b o o k e a c h nuntio, is empowered to interrupt the perufal by re-
. jmonftrating againft the infringement of any particular article,
and demanding at the fame time a redrefs of grievances.
Then the great chancellor propofes, in the king’s
name, the queftions to be taken into confideration; after
which, his majefty nominates three fenators, and the fpeaker
fix nuntios, to prepare the bills. The diet, by majority of
voices, chufes a committee to examine the accounts of the
treafury.
The members * of the permanent council are elected in
the manner mentioned in the preceding chapter.
Thefe preliminary tranfa&ions muft be difpatched in the
fpace of three weeks ; at which period the two houfes fepa-
rate : the nuntios retire into their own chamber, and all the
bills undergo a feparate difcuflion in both houfes. Thofe
which relate to the treafury are approved or rejected by the
fentiments of the majority. But in all ftate-matters t of the
higheft importance no refolution of the diet is valid, unlefs
ratified by the unanimous aflent of every nuntio, each of
whom is able to fufpend all proceedings by his exertion of
the Liberum Veto.
The diet muft not fit longer than fix weeks : on the firft
day, therefore, of the fixth week the fenate and nuntios
ation o f nobility. 6. Reduction o f the coin.
7. Augmentation or diminution in the
charges o f the tribunals, o r in the authority
o f the mini iters o f peace and war. 8.
Creatioh o f places. 9. Order o f holding
the diets or dietines. 10. Alterations in the
tribunals. 11 . Augmentation o f the prerogatives
o f the fenatus-confulta. 12. Per-
miilion to. the king to purchafe lands for
his fuccefTors. 13. Arrier-ban, or fum-
moning the nobles to arms.
In all thefe cafes unanimity is requifite.
SeeLoix et Conit, de la diete de 1768, p. 46.
meet
* The equeitrian members o f the lait
permanent council are permitted to be pre-
fent in this aifembly, without having any
vote, until the refolutions o f the council are
approved by the diet. T h e fenators, who
have a feat in the council, are prefent o f
courfe.
t Matters o f itate are thus defined by the
confiitution o f 1768. 1. Increafe or alteration
o f the taxes. 2. Augmentation o f
the army. 3. Treaties o f alliance and peace
with the neighbouring powers. 4. Declaration
o f war, 5. Naturalization and eremeet
again in the fenate-houfe. The ftate-bills (provided c h a p .
they are unanimoufly agreed to by the nuntios, an event. ■
which feldom happens in a free diet) are pafied into laws;
but i f that unanimity be wanting to them, they ftand re-
jefted ; and the bufinefs relating to the treafury, which has
been carried by a majority, is read and regiftered.
While the bills are debating in the lower houfe, the king,
fenate, and eighteen nuntios, form a fupreme court of judicature,
by which all nobles accufed of capital crimes are
tried; and all appeals from inferior courts determined in
the laft refort. The majority decides, and the king gives
fentence.
At the conclufion of the fixth week the laws, which have
pafied, are figned by the fpeaker and nuntios, and the diet
is of courfe diflolved.
The extraordinary diets are fubjeft to the fame regulations
as the ordinary diets, with this difference, that they
cannot, by the conftitutions of 1768, continue longer than a
fortnight. The fame day in which the two houfes aifemble
in the fenate-houfe, the queftions are to be laid before them ;
and the nuntios return immediately to their own chamber.
On the thirteenth day from their firft meeting, the two
houfes are again united ; and on the fifteenth day, after the
laws, have been read and figned, the diet breaks up as ufual.
The moft extraordinary charatfteriftic in the conftitution
of Poland, and which feems peculiarly to diftinguifh this government
from all others, both in ancient and modern times,
is the Liberum V?to> or the power which each nuntio enjoys
in a free diet *, not only like the tribunes of ancient Rome,,
of putting a negative upon any law, but even of diffolving
fr“ in " ’hich unanimity is confederacy, in which all bufinefs is carried
requifite, is diihnguifiied from a diet o f by the majority.
o a the