seignor, probably despising the youth and inex- BOOK III. perience of the new general, halted at Zenta, 1697. and threw a bridge over the Theysse, which he passed with his cavalry, leaving his infantry open and exposed to an attack on the other side. The prince in the same moment saw and seized the advantage. Whilst the cavalry were still confusedly passing, and two hours of day-light only remained, the imperial troops came up, and instantly charged the enemy with a spirit and vigor which sufficiently shewed the confidence they felt in their commander. In a short time all was dismay on the part of the Ottomans; and the tokens of an absolute rout became visible throughout the field. Retreat soon changed into flight; and no quarter being given, the carnage was terrible. The bridge, which all endeavoured to gain, was choked up with dead bodies, and thousands threw themselves into the river to avoid the fury of the sword. Of the enemy's camp, and all the tents, not excepting the magnificent pavilion of the grand seignor himself, of all their stores, ammunition, and provision, 130 pieces of cannon, several hundred pair of colours, 6000 camels, 5000 horses, &c. &c. prince Eugene remained master. The grand seignor saved himself by flight, which the night favored: but the grand vizier was killed, and the seal of the empire presented to the conqueror. The aga of the O OK III. janizaries and twenty-seven bashaws were found 1697. also among the dead, the number of whom was Death of Sobieski. His said to exceed 30,000, including those drowned in the Theysse; while the loss of the Germans amounted to little more than 2000 men. imperial majesty, on receiving this intelligence, immediately dispatched a courier to the States General, with a letter written in his own hand, acquainting them with the news of this decisive action, which he hoped would have induced them to retard, perhaps to break off, the negotiation. But the measures of their high mightinesses, concerted with the king of England, were unalterably fixed; and they received the news of this great victory with cold indifference, if not rather with secret vexation. The intrigues of the court of Vienna in Poland, at this period, were productive of no less satisfaction to the emperor than the success of his arms in Hungary. One of the most signal events of the preceding year was the death of the celebrated John Sobieski, king of Poland, whose latter days cast a shade over the splendor of his former fame. On his demise the kingdom was, as usual, distracted by the rage of opposing factions. The candidates for the vacant crown were very numerous. The duke of Lorraine, the princes of Baden and Neuberg, and Don Livio Odeschalchi, nephew to the late pope Innocent XI. were amongst the earliest competitors for this tempting prize; BOOK III. but, finding their weakness, soon withdrew their 1697. pretensions: and the contest was then confined to prince James, eldest son of the late king, the prince of Conti, and Augustus elector of Saxony, who was the last to declare himself. The abbé Polignac, ambassador of France at Warsaw, had, by great address and lavishing vast sums of money, secured, as was thought, a decided majority of votes in favor of the prince of Conti. But prince James, perceiving the prospect of success hopeless as to himself, was prevailed upon to throw his interest into the scale of the elector of Saxony, who by this means greatly outnumbered his antagonist the prince of Conti. But the archbishop of Gnesna, primate of Poland, whose office it was to declare the election, being in the interest of France, protested against the compromise as a collusion, and proclaimed the prince of Conti. Repairing forthwith to the cathedral, he caused Te Deum to be sung for an act which threatened to involve the kingdom in a civil war. On the Elector of other hand, the bishop of Cujavia proclaimed the chosen elector king of Poland, and sung Te Deum on the Poland. spot; and the new king afterwards made his entry in triumph into Warsaw. The prince of Conti, on his subsequent arrival, found his opponent already in possession of the kingdom; and after a short and ineffectual struggle he was compelled to return full of chagrin and resentment to Saxony King of 1697. BOOK III. France. The elector of Saxony was under the disgraceful necessity of changing his religion, in order to qualify himself to fill the throne of Poland; and from this æra the house of Brandenburg acquired the great political advantage of being regarded as the head of the protestant interest in Germany; while the strength and riches of Saxon were exhausted, to enable the elector king to maintain possession of a crown, which proved to be a crown of thorns. of the Ct of St. Germaine's. During the negotiations at Ryswick, the court of St. Germaine's amused itself by publishing a succession of manifestoes, of which no one conde scended to take the slightest notice. In a memorial addressed to all the princes and powers of Memorial Europe, dated June 8th, 1696, king James solemnly protests against all that should be concluded to the prejudice of his incontestable rights. "We beseech," says this forlorn and abandoned monarch, "those princes to consider how dangerous the example they give may prove to themselves; and that the case of all sovereigns is implicated in ours. We make it our demand, that they would contribute to re-establish us in our kingdoms; that they would reflect on the glory they would derive from a resolution so conformable to the interests of those who have an inheritance in their dominions. In conclusion, he denounces as utterly invalid, all acts which di, rectly or indirectly confirm, authorise, or approve 1697. James soli good Of fices of the Pope. the usurpation of the prince of Orange, the acts BOOK III. of his pretended parliament, and all others tending to reverse the fundamental laws of the realm touching the order of succession; reserving all his regal rights and claims, which do remain, according to the words of the instrument, and shall remain in their full force, and which no extremity shall oblige us to renounce or compound." James King had, through the medium of his ambassador the cits the carl of Perth, solicited the pope to exert his influence with the catholic princes, to prevent any peace being made injurious to his interests, which the ambassador said would be a stain upon his holiness's reputation, and a reflection upon the apostolic chair. The pope acknowledged this to be true. "But what," said he, "can we do? The catholic princes will not hearken to me: they have lost the respect that used to be paid to popes. Religion is gone, and a wicked policy set up in its place. The prince of Orange is master; he is arbiter of Europe. The emperor and the king of Spain are slaves, and worse than subjects to him: they neither will nor dare venture to displease him and here he struck twice with his hand upon the table, and sighed. If Gon," said he, "do not by some stroke of omnipotency do it, we are undone !" In a subsequent dispatch the earl of Perth declares it to be scandalous to hear the comparisons publicly made between an here |