THE SWEDISH CONNECTION 351
(1635) with Sweden, settled the main outstanding conflicts. The Vistula Trade
flourished. Religious discord was soothed, and in 1635 the King invited the var-
ious denominations to reconcile themselves in a public 'conversation of love'. In
the Ukraine after the pacification of 1638, there followed a golden decade of
quiet. Such was the illusion of well-being that in his address to the Sejm in 1646
the Chancellor, Jerzy Ossolinski, could boast how 'the Poles have planted on
our open plains a free kingdom which is bounded only by the wall of love and
common trust between the estates.'
By this time, however, it was also known through Koniecpolski's spies that
the Cossacks were treating with the Khan of Crimea. It was not considered
unduly dangerous. Indeed, the King took it as a splendid opportunity for a final
reckoning with the Tartars and with the preoccupied Turks. He called a dele-
gation of Cossack leaders to Warsaw, among them Chmielnicki, drew them into
his confidence, confirmed their ancient privileges, and prepared them for a joint
expedition against the infidels. What went wrong thereafter is not entirely clear.
The King's Turkish expedition was opposed in the Sejm. Koniecpolski, the one
man who might have led it with success, died. Jarema Wisniowiecki, Wojewoda
of Ruthenia, decided to lead it himself. In 1647, in defiance of both King and
Sejm, and at the head of 26,000 men raised from his own plantations, he
marched towards the Crimea. Chmielnicki was outraged, deeply betrayed by
the abrogation of his agreement with the King. So, instead of joining the expe-
dition to the Crimea, he attacked it. Instead of fighting the Tartars, he called
them to his aid, and set off in search of justice.
The rebellion of Bogdan Chmielnicki produced effects far exceeding its orig-
inal aims. Marching westward from the Cossack sich (their main camp or set-
tlement) on the Dnieper, he won two signal engagements against the armies of
the Republic, at Zotte Wody and at Korsun, and approached the Vistula. He
seems to have had no clear intention except that of pressing his grievances and
those of the Cossacks on the King in person. In all his early correspondence, he
signed himself under the title of 'Hetman of His Gracious Majesty's
Zaporozhian Host'. But the sudden death of the King in May 1648 left him
stranded, and his failure to reach agreement with Jan Kazimierz, whose election
he had supported, obliged him to fight on. Meanwhile, the ungoverned
Ukrainian provinces were ravaged by rampant peasant bands and by the savage
reprisals of the magnates headed by Wisniowiecki. These killings closed the
door to compromise. On 29-30 June 1651 at Beresteczko, Chmielnicki was
routed. Driven back towards the Dnieper, he looked round for assistance.
Inevitably, his plight alerted the Muscovites, and in January 1654, at Perejaslaw,
he swore an oath of allegiance to Tsar Alexei Michailovitch. That same spring,
the armies of the Tsar invaded the Republic on two fronts. In turn, the
Muscovite invasion alarmed the Swedes. In 1655, the Swedish King, Charles X,
descended on the Republic from Pomerania and Livonia. His operations
provoked the intervention in 1656 of the Great Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia,
followed in 1657 by George Rakocsi, Prince of Transylvania. These were the