"Mirabilis et incomprehensibilis Deus in iudiciis suis, misericors in diuturna patientia, iustus in poena, ut continuo a condito hoc visibili mundo, iustissima iudicii sui lance una regna gentesque exaltat, altera pro delictis et iniquitatibus humiliat, una demancipat, altera vindicat, una extollit, altera deprimit."
The
first Ukrainian Constitution was written in Latin, more than 300 years ago
in a small town in Moldova and approved by the King of Sweden. The
author of the Constitution was hetman in exile - Pylyp Orlyk. His son Grégoire Orlyk was a marshal of France. The Orly commune
near Paris was named after Grégoire Orlyk, who had his estate in the area.
Orlyk’s Constitution
appeared 22 years earlier than the birthplace of the first American President
George Washington, and 80 years ahead of the ideas of the French Revolution.
When the Swedish-Ukrainian
troops suffered defeat at Poltava, Pylyp Orlyk not betrayed the oath and stayed
with Ivan Mazepa and the dream of complete independence of Ukraine. Since then
he was in Turkey, in the town of Bender. After the death of Grand Hetman Ivan
Mazepa April 5, 1710 Hetman of Ukraine elected Pylyp Orlyk. On the same day and
declared the so-called Constitution. The full name of the Constitution is “Pacta et
Constitutiones Legum Libertatumque Exercitus Zaporoviensis”.
The Constitution was made up of the preamble and 16 articles.
Preamble
The preamble briefly discusses Cossack history, their Khazar origin, the rise of the Zaporizhian Sich and its downfall when after under Bohdan Khmelnytsky it rebelled
against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and ended up serving Imperial Russia. According to the introduction, using all available means, Moscow limited and nullified rights and freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host and eventually subjugated the free Cossack nation. Ivan Mazepa's politics and alliance with Charles XII
of Swedenare explained as logical and
inevitable, mandated by the need to free the homeland. The independence of the
new state from Russia is given as the primary goal of the Bendery Constitution.
Articles 1-3 dealt with general Ukrainian
affairs. They proclaimed the Orthodox faith to be the faith of Ukraine, and
independent of the patriarch of Moscow. The Sluch River was designated as the boundary
between Ukraine and Poland. The articles also recognized the need for an
anti-Russian alliance between Ukraine and the Crimean
Khanate.
Articles 4-5 reflected
the interests of the Zaporozhian
Cossacks, who constituted the overwhelming majority of
the Bendery emigration. The Hetman was obligated:
a.
to expel, with the help of Charles XII, the Russians
from Zaporozhian territories
b.
to grant the town of Trakhtymyriv to the Zaporozhians
to serve as a hospital, and
c.
to keep non-Zaporozhians away from Zaporozhian
territories
Articles 6-10 limited the powers of
the hetman and established a Cossack parliament, similar to an extended council
of officers, which was to meet three times a year. The General Council was to
consist not only of the general staff and the regimental colonels, but also of
"an outstanding and worthy individual from each regiment."
Articles 11-16 protected the rights of towns,
limited the taxation of peasants and poor Cossacks, and restricted the
innkeepers. Charles XII, king of Sweden and "the protector of Ukraine,"
happened to be in Bendery at the time, and confirmed these articles.
The original of the Constitution
is stored in the National Archives of Sweden. To archive the document came
after excavations on agricultural lands. It was found in a clay pot, rolled
into a scroll. According to Swedish scientists rewrote Pylyp Orlyk rewrote document
for presentation to diplomats of European countries. This document was prepared
for transportation, but due to certain circumstances it buried.
Originals
Originals
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