ess and the King of Prussia, the demand of the dissidents was
formally rejected by the Diet of 1766. At the Diet of 1767, Count
Repnin, Catherine's ambassador and the real head of the government in
Poland, had four of the most recalcitrant senators carried off and sent
into exile in Russia. The Diet, terrified, disorganized, immediately
pronounced in favor of the dissidents. By the modifications recently
introduced into the constitution of their country, the Polish nobles had
lost their liberum veto; unanimity of suffrages was no longer necessary
in the Diet; the foreign powers were able to insolently impose their will
upon it; the privileges of the noblesse, as well as their traditional
faith, were attacked at the very foundations; religious fanaticism and
national independence boiled up at the same time in every heart; the
discontent, secretly fanned by the agents of Frederick, burst out, sooner
than the skilful weavers of the plot could have desired, with sufficient
intensity and violence to set fire to the four corners of Poland. By a
bold surprise the confederates gained possession of Cracow and of the
fortress of Barr, in Podolia; there it was that they swore to die for the
sacred cause of Catholic Poland. For more than a century, in the face of
many misatkes and many misfortunes, the Poles have faithfully kept that
oath.

The Bishop of Kaminck, Kraminski, had gone to Versailles to solicit the
support of France. The Duke of Choiseul, at first far from zealous in
the cause of the Polish insurrection, had nevertheless sent a few troops,
who were soon re-enforced. The Empress Catherine had responded to the
violence of the confederates of Barr by letting loose upon the Ukraine
the hordes of Zaporoguian Cossacks, speedily followed by regular troops.
The Poles, often beaten, badly led by chieftains divided amongst
themselves, but ever ardent, ever skilful in seizing upon the smallest
advantages, were sustained by the pious exhortations of the clergy, who
regarded the war as a crusade; they were rejoiced to see a diversion
preparing in their favor by the Sultan's armaments. "I will raise the
Turks against Russia the moment you think proper," was the assurance
given to the Duke of Choiseul by the Count of Vergennes, French
ambassador at Constantinople, "but I warn you that they will be beaten."
Hostilities broke out on the 30th of October, 1768; a Turkish army set
out to aid the Polish insurrection. Absorbed by th