book xh e prefent fituation of the Poliih nation imprefted my
. [' , mind with the moft pathetic ideas of fallen greatnefs ; and I
could not confider, without a mixture of regret and fympa-
thy, a people, who formerly gave law to the North, reduced
to fo low a ftate of infignificance and domeftic mifery.
The nation has few manufactures, fcarcely any commerce;
a king almoft without authority ; the nobles in a,
ftate of uncontrouled anarchy ; the peafants groaning under
a yoke of feudal defpotifm far worfe than the tyranny of an
abfolute monarch. I never before obferved fuch an inequality
of fortune, fuch fudden tranfition from extreme
riches to extreme poverty; wherever I turned my eyes,
luxury and wretchednefs were conftant neighbours. In a
word, the boafted Poliih liberty is not enjoyed in the fmalleft
degree by the bulk of the people, but is confined among the
nobles or gentry. The truth of thefe remarks will beft
appear from the following account of the inhabitants.
The inhabitants of Poland are nobles, clergy, citizens,
and peafants.
I. The Nobles are divided into two clafies ; the members
of the fenate, and of the equeftrian order. Having, upon a
former occafion *, defcribed the powers which fenators enjoy
in their collective capacity, it will be unneceflary to repeat
them in this place.
We fhould be greatly deceived if we were to underftand
the word noble in our fenfe of that term. In the laws of
Poland a noble is a perfon who poflefles a freehold t eftate,
If-'pr
free and noble, and are always diftinguiihed
from the freeholds o f the nobles ; the latter
are called in the ilatnte law terrigenae, or
earthborn, free to live where they pleufe, to
diftinguilh
* See p. 95.
Some citizens have the right o f pof-
feffing lands within a league o f the town
which they inhabit; but thefe lands are not
or who can prove his defcent from anceftors formerly pof-
fefling a freehold, following no trade or commerce, and at'— .— >
liberty to choofe the place of his habitation. This defcription
includes all perfons above burghers and peafants. The
members of this body below the rank of fenators are called,
in a collective ftate, the equeftrian order; and in their individual
capacities nobles, gentlemen, freemen, or landholders,
which appellations are fynonymous.
All the nobles or gentry are, in the ftrict letter of the
law, equal by birth ; fo that all honours and titles are iup-
pofed to add nothing to their real dignity f. By means of
their reprefentatives in the diet, they have a ihare in the le-
giflative authority, and in fome cafes, as in the election of a
king, they affemble in perfon, when each noble is capable of
being eleCted a nuntio, of bearing the office of a fenator, and
of prefenting himfelf as a candidate upon a vacancy in the
throne. No noble can be arrefted without being previouily
conviCted, except in cafes of high treafon, murder, and robdiftinguiih
them from perfons neceifarily in- “ infigniuntur, vocabula funt, qua; fiatum
habiting towns, “ Quos leges' nominant “ non immutant, & qui illis gaudent, non
“ terrigenas, non alii funt, quam nobiles; “ alio, quam nobilium jure, fua tenent,
“ exprimitque prius vocabulum, polonicum “ Neque Polonia alias . Principum, alias
“ Zlemianin, quo in agris libi et fuo fjure “ Marchionum, alias Comitum, alias Equi-
“ vivens intelligitur, quae nobilium in Po- ** turn leges nov it; fed omnibus una nobi-
Ionia eft conditio, qui non civitatis & op- “ lium lex fcripta eft. Inde in conclavi
“ pida, fedfua prtedia habitantes, vitam fuo “ Nunciorum Principum & Comitum no-
“ arbitrio diiponunt.” l_.eng. Jus Pub. I. <l minibus fulgentes, cteteris permixtos vi-
297. a true feudal diftindtion. . T h e y are “ demus. NulHim ibi inter modici agelli
alfo ftyled indigenae or natives, and concives “ & paucorum jugerum, ac aliquot oppi-
or fellow-citizens o f the republic. do rum multorumque vitorum dominum,
t It is particularly ftipulated, that titles “ obfervatur difcrimen. Praecedunt alii,
give no precedence ; which is called in the “ alii fequuntur non ex titulis familiarum,
PaitaConventa o f Auguftus II I . “ Jus sequa- “ fed ad palitinatuum terrai'umque, ex qui-
“ litatis inter cives. regni,” &c. upon which “ bus nuntii miffi, ordinem. Eadem in fe-
Lengnick makes the following remark, “ Om- “ natu ratio. Affignat loca, muneris non
“ nis haec nobilitas natura eft xqualis, quod “ ftecnmatis dignitas. Et- qui fenator non
“ omnes ex ilia, ad eadem jura, in eandem “ princeps, non comes, prtecedit principem,
“ fpem nafcuntur. T itu li Principum, Mar- “ ac comitem, non fenatorera.” Pac. Con,
“ chionum, Comitum, quibus alii pra; aliis p. 31.
R a bery