160 



CHARLES. 



victory, Cliarles crossetl the Dwina, attacks! (lie 

 intrenchments of the Saxons, and gained a decisive 

 victory. Cliarles might now liave concluded a peace, 

 which would liave nuule him the arbiter of the 

 North ; but, instead of so doing, he pursued Augustus 

 to Poland, and determined to take advantage of the 

 discontent of a great part of the nation, for the pur- 

 pose of dethroning him. Augustus attempted in 

 vain to enter into negotiations ; in vain did the 

 countess Konigsinark, mistress of Augustus, endea- 

 vour to obtain an interview with Charles, and disarm 

 the Swedish hero by her beauty. Charles refused 

 to negotiate with the king, or to speak with the 

 countess. 



The war continued : the Swedes gained a brilliant 

 victory at Clissau; in 1703, all Poland was in the 

 possession of the conquerors ; the cardinal primate 

 declared the throne vacant ; and, by the influence of 

 Cliarles, the new choice fell on Stanislaus Leczinsky. 

 Augustus hoped to be secure in Saxony, as Peter 

 had meanwhile occupied Ingria, and founded St Pe- 

 tersburg, at the mouth of the Neva. But the victor 

 of Narva despised an enemy on whom lie hoped, 

 sooner or later, to take an easy revenge, and in- 

 vaded Saxony. At Altranstadt (q. v.), he dictated 

 the conditions of peace, in 1706. The Livonian 

 Patkul, who was the prime mover of the alliance 

 against Sweden (at that time Peter's ambassador in 

 Dresden), was delivered up to him, on his demand, 

 and was broken on the wheel. It was, with justice, 

 a subject of astonishment, that a prince, till then so 

 magnanimous, could stoop to such intemperate re- 

 venge. In other respects, Charles exhibited, during 

 his stay in Saxony, moderation and magnanimity. He 

 subjected his troops to the strictest discipline. Several 

 ambassadors and princes visited the camp of the long 

 at Altranstadt, among whom was Marlborough, who 

 sought to discover Charles's plans, and convinced 

 himself that the victorious hero would take no part 

 in the great contests of the South. The king of 

 Sweden, however, before he left Germany, required 

 the emperor to grant to the Lutherans in Silesia per- 

 fect freedom of conscience ; and the requisition was 

 complied with. 



In Sept., 1707, the Swedes left Saxony. They were 

 43,000 strong, well clothed, well disciplined, and en- 

 riched by the contributions imposed on the conquer- 

 ed. Six thousand men remained for the protection 

 of the king of Poland: with the rest of the army 

 Charles took the shortest route to Moscow. But, 

 having reached the region of Smolensk, he altered his 

 plan, at the suggestion of the Cossack hetman Ma- 

 zeppa, and proceeded to the Ukraine, in the hope 

 that the Cossacks would join him. But Peter laid 

 waste their country, and the proscribed Mazeppa 

 could not procure the promised aid. The difficult 

 marches, the want of provisions, the perpetual attacks 

 of the enemy, and the severe cold, weakened Charles's 

 army in an uncommon degree. General Lowen- 

 haupt, who was to bring reinforcements and pro- 

 visions from Livonia, arrived with only a few 

 troops, exhausted by the march, and by continual 

 skirmishes with the Russians. Pultawa, abundantly 

 furnished with stores, was about to be invested, when 

 Peter appeared with 70,000 men. Charles, in recon- 

 noitring, was dangerously wounded m the thigh 

 consequently, in the battle of June 27th, O. S. (July 

 8thj, 1709 , which changed the fortunes of the Swedish 

 hero and the fete of the North, he was obliged to is- 

 sue his commands from a litter, without being able to 

 encourage his soldiers by his presence. This, and 

 still more the want of agreement between Renschild 

 and Lowenhaupt, were the reasons why the Swedes 

 did not display their usual skill in manoeuvring, which 

 had so often given them the victory. They were ob- 



liged to yield to superior force, and the enemy obtain- 

 ed a complete victory. Charles saw Ifis generals, hia 

 favourite minister, count Pipe r, and the flower of his 

 army, fall into the power of those Kuvsi;ms so easily 

 vanquished at Narva. He himself, together with 

 Mazeppa, fled with a small guard, and was obliged, 

 notwithstanding the pain ofnis wounds, to go several 

 miles on foot. He anally found refuge arid an ho- 

 nourable reception at Bender, in the Turkish territory. 

 His enemies were now inspired with new hope. Au- 

 gustus protested against the treaty of Altranstadt ; 

 Peter invaded Livonia ; Frederic of Denmark made. 

 a descent on Schonen. 



The regency in Stockholm took measures for tho 

 defence of the Swedish territory. General Stein bock 

 assembled a body of militia and peasants, defeated the 

 Danes at Helsingborg, and compelled them to evacu- 

 ate Schonen. Several divisions were sent to Finland 

 to keep off the Russians, who, nevertheless, advanced, 

 being superior in numbers. Cliarles, meanwhile, ne- 

 gotiated at Bender with the Porte ; succeeded in re- 

 moving the ministers who were opposed to him, and 

 induced the Turks to declare war against Russia. 

 The armies met on the banks of the river Pruth, July 

 1, 1711. Peter seemed nearly ruined, when the 

 courage and prudence of his wife (see Catharine) pro- 

 duced a peace, in which the interests of Charles were 

 entirely neglected. This monarch, however, pro- 

 jected at Bender new plans, and, through his agents, 

 solicited of the Porte auxiliaries against his enemies. 

 But the Russian agents were no less active to prepos 

 sess the Porte against him, pretending that Charles 

 designed to make himself, in the person of Stanislaus, 

 the actual master of Poland, in order, from thence, 

 in connexion with the German emperor, to attack the 

 Turks. The seraskier of Bender was ordered to com- 

 pel the king to depart, and, in case he refused, to 

 bring him, living or dead, to Adrianople. Little used 

 to obey the will of another, and apprehensive of be- 

 ing given up to his enemies, Charles resolved to defy 

 the forces of the Porte, with the two or three hundred 

 men of which his retinue consisted, and, sword in 

 hand, to await his fate. When his residence at Var- 

 nitza, near Bender, was attacked by the Turks, he 

 defended it against a whole army, and yielded only 

 step by step. The house took fire, and he was about 

 to abandon it, when, his spurs becoming entangled, 

 he fell, and was taken prisoner. His eyelashes were 

 singed by powder, and his clothes covered with blood. 

 Some days after this singular contest, Stanislaus came 

 to Bender to ask the king of Sweden to give his con- 

 sent to the treaty which he saw himself obliged to 

 conclude with Augustus ; but Charles refused. The 

 Turks now removed their prisoner from Bender to 

 Demotica, near Adrianople. Here he spent two 

 months in bed, feigning sickness, and employed hi 

 reading and writing. Convinced, at last, that he 

 could expect no assistance from the Porte, he sent 

 a parting embassy to Constantinople, and set off in 

 disguise with two officers. 



Accustomed to every deprivation, Charles pursued 

 his journey on horseback, through Hungary and Ger- 

 many, day and night, with such naste, that only one 

 of his attendants was able to keep up with him. Ex- 

 hausted and haggard, he arrived before Stralsund 

 about one o'clock on the night of the llth Nov.O. S. 

 (22d), 1714. Pretending to be a courier with impor- 

 tant despatches from Turkey, he caused himself to be 

 immediately introduced to the commandant, count 

 Dunker, who questioned him concerning the king, 

 without recognizing him till he began to speak, when 

 he sprang joyfully from his bed, and embraced the 

 knees of his master. The report of Charles's arrival 

 spread rapidly throughout the city. The houses were 

 illuminated. A combined army of Danes, Saxous^ 



