Constitution of 3 May - the attempt to save independence.

Night of May 2-3, 1791, Czapski-Raczyński Palace, str. Krakowskie Przedmieście, Warsaw.

“Gentlemen, everything is ready. Tomorrow the royal guard, under the command of the king's nephew, will surround the castle. We have to put the proposal of constitution to the vote quickly and, by the use of the confusion that, I believe, will appear at that time, to vote and swear it”, said Stanisław Małachowski in a formal tone after the final version of the draft of the governance act was read.

“The king will swear? Will he not back out at the last minute?”, one of the senators, who had come to a secret meeting at the seat of the Marshal of the Sejm (Polish lower chamber of the parliament), did voice doubt.

“Yes, His Majesty is with us with all his heart, which he proved by supporting the alliance with Prussia”, Ignacy Potocki joined in the conversation.

“And there is no threat that we will be voted down?” one of the deputies, involved in the plot, worried.

“It is not possible. We hurried the poll by two days up. Most of them will not be able to return from their properties after the Easter break, which means, those uninformed who might prejudice our enterprise”, explained Ignacy Potocki.

“We have to count on resistance and objections. Primo, the majority of deputies and senators will not be present at the meeting, secundo the draft of the constitution has not been advanced for review”, the Kraków castellan, Antoni Jabłonowski, an experienced politician and deputy from the Sejm of the Little Poland region, dragged in.

“The plan is”, Stanisław Małachowski explained, “after the opening of the Chamber of Deputies and the arrival of the king, there will be reading of dispatches from abroad, selected in such a way as to create the impression that next partition of our country is being prepared. Citing that threat, the king will declare that he sees rescue only in a radical reform of the state, and then we will quickly read the project of the Government Act and put it to a vote. We face opposition but, for heaven’s sake, we have majority!”.

“This document is the only salvage for the Republic of Poland. Gentlemen, we have taken care of everything, the rest is in God's hands”, interjected the priest - Hugo Kołłątaj, who was kipping silent till this moment.

“It is time to sign the document supporting the Government Act ("Asekuracja"). My secretary will now read its content”, said Stanisław Małachowski solemnly.

"In a genuine disposition to save the homeland, in terrible circumstances for the Republic of Poland, the draft Act of the Government in the hands of the above-mentioned Marshal of the Sejmand the Crown Confederation, we accept to the biggest possible support, assuring our enterprise with the motto of love for the homeland and a parole, which for greater faith with our signatures we affirm."

Apart from the Marshal (Speaker) of the Sejm - Stanisław Małachowski, the document was signed by 83 representatives and senators. The next day, the draft constitution was presented at a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies and Chamber of Senators and, despite objections, was quickly proceed to voting. The Government Act was passed by a majority of votes in the presence of 1/3 of the representatives, and then solemnly sworn in by the king Stanisław August Poniatowski. This act was received with enthusiasm by the Warsaw’s townspeople assembled in front of the Royal Castle, where the parliament was sitting. The opposition was so surprised and dumbfounded that resisted not much.

 

Constitution of 3 May, by Matejko: Foreground: King Stanisław Sugust (left) enters St John’s Cathedral, in Warsaw, where deputies will swear to uphold the Constitution. Background: the Royal Castle where the Constitution has just been adopted; National Museum of Poland Catalog (for better resolution: calendar with pictures of Matejko), Domena publiczna, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29769354

 

A contemporary view of the Royal Castle, where the Constitution was adopted, and St. John Cathedral, where it was sworn in; author of the photo: Włodzimierz Bieliński

 

Some historians see the approval of the first Polish (and also the first in Europe) constitution as a coup d'état, given the presence of royal troops and non-execution the requirements of the parliamentary regulations. However, the circumstances at that time forced the patriots to take such steps. In the Polish parliament, hardly no one was interest in of the good of the state for years.

 

The genesis of the Constitution of 3 May.

First Commonwealth (official name: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), also known as the 'Republic of Nobles' (mid-15th century - 1795), bi-federation of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Before the first partitioning (year 1772), it had 733.200 square kilometers, and the number of its inhabitants reached approximately 14 million.

 

The map before the partitions

Authors Bogomolov.PL - Praca own using File: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1619) compared with today & # 039; s borders (noname) .png, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index .php? curid = 18206319 

 

It was a huge state organism in which monarchs, to achieve anything, granted privileges to the nobility (a group constituting about 10% of the society), and these privileges, over the years, increased their influence over the country's power. With the death of the last "native" sovereign in the person of queen Hedwig (Pol. Jadwiga) and acquisition the power by the Lithuanian Jagiellonian dynasty, the election of the king had to be approved by the Polish "lords". Although in the times of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the throne of the First Commonwealth was assumed in accordance with the rules of inheritance, the nobility had to approve the election of each new ruler from this dynasty. With time, the parliament was formed (at the end of the 15th century). By definition, this systemic structure, called the “noble democracy”, was an innovative move, protecting the nation against absolutist rule, but over the years it led to the paralysis of the main state organs, stagnation, and even anarchy. After the death out of the last male representative of the Jagiellonian dynasty, each successive king was "appointed to his office" by deputies at the elective Sejm. Each next candidate to the throne, to become a ruler, first had to promise something to the voters.

With time, the main centers of power became the magnates who, owning enormous territories, villages with their own free labor of carls (system: master-subject), private cities and their armies, began to exert a great influence on the central authority. To that end, they used mainly the poor landless nobility (their clients). The clients, in the name of protecting the interests of the represented family (that means, the one who paid them), blocked any manifestation of reforms that could threaten those interests in the Chamber of Deputies. The noble democracy pride and joy - the liberum veto privilege, which appeared in the second half of the 17th century - gave the right to each of the deputies taking part in the deliberations of the parliament session to break it and invalidate the resolutions adopted therein. "Overall, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Sejm was broken off 73 times." [1]. The times of the rule of the Vasa dynasty (1587–1668) showed that the Commonwealth was a giant on clay legs but the biggest degeneracy took place during the reign of two kings from the Saxon House of Wettin (1697–1763). The saying coined in those times fully illustrates the customs of the era: "Here’s to Saxon king, eat, drink and lower away your belt.". The kings cared mainly for the good of Saxony. The Polish Crown was a great honor for them but an even a greater burden. This strengthened the magnates, who were able to win the favor of the rulers by various tricks. The picture of the Polish society looked dramatic. Power belonged only to those who had a crest, no matter with or without a fortune. The gentry, falling more and more into the depths of ignorance, allowed themselves to be used as an instrument of power by the wealthy. ¾ of the nation was made up of peasants and bourgeoisie, who were not cared for and treated as members of the nation because they had no rights (the peasants were even taken the right to move freely in, and their lord could exercise the death penalty on them without a trial). Under such circumstances, there was no sense of the nation's well-being. Nobody cared about the state and it was going downhill more and more. There were individuals who saw the need to strengthen the country. In the 18th century, there were the Czartoryski and Potocki families, who tried twice to break the reign of the House of Wettin by placing a wise ruler on the Polish throne - in the person of Stanisław Leszczyński, related, through his daughter, to the French king Louis XV. Nevertheless, the will of the "nation" was different, so the noble nation continued to rule as they wished, the country was mouldering, while its neighbors: Austria, Russia and Prussia strengthened absolute power. No wonder then that these countries began to interfere more and more in the internal affairs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the death of another king, ruling from Dresden, the tsarina of Russia decided to influence the fate of the Commonwealth in a radical way, forcing the Polish election Sejm with the caring protection of Russian troops, to choose her candidate - Stanisław Poniatowski. However, this choice turned out to be accurate. The new ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a highly educated man, politically polished and thinking in line with the then prevailing spirit of the Enlightenment. He was also a Pole - a patriot who wanted to get his country out of its stagnation and indolence and to reform it. This was not in concordance with the intentions of his "protector", who saw him as a weak person, easy to control. Catherine II had a strategy to make the First Commonwealth the country dependent on Russia, a security buffer against the strengthening monarchies of Austria and Prussia. From that time, the fun with fire began. The lonely king was forced to prevaricate between the neighbors who wanted to weaken his country, his own nobility who rejected his election as the ruler (as imposed by a foreign power) and the powerful families who, with the votes of their clients, blocked any reforms. The whole swing led to an unprecedented act - the partition of the Commonwealth among its three neighbors. The international opinion was presented with neat arguments about the necessity to intervene to protect their countries from Polish ferment and anarchy. In 1772, the first partition of the once powerful the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth became the fact and its own parliament had to ratify that terrible crime.

  

In September 1773, Tadeusz Rejtan (on the floor, lower right) is trying to prevent ratification of the first partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by barring other Sejm deputies from entering the Sejm chamber. The painting “Rejtan”, by Jan Matejko; image taken by User:Mathiasrex Maciej Szczepańczyk, Domena publiczna, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42447465 

 

It was a cold shower for the nobles and the magnates whose lands came under the reign of a foreign ruler. Nevertheless, that shock was not powerful to change the inveterate tradition of stupidity, lawlessness and selfishness. However, the sludge was moved and the activities of the king and the reformers in the fields of education and literature began to harvest first crops. It was also the echo of a changing Europe. The Age of Enlightenment, the French society radicalizing and maturing to rebellion against absolute power, as well as news from overseas from a newly created country acting in the name of the enlightenment, based on the world's first constitution and declaration of human rights (we are talking about the United States of America here).

All this laid the foundations for a better and better understanding of no need but necessity of reparation the crippled country. The king, from the enemy of liberties, came to be seen as an enlightened reformer. The nation was getting ripe for changes. However, it was necessary to feel the right moment to perform the necessary treatment. The moment when the neighbors, who at all costs wanted to maintain the political instability in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, would take care of their affairs and stop urgently monitoring the decisions made in Warsaw. Such a moment came in 1788, that the supporters of reforms in Poland decided to take advantage of by convening a parliament session, which, due to the importance of the legislative actions taken, was called the Great Sejm. The Sejm introduced the most necessary reforms, including military and fiscal reforms, and on May 3rd, 1791, it adopted a constitution - the first in Europe, the second in the world. 

Constitution of 3 May - more than just an attempt to repair a country in decline.

The Polish government act was a pioneering document, ahead of its time (the era of absolute monarchies). It introduced the term of a nation, not only narrowed down to those "better born" citizens but extended to all social stratums, including the bourgeoise and peasantry. It was a extremely radical move, in line with the slogans of the French Revolution: "freedom, equality, fraternity". The peasants were finally recognized by the state and taken under its protection. It was the first step towards abolishing the servitude of the peasants, their attachment to the land and the lord who not only determined their fate but also their lives. Despite the fact that the nobility remained a privileged state, some of their rights were granted to townspeople (initially the regulation involved only royal cities): the right to possess land property, the right of personal security, access to offices, including representation in the lower house of parliament.

The constitution introduced the Montesquieu's advocacy of the balance of powers among three branches of government. Legislative power was entrusted to a bicameral parliament (an elected sejm (lower chamber) and an appointed senate). The executive power was exercised by the king and his council - the Guard of the Laws, which included the 5 most important ministers and the primate - as the chairman of the Commission of National Education and the speaker of the sejm (without a vote). Judicial power was exercised by mostly collegiate courts. The constitution also improved the work of the parliament, abolishing the right to break parliamentary sessions (liberum veto). Resolutions were adopted by a majority of votes or, in some cases, by a qualified majority. In order to curb political corruption, the constitution limited the political rights of noble people who didn’t have their own property. Moreover, "it was allowed that the deputies should represent the whole nation, not to be an association of district mandate holders, so the sejmiks instructions were not to have binding power." [2].

Another step was the creation of the final union of the Crown with the Duchy of Lithuania, introducing common offices. The dominant religion was Catholicism but at the same time tolerance of freedom to all religions was introduced. Interestingly, the text of the constitution does not mention the institution of the Catholic Church. 

The Polish government act was a very progressive document, introducing the system of a constitutional monarchy. Of course, it was allowed to modify it (for this purpose, a special constitutional sejm was to meet every 25 years). After approval of the constitution, development of commercial and civil codes was planned, the so-called "economic constitution" and "moral constitution".

The only crack in this progressive, for those times, document was the introduction of the hereditary monarchy, which was probably intended to protect the country from foreign influence but on the other hand, there was a contradiction record about the transfer of power to the Saxon dynasty – the House of Wettin after the death of Stanisław August.

Authors of the constitution.

The first attempts to draft the constitution (in 1790) were made by Ignacy Potocki - one of the leading representatives of the Patriotic Party in the Sejm, promoting thoroughgoing reforms of the country. However, the vision of organization of the country proposed by Potocki was too radical for the environmental conditions in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This forced the reformer to come closer to the Royal Party, finally drafting the constitution was given over the king. It may, therefore have been assumed that the participation of Stanisław August in the creation of the government act was the greatest. "At the beginning of 1791, Stanisław August prepared his program, which became the basis for a secret discussion, first in a very small group (Ignacy Potocki, Piattoli, Kołłątaj, Małachowski), then in a wider circle members of the Patriotic Party of wised to it." [2].

Here is a brief overview of the authors of the Constitution 3 May:

Stanisław August Poniatowski (1732 - 1798) - king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the years 1764 - 1795, the main creator of the Constitution 3 May. A real man of the Enlightenment, intelligent, a man of the word, well-manner, eloquent and multi lingual. Most of his reign he struggled with the obscurantism of the nobilities and magnates, who neither understood the idea of ​​enlightenment nor the need for reforms. The lack of popularity was caused by the fact that Poniatowski came from an unimportant and relatively young family, and that he took the Polish throne thanks to the protection of his former lover – the tsarina of Russia (Catherine the Great). While working on the constitution, the king was a proponent of a constitutional monarchy, which was contrary to the view of Ignacy Potocki - a supporter of republican ideology. Such a large divergence of views and the inability to reach an agreement prolonged the work on the government act. Ultimately, however, the drafting of the constitution was entrusted to the king.

The last king of Poland was a complex figure; his personality and the tragic historical role he played deserve a separate column.

Stanisław Małachowski (1736 - 1809) - Marshal (the Speaker) of the Great Sejm (1788 - 1791), last office filled: the president of the Senate of the Duchy of Warsaw 1807 - 1809. A member of the Patriotic Party (the Party’s moderate option, striving for alliance and cooperation with the king and his party), whose aim was to strengthen the state through the necessary, thoroughgoing reforms launched by resolutions of the parliament, which he chaired. He lived in the Czapski-Raczyński Palace, where the text of the government act was edited at secret meetings. He was one of the signatories of the constitution and he passed it at the parliamentary session on May 3rd, 1791. He supported improvement of the political rights of the townspeople and was one of the first noblemen to enter the city register as a citizen of the city of Warsaw. In his estates in Podolia (Pol. Podole), he rented the peasants, listed their duties, released them from some obligations and began to organize medical care for them.

 

Ignacy Potocki (1750 - 1809) - Minister of Police in the Guard of the Laws, Member of Parliament, a politician and patriotic activist, a publicist but also a playwright, a poet, an educator, a historian and a translator. A proponent of radical reforms, with Jacobinic views. Member of the Patriotic Party, opponent to the king, aiming at strengthening the role of the parliament at the expense of the royal power. A strong supporter of the alliance with Prussia, additionally contributed to the conclusion of an (ineffective for Poland) treaty in 1790. He was a member of the Government Deputation appointed in 1789 by the Grand Sejm, whose tasks included the preparation of a project to change the Polish system. His project, nevertheless, was too radical to be accepted by most reformers, which required increasing the king's participation in the work on the constitution.

Hugo Kołłątaj (1750 - 1812) - Crown Deputy Chancellor, a Catholic priest, a politician, a statesman, an Enlightenment journalist, a political writer but also a satirist, a poet, a geographer and a historian. He was the final editor of the constitutional text. Through a team of journalists he created, called Kuźnica Kołłątajowska (Kołłątaj’s forge), he built the foundations for the planned reforms of the state. Kuźnica (forge) writers and journalists boldly criticized the insurgency of the nobility, the lawlessness prevailing in the country, and the oppression of serfs. They also pointed to the potential of the bourgeoisie, giving as an example the ideas of the French Revolution.

During the Four-Year Sejm he was one of the most active activists of the Patriotic Party. His option favored social reforms and looked for a reliance in the bourgeoisie. He accepted city citizenship in the City Hall of Warsaw. In times of war for the constitution and independence, he showed a very shaky attitude, morally ambiguous.

“The brightest mind of this epoch - Kołłątaj - had too much ambition. In de facto steering the actions of the reformers, he did not show the qualities necessary for a politician of great format. What’s particular, at the moment of the breakthrough, enlightened, worthy and even characterful people appeared but they lacked class and political maturity " [3].

 

Scipione Piattoli (1749 - 1809) – an Italian priest and a private secretary of Stanisław August. He played the role of a liaison between the king and Ignacy Potocki in discussions on reform projects and was a participant in many behind-the-scenes political activities. He became the editor of the drafts of the constitution after Ignacy Potocki handed over the initiative to the king in December 1790. He also submitted some projects, following the example of the American constitution and French ideas. He prepared the project of establishing the Guard of the Laws.

 

No more dreams of power.

“There is nothing poorer than that if someone extends the famous events from the last moments of the Commonwealth to the whole nation and makes the whole nation take part and act in them. All plans and undertakings of that time originate only from a small group of people, they move across the surface of a dead society, they all fall, without exception, including the Constitution of 3 May because they cannot speak to the general public and move it and involve it in their game." [4].

The Constitution 3 May was like a ray of light but the darkness of the minds was too thick and not only did it defeat all attempts to repair the country but also led to its collapse.

When the first shock was over, the oppositionists, represented by the most distinguished Polish families, went to St. Petersburg to ask the tsarina for help in the fight for... the freedom of their beloved country.

“As soon as the Black Sea army was released from the Turkish front, Russia intervened. The pretext was provided by the three leaders of the former magnate opposition: Seweryn Rzewuski - the fanatic of the lost prerogatives of a baton, a Ukrainian rich man, puffed up with pride - Szczęsny Potocki and the man of Russia - Ksawery Branicki. Lithuanian Kossakov separatists joined them. These few gentlemen with a handful of their clients and supporters signed the act of confederation in St. Petersburg on April 27, 1792 (later announced on a false date on May 14, in the border town of Targowica). On behalf of the Commonwealth, they demonstrated the unlawful and usurping nature of the "monarchical-democratic revolution on May 3" and, under a guarantee, called for help the Russian troops. They crossed the border on May 18th, 1792. " [5].

 

„Targowica” by Jan Piotr Norblin - cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20341534 

 

Russia's “support” was very generous. To crush the Polish revolution, the tsarina sent an army of almost 100.000 soldiers. The Poles, who had just begun the repair of their military forces with the reforms of the Great Sejm, could defend their country with three times smaller forces. Despite this, two young, well-trained commanders in the persons of Prince Józef Poniatowski and Tadeusz Kościuszko, who gained experience: in the Austrian army and in the fights for the independence of the United States of America respectively, were able to successfully oppose the overwhelming enemy forces, winning battles at Zieleńce and Dubienka. Nonetheless, it was obvious that the numerical superiority of the Russians, as well as the threatening attack from the Prussian side, that created an opportunity to capture the longed-for Toruń and Gdańsk from Poland, would no longer allow to maintain the present state of affairs. Still diplomacy remained, where the king Stanisław August was an expert. He asked other courts for help but it was all in vain. Mediation with the tsarina also failed because she received such strong arguments from three "patriots" to quell all attempts to strengthen the Commonwealth, that it would be unwise not to take advantage of them. Finally, the Guard of the Laws, in extended composition, decided to join the Targowica confederation. The king, strongly persuaded by Hugo Kołłątaj, joined the confederation, ending the bloodshed, ending the life of the constitution and finally of the whole country. As a reward, all the blame for losing the war for the constitution was blamed on him and the biggest aspersions were casted on him by a failed Targowica confederation member - Hugo Kołłątaj.

To the great surprise of the Targowica leaders, Russia and Prussia made another partition of the Commonwealth, drawing upon of the fact of protecting their nations from the threat of the revolution that was already raging like a storm in France and which the Poles, when adopting their constitution, clearly supported. After the failure of the uprising led by Tadeusz Kościuszko, which was also significantly attended by townspeople and peasants, which meant that it could be called - national, the last remaining lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were divided among three neighbors. The king was forced to abdicate and ordered to leave his beloved country, which he would never see again, the country that had since disappeared from the maps of Europe for 123 years.

 

The partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

by Original: HalibuttSVG: ElCet - Ten plik jest pochodną pracą:  Rzeczpospolita Rozbiory 3.png, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93516981

 

It is a sad example of how: mental shortness, self-complacency, stupidity and looking at everything around only through the prism of their material benefits, destroyed the powerful organism that was once the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Noble privileges and magnate greed, embellished with progressive ignorance, bit deeper and deeper into healthy tissue like woodworms. On the outside, everything looked beautiful and rich, and on the inside, it was already rotten. King Stanisław can be accused of a lot, above all that he was not the king Jan Sobieski (which defeated the Turkish army's conquest of Europe near Vienna in 1683) but his knowledge and willingness to reform the nation should be respected, even though he was rejected and not respected. In my opinion, the last king of Poland was an outstanding figure but not fitting the place and times in which he lived. The same applies to his most important child - the constitution, that was the first signal of changing times, enlightened ideas striving for equality of all, the foundation for building a strong new state organism and a new society. “Without fundamentally changing the nature of the state in which the nobility remained the hegemon, it opened up better opportunities to secure its existence and independence. Thanks to a compromise position towards the rich bourgeoisie, the Constitution of 3 May was an important step on the way to a modern-type state. The Constitution of 3 May also indicated that the way to such a state did not have to lead necessarily through an absolute monarchy. Improvement of the machinery of the state and social reforms did not have to be imposed from above by the absolute ruler but might also be introduced by that part of the ruling noble class who understood their necessity under the influence of the Enlightenment ideology and the growing sense of threat for the country by aggressive absolutism of its neighbors." [6] . It was not the king but the nation that contributed to its collapse.

Link to the movie : "The Constitution of 3rd May animation". 

View of the Royal Castle from the Castle Square; author: Włodzimierz Bieliński

Senatorial Hall in the Royal Castle; author Paulina Jarkiewicz

The text of the Constitution, the Royal Castle by Adrian Grycuk - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46494659

 

Bibliography:

[1]  Paweł Jasienica „Polska anarchia”, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1988. 

[2] „Zarys historii Polski” red Janusz Tazbir, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa, 1980, p. 356. 

[3] Michał Tymowski, Jan Kieniewicz, Jerzy Holzer „Historia Polski”, Editions Spotkania, Warszawa 1990 r., p. 201.

[4] Michał Bobrzyński „Dzieje Polski w zarysie”, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa, 1974, p. 387.

[5] „Zarys historii Polski” red Janusz Tazbir, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa, 1980, p. 360. 

[6] Józef Andrzej Gierowski „Historia Polski 1764 – 1864”, PWN, Warszawa 1986 r., p. 86.

[7] Iwona Kienzler „Caryca Katarzyna i król Stanisław. Historia namiętności”, Lira Publishing, 2017.

[8] Andrzej Garlicki „Poczet królów i książąt polskich”, Czytelnik, Warszawa 1991.

[8] Wikipedia

 

Related article:

Prince Józef Poniatowski