THE SAXON ERA 377
position of dependence, had been completed within five or six years of his orig-
inal election. The second stage, of turning Russia's military supremacy into a
durable political system, took rather longer. In 1706-7, when Augustus had
deserted his throne, Peter passed many months in Poland looking for a 'head' to
put on the body of the decapitated Republic. Residing in Sobieski's favourite
castles of Zolkiew, Jaworow, and Wilanow, and selecting vast quantities of
plundered treasures for removal to Russia, he conducted lengthy negotiations
with the Confederates of Sandomierz. He was shocked by what he learned. The
Polish 'republicans' expected to treat with the Tsar as with an equal. They were
men who would take neither orders nor bribes. One magnate refused an offer of
the Crown on the grounds that he was not going to be 'any Tsar's fool'. Others
responded to the Tsar's expensive gifts by sending still more expensive gifts in
return. After that experience, Peter knew what he was dealing with. (The term
'Polish Anarchy' appeared in Russian documents for the first time in this
period.) The Tsar had either to hold Poland-Lithuania by force, which was
beyond even Russia's capacity, or he had to chain the Wettins to their task in
such a way that neither they, nor the Polish nobility, could challenge the
arrangements. His opportunity came with the war of the Confederation of
Tarnogrod. At negotiations held in Warsaw in 1716, his diplomats were able to
persuade the King to a permanent withdrawal of the Saxon Army from the
Republic's territory. At the same time, the representatives of the Sejm undertook
to place a permanent limit on the size of the Republic's finances and armies. The
Tsar undertook to guarantee the agreement in the form of a written constitu-
tion. In this way, both King, and nobility were deprived by the means of threat-
ening each other. By no mere coincidence, they were also deprived of the means
of resisting the encroachments of the Russian Tsar who henceforth could legally
intervene in Polish affairs at will. The terms, agreed in advance, were to be put
before a meeting of the Sejm sworn to accept them without debate or protest.
The operation was completed on 30 January 1717, in less than one day. The
Silent Sejm, surrounded by Russian soldiers, signed away Poland's freedom for
the duration; and no voice was raised against it.^6
The troubles of the Great Northern War thus mark the beginning of the mod-
ern political history of Poland. Russian supremacy, first instituted in 1717, has
persisted in one form or another to the present day. The Russian protectorate
has sometimes been exercised by manipulating the activities of an autonomous,
but dependent Polish state - as was the case for most of the eighteenth century
- and sometimes by incorporating large parts of the Polish lands into the
Russian Empire. It has sometimes been exercised by Russia alone, and some-
times in conjunction with Russia's German or Austrian associates. But in two
hundred and sixty years, it has only been interrupted for brief periods, notably
for the twenty-four years between 1915 and 1939. What is more, whilst Poland's
other 'protectors' have come and gone, the Russians do not go away. In this sit-
uation, political life quickly assumed a different tone. Political attitudes were
formed less in relation to Polish needs, but increasingly in response to Russian