Silent Sejm

[1] A civil war in the Commonwealth was used by the Russian Tsar Peter the Great as an opportunity to intervene as a mediator.

[8] Hence Peter's goal was to weaken both sides, and to prevent Augustus from strengthening his position, which he feared would lead to a resurgent Commonwealth that could threaten Russia's recent gains and growing influence.

[8][12][15] Other names for the Sejm in the English language include Dumb or Muted.^ The terms themselves were significantly designed by Peter the Great.

[2][16] This settlement stipulated that: Sources vary whether Russia was recognized as the power that would guarantee the settlement; this claim is made by Jacek Jędruch and Norman Davies,[2][7] but rejected by Jacek Staszewski[23] and explicitly noted as erroneous in the edited work by Zbigniew Wójcik.

[24] The Silent Sejm marked the end of Augustus II's attempts to create an absolute monarchy in Poland; he subsequently focused his efforts on securing the succession of his son to the Polish throne.

[15] While some beneficial reforms were passed (such as the establishment of standing taxes for the military), the Sejm is regarded negatively by modern historians.

[7][8] With a reduced army, removal of Saxon troops and the right to form confederations, the nobility and the king had less power to fight one another – or, not coincidentally, to resist outside forces.

[26] Thus the Silent Sejm is regarded as one of the first precedents for the Russian Empire dictating Polish internal policy,[2] and a precursor to the partitions of Poland, which erased the Commonwealth from world maps by 1795.

[12][16] Józef Szujski notes that the Sejm begun with a long speech by Ledóchowski, that other marshals of provincial confederations were allowed to speak in order to renounce their positions, that the chancellor Jan Sebastian Szembek was able to reply to them, and that the deputy and commissar Michał Potocki read the constitution and relevant treaties.

[16] Archbishop of Gniezno and primate of Poland, Stanisław Szembek, "stormed out in a fury", complaining about being not allowed to voice his position in the discussion.