nly instrumental in placing Augustus II. on
the throne of Poland; Anna was consequently sure of his sympathy and
cooeperation. She also sent to Austria to secure the alliance of the
emperor. Charles VI., though his army was in a state of decay and his
treasury empty, eagerly embarked in the enterprise. He was in a
continued state of apprehension from the threatened invasion of the
Turks. He hoped also, aided by the powerful arm of Russia, to be able to
gain territories in the east which would afford some compensation for
his enormous losses in the south and in the west.

While negotiations were pending, the Russian armies were already on the
march. They took Azof after a siege of but a fortnight, and then overran
and took possession of the whole Crimea, driving the Turks before them.
Charles VI. was a very scrupulous Roman Catholic, and was animated to
the strife by the declaration of his confessor that it was his duty, as
a Christian prince, to aid in extirpating the enemies of the Church of
Christ. The Turks were greatly alarmed by these successes of the
Russians, and by the formidable preparations of the other powers allied
against them.

The emperor hoped that fortune, so long adverse, was now turning in his
favor. He collected a large force on the frontiers of Turkey, and
intrusted the command to General Seckendorf. The general hastened into
Hungary to the rendezvous of the troops. He found the army in a
deplorable condition. The treasury being exhausted, they were but poorly
supplied with the necessaries of war, and the generals and contractors
had contrived to appropriate to themselves most of the funds which had
been furnished. The general wrote to the emperor, presenting a
lamentable picture of the destitution of the army.

"I can not," he said, "consistently with my duty to God and the emperor,
conceal the miserable condition of the barracks and the hospitals. The
troops, crowded together without sufficient bedding to cover them, are a
prey to innumerable disorders, and are exposed to the rain, and other
inclemencies of the weather, from the dilapidated state of the caserns,
the roofs of which are in perpetual danger of being overthrown by the
wind. All the frontier fortresses, and even Belgrade, are incapable of
the smallest resistance, as well from the dilapidated state of the
fortifications as from a total want of artillery, ammunition and other
requisites. The naval armament is in a state of irreparable