54

RETREAT OF CHARLES X.

[Book V. Denmark also concluded, two months later, an alliance with John Casimir, but he commenced his attack upon the Swedes before the treaty was signed. He was no doubt further confirmed in this resolution by the prospect of assistance from the Elector of Brandenburg.

When Charles received at Brzesc the news of these events, he immediately resolved to hasten back with the greater part of his troops to the succour of his German possessions, before the Danes, supported by the Austrians, should cut off his retreat. His apprehensions were also excited by the conduct of the Elector of Brandenburg, who had withdrawn his contingent from the Swedish army. Ragoczi, in spite of Charles's repeated warnings to him to keep nearer to his own dominions, had persisted in marching to Warsaw. A part of the Swedish troops were already on their way to the North; and Charles, leaving the command in Poland to his brother, John Adolphus, now withdrew the rest of his army from that of his Transylvanian ally (June 13th). Enraged at this desertion, Ragoczi overloaded Charles with reproaches, and hastened to regain his frontiers; but being overtaken by Czarnecki, was compelled to sign a disgraceful capitulation, by which he engaged to send ambassadors to apologise to the Republic of Poland, the King of Hungary (Leopold), and the Ottoman Porte, and to pay 400,000 ducats for the damage he had occasioned. The Swedes, on their side, hastened northwards, burning all on their road to Thorn, to prevent the Poles from following them. They arrived at Stettin early in July, reduced to about 6000 ragged men, but full of ardour and burning to revenge themselves on the Danes. After their retreat, the Protestants in Poland were subjected to the most cruel persecution. They were accused of having enticed the Swedes into Poland; their estates were plundered and their churches desecrated; they were excluded from the Diet, and many of them were even put to death.

After Charles's failure in Poland, the Elector of Brandenburg began to throw off the mask. He had, indeed, never sincerely embraced the Swedish cause. He foresaw that he should ultimately lose his share of Pomerania, as well as his Prussian duchy, if Charles succeeded in his gigantic projects; those provinces being indispensable to the completion of the Swedish empire on the Baltic. Leopold was aware of the Elector's views on this subject, and he was encouraged by them to mediate a peace between him and Poland. Frederick William stipulated that, in return for his active support, the independent sovereignty of Prussia, granted to him by Sweden, should be confirmed; and the Poles were at

length induced, by the success of Charles in Denmark, which we shall presently relate, to accede to this condition. Thus by the TREATY OF WELAU, signed September 19th 1657, Frederick William became sovereign duke of Prussia. On his side he engaged to restore all that he occupied in Poland, Lithuania, and Warmia, either by force of arms or by treaty with Sweden.22

The war between Denmark and Sweden commenced at sea. A Danish fleet of forty sail took its station at Bornholm; another squadron blockaded Gothenburg. The plan was to shut up all the Swedish harbours. Frederick III. was impressed with the idea that Charles would hasten to return to Sweden with his shattered army. Hoping to intercept him, Frederick himself went on board the Danish fleet with the greatest secrecy; but when he arrived off Dantzic, he was surprised with the news that the Swedish King had entered Pomerania; on hearing which he hastened back to his dominions.

The Danes had crossed the Elbe early in July at Glückstadt and Harburg, and another division had entered Mecklenburg and penetrated as far as Wismar. Many rencounters subsequently took place in those parts, mostly to the advantage of the Swedes, but which we forbear to relate, as the issue of the war depended on Charles's invasion of Denmark. That monarch had mustered his army at Demmin, July 10th, and on the 18th, to the astonishment of all Europe, he stood on the frontiers of Holstein. This rapid march was not accomplished without the loss of many hundred horses. The Danes retreated before him, and did not even attempt to defend the pass of Möln, the entrance into Holstein. At Ottensen, near Altona, he made a short halt, and compelled the Hamburgers to equip his army. So rapid and unexpected had been his march that he still found the Danish forces separated by the Elbe. Wrangel was despatched into the duchy of Bremen, and in a fortnight drove the Danes from every place except Bremervörde. Charles himself began his march northwards, August 3rd. He had accompanied Torstenson during the campaign in Holstein and Jutland in 1644; he had thus become acquainted with the scene of his future exploits, and had discussed with Torstenson those plans which now gave him the victory. His progress was rapid. The raw Danish levies, commanded by inexperienced officers, were unable to withstand the Swedish veterans. Charles traversed Holstein and Schleswic almost without resistance. On the 23rd of August he stood before Fridericksodde in Jutland, a strongly fortified place which commands the Lesser Belt. The

22 Dumont, t. vi. pt. i. p. 191.

56

SIEGE OF FRIDERICKSODDE.

[Book V.

greater part of Jutland was now in his power; but as he foresaw that Fridericksodde would require a long siege, he resigned the command to Wrangel, and retired to Wismar, in order to watch the movements of the Poles and Austrians. In spite of his success, his position had become extremely critical. He was at open war with Poland, Russia, Denmark, and Austria, while Holland and Brandenburg were covert enemies. The Austrian army had begun to move northwards. The Swedish general

Würtz had surrendered Cracow to them on condition of an unmolested retreat; a place, indeed, which from its distance from the other Swedish possessions was not worth retaining. An Austrian corps was marching towards Prussia; and Czarnecki, with 4000 Poles, had entered Swedish Pomerania, and devastated everything as far as Uckermünde. Another motive with Charles for going to Wismar was that he might superintend the operations of the fleet. Ships were indispensable to his attack upon the Danish islands. The Swedish fleet was not ready till the beginning of September; and on the 12th of that month it engaged the Danish fleet off the Isle of Möen in a battle which lasted two days and left the victory undecided. The Swedish ships then entered the harbour of Wismar.

The siege of Fridericksodde lasted till the 24th of October, when Wrangel became master of it by a bold and successful manœuvre. The town lies on a tongue of land, and on one of its sides is protected by the sea; and on this side some palisades were its only defence. Wrangel, taking advantage of a periodical recess of the sea and the shades of night, ordered some of his cavalry to destroy the palisades and enter the town on that side, whilst he himself stormed it with all his forces on the other. This method proved entirely successful; most of the garrison were killed or made prisoners, and in the morning the Swedish flag floated upon the walls.

The possession of Fridericksodde was indispensable to the Swedish army, in order to pass over to Funen. The passage,

however, could not be effected without the assistance of the fleet; and that of the Danes, though terribly maltreated in the late engagement, having been reinforced with eighteen Dutch ships, was still the mistress of the seas. Charles had been disappointed of the aid of an English fleet. He had proposed to Cromwell a plan for the partition of Denmark, by which that kingdom would have been entirely obliterated; but though the Protector was desirous of obtaining some German State, in order that he might have a voice in the affairs of the Empire, he did not wish to see Denmark

completely crushed; and he had observed to the Dutch ambassador that the times were past when it was permitted to destroy whole monarchies.23 Cromwell would have preferred a triple alliance, with Sweden and Denmark, against the House of Austria; and he declared himself ready to join Sweden and the German Protestant States against Leopold. Both England and France had offered to mediate between Denmark and Sweden; but both these Powers were then disinclined to a peace, and Charles X. especially did all that lay in his power to defeat the negociations.

Under these circumstances, the capture of Fridericksodde would have been of no avail to Charles, had not the powers of nature stepped in to his assistance. After he had suffered some months of anxiety, a severe frost covered the Baltic with ice, and suggested to him an idea by which he might excel the exploits of any former conqueror. He resolved to cross the sea on the ice, although the persons whom he consulted denounced the enterprise as impracticable. The strength of the current near Middlefahrt, where the Little Belt is narrowest, rendered it unadvisable to cross at that point; the passage to Funen was therefore effected some miles lower down towards Hadersleben; where, though the Belt is six or seven miles broad, the ice was more secure, while the little island of Brandsö in the middle of the channel materially assisted the operation. On the night of the 30th January 1658, the King himself and Wrangel led the cavalry and artillery, while the Count De la Gardie, at the head of the infantry, crossed between Stenderup and Tybring. After passing the island of Brandsö, the cavalry advanced in order of battle towards the headland of Ivernäs, now Wedelsborg, on the coast of Funen. In this operation several squadrons of cavalry sank beneath the ice; but the main body arrived in safety and defeated a Danish corps which attempted to arrest their progress. The Swedes occupied Funen without further resistance, and Charles entered Odensée, the chief town, on the 31st of January. The more hazardous enterprise of crossing over the Great Belt into Zealand still remained to be achieved. The shortest route was from Nyborg to Corsöer; but it was determined to adopt the safer, though more circuitous one, across the islands which lie between the southern extremities of Funen and Zealand. The channel between Funen and Langeland was passed on the night of February 5th, and on the following one the still broader channel between Langeland and Laaland. On the 8th, Guldborg Sound was crossed, which separates Laaland from Falster. In Falster it was necessary to wait 23 Puffendorf, De Reb. Carol. Gust., Lib. iv. § 84.

58

TREATY OF ROSKILD.

[Book V.

for the infantry and artillery, which arrived at Stubkiöping on the 10th; and on the two following days the whole army passed over into Zealand.24

Nothing could equal the consternation of the Danes at the news of this successful and unexpected invasion. Copenhagen was in so wretched a state of defence as to be entirely at the mercy of the conqueror. Charles, flushed with the triumph of one of the most extraordinary military enterprises ever achieved, debated whether he should put an end to the Danish monarchy by incorporating it with Sweden, or whether he should content himself with seizing some of its finest provinces. The first of these projects he is said to have relinquished only through fear that the more agreeable climate of Zealand might induce some of his successors to make it their residence, and that Denmark might thus become the seat of empire, whilst Sweden sank down into a mere Danish province.

But whatever the exultation of Charles, and however brilliant his situation, he could not be insensible to its danger. Czarnecki and his Poles, after wasting Pomerania and threatening to penetrate into Holstein, had indeed returned home to secure their booty, instead of marching to the assistance of the King of Denmark; but, on the other hand, a more dangerous enemy had been added to those who had declared against Charles. The Elector of Brandenburg had concluded an offensive alliance with Denmark, November 10th 1657. That prince might soon come to the aid of the Danish King; besides which, it was known that the Dutch were preparing to come to the relief of Copenhagen, as soon as the ice broke up, with a fleet of twenty-five ships and 7000 men. The apprehension of these events led Charles to refuse any suspension of arms for the purpose of negociation, and to hasten his march towards the Danish capital. He did not, however, reject the mediation pressed upon him by England and France. The Danish plenipotentiaries had been instructed to agree to the best terms they could obtain, and the preliminaries of a peace were signed at Tostrup towards the end of February, which led to the definitive TREATY OF ROSKILD, March 8th 1658. By this treaty Denmark was isolated from her allies, as each party agreed to renounce all alliances contracted to the prejudice of the other, and the Baltic was to be closed to the fleets of the enemies of either Power. This last article was particularly offensive to the Dutch, and caused Van Beuningen, the Dutch minister, to strain every nerve to upset the treaty. Denmark

24 See for this expedition, besides Puffendorf, the Mémoires of the Chev. de Terlon, the French ambassador.