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CH. II.]

HAUGWITZ'S APPARENT TRIUMPH.

377

difficulties. In his reply, therefore, he insisted that Austria should plainly declare her intentions respecting the compensation of Prussia, without any reference to her own desire of Polish territory. To make matters worse, the news from Belgium became more and more discouraging. Dumouriez had occupied Liege, Aix-la-Chapelle, and the line of the Ruhr, and Clerfait already despaired of holding the left bank of the Rhine. But Haugwitz adhered with immovable calmness to his declaration, that Prussia would immediately make peace with France, unless the Emperor allowed him to occupy Posen. The various phases of the question were restlessly discussed in the State Chancery at Vienna. If they satisfied Prussia, it was said, the King would continue in the field, and they might hope with his help to expel the French from Belgium. They would then once more have an object of exchange; and though under present circumstances Prussia would not consent to coerce the Bavarian Elector, yet the Court of Vienna might hope the best from the friendly disposition of Charles Theodore. This Prince had been ready to make the exchange in 1785, why should he not be so now? But there was another point to be considered. Mighty England had hitherto on every occasion expressed her deep dislike of the plan of exchange; her opposition might under all circumstances frustrate the execution of the project; and in spite of the protest of Haugwitz, Cobenzl ordered his London ambassador to inform the British Ministers of the whole scheme of compensation. For the moment, indeed, they were obliged to come to terms without England; for it became more and more absolutely essential to keep the Prussian army on the Rhine. On the 19th of December, therefore, Spielmann gave the decisive answer to Haugwitz; that the Emperor consented to the Prussian acquisition in Poland, and would instruct his ambassador at St. Petersburg to advocate the claims of Prussia before Catharine. Haugwitz was highly delighted; he discussed the particulars of the question with Spielmann during

the following days, obtained sight of the new instructions about to be forwarded to the Austrian ambassador in St. Petersburg, and hastened to inform his Sovereign of the desired result. The news arrived at head-quarters during the celebration of the Christmas festival and excited universal satisfaction. "Haugwitz has managed the affair excellently," cried Manstein, "and achieved the most encouraging result." The King, Bischoffswerder and the others, agreed with him; Lucchesini, ever full of distrust against Austria, alone damped their triumph by a closer consideration of the Austrian instructions. "The Emperor," he said, "in his note of the 5th, still demanded a Polish province for himself, in the event of the failure of the Bavarian exchange. Now the new instructions make express reference to this very note; nay, it literally says, that as Austria's compensation-should the Bavarian plan be unsuccessful-could only be found in Poland, Francis begged the Russian Empress to agree as soon as possible to treaty for the partition of Poland. According to this," continued the suspicious statesman, "it is clear that the Emperor only gives up the actual occupation of Poland, but not his Polish claims; and as these last will be unconditionally rejected by Catharine, it is to be feared that she will refuse her consent to the whole treaty."

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The King had no answer to make to these observations. It was evident, that he still stood on very uncertain ground as regarded Austria. Meanwhile better news arrived from St. Petersburg; Catharine declared herself ready, in case of need, to conclude a treaty even without Austria. The King therefore took no account of the difficulties raised by Lucchesini, and announced to the newly appointed Imperial Commander-in-Chief, Prince Frederick Josiah of Saxe Coburg, that he was now in a position to assist him in drawing up the plan for their joint campaign.

Meanwhile the bitterest feelings prevailed in Vienna. There was not a single Statesman in that city who did not regard

CH. II] FATAL JEALOUSY BETWEEN THE GERMAN POWERS. 379

the new arrangements as wrested from Austria by the necessities of war. The Emperor was still of opinion that he had really made no promise which could entitle Prussia to take possession of her new acquisition before himself. On the contrary, he had the decided intention of using every means in his power to deprive his importunate rival of the slightest advantage. Cobenzl wrote in this strain to the Austrian ambassador at St. Petersburg, and instructed him to urge Catharine to limit Prussia's share of Poland to fair proportions, and to promote the rapid fulfilment of Austria's plan of exchange.1 Colloredo and Rollin were quite of the same opinion; none of them considered the fatal consequences to the revolutionary war which must arise from such a

course.

These were the immediate results of the new alliance, into which the German Powers had entered with Russia. In appearance, the number of the enemies of the French Revolution was increased; in reality a selfishness and a confusion were spread throughout Europe, which allowed the Jacobins on the one side, and the Czarina on the other, to carry out their plans unhindered. In appearance, the two German Powers were now joining in a common struggle against the French Republic, and for the extension of their own territory on the Rhine and the Vistula; but in reality, they mutually regarded one another with the bitterest dislike, suspicion and malice. The germ of the subjugation of Germany by the arms of France sprang up in the same moment, and in the same negociation, in which Austria agreed to the Second Partition of Poland.

1 Ssolowjoff, Der Fall Polens, p. 311.

CHAPTER III.

PARTITION OF POLAND. THE TREATY.

MISERABLE CONDITION OF POLAND.-MEASURES TAKEN BY THE PATRIOTS.— FRENCH AGENTS.-VIEWS OF CATHARINE. INVASION OF THE PRUSSIANS.— DECISION CONSEQUENT ON EVENTS IN FRANCE.-TRAATY OF PARTITION OF JAN. 23D.-ENGLAND'S DISPLEASURE AT IT APPEASED BY THE RECOGNITION OF ENGLISH LAWS OF NEUTRALITY.

AT the end of 1792, Poland was governed by the military power of Catharine, and in those districts which her arm did not reach, complete disorder reigned.1 Since King Stanislaus had given in his adhesion to the Confederation of Targowice, the latter was regarded as the sovereign representative of the nation, and as such had appointed a supreme ruling Court, with the title of Generality, at Brzesc, under the presidency of Felix Potocki. In addition to this a similar Committee was established for Lithuania, which Bishop Kossakowski had formed with the aid of his brother. These two men therefore, Kossakowski and Potocki, represented all that was left of Polish government. They did what every reactionary power does under similar circumstances: they abolished the hitherto existing laws and authorities, promised ample freedom and abundant blessings for the future, and for the present bestowed all power and office on their own adherents. The governing bodies in the towns

1 For the following description we have consulted (in addition to the published accounts in the Political Journal) Oginski's Memoirs, Fer

rand's and Lelewel's Histories, and the M. S. despatches of Buchholtz in Warsaw, and Hogguer in St. Petersburg.

CH. III.] DESPOTIC RULE OF THE “GENERALITY” IN POLAND. 381

which dated from 1791 were dissolved; and those of their members who belonged to the nobility, and who would have considered themselves degraded by accepting a civic office, were deprived of their political rights. In every waywodeship the adherents of the ruling party formed district committees, which assumed all the functions of police and administration. The finances were likewise organized afresh, and the Royal fiscus was separated from the Lithuanian, in order to entrust each of them to a newly appointed commission composed of men who could be relied upon. In a similar manner all the existing courts of law were done away with, and new tribunals formed from partisans of the Confederation. But as even these means did not seem sufficient to secure the power of the party, the Generality reserved to itself the decision on appeals. If we add to this, that whoever wished to exercise any political right, or of ficial function, was obliged to sign a note of unconditional recognition of the Confederation, we shall have before us, in tolerable completeness, the measures by which a minority -inconsiderable in talent, rights and numbers-took possession of every department of the government.

The real support of the ruling party was, we need hardly say, the Russian army, which crushed every symptom of discontent by armed force. The Polish regiments, still numbering about 37,000 men, were dispersed throughout all parts of the kingdom, and surrounded by a superior force of Russians; a large portion of them too were dismissed without reward or pension. The Russians placed the new levies in their own regiments as recruits, subjected the officers to the strict surveillance of the police, and took the arsenals throughout the whole kingdom into their own custody. There was no possibility, therefore, of any further resistance, and the defenceless land had to endure the arbitrary will of its conqueror. In Warsaw the Polish garrison which guarded the palace had to make way for a Russian force. The seat of the real government, the Generality, was removed to Grodno, al

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