with madness, refused to retreat.
Disasters multiplied. The victorious Russians hung upon his rear. The
Cossacks cut off his stragglers. The army of eighty thousand melted
away to twenty-five thousand. Still the infatuated Swede dreamed of
victory, and expected to see the troops of his enemy desert. The
winter set in with its northern severity, and reduced still further
his famished troops. He lost time by marches and counter-marches,
without guides, and in the midst of a hostile population. At last he
reached Pultowa, a village on the banks of the Vorskla. Peter hastened
to meet him, with an army of sixty thousand, and one of the bloodiest
battles in the history of war was fought. The Swedes performed
miracles of valor. But valor could do nothing against overwhelming
strength. A disastrous defeat was the result, and Charles, with a few
regiments, escaped to Turkey.

Had the battle of Pultowa been decided differently; had Charles
conquered instead of Peter, or had Peter lost his life, the empire of
Russia would probably have been replunged into its original barbarism,
and the balance of power, in Europe, been changed.

[Sidenote: War with the Turks.]

But Providence, which ordained the civilization of Russia, also
ordained that the triumphant czar should not be unduly aggrandized,
and should himself learn lessons of humility. The Turks, in
consequence of the intrigues of Charles, and their hereditary
jealousy, made war upon Peter, and advanced against him with an army
of two hundred and fifty thousand men. His own army was composed of
only forty thousand. He was also indiscreet, and soon found himself in
the condition of Charles at Pultowa. On the banks of the Pruth, in
Moldavia, he was surrounded by the whole Turkish force, and famine or
surrender seemed inevitable. It was in this desperate and deplorable
condition that he was rescued by the Czarina Catharine, by whose
address a treaty was made with his victorious enemy, and Peter was
allowed to retire with his army. Charles XII. was indignant beyond
measure with the Turkish general, for granting such easy conditions,
when he had the czar in his power; and to his reproaches the vizier of
the sultan replied, "I have a right to make peace or war; and our law
commands us to grant peace to our enemies, when they implore our
clemency." Charles replied with an insult; and, though a fugitive in
the Turkish camp, he threw himself on a sofa, contemptuously cast his
eye on a