Liberum Veto

The destruction of Polish nationality is perhaps more directly due to the law called the "liberum veto" than to any other single cause. This law, passed in the time of Casimir II. (1177-1194), gave any member of the Polish Diet the right, by his single veto, to bring the action of the whole diet to a stand-still. It was impossible for a Pole to submit to anything which was not of his own choosing, therefore every decision of the Diet had to be unanimous in order to be valid.

There is, or was, in the Polish character, a wild pride--an undisciplined feeling of independence--independence without obedience, a delight in the one-man power, a wrong idea of freedom--freedom without duty; and Polish history is the Nemesis for this fault. In 1572 Poland became an elective monarchy: and this circumstance is apparently the principal cause of many of the great misfortunes which befel the Polish nation.

Owing to the "liberum veto," upon every election of a king, there came a period of violent and stormy debate, ending often in bloodshed. Even when, after months of debate, intrigue, fighting and manslaughter, the assembly approached to unanimity, one disagreeable member, at the last moment calling out into the hall his veto (I forbid) could produce the most enormous results and utterly defeat the candidate. Thus it came to pass that internal jealousy, rivalry and dissension, split the nation into as many parties as there were families of nobility. The end began in 1763, and Poland was ripe for the fall. The abolition of the "liberum veto" and the establishment of an hereditary monarchy came too late; the first, second, and third partitions of Poland followed in quick succession, and Russia, Prussia and Austria divided the spoils.

The Liberum veto was the rule of a minority carried to the farthest extreme, even to a minority of one.

The Poles made a gallant but unavailing struggle against dismemberment--they were overpowered by superior numbers. In an engagement October 10th, 1794, the distinguished Polish patriot, Kosciusko, fell, covered with wounds, exclaiming "Finis Polonia!" ("It is the end of Poland!"). Kosciusko, however, rose again, came to America, survived till 1817, and has a monument at West Point. In 1795 the end came, and the very name of Poland was changed. The Poles rose in rebellion in 1831, in 1846, and in 1863, but they were defeated each time after bloody battles, and thousands were sent as exiles to Siberia. The Russians are still trying hard to Russianize the Poles by changing their language and customs; but so far with little success. In 1867 an American traveler in Poland asked a lady in a railway car the Polish word for the sun. She was at first silent, but at length whispered the name in his ear, and said, "Here in Wilna we are forbidden to speak our native language, and if my children in the street are heard to utter a Polish word, they are seized by the police and whipped."