EJJ Books

Copyright 1998 by Eva Jędruch; All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0-7818-0637-2

MONARCHY BECOMES THE FIRST REPUBLIC:
KINGS ELECTED FOR LIFE

• Seyms Claim King-making Powers
  
• Pacta Conventa and the Rokosz, or Legalized Rebellion
  
• Cities Elect Representatives "Civitatum Nuntii"
  
• Peripatetic Seym and the Places Where it Met
  
• The Senate as "Guardians of the Law"
  
• Political Personalities in the Seyms of the Early First Republic

The death of the last male member of the Jagiellonian dynasty marked the beginning of the First Republic. The better part of the period covered here, 1573-1648, was devoted to the development of a truly elective chief executive office. The kings were now kings in name only and in fact became presidents of the Senate elected for life. The candidacy for the office became open to contenders from outside the ruling dynasty, and some 'commoners' later achieved that position. The royal election Seym operated with membership open to all adult members of the gentry who cared to attend. The rules of this direct election of chief executive included some novel features such as the 'pacta conventa' or the covenant between the ruler and the ruled. It constituted in effect a Bill of Rights, including the right to civil disobedience for citizens faced with an executive acting contrary to the Cardinal Laws of the country.

In 1572 Inquisition was banned in Poland, and from 1563 onwards the state ceased to execute sentences imposed by Church courts. During the same period the principle of religious tolerance became law and placed Poland in stark contrast to other European countries torn apart by religious strife. A judiciary system was set up with elective judges, independent of the executive branch, and courts of appeal were established for Poland and Lithuania. The Seyms were elected now on a regular two-year schedule.

In this period the institutions of Jewish self-government made their appearance and developed into a unique system of representation.

Figure 14 - Meeting places of the Seyms and the General Seymiks in the First Republic, just after the Union of Lublin in 1569.

SEYMS CLAIM KING-MAKING POWERS

We, the Senators of the Crown, spiritual and temporal, and the knighthood of the palatinates of Cracow and Sandomierz, having met in Wiślica on the thirteenth day of December, for the purpose of reviewing and providing for the needs of our Common wealth on the occasion of this interregnum, recognize that on the death of our Sovereign it is fit and proper for us to consider our freedoms and liberties, perceiving the basis for them to be in the free election of our King and Lord.

Following the example of our ancestors, and regarding ourselves as their worthy descendants, we pledge ourselves by the good and honest word of knighthood, that we do not wish to depart in any detail from our ancestral custom of electing our Sovereign, as described in our statutes and privileges, which apply to all parts of the Realm equally. Collectively, not excluding any parts of the Realm, neither those belonging to it of old, nor those belonging to it now and so confirmed, we intend to proceed freely and jointly to elect our Sovereign, and also not to allow any part of the Realm, large or small, to separate, but to elect our Sovereign we promise and pledge.

We also strongly warn that, should any part of our Commonwealth want to break away, or separate, and elect a King or a Duke for itself, without consent of all electors, we shall not accept such one as our Sovereign, but will rise against him and his followers in accordance with honor, faith and conscience and persist until they perish or return to unity with us.

To mark our knightly pledge and confirmation, we have caused our seals to be affixed to this act for our own and our descendants' sake, and we have allowed the act so sealed to be entered into the city records.

Written in Wislica on the 17th day of December, Anno Domini 1572.

Table 15 - Seyms of the Interregnum Periods

The actual royal election procedure always consisted of three consecutive Seyms, held a few months apart. They were the Convocation Seym, the Election Seym and the Coronation Seym. 15 gives the dates and places where these Seyms were held. The Convocation Seym was invariably called by the senior Senator, the Roman Catholic Primate of Poland and Archbishop of Gniezno, who by law assumed the duties of the King-pro-tempore on the death of the reigning monarch. As the death of a king, or his abdication, was considered a national emergency, the Convocation Seym and the Election Seym were commonly confederated. As such, the decisions made by these Seyms were made by majority vote, and gained the force of law after the election of the king, when approved by him. The Convocation Seym was attended by Deputies elected by the Seymik of each county in the usual manner. It sat in Warsaw and conducted all the preliminary business of the election such as fixing its date, establishing its rules, and reviewing the candidates. The most important part of its business, however, was the preparation of the Articles of Agreement (Pacta Conventa) constituting a Bill of Rights to be sworn to by the Elect. More will be said about them under another heading. The Election Seym followed the Convocation Seym by a few months and usually met at Wola, a small village on the outskirts of Warsaw. Its operating procedures were different from those of ordinary Seyms inasmuch as this was the only occasion when every vote-carrying male could attend a Seym. In consequence, a huge alfresco encampment resulted, much like the Mall rallies in Washington D.C. Although many attempts were made to limit the attendance to Deputies elected by the Seymiks for that purpose, they failed, as no power could bar the electorate from attending.

Fig. 15 - A view of the Royal Election Field at Wola near Warsaw in 1697 when Augustus II Wettin was elected King of Poland. In the First Republic each King was elected for life. A painting by Marco Alessandri (1664-1719)

Figure 16 - Bird's eye view of the Royal Election Field at Wola. The voters are shown mounted both inside and outside the enclosure. The shed on the lower foreground housed the Speaker and the election staff.

After the Speaker of the Election Seym was elected, he was entrusted with police powers and supplied with a staff adequate to maintain order. Among his duties was the layout of the election field. This was a rectangular enclosure separated by a ditch and a fence from the rest of the grounds. A wooden shed was provided at one end to keep the rain off the paperwork and the senior members of the gathering. The rest of the company had to make do as best they could out in the open. The election proceedings took place inside the rectangle, with each palatinate represented by a ten-man delegation, and the delegation voting as a block in the initial proceedings, while the rest of the electors, arranged by palatinate and province, remained outside the stockade. In the mornings, the Senate and the palatinate delegations received in turn the representatives of the various candidates and listened to their speeches extolling the virtues of their man and the advantages of electing him. In the afternoons the palatinate delegations conveyed all of this information to the voters remaining outside the election enclosure. When all candidates were presented and the closing speeches delivered, the voting would start. In the election of 1573 voting alone took four days. All delegations received several large sheets of paper, each sheet bearing the name of one candidate. Each voter was asked to affix his seal to the sheet with the name of his choice. The sheets were then duly collected in the election shed and the total votes added up.

The result was officially proclaimed by the Interrex. The smooth operation of this vast gathering depended much on interaction between the Senators and voters from each palatinate, since it fell to the Senators to provide the assessment of the candidates and guidance in the procedures.Although the attendance at the Election Seyms varied greatly, and was never accurately recorded, a crowd of as little as 10,000 or as many as 100,000 could be expected. The sheer mass of people, horses and carriages must have been overwhelming, and the task of keeping reasonable order among them must have taxe the abilities of the Speaker to the limit. Dust, flies, and horse manure added to the problems. To accommodate this crowd a tent city would be erected outside the confines of the Election Field.

Candidates in the election were barred from Warsaw and its environs, but each could send a representative to the Election Seym, usually with a large retinue, and well supplied with money. Hospitality tents would be set up, and the more influential electors would be lavishly wined and dined at the end of the daily meetings, and quite often bribed on the occasion. This aspect of the election process, one strongly suspects, was what attracted such large crowds to thesc affairs, and often induced people to travel long distances to Warsaw. It was nice tc feel like a king-maker at least once in a lifetime.

The Third Seym of the interregnum period was usually held in Cracow where, after having sworn to uphold all the laws on the books and the Bill of Rights contained in the Pacta Conventa, the elect was duly crowned King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania for life. The ceremony was performed by the Interrex, who at that moment relinquished his powers. Only two kings were crowned in Warsaw instead of, as was usual, in Cracow: Stanislaus Leszczyński and Stanislaus A. Poniatowski. Both eventually abdicated. Much later, in 1829, Nicholas I of Russia was crowned King of Poland also in Warsaw, but was deposed only two years later, leading some people to remark that the choice of Warsaw for a coronation place boded ill for the incoming administration.

Table 16 - Candidates for the Crown Presented to the Election Seyms

The list of candidates presented to the successive Election Seyms is shown in Table 16. As can be seen from it, the candidacy for the crown of Poland was open not only to the inhabitants of the country but to foreigners as well on the strength of the precedent set with Louis of Hungary and Jagiełło of Lithuania. The offer of the crown to the latter produced a very successful dynasty. Of the eleven elected kings of the First Republic seven were of foreign origin, including two born in Poland. The wisdom of allowing foreigners to be put up as candidates has been questioned at various times. The answer is not a simple one, if only for the reason that the practice seemed to offer several advantages to the electorate at the time. The concept of the 'uniform citizen,' with everyone having the same political rights as everybody else, had not yet evolved, and every politically active group in the country was competing to secure for itself the best possible set of rights and privileges from the ruler. An election of the ruler offered a perfect opportunity for bargaining with the candidates. The candidates were in a far less resistant frame of mind in the matter of making promises and commitments for the future, than a hereditary ruler would have been on ascending the throne and, furthermore, if the candidate was a foreigner, he was at a disadvantage through the lack of familiarity with people and local conditions. A native would drive a harder bargain. It is obvious that these considerations applied in other countries as well, as for instance is shown by the preference of the English Whigs for William of Orange as a replacement for the exiled native James II. Prospects for foreign alliances also played a part in the considerations. The many intermarriage links between the various ruling houses, foreign and domestic, made the practice of foreign candidature, which seems strange to us now, acceptable then. Successful kingship was an exportable profession in those days.

In time the election procedure had undergone some changes. In the first election the Senators voted with and headed the delegations from their own palatinates. In the second election the gentry felt they were subject to undue influence from the Senators, and insisted on the Senate meeting and voting separately. Both groups, however, insisted on retaining the initiative of proposing candidates and taking the vote first. This led to confusion and on two occasions two different candidates were declared elected: Stephen Bathory by the Seym and Maximilian Habsburg of Austria by the Senate in 1576; similarly, Stanisław Leszczyński and Augustus III Wettin of Saxony were elected simultaneously in 1733 in separate elections held at Praga and Wola outside of Warsaw. In such cases the final verdict was often reached on the battlefield, and the support of foreign armies was helpful, but not necessarily conclusive, as was aptly pointed out by Benjamin Franklin, a contemporary to the second of these events. In Poor Richards Almanack for September 1748 he wrote:

On the first of this month, Anno 1733, Stanislaus, originally a private gentleman of Poland, was chosen the second time king of that nation. The power of Charles XII of Sweden, caused his first election, that of Louis XV of France, his second. But neither of them could keep him on the throne: for PROVIDENCE, often opposite to the wills of princes, reduc'd him to the condition of a private gentleman again.

Figure 17 - "Hospitality Tents" set up during the Election Seym of 1733 during which Augustus III Wittin was elected King. After a French engraving.

Fig. 18 - A scene from the Election Seym of 1764 held at Wola near Warsaw during which Stanisław Poniatowski was elected King. From a painting by Bernardo Belloto called Canaletto (1721-80

PACTA CONVENTA AND THE ROKOSZ, OR LEGALIZED REBELLION

- there will be a free election of his successor

- religious tolerance will be assured in accordance with the provisions of the Confederation of Warsaw

- no additional taxes will be imposed without the consent of the Seym

- no war will be declared nor any called up without the consent of the Senate

- if, during a war, the army is used outside the borders of the Commonwealth, a per diem will be paid to each soldier

- between the sessions of the Seym a committee of 16 Senators will supervise executive actions, one quarter of the Senators to be replaced each half year

- the king will not many without the consent of the Senate

- if any of the above articles are broken by the elect, the electorate is absolved from obedience to him.

Should the general law, God forbid, be violated by Our conscious and willful undertaking, or should anyone be oppressed in violation of the law and general free doms, and should this be clearly shown in cause and effect, anyone then will be free to communicate this matter to the Senator of his home constituency, and the said Senator will make the matter known to the Reverend Archbishop of Gniezno in his capacity of Primate. The latter, either by himself, or after consulting with other Senators, must admonish Us, or our successors, and We, whenever such a transgression should occur, will be obligated to correct it.

Should this not take place, the said Reverend Archbishop of Gniezno, acting in concert with other Senators, must repeat the admonition.

If without Just cause either We or our successors do not satisfactorily respond to a matter thus brought up, then all estates should act in accordance with the article de non praestanda oboedientia.

CITIES ELECT REPRESENTATIVES "CIVITATUM NUNTII"

For participation in the debate on all matters, in particular the defense of the Realm, the representatives of Lublin, Lwów and other cities should be summoned. His Majesty is of the opinion that they should be summoned to the current Seym and he will consent to issuing a Writ of Summons. Prior to His Majesty's arrival, he wishes you to decide to which towns it should be addressed, and which towns should be summoned. This is to assure that whatever you decide regarding the defense, the towns will not excuse themselves and refuse to carry the burdens, which they should share together with all the lands of the Kingdom for the needs of the Realm.

Table 17 - Seym Attendance of Representatives of Lublin

The procedure for electing the representatives of the cities differed from that of the lands. It is spelled out in the records of the Seym of Piotrków of 1565 with regard to the city of Lublin. The city councillors were directed, whenever the need arose, to send Deputies to the Seym. First, they were to call up five spokesmen from the city population at large, according to the ancient custom, then, with their consent, elect the Seym Deputies. The Deputies were to be given the postulates of both the City Council and the population at large, and were to be sent to the Seym at the expense of the City. We see, therefore, that at least in Lublin the election of the Deputies to the Seym was indirect. Table 17 summarizes the attendance record of the representation of Lublin at the Seyms of the hereditary kingdom and the First Republic. The attendance was sporadic, but not negligible. Lublin was a well-established, medium-size city, and its attendance record is probably representative of other cities as well.

The Pomeranian cities of Toruń, Elbląg and Gdańsk sent their representatives to the General Seymik of Prussia and through it participated until 1772 in the election of the Deputies to the Seym. In 1569 the city of Wilno gained the right to send Deputies to the Seym but, like other cities, used it only sporadically.

In comparison with other cities in Poland, Cracow held a position apart on the strength of a privilege given to it by Prince Leszek the Black (1279-1288), who incorporated the burghers of that city with the knighthood of the palatinate in recognition of their services in the defense of the castle of Cracow during a contest for the throne. It entitled Cracow to send its representatives to the Seymik of Proszowice, and to the General Seymik held at Korczyn. This favored position was reconfirmed in 1505 by a privilege given by Alexander I, and again by John Casimir Vasa's Coronation Act of 1649. The summons to the city were by a separate Royal Writ until the middle of the 1500s; thereafter, they were included in the standard Universal Proclamation. Although theoretically given the same rights as the Deputies from the lands, the representatives from Cracow were reluctant to use them to their full extent, and from 1565 onwards were limited to debates and votes on matters concerning the cities only.

Generally speaking, the cities had a tenuous hold on participation in the Seyms and, limited as it was, it faced a stiff opposition from the gentry, jealous of their position. The Seym of Radom of 1505 introduced an era of open challenge on the part of the gentry to the rights of the cities to send Deputies to the Seyms, and by 1518 the Deputies of the gentry demanded of the King that the Deputies from Cracow be removed from the Seym chamber. In 1537 they were forcibly ejected, and in 1539 an attempt was made to bar their entry. In 1569, during the administration of Sigismund II Augustus, Deputy M. Sienicki, leader of the liberal opposition, made a statement that he did not wish to speak in the Seym while the Deputies from Cracow were present. In spite of all these difficulties the Deputies from Cracow participated in the debates of the Seyms of 1562, 1587, 1589, and 1634. However, the general tendency of the Deputies from Cracow and other cities was to maintain a low profile. They often opted for having their proposals presented by one of the Senators. This had the adverse effect of creating the impression among other Deputies that the city Deputies had no right to speak, in spite of the repeated reassertion of this right by several kings. Sebastian Petrycy, a keen political observer, ridiculed the burghers by saying: "people from some cities attend the Seym, but sit apart, listening to the ready-made speeches." Usually the city of Cracow sent two Deputies, called Ablegates, who were commonly elected from among the members of the City Council by the Council itself, although in 1552 the population of the city elected two additional observers to oversee and report on the activities of the two Ablegates. The better known Ablegates of Cracow in 1575 were A. Beiza and Andrew Petricovius, Doctor of Canon and Civil Law.

The Swedish invasions (1655 and 1702) and the devastation of war contributed much to the decline of the cities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. With it came the reluctance to send representation to the Seyms, and the absence from the Seyms meant further reduction in the political influence of cities. The lowest point was reached in 1765 when the Seym struck the cities from the Estates of the Commonwealth to be represented in the Seyms with a right to vote. However, only three years later in 1768, these rights were restored to Cracow, Gdańsk and Toruń, the three largest cities in the Conimonwealth. By then the cities were recovering from the economic decline and were staging a political comeback. The highlight of that comeback occurred in 1789, when the representatives of 140 cities and towns assembled in Warsaw and participated in the "Black Procession" to the Seym, demanding restoration of full rights of representation. Although their demands were only partially fulfilled at the time, the movement they set in motion was unstoppable, as will be seen later.

PERIPATETIC SEYM AND THE PLACES WHERE IT MET

Fig. 19 - The keep in the castle or Piotrków. Until 1567 most of the Seyms of the hereditary monarchy convened here, while their membership rose from 54 to 92 Deputies. Shown in the present day condition, it now houses a regional museum.

Figure 20 - The castle of Craców, where 29 Seyms were held including 11 of the Coronation Seyms.

Fig. 21 - A view of the Chamber of Deputies in the Castle of Craców. The coffered ceiling features life-size head carvings of various personages from the 1550s. When the Seym was in session here, more elaborate seating arrangements were provided.

Figure 22 - A view of the Senate Chamber in the castle of Craców. A gallery wisible at the far wall provided for the visitors. The Chamber is shown in its present day condition. During a session of the Senate appropriate seating arrangements were provided.

Table 18 - Geography of Sessions of the Seym

After the Union with Lithuania in 1569 and the rise of the First Republic, the meeting place of the Seyms was moved to Warsaw to shorten the travel distance for the Lithuanian Deputies. Except for 11 Seyms held in Grodno and an occasional Seym held elsewhere, Warsaw had become the Seym City, hosting 148 Seyms. This tradition was carried into the Duchy of Warsaw and the Congress Kingdom of Poland of the Partition period when two and four Seyms were held there, respectively, and was continued in the Second and the Third Republics, as noted in Table 18.

The Seyms held in Warsaw used the premises set aside for them in the Castle of Warsaw. They were constructed during the administration of Sigismund Augustus according to plans drawn up by Giovanni Battista Quadro (?-1590). The "Hall of Three Pillars" that he created for the Chamber of Deputies is in the form of a spacious hail It was divided into two aisles by a row of pillars, sup porting a vaulted ceiling. On the south side the hall opened into the interior of the Town Tower. From there, a spiral staircase connected it with the Senate Chamber, located on the floor above. "The Hall of One Pillar" adjoined the Chamber of Deputies and was used for its offices. The physical placement of the Senate on the floor directly above the Seym corresponded initially to the dominating political position of the Senate at the time, and the terms the Upper and the Lower Chamber were synonymous with the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Both, the physical and the political position of the two chambers, were to change in due time.

Fig. 23 - The Castle of Warsaw, the seat of most of the Seyms of the First Republic as well as some of those of the Partition Period. The new Seym and Senate Chambers were located to the right and the left of the tower, respectively. Shown after reconstruction from the damage of World War II.

Figure 24 - Joint session of the Seym and the Senate in the old Senate Chamber of the Castle of Warsaw. The empty chairs in the forground belong to the Ministers, shown here standing at the far end on both sides of the King, as was customary, during the speech from the throne. From a seventeenth century English copperplate

These parliamentary premises witnessed the passage of many important constitutions, such as the Henrician Articles, the first Bill of Rights as it were, and the signing of the Act of Confederation of Warsaw, both in 1573, by which the signatories undertook to maintain the freedom of religious belief and accepted the proposal of Deputies from Sandomierz to ban the coercion of peasants in religious matters.

The cramped quarters of the Senate did not allow visitors to attend its sessions, except by special arrangement. Jan Chryzostom Pasek (1636-1701), a gentleman-soldier, left us, in his colorful diary for 1666, the following description of how one could obtain admission:

When the Deputies move to the second floor, where the sessions are held sometimes [jointly with the Senate], and the call is given:'Whoever is not a Deputy, please withdraw, one should try to make acquaintance with the Speaker, as I did and thus use the influence of important people to avoid being ousted from the chamber, by explaining: I came to drink of knowledge in this school, I'll reveal no secrets!' The Speaker would say: 'Very well, I commend your noble inclinations.' So when they chased others out of the Chamber, I simply nodded to the Speaker, while others crammed headlong through the door, some getting swatted on their backs with the Speaker's staff; then did my companions wonder: 'What luck you have! I hid myself behind the tile stove, yet was forced to leave, while you sat through the session.' They did not know I'd cajoled the Speaker into it.'

Fig. 25 - Old Chamber of Deputies in the Hall of Three Pillars in the east wing of the Castle of Warsaw. When the Seym was in session here, proper seating arrangements were provided. The Seym sat here from 1570 to 1681, when the Chamber of Deputies was moved to the west wing of the Castle

Figure 26 - The interior of the new Senate Chamber in the Castle of Warsaw. In the First Republic, the elected king served as the President of the Senate. The galleries for the public are visible on both sides.

four rows of benches covered with red cloth, arranged in an amphitheatre. Before the first row there stand 60 chairs covered with red velvet, intended for Senators. At the end of the Chamber stands the Royal throne, covered also with red velvet, with gold trim. It is an armchair placed on an elevation and under a canopy. The first two rows of benches are intended for Deputies, the next two for the more prominent visitors. The two longer walls contain galleries for gentlemen visitors. Lady visitors sit even higher, in rooms placed opposite the throne, which afford a view from above through the windows.

decorated with frescoes, and around it are placed the galleries for the visitors, equipped with benches and supported by columns in the shape of palm trees. These bear the coats-of-arms of the palatinates. Part of the gallery above the entrance is enlarged, so that it accommodates several rows of benches. In the Chamber itself, there are wooden benches painted gray, without covering.

This chamber offered much improvement, both as regards space, lighting, and provisions for visitors, over the old Chamber of Deputies in the "Hall of Three Pillars" in the east side of the castle. In the new quarters, the Seym debates on controversial issues attracted many spectators, who often spilled over from the overcrowded galleries onto the ground floor and stood in the aisles, or took up vacant seats intended for the legislators. Attempts to drive them out often proved ineffective, particularly when directed at the ladies, who took a lively interest in the proceedings and cheered on the more popular debaters.

THE SENATE AS "GUARDIANS OF THE LAW"

Table 19 - Major Senatorial Families of Poland and Lithuania

Table 20 - Composition of Senate with Appointive Membership

Fig. 27 - Stanisław Krasiński (1585-1649). Elected Speaker of the General Seymik of Masovia in 1633, 1635, Chief Justice of Crown Tribunal in 1633, Deputy of the Seyms of 1634, 1635, and 1638. Appointed Senator in 1641. A portrait by Daniel Schultz (1615-1683).

Figure 28 - Title page of the English version of De optimo senatore by Senator Wawrzyniec G. Goślicki. This handbook on representative government was popular with the English public for over a hundred years. Of the three translations, produced in 1598, 1607 and 1733, this is the last one by William Oldisworth.

Figure 29 - A view of the legislature of Poland in session, taken from the compendium of laws published by Jan Herburt in 1570. The Senators are shown seated, while the Deputies are standing at the rear, indicating the dominating position of the Senate at the time. In the following centuries, the importance of the Senate declined.

Table 21 - Senators Serving as "King-pro-tempore" (Interrex)

The Senator-Primate assumed the duties of an Interrex automatically when he issued an official announcement of the last king's death and relinquished them on the day he crowned the Elect. An exception to this procedure occurred in 1674, during the interregnum following the death of Michał K. Wiśniowiecki, when the country was at war with Turkey. Senator Florian K. Czartoryski assumed the duties of an Interrex, as expected, but died while in office. Andrzej Trzebicki stepped in as the next senior Senator-Bishop. The election went to John Sobieski, in command of the army fighting the Turks. He assumed office at once, but the coronation had to be postponed until the end of the war in 1676.

In addition to their legislative functions carried out while the Seym was in session, the Senators were looked upon as "Guardians of the Laws," i.e., the persons entrusted with the duty to see that the laws were in fact executed as written. This duty was formalized by a constitution passed by the Convocation Seym of 1573 and incorporated in the first Pacta Conventa written in that year. The constitution specified that 16 Senators were to reside with the King and oversee the exercise of his duties. The constitution of 1641 increased their number to 28 and provided for rotation. In the actual execution of its duties, the senatorial committee would meet between the regular sessions of the Seym whenever executive action was required and would be available for consultation at other times. The resolutions of this senatorial committee (senatus consulta) were recorded and reported to the Seym when it was in session. The legislative duties of the Senate between the periodic sessions of the Seym also included availability for consultation by the King immediately preceding the issue of the Writ of Summons of the Seym itself. With the Senate consenting, the date, place, and major legislative matters to be brought up at the Seym were chosen. This consultation could be carried out by mail if most Senators were away in the provinces at the time.

During the administration of Sigismund III Vasa, the electorate began to question the constitutionality of some of his actions, and when the gentry gathered in Cracow for the Assizes on January 11, 1607, an admonition was prepared and sent to the King to refresh in his mind the major principles of Poland's government. This interesting memorandum shows how the voters viewed their government at the time and, in addition, describes the Senate as "guardians of the law."

These are, Your Majesty, our major and basic privileges:
  -    The first is that we freely elect our rulers, and nobody inherits the right to rule over us, but we all participate in this election, even though it vexes us all.
  -    Our second privilege, Your Majesty, is that our rulers, elected freely by us, do not rule over us except with the consent of all Estates, as the Commonwealth reserves unto itself the right of rule and heredity, provides for its rulers an office for life only, and even that it constrains by laws.
  -    Our third privilege, Your Majesty, is that the rulers, elected freely by us, may not burden anybody's rights with favours and hatreds. The laws were so enacted that kings should not pass judgement on us in private, but only in the presence of the Senate, our elder brothers, during the session of the national Seym when the Chamber of Deputies, our younger brothers, also meets; they will see to it that our laws are not tampered with by our rulers, and that nobody is oppressed in contradiction to the law. They offer a refuge in danger; from them should everyone draw help and succor; and Your Majesty should, on their intercession, moderate and amend your actions.
  -    Our fourth privilege is, Your Majesty, that the sword which was placed by the Polish Republic in your hand for the defense of her borders and the punishment of climes, shall not be used as an extraordinary power. The law was enacted that your Majesty should not wage war against foreign enemies until the Seymiks and the Seym warn us by a general resolution. You cannot smite anyone with this sword until he be convicted by laws which we have freely enacted: de nemine vindictam sumemus, nemini bona adimemus, neminem captivabimus, nisi iure victum per barones nostros praesentes*. In these freedoms, Your Majesty, our glorious state grew up.

*We shall not condemn anyone arbitrarily, we shall not confiscate anyone's property, we shall imprison anyone, unless he be overcome by the law in the presence of our barons

Table 22 - Principal Legislation of Seyms of the First Republic

Table 23 - Constitutional Arrangements of The Early First Republic: a Synopsis

POLITICAL PERSONALITIES IN THE SEYMS OF THE EARLY FIRST REPUBLIC

JACEK JĘDRUCH was born in 1927 in Warsaw, Poland.. During the Second World War he was in the Polish Resistance movement. After the war, sought by the communist security forces, he escaped to the West and found himself in England whence he emigrated to the United States. He earned degrees from Northeastern University and from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, subsequently receiving a Ph,D. from the Pennsylvania State University. In his professional life Dr. Jędruch worked in the field of nuclear energy and authored a book and numerous papers dealing with various aspects of nuclear technology. A scientist and a humanist, he shared with his wife, Eva, a chemical engineer, a love of travel and a passion for history. His lifelong avocation was his interest in the operation of representative governments, the evolution of government policy in relation to public needs, and the political developments in Eastern Europe. It was the combination of these interests, together with the rise of the "Solidarity" movement in Poland in 1980, that prompted him to write this guide to the parliamentary history of Poland, publishing the first edition in 1982. He was working on a second edition when in March of 1995, while travelling with his wife in Greece, he suffered a fatal accident on the Acropolis in Athens. Working with his notes, his wife, Ewa Jędruch, published the second edition in 1997.