Such was the baron de Gortz, and such his actions, which have not hitherto been sufficiently known. There have been instances of an Oxenstiern, a Richlieu, and an Alberoni, influencing the affairs of all parts of Europe; but that the privy counsellor of a bishop of Lubec should do the same as they, without his conduct being avowed by any one, is a thing hitherto unheard of. June, 1713.] Nevertheless he succeeded to his wishes in the beginning; for he made a treaty with the king of Prussia, by which that monarch engaged, on condition of keeping Stetin in sequestration, to preserve the rest of Pomerania for Charles XII. In virtue of this treaty, Gortz made a proposal to the governor of Pomerania, Meyerfeld, to give up the fortress of Stetin to the king of Prussia for the sake of peace, thinking that the Swedish governor of Stetin would prove as easy to be persuaded as the Holsteiner who had the command of Toningen; but the officers of Charles XII. were not accustomed to obey such orders. Meyerfeld made answer, that no one should enter Stetin but over his dead body and the ruins of the place, and immediately sent notice to his master of the strange proposal. The messenger at his arrival found Charles prisoner at Demirtash, in consequence of his adventure at Bender, and it was doubtful, at that time, whether he would not remain all his life in confinement in Turkey, or else be banished to some of the islands in the Archipelago, or some part of Asia under the dominion of the Ottoman Porte. However Charles from his prison sent the same orders to Meyerfeld, as he had before done to Steinbock; namely, rather to perish than to submit to his enemies, and even commanded him to take his inflexibility for his example.