establishment of Russia's position as the settlement's proposed (even if rejected) guarantor reinforced Commonwealth military inferiority compared to its neighbors, and unofficially, put it in the position of a Russian protectorate. The Russian tsar, as the proposed guarantor, now had a convenient excuse to intervene in Polish politics at will. With a reduced army, removal of Saxon troops and the right to form confederations, the nobility and the king had less power to fight one another – or, not coincidentally, to resist outside forces. Russian troops remained in the Commonwealth for two years, supporting opposition to Augustus, and Russia soon reached an agreement with other powers to put an end to further attempts at the reform and strengthening of the Commonwealth. Thus the Silent Sejm is regarded as one of the first precedents for the Russian Empire dictating Polish internal policy, and a precursor to the partitions of Poland, which erased the Commonwealth from world maps by 1795. Historian Norman Davies wrote that this Sejm "effectively terminated the independence of Poland and Lithuania". The system created by the Silent Sejm dominated the Polish political scene until the late 18th century, when a new wave of reforms led to the Constitution of the 3 May, soon followed by partitions of Poland and loss of Polish sovereignty for 123 years. Notes a Through some sources claim that the entire Sejm was silent, or that only Ledóchowski spoke, in fact several people spoke during the Sejm. Józef Szujski notes that the Sejm begun with a long speech by Ledóchowski, that other marshals of provincial confederations were allowed to speak in order to renounce their positions, that the chancellor Jan Sebastian Szembek was able to reply to them, and that the deputy and commissar Michał Potocki read the constitution and relevant treaties. At the same time, the sources agree that most of the deputies were prevented from speaking; Szujski notes that hetman Stanisław Mateusz Rzewuski was refused the right to speak. Archbishop of Gniezno and primate of Poland, Stanisław Szembek, "stormed out in a fury", complaining about being not allowed to voice his position in the discussion. References See also Grodno Sejm 1717 in Europe Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Poland–Russia relations Poland–Saxony relations 1717 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 18th century in Warsaw