May 3 is for the Poles the com. memorative date of the proclamation of the constitution of 1791. This date has been ever since celebrated by the Poles and has now been proclaimed by the Polish Government as a national holiday. It carries us back to a period of remarkable revival of the national spirit.
In August 1772 the first treaty of partition had peen signed. This catastrophe acted upon the whole nation like a thunderbolt, provoke ing a profound revolution of her spirit, disengaging all her latent! powers and disclosing to the world her real features. The King himself, though deprived of all powers, gave a strong impetus to reform.
A number of improvements were introduced into the finances, the army, the police. At the same time the Education Commission, organized in 1773 and which is rightly regarded as the first Board of Education in Europe, reformed the University of Cracow, covered the land with secondary and pri-schools accessible to all, hilst_ the "Society for Elementary Text-Books" furnished them with excellent school manuals. In a few years the country opened a splen-aid network of roads, developed its industries in spite of the difficulties created by Prussia, and put trade on a sound basis. Thanks especially to the King's patronage, there was a sort of revival of literature (Krasichi, Trembecki sciences (the historian Enlightened publicists grouped themselves round Staszie and Kollontaj, animated by the true democratic spirit and an ardent desire to strengthen the government! in order to save their country.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.