Chapter 600 Polish Song Ends

End of the chapter

The Patriots received 200,000 zlotys from this fund, so they temporarily stopped mentioning their "religious freedom" doctrine.

Prince Poniatowski nodded with satisfaction and continued: "Regarding the estates of the nobles, as long as they are virtuous and are defenders of freedom and the constitution, we should recognize their legitimacy and ensure the safety of the land and all other property."

His words were immediately praised by the members of the conservative noble group, the Hetman Party.

A Hetman Party leader from Ukraine reminded: "Your Highness, there are also noble privileges..."

"Yes, privileges." Prince Poniatowski signaled the Patriots with his eyes to be patient, and then said, "For those harmless privileges, I think they can continue to be retained. And which privileges will endanger other citizens will be decided by the vote of the Great Sejm."

This set of rhetoric was taught to him by Sieyès. First of all, the conservative nobles must be stabilized, otherwise the Constitutional Alliance is likely to break up-the conservatives occupy more than a quarter of the seats in the Great Sejm.

In fact, the constitutional promise to protect the privileges of the nobles is almost useless.

As long as the Great Sejm passes a bill in the future and determines that a certain privilege is "harmful", it can be abolished by constitutional provisions.

The senior leaders of the Hetman Party looked at each other, and no one raised any objections, which was regarded as approving this clause.

The prince looked at the next item in the manuscript: "Mr. Koontai proposed that 'all Polish citizens enjoy equal status'. I suggest that it should not be involved in this legislation for the time being..."

The Patriot Party immediately protested, "How can this be done?"

"If even equality cannot be achieved, then what is the meaning of the existence of the constitution?!"

"You are depriving the rights of the people who should be protected by the constitution the most..."

The prince raised his hand and pressed down, saying: "We should avoid causing too much impact on the country. And this is just a conceptual proposal. The constitutional protection of citizens' lives and property safety, citizens can freely purchase land, and any citizen has the right to serve as an officer or government official, these provisions will be retained."

The Patriot Party also came on the principle of unity and cooperation as much as possible this time, and immediately fell silent again.

If ordinary citizens can be guaranteed everything from personal safety to property and then to holding public office, then they basically enjoy most of the equality, and the aristocracy can have some advantages in etiquette and "harmless privileges".

Joseph knew very well how much hatred the phrase "all men are born free and equal" would bring in Europe today.

Historically, it was because of this clause in the May 3rd Constitution that Poland lost the support of almost all countries, except France, which had already made a great revolution at that time.

So he had previously emphasized to Sieyès that he must not let the Poles set this flag.

"Then we will finalize the terms of the Sejm." Prince Poniatowski looked at everyone, "The voting method of the Great Sejm adopts the majority voting system. No one can veto."

In fact, he had previously made a decree with the king to "suspend the right of free veto" under Joseph's suggestion, stipulating that the veto should not be used within three years.

This also greatly reduced the resistance to the Polish Constitution. And now, this clause will be officially added to the constitution.

Those who can come to the Tin Dome Palace are all progressive factions in Poland, and they have long hated the veto. There was a burst of approval around.

Then Prince Poniatowski read out the clauses about the election of Sejm members and curbing vote-buying, and then closed the manuscript in his hand.

Compared with the May 3rd Constitution in history, he did not mention radical clauses such as abolishing serfdom, abolishing the election of the king and changing it to hereditary, establishing a Polish government with separation of powers, and paying tithes for military expansion by nobles and clergy.

These contents are actually just the fantasies of Polish idealists.

For example, the last clause "noble tithe" not only failed to collect much money after implementation, but also pushed most of the nobles and clergy to the opposite side of the government.

After Joseph's simplification and Sieyès's fine-tuning, the constitution abandoned these unrealistic contents, and the impact on Poland will be greatly reduced.

December 6, 1791.

The Polish Great Sejm held a constitutional assembly, and the whole of Warsaw was shrouded in tension and expectation.

The outside of the parliament hall was full of citizens, no one shouted slogans, and everyone just watched silently as the members walked into the Great Sejm from between the two teams of guards.

It was totally different from the sneaky posture during the May 3 constitutional vote in history, fearing that the conservative nobles would find out.

The police in Warsaw were busy as usual, not to maintain order, but to deal with the recent frequent difficult cases.

Outside a villa on the west side of the Narew River, police officers were cleaning up the body of Baron Osiskovic.

Several women cried loudly with the help of servants, but soon an officer from the police department came to the baroness and coughed lightly, saying: "It's a pity, but we have confirmed that the baron should have fallen from the balcony by himself..."

After hearing what the police said, an agent of the Freedom and Security Committee hiding not far away pulled his hood and turned away.

He was a member of the Bar Union and a fanatical patriot. He had personally assassinated four Russian nobles more than ten years ago.

After receiving the king's pardon, he joined the Polish intelligence agency.

Baron Osiskovitch was the one he killed last night, but he was very experienced and disguised the deceased as falling from a building.

And Baron Osiskovitch is a die-hard pro-Russian parliamentarian. He will certainly cast his anti-Constitutional vote in Great Sejm today.

So he must die!

More than a dozen pro-Russian factions similar to Osiskovitch have been "purged" in recent months. Those who were in the former Baal Alliance were not afraid of death at all. More than a decade ago, they even dared to kidnap the king and assassinate several congressmen without blinking an eye. Several pro-Russian congressmen were replaced by them with their lives.

Of course, they will try their best to make the death look like an accident to prevent the Russians from noticing.

While the police were disposing of Osiskovic's body, Count Blanicki's carriage was stopped by a group of heavily armed soldiers on the south side of Warsaw's Holy Cross Street.

The Tagovica Alliance executive jumped out of the car and roared angrily: "You idiots, do you know who I am?"

However, he soon noticed the badge on the soldier's collar, and his face suddenly darkened: "Are you Prince Poniatowski's guard?"

"Yes, Lord Earl." An officer raised his hat and saluted him, "There are thugs ahead. For your safety, please stay here for the time being."

"Damn it, I'm going to the Big Sejm to vote!" Seeing that the officer was unmoved, Branitski could only wave to the coachman, "Turn around, let's go around."

Two soldiers suddenly stepped forward and knocked the axle of his carriage off.