white men were scattered all through the country separately, and down below here a piece they built a stockade. One time there was some trouble, and the white men and friendly Indians in the garrison were pushed right smart by the enemy who surrounded them. Finally a girl named Nancy Hart managed to get through, and she jumped bareback on a horse, and started up this way as hard as she could ride, rousing everybody to go to the relief of the garrison. As she rode along, she gave every creek coming down out of the mountains the name of the distance it was from the stockade. And so you'll find 'em-Six, that is Six-mile Creek, Ten, Twelve, Eighteen, Three-and-Twenty, and so on up to Ninetysix, where she stopped. I reckon she guessed at it, but 'pears like she calc'lated right close."

upon the crest of a long, steep ridge which approaches close to the margin of a placid stream now called the Seneca River. There is a vague story of early Indian fights on this ridge, and, in plowing it, many stone relics have come to light. Later, when the sturdy mountaineers were rallying for the new republic in '76, and resisting the soldiers whom the Crown landed on the Carolina coast or marched down from Virginia; when Marion was ranging the woods with his squirrel-hunters, and King's Mountain saw a day of bloody battle on its rounded summit and along its abrupt sides, then this pleasant hill by the Seneca was again fortified and garrisoned under the name of Fort Salvador, after its commander, and more than one half-Indian skirmish took place within sound of its one small cannon.

It is a gradual ascent to the central part of the estate, where "Fort Hill" holds its commanding position. Calhoun found the name ready for him when he came, and well-supported by history, or, at least, by tradition. When the Six Nations, of which the Senecas were the chief representatives in this region, were at their fullest power, they had extended their sway as far south as here, driving back the Indian tribe which previously had held possession. It was a frontier post of their domain, however, and here they built a stockade for defense

Around this garrison grew up a small settlement, and a well was dug to guard against being cut off from a supply of water. Tradition says that after Salvador had been killed in one of the fights, and General Wilkinson had taken command, disasters followed and the place was abandoned, but that first a large amount of valuables and of war material was buried in the old well. It is the Captain Kidd's treasure tale of the region.

When, half a century ago, Calhoun bought this place, to which he had been

attracted while up here hunting and fishing in summer vacations, he for the first time extinguished the Seneca title, acquiring about fifteen hundred acres.

His first act was to lay out and improve an extensive park, and to build a house upon the top of the hill, where a wide landscape of marvelous beauty saluted his eyes in every direction. It is this park and mansion that now appear through an opening in the tangled woods, and realize the traditions of the old, rich, rural life in the South.

From the heavy gate which a little negro labors excitedly to swing back on its rusty hinges, showing all his white teeth at a nickel, a broad and solid road, brown with a carpet of fine needles, winds upward toward a mansion that reminds one of Mount Vernon, a large house of stone, stuccoed and whitewashed, with a gable roof extending over the porch, and supported upon four great pillars, stuccoed into smoothness and whiteness. At the farther, or western, side of the main house begins an extension, one story in height and made of wood, which is fully one hundred feet long. This held the kitchen and house-servants' rooms, and it was half-screened from view by a row of cedars that have now become sadly gnarled and dead. Just under the brow of the hill, in front of the house, bursts out a copious spring, whose drainage has cut a deep gully into the rocky slope. Over this spring was built a low, square house, the mossy roof of which is too low to obstruct the view from the piazza. Underneath, the rock was excavated into a large chamber, where the spring was curbed and taught a sober channel, cooling the air for the rows of pans of milk and the jars of butter that dwelt in the shady, semi-subterranean retreat. Stone steps led down to this dairy, and a phoebe-bird or two built a nest in the rough portal. Beyond, a little way, four stout posts held a large pigeon-house, a ladder's length above the ground, and beyond this stretched a clover-field down to the river.

Entering the broad hall in the center of the mansion, the eye rests upon a large number of antlers, all of deer killed close by, and some with the senator's own rifle. Even now the woods about there are full of venison, and only the day before the writer's visit a black bear had come down from the forest at high noon, trotted leisurely through the door-yard, run across the park, and so gone out again to his wilderness.

left of the hall, everything is substantially as Mr. Calhoun left it, and all is plain and worn. The old-fashioned side-board was constructed of historic wood, and, besides much family plate, it was ornamented by two great polished horns of African oxen, handsomely mounted in gold, a gilt clock of the time of Louis XVI., and other lesser articles of virtu, all gifts to Mr. Calhoun. Another interesting relic was the old straight-backed, sprawl-legged arm-chair which Washington used at Trenton. The negroes believe that it incapacitates the person who sits fifteen minutes in it for successfully lying during the following sixty days. It is not in high repute among them, therefore, as an easy chair. In the more reserved "parlor," beyond this room, are many family portraits in antique frames, including a queer one of Mrs. Calhoun's mother when a girl, with her hair done up in an inconceivably bushy manner.

But the statesman's favorite haunt was his library, which occupies a square, onestoried structure by itself, a hundred feet or so in the rear of the house. One gets a good idea of the grandeur of the old estate from the porch of this little building, whence he can view the three hundred acres of park, and admire the gigantic, symmetrical, it is not too much to say perfect, examples of live-oak, cedar, and other trees that group themselves picturesquely in this noble demesne. Beyond it, the hill slopes away to the river bottoms, which, overflowed yearly, are perpetually fertile, and to the greensward or black fallow that marks the swell of old Fort Hill. At his right, close by, is the old house-garden, now a tangled, odorous jungle of roses and grapes; at his left a varied landscape, with the spires of old Pendleton, the county-town, in the distance; behind him a valley full of woodland, out of which, a dozen miles away, rise the hill and park and large white house where the senator's brother resided. This latter estate can be seen from the railway trains, when they are a few miles west of Central.

Cal

somber room, though; there is not a bit of brightness or light to relieve the sober array of books, the heavy furniture, the dark paint, and dull, groined ceiling.

When John C. Calhoun sat, and wrote, and attended to his affairs in this gloomy library, he was a man not only of unbounded influence, but of great wealth. Besides this princely domain, he was proprietor of a great plantation in Alabama. He owned from three to five hundred slaves, and kept them all busy. He would send a detach

ment down to his cotton-fields, as long as they could stand it, and then bring them back here to the brisk mountain air for recuperation. At one time this home-estate amounted to fifteen hundred acres, but now it is not more than half as large, and is going into a melancholy decay for lack of money to make its cultivation profitable or its beauty available for any one's pleasure. It still remains in the family, but a purchaser for the larger part, if not for the whole, would probably be welcomed.

CHAPTER XXIII.

PATKUL.

We have seen that the surrender of Patkul was one of the conditions of the peace of Altranstädt. The political career of this unhappy man is inseparably connected with the war between Charles and Peter.

We have already spoken of the way in which Patkul was identified with the early history of the war, the share he had in bringing it about, and in forming the alliance between Augustus and Peter. In the battle on the Düna, he commanded one wing of the Saxon troops under Field-Marshal Steinau, was severely wounded, and was taken to Mitau. Six weeks later, in September, 1701, Prince Gregory Dolgorúky, the Russian envoy at Warsaw, wrote to the Tsar: "Patkul has hardly got well from his wound, but he has been to see me, and said that he does not intend to serve any longer in Poland, on account of the way in which the King has treated his allies; that for a time he will live in Breslau and look about to find some place to serve." Peter, who, like all Patkul's contemporaries, had a great opinion of his abilities, immediately invited him to enter his service. This opportune offer was taken into consideration, and Patkul started for Moscow, where he arrived in Passion Week, in 1702. The Tsar received him kindly, consulted with him on several occasions, and renewed his offers, which were ultimately accepted by Patkul, who then received the rank of privy councilor, and was subsequently appointed a lieutenant-general. There exists in the

VI.

archives at Moscow a curious document of this period, written by Patkul in German, in which he sets forth in detail his acquirements, experience, and qualifications; disclaiming all knowledge of marine affairs, and any special acquaintance with artillery or cavalry, but asserting his thorough competence in all relating to the infantry, to engineering, mathematics, architecture, and the construction of fortresses. During the three weeks which Patkul remained in Moscow, he had many interviews and conversations with the Tsar and with Golovín on the subject of procuring foreign officers for the army, and generally with regard to inviting foreigners to take service in Russia. The famous manifesto of April 27th, 1702, inviting foreigners to settle in Russia, was issued on the advice of Patkul, and was submitted to him for approbation. On the same day, the Tsar commissioned him to enter into various negotiations with the King of Poland, and to engage at his discretion foreigners for the Russian service, fixed his salary at one thousand reichsthalers a month, presented him with an estate of four hundred families of serfs, and his portrait set in diamonds, valued at three thousand rubles.

"It is sufficiently known," said this celebrated manifesto, "in all the lands which the Almighty has placed under our rule, that since our accession to the

throne all our efforts and intentions have tended to govern this state in such a way that all of our subjects should, through our care for the general good, become more and more prosperous. For this end, we have always tried to maintain internal order, to defend the state against invasion, and in every way possible to improve and to extend trade. With this purpose we have been compelled to make some necessary and salutary changes in the administration,

in order that our subjects might more easily gain a knowledge of matters of which they were before ignorant, and become more skillful in their commercial relations. We have therefore given orders, made dispositions, and founded institutions indispensable for increasing our trade with foreigners, and shall do the same in future. Nevertheless we fear that matters are not in such a good condition as we desire, and that our subjects cannot in perfect quietness enjoy the fruits of our labors, and we have therefore considered still other means to protect our frontier from the invasion of the enemy, and to preserve the rights and privileges of our state, and the general peace of all Christians, as is incumbent on a Christian monarch to do. To attain these worthy aims, we have endeavored to improve our military forces, which are the protection of our state, so that our

troops may consist of well-drilled men, maintained in perfect order and discipline. In order to obtain greater improvement in this respect, and to encourage foreigners who are able to assist us in this way, as well as artists and artisans profitable to the state, to come in numbers to our country, we have issued this manifesto, and have ordered printed copies of it to be sent throughout Europe."

Although the improvement of commerce was put forward, it will be seen that the main object of the manifesto was to obtain skilled officers for the army. In order to encourage foreigners to come to Russia, and to remove all fear of ill treatment, it

was expressly stated that all previous laws and decrees restricting the arrival or the departure of foreigners were thereby repealed, that all who came with the intention of entering the Russian service would receive a free passage and a full protection; and that they might experience no difficulties arising from their ignorance of the Russian laws, they should be placed under the jurisdiction of a special tribunal composed of foreigners, where all proceedings should be conducted, not according to the Russian law, but according to the Roman civil law. More than that, the principle of religious tolerance was set forth in this decree almost as fully as by Frederick the Great, half a century later. "And as in our residence of Moscow," the manifesto goes on to say, "the free exercise of religion of all other sects, although not agreeing with our church, is already allowed, so shall this be hereby confirmed anew in such wise that we, by the power granted to us by the Almighty, will exercise no compulsion over the consciences of men, and will gladly allow every Christian to care for his own salvation at his own risk." No one was to be hindered or oppressed in either the private or public exercise of the religion of any Christian sect. It will be noticed that the freedom of religious exercise granted by Peter extended only to Christians. From these privileges he, by implication, excepted the Jews. At another time he expressed himself particularly on this point. "I would rather," he said, "see among us the best people of the Mohammedan and heathen beliefs than Jews. They are rascals and cheats. I root out evil and do not spread it. They shall have no abode and no trade in Russia, however much they may try to get it, and however near to me may be the people they bribe."

A few days after the departure of the Tsar for Archangel, a curious honor was paid to Patkul. All the Swedish prisoners were collected on the great square of the · Krémlin, and there, in their midst, the executioner publicly burned all the pamphlets and accusations which had been printed in Stockholm against Patkul. This was in reply to a similar action on the part of the Swedish Government, which, four months before, had burned in Stockholm various pamphlets published in Patkul's defense.

From that time on, Patkul was active in the Tsar's service, first in Vienna, negotiating with Kaunitz, and engaging such men as Ogilvy, Rönne, and Huyssen to enter VOL. XXI.-66.

the Russian service; then in the Ukraine, negotiating with Mazeppa and Palei, and hoping to arrange the border disputes between Poland and Russia; then at the foundation of St. Petersburg, high in the favor and confidence of the Tsar, and then in Saxony, in command of the auxiliary troops, and planning, plotting, and countermining, both at Dresden and at Berlin. He was ever on the alert, ever active, ever ready with word and pen wherever there seemed to him a point to be gained or an opportunity to be used. He advised and criticised Matvéief at The Hague, he disputed with Dolgorúky at Warsaw, he directed Huyssen in his literary campaign to influence public opinion throughout Europe, he carefully watched the maneuvers of the Court of Berlin, and gave personal counsel to King Augustus.

Yet Patkul did not fulfill the expectations of Peter. His incessant activity, his laborious intrigues, his careful reports, led to no practical result. The great object of his life was, as we know, to forward the interests and preserve the privileges of the Livonian nobility. It was for this that he did his best to bring about the war. It was for this that he took service first with Poland and then with Russia. It was therefore natural that he should strain all his influence with the Tsar to induce him to leave the Baltic provinces, to unite his forces with those of Augustus, and to attack Charles. His conduct was loyal, but his personal views in this, as in other things, conflicted with those of his new master. He was not a Russian, and, like many well-educated foreigners, looked on the Russians with contempt. The Tsar, in employing foreigners, intended them to be teachers and instructors, and to serve as examples to the Russians. He was willing to put up with an occasional mistake or error, if his subjects gradually improved. Patkul's plan was to officer the whole army with foreigners, leaving each general free to choose his subordinates. In the same way, as he had a contempt for Russian diplomatists, with their inexperience, their ignorance of languages, and their lack of knowledge of society, he desired to make himself a sort of general diplomatic representative of the Tsar abroad, residing at Dresden or The Hague-with a number of secretaries, residents, and chargés d'affaires under his direction. He finally succeeded in persuading Peter to adopt his plan in part, and the Germans whom he recommended-Urbich, Neuhausen, and Lita-were appointed resi