Delegation Sejm

The name of two Sejm sessions in the years 1767-1768 and 1773-1775, which were convened in special political circumstances as in both cases the convening, deputies’ composition, and course of the sessions were subject to a strong Russian pressure having the characteristics of a foreign intervention. During the first Sejm in 1767-1768, when Russia sought to gain dominance over the course of political life of Poland, equal rights for dissidents became a pretence. To implement these, it was resorted to appointment of a parliamentary delegation which was supposed to act on behalf of the Sejm. In turn, the Sejm was to undertake to subsequently adopt a resolution drawn up by the delegation and to suspend its session until the delegation completed their work. In the face of terror measures applied by the Russian ambassador Nikolai Repnin (deportation of opposition activists, including Bishop Kajetan Soltyk to Kaluga on 12-13 October 1767), on 16 October 1767, the king appointed 3 senators to the delegation and Karol Radziwill, the Speaker of the chamber of deputies, appointed 6 deputies. The result of the delegation's work was drafting in 1768 of legal standards for local assemblies and the Sejm, which remained in force subject to minor modifications until the Four-year Sejm (1788-1792).

Another Sejm convened according to the model of 1767 was one that approved the partition treaties of 1772. Before the beginning of the session, on 16 April 1773 a Sejm confederation was established. After breaking the resistance of Tadeusz Reytan and a few other protesters, the Sejm, overruling the opposition, postponed the session until 15 September 1773 and elected a 97-member delegation. In September 1773, the delegation concluded the session treaties but did not finished its work until 19 March 1775.

See: R. Łaszewski, Delegacja sejmowa jako instrument ratyfikacji I i II rozbioru Polski, „Czasopismo Prawno-Historyczne”, vol. 23, 1971, fas. 2, p. 87-101; J. Michalski, J. Michalski, Sejm w czasach panowania Stanisława Augusta, in: Historia sejmu polskiego, vol. 1, Warszawa 1984, edited by J. Michalski, p. 359-373.