470 R U S 
sians to beat them, he returned to his own dominions, 
where he applied himself with the utmost diligence to the 
raising of another army. He evacuated all the provinces 
which he had invaded, and for a time abandoned all his 
great projects, thus leaving Charles at liberty to prosecute the 
war against Poland. 
As Augustus had expected an attack, he endeavoured to 
draw the tzar into a close alliance with him. The two 
monarchs had an interview at Birsen, where it was agreed 
that Augustus should lend the tzar 50,000 German soldiers, 
to be paid by Russia ; that the' tzar should send an equal 
number of his troops to be trained up to the art of war in 
Poland; and that he should pay the king 3,000,000 of rix- 
dollars in the space of two years. Of this treaty Charles had 
notice, and by means of his minister Count Piper, entirely 
frustrated the scheme. 
After the battle of Narva, Charles became confident and 
negligent, while the activity of Peter increased with his losses. 
He supplied his want of artillery by melting down the bells 
of the churches, and constructed numerous small vessels on 
the lake of Ladogo, to oppose the entrance of the Swedes 
into his dominions. He took every advantage of Charles’s 
negligence, and engaged in frequent skirmishes, in which, 
though often beaten, he was sometimes victorious. Thus, he 
proved to his soldiers, that the Swedes though conquerors, 
were not invincible, and kept up the spirit of his troops by 
liberally rewarding every instance of courage and success. 
He contrived to make himself master of the river Neva, and 
captured Nyenschantz, a fortress at the mouth of that river. 
Here he laid the foundation of that city which he had long 
projected, and which w r as to become the future metropolis of 
his empire. At length, in 1704, he became master of Ingria, 
and appointed his favourite Prince Menzikoff to be viceroy 
of that province, with strict orders to make the building of 
the new city his principal concern. Here already buildings 
were rising in every quarter, and navigation and commerce 
were increasing in vigour and extent. 
In the mean time Augustus, king of Poland, though treating 
with Charles for the surrender of his dominions, was obliged 
to keep up the appearance of war, which he had neither 
ability nor inclination to conduct. He had been lately 
joined by Prince Menzikoff with 30,000 Russians; and this 
obliged him, contrary to his inclination, to hazard an engage¬ 
ment with Meyerfeldt, who commanded 10,000 men, one 
half of whom were Swedes. The whole Swedish army were 
taken prisoners. Augustus had scarcely sung Te Deum for 
this victory, when his plenipotentiary returned from Saxony 
with the articles of the treaty, by which he was to renounce 
all claim to the crown of Poland in favour of his rival Sta¬ 
nislaus. The king hesitated and scrupled, but at last signed 
them; after which he set out for Saxony, glad at any rate to 
be freed from such an enemy as' the king of Sweden, and 
from such allies as "the Russians. 
The tzar Peter was no sooner informed of this extraordinary 
treaty, than he sent letters to every court in Christendom, 
complaining of this gross violation of the law of nations. 
He entreated the emperor, the queen of Britain, and the 
States-General, to revenge this insult on humanity. He stig¬ 
matized the compliance of Augustus with the opprobrious 
name of pusillanimity; exhorted them not to guarantee a treaty 
so unjust, but to despise the menaces of the Swedish bully. 
So well, however, was the prowess of the king of Sweden 
known, that none of the allies thought proper to irritate him, 
by refusing to guarantee any treaty he thought proper. At 
first, Peter thought of revenging Patkul’s death by massacreing 
the Swedish prisoners at Moscow; but from this he was de¬ 
terred, by remembering that Charles had many more Russian 
prisoners than he himself had of Swedes. Giving over all 
thoughts of revenging himself in this way, therefore, in the 
year 1707, he entered Poland at the head of 60,000 men. 
Advancing to Leopold, he made himself master of that city, 
where he assembled a diet, and solemnly deposed Stanislaus 
with the same ceremonies which had been used with regard 
to Augustus. The country was now reduced to the most 
miserable situation; one party, through fear, adhered to the 
S I A. 
Swedes; another was gained over, or forced by Peter to take 
part with him; a violent civil war took place between the 
two, and great numbers of people were butchered; while 
cities, towns, and villages, were laid in ashes by the frantic 
multitude. The appearance of a Swedish army under king 
Stanislaus and General Lewenhaupt, put a stop to these dis¬ 
orders, Peter himself not caring to stand before such enemies. 
He retired, therefore, into Lithuania, giving out as the cause 
of his retreat, that the country could not supply him with 
provision and forage necessary for so great an army. 
The armies of Sweden, in Saxony, Poland, and Finland, 
now exceeded 70,000 men; a force more than sufficient to 
have conquered all the power of Russia, had they met on 
equal terms. Peter, who had his army dispersed in small 
parties, instantly assembled it on receiving notice of the king 
of Sweden’s march, and was on the point of attacking Stanis¬ 
laus, when the approach of Charles struck his whole army 
with terror. In the month of January, 1708, Charles passed- 
the Niemen, and entered the south gate of Grodno just as 
Peter was quitting the place by the north gate. Charles at 
this time had advanced some distauce before the army, at the 
head of 600 horse. 
The tzar having intelligence of his situation, sent back a 
detatchment of2000 men to attack him, but these were entirely 
defeated; and thus Charles became possessed of the whole 
province of Lithuania. The king pursued his flying ene¬ 
mies in the midst of ice and snow, over mountains, rivers, 
and morasses, and through obstacles, which to surmount 
seemed impossible to human power. These difficulties, 
however, he had foreseen and had prepared to meet them. 
As he knew that the country could not furnish provisions 
sufficient for the subsistence of his army, he had provided a 
large quantity of biscuit, and on this his troops chiefly sub¬ 
sisted, till they came on the banks of the Berizine, in view of 
Borislow. Here the tzar was posted, and Charles intended to 
give him battle, after which he could the more easily pene¬ 
trate into Russia. Peter, however, did not think proper to 
come to an action: but retreated towards the Dnieper, 
whither he was pursued by Charles, as soon as he had refreshed 
his army. The Russians had destroyed the roads, and deso¬ 
lated the country, yet the Swedish army advanced with 
great celerity, and in their march defeated 20,000 Russians, 
who were strongly entrenched. This victory, considering the 
circumstances in which it was gained, was one of the most 
glorious that ever Charles had achieved. The memory of it 
is preserved by a medal struck in Sweden with this inscription, 
“ Sylvae, paludes, aggeres, hostes, victi.” 
When the Russians had repassed the Dnieper, the tzar, 
finding himself pursued by an enemy with whom he could 
not cope, retreated; but Charles pursued so closely, that, 
daily skirmishes took place between his advanced guard and 
the rear of the Russians. In these actions the Sweedes gene¬ 
rally had the advantage, though their petty victories cost 
them dear, by contributing to weaken their force in a coun¬ 
try where it could not be recruited. The two armies came so 
close to each other at Smolensk, that an engagagement took 
place between a body of Russians composed of 10,000 ca¬ 
valry and 6000 Kalmuks, and the Swedish vanguard, com¬ 
posed of only six regiments, but commanded by the king in 
person. Here the Russians were again defeated, but Charles 
having been separated from the main body of his detatch¬ 
ment, was exposed to great danger. With one regiment only 
he fought with such fury, as to drive the enemy before him, 
when they thought themselves sure of making him 
prisoner. 
By the third of October, 1708, Charles had approached 
within 100 leagues of Moscow'; but Peter had rendered the 
roads impassable, and had destroyed the villages on every 
side, so as to cut off every possibility of subsistence to the 
enemy. The season was far advanced, and the severity of 
winter was approaching, so that the Swedes were threatened 
with all the miseries of cold and famine, at the same time 
that they were exposed to the attacks of an enemy greatly 
superior in number, who, from their knowledge of the coun-, 
try, had almost constant opportunities of harassing and, 
attacking 
