THE NOBLE DEMOCRACY 263to, together with the Cossacks under Colonel Czop... Not an hour and a half passed
before they had cut our men down. High-ranking officers perished, including
Czarniecki's commanders, those valiant veterans who in Denmark and Muscovy ... had
accomplished such marvels ... And God, on account of our discords, let it happen. He
took away the flower of our brave cavaliers, who had always withstood the onslaughts
of the enemy.
In this battle, everything was in confusion. We had great trouble to discern who was
friend and who was foe. Before attacking anyone, we first had to ask 'Whose army are
you in?'... If friend fell upon friend, they rode off after exchanging a greeting. For it did
happen that one brother might be with Lubomirsky, and the other with the King; the
father here, and the son there, not knowing whether to do battle. To be sure, they did
carry distinguishing marks—kerchiefs tied on the left arm. But we were slow to spot this.
For my part, when they started to press us rather hard, I tied something on my arm above
the elbow.... They identify me, and cry, 'Are you ours, or not?' Raising my arm, I say
'Yours'. But suddenly one of them cries, 'O you sly dog, you're not ours: clear off, or sur-
render!'
When the battle was finished, a horseman rode over from Lubomirsky's army, and
ambles up to Colonel Czop, who pays no attention, thinking him one of his own men.
Then he fired into the Colonel's ear with a pistol, and kills him on the spot. So treacher-
ous was that war. God grant it may never befall our Poland again.
When I recrossed the ford into our own lines, I found the King in a state of distress,
wringing his hands.... He sent to Lubomirsky to confront him on the field like a knight
in open battle, not furtively like a wolf. But Lubomirsky answered, 'it is not for me to
meet My Lord in open battle, but simply as an offended citizen to protect myself as best
I can. I am not responsible for this loss of innocent blood, which grieves me indeed. It is
Your Highness himself who is responsible, and those fine counsellors who have brought
us to this sorry pass in order to destroy our country .. .'^16
On that day, some two thousand noblemen perished for no clear purpose.
Lubomirski destroyed the King's authority, without putting anything in its
place. After the Treaty of Legonice, he himself retired into exile in Austrian
Silesia. The King resolved to abdicate. The basic constitutional problems
remained unresolved. What was worse, the internal divisions of the Republic
accelerated the progress of external dangers. Whilst the Royal Army was squar-
ing up to fight Lubomirski in the west, it abandoned its duty of holding the east-
ern borders in the Ukraine against the Muscovites. Lubomirski, obsessed by the
hypothetical threat of the King's electoral schemes, obstructed all effective
defence against the actual military menace of the Muscovite invasion. In
January 1667, faced by the prospect of a further Muscovite offensive into
defenceless territory, the King was obliged to sign the Truce of Andrusovo. At
the time, the cession of Smolensk, Czernihow, Kiev, and the left-bank Ukraine,
was regarded in Poland as a tactical manoeuvre, a temporary withdrawal dic-
tated by the Army's preoccupation with the civil war. There was every
confidence that it could be reversed. In fact, it proved to be permanent. The
ceded territories were never recovered, but served instead to give the Muscovites
a preponderance of resources which was felt in all future confrontations.