Poland is in general a very level country, (if
we except the Carpathian mountains,) fertile in corn, having long
furnished Sweden and Holland; its horses are some of the finest in
Europe, and its salt-works are very productive; the towns collectively
are built of wood; the appearance of the villages very mean.
This was the country of the ancient Vandals; it was made a duchy about
the end of the seventh century; in the tenth, Christianity was
introduced, and Boleslaus erected it into a monarchy in 999. The form
of government was here very singular: it was the only elective
monarchy in Europe, and the Poles, in the choice of a king, did not
always confine themselves to a countryman; at one time all nations
were eligible. The king was elected by the whole body of the nobility
and gentry in the plains of Warsaw, and before this choice they
obliged him to sign whatever conditions they thought proper. The
Polish armies were not paid by the king; every nobleman or gentleman
gave his attendance in time of war, at the head of his vassals, and
retired from the fatigues of the campaign when it suited his own
inclination. In the year 1779, a singularly bold partition of this
country was effected by Russia, Prussia, and Austria; Russia laid
claim to part of Lithuania, Polesia, Podolia, Volhinia, and part of
the Ukraine. This immense tract of country, containing 8,000,000
souls, is become part and parcel of the Russian territory.
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