♦Diet of 1676.♦ Two days later (February 4th) the Diet met, and was conspicuous for its loyal enthusiasm. The king was entreated not to lay down the office of Grand General, but he wisely refused a privilege so invidious, and conferred the post upon his old enemy, Demetrius Wiesnowiesçki. He displayed the same generous spirit in his other appointments, offering the primacy to Olzowski, the favourite of Eleanor, and the Grand Marshalate to Lubomirski, son of his old rival. The brave Jablonowski was rewarded with the post of Second General. His elevation caused some trouble. The Diet proposed to make these dignities triennial, which, in the present reign at least, would have been a salutary enhancement of the royal power; but the queen, out of gratitude to Jablonowski, worked hard in secret to defeat the proposal. The king, though he favoured it at heart, appeared neutral; and the project fell through. John availed himself of the favourable temper of the Diet to take exceptional measures for the national defence. He proposed a capitation subsidy upon all alike, clergy as well as laity, and strongly urged the necessity of forming a permanent infantry. Hitherto this branch of the service had been fixed at one-third of the regular army (16,000), but it had never reached this standard, and being composed only of the peasants and poorer nobles, commanded by foreign officers, its equipment was disgracefully inefficient.[66] The Diet voted that the army should be raised to 73,000 men, thus augmenting it by 25,000,[67] and that of these 35,000 should be infantry. No king had ever obtained such concessions from the nobility, but they were not granted without a violent opposition. The old expedient was tried of drawing out the Diet, but John defeated it by submitting to a continuous sitting, and presiding upon the throne for forty consecutive hours. He was able to announce that the Great Elector had promised him succours, and that he hoped for an alliance with Muscovy. The Diet did not rise before paying him the unusual compliment of a decree that all the starosties which he had held should remain hereditary in his family.[68] ♦The king fails to levy troops.♦ Unfortunately their good resolutions were not carried into effect. Although the Dietines ratified their proceedings, it was beyond the king’s power to overcome the inertness and lethargy of the nobility. The patriotic spirit died out at once when the magic of his personal influence was withdrawn. Seizing upon a rumour which was industriously raised by Austria, that the king was treating in secret with the Turks and would use the money for his own purposes, they refused to pay the subsidy, and threw every obstacle in his way. John hastily assembled at Leopol those troops which had not been disbanded; but, although their number is variously stated, some even placing it as low as 10,000, it probably did not amount to one-half of the force that the Diet had decreed.