MARIANS IN 1670-1788 142 The king’s efforts to implement reforms and his immense rise in authority after the “Vienna triumph” intensified the hostile action against him by the unfriendly magnates. The country teetered on the brink of civil war. Out of hatred for the king and opposition to the state reform, a ruthless and fierce battle began against him. “There was no slander or lie they would not use in the attempt to hurt the king.”3 Helpless, full of bitterness, capitulating before his enemies, in 1688, the king delivered a speech full of tragedy, in which he prophetically cried out: “In forty days, Nineveh will be destroyed!.”4 On June 17, 1696, John Sobieski passed away, which led to an interregnum, a time of magnate disputes, intrigues, bribery, and conflicts. Two serious candidates vied for the throne: the Saxon elector Frederick August, supported by Russia and Germany, and the French prince Louis de Bourbon Conti, enjoying the support of most nobility. In the political turmoil, on June 27, 1697, both were proclaimed kings of the Commonwealth. However, August demonstrated greater activity, “did not forget the jingling arguments, scattered money, and entered Poland with the Saxon army.”5 The distinguished historian Władysław Konopczyński unequivocally assessed the election of August II: “The interregnum of 1696-1697, the longest and most immoral in our history, revealed complete political disorientation among foreign intrigues, a deep decline in public spirit [...], and gave the nation a king who was to corrupt it even worse.”6 Paweł Jasienica rightfully called the times of the Saxon rule (1697-1763) “the history of agony.”7 Augustus II, a Protestant, converted to Catholicism to ascend the Polish throne. It is worth mentioning a particular testimony. After his serious threats against him. That is why in the fourth edition of Prodromus Reginae Artium, he removed passages containing criticism of “the most harmful institutions leading Poland to ruin.”, Prodromus, Cracoviae, Ed. Quarta, [b. d.]. See: Pisma zebrane, pp. 81-594. According to P. Jasienica, even radical political writers did not have the courage to challenge the worst of the noble fetishes, namely the liberum veto. It was only in 1730 and 1732 that two treatises attacking the liberum veto were published, sixty years after the work of Father Papczyński. See: P. Jasienica, Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów, Part III, Dzieje agonii, Warszawa, 1982, pp. 232237 [after: P. Jasienica, Dzieje agonii]. 3 Z. Wójcik, Jan III Sobieski, in: Poczet królów, p. 408. 4 Ibid, p. 409. 5 Andrzej Zahorski, August II, in: Poczet królów, p. 413. 6 Ibid, p. 414. 7 P. Jasienica, Dzieje agonii.
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