The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

were fully recognised, and the liberty of opinion was
assured upon a rational and firm basis. Livonia was
added to the kingdom, and, together with the Duchy
of Lithuania, essentially incorporated with the king-
dom by the Diet of Lablin, A.D. 1560. With this last
and best of the Jagellon kings ended the glory and
independence of Poland. At his death, in 1573, the
kingdom consisted of Poland proper, the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania, the Duchy of Prussia, and
Livonia.

The population of Poland was divided into nobles
and peasants, the franchised and unenfranchised, and
a severer judgment has classed them as master and
slave. In this serfdom may be traced the distinctive
mark and the burning shame of Schlave and Hun.
The Dietines, or Lesser Diets, were composed of the
nobles of a province, convened by the castellan of the
district. These met on horseback, and elected three
of their body to represent them at the chief Diet, one
of whom was officially delegated to be the spokesman.
The senators, in number 139, were nominated by the
king from amongst the magnates, bishops, and counts
palatine of the kingdom. The privileges and honour
were conferred for life, and the senator was not re-
movable by legislative interference unless he were
guilty of an overt act of high treason. King, senators,
and representatives in conclave constituted the Diet;
and the peculiar feature of this Parliament consisted
in one dissentient vote, the " liberum veto," having
the effect of annulling any proposed measure. Una-
nimous decisions were the law of the Constitution.
The King, like the senators, was elected for life, but,
during the reigns of the Piast and Jagellon dynasties,
the crown virtually had become hereditary, more es-
pecially after the earlier annexation of Lithuania.
Upon the death of Sigismund an interregnum of two
years occurred; and it was during this fatal epoch
that the more democratic party sought ostensibly to
reform the Constitution, by extending the Republican
basis, and by contracting the privileges of the nobles
and thel prerogatives of the Crown. Hitherto the Diet
had elected the monarch ; and the practical working
of this sage custom had been to throw the elective
power into the hands of the magnates, who saw the
prudence and the policy of preserving the sovereignty
in a particular family or dynasty. Wars of succession
were thus avoided, the executive was made powerful,
and the national force, both of opinion and of arms,
was collected into a patriotic heroism that bound the
united kingdom together in one mass of constitu-
tional integrity. But the fiat of democracy had gone
forth—the measure of reform was carried by turbu-
lent acclamation, and from that day the conflict of
parties, the ruin of power, the wreck of means, the
loss of honour, and the base pride of a baser corrup-
tion, heaped up the measure of injury and infamy,
until the destiny of Poland was accomplished. That
end and that accomplishment were brought about
by a constitutional change, unwise, unnecessary, and
ill digested. It was decided by a democratic majority
that the election of the king should proceed directly
from the whole body of nobles, superior and inferior,
to be convened in the plain of Warsaw, whither they
were to repair in military caparison and on horseback.
Now, as many of the inferior nobles—the majority
carried their fortunes on their back—were often
mounted on horses to which they had no legal title,
and wore swords for which no equivalent in value
had been given, it was inevitable that the crown,
henceforward, would be sold by public auction to the
neighbouring potentates for the benefit of these
pauper electors. And who were the neighbouring
potentates ?
Is MAEL.