# The Northern Crisis. Or, Impartial Reflections on the Politics of the Czar/Chapter 2

Impartial REFLECTIONS
By way of
ESSAY
On the foregoing
INSTRUMENT
IS an Uncontroverted Marxim in Politicks, that, if we would take a true Survey of Men, and lay them open, in a proper Light, to the Eye of our Intellects; We must, first, consider their Natures, and, then, their Ends: Ant by this Method of Examination though their Conduct is, seemingly, full of intricate Mazes and Perplexities, and winding round with infinite Meanders of State-Craft; we shall be able to dive into,the deepest Recesses, make our way thro' the most puzzling Labyrinths, and at length come to the most abstruse Means of bringing Master-Secret of their Minds, and to Unriddle their uttermost Mysteries.
The Czar, whom the abovementioned Instrument relates to, is, by Nature, of a great and enterprizing Spirit, and of a Genius thoroughly Politick: And as for his Ends, the Manner of his own Government, where he sways Arbitrary Lord over the ​Estates and Honours of his People must make him, if all the Policies in the World could by far distant Aims promise him Accession and Accumulation of Empire and Wealth, be everlastingly laying Schemes for the atchieving of both with the extremest Cupidity and Ambition. Whatever Ends an insatiate Desire of Opulency, and a boundless Thirst for Dominion can ever put him upon, to satisfie their craving and voracious Appetites, those must, most undoubtedly, be his. The next Questions we are to put to our selves, are these Three:
* By what means can he gain these Ends?
* How far from him, and in what Place can these Ends be best obtain’d?
* And by what Time, using all proper Methods, and succeeding in them, may he obtain these Ends?
The Possessions of the Czar were prodigious vast in Extent; the People all at his Nod; All his downright errand Slaves, and all the Wealth of the Country his own at a Word’s Command. But then the Country, tho' large in Ground, was not quite so in Produce: Every Vassal had his Gun, and was to be a Soldier upon Call; but there was ne'er a Soldier among ‘em, nor a Man that understood the Calling; and tho’ he had all their Wealth, they had no Commerce of Consequence, and little ready Mony, and consequently his Treasury, when he had amass’d all he could, very bare and empty. He was then but in an indifferent Condition to satisfie those two Natural Appetites, when he had neither Wealth to support a Soldiery, nor a Soldiery trained in the Arts of War, and able to get him an Accumulation of Riches, or an Extent of Empire.
The first Token this Prince gave of an Aspiring Genius, and of an Ambition that is Noble and Necessary in a Monarch, who has a mind to flourish, was, To believe none of his Subjects more Wise than himself, or more fit to Govern. He did so, and look’d upon his own proper Person as the most fit to Travel out among the other Realms of the World, and study Politicks for the advancing of his Dominions. He then seldom pretended to any Warlike Dispositions against those who were instructed in the Science of Arms: His Military Dealings lay mostly with the Turks and Tartars, who, as they had Numbers as ​well as he, had 'em likewise compos'd, as well as his, of a rude uncultivated Mob, and they appear'd in the Field like a raw undisciplin'd Militia. In this his Christian Neighbours liked him well, insomuch as he was a-kind of Stay or Stop-gap to the Infidels. But when he came to look into the more polish'd Parts of the Christian World, he set out towards it, from the very Threshold, like a Natural-born Politician. He was not for learning the Game by trying Chances, and venturing Losses in the Field so soon; no, he went upon the Maxim of a certain great Statesman, viz. That ’twas, at that time of day, expedient and necessary for him to carry, like Sampson, his Strength in his Head, and not in his Arms. He had then (he knew) but very few Commodious Places for Commerce of his own, and those all situated in the White Sea, too remote, frozen up the most part of the Year, and not at all fit for a Fleet of Men of War; but he knew of many more Commodious Ones of his Neighbours in the Baltick, and within his Reach, whenever he could strengthen his Hands to lay hold of them. He had a longing Eye towards them , but with Prudence seemingly turn'd his Head another way, and secretly entertain'd a pleasing Thought, that he should come at them all in good time. Not to give any Jealousie, he endeavours for no Help from his Neighbours to instruct his Men in Arms; that was like asking a skilful Person, one intended to fight a Duel with, to teach him first how to Fence He went over to Great-Britain, where he knew that Potent Kingdom could, as yet, have no Jealousies of his Growth of Power, and in the Eye of which, his vast Extent of Nation lay neglected, unconsider'd and overlook'd, as I am afraid it is to this very day. He was present at all our Exercises, look'd into all our Laws, inspected our Military, Civil and Ecclesiastical Regimen of Affairs; yet all this was the least he then wanted; this was the slightest Part of his Errand. But by degrees, when he grew familiar with our People, he visited our Decks, pretending not to have any Prospect of Profit, but only to take a huge Delight (the Effect of his Curiosity only) to see our manner of Building Ships: He kept his Court, as one may say, in our Ship-Yards, so industrious was he in affording them his continual Czarish Presence; and, to his Immortal Glory for Art and ​Industry be it spoken, that the great Czar, by stooping often to the Employ, could handle an Axe with the best Artificer of of them all; and the Monarch, having a good Mathematical Head of his own, grew in some time a very expert Royal Shipwright. A Ship or two, for his Diversion, made and sent him, and then two or three more, and after that two or three more, would signifie just nothing at all; if they were granted to be sold to him by the Maritime Powers, that could, at Will, Lord it over the Sea: 'Twould be a puny inconsiderable matter, and not worth the regarding. Well, but then, over and above this, he had artificially insinuated himself into the Good-will of many of our best Workmen, and won their Hearts by his good-natured Familiarities and Condescensions among them. To turn this to his Service, he offer'd many very large Premiums and Advantages to go and settle in his Country; which they gladly accepted of. A little after he sends over some private Ministers and Officers to Negociate for more Workmen, for Land-Officers, and likewise for pick’d and chosen good Seamen, who might be advanced and promoted to Offices by going there. Nay even to this Day any expert Seaman, that is upon our Traffick to the Port of Archangel, if he has the least spark of Ambition, and any ardent desire to be in Office, he need but offer himself to the Sea-service of the Czar, and he is a Lieutenant immediately. Over and above this, that Prince has even found the way to take by force into his Service, out of our Merchant Ships, as as many of their ablest Seamen as he pleas’d, giving the Masters the same number of raw Muscovites in their place, whom they afterwards were forced, in their own defence, to make fit for their own use. Neither is this all; he had, during the last War, many Hundreds of his Subjects, both Noblemen and Common Sailors, on Board Ours, the French, and the Dutch Fleets; and he has all along maintain'd, and still maintains numbers of them in Ours and the Dutch Yards, and wheresoever any thing relating to the Navy and Trade is taught. But seeing he look'd all along upon all these Endeavours toward improving himself and his Subjects as superfluous, whilst a Sea-Port was wanting, where he might build a Fleet of his own, and from whence he might himself Export the Products of his Country, and Import ​those of others: And finding the King of Sweden possess'd of the most convenient ones, I mean Narva and Revel, which he knew that Prince never could nor would amicably part with; he at last resolv'd to wrest them out of his Hands by Force.
His Swedish Majesty’s tender Youth seem'd the fittest time for this Enterprize; but even then he would not run the Hazard’ on't alone; he drew in other Princes to divide the Spoil with him: And, with all Respect du: to Princes be it said; the Kings of Denmark and Poland were weak enough to serve as Instruments, to forward the Great and Ambitious Views of the Czar. It is true, he met with a mighty hard Rub at his very first setting out, his whole Army being entirely defeated by a Handful of Swedes at Narva, but it was his good Luck that his Swedish Majesty, instead of improving so great a Victory against him, turn'd immediately his Arms against the King of Poland, against whom he was Personally piqu'd, and that so much the more, inasmuch as he had taken that Prince for one of his best Friends, and was just upon the Point of concluding with him the strictest Alliance, when he unexpectedly invaded the Swedish Livonia, and besieg'd Riga. This was, in all respects, what the Czar could most have wish'd for, and foreseeing, that the longer the War in Poland lasted, the more time he should have, both to retrieve his first Loss, and to gain Narva, Ire took care it, should be spun, out to as great a length as possible; for which end, he never sent the King of Poland Succour enough to make him too strong for the King of Sweden; who, on the other hand, tho’ he gained one signal Victory after the other, yet never could subdue his Enemy, as long as he receiv'd continual Reinforcements from his Hereditary Country: And had not his Swedish Majesty, contrary to moft Peoples Expectation, march'd directly into Saxony itself, and thereby forc'd the King of Poland to a Peace, the Czar would have had leisure enough in all Conscience to bring his Designs to greater Maturity.
This Peace was one of the greatest Disappointments the Czar ever met with, whereby he became singly engag'd in the War. He, had, however, the Comfort of having before-hand taken Narva, and laid a Foundation to his Favourite Town Petersbourg, and to the Sea-Port, the Docks, and the vast Magazines ​there; all which Works, to what Perfection they now are brought, let them tell, who with Surprize have seen them. But as he too well knew what a dreadful Enemy he was now to deal with all alone, so he used all Endeavours to bring Matters to an Accommodation; He proffer’d very advantageous Conditions; Petersbourg only, a Trifle, as he pretended, which he had set his Heart upon, he would retain; And even for that he was willing some other Way to give Satisfaction. But the King of Sweden was too well acquainted with the Importance of that Place, to leave it in the Hands of an Ambitious Prince, and thereby to give him an Inlet into the Baltick; and we find now that his Swedish Majesty judg'd right. In short, the Treaty broke off, and Preparations were made on both Sides for a very vigorous War ; and one may boldly say, that this was the only time since the Defeat at Narva, that the Czar’s Arms had no other End, than that of Self-Defence, They might, perhaps, even have fallen short herein, had not the King of Sweden (thro’ whose Persuasion is still a Mystery) instead of Marching the shortest Way to Novograde, and so to Moscow, turn'd towards Ukrain, where his Army, after great Losses and Sufferings, was at last intirely defeated at Pultowa. As this was a fatal Period to the Swedish Successes, so how great a Deliverance it was to the Muscovites, may be gather'd from the Czar's celebrating every Year, with great Solemnity, the Anniversary of that Day, from which his Ambitious Thoughts began to soar still higher; The whole Livonia, Estland, and the best and greatest Part of Finland, was now what he demanded, After which, tho’ he might for the present condescend to give Peace to the remaining Part of Sweden, he knew he could easily even add that to his Conquests whenever he pleased. The only Obstacle he had to fear in these his Projects, was from his Northern Neighbours; But as the Maritime Powers, and even the neighbouring Princes in Germany were then so intent upon their War against France, that they seem'd intirely neglectful of that in the North, so there remain'd only Denmark and Poland to be Jealous of. The former of these Kingdoms had, ever since King William of Glorious Memory, compell'd it to make Peace with Holstein, and consequently with Sweden, enjoy’d an uninterrupted ‘Tranqullity, ​during which it had time, by a free Trade and considerable Subsidies from the Maritime Powers to enrich it self, and was in a Condition, by joining it self to Sweden, as it was its Interest to do, to stop the Czar’s Progresses, and timely to prevent its own Danger from them. The other, I mean Poland, was now quieted under the Government of King Stanislaus, who owing in a Manner his Crown to the King of Sweden, could not out of Gratitude, as well as real Concern for the Interest of his Country, fail opposing the Designs of a too aspiring Neighbour.
The Czar was too Cunning not to find out a Remedy for all this: He represented to the King of Denmark, how low the King of Sweden was now brought, and how fair an Opportunity he had, during that Prince’s long Absence, to clip entirely his Wings, and to aggrandize himself at his Expence. In King Augustus he rais'd the long hid Reseatment for the Loss of the Polish Crown, which he told him he might now recover without the least Difficulty. Thus both those Princes were immediately caught; The Danes declar’d War against Sweden without so much as a tolerable Pretence; and made a Descent upon Schonen, where they were foundly beaten for their Pains: King Augustus re-enter'd Poland, where every Thing has ever since continu'd in the greatest Disorder, and that in a great Measure owing to Muscovite Intrigues.
It happen’d, indeed, that these new Confederates, whom the Czar had only drawn in to serve his Ambition, became at first more Necessary to his Preservation than he had thought; for the Turks having declar'd a War against him, they hinder'd the Swedish Arms from joyning with them to attack him; but that Storm being soon over, thro’ the Czar’s wife Behaviour, and the Avarice and Folly of the Grand Vizier, he then made the intended Use both of these his Friends, as well as of them he afterwards, thro' Hopes of Gain, persuaded into his Alliance, which was to lay all the Burthen and Hazard of the War upon them, in order entirely to weaken them together with Sweden, whilst he was preparing himself to swallow the one after the other. He has put them on one difficult Attempt after the other; their Armies have been considerably lessen'd by Battles and long Sieges, whilst his own were either employ'd in easier Conquests, and ​more profitable to him, or kept at the vast Expence of Neutral Princes, near enough at hand to come up to demand a share of the Booty, without having struck a Blow in the getting it. His Behaviour has been as cunning at Sea, where his Fleet has always kept out of Harms-way, and at a great distance, whenever there was any likelihood of an Engagement between the Danes and the Swedes. He hop'd, that when these two Nations had ruin'd one another's Fleets, his might then ride Matter in the Baltick. All this while he has taken care to make his Men improve, by the Example of Foreigners, and under their Command, in the Art of War. He has already as good a Body of Foot as any Prince in Christendom, and for his Horfe, he has taken care to have them well mounted, at the Expence of those Countries they have pass'd thro'; so that he will soon have no more need of any Assistance at I and: And at Sea, tho' his Fleets may perhaps require some few Years more to be brought to an entire Perfection yet, considering they will soon considerably outnumber the Swedish and the Danish ones, joyn'd together, he need not fear their being a hindrance from his giving a finishing Stroke to this great and glorious Undertaking: Which done, let us look to our selves; he will then most certainly become our Rival, and as dangerous to us, as he is now neglected. We then may, perhaps, tho' too late, call to mind what our own Ministers and Merchants have told us, of his Designs of carrying on, alone, all the Northern Trade, and of getting all that from Turkey and Persia into his hands, thro' the Rivers which he is joining and making Navigable, from the Caspian, or the Black Sea to HIS Petersburg; of the great Manufactures of Cloth and Arms he has Erected, whereby his whole Army is now actually furnished, as well as of his Iron and Glass-Works, etc. which are already brought to so great a Perfection, as to vie with ours; tho' we are, or pretend to be, ignorant of their beginning. We shall then wonder at our Blindness, that we did not suspect his great Designs, when we heard the prodigious Works he has done at Petersburg and Revel, of which last
Hague, Nov. 27.
The Captains of the Men of War of the States, who have been at Revel, advise, That the Czar has put that Port, and the Fortifications of the Place, into such a Condition of Defence, that it may pass for one of the most considerable Fortresses, not only of the Baltick, but even of Europe.
Leave we him now, as to his Sea-Affairs, Commerce, and Manufactures, and other Works both of his Policy and Power; and let us view him in regard to his Proceédings this last Campaign, especially as to that so much talk’d of Descent, he, in Conjunction with his Allies, was to make upon Schonen, and we shall find, that even therein he has acted with his usual Cunning.
There is no doubt, but the King of Denmark was the first that purpos’d this Descent: He found, that nothing but a speedy end to a War he had so rashly and unjustly begun, could save his Country from Ruin, and from the bold Attempts of the King of Sweden, either against Norway, or againft Zeeland and Copenhagen it self. To Treat seperately with that Prince was a thing, he could not do, as foreseeing, that he would not part with an Inch of Ground to so unfair an Enemy; and he was afraid that a Congress for a General Peace, supposing the King of Sweden would consent to it upon the Terms propos'd by his Enemies, would draw the Negociations out beyond what the Situation of his Affairs could bear: He invites therefore all his Confederates to make a Home Thrust at the King of Sweden, by a Descent into his Country; Where having defeated him, as by the superiority of Forces to be employ'd in that Design he hop'd they should, they might force him to an immediate Peace on such Terms as they themselves pleas'd. I don’t know, how far the rest of his Confederates came into that Project; but neither the Prussian, nor the Hanoverian Court appear'd openly in it; and how far our English Fleet, under Sir John Norris, was to have forwarded it, I have nothing to say, but leave others to judge out of the King of Demnark’s own Declaration: But the Czar came readily into it: He got thereby a new Pretence to carry the War one Caimpaign more at other People's Expence; to march his Troops ​into the Empire again, and to have them Quarter’d and Maintain’d, first in Mecklemburg and then in Zealand. In the mean while he had his Eyes upon Wismar and upon a Swedish Island call'd Gotland. If by Surprize he could get the first our of the Hands of his Confederates, lie then had a good Sea-Port, whither to transport His Troops when he pleas’d into Germany, without asking the King of Prussia’s Leave for a free Passage through his Territories: And if by a sudden Descent he could dislodge the Swedes out of the other, he then became Master of the best Part in the Baltick (Old Wisby, so famous for the Sea-Laws, quoted by our Civilians, and still in Force in Sweden) and thereby an Absolute Commander in the Baltick, He miscarried, however, in both these Projects: For Wismar was too well guarded, so to be surpriz'd; and he found his Confederates would not give him a helping Hand towards Conquering Gotland. After this he began to look With another Eye upon the Descent to be made in Schonen. He found it equally contrary to his Interest, whether it succeeded or not: For if it did, and the King was thereby forced to a General Peace, he knew his Interest therein would be least regarded; having already to notice enough of his Confederates being ready to Sacrifice them, provided they got their own Terms: If it did not succeeed; then, besides the Loss of a Flower of an Army, he had train'd and disciplin'd with so much Care, as he very well foresaw, that the English Fleet would hinder the King of Sweden from Attempting any thing against Denmark; so he justly fear’d the whole Shock would fall upon him, and he thereby be fore’d to surrender all he had taken from Sweden. These Considerations made him entirely resolve not to make one of the Descent; but he did not care to declare it till as late as possible: First, That he might the longer have his Troops maintain’d at, the Danish Expence: Secondly, That it might be too late for the King of Denmark to demand necessary Troops from his other Confederates; and so to make the Descent without him: And, Lastly, That by putting the Dane to a vast Expence, in making necessary Preparations, he might still weaken him more, and thereby make him now the more dependant on him, and hereafter a more easie Prey. Thus he: very carefully dissembles his real Thoughts, till just when the Descent was to be made; and then ​he, all of a sudden, refuses joining in it, and defers it till next Spring, with this Averment, That be will then be as good as his Word: But mark him, as some of our News-Papers tell us, under this Restriction, unless he can get an advantageous Peace of Sweden. This Passage, together with the common Report we now have, of his Treating of a separate Peace with the King of Sweden, is a new Instance of his Cunning and Policy. He has here Two Strings to his Bow, of which one must serve his Turn. There is no doubt but the Czar knows, that an Accommodation between him and the King of Sweden must be very difficult to ‘bring about. For as he, on one side, should never consent to part with those Sea-Ports, for the getting of which he began this War, and which are absolutely necessary towards carrying on his great and vast Designs; so the King of Sweden would look upon it as directly contrary to his Interest, to yield up these same Sea-Ports, if possibly he could hinder it. But then again, the Czar is so well acquainted with the Great and Heroick Spirit of his Swedish Majesty, that he does not question his yielding, rather in point of Interest, than Nicety of Honour. From hence it is, he rightly judges, that his Swedish Majesty must be left exasperated against him; who, tho' he began an unjust War, has very often paid dearly for it, and carried it on all along thro' various Successes, than against some Confederates, that taking an Opportunity of his Swedish Majesty's Misfortunes, fell upon him in an ungenerous manner, and made a Partition-Treaty of his Provinces. The Czar, still more to Accommodate himself to the Genius of his Great Enemy, unlike his Confederates, who, upon all occasions, spar’d no Reflections, and even very unbecoming ones (bullying Memorials and Hectoring Manifestoes) spoke all along with the utmost Civility of his Brother Charles, as he calls him, maintains him to be the Greatest General in Europe, and even publickly avers, he will more trust a Word from him, than the greatest Assurances, Oaths, nay even Treaties with his Confederates. These kind of Civilities may, perhaps, make a deeper Impression upon the Noble Mind of the King of Sweden, and he be persuaded rather to sacrifice a real Interest to a generous Enemy, than to gratify, in Things of less Moment, those, by whom he has been ill, and even inhumanly used. But if this ​should not succeed, the Czar is still a Gainer, by having made his Confederates uneasy at these his separate Negotiations; and as we find by the News-Papers, the more sollicitous to keep him ready to their Confederacy, which must cost them very large Proffers and Promisses. In the mean time he leaves the Dane and the Swede securely bound up together in War and weakening one another, as fast as they can; and he turns towards the Empire, and views the Protestant Princes there; and under many specious Pretences, not only Marches and Counter-marches, about their several Territories, his Troops that came back from Denmark, but makes also slowly Advance towards Germany, those whom he has kept this great while in Poland, under Pretence to help the King against his dissatisfy’d Subjects, whose Commotions he all the while was the greatest Fomenter of. He considers the Emperor is in War with the Turks, and therefore has found, by too successful Experience, how little his Imperial Majesty is able to shew his Authority, in protecting the Members of the Empire. His Troops remain in Mecklemburg, notwithstanding their Departure is highly insisted upon. His Replies to all the Demands on that Subject, are filled with such Reasons, as if he would give new Laws to the Empire. Now let us suppose, that the King of Sweden should think it more Honourable to make a Peace with the Czar, and to carry the Force of his Resentment against his less generous Enemies, what a Stand will, then, the Princes of the Empire, even those that unadvisedly drew in Forty Thousand Muscovites, to secure the Tranquillity of that Empire, against Ten or Twelve Thousand Swedes; I say, what Stand will they be able to make against him, while the Emperor is already engaged in War with the Turks: And the Poles, when they are once in Peace among themselves (if after the Miseries of so long a War they are in a Condition to undertake any thing) are by Treaty oblig'd to join their Aids against that common Enemy of Christianity.
Some will say, I make great and sudden Rises from very small Beginnings. My Answer is, That I would have such an Objector look back, and reflect why I show him, from such a Speck of Entity, at his first Origin, growing, thro’ more improbable and almost insaperable Difficulties, to such a Bulk as he hath al​eady attain’d to, and whereby, as his Advocates the Dutch themselves own, he is grown too Formidable for the Repose, not only of his Neighbours, but of Europe in general. But then again they'll say, He has no Pretence either to make a Peace with the Swede, separate from the Dane, or to make War upon other Princes, some of whom he is bound in Alliance with. Whoever thinks this Objection not already answer'd, must have perused this Treatise but very slightly. They must have consider’d the Czar, neither as to his Nature nor his Ends. The Dutch own further, that he made War again Sweden without any specious Pretence. He that made War without any specious Pretence, may make a Peace without any specious Pretence, and make a new War without any specious Pretences for it too. Indeed it is very certain, that his Imperial Majesty, like a wise Prince, when he was oblig’d to make War with the Ottomans, made it, as in Policy he should, powerfully, and is therefore likely to make it short; and at first (according to a laudable Maxim) made formidable Preparations, which we find already (as that Maxim says) will turn to good Husbandry; and the Conquests made thro' Fear of Arms, have and will reach further than those made by the Arms themselves. But, in the mean time, may not the Czar, who is a wise and potent Prince too; follow the Example upon the neighbouring Princes round about him, that are Protestants (tho' Heaven avert it from his Thoughts.) But if he should, I tremble to speak it, it is not impossible, but in this Age of Christianity, the Protestant Religion should in a great Measure be abolish'd, and that among the Christians (as well as once among the Heathens) the Greeks and the Romans may once more come to be the only Contenders for Universal Empire. Tho’ these may be call'd but sees merely conjectural, the pure Possibility (with humble Submission) carries with it Warning enough for the Maritime Powers, and all the other Protestant Princes, to meditate a Peace for Sweden, and strengthen his Arms again, without which no Preparations can put them sufficiently upon their Guard: And this must be done early and betimes, before the King of Sweden, either out of Despair or Revenge, throws himself in the Czar's Hands. For 'tis a certain Maxim (which all Princes ought, and the Czar seems ​at this time to observe too much for the Repose of Christendom) that a Wise Man must not stand for Ceremony, and only turn with Opportunities; No, that is not sufficient; he must even Run with them. For the Czar’s part, I will venture to say thus much in his Commendation, that he will hardly suffer himself to be overtaken that way; for, as a wise Prince, he seems to act just as the Tide serves. And certainly as a good clear-headed Writer of State-Axioms very accurately and appositely observes, There is nothing which contributes more to the making our Undertakings prosperous, than the taking of Times and Opportunities; for Time carrieth with it the Seasons and Opportunities of Business. If you let 'em flip, all your Designs are rendred unsuccessful; but, if they be rightly taken, and follow’d with diligence, you shall seldom miss of your purpose. In short, Things seem now come to that Crisis, that Peace should, as soon as possible, be procur'd to the Swede, with such advantageous Articles as are consistent with the Nicety of his Honour to accept, and with the Safety of the Protestant Interest, that he should have offer'd to him, which can be scarce less than all the Possessions which he formerly had in the Empire.
I say again, the King of Sweden mutt be restor’d to all the Possessions which he had in the Empire: For, as in all all other things, so in Politicks, a long try'd Certainty must be preferr’d before an Uncertainty, tho' grounded upon never so probable Suppositions. Now can there be any thing more certain, than that the Provinces Sweden has had in the Empire, were given it to make it the nearer at Hand, and the better able to secure the Protestant Interest, which, together with the Liberties of the Empire, it just then had sav'd? Can there be any thing more certain, than that that Kingdom has, by those means, upon all occasions, secur’d that said Interest now near Fourscore Years? Can there be any thing more certain, than, as to his present Swedish Majesty (that I may use the Words of a Letter her late Majesty Queen Ann writ to him, and in the time of a Whig-Ministry too) viz. That, as a True Prince, Hero and Christian, the chief end of his Endeavors has been the Promotion of the Fear of God among Men: And that (as her late Majesty owns a little before in the same Letter) without insisting on his own ​particular Interest? A long Experience tells us, that nothing in Nature can be more certain than this: But on the other Hand is it not very uncertain, whether those Princes, who, by sharing among them the Swedish Provinces in the Empire, are now going to set up as Protectors of the Protestant Interest, there, exclusive of the Swedes, will be able to do it? Denmark is already so low, and will in all Appearance be so much lower still before the End of this War, that very little Assistance can be expected from it in a great many Years. In Saxony, the Prospect is but too dismal under a Popish Prince, who, to his Apostacy, has, as it is highly to be feared, added the Sin of having also drawn the Electoral.Prince his Son from the Protestant Faith; so that there remain only the Two Illustrious Houses of Hanover and Brandenburg of all the Protestant Princes, Powerful enough to head the rest. Let us therefore only make a Parallel between what now happens to the Dutchy of Mecklemberg, and what may happen to the Protestant Interest, and we shall soon find how we may be mistaken in our Reckoning. That said poor Dutchy has been most miserably ruin’d by the Muscovite Troops, and it is still so; the Electors of Brandenburgh and Hanover are obliged both as Directors of the Circle of Lower Saxony as Neighbours, and Protestant Princes, to rescue a Fellow-State of the Empire, and a Protestant Country, from so cruel an Oppression of a Foreign Power. But pray what have they been able to do that they have not done? The Elector of Brandenburgh, cautious least the Muscovites might on one Side invade his Electorate, and on the other Side from Livonia and Poland, his Kingdom of Prussia: And the most Serene and Illustrious Elector of Hanover, having the fame wise Caution as to his Hereditary Countries, have not upon this, tho' very pressing Occasion, thought it for their Interest, to use any other Means than Representations. But pray with what Success? The Muscovites are still in Mecklemberg, and if at last they march out of it, it will be when the Country is so ruined that they cannot subsist there any longer. Suppose now the Protestant Interest was at Stake; suppose the United Powers of the Roman and Greek Churches had Sworn its Ruin; nay, ​suppose the Czar of Muscovy only an Enemy to it, would there not be the same Reasons to hinder these Two Princes from espousing that Interest, as now keep them from rescuing Mecklemberg?
It may be answered, that if it was not out of a Consideration, that Sweden should take an Advantage of the said Prince’s using more vigorous Means against the Czar, they would not scruple doing it? But may not an Apprehension of this Nature be an Obstacle in future Times? For, if Sweden still remains a Kingdom, and does not entirely fall in the Czar's Hands, why should we think that his Swedish Majesty, after having been so ill, (and as he may think) ungratefully us'd by some Protestant Princes in the Empire, may not at that Time, for, once think it his Turn to sacrifice the Protestant Interest to his own, as well as to what he may think a just Revenge, There is no doubt but the Crown of Great Britain gives a great deal of Power, as well as Authority, to his present Sacred Majesty as Elector of Hanover; but let us consider how Things may hinder him from crossing the Seas time enough to assist our Fellow-Protestants, The Questions If and How far he ought to engage in a Foreign War, may take up his Thoughts, whilst all the Protestants, and his Hereditary Countries into the Bargain, are over-run and undone. How easily may a Popish Pretender be trump’d upon us as well by the Way of the Low-Countries, as by that of France? And may not our Party-Feuds be able to fill our Hands at Home, so as to make us unmindful of Things Abroad? Let us remember the Cafe of the Elector Palatine, Father to the Most Illustrious Princess Sophia,who died deprived of his Dignity and Country, altho he had married a Daughter of King James the First, and was thereby nearly Related to the Crown of Great Britain, and Entituled to our Assistance. And let us remember -that his Son, His present Most Sacred Majesty’s Uncle, ow'd his Restoration to Sweden, that fame Sweden, which surely -we shall therefore never intirely abandon, at least not help to ruin. Next to this, it seems, the King of Sweden should be restored to all that he has lost on the Side of the Czar; and this appears to be the Joint-Interest of ​both the Maritime Powers: This may they pleaf to undertake! HOLLAND, because it is a Maxim there, That the Czar grows too Great, and must not be suffer'd to settle in the Baltick, and that Sweden must not be abandon'd. GREAT BRITAIN, because if the Czar compasses his vast and prodigious Views, which we have already mention'd, he will by the Ruin and Conquest of Sweden, become our nearer and more dreadful Neighbour. Besides, we are bound to it by a Treaty concluded in the Year 1700, between our Glorious Monarch King William of Immortal Memory, and the present King of Sweden: A Treaty, which that our Great Prince not only set his Royal Hand to, but his Heart upon, as a main Support of the Protestant Religion; and by Virtue of which, the same Immortal King William assisted the King of Sweden, when in more powerful Circumstances, with all that he desired, with great Sums of Money, several Hundred Pieces of Cloth, and considerable Quantities of Gun- Powder.
But some Politicians, (whom pothing can make Jealous of the growing Strength and Abilitics of the Czar) tho' they are even Foxes and Vulpones in the Art, either will not fee, or pretend they cannot fee how the Czar can ever be able to make so great a Progress in Power, as to hurt us here in our Island. To them 'tis easy to repeat the fame Answer a hundred tunes over, if they would be so kind as to take it at last, viz. That what has been may be again, and that they did not see how he could reach that Height of Power, which he has already arrived at after (I must confess) a very incredible Manner. Let those incredulous People look narrowly into the Nature and the Ends and the Designs of this Great Monarch, they will find that they are laid very deep, and that his Plans carry in them a prodigious deal of Prudence and Foresight, and his Ends are at Long-Run brought about by a kind of Magick in Policy; and will they not after that own, that we ought to fau every thing from him? He has already shewn by his Progress in Maritime Affairs, his Trade, and Manufactures, which came in a manner from Nothing; that, as he desires, that ​the Designs with which he labours, may not prove Abortive, so he does nor assign 'em (as is craftily said by an ingenious Author on another Occasion) a certain Day of their Birth, but leaves them to the Natural Productions of fit Times and Occasions, like those curious Artists in China, who temper the Mold this Day, of which a Vessel may be made a Hundred Years hence.
There is another Sort of short-sighted Politicians among us, who have more of Cunning Court-Intrigue, and immediate State-Craft in them, than of true Policy and Concern for their Country's Interest. These Gentlemen pin intirely their Faith upon other People's Sleeves; ask as to every Thing that is proposed to them, how is it lik'd at Court? What the Opinion of their Party is concerning it? And if the contrary Party is for or against it? Hereby they rule their Judgment, and it is enough for their cunning Leaders to brand any thing with Whiggism or Jacobitism, for to make these People, without any further Enquiry into the Matter, blindly espouse it or oppose it. This, it seems, is at present the Cafe of the Subject we are upon. Any thing said or written in favour of Sweden, and the King thereof, is immediately said to come from a Jacobite Pen, and thus reviled and rejected, without being read or considered. Nay, I have heard Gentlemen go so far, as to maintain publickly, and with all the Vehemence in the World, that the King of Sweden was a Roman-Catholick, (a very different Character from what the late Queen even in the Time of a Whig Ministry, gave of him) and that the Czar was a good Protestant, when the least Notice of his Religion would have shewn it to have been still grosser and more superstitious than the Popish one. This is indeed one of the greatest Misfortunes our Country labours under, and 'till we begin to fee with our own Eyes, and enquire our selves into the Truths of Things, we shall be led away God knows whether at last. But to be short upon a Subject that is grating to me as well as my Readers, I shall only tell my Countrymen, that the serving of Sweden according to our Treaties and real Interest, has, nothing to do with our Party-Causes. Let all Gentlemen of both. Parties, that are Lovers of the Protestant ​Interest, of Faith and Honour, and of the Welfare of their Country, give themselves leave to confer Times past with the present, and thereby judge of the future ones. Let them look into our Treaties, and into the State of our Trade, and they'll find, that what I have said is an undeniable Truth; and that instead of seeking for, and taking hold of any Pretences to undo Sweden, we ought openly to assist it, and tye it to us with all the Bands of Friendship and Obligation. His Swedish Majesty's generous and just Temper assures us of a sincere and hearty Return; and could our Protestant Succession have a better Friend, or a bolder Champion?
I shall conclude this Discourse, by thus shortly Re-capitulating what I have said; That since the Czar (as may be seen in the abovementioned Instrument) has not only Reply'd to the King of Denmark, intreating the contrary, but also Answer'd our Admiral Norris, that he would persist in his Resolution, to delay the Descent upon Schonen, and is said, by other News Papers, to resolve not to make it then, if he can have Peace with Sweden. Every Prince, and we more particularly, ought to be jealous of his having some such Design as I mention in view, and consult how to prevent them, and to clip, in time, his too aspiring Wings: Which cannot be effectually done, First. Without the Maritime Powers please to begin to keep him in some Check and Awe. And 'tis to be hop'd, a certain Potent Nation, that has help'd him forward, can, in fome meafure, bring him back; and may then speak to this great Enterpriser in the Language of a Countryman in Spain, who coming to an Image Enshrin'd, the first making whereof he could well Remember, and not finding all that Respectful Usage he expected; Tou need not (quoth he) be so proud, for we have known you from a Plumb-tree. The next only way is to Restore, by a Peace, to the King of Sweden what he has lost; that checks his Power immediately, and on that side nothing else can. I wish it may not at last be found true, That those who have been fighting against that King, have, in the main, been fighting against themselves. If the Swede even has his Dominions again, and lowers the high Spirit of the Czar, still he may say by his Neighbours, as an old Greek Hero did, whom his Countrymen ​constantly sent into Exile whenever he had done them a Service but were forced to call him back to their Aid, whenever they wanted Success. These People (quoth he) are always using me like the Palm-Tree; They will be breaking my Branches continually, and yet, if there comes a Storm, they run to me, and can't find a better Place for shelter. But if he has them not, I shall only exclaim a Phrase out of Terence's Andria:
Hoccine Credibile est aut Memorabile, Tanta Vecordia innata cuiquam ut siet, Ut Malis Gaudeant?
POSTSCRIPT.
I Flatter my self, that this little History is of that curious Nature, an on Matters hitherto so unobserv'd, that I consider it with Pride, as a Valuable New Year's Gift to the present World, and that Posterity will accept it, as the like, for many Tears after, and read it on that Anniversary, and call it their WARNING-PIECE. I must have my Exegi Monumentum, as well as others; and I will enjoy the Vast Pleasure of letting future Times know, That this Book was writ at the Flourishing Time, when his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was GUARDIAN of the Kingdom: A Prince, who left all things Foreign to themselves, and dwells in Person and Heart with us: A Prince, who breathes, the True Spirit of a Generous and Glorious Ancient Britain; and who, at the same time that be possess'd the Principality, took also into him the Soul and Temper of its Noble Climate. A Prince, in fine, who was therefore only not born among us, that he might appear the more Divinely Born for us.
FINIS.