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Show FAMOUS I PEACE TREATIES I By II IRVING KING (t'opyrlfb'. i'M liv tha M.i'lur. Ni-wa papr Myndlcata.) TREATY OF ST. PETERSBURG. 1772. One of ths Many Efforts to Straighten Out Poland. Polund. having been taken off the map by a treaty. Is now to be put back again by another treaty In the latter purt of the fourteenth century Poland was the dominant power In SMt ern Europe. Her dominion extended from the I lu I tic to the Dnieper und pressed down upon AustilH to the south, while Red Uusslii. White Hus-sln, Hus-sln, Hlnck Kussin und the Ukraine were hers. Prussia wus n little stnte huddled up in n corner on the Baltic, and surrounded on the other sides by Polund. Courliind ami I.lvouiu were Polish provinces. The Prussians or Horussiuns. were nn iilolntroiis tribe I who Indulged In human iirrill. es and Piiland culled in the Teutonic knights to subdue them. The Teutonic knights subdued the Horussiuns. but they turned Prussia I Into a militant little state which be-I gun nt once wnrs to incrensf Its for ! rltory. A llohenzollern hnd himself elected bend of the Teutonic knights and thus begun the hulls,, of llolnu I zollern. and that power desilned to have such a large share In the down- I full of Poland uud to be such it men- ace to the world, sprung from u ruce , of snvnges led by an nilvcnturer. As lute us KMk't. when the Auierlcnn colonies were already settled commonwealths, common-wealths, Poland was so powerful that her king. John Sobieski, marching with S Polish urmy. relieved the siege of Vienna nnd saved Rnrope from being svorrun by the Turk. Dynasty Came to an End. With the death of Slglsmund Augustus Augus-tus In 1.77'J, the dynuslv of the old kings came to an end and Poland adopted a system of elective kings, und a new constitution which worked out badly and contributed in t lie downfall of the nation. The Polish diet elected the king. It consisted of a chamber of peers and a house of representatives representa-tives Of the lesser nobles. The diet snt only six weeks encli year und Its decisions were obliged to be unanimous unani-mous tO be ctTeetlvc. Also there was a recognized right of any nobles confederating con-federating together to enforce their will by the power of arms. Naturally the result was discord and sometimes civil vvur. Itussla, the growing Prussia Prus-sia nnd Austrie. fostered these Internal disagreements with hungry looks on Polish territory. A lurge number of Cennuns found 1 their nny Into the country, gathered to themselves business ami Industries und worked their propaganda. In 1773 the elr.ti.ni of Augustus III to the Polish throne wus accomplished W bf open bribery and under the guard of Russian soldiers. Poland Stirred to War. Hut Poland did not die without a struggle. Kosciusko, who hnd served under Washington during the American Ameri-can revolution, returned to the native countiy. Inspired the spirit of patriotism pa-triotism into his fellow Poles and stirred all Polnnd Into war against her oppressors. The Poles fought bravely brave-ly uud defeated the RnaaJaaa in the li ice battle of Dublenka. But now a Prusslnn urmy entered Polund. Kosciusko wns defeiitisl nnd Poland overrun. The Austrian troops hud Joined with the armies of Itussia und Priissln and the thris jwiwers, In the face of the protests of the western powers und I he outbursts of indignation indigna-tion from nil upright men, proceeded to a third partition which gave to Prussia 'J'J.tKH) square miles of territory ter-ritory with MOO.000 Inhnbltnnts, to Russia litl.(MH) square miles with 3.-iHHi.tHK) 3.-iHHi.tHK) Inhabitants; Austria had been slow und got nothing this time. A general rising Of the Poles followiA attd again the lender was Kosciusko. Hordes of Russian and Herman soldiers were poured luto Poland uud at length, on October 10, nt the battle of Made Jow Ice. Kosciusko wns defeated nnd taken prisoner, nnd "Freedom shrieked shriek-ed us Kosciusko fell," wrote the poet Campbell. The victorious Austrlans, Russians and Prussians now proceeded proceed-ed to finish their work by tuklng Poland Po-land off the map altogether. Of what the had not sfoli n before they proceeded pro-ceeded to portion out to themselves the remnants of the kingdom was as follows: Russia, 4.,000 suunre miles with 1.200.000 inhabitants ; Prussia, 21,-000 21,-000 square miles with 1,000,000 Inhabitants. Inhabi-tants. Austria hnd taken purt In this last subjugation of Kosciusko and got lx.ooo square miles with 1,000000 Inhabitants. In-habitants. The deal begun at the signing sign-ing of the treaty of St. Petersburg on August 6, 177U, wus completed. Polund Po-lund censad to exist. As full of crimes ( as history Is It contains no record of such another cold-blooded crime by civilized civ-ilized nnd Christian powers us the annihilation an-nihilation of Polund. |