had pass'd at Sambor and she had sent him the same Summ to pay off the Army This General was for making up the business secretly with Baranowski and to this purpose had dissolv'd the publick Negotiation and did not begin his own private Treaty till after the Commissioners were gone As they were half way on the Road they were inform'd of the design by their Spies and spur'd back again with so much speed that they got time enough to be present at the conclusion of the Treaty and to dispute the Glory of having terminated this great Affair The Queen was for attributing the whole Honour of it to her self because it had cost her the Money she expected to have received the Compliments of the whole Nobility after such an Act of Liberality But they who made any Reflections upon it only said That those who excited Rebellions were more obliged than others to suppress them The Queen Prince James and Count Jablonowski were still looked upon by most Persons as the chief Fomenters of a Confederacy which had been the occasion of so many Disorders This Count was Sobieski's intimate Friend when he was elected King and had employed all his Interest to set the Crown upon his Head This piece of Service had raised him to be Great General Castellan of Cracow and by that means the the Chief Secular Senator of the Kingdom Out of Gratitude he took such Measures with the Queen as might bring about a Design the Execution whereof he foresaw would be very difficult The Intimacy which he held with that Princess gave an occasioâ— to those who had no good will to either of them to give out That the Queen being convinced of that Aversion which the Gentry had for her Family concerted with the Great General to espouse his Interests upon these Conditions viz. That she should supply him with Money to purchase Votes and that he should share a Crown with her which she could not procure for her Children This was no new Opinion in Poland they were afraid of such a thing even fifteen Years before the King's death so that to prevent the Execution of this Project the principal Lords had entred into private Confederacies which appeared too visibly in the Diet wherein the League against the Turks was concluded and wherein there was so much discourse concerning the Affairs of Count Morstyn Great Treasurer of the Crown These Reports flattered the Great General 's Ambition who did not trouble his head much in suppressing them And if he thought that his familiarity with the Queen would facilitate his ascending the Throne he was mightily mistaken since that was the Pretence which his Enemies made use of to hinder him from it Maria de la Grange d' Arquien Q. Dowager of Poland did not think fit to undeceive him The Gentry spake very loudly of the severity of the former Reign and it was not prudence by an unseasonable haughtiness to increase the Number of the Malecontents There were e-now already and the design she had laid of abasing the greatest Families drew upon her every day new Enemies It was a difficult Matter to quiet such angry Spirits by such a Conduct the Princess therefore to clear her self opened her Coffers and believed that her Liberality woud put a new Face upon her Affairs as if the Memory of Good Turns would be as lasting as that of Injuries The wound was so great that the Remedy proved useless They who had received the Money gave out that she had made those Restitutions which Father Lewis of Amsterdam a Capuchin who they said was her Physician and Confessor had enjoyned her to make and that Poland was indebted to that holy Man who took an equal Care of the Health of the Body and of the Salvation of the Soul of his Penitent But it was not this alone which had estranged the Minds of the Poles The Queen and Prince James had contributed as much as others to the weakening of their own party Ever since the Eldest Son was married she had shewed a particular Affection to Prince Alexander and this preference she had given him in her Love had made her think him not unworthy of a Crown She had perhaps explained her self too openly upon that Subject and Prince James had conceived so great an Indignation at it that he quite forgot those Sentiments which Nature it self should have inspired in him This happened a little before the King's Death The Queen never since looked upon Prince James as her Son because he had not respected her as his Mother At first she neither declared for nor against him and it seemed as if she would rather have been the Wife than the Mother of a King In this Suspence she waited till time should give her such Advice as the present Posture of Affairs would not admit her to take James Sobieski the late King 's eldest Son did not renounce his Pretensions though the Queen seemed indifferent or rather disaffected to his Designs He knew that the Poles had always chosen their Sovereigns out of the Royal Family and though the Gentry had a Right of chusing whom they pleased yet he thought his Brother 's had no more merit to plead than he he never found that the younger had been preferred before the Elder and therefore he flattered himself that they would not make him the first example of that kind His Reputation was established by a Passage which the Poles could not but be pleased with He had attended the King his Father at the raising the Siege of Vienna and had fought near his Person in the two Battles of Barcan near Strigonium wherein the Turks had been totally defeated The Emperor ought to use his Interest in assisting him and the honour of that Prince whose Brother-in-Law he was would not allow him to be engaged for any Body else The Elector Palatin whose Sister he had married promised to do as much for him as he had endeavoured for himself the last Election The Elector of Bavaria gave him the same Assurance though he was employed too much otherwise than to do any thing else besides praying for his Success Charles XI King of Sweden had rather see Prince James on the Throne than any other of his Competitors Livonia was up in Rebellion and it seemed these People over-burdened with Taxes and Grievances were weary of the Government of their old Masters A designing and busie Prince might have favoured their Revolt and so robb'd the Crown of Sweden of a Province that was very advantagious to it He who should have formed a design of reuniting it to Poland could not have been blamed by any Prince for they all knew that Sweden had seized upon it contrary to all the Rules of Equity and Justice and they had not so much as the least Pretence for what they did They had made their Advantage whilst the Poles were engaged in a War against the Turks in the Year 1621. and whilst they were defending Christendom against
had hinder'd the Poles from paying the Dower of the Queen Widow to K. Michel that his Imperial Majesty would make Reprisals upon the Estates of those who had been the Authors of that Injustice and that the Dutchy of Olaw which Prince James possess'd in Silesia should serve in part to make good that damage The Surprize was extraordinary when Don Livio Odese Chalci was propos'd with the Emperor's protection and recommended according to common fame by his Holiness His Merit was founded upon that of Innocent XI his Uncle who had Govern'd the Church with that Integrity which Christians admire in the Sovereign Pontiffs of the first Ages Don Livio was a proof of it since his Fortune was the same as before the Exaltation of his Uncle and the Emperor who had a mind to acknowledge the services which that Sacred Pontiff had done him made his Nephew a Prince of the Empire and by a second Liberality which cost him as little as the former he would have given him a Kingdom or at least made him believe he had such a design Don Livio believed that those promises were sincere because they flatter'd his Ambition he sent into Poland the Abbot de Monte Catini a Consistorial Advocate to support his Interest which they pretended to be so far advanced The Poles who love Raillery and don 't spare even those from whom they get Money asked one another if Odestchi had any Trial in Poland and whether that Roman Advocate was come to sollicit the Cause They did not rest here but serv'd the Italian after the Mode of his own Country and by Pasquils more outragious than the preceding Railleries they cur'd him of his Ambition to appear any more as a Competitor They publish'd in writing that Davia his Holinesses Nuncio declar'd himself highly for Odeschalchi that he offer'd thirty Millions to the Republick and that Italy would despoil her self of what she had most considerable in favour of him There was publish'd at the same time a List and a Valuation of all his precious Jewels and Moveables amongst which were three of Raphaels best Originals six by Paul of Verona four of Julius the Roman seven of Titian thirteen of Hannibal Carache and abundance more of other Great Masters the first time perhaps that ever the Poles heard of them There were two Antient Statues of Romus and Romulus that were valued at a great Rate as also a Brass Medal of Otho destined to pay two quarters to the Army In fine they were resolv'd to deliver to the Poles on the day of Coronation the Statues of Pasquin and Marforio After this there was little more spoken of Odeschalchi The Poles well perceiv'd that they must have a Warriour to oppose to the Prince of Conti. The Elector of Brandenburg proposed Prince Louis of Baden to the Allies whose Reputation was equal to that of the greatest Captains of his Age He had preserv'd Transilvania to the Emperor at a time and in such a conjuncture when Germany would have thought that they had been very well quit if they had come off with the Loss of that rich Province only He had routed the Turks at Salankement and given 'em such an entire Defeat that the Visir Cuproli who seem'd to be the only Stay of the Ottoman Empire was killld in that Action This Prince after several glorious Campagns in Hungary took upon him the Command of the Confederate Troops on the Rhine The Germans reckon'd it for a Signal Victory in this General that he declin'd fighting with the French so that he was as much esteem'd for this amongst the Allies as was the Roman Dictator Fabius who thereby set bounds to the Conquests of Hannibal and the Carthaginians The Elector promised to furnish all the Necessary Expences for this Great Design and the Prince of Baden to make him a Compensation was when advanc'd to the Throne to yield him the Soveraignty of the Royal Prussia and to discharge him of the Fealty and Homage which he was oblig'd to perform for the Ducal Prussia to the Republick of Poland The Elector was civil enough to promise such great Sums but not able enough to pay them and the Confederacy was exhausted by the excessive Expences of a War which went on but slowly The Affairs of Poland were in too great disorder neither the Elector's Money nor the Merit of the Prince propos'd to them were able to re-establish them The Money must be paid that was owing to the two Armies the War must be maintain'd against the Turks and Caminieck re-taken from those Infidels The Prince of Baden was very fit to command their Armies but not rich enough to pay them France found in Poland another Enemy and Heresie a new Protector in the person of Stanislaus Dombski B. of Cujavia who at first embrac'd Prince James's Party because he ow'd his Fortune to his Father the Late King The acknowledgments he testified of it would have honoured the Memory of the Prince that made Choice of him if Motives of Self-interest had not stifled his first Vertuous Sentiments The French Ambassador perceived that the Bishop of Cujavia did openly oppose his Designs and having a mind to know his Sentiments found that he was for Prince Sobieski That Prelate confessed that the Prince of Conti had all the good Qualities which the Poles could wish for in a Soverign and that he would not be for excluding him were it not that he and his Princess were both French alledging that those of that Nation could not be acceptable to the Poles after the ill Treatment they had received from Queen Mary Wife to the late King as if it had been more dangerous to chuse a King of that Princesses Country than to set the Crown upon the Head of her own Son This was not the only Difficultie that the Bishop of Cujavia found in the Proposal made him He was apprehensive that the choice of a French Prince would be displeasing to the Emperor The Poles since the death of Sigismund Augustus had made no such scruple and in five Elections they made no objection of provoking the Germans and the House of Austria by their Refusal Those Reasons and many others which the Abbot de Polignac alledg'd in divers Conferences that he had every day with the most considerable Lords were capable to move any Man that had had nothing else in view but the publick Welfare but he was acted by other Motives Malakoski Bishop of Cracovia was above 80 years old He enjoy'd the richest Benefice of the Kingdom and liv'd too long in the Opinion of those that thought of nothing else but enjoying his Spoils If Sobieski were chosen and that the Bishop of Cujavia had contributed thereto the Bishoprick of Cracovia had been his Reward He could not have expected the same gratuity from the Prince of Conti who he suspected had promised it to the Bishop of Plosko This Motive was known and made the Nobility to murmur against the Ambition of that
his Master of every thing that passed He knew that the two Princes would have less Interest for the Crown than their elder Brother that their Youth and want of Experience were Causes sufficient to exclude them at a time when Poland wanted a King that understood War Prince James's Pretensions were more specious than those of his Brothers The Aversion the Queen had shewed for him augmented his Party and some of those who owed him no good Will began to forbear wishing him any hurt in hopes that if he mounted the Throne he would entertain Resentments against the Queen who under his Reign should have no part in the Government This was not capable however of raising Prince James's Party for besides that they could not forget the Hardships put upon them in the preceding Reign he committed an irreparable Mistake One of the Conditions which the Poles impose upon their Princes is that they should not marry without the Consent of the Republick Sigismund III. for having contraveened this Law and married Ann of Austria in 1592. run the risk of being dethroned After the Death of that Princess he threw himself Headlong into the same danger and by a second Contravention to the Laws of the Kingdom married in 1605. with Constance of Austria Sister to his deceased Queen His Holiness indeed had given him a Dispensation for it but not having obtained the Consent of the Nation they took Arms and formed a Confederacy against them which he had no small Trouble to appease Uladislaus his Son improved the Severity of the Poles his Father's Mistake proved Advantagious to him This Prince who in 16â—5 demanded in Marriage the Daughter of Fredrick Elector Palatin communicated his Design to the Senate and represented to them the Advantage which the Realm might reap from a Princess who was Niece to the King of Great Britain This August Assembly was not ignorant that Princes ought to have an Allowance so long as it is not prejudicial to Religion An Embassie was deputed to that Princess and the King her Uncle but upon her Refusal to turn Catholick the Poles made no Hesitation in refusing her their Crown John III. did not improve those Examples he neither communicated to the Senat nor to the Nobility the Design that he had to marry the Prince his Son but suffered himself to be dazzled with the Lustre of a great Alliance without foreseeing the dangerous Consequences of it The Marquis de Bethune tho' of kin to the Royal Family represented to him That Prince James by being engaged with the House of Austria would lose the Friendship and Protection of the King of France but his Remonstrances were Vain and the King of Poland without any Regard to such judicious Advice married his eldest Son on Elizabeth Amelia Princess of Newburg whose Sisters were married to the Emperor Kings of Spain and Portugal Such a near Alliance with the Germans and the House of Austria did not at all affect the Poles because the Right of chusing their Sovereigns delivered them from the Snâ—â—â— which the Court thought they had involved them in The French Ambassador had ever since the Interregnum given Advice to the King his Master of the Queen's Waverings and of every thing that passed He informed him of the Design of that Princess to have Prince James elected because she had lost all her Hopes for her younger Son He did not forget to inform his Majesty of the Hatred the Poles had conceived against that Prince and that they only wanted an Occasion to shew it That if the Prince of Conti were proposed to them he would quickly find a very strong Party And that that was the surest away of excluding â—â—ince James 〈◊〉 at the same time the most Advantagious since by taking the Crown from an Enemy his Majesty should give it to a Prince of his own Blood The Orders of the Court were conformable to the Project He began to speak in Poland of a Candidate whom he had promised without telling his Name The Joy was almost universal when he declared that he did not make use of his Interest neither for Prince James nor for the Royal Family Some Lords had Ambition enough to aspire to the Crown but this Minister diverted their Thoughts from it alledging That they were 〈◊〉 many in Number that if they pretended to chuse Sovereigns from amongst themselves the Example of the two last ought to scare them from it and that the Grandees would never willingly submit themselves to those to whom they thought themselves equal in Merit and Birth The Ambassador afterwards run through all the Nations of Europe that might furnish Princes to their Republick They could no more think of a Prince in Sweden since that Kingdom was become Heretical England and Denmark had occasioned too many Disorders by the tumultuary Elections of the two Maximilians so that they must resolve to lose their Liberty as the Bohemians and Hungarians had done theirs if they did not exclude them Italy and France were the only Dominions whence they could chuse a Prince to their Mind Most of the Lords to whom he spoke had travelled in Italy the peace that people had enjoyed of a long time made them sensible that there were no such Captains there as those of the former Age and that Poland stood in need of an Hero which the present Juncture of their Affairs would not allow them time to breed up but he must be formed to their Hand So that France alone was the Place which could furnish Poland with what 't was in Vain for them to seek for elsewhere and in fine declared to them who it was that he himself would Name if it were in his power to chuse This Prince was by Birth the last of the Blood Royal of France there being ten who by the Right of Nature ought to ascend the Throne before him Poland had no Cause to fear that he would abandon her as King Henry did after the Death of Charles IX his Brother so that the only thing that the Poles had to apprehend was left a Prince so well accomplished as he whom he named to them should make a Difficulty to accept a Crown which they were resolved to offer him The contrary Party being alarmed by the Reputation of the Candidaâ—â— reunited all their Forces to divert the impending Storâ—â— The Emperor represented to his Allies the Jealousie that all Europe had at the grouth of the House of Austria when they saw that Family possessed of the Empire and Spain He put them in mind how often they had accused them of aspiring to the Universal Monarchy What Wars had been raised against them to traverse the Designs they supposed them to have formed that their Business was at present to set Boundaries to a Potentate whose Ambition ought to be so much the more suspected that he had enriched himself with the Spoils of all his Neighbours That the League of Ausbâ—â—g into which so many Princes had entred could
AN Historical Account OF THE DIVISIONS IN POLAND From the DEATH of K. JOHN SOBIESKI To the Settlement of the Present KING on the THRONE CONTAINING A Particular Relation of the Late KING's Death and of all the Intrigues of the several Candidates till the Coronation of the Elector of Saxony Translated from the French Original Written by M. de la Biazdiere LONDON Printed for H. Rhodes at the Star near Fleet-Bridge T. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard A. Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhill and D. Midwinter and T. Leigh at the Roseand Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCC TO THE READER THis Work is a Continuation of the History of the Diets of Poland that was Publish'd in 1697. The Poles engaged the Author to write this Second Relation and sent him according to Promise all Necessary Instructions The Sincerity that appears in their Memoirs is such as an Historian would wish for to enable him to give an Account of a Transaction of which all the Circumstances are almost unknown to the Publick Poland may be look'd upon as the most famous Theatre of Europe for Variety of Scenes Persons of the most refin'd Wits were the Actors in this Affair and whilst the Princes of Christendom were at War every where else it would seem they reserv'd Poland for a place of Intrigue The Polish Nobility being as Zealous for their Religion as Jealous of their Liberty had not hitherto suffer'd any thing to escape them that Humane Prudence could suggest for maintaining themselves in the Possession of their Right which they had enjoy'd Time out of Mind to chuse their Sovereign They had preserv'd this Right whilst other Nations had lost it This Valorous Nation had also signaliz'd themselves by their Courage and won almost as many Battles as they had Fought In short the Poles seem'd to have surpassed the Generosity of the Ancient Romans in the most innocent State of their Republick because the Latter made War meerly to extend the Limits of their Empires and the Former had often neglected or despis'd the Fruits of their Victory like those first Conquerors of whom 't was said Contenti Victorià Imperio Abstinebant The Poles had a way of making Conquests peculiar to themselves The Mildness of their Government made other People wish to be partakers of the same Laws The famous Jagellon having embrac'd the Christian Religion by that Means became K. of Poland to which he reunited Lithuania whereof he was Apostle as well as Sovereign His Posterity govern'd that State till the Death of Sigismund Augustus who dyed at the Castle of Knichin in Lithuania in 1572. It was in the Person of that Prince that this Illustrious Family was extinguish'd Henry de Valois who succeeded him the next Year Reigned too short a while in Poland to be regretted there Stephen Battori who mounted the Throne next comforted the Poles for all the Losses they had Sustained but by a new Misfortune greater than those that had gone before that Prince left no Children and by his Death depriv'd Poland of the Hopes of finding a Successor equal to himself The Eldest Branch of Vasa did by the Election of Sigismund III Quit the Throne of Sweden to mount that of Poland and the Alliance of these two Great Monarchies became a Subject of War which made the Poles lose the Conquests they had made in the preceding Reign Uladislaus Son to Sigismund gave his Subjects cause to hope that he might repair those Disgraces by his Valour and Conduct but the Misfortune with which they were over-whelm'd after his Death by the Revolt of the Cosacks and the War with Sweden depriv'd the Poles of all hopes of Remedy for their incurable Maladies The Mighty Courage of K. Casimir gave his Subjects time to come to themselves a little Hereby that Prince found a Way to allay that Distemper that he could not perfectly Cure but by his Abdication he involv'd the Kingdom in New Misfortunes K. Michael who succeeded him lost Caminiec and Podolia It was then the Poles began to fear the Loss of their Kingdom but Providence not designing its Ruine did by the Death of that Prince deliver the Poles and all Europe from a danger which they had so much cause to Apprehend The Defeat of the Turks at Choczin and the Election of John Sobieski rais'd the Courage of the Poles who believ'd that under the Conduct of so Great a Prince they could not be Vnfortunate Their Thoughts were Just That Prince sav'd Vienna and the Empire and by that Great Action made his Subjects look upon all that he had done for them as nothing His Insensibility of their Condition join'd with one Mistake was the Cause or Pretext at least that they made use of to deprive his Posterity of the Crown which the Custom of the Nation seem'd to have assur'd them of but that Custom was abolish'd and after his Death his Family was Excluded Their Resentments have carryed them further The Aversion they entertain'd for the Memory of that Prince made them renounce their own Interests and the Blindness of that Nation became so excessively Great that they could not see their own Ruine before them tho' they had carefully avoided the same ever since the Foundation of their Monarchy The Hatred they always entertain'd for the Germans made them in 1386 prefer Jagellon D. of Lithuania to William D. of Austria Sigismund Marquis of Brandenburg was excluded from the Succession at the same time and on the same Account The other German Princes that offer'd themselves to the Poles since the Death of Sigismund Augustus had no better Success And if Ernest the two Maximilians of Austria and so many other German Princes had not been excluded it might have been said that the Poles lov'd their Money as much as they hated their Persons So many and such repeated Denials did not baulk the Germans they always presented themselves as Candidates when ever an Interregnum happen'd and Poland which in 1621 was not in the least afraid of an Army of 200000 Turks was daunted in 1697 by 12000 Saxons This is a Mystery that is not easie to be unfolded The Polish Memoirs which afforded us the Subject Matter of what follows will illustrate abundance of things The Reader may blame the Conduct of that Nation and at the same time commend their Sincerity The Affairs of this Kingdom are at present in a deplorable State But the Poles have Piety and Courage They may perhaps put on Resolutions agreeable to their Genius They came formerly to seek one of their Kings in the Abby of Cluny whither he had retired they may find this at the Court of France if the Peace continue long enough to prevent his being employd in commanding the Armies of that Crown ADVERTISEMENT IT was thought fit for to publish this part of the Secret History of Poland first There is in the Press and will speedily follow the Secret Memoirs of Poland c. during the
Reign of John Sobieski III. which will compleat the Secret History of Poland from the beginning of that Prince's Reign to the Time that the Elector of Saxony their present Sovereign mounted the Throne It contains abundance of Original Letters writ by the Emperor K. of Poland Senate of Venice D. of Lorrain Count Teckley and other Great Persons and Generals during the Campaign of Vienna discovers many Intrigues of those Courts and others not hitherto made publick and contains Geographical Remarks on Poland Hungary Germany c. no less pleasant than profitable to the Reader AN Historical Account OF THE DIVISIONS IN POLAND From the Death of King JOHN SOBIESKI To the Settlement of the Present King on the Throne c. THE Death of any Prince is always attended with a Change in the State That of his Polish Majesty made but little Impression on the Republick they forgot his Merit which they supposed to have received a sufficient Reward and his Subjects who ought to have been affected with the Loss of their Sovereign to applaud his Piety and to esteem his Valor had their Eyes fixed on one single Fault which had tarnished his other excellent Qualifications They excused it in the Person of Sobieski Grand Marshal and Great General of the Crown but could not pardon it in John III. King of Poland It was his Opinion That in order to ensure the Crown to his Family it was requisite to make himself Master of large Treasures which being distributed just at the time of Election might gain his Son those Votes which he had acquired by his great Actions Had he been as good a Politician as he was a Commander he would have followed another sort of a Conduct he would have left less Money and more Friends to his Family who are more useful for the carrying on of great Designs The States of Poland which after the Defeat of the Turks at Choczin had seen their General make his Appearance at the Diet of Election with a Magnificence worthy of a King thought fit to reward the Vertue of a Gentleman who seemed to have been born to wear a Crown They granted to his Merit what they refused to the Birth Promises and Intrigues of so many Princes who were his Competitors He had the Glory of carrying the Day from them all and dyed in Hopes that the Prince Royal his Son would have been Heir to his Fortune He imagined that he had taken all the Precautions that Humane Prudence could direct without considering that this has often failed those who thought themselves to be the wisest of Men and that 't is Divine Providence which disposes of the Crowns as it thinks fit After the King had taken such Measures which were as false as he esteemed them safe he left the Execution of them to the Queen his Consort a Princess of a Genius far above those of her Sex and yet such as had its Faults She was for making more of the Post she was in than the King desired and had the Satisfaction for two and twenty Years together to see her Designs succeed which have since raised such Regrets in her as will last while she lives Her first Project was to preserve the King's Health and to prolong a Life that was so precious to her A Jew of Casal named Jonas was then in Poland and passed for a learned Man among those of his Religion and had neglected Trade and Usury which are so alluring to the Men of that Sect that he might wholly apply himself to the Study of Physic The Queen made this Man his Majesty's Physician in Ordinary whose Reputation was established and soon after increased more perhaps by the good Constitution of the King than by the Art or Skill of the Doctor The Success of Dr. Jonas drew a great many Jews to him in hopes of having a share in his Favour Among the rest he introduced one into the Queen's Acquaintance who may be look'd upon as one of the Occasions of the Misfortunes of her and her whole Family This Jew's Name was Bethsal born in Russia and had no other Qualification but what the Jews are all endowed with but understood his Talent so well that even whilst he practised Usury with the utmost Rigor he had the Address of appearing Magnificent and Disinterested This Man waited upon the Queen whose blind side every one was acquainted with He brought his Recommendation along with him being resolved to throw away a considerable Summ of Money which he foresaw he should make up again in a little time He proposed to take the King's Lands by Lease and offered one third for them above their real Value His Proposal was very well received and they engaged him to take his Majesty's other Demeans which he accepted of upon the same Conditions The King seemed so well satisfied with his Conduct that he began to bestow several Favours at his Request They waited upon Bethsal to buy those Offices that were vacant and he who bad most was always look'd upon as best qualified This buying and selling of Offices was not at first publickly known those who could not get into any imagin'd that this Jew was the Opposer of their Fortunes and resolved to assassinate him But his Prudence prevented the Effects of the Publick Odium he maintained thirty Poles for his Guard and paid them so well that he preserved a Life against which had not their Interest interposed they would perhaps have been the first that would have made any Attempt Bethsal looked upon himself rather as a Minister of State than a Farmer of the Kings Revenue All Offices several Starostas and other Dignities that rose not so high as Palatins and other great Dignities of the Crown were distributed to none but those who made their Application to and bargain with him The Poles cryed shame on their Prince's Blindness and the Author of this so vile a Mismanagement On the contrary the Jews looked upon Bethsal as another Mordecai and Sobieski a second Ahasuerus The K. of Poland could not be ignorant of the Artifice of this Man on whom he had too much relied The Poles to this Day accuse him of having heaped up so much Treasure by the Sale of Offices and such a Conduct so full of Self-Interest has made his Memory to stink among them He had the Misfortune during his Life never to be acquainted with the odiousness of this buying and selling of Places and this Disgrace happened to him by a Fate incident to Princes of having too many Flatterers but no True Friends about them The Poles whilst the King was living could not dissemble their hatred to Bethsal whom they accused of Extortion and Sacriledge The first Crime was easie to prove He was convicted of the second by all those who had entred Foreign Merchandises into the Kingdom This Jew who had farmed the Customs caused the Merchants to appear before him presented a Crucifix to them and after he had made them worship it took an
Oath of them that they had not been guilty of any Fraud Afterwards he threw that precious Image into the nastiest Place of his Office and by this Prophanation incensed the rest of Poland against him The Diet which met at Grodno in the Year 1692. were for taking away his Life The Bishops thought nothing but Fire could expiate his Crimes most of the Lords meditated another sort of Death and all they disagreed about was the manner of his Punishment The King who sits as President is not obliged to pronounce Sentence according to the Plurality of Voices but such an Action would have been resented in such a Juncture as this The Prince therefore without making use of his Authority was for making up the business calmly and declar'd that the Evidence did not appear sufficient Thus the Affair stood undetermin'd the Accused lost his Credit but his Master sav'd his Life This Indulgence was attributed to another Motive than that of Clemency Bethsal had manag'd his Affairs so ill that he stood indebted to the King for above 400000 Livres It was thought the King would give him time to pay it off but the Jew dy'd insolvable in 1695. and the King surviv'd him but one year The Poles who saw that the Death of the Prince and his Farmer rendred their Complaints and Revenge useless turned all their Resentments for the future against the Queen and her Family In this Condition was the Royal Family and the Kingdom it self was in as bad a State The Turks had taken Caminiec under the former Reign Sobieski was obliged by his Pacta Conventa to make amends for this Loss as well as for others which Poland had suffered for a Century last past and which had so far lessened its force that every Body wished for that happy turn without expecting it The new King seemed to have altered his Inclination by the Change of his Circumstances The Turks remained in quiet Possession of Podolia and he never put himself into a Posture of dispossessing them This Coldness in the King lessened his Reputation and it was thought that the Acquiring of a Crown had taken off the edge of his Courage The Importunities of Innocent XI and those Intrigues that all the World know reanimated this Prince and roused up his former Vigor The Authority of the Pope prevailed upon him to relieve Vienna and at his Instances he sav'd the Capital City of the Empire and at the same time retrieved his former Reputation Poland was therein Hopes that its King would undertake as much for that Republick as he had done for a Neighbour Prince and this Action had enhaunced the Esteem which they formerly had of his Valour and Conduct The Campagnes he made in Budziac Moldavia and Valachia wherein he took Jassii Campo-longo Soczawa Niemiek and Soroka together with the Relief of Vienna upheld his Reputation But the Distempers with which he was troubled the three last Years of his Reign hindred him from pursuing his Conquests The Turks and Tartars took care to keep fair with him and though they desired Peace which would not be granted them yet they made no considerable Attempt against Poland looking upon the King as in a deep Lethargy out of which they thought it not advisable to rouse him They looked upon him as a Lion of which other Animals are afraid even whilst he sleeps The Terror with which he had struck them was not taken off but by his Death which happened after two Fits of an Apoplexy June 17. 1699. at Villa Nova near Warsaw It is hard to say whether the News of his Death was more pleasing to his Enemies than indifferent to his Subjests The former raised several Commotions in the Kingdom capable of making it too sensible of the Loss of their Prince and the latter testified so much Aversion to his Memory and Family that in several Parts of Poland they resolved to seize upon the Estate he had left It was feared that those Resentments proceeding from the Hopes of a considerable gain would have had dangerous consequences Potoski Grand Huntsman of the Crown went to Zolkiew to take possession in the Name of Prince James of the Treasures which the King had left in that place But forasmuch as this Officer's Intention was not known and it was uncertain whether he design'd to advance his own Interest or that of the Royal Family the Great General clapt his Seal upon it and two hundred Men as a Garrison This disappointed those who would have taken an Advantage of the publick Disturbances they had resolved to seize upon the King's Treasures but those precautions prevented them But because they could not gratifie their Avarice they were enrag'd and would have prosecuted their Rage if the Dignity of the Person to whom they applyed themselves had not put Bounds to their Passion The Queen and the three Princes went to Zolkiew to divide the King's Estate among them The Cardinal d'Arquien the Queen's Father who was going thither was not above three Leagues off the Place when several Gentlemen of the Country through which he passed fell foul upon his Retinue who put themselves into a Posture of Defence and after they had killed and wounded some of them put the rest to flight The Opposition which the Aggressors met with raised their Spleen and to be revenged for the Blood of their Comrades they called together the Inhabitants of their Neighbourhood to the Number of three hundred But as soon as they were sensible of the Quality of the Person for whom the others had so little Respect they soon drew off The Cardinal who had other Cares upon him than to demand Satisfaction for his Assault did not think it proper to complain of the Affront which he judged to be sufficiently made up and the Criminals were only concerned to heal their Wounds This Insult was a sufficient Demonstration of the ill Will that the Poles bore to the Royal Family which met with so many Affronts afterwards that they quite forgot all the former Injuries Cardinal Michael Radzièiowski Arch Bishop of Gnesna and Primate of Poland was absent when the King died He came to Warsaw took upon him the Administration of the Government and in the Senate it was resolved to call a Diet on the twenty eighth Day of August which Diet was to precede that of the Election During this Inter-regnum the Preliminary Diets were convened in which nothing was determined All their Heats were about the Succession of the King and because the Pacta Conventa were not executed most of 'em were for having the Queen the Princes the Foreign Ministers and particularly the French Ambassador who had too great a Correspondence with her Polish Majesty to withdraw That the Election of the King should be made by an universal Convocation of the Nobles which is what the Poles call Postpolite and that a Piasto should be excluded The others though few in Number were for leaving the Queen at her Liberty Every one for
to see before his death the Misfortunes of his Family and his illustrious Rival did not live long enough to comfort himself for his Disgrace and to see the Royal Family of Poland lose a Crown which it had robb'd him of The Remembrance of this Intrigue joined to the Indifferency and Hatred which Prince James bore towards the French none of which he would admit into his Service whilst he entertained Followers of all Nations was perhaps the reason why the Most Christian King hearkened to the Proposals which his Ambassador had made to him of placing a Prince of his Blood in the Polish Throne The Undertaking was Noble and no question but it would have succeeded had so great a Prince set himself heartily upon the Execution of it Melchior de Polignac Abbot of Bonport had resided at the Polish Court ever since the Year 1693. in quality of Ambassador Extraordinary from France This Employ could not chuse but be very agreeable to him by the Satisfaction which the King his Master took in his Conduct and the confidence which the King and Queen of Poland had of him Their Majesties kept nothing secret from him and nothing was determined in their Councils but what his Advice was asked upon which was always followed The Senate and Gentry had the same esteem for him his Genius seemed to them to be Superiour to that of other Ambassadors and this vast Jdea which they conceived of him made them find Defects in those that were invested with the same Character The good Offices which he had done for several Lords under the late Reign made the Poles extol him at a strange rate and none of them questioned his sincerity The Reputation of a Minister is always honourable and serviceable to the Prince that has made choice of him The Credit of this Ambassador was so well established that so soon as ever the King was dead a great many Gentry waited upon him to offer him their Service without desiring so much as to know the Name of the person in whose Favour he would declare himself Sobieski before his Death had recommended to his Children to maintain a strict Correspondence with and to follow the Counsels which that Able Minister should give them of whose Fidelity and Capacity he was very well assured He had likewise conjured the Queen to take this Counsel if she were willing to maintain the Crown in her Family Every thing is promised to a Man at his last Gasp but when he is dead Men think themselves disingaged from their Word The Queen had other Designs in her Head she looked indeed upon the Ambassador as the Supporter of her Family but after she had declared to him the Desire which she had to see one upon the Throne with whom she might share the Authority she entreated him without naming the Person to concur with her towards his Advancement Polignac hearkened to the Queen the depth of whose Design he could not fathom She should have spoken for her Sons but she did not open her Mind plainly upon that Head There were several Lords who would not have despaired of ascending the Throne if that Princess would but assist them and several were in a Condition of sharing an Authority with her which she should procure for the person she most approved of Prince Ketlerus of Courland had privately embraced the Roman Catholick Religion and those who were acquainted with his Design did not question but the Queen was the true Cause of his Conversion However had she been minded to have married a Prince whom the French King should have approved of his Ambassador would never have opposed it But she declared that she could not prevail upon her self to Marry but all her Care was for a Prince whose Duty would oblige him not to desert her Polignac having refused to follow the pleasure of that Princess blindly she was forced to explain her self more clearly and that she might not seem to dissemble with the Ambassador she first of all discoursed to him in the behalf of Prince James of whom she had formerly drawn so frightful an Idea that it was impossible for her to efface those lively Impressions out of her Mind Her best Friends had given her such Counsel which if it had been duly followed would have proved the most judicious and most safe Course she could have taken The King of Poland had left behind him very considerable Summs of Money and common Fame had so far multiplied his Riches that he passed for the richest Prince in Europe These Treasures were deposited in the Castles of Warsaw Marienburg and Zolkiew Those Friends we have been speaking of advised the Queen to affix her Seal and the Seal of the Republick to the Treasures without enquiring how much they amounted to Afterwards they proposed to her to offer them to the State as a Supply to its present urgent Occasions By this piece of Generosity she would engage the Armies and the whole Gentry in her Interests and prevent any Foreign Prince from opposing her pretensions They made her believe that she might choose Prince Alexander or Constantine or even the Elector of Bavaria if she pleased and that they would obtain the Most Christian KING'S Consent The Princess rejected the proposal because she could not abandon Prince JAMES Her chief reason was lest she should thereby dispoil her self of the Treasures that she had gathered together with so much trouble She communicated her Design to the French Ambassador and conjured him by the Memory of the deceased King which he ought to revere to employ his Interest for the Prince Royal. This Minister declined alledging That the Prince had rendred himself too odious to the King his Master and represented to her the Difficulties that would traverse that Election His Remonstrances were not able to make her change her Mind so that he was obliged to declare to the Princess That Prudence would not suffer him to embark on Board a Vessel which could not avoid being Shipwrack'd The Queen could not bring her self to abandon the Prince her Son and much less to sacrifice her Money The Abbot de Polignac found a Method to deprive her of that Chief Support and ordered Matters so as that which was upon the Point of being imployed against France became a help to that Crown in the time of its need After having proposed to that Princess an Annual Income for that great Summ he possessed her with an Account of its being safe and of the Profit she would reap by it which so far blinded her that she made that false Step which rendred all her posterior Efforts against France of no Effect At that time she followed in part the Ambassador's Council and that the presence of the Princes Alex. and Constantine should not give any umbrage to her eldest Son she sent them to France with that Summ which compleated the Ruine of Prince James's Party without strengthening that of his Competitor The Abbot de Polignac gave Advice to
promised in his Master's Name to advance Ten Millions for the Use of the Republick to maintain Fifteen thousand Men during the War with the Turks to retake Caminiec upon his own Charges to re-establish the Catholick Religion in Saxony and that the Electoress should make an Abjuration before she were crowned or else forfeit all her Pretensions to the Crown The Bishop was not ashamed to administer the Oath to a Calvinist Envoy in the Presence of the Holy Sacrament notwithstanding the Opposition of James Halecki Huntsman of Podlachia and Martin Grazewski Vice-Chamberlain of Vilna upon whom they drew their Hangers in the very Church where the Sacrament was exposed And this Prelate instead of redressing the Disorder cried Kill Kill whereupon they made a verbal Process before the Nuncio who publickly disapproved the action but did not think fit to punish it When the Election was over the Cardinal hoping the smaller number would be brought to comply proposed a Conference between the two Parties Accordingly it began on the 28th the most noted Lords on both Parties being present George Albert Denohoff Bishop of Premislia and Great Chancellor of the Crown opened the Conference with a Speech in which he told them the day of the Election was a representation of the day of Judgment and the Favourites of France on the Right represented the Elect and alluding to the Lamb upon the Primate's Arms quoted that passage of Scripture Hi sequentur Agnum quocunque ieret And compared Saxony's Faction to the Goats that put all in disorder applying to them that other passage Vos enim depasti est is vineam Then the Deputies were named Conti's Party demanded that according to Law the two Competitors should not enter nor send Troops into the Kingdom nor seize any Place or claim aright for Coronation till the publick were assembled again in a second Diet to confirm the Election and determine which of the Candidates should mount the Throne Saxony's Party considering Conti was far off and Saxony just at hand gave no other answer but a flat denial and on the fifth of July which was the last day of the Conference declared that they saw the French had a mind to gain time but the Saxons would not loose the opportunity While the Conference was held those who were not admitted enjoyed themselves in Feasting and their heat was so much abated that they seemed to bury the Old Polish Humour By their Voices one would have thought they were rather pleading upon some particular cause before Judges than managing the Election of a King in a General Diet of the Kingdom Some wondered the Bishop of Cujavia should encroach on the rights of the Primate in nominating a King in a tumultuous Assembly but they were more surprized to hear him say the Elector had made an Abjuration at Rome two years ago 'T was Publickly notorious that he had not performed one external act of the Catholick Religion On the contrary he continued openly in the Lutheran Profession And the more zealous among them owned that if his Abjuration was true he should be looked upon as an Apostate Others examined the qualities of the two Rivals They extolled the Prince of Conti whose Vertue they had sensible impressions of from the French Ambassador Prince Lubomirski Great Treasurer of the Crown and many other Polish Gentlemen were witnesses of his Bravery at the Siege of Newhausel and they could not but credit their Report that 't was by his means chiefly that that important Place was taken Others would have spoke on the Elector's behalf but his Defeat at Temeswaer in the Month of April 1696 was too fresh in their Memories to consist with his Glory Though afterwards the disgrace was in some measure extenuated by Prince Eugene of Savoy's Reprisals They boasted of the Elector's strength which indeed was extraordinary and declared every Day by fresh instances His Enemies could not deny it but they distinguished between Hero's and Gladiators and affirmed that Milon of Crotone went beyond him When the News of the Election of the Elector came to his own Country they were as much disturbed as Poland Prince Eugene of Furstemburg their Governour having caused Te Deum to be sung at Dresden on the 4th of July would have said Mass in the Castle Chappel But Christian Ebrarde the Electoress Daughter to the Marquiss of Brandebourg Baroth being a Calvinist ordered the Gates to be shut and refused to take upon her the quality of Queen The Electoress Dowager was not less zealous So that both these Princesses upon this occasion show'd all the transports of anger that Women in a passion are capable of I know not whether they did it out of Zeal or to serve the Elector's Interest in seeming to stand by the Country of Saxony However the States were as resolute as the two Princesses and declared they would admit of no change in the point of Religion They went upon the latter will of John II. the Elector's Grandfather which obliged all his Successors to Profess the Lutheran Religion This Act they would have looked upon as Authentick had not some former accidents given them a jealousie of what might come after George Duke of Saxony Died in 1539. He was the most Zealous Prince of his time for the Catholick Religion as it appeared by many proofs in his life-time and at his Death by his latter will He had no Children to Succeed him Henry his Brother Maurice and Augustus his Son had imbraced the Lutheran Profession in 1537 and he was unwilling his Country which by his means had kept up the Purity of the Gospel should fall into the Hands of Hereticks that had corrupted Saxony and a great part of Germany In order to compass his Pious Design and at the same time to give his Family no occasion to complain of Injustice he made a latter Will in which he determined the Succession to Henry and his Children providing they introduced no Change of Religion into the Countries which he gave them And declared that if they counteracted that Condition they had no Right to his Heritage He entreated the Emperor Charles V and King Ferdinand his Brother to be Executors of his Will and not to give the nearest of his Relations Possession of his Country without they Professed the Catholick Religion Had these Executors been possessed by the same sentiments of Piety with that Prince Leipsic might have been a Catholick City this Day but their particular Interests prevailed above Religion They gave Henry and his Children the liberty of establishing Heresie in that City at a time when they were pretending to extirpate it out of the whole Empire Henry took advantage of their weakness and invited Luther to that Town which he perverted as well as many other Cities in Germany Now the Saxons considering how Prince George's Will was executed were apprehensive of the like Treatment for Prince John's They and the Poles were equally in fear the one for the Lutheran the