Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/302

Rh 290 POLAND [HISTORY. 1402- 1501. or deputies (posfy) to attend at the diet, when they them selves were unable to be present in person. They also passed some mischievous laws, aggravating the bondage of the miserable serfs. Previously it was possible for a peasant who had been ill-treated to fly from his lord ; now it was enacted that he must be surrendered upon demand, and whoever harboured him incurred severe penalties. The researches of recent Polish historiogra phers have shown the importance of the reign of this monarch, who may be said to have consolidated the Polish kingdom ; from his time the influence of the diet began. The statute of Nieszawa in 1454 has been called as im portant in Polish law as Magna Charta in English ; it is the great charter of the rights and privileges of the Polish nobility. John Kazimierz was succeeded by his son John I., surnamed Albert, Albert (in Polish, Jan Olbracht), a feeble prince, most of whose wars were unsuccessful. He led an expedition against Stephen the hospodar of Wallachia, which resulted in a complete defeat. In this reign, at one of the diets (at Piotrkow in 1496, for, as was the case with the parlia ments anciently in England, they were held at various places), the nobles decreed that henceforth no burgher or peasant should aspire to any of the higher offices in the church ; all such appointments they reserved to themselves. Thus they constituted their clergy a mere aristocratic caste, and imitated the prince-bishops and other spiritual potentates of the Germans. The peasantry were now ob liged to bring all their cases before tribunals presided over by their own masters, where they were likely at best to get but a scant measure of justice. Finally, this memorable diet still further limited the power of the king by enacting that none of their sovereigns should in future declare war without their permission. Short as was the reign of John Albert, it saw him involved in many disputes with his nobility. An Italian refugee, Buonacorsi, who had been his tutor, gave him many suggestions with a view to limit the power of the nobility. About the same time, in 1497, some nobles were killed in an unfortunate expedition in Bukowina, and a report w T as spread that this disaster had been caused by the king himself through the bad counsels of Buonacorsi. In this reign also laws were passed in the diets further limiting the power of the burghers and the peasantry, who were now forbidden to possess any landed property. John Albert was succeeded by his brother Alexander, an utterly insignificant king ; in his reign, however, we trace the first germ of the detestable liberum veto, which ruined Poland. In a diet held at Radom it was settled that the decision of the deputies was not to depend upon the majority, but must imply unanimity of suffrages. At a diet in 1652, as we shall afterwards see, it occurred for the first time that a single nuntius annulled by his liberum veto the decisions of the whole body present and broke up the assembly. By this absurd custom an element of confusion and disintegration was introduced into all the meetings ; it was possible to hire a venal nuntius, for the majority of the Polish nobles seem to have had their price ; and as soon as such a man appeared, however important the subjects to be debated might be, he could put an end to all further discussion. The lord high treasurer had the complete control of public finance ; he was appointed by the king, but could not be removed. According to the strict letter of the constitution, he must give in his accounts to the diet, but he might easily evade doing so. As the diets only lasted six weeks he might bring them in too late, or if the scrutiny became somewhat tiresome he would probably be able to find a convenient nuntius who would veto the whole proceedings. 1 The story told by Connor of a certain Count Morsztyn, whom we shall find afterwards 1 See Letters concerning th Present Mate of Poland, 1773, p. 37. mentioned among Polish authors, is certainly a very pain ful one. He says &quot; I may here give an account of a passage that happened when Count Morsztyn was great treasurer of Poland, who, having more regard to his own private interest than the public benefit, sent all the riches of the treasury into France, when, fearing that the diet would soon think fit to call him to account, he retired privately with all his effects out of the kingdom and went to settle in France, where he purchased the whole county of Chateau- Villain, which is worth above one hundred thousand livres a year.&quot; Such was the corrupt character of the Polish parliament. Other details are given of an equally painful description. 2 We are told that these meetings rarely happened without bloodshed. A serious fracas occurred among the turbulent nobles who them selves, while dictating laws, embodied every principle of anarchy when Sigismund III. was elected. Blood flowed in torrents, and the booths erected for the accommodation of the senators were burnt. At the election of King Michael balls from pistols flew about the tents of the senators, and nuntii were actually killed. Even worse scenes occurred at the election of Augustus II., as will be shown subsequently. In the reign of Alexander we find an instance where a few deputies from the towns were admitted, but their presence was only invited on rare occasions, reminding us how Ivan IV. now and then summoned the Russian citizens to his despotic douma. &quot; He was of a middle stature,&quot; says Connor, &quot; had a long visage and black hair, was very strong built but exceeding dull-witted, and consequently but a little talker. He exceeded all his brothers in generosity, and was wont to delight much in musicians and such trifling artists. Nevertheless, this his liberality was generally esteemed but prodigality, insomuch that some w r ere so bold as to say that he died in time, or else both Poland and Lithuania might have been lavished aw r ay. To prevent the like pernicious generosity for the future, the diet made a law, calling it Statutwn Alexandrinum, by which they revoked all this king s profuse gifts.&quot; In the reign of this sovereign the former statutes of Wislica, Warta, Nieszawa, and many others were confirmed and published in a single volume under the superintendence of the chancellor Sigi Laski. The feeble Alexander w r as succeeded by his * ( brother Sigismund (in Polish, Zygmunt), another son of Kazimierz. Sigismund was engaged in constant wars with Basil, the czar of Russia ; his court was also filled with factions fomented by his wife Bona Sforza, the daughter of the duke of Milan, a woman thoroughly hated in her adopted country, on whom the Poles made the following epigram Si pavcunt Parcte, si luci lumine lucent, Si bellum bellum, turn boua Bona fuit. When she left the country in the reign of her son Sigismund II., she carried large sums of money with her to Italy. In this reign the order of Teutonic Knights embraced the doctrines of Luther ; their dominions were already a fief of the Polish kingdom. Gradually this small prin cipality was to absorb the Slavonic elements which sur rounded it, and to rise triumphant over the ruins of Poland. The doctrines of the Reformation were now I becoming widely spread over Europe, and the element of religious animosity was largely infused into this land of perpetual anarchy and tumults. Sigismund, however, was a man of remarkable ability, and under his rule the country flourished. He survived to the age of eighty-two, and his memory is still cherished with affection by the Poles. His broad heavy physiognomy may be seen accurately represented in the old editions of Kromer, who dwells 2 Ibid., p. 27.