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J.C. 1712.
Heg.1124.

enemy
of thę czar. It was neither his interest
nor his inclination to keep the king of Sweden
any longer, and much less to arm the Turkish
empire in his favor. He not only refolved to
difmifs that prince, but he openly declared, that,
for the future, no Chriftian minifter fhould be al-
lowed to refide at Conftantinople; that all the
common ambaffadors were at beft but honorable
fpies, who corrupted or betrayed the viziers, and
had too long influenced the intrigues of the fe-
raglio; and that the Franks fettled at Pera and
in the fea ports of the Levant were merchants
who needed a conful only, and not an ambassador.
The grand vizier, who owed his poft and even his
life to the favorite, and who befides stood greatly
in awe of him, complied with his intentions with
fo much the more alacrity, as he had fold himself
to the Ruffians, and hoped by this mean to be
revenged on the king of Sweden, who had endea-
voured to ruin him. The mufti, a creature of
Ali Coumourgi, was likewife an abfolute flave to his
will. He had been a keen advocate for a war with
Ruffia, when the favorite was of that opinion;
but the moment this young man changed his
mind, he pronounced it to be unjust: thus the
army was hardly affembled when they began to
liften to proposals of peace. The vice-chancellor
Schaffirof, and young Czeremetof, the czar's ple-
nipotentiaries at the Porte, promised, after feveral
negotiations, that their master fhould withdraw
his troops from Poland. The grand vizier, who

well

Heg.1124.

well knew that the czar would never execute this J.C. 1712. treaty, made no scruple to fign it; and the fultan, fatisfied with having, though only in appearance, imposed laws upon the Ruffians, continued ftill at Adrianople. Thus, in less than fix months, peace was ratified with the czar, war declared, and peace renewed again.

infifts on

key.

The chief purport of all these treaties was to The Porte oblige the king of Sweden to depart. The fultan his quitwas unwilling to endanger his own honor, and ting Tur. that of the Ottoman empire, by exposing the king to the risk of being taken by his enemies on the road. It was ftipulated that he should depart; but only on condition that the ambaffadors of Poland and Mofcovy fhould be responsible for the fafety of his perfon. Accordingly thefe ambaffadors swore, in the name of their masters, that neither the czar nor the king of Poland fhould moleft him in his journey; and Charles was to engage on his fide that he would not attempt to excite any commotions in Poland. The divan having thus fettled the fate of Charles, Ishmael, feraskier of Bender, repaired to Vernitza, where the king was encamped, and acquainted him with the refolutions of the Porte, infinuating to him with great politenefs, that there was no time for any longer delay, but that he muft neceffarily depart. Charles made no other anfwer than this, that the grand feignior had promifed him an army, and not an efcort, and that kings ought to keep their word.

VOL. IV.

Y 2

• Meanwhi

J.C. 1712.
Heg.1124.

'Meanwhile general Fleming, the minister and favorite of Auguftus, carried on a fecret correfpondence with the khan of Tartary and the ferafkier of Bender. La Mare, a French gentleman, a colonel in the fervice of Saxony, had gone feveral times from Bender to Drefden; and all thefe journeys were ftrongly fufpected.

At this very time the king of Sweden caufeda courier, whom Fleming had fent to the Tartarian prince, to be arrested on the frontiers of Walachia. The letters were brought to him and decyphered; and from them it clearly appeared, that a correspondence was carried on between the Tartars and the court of Drefden; but the letters were conceived in fuch ambiguous and general terms, that it was difficult to difcover whether the intention of Auguftus was only to detach the Turks from the intereft of Sweden, or if he meant that the khan should deliver Charles to the Saxons as he conducted him back to Poland.

We can hardly imagine, that a prince fo generous as Auguftus, would, by feizing the perfon of the king of Sweden, endanger the lives of his ambaffadors, and of three hundred Polish gentlemen, who were detained at Adrianople as pledges for Charles's fafety. But it is well known, on the other hand, that Fleming, the minister of Auguftus, and who had an abfolute power over his master, was a man devoid of every principle of virtue or honor. The injuries which the elector had received from the king of Sweden might

feem

Heg.1124.

feem to excufe any kind of revenge; and it might .C.1712. be thought, that, if the court of Drefden could buy Charles from the khan of the Tartars, they would find it no difficult matter to purchase the liberty of the Polish hoftages at the Ottoman Porte.

He is a

fraid he

shall be de

livered to

'These reasons were carefully canvaffed by the king, Mullern his privy-chancellor, and Grothufen his favorite. They read the letters again and again; and their unhappy condition making them more fufpicious, they refolved to believe the worst. A few days after, the king was confirmed in his fufpicions by the fudden departure of count Sapieha, who had taken refuge with him, and now king Auleft him abruptly, in order to go to Poland to guftus. throw himself into the arms of Auguftus. Upon any other occafion he would have confidered Sapieha only as a malecontent; but in his present delicate fituation he at once concluded him to be a traitor. The repeated importunities with which he was preffed to depart, converted his fufpicions. into certainty. The inflexible obftinacy of his temper, co-operating with these circumstances, confirmed him in the opinion that they intended to betray him, and deliver him up to his enemies, though this plot has never been fully proved.

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Perhaps he was wrong in fuppofing that Auguftus had made a bargain with the Tartars for his perfon; but he was much more deceived in relying on the affiftance of the Ottoman court. Be that as it may, he refolved to gain time.

• He

J.C. 1712.
Heg.1124.

Fresh order from the grand feig

nior to

make

Charles depart.

'He told the bashaw of Bender, that he could not depart 'till he had received money to discharge his debts; for though his thaïm had for a long time been duly paid, his unbounded liberality had always obliged him to borrow. The bafhaw afked him how much he wanted. The king replied, at a venture, a thousand purses, amounting to fixty-two thousand five hundred pounds fterling. The bashaw acquainted the Porte with his requeft the fultan; instead of a thousand purses, which Charles had required, granted him twelve hundred, and wrote the bafhaw the following letter.

"The defign of this imperial letter is to acquaint you, that upon your representation and "requeft, and upon that of the most noble Del"vet Gerai khan, to our fublime Porte, our im"perial munificence has granted a thoufand "purfes to the king of Sweden, which fhall be "sent to Bender, under the care and conduct of "the most illustrious Mehemet bafhaw, formerly "chiau pachi, to remain in your custody 'till the

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departure of the king of Sweden, whofe fteps

may God direct, and then to be given him, to"gether with two hundred purfes more, as an "overplus of our imperial liberality, above "what he demands.

"With regard to the route of Poland, which "he is refolved to take, you and the khan, who "" are to attend him, fhall be careful to pursue "fuch wife and prudent measures as may, during

"the

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