The First Constitution of Ukraine (5 April 1710) Author(S): OMELJAN PRITSAK Source: Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol

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The First Constitution of Ukraine (5 April 1710) Author(s): OMELJAN PRITSAK Source: Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 22, Cultures and Nations of Central and Eastern Europe (1998), pp. 471-496 Published by: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41036753 . Accessed: 19/10/2014 07:17

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OMELJANPRITSAK

One mayclaim that the modern history of a nationbegins with its constitution. The eighteenthcentury was theperiod in whichseveral nations received their constitutions:the UnitedStates in 1787-1789, France and Poland in 1791. Ukraineled in thisrespect, with a constitutionadopted in 1710. The Ukrainianand Polishconstitutions are analogousin some ways. The PolishConstitution of 1791 was promulgatedshortly before the second partition(in 1793) andcould be appliedonly to a remnantof historic Polish territory forabout four years until the final partition in 1795. The UkrainianConstitu- tionwas acceptedin Bendery(now in Moldova), which at thattime belonged to theOttoman Empire, and Hetmán Pylyp Orlyk ruled only on theRight Bank of Ukrainefor the next four years (to 1714). Nevertheless,both documents are importantachievements in theirrespective constitutional histories. Thereis no doubtthat a stimulusfor the Orlyk Constitution was thePacta Conventa,the agreement which the Polish political elite (the szlachta) usually concludedwith the successfulcandidate to the Polish electivethrone. But Orlyk's constitutionwas notaddressed specifically to theagreement between himself(the newly elected hetmán) and theUkrainian political establishment ofthe time; rather, it was meantto be obligatoryfor all his successors. The Constitutionof 1710 consistedof thefollowing four parts: 1) Thepreamble 2) Thetext of the Constitution in 16 articles 3) Orlyk's oath 4) A confirmationcharter by the Swedish protector, King Charles XII The Constitutionwas writtenin twolanguages: Middle Ukrainian and Latin. Bothversions had equal authority.The textof theConstitution dealt with all aspects of Ukrainianlife at the beginningof the eighteenthcentury. The contentsof the 16 articlesare as follows: 1) Concerningreligion 2) Concerningthe territory and borders 3) Concerningrelations with Crimea 4/5) Concerningspecific problems of the Zaporozhian Host 6) Concerningthe administration ofthe state and its parliamentary system(short constitution) 7) Concerningthe judiciary 8) Concerningmilitary affairs

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9) Concerningfiscal matters 10) Concerningthe protection ofthe peasantry 11) Concerningthe protection ofwidows and orphans 12) Concerningthe security and inviolability ofmunicipal self rule 13) Concerningthe capital, Kyiv 14) Concerningthe fiscal conformity oftown institutions 15) Concerningeconomic problems of the state's fiscal systems 16) Concerningthe limitation ofthe power of leaseholders and taxcollectors.

It is importantto stressthat the Constitution of 1710 was notjust a workof theUkrainian political elite in emigration.At thattime Hetmán Orlyk still had a partof theUkrainian territory under his control.His statements(see appendix) bear witnessto the factthat the projectof the Constitutionwas also debatedin Ukraine,in spiteof thefact that most of thecountry was underthe oppressiverule of Peter I of Russia. Orlyk'sstatement finds corroboration in thefact that in 1717-1723,a copy of the Constitutionwas in the Chanceryof the UkrainianState in Hlukhiv (Heneral'naViisTcova Kantselariia). At thattime the Ukrainian politician and memoiristMykola Khanenko(1693-1760) was the assistantchancellor. He copied the Latin versionof the Constitutionand some otherdocuments of HetmánOrlyk and kept these documents in his familyarchives. In 1847,when the UkrainianSlavicist and historianOsyp BodiansTcyibegan publishing Ukrainiandocuments in the Chteniiav Imperatorskomobshchestve istorii i drevnosteirossiiskikh pri Moskovskomuniversitete, an unnamedmember of the Khanenko family made the copy of the Constitutionavailable to BodiansTcyi,who subsequentlypublished it. Unfortunately,the manuscript of theLatin text has notcome downto us. Only an abbreviatedversion of it is preservedin theSwedish State Archives in Stockholm. The MiddleUkrainian text was copiedby theUkrainian historian Dmytro Bantysh-KamensTcyifrom a copy in the Archiveof the College of Foreign Affairsin Moscow (the archivehad been reorganizedby his father,Mykola [1737- 1814]). In 1859 BodiansTcyipublished it in theChteniia, but, unfortunately,with numerous errors. The MiddleUkrainian copy is stillpreserved in theRussian State Archive of AncientDocuments (RGADA) in Moscow (fond13, ed. khr.9). Judgingby its hand,it was copiedsometime in theeighteenth century - probablyin thefirst half- by a professionalscribe for the use of theRussian government. Ukrai- nian words,not familiarto the Russians, are underlinedand glossed in marginaliawith Russian equivalents. I was able to obtaina xeroxcopy of this importantdocument through the kindnessof the Directorof the Archives, MikhailP. Lukichevand its curator,Svetlana R. Dolozova. I would like to expressmy thanksand appreciationto them.It is the RGADA copy thatis beingreprinted here.1

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APPENDIX

In hisunpublished second edition of P. Orlyk'sDeduction (written between ca. 1945-1950),Elie Borschak[irko Borshchak] mentions the Château Dinteville (near Chaumont,France) copy of the Constitution.2It was, in his words,a Latinabbreviated version "brevi style" (apparently not unlike the Stockholm "Contentapactorum"). The specificfeature of the Dintevilletext was Pylyp Orlyk'saddition in Polish.Borschak assumes that Pylyp Orlyk made his re- marksoriginally in Latin, and it was his son, Hryhor,who in the 1740s translatedthem into French, while copying the Latin text of the Constitution. In September1988, 1 triedto trace and verify several documents known only fromBorschak' s publications.Accompanied by ProfessorArkady Joukovsky [ArkadiiZhukovsicyi] of Paris,I visitedthe presentowner of the Château Dinteville,the Marquis de La Ville Baugé, both in Dintevilleand in his apartmentin Paris.I had access to all of their"Orlikiana," but was unableto traceseveral crucial documents, among them the text of theConstitution with PylypOrlyk's remarks. Joukovsky,who was Borschak's successorat the Institutdes Langues OrientalesVivantes in Paris,made availableto me thoseparts of Borschak's unpublishedworks and materialswhich dealt with Pylyp and HryhorOrlyk. Amongthem was theunpublished typescript of his secondedition of Orlyk's Deduction? To be foundthere are Ukrainiantranslations of fourremarks by PylypOrlyk and one remarkof HryhorOrlyk as well as thetranslation of the unfinishedPolish-language addition by PylypOrlyk. These includedthe following (in Englishtranslation, with my own and Borschak's parenthetical explanations): A. PylypOrlyk's Remarks 1. "I myselfcomposed most of theTreaty [i.e., the Constitution - E.B.] and editedthe entireTreaty [Constitution]. I composed it accordingto a certain plan,following the way such publictreaties were beingcomposed by other nations.I was using specimensin the Libraryof Mr. [GustavHenrik von] Müllern,to whomI used to showat thattime different articles of theTreaty" (p. 30).4 2. "Amongthe personswho deliberatedon the articlesof thisdocument [Constitution]were Messrs. [Andrii] Voinarovsicyi,[Kosf] Hordiienko, [Dmytro] Horlenko, [iria] Lomykovs'kyi, [Fedir] Myrovych, [Ivan] Maksymovych,Ivanenko [? - E.B.], Kostenko[? - E.B.]. Some namesI can- notremember any more due to thepassage of time,but there were in delibera- tionwith me people of boththe secularand thereligious estates, and many eminentpersons, who took with them our decisions to Ukraine"(p. 10). 3. "Severaltimes, when I wouldlike to stressmore exactly some point,I was told[by my co-workers] that they are satisfiedwith the generalia, having trustin mydedication" (p. 77).

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4. "We workedon this[article 6 ofthe Constitution] longer than one month. My emissariestraveled twice to and fromUkraine. This inflicteda burdenon me, since I had to code the [Constitution]project in ciphersfor the distin- guishedofficers of Ukraine.Mr. VoinarovsTcyihelped me in thistask" (p. 12). B. TranslationofHryhor Orly k' s FrenchRemarks "This charter[Constitution] has a long preamblewhich I possess in the Cossack languageand whichdescribes the fortunesand misfortunesof the Cossackpeople. This preamblewas acceptedunanimously, after short discus- sion. It was my fatherhimself who insertedthere a passage sayingthat the Cossackpeople was alwaysvocal againstthe autocracy. "Concerningthe notion that the Cossack people is theimmediate successor to theKhazar state, my father learned it fromthe Old Latinauthors, and one churchman[Parthenius - E.B.], an educatedperson and friendof my father, foundthe same proofs in thetheological [! - E.B.] books.My fatheralso wrote to me thatif the Cossack people had preservedtheir ancient princes, those princeswould have a greaterright to thepatrimony of theEastern Empire than thepresent Russian Empress [Elizabeth, 1741-1762]" (pp. 11-12). C. Translationof the Polish Addition by Pylyp Orlyk "The fortressof Benderyis elevatedalong the Dnister. Down nearthe river itselflies theplain where His SwedishHighness had his campat thebeginning of ourperegrination [1710]. To thesouth and to thesouthwest of theSwedish camp on theplain my election to theoffice of Hetmántook place. The town itself,which is commandedby a serasker[Ottoman commandant], has a garri- sonof 1,000men. Here live Greeks,Armenians, and Jews. The latterlive in the suburbs,where they even have theirsynagogue, rather interesting in appear- ance,which I, however,failed to viewin a detailedway" (p. 14).

NOTES

1. The onlystudy dealing with the Constitution of 1710 knownto me is by Mykola Vasylenko,published in Uchenyezapiski InstituíaIstorii RANIION(Moscow 1929) 7: 153-71. It was translatedinto English in TheAnnals of the Ukrainian Arts and Sciencesin theU.S. 6(3^) 21-22 (1958): 1260-1295. 2. Borschakvisited Dinteville in 1922 as a guestof thegrandfather of the presentowner. 3. It is titledPylyp Orlyk: Vyvid prav Ukraïny.Z rukopysurodynnoho arkhivaDenteviV u Frantsit Zi vstupomi prymitkamypodav Il'ko Borshchak.Vydannia druhey vypravlene i dopovnene.It comprises3 unnumberedand 92 numberedpages. 4. Numbersin parentheseshere represent the pagination of the unpublished typescriptof the Borschak second edition.

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N.B.: Folia arepresented here with the recto side on thebottom and the verso side on the top.All foliaare oriented with the bottom of the original to theright of the printed page.

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