b o o k - 2. The ilavery of the Poliih peafants is very antient, and
. ' . was always extremely rigorous. Until the time of Cafimir the
Great, the lord could put his peafant to death with impunity,
and, when the latter had no children, coniidered himfelf as
the heir, and feized all his effeCts. In x 347 Cafimir pre-
fcribed a fine for the murder of a peafant; and enaCted, that,
in cafe of his deceafe without iflue, his next heir fhould'inherit
*. The fame fovereign alfo decreed, that a peafant was
capable of bearing arms as a foldier, and that therefore he
ought to be confidered as a freeman. But thefe and other
regulations, by which that amiable monarch endeavoured to
alleviate the miferies of the vaflals, have- proved ineffectual
againft the power and tyranny of the nobles, and have been
either abrogated or eluded. That law, which gives the property
of a peafant dying without iflue to the next of kin,
was inftantly rendered nugatory by an old Poliih maxim,
“ That no ilave can carry on any procefs againft his mailer;”
and even the fine for his murder was feldom levied, on
account of the numerous difficulties which attend the conviction
of a noble for this or any other enormity. So far
indeed from being inclined to foften the fervitude of their
vaflals, the nobles have afcertained and eftabliffied it by
repeated and pofitive ordinances. An able Poliih writer, in
a benevolent treatife t addrefled to the chancellor Zamoiiki,
obferves, that in the Statutes of Poland there are above an
hundred laws unfavourable to the peafants, which, among
other grievances, erett fummary tribunals fubjeCt to no appeals,
and impofe the fevereft penalties upon thofe who quit
their villages without leave. From thefe numerous and rigorous
ediCls to prevent the elopement of the peafants, the
* St at. Pol. 1. p. 24* •f Patriotic Letters.
fame
fame humane author juftly infers the extreme wretchednefs <^HAI’-
of this opprefled clafs of men, who cannot be detained in the <■ . t * ,<
place of their nativity but by the terror of the fevereft pu-
niihment.
The native peafants may be divided into two forts:
1. Peafants of the crown ; 2. Peafants belonging to individuals.
1. Peafants of the crown are thofe who are fettled in the
great fiefs of the kingdoms, or in the royal demefnes, and
are under the jurifdiCtions of the ftarofts. I f the crown-
peafants are opprefled by thefe judges, they may lodge a
complaint in the royal courts of juftice ; and fhould the fta-
roft endeavour to obftruCt the procefs, the king can order
the chancellor to iflue a fafe conduCt, by which he takes the
injured perfon under his projection: and although in moft
cafes the corrupt adminiftration of juftice, and the fuperior
influence of the ftarofts, prevent a complainant from obtaining
any effectual redrefs even in the king’s courts ; yet,
the very poffibility of procuring relief is fome check to in-
juftice, and fome alleviation of diftrefs.
2. Peafants belonging to individuals are at the abfolute
difpofal of their mailer, and have fcarcely any pofitive fecu-
rity, either for their properties or their lives. Until 1768
the Statutes of Poland only exaCted a fine from a lord who
killed his ilave ; but in that year a decree pafled, that the
murder of a peafant was a capital crime; yet, as the law in
queftion requires fuch an accumulation of evidence* as is
feldom to be obtained, it has more the appearance of protection
than the reality.
* The murderer muft be taken in the taken in the fa£ , and there are not the
; which muft be proved by two gentle- above-mentioned number o f witnefles, he
men or four peafants; [and i f he is not only pays a fine.
S 2 How