away from the Austrian border. An attempt of Bar Confederates to kidnap King Poniatowski on 3 November 1771 gave the three courts a pretext to showcase the "Polish anarchy" and the need for its neighbors to step in and "save" the country and its citizens. Already by 1769–71, both Austria and Prussia had annexed some border territories belonging to the Commonwealth. On 19 February 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna. A previous agreement between Prussia and Russia had been made in Saint Petersburg on 6 February 1772. Early in August Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously entered the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. On 5 August, the three parties signed the treaty on their respective territorial gains at the Commonwealth's expense. The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on 22 September 1772. After having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King Poniatowski and the Sejm approve their action. The King appealed to the nations of Western Europe for help and tarried with the convocation of the Sejm. The European powers reacted to the partition with indifference; only a few voices – like that of Edmund Burke – were raised in protest. While the Polish king and the Senate of Poland were debating on the course of action, the patience of foreign powers was running out. Eventually, one of the most prominent opponents of agreeing to the foreign demands, bishop Adam Stanisław Krasiński, was abducted by Cossacks and transported to Warsaw, where the foreign ambassadors demanded that the King and the Senate call in the Sejm (the entire Polish parliament) to ratify the partition. In another sign of their influence, the next meeting of the Senate saw the senators from the annexed territories denied participation (those denied participation included the bishop of Inflanty, the voivode of Ruthenia and the voivode of Witebsk). When no help was forthcoming and the armies of the combined nations occupied Warsaw to compel by force of arms the calling of the assembly, no alternative was available save passive submission to their will. Warsaw was de facto a garrison of the foreign powers, with their forces commanded by the Austrian (or Russian, sources vary) general Abram Romanius (Abraham). On 19 April the Senate agreed to call for the Sejm to convene. Preparations Preparations for the Sejm were not easy. Bishops Krasiński and Kajetan Sołtyk argued