the triumphant conqueror, mounted on the same horse which he rode at the battle of Pultowa, and followed by the generals who had a share in the victory: the whole being closed by a vast number of waggons, loaded with the Swedish military stores, and preceded by a regiment of Russian guards5. This magnificent spectacle, which augmented the veneration of the Muscovites for the person of Peter, and perhaps made him appear greater in their eyes, than all his military achievements and civil institutions, furnished Charles with new arguments for awakening the jealousy of the porte. The grand vizier Kupruli, who had zealously opposed all the designs of the king of Sweden, was dismissed from his office, after having filled it only two months, and the seal of the empire was given to Baltagi Mahomet, bashaw of Syria. Baltagi, on his arrival at Constantinople, found the interest of the Swedish monarch prevailing in the seraglio. The sultana Walide, mother of the reigning emperor; Ali Kumurgi his favourite; the kisler aga, chief of the black eunuchs; and the aga of the janizaries, were all for a war against Russia. Achmet himself was fixed in the same resolution. And he gave orders to the grand vizier to attack the dominions of the czar with two hundred thousand men. Baltagi was no warrior, but he prepared to obey". NOV. 29. The first violent step of the Ottoman court, was the arresting of the Russian ambassador, and committing him to the castle of the Seven Towers. It is the custom of the Turks to begin hostilities with imprisoning the ministers of those princes against whom they intend to declare war, instead of ordering them to leave the dominions of the porte. This barbarous custom, at which even savages would blush, they pretend to vindicate, on a supposition that they never undertake any but just wars; and that they have a right to punish the ambassadors of the princes 5. Voltaire's Hist. of Russia, chap. xix. Hist. Charles XII. liv. v. 6. Id. Ibid. with with whom they are at enmity, as accomplices in the treachery of their masters. But the true origin of so detestable a practice seems to be the ancient and hereditary hatred and contempt of the Turks for the Christian powers, which they take every occasion to shew; and the meanness of the latter, who from motives of interest, and jealousy of each other, continually support a number of ambassadors, considered as little better than spies, at the court of Constantinople, while the grand seignior is too proud to send an ambassador to any court in christendom. It is a disrespect to the Christian name, and the office of resident, that betrays the honest mussulman into this flagrant breach of the law of nations; a law which his prejudices induce him to think ought only to be observed toward the faithful, or those eastern nations, who, though not mahometans, equal the Turks in stateliness of manners, and decline sending any ambassadors among them, except on extraordinary occasions. In consequence of these prejudices, or whatever may have given rise to the practice, the Russian ambassador was imprisoned, as a prelude to a declaration of war against his master. The czar was not of a complexion tamely to suffer such an injury and his power seemed to render submission unnecessary. As soon as informed of the haughty insult, he ordered his forces in Poland to march toward Moldavia; withdrew his troops from Livonia, and made every preparation for war, and for opening with vigour the campaign on the frontiers of Turkey. Nor were the Turks negligent in taking measures for opposing, and even humbling him. The khan of Crim-Tartary was ordered to hold himself in readiness with forty thou 7. The insults to which Christian traders in Turkey are exposed, even at this day, are too horrid to be mentioned, and such as the inordinate love of gold only could induce any man of spirit to submit to, however small his veneration for the religion of the cross. Consuls and ambassadors, though vested with a public character, and more immediately entitled to protection, are not altogether exempted from such insults. sand sand men, and the troops of the Porte were collected from all quarters. Gained over, by presents and promises, to the interests of the king of Sweden, the khan at first obtained leave to appoint the general rendezvous of the Turkish forces near Bender, and even under the eye of Charles, in order more effectually to convince him, that the war was undertaken solely on his account. But Baltagi Mahomet, the grand vizier, who lay under no such obligations, did not choose to flatter a foreign prince so highly at the expence of truth. He was sensible, that the jealousy of the sultan at the neighbourhood of so powerful a prince as Peter; at his fortifying Azoph; and at the number of his ships on the Black-Sea and the Palus Mæotis, were the real causes of the war against Russia. He therefore changed the place of rendezThe army of the Porte was ordered to assemble in the extensive and fertile plains of Adrianople, where the Turks usually muster their forces when they are going to make war upon the Christians. There the troops that arrive from Asia and Africa, are commonly allowed to repose themselves for a few weeks, and to recruit their strength before they enter upon action. But Baltagi, in A. D. 1711. order to anticipate the preparations of the czar, began his march toward the Danube, within three days after reviewing his forces. vous. Mol Peter had already taken the field at the head of a formidable army, which he mustered on the frontiers of Poland, and planned his route through Moldavia and Walachia; the country of the ancient Daci, but now inhabited by Greek Christians, who are tributary to the grand seignior. davia was at that time governed by Demetrius Cantemir, a prince of Grecian extraction, and who united in his character the accomplishments of the ancient Greeks, the use of arms, and the knowledge of letters. This prince fondly imagined that the conqueror of Charles XII. would easily triumph over the grand vizier Baltagi, who had never made a campaign, and who had chosen for his kiaia, or lieutenant general general, the superintendant of the customs at Constantinople. He accordingly resolved to join the czar, and made no doubt but all his subjects would readily follow his example, as the Greek patriarch encouraged him in his revolt. Having concluded a secret treaty with prince Cantemir, and received him into his army, Peter thus encouraged, advanced farther into the country. He passed the Niester, and reached at length the northern banks of the Pruth, near Jassi, the capital of Moldavia8. But the Russian monarch, by confiding in the promises of the Moldavian prince, soon found himself in as perilous a situation, on the banks of the Pruth, as that of his rival, the king of Sweden at Pultowa, in consequence of relying on the friendship of Mazeppa. The Moldavians, happy under the Turkish government, which is seldom fatal to any but the grandees, and affects great lenity toward its tributary provinces, refused to follow the standard of Cantemir, or to supply the Russians with provisions. Meanwhile the grand vizier, having passed the Pruth, advanced against the czar with an army of two hundred and fifty thousand men, and in a manner encompassed the enemy. He formed an entrenched camp before them, the river Pruth running behind; and forty thousand Tartars were continually harassing them on the right and left. As soon as Poniatowski, who was in the Ottoman camp, saw an engagement was become inevitable the sent an express to the king of Sweden; who, although he had refused to join the Turkish army, because he was not permitted to command it, immediately left Bender, anticipating the pleasure of beholding the ruin of the czar. In order to avoid that ruin, Peter decamped under favour of the night; but his design being discovered, the Turks attacked his rear by break of day, and threw his army into some confusion. The Russians, however, having rallied behind their baggage-waggons, made so strong and regular a fire upon the enemy, that 9. Voltaire's Hist. Russian Emp. part ii. chap. i. Hist. Charles XII. liv. v. it was judged impracticable to dislodge them, after two terrible attacks, in which the Turks lost a great number of men. In order to avoid the hazard of a third attempt, the grand vizier determined to reduce the czar and his exhausted army by famine. This was the most prudent measure he could have adopted. The Russians were not only destitute of forage and provisions, but even of the means of quenching their thirst. Notwithstanding their vicinity to the river Pruth, they were in great want of water; a body of Turks, on the opposite bank, guarding, by a continual discharge of artillery, that precious necessary of life. In this desperate extremity, when the loss of his army seemed the least evil that could befal him, the czar, on the approach of night, retired to his tent, in violent agitation of mind; giving positive orders that no person whatsover should be admitted to disturb his privacy-to behold his exquisite distress, or shake a great resolution he had taken of attempting next morning, to force his way through the enemy with fixed bayonets. The czarina, Catharine, a Livonian captive of low condition, whom he had raised to the throne, and who accompanied him in this expedition, boldly exposing her person to every danger, thought proper to break through those orders. She ventured, for once, to disobey; but not from a womanish weakness. Catharine's mind alone rode out that storm of despair, in which the prospect of unavoidable death or slavery had sunk the whole camp. Entering the melancholy abode of her husband, and throwing herself at his feet, she entreated the czar to permit her to offer, in his name, proposals of peace to the grand vizier. Peter, after some hesitation, consented. He signed a letter which she presented to him; and the czarina having made choice of an officer, on whose fidelity and talents she could depend; accompanied her suit with a present, according to the custom of the east. "Let the czar send to me his prime minister!" said Baltagi, with the haughty air of a conqueror; " and I shall "then consider what is to done." The vice-chancellor, Shaffiroff, VOL. IV. 3 N |