Wkład Puławian w obrady Sejmu Wielkiego (1788-1792)

Abstract

The Puławy party, cooperating with wide circles of enlightened landed gentry, made the Seym a political weapon of the struggle for the independence of the Commonwealth. By abolishing the Permanent Council (19 January 1789) and overthrowing the system of Russian protectorate they were able to gain full independence of the Commonwealth by political means. As far as the process of changes in the State's political system is concerned they emphasised the leading role of the Seym not the government in the Commonwealth thus trying to undermine the position of the king. They combined oligarchic views with radically republican reformist ideas. Republican tendencies won approval of the gentry; however, a lot of radically republican ideas were met with indifference or even disapproval of the enlightened landed gentry. The compromise concerning the reform of the Seym reached by the Puławy party and the gentry parliamentary formation at the beginning of the debates was of great importance for the future. The essence of the compromise was that the seym which was currently in session was to become the permanent governing Seym (combining legislative and executive powers and permanently in session) just as the gentry wanted and according to the future constitution it was supposed to be the ready Seym (always ready to be convened in definite circumstances and consisting of the same members elected every two years) as the Puławy party wanted. The greatest achievement of the Puławy party during the first stage of the debates of the Great seym was attracting wide circles of the gentry to the reformist proposals represented by them. At the very beginning of the Great Seym the Puławy party popularized the following concepts; the ready Seym, the Guardians (a kind of government) as an organ indispensable for the functioning of a modern State (although it was supposed to have only a supervisory role), collegiate administration governing bodies. At the same time they made it possible to introduce in the future Montesquieu's principle of the separation of powers, which was the opposite of the idea of the Permanent governing Seym. By associating the concept of changes in the State's political system with the abolition of the Permanent Council and thus with the idea of independence they made the proposed reforms very popular with the gentry. As a result they paved the way for the future constitution. They also made the local diets free from magnates' domination by depriving the landless gentry (who were the tool of the magnates) of political rights. Besides they worked out the concept of the peasants' reform and they also supported hereditory succession to the throne. At the end of 1790 they lost political initiative for the benefit of the king, who became the main author of the Constitution which showed clear monarchical tendencies. The Puławy party was not able to introduce many of their ideas into the Constitution. Nevertheless, the Puławy party together with the gentry parliamentary formation succeeded in shaping the sovereignty of the Seym and practically managed to hand over central State' s administration into the hands of the collegiate administration governing bodies, which had a great deal of autonomy. And although a number of the proposals put forward by the Puławy party were not welcomedby the king and the gentry. their ability to reach reformist compromises is an undeniable contribution to the debates of the Great Seym. The ability to hold a constructive political dialogue both with the king and the gentry parliamentary formation made it possible for the debates of the Great Seym to culminate in the 3rd of May Constitution and further reformist acts.