Full text of "Voltaire's history of Charles XII, king of Sweden"

EVERYMAN S LIBRARY EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS BIOGRAPHY VOLTAIRE S HISTORY OF CHARLES TWELFTH INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY RT. HON. JOHN BURNS, M.P. THE PUBLISHERS OF LIBIfyFRr WILL BE PLEASED TO SEND FREELY TO ALL APPLICANTS A LIST OF THE PUBLISHED AND PROJECTED VOLUMES TO BE COMPRISED UNDER THE FOLLOWING THIRTEEN HEADINGS: TRAVEL ^ SCIENCE ^ FICTION THEOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY HISTORY ^ CLASSICAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ESSAYS ^ ORATORY POETRY & DRAMA BIOGRAPHY REFERENCE ROMANCE IN FOUR STYLES OF BINDING : CLOTH, FLAT BACK, COLOURED TOP ; LEATHER, ROUND CORNERS, GILT TOP; LIBRARY BINDING IN CLOTH, & QUARTER PIGSKIN LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS, LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. VOLTAIRE S HI STORY of CHARLES XII KING SWEDEN Translated 6y WINIFRED -<D TODHUNTER LONDON: PUBLISHED byJ-M-DENT S-SONS-IS 3 AND IN NEW YORK BY E-P- DUTTONSCO FIRST ISSUE OF THIS EDITION . 1908 REPRINTED .... 1912 PREFATORY NOTE " To Charles the Twelfth of Sweden I owe much of what has stood me in best stead all my life. It was nearly thirty years ago, when but a boy, that I bought his Life for a penny in the New Cut. I took it home and devoured it. It made a great impression on me. Not his wars, but the Spartan heroism of his character. He inspired me with the idea of triumphing over physical weakness, weari ness and pain. To inure his body to bear all manner of hardships indifferently, to bathe in ice, or face the torrid rays of the sun, to discipline his physical powers by gymnastics, to despise the niceties of food and drink, to make his body an instrument as of tempered steel, and at the same time to have that body absolutely at the disposition of the mind, that seemed to me conduct worthy of a hero. And so, boylike, I tried to imitate him, and succeeded at least so far as to be happily indifferent to the circum stances of my personal environment." JOHN BURNS. " Och an ar det likt det slagte som boi Bland Nordiska fjellar och dalar, Och annu pa Gud och pi Stalet det tror, An fadernas karnsprik det talar." And still as of old are the folk that abide Mid northerly mountain and valley ; In God and their weapons they ever confide, To voice of their fathers they rally. INTRODUCTION THE " Life of Charles XII " that Mr. John Burns once bought for a penny in the New Cut an inci dent in itself historical if one looks at it in the right wa y W as, he writes to say, an English version of Voltaire s book. The " Histoire de Charles XII, Roi de Suede," was first published at Rouen in 1731, first freely translated into English by Alex ander Henderson in 1734, and soon afterwards reduced into a chap-book, which made the King a proverbial hero in English fairs and market places. There have been other translations since Henderson s, and it is now retranslated by Miss Todhunter with a closer correspondence than his to Voltaire s original. The book may claim a particular right to an English hearing, apart from the main interest of its subject. It was in England that the life of Charles XII was written by Voltaire, when he was on a visit of exigency there after the Rohan escapade and his second Bastille imprisonment. The effect of this stay in England was that of a determining event in his career. " Voltairism," writes Mr. John Morley, " may be said to have begun from the flight of its founder from Paris to London. This, to borrow a name from the most memorable instance of outward change marking inward revolution, was the decisive hegira, from which the philosophy of destruction in a formal shape may be held seriously to date." We may supplement this passage from the criticism of a ix A 2 x Introduction French critic of another school, who says, " Eng land at this time was worked by a spirit of dog matic irreligion which based itself on a false erudition, a bold criticism and an insidious meta- physic. It was the time of Woolston, of Toland, of Tindal, of Chubb, of Collins, of Bolingbroke. Until then, an insouciant disciple and imitator of the epicureans of the Temple and the rous of the Regency, Voltaire had only ventured on impiety by sallies; dogmas and mysteries had so far only Inspired him with bon mots. In the school of the English philosophers he learnt to reason out his incredulity." Voltaire had had time by this to mend his youth and find his intellectual stature. Born in 1694, he was now a man approaching thirty-three. He had written plays, for his love for the theatre, as it lasted late in him, began early; he had completed his epic, " la Henriade "; he had used his wit irre sponsibly, and, thanks to it, had twice been in the Bastille. In England he learnt, if one may say so, to take his wit seriously, that is, to realize it as a decisive weapon in his inevitable revolt and warfare. Similarly he was to use some of his other faculties in their most adroit perfection. If in the " Henri ade " the epic method had failed him, considered by the side of other poems as ambitious and as long, he was able to sit down on his return from his English exile and complete this rapid piece of biography, in effect a short prose epic, which shows us the narrative art used by a consummate master in that art. More than this we need not claim for him. If we admit Carlyle s stigma of " persifleur " as apply ing to his first period, we need not go on to write him down now philosopher, by way of compensa tion, because he had studied for a brief period under Introduction xi certain notorious English philosophers. He was neither a persifleur nor a philosopher : he was a militant scribe and hyper-critic with a master bias, anti-religious or anti-Catholic, and an inimitable gift of expression. We see his gift in a very lumin ous special form in his " Charles XII," which luckily need offend no man s susceptibilities. We do not know whether that extraordinarily long indicative nose of his was at this time as telling a sign of his character, backed by his keen twinkling black eyes, as it became later? The two best pen-portraits of Voltaire we have belong to a later day than 1728, when " Charles XII " was written. The first takes us to the year when his " S^miramis " was produced, when he appears in a strange disguise among the casual nightly appari tions of the Cafe de Procope. " M. de Voltaire, who always loved to correct his works, and perfect them, became desirous to learn, more specially and at first hand, what good or ill the public were saying of his Tragedy; and it appeared to him that he could nowhere learn it better than in the Cafe de Procope, which was also called the Antre (Cavern) de Procope, because it was very dark even in full day, and ill-lighted in the evenings ; and because you often saw there a set of lank, sallow poets, who had somewhat the air of apparitions. In this cafe, which fronts the Com^die Franchise, had been held, for more than sixty years, the tribunal of those self-called Aristarchs, who fancied they could pass sentence without appeal, on plays, authors and actors. M. de Voltaire wished to compear there, but in disguise and altogether incognito. It was on coming out from the playhouse that the judges usually pro ceeded thither, to open what they called their great sessions. On the second night of * Se"miramis A3 xii Introduction he borrowed a clergyman s clothes; dressed himself in cassock and long cloak ; black stockings, girdle, bands, breviary itself; nothing was forgotten. He clapt on a large peruke, unpowdered, very ill combed, which covered more than the half of his cheeks, and left nothing to be seen but the end of a long nose. The peruke was surmounted by a large three-cornered hat, corners half bruised-in. In this equipment, then, the author of * Se"mi- ramis proceeded on foot to the Cafe" de Procope, where he squatted himself in a corner; and waiting for the end of the play, called for a bavaroise, a small roll of bread, and the Gazette. It was not long till those familiars of the Parterre and tenants of the cafe" stept in. They instantly began discuss ing the new Tragedy. Its partisans and its adver saries pleaded their cause with warmth; each giving his reasons. Impartial persons also spoke their sentiment; and repeated some fine verses of the piece. During all this time, M. de Voltaire, with spectacles on nose, head stooping over the Gazette which he pretended to be reading, was listening to the debate; profiting by reasonable observations, suffering much to hear very absurd ones and not answer them, which irritated him. Thus, during an hour and a half, had he the courage and patience to hear * Se"miramis talked of and babbled of, without speaking a word. At last, all these pretended judges of the fame of authors having gone their ways, without converting one another, M. de Voltaire also went off; took a coach in the Rue Mazarine, and returned home about eleven o clock. Though I knew of his disguise, I confess I was struck and almost frightened to see him accoutred so. I took him for a spectre, or shade of Ninus, that was appearing to me; or, at least, Introduction xiii for one of those ancient Irish debaters, arrived at the end of their career, after wearing themselves out in school-syllogisms. I helped him to doff all that apparatus, which I carried next morning to its true owner a Doctor of the Sorbonne." Another cartoon, still better known, is that of the familiar scene of his apotheosis at the Com^die Franchise. A briefer sketch of that same year of his death, 1778, may be given, because it contrasts with his sharp sketch of Charles XII at Adria- nople, carried on a sofa from his carriage, when, to avoid been seen, the King covered his face with a cushion " M. de Voltaire appeared in full dress on Tues day, for the first time since his arrival in Paris. He had on a red coat lined with ermine ; a large peruke, in the fashion of Louis XIV, black, unpowdered ; and in which his withered visage was so buried that you saw only his two eyes shining like car buncles. His head was surmounted by a square red cap in the form of a crown, which seemed only laid on. He had in his hand a small nibbed cane ; and the public of Paris, not accustomed to see him in this accoutrement, laug hed a good deal." One interesting point about Voltaire s English associations, in so far as they prepare the way for the writing of his " Charles XII," has not hitherto been pointed out. It is this : that a history of the " Wars of Sweden," written by no less a hand than Defoe s, was in existence when Voltaire was study ing English literature in London. The work, or at any rate its first part, was anonymously pub lished, like Voltaire s, in 1715; a continuation was added, and the two parts were then issued together in 1720. Between these two dates, let us note, or in 1719, " Robinson Crusoe " had appeared. xiv Introduction Defoe s career has some incidents of prison and persecution that are like enough to Voltaire s to warrant a fanciful apposition of the two rebel authors. He was in severe straits when he wrote the first part of his Wars of Charles XII ; deeply involved in political intrigues. He had had, too, a severe illness a violent fit of apoplexy at the end of the previous year ; and his trial for libelling Lord Annesley in the whig " Flying Post " was impend ing. His sentence, and curious escape from being imprisoned, and his " Hymn to the Mob," have at best a remote bearing on the present book. But one notes these ironical lines to the Mob as having an added irony, when read in the light of his " Charles XII " and Voltaire s interest in his writings " Thou art the Essence of the War ; Without thee who wou d in the Field appear? Tis all thy own, whoever gets the Praise Thy Hands that fight, and tis thy purse that pays. How partial is the common state of things, And how unjust the Fame of Emperors and Kings ! " Defoe s " History of the Wars " is written as " by a Scots gentleman in the Swedish service." It is a more documentary book than Voltaire s, to all outward appearance ; and in it he has written with characteristic fidelity to the make-believe of his literary double the pseudo " Scots gentleman." It has much the air of the off-hand, matter-of-fact military narrator, who does not look for rhetorical openings, or greatly trouble himself to make the most of his subject. In his preface he says of Charles XII : " He has done Actions that Posterity will have room to Fable upon, till they make his History Incredible, and turn it into Romance." The romance is already in process in Defoe s pages. The following passage Introduction xv in the text may be quoted to give an idea of his Scots gentleman s estimate of the King " And such as these were his Discourses to us, who were his Servants, which so effectually con- vinc d us, that his Cause was just, and his Founda tions right, that however black the Prospect was, which we had before us; for we could see nothing attending us in the Process of the War, but Death, or being made Prisoners of War, which among Northern Princes especially, is but one Degree less in its Nature to a Soldier; and yet it must be said, in Honour of his Sivedish Majesty s Service, and of his Servants too; that not an Officer of Note deserted him to the Day of his Death, or quitted his Service, tho always unfortunate; nay, even the foreign Officers did not desert him ; for we all thought, so much Virtue, such personal Bravery, such gallant Principles, such immoveable Steadi ness, could not fail, but one Time or other must necessarily have a Turn of Fortune in the World, must some Time or other find Friends to support it : For who could . imagine, that so gallant a Prince should at once be abandon d of all the Princes of the Earth, from whom any Assistance could be expected; and that he, whose Ancestors had been the Refuge and Sanctuary of all the Pro testant Powers and Princes in Germany, in their Distress, should at last receive Help from none of the Successors of those very Princes, who were establish d by the Blood and Power of Sweden; nay, to apply it nearer, should at last be driven out of his Possessions by those very Powers, whose Ancestors ow d the Being of their Government, to the Gal lantry and Friendship of the King of Sweden s Predecessors." Other extracts might be made which would show that Defoe was writing at his utmost stretch of xvi Introduction speed when he wrote the " History." This, too, is proved by the occasional gaps, dates left blank, and uncorrected errors of fact, or of the press. Voltaire s book, on the other hand, though it repeats some of Defoe s errors, is an admirably adroit, and a well-poised and considered biography : one of the best biographies of great soldiers ever given to the world. We may conclude, if we will, that Voltaire s English experiences in the decisive years of the writing of the book, which un doubtedly gave a new force and impulse to his genius, helped him also to his particular mastery in this vein. His tribute to England in his " Lettres Philosophiques sur les Anglais " is an indirect testimony to his intellectual expatriation ; and with these two books and his tragedy, "Zaire," which followed in 1732, Voltaire may be said to have attained his brilliant majority. The students of history who wish to collate Vol taire s book with later authorities may be recom mended to turn to Mr. Nisbet Bain s volume on Charles XII, in the " Heroes of the Nations " series, Mr. Oscar Browning s monograph, and Schuyler s " History of Peter the Great." E. R. The following are the works of Voltaire Dramatic Works: (Edipe. 1718; Artemire, 1720: Mariamne, 1724; Zaire, 1732; Samson (opera), 1732; L Enfant Prodigue, 1736 ; Mahomet, ou le Fanatisme, 1742; Merope, 1743 5 Semiramis, 1748; Nanine, 1749; Oreste, 1750; L Orpheline de la Chine, 1755; Tancrede, 1760; L Ecossaise, 1760; Le Depositaire, 1772; Irene, 1778; Agathocles, 1779 (performed on the anniversary ot the poet s death). Other dramas and operas. Poems: La Bastille, 1717; La Henriade (fraudulently published as La Ligue, 1723-4) 1728; Mort de Mile. Lecouvreur, 1730 ; Temple du Goto, 1733 (prose and verse) ; Bibliography xvii Le Mondain, 1736; Discours sur 1 homme (fipitres sur le Bonheur, 1738-9); Sur les Evenements de 1744; Fontenoi, 1745 ; Temple de la Gloire, 1745 ; La Pucelle d Orle ans, 1755 (some of the "Chants" had been in circulation since 1735), in twenty Chants, 1762 ; a supplemental one, " La Capilotade," appeared separately in 1760 ; Sur le desastre de Lisbonne, 1756 ; Sur la Loi Naturelle, 1756; La Vanite, Le Pauvre Diable, Le Russe a Paris, 1760 ; Contes de Guillaume Vade (with prose, 1764) ; La Guerre Civile de Geneve (burlesque poem), 1768 ; Les Trois Empereurs en Sorbonne, 1768; Epitre a Borleau, 1769; Les Systemes, Les Cabales, 1772 ; La Tactique, 1773 ; and others. Prose Tales : Le Monde comme il va (or Babouc), 1746 ; Zadig, 1748 (published in 1747 as " Memnon, Histoire Orientelle") ; Memnon, ou la Sagesse Humaine, 1749; Micromegas, 1750; L Histoire d un Bon Bramin, 1759; Candide, 1759; Le Blanc et Le Nmr, 1764; Jeannot et Colin, 1764; L HommeauxQuaranteEcus, 1767 ; L Ingenu, 1767 ; La Princesse de Babylone 1768 ; Histoire de Jenny, 1769: Lettres d Amabed, 1769; Le Taureau Blanc, 1774; Les Oreilles du Comte de Chesterfield, 1774 ; and others. Historical Works : Histoire de Charles XII, 1731 ; Siecle de Louis XIV, 1751 ; enlarged edition 1753 (two chapters had been printed and suppressed in 1739) j Abrege de 1 Histoire Universelle, vols. i and ii, 1753; vol. iii, 1754; complete edition, 1756 (fragments had appeared in 1745) ; Annales de 1 Empire, 1753 ; Precis du Siecle de Louis XV, published in part 1755 an ^ T 763> with additional chapters, 1769; Essai sur 1 Histoire Generale et sur les Mceurs et 1 Esprit des Nations depuis Charlemagne jusqu a nos jours, five vols, 1756, given in vol. vii of Siecle de Louis XIV (some chapters had appeared in the " Mercure " in 1745-6) ; Histoire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand : first part, 1759 ; second part, 1763 ; La Philosophic de 1 Histoire, 1765 (later the " Discours preliminaire " to "Essai sur les Mceurs"); La Defense de mon Oncle (in reply to an adverse criticism on the above work), 1767 ; Le Pyrrhonism de 1 Histoire, 1768; Fragments sur 1 Histoire Generale (Pyrrhonism and Tolerance), 1773. Works on Philosophy and Religion : Epitre philosophique a Uranie, 1732 ; Lettres sur les Anglaises (twenty-four letters), I 733> / !734 (also published as ".Lettres Philosophiques") ; Traite de Metaphysique, 1734; Elements de la Philosophic de Newton, 1738; Metaphysique de Newton, 1740 ; Articles for the Encyclopedic, 1757 ; Dictionnaire Philosophique Portatif, 1764 ; Catechisme de 1 Honnete Homme, 1763 ; Le xviii Bibliography Philosophe Ignorant, 1766; La Raison par Alphabet (new edition of the Dictionnaire Philosophique), 1769 ; Lettres de Memmius, 1771 ; Questions sur 1 Encyclopedic par des Amateurs, 1770-2 ; Lettres Chinoises, Indiennes, et Tartares par un Benedictin, 1776 ; Memoires pour servir a la vie de M. Voltaire (printed 1784) ; and others. Critical Works : Essai sur la Poesie, 1726 ; Utile Examen des Epitresde J. J. Rousseau, 1736 ; Lettres sur la " Nouvelle Heloise," 1761 ; Appel a toutes les Nations de 1 Europe des "!..- :n*-tto jrl im A/-**-i troi-r\ Ar^rrloic- /1of*vr Irroii7 o c ** Pin r TVl^afr/ Republi . ... Corneille (with translation of Shakespeare s "Julius Caesar "), 1764; Examen Important de Milord Bolingbroke, 1767; Commentaire Histprique sur les QEuvres de 1 auteur de la Henriade, 1776; Eloge et Pensees de Pascal (corrected and enlarged edition), 1776; Commentaire sur 1 Esprit des Lob de Montesquieu, 1777 ; and others. Miscellaneous Writings: Epitres aux Manes de Genon- ville, 1729; fipitre des Vous et des Tu, 1732; Sur la Calomnie, 1733; Anecdotes sur Pierre le Grand, 1748: Mensonges Imprimes (on Richelieu s Will)), 1749; Des Embellissements de Paris, 1750 ; Remerciement sincere a un Homme Charitable, 1750; Diatribe du Doctor Akakia, 1752; Les Quand, 1760; Writings for the rehabilitation of Jean Galas, who had been unjustly executed, 1762 ; Traite sur la Tolerance a 1 occasion de la Mort de Jean Galas, 1763 ; Le Sentiment des Citoyens (attack on Rousseau), 1764; Discours aux Welches, 1764; Les Anciens et les Modernes, ou la Toilette de Mme. de Pompadour, 1765 ; Commentaires sur le livre des delits et des peines. 1766 ; Le Cri des Nations (against Papal domination), 1769 ; De la Paix Perpetuelle (on fanaticism and tolerance), 1769; La Meprise d Arras (on another judicial mistake), 1771 ; Eloge de Louis XV; de la Mort de Louis XV et de la Fatal ite, 1774 ; and other works. Editions of Voltaire s works include a few works on physics and an enormous correspondence. Chief General Editions of Works: Ed. Beaumarchais, etc., 70 vols. 8, 1784; 92 vols. 12, 1785-90; Beuchot, 70 vols., 1828, etc. ; Ed. du Siecle, 8 vols., 1867-70; Molancl, 50 vols., 1877-83; with "Table Generate et Analytique," by Charles Pierrot, 1885 ; Selections have been published, and separate volumes of letters. Bibliography : G. Bengesco, 1882-90. Life, etc. : Condorcet, 1787 ; G. Desnoireterres, "Voltaire Bibliography xix et la Societe Francaise au XVIII me Siecle," 1871-76 ; Long- champ et Wagniere, " Memoires sur Voltaire, et ses ouvrages," 1825 ; Bersot, Etudes sur leXVIII me Siecle, 1855 ; A. Pier- ron, "Voltaire et ses Maitres," 1866; Maynard, "Voltaire; sa vie et ses oeuvres," 1867 ; D. F. Strauss, 1870 ; J. Morley. 1872, 1886 ; James Fasten, 2vols., 1881 ; G. Maugras, " Vol- taire et Jean Jacques Rousseau," 1886 ; E. Faguet, 1895 5 E. Champion, " Voltaire : Etudes Critiques," 1897 ; L. Cronsle, 1899 ; G. Lanson, 1907 ; and in Sainte-Beuve, "Causeries du Lundi," vol. ii; Brunetiere, "Etudes Critiques," vols. i, iii, iv. TRANSLATOR S NOTE " CHARLES XII " was written during the years 1727 and 1728. It is more than 170 years since it was first translated into English. Opinions of its merits differ widely. Macaulay, classing it with Boswell s " Johnson " and Marmontel s " Mm- oires," says that it " may be perused with delight by the most frivolous and the most indifferent." Carlyle goes even further: " Charles XII, " he writes, " may still pass for a model in that oft- attempted species of biography; the clearest details are given in the fewest words; we have sketches of strange men and strange countries, of wars, adventures, negotiations, in a style which for graphic brevity rivals Sallust. It is a line engrav ing on a reduced scale of that Swede and his mad life, without colours, yet not without the fore- shortenings and perspectives of a true picture. In respect of composition, whatever may be said of its accuracy and worth otherwise, we cannot but reckon it as greatly the best of Voltaire s histories." Adverse criticism, on the other hand, began as early as 1732, when La Mottraye, who had lived on terms of intimacy with the King, wrote a scathing criticism of Voltaire s work. Voltaire succeeded in making a laughing-stock of this gentleman, but the publication of the works of Nordberg, the King s chaplain, and of Adlerfelt, his chamberlain, shortly afterwards, did bring discredit on some of Voltaire s details. Of the modern school of critics, xxii Translator s Note Mr. Nisbet Bain, who has made a special study of original authorities, does not hesitate to call the book a " romance." Underlying this difference of opinion is the time- honoured question of the " scientific " as opposed to the " epical " treatment of the lives of the great. The history of any great man s career is a kind of epic poem, and, to borrow Mr. Bin-ell s words, " I do not see why we children of a larger growth may not be interested in the annals of mankind simply as a story." It must, indeed, be admitted that Voltaire is no precise or scientific historian ; but, in the portrayal of the life of a man of action, rapidity and charm of style is surely as important as the careful tracing of cause and effect. Voltaire s literary style is famous; but work of high literary merit always suffers in translation ; so that any roughness in the present rendering must be attributed to the translator and not to the author. " Ett vet jag som airing- dor Det ar dom ofver dod man." One thing- I know that never dies The verdict passed upon the dead. " The history of Sweden is the history of her kings," and of those kings the most striking is undoubtedly Charles XII, the Lion of the North. One of the few heroic figures in a prosaic age, he seems to belong rather to the times of Alfred the Great and Charlemagne than to those of Riche lieu and Louis XIII. He has well been called " the last of the Vikings," for the extraordinary nature of his adventures no less than his dauntless- ness and endurance make him a kind of Saga-hero. Translator s Note xxiii The stories told of his childhood show the begin nings of those Spartan powers of enduring hard ship which made him the idol of his " brave blue boys " in later life. It is said that at the age of six he almost killed himself by leaving his bed in a Swedish mid-winter to " harden himself " by sleeping on the bare boards. The obstinacy which was the most marked characteristic of his boyhood developed in after years into the resolution with which as a mere youth he faced the treachery of his neighbours. " I am resolved," he said in his first speech to his Parliament, " never to begin an unrighteous war, but I am also resolved never to finish a righteous war until I have completely humbled my enemies." In all matters of convention he was " in his simplicity sublime." He cared nothing for the pomp of sovereignty, and always wore a soldier s plain buff coat; he took his meals standing, spreading the bread and butter, which was his usual fare, with his thumbs. His letters to his sister (whom he addresses as " mon cceur ") are full of real affection, and a glance at them dispels the popular illusion that he was cold and heartless, just because he could resist the blandishments of Anna von Konigsm arck ! Apart from occasional lapses into the fatalism characteristic of his race, he seems to have been devout. Shortly after his accession he ordered the titles " Our Most Gracious Majesty " to be removed from the liturgy, on the ground that " Almighty God is not appeased by high-sounding titles but by the prayers of humble and faithful hearts." He was the last to lose heart in adversity; he lost his Empire with as good a grace as he won it. * It is only requisite," he wrote after Pultawa, xxiv Translator s Note where all was lost but honour, " not to lose courage, or let go the conduct of affairs." His early death was a disaster not only for Sweden but for the whole of Europe, for he was the first to realize and check the growing power of Russia. BOOK I HISTORY OF CHARLES XII KING OF SWEDEN BOOK I Outline of Swedish history up to the time of Charles XI Charles s education His enemies Character- sketch of the Czar, Peter Alexiowitz His peculiar ities Alliance of Russia, Poland, Denmark against Charles XII. THE kingdom which is made up of Sweden and Finland is, according to our measurement, about 200 leagues broad and 300 long, and stretches from south to north as far as the 55th degree or thereabouts. The climate is severe; there is scarcely any spring or autumn, but there are nine months of winter in the year, and the heat of summer follows hard upon the excessive cold of winter. Frost from the month of October onwards is continuous, nor are there any of those imperceptible grada tions between the seasons which, in other countries, render changes less trying. In com pensation Nature has endowed the Swedes with clear sky and pure air. The summer sunshine, which is almost continuous, ripens fruit and flowers very rapidly. The long winter nights are shortened by the twilight evenings and 4 History of Charles XII dawns, which last in proportion to the sun s distance from Sweden ; and the light of the moon, unveiled by any clouds, and intensified by reflection from the snow-clad ground, and often, too, by lights like the Aurora Borealis, makes travelling in Sweden as easy by night as by day. The fauna are smaller than in the more central parts of Europe, on account of the poor pastures. The people are well developed ; the purity of the air makes them healthy, and the severity of the climate hardens them. They ) live to a good old age when they do not under- I mine their constitutions by the abuse of strong drink, which Northern nations seem to crave the more because they have been denied them by Nature. The Swedes are well built, strong and active, and capable of undergoing the most arduous labours, hunger and want; they are born fighters, high spirited and daring rather than industrious. They have long neglected com merce and are still poor business men, though commerce alone can supply their country s wants. Tradition says that it was chiefly from Sweden (a part of which is still called Goth land) that there poured those hordes of Goths who overran Europe and wrested it from the sway of Rome, who for the past 500 years had played the role of tyrant, usurper and law giver in that country. The Northern countries History of Charles XII 5 were at that time far more populous than they are to-day ; there was no religious restraint preventing the citizens from polygamy; the only reproach known to the womenfolk was that of sterility or of idleness, and as they were both as industrious and as strong as the men, the period of maternity was of longer duration. In spite of this, Sweden, together with what remains to it of Finland, has not above 4,000,000 inhabitants. The soil is sterile and poor, and Scania is the only district which produces barley. There is not more than four millions current money in the whole land. The public bank, the oldest in Europe, was established to meet a want, because, as payments are made in brass and iron coin, difficulties of transport arose. Sweden enjoyed freedom until the middle of the fourteenth century ; during this long period several revolutions occurred, but all innovations were in the direction of liberty. The chief magistrate had the title King, which in different countries involves very differ ent degrees of power. Thus in France and Spain it implies an absolute monarchy, while in Poland, Sweden and Finland it stands for a representative or limited monarchy. In Sweden the King was powerless without the Council, and the Council in turn derived its powers from the Parliament, which was frequently convened. In these great Assemblies the nation was repre- 6 History of Charles XII sented by the nobility, the bishops, and deputies from the towns. In course of time even the peasantry, that section of the community which had been unjustly despised and enslaved throughout almost the whole of North Europe, was admitted to the Parliament. In about 1492 this nation, essentially liberty- loving, and never forgetful of the fact that she had conquered Rome thirteen centuries before, was brought into subjection by a woman and a nation weaker than the Swedes. Margaret of Valdemar, the Semiramis of the North, Queen of Denmark and Norway, conquered Sweden partly by force of arms and partly by means of diplomacy, and united her vast estates into one kingdom. After her death Sweden was rent by civil war; she alternately shook off and submitted to the Danish yoke, and was ruled by kings and ministers alternately. In about 1520 she passed through a period of cruel oppression at the hands of two tyrants : one was Christian II, King of Denmark, a monarch with all the vices, and no one redeeming feature ; the other, Archbishop of Upsala, and Primate of the king dom, was as cruel as the former. One day these two, acting in concert, had the consuls, the magistrates of Stockholm and ninety-four senators seized and massacred by the execu tioners, on the ground that they had been ex communicated by the Pope for having defended the State against the Archbishop. Whilst these History of Charles XII 7 two men, united in oppression, but opposed when it was a question of dividing the spoil, were exercising the utmost tyranny and the cruelest vengeance, a new event changed the whole aspect of affairs in the North. Gustavus Vasa, a youth descended from the old line of kings, issued from the depths of the forest of Delecarlia, where he had been in hiding, and appeared as the deliverer of Sweden. He was one of those rare products of Nature, a great genius with all the qualities of a commander of men. His noble stature and an air of distinction brought him adherents the moment he appeared. His eloquence, re inforced by his good looks, was all the more persuasive because it was unassumed. His genius led to the conception of great under takings, which ordinary people deemed fool hardy, but which, in the eyes of the great, were simply brave. His never-failing courage carried him through all difficulties. He com bined valour with discretion, was essentially gentle in an age of savagery, and had a reputa tion for uprightness, as far as that is possible for a party leader. Gustavus Vasa had been a hostage of Chris tian, and kept prisoner contrary to the laws of nations. Having escaped from prison he had wandered, disguised as a peasant, in the moun tains and woods of Delecarlia; there, to pro vide himself both with a livelihood and with a hiding-place, he found himself forced to work 8 History of Charles XII in the copper-mines. While buried in these vaults he dared to form the project of de throning the tyrant. He revealed himself to the peasants, and impressed them as a man of extraordinary gifts, whom ordinary men in stinctively obey. In a short time he turned these barbarians into veterans. He attacked Christian and the Archbishop, gained several victories over them, and drove them both from Sweden. Then the States duly elected him King of the country which he had liberated. Scarcely was he firmly seated on the throne before he embarked on an enterprise of greater difficulty than his conquests. The real tyrants of the State were the bishops, who, possessing nearly all the wealth of Sweden, employed it to oppress the people and to make war on the kings. This power was all the more terrible be cause, in their ignorance, the people regarded it as sacred. Gustavus punished the Catholic Church for the crimes of her priests. In less than two years he introduced Lutheranism into Sweden, using as a means diplomacy rather than force. Having thus, as he put it, wrested the kingdom from the Danes and the clergy, he reigned in prosperity and absolutism, and died at the age of seventy, leaving his dynasty securely seated on the throne, and his form of faith firmly established. One of his descendants was that Gustavus Adolphus who is called the Great. This king conquered Livonia, Ingria, Bremen, Verden, History of Charles XII 9 Vismar, Pomerania, besides more than a hun dred towns in Germany, given up by Sweden after his death. He shook the throne of Fer dinand II, and protected the Lutherans in Germany, his efforts in that direction being furthered by the intrigues of Rome herself, who stood more in awe of the power of the Emperor than of heresy itself. He it was who, by his victories, contributed to the down fall of the House of Austria, an undertaking accredited to Cardinal Richelieu, who was past master in the art of gaining a reputation for himself, while Gustavus contented himself with great deeds. He was on the point of carrying war across the Danube, with the possibility of dethroning the Emperor, when, at the age of thirty-seven, he was killed in the battle of Liitzen, where he defeated Valstein. He carried with him to the grave the title of " Great," the regrets of the North, and the esteem of his enemies. His daughter Christine, an extremely gifted woman, preferred disputations with savants to the government of a people whose knowledge was confined to the art of war. She won as great a reputation for resigning the throne as her ancestors had gained in winning and securing it. The Protestants have defamed her, as if Lutherans have the mono poly of all the virtues ; and the Papists exulted too much in the conversion of a woman who was a mere philosopher. She retired to Rome, io History of Charles XII where she passed the rest of her life surrounded by the arts which she loved, and for the sake of which she had renounced an empire at the age of twenty-seven. After her abdication she induced the States of Sweden to elect as her successor her cousin Charles Gustavus, the tenth of that name, son of the Count Palatinate, Duke of Deux Fonts. This king added new conquests to those of Gustavus Adolphus. First he invaded Poland, where he gained the celebrated three days battle of Warsaw; for some time he waged war successfully against the Danes, besieged their capital, re-united Scania to Sweden, and secured the tenure of Sleswick to the Duke of Holstein. Then, hav ing met with reverses, and made peace with his enemies, his ambition turned against his own subjects. He conceived the idea of establishing absolut ism in Sweden, but, like Gustavus the Great, died at the age of thirty-seven, before having achieved the establishment of that despotism which his son, Charles XI, completed. The latter, a warrior, like all his ancestors, was more absolute than them all. He abolished the authority of the Senate, which was declared to be a royal and not a national assembly. He was economical, vigilant, and hard-working in fact, such a king as would have been popular had not fear dominated all other sentiments in the hearts of his subjects. He married, in 1680, Ulrica Eleanora, daughter of Ferdinand, History of Charles XII n King of Denmark, a virtuous princess worthy of more confidence than her husband gave her ; the offspring of this marriage was Charles XII, perhaps the most extraordinary man ever born a hero who summed up in his person ality all the great qualities of his ancestors, and whose only fault and only misfortune was that he carried them all to excess. It is of him, and all that is related of his actions and person, that we now purpose writing. The first book they gave him to read was Samuel Puffendorf, in order that he might become early acquainted with his own and neighbouring States. He then learned German, which he henceforward spoke as fluently as his mother tongue. At seven years old he could manage a horse. Violent exercise, in which he delighted and which revealed his martial inclinations, early laid the foundation of a strong constitution equal to the privations to which his disposition prompted him. Though gentle enough in early childhood he was unconquerably obstinate ; the only way to manage him was to appeal to his honour he could be induced to do anything in the name of honour. He had an aversion to Latin, but when he was told that the Kings of Poland and Denmark understood it, he learned it quickly, and for the rest of his days remem bered enough to speak it. Recourse was had to the same means to induce him to learn French, but he was so obstinately determined 12 History of Charles XII against it that he could not be prevailed upon to use it even with French ambassadors who knew no other language. As soon as he had some knowledge of Latin they made him trans late Quintus Curtius; he took a liking to the book rather for the subject than the style. The tutor who explained this author to him asked him what he thought of Alexander. " I think," said the Prince, " that I would like to be like him." "But," was the answer, "he only lived thirty-two years." "Ah!" replied the Prince, " and is not that long enough when one has subdued kingdoms?" These answers were reported to the King his father, who exclaimed, "That child will excel me and he will even excel Gustavus the Great." One day he was amusing himself in the King s room by looking over some geographical plans, one of a town in Hungary taken by the Turks from the Emperor, and the other of Riga, capital of Livonia, a province conquered by the Swedes a century earlier. At the foot of the map of the Hungarian town was this quotation from the Book of Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." The young Prince read these words, then took a pencil and wrote beneath the map of Riga, " The Lord gave thee to me, and the devil shall not take thee from me." Thus, in the most insignificant acts of his childhood, his resolute disposition revealed traits characteristic of greatness, showing what he was one day to be. History of Charles XII 13 He was eleven years old when he lost his mother; she died from an illness brought on by the anxiety caused her by her husband and by her own efforts to conceal it. By means of a kind of court called the Chamber of Liquidation, Charles XI had robbed many of his subjects of their property. A crowd of citizens ruined by this court merchants, farmers, widows and orphans filled the streets of Stockholm, and daily poured forth their useless lamentations at the gate of the Palace. The Queen gave all her substance to help these poor wretches : her money, jewels, furniture and even her clothes. When she had nothing left to give them she threw herself weeping at her husband s feet, praying him to have com passion on his subjects. The King answered sternly, " Madam, we have taken you that you may give us children, not advice." Hencefor ward he is reported to have treated her with such severity that he shortened her life. He died four years after her, in the fifty-second year of his age and the thirty-seventh of his reign, just as the Empire, Spain and Holland on the one hand, and France on the other, had referred the decision of their quarrels to his arbitration, and when he had already begun the work of peace-making between these powers. To his son of fifteen he left a kingdom secure at home and respected abroad. His subjects were poor, but brave and loyal ; the treasury in good order and managed by able ministers. Charles XII, on his accession, not 14 History of Charles XII only found himself absolute and undisturbed master of Sweden and Finland, but also of Livonia, Carelia and Ingria; he possessed Wismar, Vibourg, the Isles of Riigen, Oesel, and the most beautiful part of Pomerania and the Duchy of Bremen and Verden, all con quests of his ancestors, assured to the crown by long tenure and by the solemn treaties of Munster and Oliva, strengthened by the prestige of Swedish arms. The peace of Ryswick, begun under the auspices of the father, was completed by the son; who was thus arbiter of Europe from the beginning of his reign. Swedish law fixes the age of the King s majority at fifteen years; but Charles XI, who exercised absolute power in all points, deferred that of his son, by will, to the age of eighteen. By this will he favoured the ambitious views of his mother, Edwiga Eleanora of Holstein, widow of Charles X. This Princess was nominated by Charles XI guardian of her grandson and, in conjunction with a Council of six persons, regent of the kingdom. The regent had taken part in politics during the reign of the King her son. She was old, but her ambition, greater than her strength and ability, made her hope to enjoy the sweets of authority long during the minority of the King, her grandson. She kept him away from public business as far as pos sible; the young Prince passed his time hunt- History of Charles XII 15 ing, or busied himself with reviewing his troops. Sometimes he even went through their exercises with them. These pursuits seemed the natural outcome of the vivacity of youth, and there was nothing in his conduct to alarm the regent. Then, too, she flattered herself that the dissipation of these exercises made him unable to apply himself, and so gave her the opportunity of a longer regency. One November day, the very year of his father s death, after he had reviewed several regiments accompanied by the State-councillor Piper, he was standing plunged apparently in deep thought. " May I take the liberty," said the latter to him, " of asking your Majesty of what you are thinking so seriously?" " I am think ing," answered the Prince, " that I feel worthy of the command of those fine fellows, and that it is not my will that either they or I should receive our orders from a woman." Piper at once seized the chance of making his fortune, and realizing that his own influence was not strong enough for him to venture on so danger ous an enterprise as depriving the Queen of the regency, and declaring the King of age, he proposed the matter to the Count Axel Sparre, an ambitious and aspiring man, pointing to the King s confidence as a likely reward. Sparre was credulous, undertook the business, and worked hard in Piper s interests. The Coun cillors of the Regency were drawn into the scheme, and vied with one another in hastening 1 6 History of Charles XII the execution of it in order to gain the King s favour. They went in a body to propose it to the Queen, who did not in the least expect such a declaration. The States-General were then assembled, the Councillors of the Regency laid the matter before them, and they voted unanimously for it. The affair was hastened on with a rapidity which nothing could check; so that Charles XII merely expressed a wish to rule, and within three days the States handed over the govern ment to him. The power and influence of the Queen melted away at once. Henceforth she lived in private, a life more suited to her age, but less to her taste. The King was crowned on the following 24th of December. He made his entry into Stockholm on a sorrel horse, shod with silver, with a sceptre in his hand, and amid the ac clamations of a whole nation a nation always extravagantly fond of novelty and full of great expectations of a young Prince. The right of consecrating and crowning the King belongs to the Archbishop of Upsala, and is almost the only privilege remaining to him from among a number claimed by his predeces sors. After having anointed the Prince accord ing to custom, he was holding the crown ready to put on his head, when Charles seized it from his hands, and, with a proud glance at the Prelate, crowned himself. The mob, always impressed by a touch of majesty, applauded History of Charles XII 17 the King s action ; even those who had suf fered most from the tyranny of the father could not refrain from praising the pride which was the inauguration of their servitude. As soon as Charles was master, he took Councillor Piper into his confidence, and handed over the direction of affairs to him, so that he was soon Premier in all but name. A few days later he made him Count, a title of distinction in Sweden, and not, as in France, an empty title to be assumed at will. The first period of the King s rule did not give people a good impression of him ; it looked as if he had been rather impatient of rule than deserv ing of it. As a matter of fact, he indulged no dangerous passions, and the only remarkable thing about him seemed to be youthful fits of rage and a settled obstinacy. He seemed proud and unable to apply himself. Even the ambas sadors to his court took him for a second-rate genius, and so described him to their masters. The Swedish people had the same opinion of him; no one understood his character; he him self had not realized it, when storms arising in the North suddenly gave his hidden talents an opportunity of displaying themselves. Three strong princes, taking advantage of his extreme youth, made simultaneous plans for his ruin. The first was Ferdinand IV, King of Denmark, his cousin; the second Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland ; the third, and most dangerous, was Peter the c 1 8 History of Charles XII Great, Czar of Russia. It is necessary to explain the beginning of these wars, which had such great results. We will begin with Denmark. Of the two sisters of Charles XII, the elder had married the Duke of Holstein, a young prince of great courage and kindliness. The Duke, oppressed by the King of Denmark, came to Stockholm with his consort, in order to put himself under the King s protection, and ask his help, not only as a brother-in-law, but also as King of a people which nourishes an undying hatred for the Danes. The ancient house of Holstein, merged with that of Oldenburg, was elected to the throne of Denmark in 1449. All the Northern king doms were at that time elective, but that of Denmark shortly after became hereditary. One of its kings, Christian III, had an affection for his brother Adolphus for which there are few parallels in history. He neither wished to leave him powerless, nor could he dismember his own States. By an extraordinary arrangement he shared with him the duchies of Holstein- Gottorp and Sleswick. The descendants of Adolphus should, in future, rule Holstein in conjunction with the kings of Denmark, so that the two duchies should be common property, and the King could do nothing in Holstein without the sanction of the Duke, and vice versa. This extraordinary union, of which there had, however, been a parallel instance History of Charles XII 19 a few years previously, was, for more than eighty years, a source of quarrels between the Denmark and Holstein branches of the dynasty, since the kings always made it their policy to oppress the dukes, and the dukes were equally determined on independence. The struggle had cost the last Duke his liberty and his supremacy. He had regained both at the Conference of Altena in 1689, through the mediation of Sweden, Holland and England, the guarantors of the treaty. But as a treaty between princes is often only a temporary makeshift, until the stronger is able to oppress the weaker, the quarrel be tween the new Danish King and the young Duke began again more violently than ever. While the Duke was at Stockholm, the Danes had already begun hostilities in the district of Holstein, and had made a secret alliance with the King of Sweden himself. Frederic Augustus, Elector of Saxony, whom neither the eloquence and schemes of the Abbe" de Polignac, nor the great qualifications of the Prince of Conti, his competitor for the throne, had been able to deprive of election as King of Poland, was a prince still more famed for his courage and chivalrous ideals, than for his incredible physical strength. His court, after that of Louis XII, was second to none in Europe in distinction. There was never a prince more generous or liberal, nor one who gave with so good a grace. 20 History of Charles XII He had bought half the votes of the Polish nobility, and gained the other half by force on the approach of a Saxon army. He considered it better to keep a standing army to strengthen himself on the throne ; but he wanted a pretext for keeping it in Poland. He had, in fact, planned to send it against the King of Sweden, on the occasion we are now going to relate. Livonia, the most beautiful and fertile pro vince of the North, had once belonged to the Knights of the Teutonic order. The Russians, Poles, and Swedes had since severally disputed their claim to it. Sweden had enjoyed it for nearly one hundred years, and was solemnly confirmed in possession of it by the Peace of Oliva. The late King Charles XI, in his severity to his subjects, had not spared the Livonians. He robbed them of their privileges and part of their estates. Patkul, who from his unhappy death has since gained the notoriety of misfor tune, was deputed by the nobility of Livonia to lay their grievances before the King. His speech to his master was respectful, but strong and full of the rugged eloquence begotten of calamity and courage. But kings too often regard public speeches as vain ceremonies, which they must endure without paying atten tion to. But Charles XI, who, when he did not give way to transports of rage, knew how to act a part, patted Patkul gently on the shoulder and said, " You have spoken for your History of Charles XII 21 country like a brave man ; I honour you for it. Proceed." But a few days after he had Patkul declared guilty of high treason and condemned to death. Patkul, who had hidden, took to flight, and carried his resentment to Poland. Some time after he was admitted to the court of King Augustus. Charles XI was dead, but the sentence of Patkul was not annulled, and he was still most resentful. He pointed out to the King of Poland how easily Livonia could be conquered ; the people were in despair, and eager to shake off the Swedish yoke ; the King was only a child, and unable to defend himself. These proposals were well received by a prince who had long meditated this conquest. Pre parations were immediately made for a sudden invasion of Sweden, empty formalities of ultimata and manifestoes being dispensed with. At the same time the storm darkened on the Russian frontier. Peter Alexiowitz, Czar of Russia, had already made his name feared by the battle in which he defeated the Turks in 1697, and by the conquest of Azov, which gave him the control of the Black Sea. But the actions which won him the title of The Great " were far more glorious than conquests. Russia occupies the whole of Northern Asia and Europe, and from the frontiers of China extends 1,500 leagues to the borders of Poland and Sweden. Yet the existence of this im mense country was not even realized by Europe 22 History of Charles XII before the time of the Czar Peter. The Rus sians were less civilized than the Mexicans at the time of their discovery by Cortez ; born the slaves of masters as barbarous as them selves, they were sunk deep in ignorance, and unacquainted with the arts and sciences, and so insensible of their use that they had no industry. An old law, held sacred among- them, forbade them, on pain of death, to leave their own country without the permission of their Patriarch. Yet this law, avowedly enacted to prevent them from realizing their state of bond age, was agreeable to a people who, in the depths of their ignorance and misery, disdained all commerce with foreign nations. The era of the Russians began with the creation of the world; they reckoned up 7,207 years at the beginning of the last century, without being able to give any reason why they did so. The first day of the year corresponded to our 1 3th of September. The reason they gave for this was that it was probable that God created the world in autumn, in a season when the fruits of the earth are in full maturity ! Thus the only traces of knowledge found among them were founded on gross mistakes; not one of them suspected that autumn in Russia might be spring in another country in the antipodes. Not long before, the people were for burning the secretary of the Persian ambassador, because he had foretold an eclipse History of Charles XII 23 of the sun. They did not even know the use of figures, but in all their calculations made use of little beads strung on wire; and this was their method of reckoning in all their counting-houses, and even in the treasury of the Czar. Their religion was, and still is, that of the Greek Church, but intermingled with super stitions, to which they firmly adhered in pro portion to their absurdity and their exacting nature. Few Russians dare eat a pigeon, be cause the Holy Ghost is portrayed in form of a dove. They regularly kept four Lents a year, and during that time might eat neither eggs nor milk. God and St. Nicholas were the objects of their worship, and next to them the Czar and the Patriarch. The authority of the latter was as boundless as the people s ignorance. He had power of life and death, and inflicted the crudest punishments, from which there was no appeal. Twice a year he rode in solemn procession, ceremoniously attended by all the clergy; and the people prostrated themselves in the streets before him, like the Tartars before their Grand Lama. They practised confession, but only in the case of the greatest crimes; and then absolu tion was held necessary, but not repentance; they believed themselves purified in God s sight as soon as they received the priest s benedic tion. Thus they passed without remorse straight from confession to theft or murder; 24 History of Charles XII so that a practice which, in the case of other Christians, acts as a deterrent, was, in their case, only an incentive to crime. They scrupled to drink milk on a fast-day, but on festivals fathers of families, priests, matrons and maids got inebriated with brandy. As in other coun tries they had religious differences among themselves, but the most important cause of dispute was whether laymen should make the sign of the cross with two fingers or with three, and a certain Jacob Nursoff had, during a pre vious reign, raised a rebellion on this question. The Czar, in his vast kingdom, had many subjects who were not Christians ; the Tartars, on the west coast of the Caspian, and the Palus Ma3Otis were Mahometans ; while the Siberians, Ostiacs and Samoides, who live near the Baltic, were pagans. Some of these were idolaters, and some were without God in the world ; still, in spite of that, the Swedes, who were sent as prisoners among them, report more favourably of their manners than those of the ancient Russians. Peter Alexiowitz had received an education which tended to increase the barbarity of his part of the world. His disposition led him to like strangers before he knew they could be use ful to him. Le Fort was the first instrument that he made use of to change the face of Russia. Peter s mighty genius, checked but not destroyed by a barbarous education, suddenly broke out; he resolved to act a man s part, to History of Charles XII 25 hold command of men and to create a new nation. Several princes before him had re nounced their thrones, from distaste for public business, but there was no instance of a prince resigning that he might learn to rule better, as Peter the Great did. He left Russia in 1698, before the completion of the second year of his reign, and took a journey into Holland, under an ordinary name, as if he were the domestic servant of M. le Fort, whom he appointed ambassador-extraordinary to the States-General. When he reached Amsterdam he entered his name on the list of ships -car penters to the Indian Admiralty, and worked in the dockyard like other carpenters. In his leisure time he learned those branches of mathematics which might prove useful to a prince, e. g. such as related to fortifications, navigation, and the making of plans. He went into the workmen s shops, examined all their manufactures, and let nothing escape his notice. Thence he passed to England, where he perfected himself in the science of ship building, and, returning to Holland, carefully investigated everything which might be of use in his own country. At last, after two years of travel and labour which nobody else would have willingly under gone, he reappeared in Russia, bringing thither with him the arts of Europe. A band of artists of all kinds followed him, and then for the first time great Russian vessels were to 26 History of Charles XII be seen on the Black Sea, the Baltic, and even on the ocean. Imposing buildings of architectural merit were set up amidst the Russian huts. He founded colleges, acade- I mies, printing-houses and libraries. The great towns were civilized; and gradually, though not without difficulty, the dress and customs of the people were changed, so that the Rus sians learned by degrees what social life really is. Even their superstitions were abolished, the Czar declared head of the Church, and the influence of the Patriarch suppressed. This last undertaking would have cost a less abso lute Prince his throne and his life, but in the case of Peter not only succeeded, but assured his success in all his other innovations. I Peter, having subdued the ignorant and bar- ! barous clerical orders, dared to venture to Ij educate them, and so ran the risk of making them a power in the State but he believed that he was strong enough to take this risk. In the few monasteries which remained he had philosophy and theology taught; though this theology was only a survival of the age of barbarity from which Peter had rescued his country. A credible witness assured the writer that he had been present at a public debate, where the question was whether the use of tobacco was a sin; the proposer argued that it was lawful to intoxicate oneself with brandy, but not to smoke, because the Holy Scriptures say that, " Not that which goeth into the History of Charles XII 27 mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." The monks were not content with the reform. Scarcely had the Czar set up printing-presses than they made use of them to abuse him. They called him Antichrist, because he had the men s beards cut off, and because post mortem dissection was practised in his academy. But another monk, who wanted to make his fortune, wrote refuting this argument, and proving that Peter was not Antichrist because the number 666 was not included in his name ! The author of the libel was broken on the wheel, and his opponent made Bishop of Rezan. The Reformer of Russia carried a law which puts to shame many a civilized state; by this law no member of the civil service, no " bour geois " with an established position, and no minor, might enter a monastery. Peter quite grasped the importance of not allowing useful subjects to take up idleness as a profession, nor those who had not yet command of the least part of their fortune to renounce liberty for ever. The Czar not only, after the example of the Turkish Sultans, subjected the Church to the State, but, by a greater stroke of policy, he destroyed a band of troops like the Janissaries ; and that which the Ottoman Emperors failed to do, he succeeded in very rapidly ; he dis banded the Russian Janissaries, called Strelitz, 28 History of Charles XII who had dominated the Czars. This band, feared rather by its masters than its neigh bours, consisted of about 30,000 infantry, half stationed at Moscow, and the other half at various points on the frontier; a member of the Strelitz only drew pay at the rate of four roubles a year, but privileges and abuses amply made up for this. Peter at first formed a band of mercenaries, in which he had himself enrolled, and was not too proud to begin as drummer-boy, so much were the people in need of good example. He became officer by degrees, made new regiments from time to time, and at last, finding himself at the head of disciplined troops, broke up the Strelitz, who were afraid to disobey him. The cavalry resembled that of Poland, and that of France in the days when France was only a collection of fiefs. Russian noblemen took the field at their own expense, and en gaged without discipline, and sometimes un armed but for a sabre and a quiver; they were quite unused to discipline, and so were always beaten. Peter the Great taught them to obey, both by example and by punishment. For he himself served as a soldier and subordinate officer, and as Czar severely punished the "boyards," as the noblemen were called, who argued that the privilege of the nobility was to serve the State in their own way. He insti tuted a regular corps of artillery, and seized History of Charles XII 29 500 church bells to cast cannon. By the year 1714 he had 13,000 brass cannon. He also formed a corps of dragoons, a form of arm both suited to Russian capacity and for which their horses, which are small, are particularly fit. Russia has, at the present day (1738), thirty well-equipped regiments of dragoons of 1,000 men each. He it was, too, who established the hussars in Russia; he even got a school of engineers in a country where he was the first to under stand the elements of geometry. He was a good engineer himself; but he excelled especially in seamanship. As he was born with an extreme fear of the sea, it is all the greater credit to him that he was a good captain, a skilful pilot, a good seaman, and a clever carpenter. Yet in his young days he could not cross a bridge without a shudder; and he had the wooden shutters of his carriage closed on these occasions. It was his courage and will which led him to overcome this consti tutional weakness. He had built on the Gulf of Tanais, near Azov, a fine port; his idea was to keep a fleet of galleys there, and as he considered that these long, flat, light craft would be successful in the Baltic, he had 300 of them built in his favourite town of Petersburg. He taught his subjects how to construct them from ordinary fir, and then how to manage them. 30 . History of Charles XII The revenue of the Czar was inconsiderable, compared with the immense size of his em pire. It never exceeded twenty-four millions, reckoning the mark as 50, as we do at the present moment ; but, after all, only he is rich who can do great deeds. Russia is not densely populated, though the women are prolific and the men are strong. Peter himself, by the very civilization of his empire, contributed to its population. The causes of the fact that there are still vast deserts in this great stretch of the continent are to be sought in frequent recruiting for unsuccessful wars, the transport ing of nations from the Caspian to the Baltic, the destruction of life in the public works, the ravages wrought by disease (three-quarters of the children dying of small-pox), and the sad result of a means of government long savage, and barbarous even in its civilization. The present population of Russia consists of 500,000 noble families, 200,000 lawyers, rather more than 5,000,000 "bourgeois" and peasants paying a kind of poll-tax, and 600,000 men in the provinces conquered from the Swedes ; so that this immense realm does not contain more than 14,000,000 men; that is to say, two- thirds of the population of France. The Czar Peter, having transformed the manners, laws, militia, and the very face of his country, wished also to take a prominent part in commerce, which brings both riches to a State and advantages to the whole world. He History of Charles XII 31 intended to make Russia the centre of Asian and European trade. The Volga, Tanais, and Duna were to be united by canals, of which he drew the plans, and new ways were to be opened from the Baltic to the Euxine and the Caspian, and from these to the Northern Ocean. In the year 1700 he decided to build on the Baltic a port which should be the mart of the North, and a town which should be the capital of his empire, because the port of Archangel, ice-bound for nine months in the year, and the access to which necessitated a long and dan gerous circuit, did not seem to him convenient. Already he was seeking a passage to China through the seas of the north-east, and the manufactures of Paris and of Pekin were to enrich his new town. A road of 754 versts, made across marshes which had to be first filled, led from Moscow to his new town. Most of his projects were carried out by his own hand, and two Em presses who succeeded him successively carried out his policy whenever practicable, and only abandoned the impossible. He made tours throughout his empire when ever he was not engaged in active warfare. But he travelled as lawgiver and natural philo sopher. He carefully investigated natural con ditions everywhere, and tried to correct and to perfect. He himself plumbed rivers and seas, had locks made, visited the timber-yards, ex- 32 History of Charles XII amined mines, assayed metals, planned accu rate maps, and worked at them with his own hand. He built, in a desolate district, the imperial town of Petersburg, which, at the present day, contains 60,000 houses, and where there has arisen in our day a brilliant Court, and where the greatest luxury is to be had. He built the port of Cronstadt on the Neva, Sainte-Croix on the frontiers of Persia, and forts in the Ukraine and in Siberia, docks at Archangel, Petersburg, Astrakan, and at Azov ; besides arsenals and hospitals. His own residences he built small and in bad style, but his public buildings were magnificent and imposing. The sciences, which in other parts have been the slow product of centuries, were, by his care, introduced into his empire in full perfection. He made an academy, modelled on the famous institutions of Paris and London ; at great ex pense men like Delisle, Bulfinger, Hermann, Bernouilli, were summoned to Petersburg. This academy is still in existence, and is now training Russian scholars. He compelled the younger members of the nobility to travel to gain culture, and to return to Russia polished by foreign good breeding. I have met young Russians who were quite men of the world, and well-informed to boot. It is shocking to realize that this reformer lacked the cardinal virtue of humanity. With so many virtues he was yet brutal in his plea- History of Charles XII 33 sures, savage in his manner, and barbarous in seeking revenge. He civilized his people, but remained savage himself. He carried out his sentences with his own hands, and at a debauch at table he displayed his skill in cutting off heads. There are in Africa kings who shed the blood of their subjects with their own hands, but these monarchs pass for barbarians. The death of one of his sons, who ought to have been punished or disinherited, would make his memory odious, if the good he did his sub jects did not almost atone for his cruelty to his own family. Such a man was Peter the Czar, and his great plans were only sketched in outline when he united with the kings of Poland and Den mark against a child whom they all despised. The founder of Russia resolved to be a conqueror; he believed the task an easy one, and felt that a war so well launched would help him in all his projects. The art of war was a new art in which his people needed lessons. Besides, he wanted a port on the east side of the Baltic for the execution of his great plans. He needed Ingria, which lies to the north-east of Livonia. The Swedes possessed it, and it must be seized from them. His an cestors, again, had had rights over Ingria, Estonia, and Livonia ; it seemed the right time to revive these claims, which not only dated from a hundred years back, but had also been D 34 History of Charles XII annulled by treaties. He therefore concluded a treaty with the King of Poland to take from Sweden the districts which lie between the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic, Poland and Russia. BOOK II BOOK II Sudden and extraordinary transformation in the char acter of Charles XII At the age of eighteen he carries on war with Denmark, Poland and Russia He concludes the war with Denmark in six weeks Beats an army of 80,000 Russians with 8,000 Swedes, and proceeds to Poland Description of Poland and its Government Charles wins several victories, and conquers Poland, where he makes preparations to nominate a king. THUS three powerful kings were threatening the throne of the boy-king, Charles XII. Rumours of these preparations dismayed the people, and alarmed the King s Council. The great generals were dead ; everything was to be feared under a young king who had so far made a bad impression on people. He was hardly ever present at the Council without crossing his legs on the table ; he seemed too absent-minded and callous to take part in any business. The dangerous position of affairs was de liberated by the Council in his presence, and, as some Councillors were proposing to divert the storm by means of negotiation, Charles suddenly rose from his seat with the deter mined air of a man of resolution who has decided on a course of action. " Gentlemen," he said, " I have resolved never to engage in an unjust war, but, on the other hand, never to conclude a just war but by the ruin of my 37 38 History of Charles XII foes. I have made up my mind. I intend to attack the first who declares war against me, and when I have conquered him I hope to strike terror into the rest." This speech amazed the old Councillors ; they exchanged glances with out venturing a reply, and finally, astonished at this revelation of their king s courage, and ashamed to show less courage than he, they received his orders for the war cordially. They were still more surprised when they observed that he suddenly renounced all the most innocent, youthful pleasures. From the moment that he began to prepare for war he entered on a new mode of life, from which he never afterwards departed in one particular. With Alexander and Caesar as his ideals, he set himself the task of imitating those conquerors in everything but their vices. He renounced all magnificence, pastimes and recreations, and reduced his menu to the utmost frugality. He had affected display in dress, but in future wore the uniform of a common soldier. There had been a rumour that he had entertained a passion for a lady of the Court. But whether this was true or not, it is certain that he abstained from the society of women for ever after, not only to avoid coming too much under their influence, but that he might prove to his soldiers his determination to live under the severest discipline ; possibly, too, he wished to pose as the only Prince who had conquered so difficult a temptation. He also History of Charles XII 39 resolved to abstain from wine for the rest of his life. Some people say that he made this resolve in order to curb nature in every particu-, lar, and to add a new virtue to his heroism ; but the majority say that he took this means of punishing himself for an excess which he had once committed, leading to an insult offered to a lady at table in the presence of his mother. If that was so, his self-condemnation and the life-long deprivation which he imposed on him self are none the less to be admired. He began operations by a promise of relief to his brother-in-law, the Duke of Holstein. Eight thousand men were immediately sent to Pomerania, a province bordering on Holstein, to protect the Duke against the attacks of the Danes. The Duke certainly needed them ; his dominions were already ravaged, his castle at Gottorp taken and the town of Tonning closely besieged, the King of Denmark being there in person, to enjoy a conquest of which he felt certain. This spark enflamed the empire. On one side the Saxon troops of the King of Poland and those of Brandenburg, Volfenbuttel and Hesse-Cassel marched to join the Danes. On the other the King of Sweden s 8,000 men, the troops of Hanover and Zell, and three Dutch regiments came to the help of the Duke. While the little country of Holstein was thus made the theatre of war two squadrons, one from England and the other from Holland, appeared in the Baltic. 40 History of Charles XII These two States were guarantors of the treaty of Altena, which the Danes had broken, and they were all the more eager to relieve the oppressed Duke, as it was to the interest of their trade to prevent the growth of the power of the King of Denmark. For they knew that the Danes, when they once had control of the Sound, would lay heavy dues on the trading nations, as soon as they were strong enough to do so. The English and the Dutch had, for this reason, kept, as far as possible, the balance of power equal between the princes of the North ; they joined the King of Sweden, who seemed on the point of being overwhelmed by many enemies acting in concert, and helped him for the same reason that the others attacked him, viz. because they thought him incapable of self-defence. He was bear-hunting when he got news of the invasion of Livonia by the Saxons. He was conducting the hunt in a way as dangerous as novel; the only arms used were forked cudgels, behind a net stretched between trees ; a bear of enormous size rushed straight at the King, who, after a long struggle, brought it to the ground, with the help of his net and cudgel. He started for his first campaign on the 8th of May, new style, in the year 1700. He left Stockholm never to return. An immense crowd of people went with him History of Charles XII 41 as far as Carlscroon, praying- for him and weeping- and praising him. Before he left Stockholm he established a Council of Defence, composed of Senators. This commission was to have charge of all that concerned the fleet, the troops and fortifications. The Senate was to provisionally regulate all other internal affairs. Having thus arranged all securely within his dominions he concentrated entirely on the war. His fleet consisted of forty-three vessels, that in which he embarked, called the King Charles, was the largest they had ever seen, and carried 120 guns; Count Piper, his Prime Minister, and General Renschild em barked with him. He joined the squadron of the allies ; the Danish fleet refused an engage ment, and gave the united fleets the opportunity of coming so near Copenhagen that they could throw some bombs into the town. There is no doubt that it was the King him self who then proposed to General Renschild that they should disembark and besiege Copen hagen by land while it was invested by sea. Renschild was astonished at a proposal which displayed in a young and inexperienced Prince as much skill as courage. Soon all was ready for the disembarkment ; orders were given for the embarkation of 3,000 men who were stationed on the coast of Sweden, and who were added to the men they had on board. The King left his large ship and embarked on a lighter frigate ; then they sent 300 grenadiers 42 History of Charles XII in small vessels along the coast. Among these vessels were small, flat-bottomed boats, which carried the fagots, chevaux de frise and the weapons of the pioneers. Five hundred picked men followed in other shallops. Then came the King s men-of-war with two English and two Dutch frigates, whose cannon were to cover the landing of the troops. Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is situated in the island of Zeeland, in the midst of a beautiful plain, which has the Sound on the north-west and the Baltic on the east, where the King of Sweden then had his posi tion. At the unexpected movement of the vessels which threatened invasion, the inhabit ants, dismayed by the inactivity of their own fleet and by the motion of the Swedish ships, looked round in terror to see on what point the storm would burst. Charles s fleet stopped before Humblebek, seven miles from Copen hagen. The Danes immediately drew up their cavalry on this spot. The infantry were placed behind deep entrenchments, and all the artillery forthcoming was directed against the Swedes. The King then left his frigate to embark on the first boat at the head of his guards. The ambassador of France was constantly at his elbow. " Sir," said the King to him in Latin, for he never would speak French, "you have no quarrel with the Danes, and must now oblige me by retiring." <( Sir," answered the Count de Guiscard, in French, "the King my History of Charles XII 43 master has commanded me to attend your Majesty; and I flatter myself that you will not banish me from your Court, which has never been so brilliant as to-day. " With these words he gave his hand to the King, who leapt into the boat, followed by Count Piper and the ambassador. They advanced supported by the broadsides of the vessels which were covering the descent. The small boats were within a hundred yards of the shore when Charles, impatient of the delay in landing, threw himself from the boat into the sea, sword in hand, and with the water up to his waist, and in spite of a shower of musket-shot, discharged by the Danes, his ministers, the ambassador of France, and officers and soldiers followed his example. The King, who had never before heard a discharge of loaded muskets, asked Major Stuart, who stood next to him, what that whistling was in his ears. "It is the sound of the muskets they are firing at you," said the Major. " Ah !" remarked the King, " that shall hence forth be my band." At that very moment the Major, who had explained the noise to him, was shot in the shoulder, and a lieutenant fell dead at the other side of the King. Troops attacked in entrenchments are generally beaten, because the attacking party has an impetus which defenders cannot have ; besides, waiting for the enemy in one s lines is often a confession of inferiority. 44 History of Charles XII After a faint resistance the Danish horse and foot fled. As soon as the King had seized their entrenchments he fell on his knees to thank God for the first success of his arms. He immediately had redoubts formed in the direc tion of the town, and himself marked out the line of the encampment. At the same time he sent his fleet back to Scania, a part of Sweden not far from Copenhagen, to get reinforce ments of 9,000 men. Everything conspired to second Charles s energetic efforts; the 9,000 men were on the shore ready to embark, and the very next day a favourable wind brought them to him. All this happened within sight of the Danish fleet, which had not dared to advance. Copen hagen, in consternation, sent deputies to the King to ask him not to bombard the town. He received them on horseback at the head of his regiment of guards, and the deputies fell on their knees before him. He demanded of the town four hundred thousand dollars, with all sorts of provisions for the camp, for which he gave his word of honour to pay. They brought him the provisions, because they dare not refuse, but did not expect that the con querors would condescend to pay for them ; and those who brought them were astonished to find that they were paid generously by the humblest soldier in the army. The Swedish troops had long been accustomed to the strict discipline which contributed not a little to their History of Charles XII 45 victories, but the young King increased its severity. A soldier would not have dared to refuse payment for what he bought, much less maraud, or even go out of the camp. He even easily brought his troops to keep his rule that the dead should not be stripped after a victory without his permission. Prayers were said in camp twice a day, at seven in the morning and five in the afternoon, and he never failed to be present at them himself and to give his soldiers an example of piety as well as of valour. His camp, which was far better governed than Copenhagen, had everything in abund ance; and the country folk preferred to sell their goods to their enemies the Swedes than to their own countrymen, who did not pay so good a price for them. So it happened that the townsmen were often obliged to fetch goods, which were unobtainable in their own markets, from the King of Sweden s camp. The King of Denmark was then in Holstein, whither he seems to have marched only to raise the siege of Tonning. He saw the Baltic covered with his enemies ships, and a young conqueror already master of Zeeland and ready to take possession of the capital. He pub lished a declaration that whoever took up arms against the Swedes should gain their liberty. This declaration had great influence in a country which had once enjoyed freedom, but where all the peasants and many even of the 46 History of Charles XII townsmen were then serfs. Charles sent word to the King of Denmark that he must make up his mind either to do justice to the Duke of Holstein, cr have his kingdom laid waste with fire and sword. The Danes were, indeed, fortunate in dealing with a conqueror who prided himself on his justice. A congress was summoned to meet in the town of Tevendal on the frontiers of Hol stein. The Swedish King would not allow diplomacy on the part of the ministers to lengthen the proceedings ; he wanted the treaty settled with the same rapidity with which he had invaded Zeeland. As a matter of fact it was concluded on the 5th of August to the advantage of the Duke of Holstein, who was indemnified for all the expenses of the war and freed from oppression. The King of Sweden would make no claims on his own behalf, being satisfied with having helped his ally and humbled his enemy. Thus Charles XII, at eighteen years old, began and ended this war in less than six weeks. Just at the same time the King of Poland laid siege in person to the town of Riga, the capital of Livonia, and the Czar was marching from the East at the head of 100,000 men. Riga was defended by the old Count D Alberg, a Swedish general who, at the age of eighty, combined the enthusiasm of youth with the experience of sixty campaigns. Count Flem ing, afterwards minister for Poland, a man History of Charles XII 47 great both in the field and at the council board, together with M. Patkul, carried on the siege under the directions of the King ; in spite of several advantages gained by the besiegers the experience of the old Count D Alberg counter acted all their efforts, and the King of Poland despaired of gaining the town. At last he got an honourable pretext for raising the siege ; Riga was full of merchandise belonging to the Dutch; the States-General ordered their am bassador at the Court of Augustus to make representations to him on the subject. The King of Poland did not require much pressing, but consented to raise the siege rather than occasion the least inconvenience to his allies, who were not much surprised at his ready compliance, as they knew the cause of it. The only thing left to Charles to complete his first campaign was to march against his rival for glory, Peter Alexiowitz. He was the more angry with him because there were at Stockholm three ambassadors who had just sworn to an inviolable peace : he who prided himself on his probity could not understand how a legislator like the Czar could make light of what should be held sacred. The young and honourable Prince never dreamed that there might be one code of morality for princes and another for private individuals. The Russian Emperor published a manifesto which he had much better have suppressed : he gave as reason for war that he had not been sufficiently 48 History of Charles XII honoured when he passed incognito to Riga, and also that provisions were sold too dear to his ambassadors. These were the grievances for which he ravaged Ingria with 80,000 men. It was on the ist of October, a month in which the weather is more severe in that climate than is January in Paris, that he ap peared before Narva. The Czar, who in such weather would often ride 400 leagues to see a mine or a canal, spared his men no more than himself. Besides, he knew that the Swedes, ever since the time of Gustavus Adol- phus, fought in the depth of winter as well as in summer, and he wanted to accustom his Russians not to care about the seasons, so that some day they might at least equal the Swedes. So at a time when frost and snow force nations in temperate climates to suspend hostilities Peter was besieging Narva, thirty degrees from the Pole, and Charles was advancing to its relief. The Czar had no sooner arrived before the place than he hastened to put into practice all that he had lately learned on his travels : he drew out his camp, fortified it on all sides, built walls at intervals, and opened the trench with his own hands. He had given the com mand of the army to the Duke of Croy, a German, and a clever general, who got little support from the Russian officers. The Czar himself had only the ordinary rank of lieutenant in his own army. He thought it necessary to give an example of military History of Charles XII 49 obedience to his nobility, who up till then had been undisciplined and accustomed to lead bands of ill-armed slaves without experience or order. There is nothing- surprising- in the fact that he who at Amsterdam turned carpenter to procure fleets for himself should at Narva turn lieutenant in order to teach his people the art of war. The Russians are strong- and indefatigable, and perhaps as brave as the Swedes, but it requires time to make veterans, and discipline to make them invincible. The only fairly reliable regiments were commanded by German officers, but there were very few of them ; the rest were savages torn from their forests, clothed in the skins of wild beasts, some armed with arrows and others with clubs. Few had muskets, none had seen a regular siege, there was not one good gunner in the whole army. A hundred and fifty cannon, which ought to have reduced the little town of Narva to ashes, hardly made a breach, while every moment the artillery of the town were destroying whole lines at work in the trenches. Narva was practically unfortified, and Count Horn, who was in command, had not a thousand regular troops, and yet this immense army was not able to reduce it in ten weeks. On the 1 5th of November the Czar heard that the King of Sweden had crossed the sea with 200 transports and was on his way to the relief E 50 History of Charles XII of Narva. There were not more than 20,000 Swedes, but superiority of numbers was the Czar s only advantage. He was far, therefore, from despising his enemy, and used all his skill to crush him ; and not content with 100,000 men he levied another army to oppose him and harass him in his advance. He had already sent for 30,000 men who were advancing from Plescow by forced marches. He then took a step which would render him contemptible if so great a legislator could be so. He left his camp, where his presence was necessary, to go to meet these reinforcements, which could quite well reach the camp without his aid ; this step made it appear that he was afraid of fighting, in an entrenched camp, a young and inex perienced prince, who might attack him. However that may be, his plan was to hem in the King between two armies. Nor was this all : a detachment of 30,000 men from the camp before Narva was posted at a league s distance from the town, on the King of Sweden s route, 20,000 Strelitz were further off on the same route, and 5,000 others formed an advanced guard. Charles would have to force his way through all these troops before he could reach the camp, which was fortified by a rampart and a double ditch. The King of Sweden had landed at Pernaw, on the Gulf of Riga, with about 15,000 foot and more than 4,000 horse. From Pernaw he made a forced march to Revel, followed by all his horse and History of Charles XII 51 only 4,000 of his foot. He continually advanced without waiting- for the rest of his troops. Soon he found himself, with only 8,000 men, in presence of the enemy s outposts. He did not hesitate to attack them one after the other, without giving- them time to find out with how small a number they had to contend. The Russians, when they saw the Swedes advanc ing against them, took it for granted that they had a whole army to encounter, and the advanced guard of 5,000 men, who were hold ing a pass between the hills where 100 men of courage might have barred the passage of a whole army, fled at the first approach of the Swedes. The 20,000 men behind them, terrified at the flight of their countrymen, were over come by fear and caused panic in the camp to which they fled. All the posts were carried in three days and a half, and what would have been on other occasions reckoned three distinct victories did not delay the King an hour. At last he appeared with his 8,000 men, weaned with the fatigues of so long a march, before a camp of 80,000 Russians, protected by 150 cannon. He hardly allowed them time for rest before he gave orders for an instant attack. The signal was two musket-shots, and the word in German, "With God s help." A general officer pointed out to him the greatness of the danger. " Surely you have no doubt," he replied, " but that I with my 8,000 brave Swedes shall trample down 80,000 Russians!" 52 History of Charles XII Then a moment after, fearing that his speech was boastful, he ran after the officer. " Do you not agree with me," he said, " that I have a double advantage over the enemy? First be cause their horse will be useless to them, and secondly because, as the position is cramped, their numbers will only incommode them, so that I shall really possess the advantage." The officer thought it best not to differ from him, and so they attacked the Russians about noon, on the 3Oth November. As soon as the cannon of the Swedes had made a breach in the entrenchments they ad vanced with fixed bayonets, having the snow, which drove full in the face of the enemy, behind them. The Russians stood the fire for half-an-hour without quitting their posts. The King attacked the Czar s quarters, on the other side of the camp, and hoped to meet him in person, for he was ignorant of the fact that he had gone to meet his 40,000 reinforcements who were expected shortly. At the first dis charge the King received a ball in the shoulder ; but it was a spent ball which rested in the folds of his black cravat and did him no harm. His horse was killed under him, and it is said that the King leapt nimbly on another, exclaiming, "These fellows make me take exer cise. " Then he continued to advance and give orders with the same presence of mind as before. Within three hours the entrenchments were carried on all sides : the King chased the History of Charles XII 53 enemy s right as far as the river Narva with his left, if one may speak of " chasing " when 4,000 men are in pursuit of nearly 50,000. The bridge broke under them as they fled; in a moment the river was full of dead bodies; the rest in despair returned to their camp without knowing the direction in which they were going. They found some huts behind which they stationed themselves ; there they defended themselves for a time because they had no mean of escape ; but finally their generals, Dolgorouky, Gollofkin and Federowitz sur rendered to the King and laid down their arms at his feet. Just then the Duke of Croy arrived to surrender with thirty officers. Charles received all these prisoners with as charming and engaging a manner as if he were fating them in his own Court. He only put the general officers under a guard ; all the under officers and soldiers were disarmed and taken to the river Narva, where they were provided with boats to convey them to their own country. In the meantime night came on, and the right wing of the Russian force was still fighting. The Swedes had not lost 1,500 men; 18,000 Russians had been killed in their entrenchments, many had been drowned, many had crossed the river; but still there remained enough to entirely exterminate the Swedes. But it is not the number lost, but the panic of survivors which spells defeat in war. The King made haste to seize the enemy s artillery 54 History of Charles XII before nightfall. He took up an advantageous position between their camp and the town, and there got some hours sleep on the ground, wrapped in his cloak, waiting till at daybreak he could fall on the enemy s left wing, which was not yet completely routed. At two o clock in the morning General Wade, who was in command of that wing, having heard of the King s gracious reception of the other generals and his sending home of the subalterns and soldiers, asked the same favour of him. The conqueror sent him word that he need only approach at the head of his troops and surrender his arms and standards. Soon the general appeared with his Russians, to the number of about 30,000. Soldiers and officers marched bare-headed in front of less than 7,000 Swedes. As the soldiers passed before him they threw down their muskets and swords ; the officers surrendered their ensigns and colours. He let the whole band cross the river with out keeping one single prisoner. Had he put them under guard the number of prisoners would have been at least five times that of the conquerors. He then victoriously entered Narva, attended by the Duke of Croy and the other Russian officers ; he ordered their swords to be restored to them, and when he heard that they wanted money, because the tradesmen of Narva re fused to trust them, he sent the Duke of Croy History of Charles XII 55 1,000 ducats, and 500 to every Russian officer, who were full of admiration for this treatment, which they had never conceived possible. An account of the victory was at once drawn up to send to Stockholm, and to the allies, but the King erased with his own hands whatever re dounded too much to his own credit or to the discredit of the Czar. His modesty could not hinder them from striking several medals to commemorate the event at Stockholm. One of these represented him, on one face, standing on a pedestal, to which a Russian, Dane and Pole were chained; and on the reverse a Her cules, armed with a club, trampling a Cerberus, and the inscription, " Tres uno contudit ictu. " Among the prisoners made on the day of the battle of Narva was one who was typical of the revolutions of fortune. He was the eldest son and heir of the King of Georgia. He was called the " Czarafis," a name which means son of the Czar among all the Tartars as well as in Russia; for the word Czar meant King among the ancient Scythians, from whom all these peoples are descended, and is not derived from the name of the Caesars, so long unknown to these barbarians. His father, Mitelleski, who was master of the most beautiful part of the country between the mountains of Ararat and the eastern extremity of the Black Sea, had been driven from his kingdom by his own subjects in 1688, and preferred throwing him self on the mercy of the Emperor of Russia, to 56 History of Charles XII applying to the Turks. This king s son, at the age of nineteen, helped Peter the Great in his expedition against the Swedes, and was taken in battle by some Finnish soldiers, who had already stripped him, and were on the point of killing him, when Count Renschild rescued him from their hands, supplied him with clothes, and presented him to his master. Charles sent him to Stockholm, where the wretched prince died shortly after. When he took leave, the King made aloud a natural reflection on the strangeness of the fate of an Asiatic prince, born at the foot of the Caucasus, and going to live a prisoner among the snows of Sweden : " It is just," he said, "as if I were to be one day prisoner among the Tartars of the Crimea." At that time these words made no impression, but afterwards, when the predic tion had been justified in the event, there was but too much reason to remember them. The Czar was advancing by long marches with a force of 40,000 Russians, expecting to surround his enemy on all sides. When he had got half-way he heard of the battle of Narva, and the dispersal of his whole camp. He thought it best not to attack a victor who had shortly before destroyed 100,000 entrenched troops, with a force of 40,000 raw and undis ciplined men. He retraced his steps, hoping to discipline his troops at the same time as civilize his subjects. " I know," he remarked, " that the Swedes will long beat us, but in time History of Charles XII 57 they will teach us to beat them." Moscow, his capital, was terror-stricken to hear of this defeat. So great was the pride and ignorance of the people that they were convinced they had been conquered by superhuman agency, and that the Swedes had secured their victory by magic. This opinion was so widespread that a public prayer to Saint Nicholas, patron saint of Russia, was ordered. This prayer is too singular to be omitted. It runs thus " O thou, our perpetual consolation in all our adversities, great Saint Nicholas, of infinite power, how have we offended thee in our sacrifices, our genuflections, our bowings, our thanksgivings, that thou hast thus forsaken us ? We have implored thine assistance against these terrible, insolent, savage, dreadful, in vincible destroyers, when, like lions and bears who have lost their young, they have fallen upon us, terrified us, wounded us, slain us by thousands, who are thy people. As it is impos sible that this should have happened without sorcery and witchcraft, we beseech thee, O great Nicholas, to be our champion and standard- bearer, to