our children to exclaim, that if a Paz had not fled, they would not have wanted a country? Vanquished by the magnanimity of Sobieski, and the cries of Sapieha and Radziwik, the Lithuanian chief promised not to desert his countrymen. of the Dneiper, and was guarded on the side | from the book of nations, you will not allow of Moldavia, the sole accessible quarter, by precipices cut in the solid rock, and impassable morasses. The art of the Ottomans had added to the natural strength of the position; the plain over which, after the example of the Romans, that military colony was intended to rule, was intersected to a great distance by canals and ditches, whose banks were strengthened by palisades. A powerful artillery defended all the avenues to the camp, and there reposed, under magnificent tents, the Turkish generalissimo and eighty thousand veterans, when they were suddenly startled by the sight of the Polish banners, which moved in splendid array round their entrenchments, and took up a position almost under the fire of their artillery. "The spot was animating to the recollections of the Christian host. Fifty years before, James Sobieski had conquered a glorious peace under the walls of that very castle: and against its ramparts, after the disaster of the Kobilta, the power of the young Sultan Osman had dashed itself in vain. Now the sides were changed; the Turks held the entrenched camp, and the army of the son of James Sobieski filled the plain. "Sobieski then ranged his faltering battalions in order of battle, and the Turks made preparations to receive behind their entrenchments the seemingly hopeless attack of the Christians. Their forces were ranged in a semicircle, and their forty field-pieces advanced in front, battered in breach the palisades which were placed across the approaches to the Turkish palisades. Kouski, the commander of the artillery, performed under the superior fire of the enemy, prodigies of valour. The breaches were declared practicable in the evening; and when night came, the Christian forces of the two principalities of Walachia and Moldavia deserted the camp of the Infidels, to range themselves under the standard of the cross; a cheering omen, for troops never desert but to the side which they imagine will prove successful. • Com "The weather was dreadful; the snow fell in great quantities; the ranks were obstructed The smaller force had now to make the by its drifts. In the midst of that severe temassault; the larger army was entrenched be- pest, Sobieski kept his troops under arms the hind ramparts better fortified, better armed whole night. In the morning they were buried with cannon, than those which Sultan Osman in the snow, exhausted by cold and suffering. and his three hundred thousand Mussulmen Then he gave the signal of attack. sought in vain to wrest from the feeble army | panions, said he, in passing through the lines, of Wladislaus. The Turks were now grown his clothes, his hair, his mustaches covered gray in victories, and the assailants were with icicles, 'I deliver to you an enemy already young troops, for the most part ill armed, as- half vanquished. You have suffered, the Turks sembled in haste, destitute of resources, maga- are exhausted. The troops of Asia can never zines, or provisions-worn out with the fatigues endure the hardships of the last twenty-four and the privations of a winter campaign. Deep hours. The cold has conquered them to our ditches, the rocky bed of torrents, precipitous hand. Whole troops of them are already sinkwalls of rock, composed the field of battle on ing under their sufferings, while we, inured to which they were called on to combat an enemy the climate, are only animated by it to fresh reposing tranquilly under the laurels of vic- exertions. It is for us to save the republic tory, beneath sumptuous tents, and behind from shame and slavery. Soldiers of Poland, ramparts defended by an array of three hun-recollect that you fight for your country, and dred pieces of cannon. The night passed on the Polish side in mortal disquietude; the mind of the general, equally with the soldiers, was overwhelmed with anxiety. The enterprise which he had undertaken seemed above human strength; the army had no chance of safety but in victory, and there was too much reason to fear that treachery, or division in his own troops, would snatch it from his grasp, and deliver down his name with disgrace to posterity. "Sobieski alone was inaccessible to fear. When the troops were drawn forth on the following morning, the Grand Hetman of Lithuania declared the attack desperate, and his resolution to retreat. 'Retreat,' cried the Polish hero, 'is impossible. We should only find a disgraceful death in the morasses with which we are surrounded, a few leagues from hence; better far to brave it at the foot of the enemy's entrenchments. But what ground is there for apprehension? Nothing disquiets me but what I hear from you. Your menaces are our only danger. I am confident you will not execute them. If Poland is to be effaced that Jesus Christ combats for you.' "An accidental circumstance gave the highest appearance of truth to these ideas. The Grand Marshal, who had just completed his last reconnoissance of the enemy's lines, returned with his countenance illuminated by the presage of victory-'My companions,' he exclaimed, 'in half an hour we shall be lodged under these gilded tents.' In fact, he had discovered that the point against which he intended to direct his principal attack was not defended but by a few troops benumbed by the cold. He immediately made several feigned | mander, Sobieski was employed in re-forming assaults to distract the attention of the enemy, the ranks of the assailants, disordered by and directed against the palisades, by which the assault and their success, and preparing he intended to enter, the fire of a battery for a new battle in the midst of that city of already erected. The soldiers immediately tents, which, though surprised, seemed not recollected that the preceding evening they subdued. had made the utmost efforts to draw the cannon beyond that point, but that a power apparently more than human had chained them to the spot, from whence now they easily beat down the obstacles to the army's advance, and cleared the road to victory. Who was so blind as not to see in that circumstance the miraculous intervention of Gregory of Tours! "But the astonishment and confusion of the besieged, the cries of the women, shut up in the Harems, the thundering charges of the heavy squadrons clothed in impenetrable steel, and composed of impetuous young men, gave the Turks no time to recover from their consternation. It was no longer a battle, but a massacre. Demetrius and the Lithuanian met at the same time in the invaded camp. A cry of horror now rose from the Turkish ranks, and they rushed in crowds to the bridge of boats which crossed the Dniester, and formed the sole communication between Kotzim, and the fortified city of Kamaniek. In the struggle to reach this sole outlet from destruction, multitudes killed each other. But Sobieski's foresight had deprived the vanquished even of this last resource. His brother-in-law, Radziwil, had during the tumult glided unperceived through the bottom of the ravines, and at the critical moment made himself master of the bridge, and the heights which commanded it. The only resource of the fugitives was now to throw themselves into the waves. 20,000 men perished at that fatal point, either on the shores or in the half-congealed stream. Insatiable in carnage, the hussars led by Maziniki pursued them on horseback into the bed of the Dneiper, and sabred thousands when struggling in the stream. 40,000 dead bodies were found in the precincts of the camp. The water of the river for several leagues ran red with blood, and corpses were thrown up with every wave on its deserted shores. "At that moment the army knelt down to receive the benediction of Father Pizeborowski, confessor of the Grand Hetman; and his prayer being concluded, Sobieski, dismounting from his horse, ordered his infantry to move forward to the assault of the newlyopened breach in the palisades, he himself, sword in hand, directing the way. The armed valets followed rapidly in their footsteps. That courageous band were never afraid to tread the path of danger in the hopes of plunder. In a moment the ditches were filled up and passed; with one bound the troops arrived at the foot of the rocks. The Grand Hetman, after that first success, had hardly time to remount on horseback, when, on the heights of the entrenched camp, were seen the standard of the cross and the eagle of Poland. Petrikowski and Denhoff, of the royal race of the Piasts, had first mounted the ramparts, and raised their ensigns. At this joyful sight, a hurrah of triumph rose from the Polish ranks, and rent the heavens; the Turks were seized with consternation; they had been confounded at that sudden attack, made at a time when they imagined the severity of the weather had "At the news of this extraordinary triumph, made the Christians renounce their perilous the Captain Pacha, who was advancing with enterprise. Such was the confusion, that but a fresh army to invade Poland, set fire to his for the extraordinary strength of the position, camp, and hastened across the Danube. The they could not have stood a moment. At this | Moldavians and Walachians made their subcritical juncture, Hussein, deceived by a false | attack of Czarnicki, hastened with his cavalry to the other side of the camp, and the spahis, conceiving that he was flying, speedily took to flight. mission to the conqueror, and the Turks, re- "But the Janizzaries were not yet vanquished. Inured to arms, they rapidly formed their ranks, and falling upon the valets, who had dispersed in search of plunder, easily put “But while Europe was awaiting the intelthem to the sword. Fortunately, Sobieski had ligence of the completion of the overthrow of had time to employ his foot soldiers in level- the Osmanlis, desertion and flight had ruined ling the ground, and rendering accessible the the Polish army. Whole Palatinates had approaches to the summits of the hills. The abandoned their colours. They were desirous Polish cavalry came rushing in with a noise to carry off in safety the spoils of the East, and like thunder. The hussars, the cuirassiers, to prepare for that new field of battle which with burning torches affixed to their lances, the election of the King of Poland, who died scaled precipices which seemed hardly acces- at this juncture, presented. Sobieski remained sible to foot soldiers. Inactive till that mo- almost alone on the banks of the Dniester. At ment, Paz now roused his giant strength. the moment when Walachia and Moldavia Ever the rival of Sobieski, he rushed forward were throwing themselves under the protec with his Lithuanian nobles in the midst of tion of the Polish crown, when the Captain every danger, to endeavour to arrive first in Pacha was flying to the foot of Balkan, and the Ottoman camp. It was too late-already Sobieski was dreaming of changing the face the flaming lances of the Grand Hetman of the world, his army dissolved. The Turks, gleamed on the summits of the entrenchments, at this unexpected piece of fortune, recovered d ever attentive to the duties of a com- from their terror; and the rule of the Mussul men was perpetuated for two centuries in Eu- | crown. Sobieski had previously occupied the rope."-II. 165. bridge over the river by a regiment of hussars, This victory and the subsequent dissolution | upon which the Lithuanians seized every of the army, so characteristic both of the glories and the inconstancy of Poland, great as it was, was eclipsed by the splendours of the deliverance of Vienna. The account of the previous election of this great man to the throne of Poland is singularly characteristic of Polish manners. "The plain of Volo to the west of Warsaw had been the theatre, from the earliest times, of the popular elections. Already the impatient Pospolite covered that vast extent with its waves, like an army prepared to commence an assault on a fortified town. The innumerable piles of arms; the immense tables round which faction united their supporters; a thousand jousts with the javelin or the lance; a thousand squadrons engaged in mimic war; a thousand parties of palatines, governors of castles, and other dignified authorities who traversed the ranks distributing exhortations, party songs, and largesses; a thousand cavalcades of gentlemen, who rode, according to custom, with their battle-axes by their sides, and discussed at the gallop the dearest interests of the republic; innumerable quarrels, originating in drunkenness, and terminating in blood: Such were the scenes of tumult, amusement, and war,—a faithful mirror of Poland,-which, as far as the eye could reach, filled the plain. house in the city which wealth could command. These hostile dispositions were too significant of frightful disorders. War soon ensued in the midst of the rejoicings between Lithuania and Poland. Every time the opposite factions met, their strife terminated in bloodshed. The hostilities extended even to the bloody game of the Klopiches, which was played by a confederation of the boys in the city, or of pages and valets, who amused themselves by forming troops, electing a marshal, choosing a field of battle, and fighting there to the last extremity. On this occasion they were divided into corps of Lithuanians and Poles, who hoisted the colours of their respective states, got fire-arms to imitate more completely the habits of the equestrian order, and disturbed the plain everywhere by their marches, or terrified it by their assaults. Their shock desolated the plain; the villages were in flames; the savage huts of which the suburbs of Warsaw were then composed, were incessantly invaded and sacked in that terrible sport, invented apparently to inure the youth to civil war, and extend even to the slaves the enjoyments of anarchy. "On the day of the elections the three orders mounted on horseback. The princes, the palatines, the bishops, the prelates, proceeded towards the plain of Volo, surrounded by eighty thousand mounted citizens, any one of whom might, at the expiry of a few hours, find himself King of Poland. They all bore in their countenances, even under the livery or ban ruinous privilege. The European dress nowhere appeared on that solemn occasion. The children of the desert strove to hide the furs and skins in which they were clothed under chains of gold and the glitter of jewels. Their bonnets were composed of panther-skin, plumes of eagles or herons surmounted them: on their front were the most splendid precious stones. Their robes of sable or ermine were bound with velvet or silver: their girdle studded with jewels; over all their furs were suspended chains of diamonds. One hand of each nobleman was without a glove; on it was the splendid ring on which the arms of his family were engraved; the mark, as in ancient Rome, of the equestrian order. A new proof of this intimate connection between the race, the customs, and the traditions of the northern tribes, and the founders of the Eternal City. "The arena was closed in by a vast circle of tents, which embraced, as in an immense girdle, the plain of Volo, the shores of the Vistula, and the spires of Warsaw. The horizon seemed bounded by a range of snowy moun-ners of a master, the pride arising from that tains, of which the summits were portrayed in the hazy distance by their dazzling whiteness. Their camp formed another city, with its markets, its gardens, its hotels, and its monuments. There the great displayed their Oriental magnificence; the nobles, the palatines, vied with each other in the splendour of their horses and equipage; and the stranger who beheld for the first time that luxury, worthy of the last and greatest of the Nomade people, was never weary of admiring the immense hotels, the porticoes, the colonnades, the galleries of painted or gilded stuffs, the castles of cotton and silk, with their draw-bridges, towers, and ditches. Thanks to the recent victory, a great part of these riches had been taken from the Turks. Judging from the multitude of stalls, kitchens, baths, audience chambers, the elegance of the Oriental architecture, the taste of the designs, the profusion "But nothing in this rivalry of magnificence of gilded crosses, domes, and pagodas, you could equal the splendour of their arms. would imagine that the seraglio of some Double poniards, double scymitars, set with Eastern sultan had been transported by en- brilliants; bucklers of costly workmanship, chantment to the banks of the Vistula. Vic-battle-axes enriched in silver, and glittering tory had accomplished this prodigy; these were the tents of Mahomet IV., taken at the battle of Kotzim, and though Sobieski was absent, his triumphant arms surmounted the crescent of Mahomet. “The Lithuanians were encamped on the opposite shores of the Vistula; and their Grand Hetman, Michel Paz, had brought up his whole force to dictate laws, as it were, to the Polish with emeralds and sapphires; bows and arrows richly gilt, which were borne at festivals, in remembrance of the ancient customs of the country, were to be seen on every side. The horses shared in this melange of barbarism and refinement; sometimes cased in iron, at others decorated with the richest colours, they bent under the weight of the sabres, the lances, and javelins by which the senatorial order marked their rank. The bishops were distinguished by their gray or green hats, and yellow or red pantaloons, magnificently embroidered with divers colours. Often they laid aside their pastoral habits, and signalized their address as young cavaliers, by the beauty of their arms, and the management of their horses. In that crowd of the equestrian order, there was no gentleman so humble as not to try to rival this magnificence. Many carried, in furs and arms, their whole fortunes on their backs. Numbers had sold their votes to some of the candidates, for the vanity of appearing with some additional ornament before their fellowcitizens. And the people, whose dazzled eyes beheld all this magnificence, were almost without clothing; their long beards, naked legs, and filth, indicated, even more strongly than their pale visages and dejected air, all the miseries of servitude."-II. 190-197. Before his arrival discord reigned in their camp, but all now yielded obedience to the Polish hero. "The Duke of Lorraine had previously constructed at Tulin, six leagues below Vienna, a triple bridge, which Kara Mustapha, the Turkish commander, allowed to be formed without opposition. The German Electors nevertheless hesitated to cross the river; the severity of the weather, long rains, and roads now almost impassable, augmented their alarms. But the King of Poland was a stranger alike to hesitation as fear; the state of Vienna would admit of no delay. The last despatch of Stahremborg was simply in these words: There is no time to lose.There is no reverse to fear,' exclaimed Sobieski; 'the gene ral who at the head of three hundred thousand men could allow that bridge to be constructed in his teeth, cannot fail to be defeated.' The achievement which has immortalized "On the following day the liberators of the name of John Sobieski is the deliverance | Christendom passed in review before their of Vienna in 1683-of this glorious achieve- allies. The Poles marched first; the spectament M. Salvandy gives the following interest- tors were astonished at the magnificence of ing account:--their arms, the splendour of the dresses, and the beauty of the horses. The infantry was less brilliant; one regiment in particular, by its battered appearance, hurt the pride of the monarch-Look well at those brave men,' said he to the Imperialists; ‘it is an invincible battalion, who have sworn never to renew their clothing, till they are arrayed in the spoils of the Turks.' These words were repeated to the regiments; if they did not, says the annalist, clothe them, they encircled every man with a cuirass. "After a siege of eight months, and open trenches for sixty days, Vienna was reduced to the last extremity. Famine, disease, and the sword, had cut off two-thirds of its garrison; and the inhabitants, depressed by incessant toil for the last six months, and sickened by long deferred hope, were given up to despair. Many breaches were made in the walls; the massy bastions were crumbling in ruins, and entrenchments thrown up in haste in the streets, formed the last resource of the German capital. Stahremborg, the governor, had announced the necessity of surrendering if not relieved in three days; and every night signals of distress from the summits of the steeples, announced the extremities to which they were reduced. "One evening, the sentinel who was on the watch at the top of the steeple of St. Stephen's, perceived a blazing flame on the summits of the Calemberg; soon after an army was seen preparing to descend the ridge. Every telescope was instantly turned in that direction, and from the brilliancy of their lances, and the splendour of their banners it was easy to see that it was the Hussars of Poland, so redoubtable to the Osmanlis, who were approaching. The Turks were immediately to be seen dividing their vast host into divisions, one destined to oppose this new enemy, and one to continue the assaults on the besieged. At the sight of the terrible conflict which was approaching, the women and and children flocked to the churches, while Stahremborg led forth all that remained of the men to the breaches. "The Duke of Lorraine had previously set forth with a few horsemen to join the King of Poland, and learn the art of war, as he expressed it, under so great a master. The two illustrious commanders soon concerted a plan of operations, and Sobieski encamped on the Danube, with all his forces, united to the troops of the empire. It was with tears of joy, that the sovereigns, generals, and the soldiers of the Imperialists received the illustrious chief whom heaven had sent to their relief. "The Christian army, when all assembled, amounted to 70,000 men, of whom only 30,000 were infantry. Of these the Poles were 18,000. The principal disquietude of the king was on account of the absence of the Cossacks, whom Mynzwicki had promised to bring up to his assistance.-He well knew what admirable scouts they formed: the Tartars had always found in them their most formidable enemies. Long experience in the Turkish wars had rendered them exceedingly skilful in this species of warfare: no other force was equal to them in seizing prisoners and gaining intelligence. They were promised ten crowns for every man they brought in after this manner: they led their captives to the tent of their king, where they got their promised reward, and went away saying, 'John, I have touched my money, God will repay you.'-Bereaved of these faithful assistants, the king was compelled to expose his hussars in exploring the dangerous defiles in which the army was about to engage. The Imperialists, who could not comprehend his attachment to that undisciplined militia, were astonished to hear him incessantly exclaiming, 'Oh! Mynzwicki, Oh' Mynzwicki.'' A rocky chain, full of narrow and precipitous ravines, of woods and rocks, called the Calemberg in modern times, the Mons Ætius of the Romans, separated the two armies: the cause of Christendom from that of Mahomet. It was necessary to scale that formidable barrier; for the mountains advanced with a rocky front into the middle of the Danube. Fortunately, the negligence of the Turks had omitted to fortify these posts, where a few battalions might have arrested the Polish army. paces to give time to those behind, who were retarded by the difficulties of the descent, to join them. A rude parapet, hastily erected by the Turks to bar the five débouchés of the roads into the plain, was forced after a short combat. At every ravine, the Christians experienced fresh obstacles to surmount: the spahis dismounted to contest the rocky ascents, and speedily regaining their horses when they were forced, fell back in haste to the next positions which were to be defended. But the Mussulmen, deficient in infantry, could not withstand the steady advance and solid masses of the Germans, and the Christians everywhere gained ground. Animated by the continued advance of their deliverers, the garrison of Vienna performed miracles on the breach; and Kara Mustapha, who long hesitated which battle he should join, resolved to meet the avenging squadrons of the Polish king. Nothing could equal the confidence of the Turks but the disquietude of the Imperialists. Such was the terror impressed by the vast host of the Mussulmen, that at the first cry of Allah! whole battalions took to flight. Many thousand peasants were incessantly engaged in levelling the roads over the mountains, or cutting through the forest. The foot soldiers dragged the artillery with their arms, and were compelled to abandon the heavier pieces. Chiefs and soldiers carried each his own provisions: the leaves of the oak formed the sole subsistence of the horses. Some scouts reached the summit of the ridge long before the remainder of the army, and from thence beheld the countless myriads of the Turkish tents extending to the walls of Vienna. Terrified at the sight, they returned in dismay, "By two o'clock the ravines were cleared, and a contagious panic began to spread and the allies drawn up in the plain. Sobieski through the army. The king had need, to re-ordered the Duke of Lorraine to halt, to give assure his troops, of all the security of his countenance, the gaiety of his discourse, and the remembrance of the multitudes of the infidels whom he had dispersed in his life. The Janizzaries of his guard, who surrounded him on the march, were so many living monuments of his victories, and every one was astonished that he ventured to attack the Mussulmen with such an escort. He offered to send them to the rear, or even to give them a safe conduct to the Turkish camp, but they all answered with tears in their eyes, that they would live and die with him. His heroism subjugated alike Infidels and Christians, chiefs and soldiers. "At length, on Saturday, September 11th, the army encamped, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, on the sterile and inhospitable summit of the Calemberg, and occupied the convent of Camaldoli and the old castle of Leopoldsburg. Far beneath extended the vast and uneven plain of Austria: its smoking capital, the gilded tents, and countless host of the besiegers; while at the foot of the ridge, where the mountain sunk into the plain, the forests and ravines were occupied by the advanced guards, prepared to dispute the passage of the army." There it was that they lighted the fires which spread joy and hope through every heart at Vienna. "Trusting in their vast multitudes, the Turks pressed the assault of Vienna on the one side, while on the other they faced the liberating army. The Turkish vizier counted in his ranks four Christian princes and as many Tartar chiefs. All the nobles of Germany and Poland were on the other side: Sobieski was at once the Agamemnon and Achilles of that splendid host. time for the Poles, who had been retarded by a circuitous march, to join the army. At eleven they appeared, and took their post on the right. The Imperial eagles saluted the squadrons of gilded cuirasses with cries of 'Long live King John Sobieski!' and the cry, repeated along the Christian line, startled the Mussulmen force. "Sobieski charged in the centre, and directed his attack against the scarlet tent of the sultan, surrounded by his faithful squadronsdistinguished by his splendid plume, his bow, and quiver of gold, which hung on his shoulder-most of all by the enthusiasm which his presence everywhere excited. He advanced, exclaiming, 'Non nobis, Domine, sed tibi sit gloria!' The Tartars and the spahis fled when they heard the name of the Polish hero repeated from one end to the other of the Ottoman lines. 'By Allah,' exclaimed Sultan Gieray, 'the king is with them!' At this moment the moon was eclipsed, and the Mahometans beheld with dread the crescent waning in the heavens. "At the same time, the hussars of Prince Alexander, who formed the leading column, broke into a charge amidst the national cry, 'God defend Poland!' The remaining squadrons, led by all that was noblest and bravest in the country, resplendent in arms, buoyant in courage, followed at the gallop. They cleared, without drawing bridle, a ravine, at which infantry might have paused, and charged furiously up the opposite bank. With such vehemence did they enter the enemy's ranks, that they fairly cut the army in two,-justifying thus the celebrated saying of that haughty nobility to one of their kings, that with their aid no reverse was irreparable; and that if the heaven itself were to fall, they would support it on the points of their lances. "The young Eugene of Savoy made his first essay in arms, by bringing to Sobieski the in- "The shock was so violent that almost all telligence that the engagement was commenced the lances were splintered. The Pachas of between the advanced guards at the foot of Aleppo and of Silistria were slain on the spot; the ridge. The. Christians immediately de- four other pachas fell under the sabres of scended the mountains in five columns like Jablonowski. At the same time Charles of sorrents, but marching in the finest order: the Lorraine had routed the force of the principaleading divisions halted at every hundred | lities, and threatened the Ottoman camp. Kara |