The documents published in the first chapter extend from the reign of
the Empress Ann to the commencement of the reign of the Emperor Paul,
thus encompassing the greater part of the 18th century. At the end of
that century it had become, as stated by the Rev. Mr. Pitt, the openly
professed and orthodox dogma of English diplomacy, "_that the ties which
bind Great Britain to the Russian Empire are formed by nature, and
inviolable_."
In perusing these documents, there is something that startles us even
more than their contents--viz., their form. All these letters are
"confidential," "private," "secret," "most secret"; but in spite of
secrecy, privacy, and confidence, the English statesmen converse among
each other about Russia and her rulers in a tone of awful reserve,
abject servility, and cynical submission, which would strike us even in
the public despatches of Russian statesmen. To conceal intrigues against
foreign nations secrecy is recurred to by Russian diplomatists. The same
method is adopted by English diplomatists freely to express their
devotion to a foreign Court. The secret despatches of Russian
diplomatists are fumigated with some equivocal perfume. It is one part
the _fumee de faussete_, as the Duke of St. Simon has it, and the other
part that coquettish display of one's own superiority and cunning which
stamps upon the reports of the French Secret Police their indelible
character. Even the master despatches of Pozzo di Borgo are tainted with
this common blot of the _literature de mauvais lieu_. In this point the
English secret despatches prove much superior. They do not affect
superiority but silliness. For instance, can there be anything more
silly than Mr. Rondeau informing Horace Walpole that he has betrayed to
the Russian Minister the letters addressed by the Turkish Grand Vizier
to the King of England, but that he had told "at the same time those
gentlemen that as there were several hard reflections on the Russian
Court he should not have communicated them, _if they had not been so
anxious to see them_," and then told their excellencies not to tell the
Porte that they had seen them (those letters)! At first view the infamy
of the act is drowned in the silliness of the man. Or, take Sir George
Macartney. Can there be anything more silly than his happiness that
Russia seemed "reasonable" enough not to expect that England "should pay
the WHOLE EXPENSES" for Russia's "choosing to take the lead at
Stockholm"; or his "flattering himself" that he had "persuaded the
Russian Court" not to be so "unreasonable" as to ask from England, in a
time of peace, subsidies for a time of war against Turkey (then the ally
of England); or his warning the Earl of Sandwich "not to mention" to the
Russian Ambassador at London the secrets mentioned to himself by the
Russian Chancellor at St. Petersburg? Or can there be anything more
silly than Sir James Harris confidentially whispering into the ear of
Lord Grantham that Catherine II. was devoid of "judgment, precision of
idea, reflection, and _l'esprit de combinaison_"?[20]
On the other hand, take the cool impudence with which Sir George
Macartney informs his minister that because the Swedes were extremely
jealous of, and mortified at, their dependence on Russia, England was
directed by the Court of St. Petersburg to do its work at Stockholm,
under the British colours of liberty and independence! Or Sir James
Harris advising England to surrender to Russia Minorca and the right of
search, and the monopoly of mediation in the affairs of the world--not
in order to gain any material advantage, or even a formal engagement on
the part of Russia, but only "a strong glow of friendship" from the
Empress, and the transfer to France of her "ill humour."
The secret Russian despatches proceed on the very plain line that
Russia knows herself to have no common interests whatever with other
nations, but that every nation must be persuaded separately to have
common interests with Russia to the exclusion of every other nation. The
English despatches, on the contrary, never dare so much as hint that
Russia has common interests with England, but only endeavour to convince
England that she has Russian interests. The English diplomatists
themselves tell us that this was the single argument they pleaded, when
placed face to face with Russian potentates.
If the English despatches we have laid before the public were addressed
to private friends, they would only brand with infamy the ambassadors
who wrote them. Secretly addressed as they are to the British Government
itself, they nail it for ever to the pillory of history; and,
instinctively, this seems to have been felt, even by Whig writers,
because none has dared to publish them.
The question naturally arises from which epoch this Russian character of
English diplomacy, become traditionary in the course of the 18th
century, does date its origin. To clear up this point we must go back to
the time of Peter the Great, which, consequently, will form the
principal subject of our researches. We propose to enter upon this task
by reprinting some English pamphlets, written at the time of Peter I.,
and which have either escaped the attention of modern historians, or
appeared to them to merit none. However, they will suffice for refuting
the prejudice common to Continental and English writers, that the
designs of Russia were not understood or suspected in England until at a
later, and too late, epoch; that the diplomatic relations between
England and Russia were but the natural offspring of the mutual material
interests of the two countries; and that, therefore, in accusing the
British statesmen of the 18th century of Russianism we should commit an
unpardonable hysteron-proteron. If we have shown by the English
despatches that, at the time of the Empress Ann, England already
betrayed her own allies to Russia, it will be seen from the pamphlets we
are now about to reprint that, even before the epoch of Ann, at the
very epoch of Russian ascendency in Europe, springing up at the time of
Peter I., the plans of Russia were understood, and the connivance of
British statesmen at these plans was denounced by English writers.
The first pamphlet we lay before the public is called _The Northern
Crisis_. It was printed in London in 1716, and relates to the intended
Dano-Anglo-Russian _invasion of Skana_ (Schonen).
During the year 1715 a northern alliance for the partition, not of
Sweden proper, but of what we may call the Swedish Empire, had been
concluded between Russia, Denmark, Poland, Prussia, and Hanover. That
partition forms the first grand act of modern diplomacy--the logical
premiss to the partition of Poland. The partition treaties relating to
Spain have engrossed the interest of posterity because they were the
forerunners of the War of Succession, and the partition of Poland drew
even a larger audience because its last act was played upon a
contemporary stage. However, it cannot be denied that it was the
partition of the Swedish Empire which inaugurated the modern era of
international policy. The partition treaty not even pretended to have a
pretext, save the misfortune of its intended victim. For the first time
in Europe the violation of all treaties was not only made, but
proclaimed the common basis of a new treaty. Poland herself, in the drag
of Russia, and personated by that commonplace of immorality, Augustus
II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, was pushed into the
foreground of the conspiracy, thus signing her own death-warrant, and
not even enjoying the privilege reserved by Polyphemus to Odysseus--to
be last eaten. Charles XII. predicted her fate in the manifesto flung
against King Augustus and the Czar, from his voluntary exile at Bender.
The manifesto is dated January 28, 1711.
The participation in this partition treaty threw England within the
orbit of Russia, towards whom, since the days of the "Glorious
Revolution," she had more and more gravitated. George I., as King of
England, was bound to a defensive alliance with Sweden by the treaty of
1700. Not only as King of England, but as Elector of Hanover, he was
one of the guarantees, and even of the direct parties to the treaty of
Travendal, which secured to Sweden what the partition treaty intended
stripping her of. Even his German electoral dignity he partly owed to
that treaty. However, as Elector of Hanover he declared war against
Sweden, which he waged as King of England.
In 1715 the confederates had divested Sweden of her German provinces,
and to effect that end introduced the Muscovite on the German soil. In
1716 they agreed to invade Sweden Proper--to attempt an armed descent
upon Schonen--the southern extremity of Sweden now constituting the
districts of Malmoe and Christianstadt. Consequently Peter of Russia
brought with him from Germany a Muscovite army, which was scattered over
Zealand, thence to be conveyed to Schonen, under the protection of the
English and Dutch fleets sent into the Baltic, on the false pretext of
protecting trade and navigation. Already in 1715, when Charles XII. was
besieged in Stralsund, eight English men-of-war, lent by England to
Hanover, and by Hanover to Denmark, had openly reinforced the Danish
navy, and even hoisted the Danish flag. In 1716 the British navy was
commanded by his Czarish Majesty in person.
Everything being ready for the invasion of Schonen, there arose a
difficulty from a side where it was least expected. Although the treaty
stipulated only for 30,000 Muscovites, Peter, in his magnanimity, had
landed 40,000 on Zealand; but now that he was to send them on the errand
to Schonen, he all at once discovered that out of the 40,000 he could
spare but 15,000. This declaration not only paralysed the military plan
of the confederates, it seemed to threaten the security of Denmark and
of Frederick IV., its king, as great part of the Muscovite army,
supported by the Russian fleet, occupied Copenhagen. One of the generals
of Frederick proposed suddenly to fall with the Danish cavalry upon the
Muscovites and to exterminate them, while the English men-of-war should
burn the Russian fleet. Averse to any perfidy which required some
greatness of will, some force of character, and some contempt of
personal danger, Frederick IV. rejected the bold proposal, and limited
himself to assuming an attitude of defence. He then wrote a begging
letter to the Czar, intimating that he had given up his Schonen fancy,
and requested the Czar to do the same and find his way home: a request
the latter could not but comply with. When Peter at last left Denmark
with his army, the Danish Court thought fit to communicate to the Courts
of Europe a public account of the incidents and transactions which had
frustrated the intended descent upon Schonen--and this document forms
the starting point of _The Northern Crisis_.
In a letter addressed to Baron Goertz, dated from London, January 23,
1717, by Count Gyllenborg, there occur some passages in which the
latter, the then Swedish ambassador at the Court of St. James's, seems
to profess himself the author of _The Northern Crisis_, the title of
which he does not, however, quote. Yet any idea of his having written
that powerful pamphlet will disappear before the slightest perusal of
the Count's authenticated writings, such as his letters to Goertz.
"THE NORTHERN CRISIS; OR IMPARTIAL REFLECTIONS ON THE POLICIES OF THE
CZAR; OCCASIONED BY MYNHEER VON STOCKEN'S REASONS FOR DELAYING THE
DESCENT UPON SCHONEN. A TRUE COPY OF WHICH IS PREFIXED, VERBALLY
TRANSLATED AFTER THE TENOR OF THAT IN THE GERMAN SECRETARY'S OFFICE IN
COPENHAGEN, OCTOBER 10, 1716. LONDON, 1716.
1.--_Preface_---- ... 'Tis (the present pamphlet) not fit for lawyers'
clerks, but it is highly convenient to be read by those who are proper
students in the laws of nations; 'twill be but lost time for any
stock-jobbing, trifling dealer in Exchange-Alley to look beyond the
preface on't, but every merchant in England (more especially those who
trade to the Baltic) will find his account in it. The Dutch (as the
courants and postboys have more than once told us) are about to mend
their hands, if they can, in several articles of trade with the Czar,
and they have been a long time about it to little purpose. Inasmuch as
they are such a frugal people, they are good examples for the imitation
of our traders; but if we can outdo them for once, in the means of
projecting a better and more expeditious footing to go upon, for the
emolument of us both, let us, for once, be wise enough to set the
example, and let them, for once, be our imitators. This little treatise
will show a pretty plain way how we may do it, as to our trade in the
Baltic, at this juncture. I desire no little _coffee-house politician_
to meddle with it; but to give him even a disrelish for my company. I
must let him know that he is not fit for mine. Those who are even
proficients in state science, will find in it matter highly fit to
employ all their powers of speculation, which they ever before past
negligently by, and thought (too cursorily) were not worth the
regarding. No outrageous party-man will find it at all for his purpose;
but every _honest Whig_ and every _honest Tory_ may each of them read
it, not only without either of their disgusts, but with the satisfaction
of them both.... 'Tis not fit, in fine, for a mad, hectoring,
Presbyterian Whig, or a raving, fretful, dissatisfied, Jacobite Tory."
2.--THE REASONS HANDED ABOUT BY MYNHEER VON STOCKEN FOR DELAYING THE
DESCENT UPON SCHONEN.
"There being no doubt, but most courts will be surprised that the
descent upon Schonen has not been put into execution, notwithstanding
the great preparations made for that purpose; and that all his Czarish
Majesty's troops, who were in Germany, were transported to Zealand, not
without great trouble and danger, partly by his own gallies, and partly
by his Danish Majesty's and other vessels; and that the said descent is
deferred till another time. His Danish Majesty hath therefore, in order
to clear himself of all imputation and reproach, thought fit to order,
that the following true account of this affair should be given to all
impartial persons. Since the Swedes were entirely driven out of their
_German_ dominions, there was, according to all the rules of policy, and
reasons of war, no other way left, than vigorously to attack the still
obstinate King of Sweden, in the very heart of his country; thereby,
with God's assistance, to force him to a lasting, good and advantageous
peace for the allies. The King of Denmark and his Czarish Majesty were
both of this opinion, and did, in order to put so good a design in
execution, agree upon an interview, which at last (notwithstanding his
Danish Majesty's presence, upon the account of Norway's being invaded,
was most necessary in his own capital, and that the Muscovite
ambassador, M. Dolgorouky, had given quite other assurances) was held at
Ham and Horn, near Hamburgh, after his Danish Majesty had stayed there
six weeks for the Czar. In this conference it was, on the 3rd of June,
agreed between both their Majesties, after several debates, that the
descent upon Schonen should positively be undertaken this year, and
everything relating to the forwarding the same was entirely consented
to. Hereupon his Danish Majesty made all haste for his return to his
dominions, and gave orders to work day and night to get his fleet ready
to put to sea. The transport ships were also gathered from all parts of
his dominions, both with inexpressible charges and great prejudice to
his subjects' trade. Thus, his Majesty (as the Czar himself upon his
arrival at Copenhagen owned) did his utmost to provide all necessaries,
and to forward the descent, upon whose success everything depended. It
happened, however, in the meanwhile, and before the descent was agreed
upon in the conference at Ham and Horn, that his Danish Majesty was
obliged to secure his invaded and much oppressed kingdom of Norway, by
sending thither a considerable squadron out of his fleet, under the
command of Vice-Admiral Gabel, which squadron could not be recalled
before the enemy had left that kingdom, without endangering a great part
thereof; so that out of necessity the said Vice-Admiral was forced to
tarry there till the 12th of July, when his Danish Majesty sent him
express orders to return with all possible speed, wind and weather
permitting; but this blowing for some time contrary, he was
detained.... The Swedes were all the while powerful at sea, and his
Czarish Majesty himself did not think it advisable that the remainder of
the Danish, in conjunction with the men-of-war then at Copenhagen,
should go to convoy the Russian troops from Rostock, before the
above-mentioned squadron under Vice-Admiral Gabel was arrived. This
happening at last in the month of August, the confederate fleet put to
sea; and the transporting of the said troops hither to Zealand was put
in execution, though with a great deal of trouble and danger, but it
took up so much time that the descent could not be ready till September
following. Now, when all these preparations, as well for the descent as
the embarking the armies, were entirely ready, his Danish Majesty
assured himself that the descent should be made within a few days, at
farthest by the 21st of September. The Russian Generals and Ministers
first raised some difficulties to those of Denmark, and afterwards, on
the 17th September, declared in an appointed conference, that his
Czarish Majesty, considering the present situation of affairs, was of
opinion that neither forage nor provision could be had in Schonen, and
that consequently the descent was not advisable to be attempted this
year, but ought to be put off till next spring. It may easily be
imagined how much his Danish Majesty was surprised at this; especially
seeing the Czar, if he had altered his opinion, as to this design so
solemnly concerted, might have declared it sooner, and thereby saved his
Danish Majesty several tons of gold, spent upon the necessary
preparations. His Danish Majesty did, however, in a letter dated the
20th of September, amply represent to the Czar, that although the season
was very much advanced, the descent might, nevertheless, easily be
undertaken with such a superior force, as to get a footing in Schonen,
where being assured there had been a very plentiful harvest, he did not
doubt but subsistence might be found; besides, that having an open
communication with his own countries, it might easily be transported
from thence. His Danish Majesty alleged also several weighty reasons why
the descent was either to be made this year, or the thoughts of making
it next spring entirely be laid aside. _Nor did he alone make these
moving remonstrances to the Czar_; BUT HIS BRITISH MAJESTY'S MINISTER
RESIDING HERE, AS WELL AS ADMIRAL NORRIS, _seconded the same also in a
very pressing manner_; AND BY EXPRESS ORDER OF THE KING, THEIR MASTER,
_endeavoured to bring the Czar into their opinion, and to persuade him
to go on with the descent_; but his Czarish Majesty declared by his
answer, that he would adhere to the resolution that he had once taken
concerning this delay of making the descent; but if his Danish Majesty
was resolved to venture on the descent, that he then, according to the
treaty made near Straelsund, would assist him only with the 15
battalions and 1,000 horse therein stipulated; that next spring he would
comply with everything else, and neither could or would declare himself
farther in this affair. Since then, his Danish Majesty could not,
without running so great a hazard, undertake so great a work alone with
his own army and the said 15 battalions; he desired, in another letter
of the 23rd September, his Czarish Majesty would be pleased to add 13
battalions of his troops, in which case his Danish Majesty would still
this year attempt the descent; but even this could not be obtained from
his Czarish Majesty, who absolutely refused it by his ambassador on the
24th ditto: whereupon his Danish Majesty, in his letter of the 26th,
declared to the Czar, that since things stood thus, he desired none of
his troops, but that they might be all speedily transported out of his
dominions; that so the transport, whose freight stood him in 40,000 rix
dollars per month, might be discharged, and his subjects eased of the
intolerable contributions they now underwent. This he could not do less
than agree to; and accordingly, all the Russian troops are already
embarked, and intend for certain to go from here with the first
favourable wind. It must be left to Providence and time, to discover
what may have induced the Czar to a resolution so prejudicial to the
Northern Alliance, and most advantageous to the common enemy.
If we would take a true survey of men, and lay them open in a proper
light to the eye of our intellects, _we must_ first _consider their
natures_ and then _their ends_; and by this method of examination,
though their conduct is, seemingly, full of intricate mazes and
perplexities, and winding round with infinite meanders of state-craft,
we shall be able to dive into the deepest recesses, make our way through
the most puzzling labyrinths, and at length come to the most abstruse
means of bringing about the master secrets of their minds, and to
unriddle their utmost mysteries.... The Czar ... is, by nature, of a
great and enterprising spirit, and of a genius thoroughly politic; and
as for his ends, the manner of his own Government, where he sways
arbitrary lord over the estates and honours of his people, must make
him, if all the policies in the world could by far-distant aims promise
him accession and accumulation of empire and wealth, be everlastingly
laying schemes for the achieving of both with the extremest cupidity and
ambition. Whatever ends an insatiate desire of opulency, and a boundless
thirst for dominion, can ever put him upon, to satisfy their craving and
voracious appetites, those must, most undoubtedly, be his.
The next questions we are to put to ourselves are these three:
1. By what means can he gain these ends?
2. How far from him, and in what place, can these ends be best obtained?
3. And by what time, using all proper methods and succeeding in them,
may he obtain these ends?
The possessions of the Czar were prodigious, vast in extent; the people
all at his nod, all his downright arrant slaves, and all the wealth of
the country his own at a word's command. But then the country, though
large in ground, was not quite so in produce. Every vassal had his gun,
and was to be a soldier upon call; but there was never a soldier among
them, nor a man that understood the calling; and though he had all their
wealth, they had no commerce of consequence, and little ready money; and
consequently his treasury, when he had amassed all he could, very bare
and empty. He was then but in an indifferent condition to satisfy those
two natural appetites, when he had neither wealth to support a
soldiery, nor a soldiery trained in the art of war. The first token this
Prince gave of an aspiring genius, and of an ambition that is noble and
necessary in a monarch who has a mind to flourish, was to believe none
of his subjects more wise than himself, or more fit to govern. He did
so, and looked upon his own proper person as the most fit to travel out
among the other realms of the world and study politics for the advancing
of his dominions. He then seldom pretended to any warlike dispositions
against those who were instructed in the science of arms; his military
dealings lay mostly with the Turks and Tartars, who, as they had numbers
as well as he, had them likewise composed, as well as his, of a rude,
uncultivated mob, and they appeared in the field like a raw,
undisciplined militia. In this his Christian neighbours liked him well,
insomuch as he was a kind of stay or stopgap to the infidels. But when
he came to look into the more polished parts of the Christian world, he
set out towards it, from the very threshold, like a natural-born
politician. He was not for learning the game by trying chances and
venturing losses in the field so soon; no, he went upon the maxim _that
it was, at that time of day, expedient and necessary for him to carry,
like Samson, his strength in his head, and not in his arms_. He had
then, he knew, but very few commodious places for commerce of his own,
and those all situated in the _White Sea_, too remote, frozen up the
most part of the year, and not at all fit for a fleet of men-of-war; but
he knew of many more commodious ones of his neighbours in the Baltic,
and within his reach whenever he could strengthen his hands to lay hold
of them. He had a longing eye towards them; but with prudence seemingly
turned his head another way, and secretly entertained the pleasant
thought that he should come at them all in good time. Not to give any
jealousy, he endeavours for no help from his neighbours to instruct his
men in arms. That was like asking a skilful person, one intended to
fight a duel with, to teach him first how to fence. _He went over to
Great Britain_, where he knew that potent kingdom could, as yet, have no
jealousies of his growth of power, and in the eye of which his vast
extent of nation lay neglected and unconsidered and overlooked, as I am
afraid it is to this very day. He was present at all our exercises,
looked into all our laws, inspected our military, civil, and
ecclesiastical regimen of affairs; yet this was the least he then
wanted; this was the slightest part of his errand. But by degrees, when
he grew familiar with our people, he visited our docks, pretending not
to have any prospect of profit, but only to take a huge delight (the
effect of curiosity only) to see our manner of building ships. He kept
his court, as one may say, in our shipyard, so industrious was he in
affording them his continual Czarish presence, and to his immortal glory
for art and industry be it spoken, that the great Czar, by stooping
often to the employ, could handle an axe with the best artificer of them
all; and the monarch having a good mathematical head of his own, grew in
some time a very expert royal shipwright. A ship or two for his
diversion made and sent him, and then two or three more, and after that
two or three more, would signify just nothing at all, if they were
granted to be sold to him by the _Maritime Powers_, that could, at will,
lord it over the sea. It would be a puny inconsiderable matter, and not
worth the regarding. Well, but then, over and above this, he had
artfully insinuated himself into the goodwill of many of our best
workmen, and won their hearts by his good-natured familiarities and
condescension among them. To turn this to his service, he offered many
very large premiums and advantages to go and settle in his country,
which they gladly accepted of. A little after he sends over some private
ministers and officers to negotiate for more workmen, for land officers,
and likewise for picked and chosen good seamen, who might be advanced
and promoted to offices by going there. Nay, even to this day, any
expert seaman that is upon our traffic to the port of Archangel, if he
has the least spark of ambition and any ardent desire to be in office,
he need but offer himself to the sea-service of the Czar, and he is a
lieutenant immediately. Over and above this, that Prince has even found
the way to take by force into his service out of our merchant ships as
many of their ablest seamen as he pleased, giving the masters the same
number of raw Muscovites in their place, whom they afterwards were
forced in their own defence to make fit for their own use. Neither is
this all; he had, during the last war, many hundreds of his subjects,
both noblemen and common sailors, on board _ours, the French and the
Dutch fleets_; and he has all along maintained, and still maintains
numbers of them in _ours and the Dutch yards_.
But seeing he looked all along upon all these endeavours towards
improving himself and his subjects as superfluous, whilst a seaport was
wanting, where he might build a fleet of his own, and from whence he
might himself export the products of his country, and import those of
others; and finding the King of Sweden possessed of the most convenient
ones, I mean Narva and Revel, which he knew that Prince never could nor
would amicably part with, he at last resolved to wrest them out of his
hands by force. His _Swedish_ Majesty's tender youth seemed the fittest
time for this enterprise, but even then he would not run the hazard
alone. He drew in other princes to divide the spoil with him. And the
_Kings of Denmark and Poland_ were weak enough to serve as instruments
to forward the great and ambitious views of the Czar. It is true, he met
with a mighty hard rub at his very first setting out; his whole army
being entirely defeated by a handful of Swedes at Narva. But it was his
good luck that his Swedish Majesty, instead of improving so great a
victory against him, turned immediately his arms against the King of
Poland, against whom he was personally piqued, and that so much the
more, inasmuch as he had taken that Prince for one of his best friends,
and was just upon the point of concluding with him the strictest
alliance when he unexpectedly invaded the Swedish Livonia, and besieged
Riga. This was, in all respects, what the Czar could most have wished
for; and foreseeing that the longer the war in Poland lasted, the more
time should he have both to retrieve his first loss, and to gain Narva,
he took care it should be spun out to as great a length as possible; for
which end he never sent the King of Poland succour enough to make him
too strong for the King of Sweden; who, on the other hand, though he
gained one signal victory after the other, yet never could subdue his
enemy as long as he received continual reinforcements from his
hereditary country. And had not his Swedish Majesty, contrary to most
people's expectations, marched directly into Saxony itself, and thereby
forced the King of Poland to peace, the Czar would have had leisure
enough in all conscience to bring his designs to greater maturity. This
peace was one of the greatest disappointments the Czar ever met with,
whereby he became singly engaged in the war. He had, however, the
comfort of having beforehand taken _Narva_, and laid a foundation to his
favourite town _Petersburg_, and to the seaport, the docks, and the vast
magazines there; all which works, to what perfection they are now
brought, let them tell who, with surprise, have seen them.
He (Peter) used all endeavours to bring matters to an accommodation. He
proffered very advantageous conditions; _Petersburg_ only, a trifle as
he pretended, which he had set his heart upon, he would retain; and even
for that he was willing some other way to give satisfaction. But the
King of Sweden was too well acquainted with the importance of that place
to leave it in the hands of an ambitious prince, and thereby to give him
an inlet into the Baltic. This was the only time since the defeat at
Narva that the Czar's arms had no other end than that of self-defence.
They might, perhaps, even have fallen short therein, had not the King of
Sweden (through whose persuasion is still a mystery), instead of
marching the shortest way to Novgorod and to Moscow, turned towards
Ukrain, where his army, after great losses and sufferings, was at last
entirely defeated at Pultowa. As this was a fatal period to the Swedish
successes, so how great a deliverance it was to the Muscovites, may be
gathered from the Czar's celebrating every year, with great solemnity,
the anniversary of that day, from which his ambitious thoughts began to
soar still higher. The whole of _Livonia_, _Estland_, and the best and
greatest part of _Finland_ was now what he demanded, after which,
though he might for the present condescend to give peace to the
remaining part of Sweden, he knew he could easily even add that to his
conquests whenever he pleased. The only obstacle he had to fear in these
his projects was from his northern neighbours; but as the _Maritime
Powers_, and even the neighbouring princes in Germany, were then so
intent upon their war against France, that they seemed entirely
neglectful of that of the North, so there remained only Denmark and
Poland to be jealous of. The former of these kingdoms had, ever since
King William, of glorious memory, compelled it to make peace with
Holstein and, consequently, with Sweden, enjoyed an uninterrupted
tranquillity, during which it had time, by a free trade and considerable
subsidies from the maritime powers to enrich itself, and was in a
condition, by joining itself to Sweden, as it was its interest to do, to
stop the Czar's progresses, and timely to prevent its own danger from
them. The other, I mean Poland, was now quietly under the government of
King Stanislaus, who, owing in a manner his crown to the King of Sweden,
could not, out of gratitude, as well as real concern for the interest of
his country, fail opposing the designs of a too aspiring neighbour. The
Czar was too cunning not to find out a remedy for all this: he
represented to the King of Denmark how low the King of Sweden was now
brought, and how fair an opportunity he had, during that Prince's long
absence, to clip entirely his wings, and to aggrandize himself at his
expense. In King Augustus he raised the long-hid resentment for the loss
of the Polish Crown, which he told him he might now recover without the
least difficulty. Thus both these Princes were immediately caught. The
Danes declared war against Sweden without so much as a tolerable
pretence, and made a descent upon Schonen, where they were soundly
beaten for their pains. King Augustus re-entered Poland, where
everything has ever since continued in the greatest disorder, and _that
in a great measure owing to Muscovite intrigues_. It happened, indeed,
that these new confederates, whom the Czar had only drawn in to serve
his ambition, became at first more necessary to his preservation than
he had thought; for the Turks having declared a war against him, they
hindered the Swedish arms from joining with them to attack him; but that
storm being soon over, through the Czar's wise behaviour and the avarice
and folly of the Grand Vizier, he then made the intended use both of
these his friends, as well as of them he afterwards, through hopes of
gain, persuaded into his alliance, which was to lay all the burthen and
hazard of the war upon them, in order entirely to weaken them, together
with Sweden, whilst _he was preparing himself to swallow the one after
the other_. He has put them on one difficult attempt after the other;
their armies have been considerably lessened by battles and long sieges,
whilst his own were either employed in easier conquests, and more
profitable to him, or kept at the vast expense of neutral princes--near
enough at hand to come up to demand a share of the booty without having
struck a blow in getting it. His behaviour has been as cunning at sea,
where his fleet has always kept out of harm's way and at a great
distance whenever there was any likelihood of an engagement between the
Danes and the Swedes. He hoped that when these two nations had ruined
one another's fleets, his might then ride master in the Baltic. All this
while he had taken care to make his men improve, by the example of
foreigners and under their command, in the art of war.... His fleets
will soon considerably outnumber the Swedish and the Danish ones joined
together. He need not fear their being a hindrance from his giving a
finishing stroke to this great and glorious undertaking. Which done,
_let us look to ourselves; he will then most certainly become our rival,
and as dangerous to us as he is now neglected_. We then may, perhaps,
though too late, call to mind what our own ministers and merchants have
told us of his designs of carrying on alone all the northern trade, and
of getting all that from Turkey and Persia into his hands through the
rivers which he is joining and making navigable from the Caspian, or the
Black Sea, to his Petersburg. _We shall then wonder at our blindness
that we did not suspect his designs_ when we heard the prodigious works
he has done at Petersburg and Revel; of which last place, the _Daily
Courant_, dated November 23, says:
"HAGUE, _Nov. 17_.
"The captains of the men-of-war of the States, who have been at
Revel, advise that the Czar has put that port and the
fortifications of the place into such a condition of defence that
it may pass for one of the most considerable fortresses, not only
of the Baltic, but even of Europe."
Leave we him now, as to his sea affairs, commerce and manufactures, and
other works both of his policy and power, and let us view him in regard
to his proceedings in this last campaign, especially as to that so much
talked of descent, he, in conjunction with his allies, was to make upon
Schonen, and we shall find that even therein he has acted with his usual
cunning. There is no doubt but the King of Denmark was the first that
proposed this descent. He found that nothing but a speedy end to a war
he had so rashly and unjustly begun, could save his country from ruin
and from the bold attempts of the King of Sweden, either against Norway,
or against Zealand and Copenhagen. To treat separately with that prince
was a thing he could not do, as foreseeing that he would not part with
an inch of ground to so unfair an enemy; and he was afraid that a
Congress for a general place, supposing the King of Sweden would consent
to it upon the terms proposed by his enemies, would draw the
negotiations out beyond what the situation of his affairs could bear. He
invites, therefore, all his confederates to make a home thrust at the
King of Sweden, by a descent into his country, where, having defeated
him, as by the superiority of the forces to be employed in that design
he hoped they should, they might force him to an immediate peace on such
terms as they themselves pleased. I don't know how far the rest of his
confederates came into that project; but neither the _Prussian_ nor the
_Hanoverian_ Court appeared _openly_ in that project, _and how far our
English fleet, under Sir John Norris, was to have forwarded it, I have
nothing to say, but leave others to judge out of the King of Denmark's
own declaration_: but the Czar came readily into it. He got thereby a
new pretence to carry the war one campaign more at other people's
expense; to march his troops into the Empire again, and to have them
quartered and maintained, first in Mecklenburg and then in Zealand. In
the meantime he had his eyes upon _Wismar_, and upon a Swedish island
called _Gotland_. If, by surprise, he could get the first out of the
hands of his confederates, he then had a good seaport, whither to
transport his troops when he pleased into _Germany_, without asking the
King of _Prussia's_ leave for a free passage through his territories;
and if, by a sudden descent, he could dislodge the _Swedes_ out of the
other, he then became master of the best port in the Baltic. He
miscarried, however, in both these projects; for Wismar was too well
guarded to be surprised; and he found his confederates would not give
him a helping hand towards conquering Gotland. After this he began to
look with another eye upon the descent to be made upon Schonen. He found
it equally contrary to his interest, whether it succeeded or not. For if
he did, and the King was thereby forced to a general peace, he knew his
interests therein would be least regarded; having already notice enough
of his confederates being ready to sacrifice them, provided they got
their own terms. If he did not succeed, then, besides the loss of the
flower of an army he had trained and disciplined with so much care, as
he very well foresaw that the English fleet would hinder the King of
Sweden from attempting anything against Denmark; so he justly feared the
whole shock would fall upon him, and he be thereby forced to surrender
all he had taken from Sweden. These considerations made him entirely
resolved not to make one of the descent; but he did not care to declare
it till as late as possible: first, that he might the longer have his
troops maintained at the Danish expense; secondly, that it might be too
late for the King of Denmark to demand the necessary troops from his
other confederates, and to make the descent without him; and, lastly,
that by putting the Dane to a vast expense in making necessary
preparations, he might still weaken him more, and, therefore, make him
now the more dependent on him, and hereafter a more easy prey.
Thus he very carefully dissembles his real thoughts, till just when the
descent was to be made, and then he, all of a sudden, refuses joining
it, and defers it till next spring, with this averment, _that he will
then be as good as his word_. But mark him, as some of our newspapers
tell us, under this restriction, _unless he can get an advantageous
peace of Sweden_. This passage, together with the common report we now
have of his treating a separate peace with the King of Sweden, is a new
instance of his cunning and policy. He has there two strings to his bow,
of which one must serve his turn. There is no doubt but the Czar knows
that an accommodation between him and the King of Sweden must be very
difficult to bring about. For as he, on the one side, should never
consent to part with those seaports, for the getting of which he began
this war, and which are absolutely necessary towards carrying on his
great and vast designs; so the King of Sweden would look upon it as
directly contrary to his interest to yield up these same seaports, if
possibly he could hinder it. But then again, the Czar is so well
acquainted with the great and heroic spirit of his Swedish Majesty, that
he does not question his yielding, rather in point of interest than
nicety of honour. From hence it is, he rightly judges, that his Swedish
Majesty must be less exasperated against him who, though he began an
unjust war, has very often paid dearly for it, and carried it on all
along through various successes than against some confederates; that
taking an opportunity of his Swedish Majesty's misfortunes, fell upon
him in an ungenerous manner, and made a partition treaty of his
provinces. The Czar, still more to accommodate himself to the genius of
his great enemy, unlike his confederates, who, upon all occasions,
spared no reflections and even very unbecoming ones (bullying memorials
and hectoring manifestoes), spoke all along with the utmost civility of
his brother Charles as he calls him, maintains him to be the greatest
general in Europe, and even publicly avers, he will more trust a word
from him than the greatest assurances, oaths, nay, even treaties with
his confederates. These kind of civilities may, perhaps, make a deeper
impression upon the noble mind of the King of Sweden, and he be
persuaded rather to sacrifice a real interest to a generous enemy, than
to gratify, in things of less moment, those by whom he has been ill, and
even inhumanly used. But if this should not succeed, the Czar is still a
gainer by having made his confederates uneasy at these his separate
negotiations; and as we find by the newspapers, the more solicitous to
keep him ready to their confederacy, which must cost them very large
proffers and promises. In the meantime he leaves the Dane and the Swede
securely bound up together in war, and weakening one another as fast as
they can, and he turns towards the Empire and views the Protestant
Princes there; and, under many specious pretences, not only marches and
counter-marches about their several territories his troops that came
back from Denmark, but makes also slowly advance towards Germany those
whom he has kept this great while in Poland, under pretence to help the
King against his dissatisfied subjects, whose commotions all the while
he was the greatest fomenter of. He considers the Emperor is in war with
the Turks, and therefore has found, by too successful experience, how
little his Imperial Majesty is able to show his authority in protecting
the members of the Empire. His troops remain in Mecklenburg,
notwithstanding their departure is highly insisted upon. His replies to
all the demands on that subject are filled with such reasons as if he
would give new laws to the Empire.
Now let us suppose that the King of Sweden should think it more
honourable to make a peace with the Czar, and to carry the force of his
resentment against his less generous enemies, what a stand will then the
princes of the empire, even those that unadvisedly drew in 40,000
Muscovites, to secure the tranquillity of that empire against 10,000 or
12,000 Swedes,--I say what stand will they be able to make against him
while the Emperor is already engaged in war with the Turks? and the
Poles, when they are once in peace among themselves (if after the
miseries of so long a war they are in a condition to undertake anything)
are by treaty obliged to join their aids against that common enemy of
Christianity.
Some will say I make great and sudden rises from very small beginnings.
My answer is, that I would have such an objector look back and reflect
why I show him, from such a speck of entity, at his first origin,
growing, through more improbable and almost insuperable difficulties, to
such a bulk as he has already attained to, and _whereby, as his
advocates, the Dutch themselves own, he is grown too formidable for the
repose, not only of his neighbours, but of Europe in general_.
But then, again, they will say he has no pretence either to make a peace
with the Swede separately from the Dane or to make war upon other
princes, some of whom he is bound in alliance with. Whoever thinks these
objections not answered must have considered the Czar neither as to his
nature or to his ends. The Dutch own further, _that he made war against
Sweden without any specious pretence_. He that made war without any
specious pretence may make a peace without any specious pretence, and
make a new war without any specious pretence for it too. His Imperial
Majesty (of Austria), like a wise Prince, when he was obliged to make
war with the Ottomans, made it, as in policy, he should, powerfully.
But, in the meantime, may not the Czar, who is a wise and potent Prince
too, follow the example upon the neighbouring Princes round him that are
Protestants? If he should, I tremble to speak it, it is not impossible,
but in this age of Christianity _the Protestant religion should, in a
great measure, be abolished_; and that among the Christians, the
_Greeks_ and _Romans_ may once more come to be the only Pretenders for
Universal Empire. The pure possibility carries with it warning enough
for the Maritime Powers, and all the other Protestant Princes, to
mediate a peace for Sweden, and strengthen his arms again, without which
no preparations can put them sufficiently upon their guard; and this
must be done early and betimes, _before the King of Sweden, either out
of despair or revenge, throws himself into the Czar's hands_. For 'tis a
certain maxim (which all Princes ought, and the Czar seems at this time
to observe too much for the repose of Christendom) that a wise man must
not stand for ceremony, and only _turn_ with opportunities. No, he must
even _run_ with them. For the Czar's part, I will venture to say so much
in his commendation, that he will hardly suffer himself to be overtaken
that way. He seems to act just as the tide serves. There is nothing
which contributes more to the making our undertakings prosperous than
the taking of times and opportunities; for time carrieth with it the
seasons of opportunities of business. If you let them slip, all your
designs are rendered unsuccessful.
In short, things seem now come to that _crisis_ that peace should as
soon as possible be procured to the Swede, with such advantageous
articles as are consistent with the nicety of his honour to accept, and
with the safety of the Protestant interest, that he should have offered
to him, which can be scarce less than all the possessions which he
formerly had in the Empire. As in all other things, so in politics, a
long-tried certainty must be preferred before an uncertainty, tho'
grounded on ever so probable suppositions. Now can there be anything
more certain, than that the provinces Sweden has had in the Empire, were
given to it to make it the nearer at hand and the better able to secure
the Protestant interest, which, together with the liberties of the
Empire it just then had saved? Can there be anything more certain than
that that kingdom has, by those means, upon all occasions, secured that
said interest now near fourscore years? Can there be anything more
certain than, as to his present Swedish Majesty, that I may use the
words of a letter her late Majesty, Queen Anne, wrote to him (Charles
XII.), and _in the time of a Whig Ministry too_, viz.: "That, as a true
Prince, hero and Christian, the chief end of his endeavours has been the
promotion of the fear of God among men: and that without insisting on
his own particular interest."
On the other hand, is it not very uncertain whether those princes, who,
by sharing among them the Swedish provinces in the Empire, are now going
to set up as protectors of the Protestant interests there, exclusive of
the Swedes, will be able to do it? _Denmark_ is already so low, and will
in all appearance be so much lower still before the end of the war,
that very little assistance can be expected from it in a great many
years. In _Saxony_, the prospect is but too dismal under a Popish
prince, so that there remain only the two illustrious houses of Hanover
and Brandenburg of all the Protestant princes, powerful enough to lead
the rest. Let us therefore only make a parallel between what now happens
in the Duchy of Mecklenburg, and what may happen to the Protestant
interest, and we shall soon find how we may be mistaken in our
reckoning. That said poor Duchy has been most miserably ruined by the
Muscovite troops, and it is still so; the Electors of Brandenburg and
Hanover are obliged, both as directors of the circle of Lower Saxony, as
neighbours, and Protestant Princes, to rescue a fellow state of the
Empire, and a Protestant country, from so cruel an oppression of a
foreign Power. But, pray, what have they done? The Elector of
Brandenburg, cautious lest the Muscovites might on one side invade his
electorate, and on the other side from Livonia and Poland, his kingdom
of Prussia; and the Elector of Hanover having the same wise caution as
to his hereditary countries, have not upon this, though very pressing
occasion, thought it for their interest, to use any other means than
representations. But pray with what success? The Muscovites are still in
Mecklenburg, and if at last they march out of it, it will be when the
country is so ruined that they cannot there subsist any longer.
It seems the King of Sweden should be restored to all that he has lost
on the side of the Czar; and this appears the _joint interest of both
the Maritime Powers_. This may they please to undertake: _Holland_,
because it is a maxim there "that the Czar grows too great, and must not
be suffered to settle in the Baltic, and that Sweden must not be
abandoned"; _Great Britain_, because, if the Czar compasses his vast and
prodigious views, he will, by the ruin and conquest of Sweden, become
our nearer and more dreadful neighbour. Besides, we are bound to it by a
treaty concluded in the year 1700, between King William and the present
King of Sweden, by virtue of which King William assisted the King of
Sweden, when in more powerful circumstances, with all that he desired,
with great sums of money, several hundred pieces of cloth, and
considerable quantities of gunpowder.
But _some Politicians (whom nothing can make jealous of the growing
strength and abilities of the Czar) though they are even foxes and
vulpones in the art, either will not see_ or _pretend they cannot see_
how the Czar can ever be able to make so great a progress in power as to
hurt us here in our island. To them it is easy to repeat the same answer
a hundred times over, if they would be so kind as to take it at last,
viz., _that what has been may be again_; and that they did not see how
he could reach the height of power, which he has already arrived at,
after, I must confess, a very incredible manner. Let those _incredulous_
people look narrowly into the _nature_ and the _ends_ and the _designs_
of this great monarch; they will find that they are laid very deep, and
that his plans carry in them a prodigious deal of prudence and
foresight, and his ends are at the long run brought about by a kind of
magic in policy; and will they not after that own that we ought to fear
everything from him? As he desires that the designs with which he
labours may not prove abortive, so he does not assign them a certain day
of their birth, but leaves them to the natural productions of fit times
and occasions, like those curious artists in China, who temper the mould
this day of which a vessel may be made a hundred years hence.
There is another sort of short-sighted politicians among us, who have
more of cunning court intrigue and immediate statecraft in them than of
true policy and concern for their country's interest. These gentlemen
pin entirely their faith upon other people's sleeves; ask as to
everything that is proposed to them, how it is liked at Court? what the
opinion of their party is concerning it? and if the contrary party is
for or against it? Hereby they rule their judgment, and it is enough for
their cunning leaders to brand anything with _Whiggism_ or _Jacobitism_,
for to make these people, without any further inquiry into the matter,
blindly espouse it or oppose it. This, it seems, is at present the case
of the subject we are upon. Anything said or written in favour of
Sweden and the King thereof, is immediately said to come from a
_Jacobite_ pen, and thus reviled and rejected, without being read or
considered. Nay, I have heard gentlemen go so far as to maintain
publicly, and with all the vehemence in the world, that the King of
Sweden was a Roman Catholic, and that the Czar was a good Protestant.
This, indeed, is one of the greatest misfortunes our country labours
under, and till we begin to see with our own eyes, and inquire ourselves
into the truth of things, we shall be led away, God knows whither, at
last. The serving of Sweden according to our treaties and real interest
has nothing to do with our party causes. Instead of seeking for and
taking hold of any pretence to undo Sweden, we ought openly to assist
it. Could our Protestant succession have a better friend or a bolder
champion?
I shall conclude this by thus shortly recapitulating what I have said.
That since the Czar has not only replied to the King of Denmark
entreating the contrary, but also answered our Admiral Norris, that he
would persist in his resolution to delay the descent upon Schonen, and
is said by other newspapers to resolve not to make it then, if he can
have peace with Sweden; every Prince, and we more particularly, ought to
be jealous of his having some such design as I mention in view, and
consult how to prevent them, and to clip, in time, his too aspiring
wings, which cannot be effectually done, first, without the Maritime
Powers please to begin to keep him in some check and awe, and 'tis to be
hoped a certain potent nation, that has helped him forward, can, in some
measure, bring him back, and may then speak to this great enterpriser in
the language of a countryman in Spain, who coming to an image enshrined,
the first making whereof he could well remember, and not finding all the
respectful usage he expected,--"You need not," quoth he, "be so proud,
for we have known you from a plum-tree." The next only way is to
restore, by a peace, to the King of Sweden what he has lost; that checks
his (the Czar's) power immediately, and on that side nothing else can. I
wish it may not at last be found true, that those who have been
fighting against that King have, in the main, been fighting against
themselves. If the Swede ever has his dominions again, and lowers the
high spirit of the Czar, still he may say by his neighbours, as an old
Greek hero did, whom his countrymen constantly sent into exile whenever
he had done them a service, but were forced to call him back to their
aid, whenever they wanted success. "These people," quoth he, "are always
using me like the palm-tree. They will be breaking my branches
continually, and yet, if there comes a storm, they run to me, and can't
find a better place for shelter." But if he has them not, I shall only
exclaim a phrase out of Terence's "Andria":
"Hoccine credibile est aut memorabile
Tanta vecordia innata cuiquam ut siet,
Ut malis gaudeant?"
4. POSTSCRIPT.--I flatter myself that this little history is of that
curious nature, and on matters hitherto so unobserved, that I consider
it, with pride, as a valuable New Year's gift to the present world; and
that posterity will accept it, as the like, for many years after, and
read it over on that anniversary, and call it their _Warning Piece_. I
must have my _Exegi-Monumentum_ as well as others.
FOOTNOTE:
[20] Or, to follow this affectation of silliness into more recent times,
is there anything in diplomatic history that could match Lord
Palmerston's proposal made to Marshal Soult (in 1839), to storm the
Dardanelles, in order to afford the Sultan the support of the
Anglo-French fleet against Russia?