court or Protected by some Great Lord whereas formerly it was granted only to Officers as a Recompence for their Services done to the State Those who are not Officers and yet pretend to the Indigenat by the favour of the King or of the Marshal of the Deputies procuring their Names to be inserted in the Instructions of the Army that is among the Names of the Officers who demand to be made Gentlemen of Poland and every one of the Pretenders gives in an account of his Genealogy Name Sirname Family and Services and puts his Coat of Armes in the middle And after they have been receiv'd by the Diet and their Pattents Seal'd they take an Oath of Fidelity before the Marshal of the Deputies by which they Swear to be faithful to their Country and to the King and the Marshal gives 'em a Certificate declaring that the Diet has receiv'd such a one for its Natural Son and that he has taken the Oath of Fidelity before him Yet tho' a stranger be made a Gentleman of Poland the King cannot bestow any considerable Employment or Consistorial Benefices on him or his Children to the third Generation For the Republick has made this Provision that they may be the better assured of the Fidelity of those who are entrusted with any Office or enjoy any Benefices According to the Constitutions and Laws of Poland a Diet must not sit above Six Weeks and the Nobility are so fond and jealous of their Privileges that when the King endeavours to prolong the Session of a Diet and even when the Interest of the State requires the Sitting of that Assembly the Deputies are always ready to oppose such an Innovation and Charge their Marshal to Acquaint the King that they will immediately leave the Diet as soon as they perceive that he intends to keep them longer than usually I shall only mention one Instance of this Unaccountable Obstinacy which happen'd in the Diet Assembled at the Coronation of King John Casimir in the Year 1649. The Defeat of the Polish Army at Pilaveze and afterwerds the Dreadful Irruption of the Cossacks and Tartars into the very heart of the Kingdom had reduc'd the Republick almost to the last extremity and since the Diet had been so busy'd in determining particular affairs that they had not time to consider of the Means to raise a sufficient Army to oppose the progress of so Barbarous and formidable an Enemy till the very day before the breaking up of the Diet the King and the Senators endeavour'd to find out a way to avoid the terrible danger that threatned 'em and for that end resolv'd to Prolong the Diet But as soon as the Deputies were inform'd of this Resolution they sent their Marshal to the Senators to put 'em in mind of the Law which forbids the prolonging of Diets and afterward to take leave of the King The Marshal to execute his Commission went to the Senate and began to thank the King and to take leave of Him in the Name of all the Nobility whereupon the Senators rising up desir'd that they wou'd condescend to sit only one day longer representing the Pressing Exigencies of the present Juncture The Chancellor seconded these Intreaties with a very Moving and Pathetick Harangue After which the Marshal having resum'd his Character which he had already laid down went back to the Deputies and pray'd them to give their Opinion concerning the Prolongation which the King and Senate desir'd The Deputies met again at the return of their Marshal and were at last prevail'd with tho' not without a great deal of difficulty to consent that the Diet should be prolong'd but upon this condition that every one of them should obtain whatever his Palatinat had charg'd him to ask CHAP. XVI Of the Diet of the Election THE General Diet for the Election of a King is always held in the open Field about half a League from Warsaw near the Village of Vola where they erect a sort of Booth cover'd with Boards at the Publick Charge which in the Polish Language is called Szopa or a Shelter from bad Weather This place is built and prepar'd by the Treasurer of the Crown 't is surrounded with a Ditch and has Three Doors The Day appointed for the Diet being come the Senate and the Nobility go to St. John's Church at Warsaw to hear the Mass of the Holy Ghost and to beg the Grace of God in order to the Electing of a New King who may have all the Qualitys necessary to defend the Interests of the Church and of the Republick After which they go to the Szopa where the Order of the Nobility elects the Marshal of the Deputies that were sent by the Petty Diets who being Chosen by Plurality of Voices and having taken the Oath goes to Salute the Senators and to be confirm'd by their Approbation After these Preliminaries the Orders of the Senate and Nobility enter into an Union or Association which they Ratifie and Confirm with an Oath Not to separate from one another not to Name any person for King Nor acknowledge him as such till he be Elected by the unanimous consent of 'em all They swear also to preserve all the Rights Privileges and Immunities of the Republick and that he who shall do otherwise shall be declar'd an enemy to his Country They Promise reciprocally neither to give their Voices for an Election nor to enter into any Agreement with the Candidates or their Ambassadors till all the Irregularities and Disorders that have been committed either in the Kingdom or Dutchy be consider'd and redress'd They annul and make void all the Decrees of the Tribunals and even the Statutes of the Kings that are found to be contrary to their Liberties and Promise to make a Law to that Purpose They declare That all the Judgements given before the Publication of the Interregnum shall be valid and that they will approve of all that shall be done by the Court of Justice establish'd during the Interregnum which is called Kaptur and is design'd for the defence of the Country for Coyning of Money for raising of Soldiers and for maintaining the Laws They forbid any person to come to the Diet with Strangers or with Fire-Arms They ordain that the Generals of the Army shall take an Oath before Commissioners to discharge the Trust that is repos'd in 'em with all possible fidelity to make no other use of their Troops than to oppose the Enemies of the Nation To defend the Frontiers of the Kingdom and to secure the Honour and Liberties of the Republick They oblige 'em also to Swear to Assert the Publick Interest in case of a Sedition or Revolt To restrain the Souldiers from injuring any person To receive no Money either from the Clergy or Laity and to hinder the Soldiers from receiving any After which they forbid the Officers of the Army to March with their Forces into
that they seldom come to the place of Rendezvous on the Day appointed for there are many of them who do not arrive there with their Companies or Regiments till a Moneth and sometimes Six weeks after and even there are some who leave the Army a Moneth before the Campagne is ended The King of Poland and the Generals might easily Remedy this Disorder but they dare not attempt to do it for fear of offending some Persons of Quality whose Affection they must carefully preserve For they who leave the Army or come not to the Rendezvous by the Day prefixt are commonly Polish Gentlemen and not Strangers who are more exact and dare not assume such Liberties without asking and obtaining Leave As 't is impossible to carry on a War without Money so there is no other way to Raise Mony but by Taxes And therefore besides the ordinary Revenues of the Republick which are the Fourth Part of the Estates and Offices that are in the King's Gift The Customs upon Wines and Merchandizes and the Tribute that is Exacted from the Jews they impose also in time of Necessity a certain Sum by way of Poll upon every Person 's Head which is no new sort of Tax in Poland For King Casimir III. after he had lost the Battle against the Toutonick Knights Summon'd a Diet at Peotrkow in which it was ordain'd That the whole Gentry and Clergy and even the King Himself should give half of their Revenues for defraying the Charge of the War The Polish Army is compos'd of Polanders and Strangers All the Polish Troops are Cavalry and are called Husartsz and Tovarzysz The Husartsz are Chosen Men Brave and in good Condition The Tovarzysz are so called from a word which signifies a Comerade and both sorts are Gentlemen The one are Armed with Lances and the other with Bows and Arrows and there are some Troops of Horse who have behind their Backs Wings made of Cocks Feathers which are usually White in order to frighten the Enemies Horses which are not accustom'd to such sights They are all Richly Cloath'd with the Skins of Tygers Leopards or Panthers their Horses are also very sine and well-harnessed In a word it may be said that they are the finest and best Cavalry in the World and that they would be Invincible if they were more submissive and better Paid As for the Foreign Troops they are almost all Infantry and are called Forreigners because they are kept on German Pay and receive the Word of Command in the German Language tho' most of the Soldiers and Officers are Polanders Those Troops are divided into Regiments of Foot or Dragoons and the Regiments into Companys as in France But the Soldiers are so miserably poor that the greatest part of them have neither Swords nor Shooes When they lie in Towns they live on Three Gros a day which are worth Two pence of Polish Money or a Penny English and upon what they can steal from the Peasants that come that come to the Markets for 't is not the Custome in Poland to give them Ammunition-bread and even the Officers of Foot are not better Cloath'd than our common Soldiers I proceed in the next place to give some Account of the Equipage with which the Polanders go to the Army And first There are no â—utlers in the Polish Army for besides that the Soldiers would not pay 'em they could never arrive in the Camp without being plunder'd by the Soldiers and especially by the Lithuanians who are more accustom'd to Pillage than the Polanders so that every Man must carry every thing that he stands in need of along with him which obliges the Officers to hare a great Equipage and to provide sufficient quantities of Meat Bacon Butter Salt Sugar Comfits Spices Beer Hungary-Wine Brandy Oats and generally of every thing that is necessary for themselves their Servants and their Horses They have many Wagons as well for carrying all sorts of Provisions as their Tents which are very heavy but very fine As for the poor Soldiers I have already intimated that they live upon Roots and the flesh of dead Horses or such as they find lying in Quagmires For if the Owner does not take speedy care to draw him out he must expect to be prevented by the Famish'd Soldiers who in a moment cut him into a Thousand Pieces 'T is generally known and acknowledg'd that the success of an Enterprize espeially in War depends in a particular manner upon two things viz. Secrecy and the Certain Knowledge which a General ought to have of the strength or weakness of his Enemies and of the place where they are posted As for Secrecy which is the Soul of all Important Affairs it is so little observ'd in Poland that every petty Officer is acquainted with all the Great General 's Designs And as for the Knowledge of the State of the Enemy since the Polanders never make use of Spyes they never learn any News of the Enemy's Army till they meet with some of their Parties And this is the reason why the News which come from the Polish Army are so uncertain that those who are acquainted with the Country seldom give any Credit to these Reports The Army of Poland being thus Compos'd and being accompany'd with such an Equipage as I lately mention'd is under the Command of a Great General and of the General of the Field and besides these Two General Officers there are also others under them as the Master of the Artillery the Pissarsz or Intendant of the Army the Great Standard-Bearer the Field-Marshal the General of the Centinels and the Major-Generals who are the same with our Brigadiers Before I conclude this Chapter there is one thing more observable in the Polish Army which is that if News be brought to them when they are at Table that the Enemy appears they will not stir till they have done to Mount their Horses and pursue their Enemies CHAP. XXII Of the Estates and Revenues of the Polanders THE Estates in Poland are of Three sorts either Royal Ecclesiastick or Patrimonial The Royal Estates are part of the Domain and belong to the Republick They consist of the Starosties Salt-works and half the Revenue of the Port of Dantzick As for the Starosties the King is oblig'd to bestow them on Polish Gentlemen within Six Months after a Vacancy for 't is not in his Power to reserve any of them for himself except those that are called Royal Oeconomies which together with the Salt-works and the Port of Dantzick belong properly to him so that his whole Revenue amounts to but about a Million of Livers But then he is not to pay any Troops out of it not so so much as his own Regiment of Guards and all the Officers of his Houshould who are Gentlemen of Poland serve him without any Salary in hopes of obtaining some Benefice or Starostie So that he is at no Charge but for his Table Cloaths and Stable and besides he receives many
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
Lithuanians consented that the Lesser Poland should appoint the Mareschal and the choice fell upon Monsieur Omienisky Lieutenant Collonel of the Artillery The next day this Dispute was over news came that the Army had Confederated themselves for their own Interests for the King as I have already observ'd having not taken care to pay the Forces a vast Sum was due to them for their Arrears They chose an Officer called Baronowsky for their General and promised to remain united till they had receiv'd Satisfaction In the mean time they resolved to raise contributions for their Subsistance This news put the Dyet in great Consternation and likely contributed to the resolutions they took the same day which was to lay aside all Objections against the Validity of the Election of the Deputies with this proviso that none should have a voice in the Dyet till they had freely satisfied the Assembly about the reasons that should be offer'd against them They repaired afterwards in great Ceremony unto the Senators Hall and the Marshal made a speech to the Cardinal Primate setting forth the deplorable condition of the Kingdom since the Kings death returned thanks to his Eminency for his great care of the Publick and declared that the Deputies were ready to concur to the utmost of their Power to all the Proposals that should be made for the Good of the Nation The Primate returned an answer suitable to the circumstances of the time and proposed several Points to be taken into consideration by the Assembly 1. An Association of all the Members of the Kingdom for the Security of it 2. To draw up Laws and Conditions to which the future King should be obliged and to publish them that all Pretenders to the Crown might be informed thereof 3. To find and apply a proper remedy to the Factions Quarrels and Animosities which had been so prevalent under the preceeding Goverment and prevent the like for the future 4. To provide for the speedy Payment of the Army as the only way to prevent Mutinies and Seditions amongst the Souldiers and for carrying a vigorous War against the Turks 5. To repair the defects of the Artillery which was in a very bad condition 6. To settle a sort of Money that might be current all over the Kingdom to prevent the Inconveniencies proceeding from the diversity of Coyns 7. and lastly That the Election of a new King might be deferred for some time Nothing material was transacted since that day to the 10th of September that there happned a violent dispute in the Assembly whether the Queen should not be desired to remove out of Warsaw for tho' the greatest part of the Provincial Dyets had resolved not to suffer the Royal Family to reside in the Place where the General Dyet was to Assemble and that Prince James in compliance with their resolution had already left that City yet the Queen would not conform herself to their desires notwithstanding the advices of the Cardinal the Bishop of Posnania and the Palatine of Plosko which put the Dyet in a great heat some taking that pretence to leave the Assembly At last her Majesty was perswaded to yeild unto their desires and left actually Warsaw on the 18th of September and went for Dantzick This calm'd somewhat the Dyet but a dispute between the Cardinal Primate and the Marcsehal of the Deputies was like to break up the Dyet however it was agreed to enter into an Association which was drawn up by a Domestick of the Cardinal Primate and read by him to the States No body made any Objection to the first Articles but when he came to mention the Liberties and Priviledges of the Clergy the Grand Marshal of Lithuania bid him stop and laid before the Assembly in a very Pathetick Speech the Injury and Affronts he had received from the Bishop of Vilna desiring the Cardinal Regent that he might have Satisfaction given him The Grand Marshal of the Crown made likewise great Complaints against the Bishop of Culm for having Publish'd Libels against him to blemish his Reputation The Cardinal Answer'd them That as the Spiritual State could not Judge the Temporal neither could the Secular give Laws to the Ecclesiastick and that it was to be left to the Pope to Punish the Proceedings of the Bishops which was Agreed to on both sides This Point being thus over the Act of Association was Read on but when they came to the Point of Reconciliation between those who being Christians yet do not Agree in some Matters of Religion one of the Deputies made some Exceptions and it was agreed That all things should remain as to that Point as they had done during the Interregnums of Casimir and Michael The Disputes about Fixing the time of the Election of a New King was more considerable many of the Deputies insisting That the Deplorable Condition of the Republick required a Speedy Choice but the other Party being Swayed by a Private Interest was Stronger and upon a Fair Pretence the Election was deferr'd to the 15th of May 1697 and it was agreed that it should be done in the Open Field by all the Nobility Summon'd together as at the Election of Michael Wieznowisky and that whoever should Propose a Native of the Kingdom should be look'd upon as an Enemy of his Country This being Concluded and the Act of Association drawn up the Deputies met again upon the First of October and some of them demanded that the said Act might be Read again but this was Opposed by the Cardinal Primate saying That a Second Reading would only create New Cavils and so Sign'd it immediately with most of the Deputies and the rest did the like afterwards That Association contains many Articles the Principal whereof are the following 1. We will keep our selves firmly to the Roman Religion and will not Elect any one for King who shall not make Profession of the same Religion 2. We will prevent as much as in us lies all Divisions and Misunderstandings which may grow among the Members of the Republick nor will we enter into any secret Practices against the Liberty of the Election or which tend to the advancing any one to the Throne or Acknowledge him for King unless he has been freely Elected by Free Voices and by Unanimous Consent and has the General Approbation On the contrary we will look upon as Enemies to this Country all those who shall acknowledge for King any Person who has not been Chosen after the said manner 3. To this purpose the Archbishop of Gnesna shall not Proclaim any one for King unless he has first demanded of the Deputies Three times one after another whether they are Content with his Election 4. Though there may be in the Republick a Person capable to Wear the Crown with Honour nevertheless to avoid the Troubles that might arise from the Advancement of a Native of Poland to the Throne the Deputies of the Lesser Dyets shall bring along with them Instructions in reference
that Capital which he found in a very ill condition and therefore gave immediate Orders to repair and inlarge them In the mean time the Bishop of Cujavia in the King's Name sent out Circular Letters for a general Dyet to meet at Warsaw and the Cardinal Primate Summoned another to meet the 26th of August 'T is to be observed that the Party who Chose the Elector of Saxony impowered their Ambassadors to agree with him about the Number of the Forces that he was to bring into the Kingdom till he was in the peaceable Posession of the Throne and accordingly the Saxon Troops that were in Silesia Marched to Cracow and Encamped in the Neighbourhood of that City into which the Elector made his entry the 8th of August being received by the Inhabitants with all immaginable Demonstrations of Joy His Majesty went directly to the Castle which had been prepar'd for his Residence during his stay at Lopsow and called a great Council at which most of the Senators and Officers of State were present where three things were Propos'd to be Consider'd of 1. What was fit to be done in relation to the Dyet Summoned by the Primate to meet at Warsaw the 26th of August 2. How to Pay the Army 3. Whether the Mediation of the Elector of Brandenburg or any other forreign Prince should be desired or accepted As to the first it was Resolv'd not to permit the said Dyet to meet and that the Saxon Forces should for that purpose March towards Warsaw unless the Primate and his Adherents did within a Fortnight to be reckon'd form the second of August own the Elector of Saxony for King of Poland 2. That the Castellan of Culm should begin to pay the Army on the 15th of August out of the Moneys provided by the Kings Orders 3. And lastly that it was not proper to desire to accept the Mediation of any Forreign Prince seeing it might be lookt upon as a Tacit Concession that the Election had not been duly made The Provincial Dyets met in the mean time in order to send Deputies to the General Dyet Summon'd by the Primate but several broke up without coming to any Resolutions and some others as that of Warsaw resolved to send Deputies to assist at the Coronation of the Elector of Saxony which was appointed to be perform'd on the 15th of September at Cracow An Envoy of the Czar of Moscovy arrived at Cracow about this time to Congratulate his Majestys Election and offer him an Army to reduce the Rebels to his Obedience Notwithstanding the March of the Elector the Dyet call'd by the Primate met at Warsaw on the 26th being compos'd for the most part of Members gained by the French Money and so soon as they were together one of the Deputies protested in the Name of the Elector of Saxony against all their Proceedings but the other drawing their Sabres he was in great danger of being Kill'd and forced to retire for his Security so that some others who design'd to make the same protestation held their Tongue and left the Assembly This irregular Dyet having chosen their Mareschal took upon them to declare all those that should joyn with the Elector of Saxony Enemies of their Country and that their Estates should be seis'd and Confiscated They enter'd also into an Assocation ingaging to stand by each other and maintain the Authority of the Primate It was resolved also that the Elector should be once more desired to leave the Kingdom and that upon his refusal Prince Sapieha whom they chose General should march to Cracow and oblige him to quit that place by Force The Kingdom being thus threatned with a Civil War a great many Noblemen were for a new Election which gave some hopes to Prince James and oblig'd him to come Incognito to Gurau within five Leagues of Warsaw to confer with some of his most intimate Friends but they saw no liklihood of Succeeding considering the Animosity of the two other Parties and the Presence of the Elector of Saxony The Elector of Brandenburg who has a great Interest in the Tranquillity of Poland offer'd his Medation and there were several Conferences between Prince Lubomirsky whom the Elector of Saxony had appointed his Plenipotentiary and the Cardinal Primate The French Faction had no other Design in their Negotiations than to hinder or at least delay the Elector's Coronation for though the Regent had call'd a New Dyet to Meet the 26th of September yet the Saxon Party were inform'd That the Primate had sent new Expresses to hasten the Prince of Conty's departure from France that he might Arrive in Poland before that Day This and the Violent Proceedings of the Primate in Seizing the Castle of Warsaw and turning out the Vayvode because he was in the Saxon Party gave a just and reasonable Suspicion to the King and his Adherents that these Conferences were only an Amusement on purpose to gain Time and therefore His Majesty with the Advice of the Great Men about Him resolved to proceed to His Coronation the 15th of September according to the Resolution formerly taken There were Two Great Difficulties to be removed 1. The Cardinal was in Possession of the Corps of the Late King and the Laws of Poland Requiring that it should be Buryed the Day before the Coronation of His Successor The Saxons were mightily perplex'd and did not know what to do in this Matter 2. The Regalia being kept in the Castle of Cracow in a Place esteem'd Sacred by the Poles under Four Locks the Keys whereof are Committed to the Primate the Great Treasurer and Two other Senators that the same may not be Open'd but in the presence of them Four They did not know how to come at them none of those Men being in their Party but after several Consultations it was Resolved That these Formalities ought not to prevent the Great Advantages that the Republick expected from His Majesty's Coronation and that therefore the Obsequies of the Late King should be made by Representation and that the Door of the Place where the Regalia were kept should be broke open in the presence of the Senators and some other Great Men. This Resolution being taken the King made a Most Magnificent Entry into Cracow on the 13th of September which it would be too long to recite here The Palatines Bishops Ambassadors and the King Himself being on Horseback most Richly Accoutred The next day the Funeral of the Late King was performed and on the 15th His Majesty was Crowned by the Bishop of Cujavia Assisted by several other Bishops in the Presence of a Great Concourse of the Nobility among whom were the Crown General the Prince of Lubomirsky and most of the Senators It were tedious to repeat here the Ceremonies practised on this Occasion and therefore we must Refer the Reader to the XIXth Chapter of this Book which Treats at large of the King's Coronation The Solemnity of the Day concluded with a Great Entertainment with
with the Turks themselves and at last made them lose all Vkrania and the Dutchies of Smolensko and Siberia 'T was their real Interest not only to suffer the Cossacks to make perpetual Incursions upon the Turks but even to assist them in their Expeditions For by this means they might have kept the Cossacks who had serv'd 'em so well in the War against Osman in subjection to them and consequently the Polanders might have been still Masters of so many Fine Provinces which they have lost When all the Nobility of Poland are Assembled together they make a very Considerable Body and not one of their Neighbours could resist them if they knew their own strength and could submit to Regular Discipline and to the Command of a General But besides that it is the Interest of the King never to Assemble so great and so formidable a Body The Polanders have also this Privilege that they cannot be kept together above Six Weeks So that if during that time the King cannot bring them to a Battle with their Enemies they may return home without asking his leave And consequently if their Enemies have never so little Experience in the Art of War they may safely protract the time or retire till the Impetuous Torrent is over and afterwards renew the Assault without fear and with a certain prospect of Success That 't is not the Interest of a King of Poland to Assemble the Polish Nobility in one place may be evidently demonstrated by the following Instance When Sigismond II. Summon'd them to appear near Leopold to oppose the Moldavians they were just ready to Revolt against him the Senators complaining that their Privileges had been violated and refusing to March against the Enemy till they were re-establish'd This Example alone which might be confirm'd by many others is a convincing Proof that the Convocation of all the Nobility is both a dangerous and ineffectual Remedy against the Distempers of the State The Polish Nobility have another Privilege which appears unjust or at least seems to incourage their Insolence for a Polish Gentleman cannot be Arrested for any Crime whatsoever unless he be first Convicted by Justice Nisi Jure Victus So that he must be first Cited to appear at the Tribunal where he is to be Tryed if he do not appear he must be declar'd Contumacious and if he appears and is Convicted he is Arrested and Imprison'd in order to be afterwards Indged according to the Laws and the Heinousness of his Crime so that it may be reasonably suppos'd that he who knows himself Guilty and fears to be Cast will not run the hazard of being Convicted but will rather choose to suffer himself to be Condemn'd for Contumacy than to venture the losing of his Head Nevertheless there are some Examples which seem to contradict this Privilege that a Gentleman cannot be Arrested Nisi Jure Victus and I my self have seen an Instance of it in the Persons of those who Assassinated Gonczenski the Petty General of the Army of Lithuania The Criminals were without any Formality carry'd Prisoners to Elbing and afterwards Condemn'd by the General Diet held at Warsaw in the Year 1654 to be Beheaded in the Market-place But it must be confess'd that their Crime was so Enormous that in such a case the Nobility could not in Justice refuse to wave their Privilege For those Wretches took that Gentleman in the Night-time out of his Bed from his Wife at Vitna and having put him in a Coach with a Confessor whom they brought along with them they carry'd him out of the City and oblig'd him immediately to make his Confession after which they Shot him dead The Polish Gentlemen have another Privilege That no Soldier or Officer of the Army can be Quarter'd upon them and any Officer who should attempt to do it would be Cited before the first General Dyet where he would be Condemned to Death or Mark'd with Infamy that is the Criminal wou'd be declared uncapable of having a Vote or of possessing any Office or Employment An Example of which I shall relate which happen'd at Warsaw May 17. 1674 in the Dyet of the Election of John the IIId and which contributed not a little to his Election The Son of the Palatin of Smolensko went to Lodge in the House of Vicznowieski by the Order as 't was given out of the Great General Patz Palatin of Vilna The Marshals who are Judges of those Enormities Condemned that Palatin to the Punishment prescrib'd be the Laws Two days before the Conclusion of the Dyet Thus he was deprived of a Right to Vote which was a very considerable Mortification to Chancellour Patz his Cousin who plac'd a great deal of Considence in him as a declar'd Enemy to the Marshal Sobieski and all the French Party and consequently a zealous Promoter of the Faction of Lorrain and Austria The Constitution that secures the Polish Gentry from being Arrested till they be Legally Convicted is certainly a Grievance to the Nation and seems to subvert the Common Maxims of Justice but they have another Privilege that is equally destructive of Civil Society and inconsistent with the Principles of the Christian Religion For every Gentleman in Poland is by Law the Absolute and Despotic Master of the Peasants that live in his Territories and may put 'em to Death when he pleases When a Stranger is surpriz'd at such a Heathenish Custom and takes the Liberty to Ask 'em How Christians can assume a Privilege so contrary to the Spirit of their Religion And how the Law which is a Gift of God can establish a 〈◊〉 so opposite to the Laws of God himself They usually Reply That tho' they have such a Power they never make use of it no more than we and other Christians use the power we have to kill our Horses Adding That the Peasants serve 'em in stead of Beasts But besides that the Comparison is not very Human and much less Christian it happens sometimes that the Gentlemen kill their Peasants either when they are Drunk or Irritated by some Brutal Passion to which young Men are oftentimes subject For the Wives and Daughters of these miserable Wretches are Forc'd and Carry'd away without daring to resist their Insolent Ravishers and this is so common among the Persants that few of 'em scruple to chuse a Bride that has lost her Virginity CHAP. XII Of the Officers who are not Senators I Must in the next place give an Account of those Officers who have not a place in the Senat Of these there are Three sorts viz. Some are Officers of the whole Kingdom and of the whole Dutchy some of the Court and others of Palatinats and Starosties There is a Great Secretary of the Kingdom and another of the Dutchy who both have a Privilege to enter into the Privy-Councils and to know all that the Chancellours and Vice-Chancellours do in the Chancery So that the Office of Great Secretary is as it were a step by