Stanisław Małachowski

Stanisław Małachowski (born August 24, 1736 in Końskie , † December 29, 1809 in Warsaw ) was a Polish MP and statesman. He is considered one of the main authors of the 1791 constitution .

Stanisław Małachowski

Adoption of the Constitution of May 3, 1791. Historicizing painting by Jan Matejko (1881). Małachowski in the center of the picture is carried on shoulders and holds the constitution aloft.

Life

He came from the noble family Małachowski and was the son of the Crown Grand Chancellor Jan Małachowski . He studied law and was elected country messenger to the Sejm in 1764 . In 1771 he was appointed grand trainee for the Polish crown. As a member of the Land Couriers' Chamber in the Sejm, he has earned great respect. He was a member of the Permanent Council of the Government and was elected Marshal (President) of the four-year Sejm between 1788 and 1792. In this function he was one of the main authors of the constitution of May 3, 1791. As Marshal of the Sejm, he signed the alliance treaty with Prussia in 1790 with the aim of protecting Poland from foreign rule. In 1792 he negotiated in vain with a Saxon delegation about the introduction of the hereditary transfer of the Polish crown to the King of Saxony . As a patriot, Małachowski was a strict opponent of the Russian party, one of whose main supporters was his brother Hyacinth. During the Russo-Polish War of 1792 he provided considerable funds and large quantities of food for the Polish troops from his own resources. But since he could not prevent the Russia-friendly confederation of Targowica , he fled abroad. At the Kosciuszko uprising of 1794, he did not participate. In 1799, however, he was arrested in Warsaw and imprisoned as a state prisoner in Krakow for one year . He had been accused of having been responsible for a meeting of the Polish Sejm in Milan . After that he lived on his estates. After the founding of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 he was initially chairman of a provisional government commission and soon afterwards became President of the Senate. His tomb is in the St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw.

literature

• Brockhaus Conversation Lexicon. Volume 12, part 1, Leipzig 1825, p. 174. (digitized version)