brought up against the fortress with artillery, to besiege it; but the besieged defended themselves with no less activity, and also discharged their artillery against the enemy; but in the engagement they lost the only artilleryman that they had in the fortress, who fell struck by a cannon shot from the Russian station. On discovering this, some of the German and Lithuanian mercenaries conceived the hope of taking the fortress, which would unquestionably have been taken that day had the inclination of the general responded to their wish; but as he, observing the daily increasing famine under which his men were suffering, had already privately treated by messengers for a truce with the Tartars, he so strongly disapproved of this attempt of his soldiers, that he angrily reprimanded them, and threatened them with stripes for daring to attack the fortress without his knowledge or sanction. For he considered that he should best consult his prince's interests in so great a strait if he could enter into any kind of truce with the enemy, and could only carry back his artillery and army in safety. The Tartars also, on learning the wish of the commander, regarded it as a hopeful circumstance, and willingly fell in with the conditions proposed, that they should make peace with the prince by sending ambassadors to Moscow; which being thus settled, the General Palitzki raised the siege, and marched to Moscow with his army. There was a report that the general had been bribed with presents from the Tartars to raise the siege; and this report was strengthened by the fact, that a certain Savoyard had been caught in the attempt to decamp to the enemy with the gun which had been intrusted to him, and acknowledged, upon close examination, that he had received from the enemy silver money and Tartar goblets, that he might induce many to desert with him; but although taken in so manifest a crime, the general did not inflict a very heavy punishment upon him.
After this withdrawal of the army, which was said to have
