before at Pilaucze The King who was just retired to repose himself a little being informed of it got presently on horseback and riding up and down through the Camp undeceived them and by his presence shewed how vain the impression was they had received of his retreat of which he did declare he never so much as thought of but was resolved to stand it out against the Enemy putting them in hopes of a favourable success in the next days undertaking Amongst the proposals at the Council of War upon the present conjuncture of affairs that of attempting to disingage Kmielniski from the Cham was most approved of and therefore a Tartar prisoner was sent with a Letter from his Majesty in which he gave him to understand that he could not beleeve that he had lost all sense and memory of those favours which he had received from King Vladislaus from whom when he was formerly taken prisoner in Poland he had received so favourable an entertainment and his liberty and to whose bounty he was beholden for his present Dignity and that after this it was strange he should associate himself with Rebels and Slaves but that he ought not to promise himself any great advantages from so unjust a confederation Since God would give no blessing on such designs in the mean time his Majesty thought it convenient to put him in mind of the obligation which he had to the King his predecessor and withal to offer him his own friendship if so be that he esteemed that more then an Alliance with Rebels the answer of this Letter was not so suddenly received and the next day morning so soon as it was day the Army of the Cossacks and Tartars appeared in Batalia the first against the City of Zborow and the latter fell upon the Baggage Four hundred light Horse were able for some time to amuse the Cossacks with divers skirmishes and afterwards being sustained by a greater number they drove them off beyond the Town and those who did attend the baggage having taken Arms preserved it against the Tartars The enemies afterwards divided themselves into three bodies and at as many places attacked the Kings Camp after having first of all seized upon a Church which did Command it where having planted a Battery by their continual shooting from which they had forced many who defended it to retire they had almost made themselves Masters of it and one of their most resolute soldiers had already planted Colours upon the Works when that a great body of the Kings party running together made so brave a resistance that the enemy did not onely give over the assault but the fight the servants sallied out to pursue them and shewed such courage upon this occasion that some proposed they should have Horses given them and be ordered into Troops to increase the number of their forces and being reinforced with this supply drawn from the Army it self they might then hazard a Battel others were of the opinion that it could not be expedient to venture so far seeing that after a defeat they would necessarily be reduced to the same extremity as those at Zbaras out of this diversity and incertainty of Council wherein the Poles then floated knowing not which way to steer it pleased providence to conduct them happily to their Port. The Cham who before all these assaults upon both the Polish Armies had promised himself a speedy and certain victory and now finding to the contrary so much fearless resolution among them began to be weary of this war and to shew himself more inclined towards an accommodation wrote a civil answer to the Kings Letter in which he acknowledged himself obliged to the Crown of Poland and that if his Majesty after his Election had applied himself to him he would have set a greater value on his friendship and embraced it sooner then the interest of the Cossacks but they had neglected it so much that they scarce considered him as an ordinary man although they might well perceive how advantagious his friendship might be and now seeing there was an occasion of renewing their antient Alliance he would not be backward on his side but promised to oblige the Cossacks to lay down their Arms and to return to their obedience provided that the Articles of the former Treaties were observed and that if his Majesty desired to name a place to confer in and send his Chancellor thither he would send his Vizier This Letter was also accompanied with one from Kmielniski full of respect and in which he assured the King of his fidelity and future services The Conference being accepted of by his Majesty of Poland and the place appointed between both the Armies The Vizier and the Great Chancellor Ossolinski met according to appointment The Vizier demanded that they should pay the pension which they were accustomed to give the Cham for the services which he was bound to render to Poland which King Vladislaus had refused to pay that they should satisfy the Zaporouski Cossacks and for the dammages and expenses which the Tartars had been at in this expedition and the blood they had lost it should be permitted them to make their excursions and plunder the Countrey in their return in the mean time there was a suspension of Arms granted though interrupted by some hostilities the next day which was the seventeenth of August the Plenipotentiaries returned to the same place of Conference each accompanied with two others The Chancellor of Poland took with him the Palatine of Kiovia and the Vice-Chancellor of Lithuania The Visier brought Sieferkaz and Sulimaz Aga to whom Kmielniski was joyned to desire a Bill of Oblivion for himself His Cossacks and the revolted Peasants and that they should provide for the maintenance of their Liberty and the Greek Religion and after divers contests the Peace was concluded the same day with the Cossacks and Tartars upon these Conditions I. THat there should be Peace and Brotherly friendship for the future between John Casimir King of Poland as also the Kings His Successors and Islan Gierey Cham of Tartary and the whole Family of the Giereys II. That the King should freely pay the ordinary Pension of the Tartars sending it to Camienesche by Deputies appointed thereto III. That in consideration of this the Cham should be bound to assist the King with all his Forces against any Enemy as often as it should be required IV. That the Cham should secure the Frontiers of Poland from the Incursions and Robberies of his Subjects V. That the rest of his Forces before Zbaras should immediately dislodge and let the Polish Army which was there march with all liberty to any place where it should please His Majesty of Poland to command them VI. That the Cham should without any delay leave the Countreys and Dominions belonging to the King and all his Forces the same and those Turks which he had with him VII That the King in consideration of the Cham would grant a
these revolting Cossacks found no great difficulty to overcome the rest of the Polish Troops who were not in all above fifteen hundred men the Poles defended themselves some days in the middle of their Tabor but having lost their Canon and not being able to resist so great a number which encompassed them on all sides they were all either slain or made slaves by the Tartars Sapitza was one of these Schomberg was mortally wounded and Potoski not being able to be carried away died in the field Kmielniski carefully managing this advantage had the Glory which ordinarily accompanies the first victory made head against the rest of the Polish Army which consisted of about five thousand men and whose Commanders having long expected the news of their first Troops ordered towards the Boristhenes and now being certainly informed of their defeat as that also the Cossacks had deserted them and that the Tartars were joyned with the Rebels thought it necessary to retreat for the preservation of the forces of the Kingdom but it was now too late for the Bacmates overtaking them began to skirmish with them and some Tartars being taken prisoners did confess upon the Rack that their Army consisted of forty thousand men besides seven thousand Cossacks and the Countreymen of the adjacent Colonies who came in hourly to them The Polish Council of War deliberating therefore what was to be done found no expedient better then that of continuing their retreat in the middle of their Chariots neither was this sufficient for they had scarce marched halfe a League before they entred into a thick Forrest whose bottom was Marshy and full of Boggs and to make them still more exquisitely unhappy the Cossacks who remained with them to the number of eighteen hundred did then forsake them so that after four hours striving as well against the bad ways as their enemies and their Tabor being broken up and they set upon on all sides most of them were either killed upon the place or choaked in the Mudd This misfortune which happened about Korsun became more sensible to Poland by reason of the death of King Vladislaus the IV who died at this time at Mereche in Lithuania in the two and fiftieth year of his age no man doubting but this Prince by his valour joyned with all those other great perfections which he was endowed with and which made him venerable and beloved by his own as well as esteemed and feared by his enemies would by his Authority and great name have quickly suppressed this new rising and but yet Infant Rebellion of the Cossacks The Kings death was not presently known to Kmielniski who if he had been informed of it would not have failed to have shown more fierceness then he did after the defeat of the Polish Army upon which he wrote a very submissive Letter to the King in which he laid all that was passed upon the insolence of the Governors and upon the Rapines and insupportable Exactions of the Jews who for Farmers of the Kings Land and of many Gentlemens Estates he asked pardon for what he was constrained to doe in his own defencc promised to send back the Tartars and to live in obedience to his Majesty if he would be pleased to maintain him and his Cossacks in their liberty and priviledges granted them by the former Kings his predecessors but a while after he understood the King was dead by a Letter sent him from Adam Kisiel Palatine of Braclaw by the hands of a Greek Monk this Palatine who was also a Greek used very milde and obliging expressions to bring back the head of the Cossacks to his obedience setting forth to him the antient fidelity of the Zaporowski Cossacks who though they were very jealous of their Liberty were always very constant and lived in a State where all persons but chiefly Men of War had always free access to make good their interests and to complain of their injuries which they received that he being the onely Senator of the Greek Religion and Protector of their Rites and Churches which he did always most heartily defend did conjure him by the Saintity of the same Religion and the Honour of the Russian Nation that he would send home the Tartars and lead the Cossacks back into their ordinary stations and that in the mean time he would depute some persons to make known the injuries which they and he in particular had received and to desire some redress offering his own care and services to help them to all the satisfaction they could pretend to and withal he was a person of that rank and quality in the State that no Determinations or Orders could be given either for peace or war without his being advertised of it but he assured them he should always be inclined to have these disorders terminated in a peaceable way rather then to have them entertained by the continuation of a Civil war and that their Arms at present imployed in their mutual Ruine might be more profitably and gloriously made use of against the enemies of Christendome The Tartars were apt upon the least occasion to take up Arms but their first heat and choler being past they returned of themselves and were reconciled without any Mediation they should therefore take their leaves of them and retain nothing but this laudable custom of theirs The Monk who carried this Letter was in great danger of falling into the hands of the Tartars but escaping with much difficulty he arrived at the Camp of Kmielniski which he found confused enough the General called the soldiery together in a tumultuous way had the Letter read before them and was the first himself who approved the Council of the Palatine of Braclaw and being backed by the Plurality of voices it was determined that all acts of hostility should cease and that they should wait for an answer from the Court of Poland that the Tartars should be sent back into the desart Plains with Orders there to keep themselves ready upon all occasions and that the Palatine should be invited to come to the Camp This moderation of Kmielniski when his affairs were at that heighth surprized all the world although it were not void of artifice for as on one side it appeared that he had put a stop to the course of his victories to hinder any further bloodshed and to obtain pardon more easily so on the other he made this ostentation of his power to the Polanders to extort from them what he could not perhaps have obtained onely by his submission Retiring therefore into the Town of Bialacerkiew he kept himself quiet while that Crzivonos another Commander of the Cossacks a person of little worth but bold and horribly cruel harrassed Black Russia and Podolia Kmielniski pretended to disallow of these violences and promised to put this Crzivonos and five other Commanders of the Peasants in Rebellion into the hands of the Polanders but this was all to amuse them that he might at the
same time the better seize upon the fortress of Bar. Jeremiah Michael Duke of Wisnowitz arriving on the borders of Russia with some Troops to whom were joyned those of Janus Tiskewitz Palatine of Kiovia and the Kings Regiment of Guards Commanded by Ossinski Lieutenant-General of Lithuania opposed these incursions of Crzivonos and stopped his progress who would otherwise have overrun the Kingdom with those great numbers with him Many other Troops and the Rear made up of the Nobility of the Frontiers making a new Army they marched against the Cossacks and the rebellious Peasants after they had endeavoured a second time but all in vain to make an accommodation with their Commanders The State of Poland was made more sensible upon this occasion then ever before of the greatness of that loss which it sustained by the death of their King there being now no person of Authority enough to Command so many Great men as were at that time in the Army who would by no means give place to one another and their dissentions and disorders at length grew so high that the most judicious considering in what condition affairs were thought it absolutely necessary to avoid fighting in pursuance of which Council it was resolved that they should retreat in good order in the middle of their Tabor towards Constantinow but these Orders were so ill understood then when some Troops about Pilaucze began to move others not waiting their times marched away before the rest and began a confusion which being increased by the obscurity of the night and communicated to all that followed it struck such a panick fear into the whole Army that even the most brave were not exempt from it who could not be so soon informed of the cause of this general flight and consternation This would have secured an intire victory to Kmielniski if he had not been involved in the same ignorance but he knew so little of what passed that he took this flight of the Polanders for a stratagem nor could he beleeve the truth of the report and instead of pursuing them with all diligence he contented himself to follow them slowly and with all circumspection till at length being undeceived with a sad heart he turned his forces against Leopold a Town very considerable for its Trade especially into the East and indifferently strong but at that time not furnished with Forces or Provisions fit for its defence Arcissenski an old Officer who had a long time served abroad and been a Commander under the Hollanders in Brasil was left therein and put in hopes of being speedily relieved from the Lesser Poland The Inhabitants Commanded by this Officer made a strong resistance for some days but the Castle forsaken by those who defended it being taken by the besiegers and there being little hope left of holding out long against so numerous an Army as lay before the Town and the want of Provisions being afflicting already they redeemed themselves and bought off the Enemy from the Walls with a considerable sum The Cossacks having quitted Leopold came before Zamoscie a Town fortified after the modern way by John Zamoski Great General and Great Chancellor of Poland in the time of King Sigismund Father to the two last Kings This place was at that time the onely Asylum for the Nobility of Russia who had been driven from their Estates by the revolted Peasants and there being a good party in the Town from the Palatinates of Belz and Sendomir and fifteen hundred men which Louis Weiher Palatine of Pomerania had brought thither out of Prussia all the attempts which the Cossacks and rebellious Peasants made for a months time were all in vain so that after they had lost many men they retreated to the bottom of Russia We must not pass over in silence the assistance which the Poles received from his most Christian Majesty who although the fire of Civil war began already to be kindled in France permitted that the eight hundred Auxiliaries raised at his expence by Colonel Christopher Przemski who Commanded a Polish Regiment in Flanders should be joyned to the Poles Army under the same Colonel who out of this recruit formed one good Regiment Kmielniski being retired with his Forces into their Winter Quarters some great persons on the behalf of Poland begun to treat with him of Peace but they received very haughty answers all the advantages of the last Campagne having rendred him more insolent then before so that it was as much as they could doe to prevail with him to consent to a truce for some moneths The Praeludes of a new war began on both sides before the time was expired the Rebels forces provoked the Polish in divers places but bore away the marks of their fool-hardiness having been worsted almost every where by Andrew Firley Governor of Belz and Stanislaus Landskoroniski Governor of Camieneche between whom the new King John Casimir presently after his election divided the Command of his forces they received amongst others very notable shocks at Zwiehal Ostropol Bar and other places which were retaken with great destruction of the Rebels and rich booty to the Polanders Kmielniski seeing that the Spring approached which he expected with impatience after that he had called in the Tartars again took the field to make a new inroad into Poland the Poles also gathered together to cross his design and their Commanders having deliberated in what place they ought to stay till the rest of the Forces of the Kingdom were come up to them amongst many advices of which one amongst others was to lodge under the Cannon of Camienesche the importance of which Fortress being a bar against the Turks was such that the preservation of it deserved that it should be preferred before any other consideration whatsoever the advice of Firley prevailed who judging it not fit to draw off the Army from the frontiers lest they should be exposed to the irruption of the Enemy made choice of the Town of Zbaras belonging to the Duke Wisnowitski as a place most convenient for his design and for the reception of those recruits which they expected he had no more then nine thousand men with him taking in those Troops which some Noble-men had raised at their own expences he had with him amongst other Commanders Landskoronski the Count of Ostorog Great Cup-bearer to the Crown joyned with him as Colleagues Duke Demetrius Jeremiah Michael Wisnowitski and Alexander Koniespolski Great Ensigne to the Crown Son of the defunct Great General of the same name General Firley foreseeing that he should soon be environed with an Army almost innumerable did presently furnish himself with provisions and repaired the old Fortifications as well of the Town as of the Castle of Zbaras and secured his Camp by a good intrenchment flancked with Forts and Redoubts and taking a particular care of a certain Lake which furnished him abundantly with water that it might by no means be turned away by the enemy He was no sooner intrenched
parties to hear news of the Cossacks The Marshy Moorish places which he was to travel through and the great number of Carriages caused his Forces to march scatteringly So that he thought it necessary to divide them into Ten Brigades if we may so name a Body of Ten or twelve thousand men of which number each was composed he reserved the first for himself gave the command of the second to the great General Potoski the third to the General of the Campagne Kalinouski Palatine of Czernihovia the fourth to John Simon Szcavinski Palatine of Brestch the fifth to the Duke of Wisnowitz Palatine of Russia the sixth to Stanislaus Potoski Palatine of Podolia the seventh to the Grand Marshal of the Kingdom Lubomirski the eighth to Stanislaus Landskoronski Palatine of Braclaw the nineth to the Vice-chancellor of Lithuania Sapieha the tenth to Koniespolski the Great Ensign to the Crown The Polish Army came the next day being the Sixteenth to Wygnanka a place abounding in Water and good Pasture Grounds where they understood by a Soldier who had left the Cossacks Army that Kmielniski was gone from his Camp which lay between Zbaras and Wisnowitz to go meet the Cham whom he expected with impatience having called for his assistance not trusting enough in his own Forces although he had a prodigious multitude of revolted Peasants joyned with his Cossacks but had as yet but Six thousand Tartars with him The King arriving at Berestesko of which Town the Count of Lesno under Chamberlain of Brzestia is Lord he incamped near it all along the River of Ster which washes this place on all sides and then sent out Three thousand Horse under the command of Stemkouski and Czarneski to be certainly informed of the enemies march and understood by some prisoners whom they took that the Cham was come to Kmielniski with a numerous Army and that he had sent out parties to learn in what place and condition the Polish Army was Upon this news it was resolved of in a Council of War to dislodge from Berestesko and to place themselves at Dubno a Town belonging to the Palatine of Cracovia The Baggage began to move and the Army was about to march with a resolution to encounter the Cossacks wheresoever they should oppose them when the Duke of Wisnowitz who was of the Guard sent to advertise the King that Kmielniski and the Cham were coming in all haste towards him And the Grand General understanding by a Peasant that the enemies promised themselves assured victory if they could fall upon the Polish Army intangled in the way resolved to stay at Berestesko and the Baggage was ordered to be brought back which was upon the way Scarce were they returned into the Camp but the Scouts brought word that the whole Army of the Cossacks and Tartars were near to Pereatin a Village within five hundred paces so that the Generals presently drew up the Polish Army left the River Ster on one side of them and lined all the Wooded places near with divers Companies of Foot for fear of an Ambush The Twenty seventh of June about night Ten thousand Tartars drawn out from the rest came near to the Polish Army to take a view of it making as if they came to provoke them to fight The Grand Marshal and Grand Ensign not being able to suffer their insolence went out with their Regiments by the permission of the Great General and the assistance also of Wisnowitski his Regiment and ingaged them a long while repulsed them and drove them back half a League Upon the Eight and twentieth there was another more fierce skirmish the Cham placed himself and his whole Army upon certain Eminencies in sight of the Poles strengthned with some of the choice Forces of the Cossacks The Polish Army being also drawn up in order the Regiments of the Palatine of Brzestia and Pomerania of the Duke Bogislaus Radzevil and the Palatine of Witebsko with the Horse of Przemislia and Volhynia went to set upon the Tartars who to revenge the defeat they received the day before seeing that the Horse was backed but with a small number of Foot they poured in upon them great numbers of Men. Landskoronski was the first who could put a stop to this torrent neither was it done without the loss of many of his own Men and of his Brother and he himself was so incompassed by a great number of those Infidels that to disingage him there were sent out the Regiments of the Great General of the General of the Campagne of the Palatine of Russia of the Grand Marshal and of Sapieha The fight grew hot upon the arrival of this reinforcement and many were slain on both sides the Tartars lost about a Thousand Men and divers prisoners of considerable note were taken amongst others the Secretary to the Cham. The Poles had Three hundred of theirs slain and amongst them Casanouski Governor of Halicz Ossolinski Starroste of Lublin Nephew to the Great Chancellor deceased Stadniski Under-Chamberlain of Sanoc Ligeza Sword-bearer of Przemislia Rrecziski Captain Jourdan and divers Gentlemen of the Palatinate of Lencincia and so ended the Engagement of the Eight and twentieth of June The Night following having considered in their Council of War that the Enemies design was to delay time and to reduce the Polanders to extremities for want of Provision in a Countrey too far distant from any place whence they might draw their subsistance they thought it better to employ their Army while it was in its strength and vigor and determined to give Battel the next day The King spent most of the night at his devotions and in ordering his affairs so soon as it was day he drew up his Army without the enemies perceiving it in the least by favor of a great Mist which continued till Nine in the Morning The Right Wing of the First Line was commanded by the Grand General Potoski and under him by Landskoronski Palatine of Braclaw Opalinski Palatine of Posnania Lubomirski Grand Marshal of the Kingdom Sapieha Vice-Chancellor of Lithuania Koniespolski Grand Ensign to the Crown the Count Vladislaus of Leszno Under-Chamberlain of Posnania the two Zobieski's Sons to the Governor of Cracovia deceased and some other great Persons who had raised Forces at their own expences The Conduct of the Left Wing was committed to Kalinouski General of the Campagne to the Dukes of Ostrog and Zaslaw to the Palatine of Brzestya the Duke of Wisnowitz Palatine of Russia to Stanislaus Potoski Palatine of Podolia to John Zamoiski and to Colonel Enhoff of Liefland many of which had joyned the Forces which they had raised in their own Countreys to those of the States The King took charge of the main Body of the Army composed of the German and Polish Foot at the Head of which stood the Artillery commanded by Sigismond Priemski who was General of it and had been a long time Major General under the Swedes in Germany The Second Line in the middle of
which his Majesty of Poland took his place consisted of Horse and was commanded amongst other Officers by Tyskewitz Great Cup-bearer of Lithuania The Body of Reserve was commanded by Colonel Meydel Great Master of the Game and by Colonel Enhoff Starroste of Sokal and was composed of the Horse of Grudzinski and Rozraceuski and of the Foot of Prince Charles Brother to the King and of Koniespolski's and Colonel Du Plessis a Frenchman The Baggage and Ammunition was left in the Camp which was intrenched on one side and defended on the other by the Town and the River The King had left some Companies of Foot therein for a Guard who appeared afar of much more numerous then they were by reason of their Lances which by the Kings Orders the Huzzars had left to them every one of which had a Red Penon or Little Streamer at the end and when they were all drawn up in order made a very fair show The Sun dispersing the Mist which till that time had covered the Army it appeared to the Enemy like a beautiful perspective on a Theatre when the Curtain is drawing up who were surprised at their number and good order notwithstanding their Army was more numerous and covered all the Countrey as far as could be seen The Tartars possessed themselves of divers little Hills from whence there was an easie descent and filled up all the space in form of an Half-Moon They had the Cossacks on their Right Hand opposite to the Left Wing of the Polish Army with whom were also joyned some Squadrons of Tartars and near to them was the Tabor of the Cossacks composed of divers Ranks of Chariots in the middle of which were part of their Forces able to sustain all assaults whatsoever The two Armies being thus placed all the morning was spent in light skirmishes but the King doubting lest that the intention of the enemies was to amuse them with these small combats and to set upon them the night following when by reason of the darkness they might the better surprize them he prohibited all his Soldiers upon pain of death from stirring out of their places without order and commanded all the Bridges to be broken down which were built over the Ster that they might not be set upon behind and by this means to ingage his own Soldiers to perform their utmost all hopes of escaping being cut off and that the rest of the day might not be spent unprofitably which was scarce sufficient for a general Battel between two such numerous Armies he began to salute the Enemies with the Cannon at the head of his Army and so from time to time to discharge against them as they drew nearer to those Eminencies whereon the Tartars were placed Divers seeing the day so far spent were of opinion that the Fight should be deferred till the next morning but others insisted much upon the contrary fearing lest the Cossacks might fall upon the Polish Army in the night with their Tabor which they had extraordinarily reinforced and might therewithal constrain them to quit their Camp His Majesty therefore caused the Duke of Wisnowitz to begin the charge with twelve Troops of old Soldiers backed by the Palatine of Podolia with the Auxiliaries of the Palatinates of Cracovia Sendomir Lencicia and Przemistia the Cossacks received them briskly and the conflict lasted near an hour all which time the smoak and dust made them invisible to the rest of the Army and as the Poles began to give way they were timely assisted by fresh Forces which the King sent them upon whose arrival the Cossacks were driven into their Tabor together with the Tartars who ingaged them upon a rising Ground In the mean time the King marched against the great Body of the Tartars the Right Wing staying near a Wood side to hinder the design of many of their enemies who were in Ambush with intention to compass in the Polish Army in the heat of the Battel The King kept the Artillery still before him which Priemski caused to be discharged very opportunely and with great success So that they obliged the Tartars to leave the foot of the Hill and by degrees made themselves masters also of the top after they had sustained the discharges of the Janissaries Carbines who accompanied them In this place His Majesty of Poland was in great danger of his life having four Bullets shot from some pieces which the Tartars had by a Wood side passing very near him and one of them falling at his feet but the Poles soon returned them the like For Otuinouski Interpreter to his Majesty of Poland for the Turkish and Tartar Languages assuring them that the Cham was there in person where they saw the great White Standard The King ordered a piece of Cannon to be so levelled that the first shot took one of the Principal Officers who stood near the Cham which disturbed and frighted him so much that he thought not farther of any thing but retreating that part of his Army which had been driven from the Hill followed him also having left some Squadrons behind to disguise his retreat and amuse the Polanders for some time But they were soon put to their shifts and the Poles pursued them a League and a half till the Night and the swiftness of their Bacmates or Tartar Horses secured them yet they left many in their retreat wounded and slain which they were used to carry off and to burn in their march when they had leisure esteeming it abominable to leave the dead Bodies of their Friends in the hands of Christians They left also much of their equipage as Vestes Saddles Cimitars Chariots and the Tent and Standard of their Cham and his little Silver Drum guilded over and covered with a Skin which serves him for a Bell. Divers Polanders who had been Slaves to those Infidels did here recover their Liberty but many others were killed by them when they saw they could not carry them away with them in their retreat which was so hasty that they travelled Ten French Leagues the same day The King after he had sent out divers Troops of Horse in pursuit of the Tartars went with the rest of his Army against the Tabor of the Cossacks where they were still in great numbers and had Forty pieces of Ordnance which played continually Kmielniski was retreated with the Tartars in hopes to engage them again to fight but he could by no means perswade them to it but on the contrary was very ill treated by the Cham and reproached as one that had cheated him and not made known the true state of the Polish Army but had made him believe they were not above Twenty thousand and therefore he threatned to send him to the King of Poland in exchange for those Murza's which were Prisoners there and would not let him go free till he had sent order to Czeherin to deliver up a considerable sum of Money and part of the Booty which he had formerly taken
to delay his march till the arrival of his Foot and Baggage when deliberating in Council with his Officers what was to be done they determined to seize upon Chzastowa a Town on the way to Kiovia to facilitate their communication with it and their joyning with Prince Radzevil while they lay expecting the Foot at Pawolocz which marched but slowly the Plague took away in the flower of his age Michael Koributh Duke of Wisniwitz who had given sufficient proof of his Valor and singular Conduct in all this War by which he was deprived of the Revenue of a great Estate in Vkrain After that the Army had spent the five and twentieth of August in rendring their last Devoirs to this great person they marched the next day towards Trylisicz a place well fortified this Garrison having sent a fierce answer to the summons of the Polish General to surrender themselves he Commanded Priemski-General of the Artillery and Commissary of the Army and Berg Lieutenant-Colonel to the Regiment of Prince Bogislaus Radzevil with seven hundred German Foot to attacque them they lost threescore or fourscore men in the approaches with Captain Strayse and Captain Wahl but being relieved with the Polish Foot in two hours time they made themselves Masters of the Town and Castle notwithstanding the obstinate resistance of the besieged among whom even the Women did good service and fought with their Sithes all here were put to the sword without distinction of Sex or Age. The Governor of the place a Cossack was hanged in the heat of blood the Town was plundered and what could not be carried away was with it reduced to Ashes and this severity wrought better effects then perhaps Clemency could have done for the Flames being perceived by those of Chwastowa the three hundred Cossacks which guarded that Town forsook it and the Inhabitants also followed their example although they might well have resisted the Poles and put them to the expense of a great number of men Prince Radzevil expecting the Kings Orders and that the Polish Army should come to him kept himself always near to Kiovia not without some danger the Enemy endeavouring by all means possible to surprize him or at least to hinder the General Potoski from joyning with him Upon the sixteenth of August Colonel Nold being sent out by this Prince discovered by the Windmil near to the Gate of Kiovia called the Gilded Gate a great body of Cossacks mingled with Tartars which soon allarmed the Camp and a party of Light Horse set upon them with such courage that after they had taken a Bridge which the enemies put much trust in for the securing themselves they killed a thousand of them upon the place some of the prisoners confessed that this body of three thousand men was to have joyned with a thousand more with designe of falling upon the Lythuanian Army in their intrenchments Prince Radzevil after this advantage set forward to joyn with the Polish Army after that he had left a sufficient Garrison in Kiovia and furnished it with all things necessary for its preservation General Potoski having sent fifteen hundred men before him advanced with the rest of his Army as far as Vasilikow to facilitate their conjunction Kmielniski finding himself unable to hinder this and foreseeing the dammage he must receive from it deputed divers to the General to Treat with him about an accommodation and to desire him to interpose the credit he had with the Senate and the Polish Army to prevent the effusion of so much blood as was ready to be spilled and to bring the Cossacks in favour again with his Majesty of Poland assuring him they would remain faithful in his service and most Religiously observe the Treaty of Zborow these propositions of peace presented by Kmielniski made small impressions upon the mind of the Polish General who being well informed of the continual addresses which he made to the Port and to the Cham to obtain a speedy supply and consequently understood that all what he did was but to gain time and leisure to establish his affairs he resolved without delay to terminate this controversie by force of Arms. The Polish Army being now considerably reinforced by the conjunction of the Lythuanians consisting of nine thousand chosen men Kmielniski although he had received a fresh supply of six thousand Tartars did not neglect to make another attempt towards an accommodation and the Palatine of Kiovia endeavoured with divers arguments to induce the Generals to put an end to this War rather by a general Pardon then by the continuation of so many cruelties representing to them that the many troubles which the soldiers had undergone in this Campagnia and the Diseases reigning amongst them had diminished and did diminish daily a great number of them so that the Generals Potoski and Radzevil condescended to receive the Cossacks deputed to come and desire peace Kmielniski desiring that some one might be dispatched to him to conferre with Vihouski his Secretary and intimate Friend they sent to him Makouski a Captain of Horse with a Letter to him from the General Potoski but because he gave him not the Title of General of the Zaporovian Army this omission was taken for a great injury and made a disturbance among the Cossacks but Makouski having appeased them by giving them sufficient reasons for what was done the conference began in which the Polish Deputy proposed that Kmielniski should send away the Tartars and come himself to the Polish Camp and pay his respects to their Generals he was against the first of these propositions for a long time whatsoever his Secretary could doe to draw from him his consent but in the end he agreed to one as well as the other although his Officers and the Russian Peasants expressed a great deal of repugnancy for the latter But finding it not convenient to continue this conference in the Cossacks Camp lest that the Tartars suspecting what they Treated of might attempt something against the persons of the Commissioners Vihouski did very much instance that it might be removed to Bialacierkiew Makouski giving an account to the Generals of the Polish Army of his Negotiation with the Cossacks it was thought expedient to send Commissioners to Bialacierkiew as they desired to this intent were deputed the Palatines of Kiovia and Smolensko Zowzieuski High Steward of Lythuania and Cossacouski second Judge of Braclaw whom they guarded with a great Convoy of which five hundred Horse onely were permitted to enter the Town These Commissioners Treating with those of Kmielniski agreed of all the conditions of peace excepting some few points which were afterwards to be decided in the two Camps but were in great danger of their lives first in the Army of the Cossacks where Kmielniski and his Officers had enough to doe to defend them from the violencies of the Tartars and the Peasants who could not endure any propositions of Peace suspecting always that one of their Articles would be to
reduce them to their former servitude The Tartars also set upon them in their return and plundered part of their Baggage In the mean time General Potoski and Prince Radzevil seeing that the Treaty was almost concluded removed from Hermanowka to Bialacerkiew the place where Kmielniski and the principal Commanders of the Cossacks were to renew their Oath of Allegiance to the King and State at the approach of the Polish Army the Cossacks seemed to be very much surprized but they being certified that it was upon no other designe then to oppose the incursions of the Tartars new Commissioners were sent on both sides to conclude of what was left undecided at the last conference But the Cossacks instead of that presented new propositions as if they had forgot what had been so lately determined demanding the performance of the Treaty at Zborow that the Polish Army should leave the frontiers and give them liberty to maintain their confederacy with the Tartars whom they acknowledged to be the true defenders of their priviledges so that after the Poles had reproached them of their lightness and infidelity which must needs proceed from the news of some new supply from the Tartars or the false report of the Grand Signior his sending some considerable Forces they drew up their Army and committed the right wing to Prince Radzevil with his Lythuanians the left to Kalinouski and reserved the main body for General Potoski The Cossacks and Tartars came also out of their Camp as if they had no other designe but to observe the posture of the Poles there passed divers skirmishes between them for three days and divers Companies of the Enemie hid themselves in Thickets and close places making frequent attempts upon the Polish Army annoying them sometimes in the Flanck and sometimes in the Reer which it is thought they did to make the Polish Generals more tractable and to obtain more advantagious conditions of peace In the mean time they being wearied with the delays of Kmielniski who pretended to disallow of all these attempts and skirmishes and being earnest with him to declare his mind he sent them upon the 26 of September three Deputies to endeavor seriously the conclusion of the Treaty these were much more moderate in their demands although they were very different also from those agreed upon at Bialacerkiew for after they had concluded that the number of the Cossacks inrolled should amount to twenty thousand they demanded also that they might have their Quarters in the Palatinates of Braclaw and Czernihow and this being refused they insisted that at least the Polish Forces should not be quartered there during the time that Kmielniski was employed in inrolling the Cossackian Militia and that they should give him for his own maintenance the Territories of Czircassy and Borowitza Potoski gave them to understand that this latter demand could not be granted without express Orders from the King and State but condescended to the other after that Kmielniski had secretly informed him that he insisted upon it only to content the revolted Peasants whom he thought not fit to irritate so long as they kept together and made so considerable a body so that there remained nothing but that he and his chief Officers should come and make their submissions to the Polish Generals which he was inclinable enough to do after he had received Hostages for his security though divers of his Officers with great difficulty were brought to consent to it Upon the 28 of September he and the principal Commanders of the Cossacks came to the Polish Camp where with much Humility and the Tears in his Eyes which he had always ready to shed when the necessity of his affairs required he asked Pardon of the Great General Potoski and saluted Prince Radzevil and the rest of the Nobility with all respect In his presence were the Articles of the Treaty read and being signed on both parts and confirmed by Oath all ended in an entertainment which was given to those of his Train The Articles were these 1. THat in consideration of the submission and acknowledgement which the Zaporovian Army and its Commanders had made to be always obliged to serve the King and State This Army should be composed for the future of twenty thousand men which were to be chosen and Registred by their General and Officers and should have their Quarters in the Countey and Lands belonging to his Majesty in the Palatinates of Kiovia Braclaw and Czernihow but the Lands of the Nobility should be free from Quartering of Soldiers 2. That if any of the Subjects of the Nobility were Registred in the Zaporovian Army they should be bound to change their Habitations and to transferre themselves into the Lands belonging to the King in the Palatinacy of Kiovia but it should be free for them to sell their Goods whither moveables or others and in what part soever they were without any hindrance or molestation from their Landlords the Starroste's or Substarroste's 3. That they should begin to Register the twenty thousand Cossacks to be retained within fifteen days counting from the day of the date of this present Treaty and that this List or Roll containing the name surname and abode of each particular Cossack should be Signed by the General of the Cossacks should be sent to the King and a Copy of a Copy be kept in the Rolls of Kiovia that those were not Registred or Matriculated should still enjoy the antient Rights and Priviledges of the Cossacks but those who should be excluded should be bound to the same Duty as formerly in respect of the Kings Lands 4. That the Polish Forces should have no Quarters in the Palatinacy of Kiovia in those places assigned to the Cossacks nor should the latter pretend to any Quarters designed for the Poles in the Palatinacy of Braclaw and Czernihow after the Feast of Christmas by which time they were to make up the Register 5. That the Gentlemen of the said Palatinacies of Kiovia Braclaw and Czernihow should come into free possession again of their Estates or Starrosties and draw from thence their Revenues as formerly onely they should not receive any Taxes or Duties from their Subjects till such time as the Register were finished when it would be perferctly known who those were who were to enjoy the priviledges of the Cossacks and who not 6. That the General of the Cossacks should have the Town of Czerin for his proper maintenance and that Bogdan Kmielniski at present in that charge and his successors should enjoy all Prerogatives belonging thereto and dispose of all Places and Offices in the Army and should be under the protection of the Generalissimo's of the Crown to whom they should take an Oath of unalterable Fidelity 7. That the Greek Religion which the Zaporovian Army professeth should be maintained in its antient Liberty and those Bishopricks Monasteries Churches and Ecclesiastical Revenues which had been usurped during the last War should be restored 8. That those of the Nobility either Catholicks or Greeks who had taken the Cossacks part as also the Inhabitants of Kiovia should be included in the Bill of Oblivion and consequently should be re-established in their Estates Rights Honours and Priviledges and that any sentence given against them by reason of the last war should remain Null and void 9. That the Jews should keep their priviledges of being Free Citizens in the Lands belonging to the King and the Nobility and that they should be permitted to Farm their Estates and Rights as formely 10. That the Tartars who were in the Kingdom should immediately retreat without spoiling the Countrey and should not be allowed any longer Quarters therein in what place soever that the General of the Cossacks should doe his utmost to engage them for the future in the service of the State but if that he could not accomplish it before the next Diet he and his Cossacks should be bound to renounce their friendship and to make War upon them as Enemies to the Crown of Poland and that the Cossacks should not make any League nor entertain any correspondence with them or any other Neighboring Prince but should remain in a perpetual and constant Fidelity and Obedience towards his Majesty and the State of which they and their Successors were to give proofs upon all occasions when they should be Commanded 11. That as there never was yet any Cossack inrolled for the guard of the Frontiers of Lythuania so should there not be any at present but all should remain as it was already agreed upon within the Limits of the Palatinacy of Kiovia 12. That seeing the said City of Kiovia was a Metropolitan and a seat of Judicature therefore there should be but few Cossacks Registred therein 13. That for the greater security of this Treaty both the Polish Commissioners and the General of the Zaporovian Army with their Commanders should be bound by oath to keep it after which the Polish Army should retire into their Quarters while the Soldiers who were to compose the Zaporovian Army might be chosen out and Registred the Tartars should return into their Countrey and the Cossacks home That Kmielniski and the Zaporovian Army should send Deputies to the next Diet most humbly to thank the King and the State for the pardon which he had granted them A short time after the conclusion of this peace the Great General Potoski died of an Apoplexy in the Town of Laticzow worn out with years and the continual wearisome labors of War in which he served first under the famous General Zolkiewitz he had been in a languishing condition since his last imprisonment in Tartary and his great courage made him neglect those Remedies necessary for the re-establishment of his health so desiring nothing else as he would openly declare it to his friends but to die in the Wars and to finish his life in his Profession his desires were at last accomplished and beyond the satisfaction of ending his life so gloriously he had this also just at his death to terminate by his Valor and Conduct a War so cruel and ruinous to his Countrey FINIS * This is called their Tabor Horde signifies a Congregation A certain intrenchment made with their Chariots So they call the Tartarian Horses Poltoracks is about Two-pence English A Florin Twenty Poltoracks