the blessings of a limited monarchy, and an equitable code of laws. Louis of Hungary, dying about the year 1382, left the crown of Poland, with the consent of the nobles, to his daughter Hedwige of Anjou, who was crowned in 1384. This young and handsome princess had been affianced to William, Prince of Austria; but believing that it would be more for the interests of her kingdom and nation, she gave her hand to Jagellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania, who was soon after known by the title of Vladimir II.; and thus the Duchy of Lithuania, which had been wrested from Poland by the Teutonic Knights, was again united to it. Upon the death of Hedwige, Jagellon would have retired from the sovereignty, but so satisfied were the nobles with his wise and upright conduct, and of the benefits he had conferred on the nation, that they unanimously elected him to the vacant throne. This prince reduced still more the power of the Teutonic Knights, and contributed further to the consolidation of the kingdom, by the promulgation of a new code of laws, one of which ordained that no citizen should be imprisoned until he had been examined and proved guilty by a magistrate. After a reign of fifty years, distinguished as much by wisdom in council, as by bravery and prudence in the field, he died in 1434, having previously procured his son to be acknowledged as his successor. During his reign, the Romish and Greek Churches were united in Poland, and the Russian boyars were admitted to the privileges of Polish nobility. Vladislaus III. ascended the throne in 1434, and followed in the steps of his father; but having engaged in a war with the Turks, he was killed in battle at Varna, in 1444, being then only twenty-one years of age. Soon after his death, considerable accessions of territory accrued to the crown of Poland, partly by purchase and partly by cession. Thus, the inhabitants of the territories of Dantzic and Prussian Konigsberg, growing weary of the iron yoke of the Teutonic Knights, placed themselves under the protection of the crown of Poland, then held by Casimir. The war which ensued, and which terminated in 1466, by the peace of Thorn, greatly circumscribed the power of the order, and contracted their sway to the remainder of Prussia Proper, for which, too, their grand master was compelled to do homage to the king of Poland. pros The peace of Thorn was followed by a series of years of perity, such as Poland had never before enjoyed. Commerce, agriculture, education, and science flourished exceedingly, and the lowest of the people had easy access to literary honours. Many such rose to eminence as poets, historians, and in other branches of polite literature. Kromer, the Prince Bishop of Warmy, who was styled the modern Titus Livius, was a peasant's son; and Janizki, whose Latin poetry was celebrated throughout Europe, and Dantiscus, were the sons of men in humble life. The political condition of the country was equally beneficial to the people with their social state. The legislative diets, which became more frequent, applied themselves to the adoption of measures for the extension of freedom. It was decreed, that the king could not declare war without the consent of the senate, which was the king's council, and was composed of the first nobility and chief magistrates. In 1468, the diets, which had previously been convoked by royal edict, were rendered elective, each district choosing its own deputies to represent them, upon the same principle as the English parliament. These were called "territorial deputies," and they received their instructions from their constituents, from which they had no liberty to depart, but were bound to render an account of their proceedings. To enforce this dietine, ante-committees, for receiving instruction, and post-committees, for rendering their account, were appointed, so that in all respects the power of the parliament was strictly vested in the hands of the people. All the nobility were admitted to civil rights, and rendered equal in the eye of the law; aristocratic distinctions were abolished, and the titles of prince, baron, count, &c., were no longer recognized. However palatable this change might be to the common people, and even to the lower order of nobles, the higher were a good deal scandalized by it, and attempted, in vain, to oppose it at the time. Subsequently, however, they gained their point. Although the Lithuanians had been allied to Poland, by the marriage of Hedwige with Jagellon, their nobles were jealous of the power being lodged in the hands of the people, as well as of the extension of the Polish territory, and they sought the protection of the empire. In 1452 they commenced hostilities, and invaded several of the Russo-Polish provinces, and their pretensions were rather encouraged than checked by Casimir, who had been brought up amongst them. They continued their machinations unchecked until they had erected the principality into a grand duchy. This disunion, however, was productive of so much misery to both parties, that towards the close of the fifteenth century the Lithua nians, finding themselves deceived by the emperor and other allies, who had left them to the mercy of their enemies, sent a deputation to the Polish court, headed by Tabor, Bishop of Wilna, who, in the name of his country swore that it should in future own no other master than the king of Poland. It was in the reign of John Albert, that courts of justice were first instituted in Poland, the king being previously the supreme judge; but he now reserved to himself only the right of nominating the judge, out of four candidates proposed by the palatinates. The right of appeal was reserved to the king. The people at large, however, were excluded from these advantages, and were by degrees reduced to a state of vassalage, by the increasing power of the nobles. The prosperity of Poland continued unchecked through the reigns of Alexander and Sigismund; and the latter had the additional good fortune of making peace with the Turks and Russians, and of calming the internal discord that had prevailed in former reigns. Commerce and the arts flourished, and the Polish language was cultivated instead of the Latin, which was hitherto exclusively used in literature. The latter years of Sigismund were embittered by dissensions instigated by his wife, an ambitious and intriguing woman; and he died soon after a revolt of the nobles, who now had usurped the power of the diets, by excluding the deputies of the cities and boroughs, and coercing the electors in their own districts. Sigismund Augustus, the last of the Jagellon dynasty, ascended the throne in 1548. He married Barbara Radzivill, widow of Gastold, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, which was violently opposed by his mother and the nobles. He managed, however, to quell the opposition; and his wife dying soon after, his mother retired into Italy, carrying with her immense treasure, which, after her death, was seized by the King of Spain, and was never refunded. At this period all Europe was agitated by religious dissensions; but Sigismond happily preserved his kingdom from being involved, and it became the asylum of those who were persecuted on account of their religious opinions. Many learned men took refuge there, which greatly advanced the prosperity of the university of Crakow. Schools were established everywhere, and were no longer under the exclusive direction of the clergy, and a host of literary men sprung up as historians, mathematicians, poets, &c. Eighty-three cities possessed printing-presses, and at Crakow there were fifty, and all books were printed in the Polish language. For the better consolidation of the kingdom, Augustus exerted all his power to complete the union of Poland and Lithuania, and bring the latter more directly under the Polish crown. By degrees he prevailed upon the princes and nobles to fall in with the measure; and the death of Radzivill, the chief opponent of it, removed all obstacles, so that at a general diet held at Lubin, in 1569, the two countries were unanimously proclaimed one republic, governed thenceforth, by the same monarch, to be elected in common by the two nations. The diets were to assemble at Warsaw, which was constituted the capital, being situated in the centre of the two countries, but, as belonging to Masovia, was neither Polish nor Lithuanian. The latter end of the life of this politic prince, was clouded with a return to the vices and follies of youth, for which no excuse could be found. Surrounded by profligate associates in his castle of Kneyszyn, he lived a debauched life, dissipated his treasures, ruined his health, and at length died in 1572, in such abject poverty, as to leave scarcely enough to pay for his burial, in a manner befitting that of a king. With Augustus the Jagellon family became extinct; and after an interregnum of a year, a general diet was convoked to proceed to the election of a new sovereign. On this occasion, all the nobles of the empire assembled, under arms, at Warsaw. An elegant and spacious tent was erected for the senate and the foreign ́ambassadors, round which the nobles formed a circle on horseback, whilst the momentous question was discussed within it. The names of the candidates were proclaimed by the senators to their several palatinates: they were Ernest of Austria, and Henry Duke of Anjou, son of Catherine of Medicis, and this latter was elected, and proclaimed King of Poland, by the regent-primate; a deputation was sent to Paris, where Henry swore to observe the laws of the realm, and proceeded to Poland to take possession of the throne; but he had not got further than Crakow, when, learning the death of Charles IX., his elder brother, he precipitately returned to Paris, more like a fugitive fleeing from justice, than a king abandoning a throne. Another short interregnum took place; but in 1576, Stephen Battory, Duke of Transylvania, was unanimously elected by the nobles, in spite of the efforts of the Primate Archbishop Ucharski, to procure the return of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria. Battory reigned with great energy and success ten years, and administered justice with impartiality. He had, however, a design to render the crown hereditary, instead of elective, in order to break down the power of the nobles; but having convoked a diet, with the ostensible design of declaring war against the Muscovites, an army was decreed and assembled, and he was on the point of carrying his design upon the nobles with force of arms, when death put an end to his career, which would probably have deluged Poland with blood, had he lived to prosecute his projects. With him, too, expired the power and prosperity of Poland; and although she prosecuted war, with alternations of brilliant success and disastrous defeat, the internal anarchy and discord that prevailed were too strong for the weak and imbecile princes who subsequently filled the throne. These yielded to the different factions one after another of the prerogatives of the crown, and by thus weakening the source of the executive power, without substituting suitable laws to replace them, the foundation was laid for that spoliation which blotted Poland from the list of nations. Other circumstances and events, however, concurred to produce this result, which, although we may deplore it, was but the decree of that retributive Providence, which visits alike upon nations and individuals the crimes against society of which they have been the perpetrators. These causes and their effects we shall make the subject of future papers. [To be continued.] THERE's discontent from sceptre to the swain, ALEX. NICCHOLES. THE real object of education is to give children resources that will endure as long as life endures; habits that will ameliorate, not destroy; occupations that will render sickness tolerable; solitude, pleasant; age, venerable; life, more dignified and useful; and death, less terrible.-REV. SIDNEY SMITH. |