Abiejų Tautų Respublikos ir Rusijos santykiai 1649-1771 m. imperijos įstatymų rinkinio duomenimis

LTIlgaamžėje ir sudėtingoje Lietuvos bei Rusijos santykių istorijoje, matyt, vienas iš sudėtingiausių ir įdomiausių buvo XVIII a. II pusės laikotarpis, kada Lenkijos-Lietuvos valstybę - Abiejų Tautų Respubliką - per 23-jus metus (1772-1795 m.) pasidalijo trys kaimynai - Rusija, Prūsija ir Austrija. Tarp šių trijų dalybų dalyvių nepaprastai didelį vaidmenį atliko ir daugiausiai pasipelnė Rusijos imperija, o kadangi į jos sudėtį pateko praktiškai visa LDK teritorija, tai vien dėl to šios valstybės vaidmuo Lietuvos istorijoje vertas dėmesio ir visapusiškai tyrinėtinas. O kad tyrimas būtų visapusiškas ir sėkmingas, reikia gerai pažinti visus šaltinius, susijusius su šių valstybių santykių istorija, todėl šiame darbe pabandysime pristatyti vieną didelį šaltinių kompleksą, kuriame atsispindi oficialūs Rusijos ir Respublikos santykiai iki pirmojo padalijimo. Dėl to, kad tai bus tik šaltinio apžvalga, nebus atliekama jokia tekstologinė analizė ar kitoks šaltinotyrinis darbas, be to, daugelis čia pateiktų dokumentų atskirai jau yra panaudoti ir aptarti mokslinėje literatūroje [p. 339].

ENIn the long history of the relations between Lithuania and Russia the second half of the eighteenth century seems to have been one of the most interesting and complex periods, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (further referred to as the Republic) was partitioned by its three neighbours - Russia, Prussia and Austria in the course of 23 years (1772-1795). Of the three partition members Russia played the decisive role and made the biggest profit from this political action. Since almost the whole of the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was incorporated into Russia, it is well worth looking in greater detail at the role of this state in the history of Lithuania. A thorough examination of all possible sources elucidating the relations between the states is crucial in getting the most accurate picture, consequently, this work deals with a major complex of sources, reflecting the official relations between Russia and the Republic before the first partition. The paper, however, presents only a review of the sources, without any textological analysis; some of the documents have already been used and characterised in special literature. The research material is selected from Polnoye sobraniye zakonov Rossiyskoy imperii (Complete Legal Code of the Russian Empire), a 19-volume St. Petersburg edition of 1830, covering the period of 1649-1771 (further referred to as the Code). Regrettably it is not a complete collection, despite the assurances of the compilers in the preface to the first volume that the Code comprises all Russian laws without any exceptions. Some international treaties or declarations and certain secret appendices to them are absent.Nevertheless, the available material is sufficient to show the official attitude and aggressive policy of Russia towards the Republic. The period of 122 years (1649-1771) was chosen not only because the first documents go back to the beginning of this term, but also because the symptoms of the downfall of the Republic clearly manifested themselves in the mid-seventeenth century. The 19 volumes of the Code (up to the year 1772) encompass 13.732 numbered entries, but the total amount of the documents is greater, since some documents within an entry are also numbered by letters. Several hundreds of documents are related to the political history of the Republic, however this work is based only on the more significant ones. [...] The documents of the Code were supposed to reflect the official relations between Russia and the Republic, however, due to the fact that some treaties and secret appendices are absent, the general picture is a kind of window-dressing, and on their basis it would be wrong to draw the final conclusions Nevertheless, the material, contained in the Code is sufficient to reveal that in the middle of the 17th century Russia had taken over the initiative in the relations between the two countries and continually resorted to stricter terms. At the beginning attempts could be seen on the part of the Republic to negotiate those terms, and later on - only absolute dictate on the one side and mere helplessness on the other.The Russian treaties with other European countries make it evident that the attitude of the latter towards the Republic did not differ much from that of Russia. The adoption of such attitude undoubtedly was encouraged by the Republic itself - by its inability to change the conservative outdated structure of the state and the society, no matter how democratic were the underlying principles. The documents of the Code show that the great neighbour - Russia - realised the desperate situation of the Republic and, encouraging its political inefficiency, in due course exploited the situation in its own imperial interests.