This transformation is gradual and is taking effect slowly. There is no need to decide first about war and conscription, which was reserved to the nobility under the Nieszawa statute. Wages were given for the war, which resulted in consent to military plans; but the amount of salaries was determined by the assemblies; from the Silent Sejm onwards, these salaries were obligatory, and their amount was constant and subject to only slight fluctuations. Under Stanisław August, the Sejm stood above the sejmiks, freed itself from their power and directed its attention to bodies called boni ordinis commissions; under the management of the same Sejm, they became assistants in the government of state provinces, voivodeships, and lands. Just like in the past, assemblies, today the boni ordinis commissions elect their own officials, but they no longer deal with state affairs, but with land affairs, and become organs of land self-government.
Review of the content of the acts of these assemblies and especially these commissions; just looking at the subject index will easily indicate that the assemblies are relegated to bodies that deliberate on matters of land self-government. Another thing is that while these bodies were deliberating on the extermination of domestic robbers, foreign attackers partitioned the homeland....
II.
Confederations. Characteristics of the first confederation. Second confederation and manifestos against it. Confederation in the camp. Death of the marshal. Duktor and the protests against him. Fighting in the camp with protests and demonstrations. Mutual accusations of the parties. Incompetence in supporting King Stanisław. Pernicious influence of the Saxons and Muscovites.
The decline of the sejmik life is reflected in the fate of the confederation of the Ruthenian Voivodeship. We have four of them in this volume: the confederation of the Ruthenian Voivodeship in Wisznia on March 20, 1733, established after the demise of Augustus II; of December 10, 1733 under King Stanisław, of February 6, 1764 confederation after the demise of Augustus III; then the Wisznia Confederation of February 27, 1764, and finally the Bar Confederation, which was joined by an act established in Wisznia on May 30, 1769. A number of letters revolve around these acts of confederation, explaining their course in the voivodeship and the relationship of the land to the confederation. The course of the first confederation, from its beginning until the pacification sejm in September 1735, is explained in the most detailed documents. Established in Wisznia on March 20, 1733, it did not differ from the confederation established at the Warsaw Convocation of May 23 this year, and indeed was a model for the Warsaw one. In the first case, it was stipulated that only the Pole in vestitu polono should be targeted; and anyone who dares to promote someone else will be considered an enemy of the country. Foreigners were excluded from competing for the Polish crown, and the crown army was ordered to keep watch on the beds. Dissidents were cut off from all privileges. Just like the senators and the entire Commonwealth, the crown army was divided within itself, the voivodeship was moving away from Poland, and we have proof of this in the Wissen Resolution; it called for the marshal of the Wisze Confederation to lead the nobility to the election field, which, as the primate aptly pointed out, looked like the voivodeship's separation from the Republic of Poland. This is what the Primate expressed
Preface XVII
hope that the marshal of the Russian Confederation, Siemieński, whom he wished to move to the voivodship chair, would alleviate this breach in the borderland confederation, because he added that so far voivodes and castellans have always led the nobility. Following the primate's wish, the Wiszno sejmik of July 16 resolved that the lands of Lviv, Przemyśl and Sanok should stand for election under their castellans, and the entire general, the voivode, Fr. August Czartoryski led the field of elections. There was a fear that foreign troops would be introduced under the guise of liberum veto, and it was decided to punish anyone who led foreign troops or agitated for them, even if he was a priest. The Marshal was authorized to thank the Primate for his efforts on the electoral field, and now to express his thanks by letter. There were attempts to break up the assembly of July 16 and introduce a liberum veto, but the voivode, as the protest of August 9 shows, ordered the protesters to be dispersed by the army as tumultuous people. The nobility protested both against the resolutions of the Wisła sejmik and against the voivode's violent orders, declaring that they stood by their Wisła confederation, which was to last until the coronation of the elect.