The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-26
WHAT A SMALL ARMY DID.
fcOntinuea from F.fth Page.l

forces. came up and surrendered him. self with thirty officers. Charles re- ceived all these prisoners of distinction with as much civility and politeness as If he had been paying them the honors of an entertainment in his own court. He detained none but the general off cers. All the subalterns and common soldiers were disarmed and conducted to the river Narva, where they were sup piled with boats for passing over, and allowed to return to their own country. In the meantime night came on, and the right wing of the Muscovites still con tinued the fight. The Swedes had not
 lost more than six hundred men. Eight thousand Muscovites had been killed in their intrenchments; many were drowned; many had crossed the river,
 and yet there still remained in the camp
 a sufficient number to cut off the
 Swedes to the last man. But" says Voltaire. in his description of the bat
 tie, the loss of battles is not so much
 owing to the number of the killed as to the timidity of those who survive The
 king employed the small remains of the day in seizing upon the enemy's artil- |lery. He took possession of an advan- tageous post between the camp and the city, where he slept a few hours upon the ground, wrapped up in his cloak, intending at daybreak to fall upon the | left wing of the enemy, which was not yet entirely routed. But at two o'clock in the morning, General Vede, who
 commanded that wing. having heard of the gracious reception the king had giv- en to the other generals and of his hav- ing dismissed all the subaltern officers and soldiers, sent messenger to him, begging he would grant him the same favor. The conqueror replied that he should have it. provided he would come at the head of his troops and make them | lay their arms and colors at his feet. Soon after the general appeared with his Muscovites, to the number of about thirty thousand. They marched, both soldiers and officers, with their heads
 uncovered though less than seven thou sand Swedes. The soldiers as they passed the king threw their guns and
 swords upon the ground, and the officers
 presented him with their ensigns and
 colors. He caused the whole of this multitude to be conducted over the riv- CT, without detaining a single soldier. l Had he kept them, the number of pris-
 oners would at least have been five times greater than that of the conquer
 ors. After this Charles XII entered victorious into Narva, accompanied by
 the Duke de Croy and other general of ficers of the Muscovites. He ordered
 their swords to be restored to them all
 and, knowing that they wanted money l and that the merchants of Narva would lnot lend them any. he sent thousand
 ducats to the Duke de Croy and five
 hundred to every Muscovite officer, who Ecould not sufficiently admire the civili- I ty of this treatment. of which they were incapable of forming the least con Iception. An account of the victory was immediately drawn up at Narva and lsent to Stockholm and the allies of Swe- Iden, but the king expunged with his Town hands every circumstance in the relation that tended too much to his
 own honor or seemed to reflect upon the <, Czar.
 I Before he had proceeded half way at the head of forty thousand troops, hop ling to surround the youthful Charles XII on all sides, the Czar received intel stligence Of the utter rout of his troops at Narva. He returned home with a de- lternined resolution of disciplining his troops at the same time that he civilized his subjects. Moscow, his capital, was lin the utmost terror and consternation lat the news of this defeat. Such was 1.-the pride and ignorance of the people
 that they actually imagined that they l had been conquered by a power more
 than human, and that the Swedes were
 so many magicians This opinion was
 so general that public prayers were or