Pan Michael: An Historical Novel of Poland, the Ukraine, and Turkey Read online

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  WORKS OF

  Henryk Sienkiewicz

  * * *

  In Desert and Wilderness With Fire and Sword The Deluge. _2_ vols. Pan Michael Children of the Soil "Quo Vadis" Sielanka, a Forest Picture The Knights of the Cross Without Dogma Whirlpools On the Field of Glory Let Us Follow Him

  PAN MICHAEL.

  Since Saint Michael leads the whole host of heaven, and has gained somany victories over the banners of hell, I prefer him as a patron.--TheDeluge, Vol. I, p. 120.

  PAN MICHAEL.

  An Historical Novel

  OF

  POLAND, THE UKRAINE, AND TURKEY.

  A SEQUEL TO

  "WITH FIRE AND SWORD" AND "THE DELUGE."

  BY HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ.

  _AUTHORIZED AND UNABRIDGED TRANSLATION FROM THE POLISH BY_ JEREMIAH CURTIN.

  BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1917.

  _Copyright, 1893, 1898_,

  By Jeremiah Curtin.

  * * *

  _All rights reserved_.

  Printers S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

  TO JOHN MURRAY BROWN, Esq.

  My Dear Brown,--You read "With Fire and Sword" in manuscript: youappreciated its character, and your House published it. What you didfor the first, you did later on for the other two parts of the trilogy.Remembering your deep interest in all the translations, I beg toinscribe to you the concluding volume, "Pan Michael."

  JEREMIAH CURTIN.

  Valentia Island, West Coast of Ireland, August 15. 1893.

  INTRODUCTION.

  The great struggle begun by the Cossacks, and, after the victory atKorsun, continued by them and the Russian population of theCommonwealth, is described in "With Fire and Sword," from the ambush onthe Omelnik[1] to the battle of Berestechko. In "The Deluge" theSwedish invasion is the argument, and a mere reference is made to thewar in which Moscow and the Ukraine are on one side and theCommonwealth on the other. In "Pan Michael," the present volume andclosing work of the trilogy, the invader is the Turk, whose forces,though victorious at Kamenyets, are defeated at Hotin.

  "With Fire and Sword" covers the war of 1648-49, which was ended atZborovo, where a treaty most hateful to the Poles was concluded betweenthe Cossacks and the Commonwealth. In the second war there was only onegreat action, that of Berestechko (1651), an action followed by thetreaty of Belaya Tserkoff, oppressive to the Cossacks and impossible ofexecution.

  The main event in the interval between Berestechko and the war withMoscow was the siege and peace of Jvanyets, of which mention is made inthe introduction to "With Fire and Sword."

  After Jvanyets the Cossacks turned to Moscow and swore allegiance tothe Tsar in 1654; in that year the war was begun to which reference ismade in "The Deluge." In addition to the Cossack cause Moscow hadquestions of her own, and invaded the Commonwealth with two separatearmies; of these one moved on White Russia and Lithuania, the otherjoined the forces of Hmelnitski.

  Moscow had rapid and brilliant success in the north. Smolensk, Orsha,and Vityebsk were taken in the opening campaign, as were Vilno, Kovno,and Grodno in the following summer. In 1655 White Russia and nearly allLithuania came under the hand of the Tsar.

  In view of Moscow's great victories, Karl Gustav made a sudden descenton the Commonwealth. The Swedish monarch became master of Great andLittle Poland almost without a blow. Yan Kazimir fled to Silesia, and amajority of the nobles took the oath to Karl Gustav.

  Moving from the Ukraine, Hmelnitski and Buturlin, the Tsar's voevoda,carried all before them till they encamped outside Lvoff; there theCossack hetman gave audience to an envoy from Yan Kazimir, and waspersuaded to withdraw with his army, thus leaving the king one city inthe Commonwealth, a great boon, as was evident soon after.

  When Swedish success was almost perfect, and the Commonwealth seemedlost, the Swedes laid siege to Chenstohova. The amazing defence of thatsanctuary roused religious spirit in the Poles, who had tired ofSwedish rigor; they resumed allegiance to Yan Kazimir, who returned andrallied his adherents at Lvoff, the city spared by Hmelnitski. In theattempt to strike his rival in that capital of Red Russia, Karl Gustavmade the swift though calamitous march across Poland which Sienkiewiczhas described in "The Deluge" so vividly.

  Soon after his return from Silesia, the Polish king sent an embassy tothe Tsar. Austria sent another to strengthen it and arrange a treaty ora truce on some basis.

  Yan Kazimir was eager for peace with Moscow at any price, especially aprice paid in promises. The Tsar desired peace on terms that would givethe Russian part of the Commonwealth to Moscow, Poland proper to becomea hereditary kingdom in which the Tsar himself or his heir wouldsucceed Yan Kazimir, and thus give to both States the same sovereign,though different administrations.

  An agreement was effected: the sovereign or heir of Moscow was tosucceed Yan Kazimir, details of boundaries and succession to be settledby the Diet, both sides to refrain from hostilities till the Swedeswere expelled, and neither to make peace with Sweden separately.

  Austria forced the Swedish garrison out of Cracow, and then induced theElector of Brandenburg to desert Sweden. She did this by bringingPoland to grant independence to Princely, that is, Eastern Prussia,where the elector was duke and a vassal of the Commonwealth. Theelector, who at that time held the casting vote in the choice ofEmperor, agreed in return for the weighty service which Austria hadshown him to give his voice for Leopold, who had just come to thethrone in Vienna.

  Austria, having secured the imperial election at Poland's expense, tookno further step on behalf of the Commonwealth, but disposed troops inSouthern Poland and secured her own interests. The Elector, to make hisplace certain in the final treaty, took active part against Sweden.Peace was concluded in 1657 and ratified in 1660 at Oliva, With theexpulsion of the Swedes the historical part of "The Deluge" is ended,no further reference being made to the main war between theCommonwealth and Moscow.

  Since the Turkish invasion described in "Pan Michael" was caused byevents in this main war, a short account of its subsequent course andits connection with Turkey is in order in this place.

  Bogdan Hmelnitski dreaded the truce between Moscow and Poland. Hefeared lest the Poles, outwitting the Tsar, might recover control ofthe Cossacks; hence he joined the alliance which Karl Gustav had madewith Rakotsy in 1657 to dismember the Commonwealth. Rakotsy wasdefeated, and the alliance failed; both Moscow and Austria w
ere opposedto it.

  In 1657 Hmelnitski died, and was succeeded as hetman by Vygovski,chancellor of the Cossack army, though Yuri, the old hetman's son, hadbeen chosen during his father's last illness. Vygovski was a noble,with leanings toward Poland, though his career was firm proof that heloved himself better than any cause.

  In the following year the new hetman made a treaty at Gadyach with theCommonwealth, and in conjunction with a Polish army defeated PrinceTrubetskoi in a battle at Konotop. The Polish Diet annulled now theterms of the treaty concluded with Moscow two years before. Variousreasons were alleged for this action; the true reason was that in 1655the succession to the Polish crown had been offered to Austria, and,though refused in public audience, had been accepted in private by theEmperor for his son Leopold. In the following year Austria advised thePoles unofficially to offer this crown (already disposed of) to theTsar, and thus induce him to give the Commonwealth a respite, and turnhis arms against Sweden.

  The Poles followed this advice; the Tsar accepted their offer. When theservice required had been rendered the treaty was broken. In the sameyear, however, Vygovski was deposed by the Cossacks, the treaty ofGadyach rejected, and Yuri Hmelnitski made hetman. The Cossacks wereagain in agreement with Moscow; but the Poles spared no effort to bringYuri to their side, and they succeeded through the deposed hetman,Vygovski, who adhered to the Commonwealth so far.

  Both sides were preparing their heaviest blows at this juncture, and1660 brought victory to the Poles. In the beginning of that year Moscowhad some success in Lithuania, but was forced back at last towardSmolensk. The best Polish armies, trained in the Swedish struggle, andleaders like Charnyetski, Sapyeha, and Kmita, turned the scale in WhiteRussia. In the Ukraine the Poles, under Lyubomirski and Pototski, werestrengthened by Tartars and met the forces of Moscow underSheremetyeff, with the Cossacks under Yuri Hmelnitski. At the criticalmoment, and during action, Yuri deserted to the Poles, and secured thedefeat of Sheremetyeff, who surrendered at Chudnovo and was sent aTartar captive to the Crimea.

  In all the shifting scenes of the conflict begun by the resoluteBogdan, there was nothing more striking than the conduct and person ofYuri Hmelnitski, who renounced all the work of his father. Great, it issaid, was the wonder of the Poles when they saw him enter their camp.Bogdan Hmelnitski, a man of iron will and striking presence, had filledthe whole Commonwealth with terror; his son gave way at the very firsttest put upon him, and in person was, as the Poles said, a dark, punystripling, more like a timid novice in a monastery than a Cossack. Inthe words of the captive voevoda, Sheremetyeff, he was better fitted tobe a gooseherd than a hetman.

  The Polish generals thought now that the conflict was over, and thatthe garrisons of Moscow would evacuate the Ukraine; but they did not.At this juncture the Polish troops, unpaid for a long time, refusedservice, revolted, formed what they called a "sacred league," and livedon the country. The Polish army vanished from the field, and after itthe Tartars. Young Hmelnitski turned again to Moscow, and writing tothe Tsar, declared that, forced by Cossack colonels, he had joined thePolish king, but wished to return to his former allegiance. Whateverhis wishes may have been, he did not escape the Commonwealth; strongermen than he, and among them Vygovski, kept him well in hand. TheUkraine was split into two camps: that west of the river, or at leastthe Cossacks under Yuri Hmelnitski, obeyed the Commonwealth; theEastern bank adhered to Moscow.

  Two years later, Yuri, the helpless hetman, left his office and tookrefuge in a cloister. He was succeeded by Teterya, a partisan ofPoland, which now made every promise to the leading Cossacks, not as inthe old time when the single argument was sabres.

  East of the Dnieper another hetman ruled; but there the Poles couldtake no part in struggles for the office. The rivalry was limited topartisans of Moscow. Besides the two groups of Cossacks on the Dnieper,there remained the Zaporojians. Teterya strove to win these to theCommonwealth, and Yan Kazimir, the king, assembled all the forces hecould rally and crossed the Dnieper toward the end of 1663. At first hehad success in some degree, but in the following year led back ashattered, hungry army.

  Teterya had received a promise from the Zaporojians that they wouldfollow the example of the Eastern Ukraine. The king having failed inhis expedition, Teterya declared that peace must be concluded betweenthe Commonwealth and Moscow to save the Ukraine; that the country wasreduced to ruin by all parties, neither one of which could subjugatethe other; and that to save themselves the Cossacks would be forced toseek protection of the Sultan.

  Doroshenko succeeded Teterya in the hetman's office, and began to carryout this Cossack project. In 1666 he sent a message to the Portedeclaring that the Ukraine was at the will of the Sultan.

  The Sultan commanded the Khan to march to the Ukraine. Toward the endof that year the Tartars brought aid to the Cossacks, and the jointarmy swept the field of Polish forces.

  Meanwhile negotiations had been pending a long time between theCommonwealth and Moscow. An insurrection under Lyubomirski brought thePoles to terms touching boundaries in the north. In the south Moscowdemanded, besides the line of the Dnieper, Kieff and a certain districtaround it on the west. This the Poles refused stubbornly tillDoroshenko's union with Turkey induced them to yield Kieff to Moscowfor two years. On this basis a peace of twenty years was concluded in1667, at Andrussoff near Smolensk. This peace became permanentafterward, and Kieff remained with Moscow.

  In 1668 Yan Kazimir abdicated, hoping to secure the succession to aking in alliance with France, and avoid a conflict with Turkey throughFrench intervention. No foreign candidate, however, found sufficientsupport, and Olshovski,[2] the crafty and ambitious vice-chancellor,proposed at an opportune moment Prince Michael Vishnyevetski, son ofthe renowned Yeremi, and he was elected in 1669. The new king, of whoma short sketch is given in "The Deluge" (Vol. II. page 253), was, likeYuri Hmelnitski, the imbecile son of a terrible father. Elected by thelesser nobility in a moment of spite against magnates, he found nosupport among the latter. Without merit or influence at home, he soughtsupport in Austria, and married a sister of the Emperor Leopold.Powerless in dealing with the Cossacks, to whom his name wasdetestable, without friends, except among the petty nobles, whosesupport in that juncture was more damaging than useful, he made aTurkish war certain. It came three years later, when the Sultan marchedto support Doroshenko, and began the siege of Kamenyets, described in"Pan Michael."

  After the fall of Kamenyets, the Turks pushed on to Lvoff, and dictatedthe peace of Buchach, which gave Podolia and the western bank of theDnieper, except Kieff and its district, to the Sultan.

  The battle of Hotin, described in the epilogue, made Sobieski king in1674. This election was considered a triumph for France, an enemy ofAustria at that time; and during the earlier years of his reignSobieski was on the French side, and had sound reasons for this policy.In 1674 the Elector of Brandenburg attacked Swedish Pomerania; Francesupported Sweden, and roused Poland to oppose the Elector, who hadfought against Yan Kazimir, his own suzerain. Sobieski, supported bysubsidies from France, made levies of troops, went to Dantzig in 1677,concluded with Sweden a secret agreement to make common cause with herand attack the Elector. But in spite of subsidies, preparations, andtreaties, the Polish king took no action. Sweden, without an ally, wasdefeated; Poland lost the last chance of recovering Prussia, andholding thereby an independent position in Europe.

  The influence of Austria, the power of the church, and the intrigues ofhis own wife, bore away Sobieski. He deserted the alliance with France.To the end of his life he served Austria far better than Poland, thoughnot wishing to do so, and died in 1696 complaining of this world, inwhich, as he said, "sin, malice, and treason are rampant."

  Jeremiah Curtin.

  Cahirciveen, County Kerry, Ireland, August 17, 1893.

  * * *

  Note.--The reign of Sobieski brought to an end that part of Polishhistory during which the Commonwealth w
as able to take the initiativein foreign politics. After Sobieski the Poles ceased to be a positivepower in Europe.

  I have not been able to verify the saying said to have been uttered bySobieski at Vienna. In the text (page 401) he is made to say that PaniWojnina (War's wife) may give birth to people, but Wojna (War) onlydestroys them. Who the Pani Wojnina was that Sobieski had in view I amunable to say at this moment, unless she was _Peace_.

  PAN MICHAEL.