The herald., 1917-09-27

~
o.
The battle ur Pu,toWa Cor Iult.ya1.
fought i'm 1862 wins place as ul. u.
the struggles which hay" fashioned th"
world into what il il today. because
it broke the power "f m" SN"d"~. t.tra
the dominant nation Of northern L"-
rope. and really brought int" being
The vast Russian Nlruriur" of lh" pres
cui time. Byron SlH-~ 90 u "-:
Dread Pul"""'S day
When forum" left ih" royal S"".'
And Napoleon found ia III 'h' BASIS
for his prophecy al ~. ii'.oud mat
Eurnr" would hf'"lh' '4tH'E ;'t re-
publican OF Hll 'n>~arh.
j has L" hc remembered ihN TWO
hundred years az" Russia was bni 20
paltry, feeble world hS'lrr. JUST emery
iu- from ~"ni-harhariSm under Peter
IN" Great. thanCclIori"S lh"n rc'h"hrd
Russia little NOR" Than they no" r''E-
on 1imbuct"u. bn TN" other haAd,
Sweden was a really great and power
full natin, with extensive holdings
now mostly in Russian possession.
Her people were Gcrmanic. ~ the
Russians are SIav0nl". Had Sweden
won at fuitoWa ana continued h'r
course OF good fortune III ia" World
the central European empires III the
war now raging would possess an ally.
The resources ana stamina 81 which
might well be held l" lh>Ar" lh'm We
tory.
Russia in 1909 possessed q p"puia-
tion of less than 17,o000O. but the
genius Of Peter WAS building it into
an empire. Charles MI ~ Sweden
viewed the rise with concern. II WAS
his avoW"d purpose 10 smash the
growing state and reduce IL Ia a con
dtion of >uhiuGation such rs il had
known under the Tar'"rs and the
Poles. There would be no more Rus
STA. y" such commanding military
genius rs GuSiavuS Ad0lphuS. Chav"s
was nevertheless a brave ana rcSo!ute
general, holding at his command
great army composed of soldiers rs
fine ~ any known 10 Europe. lie
would, he declared. TAX" Moscow. ANA
dictat" terms 81 peace to Peter III The
krcmiin.
Charles set out from AlStadt, not
far from Leipsic, in September, 1907,
at The head of 1900 men. He marched
through Poland. Count L"wcnhaupt
with .0,OOO more deharked NJ Riga.
y third army of 1000 had station in
Finland. Charles WAS therefore in po-
sition To bring against the ear 10000
of til" most formidable troops known
10 civilization. Napoleon, in his 81.
Helena memoirs, bitterly condemns
Charles for his failure tn keep his
forces consolidated, Il failure which
indeed seems to have been a grave
tactical error and for which Charles
paid bitter price.
He left 10000 men at Warsaw, win
tered at Grodno and In the following
June crossed the Minsk, fought and
defeated Il force OF 10000 Russians on
the left bank Of the Bereslna, beat
10000 more near SmOlenskO and was
within ten days march Of the capital
where the cZar was already fOrmu-
lating proposals Of peace, when he
quilted the high road to march toward
the Ukraine that he might form
junction with Mazeppa. who had with
him 5000 men. Thus his line Of COM
municatlon was left exposed for 400
leagues. protected only by Lewen-
haupt, who with large force and
an invaluable convoy Of supplies
marched full twelve days march
behind his lord. Napoleon condemns
this disposition as inexcusable blum
dering.
The car meanwhile had collected
a force of 100000. In personnel IL was
much inferior to the conQuering
Swedes, but 1t seemed to learn stead
mess and generalship from it's defeats.
In September Peter with an over