224 BATTLE OF NARVA. October 1st, when the siege was commenced. [BOOK V. Peter, on this occa 22 sion, assumed the rank and fulfilled the duties of a simple lieutenant; crossing the bridge which had been thrown over the river, pike in hand, with his company, in order to give the soldiers an example of subordination.21 Charles XII., after his return from Zealand, had determined to lead his forces against the Saxons in Livonia; but, as he was embarking them at Karlshamn, his plans were altered by the news that the Russians had not only declared war against him and imprisoned his ambassador, but had even invaded Ingria. The Swedish armament sailed October 10th, and landed the troops partly at Pernau, partly at Revel. Charles immediately resolved to direct his march on Narva. The two divisions of his army, when they formed a junction at Wesenberg, numbered only 13,000 men, and after making the necessary detachments for the defence of the country, he advanced against the enemy with but 5000 foot, 3300 horse, and 37 guns. On November 27th, Charles forced the reputed impregnable defile of Pyajokki, defended by 6000 chosen Russians under Scheremetoff, who fled in the greatest alarm to the Russian encampment before Narva, spreading the report that the Swedes were advancing 20,000 strong. On the morning of November 29th Charles had penetrated to Lagena, only six miles from Narva. The news of the defeat of Scheremetoff and approach of the Swedes had filled the Czar with consternation. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 28th, Peter entered the tent of the Duke of Croy, almost mad with fright, and, after drinking several glasses of brandy, desired the Duke to take the entire command of the army, while he himself, accompanied by Princes Golovin and Menschikoff, hastily left the camp, under pretence of fetching reinforcements from Pleskow.23 The flight of their sovereign and principal commanders had a most demoralising effect on the, Russian army. When the Swedes debouched from the wood of Lagena and formed in order of battle, they appeared to be so few that Croy took them only for the advanced guard of the 20,000 men reported by Scheremetoff. He declined, therefore, to leave his entrenchments, which were assaulted by the Swedes under cover of a snow-storm, that drove 21 Theatrum Europæum, t. xv. p. 793. 22 Lundblad, Gesch. Karls des XII., Th. i. p. 92 ff. 23 Hermann, Gesch. Russlands, B. iv. S. 115. The Saxon General Hallart, in a letter to Augustus II., describes these great bearded Russians as crying like children; characterises the Czar himself as "no soldier," and his generals as having "no more heart than a frog has hair on his belly." Cf. Lundblad, Ibid. p. 95; Theatr. Europ., t. xv. p. 797; Gordon, Hist. of Peter the Great, vol. i. into the faces of the Russians. In less than a quarter of an hour the Swedes had penetrated into the encampment; when the Russians, who no longer paid any regard to their officers, fled in disorder. In the pursuit hundreds were drowned in the Narova, the bridge over which had been broken down; others, who tried to shelter themselves behind some huts and baggage-waggons, were cut down like sheep. The young King of Sweden distinguished himself by the personal part which he took in this dreadful day. A spent ball lodged in his cravat; and in leading an assault he lost his sword and one of his boots in a morass. He was dragged out by his followers, and continued the battle with only one boot. It is said that 12,000 Russians fell in this battle, and on the following morning the remainder of their infantry surrendered; the cavalry had saved themselves by flight. As it was impossible to keep so many prisoners, they were dismissed, after defiling bare-headed before Charles to the number of 18,000 men, and giving up their arms and colours. The generals and higher officers alone were retained in captivity. The loss of the Swedes is computed at only 2000 men. The battle of Narva is an epoch in the history of Russia. It opened the eyes of the Czar to the defects of his army; and as he was not of a temper to be discouraged by his defeat, he regarded it as a useful lesson and redoubled his efforts to bring his forces into a better condition. But as it afforded a handle to the discontented Bojars, and even threatened to produce a revolution, Peter hastened back to his capital, where his political courage and activity served to compensate for the lack of those qualities which he had displayed in the field. Charles, who had taken up his winter-quarters in Livonia to refresh and recruit his little army, was long detained there in order to obtain reinforcements from Sweden. As it was uncertain whether, when he again took the field, he would direct his forces. against the Russian provinces or the army of Augustus, that monarch and the Czar had an interview at Birsen in February 1701, to take measures for their future safety; where, amid banquets and drinking bouts, which both loved well enough, their friendship was cemented by personal acquaintance, a mutual interest and a common danger. On March 3rd, they concluded a new treaty, by which the Czar engaged to pay Augustus 200,000 rix-dollars, and to send him from 15,000 to 20,000 Russian troops. His motive for this last step seems to have been that his men might become habituated to European discipline. Charles, having received large reinforcements from Sweden, 226 CHARLES OCCUPIES COURLAND. [Book V. broke up from Dorpat June 27th 1701, the anniversary of his birthday. On July 20th, he crossed the Dwina a little below Riga, and defeated the Saxons under Marshal Steinau. Agreeably to the Czar's promise, Prince Repnin was leading 20,000 Russians to the aid of Steinau, of which, however, only 4000 had been able to form a junction with that general before he was attacked by the Swedes. Kockenhusen, Dunamünde, and other places held by the Saxons were recovered before the end of the year, and all Courland was occupied by Charles's troops. The Swedish King might now have concluded an honourable and advantageous peace. The Czar, alarmed at the rapid progress of the Swedish arms, endeavoured to propitiate Charles through the mediation of the States-General. Augustus II. had still more cause for alarm, as Charles, in letters addressed to the Cardinal Primate, Radziejowski, and to the Polish Senate, had plainly intimated his wish that Augustus should be deposed. The Polish King solicited the interference of the chief European Powers; and William III., who was desirous of maintaining peace in Northern Europe, strongly persuaded Charles to reconcile himself with his adversaries, and pointed out that he was in a position to dictate his own terms. But Charles refused to listen to any such proposals till he had gratified his revenge. That the perfidious conduct of Augustus was a reasonable ground of offence, and that the war in its origin was a just one, cannot be questioned; but the vindictive feelings of Charles, and it must be added also his passion for war, made him overlook the true interests of Sweden, and finally precipitated both his country and himself into irretrievable ruin. The Polish Republic, however, had given Charles no cause for complaint; for though the war was ostensibly waged by Augustus in the interest of Poland, yet it was carried on with Saxon troops, and against the wish of the Poles, who frequently assured Charles of their friendly disposition. He had cantoned his army along the borders of Samogitia, the frontier province of Poland Proper; but it was long before he could make up his mind to cross the borders. His first expedition was into Lithuania in the winter of 1701, whither he was attracted by the feuds of the two powerful families of Sapieha and Oginski. The faction of Sapieha was inimical to Augustus, whom they denounced as the enemy of the national liberties. But this rash expedition, which Charles undertook with only 1500 horse and a few hundred infantry, without apparently any settled plan, led to no result. At Friski Charles was surprised by the troops of Oginski, and with difficulty found his way back to his own army. It was after his return from this expedition that Augustus despatched to him his mistress, the beautiful Aurora von Königsmark, a Swedish countess, to sue for peace; but Charles saw through his cousin's design, and with a prudence and self-command remarkable in so youthful a prince, refused to receive the fair ambassadress. A deputation from the Diet assembled at Warsaw met with scarcely a better reception. Charles, who was now on his march towards that capital, successively appointed to meet the envoys at Kovno and Grodno, but evaded both these appointments, and only at length gave them an audience at Dlugowice (May 4th 1702). The purport of their message was, that the Polish Republic desired peace, but that they could never consent to the dethronement of their monarch; and they desired that the Swedish troops should evacuate Samogitia and Courland, which were fiefs of the Republic.24 Such demands, unsupported by an army, were little regarded by Charles. He refused to treat with Augustus, or to recognise him as King of Poland; and he directed his answer to Radziejowski, the Cardinal Primate, as if the throne had been vacant. Against the advice of his best generals and counsellors, especially Stenbock, Piper, and Oxenstiern, Charles now pushed on for Warsaw, and on May 24th reached the suburb of Praga on the right bank of the Vistula. His approach occasioned a panic in the capital. Most of the nobles, including the Primate, retired to their estates; King Augustus set off for Cracow, where he had appointed his Saxons troops to rendezvous. Charles entered the town and castle without opposition. His army numbered only 9000 men: with such a force had he undertaken to hold a city of 60,000 inhabitants, and to direct the policy of fourteen million Poles! He had expected to meet warm partisans at Warsaw, and was surprised and hurt at the sullen silence with which he was received. It was only after repeated invitations that the Primate, who had retired to his archbishopric of Gnesen, could be induced to return to Warsaw. Charles received him with all military honours in his tent outside the town, but in a manner which the Primate afterwards complained of as inconsistent with the respect due to his age and to his rank as second person in the kingdom. Charles advanced a few steps to meet him, but no chair was offered, and both King and Cardinal remained standing. Charles was on this occasion dressed in his ordinary costume, a coat of coarse blue cloth with metal buttons, stiff boots which reached above his knees, leathern small clothes, large gloves whose elk-skin cuffs reached to his elbows, a 24 Theatr. Europ., t. xvi. p. 228 CHARLES DEFEATS AUGUSTUS. [Book V. ponderous sword, designed for use rather than beauty. Charles endeavoured to draw the Primate to his views; but Radziejowski declined to sanction the deposition of Augustus, or even to call a Diet, on the ground that he was not constitutionally empowered to do so. Charles XII. did not pursue his march towards Cracow till about the end of June. This interval had enabled Augustus, whose cause was favoured by the nobles of the palatinates of Cracow and Sandomir, to raise a much larger force than that of his adversary; and he was so elated by this circumstance that he resolved to give battle, though his most prudent generals advised him to wear out the Swedes by marches and countermarches. The two monarchs met July 20th, near Clissow, a place between Warsaw and Cracow ; when Charles gained a complete victory over 20,000 Saxons and 12,000 Poles, under Jerome Lubomirski, and captured the camp of Augustus, with forty-eight guns, many standards, the military chest, and the King's silver dinner-service. Charles's joy at this victory was, however, somewhat damped by the death of his brother-in-law, Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, who was killed by a cannon-ball. In consequence of this victory, Cracow fell into the hands of Charles, and Augustus retired to Sandomir. Here the nobles of Little Poland, exasperated by the exactions of the Swedes, rallied round Augustus, and formed a confederation to support him, which was afterwards joined by many of the nobles of Great Poland and Lithuania. They sent an embassy to Charles to offer very favourable conditions of peace,25 which, however, were refused by that monarch. A fall from his horse, by which he broke his thigh-bone, detained Charles longer at Cracow than he had intended. It was not till October 12th that he began his march towards Sandomir in a litter; while Augustus, on his approach, set off for Thorn in Polish Prussia. The winter was spent in debates and negociations. The Cardinal Primate, whose wavering policy, dictated by self-interest, seemed sometimes to incline for Charles and sometimes for Augustus, summoned the Senate to meet at Warsaw; while the Polish King called a Diet at Marienburg, which gave its sanction to the confederation of Sandomir. Meanwhile Charles had taken up his winterquarters at Lublin, and towards the middle of April 1703, he concentrated all his forces at Warsaw. Hence an attack was directed against a Saxon division under Steinau, posted at Pultusk on the Narew, which was completely defeated (May 1st), with the 25 See Lundblad, Th. i. S. 215 Anm. |