Peter the Great keeps possession of all Ingria, while Charles XII. is triumphant in other places.—Rise of Menzikoff.—Petersburg secured.—The czar executes his designs notwithstanding the victories of the king of Sweden.[69]
Peter the Great keeps possession of all Ingria, while Charles XII. is triumphant in other places.—Rise of Menzikoff.—Petersburg secured.—The czar executes his designs notwithstanding the victories of the king of Sweden.[69]
1704.
Peter being now master of all Ingria, conferred the government of that province upon Menzikoff; and at the same time gave him the title of prince, and the rank of major-general. Pride and prejudice might, in other countries, find means to gainsay, that a pastry cook's boy should be raisedto be a general and governor, and to princely dignity; but Peter had already accustomed his subjects to see, without surprise, every thing given to merit, and nothing to mere nobility. Menzikoff, by a lucky accident, had, while a boy, been taken from his original obscurity, and placed in the czar's family,[70]where he learnt several languages, and acquired a knowledge of public affairs, both in the cabinet and field; and having found means to ingratiate himself with his master, he afterwards knew how to render himself necessary. He greatly forwarded the works at Petersburg, of which he had the direction; several brick and stone houses were already built, with an arsenal and magazines; the fortifications were completed, but the palaces were not built till some time afterwards.
Peter was scarcely settled in Narva, when he offered fresh succours to the dethroned king of Poland; he promised him a body of troops over and above the twelve thousand men he had already sent him, and actually dispatched general Repnin (Aug. 19.) from the frontiers of Lithuania, with six thousand horse, and the same number of foot. All this while he did not lose sight of his colony of Petersburg: the buildings went on very fast; his navy encreased daily; several ships and frigates were on the stocks at Olmutz; these he took care to see finished, and brought them himself into the harbour of Petersburg.
Oct. 11.] Each time he returned to Moscow, was distinguished by triumphal entries. In this manner did he revisit it this year, from whence he made only one excursion, to be present at the launching of his first ship of eighty guns upon the Woronitz, (Dec. 30.) of which ship he himself had drawn the dimensions the preceding year.
May, 1705.] As soon as the campaign could be opened in Poland, he hastened to the army, which he had sent to the assistance of Augustus, on the frontiers of that kingdom; but, while he was thus supporting his ally, a Swedish fleet put to sea, to destroy Petersburg, and the fortress of Cronslot, as yet hardly finished. This fleet consisted of twenty-two ships of war, from fifty-four to sixty-four guns each, besides six frigates, two bomb-ketches, and two fire-ships. The troops that were sent on this expedition, made a descent on the little island of Kotin; but a Russian colonel, named Tolbogwin, who commanded a regiment there, ordered his soldiers to lie down flat on their bellies, while the Swedes were coming on shore, and then suddenly rising up, they threw in so brisk and well directed a fire, that the Swedes were put into confusion, and forcedto retreat with the utmost precipitation to their ships, leaving behind them all their dead, and upwards of three hundred prisoners. (June 7.)
However, their fleet still continued hovering about the coast, and threatened Petersburg. They made another descent, and were repulsed as before (June 25.): a body of land-forces were also advancing from Wiburn,[71]under the command of the Swedish general Meidel, and took their route by Shlusselburg: this was the most considerable attempt that Charles had yet made upon those territories, which Peter had either conquered or new formed. The Swedes were every where repulsed, and Petersburg remained in security.
Peter, on the other hand, advanced towards Courland, with a design to penetrate as far as Riga. His plan was to make himself master of Livonia, while Charles XII. was busied in reducing the Poles entirely under the obedience of the new king he had given them. The czar was still at Wilnaw in Lithuania, and his general Sheremeto was approaching towards Mittau, the capital of Courland; but there he was met by general Levenhaupt, already famous by several victories, and a pitched battle was fought between the two armies at a place called Gemavershoff, or Gemavers.
In all those actions where experience and discipline decide the day, the Swedes, though inferior in number, had the advantage. The Russians were totally defeated, (June 28.) and losttheir artillery. Peter, notwithstanding the loss of three battles, viz. at Gemavers, at Jacobstadt, and at Narva, always retrieved his losses, and even converted them to his advantage.
After the battle of Gemavers, he marched his army into Courland; came before Mittau, made himself master of the town, and afterwards laid siege to the citadel, which he took by capitulation.
Sept. 14, 1705.] The Russian troops at that time had the character of distinguishing their successes by rapine and pillage; a custom of too great antiquity in all nations. But Peter, at the taking of Narva, had made such alterations in this custom, that the Russian soldiers appointed to guard the vaults where the grand dukes of Courland were buried, in the castle of Mittau, perceiving that the bodies had been taken out of their tombs, and stripped of their ornaments, refused to take possession of their post, till a Swedish colonel had been first sent for to inspect the condition of the place; who gave them a certificate that this outrage had been committed by the Swedes themselves.
A rumour which was spread throughout the whole empire, that the czar had been totally defeated at the battle of Gemavers, proved of greater prejudice to his affairs, than even the loss of that battle. The remainder of the ancient strelitzes in garrison at Astracan, emboldened by this false report, mutinied, and murdered the governor of the town. Peter was obliged to send marshal Sheremeto with a body of forces to quell the insurrection, and punish the mutineers.
Every thing seemed now to conspire against the czar; the success and valour of Charles XII.; the misfortunes of Augustus; the forced neutrality of Denmark; the insurrection of the ancientstrelitzes; the murmurs of a people, sensible of the restraint, but not of the utility of the late reform; the discontent of the grandees, who found themselves subjected to military discipline; and, lastly, the exhausted state of the finances, were sufficient to have discouraged any prince except Peter: but he did not despond, even for an instant. He soon quelled the revolt, and having provided for the safety of Ingria, and secured the possession of the citadel of Mittau, in spite of the victorious Levenhaupt, who had not troops enough to oppose him; he found himself at liberty to march an army through Samojitia and Lithuania.
He now shared with Charles XII. the glory of giving laws to Poland. He advanced as far as Tikoczin: where he had an interview for the second time with king Augustus; when he endeavoured to comfort him under his misfortunes, promising to revenge his cause, and, at the same time, made him a present of some colours, which Menzikoff had taken from the troops of his rival. The two monarchs afterwards went together to Grodno, the capital of Lithuania, where they staid till the 15th of December. At their parting, Peter presented him both men and money, and then, according to his usual custom, went to pass some part of the winter at Moscow, (30 Dec.) to encourage the arts and sciences there, and to enforce his new laws there, after having made a very difficult and laborious campaign.
While Peter is strengthening his conquests, and improving the police of his dominion, his enemy Charles XII. gains several battles: gives laws to Poland and Saxony, and to Augustus, notwithstanding a victory gained by the Russians.—Augustus resigns the crown, and delivers up Patkul, the czar's ambassador.—Murder of Patkul, who is sentenced to be broke upon the wheel.
While Peter is strengthening his conquests, and improving the police of his dominion, his enemy Charles XII. gains several battles: gives laws to Poland and Saxony, and to Augustus, notwithstanding a victory gained by the Russians.—Augustus resigns the crown, and delivers up Patkul, the czar's ambassador.—Murder of Patkul, who is sentenced to be broke upon the wheel.
1706.
Peter was hardly returned to Moscow, when he heard that Charles XII. after being every where victorious, was advancing towards Grodno, to attack the Russian troops. King Augustus had been obliged to fly from Grodno, and retire with precipitation towards Saxony, with four regiments of Russian dragoons; a step which both weakened and discouraged the army of his protector. Peter found all the advances to Grodno occupied by the Swedes, and his troops dispersed.
While he was with the greatest difficulty assembling his troops in Lithuania, the famous Schullemburg, who was the last support Augustus had left, and who afterwards gained so much glory by the defence of Corfu against the Turks, was advancing on the side of Great Poland, with about twelve thousand Saxons, and six thousand Russians, taken from the body troops with which the czar had entrusted that unfortunate prince. Schullemburg expected with just reason, that he should be able to prop the sinking fortunes of Augustus; he perceived that Charles XII. was employed in Lithuania, and that there was only a body of ten thousand Swedes under general Renschild to interrupt his march; he therefore advanced with confidence as far as the frontiers of Silesia; which is the passage out of Saxonyinto Upper Poland. When he came near the village of Fraustadt, on the frontiers of that kingdom, he met marshal Renschild, who was advancing to give him battle.
Whatever care I take to avoid repeating what has been already mentioned in the history of Charles XII., I am obliged in this place to take notice once more, that there was in the Saxon army a French regiment, that had been taken prisoners at the famous battle of Hochsted (or Blenheim) and obliged to serve in the Saxon troops. My memoirs say, that this regiment had the charge of the artillery, and add, that the French, struck with the fame and reputation of Charles XII., and discontented with the Saxon service, laid down their arms as soon as they came in sight of the enemy (Feb.), and desired to be taken into the Swedish army, in which they continued to the end of the war. This defection was as the beginning, or signal of a total overthrow to the Russian army, of which no more than three battalions were saved, and almost every man of these was wounded; and as no quarter was granted, the remainder was cut in pieces.
Norberg, the chaplain, pretends, that the Swedish word at this battle was, 'In the name of God,' and that of the Russians, 'Kill all;' but it was the Swedes who killed all in God's name. The czar himself declares, in one of his manifestoes,[72]that a number of Russians, Cossacks, and Calmucks, that had been made prisoners, were murdered in cool blood three days after that battle. The irregular troops on both sides had accustomed their generals to these cruelties, than which greater were never committed in the most barbarous times. I had the honour to hearking Stanislaus himself say, that in one of those engagements which were so frequent in Poland, a Russian officer who had formerly been one of his friends, came to put himself under his protection, after the defeat of the corps he commanded; and that the Swedish general Steinbock shot him dead with a pistol, while he held him in his arms.
This was the fourth battle the Russians had lost against the Swedes, without reckoning the other victories of Charles XII. in Poland. The czar's troops that were in Grodno, ran the risk of suffering a still greater disgrace, by being surrounded on all sides; but he fortunately found means to get them together, and even to strengthen them with new reinforcements. But necessitated at once to provide for the safety of this army, and the security of his conquests in Ingria, he ordered prince Menzikoff to march with the army under his command eastward, and from thence southward as far as Kiow.
While his men were upon their march, he repairs to Shlusselburg, from thence to Narva, and to his colony of Petersburg (August), and puts those places in a posture of defence. From the Baltic he flies to the banks of the Boristhenes, to enter into Poland by the way of Kiow, making it still his chief care to render those victories of Charles, which he had not been able to prevent, of as little advantage to the victor as possible. At this very time he meditated a new conquest; namely, that of Wibourg, the capital of Carelia, situated on the gulf of Finland. He went in person to lay siege to this place, but for this time it withstood the power of his arms; succours arrived in season, and he was obliged to raise the siege. (Oct.) His rival, Charles XII. did not, in fact, make any conquests, though he gained somany battles: he was at that time in pursuit of king Augustus in Saxony, being always more intent upon humbling that prince, and crushing him beneath the weight of his superior power and reputation, than upon recovering Ingria, that had been wrested from him by a vanquished enemy.
He spread terror through all Upper Poland, Silesia, and Saxony. King Augustus's whole family, his mother, his wife, his son, and the principal nobility of the country, were retired into the heart of the empire. Augustus now sued for peace, choosing rather to trust himself to the mercy of his conqueror, than in the arms of his protector. He entered into a treaty which deprived him of the crown of Poland, and covered him at the same time with ignominy. This was a private treaty, and was to be concealed from the czar's generals, with whom he had taken refuge in Poland, while Charles XII. was giving laws in Leipsic, and acting as absolute master throughout his electorate.
His plenipotentiaries had already signed the fatal treaty (Sept. 14.), by which he not only divested himself of the crown of Poland, but promised never more to assume the title of king; at the same time he recognized Stanislaus, renounced his alliance with the czar his benefactor; and, to complete his humiliation, engaged to deliver up to Charles XII. John Reinold Patkul, the czar's ambassador and general in the Russian service, who was then actually fighting in his cause. He had some time before ordered Patkul to be arrested upon false suspicions, contrary to the law of nations; and now, in direct violation of these laws, he delivered him up to the enemy. It had been better for him to have died sword-in-hand, than to have concluded such a treaty; a treaty, which not only robbed him of his crown,and of his reputation, but likewise endangered his liberty, because he was at that time in the power of prince Menzikoff in Posnania, and the few Saxons that he had with him, were paid by the Russians.
Prince Menzikoff was opposed in that district by a Swedish army, reinforced with a strong party of Poles, in the interest of the new king Stanislaus, under the command of general Meyerfeld; and not knowing that Augustus had engaged in a treaty with the enemies of Russia, had proposed to attack them, and Augustus did not dare to refuse. The battle was fought near Calish (Oct. 19.), in the palatinate belonging to Stanislaus; this was the first pitched battle the Russians had gained against the Swedes. Prince Menzikoff had all the glory of the action, four thousand of the enemy were left dead on the field, and two thousand five hundred and ninety-eight were made prisoners.
It is difficult to comprehend how Augustus could be prevailed on, after this battle, to ratify a treaty which deprived him of all the fruits of his victory. But Charles was still triumphant in Saxony, where his very name spread terror. The success of the Russians appeared so inconsiderable, and the Polish party against Augustus was so strong, and, in fine, that monarch was so ill-advised, that he signed the fatal convention. Neither did he stop here: he wrote to his envoy Finkstein a letter, that was, if possible, more shameful than the treaty itself; for therein he asked pardon for having obtained a victory, 'protesting, that the battle had been fought against his will; that the Russians and the Poles, his adherents, had obliged him to it; that he had, with a view of preventing it, actually made some movements to abandon Menzikoff; thatMeyerfeld might have beaten him, had he made the most of that opportunity; that he was ready to restore all the Swedish prisoners, or to break with the Russians; and that, in fine, he would give the king of Sweden all possible satisfaction,' for having dared to beat his troops.
This whole affair, unparalleled and inconceivable as it is, is, nevertheless, strictly true. When we reflect, that, with all this weakness, Augustus was one of the bravest princes in Europe, we may plainly perceive, that the loss or preservation, the rise or decline of empires, are entirely owing to fortitude of mind.
Two other circumstances concurred to complete the disgrace of the king of Poland elector of Saxony, and heighten the abuse which Charles XII. made of his good fortune; the first was his obliging Augustus to write a letter of congratulation to the new king Stanislaus on his election: the second was terrible, he even compelled Augustus to deliver up Patkul, the czar's ambassador and general.[73]It is sufficiently known to all Europe, that this minister was afterwardsbroke alive upon the wheel at Casimir, in the month of September, 1707. Norberg, the chaplain, confesses that the orders for his execution were all written in Charles's own hand.
There is not a civilian in all Europe, nay even the vilest slave, but must feel the whole horror of this barbarous injustice. The first crime of this unfortunate man was, the having made an humble representation of the rights and privileges of his country, at the head of six Livonian gentlemen, who were sent as deputies from the whole province: having been condemned to die for fulfilling the first of duties, that of serving his country agreeable to her laws. This iniquitous sentence put him in full possession of a right, which all mankind derive from nature, that of choosing his country. Being afterwards made ambassador to one of the greatest monarchs in the universe, his person thereby became sacred. On this occasion the law of force violated that of nature and nations. In former ages cruelties of this kind were hidden in the blaze of success, but now they sully the glory of a conqueror.
Attempts made to set up a third king of Poland.—Charles XII. sets out from Saxony with a powerful army, and marches through Poland in a victorious manner.—Cruelties committed.—Conduct of the czar.—Successes of the king of Sweden, who at length advances towards Russia.
Attempts made to set up a third king of Poland.—Charles XII. sets out from Saxony with a powerful army, and marches through Poland in a victorious manner.—Cruelties committed.—Conduct of the czar.—Successes of the king of Sweden, who at length advances towards Russia.
1707.
Charles XII. enjoyed the fruits of his good fortune in Altranstadt near Leipsic, whither the Protestant princes of the German empire repaired in droves to pay homageto him, and implore his protection. He received ambassadors from almost all the potentates in Europe. The emperor Joseph implicitly followed his directions. Peter then perceiving that king Augustus had renounced his protection and his own crown, and that a part of the Polish nation had acknowledged Stanislaus, listened to the proposals made him by Yolkova, of choosing a third king.
A diet was held at Lublin, in which several of the palatines were proposed; and among others, Prince Ragotski was put upon the list; that prince, who was so long kept in prison, when young, by the emperor Leopold, and who afterwards when he procured his liberty, was his competitor for the throne of Hungary.
This negotiation was pushed very far, and Poland was on the point of having three kings at one time. Prince Ragotski not succeeding, Peter thought to bestow the crown on Siniauski, grand general of the republic; a person of great power and interest, and head of a third party, that would neither acknowledge the dethroned king, nor the person elected by the opposed party.
In the midst of these troubles, there was a talk of peace, as is customary on the like occasions. Besseval the French envoy in Saxony interposed, in order to bring about a reconciliation between the czar and the king of Sweden. It was thought at that time by the court of France, that Charles, having no longer either the Russians or Poles to fight against, might turn his arms against the emperor Joseph, with whom he was not on very good terms, and on whom he had imposed several laws during his stay in Saxony. But Charles made answer, that he would treat with the czar in Moscow. It was on this occasion thatPeter said, 'My brother Charles wants to act the Alexander, but he shall not find a Darius in me.'
The Russians however were still in Poland, and were in the city of Warsaw, while the king whom Charles XII. had set over the Poles was hardly acknowledged by that nation. In the mean time, Charles was enriching his army with the spoils of Saxony.
Aug. 22.] At length he began his march from Altranstadt, at the head of an army of forty-five thousand men; a force which it seemed impossible for the czar to withstand, seeing he had been entirely defeated by eight thousand only at Narva.
Aug. 27.] It was in passing by the walls of Dresden, that Charles made that very extraordinary visit to king Augustus, which, as Norberg says, 'will strike posterity with admiration.' It was running an unaccountable risk, to put himself in the power of a prince whom he had deprived of his kingdom. From thence he continued his march through Silesia, and re-entered Poland.
This country has been entirely ravaged by war, ruined by factions, and was a prey to every kind of calamity. Charles continued advancing with his army through the province of Muscovia, and chose the most difficult ways he could take. The inhabitants, who had taken shelter in the morasses, resolved to make him at least pay for his passage. Six thousand peasants dispatched an old man of their body to speak to him: this man who was of a very extraordinary figure, clad in white, and armed with two carabines, made a speech to Charles; but as the standers by did not well understand what he said, they, without any further ceremony, dispatched him in hisharangue, and before their king's face. The peasants, in a rage, immediately withdrew, and took up arms. All who could be found were seized, and obliged to hang one another; the last was compelled to put the rope about his neck himself, and to be his own executioner. All their houses were burnt to the ground. This fact is attested by Norberg, who was an eye-witness, and therefore cannot be contradicted, as it cannot be related without inspiring horror.
1708, Feb. 6.] Charles being arrived within a few leagues of Grodno in Lithuania, is informed of the czar's being there in person with a body of troops; upon which, without staying to deliberate, he takes only eight hundred of his guards, and sets out for Grodno. A German officer, named Mulfels, who commanded a body of troops, posted at one of the gates of the town, making no doubt, when he saw Charles, but that he was followed by his whole army, instead of disputing the passage with him, leaves it open, and takes to flight. The alarm is now spread through the whole town; every one imagines the whole Swedish army already entered; the few Russians who made any resistance, are cut in pieces by the Swedish guards; and all the officers assure the czar, that the victorious army had made itself master of the place. Hereupon Peter retreats behind the ramparts, and Charles plants a guard of thirty men at the very gate through which the czar had just before entered.
In this confusion some of the Jesuits, whose college had been taken to accommodate the king of Sweden, as being the handsomest structure in the place, went by night to the czar, and for this time told the whole truth. Upon this, Peter immediately returns into the town, and forces the Swedish guards. An engagement ensues in thestreets and public places; but, at length, the whole Swedish army appearing in sight, the czar is obliged to yield to superior numbers, and leaves the town in the hands of the victor, who made all Poland tremble.
Charles had augmented his forces in Livonia and Finland, and Peter had every thing to fear, not only for his conquests on this side, together with those in Lithuania, but also for his ancient territories, and even for the city of Moscow itself. He was obliged then to provide at once for the safety of all these different places, at such a distance from each other. Charles could not make any rapid conquest to the eastward of Lithuania in the depth of winter, and in a marshy country, subject to epidemical disorders, which had been spread by poverty and famine, from Warsaw, as far as Minski. Peter posted his troops so as to command the passes of the rivers, (April 8.) guarded all the important posts, and did every thing in his power to impede the marches of his enemy, and afterwards hastened to put things in a proper situation at Petersburg.
Though Charles was lording it in Poland, he took nothing from the czar; but Peter, by the use he made of his new fleet, by landing his troops in Finland, by the taking and dismantling the town of Borgau, (May 22.) and by seizing a great booty, was procuring many real and great advantages to himself, and distressing his enemy.
Charles, after being detained a long time in Lithuania, by continual rains, at length reached the little river of Berezine, some few leagues from the Boristhenes. Nothing could withstand his activity: he threw a bridge over the river in sight of the Russians; beat a detachment that guarded the passage, and got to Holozin on the river Bibitsch, where the czar had posted a considerable body of troops to check the impetuous progress of his rival. The little river of Bibitsch is only a small brook in dry weather; but at this time it was swelled by the rains to a deep and rapid stream. On the other side was a morass, behind which the Russians had thrown up an intrenchment for above a quarter of a league, defended by a large and deep ditch, and covered by a parapet, lined with artillery. Nine regiments of horse, and eleven of foot, were advantageously posted in these lines, so that the passage of the river seemed impracticable.
The Swedes, according to the custom of war, got ready their pontoons, and erected batteries to favour their passage; but Charles, whose impatience to engage would not let him brook the least delay, did not wait till the pontoons were ready. Marshal Schwerin, who served a long time under him, has assured me several times, that one day that they were to come to action, observing his generals to be very busy in concerting the necessary dispositions, said tartly to them, 'When will you have done with this trifling?' and immediately advanced in person at the head of his guards, which he did particularly on this memorable day.
He flung himself into the river, followed by his regiment of guards. Their numbers broke the impetuosity of the current, but the water was as high as their shoulders, and they could make no use of their firelocks. Had the artillery of the parapet been but tolerably well served, or had the infantry but levelled their pieces in a proper manner, not a single Swede would have escaped.
July 25.] The king, after wading the river, passed the morass on foot. As soon as the army had surmounted these obstacles within sight of the Russians, they drew up in order of battle,and attacked the enemies intrenchments seven different times, and it was not till the seventh attack that the Russians gave way. By the accounts of their own historians, the Swedes took but twelve field-pieces, and twenty-four mortars.
It was therefore evident, that the czar had at length succeeded in disciplining his troops, and this victory of Holozin, while it covered Charles XII. with glory, might have made him sensible of the many dangers he must have to encounter in adventuring into such distant countries, where his army could march only in small bodies, through woods, morasses, and where he would be obliged to fight out every step of his way; but the Swedes, being accustomed to carry all before them, dreaded neither danger nor fatigue.[74]
Charles XII. crosses the Boristhenes, penetrates into the Ukraine, but concerts his measures badly.—One of his armies is defeated by Peter the Great: he loses his supply of provisions and ammunition: advances forward through a desert country: his adventures in the Ukraine.
Charles XII. crosses the Boristhenes, penetrates into the Ukraine, but concerts his measures badly.—One of his armies is defeated by Peter the Great: he loses his supply of provisions and ammunition: advances forward through a desert country: his adventures in the Ukraine.
1708.
At last Charles arrives on the borders of the Boristhenes, at a small town called Mohilow. This was the important spot where it was to be determined, whether he should direct his march eastward, towards Moscow; or southwards, towards the Ukraine. His own army, his friends, his enemies, all expected that he would direct his course immediately for thecapital of Russia. Which ever way he took, Peter was following him from Smolensko with a strong army; no one expected that he would turn towards the Ukraine. He was induced to take this strange resolution by Mazeppa, hetman of the Cossacks, who, being an old man of seventy and without children, ought to have thought only of ending his days in peace: gratitude should have bound him to the czar, to whom he was indebted for his present dignity; but whether he had any real cause of complaint against that prince, or that he was dazzled with the lustre of Charles's exploits, or whether, in time, he thought to make himself independent, he betrayed his benefactor, and privately espoused the interests of the king of Sweden, flattering himself with the hopes of engaging his whole nation in a rebellion with himself.
Charles made not the least doubt of subduing the Russian empire, as soon as his troops should be joined by so warlike a people as the Cossacks. Mazeppa was to furnish him with what provisions, ammunition, and artillery, he should want; besides these powerful succours, he was to be joined by an army of sixteen or seventeen thousand men, out of Livonia, under the command of general Levenhaupt, who was to bring with him a prodigious quantity of warlike stores and provisions. Charles was not at the trouble of reflecting, whether the czar was within reach of attacking the army, and depriving him of these necessary supplies. He never informed himself whether Mazeppa was in a condition to observe his promises; if that Cossack had credit enough to change the disposition of a whole nation, who are generally guided only by their own opinion; or whether his army was provided with sufficient resources in case of an accident; butimagined, if Mazeppa should prove deficient in abilities or fidelity, he could trust in his own valour and good fortune. The Swedish army then advanced beyond the Boristhenes towards the Desna; it was between these two rivers, that he expected to meet with Mazeppa. His march was attended with many difficulties and dangers, on account of the badness of the road, and the many parties of Russians that were hovering about these regions.
Sept. 11.] Menzikoff, at the head of some horse and foot, attacked the king's advanced guard, threw them into disorder, and killed a number of his men. He lost a great number of his own, indeed, but that did not discourage him. Charles immediately hastened to the field of battle, and with some difficulty repulsed the Russians, at the hazard of his own life, by engaging a party of dragoons, by whom he was surrounded. All this while Mazeppa did not appear, and provisions began to grow scarce. The Swedish soldiers, seeing their king share in all their dangers, fatigues, and wants, were not dispirited; but though they admired his courage, they could not refrain from murmuring at his conduct.
The orders which the king had sent to Levenhaupt to march forward with all haste, to join him with the necessary supplies, were not delivered by twelve days so soon as they should have been. This was a long delay as circumstances then stood. However, Levenhaupt at length began his march; Peter suffered him to pass the Boristhenes, but as soon as his army was got between that river and the lesser ones, which empty themselves into it, he crossed over after him, and attacked him with his united forces, which had followed in different corps at equaldistances from one another. This battle was fought between the Boristhenes and the Sossa.[75]
Prince Menzikoff was upon his return with the same body of horse, with which he had lately engaged Charles XII. General Baur followed him, and the czar himself headed the flower of his army. The Swedes imagined they had to deal with an army of forty thousand men, and the same was believed for a long time on the faith of their relation; but my late memoirs inform me, that Peter had only twenty thousand men in this day's engagement, a number not much superior to that of the enemy: but his vigour, his patience, his unwearied perseverance, together with that of his troops, animated by his presence, decided the fate, not of that day only, but of three successive days, during which the fight was renewed at different times.
They made their first attack upon the rear of the Swedish army, near the village of Lesnau, from whence this battle borrows its name. This first shock was bloody, without proving decisive. Levenhaupt retreated into a wood, and thereby saved his baggage. (Oct. 7.) The next morning, when the Swedes were to be driven from this wood, the fight was still more bloody, and more to the advantage of the Russians. Here it was that the czar, seeing his troops in disorder, cried out to fire upon the runaways, and even upon himself, if they saw him turn back. The Swedes were repulsed, but not thrown into confusion.
At length a reinforcement of four thousand dragoons arriving, he fell upon the Swedes a third time; who retreated to a small town called Prospock, where they were again attacked; they then marched towards the Desna, the Russiansstill pursuing them: yet they were never broken, but lost upwards of eight thousand men, seventeen pieces of cannon, and forty-four colours: the czar took fifty-six officers and near nine hundred private men prisoners; and the great convoy of provisions and ammunition that were going to Charles's army, fell into the hands of the conqueror.
This was the first time that the czar in person gained a pitched battle, against an enemy who had distinguished himself by so many victories over his troops: he was employed in a general thanksgiving for his success, when he received advice that general Apraxin had lately gained an advantage over the enemy in Ingria, (Sept. 17,) some leagues from Narva, an advantage less considerable indeed than that of Lesnau; but this concurrence of fortunate events greatly raised the hopes and courage of his troops.
Charles XII. heard of these unfortunate tidings just as he was ready to pass the Desna, in the Ukraine. Mazeppa at length joined him; but instead of twenty thousand men, and an immense quantity of provisions, which he was to have brought with him, he came with only two regiments, and appeared rather like a fugitive applying for assistance, than a prince, who was bringing powerful succours to his ally. This Cossack had indeed begun his march with near fifteen or sixteen thousand of his people, whom he had told, at their first setting out, that they were going against the king of Sweden; that they would have the glory of stopping that hero on his march, and that he would hold himself eternally obliged to them for so great a service.
But when they came within a few leagues of the Desna, he made them acquainted with his real design. These brave people received his declaration with disdain: they refused to betray a monarch, against whom they had no cause of complaint, for the sake of a Swede, who had invaded their country with an armed force, and who, after leaving it, would be no longer able to defend them, but must abandon them to the mercy of the incensed Russians, and of the Poles, once their masters, and always their enemies: they accordingly returned home, and gave advice to the czar of the defection of their chief: Mazeppa found himself left with only two regiments, the officers of which were in his own pay.
He was still master of some strong posts in the Ukraine, and in particular of Bathurin, the place of his residence, looked upon as the capital of the country of the Cossacks: it is situated near some forests on the Desna, at a great distance from the place where Peter had defeated general Levenhaupt. There were always some Russian regiments quartered in these districts. Prince Menzikoff was detached from the czar's army, and got thither by round-about marches. Charles could not secure all the passes; he did not even know them all, and had neglected to make himself master of the important post of Starowdoub, which leads directly to the Bathurin, across seven or eight leagues of forest, through which the Desna directs its course. His enemy had always the advantage of him, by being better acquainted with the country.
Menzikoff and prince Galitzin, who had accompanied him, easily made their passage good, and presented themselves before the town of Bathurin, (Nov. 14,) which surrendered almost without resistance, was plundered, and reduced to ashes. The Russians made themselves masters of a large magazine destined for the use of the king of Sweden, and of all Mazeppa's treasures. The Cossacks chose another hetman, named Skoropasky, who was approved by the czar, who being willing to impress a due sense of the enormous crime of treason on the minds of the people, by a striking example of justice, the archbishop of Kiow, and two other prelates, were ordered to excommunicate Mazeppa publicly, (Nov. 22,) after which he was hanged in effigy, and some of his accomplices were broken upon the wheel.
In the meanwhile, Charles XII. still at the head of about twenty-five or twenty-seven thousand Swedes, who were reinforced by the remains of Levenhaupt's army, and the addition of between two or three thousand men, whom Mazeppa had brought with him, and still infatuated with the same notion of making all the Ukraine declare for him, passed the Desna at some distance from Bathurin, and near the Boristhenes, in spite of the czar's troops which surrounded him on all sides; part of whom followed close in the rear, while another part lined the opposite side of the river to oppose his passage.
He continued his march through a desert country, where he met with nothing but burned or ruined villages. The cold began to set in at the beginning of December so extremely sharp, that in one of his marches near two thousand of his men perished before his eyes: the czar's troops did not suffer near so much, being better supplied; whereas the king of Sweden's army, being almost naked, was necessarily more exposed to the inclemency of the weather.
In this deplorable situation, count Piper, chancellor of Sweden, who never gave his master other than good advice, conjured him to halt, and pass at least the severest part of the winter in a small town of the Ukraine, called Romna, wherehe might intrench himself, and get some provisions by the help of Mazeppa; but Charles replied, that—He was not a person to shut himself up in a town. Piper then intreated him to re-pass the Desna and the Boristhenes, to return back into Poland, to put his troops into winter quarters, of which they stood so much in need, to make use of the Polish cavalry, which was absolutely necessary; to support the king he had nominated, and to keep in awe the partisans of Augustus, who began already to bestir themselves. Charles answered him again—That this would be flying before the czar, that the season would grow milder, and that he must reduce the Ukraine, and march on to Moscow.[76]
January, 1709.] Both armies remained some weeks inactive, on account of the intenseness of the cold, in the month of January, 1709; but as soon as the men were able to make use of their arms, Charles attacked all the small posts that he found in his way; he was obliged to send parties on every side in search of provisions; that is to say, to scour the country twenty leagues round, and rob all the peasants of their necessary subsistence. Peter, without hurrying himself, kept a strict eye upon all his motions, and suffered the Swedish army to dwindle away by degrees.
It is impossible for the reader to follow the Swedes in their march through these countries: several of the rivers which they crossed are not to be found in the maps: we must not suppose, that geographers are as well acquainted with these countries, as we are with Italy, France, and Germany: geography is, of all the arts, that which still stands the most need of improvement, and ambition has hitherto been at more pains todesolate the face of the globe, than to give a description of it.
We must content ourselves then with knowing, that Charles traversed the whole Ukraine in the month of February, burning the villages wherever he came, or meeting with others that had been laid in ashes by the Russians. He advancing south-east, came to those sandy deserts, bordered by mountains that separate the Nogay Tartars from the Don Cossacks. To the eastward of those mountains are the altars of Alexander. Charles was now on the other side of the Ukraine, in the road that the Tartars take to Russia; and when he was got there, he was obliged to return back again to procure subsistence: the inhabitants, having retired with all their cattle into their dens and lurking-places, would sometimes defend their subsistence against the soldiers, who came to deprive them of it. Such of these poor wretches, who could be found, were put to death, agreeably to what are falsely called, the rules of war. I cannot here forbear transcribing a few lines from Norberg.[77]'As an instance,' says he, 'of the king's regard to justice, I shall insert a note, which he wrote with his own hand to colonel Heilmen.
'Colonel,'I am very well pleased that you have taken those peasants, who carried off a Swedish soldier; as soon as they are convicted of the crime, let them be punished with death, according to the exigency of the case.'Charles; and lower down, Budis.'
'Colonel,
'I am very well pleased that you have taken those peasants, who carried off a Swedish soldier; as soon as they are convicted of the crime, let them be punished with death, according to the exigency of the case.
'Charles; and lower down, Budis.'
Such are the sentiments of justice and humanity shewn by a king's confessor; but, had the peasants of the Ukraine had it in their power tohang up some of those regimented peasants of East Gothland, who thought themselves entitled to come so far to plunder them, their wives, and families, of their subsistence, would not the confessors and chaplains of these Ukrainers have had equal reason to applaud their justice?
Mazeppa had for a considerable time, been in treaty with the Zaporavians, who dwell about the two shores of the Boristhenes, and of whom part inhabit the islands on that river. It is this division that forms the nation, of whom mention has already been made in the first chapter of this history, and who have neither wives nor families, and subsist entirely by rapine. During the winter they heap up provisions in their islands, which they afterwards go and sell in the summer, in the little town of Pultowa; the rest dwell in small hamlets, to the right and left of this river. All together choose a particular hetman, and this hetman is subordinate to him of the Ukraine. The person, at that time at the head of the Zaporavians, came to meet Mazeppa; and these two barbarians had an interview, at which each of them had a horse's tail, and a club borne before him, as ensigns of honour.
To shew what this hetman of the Zaporavians and his people were, I think it not unworthy of history, to relate the manner in which this treaty was concluded. Mazeppa gave a great feast to the hetman of the Zaporavians, and his principal officers, who were all served in plate. As soon as these chiefs had made themselves drunk with brandy, they took an oath (without stirring from table) upon the Evangelists, to supply Charles with men and provisions; after which they carried off all the plate and other table-furniture. Mazeppa's steward ran after them, and remonstrated, that such behaviour ill-suited with thedoctrine of the Gospels, on which they had so lately sworn. Some of Mazeppa's domestics were for taking the plate away from them by force; but the Zaporavians went in a body to complain to Mazeppa, of the unparalleled affront offered to such brave fellows, and demanded to have the steward delivered up to them, that they might punish him according to law. This was accordingly complied with, and the Zaporavians, according to law, tossed this poor man from one to another like a ball, and afterwards plunged a knife to his heart.
Such were the new allies that Charles XII. was obliged to receive; part of whom he formed into a regiment of two thousand men; the remainder marched in separate bodies against the Cossacks and Calmucks of the czar's party, that were stationed about that district.
The little town of Pultowa, with which those Zaporavians carry on a trade, was filled with provisions, and might have served Charles for a place of arms. It is situated on the river Worsklaw, near a chain of mountains, which command it on the north side. To the eastward is a vast desert. The western part is the most fruitful, and the best peopled. The Worsklaw empties itself into the Boristhenes, about fifteen leagues lower down; from Pultowa, one may go northward, through the defiles, which communicate with the road to Moscow, a passage used by the Tartars. It is very difficult of access, and the precautions taken by the czar had rendered it almost impervious; but nothing appeared impossible to Charles, and he depended upon marching to Moscow, as soon as he had made himself master of Pultowa: with this view he laid siege to that town in the beginning of May.
Battle of Pultowa.
Battle of Pultowa.
Here it was that Peter expected him; he had disposed the several divisions of his army at convenient distances for joining each other, and marching all together against the besiegers: he had visited the countries which surround the Ukraine; namely the duchy of Severia, watered by the Desna, already made famous by his victory: the country of Bolcho, in which the Occa has its source; the deserts and mountains leading to the Palus Mæotis; and lately he had been in the neighbourhood of Azoph, where he caused that harbour to be cleansed, new ships to be built, and the citadel of Taganroc to be repaired. Thus did he employ the time that passed between the battles of Lesnau and Pultowa, in preparing for the defence of his dominions. As soon as he heard the Swedes had laid siege to the town, he mustered all his forces; the horse, dragoons, infantry, Cossacks, and Calmucks, advanced from different quarters. His army was well provided with necessaries of every kind; large cannon, field pieces, ammunition of all sorts, provisions, and even medicines for the sick: this was another degree of superiority which he had acquired over his rival.
On the 15th day of June, 1709, he appeared before Pultowa, with an army of about sixty thousand effective men; the river Worsklaw was between him and Charles. The besiegers were encamped on the north-west side of that river, the Russians on the south-east.
Peter ascends the river above the town, fixes his barges, marches over with his army, and draws a long line of intrenchments, (July 3.)which were begun and completed in one night, in the face of the enemy. Charles might then judge, whether the person, whom he had so much despised, and whom he thought of dethroning at Moscow, understood the art of war. This disposition being made, Peter posted his cavalry between two woods, and covered it with several redoubts, lined with artillery. Having thus taken all the necessary measures, (July 6.) he went to reconnoitre the enemy's camp, in order to form the attack.
This battle was to decide the fate of Russia, Poland, and Sweden, and of two monarchs, on whom the eyes of all Europe were fixed. The greatest part of those nations, who were attentive to these important concerns, were equally ignorant of the place where these two princes were, and of their situation: but knowing that Charles XII. had set out from Saxony, at the head of a victorious army, and that he was driving his enemy every where before him, they no longer doubted that he would at length entirely crush him; and that, as he had already given laws to Denmark, Poland, and Germany, he would now dictate conditions of peace in the Kremlin of Moscow, and make a new czar, after having already made a new king of Poland. I have seen letters from several public ministers to their respective courts, confirming this general opinion.
The risk was far from being equal between these two great rivals. If Charles lost a life, which he had so often and wantonly exposed, there would after all have been but one hero less in the world. The provinces of the Ukraine, the frontiers of Lithuania, and of Russia, would then rest from their calamities, and a stop would be put to the general devastation which had solong been their scourge. Poland would, together with her tranquillity, recover her lawful prince, who had been lately reconciled to the czar, his benefactor; and Sweden, though exhausted of men and money, might find motives of consolation under her heavy losses.
But, if the czar perished, those immense labours, which had been of such utility to mankind, would be buried with him, and the most extensive empire in the world would again relapse into the chaos from whence it had been so lately taken.
There had already been some skirmishes between the detached parties of the Swedes and Russians, under the walls of the town. In one of these rencounters, (June 27.) Charles had been wounded by a musket-ball, which had shattered the bones of his foot: he underwent several painful operations, which he bore with his usual fortitude, and had been confined to his bed for several days. In this condition he was informed, that Peter intended to give him battle; his notions of honour would not suffer him to wait to be attacked in his intrenchments. Accordingly he gave orders for quitting them, and was carried himself in a litter. Peter the Great acknowledges, that the Swedes attacked the redoubts, lined with artillery, that covered his cavalry, with such obstinate valour, that, notwithstanding the strongest resistance, supported by a continual fire, the enemy made themselves masters of two redoubts. Some writers say, that when the Swedish infantry found themselves in possession of the two redoubts, they thought the day their own, and began to cry out—Victory. The chaplain, Norberg, who was at some great distance from the field of battle, amongst the baggage (which was indeed hisproper place) pretends, that this was a calumny; but, whether the Swedes cried victory or not, it is certain they were not victorious. The fire from the other redoubts was kept up without ceasing, and the resistance made by the Russians, in every part, was as firm as the attack of their enemies was vigorous. They did not make one irregular movement; the czar drew up his army without the intrenchments in excellent order, and with surprising dispatch.
The battle now became general. Peter acted as major-general; Baur commanded the right wing, Menzikoff the left, and Sheremeto the centre. The action lasted about two hours: Charles, with a pistol in his hand, went from rank to rank, carried in a litter, on the shoulders of his drabans; one of which was killed by a cannon-ball, and at the same time the litter was shattered in pieces. He then ordered his men to carry him upon their pikes; for it would have been difficult, in so smart an action, let Norberg say as he pleases, to find a fresh litter ready made. Peter received several shots through his clothes and his hat; both princes were continually in the midst of the fire, during the whole action. At length, after two hours desperate engagement, the Swedes were taken on all sides, and fell into confusion; so that Charles was obliged to fly before him, whom he had hitherto held in so much contempt. This very hero, who could not mount his saddle during the battle, now fled for his life on horseback; necessity lent him strength in his retreat: he suffered the most excruciating pain, which was increased by the mortifying reflection of being vanquished without resource. The Russians reckoned nine thousand two hundred and twenty-four Swedes left dead on the field ofbattle, and between two and three thousand made prisoners in the action, the chief of which was cavalry.
Charles XII. fled with the greatest precipitation, attended by the remains of his brave army, a few field-pieces, and a very small quantity of provisions and ammunition. He directed his march southward, towards the Boristhenes, between the two rivers Workslaw and Psol, or Sol, in the country of the Zaporavians. Beyond the Boristhenes, are vast deserts, which lead to the frontiers of Turkey. Norberg affirms, that the victors durst not pursue Charles; and yet he acknowledges, that prince Menzikoff appeared on the neighbouring heights, (July 12.) with ten thousand horse, and a considerable train of artillery, while the king was passing the Boristhenes.
Fourteen thousand Swedes surrendered themselves prisoners of war to these ten thousand Russians; and Levenhaupt, who commanded them, signed the fatal capitulation, by which he gave up those Zaporavians who had engaged in the service of his master, and were then in the fugitive army. The chief persons taken prisoners in the battle, and by the capitulation, were count Piper, the first minister, with two secretaries of state, and two of the cabinet; field-marshal Renschild, the generals Levenhaupt, Slipenbak, Rozen, Stakelber, Creutz, and Hamilton, with three general aides-de-camp, the auditor-general of the army, fifty-nine staff-officers, five colonels, among whom was the prince of Wirtemberg; sixteen thousand nine hundred and forty-two private men and non-commissioned officers: in short, reckoning the king's own domestics, and others, the conqueror had no less than eighteen thousandseven hundred and forty-six prisoners in his power: to whom, if we add nine thousand two hundred and twenty-four slain in battle, and nearly two thousand that passed the Boristhenes with Charles, it appears, plainly, that he had, on that memorable day, no less than twenty-seven thousand effective men under his command.[78]
Charles had begun his march from Saxony with forty-five thousand men, Levenhaupt had brought upwards of sixteen thousand out of Livonia, and yet scarce a handful of men was left of all this powerful army; of a numerous train of artillery, part lost in his marches, and part buried in the morasses; he had now remaining only eighteen brass cannon, two howitzers, and twelve mortars; and, with inconsiderable force, he had undertaken the siege of Pultowa, and had attacked an army provided with a formidable artillery. Therefore he is, with justice, accused of having shewn more courage than prudence, after his leaving Germany. On the side of the Russians, there were no more than fifty-two officers and one thousand two hundred and ninety-three private men killed; an undeniable proof, that the disposition of the Russian troops was better than those of Charles, and that their fire was infinitely superior to that of the Swedes.
We find, in the memoirs of a foreign minister to the court of Russia, that Peter, being informed of Charles's design to take refuge in Turkey, wrote a friendly letter to him, intreating him not to take so desperate a resolution, but rather totrust himself in his hands, than in those of the natural enemy of all Christian princes. He gave him, at the same time, his word of honour, not to detain him prisoner, but to terminate all their differences by a reasonable peace. This letter was sent by an express as far as the river Bug, which separates the deserts of the Ukraine from the grand seignior's dominions. As the messenger did not reach that place till Charles had entered Turkey, he brought back the letter to his master. The same minister adds further, that he had this account from the very person who was charged with the letter.[79]This anecdote is not altogether improbable; but I do not meet with it either in Peter's journals, or in any of the papers entrusted to my care. What is of greater importance, in relation to this battle, was its being the only one, of the many that have stained the earth with blood, that, instead of producing only destruction, has proved beneficial to mankind, by enabling the czar to civilize so considerable a part of the world.
There have been fought more than two hundred pitched battles in Europe, since the commencement of this century to the present year. The most signal, and the most bloody victories, have produced no other consequences than the reduction of a few provinces ceded afterwards by treaties, and retaken again by other battles. Armies of a hundred thousand men have frequently engaged each other in the field; but the greatest efforts have been attended with only slight and momentary successes; the most trivial causes have been productive of the greatest effects. There is no instance, in modern history, of any war that has compensated, by even abetter good, for the many evils it has occasioned: but, from the battle of Pultowa, the greatest empire under the sun has derived its present happiness and prosperity.
Consequences of the battle of Pultowa.—Charles XII. takes refuge among the Turks.—Augustus, whom he had dethroned, recovers his dominions.—Conquests of Peter the Great.
Consequences of the battle of Pultowa.—Charles XII. takes refuge among the Turks.—Augustus, whom he had dethroned, recovers his dominions.—Conquests of Peter the Great.