Enemy and that a Conqueror may quickly ruin himself by neglecting the prudent Maxims of a cautious Policy As soon as the Polish Army arriv'd near the City of Orsza the Muscovites retir'd about 4000 paces beyond the Boristhenes concluding that their retreat would embolden the Polanders to pass the River and that afterwards they might easily defeat them and intercept their flight The Duke of Muscovy was then at Smolensko about thirteen leagues from his Army where he employ'd his time in dividing Lithuania and sharing it among his Generals allotting to each of them a part of the Country on the Mapp and considering how he should dispose of an Army whom he look'd upon already as his Prisoners But the Polanders who have always the advantage over the Muscovites in the open Field were so incens'd at the Pride and Insolency of the Duke of Muscovy who threaten'd to whip them that they resolv'd to give him Battle In pursuance of this Resolution they divided their Army into two parts one commanded by General Suirczowski and the other by General Ostrogski The two Generals having held a Council of War commanded a Bridge to be laid over the River and order'd all the Artillery with the Infantry to pass the same which being done the Cavalry follow'd 'em with an incredible bravery the Muscovites pursuant to the Czar's Order not stirring from their Posts The two Armies being drawn up in order of Battle Suirczowski detach'd 800 Horse for a body of reserve and order'd them to post themselves in a Wood at the side of the Enemy's Army and in the heat of the Fight to sally out and attack the Muscovites with terrible Cries to put 'em into a consternation King Sigismund's Army was so dispos'd that the Polish Cavalry had the right Wing and the Lithuanians the left the Infantry being plac'd in the middle The Battle began about three a clock the Polanders first attacking the Muscovites with an undaunted Resolution Sometimes they gain'd Ground of 'em and sometimes were repuls'd by the unequal numbers of their Enemies but immediately they rally'd and broke through 'em afresh On the other hand Ostrogski who commanded the Lithuanians attack'd the Muscovites with an extraordinary fury and made a great slaughter among them There was in the Polish Camp a little rising Ground which contributed very much to the gaining of the Battle for their Artillery being planted there made such a dreadful havock in the Enemy's Rear and broke all their Ranks in so terrible a manner that they began to be disorder'd and to take the flight and those who were in the middle perceiving that those who were in the rear gave way began also to fly while they were still sighting in the van During this disorder the 800 Horse who were posted in the Wood attack'd the Muscovites in the flank with so much Fury that being no longer able to sustain the shock of the Polanders the whole Army gave ground and fled In this Battle 32000 Muscovites were kill'd and many drown'd in a Morass which they endeavour'd to pass in their flight Some affirm the Muscovites lost 40000 Men and 't is certain the slaughter was so great that the Waters of the Boristhenes grew red with the Blood that was sned on its banks The Polanders took a great number of Prisoners and among others ten Generals of the greatest Lords of Muscovy seventeen Palatins or Governors of Provinces and two thousand Gentlemen Of the Polanders there were but 400 men kill'd but the number of the wounded was much greater They obtain'd this memorable Victory March 25. 1614. After the gaining of such an important Battle the loss of which would have been infallibly attended with the total ruin not only of Lithuania but also of Poland the Generals ought to have besieg'd the City of Smolensko which they might have easily retaken during the universal consternation that was spread over Muscovy but instead of making a right use of that advantage they retir'd without making any further attempt and King Sigismund himself who expected the event at Boryssow return'd to Vilna with the Prisoners whom he caus'd to be led before him in a kind of Triumph From thence he sent Ambassadors to all Christian Princes to notifie the great Victory which he had obtain'd over the Muscovites and that their Eyes as well as Ears might convince 'em of the Truth of that Advice the Envoys were accompanied with fourteen Muscovites who were remarkable for their white Hair But the Emperor being enrag'd at the loss which his Allies had sustain'd and at the unhappy event of a War of which he himself was the Author surpriz'd the Envoys of the King of Poland as they were passing thro' his Territories and took their Prisoners from 'em whom he sent back to the Czar by the way of Lubec It is so natural to the Polanders to neglect the advantages which they obtain over their Enemies that after they had defeated Gustavus King of Sweden in a memorable Battle in which he himself was wounded and could hardly secure his own person they were so far from pursuing him that they suffer'd him to retire to Stum between Marienburg and Marienwerder where having rally'd his scatter'd Forces he renew'd the War with greater Vigor than before Nor were they guilty of a less inexcusable blunder after the Victory they obtain'd in Vkrania June 30. 1651 for tho the Cossacks and Tartars were totally routed and the Cham with Chemelnski put to flight the Polanders retir'd as if they had been beaten and immediately concluded a Peace by which they suffer'd the Cossacks to keep an Army of 20000 Men in the Palatinate of Kiowia This Reflexion is so just and important that I cannot forbear adding another remarkable instance of the same nature which happen'd Anno 1489. About that time Russia and Podolia were miserably harass'd by the Tartars who infested these Provinces with continual Inroads and always return'd home with a multitude of Slaves at last King Casimir resolving to prevent the utter ruin of the Country upon advice that the Tartars were preparing to make a new Incursion into Russia and Podolia he sent John Albert his Son with a body of light Horse to oppose 'em and order'd all the Gentry of Russia and Podolia to joyn him The Tartars being divided into two bodies the first of which consisted of 15000 Horse and the second of 10000 were returning home without fearing any danger with a prodigious number of Slaves according to their usual Custom but the young Prince with his Troops meeting the first attack'd and totally routed them and took from them all the Booty and Slaves they had carried away After this Success he march'd immediately to attack the other body The Officer who commanded 'em made some resistance but was at last kill'd and the slaughter was so great that the Polanders were weary with cutting off so many Heads for not one of the Tartars return'd to the Crim. This total defeat of the
him none In the mean time the Cham drove his Brothers out of the Peninsula without the Grand Signior's assistance whom he suspected to be the Contriver and Promoter of the Rebellion concluding that if he had not had such a design he would have deliver'd 'em up long before or at least would have kept 'em so secure that they could not have made their escape At the some time Amurath who was still engag'd in the War with the Persians sent to require Muchmetkirey's Assistance no longer as a Friend but as a Master and in a haughty and imperious manner which so enrag'd the Cham that he began to commit Hostilities against the Grand Signior without declaring War He besieg'd the City of Caffa and press'd it so hard in a few days that the Turks who were not in a posture of defence because they were not afraid of being attack'd by a Prince who was their Ally had resolv'd to surrender it in two days time if they were not reliev'd Then Amurath who was extreamly alarm'd at so unexpected an Expedition sont for one Assan a Tartar whom he had kept a long time Prisoner and who was said to be the Bastard-brother of Machmetkirey He spoke to him in a very obliging manner and told him that if he would obey his Orders he would advance him to great Honours that the Cham of Tartary had declar'd War against him without any reason that he was a Tyrant and abus'd his Subjects so barbarously that they were no longer able to bear his Cruelties and that if he would undertake to invade Crim Tartary he would furnish him with Mony and an Army to deliver his Countrymen from their inhuman Oppressor Assan who had never dreamt of exchanging his Chains for a Scepter transported with Joy at the prospect of so happy a turn in his Fortune readily accepted Amurath's Offer He was declar'd Viceroy of Tartary under the protection of the Grand Signior to whom he took an Oath of Fidelity and to all his Successors in the Ottoman Empire and afterwards having receiv'd the Golden Standard as a Mark of his Investiture he departed from Constantinople with 40 Galleys commanded by General Ochiali and arriv'd in a few days at Caffa just as that City was going to be surrender'd to Machmetkirey After he had reliev'd Caffa he endeavour'd by Presents and Promises to gain the principal persons among the Tartars to his side and to induce them either to kill the Cham or to deliver him up alive to him He found it no difficult Task to debauch their Fidelity for the Grand Signior had furnish'd him with a great quantity of Money and 't is the general weakness of the Oriental Nations that they are very easily brib'd Thus having secur'd a considerable number of them and even some of the Chain 's most faithful Friends he caus'd him to be massacr'd with his two Sons after which he was acknowledg'd Cham of the Tartars and acquir'd the Esteem and Affection of his Subjects by his extraordinary Liberality to them 'T was thus that the Crim Tartars who till then were a free People became Vassals to their ancient Allies and by the way this may serve to shew us what success may be expected from an Alliance with the Turks The Tartars are naturally so barbarous and cruel and of so haughty and imperious a temper that they despise all those who profess the Faith of Christ and look upon them as Beasts so that when they obtain any Advantage over them they impose insupportable Conditions upon them Thus the Tartars who inhabit along the Volga impos'd very shameful and dishonourable Conditions upon the Muscovites when they forc'd 'em to pay tribute to 'em anno 1470. After they had ravag'd Muscovy and subdu'd part of the Country they made a Peace with the Muscovites upon these Conditions That the Czar or Great Duke should pay a yearly tribute to the Tartars which he should be oblig'd to send to them on Horseback that he should go himself on foot with all the Lords of his Court to meet the person who should come to demand the said tribute even tho it were but a Postillion or Groom that the Czar should in a very respectful manner present him with a Pot of Mares-Milk to drink that if any one drop of it should happen to be spilt upon his Horse's Mane the Duke himself should be oblig'd to lick it off with his Tongue that he should spread a fine Sable Furr under the Feet of him who should read the Prince of Tartary's Letters that he and all the Lords of Muscovy should hear them read upon their Knees and that they should blindly obey all his Orders even tho he should command them to make War against the Christians In the Year 1226 in the Reign of Boleslaus Pudicus the Crim Tartars made a terrible Irruption into Poland over-run all the Palatinate of Lublin and having passed the Vistula at Zavichost ravaged the Country and carried away a great Booty into Russia After they had secur'd their Prey they return'd to Poland where they committed far greater Barbarities and as if the whole Kingdom had not been sufficient to satisfie their insatiable Desire of Plunder they march'd as far as Silesia where the Dukes of Oppelen Ratibor and Lignitz having joyn'd the Teutonic Knights and the Troops of Great Poland resolv'd to attack them but were themselves unfortunately defeated and the slaughter was so great that the Barbarians carried away with 'em nine Sacks full of Ear-rings which they had cut from the Christians after the Battle Some time after in the same Reign the Tartars return'd into Poland with a great Army accompanied by Leo and Romanus Dukes of Russia who tho' they profess'd the Christian Faith scrupl'd not to join with its mortal Enemies After they had over-run the Palatinates of Lublin Sandomir and Cracow they retir'd into their own Country but the Dukes of Russia being also desirous to enrich themselves with Booty made Incursions into Massovia and Lithuania where Boleslaus defeated them and Romanus was afterwards kill'd at Zavichost a small City on the Vistula about two leagues below Sandomir But as if those first Incursions which the Tartars made into Poland had only serv'd for a Whet to their ravenous Appetites they return'd again in the Reign of Leseus Niger in the year 1279 with a terrible Army and carried away so many Slaves that having counted them at Vlodzimirs a Town of Vpper Volhinia on the Frontiers of Russia they found that there were Twenty thousand young Women among the Captives I might venture to affirm that the Tartars have invaded Poland in the Reigns of almost all its Kings In that of John Albert they made an Irruption into Volhinia in the year 1493. And in the same Reign being joyn'd by the Turks they made such a dreadful Incursion into that miserable Country that after they had sacked Premislia Jeroslaw and several other Cities they carried away above One hundred thousand
But the Dyet which was afterwards held at Warsaw would not ratifie that Peace so that the War between Poland and the Port was renew'd with greater Vigor than before The two Armies of the Crown and of the Dutchy advanc'd towards Podolia the one commanded by General Sobieski and the other by General Patz and march'd together to attack that of the Turks which was encamp'd at Chotzin on the Niester about five leagues from Caminiec where they fought and entirely routed ' em This Victory which was very considerable would have doubtless restor'd the Affairs of Poland to a good condition and contributed very much to the retaking of Caminiec if the Generals had made a right use of so important an Advantage But the Battel was no sooner over than they carried home their Troops the one into Poland and the other into Lithuania in which they imitated their Predecessors Swirâ—zowski and Ostrogski who after they had obtain'd a memorable Victory over the Muscovites return'd home instead of marching to attack Smolensko which they had lost a little before and might then have easily retaken The Error which those two Generals committed by neglecting so inviting an opportunity to reduce Smolensko was so unaccountable and so directly opposite to the Maxims of Policy and even of common Prudence that I cannot forbear inserting the whole Story In the year 1512 Sigismund King of Poland married the Daughter of the Count of Scepusz which so incens'd the Emperor Maximilian that he left no means unattempted to involve Poland either in a civil or foreign War It was in pursuance of this design that in a Dyet of the Princes of Germany he complain'd of King Sigismund's Proceedings alledging That he was contriving indirect Methods to expel the Teutonic Knights out of Prussia which they had purchas'd with their Blood and where they had extirpated Paganism and establish'd the Faith of Jesus Christ But seeing he could not prevail with the Princes to declare War against the King of Poland at a time when all the Christians were ready to enter in a Confederacy against the Turks he made a League with Basil Duke of Muscovy and perswaded him to declare War against the Polaenders and to invade Lithuania The Muscovite relying upon this new Alliance with the Emperor scrupl'd not to violate the Peace he had made with King Sigismund He rais'd an Army enter'd Lithuania and after he had destroy'd the Country sate down before Smolensko but could not take it tho at the same time Sigismund was in Poland and had no Troops on foot to oppose him The King of Poland being inform'd of the Treachery of the Duke of Muscovy who had broke the Peace without any cause call'd a Dyet at Radom in the Year 1513 to concert the Measures that were to be taken in so pressing an exigency The Czar on the other hand sent to demand Succours from the Emperor his Ally who only sent him some Engineers who cast 300 pieces of Cannon for him The year following the Duke of Muscovy having assembl'd an Army of 80000 Men march'd with his 300 pieces of Cannon to besiege Smolenske which he batter'd in a very furious manner The City was so closely block'd up and the Avenues so well guarded that 500 Horse whom the King of Poland sent to its relief could not get into the place In the mean time the Garrison made so vigorous a defence that the Muscovites being discourag'd by the obstinate resistance of the Polanders rais'd the Siege and ravag'd Lithuania a second time After they had sent their Booty to Muscovy they return'd to the Siege of Smolensko but the Garrison defended the place with so much Courage and Resolution that the Czar despairing of Success resolv'd to raise the Siege but Glinski a Lithuanian Rebel perswaded him to continue it insinuating that he could not without exposing himself to eternal Infamy suffer an impotent and dishearten'd enemy to insult over such a formidable Army At last the cunning Traytor who had engag'd Basil in this enterprise perceiving that he could not take the City by force resolv'd to try the Success of a Stratagem To this end he desir'd leave to speak with the Governor to whom he represented That his Master was not in a condition to relieve him that the Garrison could not hold out much longer and that unless he was resolv'd to bury himself in the Ruins of the City he ought to consult his own true Interest and accept the vast Recompences which the Czar was willing to give him Thus the Governor was perswaded to surrender the City of Smolensko which the Polanders had possess'd for the space of a hundred years As soon as King Sigismund had receiv'd at Radom the news of the loss of that important place he went immediately to Lithuania in September and assembl'd all the great Lords of that Dutchy at Vilna to deliberate with them how they might effectually oppose the Progress of their victorious enemy 10000 Horse 20000 Foot and some light Horse were rais'd in Lithuania with which and with the Army of Poland and the necessary Artillery the King set out from Vilna with a design to attack the Muscevites The Czar having receiv'd Advice of the march of the Polish Army reassembl'd his Troops and encamp'd near Smolensko lest the King should sit down before it After he had reinforc'd the Garrison he marched with his Army to Lithuania and advanc'd to the River Berezina in the Palatinate of Minsk where Sigismund arriving immediately after struck such a Terror into the Muscovites that they retir'd to the City of Orsza not far from the Boristhenes The King of Poland having passed the River Berezina without any opposition detach'd a body of 30000 chosen Men whom he order'd to march towards the enemy while he remain'd at Boryssow on the River Berezina with the rest of the Army where he cast up Trenches and fortified the Camp with great diligence that if the Muscovites should gain the Battle the Polanders and Lithuanians might have the advantage of retiring to a place of security and that he might afterwards be in a condition to oppose the enemy who even after a Victory would have been weaken'd by the Battle and harass'd by the Fatigues of so long a pursuit The Czar who was at the head of an Army of 80000 Men despis'd that of Poland which was not half so numerous and insolently boasted that his Soldiers should not so much as take the pains to draw their Sabres against the Polanders but drive 'em all to Muscovy with Whips like Herds of Oxen or Flocks of Sheep Nor was this a meer Rhodomontade for he actually gave Orders to his Soldiers that they should not draw their Sabres but let the Polanders pass the Baristhenes without opposition and then whip 'em to Muscovy But that insolent and haughty Prince had the Mortification to be convinc'd by a very fatal and unwelcome experiment that a great Army should never despise a feeble
with the Turks themselves and at last made them lose all Vkrania and the Dutchies of Smolensko and Siberia 'T was their real Interest not only to suffer the Cossacks to make perpetual Incursions upon the Turks but even to assist them in their Expeditions For by this means they might have kept the Cossacks who had serv'd 'em so well in the War against Osman in subjection to them and consequently the Polanders might have been still Masters of so many Fine Provinces which they have lost When all the Nobility of Poland are Assembled together they make a very Considerable Body and not one of their Neighbours could resist them if they knew their own strength and could submit to Regular Discipline and to the Command of a General But besides that it is the Interest of the King never to Assemble so great and so formidable a Body The Polanders have also this Privilege that they cannot be kept together above Six Weeks So that if during that time the King cannot bring them to a Battle with their Enemies they may return home without asking his leave And consequently if their Enemies have never so little Experience in the Art of War they may safely protract the time or retire till the Impetuous Torrent is over and afterwards renew the Assault without fear and with a certain prospect of Success That 't is not the Interest of a King of Poland to Assemble the Polish Nobility in one place may be evidently demonstrated by the following Instance When Sigismond II. Summon'd them to appear near Leopold to oppose the Moldavians they were just ready to Revolt against him the Senators complaining that their Privileges had been violated and refusing to March against the Enemy till they were re-establish'd This Example alone which might be confirm'd by many others is a convincing Proof that the Convocation of all the Nobility is both a dangerous and ineffectual Remedy against the Distempers of the State The Polish Nobility have another Privilege which appears unjust or at least seems to incourage their Insolence for a Polish Gentleman cannot be Arrested for any Crime whatsoever unless he be first Convicted by Justice Nisi Jure Victus So that he must be first Cited to appear at the Tribunal where he is to be Tryed if he do not appear he must be declar'd Contumacious and if he appears and is Convicted he is Arrested and Imprison'd in order to be afterwards Indged according to the Laws and the Heinousness of his Crime so that it may be reasonably suppos'd that he who knows himself Guilty and fears to be Cast will not run the hazard of being Convicted but will rather choose to suffer himself to be Condemn'd for Contumacy than to venture the losing of his Head Nevertheless there are some Examples which seem to contradict this Privilege that a Gentleman cannot be Arrested Nisi Jure Victus and I my self have seen an Instance of it in the Persons of those who Assassinated Gonczenski the Petty General of the Army of Lithuania The Criminals were without any Formality carry'd Prisoners to Elbing and afterwards Condemn'd by the General Diet held at Warsaw in the Year 1654 to be Beheaded in the Market-place But it must be confess'd that their Crime was so Enormous that in such a case the Nobility could not in Justice refuse to wave their Privilege For those Wretches took that Gentleman in the Night-time out of his Bed from his Wife at Vitna and having put him in a Coach with a Confessor whom they brought along with them they carry'd him out of the City and oblig'd him immediately to make his Confession after which they Shot him dead The Polish Gentlemen have another Privilege That no Soldier or Officer of the Army can be Quarter'd upon them and any Officer who should attempt to do it would be Cited before the first General Dyet where he would be Condemned to Death or Mark'd with Infamy that is the Criminal wou'd be declared uncapable of having a Vote or of possessing any Office or Employment An Example of which I shall relate which happen'd at Warsaw May 17. 1674 in the Dyet of the Election of John the IIId and which contributed not a little to his Election The Son of the Palatin of Smolensko went to Lodge in the House of Vicznowieski by the Order as 't was given out of the Great General Patz Palatin of Vilna The Marshals who are Judges of those Enormities Condemned that Palatin to the Punishment prescrib'd be the Laws Two days before the Conclusion of the Dyet Thus he was deprived of a Right to Vote which was a very considerable Mortification to Chancellour Patz his Cousin who plac'd a great deal of Considence in him as a declar'd Enemy to the Marshal Sobieski and all the French Party and consequently a zealous Promoter of the Faction of Lorrain and Austria The Constitution that secures the Polish Gentry from being Arrested till they be Legally Convicted is certainly a Grievance to the Nation and seems to subvert the Common Maxims of Justice but they have another Privilege that is equally destructive of Civil Society and inconsistent with the Principles of the Christian Religion For every Gentleman in Poland is by Law the Absolute and Despotic Master of the Peasants that live in his Territories and may put 'em to Death when he pleases When a Stranger is surpriz'd at such a Heathenish Custom and takes the Liberty to Ask 'em How Christians can assume a Privilege so contrary to the Spirit of their Religion And how the Law which is a Gift of God can establish a 〈◊〉 so opposite to the Laws of God himself They usually Reply That tho' they have such a Power they never make use of it no more than we and other Christians use the power we have to kill our Horses Adding That the Peasants serve 'em in stead of Beasts But besides that the Comparison is not very Human and much less Christian it happens sometimes that the Gentlemen kill their Peasants either when they are Drunk or Irritated by some Brutal Passion to which young Men are oftentimes subject For the Wives and Daughters of these miserable Wretches are Forc'd and Carry'd away without daring to resist their Insolent Ravishers and this is so common among the Persants that few of 'em scruple to chuse a Bride that has lost her Virginity CHAP. XII Of the Officers who are not Senators I Must in the next place give an Account of those Officers who have not a place in the Senat Of these there are Three sorts viz. Some are Officers of the whole Kingdom and of the whole Dutchy some of the Court and others of Palatinats and Starosties There is a Great Secretary of the Kingdom and another of the Dutchy who both have a Privilege to enter into the Privy-Councils and to know all that the Chancellours and Vice-Chancellours do in the Chancery So that the Office of Great Secretary is as it were a step by
Encamp'd that they may be perpetually under a Strict Discipline ready to oppose the Enemy and by that means kept from Pillaging and Ruining the Kingdom And this Expedient wou'd doubtless be very agreeable and advantageous to the People who could with less trouble Raise Money to Pay the Troops at Distance than Maintain them at Home and suffer all the Disorders which they commit in their frequent Marches thro' the Countrey This Remedy has been very much commended by some but others are of opinion that if the Soldiers were always kept in a Camp under the Command of one Officer ' twon'd be a means to make the Generals of the Armies too Powerful Thus the Soldiers continue to oppress the People and harrass the Kingdom without any Prospect of Redress I intimated before that the want of Discipline and the little Order that is observ'd among the Polish Troops is the reason why they are oblig'd to Raise a New Army almost every Year But the manner of Paying their Soldiers which is neither every Week nor every Moneth nor every six Moneths and sometimes not at all is a more dangerous Fault because it keeps 'em under a perpetual Temptation to Desert For when they are in the Army they live upon Colewores Roots Fruits which they find in the Woods and on Horse-flesh when they can get it It is not the Castom in Poland to give Ammunition-bread so that the Officers are forc'd to let the Soldiers shift for themselves and consequently since the greatest part of them are Starv'd 't is no wonder that they must raise a New Army every Year They Pay the Officers but once in the Year and frequently but once in two years and for that end they appoint Commissioners to meet at some place Remote from the Court because by a Constitution of the Diet the King ought not to be present at the Meetings that are held for the Payment of the Soldiers tho' every thing is done in his Name The Commissioners that are deputed by the Diet regulate the Payment of all the Officers and usually make some Abatement especially to Strangers Nor must they be absolutely blam'd for abridging the Pay of the Officers because they hardly lay out any Money for the Subsistance of their Companys whereas the Commissioners make up their Accounts as if they had entertain'd their Soldiers at their own Charges 'T is plain the Polish Service is advantageous to the Officers who are in a condition to wait some time for their Mony The Army is usually Paid but once in Two Years and sometimes the Republick is not able to Pay 'em then which occasions an universal Murmuring among the Soldiers and obliges 'em sometimes to enter into a Confederacy which they do in this manner After the Officers have long complain'd of the retaining of their Pay and have Remonstrated to the Court and to the Diet that they can no longer subsist without it and after they perceive that their Complaints and Remonstrances are neglected they assemble together and make a Rokoâ—z which in the Polish Language signifies a Separation from their Generals The Subaltern Officers thus Assembled chuse Two of their number one for their Marshal and the other for his Licutenant To these Officers whom they call Substitutes they take an Oath of Fidelity to oblige the Republick to Pay 'em After which the Marshal Commands this Confederate Army as if he were 〈◊〉 the General of it 'T is obvious to every considering Person that such a Revolt must be attended with Terrible Consequenees For then the Army in stead of Marching towards the Enemy or Guarding the Frontiers harasses the Country and with an unbridled liberty over-runs the Estates of the Noblemen making Necessity the Prtext of all the Disorders they commit The Danger of these Confederacies will appear if we reflect upon the Violent Proceedings of the Confederate Army of which Swiderski was Marshal and Borzecki Substitute which was not so much occasion'd by want of Pay as by the Parties that were form'd by some Persons who hop'd to Enrich themselves during the General Disorder which cou'd not be quieted without a great deal of trouble at Leopold by King John Casimir in the Year 1663. 'T is thus that the Army enters into a Confederacy tho' there is a Law or Constitution that whosoever shall presume to hold Meetings make Harangues raise Seditions or enter into Confederacies shall be guilty of Death and that whosoever shall joyn the Confederates shall be depriv'd of his Estate and Office I have also observ'd another Defect in Poland concerning the Office of the General of the Army which is given for Life so that 't is not in the King's Power to Displace a General whom he has once Advanc'd tho' he is often oblig'd to confer this Dignity upon some Great Lord who is perfectly unacquainted with the Art of War 'T is not at all strange then that Poland should suffer some Losses from time to time and let slip several Opportunities of weakning their Enemies For they have more need than any other Nation of an Active and Experienc'd General who knows how to manage the Soldiers and will not keep them too long in a Place where there is neither Forage for the Horse nor Subsistance for the Foot who will never engage his Troops in any place from whence he cannot easily make good his Retreat nor ever neglect an advantageous occasion of giving Battle to his Enemy and especially one who knows that a Numerous Army ought not to engage with a Small one in a narrow and close place because in such a case a handful of Men may beat a Formidable Army as it appears for Example by the Instance of Marshal Lubomirski who defeated the Vanguard of King John Casimir's Army at the Passage of Montroi and of the Teutonick Knights who tho' much Inferior in Number to the Army of King Casimir III. defeated them in a place where King Casimir's Troops could not extend themselves nor put themselves in Battalia If therefore the Polanders had Experienc'd Generals they might one Day destroy all the Ottoman Infantry for which they have had several Fair Opportunities they might regain all that they have lost and even extend their Conquests farther But to obtain this Advantage the Office of General of the Army ought not to be given for Life but only to Persons of Merie because there is nothing that more animates the Courage of an Officer than the hope of Higher Preferment and there are more who aspire to that Honour when they may attain it by their own Merit without expecting the Death of those who possess it And 't is certain that heretofore this Office was not given for Life in Poland as 't is at present For John Tarnowski was the first whom King Sigismond made Perpetual General of the Army of the Crown and aâ—serwards Nicholas Radziwill was advanc'd to the same Dignity in Lithuania There is also in Poland another Disorder among the Officers viz.