of the high powers who are mediators on the occafion; we imagine a clear but concise account of the nature and origin of them will not be unacceptable to many of our readers.

Poland, properly fo called, was originally circumfcribed within very narrow bounds; the inhabitants, between the 9th and 10th centuries, were converted to the Chriftian religion, as it was then profeffed by the church of Rome. About the fame time a converfion was begun in many of the neigh bouring provinces, which were then independant ftates, and who at different eras embraced the Chriftian religion according to the Greek mode of worship. In pro cefs of time many of thefe neighbouring ftates, by conqueft, by right of fucceffion, by marriage, or by compact, became united to the kingdom of Poland; upon all which acceffions the new provinces were upon an exact equality with the old in every respect, and each obferved their own particular modes of worship.

The greatest and most remark able of these acceffions, was that which took place upon the Anno marriage of Jagellon, great 1386. duke of Lithuania, to the daughter and heiress of Lewis king of Poland. By this marriage the great dutchy of Li. thuania, together with the provinces of White Ruffia, Podlachia, Volhinia, Podolia, and foon after wards Red Ruffia, became annex ed to the kingdom of Poland; with this diftinction, that the union between the kingdom and the great dutchy, depended only upon the continuance of the Jagellonic line; that family being the natural fove

reigns of Lithuania. The inhabitants of all these provinces were of the Greek religion, as well as thofe of Moldavia, Wallachia, and the Ukraine, which were added to the kingdom by the fuccef fors of Jagellon; fo that by these great acceffions, the members of the Greek church became at that time vastly fuperior, both în numbers and power, to thofe of the Roman Catholic perfuafion. 'It feemed a felicity peculiar to Poland, that this difference of opinion in religious matters, between the members of the fame nation, had produced none of those ill confequences, thofe animofities and disputes, which other countries had fo fatally experienced from the fame caufes.

It is to be obferved that the conftitution of Poland was originally very different from what it is at prefent. While her kings fucceeded to the kingdom by hereditary right, fhe had no share of that boafted liberty, which she has afpired to, fince by the extinction of the Jagellonic line, in the perfon of Sigifmund Anno Auguftus, he has affum- 1572. ed the form of a republic, and made the crown entirely elective. Under the kings of the Jagellonic, as well as the more antient races, the inferior nobility had no power; the prerogatives of royalty were almost the only legiflative power, and formed the code of laws. To give an exact idea, how much the liberty of the nobility was limited, it is fufficient to remark, that the fecurity of their perfons was not allowed them, but by a privilege from Jagellon, by which he promifed that no perfon fhould be imprisoned,

till he had been convicted of fome crime by a court of judicature.

Upon occafion of the difturbances which were caused by the Huffites, in Germany and Bohemia, Uladislaus Jagellon, who was brother-in-law to the Anno emperor Sigifmund, caufed 1424. fome fanguinary laws to be paffed in Poland, to prevent the introduction of these doctrines, confidered as herefies, into his dominions. At this period, and for many years after, the epif copal courts had great powers, which proved very uneafy to the Polifh nobility, and kept them in fome refpects in a kind of fervitude; as excommunications divefted them of the power of acting in the diets and dietines. grievance was at length removed, with great joy to the nation, though with no fmall difficulty, by that great prince Sigifmund Auguftus.

This

The reformation began very ear. ly to make a great progrefs in Poland, infomuch that the majority of the fenators and nobility became members, either of the Lutheran, or Reformed communions. We are to obferve, that the word Reformed in the writings upon this fubject, always fignifies the Calvinifts, in contradiftinction to thofe of the Lutheran profeffion. To prevent all the mifchiefs and dangers that might arife among the citizens on the score of religion, Sigifmund Auguftus paffed a law at the diet of Vilna, on the 16th of June, 1563, which law is ftill preferved among the archives of the fupreme tribunal of the grand dutchy of Lithuania; whereby it is declared, that all those of the equestrian and noble orders,

whether of Lithuanian or Ruffian extraction in every part of his domions, even though their ancestors had not gained the rights of nobility in the kingdom of Poland, fhall, provided that they profess the Chriftian religion, be entitled to, and enjoy, all the rights, privileges, and liberties, to which they are naturally intitled by their rank and nobility. Likewife, that they are to be admitted to the honours and dignities of the fenate and crown, and to all noble trufts; that they fhall be promoted, each according to his merit and dignity, to all dignities and confiderable trufts; and no one shall be excluded from them for the fake of religion, provided he be a Chriftian,

The fame prince, five years af. terwards, at the diet of Grodno, in 1568, granted letters of confirma. tion on the fame fubject, wherein the fame articles are recited word for word; and to prevent the conftruction in their own favour, which fome prevailing denomination of Chriftians, in prejudice to the reft, might put upon the words-provided he be a Chriftian, he made ufe in the letters of confirmation of the following memorable ones,

of whatever Chriftian communion or confeffion foever he be.

It is to be remarked with attention, as an observation upon which much of the knowledge of the fubject depends, that these conceffions and declarations are stated to have been made during the great tranfaction of an union between the kingdom of Poland and the great dutchy of Lithuania. This was the greateft and moft confequential event, with refpect to the two nations, that ever happened, and was happily accomplished by this prince; fo

that

that these conceffions are with juftice to be regarded not only as faws, but as parts of the great fundamental compact, upon which the union of the two nations depended. That they were then regarded as fuch, is evident from their being included among the other general and particular privileges, which were granted during that tranfaction, and afterwards received an equal confirmation at the diet of union, held at Lublin under the fame prince in the year 1569, by which the grand dutchy of Lithuania was for ever united to the crown "of Poland.

Upon the death of Sigifmund Auguftus, the Polifh conftitution was entirely changed, and the nation affumed the form of a republic. His grandfather, Cafimir the third, was the first who convened the nobility, in order to oblige them to accept the new impofitions. Sigifmund and his father ufed the fame method; but after his death the whole legislative authority fell into the hands of the nobility..

At this period it is afferted, that the Roman Catholics in the king"dom did not bear a proportion in number to the Greeks and Reformed, of more than one to feven. The Grand Marthal Firley, who convened the first diet of the republic, that diet which formed its present model, and made the crown elective, was a Proteftant. A perpetual peace betwixt the Greeks, the Roman Catholics, and the Proteftants, was therein eftablish ed, as a fundamental law of the republic. The wars in Germany under Charles the Vth, and in France under Catharine de Medicis, made them fenfible of the neceflity they were under of tolerat

The Catholics

ing each other. are faid to have been by far the weakest, and thought themselves happy in the conceffion made to them, that the ecclefiaftical property and revenues of Catholics fhould not be given to any but the members of their own communion, in the fame manner as those appertaining to Greeks were to be bestowed on Greeks only, They promised to each other mutual defence and affection, and that a difference in religion fhould never prove the caufe of civil diffenfion, unanimoufly refolving to make an example of that perfon, who under fuch a pretext should excite difturbance.

As this law has been repeated in all the public acts, conftitutions, and pacta conventa, from that time to the prefent, it cannot but be allowed to be a fundamental one; nor can any other law be produced, whofe fanction has been more folemnly, more constantly, and more frequently repeated. However, when the Roman Catholics, after the death of Sigifmund the third, had gained an evident fuperiority, though they did not think proper openly to controvert it, yet they fhewed a difpofition, when opportunity was fa vourable, to infringe it, by placing under their fignatures, faluis juribus ecclefia Romana Catholica, faving the rights of the Roman Catholic church; whereupon the Diffidents, by way of reprifal, wrote under their fignatures, falva pace inter Diffidentes, faving the peace amongst the Diffidents,

It appears from the infancy of the republic, that the term Diff dents equally comprehended the Greeks, Catholics, Reformed, and

Luthe

Lutherans. The words of that famous conftitution which we have just mentioned, and which was 'paffed by the diet which formed the republic in the year 1573, are, Nos qui fumus Diffidentes in religione, i. e. We who differ in religious matters. In the fame conftitution, it is declared, that they 'will acknowledge no man for king or mafter" that fhall not confirm by oath all the rights, privi-leges, and liberties, which they now enjoy, and which are to be laid before him after the election. Particularly, he fhall be bound to fwear, that he will maintain the peace among the Diffidents in points of religion." In the conftitutions of the fame diet, are the following remarkable ftipulations: "We all engage, in our own names, and in the names of our fucceffors for ever, by the obligations of our oath, of our faith, of our honour, and of our confciences, to preserve peace among us who are Diffidents in religion; to fhed no blood, nor to inflict on any one the penalties of confifcacation of goods, defamation, imprisonment, or exile, on account of the difference of our faith, and rites in our churches. More than that, if any one fhould undertake, for the above reafon, to fhed the blood of his fellow-citizens, we should be all obliged to oppose him, even though he should fhelter himself under the pretext of a decree, or any other judicial proceeding."

It would not be eafy to produce inftances of equal moderation in matters of religion, amongst a peo ple who differed fo widely in their opinions on that head, as thefe we have fhewn; especially if it be

confidered that these conftitutions were passed by a fierce and watlike nobility, each of whom was not only a member of the general fovereignty, which they had just taken into their own hands; but also looked upon himself in his own particular right, as in some degree a fovereign, as far as his eftate and power extended. We fhall pay the greater regard to the memory of thofe illuftrious Poles, if we reflect that the age they lived in was far from being a temperate one, and that moderation was but little cultivated in the most civi lized and beft regulated governments in Europe; at the fame time it cannot be fufficiently lamented that their pofterity fhould fo fatally lofe fight of the politic, humane, and noble precedent, that was fet them by their fathers.

con

Those who have not fidered that perverfe difpofition, by which almost every denomination of mankind would endeavour to plunder, enflave, and perfecute every other part of their own fpecies; and who have not obferved that words can always be found, when attended with power, to explain away the most explicit fenfe, and the most indubitable rights; may well be furprised how a law, fo folemnly paffed, and fo ufeful to the whole community, could be rendered fruitlefs. A law fanctified by the most folemn acts, which the framers bound themselves and their pofterity by the most facred oaths to preferve inviolate to all futurity, which formed a principal part of the conftitution of the ftate, and which every king at his acceffion was fworn to obferve. Yet this law, without any material change, much lefs a fubverfion of

the