362 SOBIESKI
it promised to offset the manoeuvres of the Habsburg faction in the Republic's
internal affairs; and it opened the way for an expedition to re-establish Polish
suzerainty over Prussia. For their part, the French would be delighted to estab-
lish an eastern base from which they could direct operations in Hungary, and
against Vienna. The Treaty was signed at Jaworow on 11 July 1675. Sobieski
was to receive a French subsidy of 200,000 thalers to mount an expedition
against Brandenburg-Prussia as soon as the Turkish campaign was terminated.
A rapprochement was to be arranged with Sweden. The French were to be
allowed to establish contacts with the Hungarians from the Republic's territory.
Sobieski had brought the Republic into the main tangle of European politics. He
seemed to have made a firm choice on the position to be adopted in the Franco-
Imperial struggle. He was immediately regarded as the Sun King's chief lieu-
tenant in the east, and established contacts with Francophile parties all over
Europe. He wrote to Charles II in England and invited him to be godfather to
his newly born daughter. In 1677, he signed a convention with the Swedes at
Danzig.^6
The calculations of 1675 soon proved to be ill-founded. Many of the pieces
required for the proposed French gambit were shown to be seriously out of
place. To start with, the invincible Swedish Army which had advanced south-
wards out of Livonia, was soundly trounced by the Prussians at Fehrbellin, and
was chased back to Riga. This made the chances of success for the prospective
Polish expedition against Prussia very bleak indeed. Secondly, the Porte refused
to make peace. Gninski's embassy was a failure. Thirdly, Moscow succeeded
where Gninski failed. A Turko-Muscovite treaty was signed in 1677. Any Polish
involvement in Prussia, or against Austria would run the risk of a stab in the
back from Muscovy. Fourthly, the excesses of the French party in Poland threat-
ened to revive the armed confederations in 1672. The new Grand Hetman,
Dymitr Wisniowiecki, was hatching a plot with Vienna to remove Sobieski.
Fifthly, the Sejm refused to ratify the Treaty of Jaworow. Hence the King's pol-
icy was already seriously undermined before it collapsed completely. In 1679,
Louis XIV made his peace with the Emperor at Nyjmegen, and signed a treaty
with Prussia without reference to Poland. At Kurfurst, the Prussians defeated
the Swedes for a second time. Sobieski was humiliated, isolated, and furious.
From this point on, he smiled on the Imperialist camp in Poland, as French
influence waned. The Turks under their new Grand Vizier, Kara Mustafa, were
known to be yearning for a new round of the Holy War. In 1683, after four years
of wavering, the die was cast. As the Turkish horde prepared to move swiftly
out of Belgrade on the shortest road to Vienna, the French ambassador in
Warsaw was discovered in treasonable correspondence, and had to be expelled.
When the Emperor Leopold II appealed for urgent help, Sobieski was well dis-
posed. On 1 April an agreement of mutual assistance was signed with the
Imperial ambassador, Count Waldstein. Sobieski was to receive a subsidy of
1,200,000 ducats to send a relief expedition to Vienna, and was promised the
appointment of Commander-in-Chief of the allied forces if he attended the siege