to one rigid scale of cause and effect, and at the same time of
exhibiting their acumen by threading the mazes of events up to remote
circumstances, pretend to trace the design of the partition of Poland
for more than a century back. Rulhière seems to plume himself on the
idea. "The projects executed in our days against Poland," he observes,
"were proposed more than a hundred years ago. I have discovered this
important and hitherto unknown circumstance in the archives of foreign
affairs of France." This point had been canvassed under the reign of
John Casimir; and it only remains to be remarked that such very subtle
analysis of the motives and progress of actions generally overshoots the
mark, since no men can act always according to rule, but are in some
degree influenced by circumstances and caprice. It would be equally
absurd to imagine that Frederick, in the complicated intrigues which
preceded the first partition, was actuated by one deeply laid scheme of
policy to arrive at one end: the possession of Polish Prussia. It was,
indeed, absolutely essential for him to obtain this province, to
consolidate and open a communication between his scattered dominions,
which then, as Voltaire says, were stretched out like a pair of gaiters;
but it remained a _desideratum_ rather than a design, since he knew that
neither Russia nor Austria would be inclined to permit the aggression;
for the former had evidently marked out the whole of Poland for herself,
and would consider Frederick an unwelcome intruder; while Austria, which
had lately experienced the Prussian King's encroachments, was more
jealous than ever of his obtaining the slightest aggrandizement, and had
openly declared that she would not allow the seizure of the least Polish
village. His views, however, widened as he advanced, and no doubt he
spoke with sincerity when he told the Emperor Joseph that "he had never
followed a plan in war, much less any plan in policy, and that events
alone had suggested all his resolutions." Admitting the truth of this,
we proceed to trace out the circumstances which produced this crisis.
The relations of the three courts, at the commencement of the war
between Russia and Turkey (1768), did not portend anything like a
coalition; Frederick, indeed, was in alliance with Russia, but also
secretly favored the Sultan; Austria was all but an open enemy of both
Russia and Prussia. Circumstances, however, obliged Austria to forget
her hatred to Prussia, and Frederick thus became the mediator between
the courts of Vienna and St. Petersburg. Frederick had every reason to
wish to lull the suspicions and jealousies of Austria, that he might be
left in undisputed possession of Silesia; and that power, moreover, was
no longer an object of dread or jealousy to him, for the Seven Years'
War had reduced its resources to the lowest ebb. The dispositions of the
court of Vienna cannot be comprised in so few words: its situation was
much more complicated, its policy more embarrassed, and the persons who
governed it will be much more difficult to make known.
Maria Theresa was now not very far from the tomb, and after all the
arduous struggles she had undergone for the defence of her states,
vicissitudes she had experienced, and the exhaustion of her resources,
she determined to end her days in peace. She devoted almost the whole of
her time to superstitious devotions in a gloomy chamber hung round with
death's heads, and a portrait of her late husband in the act of
expiring. She yet cherished, however, some of the feelings of mortality,
implacable hatred to Frederick, and contempt mingled with hate for
Catharine II, of whom she never spoke but with disdain, calling her
"_that woman_." Besides, she could sometimes also silence the reproaches
of conscience, so as to seize for the public use the bequests of the
pious for religious purposes, and to confiscate the revenues of rich
monasteries apparently without any compunction. Men fancied, says our
author, that they could foresee in all this conduct that if this just
and religious Princess had power enough over herself to silence her
generosity and even sometimes her piety, she might perhaps be capable in
some state crisis of incurring still greater remorse and silence
justice.
Her minister, Kaunitz, to whom she intrusted all the management of
affairs, is not the least important personage in this drama, nor did he
underrate his own consequence. "Heaven," said he, "is a hundred years in
forming a great mind for the restoration of an empire, and it then rests
another hundred years; on this account I tremble for the fate which
awaits this monarchy after me." Throughout a long and arduous ministry
he had shown himself the most subtle and refined politician, unfettered
in his schemes by any remorse or feeling, and making a boast that he had
no friends. Such a man was well fitted to play the part allotted to him.
After the conclusion of the long war, he had made it his policy to
repair the damages the empire had sustained by alliances, and even his
opposition to Frederick daily subsided.
But it was another agent who commenced the connection between Austria
and Prussia. Joseph, Maria Theresa's son and coregent with his mother,
detested this pacific policy and longed for war. He was, however,
obliged to submit; for Maria dreaded the effects of this warlike
propensity, and kept the government in the hands of her ministers. He
had continual contentions with the Empress, and urged her to improve her
finances by conquest or aggression; but all the power he could obtain
was the command of the troops, which he augmented to two hundred
thousand men, and organized them under the counsel of his field marshal,
Lacy. In his mania for military matters he visited in 1768 all the
fields of battle of the last war, and after traversing Bohemia and
Saxony, and learning from his generals the causes of the defeats and
victories, he approached in the course of his tour the borders of
Prussian Silesia, where Frederick was engaged in his annual reviews. The
King sent a polite message, and expressed a great desire to be
personally acquainted with him. The young Prince could not pay a visit
to the former enemy of his family without previously consulting his
mother, the Empress; and the interview was deferred till the next year;
when it took place on August 25th, at Neisse, a town in Silesia.
At this period the war between Russia and Turkey engrossed general
attention, and seems to have formed the principal subject of the
conference; but no resolutions of any importance were agreed to. The
flattering manner in which Frederick received the young Prince must have
made a great impression on his mind; and the extravagant compliments
which were lavished on him were highly gratifying to youthful vanity,
from such a great man. Frederick frequently repeated that Joseph would
surpass Charles V; and though it has the appearance of irony to those
acquainted with the _dénouement_ of this youthful monarch's character,
it was probably not intended so, for Frederick, we have seen before,
could stoop to the most servile adulation when it answered his purpose.
Be that as it may, the effect on Joseph was the same, for on his return
he spoke of the Prussian monarch with the highest enthusiasm.
Maria Theresa was growing old, and the Austrian ministers began to turn
to the rising sun; the eyes of Kaunitz were opened to the policy of
cultivating a friendship with Prussia; and the correspondence between
the two courts became every day more frequent. This led to another
conference between the two princes at Neustadt, in Moravia, which was
held on September 3, 1770, and at which Kaunitz was present. The King
was more courteous than ever; he appeared in the military uniform of
Austria, and continued to wear it as long as he remained in the Austrian
territory. He made use of every species of compliment. One day, as they
were leaving the dining-room and the Emperor made a motion to give him
the precedence, he stepped back, saying with a significant smile and
_double entendre_, not lost on Joseph, "Since your imperial majesty
begins to manoeuvre, I must follow wherever you lead." Nor did he spare
his civilities to Kaunitz, with the view of removing the rankling
feeling which had often made that conceited minister exclaim, "The King
of Prussia is the only man who denies me the esteem which is due to me."
Kaunitz insisted on the necessity of opposing the ambitious views of
Russia, and stated that the Empress would never allow Catharine to take
possession of Moldavia and Wallachia, which would make her states adjoin
those of Austria; nor permit her to penetrate farther into Turkey. He
added that an alliance between Austria and Prussia was the only means of
checking Catharine's overbearing power. To this Frederick replied that
being in alliance with the court of St. Petersburg, his only practicable
measure was to prevent the war from becoming general by conciliating the
friendly feelings of Catharine toward Austria. On the day after this
conference a courier arrived from Constantinople, with the news of the
destruction of the Turkish fleet and the rout of their army, and to
request the mediation of the courts of Vienna and Berlin. To this both
readily assented, but without agreeing upon any terms.
Frederick did not forget to follow up his former mode of tactics with
the Emperor; he pretended to make him the confidant of all his designs,
a species of flattery most gratifying to a young prince. On his return
to Berlin, also, the King affected to imitate the Austrian manners, and
uttered several pompous panegyrics on the talents of Joseph, who had
recited to him some of Tasso's verses, and nearly a whole act of the
_Pastor Fido_.
Thus did Frederick avail himself of circumstances to commence an
amicable correspondence with Austria, and he thus became the medium of
communication between the hostile courts of Vienna and St. Petersburg.
No more direct intelligence, however, existed between these two states
than before; for great as was Theresa's hatred against Catharine,
Catharine's was no less violent; and even when Austria made friendly
overtures, through Frederick, concerning mediation between Turkey and
Russia, she desired Frederick to desist, and rejected the interference.
A channel of communication, however, was opened between the three
conspiring powers; and the next step was for one of the triumvirate to
broach the iniquitous partition plot. It is made a matter of much
dispute which of them started the project, and they all equally disclaim
the infamy of being its author. The fact, no doubt, was, that in this,
as in all other unjust coalitions, they did not, in the first instance,
act on a preconcerted plan; but each individual power cherished secretly
its design, and like designing villains, who understand one another,
almost
"Without eyes, ears, and harmful sound of words,"
the conspiring parties were naturally drawn together by the similarity
of reckless atrocity in their designs.
It cannot be imagined that the scheme of partition originated with
Catharine; she had long been the real mistress of Poland, the King was
nothing more than her tenant at will, and it required only a little time
for the whole kingdom to sink into a Russian province. The intentions of
the other powers began to evince themselves more plainly in 1770.
Frederick began to throw out hints of claims on certain Polish
districts; he obliged the Polish Prussians to furnish his troops with
horses and corn in exchange for debased money, which was either forged
Polish silver coin, only one-third of its nominal value, or false Dutch
ducats, 17 per cent. under the proper value. By this disgraceful species
of swindling it is calculated he gained seven million dollars.
The young Poles were enrolled in the armies by force; and every town and
village in Posnania was taxed at a stated number of marriageable girls,
who were sent to stock the districts of the Prussian dominions
depopulated by the long wars. Each girl's portion was to be a bed, two
pigs, a cow, and three ducats of gold. It is said that one town alone
was obliged to furnish the Prussian general, Belling, with fifty girls.
Under pretence that the magistrates of Dantzic prevented the levies,
troops were marched into the territories of the city, a contribution of
one hundred thousand ducats was exacted, and one thousand young men were
pressed for the Prussian service. Frederick's military possession of
Posnania, as well as the greater part of Polish Prussia, seemed to be
but too consonant with his hinted claims, and his arbitrary levies
evinced not merely intended, but actual possession.
Austria, too, was playing a similar part on the south. In the spring of
1769 Birzynski, at the head of a small troop of confederates, entered
Lubowla, one of the towns in the starosty or district of Zips, or Spiz,
with the intention of levying contributions, as he was accustomed, in a
disorderly manner. This little district is situated to the south of the
palatinate of Cracow, among the Carpathian Mountains, and has been
originally a portion of the kingdom of Hungary. The confederates were
followed by the Russians, and took refuge in Hungary, as was their
custom. This near approach of the Russians to the imperial frontiers was
made a pretext by the court of Vienna for concentrating a body of troops
there; and at the same time hints were thrown out of Austria's claims,
not only to this but some of the adjacent districts. Researches were
ordered to be made into old records, to establish these pretensions; the
Austrian troops seized the territory of Zips, and engineers were
employed by the Empress to mark out the frontier. They advanced the
boundary line along the districts of Sandecz, Nowitarg, and Czorsztyn,
and marked it out with posts furnished with the imperial eagle.
Stanislaus had complained of this proceeding in a letter of October 28,
1770; to which the Empress returned for answer, in January, 1771, that
she would willingly make an amicable arrangement, after peace was
established, to settle the disputed frontier, but that she was
determined to claim her right to the district of Zips, and that for the
present it was requisite to pursue the operation of demarcation.
The Empress seems to have been instigated not only by the characteristic
avidity of Austrian policy, but by jealousies awakened by the near
approaches of the Russian troops. Besides, it is a point of some
consequence to be remembered--though it seems to have escaped the
observation of most historians--that she had before her eyes a fearful
proof of the danger of an uncertain frontier in the affair of Balta,
which was the ostensible cause of the war between Turkey and Russia.
This open encroachment on the Polish territory, however, was a fatal
precedent; Catharine and Frederick could advance, as excuses for their
proceedings, that they were solely intended to restore tranquillity to
Poland; and that their possession was only temporary, whereas Theresa's
was a permanent seizure. Frederick, therefore, endeavors strenuously in
his writings to exonerate his intentions from censure, and shifts the
odium of this step on Austria; but whether he is absolutely innocent of
the "injustice," as he himself calls it, or adds to his guilt by the
height of hypocrisy and cant, is a question not very difficult of
solution.
The three powers could now readily understand each other's designs; but
the first communication which took place between them on the subject
occurred in December, 1770, and January, 1771. In the former month
Catharine invited Prince Henry, Frederick's brother, who had before been
a personal acquaintance, to her court; and the wily despot of Prussia
urged him earnestly to accept the invitation. He reached St. Petersburg
in the midst of the festivities and rejoicings for the victories over
the Turks; and having, like his brother, abundant flattery at will, he
seized the opportunity of loading Catharine with compliments. It would
be absurd to suppose that the Empress, masculine as her mind was, could
be insensible to this species of attack; she, like all other followers
of ambition and conquest, made the applause and admiration, even of the
vulgar, the aim of her life; and it can only be affectation in those who
pretend to despise the adulation which they so eagerly labor for. Henry
was admitted to confidential conferences, and so well did he avail
himself of his opportunities and influence that he succeeded in
persuading the Empress to accept the mediation of Austria between Turkey
and Russia--a commission with which he was charged by his brother.
It was in these conferences that the fate of Poland was decided. While
Catharine was hesitating about accepting the terms Austria proposed,
which were that she should renounce her design upon Moldavia and
Wallachia, the news arrived at St. Petersburg that the Austrian troops
had taken possession of Zips. Catharine was much astonished at the
proceeding, and remarked that if Austria seized the Polish territory,
the two other neighboring powers must imitate her example until she
desisted. This hint suggested to Henry a mode of removing those
objections of Austria which impeded the negotiation. He knew that the
court of Vienna was as eager for aggrandizement as Russia, and that all
her jealousies would be allayed by a similar accession of territory;
that at the same time she would never consent to have the Russians as
her neighbors in Moldavia and Wallachia, but would have no objection to
their making an equal increase to that immense empire elsewhere.
Frederick's consent, also, must be purchased by an equal allotment;
where, then, he thought, were there three such portions to be found but
where Austria pointed out? Catharine approved of the plan after a few
moments' reflection, but mentioned two impediments: first, that when her
troops had entered Poland she had solemnly declared that she would
maintain the integrity of the kingdom; the next, that Austria would not
receive such a proposal from her without suspicion. These difficulties
were readily removed--the first by breaking the engagement, and the
second by making Frederick the negotiator with the court of Vienna.
Frederick's admirers pretend that he was unacquainted with this
intrigue, and, when the plan was made known to him, opposed it
strenuously; "but that on the following day, having reflected on the
misfortunes of the Poles, and on the impossibility of reëstablishing
their liberty, he showed himself more tractable." It is to be hoped
that, for the sake of Frederick's remnant of character, that is not
true; after the singular manner in which he had evinced his concern for
"the misfortunes of the Poles," and his solicitude for their "liberty"
in Polish Prussia, such pretensions would have been the very height of
hypocrisy. His scruples, at any rate, if any such existed, were soon
dispelled; and he exerted himself in persuading the court of Vienna to
enter into the plot.
Austria was but too ready to fall into the design; the conflicting
views, indeed, between Maria Theresa, Joseph, and their minister Kaunitz
gave rise to some complication of politics and consequent delay.
Frederick, strongly as he is said to have disclaimed the plan in the
present instance, was now the only party impatient to conclude it. "The
slowness and irresolution of the Russians," he says in his _Mémoires_,
"protracted the conclusion of the treaty of partition; the negotiation
hung chiefly on the possession of the city of Dantzic. The Russians
pretended they had guaranteed the liberty of this little republic, but
it was in fact the English, who, jealous of the Prussians, protected the
liberty of this maritime town, and who prompted the Empress of Russia
not to consent to the demands of his Prussian majesty. It was requisite,
however, for the King to determine; and as it was evident that the
master of the Vistula and the port of Dantzic would, in time, subject
that city, he decided that it was not necessary to stop such an
important negotiation, for an advantage _which in fact was only
deferred_; therefore his majesty relaxed in this demand. After so many
obstacles had been removed this secret contract was signed at St.
Petersburg, February 17, 1772. The month of June was fixed on for taking
possession, and it was agreed that the Empress-Queen should be invited
to join the two contracting powers and share in the partition."
It now remained to persuade Austria to join the coalition. Joseph and
Kaunitz were soon won over, but Maria Theresa's conscience made a longer
resistance. The fear of hell, she said, restrained her from seizing
another's possessions. It was represented to her, however, that her
resistance could not prevent the other two powers from portioning out
Poland, but might occasion a war which would cost the valuable lives of
many; whereas the peaceable partition would not spill a drop of blood.
She was thus, she imagined, placed in a dilemma between two sins; and
forgetting the command, "Do not evil that good may come," she endeavored
to persuade herself that she was doing her duty in choosing the least.
She yielded at length with the air of some religious devotee who
exclaims to her artful seducer, "May God forgive you!" and at the same
time sinks into his arms. The contract was signed between Prussia and
Austria on March 4th, and the definite treaty of partition which
regulated the three portions was concluded on August 5, 1772.
Russia was to have, by this first partition, the palatinates of Polotsk,
Vitebsk, and Mstislavl, as far as the rivers of Dwina and Dnieper, more
than three thousand square leagues; Austria had for her share Red Russia
(Galicia), and a portion of Podolia and Little Poland as far as the
Vistula, about twenty-five hundred square leagues; and Prussia was to be
contented with Polish Prussia (excepting Dantzic and Thorn with their
territory), and part of Great Poland as far as the river Notec (or
Netze), comprising about nine hundred square leagues. All the rest of
the kingdom was to be insured to Stanislaus under the old constitution.
All the three powers thought it necessary to publish some defence of
their conduct; and, in separate pamphlets, they attempted to prove that
they had legitimate claims on Poland, and that their present violent
seizures were only just resumptions of their own territory or equivalent
to it.
Rulhière says that Catharine only made her claim as a just
indemnification for the trouble and expense which she had devoted to
Poland; this, however, it will be found by referring to her defence, is
not the case. She sets forth the great kindness she had shown the
republic by insuring the election of a Piast (Stanislaus), and uses
these remarkable words on the subject: "That event was necessary to
restore the Polish liberty to its ancient lustre, to insure the elective
right of the monarchy, and to destroy foreign influence, which was so
rooted in the state, and which was the continual source of trouble and
contest." She then exclaims against the confederates:
"Their ambition and cupidity, veiled under the phantom of religion and
the defence of their laws, pervade and desolate this vast kingdom,
without the prospect of any termination of this madness but its entire
ruin." She then proceeds with her "Deduction," endeavoring to prove,
from old authors, that it was not till 1686 that the Polish limits were
extended beyond the mouth of the Dwina and the little town of Stoika on
the Dnieper, five miles below Kiow. The following is a specimen of the
lawyer-like sophistry which the Empress employs to establish her claim
to the Russian territory, which remained in the hands of the Poles after
the treaty in 1686:
"The design of such a concession being only to put an end to a bloody
war more promptly, and by a remedy as violent as a devastation (_aussi
violent qu'une devastation_), to insure tranquillity of neighborhood
between two rival and newly reconciled nations, it necessarily follows
that every act on the part of the subjects of the republic of Poland,
contrary to such intention, has, _ipso facto_, revived Russia's
indisputable and unalienated right to all that extent of territory. It
must be observed, also, that this arrangement about the frontier was
only provisional and temporary, since it is expressly said that it shall
only remain so _until it has been otherwise amicably settled_.
"The object was, therefore, to give the nations time to lay aside their
inveterate hatred; and to remove immediate causes of dispute between the
different subjects, and consequent rupture between the two states.
Russia sacrificed for a time the possession of the territory which
extends from the fertile town of Stoika to the river Tecmine, and from
the right bank of the Dnieper, fifty versts in breadth along the
frontiers of Poland. There is no idea of cession here on the part of
Russia; it is a pledge (gage) which she advances for the solidity of the
peace, _which ought to be returned to her when the object of it is
effected_. This is the only reasonable construction which can be put
upon the stipulation, '_until it has been otherwise amicably settled_.'
Russia is not to be a loser because the confusion of the internal
affairs of Poland has never allowed that country to come to a definite
agreement on this subject, notwithstanding the requests of Russia."
It does not demand much acumen to unveil such impudent sophistry as
this. The assertion that the arrangement was only provisional and
temporary is false; the treaty indeed left the detail of the boundary
line to be drawn out by commissioners, as must always be the case in
arrangements of this kind, and as was meant to be implied by the words
which the Russian minister transforms into "_until it has been otherwise
amicably arranged_."