themselves at once from the Torments and Suffer. ings to which they were expos'd?

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'Tis not to be thought what the Swedes exacted at their Departure. As if they had the Property of All, they demanded and took away the best Horfes they could find, either to mount them, or to carry their Baggage; they either drove away Cattle, or exacted the Value thereof: They had before levied great Sums of Money, to buy Horses for their Artillery, Cloth, Tents, Bisket, and many other Things of that Nature; they forc'd our Subjects to follow 'em, not only as far as Poland, but even to Ukrania, from whence Part of them are not yet return'd; they got together numerous Droves of Oxen, out of which they chose the fatteft, which they carried away: We pafs over in Silence abundance of Exorbitancies of this kind.

Nor could the King of Sweden himself deny, that all the Exceffes before-mention'd, were actually committed: Since we acquainted him with the fame by two Letters, one of the 1ft, the other of the 12th of August, 1707. But in his Anfwer, of "the 9th of the fame Month, to our firft Letter, 'he alledg'd no other Excufe, than that it was im poffible to maintain fo long, fo numerous an Army as his, without burthening the Country.

'It was neceffary to mention all thefe Inftances, to let the whole World know how we have been " dealt with; what Miferies and Calamities our Subjects (who expected quite different Fruits from Peace) have undergone; and how the King of Sweden has violated the Engagements he had en⚫tred into.

"To this we fhall add, That our Adverfary, contrary to the VIth Article of the Treaty, has diveft ed many Poles of the Dignities and Offices they poffefs'd in Poland, and in the great Dutchy of Lithu 6 ania, and which we had bestow'd upon them before the Time prefix'd by the Treaty, viz. before the 5-16 of February, 1704.

Upon the whole Matter, we are perfuaded, that 'all Men of Senfe in the World have look'd with Indignation on fo hard and cruel a Treaty, in which fuch unreasonable Conditions were impos'd upon us; a Treaty, befides, which was dictated

to our Plenipotentiaries; which they fign'd con'trary to their Orders, and the Reftriction inferted ' in their full Powers, not to treat but upon equitable and Chriftian Conditions. We are likewife perfua6 ded, that all fenfible Perfons have reckon'd that 6 Treaty of Peace among thofe Engagements which a Man is not bound to keep.

All the Conditions that were exacted by that 'fatal Treaty, are not only derogatory from the "Royal Dignity and Honour, which ought to be as dear as Life it felf, but befides, they are inconfiftent with Equity, the Cuftoms and Laws of Nations, and attended with infuperable Difficulties; fo that they ought to be look'd upon as null and void.

'Was ever any King, legally anointed, preffed or compel'd to acknowledge, as true and lawful King, one of his Rebel-Subjects; who had no other Merit or Title to justify his Pretenfions, but his 'Difobedience to his rightful Sovereign, contrary to the Oaths he had fo often taken, and his Cri⚫minal Affection to the Enemy of his Country; an Intruder obnoxious to the Laws and Conftitutions of the Kingdom of Poland, and whofe EleЄtion was only owing to the Enemies of his King " and Country, and attended with Force and Vio'lence? Was it ever heard, in any Age, that a King fhould take off from his owu Head a Diadem lawfully acquir'd, and place it on that of a Rebel Subject? Or, that he fhould abandon to fuch a Man's ambitious Luft, States who never fwerv'd from their Loyalty, and who ever merited well of their Country? Befides, is it in the Power of a 'King of Poland to annul and abrogate Laws and 'Decrees made in the general Diets, Councils of the Senate, and other grand Affemblies, without the 6 Confent of the States? Is it in his Power to abdicate the Crown, and give up his Right to another? Who is unacquainted with thefe Inconfiftencies with 6 the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland? And yet, these were the very Things that were required and exacted from us by the IId Article of the Treaty

Moreover, by what Laws, or upon what Score was the King of Sweden allowed by the Xth Article

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to detain within his rugged Dominions, after the Conclufion of the Peace of Alt-Ranstadt, free Natives of Saxony, whom the dubious Fortune of War had made his Prifoners; feveral of whom have still Families and Habitations in our Territories; and whom, if he pleases, he may use as Slaves: When, by the IXth and Xth Articles, we were not permitted to detain any of our Swedish or Polish Prifoners. 6 "Tis certainly hard, and fometimes very difficult, to break the Ties that unite Allies: However, this is not without Example. But for the King of Sweden to exact from us the delivering up of a Minister of one of our Allies, whom we kept for no other purpose than to fend him back, as foon as poffible, to his Master, and who was afterwards fo cruelly put to Death; and to infift that we should also give up our Auxiliaries as Prifoners of War, as was stipulated by the XIth and XIIth Articles; 'tis what we find no Example of in Hiftory, and which cannot but strike the Readers with Horror.

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Nor was this all. It is certainly an Infult upon the Majefty of Heaven it felf, prefumptuoufly to arrogate to ones felf an Authority over Confceinces, which belongs to God alone: But not to mention the King of Sweden's withdrawing from our Obe'dience, Subjects who had ever been faithful, and thereby compelling them to Perjury; we only de'fire to know, Whether any one in the World had a Right to oblige us to falfify the repeated Oaths by "which we had engaged our Confcience? Had we not fworn, according to the Pacta Conventa, to reign as long as we lived, and never to abdicate the Crown, but with Confent of the States? Was there not a particular Conftitution ofthe Kingdom, made after the Abdication of Cafimer, importing, That no King of Poland fhould ever be allow'd to endeavour his Abdication, or quit the Crown without having firft affembled the whole Republick for that purpofe? We had confirmed that Oath in the ge'neral Affembly of the Poftpolite Rufcenie, and had ⚫ folemnly promis'd, by a particular Decree, That "we would never lay down the Royal Dignity, nor make a feparate Peace with the King of Sweden. We had entred into the fame Engagements at the Diet of Lublin, 1703, and in the Confederate Af'fembly

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fembly at Sendomir, 1704. The Oath was couched under these Terms: In whatfoever Manner it shall pleafe God to difpofe of the Republick, we will never abandon her; but will rather defend her as long as we live, and at the Expence of our Blood. We will never confent to any Partition, or feparate Conditions of Peace. This is what we engage to obferve religiously by a folemn Oath, from which none but GOD himfelf can set us free.

The Swedes, who had been anxioully careful in the Drawing up the Articles of the Treaty of AltRanftadt, to infert and exprefs in the VIth Article, all the Decrees and Statutes, commonly call'd Landa, which had been made fince the 5th of February 1704, for the Prefervation of our Royal Perfon and Dignity, Laws of the Kingdom, and publick Liberty, omitted, however, (as it were by a particular Direction of Providence) the Decree made at Landshut by the whole Republick, after the pretended Election of Lefcinski.

"This being the true Cafe of the whole Matter, let now all the World judge whether we can in Juftice, and with a fafe Confcience, ftand to a Treaty dictated to our Commiffioners by Force 6 and Fear, at a Juncture when our Affairs were in a very ill Pofture? "Tis Matter of Wonder, how the King of Sweden could demand fuch Things of us; and therefore he ought to thank himself for inferting fuch Conditions in the Treaty, as must be accounted Impoffibilities. Nay, did he not thereby tacitly confefs, that he was at Liberty not to obferve a Treaty, which he made with a Prince, whofe Condition he could not be ignorant of, fince 'twas known to all the World?

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6 "Tis a Maxim in Morality, That no Man is oblig'd to Impoffibilities. Now ought not thofe Things to be accounted impoffible, which are contrary to the Will of God, Faith, Confcienee, Honour, Honesty, and Good Manners? There's no Man that has a Spark of right Reason, but reckons we are not bound by the foremention'd Engagement

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Thofe who had projected the Treaty, knew it in their Confciences; and fo it came about, that in the IId Article they endeavour to throw off all Pretence of Right, to palliate, in fome Degree, their Injustice

Injustice from the Eyes of the World. But tho' "Truth may fometimes fuffer an Eclipfe, yet it can never be entirely overwhelmed in Darkness.

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We are in this Place obliged to extol, with due Praife, the great Conftancy of our Friend and Brother, the Czar of Mufcovy. We muft alfo do Ju'ftice to the Fidelity of the illuftrious States of the Kingdom of Poland, which they have inviolably preferved to us, ever fince the Confederacy of Sendomir. Our Friend, Brother, and Ally, the States, and faithful Subjects of our Kingdom, call, invite, and folicite us; and even our own Confience admonishes us not to ufe any longer Delays. Nothing, therefore, remains for us to do, but to reinftate our felf in the Poffeffion of a Good made over to us by God and Right. For which end, after feveral Negotiations, we, fome time fince renewed and ftrengthned, by ftricter Ties, the Friendship and Alliance between us and his Czarish Majefty.

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"We do likewife acknowledge herein, that it was 6 not in our Power to abdicate (without the Confent of the Republick, which was not duly convened hereupon) the Crown of Poland, the great Dutchy of Lithuania, and the other Provinces thereunto belonging, which we lawfully hold of God and the "People. And hence it naturally follows, that the At of Abdication, dated at Petricom, 08. 20. 1706. with which they did likewife furreptitiously fully and fill up one of our Blanks, is null and void. We take therefore, what God's Providence has given us, and what belongs to us of Right.

Farthermore, we declare, by this present Manifefto, that though we have received many Injuries " from the King of Sweden; though our Subjects have been very ill used by him; though our Electorate and other Dominions, have fuffered great Damage by his Means; and though that King himself has infring'd the pretended Treaty of Alt-Ranstad; nevertheless, our principal Defign is, to re-establish our felf in the firm Poffeffion of the Kingdom of Poland, the great Dutchy of Lithuania, and other Provinces thereunto belonging, to which we have a rightful Title; to reftore Tranquillity in our Kingdom; not to abandon the Republick, and to

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