Cele i skutki rozdwojenia sejmiku podolskiego w 1786 roku
The causes and the effects of the division of the sejmik of Podolia in 1786

Summary/Abstract: The division of the sejmik of Podolia in 1786 went beyond the context of a mere struggle for the seats in the assembly. The local activists of the court party decided to divide the sejmik thanks to the appropriate support of the nobility and thanks to the fact that they started its session in a church which did not feature a tradition of holding sessions of an assembly. Despite this violation of the law their sejmik was recognised by the majority in the assembly during the expulsions from the assembly, which was a result of the overwhelming superiority of the supporters of the court. Another result of this violation of the law and customs was such antagonisation of those who participated in sessions that debate could not be brought under control and the session adjourned with the rejection of the bills of the reform of military regulations. Such a result of the division of the Podolia sejm was foreseeable. In this situation a question was made about the aims of the court which must have been significant enough that it was worthwhile to run the risk of the failure of the attempts at a military reform for the sake of the realisation of these aims. An intention to demonstrate before Petersburg the inability to bring the sejm under control in the context of the emergence of a strong opposition could have been an undercurrent of this intention. However, a more likely reason for this was the intention to discredit Prince Adam Czartoryski, whose ideological and cultural activities in Puławy began to endanger the king’s monopoly for propagating the ideas of the Enlightenment in the country. Whereas a permanent result of the division of the session in Kamieniec Podolski, which was unexpected by the court, was the elaboration of the bill of the reform of the regional assemblies by the Potocki family, which was realised until the sessions of the Four-Year Sejm.

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