Sejm nieustający. Batalia parlamentarna o jego urzeczywistnienie i rola w życiu politycznym Rzeczypospolitej u schyłku XVIII wieku

Abstract

The idea of the permanent Seym was introduced into Polish political culture at the end of the 18th century owing to Stanisław Staszic's work entitled The Remarks on Jan Zamoyski's Life (1787). The permanent Seym, permanently in session and consisting of the same members, combined legislative and executive power. It was hoped that the creation of the permanent Seym would lead to the abolition of the Permanent Council (a kind of government under Russia's protectorate) and as a result, Poland was supposed to gain full independence by political means. At the same time, the permanent Seym was to make the middle gentry the dominant power of the Commonwealth, and free the State from magnates' supremacy. At the beginning of the debates of the Great Seym (1788-1792], the idea of the permanent Seym appealed to the gentry very much. However, the permanent Seym was never formally created due to the fact that the political initiative at the Seym was taken over by the Puławy party, whose leader Ignacy Potocki and his followers did not approve of the idea of the permanent Seym. Instead, they were in favour of the ready Seym - ready to be convened. At the turn of 1788/89 a compromise was reached between the parliamentary majority represented by the middle gentry, who supported the permanent Seym, and the Puławy party. The essence of the compromise was that the Seym which was currently in session was to become the permanent Seym and in the future it was to be transformed into the ready Seym. After the overthrow of the Permanent Council (19 January 1789), the Seym in session became the permanent Seym. Its creation contributed to the increase of the gentry's political culture and first of all their sense of responsibility for the State. However, at the same time, the weaknesses of the Seym became visible: first of all its inefficiency as the highest executive power. Gradually, the gentry became more and more aware of the necessity of existing of a separate executive power like the Guardians of Law, which would function as a government. Consequently, a compromise between the middle gentry and the king was worked out, which resulted in passing the Third of May Constitution by the Seym. The compromise meant that on the one hand, the principle of the separation of powers was adopted and the Guardians of Law - a kind of government was established (in accordance with the king's intentions), whereas on the other hand, the sovereignty of the Seym was strongly emphasised without keeping the balance of powers (in accordance with the intention of the gentry). And such was the final result of the creation of the permanent Seym.