TURKISH IN VASIONS OF EUROPE IN 1670-83.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 2, 13 October 1877, Page 4

TURKISH IN VASIONS OF EUROPE IN 1670-83.

i ite.npjrary Review.) ' 1 Continue 1 from our last issue.) ll was now necessary to elect another monarch —a difficult and dangerous operation in Poland, even in the calmest tines. The Poles Were tile only people in Europe vtoo still preserved the ancient u>age of a national assembly where the deliberations were carried on by a whole ii ition in anus. The difficulty of feeding two hundred thousand citizens thus collected together constantly obliged them to separate without bavin,' settled affairs, and on this occasion a Diet, composed of the senate and ol members eli' ted by the country, wus directed to choose the new chief of the nation. All the princes in Europe who were tired of living on the steps of a throne became candidates. Every species of intrigue was brought to bear upon the elector) ; the ambassadors of the different powers had each their faction ; they gave money ; they made great promises; the meanest motives were appealed to, and the most undisguised corruption prevailed. Warsaw became one vast camp for six leagues round, where the whole equestrian order had established itself ; an innumerable population of servants, often noble like their masters; almost all the army. Jews merchants, doctors, the creditors of the nobles, lawyers, had all collected there ; the different palatinates were nearly deserted except by the peasants. The plain of Vola hail been chosen for the electoral camp ; a great wooden pavilion, the " szopa," occupied the centre, where the senate and the great nobles sat, but the deliberations were held in the open air, that the equestrian order might have an eye upon its representatives.

The noise and excitement were tremendous ; tournaments and jousts, with javelins and lances ; regiments of soldiers, Wallachs, Cossacks, Tartars, crossing and recrossing; innumerable stands of arms; immense tables, round which each faction collected his clients; trains of noble

ladies on horseback, the wives of the palatines and senators, distributing exhortations and presents; calvacades of gentlemen, battle-axe iu hand, galloping past; fiery encounters, begun in drunkenness and ending in biood; "scenes of tumult, pleasure, discussion, and war, a true image of Poland herself, filled the i .in." observes Salvandy. A vast circle ..:'..; tents surrounded the whole ] ice—those belonging to the nobles were built like sham fortresses, castles, towers, or long galleries, containing stables, bath-rooms, kitchens, councilchambers, formed of silk and rich stuffs, f:en booty taken from the Turks, with a profusion of golden crescents, balls and

laments, rivalling each other in ex

pense and savage and inordinate luxury. 'I lie magnificence of the dresses was as great; almost all wore Eastern costumes ; eraftaus and robes of brocade and fur, embroidered, or edged and lined with rare furs, and clasped with diamonds; splendid arms, jewelled belts, swords, daggers, and pistols (" many diamonds and little linen," was Madame de Motteville'a observation on the Polish nobles a few years before) ; sixty or seventy thousand gentlemen were there, any one of whom might, by law, be -chosen king the next day, and whose demeanor snowed their pride in tins vain and hurtful privilege. Sobieski himself was absent, but the tents taken from the vizier of Mahomet IV., bearing his shield, were there) and were the pride of the assembly. The competitors for the throne bid high, many of them intendingto repudiate their offers later. They were now reduced practically to two, one representing the emperor, "the other Louis XIV. Charles of Lorraine proposed himself to pay the army for nine months, to raise live thousand fresh men for the war against the Turks, to take five hundred gentlemen as his guard of honor, to build two fortresses on the frontier, and open a military school for otficers. The old Duke of Neubourg promised still more largely for his son Phillip, aged fourteen.

Sobieski had hitherto confined himself to his duty of keeping order as chief marshal, while nil present inquired anxiously what part he would take. As soon as he arrived, he was received almost in triumph ; the shouts, the noise of arms, the Hashing of javelins, lances, and scimitars, the flowers thrown in his way, made his entry almost a triumph. He then declared himself for the Great Condi, Ami the influence of the" great hetman " was such that there seemed for some time every chance that his counsels would he followed, hut the Lithuanian party of the Pas would not hear of the French prince. The confusion became still greater| the "szopa" was like a citadel besieged by armies of men half drunk with pride and rage, i'or twentynine days the destinies of the nation only grew more and moro perplexing, and the furiouN parties seemed on the point of a civil war, when to avert such u frightful peril the Bishop of Cracow gave the signal for the hymns and prayers to lie began, which showed that the debatM were cloned, and the palatinate*, separated for the vote. The president, Jablonowski, a man of great courage and cn]»acity, began his discourse ; he entered on the qualities of the two chief candidates, and rejected l»oth, as tin 1 noinii l of fauna an I '; ■ . ' ' • ' the | Im of 1 I that - ...—d.

'There is a DM among us who hu >a\td tho republic time after time by his counsels and las victories, whose patriotism and genius Would maintain uur country in the rank she should hold in the universe. Nothing in such a ■hoice would be left to chance ; " he " will imt make us a vattaj of the infidels. If we have a country at all, if men of illustrious dynasties care to rule over us, remember to whom we owe it,, and take John Sobieski as your king ! " The speech was received with furious acclamations by the assembly. " The finger of (iod is here, it was on a Saturday as to-day that Kotziiu was taken," cried the governor of Lemberg; " I vote for Sobieski." The tumult was tivmend US ; it was nine o'clock at night, but the long day of the north scill gave sufficient light, and they would have proceeded immediately to the vote, but Sobieski would not Buffer it. " I will not accept the crown," said he, " when no one has had time to consider his vote, at the approach of night when opposition might be stifled or constrained. • 1 will raise my veto against it if no one else will do so."

The next day the agitation became still greater. Austria did not yet consider herself beaten ; every possible calumny was disseminated against Sobieski, while the jealousy of the great Polish ladies was excited against his wife, Marie Casimire, daughter of a French marquis, captain of the guard to the brother of Louis XIV. Would they consent that a foreigner should be queen when no Pole had ever attained to such honor I At all events if Sobieski were elected he should be required to marry the widow of the last king; but at such a price he absolutely refused the crown. His great qualities, however, carried the day. Cries of " Sobieski, or death !" were heard in the camp ; the assembly would hear.of no delay. Again, however, he declared that if his election was not legal, and therefore unanimous, he would not accept the crown. Throughout the night the camp was illuminated with innumerable lanterns, while the firing of muskets, pistols, and arquebuses testified the excitement and the joy of the public at the thought of the election which they

had resolved on making. The next Jay Sobieski, almost against his will, was proclaimed king at the Colo or Assembly; the vote was now only a form, but it was gone through. Three times did the bishop regent, on horseback, demand if thero were any opposition to the election. Three times did the nobles and the people repeat the cry proclaiming that Jotm Sobieski should be their king. All the standards of the palatinates and of the foreign contingents, the bulls of the town, the salvoes of artillery, the shouts of the people, saluted their hero as king. Then at a sign from the bishop came a sudden silence, the banners were lowered, a sacred hymn was sung by the people, led by a choir of bishops, and the acclamations began again as Sobieski was led in triumph to the cathedral, were thanks were ottered tip to God for the choice which had been made. Poland, indeed, believed herself to be saved from anarchy and invasion alike. " The Cossacks will no longer ravage our fields, the iniidel will no longer exact tribute," cried the women.

As soon as he was proclaimed, Sobieski made magnificent gifts to the nation, greater indeed than the foreign princes had promised, and which they were not likely to have performed : one hundred thousand florins went to the support of the Lithuanian part of the army, two hundred thousand for that of the Polish half, sixty thousand for the fortifications of Leniberg, three hundred thousand to buy back the jewels of the crown, pledged to the Jews of Vienna and Warsaw. All this was out of his private purse, anil gives some measure of the resources of a great Polish noble at this time. Refusing a coronation on account of the. expense and delay it would entail, Sobieski declared that his "mission was to make war on the Turks. lam placed on the throne to fight, not for representation. Festivals may come later." High-minded, brave, pious, disinterested, earing much for the interests of his country, and little for his own grandeur, with a love of books which contrasted strangely with his military tastes and the life of incessant movement which fate had forced him to lead, Sobieski was indeed one of the rare instances where the highest qualities had led a man to great fortune. His statesmanship as well as his great military qualities are insisted on in all the contemporary accounts ; his love of science and of K>oks, and his power of speaking German, Indian, French, English, and Turkish almost as well as his own language.

" One of the handsomest men of his time [said the otlieial French " Gazette " ] his countenance is such that he Inspires at the same time respect and Jatl'eelion. Enlightened, kind, he is so forgiving that it lias been always said that he only revenged himself for the calumnies of his enemies, by his great actions. [His picture, in armor, fully beam out this description. "J Achuiet Kinprili was not likely to leave the new sovereign time to settle himself firmly on the throne. He regarded Poland as a good position to take up between the Muscovites, whom he despised, and Austria, whose Haul; would thus have Ih'. n turned. Tin-ports of the Baltic tempted him onward, and Eur • " in this manner would have bean ut i i t.» >, wueii Uiu i'uriis myht 8co:i Livu dominated the who:u continent. |

In Hot. Mahomet himself again join.-,l the army, which was once inou' to iiwi'i hj mi Retain. The enonaoua Baylies u( men which the Turks were able to drew from their provinces in Asia, Africa, am] Europe, after the tremendous defeats which they had nndergoM ami the waste ef life, are surprising, in ciui- eyes, with whom the want of nun to (apply even the demands of any army in times of peace is sometimes impossible to meet.

Sobieski, who had been called the Whirlwind, from the rapidity of bis marches, and the vigor of his onslaughts, was carrying all before him, when the intrigues"of Leopold deposed him of half his army; the Lithuanian grand hetman Paz, who had opposed Sobieski's election, suddenly left the camp with his troops, and the winter was lost in vain attempts to restore order, for the disban led soldiers spent their time in pillaging their own country instead of lighting the enemy.

Gradually Sobieski, by dint of patient courage, tact, and skill, collected an army again in the central position of Leinburg. He alone preserved his courage and confidence in the midst of tin' universal alarm. "He fears nothing who has soreseen all," and the Poles afterwards, lie was at the same time attempting to form a political coalition to assist, his military manoeuvres, in spite of the enmity of Leopold, who strove to keep Poland weak, calculating that it might thus occupy- the Porte in the north and prevent any attack being made in his direction.

The Turks, under Ibrahim the Seraskier, began the siege of Zbaras ; a number of Russian peasants had taken refuge in the town, and treacherously gave it up to the enemy, when Ibrahim cut to pieces the whole population except the ■women, who were reserved for tin: seraglios. The old, the children, perished in the (lames or by the sword, and the Turks moved on to other seiges, where the same horrible cruelties were exercised. Von Hammer, after repeated descriptions of the barbarities on such occasions which make one's blood run cold, and indeed are som times quite unreadable, at length seems to grow weary of such horrors, and merely writes, " The town was taken; the usual cruelties ensued;" <>r, "The city was sacked with the atrocities used by barbarian troops." The love of pillage was so great among them that the army was delayed, so that their advantage in numbers was lost, and the fine season passed away, while Sobieski destroyed their communications, seized their plunder, and cut to pieces the troops whom he encountered.

A second army was sent across the Dnieper, and the sultan put himself at the head of a third body which collected at Adrianople, The seraskier then determined on the course with which he should have begun—be left the fortresses alone, and advanced on Lemberg, the strongest place in Poland. If this was carried there would be an end to the republic, and so Sobieski was resolved to defend it or ilie under the ruins. The terror of his name counted for a host in itself against the Turks, -while among the Poles, if some of the peasants cried, " All is lost," the answer was, "John Sobieski is there still, he will save us." A few days after great fires in all directions announced the arrival of the Mussulman host. The king had arranged his little army with consummate skill among the defiles near the town, the artillery on the low hills, while the hussars with their long lances defended the vineyards and rough ground. The nobles fought with sabres and pistols. A storm of hail and snow, though it was only August, troubled the infidel. The king, the father of his country, having given his blessing to the army, rushed at the head of his troops with the cry, •' Jesus ! " three times repeated, to which came the threefold answer of " Allah ! " The cavelry wavering for a moment, he brought them up himself again to the charge: " Remember," cried he, " that we must conquer or you will leave me here;" and he reminded them that he had brought his wife and children into the midst of the danger. The Turks, in spite of their enormous numerical preponderance, were driven back terrilied, their divisons were broken, their ranks were confused. Sobieski fell like a thunderbolt upon the parts of the field where he was least expected. The victory of Lemberg was considered to have been a miracle, even considering the reputation of the king. " Five thousand Poles have beaten one hundred and fifty thousand Turks and Tartars ! " cried the " (iazette de France " of September, 1<)74, with pardonable exaggeration. "That the king should have conquered such powerful enemies by his astonishing courage, reducing the infidels to make a precipitate retreat, . . . shows that heaven itself has defended this bulwark of Christendom."

An interval of quiet now ensued, and Sobieski employed his breathing-time in attempting to bring about a better state of things for Poland, and in reorganizing the army ; but the people would endure no fresh taxes, and he made I i tile progress. Revolts, however, at Memphis, at Babylon, and Damascus, the doubtful fidelty of the Tartars, and a superstitious dread in the Mussulman army at the thought of contending against "King John," had made the Porto desire an interval of quiet.

In September, hi"'), however, just two hundred yean ego, the untiring Turk poured again up the banka of the Dniester, and Poland had now t<> withi lone hundred and twenty thousand Tartars aii'l twent) ll »nd Turk* The terror of Sobleald'e name «iu>,

however so great that there was difficulty in getting them forward, even under the command of a Beree pasha of Damascus •untamed Bhutan Satan . At lengthi after some preliminary comhata, the two I armies came face to face, Sobieski had entrenched himself with liis small handful of men between the Dniester and the I protection of some woods and marshes J the immense body of Ottoman* almost encircled them. For twenty days they continued thus opposite each other, and the extremity of the danger was considered such in Poland that prayers for the dead were recited ill all the churches. From time to time the Mussulman army came forth from their camp, sounded the charge, pushed forward their horsetails and camels, apparently to excite the Christians toflgntor to deride their weakness. At length the Poles one day were tempted out in pursuit of some Tartars, the whole right was engaged, and the centre left uncovered ; the Turks brought up their artillery and made fearful ravages anion;,' the ranks, which began to yield, when the king Hung himself on the" victorious Moslems, who Were pursuing their success in seme disorder, killed hundreds of men and horses, overthrew their first redoubts, took or spiked a number of guns, and brought back bis men in safety. He lost, however, six hundred gentlemen in the charge, and his own horse was wounded under him; his exploits read like those of a hero in one of the old romances of chivalry. Ibrahim, " the Devil," now brought up his seige artillery, mines and countermines were dug, and great galleries formed where battles were fought underground ; but the Poles were not sufficiently numerous for such work, and the Turk's believed themselves at the point of victory, when Sobieski in a most brilliant action again turned the day. The Sphais had thrown them-

selves between him and his camp, when the king, with his terrible hussars, rushed upon the lines, which were crowded by their very numbers ami soon fell back. The seraskier sent next day to propose peace. He said that he knew to what, a statu of starvation the beseiged were reduced, that the Sublime Porte would rather have such a king as their allay than their captive, and all they

asked was the ratification of Ring Michel's treaty promising to pay tribute and an offensive alliance against lij-s:v

'•Tell the aga," said Sobieski, "that if such propositions are again addressed to the king of Poland, he will hang the messenger.'' The bombardment now l>ecame terrible; neither by night nor day had the Poles any rest, and the entrenchments were continually attacked. The Christian camp had been a prison, the soldiers bad hardly any food or ammunition, and discontent and even mutiny began to appear among them. Sobieski rode along the ranks. " 1 have brought you out of worse straits than this,"' said lie ;" do you think my head is weaker because you have placed a crown upon it >. " A successful skirmish raised the spirits of the troops, the Turks fancied he must have received reinforcements, and, when at last be came out of the town with his whole army, they were seized with a panic terror, and declared that magic was being used against them. They all dreaded the approach of winter ; Shaitan Pasha knew that a reverse would cost him his head, and he prudently ofl'eredan honorable peace. A part of the Ukraine and Kaminiek were given up ; but the strength of the Ottoman empire was increasing, while Poland become weaker in men and money each year. To regain their fortresses, the prisoners, the frontier of the Dniester, and get rid of all pretentions to tribute, was better than a victory in such circumstances. One of the most pious of nam, Sobieski stipulated that tin l custody of the tabernacle at Belhleliem and of the holy sepulchre should be resorted to the monks who had held them before. As this favor had been long demanded in vain by Europe, the glory of Poland anil her king was all the more greatly extolled. Madame de Sevigne', a great admirer of his, writes, November, Ki7o, enthusiastically of his deeds :

" Peace is concluded in Poland ' romantically.' This hero, at the head of fifteen thousand men, surrounded by two hundred thousand, has forced them to sign a treaty, sword in hand. Since the days of the Oalprenedc [in a novel of Mile, de Seudcri] such a thing has never been heard of." 'Hie Ottoman army, who were in desperate straits, made ready for departure, anil defiled before the king, demanding to see the " invincible 'ion ' with whom they had contended so often on the field of battle ; at the same time giving into his hands fifteen thousand Russian prisoners destined to slavery. For thirty years the Ottoman empire, at the height of its power, had been kept at bay by Poland : what might not have happened, if, masters of Buda and of the Adriatic, they had been able to turn their whole force upon Italy and Austria (

A general peace now ensued. Sobieski's grand object was to form an alliance against the lurks among the kingdoms most liable to be attacked. " Not to attempt to conquer or restrain the monster should bo our object," said he, "but to fling it back to the deserts from whence it came; to exterminate it, and raise onee more on its ruins a llyzatiliuc empire. This is the only Christian, worthy, wise, and decisive OOUrse;" *

land for this ha only required the eonrarrence of the four il.v>..tni c .l poire** lanou in promised i tsistance to the now Ctodfrey of Bouillon.' Bat B*eept from the pope, be could pet no help from any w f them, The wwj i playing a double game, as usual, an.i I wnt embassy after embassy to Warsaw, i only to obtain better arms for hims.lt al Constantinople. Leopold refused all alliance with or help from Poland ; venioa would not even allow his envoy, to cross her frontier; Louis XIV. ordered back a small body of French gentlemen who lmil been fighting for the mere love of war by Sobieski's side; Poland was again abandoned to herself to right the battles of Christendom. 'Flu- next two years, however, there was a pause among the exhausted combatants again; anil they were spent by Sobieski in trying to discipline Insanity, ami restore order and law, which under his rule reigned in Poland to an extent unknown before. (Til BE CONTINUED.)