"Let it be known to you," he said, "that I decided to take revenge on the Panama Poles with a war not only for my own insult, but for defying the Russian faith and desecrating the Russian people. I am powerless, but you help me, get together and send at least 2 or 3 people from each village."
“We are now praying to God,” they answered him, “to send someone to take revenge on our misfortunes. Raise your arms, we will stand with you, the Russian land will rise as it has never risen before.”
Thus, in the towns and villages of Khmelnitsy, he made friends who won over the rest of the inhabitants in his favor, and therefore, after the birth of the city, they immediately opened the gates for him, and ready-made detachments of warriors were sent to him from the Russian lands.
At home, Khmelnytsky gathered the most prominent Cossacks, showed them the royal charter and proposed to achieve freedom for the Cossacks and the Russian people. The Poles learned about this gathering and wanted to execute Khmelnitsky, but he was no longer in Ukraine: in the hospitable S$cha he found shelter and protection. The Polish detachment sent in pursuit of him was dispersed by the Cossacks; Khmelnitsky's head was cut off.
At that time, the SEC was located on Mykytin Rog, and here Khmelnitsy outlined how Ukraine should endure, how the faith had been desecrated, told his personal grievances and showed the royal letter. The elders decided to start a war with Poland, but first ask the Tatars for help; and in order to prevent this from reaching the Poles, a rumor was spread that elected officials would be sent with a request to confirm the rights given to the Cossacks and remove all Poles from the Cossack elders. This deceived the lords, despite the Jews reporting that something was being hidden among the people.
A decree was issued not to allow anyone into Zaporozhye and to take away weapons from the residents, but despite these measures, many people fled to Sich. While the gentlemen calmed themselves with the thought that all this fuss would end in nothing, Khmelnitsky was already in the Crimea with the khan and was asking for help.
The Poles paid tribute to the Tatars so that they would not attack the Polish government; However, lately the Tatars have been very dissatisfied with Poland, which has not sent anything to Crimea for several years. In addition, the Tatars were always happy to plunder; Therefore, the khan received Khmelnitsky kindly and allowed the Perekop Murz Tugai-Bey to help the Cossacks. To be cautious, he took Khielnitsky’s son, Timooey, hostage.
On April 18, 1648, Khmelnitsky arrived in Och; 4 thousand Tatars stopped several miles away from her at the Bozavluk r5fk. By this time in SFchi a large crowd of people gathered, all the Cossacks who were on leave appeared, and crowds of fugitives from the Ukraine continually arrived; The hunting camp was stationed in Sjcha itself, and the cavalry was stationed in the meadows near Diepres. No one knew for sure why the Koshevoi was convening the Rada and when exactly it would be. Finally, in the evening on the day of Khmelnytsky’s birthday, 3 cannon shots rang out one after another from the fortress rampart: this meant that there would be joy in the morning. Once again the cannon roared three times, and clouds of mounted Cossacks appeared in the steppe. At noon the timpani were struck and the rada began; The crowd of people was so great that in the village itself they could not accommodate everyone, and therefore the rada was transferred to a vast meadow beyond the village.
Koshevoy spoke about the insults suffered by the Ukrainians from the Poles, about the desecration of the Orthodox faith, announced a campaign and said that at the request of Khmelnitsky, the Crimean Khan himself would help them, who had so far sent 4 thousand Tatars under the command of Tugai Bey, and that this detachment would cost about the Sech.
“Glory and honor to Khmelnitsky,” everyone shouted, “Ukraine is like a flock without a shepherd: let Khmelnitsy be its head, and we, as many of us as there are, are ready to go against the Poles, help Khmelnitsky until his last breath!”
Then the Koshevoi sent a clerk to the military treasury, and from there they brought military kleynots: the royal banner given to the Cossacks by Vladislav, a horsetail with a gilded ball, a gilded mace with colored stones and a silver military seal.
Koshevoy and the elders covered Khmelnytsky with caps, handed him military kleynots and proclaimed him hetman of the Zaporizhian troops. However, Khmelnytsky refused this invitation, saying that he would only accept the title of “senior,” since he was chosen by the Cossacks alone, and not by the whole of Ukraine.
her
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]