land and by sea, and having helped to expel them from Poland, was
master there himself; he made himself mediator between the King and
the people, an honour perhaps equal to that of setting up a King.
The pomp and fortune of Charles had passed to the Czar; he made a
better use of it than his rival, for he used all his successes for his
country’s good. If he took a town the chief artisans were transferred
to Petersburg. The manners, arts and sciences of any place he took
were carried home to enrich and refine his own country. So that of all
conquerors he had the best excuse for his conquest.
Sweden, on the other hand, had lost all her foreign possessions, and
had neither trade, money, nor credit; her veterans were either killed
or had died of want. More than a hundred thousand Swedes were slaves in
the vast Russian Empire, and as many more had been sold to the Turks
and the Tartars. The male population was visibly becoming scarce; but
in spite of all this, their hopes revived when they heard that their
King had arrived at Stralsund.
The sentiment of respect and admiration for him was still so strong
that the rustic youth crowded to enlist, leaving the land without
cultivators.
BOOK VIII
BOOK VIII
Charles marries his sister to the Prince of Hesse--He is besieged
in Stralsund and escapes to Sweden--The enterprise of Baron Gortz
his premier--Plans of reconciliation with the Czar--An attack
on England--Charles besieges Frederickshal in Norway--He is
killed--His character--Gortz is beheaded.
DURING these preparations the King gave his only surviving sister in
marriage to Frederic, Prince of Hesse-Cassel. The Queen Dowager, his
grandmother, aged fourscore years, did the honours of the _fête_
on the 4th of April, 1715, and died shortly afterwards. The King could
not attend the ceremony, as he was so busy finishing the fortifications
of Stralsund, which was in danger from the Kings of Denmark and
Prussia. But he made his brother-in-law generalissimo of all the forces
of Sweden. This Prince had served the States-General in the French war,
and was considered a good soldier, a qualification for his sister’s
hand in the eyes of Charles XII.
Misfortunes now followed as fast as victories had once done. In June
1715 the English King’s German forces and those of Denmark invested
the strong town of Wismar; the Danes, Saxons and Prussians, 36,000 of
them, marched in a body to Stralsund to form a siege. Not far from
Stralsund, five Swedish ships were sunk by the Danes and Prussians.
The Czar held the Baltic with two large men-of-war, and 150 transports,
which had 30,000 men on board. He threatened a descent on Sweden,
appearing alternately on the coast of Elsingburg and Stockholm. All
Sweden was in arms, expecting an invasion; his land forces were chasing
the Swedes from the places they held in Finland towards the Gulf of
Bothnia, but he attempted nothing further. At the mouth of the Oder,
a river that divides Pomerania, and, passing Stetin, falls into the
Baltic, there is a little island called Usedom. Its position makes it a
place of considerable importance, for it commands the Oder both on the
right and the left, and whoever holds it is master of the navigation
of that river. The King of Prussia had dislodged the Swedes, and was
holding the place as well as Stetin, saying that he did so purely for
the sake of peace. But the Swedes had retaken Usedom in May 1715, and
held two forts there, one called Suine, on a branch of the Oder of that
name, the other called Penamonder, of greater importance, on another
branch of the river. The forts were manned with only 250 Pomeranians,
commanded by an old Swedish officer called Kuze-Slerp, a man who
deserves to be remembered. On the 4th of April the King of Prussia sent
1,500 foot and 800 dragoons into the island. They arrived and landed
on the side of Suine without opposition. The Swedish commander had
left them this fort, as being the least important, and, not being able
to divide his small force, he withdrew to the castle of Penamonder,
resolving to await the worst.
So they were forced to make a formal siege. They shipped artillery
at Stetin, and sent in a reinforcement of 1,000 Prussian foot and
400 horse. On the 18th, they opened the trenches in two places, and
a brisk battery was played by cannon and mortars. During the siege a
Swedish soldier, sent privately with a letter to Charles, found means
to land on the island and slip into the place. He gave the letter to
the commander. It was as follows: “Do not fire till the enemy come
to the edge of the ditch; defend yourselves to the last drop of your
blood.--CHARLES.”
Slerp read the note, resolved to obey, and die as he was bid in his
master’s service. On the 22nd, at daybreak, the assault was made. The
besieged did as they were told, and killed many, but the ditch was
full, the breach large, and the besiegers too numerous. They entered at
two different places at once.
The commander now thought that he had no further duty but to obey
orders and sell his life dear, so he abandoned the breaches, entrenched
his few troops, who all had honour and courage enough to go with him,
and placed them so that they should not be surrounded.
The enemy hastened up, surprised that he did not ask for quarter; but
he fought a whole hour, and when he had lost half his soldiers, was
killed at last with his lieutenant and major. There were then left 100
men and one officer; these asked that their lives might be spared, and
were taken prisoners. In the commander’s pocket they found his master’s
letter, which was taken to the King of Prussia.
Just as Charles had lost Usedom, and the neighbouring islands which
were quickly taken, while Wismar was on the point of surrender, with
no fleet to lend aid, and Sweden in great danger, he himself was
at Stralsund, besieged by 36,000 men. Stralsund, famous throughout
Europe for the siege the King of Sweden sustained there, is one of the
strongest places in Pomerania. It is built between the Baltic and the
Lake of Franken, near the Straits of Gella. There is no land passage
to it but across a narrow crossway defended by a citadel, and by
retrenchments that were once thought inaccessible. There was in it a
garrison of 9,000 men, and, more than all, the King of Sweden himself.
The Kings of Denmark and Prussia besieged it with an army of 36,000
men, consisting of Saxons, Prussians and Danes. The honour of besieging
Charles was too great an incitement to them to make any task difficult,
so the trenches were opened on the night between the 19th and 20th of
October, 1715.
The King of Sweden said at first that he wondered how any place well
manned and fortified could be taken. True, he had taken many towns
himself in the course of his victories, but none by regular attack.
It was the fame of his exploits that gained them; besides, he never
judged others by his own standard, and always underrated his enemies.
The besiegers carried on their work with great alacrity, and they were
assisted by a curious chance.
It is well known that the Baltic has no flux and reflux. The
entrenchments of the town were thought impregnable, as there was an
impassable marsh on the west and the sea on the east.
No one had remarked before that in a strong westerly wind the waves of
the Baltic roll back so as to leave only three feet of water under the
entrenchment. They had always thought it deep. A soldier, happening to
fall from the top of the entrenchment, was surprised to find a bottom;
but having made that discovery, he concluded that it might make his
fortune. So he deserted, and going to the quarters of Count Wakerbath,
General of the Saxon forces, he told him that the sea was fordable, and
that it would be easy to carry the Swedes’ entrenchments. The King of
Prussia was not slow to take the hint.
The next day the west wind was still blowing; Lieutenant-Colonel Kepel
entered the water with 1,800 men, and 2,000 advanced at the same time
on the causeway; all the Prussian artillery fired, and the Prussians
and Danes gave an alarm on the other side. The Swedes were sure they
could deal with those who were advancing with such rashness by the
causeway; but Kepel, coming in behind them from the sea, enclosed them
so that they could make no headway, and the position was carried after
terrible slaughter on both sides. Some of the Swedes retired into
the town, but they were pursued by the besiegers, and some entered
pell-mell with those that were fleeing. Two officers and four Saxon
soldiers were already on the drawbridge, but they had just time to shut
it, and took the men, and so for that time the town was saved. They
found four-and-twenty pieces of cannon on the entrenchments, which they
turned against the town. After this success the siege was carried on
eagerly, the town being cannonaded and bombarded without remission.
Opposite Stralsund on the Baltic is the island of Ruegen, which is a
rampart of the place, whither the garrison and people could retire
if they only had boats. This island was of the first importance to
Charles, for he knew that if the enemy were masters of it he would soon
be invested both by sea and land, and probably buried in the ruins
of Stralsund, or else taken prisoner by those whom he had formerly
despised so much and used so harshly.
However, the wretched state of his affairs had prevented him from
sending a sufficient garrison to Ruegen, and there were not more than
2,000 regular troops altogether on the island. For three months the
enemy had been making all the preparations for an attack on it, but
having built boats for the purpose, the Prince of Anhalt, favoured by
good weather, made a landing at last with 12,000 men on the 15th of
November.
The King, who was everywhere, was in this island; he joined 2,000 men
who were entrenched near a little haven, about three leagues from where
the enemy had landed. He marched with them at midnight, with great
silence. The Prince of Anhalt had used what seemed unnecessary caution
to entrench his cannon. His officers expected no attack by night, and
had no idea but that Charles was safe at Stralsund. But the Prince,
who knew Charles much better, ordered a deep ditch, with _chevaux de
frise_ on the edge, and took as much care as if he had to do with a
superior force.
At two in the morning Charles came to the enemy’s camp, without the
slightest noise. His soldiers said to one another, “Come, let us pull
up the _chevaux de frise_.” These words were overheard by the
sentinels; the alarm was quickly given, and the enemy stood to arms.
The King, raising the _chevaux de frise_, saw a great ditch.
“Ah,” he said, “impossible; this is more than I expected.” Not at all
discouraged, and knowing nothing of their numbers, nor they of his, for
the night favoured him in that, he decided at once, leaped into the
ditch, followed by some of the boldest. The _chevaux de frise_
was removed, the earth levelled with any trunks and branches they
could find, and the bodies of the dead for _fascines_. The King,
generals, and boldest of the officers and soldiers got on one another’s
shoulders as in assaults.
The fight began in the enemy’s camp; the vigour of the Swedes threw
the Danes and Prussians into disorder, but their numbers being too
disparate, the Swedes were repulsed in about a quarter of an hour, and
repaired to the ditch.
The unfortunate King rallied his troops in the field, and the fight was
renewed with equal warmth on both sides. He saw his favourite Grothusen
fall, and General Dardoff, and as he fought passed over the body of the
latter while he was still breathing. During, his companion from Turkey
to Stralsund, was killed before his face. The King himself was shot
near the left breast; Count Poniatowski, who had been so lucky as to
save his life before at Pultawa, had the good fortune to do the same
again, and gave him a new mount. The Swedes retired to a part of the
island named Alteferre, where they still held a fort; from thence the
King returned to Stralsund, obliged to leave those brave troops who had
served him so well in that expedition; they were all prisoners of war
two days later.
Among the prisoners was that unfortunate French regiment, the
_débris_ of the battle of Hochstet, which had first served
Augustus, and afterwards Charles. Most of the soldiers were drafted
into a new regiment belonging to the son of the Prince of Anhalt, and
he was their fourth master. In Ruegen the commander of this vagrant
regiment was then the famous Count Villelongue, who had so nobly risked
his life at Adrianople to save Charles. He was taken with all his men,
and was ill rewarded for all his services, fatigues and sufferings.
The King, having only weakened himself by all these prodigies of
valour, pent up in Stralsund and expecting to be taken, was yet the
same as he had been at Bender. Nothing could surprise him. All day he
was making ditches and entrenchments behind the walls, and at night
he sallied out against the enemy. The town was badly damaged, bombs
fell thick and fast, and half the town was in ashes. The townsfolk,
far from complaining, were full of admiration for their master, whose
temperance, courage and fatigues were astonishing; they acted as
soldiers under him, following to the attack, and were now as good as
another garrison.
One day, as the King was dictating to a secretary some dispatches for
Sweden, a bomb fell into the house, came through the roof, and burst
very near his room. Part of the floor fell in, but the ante-room where
he was at work, being attached to a thick wall, was undisturbed, and
by a lucky chance none of the splinters came in at the door, though it
was open. In this noise and confusion the secretary dropped his pen,
thinking that the house was coming down. “What is the matter?” said the
King calmly; “why are you not writing?” The man could only stammer out,
“The bomb, Sire!” “Well,” said the King, “what has that to do with our
writing? Go on.”
An ambassador of France, a M. de Croissy, was then shut up with the
King in Stralsund. To send a man on an embassy to Charles was like
sending him to the trenches. The King would talk with Croissy for hours
together, in the most exposed places, where people were falling on
all sides, killed by the bombs and cannon; the King was unconscious
of the danger, and the ambassador did not care to say anything to
make him chose a safer place for business. Before the siege this
minister tried his best to make a treaty between the Kings of Sweden
and Prussia; but the one expected too much, and the other would not
make any concessions. So that the only satisfaction that Croissy got
out of his embassy was the familiarity he enjoyed with this remarkable
man. He often slept on the same cloak with him, and, as they shared
so many dangers and fatigues, he was outspoken with him. Charles
encouraged this in the case of those he liked, and would sometimes say
to Croissy, “Veni, maledicamus de rege.” “Come, let us talk scandal of
Charles.”
Croissy stayed in the town till the 13th of November. Then, with the
permission of the enemy to pass with his baggage, he took leave of
Charles, whom he left among the ruins of Stralsund with only a third of
his garrison left, and fully resolved to stand an assault.
In fact, the assault on the horn-work was made in four days. The enemy
took it twice, and were twice beaten off.
At last numbers prevailed, and they became masters of it. Charles
stayed two days longer in the town, expecting every moment a general
assault; on the 16th he stayed till midnight in a little ravelin quite
destroyed by bombs and cannon; the day after the principal officers
begged him to stay no longer in this untenable situation, but retreat
was now as dangerous as to stay there. The Baltic was full of Russian
and Danish ships; in the port at Stralsund there was only one boat with
sails and oars. So many dangers made retreat glorious, and determined
Charles to go; he embarked on the evening of December 20th, with ten
persons aboard. They were obliged to break the ice, and it was several
hours before they could get away. The enemy’s admiral had strict orders
not to let Charles escape from Stralsund. Happily they were to leeward
of him, and could not approach. He ran the most risk in passing a
place called the Barbette, in Ruegen, where the Danes had fixed a
battery of twelve cannon. They fired, and he made all the sail he could
to get clear of their range. Two men were killed close by him, and at
another shot the mast was shattered. In the midst of these dangers the
King met two of his ships that were cruising in the Baltic, and the
next day Stralsund was surrendered, and the garrison made prisoners of
war. The King landed at Isted in Scania, and came to Carlscrona, in
a very different state from that in which he had left it, ten years
before, when he started in a ship of twelve guns, to dictate to the
North.
As he was so near his capital, it was concluded he would go there after
so long an absence. But he could not bear the thought of it till he
had gained some great victories. Nor did he want to see his people
who loved him, and to whose burdens he had perforce to add to defend
himself against his enemies. He only wanted to see his sister, and he
sent for her to meet him near Lake Wetter, in Ostrogothia. He rode
post-haste with one attendant, spent a day with her, and returned.
At Carlscrona, where he passed the winter, he levied new forces
everywhere. He thought his subjects were only born to follow him to
war, and he had accustomed them to think so too. He enlisted many
of but fifteen years old. In many villages there were only old men,
women and children left; in some places the women ploughed unaided.
It was still more difficult to get a fleet. But to bring that about
commissions were given to privateers, who enjoyed great privileges
to the ruin of the country, but who provided him with some ships.
This was the last effort of Sweden to meet the great expense; all the
houses were searched, and half their provisions carried into the King’s
warehouses. All the iron in the country was bought up for his use and
paid for in paper, which he sold for ready money. Whoever wore silk, or
wigs, or gilded swords was taxed, and there was a heavy hearth-rate.
A people thus loaded with taxation would have revolted under any other
King, but here the most miserable peasant knew that his master was
faring harder than he himself. So they quietly bore what their King was
always the first to bear. In the public danger, private misfortunes
were not thought of. They expected hourly an attack from the Russians,
Danes, Prussians, Saxons, and the English. Their fear was so strong,
and so well justified, that those who possessed valuables buried them.
It was a surprise to all Europe, who had still an eye on Charles,
when, instead of defending his country about to be attacked by so many
princes, he invaded Norway at the head of 20,000 men. Since the time of
Hannibal there had been no instance of a general who, unable to hold
his own against his enemies at home, had gone to attack them in their
own dominions. His brother-in-law, the Prince of Hesse, accompanied
him. There is no way from Sweden to Norway except by dangerous by-ways,
where at every turn one meets with pools of water, formed by the sea
between the rocks; bridges have to be made every day. A very few Danes
might have stopped the Swedish army, but they were not ready for such a
rapid invasion.
Europe was still more surprised to find the Czar so quiet, without
descending on Sweden as he had intended.
The reason was that he had a plan, which was one of the greatest, and
one of the most difficult to carry out, that has ever been conceived.
Baron Gortz, a Franconian by birth, and Baron of the empire, having
done the King of Sweden important services during his sojourn at
Bender, was now his favourite and Prime Minister. He was the boldest
and the most diplomatic of men: full of resource in adversity,
ambitious in his plans, and active in his policy, no project was too
ambitious for him, no means too dear for his end; he was prodigal with
presents, oaths, truth and falsehood. From Sweden he went to England,
France, Holland, to himself lay the train which he meant to use; he
was able to inflame all Europe, and that was his idea. What his master
was at the head of an army, he was in the cabinet, and this gave him
more influence over Charles than any minister had ever had before.
This King, who from the age of twenty had given orders to Court Piper,
was now willing to receive them from Baron Gortz, and was the more
submissive because his misfortunes had made it necessary for him to
ask advice, and because Gortz’s advice suited with his courageous
disposition. He found that of all the princes in league against him
Charles felt especially resentful to George of Hanover, King of
England: because he was the only one whom Charles had never injured,
and had entered into the affair only as a mediator, with intent to
hold Bremen and Verden, which he bought for a trifle from the King of
Denmark.
It was early that he discovered the Czar’s secret discontent with the
allies, who all wanted to prevent his getting any footing in Germany.
Since the year 1714 the Czar had been in a position to make a
descent on Sweden, but whether he could not agree with the Kings of
Poland, England, Denmark, and Prussia, allies whose suspicions were
justifiable, or whether he thought his troops not seasoned enough to
attack that people at home, whose very peasants had beat the pick of
the Danish forces, he still took care to put it off.
The want of money was what had hitherto delayed him. For the Czar was
one of the greatest monarchs in the world, but not one of the richest,
his revenue not amounting to more than 18,000,000 French francs. He
had discovered gold, silver, iron and copper mines, but the profit
they yielded was uncertain, and the working of them expensive. He had
established a great trade, yet at first it did not flourish; his new
conquests increased his power and his fame, but brought him very little
treasure.
Time was necessary to bind up the wounds of Livonia, a fertile country
which had suffered much from a fifteen years’ war, by fire, sword and
plague--almost desolate of inhabitants, and a burden to the conqueror.
The fleets he now maintained; and every day some new enterprise was
exhausting all his treasures. He had been reduced to the bad expedient
of raising the value of the coinage, a remedy which never cures the
evil, and is particularly injurious to any country where the imports
exceed the exports. It was upon these grounds that Gortz had laid the
basis of a revolution; he was bold enough to suggest to the King of
Sweden that he should make peace with the Czar, insinuating that the
Czar was very angry with the Kings of Poland and England, and that
Peter and Charles together might make the rest of Europe tremble.
There was no making peace with the Czar, unless he yielded a good
many provinces to the east and west of the Baltic, but he called
his attention to the fact that in yielding such places as the Czar
possessed already, and which he could not possibly regain, he might
have the honour of replacing Stanislas on the throne of Poland, and
setting James II’s son upon that of England, besides restoring the Duke
of Holstein.
Charles was pleased with all this, and without giving the matter much
consideration he gave the minister full powers to act: Gortz left
Sweden with _carte blanche_ for any prince he wished to treat
with. His first business was to try how the Court of Moscow stood,
which he did through the Czar’s chief physician, a man devoted to
the Pretender’s interests, as most of the Scots are, where they are
not in the pay of the English Court. This physician represented to
Prince Menzikoff, with all the eagerness of a man much interested, the
greatness and importance of such a plan. Prince Menzikoff was pleased
with it, and the Czar approved it. Instead of an invasion of Sweden he
sent his troops to winter in Mecklenburg, and came there himself on
the pretext of settling some disputes between his nephew the Duke and
his nobles: his real object was to gain a principality in Germany, for
which he hoped to bargain with the Duke.
The allies were angry at this step, not caring to have so terrible and
formidable a neighbour, who, should he once gain German provinces,
might become Emperor and oppress the sovereigns. The greater was their
resentment, the more that Gortz’s plan flourished. But he negotiated
with all the confederates in order to conceal his private intrigues.
The Czar fed them all with vain hopes. Charles was all this while with
his brother-in-law in Norway at the head of 20,000 men, the country was
defended by 110,000 Danes in separate bands, which were routed by the
King and Prince of Hesse. Charles advanced to Christiania, the capital,
and fortune smiled on him again, but from want of provisions he was
forced to retire to Sweden, there to await the result of his minister’s
plan.
This affair was to be carried through with profound secrecy, and
elaborate preparations were necessary: these two are incompatible.
Gortz planned to go as far as Asia in his quest, and though the means
seemed undesirable, it would at least bring men, money and ships to
Sweden, which could be used for an attack on Scotland.
For some time the pirates of all nations, and especially the English,
had banded themselves together to infest the seas of Europe and
America; they had received no quarter and had retired to Madagascar, a
large island on the east coast of Africa; they were quite desperate,
and famed for actions which would have made them heroes had they been
legal. They wanted a prince to take them under his protection, but
international law shut them out from every harbour.
When they heard that Charles XII was returned to Sweden they hoped
that, as he was devoted to war and forced to take share in it, and
needed a fleet and soldiers, he would be glad to make terms with them.
So they sent a deputy, who travelled to Europe in a Dutch ship, to
propose to Baron Gortz that they might be received at Gothenburg, where
they promised to prepare three-score ships loaded with treasure.
The Baron persuaded the King to agree, and two Swedes were sent to
negotiate with them. Then more honourable and substantial help came
from Cardinal Alberoni, who directed the government of Spain long
enough for his own reputation but not for the good and glory of that
kingdom.
He took up the project of setting James II’s son on the English throne
with great enthusiasm. But as he had only just taken up the ministry,
and Spain was to be settled before he could attempt to overthrow
thrones, it appeared that there was no great likelihood of his
undertaking the task at present. Yet in two years he had done so much
for Spain, and had so raised her prestige in Europe that he had got the
Turks (it is reported) to attack the Emperor. Then he took steps to
remove the Duke of Orleans from the Regency and King George from the
English throne. Such danger lies in the power of one single man who is
absolute, and has the sense and capacity to use his power.
Gortz, having made this beginning in the Courts of Russia and Spain,
went secretly to France, and thence to Holland, where he interviewed
representatives of the Pretender’s party. He got special information
concerning the strength, number, and position of the disaffected in
England, what money they could raise, and what men they could put
in the field. They only wanted 10,000 men, with which they would
feel assured of success. Count Gyllemburg, the Swedish ambassador in
England, acting under Gortz’s instructions, had several meetings with
the disaffected; he encouraged them and promised them all they wanted.
The Pretender’s party even advanced considerable sums, which Gortz
received in Holland, and with which he bought ships and ammunition.
Then he secretly sent some officers to France, especially a certain
Folard, who, having served in thirty French campaigns without mending
his fortune, had volunteered with Charles, not with any ulterior
motive, but just to serve under a prince with such a reputation. He
especially hoped to get the Prince to adopt the new discoveries he had
made in the art of war, which he had studied theoretically and had
published views of in a commentary of Polybius. Charles was pleased
with his ideas, and, as he was never governed by convention, he
intended to make use of Folard in his attack on Scotland.
The main point for Baron de Gortz was to settle a peace between
Charles and the Czar, in spite of the many difficulties in the way.
Baron Osterman, a man of weight in Russia, was not so ready to agree
with Gortz. He was as cautious as the other was enthusiastic. One was
for letting things gradually ripen, the other wanted to reap and sow
together. Osterman was afraid his master, pleased with the plan, would
grant too advantageous terms with Sweden, and so delayed the conclusion
of the matter. Luckily for Gortz the Czar himself came to Holland at
the beginning of 1717 on the way to France, for he had yet to see this
nation, criticized, envied, and imitated by all Europe. He wanted to
satisfy his insatiable curiosity, but also he hoped to arrange some
political matters.
Gortz had two talks with the Emperor at the Hague, and did
more by their means than he could have done in six months with
plenipotentiaries. Everything went well, his great plans seemed quite
unsuspected, and he hoped they would only be known to Europe in their
execution. The first who discovered these intrigues was the Duke of
Orleans, Regent of France, who had spies everywhere. The Duke, having
personal obligations to the King of England, made the discovery of the
whole plot against him. At the same time the Dutch, having suspicions
of Gortz’s behaviour, communicated them to the English ministry. Gortz
and Gyllemburg were getting on with their schemes rapidly, when one
was arrested at the Hague and the other in London.
As Gyllemburg had broken international law by the conspiracy they
did not scruple in England to attack his person. But it was thought
exceedingly strange that the States-General imprisoned Baron Gortz out
of mere friendship for the King of England. They even went so far as to
appoint Count Velderen to question him. This was going very far, and as
it turned out, only added to their confusion. Gortz asked Velderen if
he knew him. “Yes,” said the Dutchman. “Well, then,” he answered, “you
must then be aware that I shall only answer what I like.”
All the foreign ministers protested against the wrong done to the
persons of Gortz and Gyllemburg. Nothing could excuse the Dutch from
breaking so sacred a law in seizing the King of Sweden’s premier, who
had never done anything against them, and so violating the spirit of
freedom which has attracted so many strangers and has been the cause of
her greatness. The King of England acted within his rights in seizing
an enemy, so that the letters found among Gyllemburg’s papers from him
to Gortz were printed to justify the King’s proceedings.
The King of Sweden was in Scania when the printed letters came with the
news of his ministers having been seized. He only smiled and asked if
his letters were printed too, and ordered the English ambassador and
all his family to be seized. But he could not take the same vengeance
on the Dutch, because they had no minister then at the Court of Sweden.
He kept a disdainful silence towards England and Holland.
The Czar’s behaviour was just the opposite: as he was not named but
only hinted at by distant references in the letters of Gortz and
Gyllemburg, he wrote a long letter full of congratulations to the King
of England on the discovery, with assurances of his good-will. King
George received his protestations with incredulity, but pretended
to believe them. A plot laid by private men is at an end when once
discovered, but where kings are concerned a discovery only makes it go
further. The Czar came to Paris in 1717, and did not spend all his time
in viewing the wonders of art and nature there: the academies, public
libraries, cabinets of the antiquaries and royal palaces. He made a
proposal to the Regent which, had it been accepted, would have put the
finishing touch to the greatness of Russia. It was this: to himself
ally with the King of Sweden, who would yield many countries to him, to
take from the Danes their power in the Baltic, to weaken England by a
civil war, and to attract to Russia all the trade of the North. He had
thoughts, too, of setting up Stanislas against King Augustus, so that
when the fire was kindled in all directions he could fan the flame
or damp it as he saw fit. With these views he proposed to the King’s
Regent to mediate between Sweden and Russia, and to make an offensive
and defensive alliance with them and Spain. The treaty, though so
natural and so useful to the nations concerned, putting into their
hands the balancing of power in Europe, was yet rejected by Orleans,
for he did just the opposite and made a league with the Emperor and the
King of England.
Political motives were then so powerful with all princes that the Czar
was going to declare war against his old friend Augustus, and to help
Charles his mortal enemy; while France, for the sake of the English
and Germans, was going to declare war against a grandson of Louis XIV,
after having so long supported him at great expenditure of blood and
treasure against those very enemies. All that the Czar could obtain was
that the Regent should interpose for the freeing of Baron Gortz and
Gyllemburg. He returned to Russia about the end of June, having shown
a rare example of an emperor travelling to improve his mind. But what
most of the French people saw of him was a rough, unpolished exterior,
the result of his education, while they were blind to the legislator
and the genius who had founded a new nation. What he had sought for in
Orleans he soon found in Alberoni, who governed all Spain. Alberoni
wanted to restore the Pretender: first as the minister of Spain,
so ill-used by the English, and secondly because he had a personal
quarrel with the Duke of Orleans for his close alliance with England
against Spain; besides, he was a priest of that Church for which the
Pretender’s father had lost his crown.
The Duke of Ormond, as unpopular in England as the Duke of Marlborough
was admired, had left the country at the time of George’s accession,
and was now in Spain. He went with full powers from the King of Spain
to meet the Czar, in Courland, accompanied by a certain D’Irnegan, an
Englishman of ability and daring. The business was to ask the Princess
Anna, the Czar’s daughter, for marriage with James’s son, in the hopes
that such an alliance would bring the Czar over to the King’s side.
Baron Gortz, among his other schemes, had intended this lady for the
Duke of Holstein, who did marry her later. As soon as he heard of the
Duke of Ormond’s plan he grew jealous and did what he could to defeat
it.
He left prison in August with the Count Gyllemburg, without any apology
from the Swedish to the English King. At the same time the English
ambassador and his family were released at Stockholm, where their
treatment had been a great deal worse than Gyllemburg’s in London.
Gortz at liberty was an implacable enemy, for besides his other aims
he now sought vengeance. He went post-haste to the Czar, who was
now better pleased with him than ever, for he undertook to remove in
less than three months all obstacles to a peace with Sweden. He took
up a map which the Czar had drawn himself, and, drawing a line from
Wibourg, by Lake Ladoga, up to the frozen ocean, promised to bring his
master to part with all that lay east of that line, besides Carelia,
Ingria, and Livonia. Then he mentioned the marriage of the Czar’s
daughter to the Duke of Holstein, holding out hopes that the Duke would
readily give his country instead, and if once he became a member of
the Empire the Imperial crown would, of course, come to him or some of
his descendants. The Czar named the isle of Aland for the conferences
between Osterman and Gortz; he asked the English Duke of Ormond to
withdraw lest the English Court should take alarm. But D’Irnegan, his
confidant, remained in the town with many precautions, for he only went
out at night and never saw the Czar’s ministers but in the disguise of
either a peasant or a Tartar.
As soon as the Duke of Ormond went, the Czar impressed upon the King
his courtesy in having sent away the chief partisan of the Pretender,
and Baron Gortz returned to Sweden with great hopes of success.
He found his master at the head of 30,000 troops with all the coast
guarded by militia. The King needed nothing but money, but he had no
credit at home or abroad. France, under the Duke of Orleans, would give
him none. He was promised money from Spain, but that country was not
yet in a position to support him.
Baron Gortz then tried a project he had tried before. He gave copper
the same value as silver, so that a copper coin whose intrinsic value
was a halfpenny might, with the royal mark, pass for thirty or forty
pence, just as the governors of besieged towns have sometimes paid
their soldiers with leather money till they could get better. Such
expedients may be useful in a free country, and have often been the
salvation of a republic, but they are sure to ruin a monarchy, for the
people quickly lose confidence, the minister is unable to keep faith,
the money paper increases, individuals bury their specie, and the
whole plan fails, often with disastrous results. This was the case in
Sweden. Baron Gortz had paid out his new coin with discretion, but was
soon carried beyond what he had intended by forces he could not check.
Everything became excessively dear, so that he was obliged to multiply
his copper coin. The more there was of it the less was its value.
Sweden was inundated with this false money, and one and all complained
of Gortz. So great was the veneration of the people for Charles that
they could not hate him, so the weight of their displeasure fell on the
minister who, as a foreigner and financier, was sure to suffer their
opprobrium.
A tax that he arranged on the clergy gave the final touch to the
universal hatred; priests are only too ready to plead that their cause
is God’s, and publicly declared him an atheist, because he asked for
their money. The new coins were embossed with the figure of heathen
gods, and hence they called them the gods of Gortz.
The ministry joined in the universal hatred of him, all the more
ardently because they were powerless. None in the country liked him
except the King, whom his unpopularity confirmed in his affection.
He placed absolute confidence in him, giving him also his entire
confidence at home. He trusted to him, too, all negotiations with the
Czar, especially as to the conference at Aland, which of all things he
wished to urge on with the greatest haste.
As soon as Gortz had completed at Stockholm the arrangements for the
treasury which demanded his presence, he went away to complete with
Osterman the great work he had in hand. These were the preliminaries of
that alliance which was to have changed the face of affairs in Europe,
as they were found among Gortz’s papers.
The Czar was to keep Livonia, part of Ingria, and Carelia, leaving the
rest to Sweden. He was to join Charles in restoring Stanislas, and to
send to Poland 80,000 men to dethrone the very king on whose side he
had been fighting for so many years before; he was to supply ships to
carry 30,000 to Germany and 10,000 to England; the forces of both were
to attack the King of England’s German dominions, especially Bremen and
Verden; the same troops were to restore the Duke of Holstein and force
the King of Prussia to an agreement by parting with a good deal of his
new acquisitions.
Charles acted henceforth as if his own victorious troops had done
all this, and demanded of the Emperor the execution of the peace of
Altranstadt. But the Court of Vienna scarcely deigned an answer to one
whom they feared so little. The King of Poland was not altogether so
safe, but saw the storm coming. Fleming was the most suspicious man
alive and the least reliable. He suspected the designs of the Czar and
the King of Sweden in favour of Stanislas, so he endeavoured to have
him taken off to Deux Ponts, as James Sobieski had been in Silesia. But
Stanislas was on his guard, and the design miscarried.
In the meantime Charles was making a second attempt upon Norway in
October 1718. He had so arranged matters that he hoped to be master of
the country in six months.
The winter is fierce enough in Sweden to kill the animals that live
there, but he chose to go and conquer rocks where the climate is more
severe and the snow and ice much worse than in Sweden, instead of
trying to regain his beautiful provinces in Germany.
He hoped his new alliance with the Czar would soon make it possible for
him to retake them, and his ambition was gratified by the thought of
taking a kingdom from his victorious foe.
At the mouth of the river Tistendall, near the bay of Denmark,
between Bahus and Anslo, stands Fredericshall, a place of strength
and importance, which is considered the key to the kingdom. Charles
began its siege in December. The cold was so extreme that the soldiers
could hardly break the ground. It was like digging trenches in rock,
but the Swedes were nothing daunted by fatigue which the King shared
so readily. Charles had never suffered so severely. His constitution
was so hardened by sixteen years’ hardship that he would sleep in the
open in a Norwegian mid-winter on boards or straw, wrapped only in his
mantle, and yet keep his health.
Some of the soldiers fell dead at their posts, but others who were
nearly dying dare not complain when they saw their King bearing it
all. Just before this expedition he heard of a woman who had lived for
several months on nothing but water, and he who had tried all his life
to bear the hardest extremes that nature can bear resolved to try how
long he could fast. He neither ate nor drank for five days, and on the
sixth, in the morning, he rode two leagues to his brother’s, where he
ate heartily, yet neither his large meal nor his long fast incommoded
him.
With such a body of iron, and a soul of so much strength and courage,
there was not one of his neighbours who did not fear him.
On the 11th of December, St. Andrew’s day, he went to view his trenches
at about nine in the evening, and finding the parallel not advanced
as much as he wished, he was a little vexed at it. But M. Megret,
the French engineer who was conducting the siege, told him the place
would be taken in eight days’ time. “We shall see,” said the King,
“what can be done.” Then, going on with the engineer to examine the
works, he stopped at the place where the branch made an angle with the
parallel; kneeling upon the inner slope, he leaned with his elbows on
the parapet, to look at the men who were carrying on the entrenching by
starlight.
The least details relating to the death of such a man as Charles
are noted. It is therefore my duty to say that all the conversation
reported by various writers, as having taken place between the King
and the engineer, are absolutely false. This is what I know actually
happened.
The King stood with half his body exposed to a battery of cannon
directed precisely at the angle where he stood. No one was near him
but two Frenchmen: one was M. Siquier, his _aide-de-camp_, a man
of capacity and energy, who had entered his service in Turkey, and
was particularly attached to the Prince of Hesse; the other was the
engineer. The cannon fired grape-shot, and the King was more exposed
than any of them. Not far behind was Count Sveren, who was commanding
the trenches. At this moment Siquier and Megret saw the King fall on
the parapet, with a deep sigh; they came near, but he was already
dead. A ball weighing half-a-pound had struck him on the right temple,
leaving a hole large enough to turn three fingers in; his head had
fallen over the parapet, his left eye was driven in and his right out
of its socket; death had been instantaneous, but he had had strength to
put his hand to his sword, and lay in that posture.
At this sight Megret, an extraordinary and feelingless man, said,
“Let us go to supper. The play is done.” Siquier hastened to tell
the Count Sveren, and they all agreed to keep it a secret till the
Prince of Hesse could be informed. They wrapped the corpse in a grey
cloak, Siquier put on his hat and wig; he was carried under the name
of Captain Carlsbern through the troops, who saw their dead King pass,
little thinking who it was.
The Prince at once gave orders that no one should stir out of the camp,
and that all the passes to Sweden should be guarded, till he could
arrange for his wife to succeed to the crown, and exclude the Duke of
Holstein, who might aim at it.
Thus fell Charles XII, King of Sweden, at the age of thirty-six
and a half, having experienced the extremes of prosperity and of
adversity, without being softened by the one or in the least disturbed
by the other. All his actions, even those of his private life, are
almost incredible. Perhaps he was the only man, and certainly he was
the only king who never showed weakness; he carried all the heroic
virtues to that excess at which they become faults as dangerous as
the opposed virtues. His resolution, which became obstinacy, caused
his misfortunes in Ukrania, and kept him five years in Turkey. His
liberality degenerated into prodigality, and ruined Sweden. His
courage, degenerating into rashness, was the cause of his death. His
justice had been sometimes cruel, and in later years his maintenance
of his prerogative came not far short of tyranny. His great qualities,
any one of which would immortalize another prince, were a misfortune
to his country. He never began a quarrel; but he was rather implacable
than wise in his anger. He was the first whose ambition it was to be
a conqueror, without wishing to increase his dominions. He desired to
gain kingdoms with the object of giving them away. His passion for
glory, war, and vengeance made him too little of a politician, without
which none has ever been a conqueror. Before a battle he was full
of confidence, very modest after a victory, and undaunted in defeat.
Sparing others no more than himself, he made small account of his own
and his subjects’ labours; he was an extraordinary rather than a great
man, and rather to be imitated than admired. But his life may be a
lesson to kings and teach them that a peaceful and happy reign is more
desirable than so much glory.
Charles XII was tall and well shaped. He had a fine forehead, large
blue eyes, full of gentleness, and a well-shaped nose, but the lower
part of his face was disagreeable and not improved by his laugh, which
was unbecoming. He had little beard or hair, he spoke little, and often
answered only by the smile which was habitual to him.
Profound silence was preserved at his table. With all his inflexibility
he was timid and bashful; he would have been embarrassed by
conversation, because, as he had given up his whole life to practical
warfare, he knew nothing of the ways of society. Before his long
leisure in Turkey he had never read anything but Cæsar’s commentaries
and the history of Alexander, but he had made some observations on war,
and on his own campaigns from 1700-1709; he told this to the Chevalier
Folard, and said that the MSS. had been lost at the unfortunate battle
of Pultawa. As to religion, though a prince’s sentiments ought not to
influence other men, and though the opinion of a king so ill-informed
as Charles should have no weight in such matters, yet men’s curiosity
on this point too must be satisfied.
I have it from the person who has supplied me with most of my material
for this history, that Charles was a strict Lutheran till the year
1707, when he met the famous philosopher Leibniz, who was a great
freethinker, and talked freely, and had already converted more than one
prince to his views. I do not believe that Charles imbibed freethought
in conversation with this philosopher, since they only had a quarter of
an hour together; but M. Fabricius, who lived familiarly with him seven
years afterwards, told me that in his leisure in Turkey, having come in
contact with diverse forms of faith, he went further still.
I cannot help noticing here a slander that is often spread concerning
the death of princes, by malicious or credulous folk, viz., that when
princes die they are either poisoned or assassinated. The report spread
in Germany that M. Siquier had killed the King; that brave officer was
long annoyed at the report, and one day he said to me, “I might have
killed a King of Sweden, but for this hero I had such a respect that,
had I wished to do it, I should not have dared.”
I know that it was this Siquier himself who originated this fatal
accusation, which some Swedes still believe, for he told me that at
Stockholm, when delirious, he shouted that he had killed the King of
Sweden, that he had even in his madness opened the window and publicly
asked pardon for the crime; when on his recovery he learned what he had
said in delirium, he was ready to die with mortification. I did not
wish to reveal this story during his life; I saw him shortly before his
death, and I am convinced that, far from having murdered Charles, he
would willingly have laid down his life for him a thousand times over.
Had he been capable of such a crime it could only have been to serve
some foreign Power who would no doubt have recompensed him handsomely,
yet he died in poverty at Paris, and had even to apply to his family
for aid.
As soon as he was dead the siege of Fredericshall was raised. The
Swedes, to whom his glory had been a burden rather than a joy, made
peace with their neighbours as fast as they could, and soon put an
end to that absolute power of which Baron Gortz had wearied them. The
States elected Charles’s sister Queen, and forced her to solemnly
renounce her hereditary right to the throne, so that she held it only
by the people’s choice. She promised by oath on oath that she would
never secure arbitrary government, and afterwards, her love of power
overcome by her love for her husband, she resigned the crown in his
favour and persuaded the States to choose him, which they did under
the same condition. Baron Gortz was seized after Charles’s death, and
condemned by the Senate of Stockholm to be beheaded under the gallows,
an instance rather of revenge than of justice, and a cruel insult to
the memory of a king whom Sweden still admires.
Charles’s hat is preserved at Stockholm, and the smallness of the hole
by which it is pierced is one of the reasons for supposing he was
assassinated.
INDEX
Achmet III, Emperor of the Turks, 187;
receives letter from Charles XII, 188;
treats the king as an honourable prisoner, 189-196;
decides on war against Russia, 211;
imprisons Russian ambassador, _ib._;
his letter to Charles XII offering to send him home with an
escort, 235, 236;
Sultan again declares war against Russia, 239;
again makes peace, 241;
sends money and directions for the King of Sweden’s departure,
244, 245;
sends peremptory orders to him to leave his territory, 251;
sends orders to put all the Swedes to the sword and not to spare
the king’s life, 254;
sends troops to attack the king’s house, 255;
reads the petition presented him by de Villelongue, 276;
interviews him in disguise, 276, 277;
he banishes the Kan of Tartary and the Pasha of Bender, 277;
his farewell presents to Charles XII, 287
Alberoni, Cardinal, his dealings in Spain, 319;
sides with the Pretender, 325
Altena, burnt by General Steinbock, 282;
terrible suffering of the inhabitants, 282, 283
Altranstadt, peace concluded at, 130
Anne, Queen of England, concludes treaty at the Hague, 203;
her death, 293
Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, 17,19, 20;
concludes treaty with Peter the Great against Sweden, 34;
besieges Riga, 46;
meeting with Peter the Great at Brizen, 58;
intrigues against, by opposing parties, 70-72;
forced to flee, 77;
endeavours to collect troops, 78, 79;
his army defeated at Clissau, 81;
at Pultask, 85;
withdraws to Thorn, 85;
is declared by the Assembly incapable of wearing the crown,
90;
his narrow escape of being captured, 91;
advances on Warsaw, 101;
victorious entry into, 102;
finally forced to retreat from Poland, 106;
is sent for by Peter the Great to conference at Grodno, 113;
arrests Patkul, _ib._;
shut up in Cracow, the last town left him, 117;
writes to Charles XII asking for peace, 120;
his victory over the Swedes, 123;
enters Warsaw in triumph, _ib._;
accepts Charles XII’s terms of peace, 124;
his meeting with, at Gutersdorf, 124, 125;
is forced to write a letter of congratulation to Stanislas, 125, 126;
and to give up his prisoners, 126;
returns to Poland after battle of Pultawa, 200;
his embassy to the Sultan, 239;
insists on Charles XII being sent away, 241;
his restoration to the Crown of Poland, 294;
his people force him to submit to the Pacta Conventa, 294
Azov, surrendered to the Porte, 224, 235
Baltagi Mahomet, Pasha of Syria, made Grand Vizir, 210;
has orders to attack the Russians, 211;
his answer to the Czar’s letter suing for peace, 222, 223;
his terms, 223, 224;
concludes a treaty of peace with the Czar, 224, 225;
his efforts to force Charles XII to depart from Bender, 229, 230;
cuts off the king’s supplies, 231;
Poniatowski plots against him, 232;
his lieutenant is executed and he himself exiled, 233;
his death, _ib._
Bender, Governor of, handsome reception of Charles XII by, 183
Borysthenes, escape of Charles XII and his troops to, after
Pultawa, 175, 176;
troops drowned while attempting to cross, 177
Calish, victory at, 122, 123;
Peter the Great’s commemoration of, 133
Calmouks, their country, 154;
detachment of, in Russian army, Charles XII’s narrow escape
from, 154, 155
Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia, forgets benefits received from
the Porte, and makes treaty with the Czar, 216
Catherine, wife of Peter the Great, her early history, 220-222;
persuades the Czar to sue the Grand Vizir for peace, 222
Charles XI abolishes the authority of the Senate, 10;
his character, _ib._;
his marriage, _ib._;
death of his wife, 13;
his cruelty to her and oppression of the people, _ib._;
his death, _ib._
Charles XII, his birth, early education, tastes and character, 11, 12;
anecdotes of, 12;
his accession, 13, 14;
takes the reins of power into his own hands, 15, 16;
his coronation, 16, 17;
sudden transformation of his character, 37, 38;
begins war with Russia and its allies, 39;
his skill and courage, 40, 41;
his first success in arms, 43, 44;
concludes the war with Denmark, 46;
his victory at Narva over 80,000 Russians, 49-54;
war vessels constructed by, 59;
his artifice to hide his movements, 59;
defeats the Saxons and enters Birzen, 60, 61;
his further successes against the King of Poland, 73;
refuses to see the Countess of Königsmarck, 75;
receives the embassy of the Polish State, 76;
arrives before Warsaw, 79;
his interview with Cardinal Radjouski, 80;
his victory at Clissau, 81;
enters Cracow, 82;
his accident and false report of his death, 82;
his success at Pultask, 85;
his indifference to danger, 86;
besieges Thorn, 89;
resists temptation of seizing the throne of Poland, 92;
offers it to Alexander Sobiesky, _ib._;
receives Stanislas Leczinski and nominates him King of Poland, 97,
98;
takes Leopold by assault, 100;
joins Stanislas against
Augustus, 103;
his continual success, _ib._;
his pursuit of Schullemburg, 105, 106;
his preparations for the coronation of Stanislas, 108;
present incognito at the ceremony, 110;
defeats Russian troops, 114, 115;
massacres his prisoners, 117;
enters Saxony, _ib._;
visits the field of Lutzen, 118;
levies money and food from the Saxons, 118, 119;
his method for enforcing good behaviour on his troops, and their
severe discipline, 119;
anecdote of, and soldier, 119, 120;
his absolute rule in Saxony, 120;
terms of peace offered by him to Augustus, 121;
his troops defeated by the Russians, 123;
account of his interview with Augustus at Gutersdorf, 124, 125;
his cruel sentence on Patkul, 127;
receives ambassadors from all parts, 135;
Duke of Marlborough’s interview with, 135-137;
his determination to dethrone the Czar, 137, 138;
his exorbitant demands on the Emperor of Germany, 138-140;
sends officers to Asia and Egypt to report on their strength, 141;
magnificence of his plans, _ib._;
continues his hardy mode of life, _ib._;
account of his visit to Augustus in Dresden, 142, 143;
alarm of his officers, 143, 144;
leaves Saxony to pursue the Czar, 147;
receives Turkish ambassador, 148;
starts in search of the Russians, 149;
enters Grodno, _ib._;
arrives at the river Berezine, 151;
his stratagem, _ib._;
leads his forces on foot and wins gloriously at Borysthenes, 152;
his haughty answer to the Czar, 153;
his narrow escape from detachment of Calmouks, 154, 155;
leaves the Moscow road and turns south towards Ukrania, 156;
his secret league with Mazeppa, 158;
terrible difficulties and hardships of his march, 159;
Mazeppa reaches him with only a few men left, 160;
is cut off from communication with Poland without provisions, 163;
extreme cold destroys a part of
his army, _ib._;
miserable condition of his soldiers, _ib._;
anecdote of, 164;
receives supplies from Mazeppa, 165;
advances on Pultawa, 166;
is wounded, 168;
battle of Pultawa, 169-175;
his retreat and escape, 175, 176;
his dangerous condition, 176, 177;
finally reaches the river Hippias, 181;
his narrow escape from the Russians, 182;
some of his troops captured, _ib._;
handsomely received by the Commander of Bender, 183;
his letter to Achmet III, 188;
his journey across the desert to Bender, 190;
his life and occupation at, 192, 193;
his anger and disappointment at his treatment by the Porte, 194, 195;
angrily rejects the Sultan’s present, 196;
advice and money given him by new Grand Vizir, 198;
clings to the hope of rousing the Turks to declare war against
Russia, 199;
contrast of, with Peter the Great, 201, 202;
his numerous enemies, _ib._;
starts to join the Vizir against the Russians, 218;
his rage at finding the treaty between the Vizir and the Czar
concluded, 225, 226;
rides back to Bender in despair, 226;
builds himself a large stone house at Bender, 229;
Baltagi’s efforts to force him to depart, 229, 230;
the king agrees only on condition of the Vizir’s punishment, 231;
his supplies cut off, _ib._;
finds difficulty in borrowing money, 231, 232;
petitions the Porte to send him home with large army, 235;
letter from Achmet to, 235, 236;
refuses to go without an army, 241;
his courier seizes letter from General Fleming to the Tartars, 242;
the Sultan sends money and directions for his departure, 244, 245;
his letters to Sultan intercepted, 245;
refuses to listen to reason or to move, 250;
his supplies cut off, _ib._;
barricades his house, 251;
prepares for assault, 255;
refuses all advice and offers of mediation, 253, 254, 257, 258;
his courage, 260;
defends his house
with only forty followers against the Turkish forces, 261;
his house set on fire by assailants, 262;
his coolness, 263;
he and his followers make a sally, and are taken prisoners, 264;
his reception by the Pasha, 265;
his chancellor and officers made slaves, 268;
retains his natural and gentle manner even in calamity, _ib._;
is taken in a chariot to Adrianople, 269;
his officers redeemed by Jeffreys and La Mottraye, _ib._;
has a sword given him, _ib._;
is angry at hearing of the abdication of Stanislas, 271;
hears that Stanislas is a prisoner a few miles away, and sends
Fabricius to him, 272;
is removed to the castle of Demirtash, 278;
is allowed to reside at Demotica, 279;
stays in bed for ten months, 279, 280;
hears of the wreck of his foreign dominions, 280;
is taken ill, 284;
receives dispatches from his sister, 285;
sends arrogant message to the Senate in Sweden, _ib._;
determines to leave and return home, _ib._;
he borrows money to provide a Swedish Embassy to Constantinople, 286;
receives presents from the Sultan before leaving, 287;
his journey, 287, 288;
preparations made for his entertainment in Germany, 289;
disguises himself and with one officer rides for sixteen days till
he reaches Stralsund, 291;
the loss of his dominions, 294, 295;
is besieged in Stralsund, 304-311;
his escape, 311, 312;
spends a day with his sister, 312;
raises money and recruits, 312, 313;
invades Norway, 313;
advances to Christiania, 318;
hears of Gortz and Gyllemburg being seized, 322;
enters Norway again and besieges Fredericshall, 330;
his soldiers die of cold, _ib._;
his extraordinary powers of endurance and constitution, 330, 331;
his death, 332;
description of, 334;
his religious views, 335;
his hat in which he was killed preserved at Stockholm, 337
Charles Gustavus, invades Poland, 10;
his conquests, _ib._;
endeavours to establish absolutism, _ib._;
his death, _ib._
Charlotte, wife of Stanislas, crowned Queen of Poland, 110
Chourlouli, Grand Vizir, breaks his promise of help to Charles XII, 194;
Poniatowski plots against, 195;
the Sultan’s favourite helps towards his downfall, 198;
is dismissed and banished, _ib._
Christian II, King of Denmark, 6;
driven from Sweden by Gustavus Vasa, 8
Christian III, King of Denmark, makes arrangement with his brother
concerning the Duchies of Holstein and Sleswick, 18
Christine, Queen of Sweden, her character, 9;
her resignation, 9, 10
Clement XI threatens excommunication to those who assist at coronation
of Stanislas, 107
Clergy forbidden by King of Sweden to take part in politics, 108
Clissau, victory of Swedes at, 81
Constantinople, its position as the centre of Christendom, 234;
Swedish and Russian factions at, 234;
bad policy of the Porte, 237
Copenhagen, Charles XII’s success at, 43, 44
Coumourgi-Ali-Pasha, favourite of the Sultan, his history, 197;
plots downfall of Grand Vizir, 197, 198;
secretly protects the Russian cause, 238, 239;
his plans, 240;
his intrigues, 277, 278;
made Grand Vizir, 284
Cracow, Charles XII, entry of, 82
Criminals, Turkish law concerning, 199
Danes, attacked by Steinbock and his raw recruits, 207, 208;
cut to pieces by, 208
Dantzig, punishment of, by Charles XII’s troops, 88
Delecarlia sends deputation to Regency at Stockholm offering to go and
rescue the king, 209
Demotica, Charles XII’s residence at, 278 _ff._
Diet, held in Poland and Lithuania, description of, 64;
duties of, 65;
summoned to meet at Warsaw, 70;
factions in, 70, 71;
breaks up in disorder, 73;
assembled by Charles XII, 83;
by Peter the Great at Leopold, and Lubin, 132, 133
Dresden, visit of Charles XII to Augustus at, 142, 143
Edwiga Eleanora of Holstein, wife of Charles X, her regency, 14-16
Elbing, entered by Charles XII, 89
England, her neutral pose, 234;
secretly favours the Czar, _ib._;
alliance of, with the Porte, 234, 235
Europe, state of, at the period of Charles XII’s return to his
country, 292 _ff._
Fabricius, envoy of Holstein, 251;
is persuaded of the integrity of the Kan and the Pasha, 252;
is anxious to mediate for Charles XII, but king receives him
coldly, 253;
he makes a last effort to save the king, 254;
is overcome at seeing the king a prisoner and with rent clothes, 268;
undertakes to ransom the prisoners, 269
Ferdinand IV, King of Denmark, 17;
attacked and defeated by Charles XII, 40-46;
treaty with, 46, 87;
renews his claim to Holstein, 202
Fleming, General, minister of King Augustus, his correspondence with the
Kan of Tartary, 242;
letter of his seized by Charles XII’s courier, 242
Frauenstadt, battle of, 115, 116
Frederic, Prince of Hesse-Cassel, Charles XII marries his sister to,
301;
accompanies his brother-in-law in his expedition into Norway, 314
Fredericshall, besieged by Charles XII, 330;
death of king at, 332;
the siege raised, 336
French, regiment of, taken prisoners by Saxon troops, 116;
enter service of King of Sweden, 117;
further notice of, 331
Germany, its position at the beginning of 18th century, 203;
Princes of, conclude treaty of the Hague, _ib._
Gortz, Baron, Charles XII’s premier, great scheme of, 314, 316;
the Czar approves of it, 317;
sends secretly to interview representatives of Pretender’s party, 320;
his intrigues discovered, and is arrested at the Hague, 321, 322;
is set at liberty, 325;
his efforts to effect a peace between the Czar and Charles XII, 326;
hatred of Swedes towards, 327, 328;
seized after the king’s death and beheaded, 336, 337
Grodno, conference between Peter the Great and Augustus at, 113;
result of, _ib._;
Charles XII enters town in pursuit of Czar, 149
Grothusen, Charles XII’s treasurer, gets possession by false
assurances of the money sent by the Sultan, 246;
goes out alone to address the janissaries sent to take the
King of Sweden, 256;
is taken prisoner and ransomed by the Pasha, 269;
accompanies the king to Adrianople, 269;
with him at Demotica, 280;
sent as ambassador extraordinary to the Sultan, 286;
fails to borrow money from the Porte, _ib._;
killed at siege of Stralsund, 308
Gustavus Adolphus, his conquests, 8, 9;
his death, 9
Gustavus Vasa, 7;
his deliverance of Sweden from King Christian and the bishops, 8;
introduces Lutheranism, _ib._;
his death, _ib._
Gyllemburg, Count, Swedish ambassador, conspires with Baron Gortz,
and is arrested in London, 320, 322;
set at liberty, 325
Hague, the, treaty of, 203
Holland, States of, conclude treaty of the Hague, 203;
neutral pose of, 234;
secretly support the Czar, _ib._;
alliance of, with the Porte, 234, 235
Holstein, Duchess of, sister of Charles XII, dies of small-pox, 164
Holstein, Duchy of, 18;
its struggle with Denmark, 18, 19;
cause of, supported by Charles XII, 46;
renewed claim of Denmark to, 202
Ibrahim Molla, elected Grand Vizir, 279;
his history, _ib._;
plans to make war with the Russians, _ib._;
is pressed to death between two doors, 284
Ishmael, Pasha of Bender, sent to acquaint King of Sweden with the
Sultan’s resolve that he must quit his territories, 241;
receives letter and money from the Sultan enforcing his orders, 244;
his fear and trouble on finding Grothusen had deceived him, 247;
his further interview with the king and angry departure, 249, 250;
shuts off king’s supplies, 250;
allows three days’ grace before the janissaries assault the
king’s house, 257;
offers prize to those who can take the king, 260;
he and the Kan fire the king’s house, 262;
the king is carried prisoner to his quarters, 264;
his reception of the king, 265, 266;
generously ransoms Grothusen and Colonel Ribbins, 269;
is accused by De Villelongue and banished by the Sultan, 276, 277
Janissaries, their mode of attack, 215
Jeffreys, English envoy, endeavours to mediate between the King of
Sweden and the Turks, 251, 253;
helps the king with money, 269;
with assistance of La Mottraye redeems the Swedish officers, 269
Joseph, Emperor of Germany, accedes to Charles XII’s exorbitant
demands, 138-140;
signs treaty in favour of Silesian Lutherans, 140
Joseph, succeeds Baltagi as Grand Vizir, his early history, 233;
the creature of Ali-Coumourgi, 233;
countersigns the Peace of Pruth, 234;
is accused by De Villelongue to the Sultan and deposed, 276, 277
Kan of Tartary, his dependence on the Porte, 212, 213;
his opposition to the treaty between the Turks and Russians, 224;
corresponds with the minister of King Augustus, 242;
swears treacherously that
he will be responsible for Charles XII’s safe conduct, 251;
his anxiety to commence the assault on the king’s house, 256;
fires the king’s house, 262;
is accused by De Villelongue to the Sultan and banished, 276, 277
Königsmarck, Countess of, sent to negotiate with Charles XII, 74;
the king refuses to see her, 75
Kuze-Slerp, his brave defence of Usedom, 302-304
Leczinski. _See_ Stanislas
Leopold, taken by assault by Charles XII, 100;
Diet at, 132, 133
Levenhaupt, Count, Charles XII’s general in Russia, 147, 158;
his victory over the Russians, 160-161;
is pursued by the enemy, 161;
disputes the victory for three days against odds, 162, 163;
reaches the king without provisions, 163;
at Pultawa, 171, 175;
reaches the Borysthenes, 176;
surrenders with remainder of troops, 178;
in triumphal procession of Czar, 205
Lithuania, two parties in, 69, 70
Livonia, its struggle for independence, 20, 21
Louis XIV, league against, 203;
carries on war after Charles XII’s defeat, 203
Margaret of Valdemar, Queen of Denmark and Norway, 6
Marlborough, Duke of, interview with Charles XII, 135-7
Mazeppa, tale of, 157;
made Prince of Ukrania, _ib._;
plans a revolt, 157, 158;
his secret league with Charles XII, 158;
his loans and treasures taken and plundered, 160;
reaches Charles XII as a fugitive, _ib._;
furnishes the king with necessaries of life, 165;
refuses the Czar’s offers, 165, 166;
escapes with Charles XII after Pultawa, 177;
his death, 194
Menzikoff, Prince, defeats the Swedes under General Meyerfield, 123;
at battle of Pultawa, 169-175;
comes up with the Swedes at the Borysthenes, 177, 178;
the Swedish force surrenders to him, 178
Moldavians side with the Turks against their prince, 217
Moscow, Peter the Great’s triumphal entry into, 204-206
Narva, besieged by Peter the Great, 48;
great battle of, 49-54;
taken by assault by Peter the Great, 110;
barbarity of Russian soldiers at, 111
Numan Couprougli, Grand Vizir, his incorruptible honesty, 198;
his advice to Charles XII, _ib._;
turned out of office, 209;
his answer to Achmet, 210;
retires to Negropont, _ib._
Oginski, head of one of the rival factions in Lithuania, 69, 133
Ottoman Porte, state of, 188;
influence of the Czar at, 193, 194
Paikel, Livonian officer, endeavours to save his life by disclosing
the secret for manufacturing gold, 129
Patkul, General, joins the Russian side, 113;
Czar’s ambassador in Sweden, _ib._;
arrested by order of Augustus, _ib._;
Charles XII insists on his release, 126;
his terrible end, 127, 128
Peter the Great, 17, 18;
his conquests, 21;
his education and early life, 24, 25;
his reforms, 26-29;
builds St. Petersburg, 32;
his barbarity, 32, 33;
concludes treaty with King of Poland against Sweden, 34;
his defeat at Narva, 49-54;
meeting and further treaty with King of Poland, 58;
takes Narva by assault, 110;
checks the outrages of his soldiers, 111;
lays the foundations of St. Petersburg, _ib._;
invites Augustus to conference at Grodno, 113;
departs suddenly to check an insurrection, _ib._;
his troops dispersed by Charles XII and Stanislas, 114, 115;
his troops victorious over the Swedes, 123;
his anger at and revenge of the execution of his ambassador, 130-132;
enters Poland with over 60,000 men, 132;
his desolation of, 134;
withdraws into Lithuania, _ib._;
flies at the approach of Charles XII, 149;
leaves Grodno by one gate as Charles enters at another, _ib._;
is driven from the Berezine, 151;
defeated at Borysthenes, 152;
sees his country desolated and makes proposals to Charles XII, 153;
the king’s haughty answer, _ib._;
his defeat by the Swedes under Levenhaupt, 161;
pursues the enemy and brings them to a stand, _ib._;
after three days’ fighting his superior forces gain the upper
hand, 162;
at Pultawa, 169-175;
his elation at his success, 179, 180;
his admiration of the Swedish generals, 180;
cruelty to the Cossack prisoners, 181;
makes use of his victory to seize other places and sends troops to
Poland, 201;
contrast of, with Charles XII, 201, 202;
agrees to treaty of the Hague, 203;
triumphal entry into Moscow, 204-206;
hears of Turkish preparations against him, 215;
makes a treaty with Prince Cantemir and marches into Moldavia, 216;
finds himself without provisions, 217;
is driven back on Pruth, 218;
his difficult position, 219;
determines to attack the Turks, destroying all that might serve as
booty to the enemy, _ib._;
is induced by the Czarina to sue for peace, 222;
concludes treaty with Grand Vizir, 224, 225;
fails to fulfil his promises, 232;
Sultan declares war against, 239;
peace again concluded, 241;
insists on Charles XII being sent away, _ib._;
gains control of the Baltic, 296;
his victory over the Swedish fleet, 297;
triumphal entry into St. Petersburg, _ib._;
supports Baron Gortz’s scheme, 317;
his behaviour on hearing of Gortz’s arrest, 323;
his proposal of alliance to the Regent of France, _ib._;
his daughter asked in marriage for the Pretender, 325
Piper, Count, prime minister of Charles XII, 15, 16, 17, 41, 43, 72, 80;
advises Charles XII to take the crown of Poland, 91, 92;
negotiates with the plenipotentiaries of Augustus, 121;
question as to whether he received money from the Duke of
Marlborough, 137, 138;
receives Turkish ambassador, 148;
at Pultawa, 169, 173;
his imprisonment at St. Petersburg and death, 179;
in Peter the Great’s triumphal procession, 205
Pirates, send to Charles XII to make terms with them, 318, 319
Poland, government and general condition of, 62-67;
torn by conflicting parties, 70-74;
embassy sent by, to Charles XII, 76;
throne of, declared vacant, 90;
crown of, offered to Alexander Sobiesky, 92;
Stanislas Leczinski elected and crowned king, 99, 109;
invaded by Peter the Great, 132;
two kings and two primates in, _ib._;
insurrection in, after battle of Pultawa, 200;
Augustus returns to, as king, _ib._;
miserable condition of, 134;
the people’s fear of arbitrary power, 294;
force Augustus to submit to the Pacta Conventa, _ib._;
the Czar makes himself master in, 298
Pomerania, battles in, 280
Poniatowski, General, 174, 177;
his designs at Constantinople, 189, 193;
draws up indictment against the Grand Vizir and presents it to
the Sultan, 195, 196;
plots against the Grand Vizir, 196;
negotiates with new Grand Vizir, 199;
attempts to poison him, _ib._;
in Grand Vizir’s army against the Russians, 218;
opposes the treaty of peace, 224;
sends letter to Sultan accusing the Grand Vizir, 232;
sends letter of advice to Charles XII, 258;
at siege of Stralsund, 308
Posnania, Bishop of, handed over to papal legate, 102;
carried to Saxony, and dies, 103
Pretender, the, James II’s son, plots for placing him on the
throne, 317, 319, 320, 325
Prussia, the first king of, league proposed by, to secure peace
and the restoration of Charles XII, 270
Pruth, Peace of, 225, 234;
Sultan’s anger at infraction of, 239
Pultawa, great battle of, 169-175
Radjouski, Cardinal, his intrigues, 70, 71;
opposes the king in the Diet, 76;
his manifesto, 77;
flees from Warsaw, _ib._;
his interview with Charles XII, 80;
takes his oath of fealty to the latter, 83;
throws off his mask and declares Augustus incapable of wearing
the crown of Poland, 90;
unable to oppose the election of Stanislas, 99;
finds legitimate excuse for not consecrating him, 109;
his death, _ib._
Renschild, General under Charles XII, 41;
defeats Schullemburg at Frauenstadt, 115, 116;
with Stanislas in Poland, 134;
remark on the Council at Dresden, 144;
at Pultawa, 169, 172;
taken prisoner, 173;
conversation with the Czar, 180;
in triumphal procession of the Czar, 205
Riga, besieged by the King of Poland, 46
Rome, Court of, its policy, 102, 107;
Charles XII’s disgust with, 140
Russian prisoners massacred by Charles XII and Stanislas, 117
Ryswick, peace of, 14
Saint Petersburg, foundation of, by Peter the Great, 111, 112
Sapieha, Princess, head of one of the rival factions in Lithuania, 69,
133
Saxony, entered by Charles XII, 117;
tax levied on, 118;
his method for protecting the inhabitants from the ill-conduct of
his soldiers, 118, 119;
his absolute rule over, 120
Schullemburg, Count, in command of Augustus’s troops, 104;
his plan of formation in battle, 104, 105;
he saves his army, 106;
statue erected to him by Venetian Republic, 106;
his defeat by General Renschild at Frauenstadt, 115, 116
Silesia, Charles XII demands restitution of privileges to its
Protestant subjects, 139, 140
Siniawski, Grand General, his ambition, 134;
heads a third party against Augustus and Stanislas, 134, 135;
joins party of Augustus, 200
Sobiesky, Alexander, refuses crown of Poland, 92, 93
Sobiesky, Jacques, partisans of, 70, 72;
carried off by Saxon soldiers, 90
Stade, bombarded and burnt by the Danes, 280;
General Steinbock’s revenge, 283
Stanislas Leczinski, appointed deputy to Charles XII by assembly
at Warsaw, 97;
his character, 98;
nominated King of Poland, _ib._;
finally elected, 99;
attacked in Warsaw, 101;
joined by Charles XII, 103;
his victory over Augustus, 106;
his coronation, 109;
Poland entered by Peter the Great during his absence, 132;
his return to, and popularity, 134;
Pope releases the people from their oath of allegiance to, 200;
agrees to treaty of the Hague, 203;
taken prisoner in the Turkish dominions and carried to Bender, 269;
his efforts on behalf of Charles XII, 270;
willingly abdicates the throne of Poland for the public good, 270;
disguises himself and tries to reach the King of Sweden, 271;
is taken and well treated, 272;
Fabricius allowed to bring him a message from Charles XII, 272;
Pasha sends him an Arabian horse, 273;
Sultan finally releases him, _ib._;
Charles XII assigns him the revenue of the Duchy of Deux Ponts, 288;
retires to Weissemburg, 289
Steinbock, General, heads an army, chiefly composed of raw recruits,
to pursue the Danes, 207;
cuts the enemy to pieces, 208;
defends Pomerania, 280;
his victory over the Danes and Saxons at Gadebesck, 280, 281;
he burns Altena, 282;
his answer to complaints of his cruelty, 283;
loses his army and is taken prisoner, 284
Stralsund, siege of, 304-311
Sweden, its climate, 3;
its fauna, 4;
its soil, 5;
its ancient constitution, 5, 6;
conquered by
Margaret of Valdemar, 6;
its later history, _ib._;
treaty of Russia, Denmark and Poland against, 34;
its government by a Regency during Charles XII’s absence, 206;
loses all her foreign possessions, 295, 298;
scarcity of male population in, 298;
people heavily taxed, 313;
their readiness to help the king, _ib._
Swedes, their stature and endurance, 4;
fate of those taken prisoners at Pultawa, 178, 179;
sold as slaves at Constantinople, 194;
their love of war and of their king, 207;
their inveterate hatred of the Danes, 208;
thousands made slaves, 298
Tartars, description of, 213;
their extreme hospitality, 213, 214;
receive no pay in war but their booty, 214
Tartary. _See_ Kan
Thorn, King of Poland, retires to, 85;
siege of, by Charles XII, 89
Turkish troops, description of, 214, 215
Turks, embassy from, to Charles XII, 148;
present the king with one hundred Swedish soldiers who had been
redeemed by the Grand Master, 148
Ukrania, its need of a protector in one of the surrounding States, 156;
seeks protection from Poland, _ib._;
from Russia, 156, 157
Ulrica Eleanora, Princess, sister of Charles XII, asked to take
the Regency in Sweden, 285;
refuses to make peace with Denmark and resigns, _ib._;
sends account of affairs to her brother, _ib._
Usedom, taken from the Swedes by the Prussians, 303
Valida, Sultana, favours Swedish cause, 211
Villelongue, Monsieur de, his bold action on behalf of Charles XII, 274;
presents petition to the Sultan at the risk of his life, 275, 276;
has interview with Sultan, _ib._;
is released, 277;
taken prisoner at siege of Stralsund, 309
Warsaw, Charles XII appears before, 79;
battle near, 81;
Augustus enters it as a victorious sovereign, 102;
coronation of Stanislas in, 109;
entered in triumph by Augustus, 123
Winter of 1709, memorable, 163;
Charles XII loses 2,000 men on one march, _ib._
Wirtemburg, Prince, taken prisoner at Pultawa, 173
Zaporavians, description of, 166
Zobor, Count, Emperor’s chamberlain, his quarrel with Swedish ambassador
and its results, 138-140
LETCHWORTH
THE TEMPLE PRESS
PRINTERS
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.
A table of contents has been added by this Transcriber.