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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..686e588 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #56023 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56023) diff --git a/old/56023-8.txt b/old/56023-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c6b4741..0000000 --- a/old/56023-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2841 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Vienna 1683, by Henry Elliot Malden - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Vienna 1683 - The History and Consequences of the Defeat of the Turks before Vienna, September 12, 1683, by John Sobieski, King of Poland, and Charles Leopold, Duke of Lorraine - - -Author: Henry Elliot Malden - - - -Release Date: November 21, 2017 [eBook #56023] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIENNA 1683*** - - -E-text prepared by Turgut Dincer, Martin Pettit, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 56023-h.htm or 56023-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/56023/56023-h/56023-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/56023/56023-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/viennahistorycons00mald - - - - - -VIENNA 1683 - -The History and Consequences of the Defeat -of the Turks before Vienna, September 12, 1683 -by John Sobieski, King of Poland -and Charles Leopold, Duke of Lorraine - -by - -HENRY ELLIOT MALDEN - - - - - - -London -Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1, Paternoster Square - -1883 - - - "Think of that age's awful birth, - When Europe echoed, terror-riven, - That a new foot was on the earth, - And a new name come down from Heaven - When over Calpe's straits and steeps - The Moor had bridged his royal road, - And Othman's sons from Asia's deeps - The conquests of the Cross o'erflowed. - - * * * * * - - "Think with what passionate delight - The tale was told in Christian halls, - How Sobieski turned to flight - The Muslim from Vienna's walls; - How, when his horse triumphant trod - The burghers' richest robes upon, - The ancient words rose loud, 'From God - A man was sent whose name was John.'" - - LORD HOUGHTON. - - (_The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._) - - - - -PREFACE. - -The historical scholar will find nothing new in the following pages; but -I have thought it worth while to tell to the general reader a story -worth the telling, and to explain not only the details, but the wider -bearings also, of a great crisis in European history, no satisfactory -account of which exists, I believe, in English, and the two hundredth -anniversary of which is now upon us. - -My principal authorities are "Sobieski's Letters to his Queen," edited -by Count Plater, Paris, 1826; Starhemberg's "Life and Despatches," -edited by Count Thürheim, Vienna, 1882; "Campaigns of Prince Eugene, of -Savoy," Vienna, 1876, etc.; Schimmer's "Sieges of Vienna;" Von Hammer's -"History of the Turks;" Salvandy's "History of Poland;" "Memoirs of -Eugene," by De Ligne; "Memoirs of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, and his -Military Maxims," published late in the seventeenth century; "Works of -Montecuculi;" De la Guillatière's "View of the Present State of the -Turkish Empire, etc.," translated, London, 1676, etc. - -I have been obliged to reject some statements of Salvandy's, such, for -instance, as that the _crescent moon_ was eclipsed on the day of the -battle before Vienna. - -I regret that I have been unable to use the account of the campaign of -1683 published in Vienna, by the Director of the War Archives, since -this went to press. Some of the matter of it is, I believe, contained in -the "Campaigns of Eugene," published under the same authority mentioned -above, and in Schimmer's work. - -KITLANDS, 1883. - - - - -SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS. - - 1663. Ahmed Kiuprili Grand Vizier. - - 1664. Montecuculi defeats the Turks at St. Gotthard. Twenty years' - truce with Austria, by which the Turks retain most of Hungary. - - 1669. The Turks take Candia from the Venetians. - - 1671. Conspiracy in Hungary against the Emperor crushed. - - 1672. French attack upon Holland provokes a general war. Treaty of - Buksacs between the Turks and Poles. Poland cedes most of Podolia - and the Ukraine, and pays tribute to Turkey. - - 1673. The Polish nobles break the treaty. Great victory of Sobieski - over the Turks at Choczim. - - 1675. Sobieski crowned King of Poland. - - 1676. Treaty of Zurawna between Turks and Poles; the former retain - most of their conquests. - - 1677. Death of Ahmed Kiuprili. Kara Mustapha Grand Vizier. - - 1678. Tekeli heads an insurrection in Hungary against the Emperor. - The French intrigue with him. - - 1678-79. Treaties of Nimuegen between the French and the allies. - - 1681. Louis XIV. seizes Strassburg and makes other aggressions upon - the Empire. Treaty between Holland and Sweden against France. - - 1682. Treaty of Laxenberg between the Emperor and the Upper German - Circles against France, followed by similar treaties between the - other Circles, the Emperor and Sweden. The Turks openly aid the - Hungarians. - - 1683. League of the Empire, Poland and the Pope, supported by other - anti-French powers, against the Turks. Turkish invasion of Austria. - Siege of Vienna. Defeat of the Turks by John Sobieski and the Duke - of Lorraine, September 12. The French attack the Spanish - Netherlands in the autumn. - - 1684. Truce of Ratisbon between France and the Empire. - - 1686. Buda recovered from the Turks. League of Augsburg between the - Emperor and the Circles of Western Germany, joined ultimately by - Spain, Holland, the Pope, Savoy and other Princes of the Empire, - against the French. - - 1688. The English Revolution secures England for the side of the - League, which she joins next year. General war with France follows. - - 1696. Death of Sobieski. - - 1697. Treaty of Ryswick between France and the allies. Eugene - defeats the Turks at Zenta, in Hungary. - - 1699. Peace of Carlowitz. The Turks cede nearly all Hungary, - Transylvania, Podolia, the Ukraine, the Morea and Azof. The first - great diminution of Turkish territory in Europe. - - - - -VIENNA. - -1683. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - -At the present moment, in 1883, the power of Austria is driven as a -wedge into the midst of the former dominions of the Sultan. That this is -so, perhaps that Austria even exists as a great power, and can hope to -be a greater in south-eastern Europe, is owing in no small degree to the -Polish aid which in 1683 defeated the Turkish armies before the gates, -and saved Vienna. The victor, John Sobieski, King of Poland, then -deserved and enjoyed the gratitude of Christendom. But the unequal fate -of a man great in character and in abilities, but born out of due time, -in an incongruous age and in a state unworthy of him, has seldom been -more conspicuously illustrated than in his career. The great men of the -last quarter of the seventeenth century whom we most readily remember -are men of western Europe. Louis XIV., with the resources of France -behind him, William III., wielding the power of England, of Holland, and -of Protestant Germany, are the kings who fill the stage. The half-crazy -hero, Charles XII. of Sweden, is a more familiar character than the -great Polish king, the deliverer first of Poland, secondly of Germany, -perhaps of Europe. The causes are not far to seek. The country which he -ruled has disappeared from the roll of European nations. The enemy whom -he defeated has become, in his last decrepitude, the object merely of -scorn, or of not disinterested care. It seems now so incredible that the -Turks should have been a menace to Europe, that it is no great claim to -remembrance to have defeated them. Sobieski, too, in his greatness and -in his weakness, was a mediæval hero. He was out of place in the age of -Louis XIV. He was a great soldier rather than a great general, a -national hero rather than a great king. His faith had the robust -sincerity of that of a thirteenth-century knight, his character was -marred by the violent passions of a mediæval baron. His head was full of -crusading projects--of the expulsion of the Turks, of the revival of a -Catholic Greek state, not without principalities for his own house. His -plans would have commanded support in the days of St. Louis, but were -impracticable in a Europe whose rulers schemed for a balance of power. -Poland herself perished, partly through clinging to a mediæval -constitution in the midst of modern states. Her mediævally-minded king -and his exploits are eclipsed by other memories, even upon the scene of -his greatest achievement. - -For the traveller who from the Tower of St. Stephen's, in the centre of -the old-town of Vienna, looks down upon the places made remarkable by -great historic actions in the valley of the Danube, has his eye turned -first northward and eastward upon the Marchfeld. There, he is told, are -Aspern and Essling, where the Archduke Charles beat Napoleon in 1809. -There is the island of Lobau, where Napoleon repaired his forces, and -whence he issued to fight yonder the great and terrible conflict of -Wagram. The scene, not of a greater slaughter, not of a more obstinately -contested fight, than Wagram, but the scene of a battle more momentous -in its consequences, lies upon the other side. Among the vineyards, -villages, and chateaux which cover the lower slopes of the Wiener Wald, -among the suburbs of Nussdorf and of Hernals, Charles of Lorraine and -John Sobieski smote the Turkish armies in 1683. There at one blow they -frustrated the last great Mohammedan aggression against Christendom, and -set free the minds and arms of the Germans to combine against French -ambition upon their western frontier. The victory was one of those -decisive events which complete long pending revolutions, and inaugurate -new political conditions in Europe. - -The treaties of Nimuegen in 1678-79 had marked a pause in a general -European contest. France and the Empire, Holland, Spain, Sweden, -Brandenberg, all retired from their active conflicts, to plot and strive -in secret, till an advantageous opening for war should again present -itself. Poland and the Porte had a little earlier concluded their strife -by the peace of Zurawna. But in the general breathing-time the eyes of -all were turned with anxiety upon Eastern Europe. So much of Hungary as -was not in the hands of the Sultan was in insurrection against the -Emperor. The insolence of the Turks, and their support to the -insurgents, were continually becoming greater. The whole East resounded -with warlike preparations, and it was without doubt evident that a great -enterprise was being prepared which might make the reign of Mahomet IV. -as illustrious for Islam, as calamitous for Christendom, as that of -Mahomet II. had been. Rome, Venice, Vienna, were the three capitals in -more immediate danger, but the whole continent was interested, and all -other designs were necessarily suspended till it became clearer where -this storm would fall, and what resistance could be made to it. - -For, two hundred years ago, the Ottoman Empire still stood high among -the greatest of European powers. Spain ruled over wider territories; but -the dominions of Spain were scattered over the Old and New Worlds, and -her European lands, in the Netherlands and in Italy, were divided from -her by the sea, or isolated by the interposition of the frontiers of -powerful and often hostile neighbours. - -A compact yet widely spread collection of kingdoms and of provinces -obeyed the head of the Mohammedan world. Northern Africa, Western Asia, -Eastern Europe were ruled from the Bosphorus. All the chief centres of -ancient civilization, Rome alone excepted, Thebes, Nineveh and Babylon, -Carthage, Athens and Constantinople, bowed beneath the Crescent. The -southern frontiers of the Sultan's territories reached beyond the Tropic -of Cancer, the northern touched nearly the latitude of Paris. - -The modern kingdoms of Greece, Servia, Roumania were wholly his; the -kingdom of Hungary, the dominions of Austria and of Russia were in part -his also. The Black Sea was entirely encircled with Turkish or tributary -territory; no other power possessed the same extent of coast line on the -Mediterranean. Not only the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Nile, but the -Danube, the Boug, the Dneister, the Dneiper and the Don flowed for a -great part of their course between banks subject or tributary to the -Porte, and reached the sea by mouths wholly under Turkish control. - -[Illustration: _Territory ceded by Turkey in 1699._] - -The armies of the Sultan were unapproachable in numbers, unsurpassable -in valour, by those of the Christian powers. Their discipline and -warlike science were no longer what they once had been, the first in -Europe; but their inequality in these respects to their enemies was not -yet so marked as at present. Military and administrative skill were yet -to be found in their empire. From the first appearance of the Turks in -Europe Mohammedan rule had been, on the whole, extending. The Christian -reconquest of Spain was balanced by the inroads of this new enemy upon -the Eastern Empire. The Spanish reconquest of Grenada, in the fifteenth -century, was more than counterbalanced by the Turkish conquest of -Hungary in the sixteenth. The Turks upon the middle Danube were a menace -at once to Poland, Germany, and to northern Italy. Nor was this a mere -temporary inroad of theirs. Two-thirds of Hungary were then more firmly -held in their grasp than Macedonia is at present, and their frontiers -were not going back. In the seventeenth century the Ottoman power still -more than held its own in Eastern Europe. Though the Spaniards and -Venetians had destroyed their fleet at Lepanto in 1571, though -Montecuculi at the head of the Imperial troops had routed their armies -at St. Gotthard in 1664, though Sobieski and the Poles made the great -slaughter of Choczim in 1673, yet the frontiers of the Turks were -advanced by every war. After Lepanto, the peace confirmed them in the -possession of the newly acquired Cyprus; after St. Gotthard, they -retained the strong city of Neuhausel, which they had just won, in -Hungary, and conquered Candia; after Choczim, they were confirmed in -their possession of the province of Podolia, and their supremacy over -the Ukraine, the Marchland of Poland. - -Of their soldiers the most formidable were the Janissaries. The policy -of the earlier Sultans had demanded a tribute of boys from their -Christian subjects. These children, early converts to Islam, were -brought up with no home but the camp, no occupation but war; and, under -the title of Janissaries, or the New Troops, were alternately the -servants and the masters of the Ottoman Sultans. The strength of the -Christians was drained, the strength of the Ottoman armies multiplied, -and the fields of Paradise replenished at once, in the judgment of pious -Mussulmans, by this policy. At this time the ranks of the Janissaries -were not solely filled by this levy, but it has been computed that -500,000 Christian boys may have become instruments for the subjugation -of Christendom, from the first institution of the tax in the fourteenth -century down to the final levy made in 1675. Our commiseration for the -Christian parents may be mitigated by the consideration that to sell -their children into slavery, uncompelled, was a not unknown practice -among the subjects of the Eastern Emperors, before the Mohammedan -conquest. - -These Janissaries formed a disciplined body of regular infantry. In the -seventeenth century the Turks clung to the sabre, the musket, and even -bows and arrows, as their arms, neglecting the pike, "the queen of -infantry weapons," as Montecuculi calls it, just as afterwards they -neglected the bayonet. But in the use of their arms every man of the -Janissaries was a trained expert. The Turkish horsemen were famed for -their rapidity of action, being generally more lightly armed and better -mounted than the Germans or Poles. The Spahis, or royal horseguards, -were the flower of the cavalry. The feudal levy from lands held by -military tenure, swelled the numbers of their armies, and every province -wrested from the Christians provided more fiefs to support fresh -families of soldiers. Thus the children and lands of the conquered -furnished the means for new conquests. Light troops, who were expected -to live by plunder, spread far and wide before an advancing Ottoman -host, eating up the country, destroying the inhabitants, and diverting -the attention of the enemy. The Ottoman artillery was numerous, and the -siege pieces of great calibre. Auxiliaries, such as the Tartars of the -Crimea, the troops of Moldavian, Wallachian, Transylvanian, and even -Hungarian princes, made a formidable addition to their forces. These -armies lay, a terror to the inhabitants, a constant anxiety to the -rulers, upon the frontiers of Germany and of Poland;--a black storm of -war, ever ready to break in destructive energy upon them. - -Whatever schism divided Turks and Persians, towards Europe at least, -from the Caspian to Morocco, Islam presented an unbroken front, -contrasting powerfully with the bitter divisions of Christendom. -Massinger, in the "Renegade," puts into the mouth of a Moslem what many -a Christian must have thought of with shame and terror:-- - - - "Look on our flourishing empire, if the splendour, - The majesty, and glory of it dim not - Your feeble sight; and then turn back and see - The narrow bounds of yours, yet that poor remnant, - Rent in as many factions and opinions - As you have petty kingdoms."[1] - - -United Islam, which had preceded her western rival Spain in greatness, -seemed also destined to long outlive that power's decay. - -When Spain, in the sixteenth century, had been at the zenith of her -power under Charles V., the Turks, under their great Emperor Solyman, -had been not unworthy rivals to her. Even then Solyman had penetrated to -the walls of Vienna, in 1529, and probably the lateness of the season, -October, and the absence of his heavy artillery, stuck deep in the soil -of Hungarian roads, saved the capital of the Austrian dominions more -effectually than the valour of the garrison or the relieving forces of -Charles could have done. Then the tide of Turkish power touched its -farthest limit, but the fear of its return was not destroyed till after -the lapse of one hundred and fifty years. Till after the siege of 1683, -it is said that a crescent disgraced the spire of St. Stephen's, the -cathedral of Vienna--a sign to avert the fire of Turkish gunners. - -In the seventeenth century, when the great empire of Spain was fast -approaching dissolution, when France was the great power of Western -Europe, the Turks were still the great power of the East, with -territories even more widely extended than in the previous age. It is -true that, after the death of Solyman, a series of incapable rulers and -the natural decay of an eastern despotism had paralyzed the great powers -of Turkey; but the stern reforming vigour of Amurath IV. (1623-40), and, -still more, the wise administration of the first two Grand Viziers of -the house of Kiuprili, had done much to restore good government, vigour -and efficiency to the Ottomans.[2] Their empire, the speedy downfall of -which had been predicted by the English Ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, at -the beginning of the seventeenth century, had since fully recovered its -former reputation. A clever Frenchman, M. de la Guillatière, who visited -the camp of Kiuprili in Candia in 1669, formed the highest estimate of -the military genius of the Turks, and of their political insight into -the power and designs of the Christians. He judged of the greatness of -the Sultan by considering the number and quality of the persons who -feared his displeasure. "When he makes any great preparation, Malta -trembles, Spain is fearful for his kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the -Venetian anxious for what he holds in Greece--Dalmatia and Friuli, the -Germans apprehensive for what remains to them in Hungary, Poland is -alarmed, and the consternation passes on as far as Muscovy, and, not -resting there, expands itself to the Christian princes in Gourgistan and -Mingrelia; Persia, Arabia, the Abyssinians are all in confusion, whilst -neither man nor woman nor beast in all this vast tract but looks out for -refuge till they be certain whither his great force is intended."[3] It -is a striking estimate of Turkish power, but not beyond what experience -confirmed. It was not till the second siege of Vienna, and her relief by -Sobieski in 1683, that the real instability of the power of the Sultan -was disclosed, that his armies were routed, his frontiers curtailed, his -power rolled back within the Save and the Carpathians. - -Not for the first time, in the summer of that year, Europe trembled at -the progress of the Crescent. Since then, the tide of victory has run -almost uninterruptedly in favour of the Cross, and Turkey has sunk from -being the terror to the position of protégée, tool, victim, or tolerated -scandal of Europe. - -The decline of her forces, the reversal of the former position of Turk -and Christian in the East, date from this great catastrophe of Islam. -For Eastern Europe at least the battle before Vienna was a decisive -battle. We must remember, indeed, what is meant by a decisive battle, or -by any other so-called decisive event. They are rather the occasions -than the causes of the transference of power. The causes lie deep which -can produce such great and such lasting results. The operation of many -influences, throughout a length of time, brings about ultimately the -striking revolutions in the history of mankind. No chance bullet which -strikes down, or avoids, a commander; no brilliant display of military -genius in the person of one man; no incapacity of a single officer, can -do more than alter the minor circumstances of great events. The great -man is not successfully great, unless his genius can seize upon the -opportunities offered by a rising tide of popular opinion, or profit by -the accumulated energy of a nation. The incapable leader can seldom -make shipwreck of a power unless it be built upon unsafe lines. The -presence of a thoroughly incapable commander argues something rotten in -his cause. The revolution, the reformation, the reaction, the -transference of empire will come; if not in one way, in another; if not -in one year, in the next, or in following years. The foundations of -success and of failure, are laid deep in the moral, religious and -political habits and institutions of nations. The invincible -determination and high political and military training of the Roman -aristocracy bore them safely through the catastrophes of a Second Punic -War and the revolt of their allies. The ordered liberty, and the -generations of successful adventure, which were the heritage of the -English nation, had won Trafalgar before a shot had been fired from the -_Victory_. The Persian host went forth predestined to choke the Gulf of -Salamis with corpses. No Kosciusko's valour could redeem the long -anarchy and blindness of Poland. Napoleon, marching from victory to -victory, but approached the nearer to that fall, which must await one -man against a continent in arms. So the Turkish myriads, victorious at -Vienna, would have fallen upon some less noble field before the skill -of some other Sobieski. But the genius and courage of individuals may -well determine the fate of armies for a day. One day's victory may call -for years of warfare to accomplish its undoing. A few years of delay may -work great changes in the fortunes of men. - -It is no mistaken estimate of the relative value of causes, it is no -unintelligent interest which makes us prone to linger over the one -dramatic moment--that moment when the courses of the tendencies of ages -are declared within the compass of a day. By no hard effort of -imagination we identify our interest with that of the actors in the -scene. To them, however confident, the result is never clear; to them -the delay of a few years in the overthrow of some inevitably falling -wrong may make that difference for which no ultimate success can -compensate. It was cold comfort to the inhabitants of Vienna, or to the -King of Poland, to know that even if St. Stephen's had shared the fate -of St. Sophia and become a mosque of Allah, and if the Polish standards -had been borne in triumph to the Bosphorus, yet that, nevertheless, the -undisciplined Ottomans would infallibly have been scattered by French, -German and Swedish armies on the fields of Bavaria or of Saxony. Vienna -would have been sacked; Poland would have been a prey to internal -anarchy and to Tartar invasion. The ultimate triumph of their cause -would have consoled few for their individual destruction. - -Prompted by feelings such as these we dwell upon the decisive hours, -when the long assured superiority asserts itself, for good and all. We -can hail Marathon, Salamis, Tours, or Vienna as the occasion, if not the -cause, of the triumph of civilization over barbarism, of Europe over -Asia. We must remember, too, that, if the day for a permanent advance of -Turkish power was over, yet that a temporary Turkish victory, and a -protracted war in Germany, could not have been confined in their -influence to the seat of war alone. So cool and experienced a -diplomatist as Sir William Temple did indeed believe, at the time, that -the fall of Vienna would have been followed by a great and permanent -increase of Turkish power.[4] Putting this aside however, there were -other results likely to spring from Turkish success. The Turks -constantly made a powerful diversion in favour of France and her -ambitious designs. Turkish victories upon the one side of Germany meant -successful French aggressions upon the other, and Turkish schemes were -promoted with that object by the French. The author of the memoirs of -Prince Eugene writes bitterly, but truly enough, of this crisis: "_Le -roi très-chrétien avant d'être dévot, secourait les chrétiens contre les -infidèles_ (at St. Gotthard and at Candia), _devenu pourtant un grand -homme de bien, il les agaçait contre l'empereur, et soutenait les -rebelles de Hongrie. Sans lui ils ne seraient jamais venus, les uns et -les autres, aux portes de Vienne._" - -"If France would but stand neutral, the controversy between Turks and -Christians might soon be decided," says the Duke of Lorraine. But France -would not stand neutral. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] "Renegade," Act. iv. sc. 3. - -[2] Ahmed Kiuprili, the second Vizier of his race, was one of the -greatest ministers of his day. He was described by the Turkish -historians as "the light and splendour of the nation, the preserver and -administrator of good laws, the vicar of the shadow of God, the thrice -learned and all accomplished Grand Vizier." He seems to have really -deserved some of the praise. - -[3] De la Guillatière, "Account of a Late Voyage, etc., and State of the -Turkish Empire." Trans. 1676. - -[4] "If the Turks had possessed this bulwark of Christendom (Vienna), I -do not conceive what could have hindered them from being masters -immediately of Austria, and all its depending provinces; nor, in another -year, of all Italy, or of the southern provinces of Germany, as they -should have chosen to carry on their invasion, or of both in two or -three years' time; and how fatal this might have been to the rest of -Christendom, or how it might have enlarged the Turkish dominions, is -easy to conjecture."--Sir W. Temple, Works, iii. 393, edit. 1814. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - -The Emperor was exposed on either side to these two implacable enemies. -At Versailles, as at the Porte, had the destruction of the house of -Austria been sworn. - -But France was the power which, in the latter half of the seventeenth -century, menaced most seriously the independence of her neighbours. -Turkey was, perhaps, from her internal weakness and faulty constitution, -in no condition to effect a lasting conquest, however great her mere -destructive energies might be. An ingenious nation and an ambitious -king, able ministers and skilful generals, revenues, ships, colonies, -commercial enterprise, a central situation among divided foes, combined -to render France the dominant power of the age. - -The great Turkish Vizier, the restorer of order and prosperity, Ahmed -Kiuprili, had had a greater counterpart in the French minister, -Cardinal Richelieu. The Sultan, Mahomet IV., was wanting in all those -qualities which made Louis XIV. for long the successful administrator of -a despotic power. The armies of France, under the leadership of a Condé, -a Turenne, a Luxembourg, were the finest of the world, the envy of -neighbouring princes, the pattern for all soldiers. The Duke of -Marlborough and John Sobieski both learnt their first lessons in -military affairs under French command. Prince Eugene vainly sought -employment in the French troops; their opposition to himself taught -William III. the art of war. - -Nor was the French ascendency won by arms alone. The order and splendour -of her government, the genius of her authors, the attractions of her -society, the diplomatic skill of her ambassadors, made a French party in -every court in Europe. - -Portugal may be said to have owed her independent existence to France; -Holland till 1672 ranked as a French ally; Sweden, too far removed to be -a rival, was an almost constant friend, till Louis' aggressions -alienated her also in 1681. France had a party in Poland; the petty -princes and republics of Italy vacillated between her and the Empire; -in England she had had Cromwell as an ally, and she held both Charles -II. and his opponents in her pay. She maintained an understanding with -Turkey. Discontented Romanists in England and Ireland, unruly -Protestants in Hungary, were alike taught to look to her for advice and -for assistance. Her frontiers were steadily advancing at the expense of -Spain and of the German princes. Neither force nor treaties seemed to -avail aught against her superior strength and cunning. The Lotharingian -bishoprics and their dependencies; Elsass, Breisach and Bar, Roussillon, -Franche Comté, parts of Flanders, of Artois, of Hainault and Luxemburg, -the free imperial city of Strassburg, the territory of Orange, were -steadily absorbed by her, and thoroughly incorporated with the French -kingdom. - -Her opponents saw no possibility of resistance, save in a great -confederacy against her. Her power was not finally checked, nor her -ambition confined within bounds, till such a confederacy was made. But -it is hardly too much to say that such a confederacy would have been -scarcely possible had the Turks been completely victorious at Vienna in -1683. - -Three years later than that deliverance, in 1686, the League of -Augsburg was formed. It was ultimately the union of the Emperor, the -German princes, Sweden, Spain, Holland and the Pope, against an ambition -that menaced all. This League was the basis of that Grand Alliance which -finally defeated France under Marlborough and Eugene. But the true -foundations of a similar alliance had been laid before, in 1682, -principally by the endeavours of the Prince of Waldeck, in the treaty of -Laxenberg between the Circles of Upper Germany and the Emperor. - -This incipient League against France had been practically suspended by -the Turkish invasion. A Turkish success must have dissolved it. The Pope -had been zealous in forming the "Holy League" against the Turks and in -promoting union against France. Had Vienna fallen, fear of the Sultan -would have driven him into the arms of Louis, and he would have drawn -the Catholic powers at least along with him. Probably all the States -united in the "Holy League" must have demanded French support for their -own salvation. With Austria and Poland beaten, France, and France alone, -could have assumed the leadership of Europe against the East. The German -Protestant princes would have been ranged under the command of -Luxembourg and of Vendôme; Louis would have triumphed upon the Danube; -the house of Austria would have existed only by the sufferance of her -ancient enemy; and French influence would have been riveted, as a chain, -by the force of admiration and of gratitude, upon the neck of Europe. -Such an event Louis expected, and the Emperor feared. As the Turks drew -near, the French armies lay ready upon the frontier, ready to take -advantage of the approaching catastrophe--ready to avenge, but not to -save the Empire. - -We in England, safe as we were from Turkish invasion, were by no means -unaffected by the struggle. Nothing which tended to increase or diminish -the power of France or of the German princes could be indifferent to us, -and at that particular time our fortunes were closely bound up with -those of the powers opposing France. - -The motive which induced the Dutch government and the other allies of -Augsburg to sanction the descent of William III. upon our shores, and to -withdraw, at a critical moment, the flower of their forces upon such a -doubtful enterprise, was the necessity of including England in their -league. Though James II. would no doubt have awakened resistance in -some form or other anyhow, the plot which actually overthrew him was -hatched abroad among the allies, and executed by the help of foreign -troops and foreign money. English men, ships, and money were needed to -beat the French. No method was open for obtaining them except by the -superseding of King James, entirely or practically, by William, as king -or regent. No personal aims nor admiration of Whig principles would have -justified the risks William ran. In truth, neither the allies nor the -Dutch government would have allowed him to run such risk at all, save -for the common good of the League and of Europe. But a Turkish victory -at Vienna would have meant the probable non-existence of the League, by -the rallying of half its members to the side of France. It would -certainly have meant such a change of circumstances upon the continent, -as would have rendered it highly improbable that an army, principally -furnished from Germany, could be spared to go to England. James and the -Whig nobility would have fought their quarrel alone, with the -High-Church Tory majority of the country as arbiters of the strife. -Therefore, had the battle of Vienna been fought differently, the Boyne, -La Hogue and Blenheim might never have been fought at all. Forces -supplied by England, or paid by England, commanded by Marlborough at -Blenheim and at Ramilies, broke French power. The power of making the -alliance which fought at Blenheim and at Ramilies was won at Vienna. - -To turn to Sir William Temple's views again, so convinced was he that a -Turkish invasion of Austria would tend to the great advantage of France, -that he believed that the Turks themselves would see it, and for that -very reason refrain from the enterprise; it being against their interest -to make any one Christian power so strong as France would then -become.[5] - -It is certain that Louis XIV. fully appreciated the value of that -diversion of their attention from himself, which an attack from Hungary -upon the rear of the German powers would cause. It is equally certain -that he, the eldest son of the Church, the most Christian King, the -persecutor of the Huguenots, had some understanding with Mohammedans and -with Hungarian Protestant malcontents. And this, too, at a time when -religious passions still ran high; when the forces of Europe were -everywhere divided, owing to religious intolerance; when France herself -was about to be fatally injured by the Revocation of the Edict of -Nantes. Louis, however, intrigued as readily with Hungarian Protestants -as with Irish Romanists, and the intolerance of the Emperor gave every -opportunity for interference. Indeed, the attacks of the Emperor Leopold -upon the religion of some of his Hungarian subjects well nigh proved -fatal to Austria. The Protestants preferred Mohammedan rule, which, if -contemptuous, may he just, and is not avowedly persecuting, to the -oppressions of a court dominated by the Jesuit fathers. Attempts to -Germanize their nation and to override their laws united Hungarians of -all religions in a common hostility to Vienna. A dangerous conspiracy, -fomented by France, was discovered, and crushed in 1671 by the execution -of the principal leaders. But Emerich Count Tekeli, the son of one of -the chiefs involved, escaping into Transylvania, threw himself upon the -protection of the Turks, and with their assistance commenced a guerilla -warfare in Hungary. Numbers of the inhabitants, irrespective of their -religion, joined his standard. A levy, under French officers, was made -even in Poland for the assistance of the insurgents. With the almost -open aid of the Pasha of Buda, their operations assumed the character of -regular warfare, and they fully held their own against the Imperial -generals. - -It was fortunate for Austria that, just as the obligations of a peace -and internal confusion had prevented the Turks from attacking Hungary -during the Thirty Years' War, so this rising was not taken advantage of -by the Porte, in spite of French solicitations, till after the peace of -Nimuegen in 1679. During the contest with France, from 1673 to 1679, the -Polish war had occupied the attention of the Turks, and the Austrian -government had been untroubled. They had not at the same time to wage -open war with the East and West. Yet even now, though peace nominally -continued in Western Europe, France was glad to avail herself of those -difficulties of the Court of Vienna, to which she herself was -contributing. Louis seized Strassburg, and quietly annexed other places -by the pretended legal decisions of packed tribunals. He attacked the -Spanish Netherlands, and conceived himself to be acting generously in -that he refrained from taking Luxemburg. It was enough that Austria -should be spared the task of fighting, at the same time, on behalf of -Spain against the French, and on her own behalf against the Infidels. -That the house of Bourbon should strive to embarrass the house of -Hapsburg, by intrigues in Turkey, in Hungary and in Poland, was but in -accord with a traditional policy, which no danger to their common -Christendom could be expected to overrule. - -But 1683 was a year of disaster for Louis. In that year he lost two of -his natural sons, his Queen, and his greatest minister, Colbert. Above -all, in that year his designs against the Emperor were destined to be -foiled by the interference of Sobieski, the _Deus ex machina_ for -Christendom and for the Empire. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[5] "If the Grand Vizier (Kiuprili) be so great a man as he is reputed -in politics as well as in arms, he will never consent, by an invasion of -Hungary, to make way for the advance of French progress into the Empire, -which a conquest of the Low Countries would make easy and obvious; and -so great accessions (with others that would lie fair and open in the -Spanish provinces upon the Mediterranean) would make France a formidable -power to the Turk himself, and greater than I suppose he desires to see -any in Christendom."--Sir W. Temple, Works, ii. 212, edit. 1814. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - -To return, therefore, to the troubles in Hungary, which gave occasion -for French intrigue and for the interference of the Porte. The Turks, -reinvigorated by the policy of the late Vizier Kiuprili, but directed no -longer by his cool experience and judgment, were now not slow to take -advantage of the difficulties of Austria. After their defeat at the -hands of Montecuculi at St. Gotthard in 1664, they had consented to a -twenty years' truce, by which they were still left in possession of the -greater part of Hungary, and of that part where the pure Magyar -population most prevailed. This truce had not expired when the -oppressions exercised in the part of their country remaining to the -Emperor drove the Hungarians to arms, and Count Tekeli to seek aid from -the Sultan. Ordinarily scrupulous in the observance of their treaty -obligations, the Turks were on this occasion overcome by the -temptations held out to them of an easy extension of their frontier and -of their influence. With the active aid of the Hungarians, and with the -tacit consent of France, they deemed it possible to deal a mortal blow -at the house of Austria. The Sultan, Mahomet IV., was perhaps not over -ambitious, but he was spurred on by the zeal of a servant. The Grand -Vizier, Kara Mustapha, though a nephew of the great minister Kiuprili, -owed his advancement more to the beauty of his person and to the favour -of the Sultana Validé, or Queen Mother, who ruled the ruler of Islam, -than to other connexions or to ability. His ambition, however, was -believed to aim at no less than a dependent kingdom for himself in -Hungary or at Vienna. Here, at all events, and not against the Poles or -Russians, did Kara Mustapha determine to gather his laurels and his -booty. He had, indeed, already essayed a Russian campaign with little -profit. A more striking success and greater glories, more abundant -plunder with fewer toils, seemed to be promised by a campaign in the -valley of the Danube, than by one among the marshes and forests of -Poland, or of the Ukraine. - -Too late, in 1681, the court of Vienna attempted a conciliatory policy -in Hungary. The spirit of rebellion had been aroused, and the offers of -redress and justice made by the Emperor were distrusted as a veil for -treachery, or despised as the confession of weakness. Tekeli defied the -Emperor, and assumed the offensive even beyond the borders of Hungary. -Neither was the Porte to be propitiated. In vain an Imperial Embassy to -Constantinople sought a prolongation of the truce, which was on the -point of expiring at the end of the stipulated twenty years. The demands -of the Turks rose with the progress of their preparations. A -principality for their ally, Count Tekeli, in Hungary; extension of -territory, with the strongest border fortresses for themselves; a great -war indemnity--such were the terms which implied a determination not to -negotiate. The ambassador, Count Caprara, was compelled as a prisoner -himself to witness the departure of the Turkish hosts for the frontier. -At the end of the year 1682 the main body were drawn together at -Adrianople. Mahomet IV. encouraged his troops by his countenance in the -camp, and beguiled the tedium of winter quarters by his favourite -pastime of hunting. The sport was carried on upon a gigantic scale with -thirty thousand beaters, many of whom perished by exhaustion. "No doubt -they have spoken ill of me, and God hath dealt them their reward," was -the reasonable conjecture of the Sultan upon their fate. This mighty -hunter, however, relieved his army of his presence when the spring of -1683 saw it finally set in motion for the Danube. Kara Mustapha was -invested with complete command. Accounts vary as to the precise point -where Mahomet left his army. The ambition of his Vizier perhaps was -interested in removing so soon as possible from the field the Sultan, to -whom the glory of success would have been necessarily ascribed. Similar -motives had, according to M. de la Guillatière, caused others before -this to keep the easily persuaded prince back from the camp, whither his -first impulse would have led him. - -Oriental exaggeration is prone to magnify the hosts which Asiatic -despots can command for their service. The muster-roll, found in the -tent of the Grand Vizier after his defeat, affords a better basis for -calculation. We find there, in round numbers, 275,000 fighting men -enumerated, as the original strength of the Turkish army. Judging by -the analogy of our Indian armies, the attendants and camp followers of -all descriptions must have doubled these numbers. In Hungary, the Vizier -effected a junction with Count Tekeli, who was at the head of nearly -60,000 men--Hungarians, Transylvanians, Turks and Tartars. Even French -officers and engineers were to be found in Tekeli's ranks; and the -character of his cause was vindicated by coins which he caused to be -struck with the inscription, _Pro Deo et Patria_. Half a million of men -probably, of all creeds and races that lie between the Carpathian -mountains and the Arabian deserts, were arrayed under the standard of -the Prophet in the valley of the Danube. Again, according to the Turkish -returns, of these 50,000 men perished in the operations before the -decisive battle that relieved Vienna. Of the whole vast multitude not -more than 50,000 it was computed, ultimately regained the Turkish -frontier. - -But even if drawn up with the best intentions, the accuracy of such -returns and estimates can never be more than an approximation to the -truth. It is sufficient that hundreds of thousands were marshalled -beneath the Crescent to burst in a storm of desolating war upon the -Christian lands. - -For the struggle between Turk and Christian was not of the character of -those operations to which the term of civilized warfare is -conventionally applied. Prisoners were seldom made. The Christian -slaughtered; the Turk, if he spared, sold into slavery his captives; -prisoners we cannot call them to whom future release was denied. Far and -wide before the Turkish armies, the Tartars and the irregular horsemen, -whose sole pay was plunder, whose diversion and whose business at once -was rapine, spread in a desolating cloud over the country. The whole of -the unconquered Hungary, the Austrian duchy, the plains of Moravia and -the mountains of Styria were swept or threatened by the scourge. Poland -they had long held to be their licensed field of plunder, and now -Bavaria, and Bohemia even, trembled at the terror of their approach. The -painful curiosity of their friends has attempted an estimate of the -numbers of Turkish captives taken in this invasion. 32,000 grown -persons, the great majority women, 204 of whom were maiden daughters of -the nobility; 26,000 little children were, they tell us, carried off -into slavery. This return seems to make no mention of lads, nor of elder -girls, who would perhaps form the majority of those spared for the -slave-market. How many of these perished under their hardships, or by -the Turkish disasters; how many others tasted death, but before slavery; -how many others may have lost home, wealth and honour, must remain -beyond enumeration or even conjecture. It is said that in lower Austria -and on the frontiers of Hungary alone, 4936 villages and hamlets were -given to the flames in 1683. - -To meet this torrent of devastation, the Emperor Leopold could muster -but scanty forces. A full half of the territory now united under the -Austro-Hungarian monarchy was in the hands of the Turks, or of the -Hungarian rebels; or then formed part of the territories of Poland. The -finances of Vienna have never been a source of strength. "Business men -laugh at our finance, for my part I weep over it," said Eugene to the -Emperor not long afterwards, lamenting the want of the sinews of war. -The Imperial influence of Leopold in Germany was small. The German -princes were distant, jealous, slow to move. Brandenberg was irritated -over the Silesian claims, that fruitful source of future war. France was -all but openly hostile. Spain was powerless. Venice, a shadow of her -former self. Poland alone, under her heroic monarch, John Sobieski, -might give present and substantial assistance. Yet all knew that to lean -upon the support of Poland was to risk leaning upon a bruised reed -indeed. - -Poland was, indeed, to all appearance, still a great country. The -Russian province of Poland, Lithuania, Gallicia, Posen, part of Prussia -proper, were Polish. Roughly speaking, her frontiers stretched from the -Dneiper to near the Oder, from the Baltic to the Carpathians. But a -great territory does not make a great nation. The approaching fall of -Poland was foreshadowed by her fortunes, even in the seventeenth -century. - -The extraordinary calamities of that country should not blind us to the -means by which she brought some of her misfortunes upon her own head. -Her constitution seemed skilfully contrived to unite the vices of -aristocratic and democratic governments with the virtues of neither. Her -people were turbulent without freedom, proud without steadiness of -purpose. She lacked the equality and the popular support proper to a -republic, as she lacked the fixed succession to the highest office and -the consistent policy which are supposed to be the advantages of -monarchy. A mob of tens of thousands of armed citizens pretended to form -a deliberative diet. Their convention was always a signal for confusion; -their dissolution was often the prelude to civil war. In the huge -concourse a single _veto_ could stay proceedings, unless indeed the -malcontent paid for his opposition with his life. An attempt to -introduce representative assemblies was always resented, and the -experiment restricted, by the jealousy of the citizens. Delegates, not -representatives, came to the meetings. They were vigilantly observed, -and strictly cross-examined on their return, by self-constituted judges, -as to the performance of their mandate. Real debate and deliberation, -free judgment and rational decision, were as impossible in one kind of -assembly as in the other. Below these citizen-nobles, the people were -slaves. The two halves of the state, Poland and Lithuania, were set -against each other continually. The monarchy became purely elective in -the sixteenth century. The king was the nominee of some foreign court, -or of some domestic party, or family. Factions nourished from abroad -were thus kept alive. Once elected, the king found his power curtailed -on every side; and was generally as solicitous for the advancement, and -future succession perhaps, of his family, as for the good of the state. -He might be a stranger, or he might owe his position to the support of a -foreign power. He seldom or never could be more than the nominee of some -faction, the king of a party to the end of his days. - -John Sobieski, the Polish king, and himself once a Polish nobleman, was -not a candidate put forward by France for the Polish crown, but was -generally supposed to lean towards a French connexion. His wife was -French; he had passed some of his earlier years in France, and had -served in Louis' musketeers of the Guard. His most formidable rival for -the crown had been Charles Leopold of Lorraine,[6] the Austrian -candidate, who was now commanding the Imperial armies. An ill omen for -any unity of action in the future, between the two, against the Turks. - -Sobieski had fought his way to royalty. He had contended against the -enemies, from Sweden to Turkey, with whom Poland was continually -embroiled. His medals bore the proud device of a sword piercing three -laurel crowns, with on its point a royal diadem, and the truthful motto -below, _Per has ad istam_. Poland had been afflicted by Cossack -insurrection, Tartar devastation and Turkish conquest. The king, -Michael, had signed the disgraceful peace of Buksacs, by which the Poles -became Turkish tributaries. Sobieski and the other nobles repudiated the -treaty; and at Choczim, in 1673, Sobieski overthrew the Turks with such -slaughter that "the turbans were floating thick as autumnal leaves upon -the Dneister." The crown of Poland rewarded his victory; but the -turbulence and inconstancy of his subjects prevented his reaping the -fruits of success. At the most critical moments he was left destitute of -men and of money, in the face of a host of Turks and Tartars. At Lemberg -before his coronation, and at Zurawna after it, he was glad to have -successfully defended the remainder of his country. The peace named from -the latter town, left part of the Ukraine and nearly all Podolia with -the fortress of Kaminiec, in Turkish hands. - -The Turks scrupulously observing their part of the agreement, believed -that they thereby secured the neutrality of Poland. Sobieski had -suffered injuries and affronts at the hands of Austria. The punctilious -pride of the Emperor was likely to add to the difficulty of forgetting -these. At the last moment only would Leopold consent to address the man -who was to save his empire by the title of Majesty. The Poles either -were loth to begin a new Turkish war at all, or represented the -advantage which might be gained by holding aloof, till both combatants -were exhausted. If they fought, Podolia, not Hungary, the recovery of -Kaminiec in the former, not the relief of Vienna, should be their -object. The Lithuanians were specially jealous of Sobieski, and slow to -move. The Cossacks were not to be depended upon. The country was -exhausted of men and money by former campaigns. The French ambassador, -Forbin, Cardinal de Janson, was instructed to work upon the king by -promises of the future support of Louis, of visionary crowns in Hungary, -and of lands in Silesia as the price of his inactivity. No means were to -be spared to detach Poland from Austria. The Cardinal worked -cautiously, being an old friend and in expectation of future favours -from Sobieski; but a special agent who was with him, the Marquis de -Vitry, spared no pains to foment jealousies and to excite fears, and -distributed money among the partisans of a peace policy. An abortive -scheme was entertained for supplanting the king himself by another, more -amenable to French influence. But the conspiracy was discovered, and the -effect was disastrous to the French faction. The Poles rallied round the -victor of Choczim and of Lemberg, and the authors of the intrigue -against him were thrown into prison, or left the country. The French -agent, Vitry, himself retired from Poland. Fortunately also for -Christendom, and for the house of Austria, the wife of Sobieski, Marie -Casimire de la Grange d'Arquien, a Frenchwoman, had determined to thwart -the diplomacy of her native land. The failure of an intrigue, by which -her father, a needy Marquis, was to have been converted into a wealthy -Duke; a refusal of the French court to receive her, a French subject by -birth, as an equal should she revisit France;--these causes made her an -Austrian partisan. Sobieski, at the age of fifty-three, still burned -with youthful ardour for his wife of forty-one, though scandal would -have it that this King Arthur had his Lancelot in the Field-Marshal -Jablonowski, one of the foremost of his officers. "His incomparable -Maria," as the king addressed his queen in his frequent letters, was at -all events vain and intriguing, and seldom influenced for good the -husband whom she also adored. Yet on this occasion her persuasions -seconded the arguments which would undoubtedly have swayed Sobieski -apart from her. His true atmosphere was that of the battle-field. His -most glorious victories were won over the infidels. The danger which -menaced Austria was a common menace to Christendom. Warsaw itself would -not be safe if Vienna fell. The foremost champion of the Cross would not -be wanting in such a crisis. In his enthusiasm he deemed it possible to -unite the jarring elements of European society in a grand crusade. -Visions floated before him of a great League, including the Christian -powers and the Persians, by which the Turkish Empire should be -overthrown, Constantinople recovered, Moldavia and Wallachia united to -the Polish crown, and a republic of Athens and the Morea established. A -scheme too great for accomplishment in the face of the selfishness of -France and Austria and the inherent weakness of Poland. - -But a general subscription was needed to put any army into the field at -all. Rome and Italy were foremost in contributions; even ecclesiastical -property was allowed to be mortgaged in the cause. The Pope, an -economical reformer in Rome, as befitted the member of a banking family, -the Odescalchi, was able to provide two million _scudi_. Christina, -ex-Queen of Sweden, bestirred herself to increase the fund. The Regent -of Portugal sent money, and sanctified the gift by a simultaneous -holocaust of Jews. 1,200,000 florins were to be advanced by the Emperor -to pay the Polish troops. The Pope undertook to guarantee the repayment, -and contributions were expected from the King of Spain. Both these -latter alike were swayed by the double motive--fear of the Turks, and -the desire to set free the Empire to act against France again. Leopold, -as his contribution to the harmony of the allies, had condescended to -yield the title of "Majesty" to the King of Poland, and had held out -hopes of a marriage between the son of Sobieski and an Austrian -Archduchess, which might ensure the succession of the former to his -father's throne. A dispensation from the Pope released the Poles from -the duty of keeping their oaths to the Turks. The Emperor and the King -exchanged oaths not to resort to such a dispensation from their -engagements to each other. The treaty of alliance was signed; but before -the Polish troops could be mustered in any numbers, the Turkish armies -had united with those of Tekeli, and were pouring across the frontier. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[6] The Duke of Lorraine had married the Emperor's sister, the widow of -the late Polish king, Michael. The French had driven him from his -hereditary states, and he found employment at the head of his -brother-in-law's armies, against them and the Turks. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - -Charles of Lorraine, the Imperial commander, had under his orders less -than 40,000. The levy _en masse_ of Hungary produced 3000 soldiers only -for the Emperor's service, so wide was the sway of the Turks, or so -universal the sympathy for Tekeli. Six thousand Hungarians, supposed to -be raised for the Emperor, went over to the enemy as soon as they -advanced. Yet, contrary to his own opinion, Lorraine began with -offensive operations against the Turkish fortress of Neuhausel. A -partial success was followed by a disastrous repulse, and the army -withdrew south of the Danube, as the main Turkish force approached upon -that same side of the river. Lorraine had some idea of making a stand -near the Raab to cover the Austrian frontier, but the number of the -enemy and the temper of his own soldiers rendered such an attempt too -hazardous. He determined to retreat, and await the reinforcements -already promised by the Princes of the Empire. Garrisons were hastily -flung into Raab, Komorn, and Leopoldstadt.[7] The infantry then -recrossed the Danube and fell back towards Vienna along the Schütt -island, under Count Leslie's orders. The cavalry marched upon the -southern side of the river, but the superior rapidity of their retreat -did not save them from molestation. On July 7 at Petronel, some twenty -miles below Vienna, 15,000 Spahis and Tartars burst upon their march. -For a time Count Taaffe, with the rear guard of 400 men, was in extreme -danger. The exertions of Lorraine and of Louis of Baden rallied the -cavalry and speedily repulsed their disorderly assailants, but in the -confusion several of the officers fell, including Prince Aremberg and -Julius Louis of Savoy, an elder brother of Prince Eugene, and much of -the baggage became the prey of the Tartars. Altenburg and Haimburg, -posts upon the Danube, had been already stormed, after a brief -resistance, by the Turkish infantry. - -Those stragglers who first leave the field are always apt to cover -their own flight by the report of an universal overthrow. So fugitives -came galloping to Vienna with a tale of disaster. They spread the rumour -that the Duke of Lorraine was killed and the army totally defeated, -while their alarm seemed amply confirmed by the glow of burning villages -that brightened upon the twilight of the eastern horizon. The Imperial -court, which had delayed its flight so far, in the hope that the enemy -might linger about the fortresses of Raab or of Komorn, tarried now no -longer. "Leopold could never bear to hear plain truths but when he was -afraid," says Eugene. He had refused to recognize the imminence of the -peril until now; and by his confidence had involved in his destruction -others, who had not the same means of escape at the last moment which he -himself possessed. Yet means of escape were barely open to him, when at -length he understood that he must defend or abandon his capital. The -roads to Upper Austria and to Bavaria, along the southern shore of the -Danube, were rightly distrusted. The Emperor, his Empress, and the -Empress Mother, with all their train of courtiers, of ladies, and of -servants, shorn of pomp and bereft of dignity in their flight, poured -over the Leopoldstadt island and the Tabor bridge in all the misery of -panic fear. The prompt destruction of the bridge of Crems, above Vienna, -is said alone to have saved their route from interception by the -Tartars. A part of their baggage actually became the prey of the -marauders. The whole court, including even the Empress herself, who was -far advanced in pregnancy, were driven to seek rest in farms and -cottages. Once they passed the night under a temporary shelter of -boughs. In the universal panic, small room was left for hopes of a -return to the capital and to the palaces that they had quitted. Milan, -Innspruck, Prague were thought of as their future refuge. On to Lintz, -and from Lintz to the frontier they fled, till their confidence at last -returned behind the fortifications of the Bavarian city of Passau. But -they were not the only fugitives from Vienna. The bold march of the -Vizier upon the city, leaving Raab, Komorn, and Presburg in his rear, to -fall an easy prey when once the great prize was captured; this had taken -the citizens by surprise. The retreat of Lorraine, and the skirmish at -Petronel, had filled them with abject terror. - -People from the surrounding country who had taken shelter in Vienna no -longer relied upon her as a stronghold, but turned their thoughts to an -escape to Bavaria, or to Styria, or even to the distant Tirol. From nine -o'clock in the evening till two o'clock in the morning, on the 7th and -8th of July, a never-ending stream of carriages and of fugitives were -following in the track of the Imperial _cortège_. East and south, upon -the horizon, the glare of burning villages told that the Turkish -horsemen were there. High on the summit of the Kahlenberg, the flames of -the Camalduline Convent dreadfully illuminated the track of the -fugitives. Sixty thousand persons, it was believed, left the city in the -course of a few days. Of those who, crossing the Danube, took the roads -into Upper Austria or into Moravia, some fell into the hands of the -Hungarian and Tartar marauders. But few of those who attempted to escape -into Styria succeeded in reaching a place of safety. They perished by -thousands, enveloped by the flying squadrons of the invaders. - -In Vienna herself, deserted by her leaders and by so many of her -children, violent tumult raged against the Government, and against the -Jesuits, who were supposed to have instigated the persecution of the -Protestants of Hungary. There was ample cause for terror. The -fortifications were old and imperfect, the suburbs encroached upon the -works, the number of the defenders was small. Thirteen thousand -infantry, supplied by the army of Lorraine, and seven thousand armed -citizens formed the garrison; and, besides these, about sixty thousand -souls were in the city. The command was entrusted to Ernest Rudiger -Count Starhemberg, an officer of tried skill and courage. He had served -with Montecuculi against the Turks, and against both Condé and Turenne -with the same commander and with the Prince of Orange. He entered the -city as the fugitives forsook it. He set the people to work upon the -fortifications, organized them for defence, and assured them that he -would live and die with them. But while writing to the Emperor that he -would joyfully spend the last drop of his blood in defence of his -charge, he confesses that the place is in want of everything, and the -inhabitants panic-stricken. Fortunately he and others with him were the -class of men to restore confidence in the rest. Under him served many -noble volunteers, for the example of the Emperor was not universally -followed. The Bishop of Neustadt, once himself a soldier and a knight -of Malta, was conspicuous among many brave and devoted men for his -liberal donations to the troops, and for his superintendence of the -sanitary state of the city. In one respect alone the place was well -furnished; three hundred and twenty-one pieces of artillery were -supplied by the Imperial arsenal for the fortifications.[8] The city was -defended after the existing fashion, with ten bastions, the curtains -covered by ravelines, with a ditch mostly dry. On the side of the Danube -was merely a wall with towers and platforms, and all the works were more -or less uncared for and decayed. The work of fixing palisades was -postponed till the Turkish army was in sight. It is possible that by a -slightly more rapid march the Vizier might have secured Vienna by a -_coup de main_. - -On July 13, the Turkish regular cavalry came in sight, preceding the -infantry of the main army; and at the last possible moment fire was set -to the suburbs, which impeded the defence. A high wind speedily caused -them to be consumed. On the 14th, the Turkish army took up its -position, encamping in a semicircle, round the whole of the circuit of -the defences not washed by the Danube. A city, surpassing in size and -population the beleaguered capital, sprang up about the walls of Vienna. -The tents of the Vizier were pitched opposite the Burg bastion, in the -suburb of St. Ulric. The camp was crowded not only by soldiers, but by -the merchants of the East, who thronged thither as to a fair to deal in -the plunder of the Christians. The Imperial troops still attempted to -hold the Leopoldstadt island; but on July 16, the Turks threw bridges -across the arm of the Danube, and shortly drove the Christians to the -northern bank of the river. The houses of the Leopoldstadt were given up -to fire by the Turks; and the bridge, leading to the northern shore, -destroyed by the Imperialists. The investment of Vienna was now -completed upon every side. Batteries from the Leopoldstadt, and from the -south and west, crossed it with fire in all directions. Trenches were -opened, and the elaborate approaches and frequent mines of the Turks, -advancing with alarming rapidity, enveloped the western and -south-western face of the works from the Scottish gate to the Burg -bastion. - -Upwards of three hundred pieces of artillery played upon the crumbling -defences and the devastated city. The pavement of the streets was torn -up, that the balls might bury themselves in the soft earth where they -fell. The upper floors and roofs of the houses were barricaded with -heavy timber, or covered with sandbags, to guard against the fire of the -dropping shells. The streets themselves were blocked behind the walls, -chains drawn across them, and the houses loop-holed and prepared for -defence to the last extremity. All the gates had been walled up but one, -the Stuben gate, which, being partially covered by the stream of the -Wien, was left open as a sally-port. Early in the siege, the assailed, -frequently issuing forth, returned the attacks of the enemy, frustrated -their operations, and even captured provisions in the hostile lines. But -as time went on, the diminishing numbers of the garrison forbade the -waste of life incurred even in successful sorties. - -[Illustration: Map] - -The progress of the Turks was rapid with sap and mine. They were famed -for their skill with entrenching and engineering tools, and the -Christians learnt much from them, though their approaches were unlike -the ordinary European works. Instead of parallel lines to the defences -they drew curves, overlapping each other and continually approaching the -place attacked. The trenches were deep, and fifteen or sixteen feet wide -at the bottom where the ground allowed. The depth of the Turkish works -effectually protected their soldiers, even when they had made a lodgment -in the ditch; for the besieged could not depress their cannon -sufficiently to hurt them.[9] They were protected skilfully by -bomb-proof shelters of timber and of turf, beneath which thousands of -men, hidden and shielded, crouched ready for attack, or for the repulse -of sorties. Their mines penetrated in every direction to the -counterscarp of the place, and ultimately to the walls themselves. At -length the very cellars of the nearest houses were threatened by a -subterranean enemy; and water and drums strewn with peas were placed in -them, to tell, by the slightest vibration, of the work of the Turkish -miner's pick below. - -The Turkish miners were bolder than those of the garrison. The latter -were hired labourers of the lowest class, of whom Starhemberg wrote to -Lorraine that nothing would induce them to re-enter a mine after they -had heard the sound of the enemy working near them. On the part of the -enemy, men who had applied for a _Timar_, or military fief, often -volunteered as miners to prove their courage and to win its reward. - -At the very beginning of operations the city all but perished through a -fire, which actually reached the windows of the Imperial arsenal stored -with eighteen hundred barrels of powder. An explosion there would have -opened a road for the Turkish army into Vienna, at once deprived of the -means of resistance and reduced to ruins. The exertions of Captain Count -Guido Starhemberg, nephew of the commandant, who personally -superintended the removal of the powder through the opposite windows, -together with a lucky change of wind, saved the city. Rightly or -wrongly, an incendiary was suspected. The fear of treachery was added to -the legitimate terrors of the citizens. Desertions took place to the -enemy, and spies were actually apprehended within the walls. Hungarians -and other Christians were arrayed upon both sides, and this community of -language and manners, between besiegers and besieged, rendered such a -danger more real. - -But from the open force of the attack the worst calamities were to be -feared. On the 23rd, 25th, and 27th of July the opening assaults were -delivered. All were repulsed, but with loss of lives ill-spared. - -Closer and closer crept the Turkish sappers. Assault after assault upon -the outer fortifications gradually wrested important positions from the -besieged. The Burg and Löwel bastions, with the connecting curtain -between them and the Burg ravelin, were reduced to an almost shapeless -ruin by the Turkish mines and artillery. Every device was tried to -retard the attack. The arts and ingenuity of a great city were at the -service of the besieged. They made their own powder; and, when -hand-grenades began to fail, the invention of an officer supplied their -place with grenades of earthenware. Nevertheless, on August 7, the Turks -made a lodgment upon the counterscarp, after twenty-three days of firing -and terrible losses upon both sides. - -The Janissaries now stood upon the very threshold of the city. Hand to -hand fighting was carried on in the ditches. The citizens armed with -scythes upon the end of poles contended with advantage from above -against the Turkish sabres. Boiling pitch and water stood continually -ready to overwhelm the assailants as they struggled up the shattered -slope of the ramparts. Besiegers and besieged were continually within -pistol shot of each other, and showers of Turkish arrows descended on -the town. As yet no footing was obtained by the Turks within the body of -the place, though the streets and houses stood ready barricaded against -such an event. But the Vizier commanded two hundred thousand men, -Starhemberg but twenty thousand. Disease and the toils and losses of the -defence told fearfully upon the latter. Starhemberg himself was disabled -by dysentery early in the siege, and did all that man could do, carried -in a chair from post to post, amidst the hottest of the fire. On the -other side, Kara Mustapha made his rounds in a litter rendered -shot-proof by plates of iron. The chief engineer of the garrison, -Rimpler, fell. Colonel Bärner, commanding the artillery, and the Prince -of Wurtemberg were disabled. Five thousand men, more than a third of the -regular soldiers, perished. Food became scarce, vermin were eagerly -sought for by the poor, and dysentery followed inevitably in the train -of want. Fever sprang from the confinement, filth, and bad air -inseparable from their condition. Sixty persons a day were dying of -dysentery alone towards the conclusion of the siege. But the humour of -the Viennese asserted itself still among their calamities, and the -spoils of nocturnal chase upon the tiles were sold as "Roof Hares" in -the market. The courage of long endurance, that rarest of all courage, -was tried to the uttermost. The Bishop of Neustadt, bravest of the brave -defenders, laboured unremittingly among the sick, nor cared less for the -safety of the whole, by undertaking the control of sanitary measures. -The otherwise useless non-combatants were organized by him into bands of -scavengers, hospital attendants, and carriers of the wounded. - -A despatch from Starhemberg, dated August 18, came safely to the hands -of Lorraine. The commandant wrote boldly, perhaps with an eye to the -probability of his intelligence reaching the Turkish and not the -Imperial general. "I must in the first place, tell your Highness that we -have up to this moment disputed the works with the enemy, foot by foot, -and that they have not gained an inch of ground without paying for it -dearly. Every time that, sword in hand, they have attempted a lodgment, -they have been vigorously repulsed by our men, with such loss that they -no longer dare to put their heads out of their holes." Nevertheless, he -was providing for the worst. "I have caused a new work, well ditched, to -be made in the middle of the Burg ravelin; the Löwel and Burg bastions -are also defended by a second line; and I am even now beginning another -work behind these same bastions. I write this that your Highness may -know that we are forgetting nothing, that we are wide awake, and taking -all imaginable precautions. As in duty bound I assure your Highness, -that to show myself worthy of the confidence which your Highness, and -more especially his Majesty my master, repose in my small services, I -shall never yield the place but with the last drop of my blood." - -This despatch was safely carried to Lorraine by Kolschitzki, a Pole. -Many other letters had miscarried, for few messengers penetrated, at the -risk of life, between the city and the slowly mustering forces of -Lorraine. Some swam the arms of the Danube. The most skilful, however, -was this Kolschitzki, who relied upon his knowledge of the Turkish -tongue and manners, and in Turkish dress penetrated the besieging lines, -much as a countryman of our own relied on similar knowledge in a -scarcely less memorable siege. The name of Kolschitzki of Vienna may be -named side by side with that of "Lucknow" Kavanagh, though the Pole not -only passed out through the besiegers, but succeeded in returning again -in a like manner into the city with despatches, to sustain the courage -of the defenders. From his stone chair, high up in the fretted spire of -St. Stephen's, the watchman saw the rockets which rose as signals from -the Christian outposts north of the Danube. But from the southern bank -must the march be made for the deliverance of the city; and was it -possible that Lorraine, or even Sobieski, could carry a force across the -river in the face of such an army? - -The garrison record, with painful exactness, the terrible annals of the -siege; what ravelin is deluged with the blood of assailants and of -defenders; where mines have blown the counterscarp into the ditch, or -shattered the salient angle of a bastion; what new quarter of the city -is devastated by the cannonade; what much-prized life is taken; when -the bread begins to fail; what false hopes of relief, or what -exaggerated tidings of calamity, circulate among the citizens. These -details, of overwhelming interest to every man at the moment, and -printed indelibly upon his mind, bring to the distant observer but one -confused and appalling panorama of suffering and of endurance, of -courage and of despair. - -The growing anxiety of the city appears in a second despatch of -Starhemberg's, dated August 27. He still tells of attacks repulsed, of -sorties boldly executed, and of mines discovered and foiled, but he -acknowledges the need of succour. "We are losing many men and many -officers, more from dysentery than from the enemy's fire, the deaths -from that disease alone are sixty daily. We have no more grenades, which -were our best defence; our guns are some of them destroyed by the -enemy's fire, some of them burst before firing fifty rounds, from the -bad material used by the founder; and the enemy, seeing they can hold -their lodgments in the ditch with a few men, are massing great numbers -on the counterscarp, to have a large force ready there for some -extraordinary effort.... We await, therefore, your Highness's arrival -with extreme impatience; for my own part not so much from a wish to be -relieved as that I may have the honour of respectfully assuring your -Highness of my obedience, being, as I am, your Highness's most humble -and obedient servant, STARHEMBERG." The courtly bravado of the -subscription is in strong contrast with the hurried postscript that -follows:--"My miners tell me that they hear the enemy working beneath -them under the Burg bastion; they must have run their gallery from the -other side of the ditch, and there is no time to be lost." When this -despatch was written, both sides believed that the supreme crisis was at -hand. - -The 29th of August was looked for as the decisive day. On that -anniversary Stuhlweissenberg and Belgrade had fallen before the -Ottomans.[10] Above all, on that day the strength of Hungary had been -smitten, and her king, Louis, had died, before the hosts of the great -Solyman, on the disastrous field of "The Destruction of Mohacs"--that -battle which first opened Hungary and Austria to the invader. - -But the 29th came and passed, with no general attack from the -besiegers. A mine was sprung under the Burg ravelin, nearly completing -the ruin of the work; and three or four hundred Turks attempted to -establish themselves upon the remains, but were driven back again. -Another mine was sprung by the Burg bastion, but no assault followed. -From St. Stephen's considerable movement was noticed among the Turkish -detachments on the left bank of the Danube, occasioned by the march of -Lorraine's army. - -In the camp murmurs and dissensions ran high. The Janissaries clamoured -at their lengthy detention in the trenches. They openly accused the -incapacity, or worse faults, of the Vizier. There seems little doubt but -that he had it in his power to have overwhelmed the defenders by a -general and prolonged assault, towards the end of August. - -Ottoman leaders had known well how to avail themselves of the obedience -and fatalist courage of their soldiers. Amurath IV., when he won back -Baghdad from the Persians, Mahomet II., at the taking of Constantinople, -had shown how cities could be won. Before the city of the Khalifs for -three days, before the city of the Cæsars from a May sunrise till well -nigh noon, had torrent after torrent of brave, devoted, undisciplined -soldiers wearied the arms and exhausted the ammunition of the defenders, -until the Janissaries arose, fresh and invincible for the decisive -charge. Wave after wave of stormers, fed from inexhaustible multitudes, -had rolled upon the besieged, and, like broken waves, had rolled back in -ruin, until the last and greatest should burst in overwhelming force -upon the breaches. Such an assault would have been surely successful -against Vienna. But the Vizier, in vain security, pictured to himself -the advantages of a surrender, which should preserve the city as a -trophy of his conquest--the seat, perchance, of his sovereignty. The -riches which he dreamed it to contain, he hoped to receive as his own -spoil; not to yield as the booty of the army after a storm. So, while -the decisive days passed, the signal for attack was delayed, except by -small bodies upon single points, until the courage of his soldiers was -dissipated and their confidence destroyed. On the contrary, the -unexpected reprieve gave courage to the defenders. The Janissaries, on -the other hand, impatiently invoked the appearance of the relieving -army to end their sojourn in the trenches by the decisive event of a -stricken field. Slowly, but at last, ere yet too late, that army was -approaching. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[7] That is the Leopoldstadt over against Neuhausel, not the island -suburb of Vienna. - -[8] Together with forty-two guns and eight howitzers from the city -arsenal. Among the Emperor's pieces were eleven gigantic mortars, -described as 100, 150, and 200-pounders, but two hundred and fifty-three -of the guns were smaller than 12-pounders. - -[9] Starhemberg to Duke of Lorraine, August 18. - -[10] Not Pesth and Rhodes, which are sometimes added. Rhodes fell on -Christmas day. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -The duties which had been imposed upon Charles of Lorraine were of the -most arduous kind. With a handful of troops, but slowly reinforced by -the German levies, whose assistance was rendered less useful by the -jealousies of the sovereign Princes in command, he was opposed both to -the Turks and to Tekeli. He was expected to be ready to support the -garrisons of Presburg and of Komorn, to hinder the incursions of the -enemy into Upper Austria and into Moravia--above all, to prepare the -bridges above Vienna, by which alone a relieving army could arrive. -Though driven from the Leopoldstadt island, and from all immediate -communication with the city, his presence yet animated the besieged with -hope of succour. He fixed his head-quarters finally at Krems, on the -Danube, where the Saxon contingent presently arrived, followed by the -troops of the Circles and the Bavarians. Before their arrival, towards -the end of August, he felt strong enough to advance and rescue Presburg -from Tekeli. He followed up the operation by a defeat inflicted on the -combined forces of the Turks and Hungarians upon the Marchfeld. A -detachment of four thousand Polish horse, under Lubomirski, originally -raised to assist Tekeli, were already present with the army of Lorraine. -But decisive operations were of necessity postponed till after the -coming of the King of Poland with the bulk of his forces, and of the -rest of the German troops. - -Lorraine, in these movements, undoubtedly proved his title to -generalship; but nothing except the extraordinary apathy of the Vizier -rendered them possible. A skilful employment of the enormous force of -Turkish cavalry must have forced the Imperial army to retire for want of -supplies. The ravage, aimlessly and mercilessly inflicted upon Austria -and the confines of Moravia, would, if directed against Poland, have -probably prevented the march of Sobieski. An able commander, with such -forces at his command, might have prevented, or at least hindered, the -junction of the Poles and Germans. Nor were any steps taken by the -Vizier to stop the construction of the bridges at Krems and at Tuln, nor -to guard the defiles of the Wiener Wald, over which the Christian army -must advance to raise the siege. So extraordinary indeed was the neglect -of the enemy, that a secret understanding has been supposed between -Tekeli and Sobieski, by which, in return for the future good offices of -the latter, the former was not to molest Poland nor hinder the junction -of the Christian forces. Be that as it may, the secret information of -the Poles was as good as that of the Turks was bad, and the king knew -thoroughly with what foes he had to deal.[11] - -Meanwhile, in spite of French intrigues, in spite of backwardness in -Lithuania and of distrust in Poland, Sobieski had left Warsaw for Cracow -on July 18. Up to the last moment the Turks disbelieved in his coming in -person, and the Emperor and the French king both doubted it. He was -gouty, he was rheumatic, he was too fat to ride; such was the tenour of -the information of the baffled French agent Vitry. Nevertheless, on the -22nd of August, he was on the Silesian frontier with the main part of -his army. It consisted mostly of cavalry, of those Polish horsemen -matchless in prowess, but the most unstable of forces. His infantry was -less numerous and inferior, their shabby accoutrements contrasting -sharply with the gaudy equipment of the cavaliers. "They have sworn to -dress themselves better in the spoils of the enemy," said the king of -one regiment, deprecating the criticism of the Germans. His march lay -through Silesia and Moravia, through the borders of the lands devastated -by the Tartars, where the trembling inhabitants thronged around him, -hailing him already as their deliverer. Urged by message after message -from Lorraine, he left his army to follow under the leadership of the -Field-Marshal Jablonowski, and hurried on himself at the head of two -thousand cavalry, his son Prince James by his side. - -We can follow every movement of the campaign from the letters which, -amid the hurry of the march, during short hours snatched from sleep, -once at least during the thunder of a Turkish cannonade, he found time -to despatch continually to his queen. _Seule joie de mon âme, -char__mante et bien-aimée Mariette_, as he calls her. Her letters in -reply are his continual consolation amid the labours of the campaign, -the ingratitude of the Emperor, and the insubordination of his subjects. -"I read all your letters, my dear and incomparable Maria, thrice -over--once when I receive them, once when I retire to my tent and am -alone with my love, once when I sit down to answer them." Such is his -answer to her expression of a fear that the distractions of his -enterprise may leave no time for interest in aught besides. On August 29 -he writes, from near Brunn in Moravia, sending the news of the retreat -of Tekeli after his defeat by Lorraine, and adding that he hopes the -next day, on nearing the Danube, to hear the cannon which tell that -Vienna is still untaken. On the 31st he is near Tuln, above Vienna. He -has passed the distant thunder of the cannonade upon his left hand, and -has effected his junction with the army of Lorraine. Despairing of the -arrival of the Lithuanians, he has distributed the arms intended for -them among the imperfectly equipped Poles. Still more is he distressed -at the non-appearance of the Cossacks, whom he expected, and whom he -knew as invaluable for outpost duty. Menzynski, who should have -conducted them, is lingering at Lemberg. "_C'est un grand misérable._" - -Most interesting of all is the passage in which he gives his wife his -first impressions of his future colleague, the Duke of Lorraine. -Lorraine had been a competitor with Sobieski for the crown of Poland, -and it must have been a singular meeting when the rivals first came face -to face co-operating together in a mighty enterprise. Sobieski the king, -whose offspring were not to reign; Charles the duke, the destined -ancestor of the Imperial line of Austria.[12] The one in the -semi-Oriental magnificence of his country, he went into action before -Vienna in a sky-blue silk doublet; the other in the dress of a -campaigner, best described in Sobieski's own words. The duke he finds -modest and taciturn, stooping, plain, with a hooked nose, marked with -small-pox; clad in an old grey coat, with "a fair wig ill-made," a hat -without a band, "boots of yellow leather, or rather of what was yellow -three months ago." "_Avec tout ça, il n'a pas la mine d'un marchand, -mais d'un homme comme il faut, et même d'un homme de distinction. C'est -un homme avec qui je m'accorderais facilement._" The friendship of the -former rivals was cemented by a banquet, and the duke's accustomed -monitor being first overcome, Lorraine himself was induced to proceed -from his native Moselle, which he drank usually mixed with water, to the -strong Hungarian wines--to the improvement, as the king tells his wife, -of his conversation. Besides Lorraine, Sobieski found a crowd of German -Princes awaiting his arrival: John George of Saxony, speaking no French -nor Latin, and very little German; Waldeck, of the house of -Waldeck-Wildungen,[13] William the Third's right hand man in the -Netherlands, here commanding the troops of the Circles, and winning high -praise from the king for his activity and zeal; Maximilian of Bavaria, -whose courage and ill-fortune were hereafter to be signalized at -Blenheim and at Ramilies, now aged twenty-one, wins notice as "better -dressed than the others." There were two Wurtembergers and the Prince of -Brunswick-Lüneburg, afterwards our George I.; the Prince of -Saxe-Lauenberg; a Hohenzollern and a Hessian; three Princes of Anhalt; -Hermann and Louis of Baden, the latter was with Marlborough at -Schellenberg; two sons of Montecuculi, the conqueror of St. Gotthard; -last and youngest, though not least, Eugene of Savoy, the future -conqueror of Zenta and of Belgrade, and the colleague of Marlborough in -his greatest battles. There was Count Leslie, of that Scotch house which -had given generals to half the armies of Europe; Count Taaffe, the -Irishman, afterwards Sir Francis Taaffe and Earl of Carlingford, whose -elder brother fell fighting for King James at the Boyne, but whose -services to the allies secured the earldom from forfeiture. There were -gathered veterans of the Thirty Years' War, men who might have seen -Gustavus or Wallenstein, and men who were to reap their brightest -laurels hereafter in the war of the Spanish Succession. As was wittily -said, the Empire would have been there had only the Emperor been -present. The Brandenberg troops also were wanting. The "Great Elector" -was jealous of Poland--once his superior in the Prussian duchy--had -formerly been injured by Sobieski acting with the Swedes in the -interests of France, and moreover was not on the best terms with the -Emperor. Brandenberg, then as ever, was playing with skill and patience -her own game. The fortunes of the future Prussian monarchy were not to -be lightly risked for the sake of Austria. But the Emperor himself must -not be rashly charged with want of courage for his absence from the -camp. He was not trained to war; the presence of his court would have -been embarrassing to the operations, perhaps would have been inseparable -from intrigues and jealousies that would seriously have crippled the -army. A certain stubborn manhood Leopold had shown in not yielding to -the pressure put upon him to make terms with Louis XIV. in this -extremity. The aid of France could have been purchased by the election -of the Dauphin as King of the Romans, probably by smaller sacrifices. -The Diet at Ratisbon had been not disinclined to yield, but the Emperor -had stedfastly refused to subject either his own house or the Empire to -French dictation. That one crowned head was in the field was of the -greatest importance, especially when that one was the King of Poland. - -Everywhere the most cheerful deference was rendered to Sobieski by all -who were present. The Princes, jealous of each other before, now vied -with each other in zealous obedience to the conqueror of Choczim. His -experience of Turkish warfare was unique, his personal character -commanding. He tells his wife how Lorraine, Waldeck, Saxony, Bavaria -would send or even come personally for his commands. The ascendancy -exercised by Sobieski is nowhere more decisively illustrated than in the -conduct of five hundred Janissaries, a trophy of his victories, who now -formed his body guard. He offered them leave of absence from the battle, -or even a free passage to the Turkish camp, but they besought leave to -live and die with him.[14] The king himself was fully prepared to accept -the advice of generals like Lorraine and Waldeck. He had left his royal -dignity behind at Warsaw, as he told Lorraine, and at once agreed with -the latter upon a plan for crossing the Danube at Krems and at Tuln, -concentrating at Tuln and marching over the Kahlenberg to Vienna. He -only complained of the backward condition of the bridges and of the slow -assemblage of the troops, whereas the Emperor had by letter assured him -that all was ready before he had left Poland. When finally assembled, -the united armies numbered eighty-five thousand men. The Poles were -more than twenty-six thousand strong. But allowing for detachments, not -more than seventy-seven thousand men were available upon the -battle-field. The artillery numbered one hundred and sixty-eight pieces, -of which few came into action. - -On September 4, the king still writes from near Tuln. If an excess of -glory is often the share of a successful commander, yet an excessive -toil is his always. Sobieski tells his wife that he has a continual cold -and headache, and is night and day in the saddle. The French stories -were so far true that he could not mount without assistance, yet in the -midst of such operations no rest is possible. The Turks are, he says, -either really ignorant of his presence, or refuse to believe it. The -Vizier was incredibly ill-supplied with information. He really was -uncertain whether Sobieski was in the field; and whether the Polish -army, or partisan corps only, like that of Lubomirski, had joined -Lorraine. The smallest resistance would seriously have retarded the -passage of the Danube, performed by the Germans at Krems, by the Poles -at Tuln. As it was, the difficulties were terrible. The pontoons sank -under the weight of the artillery and waggons. The latter had to find -fords over the smaller branches of the river, while the bridges upon the -main stream were strengthened to sustain them. Even then much baggage -was left north of the Danube; much more upon the southern side, -entrenched and defended. - -On September 8, when the concentration of the army upon the southern -bank was being completed, Marco Aviano, the Emperor's Confessor, -celebrated a solemn mass, and gave a formal benediction to the Christian -army. Sobieski then stepped forward, and after addressing some words of -encouragement to the assembled officers, bestowed the honour of -knighthood upon his son James.[15] An enthusiastic votary of his -religion, he desired to impress upon his army that their cause was the -cause of God, against the enemies of the Faith. Even the Lutheran Saxons -and North Germans could, with more justice than the Hungarian renegades, -claim to be fighting _Pro Deo et Patria_. Upon the coming struggle -depended the question whether the frightful devastation, which had -desolated Hungary and Austria, was or was not to be repeated in all the -south German lands. - -The flat ground upon the southern side of the Danube, from near Krems to -Tuln, the Tullner Feld, offered a convenient space for the mustering of -the army after passing the river. Vienna was not further than about -sixteen miles as the crow flies, but the intervening country was of a -difficult nature, even should the Turks attempt no interruption to the -movements of the relieving forces. The Wiener Wald, rising to more than -nine hundred feet above the level of the Danube, runs into a -north-easterly direction between Tuln and Vienna, and advances up to the -very current of the river, which flows north-eastward and then -south-eastward round the mountain barrier. The roads were few and -difficult, and trees covered the slopes of the hills. Sobieski had -decided to advance with his left wing covered by the Danube, and to -throw succour into Vienna upon that side; while with the right he -threatened the rear of the Turkish camp on the side of Dornbach and -Hernals. With this object the march was directed upon the Leopoldsberg -and the Kahlenberg, the last heights or ridges of the mountains above -the Danube, to the north-west of Vienna. - -And at length, on the 10th of September, the forward movement upon the -Kahlenberg began. Already as early as the morning of the 6th, a -reconnaissance had been pushed to the summit, and as evening fell had -cheered Vienna with a flight of signal rockets, in answer to the fiery -messengers of distress which nightly rose from the spire of St. -Stephen's. But to carry an army up the Kahlenberg was a harder task. -Sobieski wrote that the country was horribly wasted. There was neither -food for man nor forage for horses, beyond what the army could carry -with them. Indeed, the leaves of the trees upon the Kahlenberg had to -eke out the supplies of the latter. There was all need for despatch. The -last despairing message had come from Starhemberg, borne by a swimmer on -the Danube to Lorraine, in language as brief as significant, "_No time -to be lost; no time indeed to be lost._" - -FOOTNOTES: - -[11] Salvandy, p. 96, vol. ii. - -[12] The grandson of the Duke of Lorraine married Maria Theresa, Queen -of Hungary, and was himself Emperor. The grand-daughter of Sobieski was -the mother of Charles Edward, the hero of the Forty-five. - -[13] Of the family, not an ancestor, of the present Duchess of Albany. - -[14] Salvandy. - -[15] Schimmer, "Sieges of Vienna;" Count Thürheim, "Life of -Starhemberg;" and Salvandy, "Hist. de Pologne," p. 172, vol. ii. -misplace this solemn benediction of the army and the knighting of Prince -James on the morning of the 12th. Sobieski's own testimony, in his -letters to his queen, is decisive for the 8th. Nor on the 12th was there -time for the ceremony. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - -There was no time to be lost indeed. The fortifications of Vienna were a -mere heap of ruins. The Imperial Palace was battered to pieces. Nearly -one whole quarter of the city was in ashes. On the 3rd of September, the -long contested Burg ravelin was yielded to the Turks. On the 4th, the -salient angle of the Burg bastion was blown into the air, and an attack -was with difficulty repelled. On the 6th, a similar mine and assault -following cumbered the Löwel bastion with ruin and with corpses. For a -moment, the horse tails were planted upon the ramparts. Driven back -thence with difficulty, the Turks still clung to the Burg ravelin, and -four pieces of cannon planted there, at frightfully close quarters, -completed the ruin of the works. But no new attack came. Informed of the -advance of Lorraine, though still incredulous of the presence of -Sobieski, the Vizier began to draw his troops towards the foot of the -Kahlenberg. He still clung to the batteries and trenches; still kept the -pick of his Janissaries grappling with the prize which but for him they -might have already won. He rejected the advice of the Pasha of Pesth, to -withdraw across the Wien and fortify a camp on the Wienersberg, secure -that if the Christians attacked and failed Vienna would fall. He -withdrew his troops indeed from the Leopoldstadt, and threw up some -slight works towards the Kahlenberg, but remained otherwise irresolute, -halting between his expected booty and her deliverer. - -Sobieski had already taken the measure of his opponent. In reply to -desponding views of Lorraine at Tuln, he had said, "Be of good cheer; -which of us at the head of two hundred thousand men would have allowed -this bridge to have been thrown within five leagues of his camp?" To his -wife he wrote, "A commander who has thought neither of entrenching his -camp, nor of concentrating his forces, but who lies encamped there as if -we were one hundred miles off, is predestined to be beaten." Viewing the -Turkish force from the Kahlenberg, he said to his soldiers, "This man is -badly encamped, he knows nothing of war; we shall beat him." - -It was well for the Christians and for Vienna that none of the great -warriors who had served the Porte was now in command. No man like -Kiuprili, or even like Ibrahim "the Devil," the last Turkish commander -against whom Sobieski had contended, was there, to use the fidelity of -the Janissaries and the valour of the Spahis to advantage. The march up -the defiles of the Kahlenberg presented, even without interruptions, -extraordinary difficulties. The king himself pushed forward to -superintend the exploration of the way. He was so long parted from his -Polish troops that they became anxious for his safety. He rejoined them -at mid-day on the 11th, and encouraged them as they marched, or, as he -says, rather _climbed_ to the summit. Some Saxon troops, first arriving, -with three guns, opened fire upon a Turkish detachment marching too late -to secure the important position. The Turks retired, and the distant -sound of the firing announced to Vienna the first tidings of -deliverance. It was not till the evening of the 11th, however, that the -main body of the army had reached the ridge. Even then many had lagged -behind; the paths were nearly impracticable for artillery, and the -Germans abandoned many of their guns in despair between Tuln and the -Kahlenberg. But few pieces indeed were fired after the first beginning -of the battle on the following day, Polish guns, for the most part, -brought up by the vigour of the Grand Marshal of the Artillery, Kouski, -the same officer who had directed the Polish field-pieces against the -Turkish camp at Choczim. - -"An hour before sunset," September 11, as Sobieski and the generals -stood at length upon the crest of the hill, "they saw outspread before -them one of the most magnificent yet terrible displays of human power -which man has seen. There lay the valley and the islands of the Danube, -covered with an encampment, the sumptuousness of which seemed better -suited for an excursion of pleasure than for the hardships of war. -Within it stood an innumerable multitude of animals--horses, camels, and -oxen. Two hundred thousand fighting men moved in order here and there, -while along the foot of the hills below swarms of Tartars roamed at -will. A frightful cannonade was raging vigorously from the one side, in -feeble reply from the other. Beneath the canopy of smoke lay a great -city, visible only by her spires and her pinnacles, which pierced the -overwhelming cloud and flame."[16] Sobieski estimated the force before -him at one hundred thousand tents and three hundred thousand men. -Including the non-combatants, he was, perhaps, not far wrong; but the -fighting men in the Turkish army by this time would be by many fewer -than that number. One hundred and sixty-eight thousand men is the most -which may be allowed from the muster-rolls found in the Vizier's tent, -and that certainly exceeds the truth.[17] All around, except where in -the encampment the magnificence of the invader was proudly flaunted in -the face of the ruin that he had made, the prospect was desolated by -war. Whatever might be the fortune of the coming day, a generation at -least must elapse before those suburbs are rebuilt, those villages -restored and repeopled, those fields fully cultivated again. The army -felt that it lay with them, under God, to provide against that further -extension of the ravage which would follow, should the bulwark of the -_Oesterreich_, the Eastern March of the Empire, be forced by Hun and -Tartar. - -Not distinguishable from the distance at which they stood, thousands of -Christian captives lay in the encampment below. The morrow might deliver -up the people of Vienna to a like fate with theirs. The city, as the -king declared on entering it after the relief, could not have held out -five days. As the wind now lifted the cloud of smoke, where should have -been the fortifications, the eye could discern nothing but a circle of -shapeless ruin, reaching from the Scottish gate to what had been the -Burg bastion. Up to and on to it climbed the curving lines of the -Turkish approaches. - -Sobieski had only hoped gradually to fight his way into a position -whence he could communicate with the besieged, and he had arranged his -plan of battle at Tuln with that idea. But the inequalities of the -country between the Kahlenberg and Vienna, broken with vines, villages, -small hills and hollow ways, together with the unexpectedly rapid -development of the attack when once it began, seem to have interfered -with his original disposition. - -His army occupied a front of half a Polish mile, or about an English -mile and three quarters. It was drawn up in three supporting lines that -faced south-eastward. - -The first line of the right wing was composed of nineteen Polish -(cavalry) divisions and four battalions; the second, of six Polish and -eight Austrian divisions, and four Polish battalions; the third, of nine -Polish, six Austrian, three German divisions, three Polish and one -German battalion. - -The centre was composed in the first line of nine Austrian and eleven -German divisions, and thirteen German battalions; in the second, of six -German divisions, ten German and six Austrian battalions; in the third, -of five German and two Austrian battalions. - -The left wing shewed in the first line, ten Austrian and five German -divisions, and six Austrian battalions; in the second line, four German -and eight Austrian divisions; in the third line, three German and seven -Austrian battalions. - -Lubomirski with his irregular Poles was on the left; the Polish -Field-Marshal, Jablonowski, commanded on the right; the Prince of -Waldeck, with the Electors of Bavaria and Saxony, the centre; the Duke -of Lorraine and Louis of Baden, with Counts Leslie and Caprara, were on -the left. The king was upon the right or right centre throughout the -day. The total force, including detachments not actually engaged, was -46,700 cavalry and dragoons, 38,700 infantry; in all 85,400 men, with -some irregulars, and 168 guns, many of them not in action at all. The -dragoons fought on foot in the battle.[18] The army was, roughly, -one-third Poles, one-third Austrians, one-third Bavarians, Saxons, and -other Germans.[19] The fatigues of the march from Tuln would naturally -diminish the number of effective soldiers on the day of battle; and the -troops were not all in position when the evening of Saturday, September -11, fell. As the night however wore away, the rear guard gained the -summit of the hills, and snatched a brief repose before the labours of -the morrow. - -But for the king there was no rest. The man whom the French ambassador -had described as unable to ride, who was tormented certainly by wearing -pains, after three days of incessant toil, passed a sleepless night -preparatory to fourteen hours in the saddle upon the battle-field. The -season of repose was dedicated to the duties of a general and the -affection of a husband. At three a.m. on Sunday, the 12th, the king is -again writing to his _bien-aimée Mariette_. He has been toiling all day -in bringing his troops up the ravines. "We are so thin," he writes, "we -might run down the stags on the mountains." As to the pomp or even -comfort of a king, that is not to be thought of. "All my luggage which -we have got up here is in the two lightest carts." He has some more upon -mules, but has not seen them for forty-eight hours. He had no thought of -sleep; indeed, the thunder of the Turkish cannon made it impossible; and -a gale of wind, which he describes as "sufficient to blow the men off -their horses," bore the noise of their discharge with redoubled clamour -to the relieving army. Moreover, the king writes, he must be in the -saddle before daybreak, riding down from the right to the extreme left, -to consult with Lorraine, opposite whom the enemy lies in force; not -entrenched, he hopes, as on that side he means to break through to the -city. A two days' affair, at least, he thinks. Then, "my eighth letter -to your sixth," he adds, with other familiar and gentle conversation, -with tidings of her son and of other friends, but with no word of fear -or of apprehension. He had made his will before setting out from Warsaw, -but he entertained no thought of failure. Then closing his wife's -letter, the affectionate husband becomes again the heroic king and -careful general. He rides from right to left along the lines, in that -boisterous autumnal morning, makes the last dispositions with Lorraine, -with him and with a few others takes again the Holy Communion from the -hands of Marco Aviano before the sun has risen, and then returns to his -post upon the right wing, ready for the advance that was to save Vienna. -His next letter to his wife was dated "September 13, night. The tents of -the Vizier." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[16] Coyer, "Memoires de Sobieski." - -[17] The roll includes the forces of Tekeli, who was not in the Turkish -camp at all, and takes no count of the last losses which the Turkish -detachments had suffered, nor of the loss from desertion the night -before the battle, when many of the irregulars went off with their -booty. The Turks had lost, according to this roll, 48,500 men before the -battle.--See Thürheim's "Starhemberg," pp. 150 and _seq._ - -[18] The dragoons were mounted infantry, using horses to reach the scene -of action only. They carried the infantry weapons, sword and musket, but -not pikes. The bayonet was just coming into use, but was still fixed in -the muzzle of the gun, and had to be removed before firing. - -[19] Count Thürheim, "Starhemberg," p. 163 and _seqq._; and Sobieski to -his wife, September 13. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - -The position of the Christian army on the Kahlenberg was, from the left -wing, the nearest point, about four miles from Vienna. The centre and -right were further removed. The intervening country, far from being a -plain, as Sobieski had been led to believe when he formed his first plan -of battle, is broken up into hillocks and little valleys, intersected by -streams, full of vineyards, and interspersed with the ruins of numerous -villages burnt by the Turks. Beyond these lay the Turkish encampment and -approaches, mingled with the vestiges of the suburbs destroyed by -Starhemberg at the beginning of the siege. - -The Turkish army was stretched over a front of about four miles from -point to point, but slightly curving with the convex side towards the -attacking force. Their right rested upon the Danube, and held the -Nussberg before the villages of Nussdorf and Heiligenstadt; their left -reached towards Breitensee near the Wien, and the Tartars swarmed still -further on the broken ground beyond. Their camp straggled in an -irregular half-moon from the river above Vienna to beyond the Wien, and -their troops were, at the beginning of the action, drawn up before it. -Some hasty entrenchments had been thrown up by them here and there, of -which the most considerable was a battery between Währing, Gerstorf and -Weinhaus;[20] but the bulk of their artillery remained in their lines, -pointed against the city, and the clamour of the ensuing battle was -swelled by the continuous roar of their bombardment, kept up as on -previous days. In the trenches lay a great body of Janissaries; and the -Turkish army was further weakened by the dispersal of Tartars and -irregulars on the night before the fight, doubtful of the event, and -anxious at any rate to secure their plunder. As the king had said, the -Turks were badly posted, their camp was long and straggling, too -valuable to be abandoned and not easy to defend. In case of a reverse, -their right wing would run the risk of being driven into the Danube, or -else have to fall back upon their centre and left, to the confusion of -the whole army. Fighting with a river and a fortified city upon their -flank and rear, repulse for them would mean certain disaster. But the -incapacity of the Vizier could not be fully fathomed till the attack -began. We have the assurance of Sobieski himself that he hoped upon the -first day merely to bring his army within striking distance of the -enemy, and to establish his left well forward near the bank of the -Danube, ready to deal a decisive blow, or to throw succour into Vienna -on the morrow or following day. He closed his letter to his wife in the -grey of the windy morning of the 12th of September, ignorant that the -decisive moment, bringing a victory greater than that of Choczim, was at -hand. - -The Turks had pushed their outposts forward up the banks of the river, -and soon after daybreak Lorraine upon the left was engaged, and the -fight thickened as his attack towards Nussdorf and Heiligenstadt was -developed. Eugene of Savoy began his distinguished career in arms by -carrying tidings from Lorraine to the king that the battle had commenced -in earnest. Eugene, barely twenty, had left Paris that year, slighted by -Louis, and had entered the service of the Emperor. His memoirs dismiss -briefly this his first essay in war. "The confusion of that day can be -but confusedly described. The Poles, who had clambered up to the -Leopoldsberg--I know not why--went down again like madmen and fought -like lions. The Turks, encamped where I threw up lines in 1703, did not -know which way to front, neglected the eminences, and behaved like -idiots."[21] The young aide-de-camp, carrying orders through the hottest -of the fire, could not yet penetrate the system which underlay the -apparent confusion of the march and battle. Advancing in columns with a -comparatively narrow front down the difficult slope of the hills, the -infantry gradually deployed right and left upon the lower ground, while -the cavalry of the second line advanced to fill the gaps thus left in -the foremost The Turks resisted gallantly, but they were principally -dismounted Spahis, not a match for Lorraine's favourite troops, the -German foot, though regaining their horses they would retreat with great -rapidity, to again dismount, and again resist, as each favourable -position offered itself. The fighting was obstinate, and the losses -heavy upon both sides, but the tide of fight rolled steadily towards -Vienna. The Germans carried the height of the Nussberg, above Nussdorf, -and their guns planted there disordered the whole of the Turkish right -with their plunging fire. Osman Ogoli, Pasha of Kutaya, the Turkish -general of division, pushed forward three columns in a counter-attack, -boldly and skilfully directed. The Imperial infantry were shaken, but -five Saxon battalions, inclining to their left from the Christian -centre, checked in turn the onset of the Ottomans, and restored the -current of the battle. But had the whole force of the enemy been -commanded as their right wing, the allies would scarcely that night have -been greeted in Vienna. No false move in the advance escaped the skill -of Osman. As the Turkish attack recoiled, the Prince of Croy had dashed -forward with two battalions to carry with a rush the village of -Nussdorf. Checked and overwhelmed, he fell back again, himself wounded, -his brother slain. Louis of Baden, with his dismounted dragoons, came up -to the rescue, and checked the pursuing enemy. As they recoiled slowly -the fight grew fiercer, and then more stationary about Nussdorf and -about Döbling. Houses, gardens, and vineyards formed a series of -entrenchments, sharply attacked and obstinately defended. A third time -the fiery valour of the Turks, charging home with their sabres among the -pikes and muskets, disordered the allies, and all but regained the -summit of the Nussberg. Again the superior cohesion of the Christians -prevailed, and the Turkish column outflanked fell back, still stubbornly -contesting every foot of ground. From the long extended centre and left -of their line no support came to them, as the Vizier in anxious -irresolution expected the advance of the centre of the allies and of the -Poles upon their right. His infatuation, moreover, had kept in the -batteries the bulk of his artillery, and in the trenches the best of his -Janissaries. In dire want of the guns, which roared idly upon the -already shattered defences of the city, Osman was driven through -Nussdorf and through Heiligenstadt, upon the fortified defiles of -Döbling, where at last a battery of ten guns and a force of Janissaries -opposed a steadier resistance to the advancing Germans. It was now noon. -Lorraine had already won the position which had been marked out for his -achievement for the day, and slackened his attack while he reformed his -victorious battalions. The centre and right of the Christian army, -separated by a longer distance from their foes, had been slowly gaining -the field of action, and had scarce fired a shot nor struck a blow, -except for the support accorded to the left by the centre. The whole of -the infantry and cavalry had at mid-day gained the positions assigned to -them, and, in the absence of most of his artillery, Sobieski would have -hesitated to continue his advance had not his lines, upon the left -especially, become so deeply involved that it was difficult to suspend -the conflict for long. Yet a momentary lull succeeded to the sharp -sounds of close combat. A sultry autumn day had followed the boisterous -night and morning, and the heat was oppressive.[22] The Poles upon the -right halted and snatched a hasty meal from the provisions they had -brought with them. But as the rattle of the small arms and the clash of -weapons died away, the roar of the battering guns and the answering fire -of the city rose in overwhelming distinctness. Behind the smoky veil, -Starhemberg and his gallant garrison could perchance barely guess, by -sounds of conflict, the progress of their deliverers. Tidings from the -watch-chair on St. Stephen's would spread alternate hope and despair -among the citizens. The fate of Vienna trembled in the balance. The -garrison stood ready in the breaches, the rest of the inhabitants -cowered upon the housetops to watch, or knelt in the churches to pray; -but to the Vizier came swiftly tidings of the foe with whom he had to -deal, the foe whose presence he had obstinately refused to credit. - -Reforming after their brief delay, the Polish cavalry in gorgeous arms -came flashing from the woods and defiles near Dornbach on his left. -Those who had before fought against him, knew the plume raised upon a -spear point, the shield borne before him, the _banderolles_ on the -lances of his body guard, which declared the presence of the terrible -Sobieski. "By Allah, but the king is really among them," cried Gieray, -Khan of the Crimea. And all doubt was at an end as the shout of "_Vivat -Sobieski_" rolled along the Christian lines, in dread and significant -answer to the discordant clamour of the Infidels. - -Profiting, however, by the interruption in the battle, the Vizier had -reformed his line, brought up infantry from the trenches, and now -directed his attack upon the Poles and the most formidable of his -opponents, hoping by their overthrow to change the fortune of the day, -while the Imperialists and Saxons still halted before his entrenchments -at Döbling. The Turks advanced with courage. For a moment a regiment of -Polish lancers were thrown into confusion, and the officers, members of -the nobility of Poland, who strove to rally their lines, fell; but -Waldeck, moving up his Bavarians from the centre, restored the fight. -The attack was defeated, and advancing in turn the headlong valour of -the Poles drove the Turks back from point to point, over the Alserbach -and its branches upon the confines of their camp. To relieve the -pressure upon the right and centre, Lorraine had renewed his attack with -the left of the allies. Horses and men had recovered breath and order, -and their artillery had moved up in support. The defiles of Döbling were -cleared by the Saxons; and at about four or five o'clock the Turkish -redoubt before Währing was carried by Louis of Baden with his dismounted -dragoons. Falling back in confusion upon their approaches and -batteries, the Turks desperately endeavoured, too late, to turn the -siege guns upon the enemy, whose advance now threatened them upon all -sides. The caution of Sobieski had, up to the last moment, inclined him -to respect the superior numbers and the desperation of his foes, and to -rest content with the advantage won; but now, in the growing confusion, -he saw that the decisive hour had arrived. The Elector of Bavaria and -the Prince of Waldeck hastening from the centre already saluted him as -conqueror. - -The desperate efforts of the Vizier to gain room by moving troops -towards his left from the centre, and so extending his lines beyond the -Polish right, served but to increase the confusion. The Field-Marshal -Jablonowski covered that wing, and the Queen of Poland's brother, the -Count de Maligni, pushing forward with infantry, seized a mound, whence -his musketry fire dominated the spot where the Vizier stood. The last -shots were fired from the two or three cannon which had kept pace with -the advance. A French officer rammed home the last charge with his -gloves, his wig, and a packet of French papers. Already the roads to -Hungary were thronged with fugitives, whose course was marked by dust -in columns, when the king decided to seize the victory all but in his -grasp already. _Non nobis, non nobis, Domine exercituum, sed Nomini Tuo -des gloriam_, he cried in answer to the congratulations of his friends, -as he began the decisive movement. - -Concentrating as rapidly as possible the bulk of the cavalry of the -whole army, German and Polish, upon the right wing,[23] he led them to -the charge, directly upon the spot where the Vizier with blows, tears, -and curses, was endeavouring to rally the soldiers, whom his own -ill-conduct had deprived of their wonted valour. The Turkish infantry -without pikes, their cavalry without heavy armour, were incapable of -withstanding the shock of the heavy German cuirassiers, or of arresting -the rush of the Polish nobles, whose spears, as they boasted to their -kings, would uphold the heavens should they fall. Their king at their -head, they came down like a whirlwind to the shout of "God preserve -Poland." The spears of the first line were splintered against the few -who awaited them, but their onset was irresistible. Spahis and -Janissaries, Tartars and Christian allies alike went down before the -Polish lances, or turned and fled in headlong confusion. The old Pasha -of Pesth, the greatest of the Turkish warriors in reputation, had fled -already. The Pashas of Aleppo and of Silistria perished in the _melée_. -"Can you not help me?" cried the Vizier, turning to the Khan of the -Crimea. "No," was the reply; "I know the King of Poland well, it is -impossible to resist him; think only of flight."[24] - -Away through the wasted borders of Austria, away to the Hungarian -frontier, to their army that lay before Raab, poured the fugitives. -There seldom has been a deliverance more complete and more decisive. The -terror which had so long weighed upon Eastern Christendom was dissolved -in that headlong rout. It was more than the scattering of an army; the -strength of an empire was dissipated on that day. Resources which had -been accumulating for years were destroyed; and such an expedition, so -numerous and so well furnished, never was sent forth by the Ottoman -again. The victory lacked nothing to render it more striking, either in -suddenness, in completeness, or in situation. The whole action had been -comprised in the hours between sunrise and sunset, before the gates of -one of the greatest capitals in Europe. We may borrow indeed the words -of Eugene, used in his despatch describing the last victory of the war -at Zenta, to picture the last hours of that evening before Vienna. For -upon the summits of the Weiner-Wald, whence the allies had descended -that morning to a yet doubtful field, "the sun seemed to linger, loath -to leave the day, until his rays had illumined to the end the triumph of -the glorious arms" of Poland and "of the Empire." - -There was no want of individual courage among the Turks. "They made the -best retreat you can conceive," wrote the king, for hard pressed they -would turn sword in hand upon their pursuers. But the head which should -have directed that courage was wanting; and for that want they were a -gallant mob, but no longer an army. Grateful for the result though we -may be, there is something pathetic in the magnificent valour of a race -of soldiers being frustrated by such incapacity. The Christians, -exhausted by the toils of the last few days, could not pursue to any -distance. The Imperial General Dünewald indeed with a few squadrons of -Austrians and Poles, the stoutest steeds or the keenest riders, -despising both plunder and fatigue, pushed straight on through the -twilight to Enzersdorf, where the road crossed the stream of the Fischa, -ten miles from Vienna, and there bursting on the line of flight made a -slaughter of the fugitives, which showed how much they owed to the night -and to the weariness of their conquerors. But there was no general -pursuit on the part of the allies. Their commanders were doubtful of the -full extent of their victory, and feared lest from such a multitude some -part might rally and destroy the too eager followers whom they still -outnumbered. But without pursuit their work was done. At seven, Louis of -Baden had opened a communication with the besieged, and the garrison -sallying forth joined the relieving army in the slaughter of the -Janissaries who had remained, neglected or forgotten, in the trenches. -Even then one miner was found, doggedly toiling in his gallery beneath -the ramparts, ignorant of the flight or death of his companions; perhaps -from among so many the last staunch soldier of the Prophet. - -I cannot conceive, wrote Sobieski, how they can carry on the war after -such a loss of _matériel_. The whole of the artillery of the Turks, -their munitions, and their baggage were the spoil of the victors. Three -hundred and ten pieces of cannon, twenty thousand animals, nine thousand -carriages, one hundred and twenty-five thousand tents, five million -pounds of powder are enumerated. The holy standard of the Prophet had -been saved, but the standard of the Vizier, mistaken for it, was sent to -the Pope by the conqueror, while his gilded stirrups were despatched at -once to Poland to the Queen, as a token of victory. Never, perhaps, -since Alexander stood a victor at Issus in the tents of Darius, or the -Greeks stormed the Persian camp at Platæa, had an European army entered -upon such spoil. Much money had been saved by the Turks in their flight; -but precious stuffs and jewelled arms, belts thick with diamonds, -intended to encircle the fair captives of Vienna, the varied plunder of -many a castle of Hungary and of Lower Austria, were found piled in the -encampment. In the Vizier's quarters were gardens laid out with baths -and fountains, a menagerie, even a rabbit warren. His encampment alone -formed a labyrinth of tents, by itself of the circumference of a little -town, and with its contents declared the character of its late owner. An -ostrich, previously taken from an Imperial castle, was found beheaded to -prevent recapture. A parrot, more fortunate, escaped upon the wing. The -Polish envoy was discovered in the camp in chains, forgotten during the -turmoil, and thus saved from the death promised him if his master should -take the field. The Imperial agent at the Porte, Kunitz, had escaped -into the town during the battle; but the mass of Christian captives had -not been so happy. Before the battle the Vizier had ordered a general -massacre of prisoners, and the camp was cumbered with the bodies of men, -women, and children, but for the most part of women, foully slaughtered. -The benevolent energy of the Bishop of Neustadt, above-mentioned, found -employment in caring for five hundred children, who had, with their -mothers in a few cases, escaped the sword. The night was passed in the -camp by the victors, who were intent on securing their victory or their -plunder. Not till the following morning did the king meet Lorraine and -exchange congratulations upon their success. Then, with the Commandant -Starhemberg, they entered the city, passing over those well-contested -breaches, which but for them might have been that day trodden by the -Janissaries. They repaired to the churches for a solemn thanksgiving. -Sobieski himself sang the _Te Deum_ in one of them. Nothing could exceed -the enthusiastic gratitude of the people, who barely allowed a passage -to the horse of their deliverer. The priest, after the _Te Deum_ ended, -by a happy inspiration or plagiarism, gave out the words, "_There was a -man sent from God, whose name was John._"[25] A salute of three hundred -guns proclaimed the victory far and wide, and the shouts of "_Vivat -Sobieski!_" that filled the city out-thundered the thunder of the -cannon. Their walls were a chaos, their habitations a ruin, but the -citizens rejoiced as those rejoice whom the Lord hath redeemed and -delivered from the hand of the enemy. They were as men released not only -from the sword, pestilence, and famine, but from prison besides. They -poured forth to taste again the sweets of liberty, wondered at the -trenches, or joined in the pillage of the camp, where the air was -already sickening from the thousands of the slain, and foul from the -refuse of the barbaric encampment. But amid all the popular rejoicing, -the king could not but observe the coldness of the magistracy. The -Emperor could not endure that any but himself should triumph in Vienna, -and his feelings were reflected in his servants. On hearing of the -victory he had returned to the neighbourhood of the city. A council was -held to settle the weighty point as to how the elective Emperor was to -receive the elective King. "With open arms, since he has saved the -Empire," said Lorraine; but Leopold would not descend to such an -indecorum. He strove to avoid a meeting with the deliverer of his -capital, and when the meeting was arranged could barely speak a few cold -words in Latin, well answered by Sobieski, who, saying, "I am happy, -Sire, to have been able to render you this slight service," turned his -horse, saluted, and rode away. A few complimentary presents to Prince -James and to the Polish nobles did not efface the impression of -ingratitude. The German writers minimize the coldness of the Emperor, -but Sobieski was at the moment undoubtedly aggrieved, and others were -discontented. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[20] The _Turkenschanze_, traces of which lately remained. - -[21] In 1717 Eugene, in like case with the Vizier now, was besieging -Belgrade, and was himself surrounded by a large Turkish army. However, -he defeated the relieving army and took the city. - -[22] There is a proverb, "_Vienna aut venenosa aut ventosa_." She was -giving to her deliverers successive displays of her character. - -[23] Sobieski's letter of September 13. - -[24] Sobieski's letter of September 13. He must have heard of the -conversation from the Vizier's attendants taken in his encampment. - -[25] It was the exclamation of the Pope, Pius V., on hearing of the -victory of Don John of Austria over the Turks at Lepanto, in 1571. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -Neglected and distrusted by the sovereign whom he had delivered, -Sobieski found consolation in detailing his victory, his spoil, and his -wrongs alike to his wife. We find the great soldier again, in the full -flush of his victory, writing indefatigably to his _Mariette_. It is on -the night of the 13th, in the Vizier's late quarters, in the camp still -cumbered with the slaughter of the combatants and of prisoners. The loss -had been heavy in the fighting upon both sides, he tells us; and such an -estimate, formed at such a moment by the victorious general, by far -outweighs the accounts by which the French above all tried to minimize -the slaughter made, and with it the greatness of the victory won.[26] -He begins his letter: "God be blessed for ever. He has given victory to -our people; He has given them such a triumph that past ages have not -seen the like." All around, the explosions of the Turkish ammunition, -fired by the plunderers from city and army, "make a din like the last -judgment." He plunges into a description of the riches that the camp -contains. "The Vizier has made me his heir; he has done everything _en -galant homme_." "You cannot say to me, 'You are no warrior,' as the -Tartar women say to their husbands when they return empty-handed." "For -two nights and a day plunder has gone on at will; even the townsfolk -have taken their share, and I am sure that there is enough left for -eight days more. The plunder we got at Choczim was nothing to this." - -There was a touch of the barbaric chieftain in the Polish king, and he -keenly enjoyed not merely the victory, but the spoil which he had won. -At the end of the seventeenth century, the character of this general of -the school of Montecuculi, this admirer of Condé, recalls to us at once -the ardour of a crusader, and the affectionate rapacity of a -moss-trooper, reserving the richest plunder of a foray to deck his wife -at home. He exults in the belts and in the watches studded with jewels, -the stuffs and the embroideries which are to adorn his wife's boudoir. -But he is still bent on action. "We must march to-morrow for Hungary," -he says, "and start at the double, to escape the smell of the camp and -its refuse, with the thousands of bodies of men and of animals lying -unburied." - -One letter, at least, he had despatched before writing to his wife. He -knew well the feelings with which the King of France would regard the -salvation of the Empire, and the setting free of the attention of -Germany to be directed to his own designs. In Sobieski's own words to -his wife, he thus reveals his triumph over the French king, whose -intrigues had been ceaselessly directed to prevent his coming: "I have -written to the King of France; I have told him that it was to him -especially, as to the Most Christian King, that I felt bound to convey -the information of the battle that we have won, and of the safety of -Christendom." This letter remained unanswered. It is said that the -proofs of Louis' dealings with the Turks had at that moment passed into -the hands of the victors, amid the plunder of the Vizier's quarters. - -No sooner had Louis heard that the intrigues of his agents had failed, -and that Sobieski was actually in the field, than his armies were let -loose upon the Spanish Netherlands. Unable to anticipate the victory at -Vienna, the French revenged it by seizing Courtrai and Dixmunde in the -autumn, and bombarding Luxemburg before the end of the year. The French -nobility had been forbidden to hasten to the defence of Christendom; and -now were inclined to depreciate, at least in words, the victory they had -not shared. - -Amidst the general chorus of admiration and of thankfulness which rose -from Europe, in France, and in France alone, were the deeds of Sobieski -slighted. He had cut in pieces not only the Turks, but the prophecies -which had filled Paris of the approaching downfall of the house of -Austria. The allies of that house took a bolder tone; Spain talked of -the declaration of that war against Louis which he had provoked for so -long; the United Provinces listened to the warlike councils of the -Prince of Orange; the Emperor spoke decidedly of succouring all his -friends. - -Far different was to be the progress of Louis' aggressions upon Germany, -now that the overmastering fear of Turkish invasion was done away with, -and the Turkish hold upon Hungary loosened. The alliance of Laxenberg -and the other leagues were now to ripen into the great confederacy of -Augsburg and the Grand Alliance. - -Upon the Ottoman power the effect of the victory was decisive. Turkish -rule in Hungary had received a blow from which it never recovered. It is -true that Sobieski, advancing rashly with his cavalry alone, shortly -involved himself in a disaster, near the bridge of the Danube, opposite -Gran. The king himself had to ride for his life from the Turkish -horsemen. The check, however, was avenged by the complete destruction of -the force which had inflicted it; and the fortress of Gran, the most -important place upon that side of Hungary, became the prize of the -conqueror. - -The views of Sobieski embraced the reduction of Buda, and, perhaps, of -the whole of Hungary, in this campaign. But this was forbidden by the -lateness of the season, still more by the jealousy of the Emperor. The -king warred against the Turks, but not against the Hungarians. He -sympathized with their efforts to regain their liberties, and strove to -reconcile rather than to subdue Tekeli. Leopold was fearful of the -establishment of a Polish interest in the country, and showed a studied -neglect of his allies. But had other causes allowed, the insubordination -of the Poles would have prevented further conquests. The Polish -nobility, the political masters of their king, were foremost in -clamouring for a return to their native country. A prolonged career of -conquest was impossible at the head of such a State and army. The hopes -of a Hungarian alliance died away. Tekeli, after much hesitation, -refused to enter into the negotiations which the king proposed; and -reluctantly the deliverer of Christendom withdrew through Upper Hungary -into Poland again, reducing some towns upon the road, but leaving his -great work half done. His army melted in his hands. The tardy -Lithuanians, too late for the fighting, arrived to add to his vexation -in Moravia, where they disgraced their country by pillaging the people -whom they had not helped to save. - -But Sobieski was not alone in suffering from the Emperor's ingratitude. -Starhemberg, the defender of the city, was deservedly rewarded; but most -of the others, from Lorraine downwards, who had participated in the -battle, had little recompense for their services. Even the ardour of the -Elector of Bavaria was for a time cooled by the coolness of the Emperor, -though he returned again to the service of his future father-in-law. The -Elector of Saxony, Waldeck, and others left the scene of the campaign to -enjoy their triumph, or to plunge into other enterprises; but under -Lorraine, and a series of generals, culminating in that Eugene of Savoy, -who had seen his first service at Vienna, the Turks were driven foot by -foot from Hungary. Kara Mustapha shortly paid for his defeat, as Ottoman -commanders did pay--with his head, suffering not unjustly. But his -successors, though less incompetent, were scarcely on the whole more -fortunate than he. - -In vain a new Kiuprili was found to head the Turkish armies and to -reform the Turkish State. A short gleam of success under his leadership -was ended by his death in battle. In vain a Sultan, Mustapha II., again -appeared himself at the head of his armies. The means of warfare of the -Ottomans were to a great extent expended and lost beyond repair in the -great disaster at Vienna. New enemies rose up against them in their -weakness. Russia in the Ukraine, Venice in the Morea and in Dalmatia, -began conquests at the expense of the Porte. The war indeed dragged on, -delayed by the renewed contest between France and the Augsburg league; -but the very weakness of Austria served merely to show more clearly the -fallen fortunes of the Turks, who could make no lasting stand against -her. Steadily upon the whole the fortunes of the Ottomans declined, -though it was not till the great victory of Eugene at Zenta, in 1697, -that they were driven reluctantly to treat. The peace signed at -Carlowitz, in 1699, illustrates the altered relations of Europe since -the beginning of the war, when the Turks had been a menace to Germany. - -For the first time, an European conference considered the affairs of -Turkey. England and Holland were mediators of the peace, that the -Emperor might be more free to act with them in the coming war of the -Spanish Succession. Sobieski had nearly three years earlier become a -memory, with his victories, his schemes, and his disappointments, in the -grave; and with him ended the ever unstable greatness of Poland. Another -yet more notable northern sovereign, Peter the Czar, was a party to the -negotiations. Everywhere was territory rent from Turkey. To Austria, she -yielded nearly all of Hungary and Transylvania, with most of the -Sclavonian lands between the Save and the Drave; to Poland, she gave up -Podolia; to Russia, Azof; to Venice, the Morea and parts of Dalmatia. -One point she proudly refused to yield. The Hungarian Tekeli and his -friends, who had sought her hospitality, were retained by her, safe from -the vengeance of the Emperor; as in 1849 other Hungarian exiles were -shielded by the Turks, against the vengeance of Austria and of Russia -combined. This was the first peace which had permanently reduced the -frontiers of the Ottomans; it marked the termination of the last of the -great Mohammedan aggressions upon Christendom; it saw the end of the -secret understandings by which, since the days of Francis I., France -had endeavoured to use Turkey for the subversion of Austria and for the -ends of her own ambition. The complete reversal of the former positions -of the combatants, the disastrous termination of the war for Turkey, the -"rolling away of the stone of Tantalus that hung above _their_ heads, -the intolerable woe for the _Germans_",[27] the far-reaching results of -the struggle in the future history of Europe--all are traceable to the -day when the genius of Sobieski marked triumphantly, from the windy -heights of the Kahlenberg, that fatal incapacity which should open for -him the way, as victorious deliverer, to the foot of the ruined ramparts -of Vienna. - -But naturally, before concluding our consideration of the subject, we -ask what gain did Poland, or the King of Poland, gather from the -enterprise in which he had played so glorious a part? For a few months -he was the centre of the admiring eyes of Christendom. "_L'empire du -monde vous serait du si le ciel l'eût réservé à un seul potentat_," -wrote Christina of Sweden from Rome, not without a glance at the -pretensions of Louis XIV. to supremacy, and of Leopold to an imperial -primacy in Europe. Never before had Poland filled so great a place in -the eyes of the world. The cautious Venetians sought her special -alliance. In the language of diplomacy she was _Respublica Serenissima_; -but untroubled she never was, and her greatness was of short duration. -It is true that the frontiers of the State were relieved of a constant -fear. The Turks were for the time broken, the Tartars were crushed, the -Cossacks of the Ukraine again reduced to submission. But Sobieski had -fought and had conquered for others. His country was incapable of -gathering the fruits of victory; incapable of prolonged effort, and -therefore of lasting success. At the peace of Carlowitz, Podolia, with -the fortress of Kaminiec, was recovered; but Moldavia had been in vain -invaded by the Poles; and the Turks, it was soon seen, were beaten for -the benefit of Austria; the Tartars for the benefit of Russia. - -The King of Poland, alive to the shortcomings of his countrymen, was -unable to correct them. A man who was at least the most eminent soldier, -general we may not say, of Europe; a man who above all others living -fulfilled the character of a hero; a king who had saved his country; a -husband who was devoted to his wife, found himself thwarted by his -subjects, and distracted by quarrels in his family. No doubt he laboured -to render the crown hereditary in his house, a service to his country it -would have been had he succeeded; but the jealousy of the Poles, still -more that of the neighbouring sovereigns, and to some extent the -misconduct of his wife, rendered this impossible. He found himself the -object of an empty respect, but the wielder of no authority; he saw his -country without order, without steadiness of purpose, unable to follow -any settled policy in conjunction either with France or with the enemies -of France. The factions of the Diet left him without soldiers and -without money. Not for the first, but nearly for the last time, the -Poles were victorious in battle, but were destined to fail woefully in -attaining the objects of war. The end was not far off. Sobieski was -followed by a foreigner upon the throne, and within ten years of his -death, Charles XII. of Sweden was disposing as a conqueror of the crown -of Poland. The prey to the ambition of her neighbours his country has -remained, now like her king a memory, to serve as a lesson of the -consequences of the disregard of those restraints and of that -self-control which alone can render freedom safe and liberty a blessing. -For want of these her place has vanished from the map of Europe, sooner -even than that of the foe whom she destroyed. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[26] A moderate estimate of the Christian loss is five thousand men, or -about one-fifteenth of those on the field; a loss in about the same -proportion as that of both sides at Sadowa. The Poles alone confessed to -the loss of one hundred officers killed, and they were neither so long -nor so hotly engaged as the left wing. The loss of the centre was -probably less. Thürheim and Schimmer give of the allies four thousand, -and twenty-five thousand Turks; but the latter figures are quite -uncertain, and the Christians made the least of their losses. As the -fight was so much hand-to-hand, with little artillery fire, it would -resemble ancient battles, where the loss of the vanquished was always -disproportionately large. The memoirs of the Duke of Lorraine simply -say, that "for about three hours the fighting was very bloody upon both -sides." Fighting, however, had began soon after daybreak, and the -pursuit lasted till nightfall. - -[27] - -[Greek: epeidê ton huper kephalas ge Tantalon lithon para tis etrepsen -ammi theos, atolmaton Elladi mochthon.] - -PINDAR, Isth. viii. 10. - -Written after the repulse of the great Persian invasion. - - -THE END. - - -PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, -LONDON AND BECCLES. - -[Illustration: Map - - Archiducatus Austriae Inferioris Geographics et Noviter Emendata - Accuratissima Descriptio. - - (1697.)] - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIENNA 1683*** - - -******* This file should be named 56023-8.txt or 56023-8.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/6/0/2/56023 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: Vienna 1683</p> -<p> The History and Consequences of the Defeat of the Turks before Vienna, September 12, 1683, by John Sobieski, King of Poland, and Charles Leopold, Duke of Lorraine</p> -<p>Author: Henry Elliot Malden</p> -<p>Release Date: November 21, 2017 [eBook #56023]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIENNA 1683***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4>E-text prepared by Turgut Dincer, Martin Pettit,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - <a href="https://archive.org/details/viennahistorycons00mald"> - https://archive.org/details/viennahistorycons00mald</a> - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="center"><a name="cover.jpg" id="cover.jpg"></a><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">VIENNA<br />1683</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/titlepage.jpg" alt="title page" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> - -<h1>VIENNA<br />1683</h1> - -<p class="bold">THE HISTORY AND CONSEQUENCES OF<br /> -THE DEFEAT<br /> -OF THE TURKS BEFORE VIENNA, SEPTEMBER 12, 1683<br /> -BY JOHN SOBIESKI, KING OF POLAND<br /> -AND<br /> -CHARLES LEOPOLD, DUKE OF LORRAINE</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">BY<br /> -HENRY ELLIOT MALDEN</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">LONDON<br /> - -KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE<br /> - -1883</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>"Think of that age's awful birth,</div> -<div class="i1">When Europe echoed, terror-riven,</div> -<div>That a new foot was on the earth,</div> -<div class="i1">And a new name come down from Heaven</div> -<div>When over Calpe's straits and steeps</div> -<div class="i1">The Moor had bridged his royal road,</div> -<div>And Othman's sons from Asia's deeps</div> -<div class="i1">The conquests of the Cross o'erflowed.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<div class="center">* * * * *</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<div>"Think with what passionate delight</div> -<div class="i1">The tale was told in Christian halls,</div> -<div>How Sobieski turned to flight</div> -<div class="i1">The Muslim from Vienna's walls;</div> -<div>How, when his horse triumphant trod</div> -<div class="i1">The burghers' richest robes upon,</div> -<div>The ancient words rose loud, 'From God</div> -<div class="i1">A man was sent whose name was John.'"</div> -<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Lord Houghton</span>.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="center space-above">(<i>The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.</i>)</p> - -<hr /> - -<h2><span>CONTENTS</span></h2> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<table summary="CONTENTS"> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">PREFACE.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER I.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER II.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER III.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER IV.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER V.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER VI.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER VII.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER VIII.</td> - <td><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> - -<h2>PREFACE.</h2> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<p>The historical scholar will find nothing new in the following pages; but -I have thought it worth while to tell to the general reader a story -worth the telling, and to explain not only the details, but the wider -bearings also, of a great crisis in European history, no satisfactory -account of which exists, I believe, in English, and the two hundredth -anniversary of which is now upon us.</p> - -<p>My principal authorities are "Sobieski's Letters to his Queen," edited -by Count Plater, Paris, 1826; Starhemberg's "Life and Despatches," -edited by Count Thürheim, Vienna, 1882; "Campaigns of Prince Eugene, of -Savoy," Vienna, 1876, etc.; Schimmer's "Sieges of Vienna;" Von Hammer's -"History of the Turks;" Salvandy's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> "History of Poland;" "Memoirs of -Eugene," by De Ligne; "Memoirs of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, and his -Military Maxims," published late in the seventeenth century; "Works of -Montecuculi;" De la Guillatière's "View of the Present State of the -Turkish Empire, etc.," translated, London, 1676, etc.</p> - -<p>I have been obliged to reject some statements of Salvandy's, such, for -instance, as that the <i>crescent moon</i> was eclipsed on the day of the -battle before Vienna.</p> - -<p>I regret that I have been unable to use the account of the campaign of -1683 published in Vienna, by the Director of the War Archives, since -this went to press. Some of the matter of it is, I believe, contained in -the "Campaigns of Eugene," published under the same authority mentioned -above, and in Schimmer's work.</p> - -<p> <span class="smcap">Kitlands</span>, 1883.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> - -<h2>SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS.</h2> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<blockquote><p>1663. Ahmed Kiuprili Grand Vizier.</p> - -<p>1664. Montecuculi defeats the Turks at St. Gotthard. Twenty years' -truce with Austria, by which the Turks retain most of Hungary.</p> - -<p>1669. The Turks take Candia from the Venetians.</p> - -<p>1671. Conspiracy in Hungary against the Emperor crushed.</p> - -<p>1672. French attack upon Holland provokes a general war. Treaty of -Buksacs between the Turks and Poles. Poland cedes most of Podolia -and the Ukraine, and pays tribute to Turkey.</p> - -<p>1673. The Polish nobles break the treaty. Great victory of Sobieski -over the Turks at Choczim.</p> - -<p>1675. Sobieski crowned King of Poland.</p> - -<p>1676. Treaty of Zurawna between Turks and Poles; the former retain -most of their conquests.</p> - -<p>1677. Death of Ahmed Kiuprili. Kara Mustapha Grand Vizier.</p> - -<p>1678. Tekeli heads an insurrection in Hungary against the Emperor. -The French intrigue with him.</p> - -<p>1678-79. Treaties of Nimuegen between the French and the allies.</p> - -<p>1681. Louis XIV. seizes Strassburg and makes other aggressions upon -the Empire. Treaty between Holland and Sweden against France.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></p><p>1682. Treaty of Laxenberg between the Emperor and the Upper German -Circles against France, followed by similar treaties between the -other Circles, the Emperor and Sweden. The Turks openly aid the -Hungarians.</p> - -<p>1683. League of the Empire, Poland and the Pope, supported by other -anti-French powers, against the Turks. Turkish invasion of Austria. -Siege of Vienna. Defeat of the Turks by John Sobieski and the Duke -of Lorraine, September 12. The French attack the Spanish -Netherlands in the autumn.</p> - -<p>1684. Truce of Ratisbon between France and the Empire.</p> - -<p>1686. Buda recovered from the Turks. League of Augsburg between the -Emperor and the Circles of Western Germany, joined ultimately by -Spain, Holland, the Pope, Savoy and other Princes of the Empire, -against the French.</p> - -<p>1688. The English Revolution secures England for the side of the -League, which she joins next year. General war with France follows.</p> - -<p>1696. Death of Sobieski.</p> - -<p>1697. Treaty of Ryswick between France and the allies. Eugene -defeats the Turks at Zenta, in Hungary.</p> - -<p>1699. Peace of Carlowitz. The Turks cede nearly all Hungary, -Transylvania, Podolia, the Ukraine, the Morea and Azof. The first -great diminution of Turkish territory in Europe.</p></blockquote> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">VIENNA.</p> - -<p class="bold">1683.</p> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> - -<p>At the present moment, in 1883, the power of Austria is driven as a -wedge into the midst of the former dominions of the Sultan. That this is -so, perhaps that Austria even exists as a great power, and can hope to -be a greater in south-eastern Europe, is owing in no small degree to the -Polish aid which in 1683 defeated the Turkish armies before the gates, -and saved Vienna. The victor, John Sobieski, King of Poland, then -deserved and enjoyed the gratitude of Christendom. But the unequal fate -of a man great in character and in abilities, but born out of due time, -in an incongruous age and in a state unworthy of him, has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> seldom been -more conspicuously illustrated than in his career. The great men of the -last quarter of the seventeenth century whom we most readily remember -are men of western Europe. Louis XIV., with the resources of France -behind him, William III., wielding the power of England, of Holland, and -of Protestant Germany, are the kings who fill the stage. The half-crazy -hero, Charles XII. of Sweden, is a more familiar character than the -great Polish king, the deliverer first of Poland, secondly of Germany, -perhaps of Europe. The causes are not far to seek. The country which he -ruled has disappeared from the roll of European nations. The enemy whom -he defeated has become, in his last decrepitude, the object merely of -scorn, or of not disinterested care. It seems now so incredible that the -Turks should have been a menace to Europe, that it is no great claim to -remembrance to have defeated them. Sobieski, too, in his greatness and -in his weakness, was a mediæval hero. He was out of place in the age of -Louis XIV. He was a great soldier rather than a great general, a -national hero rather than a great king. His faith had the robust -sincerity of that of a thirteenth-century knight, his character was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> -marred by the violent passions of a mediæval baron. His head was full of -crusading projects—of the expulsion of the Turks, of the revival of a -Catholic Greek state, not without principalities for his own house. His -plans would have commanded support in the days of St. Louis, but were -impracticable in a Europe whose rulers schemed for a balance of power. -Poland herself perished, partly through clinging to a mediæval -constitution in the midst of modern states. Her mediævally-minded king -and his exploits are eclipsed by other memories, even upon the scene of -his greatest achievement.</p> - -<p>For the traveller who from the Tower of St. Stephen's, in the centre of -the old-town of Vienna, looks down upon the places made remarkable by -great historic actions in the valley of the Danube, has his eye turned -first northward and eastward upon the Marchfeld. There, he is told, are -Aspern and Essling, where the Archduke Charles beat Napoleon in 1809. -There is the island of Lobau, where Napoleon repaired his forces, and -whence he issued to fight yonder the great and terrible conflict of -Wagram. The scene, not of a greater slaughter, not of a more obstinately -contested fight, than Wagram, but the scene of a battle more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>momentous -in its consequences, lies upon the other side. Among the vineyards, -villages, and chateaux which cover the lower slopes of the Wiener Wald, -among the suburbs of Nussdorf and of Hernals, Charles of Lorraine and -John Sobieski smote the Turkish armies in 1683. There at one blow they -frustrated the last great Mohammedan aggression against Christendom, and -set free the minds and arms of the Germans to combine against French -ambition upon their western frontier. The victory was one of those -decisive events which complete long pending revolutions, and inaugurate -new political conditions in Europe.</p> - -<p>The treaties of Nimuegen in 1678-79 had marked a pause in a general -European contest. France and the Empire, Holland, Spain, Sweden, -Brandenberg, all retired from their active conflicts, to plot and strive -in secret, till an advantageous opening for war should again present -itself. Poland and the Porte had a little earlier concluded their strife -by the peace of Zurawna. But in the general breathing-time the eyes of -all were turned with anxiety upon Eastern Europe. So much of Hungary as -was not in the hands of the Sultan was in insurrection against the -Emperor. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> insolence of the Turks, and their support to the -insurgents, were continually becoming greater. The whole East resounded -with warlike preparations, and it was without doubt evident that a great -enterprise was being prepared which might make the reign of Mahomet IV. -as illustrious for Islam, as calamitous for Christendom, as that of -Mahomet II. had been. Rome, Venice, Vienna, were the three capitals in -more immediate danger, but the whole continent was interested, and all -other designs were necessarily suspended till it became clearer where -this storm would fall, and what resistance could be made to it.</p> - -<p>For, two hundred years ago, the Ottoman Empire still stood high among -the greatest of European powers. Spain ruled over wider territories; but -the dominions of Spain were scattered over the Old and New Worlds, and -her European lands, in the Netherlands and in Italy, were divided from -her by the sea, or isolated by the interposition of the frontiers of -powerful and often hostile neighbours.</p> - -<p>A compact yet widely spread collection of kingdoms and of provinces -obeyed the head of the Mohammedan world. Northern Africa, Western Asia, -Eastern Europe were ruled from the Bosphorus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> All the chief centres of -ancient civilization, Rome alone excepted, Thebes, Nineveh and Babylon, -Carthage, Athens and Constantinople, bowed beneath the Crescent. The -southern frontiers of the Sultan's territories reached beyond the Tropic -of Cancer, the northern touched nearly the latitude of Paris.</p> - -<p>The modern kingdoms of Greece, Servia, Roumania were wholly his; the -kingdom of Hungary, the dominions of Austria and of Russia were in part -his also. The Black Sea was entirely encircled with Turkish or tributary -territory; no other power possessed the same extent of coast line on the -Mediterranean. Not only the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Nile, but the -Danube, the Boug, the Dneister, the Dneiper and the Don flowed for a -great part of their course between banks subject or tributary to the -Porte, and reached the sea by mouths wholly under Turkish control.</p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/i007.jpg" alt="Territory ceded by Turkey in 1699" /></div> - -<p class="bold"><i>Territory ceded by Turkey in 1699.</i></p> - -<p>The armies of the Sultan were unapproachable in numbers, unsurpassable -in valour, by those of the Christian powers. Their discipline and -warlike science were no longer what they once had been, the first in -Europe; but their inequality in these respects to their enemies was not -yet so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> marked as at present. Military and administrative skill were yet -to be found in their empire. From the first appearance of the Turks in -Europe Mohammedan rule had been, on the whole, extending. The Christian -reconquest of Spain was balanced by the inroads of this new enemy upon -the Eastern Empire. The Spanish reconquest of Grenada, in the fifteenth -century, was more than counterbalanced by the Turkish conquest of -Hungary in the sixteenth. The Turks upon the middle Danube were a menace -at once to Poland, Germany, and to northern Italy. Nor was this a mere -temporary inroad of theirs. Two-thirds of Hungary were then more firmly -held in their grasp than Macedonia is at present, and their frontiers -were not going back. In the seventeenth century the Ottoman power still -more than held its own in Eastern Europe. Though the Spaniards and -Venetians had destroyed their fleet at Lepanto in 1571, though -Montecuculi at the head of the Imperial troops had routed their armies -at St. Gotthard in 1664, though Sobieski and the Poles made the great -slaughter of Choczim in 1673, yet the frontiers of the Turks were -advanced by every war. After Lepanto, the peace confirmed them in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> the -possession of the newly acquired Cyprus; after St. Gotthard, they -retained the strong city of Neuhausel, which they had just won, in -Hungary, and conquered Candia; after Choczim, they were confirmed in -their possession of the province of Podolia, and their supremacy over -the Ukraine, the Marchland of Poland.</p> - -<p>Of their soldiers the most formidable were the Janissaries. The policy -of the earlier Sultans had demanded a tribute of boys from their -Christian subjects. These children, early converts to Islam, were -brought up with no home but the camp, no occupation but war; and, under -the title of Janissaries, or the New Troops, were alternately the -servants and the masters of the Ottoman Sultans. The strength of the -Christians was drained, the strength of the Ottoman armies multiplied, -and the fields of Paradise replenished at once, in the judgment of pious -Mussulmans, by this policy. At this time the ranks of the Janissaries -were not solely filled by this levy, but it has been computed that -500,000 Christian boys may have become instruments for the subjugation -of Christendom, from the first institution of the tax in the fourteenth -century down to the final levy made in 1675. Our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>commiseration for the -Christian parents may be mitigated by the consideration that to sell -their children into slavery, uncompelled, was a not unknown practice -among the subjects of the Eastern Emperors, before the Mohammedan -conquest.</p> - -<p>These Janissaries formed a disciplined body of regular infantry. In the -seventeenth century the Turks clung to the sabre, the musket, and even -bows and arrows, as their arms, neglecting the pike, "the queen of -infantry weapons," as Montecuculi calls it, just as afterwards they -neglected the bayonet. But in the use of their arms every man of the -Janissaries was a trained expert. The Turkish horsemen were famed for -their rapidity of action, being generally more lightly armed and better -mounted than the Germans or Poles. The Spahis, or royal horseguards, -were the flower of the cavalry. The feudal levy from lands held by -military tenure, swelled the numbers of their armies, and every province -wrested from the Christians provided more fiefs to support fresh -families of soldiers. Thus the children and lands of the conquered -furnished the means for new conquests. Light troops, who were expected -to live by plunder, spread far and wide before an advancing Ottoman -host, eating up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> the country, destroying the inhabitants, and diverting -the attention of the enemy. The Ottoman artillery was numerous, and the -siege pieces of great calibre. Auxiliaries, such as the Tartars of the -Crimea, the troops of Moldavian, Wallachian, Transylvanian, and even -Hungarian princes, made a formidable addition to their forces. These -armies lay, a terror to the inhabitants, a constant anxiety to the -rulers, upon the frontiers of Germany and of Poland;—a black storm of -war, ever ready to break in destructive energy upon them.</p> - -<p>Whatever schism divided Turks and Persians, towards Europe at least, -from the Caspian to Morocco, Islam presented an unbroken front, -contrasting powerfully with the bitter divisions of Christendom. -Massinger, in the "Renegade," puts into the mouth of a Moslem what many -a Christian must have thought of with shame and terror:—</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>"Look on our flourishing empire, if the splendour,</div> -<div>The majesty, and glory of it dim not</div> -<div>Your feeble sight; and then turn back and see</div> -<div>The narrow bounds of yours, yet that poor remnant,</div> -<div>Rent in as many factions and opinions</div> -<div>As you have petty kingdoms."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>United Islam, which had preceded her western<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> rival Spain in greatness, -seemed also destined to long outlive that power's decay.</p> - -<p>When Spain, in the sixteenth century, had been at the zenith of her -power under Charles V., the Turks, under their great Emperor Solyman, -had been not unworthy rivals to her. Even then Solyman had penetrated to -the walls of Vienna, in 1529, and probably the lateness of the season, -October, and the absence of his heavy artillery, stuck deep in the soil -of Hungarian roads, saved the capital of the Austrian dominions more -effectually than the valour of the garrison or the relieving forces of -Charles could have done. Then the tide of Turkish power touched its -farthest limit, but the fear of its return was not destroyed till after -the lapse of one hundred and fifty years. Till after the siege of 1683, -it is said that a crescent disgraced the spire of St. Stephen's, the -cathedral of Vienna—a sign to avert the fire of Turkish gunners.</p> - -<p>In the seventeenth century, when the great empire of Spain was fast -approaching dissolution, when France was the great power of Western -Europe, the Turks were still the great power of the East, with -territories even more widely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>extended than in the previous age. It is -true that, after the death of Solyman, a series of incapable rulers and -the natural decay of an eastern despotism had paralyzed the great powers -of Turkey; but the stern reforming vigour of Amurath IV. (1623-40), and, -still more, the wise administration of the first two Grand Viziers of -the house of Kiuprili, had done much to restore good government, vigour -and efficiency to the Ottomans.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Their empire, the speedy downfall of -which had been predicted by the English Ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, at -the beginning of the seventeenth century, had since fully recovered its -former reputation. A clever Frenchman, M. de la Guillatière, who visited -the camp of Kiuprili in Candia in 1669, formed the highest estimate of -the military genius of the Turks, and of their political insight into -the power and designs of the Christians. He judged of the greatness of -the Sultan by considering the number and quality of the persons who -feared his displeasure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> "When he makes any great preparation, Malta -trembles, Spain is fearful for his kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the -Venetian anxious for what he holds in Greece—Dalmatia and Friuli, the -Germans apprehensive for what remains to them in Hungary, Poland is -alarmed, and the consternation passes on as far as Muscovy, and, not -resting there, expands itself to the Christian princes in Gourgistan and -Mingrelia; Persia, Arabia, the Abyssinians are all in confusion, whilst -neither man nor woman nor beast in all this vast tract but looks out for -refuge till they be certain whither his great force is intended."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> It -is a striking estimate of Turkish power, but not beyond what experience -confirmed. It was not till the second siege of Vienna, and her relief by -Sobieski in 1683, that the real instability of the power of the Sultan -was disclosed, that his armies were routed, his frontiers curtailed, his -power rolled back within the Save and the Carpathians.</p> - -<p>Not for the first time, in the summer of that year, Europe trembled at -the progress of the Crescent. Since then, the tide of victory has run<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> -almost uninterruptedly in favour of the Cross, and Turkey has sunk from -being the terror to the position of protégée, tool, victim, or tolerated -scandal of Europe.</p> - -<p>The decline of her forces, the reversal of the former position of Turk -and Christian in the East, date from this great catastrophe of Islam. -For Eastern Europe at least the battle before Vienna was a decisive -battle. We must remember, indeed, what is meant by a decisive battle, or -by any other so-called decisive event. They are rather the occasions -than the causes of the transference of power. The causes lie deep which -can produce such great and such lasting results. The operation of many -influences, throughout a length of time, brings about ultimately the -striking revolutions in the history of mankind. No chance bullet which -strikes down, or avoids, a commander; no brilliant display of military -genius in the person of one man; no incapacity of a single officer, can -do more than alter the minor circumstances of great events. The great -man is not successfully great, unless his genius can seize upon the -opportunities offered by a rising tide of popular opinion, or profit by -the accumulated energy of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> nation. The incapable leader can seldom -make shipwreck of a power unless it be built upon unsafe lines. The -presence of a thoroughly incapable commander argues something rotten in -his cause. The revolution, the reformation, the reaction, the -transference of empire will come; if not in one way, in another; if not -in one year, in the next, or in following years. The foundations of -success and of failure, are laid deep in the moral, religious and -political habits and institutions of nations. The invincible -determination and high political and military training of the Roman -aristocracy bore them safely through the catastrophes of a Second Punic -War and the revolt of their allies. The ordered liberty, and the -generations of successful adventure, which were the heritage of the -English nation, had won Trafalgar before a shot had been fired from the -<i>Victory</i>. The Persian host went forth predestined to choke the Gulf of -Salamis with corpses. No Kosciusko's valour could redeem the long -anarchy and blindness of Poland. Napoleon, marching from victory to -victory, but approached the nearer to that fall, which must await one -man against a continent in arms. So the Turkish myriads, victorious at -Vienna, would have fallen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> upon some less noble field before the skill -of some other Sobieski. But the genius and courage of individuals may -well determine the fate of armies for a day. One day's victory may call -for years of warfare to accomplish its undoing. A few years of delay may -work great changes in the fortunes of men.</p> - -<p>It is no mistaken estimate of the relative value of causes, it is no -unintelligent interest which makes us prone to linger over the one -dramatic moment—that moment when the courses of the tendencies of ages -are declared within the compass of a day. By no hard effort of -imagination we identify our interest with that of the actors in the -scene. To them, however confident, the result is never clear; to them -the delay of a few years in the overthrow of some inevitably falling -wrong may make that difference for which no ultimate success can -compensate. It was cold comfort to the inhabitants of Vienna, or to the -King of Poland, to know that even if St. Stephen's had shared the fate -of St. Sophia and become a mosque of Allah, and if the Polish standards -had been borne in triumph to the Bosphorus, yet that, nevertheless, the -undisciplined Ottomans would infallibly have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> scattered by French, -German and Swedish armies on the fields of Bavaria or of Saxony. Vienna -would have been sacked; Poland would have been a prey to internal -anarchy and to Tartar invasion. The ultimate triumph of their cause -would have consoled few for their individual destruction.</p> - -<p>Prompted by feelings such as these we dwell upon the decisive hours, -when the long assured superiority asserts itself, for good and all. We -can hail Marathon, Salamis, Tours, or Vienna as the occasion, if not the -cause, of the triumph of civilization over barbarism, of Europe over -Asia. We must remember, too, that, if the day for a permanent advance of -Turkish power was over, yet that a temporary Turkish victory, and a -protracted war in Germany, could not have been confined in their -influence to the seat of war alone. So cool and experienced a -diplomatist as Sir William Temple did indeed believe, at the time, that -the fall of Vienna would have been followed by a great and permanent -increase of Turkish power.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Putting this aside<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> however, there were -other results likely to spring from Turkish success. The Turks -constantly made a powerful diversion in favour of France and her -ambitious designs. Turkish victories upon the one side of Germany meant -successful French aggressions upon the other, and Turkish schemes were -promoted with that object by the French. The author of the memoirs of -Prince Eugene writes bitterly, but truly enough, of this crisis: "<i>Le -roi très-chrétien avant d'être dévot, secourait les chrétiens contre les -infidèles</i> (at St. Gotthard and at Candia), <i>devenu pourtant un grand -homme de bien, il les agaçait contre l'empereur, et soutenait les -rebelles de Hongrie. Sans lui ils ne seraient jamais venus, les uns et -les autres, aux portes de Vienne.</i>"</p> - -<p>"If France would but stand neutral, the controversy between Turks and -Christians might soon be decided," says the Duke of Lorraine. But France -would not stand neutral.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "Renegade," Act. iv. sc. 3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Ahmed Kiuprili, the second Vizier of his race, was one of -the greatest ministers of his day. He was described by the Turkish -historians as "the light and splendour of the nation, the preserver and -administrator of good laws, the vicar of the shadow of God, the thrice -learned and all accomplished Grand Vizier." He seems to have really -deserved some of the praise.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> De la Guillatière, "Account of a Late Voyage, etc., and -State of the Turkish Empire." Trans. 1676.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "If the Turks had possessed this bulwark of Christendom -(Vienna), I do not conceive what could have hindered them from being -masters immediately of Austria, and all its depending provinces; nor, in -another year, of all Italy, or of the southern provinces of Germany, as -they should have chosen to carry on their invasion, or of both in two or -three years' time; and how fatal this might have been to the rest of -Christendom, or how it might have enlarged the Turkish dominions, is -easy to conjecture."—Sir W. Temple, Works, iii. 393, edit. 1814.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> - -<p>The Emperor was exposed on either side to these two implacable enemies. -At Versailles, as at the Porte, had the destruction of the house of -Austria been sworn.</p> - -<p>But France was the power which, in the latter half of the seventeenth -century, menaced most seriously the independence of her neighbours. -Turkey was, perhaps, from her internal weakness and faulty constitution, -in no condition to effect a lasting conquest, however great her mere -destructive energies might be. An ingenious nation and an ambitious -king, able ministers and skilful generals, revenues, ships, colonies, -commercial enterprise, a central situation among divided foes, combined -to render France the dominant power of the age.</p> - -<p>The great Turkish Vizier, the restorer of order and prosperity, Ahmed -Kiuprili, had had a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> greater counterpart in the French minister, -Cardinal Richelieu. The Sultan, Mahomet IV., was wanting in all those -qualities which made Louis XIV. for long the successful administrator of -a despotic power. The armies of France, under the leadership of a Condé, -a Turenne, a Luxembourg, were the finest of the world, the envy of -neighbouring princes, the pattern for all soldiers. The Duke of -Marlborough and John Sobieski both learnt their first lessons in -military affairs under French command. Prince Eugene vainly sought -employment in the French troops; their opposition to himself taught -William III. the art of war.</p> - -<p>Nor was the French ascendency won by arms alone. The order and splendour -of her government, the genius of her authors, the attractions of her -society, the diplomatic skill of her ambassadors, made a French party in -every court in Europe.</p> - -<p>Portugal may be said to have owed her independent existence to France; -Holland till 1672 ranked as a French ally; Sweden, too far removed to be -a rival, was an almost constant friend, till Louis' aggressions -alienated her also in 1681. France had a party in Poland; the petty -princes and republics of Italy vacillated between her and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> the Empire; -in England she had had Cromwell as an ally, and she held both Charles -II. and his opponents in her pay. She maintained an understanding with -Turkey. Discontented Romanists in England and Ireland, unruly -Protestants in Hungary, were alike taught to look to her for advice and -for assistance. Her frontiers were steadily advancing at the expense of -Spain and of the German princes. Neither force nor treaties seemed to -avail aught against her superior strength and cunning. The Lotharingian -bishoprics and their dependencies; Elsass, Breisach and Bar, Roussillon, -Franche Comté, parts of Flanders, of Artois, of Hainault and Luxemburg, -the free imperial city of Strassburg, the territory of Orange, were -steadily absorbed by her, and thoroughly incorporated with the French -kingdom.</p> - -<p>Her opponents saw no possibility of resistance, save in a great -confederacy against her. Her power was not finally checked, nor her -ambition confined within bounds, till such a confederacy was made. But -it is hardly too much to say that such a confederacy would have been -scarcely possible had the Turks been completely victorious at Vienna in -1683.</p> - -<p>Three years later than that deliverance, in 1686,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> the League of -Augsburg was formed. It was ultimately the union of the Emperor, the -German princes, Sweden, Spain, Holland and the Pope, against an ambition -that menaced all. This League was the basis of that Grand Alliance which -finally defeated France under Marlborough and Eugene. But the true -foundations of a similar alliance had been laid before, in 1682, -principally by the endeavours of the Prince of Waldeck, in the treaty of -Laxenberg between the Circles of Upper Germany and the Emperor.</p> - -<p>This incipient League against France had been practically suspended by -the Turkish invasion. A Turkish success must have dissolved it. The Pope -had been zealous in forming the "Holy League" against the Turks and in -promoting union against France. Had Vienna fallen, fear of the Sultan -would have driven him into the arms of Louis, and he would have drawn -the Catholic powers at least along with him. Probably all the States -united in the "Holy League" must have demanded French support for their -own salvation. With Austria and Poland beaten, France, and France alone, -could have assumed the leadership of Europe against the East. The German -Protestant princes would have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> been ranged under the command of -Luxembourg and of Vendôme; Louis would have triumphed upon the Danube; -the house of Austria would have existed only by the sufferance of her -ancient enemy; and French influence would have been riveted, as a chain, -by the force of admiration and of gratitude, upon the neck of Europe. -Such an event Louis expected, and the Emperor feared. As the Turks drew -near, the French armies lay ready upon the frontier, ready to take -advantage of the approaching catastrophe—ready to avenge, but not to -save the Empire.</p> - -<p>We in England, safe as we were from Turkish invasion, were by no means -unaffected by the struggle. Nothing which tended to increase or diminish -the power of France or of the German princes could be indifferent to us, -and at that particular time our fortunes were closely bound up with -those of the powers opposing France.</p> - -<p>The motive which induced the Dutch government and the other allies of -Augsburg to sanction the descent of William III. upon our shores, and to -withdraw, at a critical moment, the flower of their forces upon such a -doubtful enterprise, was the necessity of including England in their -league.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> Though James II. would no doubt have awakened resistance in -some form or other anyhow, the plot which actually overthrew him was -hatched abroad among the allies, and executed by the help of foreign -troops and foreign money. English men, ships, and money were needed to -beat the French. No method was open for obtaining them except by the -superseding of King James, entirely or practically, by William, as king -or regent. No personal aims nor admiration of Whig principles would have -justified the risks William ran. In truth, neither the allies nor the -Dutch government would have allowed him to run such risk at all, save -for the common good of the League and of Europe. But a Turkish victory -at Vienna would have meant the probable non-existence of the League, by -the rallying of half its members to the side of France. It would -certainly have meant such a change of circumstances upon the continent, -as would have rendered it highly improbable that an army, principally -furnished from Germany, could be spared to go to England. James and the -Whig nobility would have fought their quarrel alone, with the -High-Church Tory majority of the country as arbiters of the strife. -Therefore, had the battle of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> Vienna been fought differently, the Boyne, -La Hogue and Blenheim might never have been fought at all. Forces -supplied by England, or paid by England, commanded by Marlborough at -Blenheim and at Ramilies, broke French power. The power of making the -alliance which fought at Blenheim and at Ramilies was won at Vienna.</p> - -<p>To turn to Sir William Temple's views again, so convinced was he that a -Turkish invasion of Austria would tend to the great advantage of France, -that he believed that the Turks themselves would see it, and for that -very reason refrain from the enterprise; it being against their interest -to make any one Christian power so strong as France would then -become.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> - -<p>It is certain that Louis XIV. fully appreciated the value of that -diversion of their attention from himself, which an attack from Hungary -upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> rear of the German powers would cause. It is equally certain -that he, the eldest son of the Church, the most Christian King, the -persecutor of the Huguenots, had some understanding with Mohammedans and -with Hungarian Protestant malcontents. And this, too, at a time when -religious passions still ran high; when the forces of Europe were -everywhere divided, owing to religious intolerance; when France herself -was about to be fatally injured by the Revocation of the Edict of -Nantes. Louis, however, intrigued as readily with Hungarian Protestants -as with Irish Romanists, and the intolerance of the Emperor gave every -opportunity for interference. Indeed, the attacks of the Emperor Leopold -upon the religion of some of his Hungarian subjects well nigh proved -fatal to Austria. The Protestants preferred Mohammedan rule, which, if -contemptuous, may he just, and is not avowedly persecuting, to the -oppressions of a court dominated by the Jesuit fathers. Attempts to -Germanize their nation and to override their laws united Hungarians of -all religions in a common hostility to Vienna. A dangerous conspiracy, -fomented by France, was discovered, and crushed in 1671 by the execution -of the principal leaders. But Emerich Count<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> Tekeli, the son of one of -the chiefs involved, escaping into Transylvania, threw himself upon the -protection of the Turks, and with their assistance commenced a guerilla -warfare in Hungary. Numbers of the inhabitants, irrespective of their -religion, joined his standard. A levy, under French officers, was made -even in Poland for the assistance of the insurgents. With the almost -open aid of the Pasha of Buda, their operations assumed the character of -regular warfare, and they fully held their own against the Imperial -generals.</p> - -<p>It was fortunate for Austria that, just as the obligations of a peace -and internal confusion had prevented the Turks from attacking Hungary -during the Thirty Years' War, so this rising was not taken advantage of -by the Porte, in spite of French solicitations, till after the peace of -Nimuegen in 1679. During the contest with France, from 1673 to 1679, the -Polish war had occupied the attention of the Turks, and the Austrian -government had been untroubled. They had not at the same time to wage -open war with the East and West. Yet even now, though peace nominally -continued in Western Europe, France was glad to avail herself of those -difficulties of the Court of Vienna, to which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> she herself was -contributing. Louis seized Strassburg, and quietly annexed other places -by the pretended legal decisions of packed tribunals. He attacked the -Spanish Netherlands, and conceived himself to be acting generously in -that he refrained from taking Luxemburg. It was enough that Austria -should be spared the task of fighting, at the same time, on behalf of -Spain against the French, and on her own behalf against the Infidels. -That the house of Bourbon should strive to embarrass the house of -Hapsburg, by intrigues in Turkey, in Hungary and in Poland, was but in -accord with a traditional policy, which no danger to their common -Christendom could be expected to overrule.</p> - -<p>But 1683 was a year of disaster for Louis. In that year he lost two of -his natural sons, his Queen, and his greatest minister, Colbert. Above -all, in that year his designs against the Emperor were destined to be -foiled by the interference of Sobieski, the <i>Deus ex machina</i> for -Christendom and for the Empire.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "If the Grand Vizier (Kiuprili) be so great a man as he is -reputed in politics as well as in arms, he will never consent, by an -invasion of Hungary, to make way for the advance of French progress into -the Empire, which a conquest of the Low Countries would make easy and -obvious; and so great accessions (with others that would lie fair and -open in the Spanish provinces upon the Mediterranean) would make France -a formidable power to the Turk himself, and greater than I suppose he -desires to see any in Christendom."—Sir W. Temple, Works, ii. 212, -edit. 1814.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> - -<p>To return, therefore, to the troubles in Hungary, which gave occasion -for French intrigue and for the interference of the Porte. The Turks, -reinvigorated by the policy of the late Vizier Kiuprili, but directed no -longer by his cool experience and judgment, were now not slow to take -advantage of the difficulties of Austria. After their defeat at the -hands of Montecuculi at St. Gotthard in 1664, they had consented to a -twenty years' truce, by which they were still left in possession of the -greater part of Hungary, and of that part where the pure Magyar -population most prevailed. This truce had not expired when the -oppressions exercised in the part of their country remaining to the -Emperor drove the Hungarians to arms, and Count Tekeli to seek aid from -the Sultan. Ordinarily scrupulous in the observance of their treaty -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>obligations, the Turks were on this occasion overcome by the -temptations held out to them of an easy extension of their frontier and -of their influence. With the active aid of the Hungarians, and with the -tacit consent of France, they deemed it possible to deal a mortal blow -at the house of Austria. The Sultan, Mahomet IV., was perhaps not over -ambitious, but he was spurred on by the zeal of a servant. The Grand -Vizier, Kara Mustapha, though a nephew of the great minister Kiuprili, -owed his advancement more to the beauty of his person and to the favour -of the Sultana Validé, or Queen Mother, who ruled the ruler of Islam, -than to other connexions or to ability. His ambition, however, was -believed to aim at no less than a dependent kingdom for himself in -Hungary or at Vienna. Here, at all events, and not against the Poles or -Russians, did Kara Mustapha determine to gather his laurels and his -booty. He had, indeed, already essayed a Russian campaign with little -profit. A more striking success and greater glories, more abundant -plunder with fewer toils, seemed to be promised by a campaign in the -valley of the Danube, than by one among the marshes and forests of -Poland, or of the Ukraine.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p><p>Too late, in 1681, the court of Vienna attempted a conciliatory policy -in Hungary. The spirit of rebellion had been aroused, and the offers of -redress and justice made by the Emperor were distrusted as a veil for -treachery, or despised as the confession of weakness. Tekeli defied the -Emperor, and assumed the offensive even beyond the borders of Hungary. -Neither was the Porte to be propitiated. In vain an Imperial Embassy to -Constantinople sought a prolongation of the truce, which was on the -point of expiring at the end of the stipulated twenty years. The demands -of the Turks rose with the progress of their preparations. A -principality for their ally, Count Tekeli, in Hungary; extension of -territory, with the strongest border fortresses for themselves; a great -war indemnity—such were the terms which implied a determination not to -negotiate. The ambassador, Count Caprara, was compelled as a prisoner -himself to witness the departure of the Turkish hosts for the frontier. -At the end of the year 1682 the main body were drawn together at -Adrianople. Mahomet IV. encouraged his troops by his countenance in the -camp, and beguiled the tedium of winter quarters by his favourite -pastime of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>hunting. The sport was carried on upon a gigantic scale with -thirty thousand beaters, many of whom perished by exhaustion. "No doubt -they have spoken ill of me, and God hath dealt them their reward," was -the reasonable conjecture of the Sultan upon their fate. This mighty -hunter, however, relieved his army of his presence when the spring of -1683 saw it finally set in motion for the Danube. Kara Mustapha was -invested with complete command. Accounts vary as to the precise point -where Mahomet left his army. The ambition of his Vizier perhaps was -interested in removing so soon as possible from the field the Sultan, to -whom the glory of success would have been necessarily ascribed. Similar -motives had, according to M. de la Guillatière, caused others before -this to keep the easily persuaded prince back from the camp, whither his -first impulse would have led him.</p> - -<p>Oriental exaggeration is prone to magnify the hosts which Asiatic -despots can command for their service. The muster-roll, found in the -tent of the Grand Vizier after his defeat, affords a better basis for -calculation. We find there, in round numbers, 275,000 fighting men -enumerated, as the original strength of the Turkish army. Judging by -the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> analogy of our Indian armies, the attendants and camp followers of -all descriptions must have doubled these numbers. In Hungary, the Vizier -effected a junction with Count Tekeli, who was at the head of nearly -60,000 men—Hungarians, Transylvanians, Turks and Tartars. Even French -officers and engineers were to be found in Tekeli's ranks; and the -character of his cause was vindicated by coins which he caused to be -struck with the inscription, <i>Pro Deo et Patria</i>. Half a million of men -probably, of all creeds and races that lie between the Carpathian -mountains and the Arabian deserts, were arrayed under the standard of -the Prophet in the valley of the Danube. Again, according to the Turkish -returns, of these 50,000 men perished in the operations before the -decisive battle that relieved Vienna. Of the whole vast multitude not -more than 50,000 it was computed, ultimately regained the Turkish -frontier.</p> - -<p>But even if drawn up with the best intentions, the accuracy of such -returns and estimates can never be more than an approximation to the -truth. It is sufficient that hundreds of thousands were marshalled -beneath the Crescent to burst in a storm of desolating war upon the -Christian lands.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p><p>For the struggle between Turk and Christian was not of the character of -those operations to which the term of civilized warfare is -conventionally applied. Prisoners were seldom made. The Christian -slaughtered; the Turk, if he spared, sold into slavery his captives; -prisoners we cannot call them to whom future release was denied. Far and -wide before the Turkish armies, the Tartars and the irregular horsemen, -whose sole pay was plunder, whose diversion and whose business at once -was rapine, spread in a desolating cloud over the country. The whole of -the unconquered Hungary, the Austrian duchy, the plains of Moravia and -the mountains of Styria were swept or threatened by the scourge. Poland -they had long held to be their licensed field of plunder, and now -Bavaria, and Bohemia even, trembled at the terror of their approach. The -painful curiosity of their friends has attempted an estimate of the -numbers of Turkish captives taken in this invasion. 32,000 grown -persons, the great majority women, 204 of whom were maiden daughters of -the nobility; 26,000 little children were, they tell us, carried off -into slavery. This return seems to make no mention of lads, nor of elder -girls, who would perhaps form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> the majority of those spared for the -slave-market. How many of these perished under their hardships, or by -the Turkish disasters; how many others tasted death, but before slavery; -how many others may have lost home, wealth and honour, must remain -beyond enumeration or even conjecture. It is said that in lower Austria -and on the frontiers of Hungary alone, 4936 villages and hamlets were -given to the flames in 1683.</p> - -<p>To meet this torrent of devastation, the Emperor Leopold could muster -but scanty forces. A full half of the territory now united under the -Austro-Hungarian monarchy was in the hands of the Turks, or of the -Hungarian rebels; or then formed part of the territories of Poland. The -finances of Vienna have never been a source of strength. "Business men -laugh at our finance, for my part I weep over it," said Eugene to the -Emperor not long afterwards, lamenting the want of the sinews of war. -The Imperial influence of Leopold in Germany was small. The German -princes were distant, jealous, slow to move. Brandenberg was irritated -over the Silesian claims, that fruitful source of future war. France was -all but openly hostile. Spain was powerless. Venice, a shadow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> of her -former self. Poland alone, under her heroic monarch, John Sobieski, -might give present and substantial assistance. Yet all knew that to lean -upon the support of Poland was to risk leaning upon a bruised reed -indeed.</p> - -<p>Poland was, indeed, to all appearance, still a great country. The -Russian province of Poland, Lithuania, Gallicia, Posen, part of Prussia -proper, were Polish. Roughly speaking, her frontiers stretched from the -Dneiper to near the Oder, from the Baltic to the Carpathians. But a -great territory does not make a great nation. The approaching fall of -Poland was foreshadowed by her fortunes, even in the seventeenth -century.</p> - -<p>The extraordinary calamities of that country should not blind us to the -means by which she brought some of her misfortunes upon her own head. -Her constitution seemed skilfully contrived to unite the vices of -aristocratic and democratic governments with the virtues of neither. Her -people were turbulent without freedom, proud without steadiness of -purpose. She lacked the equality and the popular support proper to a -republic, as she lacked the fixed succession to the highest office and -the consistent policy which are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> supposed to be the advantages of -monarchy. A mob of tens of thousands of armed citizens pretended to form -a deliberative diet. Their convention was always a signal for confusion; -their dissolution was often the prelude to civil war. In the huge -concourse a single <i>veto</i> could stay proceedings, unless indeed the -malcontent paid for his opposition with his life. An attempt to -introduce representative assemblies was always resented, and the -experiment restricted, by the jealousy of the citizens. Delegates, not -representatives, came to the meetings. They were vigilantly observed, -and strictly cross-examined on their return, by self-constituted judges, -as to the performance of their mandate. Real debate and deliberation, -free judgment and rational decision, were as impossible in one kind of -assembly as in the other. Below these citizen-nobles, the people were -slaves. The two halves of the state, Poland and Lithuania, were set -against each other continually. The monarchy became purely elective in -the sixteenth century. The king was the nominee of some foreign court, -or of some domestic party, or family. Factions nourished from abroad -were thus kept alive. Once elected,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> the king found his power curtailed -on every side; and was generally as solicitous for the advancement, and -future succession perhaps, of his family, as for the good of the state. -He might be a stranger, or he might owe his position to the support of a -foreign power. He seldom or never could be more than the nominee of some -faction, the king of a party to the end of his days.</p> - -<p>John Sobieski, the Polish king, and himself once a Polish nobleman, was -not a candidate put forward by France for the Polish crown, but was -generally supposed to lean towards a French connexion. His wife was -French; he had passed some of his earlier years in France, and had -served in Louis' musketeers of the Guard. His most formidable rival for -the crown had been Charles Leopold of Lorraine,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> the Austrian -candidate, who was now commanding the Imperial armies. An ill omen for -any unity of action in the future, between the two, against the Turks.</p> - -<p>Sobieski had fought his way to royalty. He had contended against the -enemies, from Sweden to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> Turkey, with whom Poland was continually -embroiled. His medals bore the proud device of a sword piercing three -laurel crowns, with on its point a royal diadem, and the truthful motto -below, <i>Per has ad istam</i>. Poland had been afflicted by Cossack -insurrection, Tartar devastation and Turkish conquest. The king, -Michael, had signed the disgraceful peace of Buksacs, by which the Poles -became Turkish tributaries. Sobieski and the other nobles repudiated the -treaty; and at Choczim, in 1673, Sobieski overthrew the Turks with such -slaughter that "the turbans were floating thick as autumnal leaves upon -the Dneister." The crown of Poland rewarded his victory; but the -turbulence and inconstancy of his subjects prevented his reaping the -fruits of success. At the most critical moments he was left destitute of -men and of money, in the face of a host of Turks and Tartars. At Lemberg -before his coronation, and at Zurawna after it, he was glad to have -successfully defended the remainder of his country. The peace named from -the latter town, left part of the Ukraine and nearly all Podolia with -the fortress of Kaminiec, in Turkish hands.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p><p>The Turks scrupulously observing their part of the agreement, believed -that they thereby secured the neutrality of Poland. Sobieski had -suffered injuries and affronts at the hands of Austria. The punctilious -pride of the Emperor was likely to add to the difficulty of forgetting -these. At the last moment only would Leopold consent to address the man -who was to save his empire by the title of Majesty. The Poles either -were loth to begin a new Turkish war at all, or represented the -advantage which might be gained by holding aloof, till both combatants -were exhausted. If they fought, Podolia, not Hungary, the recovery of -Kaminiec in the former, not the relief of Vienna, should be their -object. The Lithuanians were specially jealous of Sobieski, and slow to -move. The Cossacks were not to be depended upon. The country was -exhausted of men and money by former campaigns. The French ambassador, -Forbin, Cardinal de Janson, was instructed to work upon the king by -promises of the future support of Louis, of visionary crowns in Hungary, -and of lands in Silesia as the price of his inactivity. No means were to -be spared to detach Poland from Austria. The Cardinal worked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> -cautiously, being an old friend and in expectation of future favours -from Sobieski; but a special agent who was with him, the Marquis de -Vitry, spared no pains to foment jealousies and to excite fears, and -distributed money among the partisans of a peace policy. An abortive -scheme was entertained for supplanting the king himself by another, more -amenable to French influence. But the conspiracy was discovered, and the -effect was disastrous to the French faction. The Poles rallied round the -victor of Choczim and of Lemberg, and the authors of the intrigue -against him were thrown into prison, or left the country. The French -agent, Vitry, himself retired from Poland. Fortunately also for -Christendom, and for the house of Austria, the wife of Sobieski, Marie -Casimire de la Grange d'Arquien, a Frenchwoman, had determined to thwart -the diplomacy of her native land. The failure of an intrigue, by which -her father, a needy Marquis, was to have been converted into a wealthy -Duke; a refusal of the French court to receive her, a French subject by -birth, as an equal should she revisit France;—these causes made her an -Austrian partisan. Sobieski, at the age of fifty-three, still burned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> -with youthful ardour for his wife of forty-one, though scandal would -have it that this King Arthur had his Lancelot in the Field-Marshal -Jablonowski, one of the foremost of his officers. "His incomparable -Maria," as the king addressed his queen in his frequent letters, was at -all events vain and intriguing, and seldom influenced for good the -husband whom she also adored. Yet on this occasion her persuasions -seconded the arguments which would undoubtedly have swayed Sobieski -apart from her. His true atmosphere was that of the battle-field. His -most glorious victories were won over the infidels. The danger which -menaced Austria was a common menace to Christendom. Warsaw itself would -not be safe if Vienna fell. The foremost champion of the Cross would not -be wanting in such a crisis. In his enthusiasm he deemed it possible to -unite the jarring elements of European society in a grand crusade. -Visions floated before him of a great League, including the Christian -powers and the Persians, by which the Turkish Empire should be -overthrown, Constantinople recovered, Moldavia and Wallachia united to -the Polish crown, and a republic of Athens and the Morea established.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> A -scheme too great for accomplishment in the face of the selfishness of -France and Austria and the inherent weakness of Poland.</p> - -<p>But a general subscription was needed to put any army into the field at -all. Rome and Italy were foremost in contributions; even ecclesiastical -property was allowed to be mortgaged in the cause. The Pope, an -economical reformer in Rome, as befitted the member of a banking family, -the Odescalchi, was able to provide two million <i>scudi</i>. Christina, -ex-Queen of Sweden, bestirred herself to increase the fund. The Regent -of Portugal sent money, and sanctified the gift by a simultaneous -holocaust of Jews. 1,200,000 florins were to be advanced by the Emperor -to pay the Polish troops. The Pope undertook to guarantee the repayment, -and contributions were expected from the King of Spain. Both these -latter alike were swayed by the double motive—fear of the Turks, and -the desire to set free the Empire to act against France again. Leopold, -as his contribution to the harmony of the allies, had condescended to -yield the title of "Majesty" to the King of Poland, and had held out -hopes of a marriage between the son of Sobieski and an Austrian -Archduchess, which might ensure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> the succession of the former to his -father's throne. A dispensation from the Pope released the Poles from -the duty of keeping their oaths to the Turks. The Emperor and the King -exchanged oaths not to resort to such a dispensation from their -engagements to each other. The treaty of alliance was signed; but before -the Polish troops could be mustered in any numbers, the Turkish armies -had united with those of Tekeli, and were pouring across the frontier.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The Duke of Lorraine had married the Emperor's sister, the -widow of the late Polish king, Michael. The French had driven him from -his hereditary states, and he found employment at the head of his -brother-in-law's armies, against them and the Turks.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> - -<p>Charles of Lorraine, the Imperial commander, had under his orders less -than 40,000. The levy <i>en masse</i> of Hungary produced 3000 soldiers only -for the Emperor's service, so wide was the sway of the Turks, or so -universal the sympathy for Tekeli. Six thousand Hungarians, supposed to -be raised for the Emperor, went over to the enemy as soon as they -advanced. Yet, contrary to his own opinion, Lorraine began with -offensive operations against the Turkish fortress of Neuhausel. A -partial success was followed by a disastrous repulse, and the army -withdrew south of the Danube, as the main Turkish force approached upon -that same side of the river. Lorraine had some idea of making a stand -near the Raab to cover the Austrian frontier, but the number of the -enemy and the temper of his own soldiers rendered such an attempt too -hazardous.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> He determined to retreat, and await the reinforcements -already promised by the Princes of the Empire. Garrisons were hastily -flung into Raab, Komorn, and Leopoldstadt.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> The infantry then -recrossed the Danube and fell back towards Vienna along the Schütt -island, under Count Leslie's orders. The cavalry marched upon the -southern side of the river, but the superior rapidity of their retreat -did not save them from molestation. On July 7 at Petronel, some twenty -miles below Vienna, 15,000 Spahis and Tartars burst upon their march. -For a time Count Taaffe, with the rear guard of 400 men, was in extreme -danger. The exertions of Lorraine and of Louis of Baden rallied the -cavalry and speedily repulsed their disorderly assailants, but in the -confusion several of the officers fell, including Prince Aremberg and -Julius Louis of Savoy, an elder brother of Prince Eugene, and much of -the baggage became the prey of the Tartars. Altenburg and Haimburg, -posts upon the Danube, had been already stormed, after a brief -resistance, by the Turkish infantry.</p> - -<p>Those stragglers who first leave the field are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> always apt to cover -their own flight by the report of an universal overthrow. So fugitives -came galloping to Vienna with a tale of disaster. They spread the rumour -that the Duke of Lorraine was killed and the army totally defeated, -while their alarm seemed amply confirmed by the glow of burning villages -that brightened upon the twilight of the eastern horizon. The Imperial -court, which had delayed its flight so far, in the hope that the enemy -might linger about the fortresses of Raab or of Komorn, tarried now no -longer. "Leopold could never bear to hear plain truths but when he was -afraid," says Eugene. He had refused to recognize the imminence of the -peril until now; and by his confidence had involved in his destruction -others, who had not the same means of escape at the last moment which he -himself possessed. Yet means of escape were barely open to him, when at -length he understood that he must defend or abandon his capital. The -roads to Upper Austria and to Bavaria, along the southern shore of the -Danube, were rightly distrusted. The Emperor, his Empress, and the -Empress Mother, with all their train of courtiers, of ladies, and of -servants, shorn of pomp and bereft of dignity in their flight, poured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> -over the Leopoldstadt island and the Tabor bridge in all the misery of -panic fear. The prompt destruction of the bridge of Crems, above Vienna, -is said alone to have saved their route from interception by the -Tartars. A part of their baggage actually became the prey of the -marauders. The whole court, including even the Empress herself, who was -far advanced in pregnancy, were driven to seek rest in farms and -cottages. Once they passed the night under a temporary shelter of -boughs. In the universal panic, small room was left for hopes of a -return to the capital and to the palaces that they had quitted. Milan, -Innspruck, Prague were thought of as their future refuge. On to Lintz, -and from Lintz to the frontier they fled, till their confidence at last -returned behind the fortifications of the Bavarian city of Passau. But -they were not the only fugitives from Vienna. The bold march of the -Vizier upon the city, leaving Raab, Komorn, and Presburg in his rear, to -fall an easy prey when once the great prize was captured; this had taken -the citizens by surprise. The retreat of Lorraine, and the skirmish at -Petronel, had filled them with abject terror.</p> - -<p>People from the surrounding country who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> taken shelter in Vienna no -longer relied upon her as a stronghold, but turned their thoughts to an -escape to Bavaria, or to Styria, or even to the distant Tirol. From nine -o'clock in the evening till two o'clock in the morning, on the 7th and -8th of July, a never-ending stream of carriages and of fugitives were -following in the track of the Imperial <i>cortège</i>. East and south, upon -the horizon, the glare of burning villages told that the Turkish -horsemen were there. High on the summit of the Kahlenberg, the flames of -the Camalduline Convent dreadfully illuminated the track of the -fugitives. Sixty thousand persons, it was believed, left the city in the -course of a few days. Of those who, crossing the Danube, took the roads -into Upper Austria or into Moravia, some fell into the hands of the -Hungarian and Tartar marauders. But few of those who attempted to escape -into Styria succeeded in reaching a place of safety. They perished by -thousands, enveloped by the flying squadrons of the invaders.</p> - -<p>In Vienna herself, deserted by her leaders and by so many of her -children, violent tumult raged against the Government, and against the -Jesuits, who were supposed to have instigated the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>persecution of the -Protestants of Hungary. There was ample cause for terror. The -fortifications were old and imperfect, the suburbs encroached upon the -works, the number of the defenders was small. Thirteen thousand -infantry, supplied by the army of Lorraine, and seven thousand armed -citizens formed the garrison; and, besides these, about sixty thousand -souls were in the city. The command was entrusted to Ernest Rudiger -Count Starhemberg, an officer of tried skill and courage. He had served -with Montecuculi against the Turks, and against both Condé and Turenne -with the same commander and with the Prince of Orange. He entered the -city as the fugitives forsook it. He set the people to work upon the -fortifications, organized them for defence, and assured them that he -would live and die with them. But while writing to the Emperor that he -would joyfully spend the last drop of his blood in defence of his -charge, he confesses that the place is in want of everything, and the -inhabitants panic-stricken. Fortunately he and others with him were the -class of men to restore confidence in the rest. Under him served many -noble volunteers, for the example of the Emperor was not universally -followed. The Bishop of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>Neustadt, once himself a soldier and a knight -of Malta, was conspicuous among many brave and devoted men for his -liberal donations to the troops, and for his superintendence of the -sanitary state of the city. In one respect alone the place was well -furnished; three hundred and twenty-one pieces of artillery were -supplied by the Imperial arsenal for the fortifications.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The city was -defended after the existing fashion, with ten bastions, the curtains -covered by ravelines, with a ditch mostly dry. On the side of the Danube -was merely a wall with towers and platforms, and all the works were more -or less uncared for and decayed. The work of fixing palisades was -postponed till the Turkish army was in sight. It is possible that by a -slightly more rapid march the Vizier might have secured Vienna by a -<i>coup de main</i>.</p> - -<p>On July 13, the Turkish regular cavalry came in sight, preceding the -infantry of the main army; and at the last possible moment fire was set -to the suburbs, which impeded the defence. A high wind speedily caused -them to be consumed. On the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> 14th, the Turkish army took up its -position, encamping in a semicircle, round the whole of the circuit of -the defences not washed by the Danube. A city, surpassing in size and -population the beleaguered capital, sprang up about the walls of Vienna. -The tents of the Vizier were pitched opposite the Burg bastion, in the -suburb of St. Ulric. The camp was crowded not only by soldiers, but by -the merchants of the East, who thronged thither as to a fair to deal in -the plunder of the Christians. The Imperial troops still attempted to -hold the Leopoldstadt island; but on July 16, the Turks threw bridges -across the arm of the Danube, and shortly drove the Christians to the -northern bank of the river. The houses of the Leopoldstadt were given up -to fire by the Turks; and the bridge, leading to the northern shore, -destroyed by the Imperialists. The investment of Vienna was now -completed upon every side. Batteries from the Leopoldstadt, and from the -south and west, crossed it with fire in all directions. Trenches were -opened, and the elaborate approaches and frequent mines of the Turks, -advancing with alarming rapidity, enveloped the western and -south-western face of the works from the Scottish gate to the Burg -bastion.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p><p>Upwards of three hundred pieces of artillery played upon the crumbling -defences and the devastated city. The pavement of the streets was torn -up, that the balls might bury themselves in the soft earth where they -fell. The upper floors and roofs of the houses were barricaded with -heavy timber, or covered with sandbags, to guard against the fire of the -dropping shells. The streets themselves were blocked behind the walls, -chains drawn across them, and the houses loop-holed and prepared for -defence to the last extremity. All the gates had been walled up but one, -the Stuben gate, which, being partially covered by the stream of the -Wien, was left open as a sally-port. Early in the siege, the assailed, -frequently issuing forth, returned the attacks of the enemy, frustrated -their operations, and even captured provisions in the hostile lines. But -as time went on, the diminishing numbers of the garrison forbade the -waste of life incurred even in successful sorties.</p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/i055.jpg" alt="Map" /></div> - -<p>The progress of the Turks was rapid with sap and mine. They were famed -for their skill with entrenching and engineering tools, and the -Christians learnt much from them, though their approaches were unlike -the ordinary European works.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> Instead of parallel lines to the defences -they drew curves, overlapping each other and continually approaching the -place attacked. The trenches were deep, and fifteen or sixteen feet wide -at the bottom where the ground allowed. The depth of the Turkish works -effectually protected their soldiers, even when they had made a lodgment -in the ditch; for the besieged could not depress their cannon -sufficiently to hurt them.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> They were protected skilfully by -bomb-proof shelters of timber and of turf, beneath which thousands of -men, hidden and shielded, crouched ready for attack, or for the repulse -of sorties. Their mines penetrated in every direction to the -counterscarp of the place, and ultimately to the walls themselves. At -length the very cellars of the nearest houses were threatened by a -subterranean enemy; and water and drums strewn with peas were placed in -them, to tell, by the slightest vibration, of the work of the Turkish -miner's pick below.</p> - -<p>The Turkish miners were bolder than those of the garrison. The latter -were hired labourers of the lowest class, of whom Starhemberg wrote to -Lorraine that nothing would induce them to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>re-enter a mine after they -had heard the sound of the enemy working near them. On the part of the -enemy, men who had applied for a <i>Timar</i>, or military fief, often -volunteered as miners to prove their courage and to win its reward.</p> - -<p>At the very beginning of operations the city all but perished through a -fire, which actually reached the windows of the Imperial arsenal stored -with eighteen hundred barrels of powder. An explosion there would have -opened a road for the Turkish army into Vienna, at once deprived of the -means of resistance and reduced to ruins. The exertions of Captain Count -Guido Starhemberg, nephew of the commandant, who personally -superintended the removal of the powder through the opposite windows, -together with a lucky change of wind, saved the city. Rightly or -wrongly, an incendiary was suspected. The fear of treachery was added to -the legitimate terrors of the citizens. Desertions took place to the -enemy, and spies were actually apprehended within the walls. Hungarians -and other Christians were arrayed upon both sides, and this community of -language and manners, between besiegers and besieged, rendered such a -danger more real.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p><p>But from the open force of the attack the worst calamities were to be -feared. On the 23rd, 25th, and 27th of July the opening assaults were -delivered. All were repulsed, but with loss of lives ill-spared.</p> - -<p>Closer and closer crept the Turkish sappers. Assault after assault upon -the outer fortifications gradually wrested important positions from the -besieged. The Burg and Löwel bastions, with the connecting curtain -between them and the Burg ravelin, were reduced to an almost shapeless -ruin by the Turkish mines and artillery. Every device was tried to -retard the attack. The arts and ingenuity of a great city were at the -service of the besieged. They made their own powder; and, when -hand-grenades began to fail, the invention of an officer supplied their -place with grenades of earthenware. Nevertheless, on August 7, the Turks -made a lodgment upon the counterscarp, after twenty-three days of firing -and terrible losses upon both sides.</p> - -<p>The Janissaries now stood upon the very threshold of the city. Hand to -hand fighting was carried on in the ditches. The citizens armed with -scythes upon the end of poles contended with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> advantage from above -against the Turkish sabres. Boiling pitch and water stood continually -ready to overwhelm the assailants as they struggled up the shattered -slope of the ramparts. Besiegers and besieged were continually within -pistol shot of each other, and showers of Turkish arrows descended on -the town. As yet no footing was obtained by the Turks within the body of -the place, though the streets and houses stood ready barricaded against -such an event. But the Vizier commanded two hundred thousand men, -Starhemberg but twenty thousand. Disease and the toils and losses of the -defence told fearfully upon the latter. Starhemberg himself was disabled -by dysentery early in the siege, and did all that man could do, carried -in a chair from post to post, amidst the hottest of the fire. On the -other side, Kara Mustapha made his rounds in a litter rendered -shot-proof by plates of iron. The chief engineer of the garrison, -Rimpler, fell. Colonel Bärner, commanding the artillery, and the Prince -of Wurtemberg were disabled. Five thousand men, more than a third of the -regular soldiers, perished. Food became scarce, vermin were eagerly -sought for by the poor, and dysentery followed inevitably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> in the train -of want. Fever sprang from the confinement, filth, and bad air -inseparable from their condition. Sixty persons a day were dying of -dysentery alone towards the conclusion of the siege. But the humour of -the Viennese asserted itself still among their calamities, and the -spoils of nocturnal chase upon the tiles were sold as "Roof Hares" in -the market. The courage of long endurance, that rarest of all courage, -was tried to the uttermost. The Bishop of Neustadt, bravest of the brave -defenders, laboured unremittingly among the sick, nor cared less for the -safety of the whole, by undertaking the control of sanitary measures. -The otherwise useless non-combatants were organized by him into bands of -scavengers, hospital attendants, and carriers of the wounded.</p> - -<p>A despatch from Starhemberg, dated August 18, came safely to the hands -of Lorraine. The commandant wrote boldly, perhaps with an eye to the -probability of his intelligence reaching the Turkish and not the -Imperial general. "I must in the first place, tell your Highness that we -have up to this moment disputed the works with the enemy, foot by foot, -and that they have not gained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> an inch of ground without paying for it -dearly. Every time that, sword in hand, they have attempted a lodgment, -they have been vigorously repulsed by our men, with such loss that they -no longer dare to put their heads out of their holes." Nevertheless, he -was providing for the worst. "I have caused a new work, well ditched, to -be made in the middle of the Burg ravelin; the Löwel and Burg bastions -are also defended by a second line; and I am even now beginning another -work behind these same bastions. I write this that your Highness may -know that we are forgetting nothing, that we are wide awake, and taking -all imaginable precautions. As in duty bound I assure your Highness, -that to show myself worthy of the confidence which your Highness, and -more especially his Majesty my master, repose in my small services, I -shall never yield the place but with the last drop of my blood."</p> - -<p>This despatch was safely carried to Lorraine by Kolschitzki, a Pole. -Many other letters had miscarried, for few messengers penetrated, at the -risk of life, between the city and the slowly mustering forces of -Lorraine. Some swam the arms of the Danube. The most skilful, however, -was this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> Kolschitzki, who relied upon his knowledge of the Turkish -tongue and manners, and in Turkish dress penetrated the besieging lines, -much as a countryman of our own relied on similar knowledge in a -scarcely less memorable siege. The name of Kolschitzki of Vienna may be -named side by side with that of "Lucknow" Kavanagh, though the Pole not -only passed out through the besiegers, but succeeded in returning again -in a like manner into the city with despatches, to sustain the courage -of the defenders. From his stone chair, high up in the fretted spire of -St. Stephen's, the watchman saw the rockets which rose as signals from -the Christian outposts north of the Danube. But from the southern bank -must the march be made for the deliverance of the city; and was it -possible that Lorraine, or even Sobieski, could carry a force across the -river in the face of such an army?</p> - -<p>The garrison record, with painful exactness, the terrible annals of the -siege; what ravelin is deluged with the blood of assailants and of -defenders; where mines have blown the counterscarp into the ditch, or -shattered the salient angle of a bastion; what new quarter of the city -is devastated by the cannonade; what much-prized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> life is taken; when -the bread begins to fail; what false hopes of relief, or what -exaggerated tidings of calamity, circulate among the citizens. These -details, of overwhelming interest to every man at the moment, and -printed indelibly upon his mind, bring to the distant observer but one -confused and appalling panorama of suffering and of endurance, of -courage and of despair.</p> - -<p>The growing anxiety of the city appears in a second despatch of -Starhemberg's, dated August 27. He still tells of attacks repulsed, of -sorties boldly executed, and of mines discovered and foiled, but he -acknowledges the need of succour. "We are losing many men and many -officers, more from dysentery than from the enemy's fire, the deaths -from that disease alone are sixty daily. We have no more grenades, which -were our best defence; our guns are some of them destroyed by the -enemy's fire, some of them burst before firing fifty rounds, from the -bad material used by the founder; and the enemy, seeing they can hold -their lodgments in the ditch with a few men, are massing great numbers -on the counterscarp, to have a large force ready there for some -extraordinary effort.... We await, therefore, your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> Highness's arrival -with extreme impatience; for my own part not so much from a wish to be -relieved as that I may have the honour of respectfully assuring your -Highness of my obedience, being, as I am, your Highness's most humble -and obedient servant, <span class="smcap">Starhemberg</span>." The courtly bravado of the -subscription is in strong contrast with the hurried postscript that -follows:—"My miners tell me that they hear the enemy working beneath -them under the Burg bastion; they must have run their gallery from the -other side of the ditch, and there is no time to be lost." When this -despatch was written, both sides believed that the supreme crisis was at -hand.</p> - -<p>The 29th of August was looked for as the decisive day. On that -anniversary Stuhlweissenberg and Belgrade had fallen before the -Ottomans.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Above all, on that day the strength of Hungary had been -smitten, and her king, Louis, had died, before the hosts of the great -Solyman, on the disastrous field of "The Destruction of Mohacs"—that -battle which first opened Hungary and Austria to the invader.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p><p>But the 29th came and passed, with no general attack from the -besiegers. A mine was sprung under the Burg ravelin, nearly completing -the ruin of the work; and three or four hundred Turks attempted to -establish themselves upon the remains, but were driven back again. -Another mine was sprung by the Burg bastion, but no assault followed. -From St. Stephen's considerable movement was noticed among the Turkish -detachments on the left bank of the Danube, occasioned by the march of -Lorraine's army.</p> - -<p>In the camp murmurs and dissensions ran high. The Janissaries clamoured -at their lengthy detention in the trenches. They openly accused the -incapacity, or worse faults, of the Vizier. There seems little doubt but -that he had it in his power to have overwhelmed the defenders by a -general and prolonged assault, towards the end of August.</p> - -<p>Ottoman leaders had known well how to avail themselves of the obedience -and fatalist courage of their soldiers. Amurath IV., when he won back -Baghdad from the Persians, Mahomet II., at the taking of Constantinople, -had shown how cities could be won. Before the city of the Khalifs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> for -three days, before the city of the Cæsars from a May sunrise till well -nigh noon, had torrent after torrent of brave, devoted, undisciplined -soldiers wearied the arms and exhausted the ammunition of the defenders, -until the Janissaries arose, fresh and invincible for the decisive -charge. Wave after wave of stormers, fed from inexhaustible multitudes, -had rolled upon the besieged, and, like broken waves, had rolled back in -ruin, until the last and greatest should burst in overwhelming force -upon the breaches. Such an assault would have been surely successful -against Vienna. But the Vizier, in vain security, pictured to himself -the advantages of a surrender, which should preserve the city as a -trophy of his conquest—the seat, perchance, of his sovereignty. The -riches which he dreamed it to contain, he hoped to receive as his own -spoil; not to yield as the booty of the army after a storm. So, while -the decisive days passed, the signal for attack was delayed, except by -small bodies upon single points, until the courage of his soldiers was -dissipated and their confidence destroyed. On the contrary, the -unexpected reprieve gave courage to the defenders. The Janissaries, on -the other hand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> impatiently invoked the appearance of the relieving -army to end their sojourn in the trenches by the decisive event of a -stricken field. Slowly, but at last, ere yet too late, that army was -approaching.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> That is the Leopoldstadt over against Neuhausel, not the -island suburb of Vienna.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Together with forty-two guns and eight howitzers from the -city arsenal. Among the Emperor's pieces were eleven gigantic mortars, -described as 100, 150, and 200-pounders, but two hundred and fifty-three -of the guns were smaller than 12-pounders.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Starhemberg to Duke of Lorraine, August 18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Not Pesth and Rhodes, which are sometimes added. Rhodes -fell on Christmas day.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> - -<p>The duties which had been imposed upon Charles of Lorraine were of the -most arduous kind. With a handful of troops, but slowly reinforced by -the German levies, whose assistance was rendered less useful by the -jealousies of the sovereign Princes in command, he was opposed both to -the Turks and to Tekeli. He was expected to be ready to support the -garrisons of Presburg and of Komorn, to hinder the incursions of the -enemy into Upper Austria and into Moravia—above all, to prepare the -bridges above Vienna, by which alone a relieving army could arrive. -Though driven from the Leopoldstadt island, and from all immediate -communication with the city, his presence yet animated the besieged with -hope of succour. He fixed his head-quarters finally at Krems, on the -Danube, where the Saxon contingent presently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> arrived, followed by the -troops of the Circles and the Bavarians. Before their arrival, towards -the end of August, he felt strong enough to advance and rescue Presburg -from Tekeli. He followed up the operation by a defeat inflicted on the -combined forces of the Turks and Hungarians upon the Marchfeld. A -detachment of four thousand Polish horse, under Lubomirski, originally -raised to assist Tekeli, were already present with the army of Lorraine. -But decisive operations were of necessity postponed till after the -coming of the King of Poland with the bulk of his forces, and of the -rest of the German troops.</p> - -<p>Lorraine, in these movements, undoubtedly proved his title to -generalship; but nothing except the extraordinary apathy of the Vizier -rendered them possible. A skilful employment of the enormous force of -Turkish cavalry must have forced the Imperial army to retire for want of -supplies. The ravage, aimlessly and mercilessly inflicted upon Austria -and the confines of Moravia, would, if directed against Poland, have -probably prevented the march of Sobieski. An able commander, with such -forces at his command, might have prevented, or at least hindered,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> the -junction of the Poles and Germans. Nor were any steps taken by the -Vizier to stop the construction of the bridges at Krems and at Tuln, nor -to guard the defiles of the Wiener Wald, over which the Christian army -must advance to raise the siege. So extraordinary indeed was the neglect -of the enemy, that a secret understanding has been supposed between -Tekeli and Sobieski, by which, in return for the future good offices of -the latter, the former was not to molest Poland nor hinder the junction -of the Christian forces. Be that as it may, the secret information of -the Poles was as good as that of the Turks was bad, and the king knew -thoroughly with what foes he had to deal.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> - -<p>Meanwhile, in spite of French intrigues, in spite of backwardness in -Lithuania and of distrust in Poland, Sobieski had left Warsaw for Cracow -on July 18. Up to the last moment the Turks disbelieved in his coming in -person, and the Emperor and the French king both doubted it. He was -gouty, he was rheumatic, he was too fat to ride; such was the tenour of -the information of the baffled French agent Vitry. Nevertheless, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> the -22nd of August, he was on the Silesian frontier with the main part of -his army. It consisted mostly of cavalry, of those Polish horsemen -matchless in prowess, but the most unstable of forces. His infantry was -less numerous and inferior, their shabby accoutrements contrasting -sharply with the gaudy equipment of the cavaliers. "They have sworn to -dress themselves better in the spoils of the enemy," said the king of -one regiment, deprecating the criticism of the Germans. His march lay -through Silesia and Moravia, through the borders of the lands devastated -by the Tartars, where the trembling inhabitants thronged around him, -hailing him already as their deliverer. Urged by message after message -from Lorraine, he left his army to follow under the leadership of the -Field-Marshal Jablonowski, and hurried on himself at the head of two -thousand cavalry, his son Prince James by his side.</p> - -<p>We can follow every movement of the campaign from the letters which, -amid the hurry of the march, during short hours snatched from sleep, -once at least during the thunder of a Turkish cannonade, he found time -to despatch continually to his queen. <i>Seule joie de mon âme, -char</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span><i>mante et bien-aimée Mariette</i>, as he calls her. Her letters in -reply are his continual consolation amid the labours of the campaign, -the ingratitude of the Emperor, and the insubordination of his subjects. -"I read all your letters, my dear and incomparable Maria, thrice -over—once when I receive them, once when I retire to my tent and am -alone with my love, once when I sit down to answer them." Such is his -answer to her expression of a fear that the distractions of his -enterprise may leave no time for interest in aught besides. On August 29 -he writes, from near Brunn in Moravia, sending the news of the retreat -of Tekeli after his defeat by Lorraine, and adding that he hopes the -next day, on nearing the Danube, to hear the cannon which tell that -Vienna is still untaken. On the 31st he is near Tuln, above Vienna. He -has passed the distant thunder of the cannonade upon his left hand, and -has effected his junction with the army of Lorraine. Despairing of the -arrival of the Lithuanians, he has distributed the arms intended for -them among the imperfectly equipped Poles. Still more is he distressed -at the non-appearance of the Cossacks, whom he expected, and whom he -knew as invaluable for outpost duty. Menzynski,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> who should have -conducted them, is lingering at Lemberg. "<i>C'est un grand misérable.</i>"</p> - -<p>Most interesting of all is the passage in which he gives his wife his -first impressions of his future colleague, the Duke of Lorraine. -Lorraine had been a competitor with Sobieski for the crown of Poland, -and it must have been a singular meeting when the rivals first came face -to face co-operating together in a mighty enterprise. Sobieski the king, -whose offspring were not to reign; Charles the duke, the destined -ancestor of the Imperial line of Austria.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The one in the -semi-Oriental magnificence of his country, he went into action before -Vienna in a sky-blue silk doublet; the other in the dress of a -campaigner, best described in Sobieski's own words. The duke he finds -modest and taciturn, stooping, plain, with a hooked nose, marked with -small-pox; clad in an old grey coat, with "a fair wig ill-made," a hat -without a band, "boots of yellow leather, or rather of what was yellow -three months ago." "<i>Avec tout ça, il n'a pas la mine d'un marchand, -mais d'un homme comme il faut, et même</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> <i>d'un homme de distinction. C'est -un homme avec qui je m'accorderais facilement.</i>" The friendship of the -former rivals was cemented by a banquet, and the duke's accustomed -monitor being first overcome, Lorraine himself was induced to proceed -from his native Moselle, which he drank usually mixed with water, to the -strong Hungarian wines—to the improvement, as the king tells his wife, -of his conversation. Besides Lorraine, Sobieski found a crowd of German -Princes awaiting his arrival: John George of Saxony, speaking no French -nor Latin, and very little German; Waldeck, of the house of -Waldeck-Wildungen,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> William the Third's right hand man in the -Netherlands, here commanding the troops of the Circles, and winning high -praise from the king for his activity and zeal; Maximilian of Bavaria, -whose courage and ill-fortune were hereafter to be signalized at -Blenheim and at Ramilies, now aged twenty-one, wins notice as "better -dressed than the others." There were two Wurtembergers and the Prince of -Brunswick-Lüneburg, afterwards our George I.; the Prince of -Saxe-Lauenberg; a Hohenzollern and a Hessian;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> three Princes of Anhalt; -Hermann and Louis of Baden, the latter was with Marlborough at -Schellenberg; two sons of Montecuculi, the conqueror of St. Gotthard; -last and youngest, though not least, Eugene of Savoy, the future -conqueror of Zenta and of Belgrade, and the colleague of Marlborough in -his greatest battles. There was Count Leslie, of that Scotch house which -had given generals to half the armies of Europe; Count Taaffe, the -Irishman, afterwards Sir Francis Taaffe and Earl of Carlingford, whose -elder brother fell fighting for King James at the Boyne, but whose -services to the allies secured the earldom from forfeiture. There were -gathered veterans of the Thirty Years' War, men who might have seen -Gustavus or Wallenstein, and men who were to reap their brightest -laurels hereafter in the war of the Spanish Succession. As was wittily -said, the Empire would have been there had only the Emperor been -present. The Brandenberg troops also were wanting. The "Great Elector" -was jealous of Poland—once his superior in the Prussian duchy—had -formerly been injured by Sobieski acting with the Swedes in the -interests of France, and moreover was not on the best terms with the -Emperor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> Brandenberg, then as ever, was playing with skill and patience -her own game. The fortunes of the future Prussian monarchy were not to -be lightly risked for the sake of Austria. But the Emperor himself must -not be rashly charged with want of courage for his absence from the -camp. He was not trained to war; the presence of his court would have -been embarrassing to the operations, perhaps would have been inseparable -from intrigues and jealousies that would seriously have crippled the -army. A certain stubborn manhood Leopold had shown in not yielding to -the pressure put upon him to make terms with Louis XIV. in this -extremity. The aid of France could have been purchased by the election -of the Dauphin as King of the Romans, probably by smaller sacrifices. -The Diet at Ratisbon had been not disinclined to yield, but the Emperor -had stedfastly refused to subject either his own house or the Empire to -French dictation. That one crowned head was in the field was of the -greatest importance, especially when that one was the King of Poland.</p> - -<p>Everywhere the most cheerful deference was rendered to Sobieski by all -who were present. The Princes, jealous of each other before, now vied -with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> each other in zealous obedience to the conqueror of Choczim. His -experience of Turkish warfare was unique, his personal character -commanding. He tells his wife how Lorraine, Waldeck, Saxony, Bavaria -would send or even come personally for his commands. The ascendancy -exercised by Sobieski is nowhere more decisively illustrated than in the -conduct of five hundred Janissaries, a trophy of his victories, who now -formed his body guard. He offered them leave of absence from the battle, -or even a free passage to the Turkish camp, but they besought leave to -live and die with him.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> The king himself was fully prepared to accept -the advice of generals like Lorraine and Waldeck. He had left his royal -dignity behind at Warsaw, as he told Lorraine, and at once agreed with -the latter upon a plan for crossing the Danube at Krems and at Tuln, -concentrating at Tuln and marching over the Kahlenberg to Vienna. He -only complained of the backward condition of the bridges and of the slow -assemblage of the troops, whereas the Emperor had by letter assured him -that all was ready before he had left Poland. When finally assembled, -the united armies numbered eighty-five thousand men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> The Poles were -more than twenty-six thousand strong. But allowing for detachments, not -more than seventy-seven thousand men were available upon the -battle-field. The artillery numbered one hundred and sixty-eight pieces, -of which few came into action.</p> - -<p>On September 4, the king still writes from near Tuln. If an excess of -glory is often the share of a successful commander, yet an excessive -toil is his always. Sobieski tells his wife that he has a continual cold -and headache, and is night and day in the saddle. The French stories -were so far true that he could not mount without assistance, yet in the -midst of such operations no rest is possible. The Turks are, he says, -either really ignorant of his presence, or refuse to believe it. The -Vizier was incredibly ill-supplied with information. He really was -uncertain whether Sobieski was in the field; and whether the Polish -army, or partisan corps only, like that of Lubomirski, had joined -Lorraine. The smallest resistance would seriously have retarded the -passage of the Danube, performed by the Germans at Krems, by the Poles -at Tuln. As it was, the difficulties were terrible. The pontoons sank -under the weight of the artillery and waggons.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> The latter had to find -fords over the smaller branches of the river, while the bridges upon the -main stream were strengthened to sustain them. Even then much baggage -was left north of the Danube; much more upon the southern side, -entrenched and defended.</p> - -<p>On September 8, when the concentration of the army upon the southern -bank was being completed, Marco Aviano, the Emperor's Confessor, -celebrated a solemn mass, and gave a formal benediction to the Christian -army. Sobieski then stepped forward, and after addressing some words of -encouragement to the assembled officers, bestowed the honour of -knighthood upon his son James.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> An enthusiastic votary of his -religion, he desired to impress upon his army that their cause was the -cause of God, against the enemies of the Faith. Even the Lutheran Saxons -and North Germans could, with more justice than the Hungarian renegades, -claim to be fighting <i>Pro Deo et Patria</i>. Upon the coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> struggle -depended the question whether the frightful devastation, which had -desolated Hungary and Austria, was or was not to be repeated in all the -south German lands.</p> - -<p>The flat ground upon the southern side of the Danube, from near Krems to -Tuln, the Tullner Feld, offered a convenient space for the mustering of -the army after passing the river. Vienna was not further than about -sixteen miles as the crow flies, but the intervening country was of a -difficult nature, even should the Turks attempt no interruption to the -movements of the relieving forces. The Wiener Wald, rising to more than -nine hundred feet above the level of the Danube, runs into a -north-easterly direction between Tuln and Vienna, and advances up to the -very current of the river, which flows north-eastward and then -south-eastward round the mountain barrier. The roads were few and -difficult, and trees covered the slopes of the hills. Sobieski had -decided to advance with his left wing covered by the Danube, and to -throw succour into Vienna upon that side; while with the right he -threatened the rear of the Turkish camp on the side of Dornbach and -Hernals. With this object the march was directed upon the Leopoldsberg -and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> Kahlenberg, the last heights or ridges of the mountains above -the Danube, to the north-west of Vienna.</p> - -<p>And at length, on the 10th of September, the forward movement upon the -Kahlenberg began. Already as early as the morning of the 6th, a -reconnaissance had been pushed to the summit, and as evening fell had -cheered Vienna with a flight of signal rockets, in answer to the fiery -messengers of distress which nightly rose from the spire of St. -Stephen's. But to carry an army up the Kahlenberg was a harder task. -Sobieski wrote that the country was horribly wasted. There was neither -food for man nor forage for horses, beyond what the army could carry -with them. Indeed, the leaves of the trees upon the Kahlenberg had to -eke out the supplies of the latter. There was all need for despatch. The -last despairing message had come from Starhemberg, borne by a swimmer on -the Danube to Lorraine, in language as brief as significant, "<i>No time -to be lost; no time indeed to be lost.</i>"</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Salvandy, p. 96, vol. ii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> The grandson of the Duke of Lorraine married Maria -Theresa, Queen of Hungary, and was himself Emperor. The grand-daughter -of Sobieski was the mother of Charles Edward, the hero of the -Forty-five.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Of the family, not an ancestor, of the present Duchess of -Albany.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Salvandy.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Schimmer, "Sieges of Vienna;" Count Thürheim, "Life of -Starhemberg;" and Salvandy, "Hist. de Pologne," p. 172, vol. ii. -misplace this solemn benediction of the army and the knighting of Prince -James on the morning of the 12th. Sobieski's own testimony, in his -letters to his queen, is decisive for the 8th. Nor on the 12th was there -time for the ceremony.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> - -<p>There was no time to be lost indeed. The fortifications of Vienna were a -mere heap of ruins. The Imperial Palace was battered to pieces. Nearly -one whole quarter of the city was in ashes. On the 3rd of September, the -long contested Burg ravelin was yielded to the Turks. On the 4th, the -salient angle of the Burg bastion was blown into the air, and an attack -was with difficulty repelled. On the 6th, a similar mine and assault -following cumbered the Löwel bastion with ruin and with corpses. For a -moment, the horse tails were planted upon the ramparts. Driven back -thence with difficulty, the Turks still clung to the Burg ravelin, and -four pieces of cannon planted there, at frightfully close quarters, -completed the ruin of the works. But no new attack came. Informed of the -advance of Lorraine, though still incredulous of the presence of -Sobieski, the Vizier began to draw his troops <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>towards the foot of the -Kahlenberg. He still clung to the batteries and trenches; still kept the -pick of his Janissaries grappling with the prize which but for him they -might have already won. He rejected the advice of the Pasha of Pesth, to -withdraw across the Wien and fortify a camp on the Wienersberg, secure -that if the Christians attacked and failed Vienna would fall. He -withdrew his troops indeed from the Leopoldstadt, and threw up some -slight works towards the Kahlenberg, but remained otherwise irresolute, -halting between his expected booty and her deliverer.</p> - -<p>Sobieski had already taken the measure of his opponent. In reply to -desponding views of Lorraine at Tuln, he had said, "Be of good cheer; -which of us at the head of two hundred thousand men would have allowed -this bridge to have been thrown within five leagues of his camp?" To his -wife he wrote, "A commander who has thought neither of entrenching his -camp, nor of concentrating his forces, but who lies encamped there as if -we were one hundred miles off, is predestined to be beaten." Viewing the -Turkish force from the Kahlenberg, he said to his soldiers, "This man is -badly encamped, he knows nothing of war; we shall beat him."</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p><p>It was well for the Christians and for Vienna that none of the great -warriors who had served the Porte was now in command. No man like -Kiuprili, or even like Ibrahim "the Devil," the last Turkish commander -against whom Sobieski had contended, was there, to use the fidelity of -the Janissaries and the valour of the Spahis to advantage. The march up -the defiles of the Kahlenberg presented, even without interruptions, -extraordinary difficulties. The king himself pushed forward to -superintend the exploration of the way. He was so long parted from his -Polish troops that they became anxious for his safety. He rejoined them -at mid-day on the 11th, and encouraged them as they marched, or, as he -says, rather <i>climbed</i> to the summit. Some Saxon troops, first arriving, -with three guns, opened fire upon a Turkish detachment marching too late -to secure the important position. The Turks retired, and the distant -sound of the firing announced to Vienna the first tidings of -deliverance. It was not till the evening of the 11th, however, that the -main body of the army had reached the ridge. Even then many had lagged -behind; the paths were nearly impracticable for artillery, and the -Germans abandoned many of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> their guns in despair between Tuln and the -Kahlenberg. But few pieces indeed were fired after the first beginning -of the battle on the following day, Polish guns, for the most part, -brought up by the vigour of the Grand Marshal of the Artillery, Kouski, -the same officer who had directed the Polish field-pieces against the -Turkish camp at Choczim.</p> - -<p>"An hour before sunset," September 11, as Sobieski and the generals -stood at length upon the crest of the hill, "they saw outspread before -them one of the most magnificent yet terrible displays of human power -which man has seen. There lay the valley and the islands of the Danube, -covered with an encampment, the sumptuousness of which seemed better -suited for an excursion of pleasure than for the hardships of war. -Within it stood an innumerable multitude of animals—horses, camels, and -oxen. Two hundred thousand fighting men moved in order here and there, -while along the foot of the hills below swarms of Tartars roamed at -will. A frightful cannonade was raging vigorously from the one side, in -feeble reply from the other. Beneath the canopy of smoke lay a great -city, visible only by her spires and her pinnacles, which pierced the -overwhelming cloud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> and flame."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Sobieski estimated the force before -him at one hundred thousand tents and three hundred thousand men. -Including the non-combatants, he was, perhaps, not far wrong; but the -fighting men in the Turkish army by this time would be by many fewer -than that number. One hundred and sixty-eight thousand men is the most -which may be allowed from the muster-rolls found in the Vizier's tent, -and that certainly exceeds the truth.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> All around, except where in -the encampment the magnificence of the invader was proudly flaunted in -the face of the ruin that he had made, the prospect was desolated by -war. Whatever might be the fortune of the coming day, a generation at -least must elapse before those suburbs are rebuilt, those villages -restored and repeopled, those fields fully cultivated again. The army -felt that it lay with them, under God, to provide against that further -extension of the ravage which would follow,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> should the bulwark of the -<i>Oesterreich</i>, the Eastern March of the Empire, be forced by Hun and -Tartar.</p> - -<p>Not distinguishable from the distance at which they stood, thousands of -Christian captives lay in the encampment below. The morrow might deliver -up the people of Vienna to a like fate with theirs. The city, as the -king declared on entering it after the relief, could not have held out -five days. As the wind now lifted the cloud of smoke, where should have -been the fortifications, the eye could discern nothing but a circle of -shapeless ruin, reaching from the Scottish gate to what had been the -Burg bastion. Up to and on to it climbed the curving lines of the -Turkish approaches.</p> - -<p>Sobieski had only hoped gradually to fight his way into a position -whence he could communicate with the besieged, and he had arranged his -plan of battle at Tuln with that idea. But the inequalities of the -country between the Kahlenberg and Vienna, broken with vines, villages, -small hills and hollow ways, together with the unexpectedly rapid -development of the attack when once it began, seem to have interfered -with his original disposition.</p> - -<p>His army occupied a front of half a Polish mile, or about an English -mile and three quarters. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> was drawn up in three supporting lines that -faced south-eastward.</p> - -<p>The first line of the right wing was composed of nineteen Polish -(cavalry) divisions and four battalions; the second, of six Polish and -eight Austrian divisions, and four Polish battalions; the third, of nine -Polish, six Austrian, three German divisions, three Polish and one -German battalion.</p> - -<p>The centre was composed in the first line of nine Austrian and eleven -German divisions, and thirteen German battalions; in the second, of six -German divisions, ten German and six Austrian battalions; in the third, -of five German and two Austrian battalions.</p> - -<p>The left wing shewed in the first line, ten Austrian and five German -divisions, and six Austrian battalions; in the second line, four German -and eight Austrian divisions; in the third line, three German and seven -Austrian battalions.</p> - -<p>Lubomirski with his irregular Poles was on the left; the Polish -Field-Marshal, Jablonowski, commanded on the right; the Prince of -Waldeck, with the Electors of Bavaria and Saxony, the centre; the Duke -of Lorraine and Louis of Baden, with Counts Leslie and Caprara, were on -the left. The king<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> was upon the right or right centre throughout the -day. The total force, including detachments not actually engaged, was -46,700 cavalry and dragoons, 38,700 infantry; in all 85,400 men, with -some irregulars, and 168 guns, many of them not in action at all. The -dragoons fought on foot in the battle.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The army was, roughly, -one-third Poles, one-third Austrians, one-third Bavarians, Saxons, and -other Germans.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The fatigues of the march from Tuln would naturally -diminish the number of effective soldiers on the day of battle; and the -troops were not all in position when the evening of Saturday, September -11, fell. As the night however wore away, the rear guard gained the -summit of the hills, and snatched a brief repose before the labours of -the morrow.</p> - -<p>But for the king there was no rest. The man whom the French ambassador -had described as unable to ride, who was tormented certainly by wearing -pains, after three days of incessant toil,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> passed a sleepless night -preparatory to fourteen hours in the saddle upon the battle-field. The -season of repose was dedicated to the duties of a general and the -affection of a husband. At three a.m. on Sunday, the 12th, the king is -again writing to his <i>bien-aimée Mariette</i>. He has been toiling all day -in bringing his troops up the ravines. "We are so thin," he writes, "we -might run down the stags on the mountains." As to the pomp or even -comfort of a king, that is not to be thought of. "All my luggage which -we have got up here is in the two lightest carts." He has some more upon -mules, but has not seen them for forty-eight hours. He had no thought of -sleep; indeed, the thunder of the Turkish cannon made it impossible; and -a gale of wind, which he describes as "sufficient to blow the men off -their horses," bore the noise of their discharge with redoubled clamour -to the relieving army. Moreover, the king writes, he must be in the -saddle before daybreak, riding down from the right to the extreme left, -to consult with Lorraine, opposite whom the enemy lies in force; not -entrenched, he hopes, as on that side he means to break through to the -city. A two days' affair, at least, he thinks. Then, "my eighth letter -to your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> sixth," he adds, with other familiar and gentle conversation, -with tidings of her son and of other friends, but with no word of fear -or of apprehension. He had made his will before setting out from Warsaw, -but he entertained no thought of failure. Then closing his wife's -letter, the affectionate husband becomes again the heroic king and -careful general. He rides from right to left along the lines, in that -boisterous autumnal morning, makes the last dispositions with Lorraine, -with him and with a few others takes again the Holy Communion from the -hands of Marco Aviano before the sun has risen, and then returns to his -post upon the right wing, ready for the advance that was to save Vienna. -His next letter to his wife was dated "September 13, night. The tents of -the Vizier."</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Coyer, "Memoires de Sobieski."</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The roll includes the forces of Tekeli, who was not in the -Turkish camp at all, and takes no count of the last losses which the -Turkish detachments had suffered, nor of the loss from desertion the -night before the battle, when many of the irregulars went off with their -booty. The Turks had lost, according to this roll, 48,500 men before the -battle.—See Thürheim's "Starhemberg," pp. 150 and <i>seq.</i></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> The dragoons were mounted infantry, using horses to reach -the scene of action only. They carried the infantry weapons, sword and -musket, but not pikes. The bayonet was just coming into use, but was -still fixed in the muzzle of the gun, and had to be removed before -firing.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Count Thürheim, "Starhemberg," p. 163 and <i>seqq.</i>; and -Sobieski to his wife, September 13.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> - -<p>The position of the Christian army on the Kahlenberg was, from the left -wing, the nearest point, about four miles from Vienna. The centre and -right were further removed. The intervening country, far from being a -plain, as Sobieski had been led to believe when he formed his first plan -of battle, is broken up into hillocks and little valleys, intersected by -streams, full of vineyards, and interspersed with the ruins of numerous -villages burnt by the Turks. Beyond these lay the Turkish encampment and -approaches, mingled with the vestiges of the suburbs destroyed by -Starhemberg at the beginning of the siege.</p> - -<p>The Turkish army was stretched over a front of about four miles from -point to point, but slightly curving with the convex side towards the -attacking force. Their right rested upon the Danube, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> held the -Nussberg before the villages of Nussdorf and Heiligenstadt; their left -reached towards Breitensee near the Wien, and the Tartars swarmed still -further on the broken ground beyond. Their camp straggled in an -irregular half-moon from the river above Vienna to beyond the Wien, and -their troops were, at the beginning of the action, drawn up before it. -Some hasty entrenchments had been thrown up by them here and there, of -which the most considerable was a battery between Währing, Gerstorf and -Weinhaus;<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> but the bulk of their artillery remained in their lines, -pointed against the city, and the clamour of the ensuing battle was -swelled by the continuous roar of their bombardment, kept up as on -previous days. In the trenches lay a great body of Janissaries; and the -Turkish army was further weakened by the dispersal of Tartars and -irregulars on the night before the fight, doubtful of the event, and -anxious at any rate to secure their plunder. As the king had said, the -Turks were badly posted, their camp was long and straggling, too -valuable to be abandoned and not easy to defend. In case of a reverse, -their right wing would run the risk of being driven into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> Danube, or -else have to fall back upon their centre and left, to the confusion of -the whole army. Fighting with a river and a fortified city upon their -flank and rear, repulse for them would mean certain disaster. But the -incapacity of the Vizier could not be fully fathomed till the attack -began. We have the assurance of Sobieski himself that he hoped upon the -first day merely to bring his army within striking distance of the -enemy, and to establish his left well forward near the bank of the -Danube, ready to deal a decisive blow, or to throw succour into Vienna -on the morrow or following day. He closed his letter to his wife in the -grey of the windy morning of the 12th of September, ignorant that the -decisive moment, bringing a victory greater than that of Choczim, was at -hand.</p> - -<p>The Turks had pushed their outposts forward up the banks of the river, -and soon after daybreak Lorraine upon the left was engaged, and the -fight thickened as his attack towards Nussdorf and Heiligenstadt was -developed. Eugene of Savoy began his distinguished career in arms by -carrying tidings from Lorraine to the king that the battle had commenced -in earnest. Eugene, barely twenty, had left Paris that year, slighted by -Louis, and had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> entered the service of the Emperor. His memoirs dismiss -briefly this his first essay in war. "The confusion of that day can be -but confusedly described. The Poles, who had clambered up to the -Leopoldsberg—I know not why—went down again like madmen and fought -like lions. The Turks, encamped where I threw up lines in 1703, did not -know which way to front, neglected the eminences, and behaved like -idiots."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> The young aide-de-camp, carrying orders through the hottest -of the fire, could not yet penetrate the system which underlay the -apparent confusion of the march and battle. Advancing in columns with a -comparatively narrow front down the difficult slope of the hills, the -infantry gradually deployed right and left upon the lower ground, while -the cavalry of the second line advanced to fill the gaps thus left in -the foremost The Turks resisted gallantly, but they were principally -dismounted Spahis, not a match for Lorraine's favourite troops, the -German foot, though regaining their horses they would retreat with great -rapidity, to again dismount, and again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> resist, as each favourable -position offered itself. The fighting was obstinate, and the losses -heavy upon both sides, but the tide of fight rolled steadily towards -Vienna. The Germans carried the height of the Nussberg, above Nussdorf, -and their guns planted there disordered the whole of the Turkish right -with their plunging fire. Osman Ogoli, Pasha of Kutaya, the Turkish -general of division, pushed forward three columns in a counter-attack, -boldly and skilfully directed. The Imperial infantry were shaken, but -five Saxon battalions, inclining to their left from the Christian -centre, checked in turn the onset of the Ottomans, and restored the -current of the battle. But had the whole force of the enemy been -commanded as their right wing, the allies would scarcely that night have -been greeted in Vienna. No false move in the advance escaped the skill -of Osman. As the Turkish attack recoiled, the Prince of Croy had dashed -forward with two battalions to carry with a rush the village of -Nussdorf. Checked and overwhelmed, he fell back again, himself wounded, -his brother slain. Louis of Baden, with his dismounted dragoons, came up -to the rescue, and checked the pursuing enemy. As they recoiled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> slowly -the fight grew fiercer, and then more stationary about Nussdorf and -about Döbling. Houses, gardens, and vineyards formed a series of -entrenchments, sharply attacked and obstinately defended. A third time -the fiery valour of the Turks, charging home with their sabres among the -pikes and muskets, disordered the allies, and all but regained the -summit of the Nussberg. Again the superior cohesion of the Christians -prevailed, and the Turkish column outflanked fell back, still stubbornly -contesting every foot of ground. From the long extended centre and left -of their line no support came to them, as the Vizier in anxious -irresolution expected the advance of the centre of the allies and of the -Poles upon their right. His infatuation, moreover, had kept in the -batteries the bulk of his artillery, and in the trenches the best of his -Janissaries. In dire want of the guns, which roared idly upon the -already shattered defences of the city, Osman was driven through -Nussdorf and through Heiligenstadt, upon the fortified defiles of -Döbling, where at last a battery of ten guns and a force of Janissaries -opposed a steadier resistance to the advancing Germans. It was now noon. -Lorraine had already won the position which had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> been marked out for his -achievement for the day, and slackened his attack while he reformed his -victorious battalions. The centre and right of the Christian army, -separated by a longer distance from their foes, had been slowly gaining -the field of action, and had scarce fired a shot nor struck a blow, -except for the support accorded to the left by the centre. The whole of -the infantry and cavalry had at mid-day gained the positions assigned to -them, and, in the absence of most of his artillery, Sobieski would have -hesitated to continue his advance had not his lines, upon the left -especially, become so deeply involved that it was difficult to suspend -the conflict for long. Yet a momentary lull succeeded to the sharp -sounds of close combat. A sultry autumn day had followed the boisterous -night and morning, and the heat was oppressive.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> The Poles upon the -right halted and snatched a hasty meal from the provisions they had -brought with them. But as the rattle of the small arms and the clash of -weapons died away, the roar of the battering guns and the answering fire -of the city rose in overwhelming distinctness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> Behind the smoky veil, -Starhemberg and his gallant garrison could perchance barely guess, by -sounds of conflict, the progress of their deliverers. Tidings from the -watch-chair on St. Stephen's would spread alternate hope and despair -among the citizens. The fate of Vienna trembled in the balance. The -garrison stood ready in the breaches, the rest of the inhabitants -cowered upon the housetops to watch, or knelt in the churches to pray; -but to the Vizier came swiftly tidings of the foe with whom he had to -deal, the foe whose presence he had obstinately refused to credit.</p> - -<p>Reforming after their brief delay, the Polish cavalry in gorgeous arms -came flashing from the woods and defiles near Dornbach on his left. -Those who had before fought against him, knew the plume raised upon a -spear point, the shield borne before him, the <i>banderolles</i> on the -lances of his body guard, which declared the presence of the terrible -Sobieski. "By Allah, but the king is really among them," cried Gieray, -Khan of the Crimea. And all doubt was at an end as the shout of "<i>Vivat -Sobieski</i>" rolled along the Christian lines, in dread and significant -answer to the discordant clamour of the Infidels.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p><p>Profiting, however, by the interruption in the battle, the Vizier had -reformed his line, brought up infantry from the trenches, and now -directed his attack upon the Poles and the most formidable of his -opponents, hoping by their overthrow to change the fortune of the day, -while the Imperialists and Saxons still halted before his entrenchments -at Döbling. The Turks advanced with courage. For a moment a regiment of -Polish lancers were thrown into confusion, and the officers, members of -the nobility of Poland, who strove to rally their lines, fell; but -Waldeck, moving up his Bavarians from the centre, restored the fight. -The attack was defeated, and advancing in turn the headlong valour of -the Poles drove the Turks back from point to point, over the Alserbach -and its branches upon the confines of their camp. To relieve the -pressure upon the right and centre, Lorraine had renewed his attack with -the left of the allies. Horses and men had recovered breath and order, -and their artillery had moved up in support. The defiles of Döbling were -cleared by the Saxons; and at about four or five o'clock the Turkish -redoubt before Währing was carried by Louis of Baden with his dismounted -dragoons. Falling back in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> confusion upon their approaches and -batteries, the Turks desperately endeavoured, too late, to turn the -siege guns upon the enemy, whose advance now threatened them upon all -sides. The caution of Sobieski had, up to the last moment, inclined him -to respect the superior numbers and the desperation of his foes, and to -rest content with the advantage won; but now, in the growing confusion, -he saw that the decisive hour had arrived. The Elector of Bavaria and -the Prince of Waldeck hastening from the centre already saluted him as -conqueror.</p> - -<p>The desperate efforts of the Vizier to gain room by moving troops -towards his left from the centre, and so extending his lines beyond the -Polish right, served but to increase the confusion. The Field-Marshal -Jablonowski covered that wing, and the Queen of Poland's brother, the -Count de Maligni, pushing forward with infantry, seized a mound, whence -his musketry fire dominated the spot where the Vizier stood. The last -shots were fired from the two or three cannon which had kept pace with -the advance. A French officer rammed home the last charge with his -gloves, his wig, and a packet of French papers. Already the roads to -Hungary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> were thronged with fugitives, whose course was marked by dust -in columns, when the king decided to seize the victory all but in his -grasp already. <i>Non nobis, non nobis, Domine exercituum, sed Nomini Tuo -des gloriam</i>, he cried in answer to the congratulations of his friends, -as he began the decisive movement.</p> - -<p>Concentrating as rapidly as possible the bulk of the cavalry of the -whole army, German and Polish, upon the right wing,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> he led them to -the charge, directly upon the spot where the Vizier with blows, tears, -and curses, was endeavouring to rally the soldiers, whom his own -ill-conduct had deprived of their wonted valour. The Turkish infantry -without pikes, their cavalry without heavy armour, were incapable of -withstanding the shock of the heavy German cuirassiers, or of arresting -the rush of the Polish nobles, whose spears, as they boasted to their -kings, would uphold the heavens should they fall. Their king at their -head, they came down like a whirlwind to the shout of "God preserve -Poland." The spears of the first line were splintered against the few -who awaited them, but their onset was irresistible. Spahis and -Janissaries,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> Tartars and Christian allies alike went down before the -Polish lances, or turned and fled in headlong confusion. The old Pasha -of Pesth, the greatest of the Turkish warriors in reputation, had fled -already. The Pashas of Aleppo and of Silistria perished in the <i>melée</i>. -"Can you not help me?" cried the Vizier, turning to the Khan of the -Crimea. "No," was the reply; "I know the King of Poland well, it is -impossible to resist him; think only of flight."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> - -<p>Away through the wasted borders of Austria, away to the Hungarian -frontier, to their army that lay before Raab, poured the fugitives. -There seldom has been a deliverance more complete and more decisive. The -terror which had so long weighed upon Eastern Christendom was dissolved -in that headlong rout. It was more than the scattering of an army; the -strength of an empire was dissipated on that day. Resources which had -been accumulating for years were destroyed; and such an expedition, so -numerous and so well furnished, never was sent forth by the Ottoman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> -again. The victory lacked nothing to render it more striking, either in -suddenness, in completeness, or in situation. The whole action had been -comprised in the hours between sunrise and sunset, before the gates of -one of the greatest capitals in Europe. We may borrow indeed the words -of Eugene, used in his despatch describing the last victory of the war -at Zenta, to picture the last hours of that evening before Vienna. For -upon the summits of the Weiner-Wald, whence the allies had descended -that morning to a yet doubtful field, "the sun seemed to linger, loath -to leave the day, until his rays had illumined to the end the triumph of -the glorious arms" of Poland and "of the Empire."</p> - -<p>There was no want of individual courage among the Turks. "They made the -best retreat you can conceive," wrote the king, for hard pressed they -would turn sword in hand upon their pursuers. But the head which should -have directed that courage was wanting; and for that want they were a -gallant mob, but no longer an army. Grateful for the result though we -may be, there is something pathetic in the magnificent valour of a race -of soldiers being frustrated by such incapacity. The Christians, -exhausted by the toils of the last few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> days, could not pursue to any -distance. The Imperial General Dünewald indeed with a few squadrons of -Austrians and Poles, the stoutest steeds or the keenest riders, -despising both plunder and fatigue, pushed straight on through the -twilight to Enzersdorf, where the road crossed the stream of the Fischa, -ten miles from Vienna, and there bursting on the line of flight made a -slaughter of the fugitives, which showed how much they owed to the night -and to the weariness of their conquerors. But there was no general -pursuit on the part of the allies. Their commanders were doubtful of the -full extent of their victory, and feared lest from such a multitude some -part might rally and destroy the too eager followers whom they still -outnumbered. But without pursuit their work was done. At seven, Louis of -Baden had opened a communication with the besieged, and the garrison -sallying forth joined the relieving army in the slaughter of the -Janissaries who had remained, neglected or forgotten, in the trenches. -Even then one miner was found, doggedly toiling in his gallery beneath -the ramparts, ignorant of the flight or death of his companions; perhaps -from among so many the last staunch soldier of the Prophet.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p><p>I cannot conceive, wrote Sobieski, how they can carry on the war after -such a loss of <i>matériel</i>. The whole of the artillery of the Turks, -their munitions, and their baggage were the spoil of the victors. Three -hundred and ten pieces of cannon, twenty thousand animals, nine thousand -carriages, one hundred and twenty-five thousand tents, five million -pounds of powder are enumerated. The holy standard of the Prophet had -been saved, but the standard of the Vizier, mistaken for it, was sent to -the Pope by the conqueror, while his gilded stirrups were despatched at -once to Poland to the Queen, as a token of victory. Never, perhaps, -since Alexander stood a victor at Issus in the tents of Darius, or the -Greeks stormed the Persian camp at Platæa, had an European army entered -upon such spoil. Much money had been saved by the Turks in their flight; -but precious stuffs and jewelled arms, belts thick with diamonds, -intended to encircle the fair captives of Vienna, the varied plunder of -many a castle of Hungary and of Lower Austria, were found piled in the -encampment. In the Vizier's quarters were gardens laid out with baths -and fountains, a menagerie, even a rabbit warren. His encampment alone -formed a labyrinth of tents, by itself of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> the circumference of a little -town, and with its contents declared the character of its late owner. An -ostrich, previously taken from an Imperial castle, was found beheaded to -prevent recapture. A parrot, more fortunate, escaped upon the wing. The -Polish envoy was discovered in the camp in chains, forgotten during the -turmoil, and thus saved from the death promised him if his master should -take the field. The Imperial agent at the Porte, Kunitz, had escaped -into the town during the battle; but the mass of Christian captives had -not been so happy. Before the battle the Vizier had ordered a general -massacre of prisoners, and the camp was cumbered with the bodies of men, -women, and children, but for the most part of women, foully slaughtered. -The benevolent energy of the Bishop of Neustadt, above-mentioned, found -employment in caring for five hundred children, who had, with their -mothers in a few cases, escaped the sword. The night was passed in the -camp by the victors, who were intent on securing their victory or their -plunder. Not till the following morning did the king meet Lorraine and -exchange congratulations upon their success. Then, with the Commandant -Starhemberg, they entered the city,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> passing over those well-contested -breaches, which but for them might have been that day trodden by the -Janissaries. They repaired to the churches for a solemn thanksgiving. -Sobieski himself sang the <i>Te Deum</i> in one of them. Nothing could exceed -the enthusiastic gratitude of the people, who barely allowed a passage -to the horse of their deliverer. The priest, after the <i>Te Deum</i> ended, -by a happy inspiration or plagiarism, gave out the words, "<i>There was a -man sent from God, whose name was John.</i>"<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> A salute of three hundred -guns proclaimed the victory far and wide, and the shouts of "<i>Vivat -Sobieski!</i>" that filled the city out-thundered the thunder of the -cannon. Their walls were a chaos, their habitations a ruin, but the -citizens rejoiced as those rejoice whom the Lord hath redeemed and -delivered from the hand of the enemy. They were as men released not only -from the sword, pestilence, and famine, but from prison besides. They -poured forth to taste again the sweets of liberty, wondered at the -trenches, or joined in the pillage of the camp, where the air was -already sickening from the thousands of the slain,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> and foul from the -refuse of the barbaric encampment. But amid all the popular rejoicing, -the king could not but observe the coldness of the magistracy. The -Emperor could not endure that any but himself should triumph in Vienna, -and his feelings were reflected in his servants. On hearing of the -victory he had returned to the neighbourhood of the city. A council was -held to settle the weighty point as to how the elective Emperor was to -receive the elective King. "With open arms, since he has saved the -Empire," said Lorraine; but Leopold would not descend to such an -indecorum. He strove to avoid a meeting with the deliverer of his -capital, and when the meeting was arranged could barely speak a few cold -words in Latin, well answered by Sobieski, who, saying, "I am happy, -Sire, to have been able to render you this slight service," turned his -horse, saluted, and rode away. A few complimentary presents to Prince -James and to the Polish nobles did not efface the impression of -ingratitude. The German writers minimize the coldness of the Emperor, -but Sobieski was at the moment undoubtedly aggrieved, and others were -discontented.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> The <i>Turkenschanze</i>, traces of which lately remained.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> In 1717 Eugene, in like case with the Vizier now, was -besieging Belgrade, and was himself surrounded by a large Turkish army. -However, he defeated the relieving army and took the city.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> There is a proverb, "<i>Vienna aut venenosa aut ventosa</i>." -She was giving to her deliverers successive displays of her character.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Sobieski's letter of September 13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Sobieski's letter of September 13. He must have heard of -the conversation from the Vizier's attendants taken in his encampment.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> It was the exclamation of the Pope, Pius V., on hearing of -the victory of Don John of Austria over the Turks at Lepanto, in 1571.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> - -<p>Neglected and distrusted by the sovereign whom he had delivered, -Sobieski found consolation in detailing his victory, his spoil, and his -wrongs alike to his wife. We find the great soldier again, in the full -flush of his victory, writing indefatigably to his <i>Mariette</i>. It is on -the night of the 13th, in the Vizier's late quarters, in the camp still -cumbered with the slaughter of the combatants and of prisoners. The loss -had been heavy in the fighting upon both sides, he tells us; and such an -estimate, formed at such a moment by the victorious general, by far -outweighs the accounts by which the French above all tried to minimize -the slaughter made, and with it the greatness of the victory won.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> -He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> begins his letter: "God be blessed for ever. He has given victory to -our people; He has given them such a triumph that past ages have not -seen the like." All around, the explosions of the Turkish ammunition, -fired by the plunderers from city and army, "make a din like the last -judgment." He plunges into a description of the riches that the camp -contains. "The Vizier has made me his heir; he has done everything <i>en -galant homme</i>." "You cannot say to me, 'You are no warrior,' as the -Tartar women say to their husbands when they return empty-handed." "For -two nights and a day plunder has gone on at will; even the townsfolk -have taken their share, and I am sure that there is enough left for -eight days more. The plunder we got at Choczim was nothing to this."</p> - -<p>There was a touch of the barbaric chieftain in the Polish king, and he -keenly enjoyed not merely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> the victory, but the spoil which he had won. -At the end of the seventeenth century, the character of this general of -the school of Montecuculi, this admirer of Condé, recalls to us at once -the ardour of a crusader, and the affectionate rapacity of a -moss-trooper, reserving the richest plunder of a foray to deck his wife -at home. He exults in the belts and in the watches studded with jewels, -the stuffs and the embroideries which are to adorn his wife's boudoir. -But he is still bent on action. "We must march to-morrow for Hungary," -he says, "and start at the double, to escape the smell of the camp and -its refuse, with the thousands of bodies of men and of animals lying -unburied."</p> - -<p>One letter, at least, he had despatched before writing to his wife. He -knew well the feelings with which the King of France would regard the -salvation of the Empire, and the setting free of the attention of -Germany to be directed to his own designs. In Sobieski's own words to -his wife, he thus reveals his triumph over the French king, whose -intrigues had been ceaselessly directed to prevent his coming: "I have -written to the King of France; I have told him that it was to him -especially, as to the Most Christian King, that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> felt bound to convey -the information of the battle that we have won, and of the safety of -Christendom." This letter remained unanswered. It is said that the -proofs of Louis' dealings with the Turks had at that moment passed into -the hands of the victors, amid the plunder of the Vizier's quarters.</p> - -<p>No sooner had Louis heard that the intrigues of his agents had failed, -and that Sobieski was actually in the field, than his armies were let -loose upon the Spanish Netherlands. Unable to anticipate the victory at -Vienna, the French revenged it by seizing Courtrai and Dixmunde in the -autumn, and bombarding Luxemburg before the end of the year. The French -nobility had been forbidden to hasten to the defence of Christendom; and -now were inclined to depreciate, at least in words, the victory they had -not shared.</p> - -<p>Amidst the general chorus of admiration and of thankfulness which rose -from Europe, in France, and in France alone, were the deeds of Sobieski -slighted. He had cut in pieces not only the Turks, but the prophecies -which had filled Paris of the approaching downfall of the house of -Austria. The allies of that house took a bolder<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> tone; Spain talked of -the declaration of that war against Louis which he had provoked for so -long; the United Provinces listened to the warlike councils of the -Prince of Orange; the Emperor spoke decidedly of succouring all his -friends.</p> - -<p>Far different was to be the progress of Louis' aggressions upon Germany, -now that the overmastering fear of Turkish invasion was done away with, -and the Turkish hold upon Hungary loosened. The alliance of Laxenberg -and the other leagues were now to ripen into the great confederacy of -Augsburg and the Grand Alliance.</p> - -<p>Upon the Ottoman power the effect of the victory was decisive. Turkish -rule in Hungary had received a blow from which it never recovered. It is -true that Sobieski, advancing rashly with his cavalry alone, shortly -involved himself in a disaster, near the bridge of the Danube, opposite -Gran. The king himself had to ride for his life from the Turkish -horsemen. The check, however, was avenged by the complete destruction of -the force which had inflicted it; and the fortress of Gran, the most -important place upon that side of Hungary, became the prize of the -conqueror.</p> - -<p>The views of Sobieski embraced the reduction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> of Buda, and, perhaps, of -the whole of Hungary, in this campaign. But this was forbidden by the -lateness of the season, still more by the jealousy of the Emperor. The -king warred against the Turks, but not against the Hungarians. He -sympathized with their efforts to regain their liberties, and strove to -reconcile rather than to subdue Tekeli. Leopold was fearful of the -establishment of a Polish interest in the country, and showed a studied -neglect of his allies. But had other causes allowed, the insubordination -of the Poles would have prevented further conquests. The Polish -nobility, the political masters of their king, were foremost in -clamouring for a return to their native country. A prolonged career of -conquest was impossible at the head of such a State and army. The hopes -of a Hungarian alliance died away. Tekeli, after much hesitation, -refused to enter into the negotiations which the king proposed; and -reluctantly the deliverer of Christendom withdrew through Upper Hungary -into Poland again, reducing some towns upon the road, but leaving his -great work half done. His army melted in his hands. The tardy -Lithuanians, too late for the fighting, arrived to add to his vexation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> -in Moravia, where they disgraced their country by pillaging the people -whom they had not helped to save.</p> - -<p>But Sobieski was not alone in suffering from the Emperor's ingratitude. -Starhemberg, the defender of the city, was deservedly rewarded; but most -of the others, from Lorraine downwards, who had participated in the -battle, had little recompense for their services. Even the ardour of the -Elector of Bavaria was for a time cooled by the coolness of the Emperor, -though he returned again to the service of his future father-in-law. The -Elector of Saxony, Waldeck, and others left the scene of the campaign to -enjoy their triumph, or to plunge into other enterprises; but under -Lorraine, and a series of generals, culminating in that Eugene of Savoy, -who had seen his first service at Vienna, the Turks were driven foot by -foot from Hungary. Kara Mustapha shortly paid for his defeat, as Ottoman -commanders did pay—with his head, suffering not unjustly. But his -successors, though less incompetent, were scarcely on the whole more -fortunate than he.</p> - -<p>In vain a new Kiuprili was found to head the Turkish armies and to -reform the Turkish State.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> A short gleam of success under his leadership -was ended by his death in battle. In vain a Sultan, Mustapha II., again -appeared himself at the head of his armies. The means of warfare of the -Ottomans were to a great extent expended and lost beyond repair in the -great disaster at Vienna. New enemies rose up against them in their -weakness. Russia in the Ukraine, Venice in the Morea and in Dalmatia, -began conquests at the expense of the Porte. The war indeed dragged on, -delayed by the renewed contest between France and the Augsburg league; -but the very weakness of Austria served merely to show more clearly the -fallen fortunes of the Turks, who could make no lasting stand against -her. Steadily upon the whole the fortunes of the Ottomans declined, -though it was not till the great victory of Eugene at Zenta, in 1697, -that they were driven reluctantly to treat. The peace signed at -Carlowitz, in 1699, illustrates the altered relations of Europe since -the beginning of the war, when the Turks had been a menace to Germany.</p> - -<p>For the first time, an European conference considered the affairs of -Turkey. England and Holland were mediators of the peace, that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> -Emperor might be more free to act with them in the coming war of the -Spanish Succession. Sobieski had nearly three years earlier become a -memory, with his victories, his schemes, and his disappointments, in the -grave; and with him ended the ever unstable greatness of Poland. Another -yet more notable northern sovereign, Peter the Czar, was a party to the -negotiations. Everywhere was territory rent from Turkey. To Austria, she -yielded nearly all of Hungary and Transylvania, with most of the -Sclavonian lands between the Save and the Drave; to Poland, she gave up -Podolia; to Russia, Azof; to Venice, the Morea and parts of Dalmatia. -One point she proudly refused to yield. The Hungarian Tekeli and his -friends, who had sought her hospitality, were retained by her, safe from -the vengeance of the Emperor; as in 1849 other Hungarian exiles were -shielded by the Turks, against the vengeance of Austria and of Russia -combined. This was the first peace which had permanently reduced the -frontiers of the Ottomans; it marked the termination of the last of the -great Mohammedan aggressions upon Christendom; it saw the end of the -secret understandings by which, since the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> days of Francis I., France -had endeavoured to use Turkey for the subversion of Austria and for the -ends of her own ambition. The complete reversal of the former positions -of the combatants, the disastrous termination of the war for Turkey, the -"rolling away of the stone of Tantalus that hung above <i>their</i> heads, -the intolerable woe for the <i>Germans</i>",<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> the far-reaching results of -the struggle in the future history of Europe—all are traceable to the -day when the genius of Sobieski marked triumphantly, from the windy -heights of the Kahlenberg, that fatal incapacity which should open for -him the way, as victorious deliverer, to the foot of the ruined ramparts -of Vienna.</p> - -<p>But naturally, before concluding our consideration of the subject, we -ask what gain did Poland, or the King of Poland, gather from the -enterprise in which he had played so glorious a part? For a few months -he was the centre of the admiring eyes of Christendom. "<i>L'empire du -monde vous serait du si le ciel l'eût réservé à un seul potentat</i>," -wrote Christina<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> of Sweden from Rome, not without a glance at the -pretensions of Louis XIV. to supremacy, and of Leopold to an imperial -primacy in Europe. Never before had Poland filled so great a place in -the eyes of the world. The cautious Venetians sought her special -alliance. In the language of diplomacy she was <i>Respublica Serenissima</i>; -but untroubled she never was, and her greatness was of short duration. -It is true that the frontiers of the State were relieved of a constant -fear. The Turks were for the time broken, the Tartars were crushed, the -Cossacks of the Ukraine again reduced to submission. But Sobieski had -fought and had conquered for others. His country was incapable of -gathering the fruits of victory; incapable of prolonged effort, and -therefore of lasting success. At the peace of Carlowitz, Podolia, with -the fortress of Kaminiec, was recovered; but Moldavia had been in vain -invaded by the Poles; and the Turks, it was soon seen, were beaten for -the benefit of Austria; the Tartars for the benefit of Russia.</p> - -<p>The King of Poland, alive to the shortcomings of his countrymen, was -unable to correct them. A man who was at least the most eminent soldier, -general we may not say, of Europe; a man who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> above all others living -fulfilled the character of a hero; a king who had saved his country; a -husband who was devoted to his wife, found himself thwarted by his -subjects, and distracted by quarrels in his family. No doubt he laboured -to render the crown hereditary in his house, a service to his country it -would have been had he succeeded; but the jealousy of the Poles, still -more that of the neighbouring sovereigns, and to some extent the -misconduct of his wife, rendered this impossible. He found himself the -object of an empty respect, but the wielder of no authority; he saw his -country without order, without steadiness of purpose, unable to follow -any settled policy in conjunction either with France or with the enemies -of France. The factions of the Diet left him without soldiers and -without money. Not for the first, but nearly for the last time, the -Poles were victorious in battle, but were destined to fail woefully in -attaining the objects of war. The end was not far off. Sobieski was -followed by a foreigner upon the throne, and within ten years of his -death, Charles XII. of Sweden was disposing as a conqueror of the crown -of Poland. The prey to the ambition of her neighbours his country has -remained, now like her king<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> a memory, to serve as a lesson of the -consequences of the disregard of those restraints and of that -self-control which alone can render freedom safe and liberty a blessing. -For want of these her place has vanished from the map of Europe, sooner -even than that of the foe whom she destroyed.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> A moderate estimate of the Christian loss is five thousand -men, or about one-fifteenth of those on the field; a loss in about the -same proportion as that of both sides at Sadowa. The Poles alone -confessed to the loss of one hundred officers killed, and they were -neither so long nor so hotly engaged as the left wing. The loss of the -centre was probably less. Thürheim and Schimmer give of the allies four -thousand, and twenty-five thousand Turks; but the latter figures are -quite uncertain, and the Christians made the least of their losses. As -the fight was so much hand-to-hand, with little artillery fire, it would -resemble ancient battles, where the loss of the vanquished was always -disproportionately large. The memoirs of the Duke of Lorraine simply -say, that "for about three hours the fighting was very bloody upon both -sides." Fighting, however, had began soon after daybreak, and the -pursuit lasted till nightfall.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> -<br />ἑπειδἡ τὁν ὑπἑρ κεφαλἁς<br /> -γε Ταντἁλον λἱθον παρἁ τις ἑτρεψεν ἁμμι θεὁς,<br /> -ἁτὁλματον Ἑλλἁδι μὁχθον.</p> - -<p><span class="s12"> </span><span class="smcap">Pindar</span>, Isth. viii. 10.</p> - -<p>Written after the repulse of the great Persian invasion.</p></div> - -<p>[Greek: epeidê ton huper kephalas<br /> -ge Tantalon lithon para tis etrepsen ammi theos,<br /> -atolmaton Elladi mochthon.]</p></div> - -<p class="center space-above">THE END.</p> - -<p class="space-above"> </p> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<p class="center">PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,<br />LONDON AND BECCLES.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/map.jpg" alt="map" /></div> - -<blockquote><p class="center">Archiducatus Austriae Inferioris Geographics et Noviter Emendata -Accuratissima Descriptio.<br />(1697.)</p></blockquote> - -<p> </p> -<hr /> -<p> </p> - -<div class="mynote"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:<br /><br /> -A Table of Contents has been added.<br /></p></div> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIENNA 1683***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 56023-h.htm or 56023-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/6/0/2/56023">http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/0/2/56023</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Vienna 1683 - The History and Consequences of the Defeat of the Turks before Vienna, September 12, 1683, by John Sobieski, King of Poland, and Charles Leopold, Duke of Lorraine - - -Author: Henry Elliot Malden - - - -Release Date: November 21, 2017 [eBook #56023] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIENNA 1683*** - - -E-text prepared by Turgut Dincer, Martin Pettit, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 56023-h.htm or 56023-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/56023/56023-h/56023-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/56023/56023-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/viennahistorycons00mald - - - - - -VIENNA 1683 - -The History and Consequences of the Defeat -of the Turks before Vienna, September 12, 1683 -by John Sobieski, King of Poland -and Charles Leopold, Duke of Lorraine - -by - -HENRY ELLIOT MALDEN - - - - - - -London -Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1, Paternoster Square - -1883 - - - "Think of that age's awful birth, - When Europe echoed, terror-riven, - That a new foot was on the earth, - And a new name come down from Heaven - When over Calpe's straits and steeps - The Moor had bridged his royal road, - And Othman's sons from Asia's deeps - The conquests of the Cross o'erflowed. - - * * * * * - - "Think with what passionate delight - The tale was told in Christian halls, - How Sobieski turned to flight - The Muslim from Vienna's walls; - How, when his horse triumphant trod - The burghers' richest robes upon, - The ancient words rose loud, 'From God - A man was sent whose name was John.'" - - LORD HOUGHTON. - - (_The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._) - - - - -PREFACE. - -The historical scholar will find nothing new in the following pages; but -I have thought it worth while to tell to the general reader a story -worth the telling, and to explain not only the details, but the wider -bearings also, of a great crisis in European history, no satisfactory -account of which exists, I believe, in English, and the two hundredth -anniversary of which is now upon us. - -My principal authorities are "Sobieski's Letters to his Queen," edited -by Count Plater, Paris, 1826; Starhemberg's "Life and Despatches," -edited by Count Thuerheim, Vienna, 1882; "Campaigns of Prince Eugene, of -Savoy," Vienna, 1876, etc.; Schimmer's "Sieges of Vienna;" Von Hammer's -"History of the Turks;" Salvandy's "History of Poland;" "Memoirs of -Eugene," by De Ligne; "Memoirs of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, and his -Military Maxims," published late in the seventeenth century; "Works of -Montecuculi;" De la Guillatiere's "View of the Present State of the -Turkish Empire, etc.," translated, London, 1676, etc. - -I have been obliged to reject some statements of Salvandy's, such, for -instance, as that the _crescent moon_ was eclipsed on the day of the -battle before Vienna. - -I regret that I have been unable to use the account of the campaign of -1683 published in Vienna, by the Director of the War Archives, since -this went to press. Some of the matter of it is, I believe, contained in -the "Campaigns of Eugene," published under the same authority mentioned -above, and in Schimmer's work. - -KITLANDS, 1883. - - - - -SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS. - - 1663. Ahmed Kiuprili Grand Vizier. - - 1664. Montecuculi defeats the Turks at St. Gotthard. Twenty years' - truce with Austria, by which the Turks retain most of Hungary. - - 1669. The Turks take Candia from the Venetians. - - 1671. Conspiracy in Hungary against the Emperor crushed. - - 1672. French attack upon Holland provokes a general war. Treaty of - Buksacs between the Turks and Poles. Poland cedes most of Podolia - and the Ukraine, and pays tribute to Turkey. - - 1673. The Polish nobles break the treaty. Great victory of Sobieski - over the Turks at Choczim. - - 1675. Sobieski crowned King of Poland. - - 1676. Treaty of Zurawna between Turks and Poles; the former retain - most of their conquests. - - 1677. Death of Ahmed Kiuprili. Kara Mustapha Grand Vizier. - - 1678. Tekeli heads an insurrection in Hungary against the Emperor. - The French intrigue with him. - - 1678-79. Treaties of Nimuegen between the French and the allies. - - 1681. Louis XIV. seizes Strassburg and makes other aggressions upon - the Empire. Treaty between Holland and Sweden against France. - - 1682. Treaty of Laxenberg between the Emperor and the Upper German - Circles against France, followed by similar treaties between the - other Circles, the Emperor and Sweden. The Turks openly aid the - Hungarians. - - 1683. League of the Empire, Poland and the Pope, supported by other - anti-French powers, against the Turks. Turkish invasion of Austria. - Siege of Vienna. Defeat of the Turks by John Sobieski and the Duke - of Lorraine, September 12. The French attack the Spanish - Netherlands in the autumn. - - 1684. Truce of Ratisbon between France and the Empire. - - 1686. Buda recovered from the Turks. League of Augsburg between the - Emperor and the Circles of Western Germany, joined ultimately by - Spain, Holland, the Pope, Savoy and other Princes of the Empire, - against the French. - - 1688. The English Revolution secures England for the side of the - League, which she joins next year. General war with France follows. - - 1696. Death of Sobieski. - - 1697. Treaty of Ryswick between France and the allies. Eugene - defeats the Turks at Zenta, in Hungary. - - 1699. Peace of Carlowitz. The Turks cede nearly all Hungary, - Transylvania, Podolia, the Ukraine, the Morea and Azof. The first - great diminution of Turkish territory in Europe. - - - - -VIENNA. - -1683. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - -At the present moment, in 1883, the power of Austria is driven as a -wedge into the midst of the former dominions of the Sultan. That this is -so, perhaps that Austria even exists as a great power, and can hope to -be a greater in south-eastern Europe, is owing in no small degree to the -Polish aid which in 1683 defeated the Turkish armies before the gates, -and saved Vienna. The victor, John Sobieski, King of Poland, then -deserved and enjoyed the gratitude of Christendom. But the unequal fate -of a man great in character and in abilities, but born out of due time, -in an incongruous age and in a state unworthy of him, has seldom been -more conspicuously illustrated than in his career. The great men of the -last quarter of the seventeenth century whom we most readily remember -are men of western Europe. Louis XIV., with the resources of France -behind him, William III., wielding the power of England, of Holland, and -of Protestant Germany, are the kings who fill the stage. The half-crazy -hero, Charles XII. of Sweden, is a more familiar character than the -great Polish king, the deliverer first of Poland, secondly of Germany, -perhaps of Europe. The causes are not far to seek. The country which he -ruled has disappeared from the roll of European nations. The enemy whom -he defeated has become, in his last decrepitude, the object merely of -scorn, or of not disinterested care. It seems now so incredible that the -Turks should have been a menace to Europe, that it is no great claim to -remembrance to have defeated them. Sobieski, too, in his greatness and -in his weakness, was a mediaeval hero. He was out of place in the age of -Louis XIV. He was a great soldier rather than a great general, a -national hero rather than a great king. His faith had the robust -sincerity of that of a thirteenth-century knight, his character was -marred by the violent passions of a mediaeval baron. His head was full of -crusading projects--of the expulsion of the Turks, of the revival of a -Catholic Greek state, not without principalities for his own house. His -plans would have commanded support in the days of St. Louis, but were -impracticable in a Europe whose rulers schemed for a balance of power. -Poland herself perished, partly through clinging to a mediaeval -constitution in the midst of modern states. Her mediaevally-minded king -and his exploits are eclipsed by other memories, even upon the scene of -his greatest achievement. - -For the traveller who from the Tower of St. Stephen's, in the centre of -the old-town of Vienna, looks down upon the places made remarkable by -great historic actions in the valley of the Danube, has his eye turned -first northward and eastward upon the Marchfeld. There, he is told, are -Aspern and Essling, where the Archduke Charles beat Napoleon in 1809. -There is the island of Lobau, where Napoleon repaired his forces, and -whence he issued to fight yonder the great and terrible conflict of -Wagram. The scene, not of a greater slaughter, not of a more obstinately -contested fight, than Wagram, but the scene of a battle more momentous -in its consequences, lies upon the other side. Among the vineyards, -villages, and chateaux which cover the lower slopes of the Wiener Wald, -among the suburbs of Nussdorf and of Hernals, Charles of Lorraine and -John Sobieski smote the Turkish armies in 1683. There at one blow they -frustrated the last great Mohammedan aggression against Christendom, and -set free the minds and arms of the Germans to combine against French -ambition upon their western frontier. The victory was one of those -decisive events which complete long pending revolutions, and inaugurate -new political conditions in Europe. - -The treaties of Nimuegen in 1678-79 had marked a pause in a general -European contest. France and the Empire, Holland, Spain, Sweden, -Brandenberg, all retired from their active conflicts, to plot and strive -in secret, till an advantageous opening for war should again present -itself. Poland and the Porte had a little earlier concluded their strife -by the peace of Zurawna. But in the general breathing-time the eyes of -all were turned with anxiety upon Eastern Europe. So much of Hungary as -was not in the hands of the Sultan was in insurrection against the -Emperor. The insolence of the Turks, and their support to the -insurgents, were continually becoming greater. The whole East resounded -with warlike preparations, and it was without doubt evident that a great -enterprise was being prepared which might make the reign of Mahomet IV. -as illustrious for Islam, as calamitous for Christendom, as that of -Mahomet II. had been. Rome, Venice, Vienna, were the three capitals in -more immediate danger, but the whole continent was interested, and all -other designs were necessarily suspended till it became clearer where -this storm would fall, and what resistance could be made to it. - -For, two hundred years ago, the Ottoman Empire still stood high among -the greatest of European powers. Spain ruled over wider territories; but -the dominions of Spain were scattered over the Old and New Worlds, and -her European lands, in the Netherlands and in Italy, were divided from -her by the sea, or isolated by the interposition of the frontiers of -powerful and often hostile neighbours. - -A compact yet widely spread collection of kingdoms and of provinces -obeyed the head of the Mohammedan world. Northern Africa, Western Asia, -Eastern Europe were ruled from the Bosphorus. All the chief centres of -ancient civilization, Rome alone excepted, Thebes, Nineveh and Babylon, -Carthage, Athens and Constantinople, bowed beneath the Crescent. The -southern frontiers of the Sultan's territories reached beyond the Tropic -of Cancer, the northern touched nearly the latitude of Paris. - -The modern kingdoms of Greece, Servia, Roumania were wholly his; the -kingdom of Hungary, the dominions of Austria and of Russia were in part -his also. The Black Sea was entirely encircled with Turkish or tributary -territory; no other power possessed the same extent of coast line on the -Mediterranean. Not only the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Nile, but the -Danube, the Boug, the Dneister, the Dneiper and the Don flowed for a -great part of their course between banks subject or tributary to the -Porte, and reached the sea by mouths wholly under Turkish control. - -[Illustration: _Territory ceded by Turkey in 1699._] - -The armies of the Sultan were unapproachable in numbers, unsurpassable -in valour, by those of the Christian powers. Their discipline and -warlike science were no longer what they once had been, the first in -Europe; but their inequality in these respects to their enemies was not -yet so marked as at present. Military and administrative skill were yet -to be found in their empire. From the first appearance of the Turks in -Europe Mohammedan rule had been, on the whole, extending. The Christian -reconquest of Spain was balanced by the inroads of this new enemy upon -the Eastern Empire. The Spanish reconquest of Grenada, in the fifteenth -century, was more than counterbalanced by the Turkish conquest of -Hungary in the sixteenth. The Turks upon the middle Danube were a menace -at once to Poland, Germany, and to northern Italy. Nor was this a mere -temporary inroad of theirs. Two-thirds of Hungary were then more firmly -held in their grasp than Macedonia is at present, and their frontiers -were not going back. In the seventeenth century the Ottoman power still -more than held its own in Eastern Europe. Though the Spaniards and -Venetians had destroyed their fleet at Lepanto in 1571, though -Montecuculi at the head of the Imperial troops had routed their armies -at St. Gotthard in 1664, though Sobieski and the Poles made the great -slaughter of Choczim in 1673, yet the frontiers of the Turks were -advanced by every war. After Lepanto, the peace confirmed them in the -possession of the newly acquired Cyprus; after St. Gotthard, they -retained the strong city of Neuhausel, which they had just won, in -Hungary, and conquered Candia; after Choczim, they were confirmed in -their possession of the province of Podolia, and their supremacy over -the Ukraine, the Marchland of Poland. - -Of their soldiers the most formidable were the Janissaries. The policy -of the earlier Sultans had demanded a tribute of boys from their -Christian subjects. These children, early converts to Islam, were -brought up with no home but the camp, no occupation but war; and, under -the title of Janissaries, or the New Troops, were alternately the -servants and the masters of the Ottoman Sultans. The strength of the -Christians was drained, the strength of the Ottoman armies multiplied, -and the fields of Paradise replenished at once, in the judgment of pious -Mussulmans, by this policy. At this time the ranks of the Janissaries -were not solely filled by this levy, but it has been computed that -500,000 Christian boys may have become instruments for the subjugation -of Christendom, from the first institution of the tax in the fourteenth -century down to the final levy made in 1675. Our commiseration for the -Christian parents may be mitigated by the consideration that to sell -their children into slavery, uncompelled, was a not unknown practice -among the subjects of the Eastern Emperors, before the Mohammedan -conquest. - -These Janissaries formed a disciplined body of regular infantry. In the -seventeenth century the Turks clung to the sabre, the musket, and even -bows and arrows, as their arms, neglecting the pike, "the queen of -infantry weapons," as Montecuculi calls it, just as afterwards they -neglected the bayonet. But in the use of their arms every man of the -Janissaries was a trained expert. The Turkish horsemen were famed for -their rapidity of action, being generally more lightly armed and better -mounted than the Germans or Poles. The Spahis, or royal horseguards, -were the flower of the cavalry. The feudal levy from lands held by -military tenure, swelled the numbers of their armies, and every province -wrested from the Christians provided more fiefs to support fresh -families of soldiers. Thus the children and lands of the conquered -furnished the means for new conquests. Light troops, who were expected -to live by plunder, spread far and wide before an advancing Ottoman -host, eating up the country, destroying the inhabitants, and diverting -the attention of the enemy. The Ottoman artillery was numerous, and the -siege pieces of great calibre. Auxiliaries, such as the Tartars of the -Crimea, the troops of Moldavian, Wallachian, Transylvanian, and even -Hungarian princes, made a formidable addition to their forces. These -armies lay, a terror to the inhabitants, a constant anxiety to the -rulers, upon the frontiers of Germany and of Poland;--a black storm of -war, ever ready to break in destructive energy upon them. - -Whatever schism divided Turks and Persians, towards Europe at least, -from the Caspian to Morocco, Islam presented an unbroken front, -contrasting powerfully with the bitter divisions of Christendom. -Massinger, in the "Renegade," puts into the mouth of a Moslem what many -a Christian must have thought of with shame and terror:-- - - - "Look on our flourishing empire, if the splendour, - The majesty, and glory of it dim not - Your feeble sight; and then turn back and see - The narrow bounds of yours, yet that poor remnant, - Rent in as many factions and opinions - As you have petty kingdoms."[1] - - -United Islam, which had preceded her western rival Spain in greatness, -seemed also destined to long outlive that power's decay. - -When Spain, in the sixteenth century, had been at the zenith of her -power under Charles V., the Turks, under their great Emperor Solyman, -had been not unworthy rivals to her. Even then Solyman had penetrated to -the walls of Vienna, in 1529, and probably the lateness of the season, -October, and the absence of his heavy artillery, stuck deep in the soil -of Hungarian roads, saved the capital of the Austrian dominions more -effectually than the valour of the garrison or the relieving forces of -Charles could have done. Then the tide of Turkish power touched its -farthest limit, but the fear of its return was not destroyed till after -the lapse of one hundred and fifty years. Till after the siege of 1683, -it is said that a crescent disgraced the spire of St. Stephen's, the -cathedral of Vienna--a sign to avert the fire of Turkish gunners. - -In the seventeenth century, when the great empire of Spain was fast -approaching dissolution, when France was the great power of Western -Europe, the Turks were still the great power of the East, with -territories even more widely extended than in the previous age. It is -true that, after the death of Solyman, a series of incapable rulers and -the natural decay of an eastern despotism had paralyzed the great powers -of Turkey; but the stern reforming vigour of Amurath IV. (1623-40), and, -still more, the wise administration of the first two Grand Viziers of -the house of Kiuprili, had done much to restore good government, vigour -and efficiency to the Ottomans.[2] Their empire, the speedy downfall of -which had been predicted by the English Ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, at -the beginning of the seventeenth century, had since fully recovered its -former reputation. A clever Frenchman, M. de la Guillatiere, who visited -the camp of Kiuprili in Candia in 1669, formed the highest estimate of -the military genius of the Turks, and of their political insight into -the power and designs of the Christians. He judged of the greatness of -the Sultan by considering the number and quality of the persons who -feared his displeasure. "When he makes any great preparation, Malta -trembles, Spain is fearful for his kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the -Venetian anxious for what he holds in Greece--Dalmatia and Friuli, the -Germans apprehensive for what remains to them in Hungary, Poland is -alarmed, and the consternation passes on as far as Muscovy, and, not -resting there, expands itself to the Christian princes in Gourgistan and -Mingrelia; Persia, Arabia, the Abyssinians are all in confusion, whilst -neither man nor woman nor beast in all this vast tract but looks out for -refuge till they be certain whither his great force is intended."[3] It -is a striking estimate of Turkish power, but not beyond what experience -confirmed. It was not till the second siege of Vienna, and her relief by -Sobieski in 1683, that the real instability of the power of the Sultan -was disclosed, that his armies were routed, his frontiers curtailed, his -power rolled back within the Save and the Carpathians. - -Not for the first time, in the summer of that year, Europe trembled at -the progress of the Crescent. Since then, the tide of victory has run -almost uninterruptedly in favour of the Cross, and Turkey has sunk from -being the terror to the position of protegee, tool, victim, or tolerated -scandal of Europe. - -The decline of her forces, the reversal of the former position of Turk -and Christian in the East, date from this great catastrophe of Islam. -For Eastern Europe at least the battle before Vienna was a decisive -battle. We must remember, indeed, what is meant by a decisive battle, or -by any other so-called decisive event. They are rather the occasions -than the causes of the transference of power. The causes lie deep which -can produce such great and such lasting results. The operation of many -influences, throughout a length of time, brings about ultimately the -striking revolutions in the history of mankind. No chance bullet which -strikes down, or avoids, a commander; no brilliant display of military -genius in the person of one man; no incapacity of a single officer, can -do more than alter the minor circumstances of great events. The great -man is not successfully great, unless his genius can seize upon the -opportunities offered by a rising tide of popular opinion, or profit by -the accumulated energy of a nation. The incapable leader can seldom -make shipwreck of a power unless it be built upon unsafe lines. The -presence of a thoroughly incapable commander argues something rotten in -his cause. The revolution, the reformation, the reaction, the -transference of empire will come; if not in one way, in another; if not -in one year, in the next, or in following years. The foundations of -success and of failure, are laid deep in the moral, religious and -political habits and institutions of nations. The invincible -determination and high political and military training of the Roman -aristocracy bore them safely through the catastrophes of a Second Punic -War and the revolt of their allies. The ordered liberty, and the -generations of successful adventure, which were the heritage of the -English nation, had won Trafalgar before a shot had been fired from the -_Victory_. The Persian host went forth predestined to choke the Gulf of -Salamis with corpses. No Kosciusko's valour could redeem the long -anarchy and blindness of Poland. Napoleon, marching from victory to -victory, but approached the nearer to that fall, which must await one -man against a continent in arms. So the Turkish myriads, victorious at -Vienna, would have fallen upon some less noble field before the skill -of some other Sobieski. But the genius and courage of individuals may -well determine the fate of armies for a day. One day's victory may call -for years of warfare to accomplish its undoing. A few years of delay may -work great changes in the fortunes of men. - -It is no mistaken estimate of the relative value of causes, it is no -unintelligent interest which makes us prone to linger over the one -dramatic moment--that moment when the courses of the tendencies of ages -are declared within the compass of a day. By no hard effort of -imagination we identify our interest with that of the actors in the -scene. To them, however confident, the result is never clear; to them -the delay of a few years in the overthrow of some inevitably falling -wrong may make that difference for which no ultimate success can -compensate. It was cold comfort to the inhabitants of Vienna, or to the -King of Poland, to know that even if St. Stephen's had shared the fate -of St. Sophia and become a mosque of Allah, and if the Polish standards -had been borne in triumph to the Bosphorus, yet that, nevertheless, the -undisciplined Ottomans would infallibly have been scattered by French, -German and Swedish armies on the fields of Bavaria or of Saxony. Vienna -would have been sacked; Poland would have been a prey to internal -anarchy and to Tartar invasion. The ultimate triumph of their cause -would have consoled few for their individual destruction. - -Prompted by feelings such as these we dwell upon the decisive hours, -when the long assured superiority asserts itself, for good and all. We -can hail Marathon, Salamis, Tours, or Vienna as the occasion, if not the -cause, of the triumph of civilization over barbarism, of Europe over -Asia. We must remember, too, that, if the day for a permanent advance of -Turkish power was over, yet that a temporary Turkish victory, and a -protracted war in Germany, could not have been confined in their -influence to the seat of war alone. So cool and experienced a -diplomatist as Sir William Temple did indeed believe, at the time, that -the fall of Vienna would have been followed by a great and permanent -increase of Turkish power.[4] Putting this aside however, there were -other results likely to spring from Turkish success. The Turks -constantly made a powerful diversion in favour of France and her -ambitious designs. Turkish victories upon the one side of Germany meant -successful French aggressions upon the other, and Turkish schemes were -promoted with that object by the French. The author of the memoirs of -Prince Eugene writes bitterly, but truly enough, of this crisis: "_Le -roi tres-chretien avant d'etre devot, secourait les chretiens contre les -infideles_ (at St. Gotthard and at Candia), _devenu pourtant un grand -homme de bien, il les agacait contre l'empereur, et soutenait les -rebelles de Hongrie. Sans lui ils ne seraient jamais venus, les uns et -les autres, aux portes de Vienne._" - -"If France would but stand neutral, the controversy between Turks and -Christians might soon be decided," says the Duke of Lorraine. But France -would not stand neutral. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] "Renegade," Act. iv. sc. 3. - -[2] Ahmed Kiuprili, the second Vizier of his race, was one of the -greatest ministers of his day. He was described by the Turkish -historians as "the light and splendour of the nation, the preserver and -administrator of good laws, the vicar of the shadow of God, the thrice -learned and all accomplished Grand Vizier." He seems to have really -deserved some of the praise. - -[3] De la Guillatiere, "Account of a Late Voyage, etc., and State of the -Turkish Empire." Trans. 1676. - -[4] "If the Turks had possessed this bulwark of Christendom (Vienna), I -do not conceive what could have hindered them from being masters -immediately of Austria, and all its depending provinces; nor, in another -year, of all Italy, or of the southern provinces of Germany, as they -should have chosen to carry on their invasion, or of both in two or -three years' time; and how fatal this might have been to the rest of -Christendom, or how it might have enlarged the Turkish dominions, is -easy to conjecture."--Sir W. Temple, Works, iii. 393, edit. 1814. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - -The Emperor was exposed on either side to these two implacable enemies. -At Versailles, as at the Porte, had the destruction of the house of -Austria been sworn. - -But France was the power which, in the latter half of the seventeenth -century, menaced most seriously the independence of her neighbours. -Turkey was, perhaps, from her internal weakness and faulty constitution, -in no condition to effect a lasting conquest, however great her mere -destructive energies might be. An ingenious nation and an ambitious -king, able ministers and skilful generals, revenues, ships, colonies, -commercial enterprise, a central situation among divided foes, combined -to render France the dominant power of the age. - -The great Turkish Vizier, the restorer of order and prosperity, Ahmed -Kiuprili, had had a greater counterpart in the French minister, -Cardinal Richelieu. The Sultan, Mahomet IV., was wanting in all those -qualities which made Louis XIV. for long the successful administrator of -a despotic power. The armies of France, under the leadership of a Conde, -a Turenne, a Luxembourg, were the finest of the world, the envy of -neighbouring princes, the pattern for all soldiers. The Duke of -Marlborough and John Sobieski both learnt their first lessons in -military affairs under French command. Prince Eugene vainly sought -employment in the French troops; their opposition to himself taught -William III. the art of war. - -Nor was the French ascendency won by arms alone. The order and splendour -of her government, the genius of her authors, the attractions of her -society, the diplomatic skill of her ambassadors, made a French party in -every court in Europe. - -Portugal may be said to have owed her independent existence to France; -Holland till 1672 ranked as a French ally; Sweden, too far removed to be -a rival, was an almost constant friend, till Louis' aggressions -alienated her also in 1681. France had a party in Poland; the petty -princes and republics of Italy vacillated between her and the Empire; -in England she had had Cromwell as an ally, and she held both Charles -II. and his opponents in her pay. She maintained an understanding with -Turkey. Discontented Romanists in England and Ireland, unruly -Protestants in Hungary, were alike taught to look to her for advice and -for assistance. Her frontiers were steadily advancing at the expense of -Spain and of the German princes. Neither force nor treaties seemed to -avail aught against her superior strength and cunning. The Lotharingian -bishoprics and their dependencies; Elsass, Breisach and Bar, Roussillon, -Franche Comte, parts of Flanders, of Artois, of Hainault and Luxemburg, -the free imperial city of Strassburg, the territory of Orange, were -steadily absorbed by her, and thoroughly incorporated with the French -kingdom. - -Her opponents saw no possibility of resistance, save in a great -confederacy against her. Her power was not finally checked, nor her -ambition confined within bounds, till such a confederacy was made. But -it is hardly too much to say that such a confederacy would have been -scarcely possible had the Turks been completely victorious at Vienna in -1683. - -Three years later than that deliverance, in 1686, the League of -Augsburg was formed. It was ultimately the union of the Emperor, the -German princes, Sweden, Spain, Holland and the Pope, against an ambition -that menaced all. This League was the basis of that Grand Alliance which -finally defeated France under Marlborough and Eugene. But the true -foundations of a similar alliance had been laid before, in 1682, -principally by the endeavours of the Prince of Waldeck, in the treaty of -Laxenberg between the Circles of Upper Germany and the Emperor. - -This incipient League against France had been practically suspended by -the Turkish invasion. A Turkish success must have dissolved it. The Pope -had been zealous in forming the "Holy League" against the Turks and in -promoting union against France. Had Vienna fallen, fear of the Sultan -would have driven him into the arms of Louis, and he would have drawn -the Catholic powers at least along with him. Probably all the States -united in the "Holy League" must have demanded French support for their -own salvation. With Austria and Poland beaten, France, and France alone, -could have assumed the leadership of Europe against the East. The German -Protestant princes would have been ranged under the command of -Luxembourg and of Vendome; Louis would have triumphed upon the Danube; -the house of Austria would have existed only by the sufferance of her -ancient enemy; and French influence would have been riveted, as a chain, -by the force of admiration and of gratitude, upon the neck of Europe. -Such an event Louis expected, and the Emperor feared. As the Turks drew -near, the French armies lay ready upon the frontier, ready to take -advantage of the approaching catastrophe--ready to avenge, but not to -save the Empire. - -We in England, safe as we were from Turkish invasion, were by no means -unaffected by the struggle. Nothing which tended to increase or diminish -the power of France or of the German princes could be indifferent to us, -and at that particular time our fortunes were closely bound up with -those of the powers opposing France. - -The motive which induced the Dutch government and the other allies of -Augsburg to sanction the descent of William III. upon our shores, and to -withdraw, at a critical moment, the flower of their forces upon such a -doubtful enterprise, was the necessity of including England in their -league. Though James II. would no doubt have awakened resistance in -some form or other anyhow, the plot which actually overthrew him was -hatched abroad among the allies, and executed by the help of foreign -troops and foreign money. English men, ships, and money were needed to -beat the French. No method was open for obtaining them except by the -superseding of King James, entirely or practically, by William, as king -or regent. No personal aims nor admiration of Whig principles would have -justified the risks William ran. In truth, neither the allies nor the -Dutch government would have allowed him to run such risk at all, save -for the common good of the League and of Europe. But a Turkish victory -at Vienna would have meant the probable non-existence of the League, by -the rallying of half its members to the side of France. It would -certainly have meant such a change of circumstances upon the continent, -as would have rendered it highly improbable that an army, principally -furnished from Germany, could be spared to go to England. James and the -Whig nobility would have fought their quarrel alone, with the -High-Church Tory majority of the country as arbiters of the strife. -Therefore, had the battle of Vienna been fought differently, the Boyne, -La Hogue and Blenheim might never have been fought at all. Forces -supplied by England, or paid by England, commanded by Marlborough at -Blenheim and at Ramilies, broke French power. The power of making the -alliance which fought at Blenheim and at Ramilies was won at Vienna. - -To turn to Sir William Temple's views again, so convinced was he that a -Turkish invasion of Austria would tend to the great advantage of France, -that he believed that the Turks themselves would see it, and for that -very reason refrain from the enterprise; it being against their interest -to make any one Christian power so strong as France would then -become.[5] - -It is certain that Louis XIV. fully appreciated the value of that -diversion of their attention from himself, which an attack from Hungary -upon the rear of the German powers would cause. It is equally certain -that he, the eldest son of the Church, the most Christian King, the -persecutor of the Huguenots, had some understanding with Mohammedans and -with Hungarian Protestant malcontents. And this, too, at a time when -religious passions still ran high; when the forces of Europe were -everywhere divided, owing to religious intolerance; when France herself -was about to be fatally injured by the Revocation of the Edict of -Nantes. Louis, however, intrigued as readily with Hungarian Protestants -as with Irish Romanists, and the intolerance of the Emperor gave every -opportunity for interference. Indeed, the attacks of the Emperor Leopold -upon the religion of some of his Hungarian subjects well nigh proved -fatal to Austria. The Protestants preferred Mohammedan rule, which, if -contemptuous, may he just, and is not avowedly persecuting, to the -oppressions of a court dominated by the Jesuit fathers. Attempts to -Germanize their nation and to override their laws united Hungarians of -all religions in a common hostility to Vienna. A dangerous conspiracy, -fomented by France, was discovered, and crushed in 1671 by the execution -of the principal leaders. But Emerich Count Tekeli, the son of one of -the chiefs involved, escaping into Transylvania, threw himself upon the -protection of the Turks, and with their assistance commenced a guerilla -warfare in Hungary. Numbers of the inhabitants, irrespective of their -religion, joined his standard. A levy, under French officers, was made -even in Poland for the assistance of the insurgents. With the almost -open aid of the Pasha of Buda, their operations assumed the character of -regular warfare, and they fully held their own against the Imperial -generals. - -It was fortunate for Austria that, just as the obligations of a peace -and internal confusion had prevented the Turks from attacking Hungary -during the Thirty Years' War, so this rising was not taken advantage of -by the Porte, in spite of French solicitations, till after the peace of -Nimuegen in 1679. During the contest with France, from 1673 to 1679, the -Polish war had occupied the attention of the Turks, and the Austrian -government had been untroubled. They had not at the same time to wage -open war with the East and West. Yet even now, though peace nominally -continued in Western Europe, France was glad to avail herself of those -difficulties of the Court of Vienna, to which she herself was -contributing. Louis seized Strassburg, and quietly annexed other places -by the pretended legal decisions of packed tribunals. He attacked the -Spanish Netherlands, and conceived himself to be acting generously in -that he refrained from taking Luxemburg. It was enough that Austria -should be spared the task of fighting, at the same time, on behalf of -Spain against the French, and on her own behalf against the Infidels. -That the house of Bourbon should strive to embarrass the house of -Hapsburg, by intrigues in Turkey, in Hungary and in Poland, was but in -accord with a traditional policy, which no danger to their common -Christendom could be expected to overrule. - -But 1683 was a year of disaster for Louis. In that year he lost two of -his natural sons, his Queen, and his greatest minister, Colbert. Above -all, in that year his designs against the Emperor were destined to be -foiled by the interference of Sobieski, the _Deus ex machina_ for -Christendom and for the Empire. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[5] "If the Grand Vizier (Kiuprili) be so great a man as he is reputed -in politics as well as in arms, he will never consent, by an invasion of -Hungary, to make way for the advance of French progress into the Empire, -which a conquest of the Low Countries would make easy and obvious; and -so great accessions (with others that would lie fair and open in the -Spanish provinces upon the Mediterranean) would make France a formidable -power to the Turk himself, and greater than I suppose he desires to see -any in Christendom."--Sir W. Temple, Works, ii. 212, edit. 1814. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - -To return, therefore, to the troubles in Hungary, which gave occasion -for French intrigue and for the interference of the Porte. The Turks, -reinvigorated by the policy of the late Vizier Kiuprili, but directed no -longer by his cool experience and judgment, were now not slow to take -advantage of the difficulties of Austria. After their defeat at the -hands of Montecuculi at St. Gotthard in 1664, they had consented to a -twenty years' truce, by which they were still left in possession of the -greater part of Hungary, and of that part where the pure Magyar -population most prevailed. This truce had not expired when the -oppressions exercised in the part of their country remaining to the -Emperor drove the Hungarians to arms, and Count Tekeli to seek aid from -the Sultan. Ordinarily scrupulous in the observance of their treaty -obligations, the Turks were on this occasion overcome by the -temptations held out to them of an easy extension of their frontier and -of their influence. With the active aid of the Hungarians, and with the -tacit consent of France, they deemed it possible to deal a mortal blow -at the house of Austria. The Sultan, Mahomet IV., was perhaps not over -ambitious, but he was spurred on by the zeal of a servant. The Grand -Vizier, Kara Mustapha, though a nephew of the great minister Kiuprili, -owed his advancement more to the beauty of his person and to the favour -of the Sultana Valide, or Queen Mother, who ruled the ruler of Islam, -than to other connexions or to ability. His ambition, however, was -believed to aim at no less than a dependent kingdom for himself in -Hungary or at Vienna. Here, at all events, and not against the Poles or -Russians, did Kara Mustapha determine to gather his laurels and his -booty. He had, indeed, already essayed a Russian campaign with little -profit. A more striking success and greater glories, more abundant -plunder with fewer toils, seemed to be promised by a campaign in the -valley of the Danube, than by one among the marshes and forests of -Poland, or of the Ukraine. - -Too late, in 1681, the court of Vienna attempted a conciliatory policy -in Hungary. The spirit of rebellion had been aroused, and the offers of -redress and justice made by the Emperor were distrusted as a veil for -treachery, or despised as the confession of weakness. Tekeli defied the -Emperor, and assumed the offensive even beyond the borders of Hungary. -Neither was the Porte to be propitiated. In vain an Imperial Embassy to -Constantinople sought a prolongation of the truce, which was on the -point of expiring at the end of the stipulated twenty years. The demands -of the Turks rose with the progress of their preparations. A -principality for their ally, Count Tekeli, in Hungary; extension of -territory, with the strongest border fortresses for themselves; a great -war indemnity--such were the terms which implied a determination not to -negotiate. The ambassador, Count Caprara, was compelled as a prisoner -himself to witness the departure of the Turkish hosts for the frontier. -At the end of the year 1682 the main body were drawn together at -Adrianople. Mahomet IV. encouraged his troops by his countenance in the -camp, and beguiled the tedium of winter quarters by his favourite -pastime of hunting. The sport was carried on upon a gigantic scale with -thirty thousand beaters, many of whom perished by exhaustion. "No doubt -they have spoken ill of me, and God hath dealt them their reward," was -the reasonable conjecture of the Sultan upon their fate. This mighty -hunter, however, relieved his army of his presence when the spring of -1683 saw it finally set in motion for the Danube. Kara Mustapha was -invested with complete command. Accounts vary as to the precise point -where Mahomet left his army. The ambition of his Vizier perhaps was -interested in removing so soon as possible from the field the Sultan, to -whom the glory of success would have been necessarily ascribed. Similar -motives had, according to M. de la Guillatiere, caused others before -this to keep the easily persuaded prince back from the camp, whither his -first impulse would have led him. - -Oriental exaggeration is prone to magnify the hosts which Asiatic -despots can command for their service. The muster-roll, found in the -tent of the Grand Vizier after his defeat, affords a better basis for -calculation. We find there, in round numbers, 275,000 fighting men -enumerated, as the original strength of the Turkish army. Judging by -the analogy of our Indian armies, the attendants and camp followers of -all descriptions must have doubled these numbers. In Hungary, the Vizier -effected a junction with Count Tekeli, who was at the head of nearly -60,000 men--Hungarians, Transylvanians, Turks and Tartars. Even French -officers and engineers were to be found in Tekeli's ranks; and the -character of his cause was vindicated by coins which he caused to be -struck with the inscription, _Pro Deo et Patria_. Half a million of men -probably, of all creeds and races that lie between the Carpathian -mountains and the Arabian deserts, were arrayed under the standard of -the Prophet in the valley of the Danube. Again, according to the Turkish -returns, of these 50,000 men perished in the operations before the -decisive battle that relieved Vienna. Of the whole vast multitude not -more than 50,000 it was computed, ultimately regained the Turkish -frontier. - -But even if drawn up with the best intentions, the accuracy of such -returns and estimates can never be more than an approximation to the -truth. It is sufficient that hundreds of thousands were marshalled -beneath the Crescent to burst in a storm of desolating war upon the -Christian lands. - -For the struggle between Turk and Christian was not of the character of -those operations to which the term of civilized warfare is -conventionally applied. Prisoners were seldom made. The Christian -slaughtered; the Turk, if he spared, sold into slavery his captives; -prisoners we cannot call them to whom future release was denied. Far and -wide before the Turkish armies, the Tartars and the irregular horsemen, -whose sole pay was plunder, whose diversion and whose business at once -was rapine, spread in a desolating cloud over the country. The whole of -the unconquered Hungary, the Austrian duchy, the plains of Moravia and -the mountains of Styria were swept or threatened by the scourge. Poland -they had long held to be their licensed field of plunder, and now -Bavaria, and Bohemia even, trembled at the terror of their approach. The -painful curiosity of their friends has attempted an estimate of the -numbers of Turkish captives taken in this invasion. 32,000 grown -persons, the great majority women, 204 of whom were maiden daughters of -the nobility; 26,000 little children were, they tell us, carried off -into slavery. This return seems to make no mention of lads, nor of elder -girls, who would perhaps form the majority of those spared for the -slave-market. How many of these perished under their hardships, or by -the Turkish disasters; how many others tasted death, but before slavery; -how many others may have lost home, wealth and honour, must remain -beyond enumeration or even conjecture. It is said that in lower Austria -and on the frontiers of Hungary alone, 4936 villages and hamlets were -given to the flames in 1683. - -To meet this torrent of devastation, the Emperor Leopold could muster -but scanty forces. A full half of the territory now united under the -Austro-Hungarian monarchy was in the hands of the Turks, or of the -Hungarian rebels; or then formed part of the territories of Poland. The -finances of Vienna have never been a source of strength. "Business men -laugh at our finance, for my part I weep over it," said Eugene to the -Emperor not long afterwards, lamenting the want of the sinews of war. -The Imperial influence of Leopold in Germany was small. The German -princes were distant, jealous, slow to move. Brandenberg was irritated -over the Silesian claims, that fruitful source of future war. France was -all but openly hostile. Spain was powerless. Venice, a shadow of her -former self. Poland alone, under her heroic monarch, John Sobieski, -might give present and substantial assistance. Yet all knew that to lean -upon the support of Poland was to risk leaning upon a bruised reed -indeed. - -Poland was, indeed, to all appearance, still a great country. The -Russian province of Poland, Lithuania, Gallicia, Posen, part of Prussia -proper, were Polish. Roughly speaking, her frontiers stretched from the -Dneiper to near the Oder, from the Baltic to the Carpathians. But a -great territory does not make a great nation. The approaching fall of -Poland was foreshadowed by her fortunes, even in the seventeenth -century. - -The extraordinary calamities of that country should not blind us to the -means by which she brought some of her misfortunes upon her own head. -Her constitution seemed skilfully contrived to unite the vices of -aristocratic and democratic governments with the virtues of neither. Her -people were turbulent without freedom, proud without steadiness of -purpose. She lacked the equality and the popular support proper to a -republic, as she lacked the fixed succession to the highest office and -the consistent policy which are supposed to be the advantages of -monarchy. A mob of tens of thousands of armed citizens pretended to form -a deliberative diet. Their convention was always a signal for confusion; -their dissolution was often the prelude to civil war. In the huge -concourse a single _veto_ could stay proceedings, unless indeed the -malcontent paid for his opposition with his life. An attempt to -introduce representative assemblies was always resented, and the -experiment restricted, by the jealousy of the citizens. Delegates, not -representatives, came to the meetings. They were vigilantly observed, -and strictly cross-examined on their return, by self-constituted judges, -as to the performance of their mandate. Real debate and deliberation, -free judgment and rational decision, were as impossible in one kind of -assembly as in the other. Below these citizen-nobles, the people were -slaves. The two halves of the state, Poland and Lithuania, were set -against each other continually. The monarchy became purely elective in -the sixteenth century. The king was the nominee of some foreign court, -or of some domestic party, or family. Factions nourished from abroad -were thus kept alive. Once elected, the king found his power curtailed -on every side; and was generally as solicitous for the advancement, and -future succession perhaps, of his family, as for the good of the state. -He might be a stranger, or he might owe his position to the support of a -foreign power. He seldom or never could be more than the nominee of some -faction, the king of a party to the end of his days. - -John Sobieski, the Polish king, and himself once a Polish nobleman, was -not a candidate put forward by France for the Polish crown, but was -generally supposed to lean towards a French connexion. His wife was -French; he had passed some of his earlier years in France, and had -served in Louis' musketeers of the Guard. His most formidable rival for -the crown had been Charles Leopold of Lorraine,[6] the Austrian -candidate, who was now commanding the Imperial armies. An ill omen for -any unity of action in the future, between the two, against the Turks. - -Sobieski had fought his way to royalty. He had contended against the -enemies, from Sweden to Turkey, with whom Poland was continually -embroiled. His medals bore the proud device of a sword piercing three -laurel crowns, with on its point a royal diadem, and the truthful motto -below, _Per has ad istam_. Poland had been afflicted by Cossack -insurrection, Tartar devastation and Turkish conquest. The king, -Michael, had signed the disgraceful peace of Buksacs, by which the Poles -became Turkish tributaries. Sobieski and the other nobles repudiated the -treaty; and at Choczim, in 1673, Sobieski overthrew the Turks with such -slaughter that "the turbans were floating thick as autumnal leaves upon -the Dneister." The crown of Poland rewarded his victory; but the -turbulence and inconstancy of his subjects prevented his reaping the -fruits of success. At the most critical moments he was left destitute of -men and of money, in the face of a host of Turks and Tartars. At Lemberg -before his coronation, and at Zurawna after it, he was glad to have -successfully defended the remainder of his country. The peace named from -the latter town, left part of the Ukraine and nearly all Podolia with -the fortress of Kaminiec, in Turkish hands. - -The Turks scrupulously observing their part of the agreement, believed -that they thereby secured the neutrality of Poland. Sobieski had -suffered injuries and affronts at the hands of Austria. The punctilious -pride of the Emperor was likely to add to the difficulty of forgetting -these. At the last moment only would Leopold consent to address the man -who was to save his empire by the title of Majesty. The Poles either -were loth to begin a new Turkish war at all, or represented the -advantage which might be gained by holding aloof, till both combatants -were exhausted. If they fought, Podolia, not Hungary, the recovery of -Kaminiec in the former, not the relief of Vienna, should be their -object. The Lithuanians were specially jealous of Sobieski, and slow to -move. The Cossacks were not to be depended upon. The country was -exhausted of men and money by former campaigns. The French ambassador, -Forbin, Cardinal de Janson, was instructed to work upon the king by -promises of the future support of Louis, of visionary crowns in Hungary, -and of lands in Silesia as the price of his inactivity. No means were to -be spared to detach Poland from Austria. The Cardinal worked -cautiously, being an old friend and in expectation of future favours -from Sobieski; but a special agent who was with him, the Marquis de -Vitry, spared no pains to foment jealousies and to excite fears, and -distributed money among the partisans of a peace policy. An abortive -scheme was entertained for supplanting the king himself by another, more -amenable to French influence. But the conspiracy was discovered, and the -effect was disastrous to the French faction. The Poles rallied round the -victor of Choczim and of Lemberg, and the authors of the intrigue -against him were thrown into prison, or left the country. The French -agent, Vitry, himself retired from Poland. Fortunately also for -Christendom, and for the house of Austria, the wife of Sobieski, Marie -Casimire de la Grange d'Arquien, a Frenchwoman, had determined to thwart -the diplomacy of her native land. The failure of an intrigue, by which -her father, a needy Marquis, was to have been converted into a wealthy -Duke; a refusal of the French court to receive her, a French subject by -birth, as an equal should she revisit France;--these causes made her an -Austrian partisan. Sobieski, at the age of fifty-three, still burned -with youthful ardour for his wife of forty-one, though scandal would -have it that this King Arthur had his Lancelot in the Field-Marshal -Jablonowski, one of the foremost of his officers. "His incomparable -Maria," as the king addressed his queen in his frequent letters, was at -all events vain and intriguing, and seldom influenced for good the -husband whom she also adored. Yet on this occasion her persuasions -seconded the arguments which would undoubtedly have swayed Sobieski -apart from her. His true atmosphere was that of the battle-field. His -most glorious victories were won over the infidels. The danger which -menaced Austria was a common menace to Christendom. Warsaw itself would -not be safe if Vienna fell. The foremost champion of the Cross would not -be wanting in such a crisis. In his enthusiasm he deemed it possible to -unite the jarring elements of European society in a grand crusade. -Visions floated before him of a great League, including the Christian -powers and the Persians, by which the Turkish Empire should be -overthrown, Constantinople recovered, Moldavia and Wallachia united to -the Polish crown, and a republic of Athens and the Morea established. A -scheme too great for accomplishment in the face of the selfishness of -France and Austria and the inherent weakness of Poland. - -But a general subscription was needed to put any army into the field at -all. Rome and Italy were foremost in contributions; even ecclesiastical -property was allowed to be mortgaged in the cause. The Pope, an -economical reformer in Rome, as befitted the member of a banking family, -the Odescalchi, was able to provide two million _scudi_. Christina, -ex-Queen of Sweden, bestirred herself to increase the fund. The Regent -of Portugal sent money, and sanctified the gift by a simultaneous -holocaust of Jews. 1,200,000 florins were to be advanced by the Emperor -to pay the Polish troops. The Pope undertook to guarantee the repayment, -and contributions were expected from the King of Spain. Both these -latter alike were swayed by the double motive--fear of the Turks, and -the desire to set free the Empire to act against France again. Leopold, -as his contribution to the harmony of the allies, had condescended to -yield the title of "Majesty" to the King of Poland, and had held out -hopes of a marriage between the son of Sobieski and an Austrian -Archduchess, which might ensure the succession of the former to his -father's throne. A dispensation from the Pope released the Poles from -the duty of keeping their oaths to the Turks. The Emperor and the King -exchanged oaths not to resort to such a dispensation from their -engagements to each other. The treaty of alliance was signed; but before -the Polish troops could be mustered in any numbers, the Turkish armies -had united with those of Tekeli, and were pouring across the frontier. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[6] The Duke of Lorraine had married the Emperor's sister, the widow of -the late Polish king, Michael. The French had driven him from his -hereditary states, and he found employment at the head of his -brother-in-law's armies, against them and the Turks. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - -Charles of Lorraine, the Imperial commander, had under his orders less -than 40,000. The levy _en masse_ of Hungary produced 3000 soldiers only -for the Emperor's service, so wide was the sway of the Turks, or so -universal the sympathy for Tekeli. Six thousand Hungarians, supposed to -be raised for the Emperor, went over to the enemy as soon as they -advanced. Yet, contrary to his own opinion, Lorraine began with -offensive operations against the Turkish fortress of Neuhausel. A -partial success was followed by a disastrous repulse, and the army -withdrew south of the Danube, as the main Turkish force approached upon -that same side of the river. Lorraine had some idea of making a stand -near the Raab to cover the Austrian frontier, but the number of the -enemy and the temper of his own soldiers rendered such an attempt too -hazardous. He determined to retreat, and await the reinforcements -already promised by the Princes of the Empire. Garrisons were hastily -flung into Raab, Komorn, and Leopoldstadt.[7] The infantry then -recrossed the Danube and fell back towards Vienna along the Schuett -island, under Count Leslie's orders. The cavalry marched upon the -southern side of the river, but the superior rapidity of their retreat -did not save them from molestation. On July 7 at Petronel, some twenty -miles below Vienna, 15,000 Spahis and Tartars burst upon their march. -For a time Count Taaffe, with the rear guard of 400 men, was in extreme -danger. The exertions of Lorraine and of Louis of Baden rallied the -cavalry and speedily repulsed their disorderly assailants, but in the -confusion several of the officers fell, including Prince Aremberg and -Julius Louis of Savoy, an elder brother of Prince Eugene, and much of -the baggage became the prey of the Tartars. Altenburg and Haimburg, -posts upon the Danube, had been already stormed, after a brief -resistance, by the Turkish infantry. - -Those stragglers who first leave the field are always apt to cover -their own flight by the report of an universal overthrow. So fugitives -came galloping to Vienna with a tale of disaster. They spread the rumour -that the Duke of Lorraine was killed and the army totally defeated, -while their alarm seemed amply confirmed by the glow of burning villages -that brightened upon the twilight of the eastern horizon. The Imperial -court, which had delayed its flight so far, in the hope that the enemy -might linger about the fortresses of Raab or of Komorn, tarried now no -longer. "Leopold could never bear to hear plain truths but when he was -afraid," says Eugene. He had refused to recognize the imminence of the -peril until now; and by his confidence had involved in his destruction -others, who had not the same means of escape at the last moment which he -himself possessed. Yet means of escape were barely open to him, when at -length he understood that he must defend or abandon his capital. The -roads to Upper Austria and to Bavaria, along the southern shore of the -Danube, were rightly distrusted. The Emperor, his Empress, and the -Empress Mother, with all their train of courtiers, of ladies, and of -servants, shorn of pomp and bereft of dignity in their flight, poured -over the Leopoldstadt island and the Tabor bridge in all the misery of -panic fear. The prompt destruction of the bridge of Crems, above Vienna, -is said alone to have saved their route from interception by the -Tartars. A part of their baggage actually became the prey of the -marauders. The whole court, including even the Empress herself, who was -far advanced in pregnancy, were driven to seek rest in farms and -cottages. Once they passed the night under a temporary shelter of -boughs. In the universal panic, small room was left for hopes of a -return to the capital and to the palaces that they had quitted. Milan, -Innspruck, Prague were thought of as their future refuge. On to Lintz, -and from Lintz to the frontier they fled, till their confidence at last -returned behind the fortifications of the Bavarian city of Passau. But -they were not the only fugitives from Vienna. The bold march of the -Vizier upon the city, leaving Raab, Komorn, and Presburg in his rear, to -fall an easy prey when once the great prize was captured; this had taken -the citizens by surprise. The retreat of Lorraine, and the skirmish at -Petronel, had filled them with abject terror. - -People from the surrounding country who had taken shelter in Vienna no -longer relied upon her as a stronghold, but turned their thoughts to an -escape to Bavaria, or to Styria, or even to the distant Tirol. From nine -o'clock in the evening till two o'clock in the morning, on the 7th and -8th of July, a never-ending stream of carriages and of fugitives were -following in the track of the Imperial _cortege_. East and south, upon -the horizon, the glare of burning villages told that the Turkish -horsemen were there. High on the summit of the Kahlenberg, the flames of -the Camalduline Convent dreadfully illuminated the track of the -fugitives. Sixty thousand persons, it was believed, left the city in the -course of a few days. Of those who, crossing the Danube, took the roads -into Upper Austria or into Moravia, some fell into the hands of the -Hungarian and Tartar marauders. But few of those who attempted to escape -into Styria succeeded in reaching a place of safety. They perished by -thousands, enveloped by the flying squadrons of the invaders. - -In Vienna herself, deserted by her leaders and by so many of her -children, violent tumult raged against the Government, and against the -Jesuits, who were supposed to have instigated the persecution of the -Protestants of Hungary. There was ample cause for terror. The -fortifications were old and imperfect, the suburbs encroached upon the -works, the number of the defenders was small. Thirteen thousand -infantry, supplied by the army of Lorraine, and seven thousand armed -citizens formed the garrison; and, besides these, about sixty thousand -souls were in the city. The command was entrusted to Ernest Rudiger -Count Starhemberg, an officer of tried skill and courage. He had served -with Montecuculi against the Turks, and against both Conde and Turenne -with the same commander and with the Prince of Orange. He entered the -city as the fugitives forsook it. He set the people to work upon the -fortifications, organized them for defence, and assured them that he -would live and die with them. But while writing to the Emperor that he -would joyfully spend the last drop of his blood in defence of his -charge, he confesses that the place is in want of everything, and the -inhabitants panic-stricken. Fortunately he and others with him were the -class of men to restore confidence in the rest. Under him served many -noble volunteers, for the example of the Emperor was not universally -followed. The Bishop of Neustadt, once himself a soldier and a knight -of Malta, was conspicuous among many brave and devoted men for his -liberal donations to the troops, and for his superintendence of the -sanitary state of the city. In one respect alone the place was well -furnished; three hundred and twenty-one pieces of artillery were -supplied by the Imperial arsenal for the fortifications.[8] The city was -defended after the existing fashion, with ten bastions, the curtains -covered by ravelines, with a ditch mostly dry. On the side of the Danube -was merely a wall with towers and platforms, and all the works were more -or less uncared for and decayed. The work of fixing palisades was -postponed till the Turkish army was in sight. It is possible that by a -slightly more rapid march the Vizier might have secured Vienna by a -_coup de main_. - -On July 13, the Turkish regular cavalry came in sight, preceding the -infantry of the main army; and at the last possible moment fire was set -to the suburbs, which impeded the defence. A high wind speedily caused -them to be consumed. On the 14th, the Turkish army took up its -position, encamping in a semicircle, round the whole of the circuit of -the defences not washed by the Danube. A city, surpassing in size and -population the beleaguered capital, sprang up about the walls of Vienna. -The tents of the Vizier were pitched opposite the Burg bastion, in the -suburb of St. Ulric. The camp was crowded not only by soldiers, but by -the merchants of the East, who thronged thither as to a fair to deal in -the plunder of the Christians. The Imperial troops still attempted to -hold the Leopoldstadt island; but on July 16, the Turks threw bridges -across the arm of the Danube, and shortly drove the Christians to the -northern bank of the river. The houses of the Leopoldstadt were given up -to fire by the Turks; and the bridge, leading to the northern shore, -destroyed by the Imperialists. The investment of Vienna was now -completed upon every side. Batteries from the Leopoldstadt, and from the -south and west, crossed it with fire in all directions. Trenches were -opened, and the elaborate approaches and frequent mines of the Turks, -advancing with alarming rapidity, enveloped the western and -south-western face of the works from the Scottish gate to the Burg -bastion. - -Upwards of three hundred pieces of artillery played upon the crumbling -defences and the devastated city. The pavement of the streets was torn -up, that the balls might bury themselves in the soft earth where they -fell. The upper floors and roofs of the houses were barricaded with -heavy timber, or covered with sandbags, to guard against the fire of the -dropping shells. The streets themselves were blocked behind the walls, -chains drawn across them, and the houses loop-holed and prepared for -defence to the last extremity. All the gates had been walled up but one, -the Stuben gate, which, being partially covered by the stream of the -Wien, was left open as a sally-port. Early in the siege, the assailed, -frequently issuing forth, returned the attacks of the enemy, frustrated -their operations, and even captured provisions in the hostile lines. But -as time went on, the diminishing numbers of the garrison forbade the -waste of life incurred even in successful sorties. - -[Illustration: Map] - -The progress of the Turks was rapid with sap and mine. They were famed -for their skill with entrenching and engineering tools, and the -Christians learnt much from them, though their approaches were unlike -the ordinary European works. Instead of parallel lines to the defences -they drew curves, overlapping each other and continually approaching the -place attacked. The trenches were deep, and fifteen or sixteen feet wide -at the bottom where the ground allowed. The depth of the Turkish works -effectually protected their soldiers, even when they had made a lodgment -in the ditch; for the besieged could not depress their cannon -sufficiently to hurt them.[9] They were protected skilfully by -bomb-proof shelters of timber and of turf, beneath which thousands of -men, hidden and shielded, crouched ready for attack, or for the repulse -of sorties. Their mines penetrated in every direction to the -counterscarp of the place, and ultimately to the walls themselves. At -length the very cellars of the nearest houses were threatened by a -subterranean enemy; and water and drums strewn with peas were placed in -them, to tell, by the slightest vibration, of the work of the Turkish -miner's pick below. - -The Turkish miners were bolder than those of the garrison. The latter -were hired labourers of the lowest class, of whom Starhemberg wrote to -Lorraine that nothing would induce them to re-enter a mine after they -had heard the sound of the enemy working near them. On the part of the -enemy, men who had applied for a _Timar_, or military fief, often -volunteered as miners to prove their courage and to win its reward. - -At the very beginning of operations the city all but perished through a -fire, which actually reached the windows of the Imperial arsenal stored -with eighteen hundred barrels of powder. An explosion there would have -opened a road for the Turkish army into Vienna, at once deprived of the -means of resistance and reduced to ruins. The exertions of Captain Count -Guido Starhemberg, nephew of the commandant, who personally -superintended the removal of the powder through the opposite windows, -together with a lucky change of wind, saved the city. Rightly or -wrongly, an incendiary was suspected. The fear of treachery was added to -the legitimate terrors of the citizens. Desertions took place to the -enemy, and spies were actually apprehended within the walls. Hungarians -and other Christians were arrayed upon both sides, and this community of -language and manners, between besiegers and besieged, rendered such a -danger more real. - -But from the open force of the attack the worst calamities were to be -feared. On the 23rd, 25th, and 27th of July the opening assaults were -delivered. All were repulsed, but with loss of lives ill-spared. - -Closer and closer crept the Turkish sappers. Assault after assault upon -the outer fortifications gradually wrested important positions from the -besieged. The Burg and Loewel bastions, with the connecting curtain -between them and the Burg ravelin, were reduced to an almost shapeless -ruin by the Turkish mines and artillery. Every device was tried to -retard the attack. The arts and ingenuity of a great city were at the -service of the besieged. They made their own powder; and, when -hand-grenades began to fail, the invention of an officer supplied their -place with grenades of earthenware. Nevertheless, on August 7, the Turks -made a lodgment upon the counterscarp, after twenty-three days of firing -and terrible losses upon both sides. - -The Janissaries now stood upon the very threshold of the city. Hand to -hand fighting was carried on in the ditches. The citizens armed with -scythes upon the end of poles contended with advantage from above -against the Turkish sabres. Boiling pitch and water stood continually -ready to overwhelm the assailants as they struggled up the shattered -slope of the ramparts. Besiegers and besieged were continually within -pistol shot of each other, and showers of Turkish arrows descended on -the town. As yet no footing was obtained by the Turks within the body of -the place, though the streets and houses stood ready barricaded against -such an event. But the Vizier commanded two hundred thousand men, -Starhemberg but twenty thousand. Disease and the toils and losses of the -defence told fearfully upon the latter. Starhemberg himself was disabled -by dysentery early in the siege, and did all that man could do, carried -in a chair from post to post, amidst the hottest of the fire. On the -other side, Kara Mustapha made his rounds in a litter rendered -shot-proof by plates of iron. The chief engineer of the garrison, -Rimpler, fell. Colonel Baerner, commanding the artillery, and the Prince -of Wurtemberg were disabled. Five thousand men, more than a third of the -regular soldiers, perished. Food became scarce, vermin were eagerly -sought for by the poor, and dysentery followed inevitably in the train -of want. Fever sprang from the confinement, filth, and bad air -inseparable from their condition. Sixty persons a day were dying of -dysentery alone towards the conclusion of the siege. But the humour of -the Viennese asserted itself still among their calamities, and the -spoils of nocturnal chase upon the tiles were sold as "Roof Hares" in -the market. The courage of long endurance, that rarest of all courage, -was tried to the uttermost. The Bishop of Neustadt, bravest of the brave -defenders, laboured unremittingly among the sick, nor cared less for the -safety of the whole, by undertaking the control of sanitary measures. -The otherwise useless non-combatants were organized by him into bands of -scavengers, hospital attendants, and carriers of the wounded. - -A despatch from Starhemberg, dated August 18, came safely to the hands -of Lorraine. The commandant wrote boldly, perhaps with an eye to the -probability of his intelligence reaching the Turkish and not the -Imperial general. "I must in the first place, tell your Highness that we -have up to this moment disputed the works with the enemy, foot by foot, -and that they have not gained an inch of ground without paying for it -dearly. Every time that, sword in hand, they have attempted a lodgment, -they have been vigorously repulsed by our men, with such loss that they -no longer dare to put their heads out of their holes." Nevertheless, he -was providing for the worst. "I have caused a new work, well ditched, to -be made in the middle of the Burg ravelin; the Loewel and Burg bastions -are also defended by a second line; and I am even now beginning another -work behind these same bastions. I write this that your Highness may -know that we are forgetting nothing, that we are wide awake, and taking -all imaginable precautions. As in duty bound I assure your Highness, -that to show myself worthy of the confidence which your Highness, and -more especially his Majesty my master, repose in my small services, I -shall never yield the place but with the last drop of my blood." - -This despatch was safely carried to Lorraine by Kolschitzki, a Pole. -Many other letters had miscarried, for few messengers penetrated, at the -risk of life, between the city and the slowly mustering forces of -Lorraine. Some swam the arms of the Danube. The most skilful, however, -was this Kolschitzki, who relied upon his knowledge of the Turkish -tongue and manners, and in Turkish dress penetrated the besieging lines, -much as a countryman of our own relied on similar knowledge in a -scarcely less memorable siege. The name of Kolschitzki of Vienna may be -named side by side with that of "Lucknow" Kavanagh, though the Pole not -only passed out through the besiegers, but succeeded in returning again -in a like manner into the city with despatches, to sustain the courage -of the defenders. From his stone chair, high up in the fretted spire of -St. Stephen's, the watchman saw the rockets which rose as signals from -the Christian outposts north of the Danube. But from the southern bank -must the march be made for the deliverance of the city; and was it -possible that Lorraine, or even Sobieski, could carry a force across the -river in the face of such an army? - -The garrison record, with painful exactness, the terrible annals of the -siege; what ravelin is deluged with the blood of assailants and of -defenders; where mines have blown the counterscarp into the ditch, or -shattered the salient angle of a bastion; what new quarter of the city -is devastated by the cannonade; what much-prized life is taken; when -the bread begins to fail; what false hopes of relief, or what -exaggerated tidings of calamity, circulate among the citizens. These -details, of overwhelming interest to every man at the moment, and -printed indelibly upon his mind, bring to the distant observer but one -confused and appalling panorama of suffering and of endurance, of -courage and of despair. - -The growing anxiety of the city appears in a second despatch of -Starhemberg's, dated August 27. He still tells of attacks repulsed, of -sorties boldly executed, and of mines discovered and foiled, but he -acknowledges the need of succour. "We are losing many men and many -officers, more from dysentery than from the enemy's fire, the deaths -from that disease alone are sixty daily. We have no more grenades, which -were our best defence; our guns are some of them destroyed by the -enemy's fire, some of them burst before firing fifty rounds, from the -bad material used by the founder; and the enemy, seeing they can hold -their lodgments in the ditch with a few men, are massing great numbers -on the counterscarp, to have a large force ready there for some -extraordinary effort.... We await, therefore, your Highness's arrival -with extreme impatience; for my own part not so much from a wish to be -relieved as that I may have the honour of respectfully assuring your -Highness of my obedience, being, as I am, your Highness's most humble -and obedient servant, STARHEMBERG." The courtly bravado of the -subscription is in strong contrast with the hurried postscript that -follows:--"My miners tell me that they hear the enemy working beneath -them under the Burg bastion; they must have run their gallery from the -other side of the ditch, and there is no time to be lost." When this -despatch was written, both sides believed that the supreme crisis was at -hand. - -The 29th of August was looked for as the decisive day. On that -anniversary Stuhlweissenberg and Belgrade had fallen before the -Ottomans.[10] Above all, on that day the strength of Hungary had been -smitten, and her king, Louis, had died, before the hosts of the great -Solyman, on the disastrous field of "The Destruction of Mohacs"--that -battle which first opened Hungary and Austria to the invader. - -But the 29th came and passed, with no general attack from the -besiegers. A mine was sprung under the Burg ravelin, nearly completing -the ruin of the work; and three or four hundred Turks attempted to -establish themselves upon the remains, but were driven back again. -Another mine was sprung by the Burg bastion, but no assault followed. -From St. Stephen's considerable movement was noticed among the Turkish -detachments on the left bank of the Danube, occasioned by the march of -Lorraine's army. - -In the camp murmurs and dissensions ran high. The Janissaries clamoured -at their lengthy detention in the trenches. They openly accused the -incapacity, or worse faults, of the Vizier. There seems little doubt but -that he had it in his power to have overwhelmed the defenders by a -general and prolonged assault, towards the end of August. - -Ottoman leaders had known well how to avail themselves of the obedience -and fatalist courage of their soldiers. Amurath IV., when he won back -Baghdad from the Persians, Mahomet II., at the taking of Constantinople, -had shown how cities could be won. Before the city of the Khalifs for -three days, before the city of the Caesars from a May sunrise till well -nigh noon, had torrent after torrent of brave, devoted, undisciplined -soldiers wearied the arms and exhausted the ammunition of the defenders, -until the Janissaries arose, fresh and invincible for the decisive -charge. Wave after wave of stormers, fed from inexhaustible multitudes, -had rolled upon the besieged, and, like broken waves, had rolled back in -ruin, until the last and greatest should burst in overwhelming force -upon the breaches. Such an assault would have been surely successful -against Vienna. But the Vizier, in vain security, pictured to himself -the advantages of a surrender, which should preserve the city as a -trophy of his conquest--the seat, perchance, of his sovereignty. The -riches which he dreamed it to contain, he hoped to receive as his own -spoil; not to yield as the booty of the army after a storm. So, while -the decisive days passed, the signal for attack was delayed, except by -small bodies upon single points, until the courage of his soldiers was -dissipated and their confidence destroyed. On the contrary, the -unexpected reprieve gave courage to the defenders. The Janissaries, on -the other hand, impatiently invoked the appearance of the relieving -army to end their sojourn in the trenches by the decisive event of a -stricken field. Slowly, but at last, ere yet too late, that army was -approaching. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[7] That is the Leopoldstadt over against Neuhausel, not the island -suburb of Vienna. - -[8] Together with forty-two guns and eight howitzers from the city -arsenal. Among the Emperor's pieces were eleven gigantic mortars, -described as 100, 150, and 200-pounders, but two hundred and fifty-three -of the guns were smaller than 12-pounders. - -[9] Starhemberg to Duke of Lorraine, August 18. - -[10] Not Pesth and Rhodes, which are sometimes added. Rhodes fell on -Christmas day. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -The duties which had been imposed upon Charles of Lorraine were of the -most arduous kind. With a handful of troops, but slowly reinforced by -the German levies, whose assistance was rendered less useful by the -jealousies of the sovereign Princes in command, he was opposed both to -the Turks and to Tekeli. He was expected to be ready to support the -garrisons of Presburg and of Komorn, to hinder the incursions of the -enemy into Upper Austria and into Moravia--above all, to prepare the -bridges above Vienna, by which alone a relieving army could arrive. -Though driven from the Leopoldstadt island, and from all immediate -communication with the city, his presence yet animated the besieged with -hope of succour. He fixed his head-quarters finally at Krems, on the -Danube, where the Saxon contingent presently arrived, followed by the -troops of the Circles and the Bavarians. Before their arrival, towards -the end of August, he felt strong enough to advance and rescue Presburg -from Tekeli. He followed up the operation by a defeat inflicted on the -combined forces of the Turks and Hungarians upon the Marchfeld. A -detachment of four thousand Polish horse, under Lubomirski, originally -raised to assist Tekeli, were already present with the army of Lorraine. -But decisive operations were of necessity postponed till after the -coming of the King of Poland with the bulk of his forces, and of the -rest of the German troops. - -Lorraine, in these movements, undoubtedly proved his title to -generalship; but nothing except the extraordinary apathy of the Vizier -rendered them possible. A skilful employment of the enormous force of -Turkish cavalry must have forced the Imperial army to retire for want of -supplies. The ravage, aimlessly and mercilessly inflicted upon Austria -and the confines of Moravia, would, if directed against Poland, have -probably prevented the march of Sobieski. An able commander, with such -forces at his command, might have prevented, or at least hindered, the -junction of the Poles and Germans. Nor were any steps taken by the -Vizier to stop the construction of the bridges at Krems and at Tuln, nor -to guard the defiles of the Wiener Wald, over which the Christian army -must advance to raise the siege. So extraordinary indeed was the neglect -of the enemy, that a secret understanding has been supposed between -Tekeli and Sobieski, by which, in return for the future good offices of -the latter, the former was not to molest Poland nor hinder the junction -of the Christian forces. Be that as it may, the secret information of -the Poles was as good as that of the Turks was bad, and the king knew -thoroughly with what foes he had to deal.[11] - -Meanwhile, in spite of French intrigues, in spite of backwardness in -Lithuania and of distrust in Poland, Sobieski had left Warsaw for Cracow -on July 18. Up to the last moment the Turks disbelieved in his coming in -person, and the Emperor and the French king both doubted it. He was -gouty, he was rheumatic, he was too fat to ride; such was the tenour of -the information of the baffled French agent Vitry. Nevertheless, on the -22nd of August, he was on the Silesian frontier with the main part of -his army. It consisted mostly of cavalry, of those Polish horsemen -matchless in prowess, but the most unstable of forces. His infantry was -less numerous and inferior, their shabby accoutrements contrasting -sharply with the gaudy equipment of the cavaliers. "They have sworn to -dress themselves better in the spoils of the enemy," said the king of -one regiment, deprecating the criticism of the Germans. His march lay -through Silesia and Moravia, through the borders of the lands devastated -by the Tartars, where the trembling inhabitants thronged around him, -hailing him already as their deliverer. Urged by message after message -from Lorraine, he left his army to follow under the leadership of the -Field-Marshal Jablonowski, and hurried on himself at the head of two -thousand cavalry, his son Prince James by his side. - -We can follow every movement of the campaign from the letters which, -amid the hurry of the march, during short hours snatched from sleep, -once at least during the thunder of a Turkish cannonade, he found time -to despatch continually to his queen. _Seule joie de mon ame, -char__mante et bien-aimee Mariette_, as he calls her. Her letters in -reply are his continual consolation amid the labours of the campaign, -the ingratitude of the Emperor, and the insubordination of his subjects. -"I read all your letters, my dear and incomparable Maria, thrice -over--once when I receive them, once when I retire to my tent and am -alone with my love, once when I sit down to answer them." Such is his -answer to her expression of a fear that the distractions of his -enterprise may leave no time for interest in aught besides. On August 29 -he writes, from near Brunn in Moravia, sending the news of the retreat -of Tekeli after his defeat by Lorraine, and adding that he hopes the -next day, on nearing the Danube, to hear the cannon which tell that -Vienna is still untaken. On the 31st he is near Tuln, above Vienna. He -has passed the distant thunder of the cannonade upon his left hand, and -has effected his junction with the army of Lorraine. Despairing of the -arrival of the Lithuanians, he has distributed the arms intended for -them among the imperfectly equipped Poles. Still more is he distressed -at the non-appearance of the Cossacks, whom he expected, and whom he -knew as invaluable for outpost duty. Menzynski, who should have -conducted them, is lingering at Lemberg. "_C'est un grand miserable._" - -Most interesting of all is the passage in which he gives his wife his -first impressions of his future colleague, the Duke of Lorraine. -Lorraine had been a competitor with Sobieski for the crown of Poland, -and it must have been a singular meeting when the rivals first came face -to face co-operating together in a mighty enterprise. Sobieski the king, -whose offspring were not to reign; Charles the duke, the destined -ancestor of the Imperial line of Austria.[12] The one in the -semi-Oriental magnificence of his country, he went into action before -Vienna in a sky-blue silk doublet; the other in the dress of a -campaigner, best described in Sobieski's own words. The duke he finds -modest and taciturn, stooping, plain, with a hooked nose, marked with -small-pox; clad in an old grey coat, with "a fair wig ill-made," a hat -without a band, "boots of yellow leather, or rather of what was yellow -three months ago." "_Avec tout ca, il n'a pas la mine d'un marchand, -mais d'un homme comme il faut, et meme d'un homme de distinction. C'est -un homme avec qui je m'accorderais facilement._" The friendship of the -former rivals was cemented by a banquet, and the duke's accustomed -monitor being first overcome, Lorraine himself was induced to proceed -from his native Moselle, which he drank usually mixed with water, to the -strong Hungarian wines--to the improvement, as the king tells his wife, -of his conversation. Besides Lorraine, Sobieski found a crowd of German -Princes awaiting his arrival: John George of Saxony, speaking no French -nor Latin, and very little German; Waldeck, of the house of -Waldeck-Wildungen,[13] William the Third's right hand man in the -Netherlands, here commanding the troops of the Circles, and winning high -praise from the king for his activity and zeal; Maximilian of Bavaria, -whose courage and ill-fortune were hereafter to be signalized at -Blenheim and at Ramilies, now aged twenty-one, wins notice as "better -dressed than the others." There were two Wurtembergers and the Prince of -Brunswick-Lueneburg, afterwards our George I.; the Prince of -Saxe-Lauenberg; a Hohenzollern and a Hessian; three Princes of Anhalt; -Hermann and Louis of Baden, the latter was with Marlborough at -Schellenberg; two sons of Montecuculi, the conqueror of St. Gotthard; -last and youngest, though not least, Eugene of Savoy, the future -conqueror of Zenta and of Belgrade, and the colleague of Marlborough in -his greatest battles. There was Count Leslie, of that Scotch house which -had given generals to half the armies of Europe; Count Taaffe, the -Irishman, afterwards Sir Francis Taaffe and Earl of Carlingford, whose -elder brother fell fighting for King James at the Boyne, but whose -services to the allies secured the earldom from forfeiture. There were -gathered veterans of the Thirty Years' War, men who might have seen -Gustavus or Wallenstein, and men who were to reap their brightest -laurels hereafter in the war of the Spanish Succession. As was wittily -said, the Empire would have been there had only the Emperor been -present. The Brandenberg troops also were wanting. The "Great Elector" -was jealous of Poland--once his superior in the Prussian duchy--had -formerly been injured by Sobieski acting with the Swedes in the -interests of France, and moreover was not on the best terms with the -Emperor. Brandenberg, then as ever, was playing with skill and patience -her own game. The fortunes of the future Prussian monarchy were not to -be lightly risked for the sake of Austria. But the Emperor himself must -not be rashly charged with want of courage for his absence from the -camp. He was not trained to war; the presence of his court would have -been embarrassing to the operations, perhaps would have been inseparable -from intrigues and jealousies that would seriously have crippled the -army. A certain stubborn manhood Leopold had shown in not yielding to -the pressure put upon him to make terms with Louis XIV. in this -extremity. The aid of France could have been purchased by the election -of the Dauphin as King of the Romans, probably by smaller sacrifices. -The Diet at Ratisbon had been not disinclined to yield, but the Emperor -had stedfastly refused to subject either his own house or the Empire to -French dictation. That one crowned head was in the field was of the -greatest importance, especially when that one was the King of Poland. - -Everywhere the most cheerful deference was rendered to Sobieski by all -who were present. The Princes, jealous of each other before, now vied -with each other in zealous obedience to the conqueror of Choczim. His -experience of Turkish warfare was unique, his personal character -commanding. He tells his wife how Lorraine, Waldeck, Saxony, Bavaria -would send or even come personally for his commands. The ascendancy -exercised by Sobieski is nowhere more decisively illustrated than in the -conduct of five hundred Janissaries, a trophy of his victories, who now -formed his body guard. He offered them leave of absence from the battle, -or even a free passage to the Turkish camp, but they besought leave to -live and die with him.[14] The king himself was fully prepared to accept -the advice of generals like Lorraine and Waldeck. He had left his royal -dignity behind at Warsaw, as he told Lorraine, and at once agreed with -the latter upon a plan for crossing the Danube at Krems and at Tuln, -concentrating at Tuln and marching over the Kahlenberg to Vienna. He -only complained of the backward condition of the bridges and of the slow -assemblage of the troops, whereas the Emperor had by letter assured him -that all was ready before he had left Poland. When finally assembled, -the united armies numbered eighty-five thousand men. The Poles were -more than twenty-six thousand strong. But allowing for detachments, not -more than seventy-seven thousand men were available upon the -battle-field. The artillery numbered one hundred and sixty-eight pieces, -of which few came into action. - -On September 4, the king still writes from near Tuln. If an excess of -glory is often the share of a successful commander, yet an excessive -toil is his always. Sobieski tells his wife that he has a continual cold -and headache, and is night and day in the saddle. The French stories -were so far true that he could not mount without assistance, yet in the -midst of such operations no rest is possible. The Turks are, he says, -either really ignorant of his presence, or refuse to believe it. The -Vizier was incredibly ill-supplied with information. He really was -uncertain whether Sobieski was in the field; and whether the Polish -army, or partisan corps only, like that of Lubomirski, had joined -Lorraine. The smallest resistance would seriously have retarded the -passage of the Danube, performed by the Germans at Krems, by the Poles -at Tuln. As it was, the difficulties were terrible. The pontoons sank -under the weight of the artillery and waggons. The latter had to find -fords over the smaller branches of the river, while the bridges upon the -main stream were strengthened to sustain them. Even then much baggage -was left north of the Danube; much more upon the southern side, -entrenched and defended. - -On September 8, when the concentration of the army upon the southern -bank was being completed, Marco Aviano, the Emperor's Confessor, -celebrated a solemn mass, and gave a formal benediction to the Christian -army. Sobieski then stepped forward, and after addressing some words of -encouragement to the assembled officers, bestowed the honour of -knighthood upon his son James.[15] An enthusiastic votary of his -religion, he desired to impress upon his army that their cause was the -cause of God, against the enemies of the Faith. Even the Lutheran Saxons -and North Germans could, with more justice than the Hungarian renegades, -claim to be fighting _Pro Deo et Patria_. Upon the coming struggle -depended the question whether the frightful devastation, which had -desolated Hungary and Austria, was or was not to be repeated in all the -south German lands. - -The flat ground upon the southern side of the Danube, from near Krems to -Tuln, the Tullner Feld, offered a convenient space for the mustering of -the army after passing the river. Vienna was not further than about -sixteen miles as the crow flies, but the intervening country was of a -difficult nature, even should the Turks attempt no interruption to the -movements of the relieving forces. The Wiener Wald, rising to more than -nine hundred feet above the level of the Danube, runs into a -north-easterly direction between Tuln and Vienna, and advances up to the -very current of the river, which flows north-eastward and then -south-eastward round the mountain barrier. The roads were few and -difficult, and trees covered the slopes of the hills. Sobieski had -decided to advance with his left wing covered by the Danube, and to -throw succour into Vienna upon that side; while with the right he -threatened the rear of the Turkish camp on the side of Dornbach and -Hernals. With this object the march was directed upon the Leopoldsberg -and the Kahlenberg, the last heights or ridges of the mountains above -the Danube, to the north-west of Vienna. - -And at length, on the 10th of September, the forward movement upon the -Kahlenberg began. Already as early as the morning of the 6th, a -reconnaissance had been pushed to the summit, and as evening fell had -cheered Vienna with a flight of signal rockets, in answer to the fiery -messengers of distress which nightly rose from the spire of St. -Stephen's. But to carry an army up the Kahlenberg was a harder task. -Sobieski wrote that the country was horribly wasted. There was neither -food for man nor forage for horses, beyond what the army could carry -with them. Indeed, the leaves of the trees upon the Kahlenberg had to -eke out the supplies of the latter. There was all need for despatch. The -last despairing message had come from Starhemberg, borne by a swimmer on -the Danube to Lorraine, in language as brief as significant, "_No time -to be lost; no time indeed to be lost._" - -FOOTNOTES: - -[11] Salvandy, p. 96, vol. ii. - -[12] The grandson of the Duke of Lorraine married Maria Theresa, Queen -of Hungary, and was himself Emperor. The grand-daughter of Sobieski was -the mother of Charles Edward, the hero of the Forty-five. - -[13] Of the family, not an ancestor, of the present Duchess of Albany. - -[14] Salvandy. - -[15] Schimmer, "Sieges of Vienna;" Count Thuerheim, "Life of -Starhemberg;" and Salvandy, "Hist. de Pologne," p. 172, vol. ii. -misplace this solemn benediction of the army and the knighting of Prince -James on the morning of the 12th. Sobieski's own testimony, in his -letters to his queen, is decisive for the 8th. Nor on the 12th was there -time for the ceremony. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - -There was no time to be lost indeed. The fortifications of Vienna were a -mere heap of ruins. The Imperial Palace was battered to pieces. Nearly -one whole quarter of the city was in ashes. On the 3rd of September, the -long contested Burg ravelin was yielded to the Turks. On the 4th, the -salient angle of the Burg bastion was blown into the air, and an attack -was with difficulty repelled. On the 6th, a similar mine and assault -following cumbered the Loewel bastion with ruin and with corpses. For a -moment, the horse tails were planted upon the ramparts. Driven back -thence with difficulty, the Turks still clung to the Burg ravelin, and -four pieces of cannon planted there, at frightfully close quarters, -completed the ruin of the works. But no new attack came. Informed of the -advance of Lorraine, though still incredulous of the presence of -Sobieski, the Vizier began to draw his troops towards the foot of the -Kahlenberg. He still clung to the batteries and trenches; still kept the -pick of his Janissaries grappling with the prize which but for him they -might have already won. He rejected the advice of the Pasha of Pesth, to -withdraw across the Wien and fortify a camp on the Wienersberg, secure -that if the Christians attacked and failed Vienna would fall. He -withdrew his troops indeed from the Leopoldstadt, and threw up some -slight works towards the Kahlenberg, but remained otherwise irresolute, -halting between his expected booty and her deliverer. - -Sobieski had already taken the measure of his opponent. In reply to -desponding views of Lorraine at Tuln, he had said, "Be of good cheer; -which of us at the head of two hundred thousand men would have allowed -this bridge to have been thrown within five leagues of his camp?" To his -wife he wrote, "A commander who has thought neither of entrenching his -camp, nor of concentrating his forces, but who lies encamped there as if -we were one hundred miles off, is predestined to be beaten." Viewing the -Turkish force from the Kahlenberg, he said to his soldiers, "This man is -badly encamped, he knows nothing of war; we shall beat him." - -It was well for the Christians and for Vienna that none of the great -warriors who had served the Porte was now in command. No man like -Kiuprili, or even like Ibrahim "the Devil," the last Turkish commander -against whom Sobieski had contended, was there, to use the fidelity of -the Janissaries and the valour of the Spahis to advantage. The march up -the defiles of the Kahlenberg presented, even without interruptions, -extraordinary difficulties. The king himself pushed forward to -superintend the exploration of the way. He was so long parted from his -Polish troops that they became anxious for his safety. He rejoined them -at mid-day on the 11th, and encouraged them as they marched, or, as he -says, rather _climbed_ to the summit. Some Saxon troops, first arriving, -with three guns, opened fire upon a Turkish detachment marching too late -to secure the important position. The Turks retired, and the distant -sound of the firing announced to Vienna the first tidings of -deliverance. It was not till the evening of the 11th, however, that the -main body of the army had reached the ridge. Even then many had lagged -behind; the paths were nearly impracticable for artillery, and the -Germans abandoned many of their guns in despair between Tuln and the -Kahlenberg. But few pieces indeed were fired after the first beginning -of the battle on the following day, Polish guns, for the most part, -brought up by the vigour of the Grand Marshal of the Artillery, Kouski, -the same officer who had directed the Polish field-pieces against the -Turkish camp at Choczim. - -"An hour before sunset," September 11, as Sobieski and the generals -stood at length upon the crest of the hill, "they saw outspread before -them one of the most magnificent yet terrible displays of human power -which man has seen. There lay the valley and the islands of the Danube, -covered with an encampment, the sumptuousness of which seemed better -suited for an excursion of pleasure than for the hardships of war. -Within it stood an innumerable multitude of animals--horses, camels, and -oxen. Two hundred thousand fighting men moved in order here and there, -while along the foot of the hills below swarms of Tartars roamed at -will. A frightful cannonade was raging vigorously from the one side, in -feeble reply from the other. Beneath the canopy of smoke lay a great -city, visible only by her spires and her pinnacles, which pierced the -overwhelming cloud and flame."[16] Sobieski estimated the force before -him at one hundred thousand tents and three hundred thousand men. -Including the non-combatants, he was, perhaps, not far wrong; but the -fighting men in the Turkish army by this time would be by many fewer -than that number. One hundred and sixty-eight thousand men is the most -which may be allowed from the muster-rolls found in the Vizier's tent, -and that certainly exceeds the truth.[17] All around, except where in -the encampment the magnificence of the invader was proudly flaunted in -the face of the ruin that he had made, the prospect was desolated by -war. Whatever might be the fortune of the coming day, a generation at -least must elapse before those suburbs are rebuilt, those villages -restored and repeopled, those fields fully cultivated again. The army -felt that it lay with them, under God, to provide against that further -extension of the ravage which would follow, should the bulwark of the -_Oesterreich_, the Eastern March of the Empire, be forced by Hun and -Tartar. - -Not distinguishable from the distance at which they stood, thousands of -Christian captives lay in the encampment below. The morrow might deliver -up the people of Vienna to a like fate with theirs. The city, as the -king declared on entering it after the relief, could not have held out -five days. As the wind now lifted the cloud of smoke, where should have -been the fortifications, the eye could discern nothing but a circle of -shapeless ruin, reaching from the Scottish gate to what had been the -Burg bastion. Up to and on to it climbed the curving lines of the -Turkish approaches. - -Sobieski had only hoped gradually to fight his way into a position -whence he could communicate with the besieged, and he had arranged his -plan of battle at Tuln with that idea. But the inequalities of the -country between the Kahlenberg and Vienna, broken with vines, villages, -small hills and hollow ways, together with the unexpectedly rapid -development of the attack when once it began, seem to have interfered -with his original disposition. - -His army occupied a front of half a Polish mile, or about an English -mile and three quarters. It was drawn up in three supporting lines that -faced south-eastward. - -The first line of the right wing was composed of nineteen Polish -(cavalry) divisions and four battalions; the second, of six Polish and -eight Austrian divisions, and four Polish battalions; the third, of nine -Polish, six Austrian, three German divisions, three Polish and one -German battalion. - -The centre was composed in the first line of nine Austrian and eleven -German divisions, and thirteen German battalions; in the second, of six -German divisions, ten German and six Austrian battalions; in the third, -of five German and two Austrian battalions. - -The left wing shewed in the first line, ten Austrian and five German -divisions, and six Austrian battalions; in the second line, four German -and eight Austrian divisions; in the third line, three German and seven -Austrian battalions. - -Lubomirski with his irregular Poles was on the left; the Polish -Field-Marshal, Jablonowski, commanded on the right; the Prince of -Waldeck, with the Electors of Bavaria and Saxony, the centre; the Duke -of Lorraine and Louis of Baden, with Counts Leslie and Caprara, were on -the left. The king was upon the right or right centre throughout the -day. The total force, including detachments not actually engaged, was -46,700 cavalry and dragoons, 38,700 infantry; in all 85,400 men, with -some irregulars, and 168 guns, many of them not in action at all. The -dragoons fought on foot in the battle.[18] The army was, roughly, -one-third Poles, one-third Austrians, one-third Bavarians, Saxons, and -other Germans.[19] The fatigues of the march from Tuln would naturally -diminish the number of effective soldiers on the day of battle; and the -troops were not all in position when the evening of Saturday, September -11, fell. As the night however wore away, the rear guard gained the -summit of the hills, and snatched a brief repose before the labours of -the morrow. - -But for the king there was no rest. The man whom the French ambassador -had described as unable to ride, who was tormented certainly by wearing -pains, after three days of incessant toil, passed a sleepless night -preparatory to fourteen hours in the saddle upon the battle-field. The -season of repose was dedicated to the duties of a general and the -affection of a husband. At three a.m. on Sunday, the 12th, the king is -again writing to his _bien-aimee Mariette_. He has been toiling all day -in bringing his troops up the ravines. "We are so thin," he writes, "we -might run down the stags on the mountains." As to the pomp or even -comfort of a king, that is not to be thought of. "All my luggage which -we have got up here is in the two lightest carts." He has some more upon -mules, but has not seen them for forty-eight hours. He had no thought of -sleep; indeed, the thunder of the Turkish cannon made it impossible; and -a gale of wind, which he describes as "sufficient to blow the men off -their horses," bore the noise of their discharge with redoubled clamour -to the relieving army. Moreover, the king writes, he must be in the -saddle before daybreak, riding down from the right to the extreme left, -to consult with Lorraine, opposite whom the enemy lies in force; not -entrenched, he hopes, as on that side he means to break through to the -city. A two days' affair, at least, he thinks. Then, "my eighth letter -to your sixth," he adds, with other familiar and gentle conversation, -with tidings of her son and of other friends, but with no word of fear -or of apprehension. He had made his will before setting out from Warsaw, -but he entertained no thought of failure. Then closing his wife's -letter, the affectionate husband becomes again the heroic king and -careful general. He rides from right to left along the lines, in that -boisterous autumnal morning, makes the last dispositions with Lorraine, -with him and with a few others takes again the Holy Communion from the -hands of Marco Aviano before the sun has risen, and then returns to his -post upon the right wing, ready for the advance that was to save Vienna. -His next letter to his wife was dated "September 13, night. The tents of -the Vizier." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[16] Coyer, "Memoires de Sobieski." - -[17] The roll includes the forces of Tekeli, who was not in the Turkish -camp at all, and takes no count of the last losses which the Turkish -detachments had suffered, nor of the loss from desertion the night -before the battle, when many of the irregulars went off with their -booty. The Turks had lost, according to this roll, 48,500 men before the -battle.--See Thuerheim's "Starhemberg," pp. 150 and _seq._ - -[18] The dragoons were mounted infantry, using horses to reach the scene -of action only. They carried the infantry weapons, sword and musket, but -not pikes. The bayonet was just coming into use, but was still fixed in -the muzzle of the gun, and had to be removed before firing. - -[19] Count Thuerheim, "Starhemberg," p. 163 and _seqq._; and Sobieski to -his wife, September 13. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - -The position of the Christian army on the Kahlenberg was, from the left -wing, the nearest point, about four miles from Vienna. The centre and -right were further removed. The intervening country, far from being a -plain, as Sobieski had been led to believe when he formed his first plan -of battle, is broken up into hillocks and little valleys, intersected by -streams, full of vineyards, and interspersed with the ruins of numerous -villages burnt by the Turks. Beyond these lay the Turkish encampment and -approaches, mingled with the vestiges of the suburbs destroyed by -Starhemberg at the beginning of the siege. - -The Turkish army was stretched over a front of about four miles from -point to point, but slightly curving with the convex side towards the -attacking force. Their right rested upon the Danube, and held the -Nussberg before the villages of Nussdorf and Heiligenstadt; their left -reached towards Breitensee near the Wien, and the Tartars swarmed still -further on the broken ground beyond. Their camp straggled in an -irregular half-moon from the river above Vienna to beyond the Wien, and -their troops were, at the beginning of the action, drawn up before it. -Some hasty entrenchments had been thrown up by them here and there, of -which the most considerable was a battery between Waehring, Gerstorf and -Weinhaus;[20] but the bulk of their artillery remained in their lines, -pointed against the city, and the clamour of the ensuing battle was -swelled by the continuous roar of their bombardment, kept up as on -previous days. In the trenches lay a great body of Janissaries; and the -Turkish army was further weakened by the dispersal of Tartars and -irregulars on the night before the fight, doubtful of the event, and -anxious at any rate to secure their plunder. As the king had said, the -Turks were badly posted, their camp was long and straggling, too -valuable to be abandoned and not easy to defend. In case of a reverse, -their right wing would run the risk of being driven into the Danube, or -else have to fall back upon their centre and left, to the confusion of -the whole army. Fighting with a river and a fortified city upon their -flank and rear, repulse for them would mean certain disaster. But the -incapacity of the Vizier could not be fully fathomed till the attack -began. We have the assurance of Sobieski himself that he hoped upon the -first day merely to bring his army within striking distance of the -enemy, and to establish his left well forward near the bank of the -Danube, ready to deal a decisive blow, or to throw succour into Vienna -on the morrow or following day. He closed his letter to his wife in the -grey of the windy morning of the 12th of September, ignorant that the -decisive moment, bringing a victory greater than that of Choczim, was at -hand. - -The Turks had pushed their outposts forward up the banks of the river, -and soon after daybreak Lorraine upon the left was engaged, and the -fight thickened as his attack towards Nussdorf and Heiligenstadt was -developed. Eugene of Savoy began his distinguished career in arms by -carrying tidings from Lorraine to the king that the battle had commenced -in earnest. Eugene, barely twenty, had left Paris that year, slighted by -Louis, and had entered the service of the Emperor. His memoirs dismiss -briefly this his first essay in war. "The confusion of that day can be -but confusedly described. The Poles, who had clambered up to the -Leopoldsberg--I know not why--went down again like madmen and fought -like lions. The Turks, encamped where I threw up lines in 1703, did not -know which way to front, neglected the eminences, and behaved like -idiots."[21] The young aide-de-camp, carrying orders through the hottest -of the fire, could not yet penetrate the system which underlay the -apparent confusion of the march and battle. Advancing in columns with a -comparatively narrow front down the difficult slope of the hills, the -infantry gradually deployed right and left upon the lower ground, while -the cavalry of the second line advanced to fill the gaps thus left in -the foremost The Turks resisted gallantly, but they were principally -dismounted Spahis, not a match for Lorraine's favourite troops, the -German foot, though regaining their horses they would retreat with great -rapidity, to again dismount, and again resist, as each favourable -position offered itself. The fighting was obstinate, and the losses -heavy upon both sides, but the tide of fight rolled steadily towards -Vienna. The Germans carried the height of the Nussberg, above Nussdorf, -and their guns planted there disordered the whole of the Turkish right -with their plunging fire. Osman Ogoli, Pasha of Kutaya, the Turkish -general of division, pushed forward three columns in a counter-attack, -boldly and skilfully directed. The Imperial infantry were shaken, but -five Saxon battalions, inclining to their left from the Christian -centre, checked in turn the onset of the Ottomans, and restored the -current of the battle. But had the whole force of the enemy been -commanded as their right wing, the allies would scarcely that night have -been greeted in Vienna. No false move in the advance escaped the skill -of Osman. As the Turkish attack recoiled, the Prince of Croy had dashed -forward with two battalions to carry with a rush the village of -Nussdorf. Checked and overwhelmed, he fell back again, himself wounded, -his brother slain. Louis of Baden, with his dismounted dragoons, came up -to the rescue, and checked the pursuing enemy. As they recoiled slowly -the fight grew fiercer, and then more stationary about Nussdorf and -about Doebling. Houses, gardens, and vineyards formed a series of -entrenchments, sharply attacked and obstinately defended. A third time -the fiery valour of the Turks, charging home with their sabres among the -pikes and muskets, disordered the allies, and all but regained the -summit of the Nussberg. Again the superior cohesion of the Christians -prevailed, and the Turkish column outflanked fell back, still stubbornly -contesting every foot of ground. From the long extended centre and left -of their line no support came to them, as the Vizier in anxious -irresolution expected the advance of the centre of the allies and of the -Poles upon their right. His infatuation, moreover, had kept in the -batteries the bulk of his artillery, and in the trenches the best of his -Janissaries. In dire want of the guns, which roared idly upon the -already shattered defences of the city, Osman was driven through -Nussdorf and through Heiligenstadt, upon the fortified defiles of -Doebling, where at last a battery of ten guns and a force of Janissaries -opposed a steadier resistance to the advancing Germans. It was now noon. -Lorraine had already won the position which had been marked out for his -achievement for the day, and slackened his attack while he reformed his -victorious battalions. The centre and right of the Christian army, -separated by a longer distance from their foes, had been slowly gaining -the field of action, and had scarce fired a shot nor struck a blow, -except for the support accorded to the left by the centre. The whole of -the infantry and cavalry had at mid-day gained the positions assigned to -them, and, in the absence of most of his artillery, Sobieski would have -hesitated to continue his advance had not his lines, upon the left -especially, become so deeply involved that it was difficult to suspend -the conflict for long. Yet a momentary lull succeeded to the sharp -sounds of close combat. A sultry autumn day had followed the boisterous -night and morning, and the heat was oppressive.[22] The Poles upon the -right halted and snatched a hasty meal from the provisions they had -brought with them. But as the rattle of the small arms and the clash of -weapons died away, the roar of the battering guns and the answering fire -of the city rose in overwhelming distinctness. Behind the smoky veil, -Starhemberg and his gallant garrison could perchance barely guess, by -sounds of conflict, the progress of their deliverers. Tidings from the -watch-chair on St. Stephen's would spread alternate hope and despair -among the citizens. The fate of Vienna trembled in the balance. The -garrison stood ready in the breaches, the rest of the inhabitants -cowered upon the housetops to watch, or knelt in the churches to pray; -but to the Vizier came swiftly tidings of the foe with whom he had to -deal, the foe whose presence he had obstinately refused to credit. - -Reforming after their brief delay, the Polish cavalry in gorgeous arms -came flashing from the woods and defiles near Dornbach on his left. -Those who had before fought against him, knew the plume raised upon a -spear point, the shield borne before him, the _banderolles_ on the -lances of his body guard, which declared the presence of the terrible -Sobieski. "By Allah, but the king is really among them," cried Gieray, -Khan of the Crimea. And all doubt was at an end as the shout of "_Vivat -Sobieski_" rolled along the Christian lines, in dread and significant -answer to the discordant clamour of the Infidels. - -Profiting, however, by the interruption in the battle, the Vizier had -reformed his line, brought up infantry from the trenches, and now -directed his attack upon the Poles and the most formidable of his -opponents, hoping by their overthrow to change the fortune of the day, -while the Imperialists and Saxons still halted before his entrenchments -at Doebling. The Turks advanced with courage. For a moment a regiment of -Polish lancers were thrown into confusion, and the officers, members of -the nobility of Poland, who strove to rally their lines, fell; but -Waldeck, moving up his Bavarians from the centre, restored the fight. -The attack was defeated, and advancing in turn the headlong valour of -the Poles drove the Turks back from point to point, over the Alserbach -and its branches upon the confines of their camp. To relieve the -pressure upon the right and centre, Lorraine had renewed his attack with -the left of the allies. Horses and men had recovered breath and order, -and their artillery had moved up in support. The defiles of Doebling were -cleared by the Saxons; and at about four or five o'clock the Turkish -redoubt before Waehring was carried by Louis of Baden with his dismounted -dragoons. Falling back in confusion upon their approaches and -batteries, the Turks desperately endeavoured, too late, to turn the -siege guns upon the enemy, whose advance now threatened them upon all -sides. The caution of Sobieski had, up to the last moment, inclined him -to respect the superior numbers and the desperation of his foes, and to -rest content with the advantage won; but now, in the growing confusion, -he saw that the decisive hour had arrived. The Elector of Bavaria and -the Prince of Waldeck hastening from the centre already saluted him as -conqueror. - -The desperate efforts of the Vizier to gain room by moving troops -towards his left from the centre, and so extending his lines beyond the -Polish right, served but to increase the confusion. The Field-Marshal -Jablonowski covered that wing, and the Queen of Poland's brother, the -Count de Maligni, pushing forward with infantry, seized a mound, whence -his musketry fire dominated the spot where the Vizier stood. The last -shots were fired from the two or three cannon which had kept pace with -the advance. A French officer rammed home the last charge with his -gloves, his wig, and a packet of French papers. Already the roads to -Hungary were thronged with fugitives, whose course was marked by dust -in columns, when the king decided to seize the victory all but in his -grasp already. _Non nobis, non nobis, Domine exercituum, sed Nomini Tuo -des gloriam_, he cried in answer to the congratulations of his friends, -as he began the decisive movement. - -Concentrating as rapidly as possible the bulk of the cavalry of the -whole army, German and Polish, upon the right wing,[23] he led them to -the charge, directly upon the spot where the Vizier with blows, tears, -and curses, was endeavouring to rally the soldiers, whom his own -ill-conduct had deprived of their wonted valour. The Turkish infantry -without pikes, their cavalry without heavy armour, were incapable of -withstanding the shock of the heavy German cuirassiers, or of arresting -the rush of the Polish nobles, whose spears, as they boasted to their -kings, would uphold the heavens should they fall. Their king at their -head, they came down like a whirlwind to the shout of "God preserve -Poland." The spears of the first line were splintered against the few -who awaited them, but their onset was irresistible. Spahis and -Janissaries, Tartars and Christian allies alike went down before the -Polish lances, or turned and fled in headlong confusion. The old Pasha -of Pesth, the greatest of the Turkish warriors in reputation, had fled -already. The Pashas of Aleppo and of Silistria perished in the _melee_. -"Can you not help me?" cried the Vizier, turning to the Khan of the -Crimea. "No," was the reply; "I know the King of Poland well, it is -impossible to resist him; think only of flight."[24] - -Away through the wasted borders of Austria, away to the Hungarian -frontier, to their army that lay before Raab, poured the fugitives. -There seldom has been a deliverance more complete and more decisive. The -terror which had so long weighed upon Eastern Christendom was dissolved -in that headlong rout. It was more than the scattering of an army; the -strength of an empire was dissipated on that day. Resources which had -been accumulating for years were destroyed; and such an expedition, so -numerous and so well furnished, never was sent forth by the Ottoman -again. The victory lacked nothing to render it more striking, either in -suddenness, in completeness, or in situation. The whole action had been -comprised in the hours between sunrise and sunset, before the gates of -one of the greatest capitals in Europe. We may borrow indeed the words -of Eugene, used in his despatch describing the last victory of the war -at Zenta, to picture the last hours of that evening before Vienna. For -upon the summits of the Weiner-Wald, whence the allies had descended -that morning to a yet doubtful field, "the sun seemed to linger, loath -to leave the day, until his rays had illumined to the end the triumph of -the glorious arms" of Poland and "of the Empire." - -There was no want of individual courage among the Turks. "They made the -best retreat you can conceive," wrote the king, for hard pressed they -would turn sword in hand upon their pursuers. But the head which should -have directed that courage was wanting; and for that want they were a -gallant mob, but no longer an army. Grateful for the result though we -may be, there is something pathetic in the magnificent valour of a race -of soldiers being frustrated by such incapacity. The Christians, -exhausted by the toils of the last few days, could not pursue to any -distance. The Imperial General Duenewald indeed with a few squadrons of -Austrians and Poles, the stoutest steeds or the keenest riders, -despising both plunder and fatigue, pushed straight on through the -twilight to Enzersdorf, where the road crossed the stream of the Fischa, -ten miles from Vienna, and there bursting on the line of flight made a -slaughter of the fugitives, which showed how much they owed to the night -and to the weariness of their conquerors. But there was no general -pursuit on the part of the allies. Their commanders were doubtful of the -full extent of their victory, and feared lest from such a multitude some -part might rally and destroy the too eager followers whom they still -outnumbered. But without pursuit their work was done. At seven, Louis of -Baden had opened a communication with the besieged, and the garrison -sallying forth joined the relieving army in the slaughter of the -Janissaries who had remained, neglected or forgotten, in the trenches. -Even then one miner was found, doggedly toiling in his gallery beneath -the ramparts, ignorant of the flight or death of his companions; perhaps -from among so many the last staunch soldier of the Prophet. - -I cannot conceive, wrote Sobieski, how they can carry on the war after -such a loss of _materiel_. The whole of the artillery of the Turks, -their munitions, and their baggage were the spoil of the victors. Three -hundred and ten pieces of cannon, twenty thousand animals, nine thousand -carriages, one hundred and twenty-five thousand tents, five million -pounds of powder are enumerated. The holy standard of the Prophet had -been saved, but the standard of the Vizier, mistaken for it, was sent to -the Pope by the conqueror, while his gilded stirrups were despatched at -once to Poland to the Queen, as a token of victory. Never, perhaps, -since Alexander stood a victor at Issus in the tents of Darius, or the -Greeks stormed the Persian camp at Plataea, had an European army entered -upon such spoil. Much money had been saved by the Turks in their flight; -but precious stuffs and jewelled arms, belts thick with diamonds, -intended to encircle the fair captives of Vienna, the varied plunder of -many a castle of Hungary and of Lower Austria, were found piled in the -encampment. In the Vizier's quarters were gardens laid out with baths -and fountains, a menagerie, even a rabbit warren. His encampment alone -formed a labyrinth of tents, by itself of the circumference of a little -town, and with its contents declared the character of its late owner. An -ostrich, previously taken from an Imperial castle, was found beheaded to -prevent recapture. A parrot, more fortunate, escaped upon the wing. The -Polish envoy was discovered in the camp in chains, forgotten during the -turmoil, and thus saved from the death promised him if his master should -take the field. The Imperial agent at the Porte, Kunitz, had escaped -into the town during the battle; but the mass of Christian captives had -not been so happy. Before the battle the Vizier had ordered a general -massacre of prisoners, and the camp was cumbered with the bodies of men, -women, and children, but for the most part of women, foully slaughtered. -The benevolent energy of the Bishop of Neustadt, above-mentioned, found -employment in caring for five hundred children, who had, with their -mothers in a few cases, escaped the sword. The night was passed in the -camp by the victors, who were intent on securing their victory or their -plunder. Not till the following morning did the king meet Lorraine and -exchange congratulations upon their success. Then, with the Commandant -Starhemberg, they entered the city, passing over those well-contested -breaches, which but for them might have been that day trodden by the -Janissaries. They repaired to the churches for a solemn thanksgiving. -Sobieski himself sang the _Te Deum_ in one of them. Nothing could exceed -the enthusiastic gratitude of the people, who barely allowed a passage -to the horse of their deliverer. The priest, after the _Te Deum_ ended, -by a happy inspiration or plagiarism, gave out the words, "_There was a -man sent from God, whose name was John._"[25] A salute of three hundred -guns proclaimed the victory far and wide, and the shouts of "_Vivat -Sobieski!_" that filled the city out-thundered the thunder of the -cannon. Their walls were a chaos, their habitations a ruin, but the -citizens rejoiced as those rejoice whom the Lord hath redeemed and -delivered from the hand of the enemy. They were as men released not only -from the sword, pestilence, and famine, but from prison besides. They -poured forth to taste again the sweets of liberty, wondered at the -trenches, or joined in the pillage of the camp, where the air was -already sickening from the thousands of the slain, and foul from the -refuse of the barbaric encampment. But amid all the popular rejoicing, -the king could not but observe the coldness of the magistracy. The -Emperor could not endure that any but himself should triumph in Vienna, -and his feelings were reflected in his servants. On hearing of the -victory he had returned to the neighbourhood of the city. A council was -held to settle the weighty point as to how the elective Emperor was to -receive the elective King. "With open arms, since he has saved the -Empire," said Lorraine; but Leopold would not descend to such an -indecorum. He strove to avoid a meeting with the deliverer of his -capital, and when the meeting was arranged could barely speak a few cold -words in Latin, well answered by Sobieski, who, saying, "I am happy, -Sire, to have been able to render you this slight service," turned his -horse, saluted, and rode away. A few complimentary presents to Prince -James and to the Polish nobles did not efface the impression of -ingratitude. The German writers minimize the coldness of the Emperor, -but Sobieski was at the moment undoubtedly aggrieved, and others were -discontented. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[20] The _Turkenschanze_, traces of which lately remained. - -[21] In 1717 Eugene, in like case with the Vizier now, was besieging -Belgrade, and was himself surrounded by a large Turkish army. However, -he defeated the relieving army and took the city. - -[22] There is a proverb, "_Vienna aut venenosa aut ventosa_." She was -giving to her deliverers successive displays of her character. - -[23] Sobieski's letter of September 13. - -[24] Sobieski's letter of September 13. He must have heard of the -conversation from the Vizier's attendants taken in his encampment. - -[25] It was the exclamation of the Pope, Pius V., on hearing of the -victory of Don John of Austria over the Turks at Lepanto, in 1571. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -Neglected and distrusted by the sovereign whom he had delivered, -Sobieski found consolation in detailing his victory, his spoil, and his -wrongs alike to his wife. We find the great soldier again, in the full -flush of his victory, writing indefatigably to his _Mariette_. It is on -the night of the 13th, in the Vizier's late quarters, in the camp still -cumbered with the slaughter of the combatants and of prisoners. The loss -had been heavy in the fighting upon both sides, he tells us; and such an -estimate, formed at such a moment by the victorious general, by far -outweighs the accounts by which the French above all tried to minimize -the slaughter made, and with it the greatness of the victory won.[26] -He begins his letter: "God be blessed for ever. He has given victory to -our people; He has given them such a triumph that past ages have not -seen the like." All around, the explosions of the Turkish ammunition, -fired by the plunderers from city and army, "make a din like the last -judgment." He plunges into a description of the riches that the camp -contains. "The Vizier has made me his heir; he has done everything _en -galant homme_." "You cannot say to me, 'You are no warrior,' as the -Tartar women say to their husbands when they return empty-handed." "For -two nights and a day plunder has gone on at will; even the townsfolk -have taken their share, and I am sure that there is enough left for -eight days more. The plunder we got at Choczim was nothing to this." - -There was a touch of the barbaric chieftain in the Polish king, and he -keenly enjoyed not merely the victory, but the spoil which he had won. -At the end of the seventeenth century, the character of this general of -the school of Montecuculi, this admirer of Conde, recalls to us at once -the ardour of a crusader, and the affectionate rapacity of a -moss-trooper, reserving the richest plunder of a foray to deck his wife -at home. He exults in the belts and in the watches studded with jewels, -the stuffs and the embroideries which are to adorn his wife's boudoir. -But he is still bent on action. "We must march to-morrow for Hungary," -he says, "and start at the double, to escape the smell of the camp and -its refuse, with the thousands of bodies of men and of animals lying -unburied." - -One letter, at least, he had despatched before writing to his wife. He -knew well the feelings with which the King of France would regard the -salvation of the Empire, and the setting free of the attention of -Germany to be directed to his own designs. In Sobieski's own words to -his wife, he thus reveals his triumph over the French king, whose -intrigues had been ceaselessly directed to prevent his coming: "I have -written to the King of France; I have told him that it was to him -especially, as to the Most Christian King, that I felt bound to convey -the information of the battle that we have won, and of the safety of -Christendom." This letter remained unanswered. It is said that the -proofs of Louis' dealings with the Turks had at that moment passed into -the hands of the victors, amid the plunder of the Vizier's quarters. - -No sooner had Louis heard that the intrigues of his agents had failed, -and that Sobieski was actually in the field, than his armies were let -loose upon the Spanish Netherlands. Unable to anticipate the victory at -Vienna, the French revenged it by seizing Courtrai and Dixmunde in the -autumn, and bombarding Luxemburg before the end of the year. The French -nobility had been forbidden to hasten to the defence of Christendom; and -now were inclined to depreciate, at least in words, the victory they had -not shared. - -Amidst the general chorus of admiration and of thankfulness which rose -from Europe, in France, and in France alone, were the deeds of Sobieski -slighted. He had cut in pieces not only the Turks, but the prophecies -which had filled Paris of the approaching downfall of the house of -Austria. The allies of that house took a bolder tone; Spain talked of -the declaration of that war against Louis which he had provoked for so -long; the United Provinces listened to the warlike councils of the -Prince of Orange; the Emperor spoke decidedly of succouring all his -friends. - -Far different was to be the progress of Louis' aggressions upon Germany, -now that the overmastering fear of Turkish invasion was done away with, -and the Turkish hold upon Hungary loosened. The alliance of Laxenberg -and the other leagues were now to ripen into the great confederacy of -Augsburg and the Grand Alliance. - -Upon the Ottoman power the effect of the victory was decisive. Turkish -rule in Hungary had received a blow from which it never recovered. It is -true that Sobieski, advancing rashly with his cavalry alone, shortly -involved himself in a disaster, near the bridge of the Danube, opposite -Gran. The king himself had to ride for his life from the Turkish -horsemen. The check, however, was avenged by the complete destruction of -the force which had inflicted it; and the fortress of Gran, the most -important place upon that side of Hungary, became the prize of the -conqueror. - -The views of Sobieski embraced the reduction of Buda, and, perhaps, of -the whole of Hungary, in this campaign. But this was forbidden by the -lateness of the season, still more by the jealousy of the Emperor. The -king warred against the Turks, but not against the Hungarians. He -sympathized with their efforts to regain their liberties, and strove to -reconcile rather than to subdue Tekeli. Leopold was fearful of the -establishment of a Polish interest in the country, and showed a studied -neglect of his allies. But had other causes allowed, the insubordination -of the Poles would have prevented further conquests. The Polish -nobility, the political masters of their king, were foremost in -clamouring for a return to their native country. A prolonged career of -conquest was impossible at the head of such a State and army. The hopes -of a Hungarian alliance died away. Tekeli, after much hesitation, -refused to enter into the negotiations which the king proposed; and -reluctantly the deliverer of Christendom withdrew through Upper Hungary -into Poland again, reducing some towns upon the road, but leaving his -great work half done. His army melted in his hands. The tardy -Lithuanians, too late for the fighting, arrived to add to his vexation -in Moravia, where they disgraced their country by pillaging the people -whom they had not helped to save. - -But Sobieski was not alone in suffering from the Emperor's ingratitude. -Starhemberg, the defender of the city, was deservedly rewarded; but most -of the others, from Lorraine downwards, who had participated in the -battle, had little recompense for their services. Even the ardour of the -Elector of Bavaria was for a time cooled by the coolness of the Emperor, -though he returned again to the service of his future father-in-law. The -Elector of Saxony, Waldeck, and others left the scene of the campaign to -enjoy their triumph, or to plunge into other enterprises; but under -Lorraine, and a series of generals, culminating in that Eugene of Savoy, -who had seen his first service at Vienna, the Turks were driven foot by -foot from Hungary. Kara Mustapha shortly paid for his defeat, as Ottoman -commanders did pay--with his head, suffering not unjustly. But his -successors, though less incompetent, were scarcely on the whole more -fortunate than he. - -In vain a new Kiuprili was found to head the Turkish armies and to -reform the Turkish State. A short gleam of success under his leadership -was ended by his death in battle. In vain a Sultan, Mustapha II., again -appeared himself at the head of his armies. The means of warfare of the -Ottomans were to a great extent expended and lost beyond repair in the -great disaster at Vienna. New enemies rose up against them in their -weakness. Russia in the Ukraine, Venice in the Morea and in Dalmatia, -began conquests at the expense of the Porte. The war indeed dragged on, -delayed by the renewed contest between France and the Augsburg league; -but the very weakness of Austria served merely to show more clearly the -fallen fortunes of the Turks, who could make no lasting stand against -her. Steadily upon the whole the fortunes of the Ottomans declined, -though it was not till the great victory of Eugene at Zenta, in 1697, -that they were driven reluctantly to treat. The peace signed at -Carlowitz, in 1699, illustrates the altered relations of Europe since -the beginning of the war, when the Turks had been a menace to Germany. - -For the first time, an European conference considered the affairs of -Turkey. England and Holland were mediators of the peace, that the -Emperor might be more free to act with them in the coming war of the -Spanish Succession. Sobieski had nearly three years earlier become a -memory, with his victories, his schemes, and his disappointments, in the -grave; and with him ended the ever unstable greatness of Poland. Another -yet more notable northern sovereign, Peter the Czar, was a party to the -negotiations. Everywhere was territory rent from Turkey. To Austria, she -yielded nearly all of Hungary and Transylvania, with most of the -Sclavonian lands between the Save and the Drave; to Poland, she gave up -Podolia; to Russia, Azof; to Venice, the Morea and parts of Dalmatia. -One point she proudly refused to yield. The Hungarian Tekeli and his -friends, who had sought her hospitality, were retained by her, safe from -the vengeance of the Emperor; as in 1849 other Hungarian exiles were -shielded by the Turks, against the vengeance of Austria and of Russia -combined. This was the first peace which had permanently reduced the -frontiers of the Ottomans; it marked the termination of the last of the -great Mohammedan aggressions upon Christendom; it saw the end of the -secret understandings by which, since the days of Francis I., France -had endeavoured to use Turkey for the subversion of Austria and for the -ends of her own ambition. The complete reversal of the former positions -of the combatants, the disastrous termination of the war for Turkey, the -"rolling away of the stone of Tantalus that hung above _their_ heads, -the intolerable woe for the _Germans_",[27] the far-reaching results of -the struggle in the future history of Europe--all are traceable to the -day when the genius of Sobieski marked triumphantly, from the windy -heights of the Kahlenberg, that fatal incapacity which should open for -him the way, as victorious deliverer, to the foot of the ruined ramparts -of Vienna. - -But naturally, before concluding our consideration of the subject, we -ask what gain did Poland, or the King of Poland, gather from the -enterprise in which he had played so glorious a part? For a few months -he was the centre of the admiring eyes of Christendom. "_L'empire du -monde vous serait du si le ciel l'eut reserve a un seul potentat_," -wrote Christina of Sweden from Rome, not without a glance at the -pretensions of Louis XIV. to supremacy, and of Leopold to an imperial -primacy in Europe. Never before had Poland filled so great a place in -the eyes of the world. The cautious Venetians sought her special -alliance. In the language of diplomacy she was _Respublica Serenissima_; -but untroubled she never was, and her greatness was of short duration. -It is true that the frontiers of the State were relieved of a constant -fear. The Turks were for the time broken, the Tartars were crushed, the -Cossacks of the Ukraine again reduced to submission. But Sobieski had -fought and had conquered for others. His country was incapable of -gathering the fruits of victory; incapable of prolonged effort, and -therefore of lasting success. At the peace of Carlowitz, Podolia, with -the fortress of Kaminiec, was recovered; but Moldavia had been in vain -invaded by the Poles; and the Turks, it was soon seen, were beaten for -the benefit of Austria; the Tartars for the benefit of Russia. - -The King of Poland, alive to the shortcomings of his countrymen, was -unable to correct them. A man who was at least the most eminent soldier, -general we may not say, of Europe; a man who above all others living -fulfilled the character of a hero; a king who had saved his country; a -husband who was devoted to his wife, found himself thwarted by his -subjects, and distracted by quarrels in his family. No doubt he laboured -to render the crown hereditary in his house, a service to his country it -would have been had he succeeded; but the jealousy of the Poles, still -more that of the neighbouring sovereigns, and to some extent the -misconduct of his wife, rendered this impossible. He found himself the -object of an empty respect, but the wielder of no authority; he saw his -country without order, without steadiness of purpose, unable to follow -any settled policy in conjunction either with France or with the enemies -of France. The factions of the Diet left him without soldiers and -without money. Not for the first, but nearly for the last time, the -Poles were victorious in battle, but were destined to fail woefully in -attaining the objects of war. The end was not far off. Sobieski was -followed by a foreigner upon the throne, and within ten years of his -death, Charles XII. of Sweden was disposing as a conqueror of the crown -of Poland. The prey to the ambition of her neighbours his country has -remained, now like her king a memory, to serve as a lesson of the -consequences of the disregard of those restraints and of that -self-control which alone can render freedom safe and liberty a blessing. -For want of these her place has vanished from the map of Europe, sooner -even than that of the foe whom she destroyed. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[26] A moderate estimate of the Christian loss is five thousand men, or -about one-fifteenth of those on the field; a loss in about the same -proportion as that of both sides at Sadowa. The Poles alone confessed to -the loss of one hundred officers killed, and they were neither so long -nor so hotly engaged as the left wing. The loss of the centre was -probably less. Thuerheim and Schimmer give of the allies four thousand, -and twenty-five thousand Turks; but the latter figures are quite -uncertain, and the Christians made the least of their losses. As the -fight was so much hand-to-hand, with little artillery fire, it would -resemble ancient battles, where the loss of the vanquished was always -disproportionately large. The memoirs of the Duke of Lorraine simply -say, that "for about three hours the fighting was very bloody upon both -sides." Fighting, however, had began soon after daybreak, and the -pursuit lasted till nightfall. - -[27] - -[Greek: epeide ton huper kephalas ge Tantalon lithon para tis etrepsen -ammi theos, atolmaton Elladi mochthon.] - -PINDAR, Isth. viii. 10. - -Written after the repulse of the great Persian invasion. - - -THE END. - - -PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, -LONDON AND BECCLES. - -[Illustration: Map - - Archiducatus Austriae Inferioris Geographics et Noviter Emendata - Accuratissima Descriptio. - - (1697.)] - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIENNA 1683*** - - -******* This file should be named 56023.txt or 56023.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/6/0/2/56023 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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