He was still master of some strong posts in the Ukraine, and in particular of Bathurin, the place of his residence, looked upon as the capital of the country of the Cossacks: it is situated near some forests on the Desna, at a great distance from the place where Peter had defeated general Levenhaupt. There were always some Russian regiments quartered in these districts. Prince Menzikoff was detached from the czar's army, and got thither by round-about marches. Charles could not secure all the passes; he did not even know them all, and had neglected to make himself master of the important post of Starowdoub, which leads directly to the Bathurin, across seven or eight leagues of forest, through which the Desna directs its course. His enemy had always the advantage of him, by being better acquainted with the country.
Menzikoff and prince Galitzin, who had accompanied him, easily made their passage good, and presented themselves before the town of Bathurin, (Nov. 14,) which surrendered almost without resistance, was plundered, and reduced to ashes. The Russians made themselves masters of a large magazine destined for the use of the king of Sweden, and of all Mazeppa's treasures. The Cossacks chose another hetman, named Skoropasky, who was approved by the czar, who being willing to impress a due sense of the enormous crime of treason on the minds of the people, by a striking example of justice, the archbishop of Kiow, and two other prelates, were ordered to excommunicate Mazeppa publicly, (Nov. 22,) after which he was hanged in effigy, and some of his accomplices were broken upon the wheel.
In the meanwhile, Charles XII. still at the head of about twenty-five or twenty-seven thousand Swedes, who were reinforced by the remains of Levenhaupt's army, and the addition of between two or three thousand men, whom Mazeppa had brought with him, and still infatuated with the same notion of making all the Ukraine declare for him, passed the Desna at some distance from Bathurin, and near the Boristhenes, in spite of the czar's troops which surrounded him on all sides; part of whom followed close in the rear, while another part lined the opposite side of the river to oppose his passage.
He continued his march through a desert country, where he met with nothing but burned or ruined villages. The cold began to set in at the beginning of December so extremely sharp, that in one of his marches near two thousand of his men perished before his eyes: the czar's troops did not suffer near so much, being better supplied; whereas the king of Sweden's army, being almost naked, was necessarily more exposed to the inclemency of the weather.
In this deplorable situation, count Piper, chancellor of Sweden, who never gave his master other than good advice, conjured him to halt, and pass at least the severest part of the winter in a small town of the Ukraine, called Romna, where he might intrench himself, and get some provisions by the help of Mazeppa; but Charles replied, that—He was not a person to shut himself up in a town. Piper then intreated him to re-pass the Desna and the Boristhenes, to return back into Poland, to put his troops into winter quarters, of which they stood so much in need, to make use of the Polish cavalry, which was absolutely necessary; to support the king he had nominated, and to keep in awe the partisans of Augustus, who began already to bestir themselves. Charles answered him again—That this would be flying before the czar, that the season would grow milder, and that he must reduce the Ukraine, and march on to Moscow.[76]
January, 1709.] Both armies remained some weeks inactive, on account of the intenseness of the cold, in the month of January, 1709; but as soon as the men were able to make use of their arms, Charles attacked all the small posts that he found in his way; he was obliged to send parties on every side in search of provisions; that is to say, to scour the country twenty leagues round, and rob all the peasants of their necessary subsistence. Peter, without hurrying himself, kept a strict eye upon all his motions, and suffered the Swedish army to dwindle away by degrees.
It is impossible for the reader to follow the Swedes in their march through these countries: several of the rivers which they crossed are not to be found in the maps: we must not suppose, that geographers are as well acquainted with these countries, as we are with Italy, France, and Germany: geography is, of all the arts, that which still stands the most need of improvement, and ambition has hitherto been at more pains to desolate the face of the globe, than to give a description of it.
We must content ourselves then with knowing, that Charles traversed the whole Ukraine in the month of February, burning the villages wherever he came, or meeting with others that had been laid in ashes by the Russians. He advancing south-east, came to those sandy deserts, bordered by mountains that separate the Nogay Tartars from the Don Cossacks. To the eastward of those mountains are the altars of Alexander. Charles was now on the other side of the Ukraine, in the road that the Tartars take to Russia; and when he was got there, he was obliged to return back again to procure subsistence: the inhabitants, having retired with all their cattle into their dens and lurking-places, would sometimes defend their subsistence against the soldiers, who came to deprive them of it. Such of these poor wretches, who could be found, were put to death, agreeably to what are falsely called, the rules of war. I cannot here forbear transcribing a few lines from Norberg.[77] 'As an instance,' says he, 'of the king's regard to justice, I shall insert a note, which he wrote with his own hand to colonel Heilmen.
'Colonel,
'I am very well pleased that you have taken those peasants, who carried off a Swedish soldier; as soon as they are convicted of the crime, let them be punished with death, according to the exigency of the case.
'Charles; and lower down, Budis.'
Such are the sentiments of justice and humanity shewn by a king's confessor; but, had the peasants of the Ukraine had it in their power to hang up some of those regimented peasants of East Gothland, who thought themselves entitled to come so far to plunder them, their wives, and families, of their subsistence, would not the confessors and chaplains of these Ukrainers have had equal reason to applaud their justice?