who were in a state of the most abject feudal vassalage.  By the laws of Poland every person was a noble who was not engaged in any industrial occupation and who owned any land, or who had descended from those who ever had held any land.  The government was what may perhaps be called an aristocratic republic.  The masses were mere slaves.  The nobles were in a state of political equality.  They chose a chieftain whom they called king, but whose power was a mere shadow.  At this time Poland was in a state of anarchy.  Civil war desolated the kingdom, the nobles being divided into numerous factions, and fighting fiercely against each other.  Catharine, the Empress of Russia, espoused the cause of her favorite, Count Poniatowski, who was one of the candidates for the crown of Poland, and by the influence of her money and her armies placed him upon the throne and maintained him there.  Poland thus, under the influence of the Russian queen, became, as it were, a mere province of the Russian empire.

Poniatowski, a proud man, soon felt galled by the chains which Catharine threw around him.  Frederic of Prussia united with Catharine in the endeavor to make Poniatowski subservient to their wishes.  Maria Theresa eagerly put in her claim for influence in Poland.  Thus the whole realm became a confused scene of bloodshed and devastation.  Frederic of Prussia, the great regal highwayman, now proposed to Austria and Russia that they should settle all the difficulty by just dividing Poland between them.  To their united armies Poland could present no resistance.  Maria Theresa sent her dutiful son Joseph, the emperor, to Silesia, to confer with Frederic upon this subject.  The interview took place at Neiss, on the 25th of August, 1769.  The two sovereigns vied with each other in the interchange of courtesies, and parted most excellent friends.  Soon after, they held another interview at Neustadt, in Moravia, when the long rivalry between the houses of Hapsburg and Brandenburg seemed to melt down into most cordial union.  The map of Poland was placed before the two sovereigns, and they marked out the portion of booty to be assigned to each of the three imperial highwaymen.  The troops of Russia, Austria and Prussia were already in Poland.  The matter being thus settled between Prussia and Austria, the Prussian king immediately conferred with Catharine at St. Petersburg.  This ambitious and unprincipled woman snatched at the bait presented, and the infamous partition was agreed to.  Maria Theresa was very greedy, and demanded nearly half of Poland as her share.  This exorbitant claim, which she with much pertinacity adhered to, so offended the two other sovereigns that they came near fighting about the division of the spoil.  The queen was at length compelled to lower her pretensions.  The final treaty was signed between the three powers on the 5th of August, 1772.