Folio 246: Jefferyes to De la Faye. The letters we lastly received from Samland mostly...

Folio 246: Jefferyes to De la Faye. The letters we lastly received from Samland mostly concerned the ruin caused by Admiral Apraxin by reducing to cinders the town of Nordkopping, where there had been 500 houses and several well-furnished palaces, and all the castles, land and Royal country houses between Geevel and Nordkopping. Similarly the iron and copper mines had bombs and grenades thrown at them and were likewise burnt or destroyed so that the damage caused by the Russians came to several millions of ecus. The same letters added that the Admiral had a plan to push further and attach Stockholm similarly, but the return of Osterman and the letters from the queen of Sweden to the Czar had made him suspend hostilities for some time, because she had proved to be well disposed to a peace, although unable to clinch it as promptly as she would wish, having her hands tied from deciding something without the consent of the states and senators who were mostly dispersed and could not be summoned during the troubles. To overcome these difficultjes she had asked the Czar in the same letter for a suspension of hostilities. The Czar finds the season too advanced to finish the work and fortifications at Samland and is resolved to winter his warships. [The remainder of a letter repeats f.242 above]. Dated Revel, 24 Aug 1719. French.