onal assembly was dissolved by the _veto_, the
laws were disregarded, and brute force prevailed on every side. The
miserable peasants in vain besought the protection of their brutal yet
powerless lords. Bands of robbers infested the roads, and hunger
invaded the cottages. The country rapidly declined in wealth,
population, and public spirit.

Under the reign of Stanislaus II., who succeeded Frederic
Augustus II., in 1764, the ambassadors of Prussia, Austria, and
Russia, informed the miserable king that, in order to prevent further
bloodshed, and restore peace to Poland, the three powers had
determined to insist upon their claims to some of the provinces of the
kingdom. This barefaced and iniquitous scheme for the dismemberment of
Poland originated with Frederic the Great. So soon as the close of the
Seven Years' War allowed him repose, he turned his eyes to Poland,
with a view of seizing one of her richest provinces. Territories
inhabited by four million eight hundred thousand people, were divided
between Frederic, Maria Theresa, and Catharine II. There were no
scruples of conscience in the breast of Frederic, or of Catharine, a
woman of masculine energy, but disgraceful morals. The conscience of
Maria Theresa, however, long resisted. "The fear of hell," said she,
"restrains me from seizing another's possessions;" but sophistry was
brought to bear upon her mind, and the lust of dominion asserted its
powerful sway. This crime was regarded with detestation by the other
powers of Europe; but they were too much occupied with their own
troubles to interfere, except by expostulation. England was disturbed
by difficulties in the colonies, and France was distracted by
revolutionary tumults.

[Sidenote: The Liberum Veto.]

Stanislaus, robbed of one third of his dominions, now directed his
attention to those reforms which had been so long imperatively needed.
He intrusted to the celebrated Zamoyski the task of revising the
constitution. The patriotic chancellor recommended the abolition of
the "liberum veto," a fatal privilege, by which any one of the armed
equestrians, who assembled on the plain of Praga to elect a king, or
deliberate on state affairs, had power to nullify the most important
acts, and even to dissolve the assembly. A single word, pronounced in
the vehemence of domestic strife, or by the influence of external
corruption, could plunge the nation into a lethargic sleep. And
faction went so far as often to lead