eat at Pultowa. Augustus II., then at the head
of an army, regained his kingdom, and Stanislaus fled in disguise. After
numerous adventures and fearful afflictions, the court of France offered
him a retreat in Wissembourg in Alsace. Here the ex-king remained for
six years, when his beautiful daughter Mary was selected to take the
place of the rejected Mary of Spain, as the wife of the young dauphin,
Louis XV.

In the year 1733 Augustus II. died. In anticipation of this event
Austria had been very busy, hoping to secure the elective crown of
Poland for the son of Augustus who had inherited his father's name, and
who had promised to support the Pragmatic Sanction. France was equally
busy in the endeavor to place the scepter of Poland in the hand of
Stanislaus, father of the queen. From the time of the marriage of his
daughter with Louis XV., Stanislaus received a handsome pension from the
French treasury, maintained a court of regal splendor, and received all
the honors due to a sovereign. All the energies of the French court were
now aroused to secure the crown for Stanislaus. Russia, Prussia and
Austria were in natural sympathy. They wished to secure the alliance of
Poland, and were also both anxious to destroy the republican principle
of _electing_ rulers, and to introduce hereditary descent of the crown
in all the kingdoms of Europe. But an election by the nobles was now
indispensable, and the rival powers were, with all the arts known in
courts, pushing the claims of their several candidates. It was an
important question, for upon it depended whether warlike Poland was to
be the ally of the Austrian or of the French party. Poland was also
becoming quite republican in its tendencies, and had adopted a
constitution which greatly limited the power of the crown. Augustus
would be but a tool in the hands of Russia, Prussia and Austria, and
would cooperate with them in crushing the spirit of liberty in Poland.
These three great northern powers became so roused upon the subject,
that they put their troops in motion, threatening to exclude Stanislaus
by force.

This language of menace and display of arms roused France. The king,
while inundating Poland with agents, and lavishing the treasure of
France in bribes to secure the election of Stanislaus, assumed an air of
virtuous indignation in view of the interference of the Austrian party,
and declared that no foreign power should interfere in any way with the
freedom of the