THE REVOLT OF MAZEPPA.
1708
Progress of the war--Peter's fleet--The King of Sweden's
successes--Peter wishes to make peace--The reply--Plan changed--Mazeppa
and the Cossacks--Plans for reforming the Cossacks--Mazeppa opposes
them--The quarrel--Mazeppa's treasonable designs--The plot
defeated--Precautions of the Czar--Mazeppa's plans--He goes on step by
step--He sends his nephew to the Czar--The envoy is arrested--Commotion
among the Cossacks--Failure of the plot--Mazeppa's trial and
condemnation--The effigy--Execution of the sentence upon the
effigy--New chieftain chosen
In the mean time the war with Sweden went on. Many campaigns were
fought, for the contest was continued through several successive years.
The King of Sweden made repeated attempts to destroy the new city of
St. Petersburg, but without success. On the contrary, the town grew
and prospered more and more; and the shelter and protection which the
fortifications around it afforded to the mouth of the river and to the
adjacent roadsteads enabled the Czar to go on so rapidly in building
new ships, and in thus increasing and strengthening his fleet, that
very soon he was much stronger than the King of Sweden in all the
neighboring waters, so that he not only was able to keep the enemy very
effectually at bay, but he even made several successful descents upon
the Swedish territory along the adjoining coasts.
But, while the Czar was thus rapidly increasing his power at sea, the
King of Sweden proved himself the strongest on land. He extended his
conquests very rapidly in Poland and in the adjoining provinces, and at
last, in the summer of 1708, he conceived the design of crossing the
Dnieper and threatening Moscow, which was still Peter's capital. He
accordingly pushed his forces forward until he approached the bank of
the river. He came up to it at a certain point, as if he was intending
to cross there. Peter assembled all his troops on the opposite side of
the river at that point in order to oppose him. But the demonstration
which the king made of an intention to cross at that point was only a
pretense. He left a sufficient number of men there to make a show, and
secretly marched away the great body of his troops in the night to a
point about three miles farther up the river, where he succeeded in
crossing with them before the emperor's forces had any suspicion of his
real design. The Russians, who were not strong enough to oppose him in
the open field, were obliged immediately to retreat, and leave him in
full possession of the ground.
Peter was now much alarmed. He sent an officer to the camp of the King
of Sweden with a flag of truce, to ask on what terms the king would
make peace with him. But Charles was too much elated with his success
in crossing the river, and placing himself in a position from which he
could advance, without encountering any farther obstruction, to the
very gates of the capital, to be willing then to propose any terms. So
he declined entering into any negotiation, saying only in a haughty
tone "that he would treat with his brother Peter at Moscow."
On mature reflection, however, he seems to have concluded that it would
be more prudent for him not to march at once to Moscow, and so he
turned his course for a time toward the southward, in the direction of
the Crimea and the Black Sea.
There was one secret reason which induced the King of Sweden to move
thus to the southward which Peter did not for a time understand. The
country of the Cossacks lay in that direction, and the famous Mazeppa,
of whom some account has already been given in this volume, was the
chieftain of the Cossacks, and he, as it happened, had had a quarrel
with the Czar, and in consequence of it had opened a secret negotiation
with the King of Sweden, and had agreed that if the king would come
into his part of the country he would desert the cause of the Czar, and
would come over to his side, with all the Cossacks under his command.
The cause of Mazeppa's quarrel with the Czar was this: He was one day
paying a visit to his majesty, and, while seated at table, Peter began
to complain of the lawless and ungovernable character of the Cossacks,
and to propose that Mazeppa should introduce certain reforms in the
organization and discipline of the tribe, with a view of bringing them
under more effectual control. It is probable that the reforms which he
proposed were somewhat analogous to those which he had introduced so
successfully into the armies under his own more immediate command.
Mazeppa opposed this suggestion. He said that the attempt to adopt
such measures with the Cossacks would never succeed; that the men were
so wild and savage by nature, and so fixed in the rude and irregular
habits of warfare to which they and their fathers had been so long
accustomed, that they could never be made to submit to such
restrictions as a regular military discipline would impose.
Peter, who never could endure the least opposition or contradiction to
any of his ideas or plans, became quite angry with Mazeppa on account
of the objections which he made to his proposals, and, as was usual
with him in such cases, he broke out in the most rude and violent
language imaginable. He called Mazeppa an enemy and a traitor, and
threatened to have him impaled alive. It is true he did not really
mean what he said, his words being only empty threats dictated by the
brutal violence of his anger. Still, Mazeppa was very much offended.
He went away from the Czar's tent muttering his displeasure, and
resolving secretly on revenge.
Soon after this Mazeppa opened the communication above referred to with
the King of Sweden, and at last an agreement was made between them by
which it was stipulated that the king was to advance into the southern
part of the country, where, of course, the Cossacks would be sent out
to meet him, and then Mazeppa was to revolt from the Czar, and go over
with all his forces to the King of Sweden's side. By this means the
Czar's army was sure, they thought, to be defeated; and in this case
the King of Sweden was to remain in possession of the Russian
territory, while the Cossacks were to retire to their own fortresses,
and live thenceforth as an independent tribe.
The plot seemed to be very well laid; but, unfortunately for the
contrivers of it, it was not destined to succeed. In the first place,
Mazeppa's scheme of revolting with the Cossacks to the enemy was
discovered by the Czar, and almost entirely defeated, before the time
arrived for putting it into execution. Peter had his secret agents
every where, and through them he received such information in respect
to Mazeppa's movements as led him to suspect his designs. He said
nothing, however, but manoeuvred his forces so as to have a large body
of troops that he could rely upon always near Mazeppa and the Cossacks,
and between them and the army of the Swedes. He ordered the officers
of these troops to watch Mazeppa's movements closely, and to be ready
to act against him at a moment's notice, should occasion require.
Mazeppa was somewhat disconcerted in his plans by this state of things;
but he could not make any objection, for the troops thus stationed near
him seemed to be placed there for the purpose of co-operating with him
against the enemy.
In the mean time, Mazeppa cautiously made known his plans to the
leading men among the Cossacks as fast as he thought it prudent to do
so. He represented to them how much better it would be for them to be
restored to their former liberty as an independent tribe, instead of
being in subjugation to such a despot as the Czar. He also enumerated
the various grievances which they suffered under Russian rule, and
endeavored to excite the animosity of his hearers as much as possible
against Peter's government.
He found that the chief officers of the Cossacks seemed quite disposed
to listen to what he said, and to adopt his views. Some of them were
really so, and others pretended to be so for fear of displeasing him.
At length he thought it time to take some measures for preparing the
minds of the men generally for what was to come, and in order to do
this he determined on publicly sending a messenger to the Czar with the
complaints which he had to make in behalf of his men. The men, knowing
of this embassy, and understanding the grounds of the complaint which
Mazeppa was to make by means of it, would be placed, he thought, in
such a position that, in the event of an unfavorable answer being
returned, as he had no doubt would be the case, they could be the more
easily led into the revolt which he proposed.
Mazeppa accordingly made out a statement of his complaints, and
appointed his nephew a commissioner to proceed to head-quarters and lay
them before the Czar. The name of the nephew was Warnarowski. As soon
as Warnarowski arrived at the camp, Peter, instead of granting him an
audience, and listening to the statement which he had to make, ordered
him to be seized and sent to prison, as if he were guilty of a species
of treason in coming to trouble his sovereign with complaints and
difficulties at such a time, when the country was suffering under an
actual invasion from a foreign enemy.
As soon as Mazeppa heard that his nephew was arrested, he was convinced
that his plots had been discovered, and that he must not lose a moment
in carrying them into execution, or all would be lost. He accordingly
immediately put his whole force in motion to march toward the place
where the Swedish army was then posted, ostensibly for the purpose of
attacking them. He crossed a certain river which lay between him and
the Swedes, and then, when safely over, he stated to his men what he
intended to do.
The men were filled with indignation at this proposal, which, being
wholly unexpected, came upon them by surprise. They refused to join in
the revolt. A scene of great excitement and confusion followed. A
portion of the Cossacks, those with whom Mazeppa had come to an
understanding beforehand, were disposed to go with him, but the rest
were filled with vexation and rage. They declared that they would
seize their chieftain, bind him hand and foot, and send him to the
Czar. Indeed, it is highly probable that the two factions would have
come soon to a bloody fight for the possession of the person of their
chieftain, in which case he would very likely have been torn to pieces
in the struggle, if those who were disposed to revolt had not fled
before the opposition to their movement had time to become organized.
Mazeppa and those who adhered to him--about two thousand men in
all--went over in a body to the camp of the Swedes. The rest, led by
the officers that still remained faithful, marched at once to the
nearest body of Russian forces, and put themselves under the command of
the Russian general there.
A council of war was soon after called in the Russian camp for the
purpose of bringing Mazeppa to trial. He was, of course, found guilty,
and sentence of death--with a great many indignities to accompany the
execution--was passed upon him. The sentence, however, could not be
executed upon Mazeppa himself, for he was out of the reach of his
accusers, being safe in the Swedish camp. So they made a wooden image
or effigy to represent him, and inflicted the penalties upon the
substitute instead.
In the first place, they dressed the effigy to imitate the appearance
of Mazeppa, and put upon it representations of the medals, ribbons, and
other decorations which he was accustomed to wear. They brought this
figure out before the camp, in presence of the general and of all the
leading officers, the soldiers being also drawn up around the spot. A
herald appeared and read the sentence of condemnation, and then
proceeded to carry it into execution, as follows. First, he tore
Mazeppa's patent of knighthood in pieces, and threw the fragments into
the air. Then he tore off the medals and decorations from the image,
and, throwing them upon the ground, he trampled them under his feet.
Then he struck the effigy itself a blow by which it was overturned and
left prostrate in the dust.
The hangman then came up, and, tying a halter round the neck of the
effigy, dragged it off to a place where a gibbet had been erected, and
hanged it there.
Immediately after this ceremony, the Cossacks, according to their
custom, proceeded to elect a new chieftain in the place of Mazeppa.
The chieftain thus chosen came forward before the Czar to take the oath
of allegiance to him, and to offer him his homage.