View source for Ambassadors and envoys from Russia to Poland (1763–1794)

[[File:Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772.PNG|300px|thumb|right|Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a protectorate of Russian Empire in 1772]]

'''Ambassadors and envoys from Russia to Poland–Lithuania in the years 1763–1794''' were among the most important characters in the [[politics of Poland]]. Their powers went far beyond those of most [[diplomat]]s and can be compared to those of [[viceroy]]s<ref>Hamish M. Scott, ''The Emergence of the Eastern Powers, 1756–1775'', Cambridge University
Press, 2001, {{ISBN|0-521-79269-X}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lc8EMD0JYUAC&q=Stackelberg&pg=PA249] Google Print, p.249</ref> in the [[colony|colonies]] of [[Spanish Empire]], or [[Roman Republic]]'s [[proconsul]]s in [[Roman province]]s. During most of that period{{Ref label|a|a|none}} [[ambassador]]s and [[Envoy (title)|envoys]] from the [[Russian Empire]], acting on the instructions from [[Saint Petersburg]], held a ''[[de facto]]'' position superior to that of the [[Polish king]], [[Stanisław August Poniatowski]]. Backed by the presence of the [[Imperial Russian Army|Russian army]] within the borders of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], and leveraging the immense wealth of the Russian Empire, they were able to influence both the king and the Polish [[parliament]], the [[Sejm]]. According to their demands, the king dispensed the [[offices in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Commonwealth offices]] among the Russian supporters, and the Sejm, bribed or threatened, voted as the Russians dictated. The agenda of the [[Permanent Council]] (Polish government) was edited and approved by the Russian ambassador, and the members of the council were approved by him.

Their power also manifested itself in many aspects of daily life, especially in the Polish capital of [[Warsaw]]: for example, a performance in the theatre would be delayed until the Russian ambassador arrived, even if the Polish king himself was present. In another incident, a Russian ambassador who arrived late in the theatre, with the Polish king again present, demanded that the spectacle should be restarted.<ref name="(march.)de.)1827">{{cite book|author1=Catherine Govion Broglio Solari (march.)|author2=Louis François J. Bausset (baron de.)|title=Private anecdotes of foreign courts, by the author of 'Memoirs of the princesse de Lamballe'; to which are subjoined, memoirs extr. from the portefeuille of the baron de M---; with anecdotes of the French court by the prefect of the imperial palace [L.F.J., baron de Bausset].|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uX4KWfv3Ip0C&pg=PA111|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1827|pages=111–}}</ref> Eventually this forceful expression of Russian diplomacy, backed by the military might of the Empire, and despite a few setbacks like the [[Bar Confederation]], [[Constitution of May 3, 1791]] and [[Kościuszko Uprising]], achieved its goal of expanding Russian control over most of the Commonwealth territory and population.

==Background (before 1763)==
Beginning in the second half of the 18th century, the unique [[political system]] of the Commonwealth, the quasi-[[democracy|democratic]]<ref name="Janowski">[[Maciej Janowski]], ''Polish Liberal Thought'', Central European University Press, 2001, {{ISBN|963-9241-18-0}}, Google Print: [https://books.google.com/books?id=ieF7NYaEqQYC&q=4&pg=PA3 p.3]</ref> [[Golden Liberty]], had turned into [[anarchy]].<ref name="Republicanism">[[Martin Van Gelderen]], [[Quentin Skinner]], ''Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage'', Cambridge University Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-521-80756-5}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=sLO_aRQiDwgC&dq=Polish+anarchy&pg=PA54 Google Print: p.54]</ref> The Polish nobility's (''[[szlachta]]'') privilege of ''[[liberum veto]]'', first introduced as a safeguard against [[tyranny]] of the [[monarch]], allowed any deputy to the Sejm to stop and annul the entire session. This was soon seen by the neighbouring powers - especially [[Prussia]] and Russia - as the perfect opportunity to disrupt the Commonwealth from inside, and soon many Sejms were dissolved by a deputy bribed by one of the foreign powers.<ref name="Bullitt">[[William Christian Bullitt, Jr.|William Bullitt]], ''The Great Globe Itself: A Preface to World Affairs'', Transaction Publishers, 2005, {{ISBN|1-4128-0490-6}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=guYU3I5f2ZgC&dq=bribe+Polish+parliament&pg=PA42 Google Print, p.42-43]</ref><ref name="Adams">[[John Adams]], ''The Political Writings of John Adams'', Regnery Gateway, 2001, {{ISBN|0-89526-292-4}}, [https://archive.org/details/politicalwriting00adam_0/page/242 <!-- quote=May Constitution reason for partitions of Poland. --> Google Print, p.242]</ref> With an impotent Sejm, the Commonwealth stagnated, as it was impossible to reform the government, raise taxes or increase the size of the army.

In 1717, Russia cemented its position as the dominant force in Poland, in the aftermath of the [[Great Northern War]] and amid the growing likelihood of a [[civil war]] in Poland between the Polish king [[August II the Strong]] and the Polish nobility. [[Russian tsar]] [[Peter I of Russia|Peter I the Great]], posing as the conciliator between the Commonwealth king and the szlachta, ordered units of the Russian army to enter Polish territory—using the treaties of alliance from the Great Northern War—and coerced the Polish Sejm of 1717 into accepting his 'compromise'. During that Sejm (known as the [[Silent Sejm]], as only one person was allowed to speak aloud), laws were passed that not only eliminated the possibility of August strengthening his power, but also ensured by means of restricted taxation (and thus a constrained Polish army) that Poland would not be able to interfere with similar Russian interventions in the future. In reality, if not the letter of the law, the reforms of the Silent Sejm meant that the Commonwealth became a Russian [[protectorate]],<ref name="LukowskiZawadzki2001">{{cite book|author1=Jerzy Lukowski|author2=Hubert Zawadzki|title=A Concise History of Poland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NpMxTvBuWHYC&pg=PA84|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-55917-1|page=84}}</ref><ref name="Davies1996">{{cite book|author=Norman Davies|title=Europe: A History|url=https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0|url-access=registration|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-820171-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0/page/659 659]}}</ref><ref name="Bonney1999">{{cite book|author=Richard Bonney|title=The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe, c. 1200–1815|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U24lRLy_qT8C&pg=PA476|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press US|isbn=978-0-19-820402-2|page=476}}</ref> and it would be Russian ambassadors and envoys who would be responsible for this territory under the tsar. In 1730 than Russian ambassador to Poland, [[Karl Gustav von Löwenwolde]], was instrumental in the [[Alliance of the Three Black Eagles]] (or Löwenwolde's Treaty), an agreement between Commonwealth's neighbours to preserve the dysfunctional state of affairs within it. Russian influence on Poland further increased during the [[War of the Polish Succession]] (1733–1738), when Russian military intervention overturned the result of the [[Royal elections in Poland|royal election]] of [[Stanisław Leszczyński]].<ref name="Davies1996"/>

==Herman Karl von Keyserling (1763–1764)==
[[File:Herman Karl von Keyserling.PNG|thumb|right|166px|Herman Karl von Keyserling]]

Russian influence would not become permanent until the death of the Polish king [[August III the Saxon]] in 1764. During the free election that followed his death, one of the Polish [[magnate]] families, the [[Czartoryski]] party, known as the [[Familia (Polish political party)|Familia]], allied itself with Russia and, backed by the Russian army, forced the election of their relative (and former lover of Russian tsarina [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine II the Great]]) [[Stanisław August Poniatowski]].<ref name="Corwin1917">{{cite book|author=Edward Henry Lewinski Corwin|title=The political history of Poland|url=https://archive.org/details/politicalhistor00corwgoog|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1917|publisher=Polish Book Importing Co.|page=[https://archive.org/details/politicalhistor00corwgoog/page/n317 297]}}</ref> The Russian envoy overseeing the Familia's action and the election of Poniatowski was [[Herman Karl von Keyserling]]. Among other things, to ensure Poniatowski's victory he bribed the [[Interrex (Poland)|interrex]] of Poland, [[Władysław Aleksander Łubieński]], with a significant sum of about 100,000 [[Russian ruble]]s.<ref name="Corwin1917"/><ref name="Henderson1902">{{cite book|author=Ernest Flagg Henderson|title=A short history of Germany|url=https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofge02hendiala|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1902|publisher=The Macmillan Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofge02hendiala/page/207 207]–}}</ref> The Russian army entered Poland<ref name="Corwin1917"/><ref name="Henderson1902"/> again under the pretext of protecting Polish citizens from civil war. With such support, Poniatowski was soon elected king.<ref name="Corwin1917"/><ref name="Henderson1902"/>

==Nicholas Repnin (1764–1768)==
[[File:Nikolai Vasilyevich Repnin.jpg|thumb|right|170px|[[Nicholas Repnin]].]]

Keyserling, who died in September, was soon replaced by [[Nicholas Repnin]], who would become perhaps the most infamous of the Russian envoys of that period. In order to strengthen the Russian influence, he encouraged the civil war within the Commonwealth, also encouraging the conflict between [[Protestant]] and [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] factions within the Polish nobility. This led to the formation of two Protestant [[konfederacja]]s (of [[Sluck]] and [[Toruń]]) and later, one Catholic ([[Radom Confederation]], led by [[Karol Stanisław "Panie Kochanku" Radziwiłł]]).<ref name="Butterwick1998">{{cite book|author=Richard Butterwick|title=Poland's Last King and English Culture: Stanisław August Poniatowski, 1732–1798|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ySzrq3JwjBEC&pg=PA169|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1998|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-820701-6|page=169}}</ref>

Before the Sejm of 1767, he ordered the capture and exile to [[Kaluga]] of some vocal opponents of his policies,<ref name="Scott2001">{{cite book|author=Hamish M. Scott|title=The Emergence of the Eastern Powers, 1756–1775|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lc8EMD0JYUAC&pg=PA182|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-79269-1|page=182}}</ref> namely [[Józef Andrzej Załuski]]<ref name="CasanovaSartarelli2001">{{cite book|author1=Giacomo Casanova|author2=Stephen Sartarelli|author3=Sophie Hawkes|author4=Gilberto Pizzamiglio|title=The Story of My Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0F8CRLDPv4C&pg=PA528|accessdate=10 July 2011|date=1 May 2001|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-043915-1|page=528}}</ref> and [[Wacław Rzewuski]].

Through the Polish nobles in his employ (like [[Gabriel Podoski]], [[primate of Poland]])<ref name="Stone2001">{{cite book|author=Daniel Stone|title=The Polish–Lithuanian State, 1386–1795|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LFgB_l4SdHAC&pg=PA271|accessdate=10 July 2011|date=1 September 2001|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-98093-5}}</ref>{{rp|271}} or threatened by the presence of over 10,000 Russian soldiers in Warsaw<ref name="Scott2001"/> in the very chambers of the parliament, Repnin, despite some misgivings about the methods he was ordered to employ,<ref name="Bain1908">{{cite book|author=Robert Nisbet Bain|title=Slavonic Europe: a political history of Poland and Russia from 1447 to 1796|url=https://archive.org/details/slavoniceuropea01baingoog|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1908|publisher=University press|page=[https://archive.org/details/slavoniceuropea01baingoog/page/n396 388]}}</ref> ''de facto'' dictated the terms of that Sejm.<ref name="Ritter1975">{{cite book|author=Gerhard Ritter|title=Frederick the Great: A Historical Profile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ynM3Jd9TK6QC&pg=PA189|accessdate=10 July 2011|date=16 January 1975|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-02775-6|page=189}}</ref><ref name="Casanova1997">{{cite book|author=Giacomo Casanova|title=History of my life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qs26FfbHzgC&pg=RA34-PA356|accessdate=10 July 2011|date=17 April 1997|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-5666-2|page=34}}</ref> The intimidated Sejm, which met in October 1767 and adjourned in February 1768, appointed a commission (the so-called [[Delegated Sejm]]) which drafted a Polish–Russian treaty, approved in "silent session" (without debate) on February 27, 1768.<ref>[http://www.zum.de/whkmla/military/18cen/confbar.html Poland the Confederation of Bar, 1768–1772]</ref> The legislation undid some of the reforms of 1764 under [[Stanislaus II Augustus Poniatowski, King of Poland|Stanislaw II]] and pushed through legislation which ensured that the political system of the Commonwealth would be ineffective and easy to control by its foreign neighbours. The ''[[liberum veto]]'', free election, [[neminem captivabimus]], rights to form the [[Confederation (Poland)|confederation]] and [[rokosz]]—in other words, all the important old privileges of the nobility, which made the Commonwealth political system (the [[Golden Liberty]]) so ungovernable<ref name="Seton-Watson1988">{{cite book|author=Hugh Seton-Watson|title=The Russian Empire, 1801–1917|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40KbWNve4XkC&pg=PA44|accessdate=10 July 2011|date=1 February 1988|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-822152-4}}</ref>{{rp|44}}—were guaranteed as unalterable parts in the ''[[cardinal laws]]''.<ref name="Butterwick1998"/>

Repnin's Sejm marked one of the important milestones in increasing Polish dependence on the Russian Empire, and its devolution into a protectorate. This dependent position was bluntly spelled out in [[Nikita Ivanovich Panin]]'s letter to King Poniatowski, in which he made it clear that Poland was now in the Russian [[sphere of influence]].<ref name="Scott2001"/>

Nonetheless, the Russian intervention led to the [[Confederation of Bar]], which practically destroyed the ambassador's handiwork. The resulting civil war in Poland, involving Russia, lasted from 1768 to 1772.<ref name="Scott2001"/>

==Mikhail Volkonsky (1769–1771)==
[[File:Michaił Wołkoński.JPG|thumb|right|250px|[[Mikhail Volkonsky]].]]

For his failure in preventing the formation of [[Bar Confederation]], Repnin was dismissed. On 22 May 1769 he was replaced by the envoy and minister Prince [[Mikhail Volkonsky]], a high-ranking officer in the Russian Army who had been stationed in Poland since 1761. Volkonsky's orders were even more direct; in 1770 he demanded that the [[Czartoryski]] family be [[exile]]d from the Commonwealth, and when King Poniatowski asked what authority the ambassador had to demand the punishment of foreign citizens, he threatened the king with the reporting of his opposition to the Russian court.<ref name=dzieje>{{cite book |title=Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów. Dzieje Agonii |last=Jasienica |first=Paweł |author-link=Paweł Jasienica |year=2007 |publisher=Prószynski i S-ka |location=Warszawa |isbn=978-83-7469-583-1 |page=279}}</ref>

==Caspar von Saldern (1771–1772)==
[[File:Kaspar von Saldern.JPG|thumb|left|150px|[[Caspar von Saldern]].]]

Caspar [[von Saldern]], ''protégé'' of [[Nikita Ivanovich Panin]],<ref name=dzieje266>{{cite book |title=Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów. Dzieje Agonii |last=Jasienica |first=Paweł |author-link=Paweł Jasienica |year=2007 |publisher=Prószynski i S-ka |location=Warszawa |isbn=978-83-7469-583-1 |page=266}}</ref> and former diplomat of [[Holstein]], became the next ambassador in April 1771. His service was marked by a significant change in Russian policy. An attempt by the Bar Confederates to kidnap king Poniatowski on 3 November 1771, in Warsaw, sent a signal that Poniatowski's position was weak and Poland had not been entirely turned into a Russian protectorate. In order to protect some of its gains, and with the approval and encouragement of Prussia and [[Austria-Hungary]], Catherine II started to consider the first [[partition of Poland]]. Saldern's given task was to convince the king and the Czartoryski family to support militarily Russia's crushing of the confederates. They all refused.<ref name=dzieje286>{{cite book |title=Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów. Dzieje Agonii |last=Jasienica |first=Paweł |author-link=Paweł Jasienica |year=2007 |publisher=Prószynski i S-ka |location=Warszawa |isbn=978-83-7469-583-1 |page=286}}</ref> He fell into disfavor with Catherine, and after he was excluded from the negotiations related to the first partition of Poland, he asked for his own dismissal.<ref name="FitzLyon1995">{{cite book|author1=Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (kni︠a︡gini︠a︡)|author2=Kyril FitzLyon|title=The Memoirs of Princess Dashkova|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dg2NqICI8VAC&pg=PA327|accessdate=10 July 2011|date=January 1995|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-1621-3|page=327}}</ref><ref>Otto Brandt, ''Caspar von Saldern und die nordeuropäische Politik im Zeitalter Katharinas II'', Erlangen und Kiel 1932.</ref>

==Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (1772–1790)==
[[File:Otto Magnus von Stackelberg.JPG|thumb|right|170px|Otto Magnus von Stackelberg]]

After the treaty of the First Partition, signed in February, was made public on 5 August 1772, [[Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (ambassador)|Otto Magnus von Stackelberg]] became the new ambassador.<ref name="Butterwick1998-2">{{cite book|author=Richard Butterwick|title=Poland's Last King and English Culture: Stanisław August Poniatowski, 1732–1798|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ySzrq3JwjBEC&pg=PA246|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1998|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-820701-6|page=246}}</ref> His task was to ensure that the Polish Sejm would [[ratify]] the treaty. The [[Partition Sejm]], with many of its deputies bribed by the Russian embassy, indeed ratified the treaty (on 30 September 1773), and established the [[Permanent Council]] – a small body that both promised to reform the inefficient Polish governance which, Stackelberg thought, could also be easily controlled by Russia.

In 1776, Stackelberg permitted King Poniatowski to carry out several minor reforms,<ref name="Stone2001"/>{{rp|275}} but in 1780 von Stackelberg's protest resulted in the derailing of [[Zamoyski's Codex]], a proposed set of reforms drafted by [[kanclerz]] [[Andrzej Zamoyski]] which would have strengthened royal power, made all officials answerable to the Sejm, placed the clergy and their finances under state supervision, and deprived landless ''szlachta'' ("[[barefoot szlachta]]") of many of their legal immunities. Russia did not want a completely governmentless Poland, as was seen in their support for the Permanent Council, yet the Zamoyski Codex, which offered a chance for the significant reform of the Polish governance, was also not friendly to Russia. Stackelberg also opposed most reforms proposed by Poniatowski from 1778 to 1786.<ref name="Stone2001"/>{{rp|271}}

On 27 May 1787, he derailed yet another Polish policy which seemed threatening to Russia. With few major wars in the past decades, the [[economy]] of the Commonwealth was improving, and its [[budget]] had a notable surplus. Many voices said that the money should be spent on increasing the size, and providing new equipment for, the Polish army. However, as a large Polish army could be a threat to the Russian garrisons controlling Poland, von Stackelberg ordered his proxies in the Permanent Council to spend the money on a different goal: for the huge sum of 1 million [[Polish zloty|zloty]]s (representing most of the surplus), the Council bought the [[Brühl Palace, Warsaw|von Brühl's Palace]] – and promptly donated it to 'Poland's ally', Russia, to serve as Russia's new embassy.

Nonetheless, von Stackelberg, and the entire Russian control over Poland, was soon to suffer a major defeat. With Russian attention being diverted to the [[Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)]] and the [[Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790)]], Catherine approved some limited reforms in Poland, with the goal of transforming Poland into a more useful (and efficient) ally.<ref name="Stone2001"/>{{rp|271}} However, when the opportunity for major reform presented itself during the "Great" or "[[Four-Year Sejm]]" of 1788–1792, which opened on 6 October 1788, and from 1790—a new alliance between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Prussia seemed to provide even further security against Russian intervention,<ref name="Wandycz">[[Piotr Stefan Wandycz]], ''The Price of Freedom: A History of East Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present'', Routledge (UK), 2001, {{ISBN|0-415-25491-4}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vdS_WBHGBcYC&dq=Polish-Lithuanian+Commonwealth+%22constitutional+monarchy%22&pg=PA128 Google Print, p.128]</ref> the Polish reformers managed to carry out increasing numbers of reform despite Stackelberg's opposition.<ref name="Schroeder1996">{{cite book|author=Paul W. Schroeder|title=The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BS2z3iGPCigC&pg=PA74|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-820654-5|page=74}}</ref>

==Yakov Bulgakov (1790–1792)==
[[File:Jakow Bułhakow.JPG|thumb|right|120px|[[Yakov Bulgakov]].]]

The [[Polish–Prussian alliance]] angered Catherine II, who recalled von Stackelberg and replaced him with [[Yakov Bulgakov]].<ref name="Stone2001" />{{rp|271}} This, however, changed little: Russia was still occupied with the Ottomans, and the Prussians played their own game, further giving Catherine a pause before ordering any intervention. Bulgakov was further outmaneuvered by the Polish reformers when King [[Stanislaw August|Stanisław August]] drew closer to leaders of the reform-minded [[Patriotic Party]] ([[Stanisław Małachowski]], [[Ignacy Potocki]], [[Hugo Kołłątaj]], [[Stanisław Staszic]] and others). Finally the reformers pulled a quasi-[[coup d'etat]], voting for a new [[constitution]], the [[Constitution of May 3, 1791]], when most of the pro-Russian deputies ([[Muscovite Party]]) were away for the [[Easter]] recess. The Constitution which drastically reformed the Commonwealth coincided with the end of the Russo-Turkish war. The members of the Muscovite Party, who felt secure with the previous ''[[status quo]]'' and under Russian protection, formed the [[Targowica Confederation]], and requested Catherine II to intervene to restore their freedoms.<ref name="Seton-Watson1988"/>{{rp|49}} A month after the Constitution was signed Bulgakov informed the Polish king that Russian forces were responding to their request and entering Poland in order to 'restore order' - although in fact they were there to abolish the constitution which threatened the Russian control over Poland.<ref name="Schroeder">[[Paul W. Schroeder]], ''The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848'', Oxford University Press, 1996, {{ISBN|0-19-820654-2}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BS2z3iGPCigC&dq=Poland+%22constitutional+monarchy%22&pg=PA84 Google print p.84]</ref><ref name="McHughPacy2001">{{cite book|author1=James T. McHugh|author2=James S. Pacy|title=Diplomats without a Country: Baltic Diplomacy, International Law, and the Cold War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wRbdAwtxVIAC&pg=PA19|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31878-8|page=19}}</ref> The Prussians were also appalled at the possibility of strong [[constitutional monarchy]] at their border.<ref name="Buffalo">[[Carl L. Bucki]], [http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/constitution.html The Constitution of May 3, 1791] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205130036/http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/constitution.html |date=December 5, 2008 }}, Text of a presentation made at the Polish Arts Club of Buffalo on the occasion of the celebrations of Poland's Constitution Day on May 3, 1996, last accessed on 20 March 2006</ref> Poland forces, numerically inferior to Russians (at about 1:3), were eventually defeated in the [[War in Defense of the Constitution]]. The Constitution was abolished, and the [[Second Partition of Poland]] took place.

==Jacob Sievers (1793)==
[[File:Jacob Sievers by Joseph Grassi.JPG|thumb|left|170px|[[Jacob Sievers]].]]

On 16 February 1793 Bulgakov was replaced by [[Jacob Sievers]], envoy and minister. His orders were to ensure the ratification of the treaty of the Second Partition. Russian representatives bribed some deputies and the Russian army's presence influenced the election of their favoured candidates at local [[sejmik]]s.<ref name="Williams1904">{{cite book|author=Henry Smith Williams|title=The Historians' History of the World: Poland, The Balkans, Turkey, Minor Eastern States, China, Japan|url=https://archive.org/details/historianshisto18willgoog|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1904|publisher=The Outlook Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/historianshisto18willgoog/page/n116 89]}}</ref>

At the [[Grodno Sejm]], the last Sejm of the Commonwealth, any deputies who opposed the Russian presence or demands were threatened with beatings, arrests, [[Sequestration (law)|sequestration]] or exile.<ref name="Davies1998">{{cite book|author=Norman Davies|title=Europe: A History|url=https://archive.org/details/europehistory00norm|url-access=registration|accessdate=10 July 2011|date=20 January 1998|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-097468-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/europehistory00norm/page/719 719]}}</ref> Many deputies were not allowed to speak, and the main issue on the agenda was the project of 'Eternal Alliance of Poland and Russia', sent to the Sejm by Russian [[Tsar]]ina [[Catherine the Great]], and presented to the Sejm as the 'request of Polish people' by the Polish supporters of Russia.<ref name="BideleuxJeffries1998">{{cite book|author1=Robert Bideleux|author2=Ian Jeffries|title=A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U39AYJm1L94C&pg=PA161|accessdate=10 July 2011|date=28 January 1998|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-16112-1|page=161}}</ref> Eventually with all the deputies cowed into agreement by Russian soldiers present in the chamber, and with none willing to speak out against the treaty, the Second Partition was declared to have passed by unanimous vote.<ref name="Kraitsir1837">{{cite book|author=Charles V. Kraitsir|author-link=Charles V. Kraitsir|title=The Poles in the United States of America, Preceded by the Earliest History of the Slavonians, and by the History of Poland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_QKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA165|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=1837|publisher=Kiderlen and Stollmeyer|page=165}}</ref>

==Iosif Igelström (1793–1794)==
[[File:Levitsky Igelstrom.jpg|thumb|right|170px|Iosif Igelström]]

In December 1793 Sievers was replaced by the last Russian envoy and ambassador, [[Iosif Igelström]] ({{langx|de|Otto Heinrich Igelström}}), who already from late 1792 was the [[commander-in-chief]] of the Russian forces in Poland. His main goal was to ensure the [[demobilization]] of most of the Commonwealth army; however he was interrupted by the [[Kościuszko Uprising]] which started in March 1794 - first in the series of several uprisings against the partitioners of Poland that would shake Poland over the next century. In April 1794 during the [[Warsaw Uprising (1794)|Warsaw Uprising]] Russian garrisons, commanded by Igelström, sustained heavy losses. The Russian [[embassy]] had a special fund, ''[[Jurgielt]]'', from which hundreds of Polish politicians and officials were receiving a stable yearly [[pension]]. During the Uprising, the Russian embassy was captured, and among the captured documents were the lists of various Polish officials on the Russian payroll;<ref name="GW_TN">{{in lang|pl}} Paweł Wroński, [[Gazeta Wyborcza]], ''Rozmowa z prof. Tomaszem Nałęczem. Łapówka bywała cnotą..'', 2003-12-15. Last accessed on July 7, 2006.</ref> many of them—including several prominent leaders of the [[Targowica Confederation]]—were later executed. For his failure to prevent the uprising Igelström was [[demotion|demoted]]; nonetheless, after the Kościuszko Uprising, the [[Third Partition of Poland]] resulted in the complete destruction of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. Most of its territories were partitioned among its neighbors, and the new incarnation of Poland, [[Congress Poland]], was an obvious Russian [[puppet state]].<ref name="Palmer1997">{{cite book|author=Alan Palmer|title=Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d_rlZKhgaekC&pg=PA7|accessdate=10 July 2011|date=February 1997|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|isbn=978-0-87113-665-7|pages=7–}}</ref><ref name="NicolsonNicolson2000">{{cite book|author1=Harold Nicolson|author2=Sir Harold Nicolson|title=The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity: 1812–1822|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qm5BNjqrGsUC&pg=PA171|accessdate=10 July 2011|year=2000|publisher=Grove Press|isbn=978-0-8021-3744-9|page=171}}</ref> Therefore, Russian diplomacy, backed by the military might of the Empire, and despite a few setbacks like the [[Bar Confederation]], the [[Constitution of May 3, 1791]] and the [[Kościuszko Uprising]] had achieved its goal, expanding Russian control over most of the Commonwealth territory and population.

==List of Russian ambassadors and envoys to Poland, 1763–1794==
* [[Herman Karl von Keyserling]], [[envoy extraordinary]] (''poseł nadzwyczajny'') and [[minister plenipotentiary]] (''minister pełnomocny'') 1763–30 September 1764
* [[Nicholas Repnin]], envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 1764–1768
* [[Mikhail Volkonsky]], envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 22 May 1769 – 1771
* [[Caspar von Saldern]], ambassador from April 1771 to August 1772
* [[Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (ambassador)|Otto Magnus von Stackelberg]], ambassador from 1772 to 1790
* [[Yakov Bulgakov]], envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 1790–1792
* [[Jacob Sievers]], envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from 16 February to 28 December 1793
* [[Iosif Igelström]], envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 1793 to spring of 1794

==Notes==
* '''a''' {{Note label|a|a|none}} The only time the power of Russian diplomats was challenged and (temporarily) severely curtailed in that period was the time after the reforms of the [[Great Sejm]] (from 1790, especially with the implementation of the [[Constitution of May 3, 1791]]) to the Polish defeat in the [[Polish–Russian War of 1792]], and to a lesser extent, during the time of [[Kościuszko Uprising]] (1794).

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambassadors And Envoys From Russia To Poland (1763-1794)}}
[[Category:Ambassadors of Russia to Poland|18th century]]
[[Category:Lists of ambassadors of Russia|Poland]]
[[Category:Lists of ambassadors to Poland|Rusia]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:18th century in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
[[Category:18th-century diplomats of the Russian Empire|.Ambassadors Russia Poland]]
[[Category:1760s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
[[Category:1770s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
[[Category:1780s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
[[Category:1760s in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:1770s in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:1780s in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth–Russian Empire relations]]

[[ru:Российские послы в Речи Посполитой (1761-1794)]]