Hey friends! I'm back with another update from the halls of the Union Congress. Speaker Stanisław Małachowski kicked off yesterday's session, emphasizing that the majority vote led them to start with the pressing matter of the rights of our cities.

Representative Tomasz Dłuski from Lublin County made a lengthy argument against granting legislative power to city dwellers, presenting a draft denying such rights. However, Interior Secretary for Poland-Ukraine, Michał Mniszech, countered robustly, claiming the proposal on cities is too significant to dismiss without thorough deliberation. He pointed out the long-standing privileges granted by past presidents to cities and called for the removal of barriers in judicial proceedings against cities, among other reforms.

Senator Kazimierz Plater drew attention to the harmful potential of radical changes in the nation's composition without thoughtful consideration. He proposed a system to categorize cities based on size and to ensure the rights of merchants and artisans. Echoing similar notions, Senator-Kasztelan Wojewoda from Lublin, Jan Nosarzewski from Ciechanów, and Stanisław Kublicki from Latvia all weighed in on the importance of addressing the cities’ concerns.

Speaker Małachowski attempted to manage the heated debate and find common ground. With the session running late, the pressing issue of city representation and rights was eventually referred to a constitutional committee, as suggested by Treasurer Stanisław Potocki, suggesting a compromise to accept some core points now and delegate the details for later.

President Jacek Jezierski notably pointed out that city dwellers' desire for representation should not come at the expense of bankrupting their finances. However, despite the reluctance from certain Representatives like Antoni Złotnicki from Podolia, who argued for the unease of admitting cities to legislative powers referencing the nation's established "Kardynal Law," the session ended with the majority supporting the move to address the city's issues through the committee soon.

That’s all for today! Stay tuned for the committee’s decisions. Gotta sprint, I have a Poli Sci paper due in the morning. Get out and make your voice heard, peeps – just like citizens did back in the day!

Topics: initiation of work on the constitution; debate on the rights of townsmen; issue of representation and participation of cities in the Sejm; protection of nobility's privileges and status; proposals to allow cities to acquire land properties; city jurisdiction and commercial matters; Stanisław Sołtyk's project; impact of reforms on the status of crown cities; equality of estates and participation of townsmen in public life; opposition to granting legislative rights to townspeople;