POTOCKI, STANISLAW SZCZESNY

born 1751/52 died March 15, 1805, Tulczyn, Pol., Russian Empire Polish statesman and general during the breakup of the elective Kingdom of Poland. The son of Franciszek Salezy Potocki, palatine of Kiev, of the Tulczyn line of the Potocki family, he entered public service in 1774, became palatine of Russia in 1782, and lieutenant general and then general (1789) of artillery. Though considered a liberal aristocrat, he identified the public welfare with the welfare of the magnates and thus opposed every project for reform in the Diet, or Parliament. Unsuccessful in his obstructionism, he went first to Vienna and then to St. Petersburg, where, with the connivance of the empress Catherine, he formed the Confederation of Targowica for the maintenance of the ancient institutions of Poland (May 14, 1792), of which he was the marshal, or dictator, directing its operations from his castle at Tulczyn. When the liberal May Constitution in Poland was overthrown and the Prussians were already in occupation of Great Poland, Potocki went on a diplomatic mission to St. Petersburg (March 1793) but, finding himself duped and set aside, retired to Vienna until 1797, when he settled down at Tulczyn and devoted himself for the remainder of his life to the improvement of his estates.