A System of Geography, Popular and Scientific

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: were entirely subversive of the good order of society, in the beginnin? of 1793 his troops advanced against Thorn, which immediately fell into his hands. Dantzic lay convenient for his purposes, and had long been coveted; it was therefore next attacked. The Poles remonstrated, but their remonstrances were...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: were entirely subversive of the good order of society, in the beginnin? of 1793 his troops advanced against Thorn, which immediately fell into his hands. Dantzic lay convenient for his purposes, and had long been coveted; it was therefore next attacked. The Poles remonstrated, but their remonstrances were only answered by a grave assurance that his Prussian majesty had the good of Poland at heart. At length it was discovered that the good of Poland required the partition of the kingdom. The emperor of Germany published a manifesto, requiring the Poles to submit with equanimity to the approaching partition of their country; and the empress of Russia and king of Prussia soon followed with theirs, declaring their reasons for what they were about to do. The infamous declarations of the interposing monarchs were followed by proceedings equally infamous. The Poles were required to sign a treaty confirming the partition of their country; the diet appeared refractory, but the most obstinate members were seized and sent back to the provinces which they represented, while the other members were confined in the room where they had met to deliberate, and being surrounded by an armed force, were informed that none of them would be allowed to depart till the treaty of partition had been signed. In this situation, they united in the following solemn declaration: ? Surrounded closely by foreign troops, on the second of this month, threatened with further invasion of the territory of the republic by the Prussian armies, to its uttermost ruin, and oppressed by innumerable violences, the States in diet assembled were forced to give leave to their deputation for signing the imposed treaty, with addition of a few clauses, and such only as the dictating power itself seemed in pity to approve of...