THE END OF THE RUSSIAN PROTECTORATE 391instituted the Corps of Cadets under Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, as the ker-
nel of military education and expansion. But he had a difficult relationship with
Catherine's agent, Repnin, whose threats and violence made a mockery of the
monarch's prerogative. He angered Frederick by the customs proposals, and
disappointed the 'dissidents' who had been led to regard him as their ally. He
particularly incensed the established Church by failing to make his position
clear on the religious issue. The first Sejm of the reign, in 1766, turned into a
fiasco. The King's proposals for ending the Liberum Veto were rejected, whilst
the efforts of the Bishop of Cracow, Kajetan Sohyk, to obtain a declaration
about the 'Security of the Faith' led to repeated uproar. By the end of the year,
the country was dividing up into several armed camps.
The year 1767 marks the nadir of the 'Polish Anarchy', in which the baleful
provocations of the Russians were plainly revealed. At first, two armed confed-
erations of dissidents emerged, one at Thorn for the Protestants, the other at
Slupsk for the Orthodox. The element of genuine religious motivation in these
developments may be judged from events at Thorn where the confederation was
organized by a Russian officer, who began by arresting everyone, including the
city corporation, who opposed the will of the Empress. There then emerged at
Radom a more serious movement, which gradually spread into a countrywide
'General Confederation'. Some of these confederates, like the Radziwills in
Lithuania, were aiming to dethrone the King. Some were merely trying to block
his programme of reform. Others thought they were saving the Church. All were
being manipulated. On this occasion, Repnin not only succeeded in stage-man-
aging the conduct of both the Opposition and the King; he actually persuaded
the King to join the Confederates. In October, he showed his hand. Having
arranged an extraordinary meeting of the Sejm, he promptly arrested the four
leading oppositionists and sent them in chains to Kaluga. He announced his
action in a brief note to the House:
The troops of Her Imperial Majesty, my Sovereign, and the friend and ally of the
Republic, have arrested the Bishop of Cracow, the Bishop of Kiev, the Palatine of
Cracow and the starosta of Dolin, whose behaviour, by impugning the purity of Her
salutary, disinterested, and loving intentions towards the Republic, has insulted the dig-
nity of Her Imperial Majesty.^8
Thereupon, Repnin's appointees suspended the Sejm in favour of a special
Commission, which proceeded to pass the so-called 'cardinal laws' perpetuating
the reign of Anarchy. The nobility were confirmed in their monopoly of polit-
ical rights. The Liberum Veto was retained. Royal elections were to be 'free'. In
short, the 'Golden Freedom' was clearly exposed as a hollow sham. The only
person legally empowered to change it was the Empress of Russia. The system
of 1717 was restored.^9
At this point, Catherine must have been well pleased. The Republic lay pros-
trate before her in an agony of self-induced paralysis. The Russian party was in
control. She had no further demands. In fact, unbeknown to herself, she was