A TRICKSTER PUNISHED. 231 General, Lewenhauft, barred his road, and inflicting upon him a severe defeat. The Swedes were numerically inferior, but they were advantageously posted and well handled. With the loss of less than 2000 men on their side, they put upwards of 6000 Russians hors de combat. This check did not turn them back, for fresh troops were brought up in such numbers that the Swedish power of resistance was overwhelmed. The capital of Courland was besieged, and in no long time was forced to capitulate. Satisfied with this achievement, the Czar returned to Moscow for the winter; but he was speedily induced to take the field again by information that Charles in person, at the head of a powerful army, was menacing the allied troops of Russia and Saxony at Grodno. He attempted a diversion in their favour, but was too late to prevent the disastrous defeat which befell them near Frauenstadt, when the flower of the confederated host was slain. Augustus now lost heart altogether, and proposed to sue for peace. No proposal could have been more distasteful to Peter, who was, of course, implicated in the proceeding, and he put forth the most vehement remonstrances against it. Nor did he confine himself to mere dissuasion. Another army of 20,000 men was placed by him at the disposal of his ally, with the advice that he should strike once more in Poland. The recommendation was obeyed, but in a very timid and pusillanimous fashion; while, no sooner had he got into the land he wished to rule, than he repented of his temerity, and secretly despatched messengers to Charles, charged with an intimation that he was willing to make terms. A humiliating consequence followed upon his craven behaviour. Before his ambassadors returned, Prince Menschikoff joined him at the head of another Russian army, which raised his forces to a number vastly in excess of those under the command of the Swedish General, Meyerfeldt, who was opposed to him, and who threatened battle. The vacillating, faint-hearted monarch was afraid and ashamed to tell the representative of his ally what he had done. He preferred to acquaint the representative of his enemy, in the hope that he would draw off, pending the result of the negotiations. Meyerfeldt scouted the message as a scandalous piece of duplicity. Under the influence of this view, he naturally construed it as a token of weakness, and therefore pressed on his preparations for attack. Attack he did, only to be decisively beaten. The superior force of the Russians was too much for him. He was obliged to retire, leaving the way open to Warsaw, which Augustus entered as a victor. Now came the punishment of his cowardice and double-dealing. Never was monarch placed in a more unenviable plight. In the very moment of his triumph his plenipotentiaries returned with a treaty to which they had assented in his name, pledging him to a relinquishment of the throne he had been elected to fill. In Leipsic, the capital of his native State, of which Charles had taken possession, this instrument was drawn up. Thus the wretched poltroon was subjected to a double degree of loss and dishonour. From the capital where he had reigned unmolested till ambition seized him, came the order that he should vacate the capital he had entered as a conqueror. He did not dare to disobey. Writing to Charles, he apologised for having beaten his troops, laying all the blame of the misadventure upon the Russians, and protesting his own willingness to do anything that might be asked of him. Not content with this voluntary humility, he hastened after his contrite and abject epistle, and in person made his submission. The triumphant Swede could harbour no feeling save one of contempt for such cringing servility. He therefore made the yoke, which Augustus so readily stooped to assume, both hard and heavy. He abated no jot of the ignominious bargain which had been concluded, but rather augmented the degrading character of its conditions. Thus, not only did he enforce the renunciation of the Polish crown to which Augustus had pledged himself, he insisted that the unhappy man should write to his rival, Stanislaus, congratulating him on his accession. The person who could stoop to do this was not likely to stick at anything, whatever the disgrace it might imply. Accordingly, he had no scruple in promising an abandonment of his alliance with the Czar. A surrender of the Swedish prisoners was made as a matter of course, but along with them he consented to give up certain deserters, among whom was a brave Livonian, General Patkul. This person first came in contact with Charles, upon whom he made a favourable impression, as the spokesman of a Livonian deputation, who waited upon the king to complain of certain grievances. In the interval betwixt his reception and the time fixed for a reply being given to his request, the impulsive sovereign changed his mind as to the leading deputy, and spoke of him in a strain which induced Patkul to flee. He took service in Poland, but afterwards passed into the employment of the Czar. By him he was sent back to incite and counsel Augustus as regards the campaign which had led up to such a curious issue of cross purposes. When Augustus decided upon treating with Charles, rather than fighting against him any more, the remonstrances of Patkul were silenced by his being thrown into prison. He was now included among those who were delivered over to the vengeance of the Swedish monarch. The dislike of him which Charles had conceived rendered that vengeance peculiarly odious and severe, surpassing aught which derived the semblance of warrant from the principles of justice, or of international law, even as it was then understood. Charles was hurried into complete forgetfulness, alike of what was due to himself and to a courageous foe. With his own hand he indited a sentence ordering Patkul to be broken on the wheel and then quartered—a doom which was executed, to the lasting disgrace of him who ordered it. These proceedings made Peter furious. He resented the cowardice of Augustus and the fortune of Charles. He complained of both to the great Powers of Europe, without, however, making much by his appeal. He declared, for his own part, that it was his unalterable purpose to drive Stanislaus from the throne to which he had been raised. For that end he conferred with many of the Polish grandees, whom he treated with remarkable politeness and condescension, winning them over to an agreement that the best mode of extricating their country from the difficulties under which it laboured was to declare the throne vacant, and to summon the Diet for a new election. Steps were taken in furtherance of this design. The Diet was convened at Lublin; the declaration of an interregnum was agreed to; and the Primate was nominated to act as Regent during the interval that must elapse ere an election could take place. Hardly had these resolutions been adopted, when the members were fain to disperse with all the haste and secrecy possible. This flight was due to news that Stanislaus, whose title had been acknowledged by most of the Powers, was marching upon Warsaw at the head of a Swedish force, receiving regal honours wherever he came. Further, Charles finding himself, with a treasury replenished by his Saxon spoils, in command of a seasoned army amounting to 50,000 men, did not conceal his intention of punishing what he stigmatised as the presumptuous interference of the Russian Czar. This threat, uttered by a man who had never known defeat, and many of whose victories had been won against tremendous odds, naturally compelled Peter CHARLES AND PETER. 233 to look to himself. His situation was far from reassuring. His troops, though vastly improved, were still raw and inexperienced. His exchequer, though far from empty, was not fitted to stand any extraordinary drain. Above all, he had reason to dread a combination to destroy him. The Polish alliance by which he had set so much store had broken down in his hands; the available strength of Poland was now to be directed against him; and he could not be blind to the temptation Turkey had to join an adverse confederacy, now that his puppet, Frederick Augustus, who had been her implacable foe, was displaced. All through, the romantic exploits and victorious career of the Swedish heroking had been watched with intense interest by the Ottomans. Their sympathies naturally went with "the Iron Head," as he was designated, as against "the White Moustache," which was the cognomen they gave to Peter. Persistent though unavailing efforts were made to induce Achmet III. to go beyond mere sympathy. He went the length of friendly overtures, sending as a gift to Charles a hundred Swedish soldiers who had been captured by the Calmucks, from whom he bought them. Of course they were gratefully received. In requiting the courtesy, Charles did not fail to intimate that he would be glad were a close understanding to be arranged. This the Sultan warily declined; and the proud, self-confident Charles refused to press him. The inclinations of the influential Turks were, however, no secret, for the Governor of Oczakoff sent an envoy to the Swedish camp at Thorn charged with the task of essaying an adjustment of terms. The mission was not formally sanctioned by Sultan Achmet; and again Charles, in his wonted highflown style, rejected the proposal of any underhand negotiations directed to contingent issues. That Peter knew of these communications has never been averred; but the whole drift and tendency of Turkish feeling were so clear, were so distinctly the natural outcome of the position, that they could not escape his regard. His predicament was one which might well excite the gravest apprehensions. Whatever sinkings of heart it may have caused him, he gave no outward sign of disquietude. With his accustomed calmness, vigour, and foresight, he addressed himself to the duty of preparing for resistance. Before the contest opened, the representative of France at the Court of Saxony made a futile attempt to prevent it. He appealed to Charles in favour of an accommodation. The Swede haughtily repelled the proposal. "I will treat at Moscow," quoth he. When this reply was reported to Peter, he quietly remarked, "My brother Charles wishes to play the part of Alexander; he shall not find a Darius in me." The speech and the commentary upon it were alike significant and characteristic. Twice has Russia been saved by invasions that threatened to destroy her. The hazard she underwent from the inroad made by Charles was undoubtedly even greater than that she incurred from the subsequent inroad made by Napoleon. All Europe looked on in the first instance, expecting, as Voltaire says, that the Russian armies would be overthrown and the Czar deposed. The conflict opened in the autumn of 1707. Before setting out, Charles, attended only by some half-dozen officers, paid a visit at Dresden to Augustus, the late King of Poland. This ostentatious and foolhardy proceeding indicated a weakness of character which his successes had fostered, and defeat did not correct. It became conspicuous throughout the struggle he had provoked. He had resolved to winter in Lithuania, whither he went along with his troops. Peter at once advanced to Grodno, which he had fixed on for his headquarters, taking with him only a CILARIES AND PIHA abated no jot of the ignominious bargain which had been concluded, but rat' Charles had conceived rend aught which derived the national law, even as fulness, alike of wh indited a sentenc which was exe These p the fortur howeve unal+ th on he wily Czar took care not to nazar 151 S of ity tal *ge. tory way which chances were, he would not only be worsted but irretrievably crushed. 111s plan was send forth bands of skirmishers who harassed and perplexed the Swedes, assailing them all sides. This was a service which suited his Cossacks admirably. It was impossible to catch and suppress them. Whenever they succeeded in drawing the notice of the foe, they scampered off, leaving such desolation in their track that pursuit was out of the question. The Russian main army was posted in sheltered lines on the right bank of the Dnieper, having free communication with Smolensko, and an open line of retreat upon a country rich in supplies of all kinds. A force of over 20,000 men, of whom one half were Cossacks, was detached to scour and lay waste the country south of the Dnieper, through which it behoved Charles to advance. This was done so effectually, over such an extent of territory, that when he had made some way over the devastated region, he was compelled, through lack of provisions, to canton his army. This enforced delay so chafed his proud and eager spirit as to fit him for being tempted into a movement which proved his ruin. Instead of calmly proceeding with arrangements for placing his commissariat in a satisfactory condition, and then bearing down upon Moscow, he suddenly, when so close THE STORY OF MAZEPPA. 235 upon Smolensko that it was truly within his grasp, swerved aside from the design he had hitherto pursued, and bent his steps towards the far-stretching deserts of the Ukraine. A course so unintelligible, that it seemed downright madness, utterly confounded Peter. He breathed freely meanwhile; but what was to come next defied all conjecture. Not till ews was brought him that the Hetman of the Cossacks inhabiting the invaded province d turned traitor, could he form any surmise as to the motive which had prompted so d a proceeding. When at length he came to understand how the angry and impatient rles had been misled, he must have thrilled with some such feeling as found vent he Cromwellian ejaculation at Dunbar, "The Lord hath delivered them into our he Cossack ruler was by lineage and nativity a gentleman of Podolia. Part of his tic story has been made familiar to every schoolboy by means of Lord Byron, who ed his poetic genius in its recital and adornment. In youth Mazeppa, for such was tman's name, had been a page at the court of John Casimir. He excited the of a Polish gentleman, who had him stripped naked and bound to a wild horse, is then let go. He was carried from the centre of Poland to the territory of the where, when the horse had dropped, he was found by the astonished countryIf dead with hunger and fatigue. He was hospitably received, and continued h his benefactors, adopting their modes of life, and signalising himself in their th the Tartars. His reputation so grew among them that the Czar found it › nominate him as their Hetman. The Russians say that the treachery he wards the outraged husband who inflicted upon him that uncomfortable ride 1 the poet's theme, was also visible in his behaviour as an influential vassal. on of the tale represents Peter as to blame for his defection. According to visit to Moscow, and was dining with the Czar, when a proposal was mooted endeavour to tame and discipline the community over whom he ruled; he go difficulties which he pronounced insuperable; and thereupon the Czar ye, stigmatising him by opprobrious epithets, and threatening his impalethe motive or provocation, he now threw himself into the arms of Charles, et negotiations with him, and promised him the support of his whole g counsel with no one, Charles at once jumped at the offer, appointed a the Dresna, a tributary of the Dnieper which falls into that stream on ry of the province of Pultowa, and set off thither, leading his army after him. As it turned out, Mazeppa had promised more than he was able to perform. He had miscalculated the strength of his people's attachment to himself, and of their loyalty to their Russian protectors. When his design was unfolded to them, it was received with ominous murmurs of disapproval. On the time coming to march a great many fell away from his standard, returning to their homes. Remonstrance and appeal were tried in vain, while the delay gave opportunity for intervention on the part of the Czar. It was, as usual, decided and effective. Mazeppa was superseded in favour of a new Hetman; several of his accomplices were caught and broken upon the wheel; the strong places in which he might have taken refuge were levelled with the ground; and his adherents were so beset and harassed that when, long after the date appointed, he appeared at the place of rendezvous, instead of bringing with him a formidable force, the 1-45 |