THE POLISH GRAIN TRADE 223economic affairs from the dietines; and the dietines lacked the means of co-
ordinating their activities or of initiating anything which resembled a national
economic policy.
The withdrawal of the foreign demand, which had stimulated the Republic's
economy so characteristically in the sixteenth century, inaugurated a social and
economic retreat on a wide front. The expansion of the towns came to a halt.
The bourgeoisie and the Jews, who had thrived on expanding commerce, fell on
hard times, and into increasing dependence on the nobility. The 'middling
noblemen', who had figured so prominently in the economic and political life of
the preceding period, were unable to sustain their position. Having no good rea-
son to exert themselves, they gradually abandoned the spirit of enterprise of
their fathers, and, as their income declined, sold off their accumulated assets. In
consequence, they became ever more vulnerable to the arrendator and the
money-lender, and, in the political sphere, to the blandishments of wealthy
patrons. The takings fell almost exclusively to the magnates. They bypassed the
cities, and bought up the towns; they mobilized the Jews in their own interest,
and pressurized the independent gentry. In the land market, they had no serious
competitors, and gradually amassed latifundia of unparalleled proportions.
Serfdom alone was not put into reverse. Having toiled throughout the sixteenth
century to build the prosperity of the Republic's Golden Age, the serfs were now
to be driven even harder to mitigate the effects of its misfortunes. Economic life
deteriorated both qualitatively and quantitatively. In a world where initiative
could not be rewarded, the habits and skills of prosperity were forgotten. The
commercial expertise of the sixteenth century found no equivalent in the eigh-
teenth; agricultural techniques degenerated; people were poorer not only in
terms of what they earned, but also of what they ate and what they wore.
Deprived of their spending power, they could not support the growth of a con-
sumer market, or of industrial manufactures. Possessing little wealth, they could
not be effectively taxed, and could not therefore afford to defend themselves.
The scene was set for the Sarmatian idyll of the Saxon Era, where prolonged
poverty bred ignorance and apathy. When the international vultures began to
circle overhead, the impoverished Republic found that it was too weak to resist.
In this sense, the decline of the Vistula trade, and the decay of economic life in
general, must be seen as a necessary prelude to the Partitions.
Nowadays, two centuries later, few signs remain of the Vistula's former glory.
The river trade never revived, and under Prussian management declined further.
The Vistula itself is very quiet, and for long stretches unnavigable. As the dykes
have never been extended along the middle reaches, where flooding is endemic, it
is quite unsuited to modern traffic of the sort that plies other European rivers such
as the Rhine, the Rhone, or the Danube. A few contemporary landmarks have
made their appearance, including the petrol refinery at Plock or the chemical