DIPLOMACY IN POLAND-LITHUANIA 311behaved with similar licence. Demanding to reside in a palace protected by a
regiment of the guard - whilst his opposite number in St. Petersburg received
expenses for one room - he dictated the politics of the decade with cynical bru-
tality. His deportation of the Bishop of Cracow, together with other offending
dignitaries, was but the most celebrated of numerous arbitrary acts.^31 Baron
Staekelburg, who ruled in Warsaw from 1773-90, was only marginally more
sympathetic, having succeeded his one colleague, Caspar de Saldern, who had
dared to criticize the Empress's policy. On receiving Saldern's demand for recall
in protest against the First Partition, Catherine remarked that he had 'gone
mad'. In January 1794, Baron Sievers, who had the difficult task of controlling
Warsaw after the War of the Second Partition, was brusquely dismissed for per-
mitting Polish officers to wear their decorations in public. Incidents such as
these, notable for their pettiness and violence, crowd the annals of Russian con-
duct in the Republic throughout the century, amply supporting the view that the
conditions on which Russia intended to tolerate the Republic's independence
were a charade from the start.
Over the two centuries of the Republic's existence, the passive character of its
foreign policy had become increasingly evident. Unlike its neighbours, it made
no territorial aspirations, served no dynasty, and professed no religious or polit-
ical ideology. Whilst Russia ruthlessly pursued the 'gathering of the lands';
whilst Prussia toiled for the greater glory of the Hohenzollerns, or Austria
shouldered the burdens of Christendom, the Republic boasted nothing beyond
the welfare of its citizens. In the world of militant and militarist modern states,
it was an anachronism. The Republic happened to be formed in 1569 with a vast
territory which already exceeded its needs and with a defensive constitution
designed to preserve the existing order. No Polish king could hope to entertain
foreign ambitions, but 100,000 noblemen would ask the reason why. Thus, self-
preservation was the main consideration from the start. At the end of the eigh-
teenth century, even this had become something of a forlorn hope.
The 'Serene Republic' of Poland-Lithuania was finally extinguished in 1795
within a couple of years of the extinction by Napoleon of its Venetian name-
sake. What is more, since Poland and Venice also held other things in common,
including the tradition of democratic government and the fear of modern milit-
arist empires, it is fitting that an obituary written for the one, should be read in
memory of the other:
And what if she had seen those glories fade,
Those titles vanish, and that strength decay:
Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid
When her long life hath reached its final day.
Men are we, and must grieve when even the shade
Of that which once was great is pass'd away.^32