Sprawa cesji Gdańska i Torunia na rzecz Prus podczas obrad Sejmu Czteroletniego

Since the first partition of Poland, whereby Prussia received Warmia and province of Malbork (without the cities of Gdańsk and Toruń), one of the major objective of Prussian foreign policy was striving for the so-called rounding boundaries by incorporating the cities of Gdańsk and Toruń as well as parts of the Greater Poland (Wielkopolska). During the proceedings of the Four-Year Sejm (6th October 1788 – 29th May 1792), these goals were being tried to reach in whole or in part by assignment. In historiography this problem was a subject of many studies. In none of them, however, were used records from the archive of the Greate (Four – Year) Sejm that is an extremely valuable source to this subject. The records are stored at the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw. These are materials of the Chancellery of the Four-Year Sejm in 25 volumes. The most important among them is a handwritten parliament’s diary, which contains the minutes of the sessions closed to the public, during which was discussed and determined the foreign policy of the state. Frequently the topics discussed at those sessions were the Polish-Prussian diplomatic relations and problem of Gdańsk and Toruń. In parliament this issue was discussed since mid-March 1790 up to the beginning of April 1791. At that time, the Polish foreign policy was governed by Deputation of Foreign Interest but binding decisions were taken by the parliament. In this paper, based on the handwritten diary, author presents those sessions, in which were discussed issues of possible assignment of Gdańsk and Toruń cities to Prussia. The article presents the most important participants of the debates, their arguments and decisions. Moreover, it pictures the atmosphere of the proceedings and the changing political sympathies in relation to Prussia.