Targowica Confederation
gigatos | June 11, 2022
Summary
Targowicka Confederation – a conspiracy of magnates formed on the night of May 18-19, 1792 in Targowica (actually April 27, 1792 in St. Petersburg), at the request and under the patronage of Empress Catherine II of Russia, directed against the reforms of the Four-Year Sejm and the Constitution of May 3, considered a symbol of national treason.
After the adoption of the first constitution by the Four-Year Sejm on May 3, 1791, a part of the influential magnates did not intend to submit to the laws established by this constitution and on May 14, 1792 formed a confederation in the small town of Targowica in the borderlands in order to overthrow it. In fact, the conspiracy was formed on April 27, 1792 in St. Petersburg under the patronage of Empress Catherine II, who had acted as guarantor of the Republic”s system since 1768. The text of the act of confederation was edited by the Russian general Vasilij Popov, the head of the chancellery of prince Grigory Potemkin. It was attended by magnates: general of the crown artillery Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki as marshal of the crown confederation, great hetman of the crown Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, field hetman of the crown Seweryn Rzewuski, general Szymon Marcin Kossakowski and others. The publicist Dyzma Bończa-Tomaszewski became the secretary of the confederation. They strove to divide the country into independent provinces. They asked for military help from the Empress of Russia, which they received, and on May 18, 1792 a 100-thousand-strong Russian army struck the Republic – the Polish-Russian War began.
According to some assessments (e.g. Wojciech Stanek) it was a reaction of the opposition to the constitutional coup d”état and the reforms of the Warsaw Revolutionary Sejm. The signatories of the Targowica Confederation act were to accuse the authors of the 3rd of May Constitution: “Never before has the art of deception been so evident in our country as it has been in recent times. Only partially, where it was possible, the edifice of the Republic was undermined, things were prepared in order to suddenly overturn it.
The war also called the war in defense of the May 3rd Constitution took place after the Russian army entered Poland, after the confederates of the Targowicki Confederation turned to Russia for help. Despite the victories won by the Polish side at Zieleńce and Dubienka, the Russians reached the Vistula River, which prompted king Stanislaw August Poniatowski to join the Targowicki Confederation and issue an order to cease further fighting.
By order of the king, issued on July 25, the army of the Republic of Poland ceased hostilities, and commanders, including Prince Józef Poniatowski and General Tadeusz Kościuszko, resigned in protest. Many officers and civilian oppositionists went into exile, mainly to Saxony. This way was done, among others, by the declared opponents of the Targowicki Confederation, Speaker of the Sejm Stanisław Małachowski and Ignacy Potocki.
The formally undeclared Russian-Polish war lasted from May 16 to July 26, 1792. After the premature capitulation of the Polish army in consequence of the king”s accession to the Targowicki Confederation, the Targowickians with the help of Russian troops occupied all provinces of the Republic of Poland, liquidating the organs of power appointed by the Four-Year Sejm.
After the Russian army occupied the Lithuanian lands, a general confederation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was proclaimed in Vilnius on 25 June 1792, largely complementary to the crown confederation. The Marshal of the Lithuanian confederation was appointed the Grand Chancellor of Lithuania Alexander Michał Sapieha, and his deputy was the Grand Hunter of Lithuania Józef Zabiełło. In fact, the actual power over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was exercised by the self-proclaimed Field Hetman of Lithuania Szymon Marcin Kossakowski and his brother, the Bishop of Livonia Józef Kazimierz, who directed the actions of his nephew Józef Dominik, who replaced Sapieha, who was absent from the country. The targowicki authorities, taking advantage of the protection of the Russian army, carried out many acts of personal revenge against the nobility and the bourgeoisie, who in majority supported the work of the May 3rd Constitution. Villages and towns belonging to patriots were burned, sequestration was imposed on their property, and they themselves were often publicly insulted. These actions were usually an opportunity for personal enrichment at the expense of the victims and the Republic, for example, Bishop Kossakowski illegally seized treasury goods to the amount of 900,000 Polish zlotys. The Lithuanian Confederation established a different rate of exchange of the Russian ruble against the Polish zloty than in the Crown, 1 ruble = 6 Polish zlotys, in Lithuania 1 ruble = 6 zlotys and 20 groszy. This resulted in cheaper goods exported to Russia or bought by the Russian army on the territory of the Republic.
Deprived of military help from his Prussian ally and blackmailed by the prospect of bankruptcy if the Russians demanded repayment of the sums lent to him, Stanisław August Poniatowski turned to Catherine II, offering her a perpetual alliance and his possible abdication in favour of the empress”s grandson, Konstanty. In response, Catherine II maintained her support for the Targowice confederates and demanded that the king join the Targowice confederation. The nunciature also exerted pressure on the king, convincing him to join the Targowickians, in accordance with the position of the pope.
Faced with such a position of the empress and the nunciature, the king decided to stop fighting and joined the Targowicki Confederation. He declared his accession to it on July 24, 1792. He saw his decision as “the most effective means to secure the whole country and the fate of the Republic”. Stanisław August Poniatowski had already secretly negotiated the terms of the cessation of hostilities with the Russian deputy remaining in Warsaw, Yakov Bulgakov, through the intermediary of the Lithuanian sub-chancellor Joachim Litawor Chreptowicz. Following the new instructions of the Vice-Chancellor of the Russian Empire Ivan Ostermann, the Russian deputy edited the final version of the act of the king”s accession to the Targowicki Confederation, which was presented to him.
The king, complying with the demand of the St. Petersburg court, did not convene the Guard of Rights, the constitutional body of the state, but presented his decision at a meeting of the ministers of the Republic on July 23, 1792. The meeting was attended by: Primate Michał Jerzy Poniatowski, Grand Marshal of the Crown Michał Jerzy Mniszech, Grand Marshal of Lithuania Ignacy Potocki, Grand Marshal of Lithuania Stanisław Sołtan, Grand Treasurer of Lithuania Ludwik Tyszkiewicz, Grand Treasurer of Lithuania Antoni Dziekoński, court treasurer of the Crown Tomasz Adam Ostrowski, great chancellor of the Crown Jacek Małachowski, subchancellor of the Crown Hugo Kołłątaj, subchancellor of Lithuania Joachim Litawor Chreptowicz, marshals of the Sejm Stanisław Małachowski and Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha, and Duke Kazimierz Poniatowski.
The king”s intention was approved by a small majority of votes (7:5). The king was supported by Hugo Kołłątaj; Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha, who initially belonged to the hetman”s camp, was a supporter of further struggle. On July 24 Stanislaus Augustus submitted to the Russian deputy Yakov Bulgakov accession to the Targowicki Confederation demanded by Catherine II.
At the request of Catherine II, on September 6, 1792 in Brest-on-the-Bug (Brzesc-on-the-Bug) began the general sessions of both confederations – the Crown Confederation and the Lithuanian Confederation. On September 11 both confederations were solemnly united under the name of the Most Excellent Confederation of Both Nations. This act was blessed by the former auxiliary bishop of Przemysl, Michal Sierakowski, who was present at the ceremony. Pope Pius VI issued a special blessing for the work of the Targowica Confederation. Michał Jerzy Poniatowski, Primate of Poland, Wojciech Józef Skarszewski, bishop of Chełm, Jan Stefan Giedroyć, bishop of Samogitia, Antoni Onufry Okęcki, bishop of Poznań, Adam Tadeusz Naruszewicz, bishop of Łuck and bishop of Vilnius Ignacy Jakub Massalski were keen supporters of the confederation.
It began work on eliminating the effects of political changes introduced by the Constitution of May 3. All of the decisions of the Four-Year Sejm pertaining to the reform of the army were deregulated. Diplomatic relations with France were severed, its deputy Marie Louis Descorches was expelled, and all diplomatic representatives of the Republic at foreign courts were recalled. It was also decided that a special tribute delegation would be sent to St. Petersburg to thank Catherine II for her armed intervention and to propose a perpetual alliance between Russia and Poland. The targowicki authorities, supported by the presence of the Russian army, forced the army and the Polish nobility to join the general confederation under duress; they also forbade the public wearing of the Order of Virtuti Militari and using symbols related to the 3rd of May Constitution.
The Brest congress was closed on September 27, deciding to move the general assembly to Grodno.
The Targowica Confederation established a reign of terror in the Republic of Poland, with the help of the Russian army, carrying out numerous plunders and contributions to the wealth of the patriots. The country, ruined by war, had to additionally bear the financial consequences of the stay of the Russian occupation army of 100 thousand people. The measure of the defeat of the haggislators was a solemn message of the leaders of the confederacy to Catherine II on November 14, 1792, who thanked her for her willingness to restore freedom and a republican system in Poland. Not concealing their loyal feelings for the Empress of Russia, Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, Seweryn Rzewuski, Szymon Kossakowski expressed their joy that when despotism took the Polish throne, God and Catherine looked upon the unfortunate nation.
On 23 January Russia signed a treaty of partition with Prussia, in which it agreed to give Prussia the western provinces of the Republic. Soon a corps of Prussian troops entered the borders of the Polish state in order to enforce the provisions of this treaty.This turn of events ultimately discredited the leaders of the Targowicki confederation, who, while they reckoned with the possibility of annexation of the eastern lands of the Republic by Russia, were convinced that Catherine II would leave intact the remaining territory as a Russian protectorate.
Russia once again decided to take advantage of the false patriotic fervor of the haggling people, when the Russian deputy Jakob Sievers allowed the confederate general to issue a manifesto on February 3, 1793 protesting against Prussian aggression and occupation. On February 11 the generalate issued a universal decree, convening a mass mobilization, but was forced to reverse its decision as a result of persuasion by Catherine II. Some of the leaders of the Targowica Confederation left the country at that time.
In order to approve the partition treaties, Catherine II convened the Grodno Sejm on June 17, 1793. Assisted by Russian troops, the regional assemblies held on May 29 elected deputies recommended by the Targowicki Confederation authorities almost everywhere.
On August 22 the deputies of the Sejm signed a cession treaty with Russia, in which the Republic of Poland ceded a quarter of a million square kilometers of its territory.While the treaty with Russia was approved after a month of deliberations, the deputies did not even want to hear about the agreement with Prussia. The Russians then aimed cannons at the Grodno castle and after a night of silence, on the morning of September 2, the cession to Prussia was approved.
On September 15, 1793 the Russians dissolved the Targowica Confederation, which they no longer needed for anything, and in addition, since the February events, they could not be sure of the full loyalty of its members.
It was replaced by the Grodno Confederation, which was to draw up a new treaty of perpetual friendship between the Republic and Russia.
The Grodno Sejm, sitting under the dictates of a Russian deputy, approved the partition treaties on September 24 and set about restoring the political system of the Republic before the reforms of the May 3 Constitution. Among other things, it annulled a large number of sancits (resolutions) of the general confederation of Targowitz.
Most of the top leaders of the Targowicki Confederation were sentenced to death and hanged during the Kościuszko Uprising.
After the insurgents took control of Vilnius, a criminal court sentenced Great Hetman of Lithuania Szymon Kossakowski to be hanged. The sentence was publicly executed on April 25, 1794 on the square in front of the local town hall.
On May 9, 1794, leaders of the confederation sentenced to death by the Criminal Court of the Duchy of Mazowsze were publicly hanged in front of the Old Town Square in Warsaw: Great Hetman of the Crown Piotr Ozarowski, Marshal of the Indolent Council Jozef Ankvich, and Field Hetman of Lithuania Jozef Zabiello. The fourth convict, Inflants” Bishop Jozef Casimir Kossakowski, was hanged in front of St. Anne”s Church after being stripped of his priestly ordination.
On June 28, 1794, agitated people of Warsaw carried out self-slaughter on members of the Targowica confederation accused of treason. Ignacy Massalski, bishop of Vilnius, Antoni Czetwertyński, castellan of Przemyśl, deputy to Turkey Karol Boscamp-Lasopolski, chamberlain Stefan Grabowski, royal instigator Mateusz Roguski, Russian spy Marceli Piętka, attorney Michał Wulfers, and criminal court instigator Józef Majewski were hanged in front of St. Anne”s Church in Krakowskie Przedmieście Street.
The Supreme Criminal Court sentenced Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, Seweryn Rzewuski, Jerzy Wielhorski, Antoni Polikarp Złotnicki, Adam Moszczenski, Jan Zagórski and Jan Suchorzewski to death by hanging, eternal infamy, confiscation of property and loss of all their offices. In the absence of the condemned, the sentence was carried out in effigie on 29 September 1794.
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