Chapter 691: Chapter 600: The Song of Poland – Conclusion

The Patriot Party had received 200,000 zlotys from the funds, so they momentarily ceased to raise the issue of their “religious freedom” ideology.

Prince Poniatowski nodded in satisfaction and continued, “Regarding the estates of the nobility, as long as they possess virtue and are defenders of freedom and the constitution, we should acknowledge their legality and ensure the safety of their lands and all other properties.”

His words immediately received unanimous praise from the conservative noble faction, the Getman Party.

A Getman Party leader from Ukraine reminded him, “Your Highness, there are also noble privileges…”

“Yes, privileges.” Prince Poniatowski gestured with his eyes for the members of the Patriotic Party to be patient, then said, “Those harmless privileges, I believe, can be retained. As for which privileges are harmful to other citizens, that should be decided by the Sejm through voting.”

This approach was exactly what Sais had taught him. First, he needed to secure the conservative nobles, otherwise, the Constitutional Alliance might break apart–the conservatives held more than a quarter of the seats in the Sejm.

In reality, the constitutional protection promises for noble privileges were almost useless.

As long as the Sejm later passed a bill identifying a privilege as “harmful,” it could then be abolished by the constitutional clause.

The high-level members of the Getman Party exchanged glances; no one objected, which meant they accepted the clause.

The Prince then looked at the next item in the document, “Mr. Kewengtai has proposed ‘all Polish citizens enjoy equal status.’ I suggest we avoid addressing this in the current legislation…”

The Patriotic Party immediately raised objections, “How is this possible?”

“If we can’t even achieve equality, then what is the purpose of the constitution?!”

“You are stripping the rights of those people whom the constitution should protect the most…”

The Prince lowered his hand to calm them, “We should avoid causing too much upheaval to the country. Moreover, this is just a conceptual proposal. The clauses that ensure the citizens’ security of life and property, freedom to purchase land, and the right of any citizen to hold military or governmental offices will all be preserved.”

The Patriotic Party, also aiming to foster unity and cooperation, fell silent again.

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Essentially, if ordinary citizens could be guaranteed personal safety, property rights, and public office positions, then they would have most of the aspects of equality, leaving only ceremonial and “harmless privileges” as advantages for the noble class.

Joseph was well aware that in current Europe, the phrase “born free and equal” would provoke tremendous animosity.

In history, it was precisely because of this clause that Poland had lost the support of almost all nations, except for France, which was already in dire straits at the time.

Therefore, he had specifically warned Sais earlier not to let the Polish set this flag.

“Now we will finalize the clauses about the Sejm.” Prince Poniatowski looked around, “The Sejm’s voting method shall use a majority vote system. No one may have veto power.”

In fact, under Joseph’s advice, he had already enacted a decree with the King, entitled “Temporary Suspension of the Liberum Veto,” which forbade the use of veto power for three years.

This significantly reduced the resistance against the Polish constitution. Now, this clause was to be formally incorporated into the constitution.

Those who had made it to Lazienki Palace were the progressive factions of Poland, deeply detesting the liberum veto. A wave of approval immediately swept around.

Subsequently, Prince Poniatowski announced clauses concerning Sejm member elections, curbing electoral bribes, and then closed the document he held.

Compared to the historical May 3rd Constitution, he did not mention radical clauses like abolishing serfdom, changing the king’s election to a hereditary system, establishing a tripartite Polish government, and requiring nobles and clergy to pay tithe for military expansion.

These contents were merely fantasies of the Polish idealists.

For instance, the last clause about the “noble tithe” not only failed to collect much money but also turned the majority of nobles and clergy against the state.

But after Joseph’s streamlining and Sais’s fine-tuning, the constitution discarded these impractical contents, thus greatly reducing the impact on Poland.

December 6, 1791.

The Great Sejm of Poland convened the Constitutional Assembly; all of Warsaw was enveloped in tension and anticipation.

No one chanted slogans outside the Congress Hall, everyone just silently watched the deputies enter the Sejm between two lines of guards.

This was nothing like the secretive atmosphere during the vote on the May 3rd Constitution, fearful of being discovered by the conservative nobles.

Warsaw’s police were, as always, busy, not to maintain order, but to deal with the difficult cases that had recently increased.

On the west side of the Narev River, outside a mansion, police officers were clearing the corpse of Baron Ossiskovic.

Several women, supported by servants, were loudly wailing, but soon an official from the Police Headquarters approached the Baroness, saying, “I’m sorry, but according to our findings, it appears the Baron accidentally fell from the balcony…”

A special agent from the Freedom and Security Committee, having overheard the policeman, pulled his hood closer and turned away.

He was a member of the Bar Confederation, a fervent patriot, who had personally assassinated four Russian nobles over a decade ago.

After receiving a pardon from the King, he had become a part of the Polish intelligence structure.

Baron Ossiskovic, whom he had killed the previous night, was a staunch pro-Russian delegate. Today he would undoubtedly have cast a detrimental vote against the constitution in the Sejm.

So, he had to die.

Similar to Ossiskovic, pro-Russian factions had seen over a dozen members “eliminated” in recent months. These former Bar Confederation members did not fear death; over a decade ago, they even dared to kidnap the King. Several pro-Russian deputies were replaced at the cost of their lives.

Of course, they always made deaths look like accidents to prevent Russian detection.

While the police were dealing with the body of Ossiskovic, on the south side of Warsaw Holy Cross Street, Count Blanicki’s carriage was stopped by a squad of fully armed soldiers.

This high-ranking member of the Targowica Confederation jumped down from the carriage, bellowing furiously, “You idiots, do you know who I am?”

But he quickly noticed the insignia on the soldiers’ collars and his expression darkened, “Are you Prince Poniatowski’s guards?”

“Yes, Count,” a military officer saluted him with his cap, “There are rioters ahead, for your safety, please stay here for now.”

“Damn it!” Blanicki waved to his coachman, “Turn around, we’ll take another route.”

However, two soldiers suddenly smashed the wheels of his carriage.