Years of hope as king, depicted by
Bernardo Bellotto. Upon the death of Poland's King
Augustus III in October 1763, lobbying began for the
election of the new king. Catherine threw her support behind Poniatowski. The Russians spent about 2.5 million rubles in aid of his election. Poniatowski's supporters and opponents engaged in some military posturing and even minor clashes. In the end, the Russian army was deployed only a few kilometres from the
election sejm, which met at
Wola near Warsaw. In the event, there were no other serious contenders, and during
the convocation sejm on 7 September 1764, 32-year-old Poniatowski was elected king, with 5,584 votes. He swore the
pacta conventa on 13 November, and a formal coronation took place in Warsaw on 25 November. The new king's "uncles" in the
Familia would have preferred another nephew on the throne, Prince
Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, characterized by one of his contemporaries as "
débauché, si non dévoyé" (French: "debauched if not depraved"), but Czartoryski had declined to seek office. "Stanisław August", as he now styled himself, combining the names of his two immediate royal predecessors, began his rule with only mixed support within the nation. It was mainly the small nobility who favoured his election. In his first years on the throne, he attempted to introduce a number of reforms. He founded the
Knights School, and began to form a diplomatic service, with semi-permanent diplomatic representatives throughout Europe, Russia and the
Ottoman Empire. On 7 May 1765, Poniatowski established the
Order of the Knights of Saint Stanislaus, in honour of
Saint Stanislaus of Krakow, Bishop and Martyr, Poland's and his own patron saint, as the country's second
order of chivalry, to reward Poles and others for noteworthy service to the King. Together with the
Familia he tried to reform the ineffective system of government, by reducing the powers of the
hetmans (Commonwealth's top military commanders) and treasurers, moving them to commissions elected by the Sejm and accountable to the King. In his memoirs, Poniatowski called this period the "years of hope." The
Familia, which was interested in strengthening its own power base, was dissatisfied with his conciliatory attitude as he reached out to many former opponents of their policies. This uneasy alliance between Poniatowski and the
Familia continued for most of the first decade of his rule. One of the points of contention between Poniatowski and the
Familia concerned the rights of religious minorities in Poland. Whereas Poniatowski reluctantly supported a policy of
religious tolerance, the
Familia was opposed to it. The growing rift between Poniatowski and the
Familia was exploited by the Russians, who used the issue as a pretext to intervene in the Commonwealth's internal politics and to destabilize the country. Catherine had no wish to see Poniatowski's reform succeed. She had supported his ascent to the throne to ensure the Commonwealth remained a virtual
puppet state under Russian control, so his attempts to reform the Commonwealth's ailing government structures were a threat to the
status quo.
The Bar Confederation and First Partition of Poland 's famous gesture of protest at the
Partition Sejm, as depicted by
Matejko Matters came to a head in 1766. During the Sejm in October of that year, Poniatowski attempted to push through a radical reform, restricting the disastrous
liberum veto provision. He was opposed by conservatives such as
Michał Wielhorski, who were supported by the Prussian and Russian ambassadors and who threatened war if the reform was passed. The dissidents, supported by the Russians, formed the
Radom Confederation. Abandoned by the
Familia, Poniatowski's reforms failed to pass at the
Repnin Sejm, named after Russian ambassador
Nicholas Repnin, who promised to guarantee with all the might of the Russian Empire the
Golden Liberties of the Polish nobility, enshrined in the
Cardinal Laws. Although it had abandoned the cause of Poniatowski's reforms, the
Familia did not receive the support it expected from the Russians, who continued to press for the conservatives' rights. Meanwhile, other factions now rallied under the banner of the
Bar Confederation, aimed against the conservatives, Poniatowski and the Russians. After an unsuccessful attempt to raise allies in Western Europe, France, Britain and Austria, Poniatowski and the
Familia had no choice but to rely more heavily on the Russian Empire, which treated Poland as a
protectorate. In the
War of the Bar Confederation (1768–1772), Poniatowski supported the Russian army's repression of the Bar Confederation. In 1770, the Council of the Bar Confederation proclaimed him dethroned. The following year, he was kidnapped by Bar Confederates and was briefly held prisoner outside of Warsaw, but he managed to escape. In view of the continuing weakness of the Polish-Lithuanian state, Austria, Russia, and Prussia collaborated to threaten military intervention in exchange for substantial territorial concessions from the Commonwealth – a decision they made without consulting Poniatowski or any other Polish parties. Although Poniatowski protested against the
First Partition of the Commonwealth (1772), he was powerless to do anything about it. He considered
abdication, but decided against it. , 1786 During the
Partition Sejm of 1773–1775, in which Russia was represented by ambassador
Otto von Stackelberg, with no allied assistance forthcoming from abroad and with the armies of the partitioning powers occupying
Warsaw to compel the Sejm by force of arms, no alternative was available save submission to their will. Eventually, Poniatowski and the Sejm acceded to the "partition treaty". At the same time, several other reforms were passed. The
Cardinal Laws were confirmed and guaranteed by the partitioning powers. Royal prerogative was restricted, so that the King lost the power to confer titular roles and military promotions, to appoint ministers and senators.
Starostwo territories, and
Crown lands would be awarded by auction. The Sejm also created two notable institutions: the
Permanent Council, a government body in continuous operation, and the
Commission of National Education. The partitioning powers intended the council to be easier to control than the unruly Sejms, and indeed it remained under the influence of the Russian Empire. Nevertheless, it was a significant improvement on the earlier Commonwealth governance. The new legislation was guaranteed by the Russian Empire, giving it licence to interfere in Commonwealth politics when legislation it favoured was threatened. The aftermath of the
Partition Sejm saw the rise of a conservative faction opposed to the Permanent Council, seeing it as a threat to their Golden Freedoms. This faction was supported by the Czartoryski family, but not by Poniatowski, who proved to be quite adept at making the Council follow his wishes. This marked the formation of new anti-royal and pro-royal factions in Polish politics. The royal faction was made up primarily of people indebted to the King, who planned to build their careers on service to him. Few were privy to his plans for reforms, which were kept hidden from the conservative opposition and Russia. Poniatowski scored a political victory during the Sejm of 1776, which further strengthened the council. Chancellor
Andrzej Zamoyski was tasked with the codification of the Polish law, a project that became known as the
Zamoyski Code. Russia supported some, but not all, of the 1776 reforms, and to prevent Poniatowski from growing too powerful, it supported the opposition during the Sejm of 1778. This marked the end of Poniatowski's reforms, as he found himself without sufficient support to carry them through.
The Great Sejm and the Constitution of 3 May 1791 '', by
Jan Matejko, 1891 In the 1780s, Catherine appeared to favour Poniatowski marginally over the opposition, but she did not support any of his plans for significant reform. Despite repeated attempts, Poniatowski failed to
confederate the sejms, which would have made them immune to the
liberum veto. Thus, although he had a majority in the Sejms, Poniatowski was unable to pass even the smallest reform. The
Zamoyski Code was rejected by the Sejm of 1780, and opposition attacks on the King dominated the Sejms of 1782 and 1786. Reforms became possible again in the late 1780s. In the context of the wars being waged against the Ottoman Empire by both the
Austrian Empire and the
Russian Empire, Poniatowski tried to draw Poland into the
Austro-Russian alliance, seeing a war with the Ottomans as an opportunity to strengthen the Commonwealth. Catherine gave permission for the next Sejm to be called, as she considered some form of limited military alliance with Poland against the Ottomans might be useful. The Polish-Russian alliance was not implemented, as in the end, the only acceptable compromise proved unattractive to both sides. However, in the ensuing Four-Year Sejm of 1788–1792 (known as the
Great Sejm), Poniatowski threw his lot in with the reformers associated with the
Patriotic Party of
Stanisław Małachowski,
Ignacy Potocki and
Hugo Kołłątaj, and co-authored the
Constitution of 3 May 1791. The Constitution introduced sweeping reforms. According to
Jacek Jędruch, the Constitution, despite its liberal provisions, "fell somewhere below the
French, above the
Canadian, and left the
General State Laws for the Prussian States (in German:
Allgemeines Landrecht für die Preußischen Staaten) far behind", but was "no match for the
American Constitution".
George Sanford notes that the Constitution gave Poland "a constitutional monarchy close to the British model of the time." According to a contemporary account, Poniatowski himself described it as "founded principally on those of England and the United States of America, but avoiding the faults and errors of both, and adapted as much as possible to the local and particular circumstances of the country." The Constitution of 3 May remained, to the end, a work in progress. A new
civil and
criminal code (provisionally called the "Stanisław Augustus Code") was among the proposals. Poniatowski also planned a reform to improve the situation of
Polish Jews. In foreign policy, spurned by Russia, Poland turned to another potential ally, the
Triple Alliance, represented on the Polish diplomatic scene primarily by the
Kingdom of Prussia, which led to the formation of the ultimately futile
Polish–Prussian alliance. The pro-Prussian shift was not supported by Poniatowski, who nevertheless acceded to the decision of the majority of Sejm deputies. The passing of the Constitution of 3 May, although officially applauded by
Frederick William II of Prussia, who sent a congratulatory note to Warsaw, caused further worry in Prussia. The contacts of Polish reformers with the revolutionary
French National Assembly were seen by Poland's neighbours as evidence of a conspiracy and a threat to their absolute monarchies. Prussian statesman
Ewald von Hertzberg expressed the fears of European conservatives: "The Poles have given the
coup de grâce to the Prussian monarchy by voting in a constitution", elaborating that a strong Commonwealth would likely demand the return of the lands Prussia acquired in the First Partition; a similar sentiment was later expressed by Prussian Foreign Minister, Count Friedrich Wilhelm von der
Schulenburg-Kehnert. Russia's wars with the Ottomans and
Sweden having ended, Catherine was furious over the adoption of the Constitution, which threatened Russian influence in Poland. One of Russia's chief foreign policy authors,
Alexander Bezborodko, upon learning of the Constitution, commented that "the worst possible news have arrived from Warsaw: the Polish king has become almost sovereign."
War in Defence of the Constitution and Fall of the Commonwealth :
Russian (purple and red),
Austrian (green),
Prussian (blue) Shortly thereafter, conservative Polish nobility formed the
Targowica Confederation to overthrow the Constitution, which they saw as a threat to the traditional freedoms and privileges they enjoyed. The confederates aligned themselves with Russia's Catherine the Great, and the Russian army entered Poland, marking the start of the
Polish–Russian War of 1792, also known as the War in Defence of the Constitution. The Sejm voted to increase the Polish Army to 100,000 men, but due to insufficient time and funds, this number was never achieved. Poniatowski and the reformers could field only a 37,000 man army, many of them untested recruits. This army, under the command of the King's nephew
Józef Poniatowski and
Tadeusz Kościuszko, managed to defeat the Russians or fight them to a draw on several occasions. Following the victorious
Battle of Zieleńce, in which Polish forces were commanded by his nephew, the King founded a new order, the
Order of Virtuti Militari, to reward Poles for exceptional military leadership and courage in combat. Despite Polish requests, Prussia refused to honour its alliance obligations. In the end, the numerical superiority of the Russians was too great, and defeat looked inevitable. Poniatowski's attempts at negotiations with Russia proved futile. In July 1792, when Warsaw was threatened with siege by the Russians, the king came to believe that surrender was the only alternative to total defeat. Having received assurances from Russian ambassador
Yakov Bulgakov that no territorial changes would occur, the
cabinet of ministers called the
Guard of Laws (or Guardians of Law, ) voted eight to four in favor of surrender. On 24 July 1792, Poniatowski joined the Targowica Confederation. The Polish Army disintegrated. Many reform leaders, believing their cause lost, went into self-exile, although they hoped that Poniatowski would be able to negotiate an acceptable compromise with the Russians, as he had done in the past. Poniatowski had not saved the Commonwealth, however. He and the reformers had lost much of their influence, both within the country and with Catherine. Neither were the Targowica Confederates victorious. To their surprise, there ensued the
Second Partition of Poland. With the new deputies bribed or intimidated by the Russian troops, the
Grodno Sejm took place. On 23 November 1793, it annulled all acts of the Great Sejm, including the Constitution. Faced with his powerlessness, Poniatowski once again considered abdication; in the meantime, he tried to salvage whatever reforms he could. == Final years ==