“Only joy of my soul, charming and well-beloved Mariette!
“God be for ever praised! He has given our nation the victory—a triumph such as past ages have never beheld. All the artillery, the whole camp of the Mussulmans, with infinite riches, are become our prey. The approaches toward the city, the fields around us, are covered with the dead infidels, and the survivors flee in consternation. Every moment our men bring in camels, mules, and sheep, which belonged to the enemy, besides a multitude of prisoners. We have also a great number of deserters, mostly renegades, well equipped and mounted. The victory has been so sudden and extraordinary, that both in the city and our camp the alarm did not all at once subside; every instant the enemy’s return was dreaded. In powder and ammunition he has left us the value of a million florins.
“This very night I have witnessed a spectacle which I had long desired to see. Our baggage-train set fire to the powder in several places; the explosion resembled the judgment day, but no one was hurt. On this occasion I remarked how clouds are formed in the atmosphere. But, after all, it is a bad job; there is above half a million lost.
“The Vizir in his flight has abandoned every thing, all but his horse and the dress he wore. I am his heir; the greater portion of his riches has become mine.
“As I advanced with the first line, driving the Vizir before me, I met one of his domestics, who conducted me to his private tents; they occupy a space equal in extent to Warsaw or Leopol. I have obtained all the ensigns and decorations usually borne before him. As to the great standard of Mahomet, which his sovereign had confided to him, I have sent it to the Holy Father by Talenti. We have also rich tents, superb equipages, and a thousand fanciful things, equally fine and valuable. I have not yet seen every thing, but what I have seen is beyond comparison superior to what we found at Kotzim. Here are four or five quivers, mounted with rubies and sapphires, which alone are worth many thousands of ducats. So, my life, you cannot say to me what Tartar women say to their husbands who return without booty, ‘Thou art no warrior, for thou hast brought me nothing; none but the foremost in battle ever gain anything.’”
After speaking of other trophies, he continues:
“To-day I have visited the capital; it could not have held out more than five days longer. The imperial palace is full of holes made by the balls; these immense bastions, full of crevices and half fallen in, look frightful.
“All the imperial troops have done their duty well; they ascribe the victory to God and us. The moment the enemy gave way (and the chief struggle was where I stationed myself opposite the Vizir), all the cavalry of their army rode up to me at the right wing, the centre and left having little to do; among them were the Elector of Bavaria, the Prince of Waldeck, &c. They embraced me, kissed my cheek; the generals saluted my hands and feet; soldiers and officers, on foot and horseback, exclaimed, ‘Ah, unser brave könig;’ (Ah, our brave king.!) All obeyed me even better than my own soldiers.... The name of Saviour, as well as embraces, has been given me. I have been in two churches where the people kissed my hands, feet, clothes; others at a greater distance cried out, ‘Let us kiss your victorious hands.’
“To-day we follow up the pursuit into Hungary; the Electors say they will accompany me.”[20]
“The day after the battle the Comte de Stahrenberg, the governor of Vienna, came to salute its deliverer. The hero thought he might enjoy his triumph without offending the Emperor, and entered by the breaches amid cries of joy. His horse could scarcely pierce the crowd which contended to kiss his feet, to address him as their father, their preserver, and the greatest of princes. Vienna at that moment forgot that she had a jealous master. The gratitude of these unfortunates, and the pleasure of having delivered them, melted Sobieski to tears; and he declared that a throne had nothing equally flattering. Shouts of delight brought him to the cathedral, where he wished to pay his thanks to the God of battles. He perceived on the building a monument of infamy: it was the Crescent, which Soliman the Great had caused to be placed there, as the condition on which he raised a former siege, which it was inconvenient to prosecute; this he caused to be thrown down, and it was trodden under foot by the people. The Te Deum was then chanted, the King himself leading the choir. No magistrate, and few of the leading men of the city, assisted at this ceremony; the people only were free enough from political restraint to join in the praise of God, and in thanking the victor. The preacher chose for his text these words, ‘There was a man sent by God, whose name was John.’ The application had already been made by Pope Pius V. after the battle of Lepanto, in which Don John of Austria defeated the Sultan Selim. There was however a vast difference between the two battles, for Christianity derived little advantage from that of Lepanto, while that of Vienna saved the German empire, and perhaps the Christian religion. Vienna converted into a Mahometan city, it is impossible to say where the progress of the Crescent would have stopped.