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.
[Sidenote: 1709.]
The chief prisoners of rank were now presented to the conqueror, who
ordered their swords to be returned, and invited them to dinner. It is a
well known fact, that, on drinking to the officers, he said, 'To the
health of my masters in the art of war.' However, most of his masters,
particularly the subaltern officers, and all the private men, were soon
afterwards sent into Siberia. There was no cartel established here for
exchange of prisoners between the Russians and Swedes; the czar, indeed,
had proposed one before the siege of Pultowa, but Charles rejected the
offer, and his troops were in every thing the victims of his inflexible
pride.
It was this unseasonable obstinacy that occasioned all the misfortunes
of this prince in Turkey, and a series of adventures, more becoming a
hero of romance than a wise or prudent king; for, as soon as he arrived
at Bender, he was advised to write to the grand-vizier, as is the custom
among the Turks; but this he thought would be demeaning himself too far.
The like obstinacy embroiled him with all the ministers of the Porte,
one after another, in short, he knew not how to accommodate himself
either to times or circumstances.[80]
The first news of the battle of Pultowa produced a general revolution in
minds and affairs in Poland, Saxony, Sweden, and Silesia. Charles, while
all powerful in those parts, had obliged the emperor Joseph to take a
hundred and five churches from the catholics in favour of the Silesians
of the confession of Augsburg. The catholics then no sooner received
news of the defeat of Charles, than they repossessed themselves of all
the Lutheran temples. The Saxons now thought of nothing but being
revenged for the extortions of a conqueror, who had robbed them,
according to their own account, of twenty-three millions of crowns.
The king of Poland, their elector, immediately protested against the
abdication that had been extorted from him, and being now reconciled to
the czar (Aug. 3.), he left no stone unturned to reascend the Polish
throne. Sweden, overwhelmed with consternation, thought her king for a
long time dead, and in this uncertainty the senate knew not what to
resolve.
Peter in the mean time determined to make the best use of his victory,
and therefore dispatched marshal Sheremeto with an army into Livonia, on
the frontiers of which province that general had so often distinguished
himself. Prince Menzikoff was sent in haste with a numerous body of
cavalry to second the few troops left in Poland, to encourage the nobles
who were in the interest of Augustus to drive out his competitor, who
was now considered in no better light than a rebel, and to disperse a
body of Swedes and troops that were still left in that kingdom under the
command of general Crassau.
The czar soon after sets out in person, marches through the province of
Kiow, and the palatinates of Chelm and Upper Volhinia, and at length
arrives at Lublin, where he concerts measures with the general of
Lithuania. He then reviews the crown troops, who all take the oath of
allegiance to king Augustus, from thence he proceeds to Warsaw, and at
Thera enjoyed the most glorious of all triumphs (Sept. 18.), that of
receiving the thanks of a king, whom he had reinstated in his dominions.
There it was that he concluded a treaty against Sweden, with the kings
of Denmark, Poland, and Prussia (Oct. 7.): in which he was resolved to
recover from Charles all the conquests of Gustavus Adolphus. Peter
revived the ancient pretensions of the czars to Livonia, Ingria,
Carelia, and part of Finland; Denmark laid claim to Scania, and the king
of Prussia to Pomerania.
Thus had Charles XII. by his unsuccessful valour, shook the noble
edifice that had been erected by the prosperous bravery of his ancestor
Gustavus Adolphus. The Polish nobility came in on all sides to renew
their oaths to their king, or to ask pardon for having deserted him; and
almost the whole kingdom acknowledged Peter for its protector.
To the victorious arms of the czar, to these new treaties, and to this
sudden revolution, Stanislaus had nothing to oppose but a voluntary
resignation: he published a writing called Universale, in which he
declares himself ready to resign the crown, if the republic required
it.
Peter, having concerted all the necessary measures with the king of
Poland, and ratified the treaty with Denmark, set out directly to finish
his negotiation with the king of Prussia. It was not then usual for
sovereign princes to perform the function of their own ambassadors.
Peter was the first who introduced this custom, which has been followed
by very few. The elector of Brandenburg, the first king of Prussia, had
a conference with the czar at Marienverder, a small town situated in the
western part of Pomerania, and built by the old Teutonic knights, and
included in the limits of Prussia, lately erected into a kingdom. This
country indeed was poor, and of a small extent; but its new king,
whenever he travelled, displayed the utmost magnificence; with great
splendour he had received czar Peter at his first passing through his
dominions, when that prince quitted his empire to go in search of
instruction among strangers. But he received the conqueror of Charles
XII. in a still more pompous manner. (Oct. 20.) Peter for this time
concluded only a defensive treaty with him, which afterwards, however,
completed the ruin of Sweden.
Not an instant of time was lost. Peter, having proceeded with the
greatest dispatch in his negotiations, which elsewhere are wont to take
up so much time, goes and joins his army, then before Riga, the capital
of Livonia; he began by bombarding the place (Nov. 21.), and fired off
the three first bombs himself; then changed the siege into a blockade;
and, when well assured that Riga could not escape him, he repaired to
his city of Petersburg, to inspect and forward the works carrying on
there, the new buildings, and finishing of his fleet; and having laid
the keel of a ship of fifty-four guns, (Dec. 3.) with his own hands, he
returned to Moscow. Here he amused himself with assisting in the
preparations for the triumphal entry, which he exhibited in the capital.
He directed every thing relating to that festival, and was himself the
principal contriver and architect.
He opened the year 1710 with this solemnity, so necessary to his
subjects, whom it inspired with notions of grandeur, and was highly
pleasing to every one who had been fearful of seeing those enter their
walls as conquerors, over whom they now triumphed. Seven magnificent
arches were erected, under which passed in triumph, the artillery,
standards, and colours, taken from the enemy, with their officers,
generals, and ministers, who had been taken prisoners, all on foot,
amidst the ringing of bells, the sound of trumpets, the discharge of a
hundred pieces of cannon, and the acclamations of an innumerable
concourse of people, whose voices rent the air as soon as the cannon
ceased firing. The procession was closed by the victorious army, with
the generals at its head; and Peter, who marched in his rank of
major-general. At each triumphal arch stood the deputies of the several
orders of the state; and at the last was a chosen band of young
gentlemen, the sons of boyards, clad in Roman habits, who presented a
crown of laurels to their victorious monarch.
This public festival was followed by another ceremony, which proved no
less satisfactory than the former. In the year 1708 happened an accident
the more disagreeable to Peter, as his arms were at that time
unsuccessful. Mattheof, his ambassador to the court of London, having
had his audience of leave of queen Anne, was arrested for debt, at the
suit of some English merchants, and carried before a justice of peace to
give security for the monies he owed there. The merchants insisted that
the laws of commerce ought to prevail before the privileges of foreign
ministers; the czar's ambassador, and with him all the public ministers,
protested against this proceeding, alleging, that their persons ought to
be always inviolable. The czar wrote to queen Anne, demanding
satisfaction for the insult offered him in the person of his ambassador.
But the queen had it not in her power to gratify him; because, by the
laws of England, tradesmen were allowed to prosecute their debtors,
and there was no law that excepted public ministers from such
prosecution.[81] The murder of Patkul, the czar's ambassador, who had
been executed the year before by the order of Charles XII. had
encouraged the English to shew so little regard to a character which had
been so cruelly profaned. The other public ministers who were then at
the court of London, were obliged to be bound for the czar's ambassador;
and at length all the queen could do in his favour, was to prevail on
her parliament to pass an act, by which no one for the future could
arrest an ambassador for debt; but after the battle of Pultowa, the
English court thought proper to give satisfaction to the czar.
The queen made by a formal embassy an excuse for what had passed. Mr.
Whitworth,[82] the person charged with this commission, began his
harangue with the following words.--(Feb. 16.) 'Most high and mighty
emperor.' He told the czar that the person who had presumed to arrest
his ambassador, had been imprisoned and rendered infamous. There was no
truth in all this, but it was sufficient that he said so, and the title
of emperor, which the queen had not given Peter before the battle of
Pultowa, shewed the consideration he had now acquired in Europe.
This title had been already granted him in Holland, not only by those
who had been his fellow-workmen in the dock-yards at Saardam, and seemed
to interest themselves most in his glory, but likewise by the principal
persons in the state, who unanimously styled him emperor, and made
public rejoicings for his victory, even in the presence of the Swedish
minister.
The universal reputation which he had acquired by his victory of
Pultowa, was still further increased by his not suffering a moment to
pass without making some advantages of it. In the first place, he laid
siege to Elbing, a Hans town of Regal Prussia in Poland, where the
Swedes had still a garrison. The Russians scaled the walls, entered the
town, and the garrison surrendered prisoners of war. (Mar. 11.) This was
one of the largest magazines belonging to Charles XII. The conquerors
found therein one hundred and eighty-three brass cannon, and one hundred
and fifty-seven mortars. Immediately after the reduction of Elbing,
Peter re-marched from Moscow to Petersburg (April 2.); as soon as he
arrived at this latter place, he took shipping under his new fortress of
Cronslot, coasted along the shore of Carelia, and notwithstanding a
violent storm, brought his fleet safely before Wiburg, the capital of
Carelia in Finland; while his land-forces advanced over the frozen
morasses, and in a short time the capital of Livonia beheld itself
closely blockaded (June 23.): and after a breach was made in the walls,
Wiburg surrendered, and the garrison, consisting of four thousand men,
capitulated, but did not receive the honours of war, being made
prisoners notwithstanding the capitulation. Peter charged the enemy with
several infractions of this kind, and promised to set these troops at
liberty, as soon as he should receive satisfaction from the Swedes, for
his complaints. On this occasion the king of Sweden was to be consulted,
who continued as inflexible as ever; and those soldiers, whom, by a
little concession, he might have delivered from their confinement,
remained in captivity. Thus did king William III. in 1695, arrest
marshal Boufflers, notwithstanding the capitulation of Namur. There have
been several instances of such violations of treaties, but it is to be
wished there never had been any.
After the taking of this capital, the blockade of Riga was soon changed
into a regular siege, and pushed with vigour. They were obliged to break
the ice on the river Dwina, which waters the walls of the city. An
epidemical disorder, which had raged some time in those parts, now got
amongst the besiegers, and carried off nine thousand; nevertheless, the
siege was not in the least slackened; it lasted a considerable time, but
at length the garrison capitulated (July 15.): and were allowed the
honours of war; but it was stipulated by the capitulation, that all the
Livonian officers and soldiers should enter into the Russian service, as
natives of a country that had been dismembered from that empire, and
usurped by the ancestors of Charles XII. But the Livonians were restored
to the privileges of which his father had stripped them, and all the
officers entered into the czar's service: this was the most noble
satisfaction that Peter could take for the murder of his ambassador,
Patkul, a Livonian, who had been put to death, for defending those
privileges. The garrison consisted of near five thousand men. A short
time afterwards the citadel of Pennamund was taken, and the besiegers
found in the town and fort above eight hundred pieces of artillery of
different kinds.
Nothing was now wanting, to make Peter entirely master of the province
of Carelia, but the possession of the strong town of Kexholm, built on
an island in the lake of Ladoga, and deemed impregnable; it was
bombarded soon after, and surrendered in a short time. (Sep. 19.) The
island of Oesel in the sea, bordering upon the north of Livonia, was
subdued with the same rapidity. (Sep. 23.)
On the side of Esthonia, a province of Livonia, towards the north, and
on the gulf of Finland, are the towns of Pernau and Revel: by the
reduction of these Peter completed the conquest of all Livonia. Pernau
surrendered after a siege of a few days (Aug. 25.), and Revel
capitulated (Sep. 10.) without waiting to have a single cannon fired
against it; but the besieged found means to escape out of the hands of
the conquerors, at the very time that they were surrendering themselves
prisoners of war: for some Swedish ships, having anchored in the road,
under favour of the night, the garrison and most of the citizens
embarked on board, and when the besiegers entered the town, they were
surprised to find it deserted. When Charles XII. gained the victory of
Narva little did he expect that his troops would one day be driven to
use such artifices.
In Poland, Stanislaus finding his party entirely ruined, had taken
refuge in Pomerania, which still belonged to Charles XII. Augustus
resumed the government, and it was difficult to decide who had acquired
most glory, Charles in dethroning him, or Peter in restoring him to his
crown.
The subjects of the king of Sweden were still more unfortunate than that
monarch himself. The contagious distemper, which had made such havock
over Livonia, passed from thence into Sweden, where, in the city of
Stockholm, it carried off thirty thousand persons: it likewise desolated
the provinces, already thinned of their inhabitants; for during the
space of ten years successively, most of the able-bodied men had quitted
their country to follow their master, and perished in foreign climes.
Charles's ill fortune pursued him also in Pomerania: his army had
retired thither from Poland, to the number of eleven thousand; the czar,
the kings of Denmark and Prussia, the elector of Hanover, and the duke
of Holstein, joined together to render this army useless, and to compel
general Crassau, who commanded it, to submit to neutrality. The regency
of Stockholm, hearing no news of their king, and distracted by the
mortality that raged in that city, were glad to sign this neutrality,
which seemed to deliver one of its provinces at least from the horrors
of war. The emperor of Germany favoured this extraordinary convention,
by which it was stipulated, that the Swedish army then in Pomerania
should not march from thence to assist their monarch in any other part
of the world; nay, it was furthermore resolved in the German empire, to
raise an army to enforce the execution of this unparalleled convention.
The reason of this was, that the emperor of Germany, who was then at war
with France, was in hopes to engage the Swedish army to enter into his
service. This whole negotiation was carried on while Peter was subduing
Livonia, Esthonia, and Carelia.
Charles XII. who was all this time at Bender, putting every spring in
motion to engage the divan to declare war against the czar, received
this news as one of the severest blows his untoward fortune had dealt
him: he could not brook, that his senate at Stockholm should pretend to
tie up the hands of his army, and it was on this occasion that he wrote
them word, he would send one of his boots to govern them.
The Danes, in the mean time, were making preparations to invade Sweden;
so that every nation in Europe was now engaged in war, Spain, Portugal,
Italy, France, Germany, Holland, and England, were contending for the
dominions left by Charles II. of Spain; and the whole North was up in
arms against Charles XII. There wanted only a quarrel with the Ottoman
empire, for every village in Europe to be exposed to the ravages of war.
This quarrel happened soon afterwards, when Peter had attained to the
summit of his glory, and precisely for that reason.