Sigismond, having lost the throne of Sweden, aspired to that of Russia, but without success. But he was more unfortunate still in a war in which he was engaged with the great Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden; for he was compelled to forfeit to that monarch Livonia, and the towns of Elbing, Memel, Braunberg, and Pillau. He died in 1629, worn down with cares and misfortunes, and was succeeded by his son Uladislaus, who established public tranquillity, and reigned not without glory ; but the inter regnum that followed his death was characterized by a dis astrous and bloody war with the Cossacks, occasioned by several perfidious attempts on the part of the Polish nobles to make encroachments on their privileges and indepen dence. That barbarous people, who felt that their very existence as a separate tribe was endangered, becoming desperate, vanquished their enemies in two great battles ; and John Casimir, successor of Uladislaus, was obliged to conclude with them a dishonourable peace. Poland was again ravaged by the Swedish army, and Charles Gustavus would undoubtedly have made the conquest of it, had not the bad policy of Denmark drawn into that country, al most to the total ruin of it, the whole military force of the common enemy. Nor did this circumstance, favourable as it unquestionably was, prove the entire safety of Poland. By the treaty of Oliva, (1660.) Casimir was forced to cede Livonia to Sweden, Smolensko and Kiow to Russia, and to Brandenburgh the sovereignty of Prussia. With this diminution of her territory, Poland experienced a diminu tion also of her power ; and from this period she ceased to be regarded as one of the first nations of Europe. Casi mir indeed gained several decisive victories in a war with the Russians; but these came too late, either to gratify the king, or to prove advantageous to his people. He had already verged into a state of melancholy and despair, and Poland was delivered over to all the horrors of a civil war.
In such circumstances, Casimir, who, at every period of life, had shown a deep-rooted attachment to the exer cises of devotion, and the pursuits of literature, resolved to renounce his crown, and to spend the remainder of his clays in solitude and peace. Though undaunted in oppos ing the public enemies of his country, he shuddered to encounter the agitations and enormities of internal rebel lion. His abdication took place in 1668, and the Diet ab solved him from all the engagements he had made to his people, and particularly from the oath of the pacta conven ta ; obligations entered into by every sovereign at his election. Casimir survived this event four years, when he died in the abbey of St. Germains in France, whence his body was removed to be interred at Cracow.
After an inter-regnurn of a year, Casimir was succeed ed by Michel Coributh, duke of Wisniowiccki. Though the reign of this prince was short, he alienated the minds of the nation and the army on account of his lethargy in defending the republic against the invasion of the Turks, and of the shameful treaties which he ratified with them. The glory of the Polish arms, however, was well main tained by John Sobieski, a warrior of extraordinary merit, and than whose there occurs not a more illustrious name in the annals of his country.
Sobieski, raised to the sovereign authority on the death of Wisniowiecki, did not long want an opportunity of in creasing his own glory, as well as that of his nattan. The Turks had, at this time, carried their conquering arms in to Austria, and were laying siege to Vienna. The fate of
Christendom was thought to be involved in that of the Aus trian capital ; and had not the exorbitant power of that empire been a source of uneasiness and fear to the neigh bouring states, almost all the nations of Europe would have been in arms to chastise these infidels. Sobieski, how ever, either did not experience these feelings, or was enabled to overcome them. He levied 40,000 men for the assistance of the emperor ; put himself at their head ; and his valour and genius decided the terrible battle (1683), which forced Soliman to raise the siege of Vienna, and eventually, with the loss of almost his whole army, to withdraw into his own territories.
The inhabitants of Vienna received their deliverer with the most lively demonstrations of gratitude ; and excla mations of joy accompanied him to the very threshold of the chapel, whither he went to return thanks to the God of battles for the success of his arms. When Te Deem was chanted, he himself joined very cordially in the ser vice. A sermon was delivered on the occasion from a text, which the clergyman, in extremely bad taste, seems to have selected as peculiarly appropiate: " There was a man sent from God whose noon was Jonx." But the joy which Sobieski must have felt in having performed so important a service to the Austrians, and in receiving their congratulations, was moderated by his unpopularity with his own subjects. In this foreign ex pedition the Poles found that their treasury had been drained, and that many of their countrymen had perished; while, as a compensation for these evils, no substantial ad vantage to the republic had resulted, or could he expected to result front it. His wish to make the crown hereditary in his own family, exasperated and disaffected the nobles ; and the consequence was, that, after his death, which took place in t696, after a reign of twenty-three years, Ina children ungratefully excluded front the thronc.• Another great cause of his unpopularity, was the cession of certain lands to Russia ; for which, however, in return, he was promised assistance in the meditated conquest of i‘loldavia and Wallachia,—schemes which a new aspect of affairs made it not necessary to prosecute.
Whatever suspicions, however, the Poles may have at tached to his memory, Sobieski was undoubtedly a great man. Endowed with strength of body, and vigour of mind,—skilled in the laws, the constitution, and political relations of his country,—as eloquent and wise in council, as enterprising and enthusiastic in the field, he possessed all the virtues and qualities necessary for a great warrior or an accomplished monarch. The nobleness and eleva tion of his mind were clearly shadowed forth in the linea ments of his countenance, and the dignity of his personal appearance. He possessed a peculiar art of profiting by the least advantage, and was characterized by a sure and quick sagacity of foreseeing and preventing danger. Reading and study formed the amusements of his private hours : he was master of several languages, and he de lighted in conversing with men of letters. His court was brilliant, and filled with strangers of rank and distinction. All the powers of Europe sent ambassadors to him ; lie received an ambassador even from the king of Persia, to congratulate him on his victories,and to ask his friendship and alliance.