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burger and wishing to enlist among the squadron of
Saxon cavalry which formed the body-guard of King
Augustus. Having succeeded in this, he contrived to
obtain valuable information about the points raised and
discussed at the conference. It clearly appeared from
these that the King of Poland was Sweden’s most
dangerous enemy. He it was that unfolded the plan of
pursuing and harassing Charles until he no longer owned a
province near the Baltic. Czar Peter was to get an
army of 200,000 men ready by the month of June, of
which number Augustus was to enlist 50,000 men out
of his own German possessions. Moreover, the Czar
was to guarantee the sum of 200,000 Thaler for two
months for the payment and maintenance of the Saxon
army. War-operations were to begin in Livland and
Finland simultaneously, whilst Prince Menzikoff was to
unite his forces with those of the Lithuanian Prince
Sapicha near the frontier of Lithuania.1
There is no doubt that the knowledge thus gained of
his enemies’ intentions goes far to explain the almost
implacable hatred of Charles XII. against King Augustus.
How he won his signal victory at Narwa on the 30th
of November 1700; how he pursued Augustus during
four years with an almost cruel obstinacy until he had
deprived him of his crown and made Stanislas Leczinski
King of Poland in his place ; how he then turned against
the Czar, and, owing to a combination of unlucky
circumstances, suffered the terrible defeat at Poltawa in 1709:
all this is a matter of history.
The King was accompanied on his campaigns by a
large number of Scottish officers, scions mostly of families
whose members had served his father and grandfather,
or even won laurels at the time of the great Gustavus.
1 See Von Saraw, Die Feldziige Karls XII., p. 62 f.
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