The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-05-17
TWO HEROIC FIGURES.
Car Peter the Great and
Charles XII. Of Sweden.
DUEL or THE MORSE AND sLAv.
The Auseovfte Triumph 1T ehe nat
tie e. Pelsevs-<senius 81 Victor
sna vanSaisAeA.

The nrss decade Of the eighteenth cen
tury Witnessed the greatest personal cael
OF uzoderz tines Two really heroic nS-
tree. one Morse and the Other saAs.
emerged from rneiiaevai harbartslns faced
zach other with theI- armies and fos,sae
for the mastery Of Northeastern Europe
The men were alike in personal proEess
and hArdihood. Neither was acquainted
with fear Each was susceptible Of the
rage of battle. Each was supported IN
the duel with :he whole force OF bis own
nation besides allies ard ccrtingents
Il was tina manner Of Charles III, OF
Sweden. TO reply TO . bcmbshel with a
burst OF laughter II was Peters style
TO answer defeat with q witttcssm- When
the one was hampered with conditions and
threatened With ruin. he reddened VITA
the madness OF resistance. The other I'M
der like conditions had q ewitehing OF the
muscles that amounted TO a rzroxysm-
The ore had educated himself by reading
the Sagas ard the stories OF Alexander
the Great. The other had got his culture
By proving around MOSCOW IN the nigae
with 4 band Of foreign outlaws. Afterward
By hewing masts in the shipyards OF Hot
Land. still later by playing with monkeys
IN the library OF Sir John Evelyn The
genius Of each reached to the verge OF IN
sanity. The men were alike IN greatness
OF stature Peter was taller than LINCOLN.
and Charles was taller than Peter. Each
had the strength and the build of a giant.
Each had confidence in his personal power.
Charles was. al the close OF the seven
teenth century, In tho eighteenth year or
his age and the third year of his reign.
Europe had no opinion OF his capacity.
The Old soldiers OF Germany smiled at the
idea of an invasion Of the Snow king"
as they called him. The league coltrived
by Pa,kul went on well until in October
Of 100. Peter. with q large army of Rus
SLAMS, came on for his part OF the war
against the town OF Narva, on the river
OF the same name. eighty-six miles south
west OF where ST. Petersburg was presents
iy TO be founded The young Charles first
threatened the king Of Denmark and forced
him to sign a treaty. Then the king OF
Poland was. in like manner obliged 10
raise the siege OF Riga and fee away.
Charles was thus left free to give his at
tention to the car. who had begun the
siege Of Narva-
A few days after the Poles fed from
Riga. Charles. marching across Livonia.
came by forced stages to that place. His
approach was like that of a storm. The
like Of IL had not been Witnessed in mod
ern Europe. The Swedes. coming on I'M
der cover OF a snowstorm. fell upon the
outposts. which were held by 500 Russian
u
Peters forces were composed of about 40,-
coo men, Part of them were regular Rus
sian troops. another part a division of
Strezui, third part Cossacks. and the
remainder raw levies OF no military repu-
tation.
The battle was fought on the snth OF No
vember. 1700 The Russians could not sec
the enemy twenty PAGES away, for the
binding snow. The assailants leaped the
fosse and climbed the parapet, and a sud-
den panic ensued. The German command
or. the old Herxog Won Croi. was distrust-
ed by the Slavs and with the break of con-
fidence between him and his men nothing
remained but to surrender. A thousand
fugitives were drowned IN attempting to
swim the Narva. The favorite regiments
of Peter got themselves into an extempor-
lied fort. but the Russian army was d.
vided and routed In detail. Those who still
attempted to defend themselves after the
first assault capitulated during the night.
The greater number were granted the
privilege of free retreat, with arms and
standards and baggage. Those in the
fortress had to surrender at discretion.
The general result was that the Swedes.
under the reckless Charles. no more Than
500 in numbers. utterly routed and over
threw the cars army of more than 40 900
men' 1t was doubtless the most conspicu-
Gus victory achieved In Europe since the
dark ages.
Peters activity knew no bounds. In the
three or four years of lull that followed
Narva he applied himself with the great
est diligence to the tasks OF empire. The
FIRST OF these he conceived to be the crea-
tion OF new capital. The car believed
that he could not modernize Russia from
Moscow. He accordingly determined to
get his government to the sea Russia
must be commercial and interna tional,
az 20 t.7p ~
pcTium. The fatal mistake was that in-
stead of looking to the sea OF Azov and the
establishment by that way of a warm wa
ter route into the Mediterranean and
thence to all seas and shores, he looked to
the gulf of Finland, bleak and frozen.
Goethe says that the place reminded him
OF Amsterdam. or OF Venice. the Italian
Amsterdar-which was correct If we sub
tract the winter. PeteD selected the place
where the Seva divides into four arms,
and these into others, until the yp,urns az
the river Is separated into fourteen water
courses. besides the lake and the canals.
The site is subject to Limitations when
the bowling black winds out OF the west
drive the Baltic brine in huge freezing hsl.
lows back on the Neva-
There Peter, in the year 1-a roan6ea
his new capital There he bull; the fort
ress OF ST. Peter and ST. Paul. There he
made his own wooden house on the right
hank OF the river. There he gathered MS
soidiers-Cossacks. Tsrtars, Kaluuck.
ingram and karelian barharians. ara haIf
savage wood peasants from the Interior
900 strong. In November Of that wear
Petef piloted the first merchant shio
into his new harhor. He gave the canta,r
exemption from customs and also present.
ed him with SO ducats He wouIa haya
ciyiiiratioh. and It should consist Of orr
Ger OF force, Of commerce and Information
Atty. '%''1-
For several years Charles XII prose
e1Sed MS wars IN Germany. but IN l-vs
ae "as asain ready TO turn his attention
70 Russia He made his way 70 yolhvnss-
destroyed the electoral states urs,h 49,
tors and acquisitions. and made a Mi.
rum IN the country. The car AWAITED shs
coming o. his foernen In the Ukraine
While King Augustus. his naif-treachero,,s
ally, stood On his guard IN La.huanla But
ses me present Charles attacked rek.her
the one nor the other. He turned rather
into Poland and Saxony. leaving behind
him small force 70 hnid the eonnuar.f
territory. II was In the -n.1vtn.er AZ ira
thaf he a. hast issued from Saxony wt,h
az army of <aco men ard marched On
Having crossed the river. Charles arx.
encountered tAs Russians at Grossno and
came rear taking II. crzr a prisoner.
feaer adopted the same tactics pursued
OF A4exancer with Napoleon l14 yea rs aft
er~afa- lie receded into the interior in
TIE direction % Moscow. ard me Sws1-s
came after him. When Peter made over
lures fer peace. Charles replied: 81 VIII
treat with the car in Moscow Peter
answered: My brother Charles L. go.r~
60 - Alexander tx.. - vs5I -. ga ~