♦Proposals of peace.♦ The liveliest alarm prevailed in Poland. The Senate called out the Pospolite and placed Prince Radziwill at its head; but the assembling of such a body was necessarily slow. Meantime another engagement took place at Zurawno (October 8th), in which 2,000 Turks were slain; but John failed to break through the enemy’s lines, and was once nearly surrounded and cut off from his men by a body of janissaries. When however the siege had lasted nearly twenty days, the Tartan khan, whose dominion was menaced by the Muscovites,[69] pressed Ibrahim to conclude a peace. The Seraskier knew the straits to which the Poles were reduced, and he therefore sent an envoy to propose the ratification of the treaty of Buczacz and an offensive alliance against Muscovy. ♦Refused by the king.♦ John replied shortly that he would hang the next man who brought him such a message. The bombardment recommenced, and the soldiers murmured against their king’s obstinacy. Paz repaired to the royal tent and announced his intention to desert. “Desert who will,” cried John, “the Turks shall not reach the heart of the republic without passing over my corpse.” He then rode down the ranks, and reminding the soldiers that he had extricated them from many a worse plight, he gaily asked them if his head were enfeebled by the weight of a crown. Yet he passed the night in the gravest anxiety, and when morning broke (October 14th) he quitted his lines and drew up his whole force in order of battle. ♦Ibrahim proposes fairer terms.♦ The Turks were astounded; and the Tartars cried out that there was magic in his boldness. Brave though he was, Ibrahim dared not face the chances of a defeat. He knew that the Pospolite was approaching; he suspected that the Tartars had been bought over; and he saw winter rapidly closing in. Above all, he remembered that his instructions were pacific, and that a serious reverse might cost him his head. ♦Peace of Zurawno.♦ Before the armies engaged, he proposed a peace upon honourable terms. No mention was now made of tribute. The Porte was to retain only Kaminiec and a third of the Ukraine; the question of Podolia was referred to a subsequent conference; each army was to restore its prisoners of war. It is said that Sobieski, with the sentiments of a Christian knight, inserted an article to provide for the establishment of a Latin guard at the Holy Sepulchre.[70] After witnessing the release of 15,000 captives, and the departure of the Turks (October 16th), John retraced his steps to Zolkiew. He soon encountered the Pospolite, which was advancing to his relief, and the two armies celebrated the conclusion of peace with a grand flourish of trumpets.