A century of confederations

The 18th century is considered to be a classical century of the associations of the nobles – confederations – in the history of the Polish and Lithuanian State – the Commonwealth of the Two Nations. During the period of noble democracy and anarchy of the magnates it was only after the nobility united into a confederation that the liberum veto rulebecame null and void. Therefore the confederation enabled the decisions to be taken by the majority of votes. The types of confederations (rokosz, general, palatinate, military, sejm-type) were determined by the form of its formation, and its relations to the King and the extent of its spread.

Savers and destroyers of the state

Confederation was a frequent phenomenon under the rule of Stanislovas Augustas Poniatovskis (Stanisław August Poniatowski) (1764–1795). In the course of nearly 31 years of the rule of Stanisław August Poniatowski as many as 10 Sejm-type and non-Sejm-type confederations were created. It was the 1764 confederation that brought Stanisław August Poniatowski to the throne, and in 1767, with Russia’s inspiration, two more confederations of dissidents (Christians non-Catholics) were formed: a confederation of the Protestants of Torun and that of the Old Believers of Sluck, which demanded that political rights should be granted to the dissidents. On 23 June 1767, in Radom, under the leadership of Karol Radziwiłł “Panie Kochanku”,a general confederation was announced, which united local noble associations directed against Stanisław August and the reforms of state governance.

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In the course of nearly 31 years of the rule of Stanisław August Poniatowski as many as 10 Sejm-type and non-Sejm-type confederations were created.

In 1768–1772, the country was involved in a wide Bar confederation movement, which put forward the idea of bringing back the old order and was clearly orientated against Russia’s interference with the internal affairs of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations. For the purpose of legalising the first partition, prior to the 1773 Sejm, a confederation headed by Adam Poniński was formed, which operated until 1775. In 1776, also prior to the Sejm, a confederation that was not based on any particular confederations, was formed in the apartments of the Bishop of Polock Mykolas Jurgis Poniatovskis (Michał Jerzy Poniatowski), and the manifesto (the founding act) was signed by the King, senators and envoys. On 7 October 1788, on the second day of work of the Four-Year Sejm, a sejm-type confederation was formed, which operated until 29 May 1792 and created the possibilities to adopt the laws reforming the state governance and the Constitution of 3 May 1791 by the majority of votes.

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The last Sejm-type confederation of Grodno in the history of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations terminated its work on 23 November 1793.

However, in the summer of 1792, the Targovica conservative association of the nobles supported by the Russian army blocked the way to the reforms. On 11 September 1792, the confederation joined the Polish and Lithuanians associations of the nobles into a general confederation of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations. On 15 September 1793, the act on the dissolution of the Targovica Confederation and the formation of a new confederation of Grodno was signed at the Grodno Sejm. The last Sejm-type confederation of Grodno in the history of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations terminated its work on 23 November 1793.

Models of joining “from above” and “from below”

The principle that the general union of the nobles, which tried to cover the entire Commonwealth of the Two Nations, could be made up only when the confederations of palatinates were in existence and the manifesto (act) of the general confederation must be adopted exclusively at the meeting of the nobles representing the local associations dominated in self-awareness of the noble society of the Polish-Lithuanian State. This ideal or republican model of forming a general confederation was not always followed in a real political life. In the 18th century, alongside the unions of the nobles, which were based at least on a part of confederations of palatinates, confederations that had no support of the union of the local nobility were formed from above.

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The choice of one or another model of forming a confederation was determined by a political situation within the country and the external circumstances.

The choice of one or another model of forming a confederation was determined by a political situation within the country and the external circumstances. If in the time of August II nearly all general confederations were based more or less on the confederation movement that was wide-spread in palatinates, in organising the Bar confederation both models of the formation of the union of the nobles were brought to light. Refusal of the traditional attitudes to a confederation is obvious in the formation of the 1773 Warsaw confederation, when a general confederation was created by the representatives of districts and the senators before the beginning of the work of the Sejm.

Unity of the confederates of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations

The creation and the activities of confederations reveal the dual nature of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations that survived until the ruin of the state in 1795. All the general confederations that were created separately in Poland and Lithuania in the second half of the 18th century united into a general confederation of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations, thus repeating “the determination of the Poles and the Lithuanians to create jointly a single fighting Commonwealth”. The renewal of the union at the time of a confederation was necessary because, on the basis of the ideology of the formation of a confederation, in 1569, the Sejms of the Crown and Lithuania in Lublin were joined into a single general Sejm; with the situation in the country being special and with each nation uniting into a confederation of its own free will it meant “a return to a natural condition that existed before the Union of Lublin”. Therefore, according to the Bar confederate Kazimieras Pulaskis (Kazimierz Pułaski), “during the confederation each nation had to confirm anew that it wanted to create a joint commonwealth with another nation.”

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All the general confederations that were created separately in Poland and Lithuania in the second half of the 18th century united into a general confederation of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations, thus repeating “the determination of the Poles and the Lithuanians to create jointly a single fighting Commonwealth”.

Both the Bar confederation that went against the ambitions of Stanislaw August’s group to reform the state at the beginning of his rule and the Targovica confederation that brought about the state’s sunset was a classical example of the functioning of the association of the nobles, and the binomial structure of the Commonwealth of the wo Nations was especially pronounced in their activity.

Ramunė Šmigelskytė-Stukienė