READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

A HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE : A.D. 1453-1900

CHAPTER XXXVI

THE NORTH OF EUROPE (1644-1661)

HAVING thus described the manner in which France pursued the advantages which she had obtained at the Peace of Westphalia, we will now turn to Sweden, the companion of her policy, and partaker of the spoils.

In the first years of her reign, Christina, the daughter and successor of Gustavus Adolphus, displayed great industry and application to business, as well as extraordinary ability. She regularly attended the meetings of her Council, over which she acquired an astonishing influence; she made herself mistress of the questions to be discussed by perusing the state papers, whatever might be their length; and she had the faculty of stating the conclusions at which she arrived with great clearness and discrimination. She was resolved to govern by herself, and to discharge worthily the high functions to which she was called. She gave audience to all foreign ambassadors, and she is said to have taken a large personal share in effecting the Peace of Westphalia. She also possessed uncommon literary talent. To some acquaintance with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues she added a knowledge of German, French, Italian, and Spanish; which she assures us she acquired without the aid of masters. Her patronage of literature attracted to Stockholm a crowd of learned men, among whom may be named Grotius, Isaac Vossius, Meibomius, Gerdesius, and others, including Rene Descartes, the most original thinker of the age, who visited Stockholm in 1649, and died there in the following year. But unfortunately these pursuits disqualified Christina for her more serious duties. The foreigners by whom she was surrounded, by their descriptions of southern climates and southern art, created in her an aversion for her wintry realm, and the rustic simplicity of her subjects; whilst their more philosophical discussions bred in her, if not positive atheism, at least an indifference for all religion, unless it were that of the Roman Catholic Church, as most indulgent to sins like hers. Hence she began gradually to entertain the idea of renouncing the crown, the duties of which seemed to debar her from scenes and studies more congenial to her temper. Other motives led her in the same direction. Besides her literary pursuits, Christina had also a taste for show and splendour. She was fond of masques and mythological ballets, in which she sometimes took a part herself, in costumes not remarkable for decorum. Her extravagance was so great that she was often in want of money for her daily expenses. She bestowed with a lavish hand the royal domains on her courtiers and favorites, in order that they might appear at her feasts and revels with princely splendour, and thus deprived the kingdom of resources which were afterwards employed by the nobles to establish their own power at the expense of the crown. The necessities in which she thus became involved strengthened her wish to quit a land whose climate, customs, and religion were alike distasteful to her. Already in 1651 she had proposed to abdicate, but had been diverted from the project by the advice of her counsellors. Three years later her embarrassments became so great that she determined to throw the burden from her shoulders, and to transfer the crown to her cousin, Charles Gustavus.

We have already had occasion to mention this prince in the narrative of the Thirty Years' War. He was son of the Count Palatine, John Casimir, by Catharine, sister of Gustavus Adolphus; and was born at the castle of Nykoping, November 8th, 1622. All Sweden had desired a marriage between their Queen and the nephew of their great monarch, and in 1647 the States had earnestly pressed Christina to marry; when she declared that if ever she did so, she would give the preference to her cousin, who had already proposed for her hand and been refused. In 1649, when the States renewed their request, Christina signified her resolution to remain single, but at the same time named her cousin as her successor on the throne. In the following year she was crowned with a splendour hitherto unseen in Sweden. But the nomination of Charles Gustavus did not give general satisfaction. It was much opposed by the nobles, and especially by the now aged Oxenstiern, who could never be brought to give his consent. Nevertheless the States recognized Charles Gustavus, who, however, was obliged to promise Christina’s privy counsellors that he would protect and maintain them in all the gifts they had received from her and to come under all sorts of engagements, both towards the Queen and the States. In June, 1654, Christina abdicated, stipulating that she should not be considered as a subject, nor be made responsible for the debts of the crown; and reserving as the source of her revenues several towns, provinces, and islands. Nobody then certainly knew that she had renounced the religion of her fathers; but her conversion to the Roman Catholic faith was suspected, nor was it long before she openly declared it. The manner of her abdication resembled rather the flight of a criminal than the departure of a queen. Instead of proceeding to Germany in the fleet appointed to convey her with becoming state, she hastened through Denmark into the Netherlands, as if she were flying from shame.

Charles X, for such was the title of the new monarch, found Sweden in a terrible state of exhaustion; which had arisen not only from Christina’s expensive habits, but also from the position taken by Sweden as a conquering nation, and by efforts in the Thirty Tears' War more than commensurate with its strength. The difficulty of the situation was enhanced by the peculiar constitution of the Assembly of the States, and by the great difference prevailing among the provinces composing the kingdom, which rendered it difficult to levy any general taxes, while it was almost impossible to make the nobles and clergy contribute their shares. Christina, by her lavish expenditure, had not only exhausted the ready money and credit of the State, but also, by the alienation of the crown lands, had sapped the very foundation of the public property. Thus Charles found the kingdom in a state in which he must either declare a bankruptcy, or else endeavour to free himself from his burdens by a war which should maintain itself; for no small part of his expenses was occasioned by the maintenance of a numerous army of Swedes and German mercenaries, which had been kept on foot since the Thirty Years’ War. Nor was he averse to the latter alternative. Naturally of a warlike disposition, his service under Torstenson had fitted him to become an able commander; he was now in the flower of his age, and was filled with the ambition of executing the plans of his uncle, and extending the Swedish dominion over all the countries contiguous to the Baltic.

Charles never doubted that he must begin a war, the only point for deliberation was against what country he should first direct his arms. Denmark seemed to offer an easy prey. Ruled by a turbulent and powerful oligarchy, who applied to their own purposes the resources of the State, and opposed even the wisest and most useful measures of the King, that country seemed fast drifting to ruin. It was, moreover, totally destitute of any permanent and well-organized military force that could be opposed to the Swedish veterans, trained in the Thirty Years’ War by the greatest captains of the age. But an attack upon Denmark was feasible at any time, and a more important project seemed first to claim the attention of Charles. He contemplated seizing those provinces on the Baltic, held by the Elector of Brandenburg and the King of Poland, which interrupted the communication between Livonia and Pomerania, provinces of which he was already in possession. The Dukes of Courland and Prussia, who were vassals of Poland, were to be compelled to acknowledge the sovereignty of Sweden; the mouths of the Vistula were to be seized, as well as Polish Prussia and Danzig; and the House of Brandenburg was to be offered in Poland a compensation for ceding Eastern Pomerania, which would connect together all these conquests. When these plans had been accomplished, the subjugation of Denmark would complete Charles’s empire in the Baltic, and render that sea a Swedish lake.

While Charles was still in suspense, he was decided by a step taken by John Casimir II of Poland. That monarch, annoyed at seeing the Swedish Crown, formerly worn by his father, pass into a foreign house, yet without the power to assert his claim to it by arms, was foolish enough to afford Charles a pretext for war by protesting against his accession. Under the circumstances of Poland at that time, nothing could have been more imprudent than such a step. Since the accession of John Casimir, in 1648, Poland, which under the rule of his brother and predecessor, Ladislaus IV, had still enjoyed some reputation, had fallen into a state of decay and almost of dissolution. It was with difficulty that John Casimir could defend his frontier against the Cossacks his subjects, and the Tartars his neighbors; while the internal factions with which Poland was rent scarcely allowed him to maintain himself upon the throne.

The kingdom, or as the Poles themselves called it, the Republic of Poland, required, from its peculiar constitution, the greatest vigour and ability in the prince who governed it. The only class of Poles which enjoyed any political rights was the nobles, comprising some 100,000 families. The rest of the population was composed either of serfs who were entirely at the disposal of their masters, or the inhabitants of towns, who, though free, could neither hold public office nor exercise any legislative power. Hence the nobles alone composed the State; but these were themselves divided into four very different classes. The first class, consisting of a few princely families, who possessed whole provinces, enjoyed large revenues, and had the privilege of maintaining troops, were often at deadly feud with one another, and carried on their quarrels with the aid of foreign mercenaries and foreign gold. Under them were the Voyvodes, Starosts and Bishops, who administered the higher temporal and spiritual offices. These two classes alone were properly the rulers of the State. The third class consisted of holders of prebends and castellanies. The nobles of the fourth and last class, by far the most numerous, were poor, and for the most part depended on those above them for employment and subsistence. The Diet, chosen only by the nobles, possessed the whole power of the Government; it elected the King, made the laws, and even took a part in the executive administration. For although the King was nominally the head of the State, yet he had so little real power that the three greatest officers, namely, the Grand Chancellor, who administered the law, the Grand Treasurer, who presided over the finances, and the Grand Marshal, who directed the political affairs of the kingdom, were not responsible to him for the discharge of their functions. Notwithstanding, however, that the Diet possessed such extensive powers, it lay at the mercy of any single member who, by virtue of what was called the Liberum Veto, might annul its proceedings. The nobles had also the right of forming Confederations, which raised troops and decided by arms contested political questions. When the anarchy thus created became too intolerable to be endured, recourse was had to a General Confederation; a sort of military dictatorship, whose leader usurped all the functions of government. Enrolment in such a confederation was compulsory on every noble, on pain of forfeiting his privileges. Poland was also exposed to anarchy through the religious parties into which it was divided; for though most of the nobles were Roman Catholics, a considerable number belonged to the Protestant, and some to the Greek confession. These were called Dissidents, or dissenters. They enjoyed the same political privileges as the other nobles; of which, however, the priests and Jesuits were continually seeking to deprive them; an object in which, in the following century, they succeeded.

Bred as a monk and imbued with all the bigotry of the cloister, John Casimir was wholly unfitted to rule a kingdom like Poland. He was himself governed by his Queen, Louisa Maria di Gonzaga; which circumstance, together with the preference which he showed for French manners, caused a large party to regard him as unworthy to reign over a war­like nobility. In the year 1652 the opposition to his government had been displayed in the strongest manner. The Liberum Veto was then first used, and whole provinces seemed inclined to place themselves under foreign protection. In the same year, Jerome Radzejowski, Vice-Chancellor of Poland, and one of the principal leaders of the malcontents, fled his country and took refuge at the Court of Sweden: where he incited Charles, by the promise of his assistance, to deliver the Poles from the domination of a pusillanimous king and an imperious woman. Charles might also expect to find a strong party in the Protestant malcontents, among whom was Prince Radzivill, Grand General of Lithuania. All these circumstances seemed to favour an attack on Poland, and more than all these, the war in which that country was then engaged with Russia. The Tsar Michael, the founder of the House of Romanoff, had died in July, 1645, and was succeeded by his son Alexis, then sixteen years of age. Russia had now recovered from her domestic troubles, and began to feel her strength. Alexis commenced those plans for civilizing the Russians, and enabling them to play a part in the affairs of Europe, which were afterwards carried out by his son, Peter the Great; he partly organized his army on the European model, and introduced foreign artizans to instruct his people in handicrafts and manufactures. To this ambitious and enterprising prince the disputes between the Poles and the Cossacks of the Ukraine seemed to offer a favourable opportunity for extending his dominions.

These Cossacks, who must be distinguished from those of the Don, inhabited a country lying on the Dnieper, about forty leagues broad, and situated between the 50th and 53rd degrees of N. latitude. The Sclavonic name of Ukraine is identical with the German Mark and the French Marche, and signifies a boundary or frontier; for anciently the Ukraine formed a boundary between four states: Russia, Poland, Turkey and Little Tartary. From its being governed by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, it also obtained the name of Little Russia, in contradistinction to the Russia governed by the Muscovite Sovereigns; and hence when Jagellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania, was elected to the throne of Poland, in 1386, the Ukraine became united under the same prince with Poland. In 1569, when Lithuania was incorporated with Poland, the Palatine and Castellan of Kiev, in the Ukraine, took their places among the Senators of the Republic. A few years afterwards, Stephen Bathori gave the Cossacks a more regular organization. He divided them into regiments of 1,000 men, distributed under Sotnas (banners) or companies, each of which had a permanent chief. All the regiments were under a sole commander, called Hetman, whom the King invested in his command with a flag, a horsetail, a baton, and a mirror. But Sigismund III (1587-1632), who succeeded Bathori on the Polish throne, quite alienated the Cossacks by his impolitic measures. He reduced their military force from 40,000 men to 6,000; forbade their marauding expeditions, and made their Hetman subordinate to the general of the Crown. Sigismund was also imprudent enough to shock their religious prejudices; and being governed by the priests, did all that lay in his power to bring the Cossacks, who belonged to the Greek communion, into that of the Pope. These innovations excited a discontent which broke out more than once into open rebellion, and produced a series of wars, which were prolonged with varying success through the reigns of Sigismund and his successor Ladislaus. At length an imprudent step on the part of Ladislaus prepared the events which for ever separated the Ukraine from Poland.

The Diet having refused Ladislaus a corps of foreign troops for the war which he meditated against the Turks, that Sovereign resolved to gain the affection and assistance of the Cossacks by restoring to them their ancient privileges. But this he endeavored to effect by engaging their leader, Chmelnicki, in a sort of sham conspiracy against his. own kingdom. The Tartars were to be secretly induced to attack Poland in conjunction with the Cossacks; and when the Diet should have provided Ladislaus with troops and money to repel the invasion, the Cossacks were to make common cause with him, and, after driving out the enemy, to establish the King’s authority on a solid basis. The plan was carried out. In 1647 the Cossacks rose; in May, 1648, with the assistance of the Khan of the Tartars, they defeated a Polish army; and Chmelnicki, as had been arranged, addressed a letter to the Polish King, demanding for the Cossacks a redress of grievances and the reestablishment of their ancient constitution.

Unfortunately, however, for the success of this project Ladislaus had expired before the letter was delivered; and the Diet which assembled in July, after some stormy debates, resolved to use force against the Cossacks; but the Polish army disbanded itself on their approach. John Casimir, therefore, when elected to the Polish crown, had no alternative but to conclude an armistice with them, and in the following year, he restored to them most of their privileges. This agreement, however, was not observed; the Cossacks again rose, but with their allies the Tartars, were defeated by the Poles, July, 1651; when they were compelled to accept a convention much less favourable than the former one. The strength of their army was reduced to 20,000 men, and they were obliged to admit, as collectors and agents of the King, the Jews who had been formerly banished. Such a state of things was in the highest degree unpalatable to a warlike people accustomed to treat with arms in their hands. Their leader, Chmelnicki, who had three or four years before sought the aid of the Russians, with whom the Cossacks were connected by a common origin, and a conformity of language and religion, persuaded them, in 1654, to place themselves by a formal treaty under the protection of the Tsar Alexis; who eagerly seized the occasion to reunite to his empire provinces which had been separated from it since the fourteenth century. This step involved Alexis in a war with Poland; which he strove to justify with foreign Powers by the most childish complaints of errors committed by the Poles in the titles given by them to himself and his father; the authors of which errors, he said, he had in vain required to be capitally punished. The Tsar in person laid siege to, and captured Smolensko, September 10th, 1654, and soon after Vitepsk and other towns; another Russian army entered Lithuania, and took several places, while a third occupied Kiev and all the Ukraine. The Poles, who did not take the field till late in the year, being reinforced by 18,000 Tartars, blockaded Chmelnicki in his fortified camp at Ochmatoff till February, 1655 ; when that intrepid chieftain cut his way through their ranks sword in hand, and rejoined the Russians.

Such was the state of Poland at the time of Charles X’s contemplated expedition against that kingdom. In vain had John Casimir dispatched ambassadors to Stockholm to avert it; who, in excuse for their master’s having assumed the title of King of Sweden, alleged the example of the English sovereigns, who bore the title of Kings of France; of the King of Denmark, who called himself King of the Goths and Vandals; and of Henry III of France, who had continued till the end of his life to use the title of King of Poland. Charles remained inexorable. He wanted a pretext for war, and this was the best that he could find. There was nothing in the state of Europe to deter him from his project. The Emperor was occupied with the internal affairs of the Empire; Denmark, as we have said, was weakened by internal discord; Holland, the State most likely to oppose the designs of Charles, had just terminated an expensive war with England, and was also crippled by dissensions at home; France and Spain were entirely occupied with the war then raging between them; and the Protector Cromwell had no wish to arrest the progress of Sweden; a State which, besides being energetically Protestant, was also the decided opponent of Holland. A treaty was even concluded between England and Sweden, by which Charles X promised to favour the Baltic commerce of the English rather than that of the Dutch; while Cromwell engaged, so long as it should be necessary, to put twenty ships of war at the service of Sweden, and to allow recruits for that country to be levied in England and Scotland.

Charles X’s plan was to break in two directions through Pomerania and Livonia into Poland, already weakened by the attacks of the Russians and Cossacks; and also, by means of its internal dissensions, to induce some of its provinces to come under a voluntary subjection. Danzig, winch enjoyed an independent government, was to be blockaded by the Swedish fleet, which, as in the time of Gustavus Adolphus, was to levy dues, and thus in time compel that city to submit to Sweden. In July, 1655, Field-marshal Count Wittenberg, governor of Swedish Pomerania, received instructions to enter Great Poland with 17,000 men. A Polish army, under the Palatines of Posen and Kalisch, offered to dispute the passage of the Netze, when Radzejowski, who accompanied Wittenberg, persuaded the Polish commanders to place their Palatinates under the protection of Sweden. Charles X himself, with an army of 15,000 veterans, landed near Wolgast towards the end of July, and proceeded to Stettin. The fleet which had conveyed him, consisting of forty vessels of war under Charles Gustavus Wrangel, was then dispatched to blockade the road of Danzig. The King entered Poland early in August, passed the Netze at Czarnikow, and formed a junction with Wittenberg at Conin-on-the-Warta. His march resembled rather a triumphal procession than a hostile inroad. The nobles flocked from all sides to claim his protection, and compared him to “their good king Ladislaus”. The many enemies by whom John Casimir was attacked had compelled him to divide his forces. One division under Potocki opposed the Cossacks; Radzivill, with a second, was defending Lithuania against the Russians; whilst the King himself, with a third, marched against the Swedes, whom he met at Sobota, August 23rd. Here John Casimir was entirely defeated, and Charles, leaving Wittenberg to pursue him, marched directly on Warsaw, which surrendered unconditionally, August 30th. He had only just anticipated an attempt on the same city by the Russians, who had dispatched some troops thither from Grodno. John Casimir after his defeat had retreated towards Cracow, and attempted to surprise Wittenberg’s camp; but that general having been rejoined by the King, the Poles were again defeated at Zarnowa. After these events, the greater part of the Polish cavalry dispersed; the Swedes pursued John Casimir with forced marches, and again defeated him on the river Donajek, near Cracow, September 21st. The Polish King now lost all hope, and fled to Oppeln in Silesia, to behold from a distance the misfortunes of his country. Cracow, which had been bravely defended by Stephen Czarnecki, opened its gates to the Swedes, October 8th. Soon after the Polish standing army, called Quartians, took the oath of fidelity to Charles X. Poland seemed now in a state of utter dissolution. Most of the Polish nobles made their submission to Charles in person at Cracow, or to his representatives at Warsaw; though twenty-two of the senators offered the Polish crown to the Emperor. The army of Potocki, which had been beaten by the Cossacks, submitted to the Swedes. Horn, landing at Stettin with reinforcements, had occupied Pomerelia, and secured the King of Sweden’s rear. Field-marshal Stenbock, crossing the Bug at its confluence with the Vistula, had defeated the army of Varsovia, and secured that province. In Lithuania, Minsk, Grodno, and Wilna having been taken by the Russians, Radzivill submitted to De la Gardie, the Swedish governor of Livonia. Charles was recognized as Grand Duke of Lithuania, and the States of that province, as well as of Samogitia, made their formal submission in October.

Conquests so rapid and extensive seemed almost to place this expedition of Charles X on a par with that of his great predecessor Gustavus Adolphus to the Rhine. Yet the Swedish King did not feel himself altogether secure. The Tartars were reported to be in motion. The Russians, who now held the greater part of Lithuania, were dangerous neighbors; and the Tsar announced, by the assumption of the titles of “Grand Prince of Lithuania, White Russia, Volhynia, and Podolia”, that he did not intend to resign his conquests. The Poles themselves could not be confidently relied on, and Prussia, one of the chief objects of the war, had not yet been reduced. Above all, Charles was anxious about the conduct of the Elector of Brandenburg, who had been negotiating with his enemies, John Casimir and the Dutch, and had finally entered West Prussia with 8,000 men; where, calling the States together, he made a treaty with them to resist any attempt on the part of the Swedes to obtain possession of Prussia. As the events of this Swedish invasion, and the policy adopted by the Elector of Brandenburg with regard to it, are among the chief causes which finally led to the establishment of the Prussian monarchy, it will be useful to examine with some attention the character, motives, and actions of that prince.

We have already recorded the accession of Frederick William, commonly called the “Great Elector”, to the electorate of Brandenburg in 1640. His dominions were then exposed to all the risks and dangers of the Thirty Years’ War; but the first steps of the young Elector—for he was only twenty years of age at the time of his accession—were marked by the greatest prudence and circumspection. He hastened to conclude an armistice with Sweden, which he the more readily obtained as a marriage was at that time in contemplation between him and Christina, the heiress of the Swedish throne. The conduct of the Elector during the remainder of the war was such as to procure him, as we have already seen, very favorable terms at the Peace of Westphalia. One of the most remarkable features of Frederick William’s character was his piety. He had adopted the Calvinistic faith, the religion of his grandfather, John Sigismund; but he rejected its most characteristic feature, that of election and predestination, and he required that the doctrine of universal grace should be preached in all the churches of the Mark.

Frederick William had paid particular attention to his finances, which were in a flourishing condition. He was very sparing in his personal expenses; but the political exigencies of the time compelled him to maintain a standing army, which had been gradually increased from 8,000 men, till at the time of the Swedish invasion it numbered 26,000, with 72 guns. As his States were opposed to so heavy a charge, he had been sometimes obliged to resort to compulsion, and act against the law and the mediaeval rights which stood in his way; for his political conscience was somewhat broad, and allowed him to join the stronger party and loose himself from the weaker, as interest dictated. One of the chief objects of his ambition was to shake off the feudal bonds by which he held his Duchy of Prussia under the elective kings of Poland, whose weakness he despised. He had at first wished to arrange the differences between Sweden and Poland in an amicable manner; but seeing war inevitable, he consulted how he might best turn it to his advantage. His military strength made him a desirable ally for either party, and he had also fortified himself by an alliance with the Dutch. The Rhenish possessions which had fallen to him by the succession of Jülich rendered the friendship of that people important to him; but the negotiations had been so long protracted, that the Swedish invasion of Poland gave a new object to them, and induced the States-General to league themselves with the Elector. On the 27th of July, 1655, a treaty was concluded at the Hague for mutual defence, to include the Elector’s possessions on the Baltic; and Frederick William engaged to protect the Dutch commerce in that sea.

While these negotiations were going on with the States, Charles X had also been endeavoring to bring over the Elector to his side. Conferences had taken place at Stettin, in which the Brandenburg plenipotentiaries had tried to dissuade the Swedish King from his projects; but finding him resolved, had offered to unite the Electoral forces with his, if Charles would engage to free Prussia from Polish vassalage. But this agreed not at that time with Charles’s plans, and the success of his arms rendered him every day less conciliating, Frederick William, on his side, reckoning that the Poles might be able to hold out till the spring, when aid might be expected from all sides, had been induced, as already related, to enter West Prussia with his forces, and in November, 1655, he concluded with the Prussian nobles an agreement for the defence of the duchy; but the towns of Danzig, Elbing, and Thorn kept aloof.

This step of the Elector’s gave great offence to the King of Sweden, and afforded another motive for marching into Prussia. He himself, having recruited his army with 7,000 Poles, set out from Warsaw; Stenbock with his division preceding him down the Vistula, while De la Gardie marched in the same direction from Lithuania. Thorn and Elbing soon opened their gates to the Swedish forces. Charles then marched against the Elector, and having taken Welau on the Pregel (Dec. 15th), compelled him to shut himself up in Konigsberg, the capital of his duchy. Frederick William, finding that he could expect no assistance from the Dutch, was now compelled to yield; and he authorized his ministers to sign with the Swedish Chancellor, Eric Oxenstiern, a treaty by which he recognized himself as the vassal of Sweden instead of Poland; bound himself to assist the Swedes in their wars, and to allow them free passage through the Duchy of Prussia, with the use of the ports, etc. After its execution the Elector visited the King at Bartenstein, where they spent some days together in great apparent friendship.

All Charles’s plans seemed now to be crowned with complete success, and nothing appeared necessary to his recognition as King of Poland except a coronation. But his conquests were too rapid to be lasting, and had, indeed, been conducted in a manner which entailed their loss. The Polish nobles had been offended by Charles’s haughtiness; the people were incited by the priests to defend their religion against the heretic Swedes; and they were naturally anxious to preserve their property, which, in many instances, had been seized by Charles for the support of his troops. The embers of lurking discontent were busily stirred by John Casimir, and during the absence of Charles in Prussia they burst into an open flame. The Swedes were massacred wherever they were the smaller number. Potocki’s troops, who had submitted with reluctance to the Swedes, suddenly broke up from Lublin, and marched towards Red Russia (Gallicia), calling on the Poles to arm. A confederacy had been formed at Tyrcowitz, which was confirmed by John Casimir, Jan. 5th, 1656. That King had recrossed the Polish borders with a small body of cavalry towards the end of the year, and having joined a force under Lubomirski, had marched to join Potocki and the Tartars who were announced to be hastening to his assistance.

Although it was mid-winter, the King of Sweden, when he heard of these movements, quitted Prussia to suppress them. Crossing the Vistula on the ice, he defeated with great loss, near Golumbo, a Polish force of 12,000 men under Stephen Czarnecki (Feb. 8th). He then overran the Palatinates of Lublin, Belz, and Sandomier. But he soon discovered that his resources were unequal to the enterprise he had undertaken. As fast as he left a conquered province the inhabitants again rose against him; large numbers of the Quartians deserted his standards; while many of his Swedish troops perished of hunger and cold, or at the hands of the peasantry. Under these circumstances, Charles was compelled, towards the middle of March, to commence a retreat to Warsaw, during which he experienced the greatest difficulties and dangers from the state of the roads, and especially from having to cross the river Sau in the face of the enemy. His brother-in-law, the Margrave Frederick of Baden, who was bringing some reinforcements to his aid, was defeated by the Poles near Warka on the Pilsa, March 28th. Charles reached Warsaw April 5th; and leaving that city under the command of Wittenberg, he returned into Prussia with the view of taking Danzig, which city, however, baffled all his attempts.

The ill-success of the Swedish King determined him to draw closer his alliance with the Elector of Brandenburg, with the view of reducing Poland by their joint arms. Charles now contemplated a partition of that country something similar to that which took place about a century later. By the treaty of Marienburg, June 15th, 1656, the two sovereigns entered into an offensive and defensive alliance, by which Frederick William agreed to assist Charles then with all his forces, and at other times with 4,000 men; while Charles undertook to defend the Elector’s territories with 6,000 men. By another secret treaty, signed on the same day, the King ceded to Frederick William in full sovereignty the four Palatinates of Posen, Kalisch, Siradia, and Lenezca. The rest of Poland was abandoned to the Russians, the Cossacks, and George Ragotsky, Prince of Transylvania; Charles reserving for himself only Prussia, the real object of the war.

After this treaty had been signed, the King, the Elector, and the Margrave of Baden, who had arrived from Pomerania with fresh troops, marched to the relief of Warsaw, where Wittenberg had been six weeks besieged by a large Polish and Tartar force, animated by the presence of John Casimir; but before the allies could reach that city, Wittenberg had been compelled to capitulate (June 21st). So weak was the authority of John Casimir over these barbarous hordes, that he could not prevent the capitulation from being violated; and though the garrison had stipulated for an unmolested retreat to Thorn, Wittenberg and several other Swedish generals were made prisoners, and numbers of their soldiers were killed or maltreated. It was not till towards the end of July that the King of Sweden and the Elector had formed a junction at Nowydwor, near the confluence of the Bug and Vistula. Hence they marched on Praga—a suburb of Warsaw on the right bank of the Vistula—where John Casimir, with his Poles and Tartars, offered them battle. A desperate struggle ensued, which lasted three days; when at length the Polish troops, though twice as numerous as their opponents, were compelled to yield to the superior science and bravery of the Swedes and Germans. Warsaw was now again recovered and occupied by the Swedes, while John Casimir retired to Lublin. But Charles was prevented from pursuing the enemy and reaping all the fruits of his victory by the politic remissness of Frederick William; who pleaded the incursions of the Poles into Prussia as an excuse for leading back his army thither, leaving only 4,000 men with the King of Sweden, as he was bound to do by treaty; and, after his return, he began to negotiate in a very suspicious manner with the Poles, the Danes, and the Emperor. He seems to have perceived that Charles had entered on an enterprise too vast for his strength, and to have resolved to turn his indiscretion to advantage. It was at first thought that John Casimir would have come to some terms after his defeat; but the invasion by the Russians of the Swedish province of Livonia, and the hope held out to him of some support from the Emperor, caused him to alter his mind.

The peace of Stolbova between the Swedes and Russians, in 1617, had been so disadvantageous to the latter, that it was not unnatural they should wish to break it. By this treaty, Ingria and part of Carelia were ceded to Sweden; and as this Power had previously obtained Livonia by the treaty of Teusin, in 1595, the Russians were thus entirely excluded from the Baltic, sequestered as it were from European commerce, and reduced almost to the condition of an Asiatic Power. It was a conviction that the Tsar would endeavor to escape from such a state of things and regain a footing on the Baltic, which had induced Charles X, before he invaded Poland, and with the view of conciliating the Russian sovereign, to dispatch to him an embassy. But the vanity and presumption which characterized the Russian Court before it had been civilized by European intercourse, rendered this embassy one of the causes of the war which it was intended to avert. Alexis, after his conquests in Poland, had not only added the names of the subdued provinces to his titles, but had also assumed that of “Lord of many lands to the North, East, and West, and heir of his Ancestors and Predecessors”. As it was plain that by this oriental bombast he indicated his pretensions to Livonia, Ingria, and Carelia, Charles refused to acknowledge these titles, which implied a claim on his own dominions; a want of condescension which gave great offence to the Tsar, who seized and imprisoned the Swedish ambassadors. Alexis, though himself at war with Poland, was also displeased at the invasion of that country by the Swedes, which seemed to rob him of part of his destined booty; and several acts of hostility had occurred between the Russian and Swedish troops, intent on occupying the same places in Lithuania.

If Alexis could have agreed with the King of Sweden and the Elector of Brandenburg, the partition of Poland might perhaps then have been effected, instead of being postponed till the following century. But the Tsar was jealous of the occupation of Lithuania by the Swedes, and his ministers urged him to seize the pretext of Charles’s refusal to acknowledge his titles to declare war against Sweden, and to recover the provinces which had formerly been lost. Their representations were seconded by the Dutch merchants; while the Court of Vienna offered its mediation to procure for the Tsar a truce with Poland, so that he might direct all his efforts against the Swedes. Without awaiting the result of these negotiations, Alexis, in June, 1656, ordered his troops to enter Ingria and Carelia; whence, after ravaging those provinces, they penetrated to the extremity of Finland. Alexis himself, at the head of 100,000 men, invaded Livonia, seized Dunaburg and Kokenhausen, the garrisons of which places were put to the sword, and invested Riga. From this last place, defended by De la Gardie, he was repulsed with great loss; but Dorpat having capitulated October 26th, the Russians were enabled to penetrate into the country and devastate everything with fire and sword.

TREATY OF LABIAU, 1656

The Emperor Ferdinand III had viewed with uneasiness the progress of the Swedes, which threatened the Roman Catholic religion in Poland, and endangered his own hereditary dominions. The desire to divert their arms had led him to incite the Tsar to enter Livonia. He was not himself prepared to declare war against Charles; but he accorded to John Casimir an asylum, where he might prepare the means of re­entering his kingdom. He even made an alliance with that prince, and engaged to use his good offices with the Elector, as well as with the Cossacks, in his favour. A truce was also concluded through Ferdinand’s mediation between the Poles and Russians at Wilna, November 3rd, 1656. The Tsar, jealous of the victories of the Swedes, readily listened to the proposals of John Casimir, especially as hopes were held out to him of succeeding to the Polish throne. The Elector of Brandenburg skillfully availed himself of the embarrassment occasioned to Charles by the Russian war to obtain the secret object of his policy, the sovereignty of Prussia. Charles was very averse to accede to an arrangement which broke the contiguity of his provinces on the Baltic; but at length (Novem­ber 20th) he signed the Treaty of Labiau, which may be said to have laid the first stone of the Prussian monarchy. By this treaty, Frederick William and his heirs male were recognized as legitimate and independent sovereigns of Prussia and Ermeland. In any future peace, the Elector was to use his endeavors that West, or Royal Prussia, Pomerelia, and part of Cassubia, together with Semigallia, Samogitia, Livonia, and Courland, should be assigned to Sweden. The Elector renounced his pretensions to the four Polish Palatinates, and agreed to afford to the King of Sweden the same aid as stipulated by the treaty of Marienburg.

Charles had also turned to other quarters for assistance, and among them to England, almost the only Power which viewed his progress without displeasure or alarm. But though Cromwell had said that the Swedes, for aught he cared, might extend their conquests to the Caspian Sea, he was not disposed to give them any active assistance; and all that they obtained by a treaty concluded at London in July, 1656, was permission to recruit in Great Britain. With George Ragotsky, Prince of Transylvania, Charles was more successful. Ragotsky, who wished to obtain a share of the Polish provinces, if not the crown of Poland itself, which had been offered to him by a party of the malcontents, had sent an embassy to Charles, with the view of making an alliance. The ill turn which Charles’s affairs subsequently took, and especially the Russian war, having rendered such an ally very desirable, a treaty was concluded in December, in which nearly all the terms demanded by Ragotsky were granted. He was to have Red Russia, Podolia, Volhynia, and all the southern provinces of Poland as far as the Narew and the Bug, with the titles of King of Little Poland, or Eastern Poland, and Grand Duke of Lithuania. His allies the Cossacks were to be maintained in possession of the Ukraine. Such was the eagerness of Ragotsky to secure these acquisitions, that before the treaty had been ratified he began his march with 18,000 horse and 5,000 foot; to which were added 20,000 Cossacks and 6,000 Moldavians and Wallachians. Charles set out from Prussia to meet his new ally. The junction was effected near Sandomierz, April 2nd, 1657, and the united forces proceeded to lay siege to Brzesc in Lithuania, which surrendered May 13th. But during the siege Charles received intelligence that the Danes were preparing to make war upon him; an event which entirely altered his plans.

Frederick III of Denmark was well aware that chance alone prevented his dominions, instead of Poland, being attacked by the Swedes. He knew that he was destined to be the next prey of their rapacity; he had therefore fortified himself with alliances, and awaited a favorable opportunity to strike the first blow. He was continually complaining of the toll established by the Swedes at the mouth of the Vistula, as annoying the navigation of the Baltic and prejudicial to Danish interests in the Sound dues. The toll was still more hurtful to the Dutch, on account of their valuable commerce with Prussia; and in June, 1656, a Dutch fleet had appeared in Danzig roads, and compelled the raising of the blockade. Frederick III sent ten vessels to join this fleet, and concluded a treaty with the States-General for the defence of the Baltic navigation. Charles, however, soon afterwards found means to pacify the Dutch by a treaty in which he granted them very favorable terms. At this epoch the Danish finances were in a terrible state; the fortresses were dilapidated, and there was scarcely any regular army. Such had been the sad result of the Danish oligarchical constitution. The nobles diverted to their own use the money that should have been applied to maintain the defenses of the kingdom, and refused to keep on foot any large force, lest it should be employed to annul the capitulation which they had imposed upon the king. Nevertheless the aspect of affairs in the spring of 1657, and especially the accession of a new sovereign of the House of Habsburg, who seemed disposed to take a more active part against the Swedes, induced the Danish monarch to declare war against Charles. The invasion of Poland by Ragotsky had determined the Emperor Leopold to enter into the Polish war. In May he confirmed his father’s alliance with John Casimir and the Republic of Poland, and undertook to send 12,000 men into the field. The King of Denmark also concluded, two months later, an alliance with John Casimir, but he commenced his attack upon the Swedes before the treaty was signed. He was no doubt further confirmed in this resolution by the prospect of assistance from the Elector of Brandenburg.

When Charles received at Brzesc the news of these events, he immediately resolved to hasten back with the greater part of his troops to the succour of his German possessions, before the Danes, supported by the Austrians, should cut off his retreat. His apprehensions were also excited by the conduct of the Elector of Brandenburg, who had withdrawn his contingent from the Swedish army. Ragotsky, in spite of Charles’s repeated warnings to him to keep nearer to his own dominions, had persisted in marching to Warsaw. A part of the Swedish troops were already on their way to the North; and Charles, leaving the command in Poland to his brother, John Adolphus, now withdrew the rest of his army from that of his Transylvanian ally (June 13th). Enraged at this desertion, Ragotsky loaded Charles with reproaches, and hastened to regain his frontier; but being overtaken by Czarnecki, was compelled to sign a disgraceful capitulation, by which he engaged to send ambassadors to apologize to the Republic of Poland, the King of Hungary (Leopold), and the Ottoman Porte, and to pay 400,000 ducats for the damage he had done. The Swedes, on their side, hastened northwards, burning all on their road to Thorn, to prevent the Poles from following them. They arrived at Stettin early in July, reduced to about 6,000 ragged men, but full of ardour and burning to revenge themselves on the Danes. After their retreat, the Protestants in Poland were subjected to the most cruel persecution. They were accused of having enticed the Swedes into Poland; their estates were plundered, and their churches desecrated; they were excluded from the Diet, and many of them were even put to death.

After Charles'’ failure in Poland, the Elector of Brandenburg began to throw off the mask. He had, indeed, never sincerely embraced the Swedish cause. He foresaw that he should ultimately lose his share of Pomerania, as well as his Prussian Duchy, if Charles succeeded in his gigantic projects; those provinces being indispensable to the completion of the Swedish dominion on the Baltic. Leopold was aware of the Elector’s views on this subject, and he was encouraged by them to mediate a peace between him and Poland. Frederick William stipulated that, in return for his active support, the independent sovereignty of Prussia, granted to him by Sweden, should be confirmed; and the Poles were at length induced, by the success of Charles in Denmark, which we shall presently relate, to accede to this condition. Thus by the Treaty of Welau, signed September 19th, 1657, Frederick William became Sovereign Duke of Prussia. On his side he engaged to restore all that he occupied in Poland, Lithuania, and Warmia, either by force of arms or by treaty with Sweden.

 The war referred to between Denmark and Sweden commenced at sea. A Danish fleet of forty sail took its station Denmark, at Bornholm; another squadron blockaded Gothenburg. The plan was to shut up all the Swedish harbours. Frederick III was impressed with the idea that Charles would hasten to return to Sweden with his shattered army. Hoping to intercept him, Frederick himself secretly went on board the Danish fleet; but when he arrived off Danzig, he was surprised with the news that the Swedish King had entered Pomerania; on hearing which he hastened back to his dominions. The Danes had crossed the Elbe early in July at Glückstadt and Harburg, and another division had entered Mecklenburg and penetrated as far as Wismar. Many encounters subsequently took place in those parts, mostly to the advantage of the Swedes, but which we forbear to relate, as the issue of the war depended on Charles’s invasion of Denmark. That king had mustered his army at Demmin, July 10th; and on the 18th, to the astonishment of all Europe, he stood on the frontiers of Holstein. This rapid march was not accomplished without the loss of many hundred horses. The Danes retreated before him, and did not even attempt to defend the pass of Moln, the entrance into Holstein. At Ottensen, near Altona, he made a short halt, and compelled the Hamburgers to equip his army. So rapid and unexpected had been his march that he still found the Danish forces separated by the Elbe. Wrangel was dispatched into the duchy of Bremen, and in a fortnight drove the Danes from every place except Bremervorde. Charles himself began his march northwards, August 3rd. He had accompanied Torstenson during the campaign in Holstein and Jutland in 1644; he had thus become acquainted with the scene of his future exploits, and had discussed with Torstenson those plans which now gave him the victory. His progress was rapid. The raw Danish levies, commanded by inexperienced officers, were unable to withstand the Swedish veterans. Charles traversed Holstein and Sleswig almost without resistance. On the 23rd of August he stood before Fridericksodde in Jutland, a strongly fortified place which commands the Lesser Belt. The greater part of Jutland was now in his power; but as he foresaw that Fridericksodde would require a long siege, he resigned the command to Wrangel, and retired to Wismar, in order to watch the movements of the Poles and Austrians. In spite of his success, his position had become extremely critical. He was at open war with Poland, Russia, Denmark, and Austria, while Holland and Brandenburg were covert enemies. The Austrian army had begun to move northwards. The Swedish general Wurtz had surrendered Cracow to them on condition of an unmolested retreat; a place, indeed, which from its distance from the other Swedish possessions was not worth retaining. An Austrian corps was marching towards Prussia; and Czarnecki, with 4,000 Poles, had entered Swedish Pomerania, and devastated everything as far as Uckermunde. Another motive with Charles for going to Wismar was that he might superintend the operations of his fleet. This was not ready till the beginning of September; and on the 12th of that month it engaged the Danish fleet off the Isle of Moen, in a battle which lasted two days and left the victory undecided. The Swedish ships then entered the harbour of Wismar.

The siege of Fridericksodde lasted till the 24th of October, when Wrangel became master of it by a bold and successful manoeuvre. The town lies on a tongue of land, but one of its sides is protected hardly by the sea; and on this side some palisades were its chief defence. Wrangel, taking advantage of a periodical recess of the sea, and the shades of night, ordered some of his cavalry to destroy the palisades and enter the town on that side, whilst he himself stormed it with all his forces on the other. This plan proved entirely successful; most of the garrison were killed or made prisoners, and in the morning the Swedish flag floated upon the walls. The possession of Fridericksodde was indispensable to the Swedish army, in order to pass over to Funen. The passage, however, could not be effected without the fleet; and that of the Danes, though terribly maltreated in the late engagement, having been reinforced with eighteen Dutch ships, was still the mistress of the seas. Charles had been disappointed of the aid of an English fleet. He had proposed to Cromwell a plan for the partition of Denmark, by which that kingdom would have been entirely extinguished; but though the Protector was desirous of obtaining some German State, in order that he might have a voice in the affairs of the Empire, he did not wish to see Denmark completely crushed; and he had observed to the Dutch ambassador that the times were past when it was permitted to destroy whole kingdoms. Cromwell would have preferred a triple alliance, with Sweden and Denmark, against the House of Austria; and he declared himself ready to join Sweden and the German Protestant States against Leopold. Both England and France had offered to mediate between Denmark and Sweden; but both these Powers were then disinclined to a peace, and Charles X especially did all that lay in his power to defeat the negotiations.

Under these circumstances, the capture of Fridericksodde would have been of no avail to Charles, had not the powers of nature stepped in to his assistance. After he had suffered some months of anxiety, a severe frost covered the Baltic with ice, and suggested to him an idea by which he might excel the exploits of any former conqueror. He resolved to cross the sea on the ice, although the persons whom he consulted denounced the enterprise as impracticable. The strength of the current near Middlefahrt, where the Little Belt is narrowest, rendered it unadvisable to cross at that point; the passage to Funen was therefore effected some miles lower down towards Hadersleben; where, though the Belt is six or seven miles broad, the ice was more secure, while the little island of Brandso in the middle of the channel materially assisted the operation. On the night of the 30th January, 1658, the King himself and Wrangel led the cavalry and artillery, while the Count De la Gardie, at the head of the infantry, crossed between Stenderup and Tybring. After passing the island of Brandso, the cavalry advanced in order of battle towards the headland of Ivernas, now Wedelsborg, on the coast of Funen. In this operation several squadrons of cavalry sunk beneath the ice; but the main body arrived in safety and defeated a Danish corps which attempted to arrest their progress. The Swedes occupied Funen without further resistance, and Charles next day entered Odense, the chief town. The more hazardous enterprise of crossing the Great Belt into Zealand still remained to be achieved. The shortest route was from Nyborg to Corsoer; but it was determined to adopt the safer, though more circuitous one, across the islands which lie between the southern extremities of Funen and Zealand. The channel between Funen and Langeland was passed on the night of February 5th, and on the following one the still broader channel between Langeland and Laaland. On the 8th Guldborg Sound was crossed, which separates Laaland from Falster. In Falster it was necessary to wait for the infantry and artillery, which arrived at Stubkiöping on the 10th; and in two days the whole army passed over into Zealand.

Nothing could equal the consternation of the Danes at the news of this successful and unexpected invasion. Copenhagen threatened, was in so wretched a state of defence as to be entirely at the mercy of the conqueror. Charles, flushed with the triumph of one of the most extraordinary military enterprises ever achieved, debated whether he should put an end to the Danish kingdom by incorporating it with Sweden, or whether he should content himself with seizing some of its finest provinces. The first of these projects he is said to have relinquished only through fear that the more agreeable climate of Zealand might induce some of his successors to make it their residence, and that Denmark might thus become the seat of empire, whilst Sweden sank down into a mere Danish province. But whatever the exultation of Charles, and however brilliant his situation, he could not be insensible to its danger. Czarnecki and his Poles, after wasting Pomerania and threatening to penetrate into Holstein, had indeed returned home to secure their booty, instead of marching to the assistance of the King of Denmark; but, on the other hand, a more dangerous enemy had been added to those who had declared against Charles. The Elector of Brandenburg had concluded an offensive alliance with Denmark, November 10th, 1657. That Prince might soon come to the aid of the Danish King; besides which, it was known that the Dutch were preparing to come to the relief of Copenhagen, as soon as the ice broke up, with a fleet of twenty-five ships and 7,000 men. The apprehension of these events led Charles to refuse any suspension of arms for the purpose of negotiation, and to hasten his march towards the Danish capital. He did not, however, reject the mediation pressed upon him by England and France. The Danish plenipotentiaries had been instructed to agree to the best terms they could obtain, and the preliminaries of a peace were signed at Tostrup, towards the end of February, which led to the definitive Treaty of Roskild, March 8th, 1658. By this treaty Denmark was isolated from her allies, as each party agreed to renounce all alliances contracted to the prejudice of the other, and the Baltic was to be closed to the fleets of the enemies of either Power. This last article was particularly offensive to the Dutch, and caused Van Beuningen, the Dutch minister, to strain every nerve to upset the treaty. Denmark ceded to Sweden Halland, Schonen, Blekingen, and the Isle of Bornliolm with their dependencies, the cities of Bahus and Drontheim, together with some rights in the Isle of Rügen. Conquests made during the war were mutually restored.

 In spite of this treaty, it soon became evident that the war was not at an end. Charles X still felt the cravings of a conqueror. It was a saying of his, that a great prince should be always at war, both to occupy his subjects and to render himself formidable to his neighbors. His plans were on the most gigantic scale. After rendering himself master of the Scandinavian kingdoms and of the Baltic, he proposed to maintain a fleet of 100 ships and an army of 100,000 men; and it is said that he entertained the idea of then marching to Italy and founding there, like another Alaric, a new kingdom of the Goths. These schemes are characteristic of a sovereign who has obtained the name of the “Pyrrhus of the North”; but they were singularly out of proportion to his means. Authorities differ as to the precise period at which he had determined to renew the war with Denmark. His historian, Puffendorf, says that he did not come to that resolution till the middle of June; but Dalberg, a favorite officer of Charles, and one of the chief agents in some of his most daring and important achievements, says in his “Journal” that the King had already determined on a renewal of hostilities by the middle of April. All Charles’s actions show, indeed, that in his secret heart he had never meant to observe the peace. The maintenance of his army rendered war necessary to him. It was for the most part composed of foreign mercenaries, who, if once disbanded, could never be reassembled; yet his means did not permit him to maintain them except in an enemy’s country. Thus, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Roskild, his troops were still kept in the Danish provinces; and though in May Wrangel was ordered to withdraw the divisions in Zealand, those which occupied Funen, Jutland, and Holstein were not recalled. It was alleged in excuse for this occupation that several points in the treaty had not been finally arranged. One of the most important of these regarded Charles’s father-in-law, the Duke of Holstein Gottorp. The Duchies of Duchies of Sleswig and Holstein were held by a younger branch of the House of Holstein, but under the suzerainty of the regal branch, or kings of Denmark; and disputes had frequently arisen as to the extent of the royal jurisdiction in Sleswig, for Holstein was a fief of the German Empire. Frederick, the reigning Duke, had taken advantage of his son-in-law’s invasion of Denmark to assert his independence of that kingdom. The matter had not been settled by the Treaty of Roskild; but a commission had been appointed to consider the Duke’s claims, and in May, 1658, he was recognized as independent sovereign of Sleswig and the Isle of Fehmern. There were still, however, some other unsettled points with regard to the Treaty of Roskild, which afforded Charles a pretext for keeping his army in Denmark, and especially a question respecting the little Isle of Hveen, the possession of which was important to Sweden, as it commanded the approach to the port of Landskrona. Meanwhile Charles, who was at Gothenburg, kept the Swedish States assembled in readiness for any emergency. He was persuaded, as well from his own recent success as from the facility with which Frederick III had yielded to all his demands, that Denmark was too weak to resist his arms; and he had already, in imagination, disposed of his future conquest. Denmark was to be annihilated as an independent kingdom, and to be reduced to the condition of a Swedish province. Nay, he even debated with his Council how homage should be done to him and what titles he should assume when his conquest was completed; and it was arranged that he should be called “King of Sweden and the Goths, of Denmark, Norway, and the Vandals”.

Early in August Charles was ready to take the field. He coloured his breach of the peace by charging the King of Denmark with not having fulfilled all the conditions of the Treaty of Roskild; with being the direct or indirect cause of the oppression of the Protestants in Livonia by the Russians, and the taking of Thorn by the Poles; and with having promoted the election of Leopold, the enemy of Sweden, as Emperor. He embarked with his army at Kiel, August 5th. He had at first proposed to go directly to Copenhagen, which he might then probably have taken, as everything depended on promptness; but, instead of this, he was advised to land at Corsoer, several days’ march from the capital, which had thus an opportunity to prepare for its defence. Frederick III, who, with his son, afterwards Christian V, was in Copenhagen at this juncture, displayed a firmness which excited the admiration of all Europe. When advised to escape into Norway, he replied that he would die, like the bird, in his nest. He inspired the inhabitants with the same courage as animated himself. The citizens and students armed; the magistrates declared their readiness to die with him; the suburbs were burnt, and the outworks abandoned. Nevertheless, so small was the regular garrison, and so dilapidated were the fortifications of Copenhagen, that had Charles, when he appeared before it, ordered an immediate assault, as advised by Dalberg, the city would most probably have been taken; but the King listened in preference to the advice of Wrangel, to attack Kronenborg first. The siege of this place lasted from August 16th till September 6th, when it surrendered; a delay most valuable to the Danes, as it enabled them to repair the defenses, and to augment and train the garrison of Copenhagen. After the surrender of Kronenborg, Copenhagen was regularly invested by the Swedes, and the guns taken at the former place were employed against it. But Frederick and his loyal citizens made a vigorous defence, and repulsed every assault, till at length a Dutch fleet of thirty-five vessels, under Opdam, arrived to their relief. Opdam had appeared at the entrance of the Sound October 20th, but was prevented by contrary winds from entering it till the 29th, when he engaged and defeated the Swedish fleet, and compelled it to retire to Landskrona. The Dutch revictualled Copenhagen, landed a reinforcement of 2,000 men, and supplied Frederick with a loan of 3,000,000 guilders. The Swedes now withdrew to a height within a few miles of Copenhagen, and converted the siege into a blockade.

Meanwhile, in September, the Elector of Brandenburg, with an army of 30,000 men, half of which were his own troops, and the rest Austrians under Montecuculi, and Polish cavalry under Czarnecki, had marched to the assistance of Frederick. They reached the Isle of Alsen, but the rigour of the season having prevented them from embarking on the fleet which Frederick had sent to convey them into Zealand, they penetrated into Jutland, took Kolding by storm on Christmas Day, and proceeded to drive the Swedes from other parts of that province. Thus, while Charles X was blockading Copenhagen, he was, in fact, himself blockaded; at sea by the Dutch and Danish fleet, on land by the army of the allies. Towards the close of the year he had been tantalized by the appearance of an English fleet, which, however, was obliged to return home by unfavorable weather. On the night of the 10th February, 1659, Charles endeavored to make himself master of Copenhagen by a desperate assault, which was repulsed with great loss, including several generals, among whom was Count Erin Stenbock; and the Swedes were compelled to retire to their fortified camp.

The only favorable circumstance in Charles’s situation was that he had succeeded in effecting a three years’ truce with the Russians, December 20th, 1658. Little of importance had occurred in the war between the Swedes and Russians since the taking of Dorpat, before recorded, except the battle of Walk, June 19th, 1657, in which a corps of 10,000 Russians was entirely defeated. The successes of the Swedes in Denmark disposed the Tsar to peace; a suspension of arms had been agreed upon in April, 1658, and subsequently the truce just mentioned. The events of the war with the Poles, Austrians, and Brandenburgers had been unfavorable. Thorn had surrendered, December 21st, 1658, after a siege of eighteen months by 40,000 Poles. At the time of its capitulation the garrison only numbered 300 men. The Elector of Brandenburg, though victorious in Jutland, could not find means to transport his army into Funen. Leaving 4,000 men in Jutland, he marched with the remainder of his troops into Swedish Pomerania, where, in the course of 1659, most of the principal towns yielded to his arms and those of the Austrians. In Prussia also, at the end of the same year, the only places remaining in possession of the Swedes were Elbing and Marienburg. Meanwhile the Maritime Powers had interfered to put an end to the war in Denmark. Early in April an English fleet of forty-three vessels, under Admiral Montague, appeared in the Sound; and as some negotiations had been going on between Sweden and England, then governed by Richard Cromwell, respecting the cession of certain countries for a loan, Charles at first thought that the English fleet was come to his assistance. But Admiral Montague, and Meadows, the English minister, declared both to the Kings of Sweden and Denmark that their instructions were to negotiate the re-establishment of the Peace of Roskild, with the exception of the article which forbad the entrance of any foreign fleet into the Baltic; and that they were authorized to declare war against either monarch that refused to treat. Neither Frederick III nor Charles X was, however, disposed to listen to these proposals; the negotiations were protracted; and meanwhile a revolution in England compelled Richard Cromwell to resign the Protectorate, and the new Parliament subsequently resolved to take no part in the Northern War. Convention In May, 1659, an agreement was entered into at the Hague, between England, France, and the Dutch States, to enforce the Peace of Roskild. This agreement, known as the First Convention of the Hague, was succeeded in July by a second, to which France was no party, and on August 14th by a third, the conditions of which were essentially the same as in the first. If the belligerent monarchs did not agree to a peace within a fortnight after the receipt of the demands of this new convention, the fleets were to be employed against the party or parties refusing. This was the first attempt in European policy to coerce a conquering nation by forcing upon it a treaty; and it was afterwards repeated against France by the Triple Alliance. Both the Danish and Swedish King were at first indignant at this coercion. Frederick III, however, soon accepted the proffered terms; but Charles obstinately rejected them, and insisted that all negotiations should be carried on only between the two belligerent Powers. The English admiral, who had been instructed not to interfere, then sailed home, while De Ruyter, the commander of the Dutch fleet, commenced hostilities against the Swedes. He carried over to Funen about 4,000 men of the allied army, who, having joined a Danish corps at Odense, completely defeated the Swedes near Nyeborg to whom, indeed, they were much superior in number (Nov. 14th, 1659). Next day De Ruyter bombarded Nyeborg, where the routed Swedes had taken refuge, and compelled it to surrender.

Negotiations had been commenced between Sweden and Denmark in some tents pitched between Copenhagen and the Swedish camp; but Charles X did not live to see their conclusion. He had retired to Gothenburg, where he was seized with a fever, of which he died February 13th, 1660. In his short reign of about five years he had performed many extraordinary exploits, which, however, redounded more to his own military reputation than to the solid advantage of his people. He left a son only four years of age, during whose minority he appointed by his will a regency consisting of his wife, his brother, and four senators. The provisions of the will were, however, modified by the States, who ultimately appointed a regency consisting of the Queen-Mother, with two votes; the Lord High Steward, Peter Brahe; the Lord High Admiral, Charles Gustavus Wrangel; the Lord High Chancellor, Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie; and the Lord High Treasurer, Gustavus Bonde.

Before the negotiations between Sweden and Denmark were concluded, a peace had been effected between Poland and Sweden. The Poles were suspicious of their allies, the Emperor Leopold and the Elector of Brandenburg; for about this time a project was talked of for a partition of Poland between those Powers and Russia; while on the side of Sweden, the distress of the Swedish garrisons in Prussia was a pressing motive for peace. Austria and Brandenburg used every endeavor to thwart the negotiations, which were conducted under French mediation in the convent of Oliva, near Danzig. The Treaty of Oliva, which is as celebrated in the North of Europe as those of Munster and Osnabrück in the South, was signed May 3rd, 1660. John Casimir renounced his claim to the Swedish crown, but was allowed to retain the title of King of Sweden, which, however, was not to be borne by his successors. Thus an end was put to the pretensions of the Polish Vasas. All Livonia beyond the Dwina was ceded to Sweden, but Poland retained the southern and western districts. The Duke of Courland, whom Charles had carried off, was to be liberated and restored to his dominions, and Sweden gave up all the places which she had seized in Prussia. The Treaty of Oliva also established peace between the Emperor Leopold, the Elector of Brandenburg and Sweden. The Emperor restored to Sweden all the places in Mecklenburg and Pomerania occupied by his troops. Sweden abandoned to the Elector her claim of suzerainty for the Duchy of Prussia; and thus the ambitious scheme of Charles X for uniting his German possessions with those on the Gulf of Finland was finally frustrated.

The Treaty of Copenhagen between Sweden and Denmark, after being long adjourned, not only by the disputes of the principals, but also of the three mediators, France, England, and Holland, was at length signed, June 6th, 1660. It was essentially a confirmation of the treaty of Roskild, but with the omission of the clause which shut the Baltic to foreign fleets, as well as of that which gave Sweden an immunity from the Sound dues. Sweden restored all her Danish conquests.

The war still continued between Russia and Poland, nor had any definitive treaty of peace yet been made between Sweden and Russia. In 1658 the Poles, being no longer in danger from the Swedes, had renewed the war with Russia: they seemed to forget the promise of their throne to the son of Alexis, and assisted the revolted Cossacks against him. The campaign of 1660 was very disastrous to the Russians, who were defeated in several battles. The Tsar now became desirous of a definitive arrangement with Sweden. Negotiations were opened at Kardis on the frontier of Esthonia, but it was not till July 1st, 1661, that the Peace of Kardis was signed. By this treaty the Russians restored all that they had taken in Livonia, and the treaty of Stolbova was confirmed, except in a few points. The war between the Poles and Russians lingered on some years without any very remarkable events; till at length, in January, 1667, both parties being equally weary of the struggle, a truce of thirteen years was concluded at Andrusoff, to terminate in June, 1680. The Cossacks were now divided into two tribes, one under Polish government, the other under that of Russia; with two distinct Hetmans to be named respectively by the King of Poland and the Tsar. The thirteen years’ war with Poland (1654—1667) first stamped Russia as a European Power.

CHAPTER XXXVII

THE SUPREMACY OF FRANCE