CHAP. XIV
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 raised to 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 forced to 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 lost their 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 ancient strelitzes; 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.
CHAP. XV
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 Saxony into 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 hear king 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 so many 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; that Meyerfeld 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 afterwards broke 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.
CHAP. XVI
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 homage to 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 that Peter 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 his harangue, 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 the streets 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