their quarters and to chastise the Peasants who had taken Arms against their Lords This Letter was received with great respect in appearance but he proceeded with much slowness to execute what the King required of him and on the contrary was very industrious at the same time to make a strict League with the Turk and Great Duke of Moscovy whose friendship he desired with the more importunity by reason that he promised himself more security and advantage in his Alliance then in the others because of the Conformity of the Religion of the Muscovites with the Cossacks The Great Duke approved not of this Rebellion yet desired to make his advantage by it The great success which Kmielniski had had against the Poles made him esteem them as a defeated and depressed people and to begin a causless quarrel with them in hopes to obtain from them during the bad condition of their affairs a revocation of the Treaty which he had been forced to make with King Vladislaus before Smolenko when his whole Army was disarmed and taken which besieged that Fortress He demanded also in satisfaction for the affronts done him by some of the Polish Nobility and among others by Prince Witnowitski and Koniespolski who had not onely neglected to give him all his titles but had also written in terms injurious to the reputation of the Moscovite Nation that the States of Poland should give up to him the City of Smolensko with its dependances and should pay him the sum of an Hundred and fourscore thousand Ducats VVhereupon his Majesty of Poland having sent a Gentleman named Barlinski to the Great Duke to be more clearly informed concerning the insolent demands of his Ambassador upon whom in the mean time he had set a Guard This Envoy brought back an Answer which testified rather the inclination the Moscovite had to observe the former Treaties with Poland then to come to a breach and in effect although the Great Duke would with much joy have seen the increase of the Greek Religion yet he could not look with a good eye upon the growing greatness of Kmielniski nor be without some apprehension that the Rebellion of the Cossacks and Peasants might also spred it self into his own Countrey whither already some sparks had flown of that fire which had burned Poland So that the Moscovite Ambassador was forced to declare in the presence of the King and the Senators That he of his own head had prepared those Propositions which he had delivered and the Peace was confirmed between the Poles and the Great Duke The continual correspondence which Kmielniski held with the Turks of which the King of Poland was advertised by the Neighboring Princes and his insolent carriage towards the State obliged his Majesty to call a General Diet of the Kingdom in the end of the year One thousand six hundred and fifty in which this Prince represented the insupportable behavior of the General of the Cossacks the contempt he had both of the King and State the injuries which many of the Nobility had received the loss of their Estates and their not being able to be restored against Kmielniski his great forces which he strove to increase by the addition of Tartars and Turks so that he was in a condition to gather together on the suddain an Army of more then Fourscore thousand Men every Cossack inrolled of which the number by the last Treaty amounted to Forty thousand had a servant on Horsback and another on Foot besides a Laborer to Till the Grounds that their design was to shake off utterly all obedience and to set up a new Government under the Protection of the Grand Signior So that they would be capable of performing any thing if that they did not soon put a stop to the course of their pernicious designs There were some in the Assembly who calling to minde the evils caused by the last VVar were of opinion That Peace at any rate was to be preferred before it and alledged that the Forces of the Kingdom were now notably decreased whereas those of the Cossacks were very powerful both of themselves and by the assistance of the Ottoman family which protected them so that it would be much better to keep close to the Treaty of Zborow But the greater number making reflections upon what was passed and what was to be expected considered that there were but two ways to be taken the one to ruine the Cossacks or the other to let the Kingdom perish miserably that the King had onely a title and precarious authority over them no more then they pleased themselves that they were now upon the design of forming a Principality from whence they were to expect most dismal events if they gave them time to increase and establish themselves that they interpreted the Treaty after their own manner and gave it what sence they pleased that the State had yet considerable Forces if they were well imployed and that as affairs then stood they were better able to give a stop to their new and rising power then they could afterwards resist them when they were raised fortified and established by time that the King was brave and active and with small Armies having done great exploits he would obtain more signal advantages over his enemies when the States should proceed to a more vigorous and powerful undertaking These Reasons but much more the new demands of the Cossacks at the same time caused all the rest of the Diet to be of this opinion and unanimously to resolve of a VVar against them The Cossacks Demands were these That according to the Articles of the Peace at Zborow the Union of the Greeks and Roman Catholicks should be abolished that Kmielniski should remain Soveraign beyond the Boristhenes that none of the Nobility or Gentry of Poland should for the future have any power over the Peasants of that Province that if the Gentlemen would live there they should be obliged to work as well as the Peasants that Nine Bishops should swear in full Senate to see all this observed that for Hostages they should give up four Palatines to Kmielniski which he should chuse in consideration of which Articles he promised to pay to the King of Poland yearly a Million of Florins and afterwards they reduced their Demands to Four 1. THat they might be put in possession of a Countrey wherein they might live without any Communication with the Poles 2. That His Majesty and Twelve of the Principal Senators of the Kingdom should bind themselves by Oath always to observe the Peace of Zborow 3. That for their greater security three of these Senators should remain with their General 4. That their should be no further Vnion of the Roman and Greek Churches But all there Demands being very exorbitant and no body willing to trust to the Faith of a Man who was not contented with the promise which the King and State had given him by their Confirmation of the Treaty of Zborow at the last
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
General Pardon to Kmielniski and his Army and re-establish the Cossackian Militia in its ancient Form Number and Liberty VIII Besides these Conditions Three hundred thousand Florins were promised to the Cham of which he received an Hundred thousand in ready Money The Articles agreed on with Kmielniski imported thus much that I. FIrst the King should grant a General Bill of Oblivion to all the Cossacks and Rebellious Peasants and that what was passed should be no more looked after then as if it had not been done II. That Kmielniski should fall down and ask Pardon of His Majesty upon his knees III. That he should be continued General of the Cossacks of which the number should be increased to Forty thousand and and in which quality he should depend on none but the King after he had made his acknowledgment as a Polish Gentleman in regard of the States IV. That His Majesty should have a List of the Names and Habitations of the said Forty thousand Cossacks and that upon the death of Kmielniski they should be commanded by one of their own Officers of the Greek Religion V. That the Army besieged at Zbaras should be set at liberty VI. That the exercise of the Greek Religion should be permitted throughout the Kingdom even in Cracovia it self and that its Vnion with the Roman Church should cease VII That the Palatinate of Kiovia should be always given to a Greek VIII That the Metropolitan of the Greeks should have his Seat in the Senate among the Bishops and should have the nineth place IX That the Cossacks should be permitted to make Strong-waters for their own use but not for sale X. That they should be furnished with Cloth to cloath them and Ten Florins a Man to arm them XI That the Nobility coming again into the possession of their Estates should not enquire after or trouble their Subjects for the damages which they might have received during the War XII That those Noblemen whether Catholics or Greeks who had taken part with the General of the Cossacks should not be at all molested but discharged from all what had passed in the last Wars In execution of which Articles the General coming before the King fell upon his knees and with tears in his eyes made a long discourse expressing himself how he had much rather appeared in his presence to receive his approbation for some considerable service done to his Majesty and the State then thus stained with so much Blood But since that the destinies had disposed it otherwise he came to implore his clemency and in all humility the forgiveness of his faults promising to repair them by his future conduct The King answered him by the Vice-chancellor of Lithuania That the Repentance of his Subjects was more acceptable to him then their punishment and that he did heartily forgive what was passed if he would efface the crime which he had committed by his future Zeal and Fidelity to his Countrey After this action Kmielniski and the Cham caused their Forces to retire and the King extreamly happy in escaping so great a danger at so easie a rate went with the Polish Army to Gliniani and afterwards to Leopold Those Forces intrenched at Zbaras reduced to those extremities which you have already heard of maintained themselves all along rather by rage and despair then any hope of help The Inhabitants of that Town not being able to suffer the utmost extremity of Famine were ready either to burn the Town or deliver it up to the enemy but the vigilance of the Polanders having hindred the execution of this tragick design they much sollicited to be let out which was onely granted to their Wives and Children neither were they able to keep their retreat undiscovered but fell first into the hands of the Polish Soldiers who abused them as they pleased and afterwards of the Tartars who led this unfortunate Troop into captivity together with some Servants of the Army who had followed them The One and twentieth of August the Cossacks sent the first news to the besieged of the Peace concluded at Zborow which was believed by some but called in question by most who feared they might not be comprehended in that Treaty they were confirmed in this opinion by a Trumpet who had the boldness to proclaim the same upon his own accord and it had cost him his life if one of the Generals had not interceded for him Afterwards there came a Letter from Kmielniski in which he assured the besieged of their Deliverance upon the payment of a certain sum to the Tartars but the Generals would not accept of this condition and openly declared that since Kmielniski was obliged to draw off his Forces he ought to do it and for the Tartars if they would remain where they were they might do so if they pleased In the end a more faithful and joyful Message was brought them with a Letter by Colonel Minor from the King to assure them of their Liberties without any conditions together with the disposal of the Palatinate of Seudomire vacant by the Death of the Duke of Zaslaw with which his Majesty would gratifie the services of General Firley The Prince Wisnowitskie was presented with the Starrosty of Premisli the Duke of Ostrog with that of Nessewitz Landskoronski with that of Stobnitz and the Palatinate of Braclaw All these recompenses although very considerable yet were they inferior to that valor and heroical Constancy of which all these great persons had given such fair proofs during those two Moneths which they were besieged and continually assaulted in Zbaras Neither was Providence less favorable to the Polanders in Lithuania then in Russia where two of their Armies were as it were led by the hand out of a danger wherein according to all humane appearance they must have perished The Rebellion of the Cossacks and Peasants spred it self in the beginning of the War with so much more ease into Lithuania by reason that the Inhabitants of that Countrey are more conformable in their Manners and Religion with the Russes The Cossacks entring at two places had made their inrodes into Polesia a Countrey full of Woods and Bogs and which makes a part of the Palatinates of Kiovia and Volhinia and by treachery had seised upon the Inhabitants of Starodub and Homel people who had favored their irruption Colonel Patz and Volowitz and afterward Prince Janus Radzevil General of Samogitia and Field-Marshal of Lithuania opposed their designs as well as they could with the Nobility of Orsa the Garrison of Bichova and some other Forces gathered together but the assistance of the State came very slowly and Prince Radzevil being sent for to the Diet. The Rebels made use of this occasion of his absence and set upon Sluczk a Town belonging to Prince Bogislaus Radzevil Great Master of the Horse of Lithuania Sosnowski who was Governor of it defended it bravely against them and Horsch Governor of Orsa defeated Fifteen hundred Men at Czeresko and Mirski
scarce receive any Orders from their Superiors nor acknowledge their Masters upon whom they depended Their first Rebellion was in 1587. under John Podkowa their General who was overthrown and in the end lost his head In the year 1596. King Sigismund the III. having prohibited their Pyracies on the Black Sea upon the complaints which he received from the Grand Signior they did indeed give them over but it was that they might fall upon Russia and Lythuania with the greater force where they committed unheard of violences under the Conduct of Naleuaiko their General In vain were Orders sent for their disarming and returning home they despised all and united themselves more strictly under their head to resist the Polish Army which General Zolkiewski was forced to bring against them him therefore they expected with a firm resolution near the City of Bialicerkiew and fought the Polanders and at first got the better but Zolkiewski who was a great Warrier having at length shut them in and forced them into disadvantagious stations obliged them to deliver up Nalevaiko who had the same end with his Predecessor In 1637. the Cossacks revolted again but with as bad success as before the cause of their Revolt was That divers of the Polish Nobility having obtained by gift some Lands upon those frontiers and in those places designed for the quartering of this Militia the more to augment their Revenues they were desirous to bring their new Subjects to the same days works as those of the other Provinces of Poland are bound to and therefore they perswaded King Vladeslaus and the States that it was necessary to chastise the insolency of the Cossacks they being able most of all to cross this designe as being a free people and causing by their example the other Countrey-men to bear their yoak more impatiently So that it was resolved that a Fort should be built in a place called Kudak upon the Boristhenes a scituation very proper for the brideling of the Cossacks it being near the Porohi or Rocks of the River which they made use of for their most secure Retreat and because they did immediately mistrust Colonel Marion a Frenchman whom the General Koniespolski had left with two hundred men to build this Fort he caused part of his Troops to winter there till it might be fit for defence The Cossacks understanding well upon what designe this Fort was built took the Alarme at the first and gathered themselves together in the greatest number that they could but entring at that very time when they had most need of union into discord and distrust of their General Sawakonowicz after they had massacred him they chose one Paulucus in his place a man of small Conduct and Experience and soon after payed for the folly of their choise being met withal by Marshal Potosky about Korsun and having but few Horse with them were easily defeated those who fled cast themselves into Borowits which Potoski immediately besieged and seeing that the place was not furnished with any manner of provisions they were forced to deliver into his hands their General Paulucus and four other of their principal Officers who had their Heads cut off at Warsaw while the Diet was held there the year following notwithstanding that they had had their lives promised them which the States would not then allow of The loss of their Generals was seconded by the loss of their priviledges and the Town of Trethymirow granted to them formerly by King Stephen and at ength also by the suppression of their Militia which the King of Poland Commanded his Officers to change into a new form such an one as might be more fit for obedience Notwithstanding these disgraces they lost not their courage at all but did their utmost to maintain their liberty After they had tried again the fortune of the war against General Potoski and found themselves considerably weakened by divers encounters they intrenched themselves beyond the Boristhenes upon the River Starcza and for more then two Months sustained many assaults from the Poles who after having lost many of their own men were constrained to capitulate with these desperate people and to promise them that they should be re-established in their Priviledges and their Militia of six thousand men set on foot again as before under the Command of a General appointed by the King but these Articles were not better kept with them then the former and the most part of their men upon their going off were either slain or plundered by the soldiers of the Polish Army neither was their Militia reestablished but a new one was set up their General being changed and the true Cossacks themselves excluded The Dammage which ensued upon this change was soon after very sensible for the Tartars made an inroad two years after entred a great way into the Vkrain and destroyed the Territories about Pereaslaw Corsun and Wisnowitz whither before this disbanding of the Cossacks they were not wont to approach They were therefore some time after set up again and King Vladislaus who made great account of this Militia in the war which he intended to make against the Turks and Tartars was no small contributor to their total reestablishment making Bogdan Kmielniski one of their own body General over them and withal increasing their number From all this discourse we may at present infer that the Cossacks are rather a Militia then a Nation as most have thought and we cannot better compare them then to the free Archers formerly established in France by Charles the VII who were persons fit for Arms chosen out of all the Towns of his Dominion and who upon the first Orders from the King were bound to meet at a general Rendezvous and to serve in the wars by which they were exempted from all Taxes and Imposts The Cossacks are the same chosen and listed in Russia Volhinia and Podolia and who enjoying many exemptions and priviledges are in like manner bound to march wheresoever they are commanded formerly they had no more then one onely Town for their retreat as hath been already observed and the Porohi of the Boristhenes from whence they were called Zaporouski Cossacks and are hereby distinguished from the Cossacks in Moscovia and from those upon the River Don or Tanais Porohi is a Russian term signifying a rocky Stone this River at fifty Leagues from the mouth of it is crossed with a ridge of Rocks which maketh a kind of damme or cataract and by this means rendreth the Navigation in those parts impossible and taketh away from Vkrain the means of inriching it self by the Traffick which it might otherwise have with Constantinople for Corn and other Merchandises in which it aboundeth as much as any other Countrey in the world some of these Rocks are even with the water others are above the water the height of six eight and ten feet and from this inequality there are in the River divers cascades or falls which the Cossacks themselves doe not pass
great services should receive three payments extraordinary there should be Twelve thousand Men in continual pay for the Guard of the Frontiers That the Articles concluded on between the King and the Cossacks and Tartars at Zborow should be confirmed That three of the Cossackian Gentlemen should be admitted to Publick Offices And that for the supply of these great expences there should be a new Impost laid upon all Poland and Lithuania and Customs upon Merchandises granted to his Majesty for his Signal Exploits in the last Campagnia It was also thought fit to establish a Senator at Kiovia to be vigilant near at hand over the Actions of the Cossacks and to decide the differences which might arise in performance of the Treaty Adam Kisiel appointed a while after to be Governor of that Town was thought to be a person most able to acquit himself worthily in that charge and to register the Forty thousand Men of which the Cossackian Army was to consist according to the last Treaty and to give them their necessary instructions Kmielniski observed this Peace almost a year and testified in all appearance his good intentions but apprehending least the Polanders whom he had forced in the unhappy conjuncture of their affairs to grant him extraordinary conditions should now repent of it and search out ways to elude the performance of them he thought that he could not do better then by powerful Alliances to secure to himself these advantages which had been conceded And to this intent he applied himself to the Grand Signior and the Great Duke of Muscovy but especially to the first by whose favor he hoped to render himself considerable to all the World He pretended also to desire the Friendship of the Hospodar or Prince of Moldavia but it was onely to amuse him that he might the better surprise him and force his Countrey For in the mean time he made an ill impression of him upon the mindes of the Grand Signiors Officers to whom he represented him as a secret enemy to the Turks and an intimate Friend of the Polanders and that by his means the Poles had hitherto received continual intelligence of theirs and the Tartars designs They assured therefore Kmielniski of the Protection of the Grand Signior and that he should be invested with Black Russia to hold it in Fee of the Ottoman Empire they received the acknowledgments of his dependance on them and his promises of fidelity in their service and permitted him to execute his designs against the Prince of Moldavia which he did with great dissimulation and made use of the Tartars in it to whom he joyned onely Four thousand Cossacks and the better to keep secret his intentions The Cham sent to him to thank him for his assistance against the Circassians and desired further that he would lend him his Forces to go against Moscovy to revenge the injuries which he had received from the Great Duke So that while the Neighboring Princes perswaded themselves that the Tartars were going to War in Moscovia the Hospodar of Moldavia who was one of this number and lived in the ordinary careless security of a high Peace found himself encompassed in with a numerous Army of Tartars and the Four thousand Auxiliary Cossacks All that could be done upon so sudden and unexpected an accident was to run into the Woods near Jasz his principal City In the thickest of which the Hospodar with his family and as many as he could get together in haste intrenched themselves with Trees cut down and afterwards drew himself out of this danger upon the payment of Twenty thousand Ducats to the Tartars and the promise of his Daughter in marriage to Timotheus Kmielniski his Son Upon which condition Kmielniski did recede from many hard terms which he had put upon the Hospodar In the mean time the Peace with the Poles was every day violated by the Cossacks their numerous Army was extended much beyond their quarters The Peasants who were not inrolled sustained by them would not receive those Gentlemen their Landlords who were to enter upon possession of their Estates again but treated them ill and massacred divers This deportment of theirs and the expedition against Moldavia obliged Potoski the Generalissimo who was newly returned out of his prison in Tartary to march with the Polish Army and incamp near Camienesche Kmielniski was much surprised at the first news of this march and there being with him at that time divers who were deputed from the Nobility to complain of the Rebellion in the which the Peasants persisted and their refusal to acknowledge them he commanded that all those who were sent to him should be drowned the night following But these Orders being given when he was in drink filled with Wine and Strong-waters after he had digested his debauch and been informed by his Wife of what he had done he presently revoked his sentence just when they who had the charge of it were ready to execute it Afterwards he sent Craucenski one of his Officers to the General Potoski to give him to understand That he could not but be astonished at the approach of the Polish Forces in such a time when they had Peace with all the World and a powerful Army of Cossacks at their disposal for the security of the Frontiers The General in answer reproached him for their daily breach of Peace and the ill Treatment which the Nobility received from their Subjects and for the War which Kmielniski had undertaken without their knowledge against the Prince of Moldavia and that although he were Great General to the States of Poland yet he ought to have advertised them of it he added that he could not leave that station wherein he was by the Kings Order without express command from his Majesty This Answer was no way pleasing to the Envoy from Kmielniski who declared how much his Master would be ill satisfied with it and mingled threatnings of War with his discourse but proceeded not to breach of Peace either by reason of the nearness of the Polish Army and the Great General whose admired desert or redoubted courage might turn him from it or because that the designs he laid of raising a Principality for himself were not yet mature enough to disclose this ambitious project or that he was willing to set down contented with his expedition into Moldavia and with having made a new Alliance although by force of Arms. In the mean time the Nobility in Vkraine were as ill treated as if it had been in time of War so that many were obliged every day to retire Those persons who had great estates and the Duke of Wisnowitz in particular received scarce any Rents the continual complaints of which to the King induced him to write to Kmielniski and to reproach him for the War which he had undertaken contrary to his order against the Hospodar of Moldavia and for the injuries which the Nobility received injoyning him to draw back the Zapoovian Army into