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[[Image:Rejtan Upadek Polski Matejko.JPG|thumb|left|400px|"Rejtan - The Fall of [[Poland]]", oil on canvas by Jan Matejko, 1866, 282 x 487 cm, [[Royal Castle in Warsaw]].]].
After having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King [[Stanislaus II Augustus Poniatowski, King of Poland|Stanislaus]] and the [[Sejm]] approve their action. The King appealed to the nations of [[Western Europe]] for help and tarried with the convocation of the Sejm. When no help was forthcoming and the armies of the combined nations occupied Warsaw to compel by force of arms the calling of the assembly, no alternative could be chosen save passive submission to their will. Those of the senators who advised against this step were arrested and exiled to Siberia by the representatives of [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine]].{{fact}} The local land assemblies ([[Sejmik]]s) refused to elect Deputies to the Sejm, and after great difficulties less than half of the regular number of representatives came to attend the session led by [[Marshal of the Sejm]], [[Adam Łodzia Poniński]], the commander of the [[Malta Order]], a cynic and notorious gambler. In order to prevent the disruption of the Sejm and the defeat of the purpose of the invaders he undertook to turn the regular Sejm into a [[Confederated sejm|Sejm of a Confederacy]], where majority rule prevailed. In spite of the dramatic efforts of [[Tadeusz Rejtan]], [[Samuel Korsak]] and [[Stanisław Bohuszewicz]] to prevent it, the deed was accomplished with the aid of [[Michał Radziwiłł]] and the Bishops [[Andrzej Młodziejowski]], [[Ignacy Jakub Massalski]], and [[Antoni Kazimierz Ostrowski]] ([[primate of Poland]]), who occupied high positions in the [[Senate of Poland]]. The so-called [[Partition Sejm]]<!--to translate from http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejm_rozbiorowy--> elected a committee of thirty to deal with the various matters presented. On [[September 18]], [[1773]], the Committee formally signed the treaty of cession, renouncing all claims of Poland to the occupied territories. On the other hand, that very Sejm, which continiued it's deliberations untul 1775, shaken by the first partition, has passed several important reforms, among them the creation of the [[Pernament Council]] and [[Commission for National Education]].
By seizing northwestern Poland, Prussia instantly gained control over 80% of Poland's total foreign trade. Through levying enormous custom duties on Polish trade using this route, Prussia accelerated the inevitable collapse of Poland (EB.)
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