The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

This was the same Steinbock, who in the year 1710, after the defeat of Pultowa, had revenged the Swedes on the Danes by the eruption he made into Scania, where he marched against and engaged them with only a few militia, whom he had hastily gathered together, with their arms slung round them with ropes, and totally defeated the enemy. He was, like all the other generals of Charles XII. active and enterprising; but his valour was sullied by his brutality: as an instance of which, it will be sufficient to relate, that having, after an engagement with the Russians, given orders to kill all the prisoners, and perceiving a Polish officer in the service of the czar, who had caught hold on king Stanislaus' stirrup, then on horseback, in order to save his life, he, Steinbock, shot him dead with his pistol in that prince's arms, as has been already mentioned in the life of Charles XII. and king Stanislaus has declared to the author of this History, that had he not been withheld by his respect and gratitude to the king of Sweden, he should immediately have shot Steinbock dead upon the spot.

Dec. 9, 1712.] General Steinbock now marched by the way of Wismar to meet the combined forces of the Russians, Danes, and Saxons, and soon found himself near the Danish and Saxon army, which was advanced before that of the Russians about the distance of three leagues. The czar sent three couriers, one after another, to the king of Denmark, beseeching him to wait his coming up, and thereby avoid the danger which threatened him, if he attempted to engage the Swedes with an equality of force; but the Danish monarch, not willing to share with any one the honour of a victory which he thought sure, advanced to meet the Swedish general, whom he attacked near a place called Gadebusch. This day's affair gave a further proof of the natural enmity that subsisted between the Swedes and Danes. The officers of these two nations fought with most unparalleled inveteracy against each other, and neither side would desist till death terminated the dispute.

Steinbock gained a complete victory before the Russian army could come up to the assistance of the Danes, and the next day received an order from his master, Charles, to lay aside all thoughts of a suspension of arms, who, at the same time, upbraided him for having entertained an idea so injurious to his honour, and for which he told him he could make no reparation, but by conquering or perishing. Steinbock had happily obviated the orders and the reproach by the victory he had gained.

But this victory was like that which had formerly brought such a transient consolation to king Augustus, when in the torrent of his misfortunes he gained the battle of Calish against the Swedes, who were conquerors in every other place, and which only served to aggravate his situation, as this of Gadebusch only procrastinated the ruin of Steinbock and his army.

When the king of Sweden received the news of Steinbock's success, he looked upon his affairs as retrieved, and even flattered himself with hopes to engage the Ottoman Porte to declare for him, who at that time seemed disposed to come to a new rupture with the czar: full of these fond imaginations, he sent orders to general Steinbock to fall upon Poland, being still ready to believe, upon the least shadow of success, that the day of Narva, and those in which he gave laws to his enemies, were again returned. But unhappily he too soon found these flattering hopes utterly blasted by the affair of Bender, and his own captivity amongst the Turks.

The whole fruits of the victory at Gadebusch were confined to the surprising in the night-time, and reducing to ashes, the town of Altena, inhabited by traders and manufacturers, a place wholly defenceless, and which, not having been in arms, ought, by all the laws of war and nations, to have been spared; however, it was utterly destroyed, several of the inhabitants perished in the flames, others escaped with their lives, but naked, and a number of old men, women, and children, perished with the cold and fatigue they suffered, at the gates of Hamburg. Such has too often been the fate of several thousands of men for the quarrels of two only; and this cruel advantage was the only one gained by Steinbock; for the Russians, Danes, and Saxons pursued him so closely, that he was obliged to beg for an asylum in Toningen, a fortress in the duchy of Holstein, for himself and army.

This duchy was at that time subjected to the most cruel ravages of any part of the North, and its sovereign was the most miserable of all princes. He was nephew to Charles XII. and it was on his father's account, who had married Charles's sister, that that monarch carried his arms even into the heart of Copenhagen, before the battle of Narva, and for whom he likewise made the treaty of Travendahl, by which the dukes of Holstein were restored to their rights.

This country was in part the cradle of the Cimbri, and of the old Normans, who overrun the province of Neustria, in France, and conquered all England, Naples, and Sicily; and yet, at this present time, no state pretends less to make conquests than this part of the ancient Cimbrica Chersonesus, which consists only of two petty duchies; namely, that of Sleswic, belonging in common to the king of Denmark and the duke of Holstein, and that of Gottorp, appertaining to the duke alone. Sleswic is a sovereign principality; Holstein is a branch of the German empire, called the Roman empire.

The king of Denmark, and the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, were of the same family; but the duke, nephew to Charles XII. and presumptive heir to his crown, was the natural enemy of the king of Denmark, who had endeavoured to crush him in the very cradle. One of his father's brothers, who was bishop of Lubec, and administrator of the dominions of his unfortunate ward, now beheld himself in the midst of the Swedish army, whom he durst not succour, and those of Russia, Denmark, and Saxony, that threatened his country with daily destruction. Nevertheless, he thought himself obliged to try to save Charles's army, if he could do it without irritating the king of Denmark, who had made himself master of his country, which he exhausted, by raising continual contributions.

This bishop and administrator was entirely governed by the famous baron Gortz, the most artful and enterprising man of his age, endowed with a genius amazingly penetrating, and fruitful in every resource: with talents equal to the boldest and most arduous attempts; he was as insinuating in his negotiations as he was hardy in his projects; he had the art of pleasing and persuading in the highest degree, and knew how to captivate all hearts by the vivacity of his genius, after he had won them by the softness of his eloquence. He afterwards gained the same ascendant over Charles XII. which he had then over the bishop; and all the world knows, that he paid with his life the honour he had of governing the most ungovernable and obstinate prince that ever sat upon a throne.

Gortz had a private conference with general Steinbock,92 at which he promised to deliver him up the fortress of Toningen,93 without exposing the bishop administrator, his master, to any danger: and, at the same time, gave the strongest assurances to the king of Denmark, that he would defend the place to the uttermost. In this manner are almost all negotiations carried on, affairs of state being of a very different nature from those of private persons; the honour of ministers consisting wholly in success, and those of private persons in the observance of their promises.

General Steinbock presented himself before Toningen: the commandant refused to open the gates to him, and by this means put it out of the king of Denmark's power to allege any cause of complaint against the bishop administrator; but Gortz causes an order to be given in the name of the young duke, a minor, to suffer the Swedish army to enter the town. The secretary of the cabinet, named Stamke, signs this order in the name of the duke of Holstein: by this means Gortz preserves the honour of an infant who had not as yet any power to issue orders; and he at once serves the king of Sweden, to whom he was desirous to make his court, and the bishop administrator his master, who appeared not to have consented to the admission of the Swedish troops. The governor of Toningen, who was easily gained, delivered up the town to the Swedes, and Gortz excused himself as well as he could to the king of Denmark, by protesting that the whole had been transacted without his consent.

The Swedes retired partly within the walls, and partly under the cannon of the town: but this did not save them: for general Steinbock was obliged to surrender himself prisoner of war, together with his whole army, to the number of eleven thousand men, in the same manner as about sixteen thousand of their countrymen had done at the battle of Pultowa.

By this convention it was agreed, that Steinbock with his officers and men might be ransomed or exchanged. The price for the general's ransom was fixed at eight thousand German crowns;94 a very trifling sum, but which Steinbock however was not able to raise; so that he remained a prisoner in Copenhagen till the day of his death.

The territories of Holstein now remained at the mercy of the incensed conqueror. The young duke became the object of the king of Denmark's vengeance, and was fated to pay for the abuse which Gortz had made of his name: thus did the ill fortune of Charles XII. fall upon all his family.

Gortz perceiving his projects thus dissipated, and being still resolved to act a distinguished part in the general confusion of affairs, recalled to mind a scheme which he had formed to establish a neutrality in the Swedish territories in Germany.

The king of Denmark was ready to take possession of Toningen; George, elector of Hanover, was about to seize Bremen and Verden, with the city of Stade; the new-made king of Prussia, Frederick William, cast his views upon Stetin, and czar Peter was preparing to make himself master of Finland; and all the territories of Charles XII. those of Sweden excepted, were going to become the spoils of those who wanted to share them. How then could so many different interests be rendered compatible with a neutrality? Gortz entered into negotiation at one and the same time with all the several princes who had any views in this partition; he continued night and day passing from one province to the other; he engaged the governor of Bremen and Verden to put those two duchies into the hands of the elector of Hanover by way of sequestration, so that the Danes should not take possession of them for themselves: he prevailed with the king of Prussia to accept jointly with the duke of Holstein, of the sequestration of Stetin and Wismar, in consideration of which, the king of Denmark was to act nothing against Holstein, and was not to enter Toningen. It was most certainly a strange way of serving Charles XII. to put his towns into the hands of those who might choose if they would ever restore them; but Gortz, by delivering these places to them as pledges, bound them to a neutrality, at least for some time; and he was in hopes to be able afterwards to bring Hanover and Brandenburg to declare for Sweden: he prevailed on the king of Prussia whose ruined dominions stood in need of peace, to enter into his views, and in short he found means to render himself necessary to all these princes, and disposed of the possessions of Charles XII. like a guardian, who gives up one part of his ward's estate to preserve the other, and of a ward incapable of managing his affairs himself; and all this without any regular authority or commission, or other warrant for his conduct, than full powers given him by the bishop of Lubec, who had no authority to grant such powers from Charles himself.

Such was the baron de Gortz, and such his actions, which have not hitherto been sufficiently known. There have been instances of an Oxenstiern, a Richlieu, and an Alberoni, influencing the affairs of all parts of Europe; but that the privy counsellor of a bishop of Lubec should do the same as they, without his conduct being avowed by any one, is a thing hitherto unheard of.

June, 1713.] Nevertheless he succeeded to his wishes in the beginning; for he made a treaty with the king of Prussia, by which that monarch engaged, on condition of keeping Stetin in sequestration, to preserve the rest of Pomerania for Charles XII. In virtue of this treaty, Gortz made a proposal to the governor of Pomerania, Meyerfeld, to give up the fortress of Stetin to the king of Prussia for the sake of peace, thinking that the Swedish governor of Stetin would prove as easy to be persuaded as the Holsteiner who had the command of Toningen; but the officers of Charles XII. were not accustomed to obey such orders. Meyerfeld made answer, that no one should enter Stetin but over his dead body and the ruins of the place, and immediately sent notice to his master of the strange proposal. The messenger at his arrival found Charles prisoner at Demirtash, in consequence of his adventure at Bender, and it was doubtful, at that time, whether he would not remain all his life in confinement in Turkey, or else be banished to some of the islands in the Archipelago, or some part of Asia under the dominion of the Ottoman Porte. However Charles from his prison sent the same orders to Meyerfeld, as he had before done to Steinbock; namely, rather to perish than to submit to his enemies, and even commanded him to take his inflexibility for his example.

Gortz, finding that the governor of Stetin had broke in upon his measures, and would neither hearken to a neutrality nor a sequestration, took it into his head, not only to sequester the town of Stetin of his own authority, but also the city of Stralsund, and found means to make the same kind of treaty (June, 1713,) with the king of Poland, elector of Saxony, for that place, which he had done with the elector of Brandenburg for Stetin. He clearly saw how impossible it would be for the Swedes to keep possession of those places without either men or money, while their king was a captive in Turkey, and he thought himself sure of turning aside the scourge of war from the North by means of these sequestrations. The king of Denmark himself at length gave into the projects of Gortz: the latter had gained an entire ascendant over prince Menzikoff, the czar's general and favourite, whom he had persuaded that the duchy of Holstein must be ceded to his master, and flattered the czar with the prospect of opening a canal from Holstein into the Baltic Sea; an enterprise perfectly conformable to the inclination and views of this royal founder: and, above all, he laboured to insinuate to him, that he might obtain a new increase of power, by condescending to become one of the powers of the empire, which would entitle him to a vote in the diet of Ratisbon, a right that he might afterwards for ever maintain by that of arms.

In a word, no one could put on more different appearances, adapt himself to more opposite interests, or act a more complicated part, than did this skilful negotiator; he even went so far as to engage prince Menzikoff to ruin the very town of Stetin, which he was endeavouring to save; and in which, at length, to his misfortune, he succeeded but too well.

When the king of Prussia saw a Russian army before Stetin, he found that place would be lost to him, and remain in the possession of the czar. This was just what Gortz expected and waited for. Prince Menzikoff was in want of money; Gortz got the king of Prussia to lend him four hundred thousand crowns: he afterwards sent a message to the governor of the place, to know of him – whether he would rather choose to see Stetin in ashes, and under the dominion of Russia, or to trust it in the hands of the king of Prussia, who would engage to restore it to the king, his master? – The commandant at length suffered himself to be persuaded, and gave up the place, which Menzikoff entered; and, in consideration of the four hundred thousand crowns, delivered it afterwards, together with all the territories thereto adjoining, into the hands of the king of Prussia, who, for form's sake, left therein two battalions of the troops of Holstein, and has never since restored that part of Pomerania.

From this period, the second king of Prussia, successor to a weak and prodigal father, laid the foundation of that greatness, to which his state has since arrived by military discipline and economy.

The baron de Gortz, who put so many springs in motion, could not, however, succeed in prevailing on the Danes to spare the duchy of Holstein, or forbear taking possession of Toningen. He failed in what appeared to have been his first object, though he succeeded in all his other views, and particularly in that of making himself the most important personage of the North, which, indeed, was his principal object.

The elector of Hanover then had secured to himself Bremen and Verden, of which Charles XII. was now stripped. The Saxon army was before Wismar (Sept. 1715); Stetin was in the hands of the king of Prussia; the Russians were ready to lay siege to Stralsund, in conjunction with the Saxons; and these latter had already landed in the island of Rugen, and the czar, in the midst of the numberless negotiations on all sides, while others were disputing about neutralities and partitions, makes a descent upon Finland. After having himself pointed the artillery against Stralsund, he left the rest to the care of his allies and prince Menzikoff, and, embarking in the month of May, on the Baltic Sea, on board a ship of fifty guns, which he himself caused to be built at Petersburg, he sailed for the coast of Finland, followed by a fleet of ninety-two whole, and one hundred and ten half-gallies, having on board near sixteen thousand troops. He made his descent at Elsingford, (May 22. N. S. 1713.) the most southern part of that cold and barren country, lying in 61 degrees north latitude; and, notwithstanding the numberless difficulties he had to encounter, succeeded in his design. He caused a feint attack to be made on one side of the harbour, while he landed his troops on the other, and took possession of the town. He then made himself master of Abo, Borgo, and the whole coast. The Swedes now seemed not to have one resource left; for it was at this very time, that their army, under the command of general Steinbock, was obliged to surrender prisoners of war at Toningen.

These repeated disasters which befel Charles, were, as we have already shewn, followed by the loss of Bremen, Verden, Stetin, and a part of Pomerania; and that prince himself, with his ally and friend, Stanislaus, were afterwards both prisoners in Turkey: nevertheless, he was not to be undeceived in the flattering notion he had entertained of returning to Poland, at the head of an Ottoman army, replacing Stanislaus on the throne, and once again making his enemies tremble.

CHAP. XXIV

Successes of Peter the Great. – Return of Charles XII. into his own dominions.

1713.

Peter, while he was following the course of his conquests, completed the establishment of his navy, brought twelve thousand families to settle in Petersburg, kept all his allies firm to his person and fortunes, not withstanding they had all different interests and opposite views; and with his fleet kept in awe all the sea-ports of Sweden, on the gulfs of Finland and Bothnia.

Prince Galitzin, one of his land-generals, whom he had formed himself, as he had done all his other officers, advanced from Elsingford, where the czar had made his descent, into the midst of the country, near the village of Tavasthus, which was a post that commanded the gulf of Bothnia, and was defended by a few Swedish regiments, and about eight thousand militia. In this situation, a battle was unavoidable, (Mar. 13, 1714.) the event of which proved favourable to the Russians, who entirely routed the whole Swedish army, and penetrated as far as Vaza, so that they were now masters of about eighty leagues of country.

The Swedes were still in possession of a fleet, with which they kept the sea. Peter had, for a considerable time, waited with impatience for an opportunity of establishing the reputation of his new marine. Accordingly he set out from Petersburg, and having got together a fleet of sixteen ships of the line, and one hundred and eighty galleys, fit for working among the rocks and shoals that surround the island of Aland, and the other islands in the Baltic Sea, bordering upon the Swedish coast, he fell in with the fleet of that nation near their own shores. This armament greatly exceeded his in the largeness of the ships, but was inferior in the number of galleys, and more proper for engaging in the open sea, than among rocks, or near the shore. The advantage the czar had in this respect was entirely owing to himself: he served in the rank of rear-admiral on board his own fleet, and received all the necessary orders from admiral Apraxin. Peter resolved to make himself master of the island of Aland, which lies only twelve leagues off the Swedish coast; and, though obliged to pass full in view of the enemy's fleet, he effected this bold and hazardous enterprise. His galleys forced a passage through the enemy, whose cannon did not fire low enough to hurt them, and entered Aland; but as that coast is almost surrounded with rocks, the czar caused eighty small galleys to be transported by men over a point of land, and launched into the sea, at a place called Hango, where his large ships were at anchor. Erenschild, the Swedish rear-admiral, thinking that he might easily take or sink all these galleys, stood in shore, in order to reconnoitre their situation, but was received with so brisk a fire from the Russian fleet, that most of his men were killed or wounded; and all the galleys and praams he had brought with him were taken, together with his own ship. (Aug. 8.) The admiral himself endeavoured to escape in a boat, but being wounded, was obliged to surrender himself prisoner, and was brought on board the galley where the czar was, navigating it himself. The scattered remains of the Swedish fleet made the best of their way home; and the news of this accident threw all Stockholm into confusion, which now began to tremble for its own safety.

Much about the same time, colonel Scouvalow Neuschlof attacked the only remaining fortress on the western side of Finland, and made himself master of it, after a most obstinate resistance on the part of the besieged.

This affair of Aland was, next to that of Pultowa, the most glorious that had ever befallen the arms of Peter the Great, who now saw himself master of Finland, the government of which he committed to prince Galitzin, and returned to Petersburg (Sept. 15.), victorious over the whole naval force of Sweden, and more than ever respected by his allies; the stormy season now approaching, not permitting him to remain longer with his ships in the Finlandish and Bothnic seas. His good fortune also brought him back to his capital, just as the czarina was brought to bed of a princess, who died, however, about a year afterwards. He then instituted the order of St. Catherine, in honour of his consort,95 and celebrated the birth of his daughter by a triumphal entry, which was of all the festivals to which he had accustomed his subjects, that which they held in the greatest esteem. This ceremony was ushered in by bringing nine Swedish galleys, and seven praams filled with prisoners, and rear-admiral Erenschild's own ship, into the harbour of Cronstadt.

The cannon, colours, and standards, taken in the expedition to Finland, and which had come home in the Russian admiral's ship, were brought on this occasion to Petersburg, and entered that metropolis in order of battle. A triumphal arch, which the czar had caused to be erected, and which, as usual, was made from a model of his own, was decorated with the insignia of his conquests. Under this arch the victors marched in procession, with admiral Apraxin, at their head; then followed the czar in quality of rear-admiral, and the other officers according to their several ranks. They were all presented one after another to the vice-admiral Rodamonoski, who, at this ceremony represented the sovereign. This temporary vice-emperor distributed gold medals amongst all the officers, and others of silver to the soldiers and sailors. The Swedish prisoners likewise passed under the triumphal arch, and admiral Erenschild followed immediately after the czar, his conqueror. When they came to the place where the vice-czar was seated on his throne, admiral Apraxin presented to him rear-admiral Peter, who demanded to be made vice-admiral, in reward for his services. It was then put to the vote, if his request should be granted; and it may easily be conceived that he had the majority on his side.