Pruffian officers, early in the fpring, took down the Polish arms in the city of Pofna, (fituated upon the river Warta, and the capital of a palatinate of the fame name, in the province of Great Poland,) and placed the arms of their mafter in their place. This infult and encroachment was quickly followed by others. A confiderable diftri&t was feized in Great Poland; the peasants of Samogitia, who were ready for any change of mafters, were encouraged to rife againft their lords, and to declare for a foreign government; and in Cujavia, a written mandate was iffued, forbidding the inhabitants of the diftricts of Kalifch, and Inowroclaw, from paying any obedience to their fovereign, or any money into his treafury; for both of which they were promifed full indemnification and protection, and ordered to keep the money, until Pruffian commiffaries fhould be fent to receive it.

The regimentary Krazewiki, who commanded in Great Poland, oppofed these encroachments with great refolution, and not only refufed to quit his ftation, according to the peremptory orders which he received from the Pruffian officers; but had the courage to take down their eagles in feveral places, and to reftore the Polish arms. This hardinefs was productive of fome fmall engagements; but the Pruffian officers feemed uncertain how to proceed till the arrival of new orders. Thete being at length arrived, general Loflow marched at the head of a confiderable detachment, and fummoned Krazewiki to deliver the cities of Kompiela and Slupza to the Pruffian troops. This order being as peremptorily refused as it was iffued, brought on

a very warm engage- June 27th. ment, in which the Pruffians loft two officers of rank, and general Loffow narrowly escaped being killed. The Poles fought defperately; but, being in no degree of equality as to ftrength or number, the whole party was either killed or taken. Krazewiki is faid to have died of his wounds. These violences, which feemed fo contrary to the late treaties, threw every thing afresh into confufion, and excited the greatest difmay among the people, as well as grief and defpondency in all those, who were capable of feeling for the miferies of their country. They alfo afforded an opportunity to the delegates to refufe proceeding upon the affair of the Permanent Council, or any other bufinefs, till fome fecurity was obtained, and it was known what farther claims were to be made, and when violence was to cease.

The Auftrians were equally induftrious, and made fimiliar encroachments on the fide of Podolia ; but, meeting with no oppofition, the effufion of blood was thereby prevented. During thefe tranfactions, the great general of Poland, count Branicky, who had refided for fome time as minister, though without a public character, at Petersburgh, made heavy complaints to that court of the conduct of the Pruflians; and was fo effectual in his representations, that the Emprefs herfelf wrote a letter upon the fubject to the king of Pruilia. This letter was couched in fuch terms, as fhewed that the Emprefs was not at all indifferent to those tranfactions. The King declared in his antwer, that he had acted nothing but what was confiftent

with juftice, and his inconteftible rights, and that he wished for nothing more, than to have the limits fettled upon fuch a juft and folid footing, as would prevent all complaints. This powerful mediation prevented, for the prefent, any further hoftilities.

We foon afterwards find that the affair of the Permanent Council was refumed in the delegation, and that they alfo proceeded to the eftablishment of thofe principles on which the future fyftem of government was to be founded: particularly with respect to the powers which were to be allotted to the king, his particular revenues, those of the republic in general, the number of troops which were to be fupported, and the authority which was to be vested in the Great Generals of Poland and Lithuania. The joint and diftinct interefts, privileges, and rights, of thofe two countries, which, under various reftrictions, form one commonwealth, together with the degrees of authority they were respectively to poffets, and the proportions they were to bear in the common expence, rendered this bufinefs complex and difficult. The parts which had been rended from each of thofe countries increased the difficulty, as new calculations and degrees of proportion became neceflary in every inftance, and the uncertainty of what was ftill to remain to either seemed to render the whole an inexplicable chaos.

The decifive intervention of thofe powers, whofe breath prefcribed the fate of Poland, and who were equally enabled to admit of its baving any form of government, or none, was, however, fufficient to remove all difficulties; and we

accordingly find that the delegation, during the months of Auguft and September, had nearly gone through the great bufinefs before them. In the mean time the diet, which was to have met on the 6th of May, was prorogued from one period to another, and has not yet met, that every thing might be fettled by the delegates, and the approbation of the partitioning powers received as a final ratification, before the holding of that affembly.

The establishment, modes, and departments, of the Permanent Council, were first decided upon and figned Aug. 8th. by the delegation. This council is to be compofed of forty members, and is to include three eftates, the king, the fenate, and the equeftrian order. The members are to be chofen at the diets, and the majority to be decided by ballot; their power to continue only from one diet to another. The king is always to be chief of the council; the fenate comprehends the great officers, or miniftry, and the members chofen from that body; and the equeftrian order are to be as nearly equal as the odd number 39 will permit. The proportional numbers for Poland and Lithuania are alfo ipecified.

This council is to compose four particular departments, of which the firft is to take cognizance of all thofe concerns which ufually came before the marfhals of the crown, or of Lithuania; the fecond is charged with whatever relates to the police, and all the inferior departments are to bring in their reports to it, the third comprehends the military, the whole immediate power of which is vested in the [5] 2

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grand general, under the obligation of bringing in all his reports and accounts at ftated times to be 'examined; the fourth have the care of correspondence with foreign powers.

It was propofed in the delegation, that the Diffidents fhould be eligible to admiffion in the Permanent Council; but, though it might have been hoped that their common fufferings and calamities would have united all parties and perfuafions, prejudices were, notwithstanding, ftill fo ftrong, that this propofal was almoft univerfally rejected. When we recollect, that two of the great partitioning powers had no other colour or pretence for meddling in the affairs of Poland, but merely to protect the Diffidents, and restore them to their rights as citizens; when we recollect their declarations and public documents, and that the armies they poured into the country, the long wars that ensued, and the deluges of blood that have been fhed, had no other avowed caufe or foundation; can we refrain from amazement, or reprefs our indignation, at feeing that thofe people were only ufed as a tale for ambition and rapacity; and that now, when every thing has fucceeded to the with of thofe powers, and that their fiat is become an inevitable law to the unfortunate Poles, the caufe of the Diffidents is laid afide and forgotten. That the Poles fhould have retained fome refentment towards them, as being in fome measure the occafion of the devaftation at first, and then the partition of their country among foreign powers, is not fo much to be wondered at.

The other principal matters,

which have been fettled by the delegation, are faid to be the following. That the republic grants the king, as an indemnity for the lofs of his revenues, an annual income of five millions of Polith flo rins, (amounting to near 300,000l.) in which fum is included the million of florins deftined for the fupport of his guards. That the also engages to pay his debts, amounting to feven millions of florins. That the beftows on him, in hereditary poffeffion, four ftarofties, (which are governments of cafiles, with the diftricts belonging to them) to be transmitted to his family for ever; and befides orders a reimbursement of fuch money as the king had advanced for the ufe of the ftate. It was alfo agreed, that the fixed revenues of the republic fhould be enhanced to 33 millions of Polish florins, and that the army fhould confift of 30,000 effective men.

We must here obferve, that if we are not mifinformed as to the value of the Polish florin, which we eftimate at is. 2d. this great revenue, amounting to near two millions fterling, muft have been rather beyond the ability of Poland even in its best times. It is allo to be obferved, that the delegation have made a moft ample provifion i for the king by this arrangement, the articles of which are fo much in his favour, as to leave little room to doubt, that his interefts were particularly fupported by the partitioning powers. This circumflance may perhaps afford a clue to the facility with which the affair of the Permanent Council, and other matters, had of late been carried through that affembly. Indeed it is no wonder, in fo general a wreck,

The intereft which the King of Pruffia has taken, upon this occafion, in the diftreffes of the inhabitants of Poland, is too curious a circumstance to be overlooked. That monarch, by M. Benoit, his minister at Warsaw, has put an abfolute negative upon the establishment of an army of 30,000 men, as a cruel and intolerable oppreffion, and a burden which it is not proper to lay upon the people in their prefent ftate. The more we reflect on the nature of his own government, the more we must admire the compaffion and benevolence which operate in this inftance.

We muft, in juftice to the Emprefs of Ruffia, take notice, that fince the ceffation of the fword in Poland, her conduct with respect to that country has been infinitely more juft, moderate, and temperate, than that of the other powers. Inftead of new and endless claims, and continually harraffing and pillaging the people, fhe has, with relpect to herfelf, been governed by the late treaties; and to others, been their mediatrix and advocate; and there is little room to doubt, that the has been the means of preventing greater violences than thofe which have already excited the furprife of mankind. It is as little to be doubted, that the prefent partition of Poland was far beyond the original intentions of that princefs, and that he was led, by various means and infenfible degrees, into

Some time after the conclufion of the peace with Turkey, the Emprefs of Ruffia remitted 250,000 rubles to the King of Poland, as a compenfation for that part of his domains which fell into her hands. This was the firft compensation that had been heard of in the affairs of Poland, and will probably be the laft.

Nothing can be more fully defcriptive of the condition of the governed, in thofe countries which have been ceded to the partitioning powers, than the conduct of the Jews. Thefe people, who for many ages have compofed a very great part of the inhabitants of Poland, are daily retiring in numerous bodies from thofe territories which are poffeffed by the Auftrians and Pruffians, and flying for refuge and protection to the provinces which belong to Ruffia. Yet the Ruffian government was never confidered, even comparatively, as a mild one.

Commiffaries were appointed by the delegation early in the year, to fettle the limits between the territories of the republic and those of the partitioning powers, in fo precife and accurate a manner, as would for the future prevent all ground, and even poflibility, of difpute upon that fubject. Though these commiffaries held frequent meetings with those who were appointed for the fame purpose by the courts of Vienna and Berlin, the claims of the latter were fo exorbitant, that they as continually broke up without effect; and the affair of the limits feems now as remote from any profpect of adjuftment, as it was on the firft day of the conferences.

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As an unlimited toleration in religious matters is at prefent one of the leading principles of the court of Petersburgh, and that both policy and juftice required every fecurity and fatisfaction, in that refpect, fhould be granted to the new fubjects in Poland, the Emprefs has accordingly erected a bifhopric in the Latin Ritual at Mohilow, to whofe ecclefiaftical jurifdiction all the Roman Catholics in her vast dominions are to be fubject. The fuffragan bishop of Wilna has been appointed to this new bishopric, and ten thoufand peafants allotted for the fupport of his paftoral dignity.

No material alteration has taken place in the affairs of Dantzick. The city is mouldering to ruin, and the diftreffes of the inhabitants heightened by the uncertainty of their extent and termination. However weak and remifs the part taken by those powers, who were engaged by treaties or intereft in its prefervation, has been, their reprefentations, or the jealoufy with which it was fuppofed they muft have

been actuated, though but faintly expreffed for the prefent, has probably hitherto preferved it from that immediate violence, which would at once have decided its fate.

The measures which are pursued, though flower, are not lefs certain in the effect. New canals are made, and new channels of trade opened. Clogged by every poffible difcouragement and difficulty in its ancient courfe, it will naturally fly to the new for refuge. The rich will, before it is too late, abandon their old feats, and the multitude, worn down by exaction and oppreflion, and every day thinned by the recruiting officers, who furround them like vultures, dwindle to nothing. Thus, very probably, in a few years, will its name be the only memorial left of this great and free city, which had for fo many ages held its rank among the first in Europe; and this deftruction will be accomplished without the aid of war, peftilence, earthquake, or famine.

great and fruitful field of political caufes and effects, has not during the present year been productive of any great or novel fub

powers, whofe wings overshadow that empire, proceed uniformly in the military fyftem, which they have conitantly pursued fince the

late