' The king, who is considered as the first magistrate in the Republic, derives all his authority from that of the nation, and if he should happen to abuse the power confided to him, and should refuse to conform to the compact made between the people and himself at his coronation, he would soon behold a potent confederacy formed against him for his deposition. He is incapable of making new laws, raising taxes, contracting alliances, or declaring war without the ratification of a diet; nor can he even marry without the permission of the States. Moreover, the prince is not authorised to coin money, since this prerogative is peculiar to the Republic. His revenues amount to no more than a million of livres, but he only defrays the expense of his table; all other charges are paid by the republic.
' The senate is composed of the clergy and the nobility, for the third state is not so much as known in Poland. The grand marshal, the marshal of the court, the chancellor, the vice-chancellor, and the treasurer, are the first senators. The kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania have alike all these officers.
'The grand marshal is the supreme judge of all disorders which at any time happen in the diets and the king's household. He imposes silence, and authorises freedom of speech in the National Assemblies. He introduces ambassadors, examines their dispatches, and assigns to them their apartments. He likewise determines the price of all merchandise whatsoever it may be.
' The marshal of the court, or the deputy-marshal, is his substitute, and discharges all his functions in his absence.
' The chancellor is intrusted with the seals of the kingdom, and even the sovereign cannot compel him to affix them to any decrees without the privity and approbation of the States. All civil affairs, and those which relate to the king's domain, are brought to his tribunal. He is charged with the preservation of the laws and the preservation of liberty. He in the diets returns answers to the ministers of foreign powers; and if he happens to be an ecclesiastic, he extends his inspection to the secretaries, the priests, and preachers at court.
'The jurisdiction of the vice-chancellor is exerted only in the absence of the grand chancellor, but he is in possession of seals as well as the other. These two great posts are held alternately by a spiritual and by a temporal lord.
' The money which belongs to the republic is deposited with the treasurer, who regulates the revenues; and he ought to assist in all contracts made by the king, which have no validity till they have been signed by this officer.
' Those who compose the senate, next in station to these ten prime officers of the kingdom and the Grand Duchy, are the bishops, the palatines, the castellans, and some starosts, who preserve there the rank annexed to the dignity of their bishoprics, palatinates, castellanies, and starosties.
'A palatine commands the troops of the particular province which is consigned to his Government; he is the president of the nobility of his palatinate, and his jurisdiction extends to civil and criminal affairs.
c The castellans are the lieutenants of the palatines; and the starosts, or captains, have much the same rank. But though the palatines generally precede the castellans and the starosts, yet the castellan of Cracow is, by a peculiar privilege, superior to the palatine of that city; and the starost, or captain general, of Samogitia, which is a vassal province of the Republic of Poland, takes place of several Polish and Lithuanian palatines.
' The clergy, who constitute the first order of men in the kingdom, are rich and powerful; they possess more than 200,000 towns, and several considerable cities. The power of the secular clergy, is, however, balanced by that of the monks, who invade the privileges of. the common pastors in a thousand instances with impunity, and cause themselves to be dreaded and respected, in consequence of the empire they have assumed over the minds of a credulous people.
' The gentry compose the second order, and they possess dignities and employments, as well in the kingdom as in the Grand Duchy, and in which they never permit strangers or the commonalty to have the least participation. They are privileged to elect their kings, and the senators have involved themselves in the greatest dangers whenever they have discovered an inclination to render themselves the masters of the election.