Reichsgraf

Graf

Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...

 Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (1736–1800) was a diplomat

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...

 of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

, an envoy in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 from 1767 to 1771, ambassador in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

 from 1772 to 1790 and in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 from 1791 to 1793.

After the treaty of the First Partition of Poland

First Partition of Poland

The First Partition of Poland or First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. Growth in the Russian Empire's power, threatening the Kingdom of Prussia and the...

, signed in February, was made public on 5 August 1772, Otto Magnus von Stackelberg became the new ambassador to Poland. During his stay in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, due to the Russian Empire's influence in the Commonwealth, he was almost the de facto

De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

ruler of Poland in the name of Empress Catherine II

Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...

 who became a protectress of this country. He governed Poland by Permanent Council

Permanent Council

The Permanent Council was the highest administrative authority in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1775 and 1789 and the first modern government in Europe...

, which became an instrument of Russian surveillance over the Commonwealth.

His first task was to ensure that the Polish parliament (Sejm

Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....

) would ratify the treaty. The Partition Sejm

Partition Sejm

The Partition Sejm was a Sejm lasting from 1773 to 1776 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, convened by its three neighbours in order to legalize their First Partition of Poland. During its first days in session, that Sejm was the site of Tadeusz Rejtan famous gesture of protest...

, with many of its deputies coerced or bribed by the Russian embassy, indeed ratified the treaty (on 30 September 1773), as well as established the Permanent Council

Permanent Council

The Permanent Council was the highest administrative authority in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1775 and 1789 and the first modern government in Europe...

 - a small body that both promised to reform the inefficient Polish governance and which could be easily controlled by Russia. In 1773 King Stanisław August Poniatowski bestowed him Order of the White Eagle.

In 1776, Stackelberg permitted Polish King Stanisław August Poniatowski to carry out several minor reforms, but in 1780 von Stackelberg's protest resulted in the derailing of Zamoyski's Codex, a proposed set of reforms drafted by kanclerz

Kanclerz

Kanclerz was one of the highest officials in the historic Poland. This office functioned from the early Polish kingdom of the 12th century until the end of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. A respective office also existed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since the 16th...

 Andrzej Zamoyski which would have strengthened royal power, made all officials answerable to the Sejm, placed the clergy and their finances under state supervision, and deprived landless szlachta

Szlachta

The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...

of many of their legal immunities. Russia did not want a completely governmentless Poland, as was seen in their support for the Permanent Council, yet the Zamoyski Codex, which offered a chance for the significant reform of the Polish governance, was not in Russia's interest; Russia wanted a weak buffer Poland on its borders - not a strong rival as two centuries before. For that reason Stackelberg also opposed most reforms proposed by Poniatowski from 1778 to 1786.

On 27 May 1787, he derailed yet another Polish policy which seemed threatening to Russia. With few major wars in the past decades, the economy

Economy

An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

 of the Commonwealth was improving, and its budget

Budget

A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...

 had a notable surplus. Many voices said that the money should be spent on increasing the size, and providing new equipment for, the Polish army. However, as a large Polish army could be a threat to the Russian garrisons controlling Poland, von Stackelberg ordered his proxies in the Permanent Council to spent the money on a different goal: for the huge sum of 1 million zloty's (representing most of the surplus), the Council bought the von Brühl's Palace

Brühl Palace, Warsaw

The Brühl Palace , otherwise known as Sandomierski Palace standing at Piłsudski Square. It was a large palace and one of the most beautiful rococo buildings in pre-World War II Warsaw.-History:...

 - and promptly donated it to 'Poland's ally', Russia, to serve as Russia's new embassy.

Nonetheless, von Stackelberg, and the entire Russian control over Poland, was soon to suffer a major defeat. With Russian attention being diverted to the Russo-Turkish War, 1787-1792 and the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790)

Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790)

The Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90, known as Gustav III's Russian war in Sweden, Gustav III's War in Finland and Catherine II's Swedish War in Russia, was fought between Sweden and Russia from June 1788 to August 1790.-Background:...

, Catherine approved some limited reforms in Poland, with the goal of transforming Poland into a more useful (and efficient) ally. However when the opportunity for major reform presented itself during the "Great" or "Four-Year Sejm" of 1788–1792, which opened on 6 October 1788, and from 1790 — a new alliance

Polish-Prussian alliance

The Polish-Lithuanian and Prussian alliance was an alliance signed on 29 March 1790 in Warsaw between representatives of the Republic of Poland and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia tried to take opportunity of the Russian Empire's wars with the Ottoman Empire and Sweden and move the weak...

between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Prussia seemed to provide even further security against Russian intervention, the Polish reformers managed to carry out increasing numbers of reforms despite Stackelberg's opposition.

His failure to prevent those reforms was one of the reasons he was recalled by St. Petersburg and reassigned to Sweden, where he became the Russian ambassador from 1791 to 1793.