 Parts of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth Lesser Poland territories were included in the Austrian partition as early as the First Partition of Poland in 1772 . In order to reduce dissent , the Austrian Empire in 1775 allowed the Polish nobility ( szlachta ) of the newly acquired territories to continue their tradition of holding local parliament @-@ like meetings , and gave the permission for an advisory body , the Postulate Sejm ( Polish : sejm postulatowy ) , to be held every year . The implementation of the Postulate Sejm was delayed , and eventually it held only four sessions , all in Lviv ( Lwów ) : in 1782 , 1784 , 1786 and 1788 . The body had no real power ; it could only write petitions to the monarch , who had no obligation to act on them . Polish legal scholar Stanisław Grodziski noted that while the Sejm , on the surface , continued the Polish parliamentary tradition , the real goal of the powerless body , as intended by the Austrian court , was to drive a wedge between the various groups of Polish nobility , reducing their unity and influence . The Postulate Sejm was composed of wealthy nobility and two deputies from the city of Lviv . The sessions lasted a few days each . The 1788 session was the last one ; parts of the Austrian @-@ held Commonwealth territories were briefly included in the Duchy of Warsaw following the Polish – Austrian War in 1806 , and the populace represented at the Sejm of the Duchy of Warsaw , but this was short lived , as the territories in question were restored to Austria following the Duchy 's occupation and the terms of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 . 
