hose, for their
sovereign, Ladislaus, son of Sigismond, the King of Poland. They
hoped thus to withdraw the Polish armies from the banners of the
pretended Dmitri, and also to secure peace for their war-blasted
kingdom.

Ladislaus accepted the crown. Zuski was seized, deposed, shaved,
dressed in a friar's robe and shut up in a convent to count his beads.
He soon died of that malignant poison, grief. Dmitri made a show of
opposition, but he was soon assassinated by his own men, who were
convinced of the hopelessness of his cause. His party, however, lasted
for many years, bringing forward a young man who was called his son.
At one time there was quite an enthusiasm in his favor, crowds flocked
to his camp, and he even sent embassadors to Gustavus IX., King of
Sweden, proposing an alliance. At last he was betrayed by some of his
own party, and was sent to Moscow, where he was hanged.

Sigismond was much perplexed in deciding whether to consent to his
son's accepting the crown of Russia. That kingdom was now in such a
state of confusion and weakness that he was quite sanguine that he
would be able to conquer it by force of arms and bring the whole
empire under the dominion of his own scepter. His armies were already
besieging Smolensk, and the city was hourly expected to fall into
their hands. This would open to them almost an unobstructed march to
Moscow. The Poles, generally warlike and ambitious of conquest,
represented to Sigismond that it would be far more glorious for him to
be the conqueror of Russia than to be merely the father of its tzar.

Sigismond, with trivial excuses, detained his son in Poland, while,
under various pretexts, he continued to pour his troops into Russia.
Ten thousand armed Poles were sent to Moscow to be in readiness to
receive the newly-elected monarch upon his arrival. Their general,
Stanislaus, artfully contrived even to place a thousand of these
Polish troops in garrison in the citadel of Moscow. These foreign
soldiers at last became so insolent that there was a general rising
of the populace, and they were threatened with utter extermination.
The storm of passion thus raised, no earthly power could quell. The
awful slaughter was commenced, and the Poles, conscious of their
danger, resorted to the horrible but only measure which could save
them from destruction. They immediately set fire to the city in many
different places. The city then consisted of one hundred and eighty
thousand ho