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.
[Sidenote: 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]