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1711]

The Peace of the Pruth

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succour, was desperate. Had Baltaji only remained stationary for a week, he could have starved the Muscovites into surrender without losing a man or wasting a shot. Learning, however, from a Turkish prisoner that the Grand Vezir was pacifically inclined, Vice-Chancellor Shafiroff persuaded Sheremetieff to send a trumpeter to the Turkish camp with an offer of peace. It was the merest forlorn hope, and Sheremetieff himself remarked that the Grand Vezir would be the craziest person in the world to take half when, by waiting a little longer, he could have the whole. Nevertheless, after a second and more urgent summons, the Grand Vezir professed his readiness to negotiate; and on the same day, Shafiroff, with three interpreters and two couriers, departed upon what everyone regarded as a fool's errand. His instructions strikingly reflect the extreme depression of the Tsar. Peter was now ready to surrender virtually all his Baltic conquests, except St Petersburg; to recognise Stanislaus Leszczynski as King of Poland; and to give complete satisfaction to the Sultan. He also authorised Shafiroff to promise the Grand Vezir and his chief officers 230,000 roubles, if the Muscovite army were permitted to return home unmolested. Shafiroff acquitted himself of his difficult task with consummate ability. The terms of the Peace which he brought back with him on August 12 were, in the circumstances, amazingly favourable. The Russian army was allowed to retire, in return for a solemn engagement to retrocede Azoff, to dismantle Taganrog and the other fortresses on the Sea of Azoff, to interfere no more in Polish affairs, and to grant the King of Sweden a free passage to his domains.

The only person who took no part in the general rejoicing was the Tsar. After loudly declaring his intention of delivering the Christian population of Turkey from the Mohammadan yoke and driving the Turks out of Europe, he had signed a peace by which he abandoned the Sea of Azoff, and undertook to destroy the choicest works of his own hands, his fortresses, and his costly new-built fleet! Peter's despondency is clearly reflected in the letter which he addressed to the newly instituted Senate, while the negotiations with the Porte were still proceeding. In this letter he informs his Ministers that he is surrounded by a countless Turkish army, and, without a special manifestation of God's grace, sees nothing before him but a hopeless pitched battle or Turkish captivity. "In the latter case," he continues, "regard me no longer as your Gosudar, and obey no orders from me, though they may be under my hand and seal, till I appear among you. And in case of my death, elect the worthiest as my successor."

Two days before the Russian army departed from the Pruth, Charles XII, who had provided the Grand Vezir with a plan of campaign beforehand, arrived on the scene of action. Only then did he receive the unwelcome news that peace had been concluded. Well might he denounce the conduct of Baltaji as a treason to the Sultan as well as to himself. "He seems to have more regard," wrote Charles, "for the

606 Peter and the Porte. Charles at Bender [1711-3

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conservation of the enemy's army than for the advantage of the Ottoman Porte." Even now, however, Charles did not abandon the struggle. He was materially assisted by Peter's tergiversations. Skilfully taking advantage of them, Charles, at last, procured the dismissal of Baltaji; and his own friend, Jussuf, Aga of the Janissaries, became Grand Vezir in Baltaji's stead. War was hereupon once more declared against Russia; and the Sultan announced that, in the spring, he would in person lead his army against the Tsar. Then Peter so far gave way as to abandon Azoff and raze Taganrog, without waiting for the dismissal of Charles XII. But the danger was not yet over. Early in 1712, the influential French ambassador at Stambul began urging the Sultan to declare war against Russia for the third time. Peter, he argued, fairly enough, was not to be trusted, and, if only the Sultan sent Charles home with an escort of 30,000 Turks and 15,000 Tartars, all Poland would hail his advent. The persistent hope of obtaining such escort was the real cause of Charles' long sojourn in Turkey. But the British and Dutch Ministers now came to the assistance of Shafiroff whom Peter had been obliged to leave as a hostage in the hands of the Turks. They persuaded the Grand Vezir to accept a treaty, drafted by themselves, for a twentyfive years' truce between Russia and the Porte, - Peter undertaking to evacuate Poland, and acknowledge the sovereignty of the Porte over the Cossacks (April, 1712). This treaty cost Shafiroff 84,900 Venetian ducats, of which the friendly Ministers received 6000 apiece. But the continuance of the Russian troops in Poland, long denied, could not be concealed for ever. Poniatowski presented a third memorial from Charles to the Sultan, emphasising and commenting on this flagrant breach of the April treaty; on November 1, a Turkish courier returned from Poland with confirmation of the fact; on December 21 the Sultan set out for Adrianople; and war was declared against Russia for the third time. Shafiroff reported that this change of front was entirely the Sultan's doing. He had never liked the Peace of the Pruth, and, egged on by the French ambassador, was resolved to reinstate Charles, to whom he had sent a present of 600,000 francs. In the beginning of 1713, however, more favourable reports arrived from Shafiroff. It now appeared that the Sultan had declared war for the purpose of extorting a cession of territory from the Poles; but, as they remained firm, and showed no disposition to reject Augustus since his last reinstalment, he had concluded that the Tsar was stronger in Poland than his rival, and that the French and Swedish Ministers had reported falsely. He also feared that, in the present temper of the Janissaries, disaster might mean his own deposition. He therefore requested Charles to depart from Turkey. Charles refused to budge and on February 1, 1713, was attacked at Bender. For eight hours Charles with only 40 men defended his unfortified house against 12,000 Turks with 12 guns. Two hundred Turks fell, ten by the King's own hand. It took a dozen Janissaries to

1710-3] Peace of Adrianople.

The War in Germany 607

overwhelm him single-handed in his attempt to escape from the burning house. The negotiations with Russia were then resumed. But the eyes of the Turks had now, for the first time, been opened to the fact that the Polish and the Eastern questions were inseparable, and to its inevitable corollary that Russia's predominance in Poland was a direct menace to the Porte. The new Grand Vezir, Ali Pasha, now demanded tribute from Russia, with the obvious intention of provoking a rupture (June, 1713); and Shafiroff only averted a declaration of war by bribing the Grand Mufti. Finally, however, (July 16, 1713) the Peace of Adrianople, mediated by the Maritime Powers, adjusted all the outstanding differences between Russia and the Porte.

On retiring from the Pruth, Peter, after a brief visit to Carlsbad, proceeded to Krossen (November 13, 1711) to concert measures with his allies for the vigorous prosecution of the Swedish war, which was now transferred to Germany, where the long struggle for the dominion of the North was to be fought out.

By this time Sweden's position had distinctly deteriorated. In March, 1710, the Swedish Senate had concluded a neutrality compact with the Emperor, Prussia, Hanover, Great Britain and Holland, whereby Charles' possessions in northern Germany were guaranteed against attack, on condition that Krassow's army in Pomerania abstained from hostilities within the German Empire and was not employed either in Poland or Jutland. This guarantee treaty was, in the circumstances, a prudent act of statesmanship; but Charles incontinently rejected it, as interfering with his plans, thereby greatly irritating the Maritime Powers, already by no means so well disposed towards Sweden as heretofore in consequence of the depredations of the Swedish privateers in the Baltic. In 1712, the unwisdom of Charles' summary renunciation of a compact intended for his special protection became apparent. Not only did the Tsar and Augustus II determine to proceed against the Swedish possessions in Germany, but they persuaded Frederick IV of Denmark to join them. The plan of the allies was for the Danes to invade the Bremen and Verden territory, where Stade was the chief fortress, while the Russians and Saxons simultaneously attacked Stralsund. Stade capitulated (September 7) to the Danes, who thereupon occupied Bremen and Verden; but the allies failed to make any impression on Stralsund, and the abortive siege led to a violent quarrel between the Kings of Poland and Denmark which the Russian Ministers barely succeeded in composing.

But now a fresh danger suddenly threatened Peter and his allies. From the first the Maritime Powers had been far more amicably disposed towards Sweden than towards Muscovy. This anti-Russian bias was strongest in England, where the interference of semi-barbarous Muscovy in European affairs was felt to be far more offensive than the haughty aloofness of the Swede. Before Poltawa, Sweden was generally regarded as the natural counterpoise to Russia and entitled, so far as she

608 The Maritime Powers.-Stenbock in Pomerania [1709-12

discharged that useful political function, to the support of the Maritime Powers. Hence, Great Britain recognised Stanislaus as King of Poland; and in London the Russian ambassador Matvieeff was treated with contemptuous indifference. His arrest (January 21, 1709), on a warrant obtained against him by two shopkeepers and a lace-merchant for a debt of £50, was the last straw. Though the much-ruffled ambassador was speedily released and promised every satisfaction, his arrest was reported by him from the Hague to Peter as the crowning outrage of "the Christ-hating English nation"; but the Tsar was in such straits at the time that he had to condone the offence. Even after Poltawa, the tone of the British Cabinet was persistently unfriendly. The British and Dutch Ministers at Copenhagen had done their utmost to prevent Denmark from acceding to the second coalition against Sweden; and Bolingbroke told van der Lit, the new Russian ambassador in London, that Great Britain never could put up with Russia's obvious intention of extruding the King of Sweden from German soil. In the course of 1712, the Maritime Powers offered their mediation in the Northern War in so threatening a manner that Peter declared this to be, not mediation, but intimidation. Nevertheless, he expressed himself willing to make peace on the vague stipulation that all the ancient Russian lands which he had reconquered should be retroceded to him. As, however, Charles XII refused to make any surrender, "whatever the conjunctures may be," all idea of mediation was finally abandoned.

This obstinacy was to cost Charles dear. At Bender he had elaborated a fresh plan of campaign too heroic to be practicable. Magnus Stenbock was to form a new army-corps in Sweden, convey it to Pomerania, and. invading Poland from the north, reinstate Stanislaus on the throne, and drive out Peter and Augustus, while Charles and the Turks co-operated from the south. On September 24, 1712, Stenbock succeeded in transporting an army of 9400 men, a park of artillery, and a quantity of transports laden with stores, to Rügen, despite the disturbing presence of a large Danish fleet which subsequently destroyed the greater part of the transports. After reinforcing himself from the garrison of Stralsund, he had at his disposal an effective army of 17,000 men. He rightly refused to accept the responsibility of plunging blindly into Poland, leaving Sweden's German possessions to their fate, especially as Prussia also now began to adopt a threatening tone; but, since it was equally impossible for him to remain at Stralsund, from lack of provisions, he marched westwards into Mecklenburg, reached Wismar in safety, and proceeded to live on the land. But, even here, he could not long remain in safety. The Danes were advancing against him from the south-west, the Russians and Saxons from the south-east; and, to prevent their junction, he resolved to attack the weaker foe, the Danes, whose army was little superior to his own. By forced marches he overtook the Danes near Gadebusch, before the Saxons could join them or overtake him, and won a victory

1712-4] Conquest of Finland." Stettin Sequestration" 609

(December 20, 1712), which well deserved the congratulations bestowed upon the victor by Marlborough, but was of very little service to Sweden. Hoping to crush Denmark, as Torstensson had done in 1643, by occupying Jutland, Stenbock crossed the Holstein frontier on New Year's Day, 1713; and after, with wanton barbarity, destroying the defenceless city of Altona he marched northwards through Holstein, hotly pursued by the combined armies of the three Powers under the Tsar's command. Cut off from Jutland and surrounded on every side by enemies, Stenbock finally (February 14, 1713) took refuge in Tönning, the chief fortress of Holstein-Gottorp, Sweden's one ally. Three months later, after an unsuccessful attempt to break through the beleaguering force, Stenbock, with the assistance of the Holstein Minister von Görtz, capitulated at Oldenburg (May 6, 1713), obtaining honourable terms of surrender for his army, now reduced to 11,000 men, though he himself remained in Danish captivity till his death (1717).

No sooner was Stenbock safely shut up in Tönning, than Peter went in search of fresh allies. But neither the Elector of Hanover nor the King of Prussia, to whom he successively applied, would listen to him. Peter hereupon determined to conquer Finland in order "to break the stiff necks of the Swedes," and have something definite to surrender, when the time for negotiation should have arrived. The necessary preparations were made immediately after his return to St Petersburg in March, 1713; and on May 21 the Russian fleet sailed. The defence of Finland had been entrusted to the incapable Lybecker, who heaped blunder upon blunder; and his gallant successor, Karl Gustaf Armfelt, with hopelessly inadequate forces, could do little but retreat skilfully northwards. His own and Finland's fate were finally decided on March 13, 1714, at the bloody battle of the Storkyro, when the Swedish general stood at bay with his raw levies against threefold odds and was annihilated. By the end of 1714 the whole grand-duchy was in the enemy's possession.

In Germany, during the summer of 1713, the Swedish fortress of Stettin had been besieged by the Russians and Saxons. It capitulated in September and was occupied by neutral Prussian and Holstein troops on the understanding that it was to be restored to Sweden at the conclusion of a general peace. "The Stettin Sequestration," as it was called, was primarily the work of the Holstein Ministers von Görtz and Bassewitz. Their object was to tempt Prussia over to Charles; and the Court of Berlin actually agreed to drive the Danes out of Holstein and guarantee the neutrality of Charles' German possessions in the hope of subsequent compensation. But the diplomatists had reckoned without Charles XII, who at once denounced "the Stettin Sequestration," naturally refusing to recognise the right of Prussia, a neutral Power, to occupy one of his fortresses under any conditions.

During the summer of 1714, owing to the incurable jealousy between Denmark and Saxony, the war languished; and fresh efforts were made

C. M. H. V.

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