1 files changed, 18315 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/16070.txt b/16070.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6dca2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/16070.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,18315 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present
+Power, by John S. C. Abbott
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present Power
+
+
+Author: John S. C. Abbott
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 15, 2005  [eBook #16070]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA; ITS RISE
+AND PRESENT POWER***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Curtis Weyant, David King, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team from page images generously made
+available by the Making of America Collection of the University of
+Michigan Library (http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/)
+
+
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through the Making of
+      America Collection of the University of Michigan Library. See
+      http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
+
+
+
+
+
+The Monarchies of Continental Europe
+
+THE EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA; ITS RISE AND PRESENT POWER
+
+by
+
+JOHN S. C. ABBOTT
+
+New York;
+Published by Mason Brothers,
+Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co.
+Stereotyped by
+Thomas B. Smith,
+82 & 84 Beekman St.
+Printed By
+C. A. Alvord.
+15 Vandewater St.
+
+1859
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The studies of the author of this work, for the last ten years, in
+writing the "History of Napoleon Bonaparte," and "The French Revolution
+of 1789," have necessarily made him quite familiar with the monarchies
+of Europe. He has met with so much that was strange and romantic in
+their career, that he has been interested to undertake, as it were, a
+_biography_ of the Monarchies of Continental Europe--their birth,
+education, exploits, progress and present condition. He has commenced
+with Austria.
+
+There are abundant materials for this work. The Life of Austria embraces
+all that is wild and wonderful in history; her early struggles for
+aggrandizement--the fierce strife with the Turks, as wave after wave of
+Moslem invasion rolled up the Danube--the long conflicts and bloody
+persecutions of the Reformation--the thirty years' religious war--the
+meteoric career of Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII. shooting athwart
+the lurid storms of battle--the intrigues of Popes--the enormous pride,
+power and encroachments of Louis XIV.--the warfare of the Spanish
+succession and the Polish dismemberment--all these events combine in a
+sublime tragedy which fiction may in vain attempt to parallel.
+
+It is affecting to observe in the history of Germany, through what woes
+humanity has passed in attaining even its present position of
+civilization. It is to be hoped that the human family may never again
+suffer what it has already endured. We shall be indeed insane if we do
+not gain some wisdom from the struggles and the calamities of those who
+have gone before us. The narrative of the career of the Austrian Empire,
+must, by contrast, excite emotions of gratitude in every American bosom.
+Our lines have fallen to us in pleasant places; we have a goodly
+heritage.
+
+It is the author's intention soon to issue, as the second of this
+series, the History of the Empire of Russia.
+
+JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
+
+Brunswick, Maine, 1859.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+RHODOLPH  OF  HAPSBURG.
+From 1232 to 1291.
+
+Hawk's Castle.--Albert, Count of Hapsburg.--Rhodolph of Hapsburg.--His
+Marriage and Estates.--Excommunication and its Results.--His Principles
+of Honor.--A Confederacy of Barons.--Their Route.--Rhodolph's Election
+as Emperor of Germany.--The Bishop's Warning.--Dissatisfaction at the
+Result of the Election.--Advantages accruing from the Possession of an
+interesting Family.--Conquest.--Ottocar acknowledges the Emperor; yet
+breaks his Oath of Allegiance.--Gathering Clouds.--Wonderful
+Escape.--Victory of Rhodolph.--His Reforms. Page 17
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+REIGNS OF ALBERT I., FREDERIC, ALBERT AND OTHO.
+From 1291 to 1347.
+
+Anecdotes of Rhodolph.--His Desire for the Election of his Son.--His
+Death.--Albert.--His Unpopularity.--Conspiracy of the Nobles.--Their
+Defeat.--Adolphus of Nassau chosen Emperor.--Albert's Conspiracy.--
+Deposition of Adolphus and Election of Albert.--Death of Adolphus.--The
+Pope Defied.--Annexation of Bohemia.--Assassination of Albert.--Avenging
+Fury.--The Hermit's Direction.--Frederic the Handsome.--Election of
+Henry, Count of Luxemburg.--His Death.--Election of Louis of
+Bavaria.--Capture of Frederic.--Remarkable Confidence toward a
+Prisoner.--Death of Frederic.--An early Engagement.--Death of
+Louis.--Accession of Albert. Page 34
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+RHODOLPH II., ALBERT IV. AND ALBERT V.
+From 1389 to 1437.
+
+Rhodolph II.--Marriage of John to Margaret.--Intriguing for the
+Tyrol.--Death of Rhodolph.--Accession of Power to Austria.--Dividing the
+Empire.--Delight of the Emperor Charles.--Leopold.--His Ambition and
+successes.--Hedwige, Queen of Poland.--"The Course of true Love never
+did run smooth."--Unhappy Marriage of Hedwige.--Heroism of Arnold of
+Winkelreid.--Death of Leopold.--Death of Albert IV.--Accession Of Albert
+V.--Attempts of Sigismond to bequeath to Albert V. Hungary and Bohemia.
+Page 48
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+ALBERT, LADISLAUS AND FREDERIC.
+From 1440 to 1489.
+
+Increasing Honors of Albert V.--Encroachments of the Turks.--The
+Christians Routed.--Terror of the Hungarians.--Death of Albert.--
+Magnanimous Conduct of Albert of Bavaria.--Internal Troubles.--Precocity
+of Ladislaus.--Fortifications Raised by the Turks.--John Capistrun.--
+Rescue of Belgrade.--The Turks Dispersed.--Exultation over the
+Victory.--Death of Hunniades.--Jealousy of Ladislaus.--His
+Death.--Brotherly Quarrels.--Devastations by the Turks.--Invasion of
+Austria.--Repeal of the Compromise.--The Emperor a Fugitive. Page 68
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+THE EMPERORS FREDERIC II. AND MAXIMILIAN I.
+From 1477 to 1500.
+
+Wanderings of the Emperor Frederic.--Proposed Alliance with the Duke of
+Burgundy.--Mutual Distrust.--Marriage of Mary.--The Age of
+Chivalry.--The Motive inducing the Lord of Praunstein to Declare
+War.--Death of Frederic II.--The Emperor's Secret.--Designs of the
+Turks.--Death of Mahomet II.--First Establishment of Standing
+Armies.--Use of Gunpowder.--Energy of Maximilian.--French
+Aggressions.--The League to Expel the French.--Disappointments of
+Maximilian.--Bribing the Pope.--Invasion of Italy.--Capture and
+Recapture.--The Chevalier de Bayard. Page 77
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+MAXIMILIAN I.
+From 1500 to 1519.
+
+Base Treachery of the Swiss Soldiers.--Perfidy of Ferdinand of
+Arragon.--Appeals by Superstition.--Coalition with Spain.--The League of
+Cambray.--Infamy of the Pope.--The King's Apology.--Failure of the
+Plot.--Germany Aroused.--Confidence of Maximilian.--Longings for the
+Pontifical Chair.--Maximilian Bribed.--Leo X.--Dawning Prosperity.--
+Matrimonial Projects.--Commencement of the War of Reformation.--Sickness
+of Maximilian.--His Last Directions.--His Death.--The Standard by which
+his Character is to be Judged. Page 91
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+CHARLES V. AND THE REFORMATION.
+From 1519 to 1581.
+
+Charles V. of Spain.--His Election as Emperor of Germany.--His
+Coronation.--The First Constitution.--Progress of the Reformation.--The
+Pope's Bull against Luther.--His Contempt for his Holiness.--The Diet at
+Worms.--Frederic's Objection to the Condemnation of Luther by the
+Diet.--He obtains for Luther the Right of Defense.--Luther's triumphal
+March to the Tribunal.--Charles urged to Violate his Safe Conduct.--
+Luther's Patmos.--Marriage of Sister Catharine Bora to Luther.--Terrible
+Insurrection.--The Holy League.--The Protest of Spires.--Confession of
+Augsburg.--The Two Confessions.--Compulsory Measures. Page 106
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+CHARLES V. AND THE REFORMATION.
+From 1531 to 1552.
+
+Determination to crush Protestantism.--Incursion of the Turks.--Valor of
+the Protestants.--Preparations for renewed Hostilities.--Augmentation of
+the Protestant Forces.--The Council of Trent.--Mutual Consternation.--
+Defeat of the Protestant Army.--Unlooked-for Succor.--Revolt in the
+Emperor's Army.--The Fluctuations of Fortune.--Ignoble Revenge.--Capture
+of Wittemberg.--Protestantism apparently crushed.--Plot against
+Charles.--Maurice of Saxony.--A Change of Scene.--The Biter Bit--The
+Emperor humbled.--His Flight.--His determined Will. Page 121
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+CHARLES V. AND THE TURKISH WARS.
+From 1552 to 1555.
+
+The Treaty of Passau.--The Emperor yields.--His continued Reverses.--The
+Toleration Compromise.--Mutual Dissatisfaction.--Remarkable Despondency
+of the Emperor Charles.--His Address to the Convention at Brussels.--
+The Convent of St. Justus.--Charles returns to Spain.--His Convent
+Life.--The Mock Burial.--His Death.--His Traits of Character.--The
+King's Compliment to Titian.--The Condition of Austria.--Rapid Advance
+of the Turks.--Reasons for the Inaction of the Christians.--The Sultan's
+Method of Overcoming Difficulties.--The little Fortress of Guntz.--What
+it accomplished. Page 186
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+FERDINAND I.--HIS WARS AND INTRIGUES.
+From 1555 to 1562.
+
+John of Tapoli.--The Instability of Compacts.--The Sultan's Demands.--A
+Reign of War.--Powers and Duties of the Monarchs of Bohemia.--The
+Diet.--The King's Desire to crush Protestantism.--The Entrance to
+Prague.--Terror of the Inhabitants.--The King's Conditions.--The Bloody
+Diet.--Disciplinary Measures.--The establishment of the Order of
+Jesuits.--Abdication of Charles V. in Favor of Ferdinand.--Power of the
+Pope.--Paul IV.--A quiet but powerful Blow.--The Progress of the
+Reformers.--Attempts to reconcile the Protestants.--The unsuccessful
+Assembly. Page 151
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+DEATH OF FERDINAND I.--ACCESSION OF MAXIMILIAN II.
+From 1562 to 1576.
+
+The Council of Trent.--Spread of the Reformation.--Ferdinand's Attempt
+to influence the Pope.--His Arguments against Celibacy.--Stubbornness of
+the Pope.--Maximilian II.--Displeasure of Ferdinand.--Motives for not
+abjuring the Catholic Faith.--Religious Strife in Europe.--Maximilian's
+Address to Charles IX.--Mutual Toleration.--Romantic Pastime of
+War.--Heroism of Nicholas, Count of Zeini.--Accession of Power to
+Austria.--Accession of Rhodolph III.--Death of Maximilian. Page 166
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+CHARACTER OF MAXIMILIAN.--SUCCESSION OF RHODOLPH III.
+From 1576 to 1604.
+
+Character of Maximilian.--His Accomplishments.--His Wife.--Fate of his
+Children.--Rhodolph III.--The Liberty of Worship.--Means of
+Emancipation.--Rhodolph's Attempts against Protestantism.--Declaration
+of a higher Law.--Theological Differences.--The Confederacy at
+Heilbrun.--The Gregorian Calendar.--Intolerance in Bohemia.--The Trap of
+the Monks.--Invasion of the Turks.--Their Defeat.--Coalition with
+Sigismond.--Sale of Transylvania.--Rule of Basta.--The Empire captured
+and recaptured.--Devastation of the Country.--Treatment of Stephen
+Botskoi. Page 182
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+RHODOLPH III. AND MATTHIAS.
+From 1604 to 1609.
+
+Botskoi's Manifesto.--Horrible Suffering in Transylvania.--Character of
+Botskoi.--Confidence of the Protestants.--Superstition of Rholdoph.--His
+Mystic Studies.--Acquirements of Matthias.--Schemes of Matthias.--His
+increasing power.--Treaty with the Turks.--Demands on Rhodolph.--The
+Compromise.--Perfidy of Matthias.--The Margravite.--Fillisbustering.--
+The People's Diet.--A Hint to Royalty.--The Bloodless Triumph.--Demands
+of the Germans.--Address of the Prince of Anhalt to the King. Page 198
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+RHODOLPH III. AND MATTHIAS.
+From 1609 to 1612.
+
+Difficulties as to the Succession.--Hostility of Henry IV. to the House
+of Austria.--Assassination of Henry IV.--Similarity in Sully's and
+Napoleon's Plans.--Exultation of the Catholics.--The Brother's
+Compact.--How Rhodolph kept it.--Seizure of Prague.--Rhodolph a
+Prisoner.--The King's Abdication.--Conditions Attached to the
+Crown.--Rage of Rhodolph.--Matthias Elected King.--The Emperor's
+Residence.--Rejoicings of The Protestants.--Reply of the Ambassadors.--
+The Nuremberg Diet.--The Unkindest cut of all.--Rhodolph's Humiliation
+and Death. Page 213
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+MATTHIAS.
+From 1612 to 1619.
+
+Matthias Elected Emperor of Germany.--His Despotic Character.--His Plans
+Thwarted.--Mulheim.--Gathering Clouds.--Family Intrigue.--Coronation of
+Ferdinand.--His Bigotry.--Henry, Count of Thurn.--Convention at
+Prague.--The King's Reply.--The Die Cast.--Amusing Defense of an
+Outrage.--Ferdinand's Manifesto.--Seizure of Cardinal Klesis.--The
+King's Rage.--Retreat of the King's Troops.--Humiliation of
+Ferdinand.--The Difficulties Deferred.--Death of Matthias. Page 229
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+FERDINAND II.
+From 1619 to 1621.
+
+Possessions of the Emperor.--Power of the Protestants of Bohemia.--
+General Spirit of Insurrection.--Anxiety of Ferdinand.--Insurrection led
+by Count Thurn.--Unpopularity of the Emperor.--Affecting Declaration of
+the Emperor.--Insurrection in Vienna.--The Arrival of Succor.--Ferdinand
+Seeks the Imperial Throne.--Repudiated by Bohemia.--The Palatinate.--
+Frederic Offered the Crown of Bohemia.--Frederic Crowned.--Revolt in
+Hungary.--Desperate Condition of the Emperor.--Catholic League.--The
+Calvinists and the Puritans.--Duplicity of the Emperor.--Foreign
+Combinations.--Truce between the Catholics and the Protestants.--The
+Attack upon Bohemia.--Battle of the White Mountain. Page 245
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+FERDINAND II.
+From 1621 to 1629.
+
+Pusillanimity of Frederic.--Intreaties of the Citizens of
+Prague.--Shameful Flight of Frederic.--Vengeance Inflicted upon
+Bohemia.--Protestantism and Civil Freedom.--Vast Power of the
+Emperor.--Alarm of Europe.--James I.--Treaty of Marriage for the Prince
+of Wales.--Cardinal Richelieu.--New League of the Protestants.--
+Desolating War.--Defeat of the King of Denmark.--Energy of
+Wallenstein.--Triumph of Ferdinand.--New Acts of Intolerance.--
+Severities in Bohemia.--Desolation of the Kingdom.--Dissatisfaction of
+the Duke of Bavaria.--Meeting of the Catholic Princes.--The Emperor
+Humbled. Page 261
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+FERDINAND II. AND GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
+From 1629 to 1632.
+
+Vexation of Ferdinand.--Gustavus Adolphus.--Address to the Nobles of
+Sweden.--March of Gustavus.--Appeal to the Protestants.--Magdeburg joins
+Gustavus.--Destruction of the City.--Consternation of the
+Protestants.--Exultation of the Catholics.--The Elector of Saxony Driven
+from His Domains.--Battle of Leipsic.--The Swedes penetrate
+Bohemia.--Freedom of Conscience Established.--Death of Tilly.--The
+Retirement of Wallenstein.--The Command Resumed by Wallenstein.--Capture
+of Prague.--Encounter between Wallenstein and Gustavus.--Battle of
+Lutzen.--Death of Gustavus. Page 279
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+FERDINAND II., FERDINAND III. AND LEOPOLD I.
+From 1632 to 1662.
+
+Character of Gustavus Adolphus.--Exultation of the
+Imperialists.--Disgrace of Wallenstein.--He offers to Surrender to the
+Swedish General.--His Assassination.--Ferdinand's son Elected as his
+Successor.--Death of Ferdinand.--Close of the War.--Abdication of
+Christina.--Charles Gustavus.--Preparations for War.--Death of Ferdinand
+III.--Leopold Elected Emperor.--Hostilities Renewed.--Death of Charles
+Gustavus.--Diet Convened.--Invasion of the Turks. Page 295
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+LEOPOLD I.
+From 1662 to 1697.
+
+Invasion of the Turks.--A Treaty Concluded.--Possessions of
+Leopold.--Invasion of the French.--League of Augsburg.--Devastation of
+the Palatinate.--Invasion of Hungary.--Emerio Tekeli.--Union of Emerio
+Tekeli with the Turks.--Leopold Applies to Sobieski.--He Immediately
+Marches to his Aid.--The Turks Conquered.--Sobieski's Triumphal
+Receptions.--Meanness of Leopold.--Revenge upon Hungary.--Peace
+Concluded.--Contest for Spain. Page 311
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+LEOPOLD I. AND THE SPANISH SUCCESSION
+From 1697 to 1710.
+
+The Spanish Succession.--The Impotence of Charles II.--Appeal to the
+Pope.--His Decision.--Death of Charles II.--Accession of Philip
+V.--Indignation of Austria.--The Outbreak of War.--Charles III.
+Crowned.--Insurrection in Hungary.--Defection of Bavaria.--The Battle of
+Blenheim.--Death of Leopold I.--Eleonora.--Accession of Joseph
+I.--Charles XII. of Sweden.--Charles III. of Spain.--Battle of
+Malplaquet.--Charles at Barcelona.--Charles at Madrid. 328
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+JOSEPH I. AND CHARLES VI.
+From 1710 to 1717.
+
+Perplexities in Madrid.--Flight of Charles.--Retreat of the Austrian
+Army.--Stanhope's Division cut off.--Capture of Stanhope.--Staremberg
+assailed.--Retreat to Barcelona.--Attempt to pacify Hungary.--The
+Hungarian Diet.--Baronial crowning of Ragotsky.--Renewal of the
+Hungarian War.--Enterprise of Herbeville.--The Hungarians
+crushed.--Lenity of Joseph.--Death of Joseph.--Accession of Charles
+VI.--His career in Spain.--Capture of Barcelona.--The Siege.--The
+Rescue.--Character of Charles.--Cloisters of Montserrat.--Increased
+Efforts for the Spanish Crown.--Charles Crowned Emperor of Austria and
+Hungary.--Bohemia.--Deplorable Condition of Louis XIV. Page 845
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+CHARLES  VI.
+From 1716 to 1727.
+
+Heroic Decision of Eugene.--Battle of Belgrade.--Utter Rout of the
+Turks.--Possessions of Charles VI.--The Elector of Hanover succeeds to
+the English Throne.--Preparations for War.--State of Italy.--Philip V.
+of Spain.--Diplomatic Agitations.--Palace of St. Ildefonso.--Order of
+the Golden Fleece.--Rejection of Maria Anne.--Contest for the Rock of
+Gibraltar.--Dismissal of Rippeeda.--Treaty of Vienna.--Peace Concluded.
+Page 362
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+CHARLES VI. AND THE POLISH WAR.
+From 1727 to 1735.
+
+Cardinal Fleury.--The Emperor of Austria urges the Pragmatic
+Sanction.--He promises his two Daughters to the two Sons of the Queen of
+Spain.--France, England and Spain unite against Austria.--Charles VI.
+issues Orders to Prepare for War.--His Perplexities.--Secret Overtures
+to England.--The Crown of Poland.--Meeting of the Polish Congress.--
+Stanislaus goes to Poland.--Augustus III. crowned.--War.--Charles sends
+an Army to Lombardy.--Difficulties of Prince Eugene.--Charles's
+Displeasure with England.--Letter to Count Kinsky.--Hostilities Renewed.
+Page 878
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+CHARLES VI. AND THE TURKISH WAR RENEWED.
+From 1735 to 1739.
+
+Anxiety of Austrian Office-holders.--Maria Theresa.--The Duke of
+Lorraine.--Distraction of the Emperor.--Tuscany assigned to the Duke of
+Lorraine.--Death of Eugene.--Rising Greatness of Russia.--New War with
+the Turks.--Condition of the Army.--Commencement of Hostilities--Capture
+of Nissa.--Inefficient Campaign.--Disgrace of Seckendorf.--The Duke of
+Lorraine placed in Command.--Siege of Orsova.--Belgrade besieged by the
+Turks.--The third Campaign.--Battle of Crotzka.--Defeat of the
+Austrians.--Consternation in Vienna.--Barbarism of the Turks.--The
+Surrender of Belgrade.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+MARIA THERESA.
+From 1739 to 1741.
+
+Anguish of the King.--Letter to the Queen of Russia.--The Imperial
+Circular.--Deplorable Condition of Austria.--Death of Charles
+VI.--Accession of Maria Theresa.--Vigorous Measures of the Queen.--Claim
+of the Duke of Bavaria.--Responses from the Courts.--Coldness of the
+French Court.--Frederic of Prussia.--His Invasion of Silesia.--March of
+the Austrians.--Battle of Molnitz.--Firmness of Maria Theresa.--Proposed
+Division of Plunder.--Villainy of Frederic.--Interview with the
+King.--Character of Frederic.--Commencement of the General Invasion.
+Page 411
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+MARIA THERESA.
+From 1741 to 1743.
+
+Character of Francis, Duke of Lorraine.--Policy of European
+Courts.--Plan of the Allies.--Siege of Prague.--Desperate Condition of
+the Queen--Her Coronation in Hungary.--Enthusiasm of the Barons.--Speech
+of Maria Theresa.--Peace with Frederic of Prussia.--His
+Duplicity.--Military Movement of the Duke of Lorraine.--Battle of
+Chazleau.--Second Treaty with Frederic.--Despondency of the Duke of
+Bavaria.--March of Mallebois.--Extraordinary Retreat of
+Belleisle.--Recovery of Prague by the Queen. Page 427
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+MARIA THERESA.
+From 1743 to 1748.
+
+Prosperous Aspect of Austrian Affairs.--Capture of Egea.--Vast Extent of
+Austria.--Dispute with Sardinia.--Marriage of Charles of Lorraine with
+the Queen's Sister.--Invasion of Alsace.--Frederic overruns
+Bohemia.--Bohemia recovered by Prince Charles.--Death of the Emperor
+Charles VII.--Venality of the old Monarchies.--Battle of
+Hohenfriedberg.--Sir Thomas Robinson's Interview with Maria
+Theresa.--Hungarian Enthusiasm.--The Duke of Lorraine Elected
+Emperor.--Continuation of the War.--Treaty of Peace.--Indignation of
+Maria Theresa. Page 444
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+MARIA THERESA.
+From 1748 to 1759.
+
+Treaty of Peace.--Dissatisfaction of Maria Theresa.--Preparation for
+War.--Rupture between England and Austria.--Maria Theresa.--Alliance
+with France.--Influence of Marchioness of Pompadour.--Bitter Reproaches
+between Austria And England.--Commencement of the Seven Years' War.--
+Energy of Frederic of Prussia.--Sanguinary Battles.--Vicissitudes of
+War.--Desperate Situation of Frederic.--Elation of Maria Theresa.--Her
+Ambitious Plans.--Awful Defeat of the Prussians at Berlin. Page 461
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+MARIA THERESA.
+From 1759 to 1780.
+
+Desolations of War.--Disasters of Prussia.--Despondency of Frederic.--
+Death of the Empress Elizabeth.--Accession of Paul III.--Assassination
+of Paul III.--Accession Of Catharine.--Discomfiture of the Austrians.--
+Treaty of Peace.--Election of Joseph to the Throne of the Empire.--Death
+of Francis.--Character of Francis.--Anecdotes.--Energy of Maria
+Theresa.--Poniatowski.--Partition of Poland.--Maria Theresa as a
+Mother.--War with Bavaria.--Peace.--Death of Maria Theresa.--Family of
+the Empress.--Accession of Joseph II.--His Character. Page 478
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+JOSEPH II. AND LEOPOLD II.
+From 1780 to 1792.
+
+Accession of Joseph II.--His Plans of Reform.--Pius VI.--Emancipation of
+the Serfs.--Joseph's Visit to his Sister, Maria Antoinette.--Ambitious
+Designs.--The Imperial Sleigh Ride.--Barges on the Dneister.--Excursion
+to the Crimea.--War with Turkey.--Defeat of the Austrians.--Great
+Successes.--Death of Joseph.--His Character.--Accession of Leopold
+II.--His Efforts to confirm Despotism.--The French Revolution.--European
+Coalition.--Death of Leopold.--His Profligacy.--Accession of Francis
+II.--Present Extent and Power of Austria.--Its Army.--Policy of the
+Government. Page 493
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+RHODOLPH OF HAPSBURG.
+
+From 1232 to 1291.
+
+Hawk's Castle.--Albert, Count of Hapsburg.--Rhodolph of Hapsburg.--His
+Marriage and Estates.--Excommunication and its Results.--His Principles
+of Honor.--A Confederacy of Barons.--Their Route.--Rhodolph's Election
+as Emperor of Germany.--The Bishop's Warning.--Dissatisfaction at the
+Result of the Election.--Advantages Accruing from the Possession of an
+Interesting Family.--Conquest.--Ottocar Acknowledges the Emperor; yet
+breaks his Oath of Allegiance.--Gathering Clouds.--Wonderful
+Escape.--Victory of Rhodolph.--His Reforms.
+
+
+In the small canton of Aargau, in Switzerland, on a rocky bluff of the
+Wulpelsberg, there still remains an old baronial castle, called
+Hapsburg, or Hawk's Castle. It was reared in the eleventh century, and
+was occupied by a succession of warlike barons, who have left nothing to
+distinguish themselves from the feudal lords whose castles, at that
+period, frowned upon almost every eminence of Europe. In the year 1232
+this castle was occupied by Albert, fourth Count of Hapsburg. He had
+acquired some little reputation for military prowess, the only
+reputation any one could acquire in that dark age, and became ambitious
+of winning new laurels in the war with the infidels in the holy land.
+Religious fanaticism and military ambition were then the two great
+powers which ruled the human soul.
+
+With the usual display of semi-barbaric pomp, Albert made arrangements
+to leave his castle to engage in the perilous holy war against the
+Saracens, from which few ever returned. A few years were employed in the
+necessary preparations. At the sound of the bugle the portcullis was
+raised, the drawbridge spanned the moat, and Albert, at the head of
+thirty steel-clad warriors, with nodding plumes, and banners unfurled,
+emerged from the castle, and proceeded to the neighboring convent of
+Mari. His wife, Hedwige, and their three sons, Rhodolph, Albert and
+Hartman, accompanied him to the chapel where the ecclesiastics awaited
+his arrival. A multitude of vassals crowded around to witness the
+imposing ceremonies of the church, as the banners were blessed, and the
+knights, after having received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, were
+commended to the protection of God. Albert felt the solemnity of the
+hour, and in solemn tones gave his farewell address to his children.
+
+"My sons," said the steel-clad warrior, "cultivate truth and piety; give
+no ear to evil counselors, never engage in unnecessary war, but when you
+are involved in war be strong and brave. Love peace even better than
+your own personal interests. Remember that the counts of Hapsburg did
+not attain their heights of reputation and glory by fraud, insolence or
+selfishness, but by courage and devotion to the public weal. As long as
+you follow their footsteps, you will not only retain, but augment, the
+possessions and dignities of your illustrious ancestors."
+
+The tears and sobs of his wife and family interrupted him while he
+uttered these parting words. The bugles then sounded. The knights
+mounted their horses; the clatter of hoofs was heard, and the glittering
+cavalcade soon disappeared in the forest. Albert had left his ancestral
+castle, never to return. He had but just arrived in Palestine, when he
+was taken sick at Askalon, and died in the year 1240.
+
+Rhodolph, his eldest son, was twenty-two years of age at the time of his
+father's death. Frederic II., one of the most renowned monarchs of the
+middle ages, was then Emperor of that conglomeration of heterogeneous
+States called Germany. Each of these States had its own independent
+ruler and laws, but they were all held together by a common bond for
+mutual protection, and some one illustrious sovereign was chosen as
+Emperor of Germany, to preside over their common affairs. The Emperor of
+Germany, having influence over all these States, was consequently, in
+position, the great man of the age.
+
+Albert, Count of Hapsburg, had been one of the favorite captains of
+Frederic II. in the numerous wars which desolated Europe in that dark
+age. He was often at court, and the emperor even condescended to present
+his son Rhodolph at the font for baptism. As the child grew, he was
+trained to all athletic feats, riding ungovernable horses, throwing the
+javelin, wrestling, running, and fencing. He early gave indications of
+surprising mental and bodily vigor, and, at an age when most lads are
+considered merely children, he accompanied his father to the camp and to
+the court. Upon the death of his father, Rhodolph inherited the
+ancestral castle, and the moderate possessions of a Swiss baron. He was
+surrounded by barons of far greater wealth and power than himself, and
+his proud spirit was roused, in disregard of his father's counsels, to
+aggrandize his fortunes by force of arms, the only way then by which
+wealth and power could be attained. He exhausted his revenues by
+maintaining a princely establishment, organized a well-selected band of
+his vassals into a military corps, which he drilled to a state of
+perfect discipline, and then commenced a series of incursions upon his
+neighbors. From some feeble barons he won territory, thus extending his
+domains; from others he extorted money, thus enabling him to reward his
+troops, and to add to their number by engaging fearless spirits in his
+service wherever he could find them.
+
+In the year 1245, Rhodolph strengthened himself still more by an
+advantageous marriage with Gertrude, the beautiful daughter of the Count
+of Hohenberg. With his bride he received as her dowry the castle of
+Oeltingen, and very considerable territorial possessions. Thus in five
+years Rhodolph, by that species of robbery which was then called heroic
+adventure, and by a fortunate marriage, had more than doubled his
+hereditary inheritance. The charms of his bride, and the care of his
+estates seem for a few years to have arrested the progress of his
+ambition; for we can find no further notice of him among the ancient
+chronicles for eight years. But, with almost all men, love is an
+ephemeral passion, which is eventually vanquished by other powers of the
+soul. Ambition slumbered for a little time, but was soon roused anew,
+invigorated by repose.
+
+In 1253 we find Rhodolph heading a foray of steel-clad knights, with
+their banded followers, in a midnight attack upon the city of Basle.
+They break over all the defenses, sweep all opposition before them, and
+in the fury of the fight, either by accident or as a necessity of war,
+sacrilegiously set fire to a nunnery. For this crime Rhodolph was
+excommunicated by the pope. Excommunication was then no farce. There
+were few who dared to serve a prince upon whom the denunciations of the
+Church had fallen. It was a stunning blow, from which few men could
+recover. Rhodolph, instead of sinking in despair, endeavored, by new
+acts of obedience and devotion to the Church, to obtain the revocation
+of the sentence.
+
+In the region now called Prussia, there was then a barbaric pagan race,
+against whom the pope had published a crusade. Into this war the
+excommunicated Rhodolph plunged with all the impetuosity of his nature;
+he resolved to work out absolution, by converting, with all the potency
+of fire and sword, the barbarians to the Church. His penitence and zeal
+seem to have been accepted, for we soon find him on good terms again
+with the pope. He now sought to have a hand in every quarrel, far and
+near. Wherever the sounds of war are raised, the shout of Rhodolph is
+heard urging to the strife. In every hot and fiery foray, the steed of
+Rhodolph is rearing and plunging, and his saber strokes fall in ringing
+blows upon cuirass and helmet. He efficiently aided the city of
+Strasbourg in their war against their bishop, and received from them in
+gratitude extensive territories, while at the same time they reared a
+monument to his name, portions of which still exist. His younger brother
+died, leaving an only daughter, Anne, with a large inheritance.
+Rhodolph, as her guardian, came into possession of the counties of
+Kyburg, Lentzburg and Baden, and other scattered domains.
+
+This rapidly-increasing wealth and power, did but increase his energy
+and his spirit of encroachment. And yet he adopted principles of honor
+which were far from common in that age of barbaric violence. He would
+never stoop to ordinary robbery, or harass peasants and helpless
+travelers, as was constantly done by the turbulent barons around him.
+His warfare was against the castle, never against the cottage. He met in
+arms the panoplied knight, never the timid and crouching peasant. He
+swept the roads of the banditti by which they were infested, and often
+espoused the cause of citizens and freemen against the turbulent barons
+and haughty prelates. He thus gained a wide-spread reputation for
+justice, as well as for prowess, and the name of Rhodolph of Hapsburg
+was ascending fast into renown. Every post of authority then required
+the agency of a military arm. The feeble cantons would seek the
+protection of a powerful chief; the citizens of a wealthy town, ever
+liable to be robbed by bishop or baron, looked around for some warrior
+who had invincible troops at his command for their protection. Thus
+Rhodolph of Hapsburg was chosen chief of the mountaineers of Uri,
+Schweitz and Underwalden; and all their trained bands were ready, when
+his bugle note echoed through their defiles, to follow him
+unquestioning, and to do his bidding. The citizens of Zurich chose
+Rhodolph of Hapsburg as their prefect or mayor; and whenever his banner
+was unfurled in their streets, all the troops of the city were at his
+command.
+
+The neighboring barons, alarmed at this rapid aggrandizement of
+Rhodolph, formed an alliance to crush him. The mountaineers heard his
+bugle call, and rushed to his aid. Zurich opened her gates, and her
+marshaled troops hastened to his banner. From Hapsburg, and Rheinfelden,
+and Suabia, and Brisgau, and we know not how many other of the
+territorial possessions of the count, the vassals rushed to the aid of
+their lord. They met in one of the valleys of Zurich. The battle was
+short, and the confederated barons were put to utter flight. Some took
+refuge in the strong castle of Balder, upon a rocky cliff washed by the
+Albis. Rhodolph selected thirty horsemen and thirty footmen.
+
+"Will you follow me," said he, "in an enterprise where the honor will be
+equal to the peril?"
+
+A universal shout of assent was the response. Concealing the footmen in
+a thicket, he, at the head of thirty horsemen, rode boldly to the gates
+of the castle, bidding defiance, with all the utterances and
+gesticulations of contempt, to the whole garrison. Those on the
+ramparts, stung by the insult, rushed out to chastise so impudent a
+challenge. The footmen rose from their ambush, and assailants and
+assailed rushed pell mell in at the open gates of the castle. The
+garrison were cut down or taken captive, and the fortress demolished.
+Another party had fled to the castle of Uttleberg. By an ingenious
+stratagem, this castle was also taken. Success succeeded success with
+such rapidity, that the confederate barons, struck with consternation,
+exclaimed,
+
+"All opposition is fruitless. Rhodolph of Hapsburg is invincible."
+
+They consequently dissolved the alliance, and sought peace on terms
+which vastly augmented the power of the conqueror.
+
+Basle now incurred the displeasure of Rhodolph. He led his armies to the
+gates of the city, and extorted satisfaction. The Bishop of Basle, a
+haughty prelate of great military power, and who could summon many
+barons to his aid, ventured to make arrogant demands of this warrior
+flushed with victory. The palace and vast possessions of the bishop were
+upon the other side of the unbridged Rhine, and the bishop imagined that
+he could easily prevent the passage of the river. But Rhodolph speedily
+constructed a bridge of boats, put to flight the troops which opposed
+his passage, drove the peasants of the bishop everywhere before him, and
+burned their cottages and their fields of grain. The bishop, appalled,
+sued for a truce, that they might negotiate terms of peace. Rhodolph
+consented, and encamped his followers.
+
+He was asleep in his tent, when a messenger entered at midnight, awoke
+him, and informed him that he was elected Emperor of Germany. The
+previous emperor, Richard, had died two years before, and after an
+interregnum of two years of almost unparalleled anarchy, the electors
+had just met, and, almost to their own surprise, through the
+fluctuations and combinations of political intrigue, had chosen Rhodolph
+of Hapsburg as his successor. Rhodolph himself was so much astonished at
+the announcement, that for some time he could not be persuaded that the
+intelligence was correct.
+
+To wage war against the Emperor of Germany, who could lead almost
+countless thousands into the field, was a very different affair from
+measuring strength with the comparatively feeble Count of Hapsburg. The
+news of his election flew rapidly. Basle threw open her gates, and the
+citizens, with illuminations, shouts, and the ringing of bells, greeted
+the new emperor. The bishop was so chagrined at the elevation of his
+foe, that he smote his forehead, and, looking to heaven, profanely said,
+
+"Great God, take care of your throne, or Rhodolph of Hapsburg will take
+it from you!"
+
+Rhodolph was now fifty-five years of age. Alphonso, King of Castile, and
+Ottocar, King of Bohemia, had both been candidates for the imperial
+crown. Exasperated by the unexpected election of Rhodolph, they both
+refused to acknowledge his election, and sent ambassadors with rich
+presents to the pope to win him also to their side. Rhodolph, justly
+appreciating the power of the pope, sent him a letter couched in those
+terms which would be most palatable to the pontiff.
+
+"Turning all my thoughts to Him," he wrote, "under whose authority we
+live, and placing all my expectations on you alone, I fall down before
+the feet of your Holiness, beseeching you, with the most earnest
+supplication, to favor me with your accustomed kindness in my present
+undertaking; and that you will deign, by your mediation with the Most
+High, to support my cause. That I may be enabled to perform what is most
+acceptable to God and to His holy Church, may it graciously please your
+Holiness to crown me with the imperial diadem; for I trust I am both
+able and willing to undertake and accomplish whatever you and the holy
+Church shall think proper to impose upon me."
+
+Gregory X. was a humane and sagacious man, influenced by a profound zeal
+for the peace of Europe and the propagation of the Christian faith.
+Gregory received the ambassadors of Rhodolph graciously, extorted from
+them whatever concessions he desired on the part of the emperor, and
+pledged his support.
+
+Ottocar, King of Bohemia, still remained firm, and even malignant, in
+his hostility, utterly refusing to recognize the emperor, or to perform
+any of those acts of fealty which were his due. He declared the
+electoral diet to have been illegally convened, and the election to have
+been the result of fraud, and that a man who had been excommunicated for
+burning a convent, was totally unfit to wear the imperial crown. The
+diet met at Augsburg, and irritated by the contumacy of Ottocar, sent a
+command to him to recognize the authority of the emperor, pronouncing
+upon him the ban of the empire should he refuse. Ottocar dismissed the
+ambassadors with defiance and contempt from his palace at Prague,
+saying,
+
+"Tell Rhodolph that he may rule over the territories of the empire, but
+he shall have no dominion over mine. It is a disgrace to Germany, that a
+petty count of Hapsburg should have been preferred to so many powerful
+sovereigns."
+
+War, and a fearful one, was now inevitable. Ottocar was a veteran
+soldier, a man of great intrepidity and energy, and his pride was
+thoroughly roused. By a long series of aggressions he had become the
+most powerful prince in Europe, and he could lead the most powerful
+armies into the field. His dominions extended from the confines of
+Bavaria to Raab in Hungary, and from the Adriatic to the shores of the
+Baltic. The hereditary domains of the Count of Hapsburg were
+comparatively insignificant, and were remotely situated at the foot of
+the Alps, spreading through the defiles of Alsace and Suabia. As
+emperor, Rhodolph could call the armies of the Germanic princes into the
+field; but these princes moved reluctantly, unless roused by some
+question of great moment to them all. And when these heterogeneous
+troops of the empire were assembled, there was but a slender bond of
+union between them.
+
+But Rhodolph possessed mental resources equal to the emergence. As
+cautious as he was bold, as sagacious in council as he was impetuous in
+action, he calmly, and with great foresight and deliberation, prepared
+for the strife. To a monarch in such a time of need, a family of brave
+sons and beautiful daughters, is an inestimable blessing. Rhodolph
+secured the Duke of Sclavonia by making him the happy husband of one of
+his daughters. His son Albert married Elizabeth, daughter of the Count
+of Tyrol, and thus that powerful and noble family was secured. Henry of
+Bavaria he intimidated, and by force of arms compelled him to lead his
+troops to the standard of the emperor; and then, to secure his fidelity,
+gave his daughter Hedwige to Henry's son Otho, in marriage, promising to
+his daughter as a dowry a portion of Austria, which was then a feeble
+duchy upon the Danube, but little larger than the State of
+Massachusetts.
+
+Ottocar was but little aware of the tremendous energies of the foe he
+had aroused. Regarding Rhodolph almost with contempt, he had by no means
+made the arrangements which his peril demanded, and was in consternation
+when he heard that Rhodolph, in alliance with Henry of Bavaria, had
+already entered Austria, taken possession of several fortresses, and, at
+the head of a force of a thousand horsemen, was carrying all before him,
+and was triumphantly marching upon Vienna. Rhodolph had so admirably
+matured his plans, that his advance seemed rather a festive journey than
+a contested conquest. With the utmost haste Ottocar urged his troops
+down through the defiles of the Bohemian mountains, hoping to save the
+capital. But Rhodolph was at Vienna before him, where he was joined by
+others of his allies, who were to meet him at that rendezvous. Vienna,
+the capital, was a fortress of great strength. Upon this frontier post
+Charlemagne had established a strong body of troops under a commander
+who was called a margrave; and for some centuries this city, commanding
+the Danube, had been deemed one of the strongest defenses of the empire
+against Mohammedan invasion. Vienna, unable to resist, capitulated. The
+army of Ottocar had been so driven in their long and difficult march,
+that, exhausted and perishing for want of provisions, they began to
+mutiny. The pope had excommunicated Ottocar, and the terrors of the
+curse of the pope, were driving captains and nobles from his service.
+The proud spirit of Ottocar, after a terrible struggle, was utterly
+crushed, and he humbly sued for peace. The terms were hard for a haughty
+spirit to bear. The conquered king was compelled to renounce all claim
+to Austria and several other adjoining provinces, Styria, Carinthia,
+Carniola and Windischmark; to take the oath of allegiance to the
+emperor, and publicly to do him homage as his vassal lord. To cement
+this compulsory friendship, Rhodolph, who was rich in daughters, having
+six to proffer as bribes, gave one, with an abundant dowry in silver, to
+a son of Ottocar.
+
+The day was appointed for the king, in the presence of the whole army,
+to do homage to the emperor as his liege lord. It was the 25th of
+November, 1276. With a large escort of Bohemian nobles, Ottocar crossed
+the Danube, and was received by the emperor in the presence of many of
+the leading princes of the empire. The whole army was drawn up to
+witness the spectacle. With a dejected countenance, and with
+indications, which he could not conceal, of a crushed and broken spirit,
+Ottocar renounced these valuable provinces, and kneeling before the
+emperor, performed the humiliating ceremony of feudal homage. The pope
+in consequence withdrew his sentence of excommunication, and Ottocar
+returned to his mutilated kingdom, a humbler and a wiser man.
+
+Rhodolph now took possession of the adjacent provinces which had been
+ceded to him, and, uniting them, placed them under the government of
+Louis of Bavaria, son of his firm ally Henry, the King of Bavaria.
+Bavaria bounded Austria on the west, and thus the father and the son
+would be in easy cooeperation. He then established his three Sons,
+Albert, Hartmann, and Rhodolph, in different parts of these provinces,
+and, with his queen, fixed his residence at Vienna.
+
+Such was the nucleus of the Austrian empire, and such the commencement
+of the powerful monarchy which for so many generations has exerted so
+important a control over the affairs of Europe. Ottocar, however, though
+he left Rhodolph with the strongest protestations of friendship,
+returned to Prague consumed by the most torturing fires of humiliation
+and chagrin. His wife, a haughty woman, who was incapable of listening
+to the voice of judgment when her passions were inflamed, could not
+conceive it possible that a petty count of Hapsburg could vanquish her
+renowned husband in the field. And when she heard that Ottocar had
+actually done fealty to Rhodolph, and had surrendered to him valuable
+provinces of the kingdom, no bridle could be put upon her woman's
+tongue. She almost stung her husband to madness with taunts and
+reproaches.
+
+Thus influenced by the pride of his queen, Cunegunda, Ottocar violated
+his oath, refused to execute the treaty, imprisoned in a convent the
+daughter whom Rhodolph had given to his son, and sent a defiant and
+insulting letter to the emperor. Rhodolph returned a dignified answer
+and prepared for war. Ottocar, now better understanding the power of his
+foe, made the most formidable preparations for the strife, and soon took
+the field with an army which he supposed would certainly triumph over
+any force which Rhodolph could raise. He even succeeded in drawing Henry
+of Bavaria into an alliance; and many of the German princes, whom he
+could not win to his standard, he bribed to neutrality. Numerous
+chieftains, lured to his camp by confidence of victory, crowded around
+him with their followers, from Poland, Bulgaria, Pomerania, Magdeburg,
+and from the barbaric shores of the Baltic. Many of the fierce nobles of
+Hungary had also joined the standard of Ottocar.
+
+Thus suddenly clouds gathered around Rhodolph, and many of his friends
+despaired of his cause. He appealed to the princes of the German empire,
+and but few responded to his call. His sons-in-law, the Electors of
+Palatine and of Saxony, ventured not to aid him in an emergence when
+defeat seemed almost certain, and where all who shared in the defeat
+would be utterly ruined. In June, 1275, Ottocar marched from Prague, met
+his allies at the appointed rendezvous, and threading the defiles of the
+Bohemian mountains, approached the frontiers of Austria. Rhodolph was
+seriously alarmed, for it was evident that the chances of war were
+against him. He could not conceal the restlessness and agitation of his
+spirit as he impatiently awaited the arrival of troops whom he summoned,
+but who disappointed his hopes.
+
+"I have not one," he sadly exclaimed, "in whom I can confide, or on
+whose advice I can depend."
+
+The citizens of Vienna perceiving that Rhodolph was abandoned by his
+German allies, and that they could present no effectual resistance to so
+powerful an army as was approaching, and terrified in view of a siege,
+and the capture of the city by storm, urged a capitulation, and even
+begged permission to choose a new sovereign, that they might not be
+involved in the ruin impending over Rhodolph. This address roused
+Rhodolph from his despondency, and inspired him with the energies of
+despair. He had succeeded in obtaining a few troops from his provinces
+in Switzerland. The Bishop of Basle, who had now become his confessor,
+came to his aid, at the head of a hundred horsemen, and a body of expert
+slingers. Rhodolph, though earnestly advised not to undertake a battle
+with such desperate odds, marched from Vienna to meet the foe.
+
+Rapidly traversing the southern banks of the Danube to Hamburg, he
+crossed the river and advanced to Marcheck, on the banks of the Morava.
+He was joined by some troops from Styria and Carinthia, and by a strong
+force led by the King of Hungary. Emboldened by these accessions, though
+still far inferior in strength to Ottocar, he pressed on till the two
+armies faced each other on the plains of Murchfield. It was the 26th of
+August, 1278.
+
+At this moment some traitors deserting the camp of Ottocar, repaired to
+the camp of Rhodolph and proposed to assassinate the Bohemian king.
+Rhodolph spurned the infamous offer, and embraced the opportunity of
+seeking terms of reconciliation by apprising Ottocar of his danger. But
+the king, confident in his own strength, and despising the weakness of
+Rhodolph, deemed the story a fabrication and refused to listen to any
+overtures. Without delay he drew up his army in the form of a crescent,
+so as almost to envelop the feeble band before him, and made a
+simultaneous attack upon the center and upon both flanks. A terrific
+battle ensued, in which one party fought, animated by undoubting
+confidence, and the other impelled by despair. The strife was long and
+bloody. The tide of victory repeatedly ebbed and flowed. Ottocar had
+offered a large reward to any of his followers who would bring to him
+Rhodolph, dead or alive.
+
+A number of knights of great strength and bravery, confederated to
+achieve this feat. It was a point of honor to be effected at every
+hazard. Disregarding all the other perils of the battle, they watched
+their opportunity, and then in a united swoop, on their steel-clad
+chargers, fell upon the emperor. His feeble guard was instantly cut
+down. Rhodolph was a man of herculean power, and he fought like a lion
+at bay. One after another of his assailants he struck from his horse,
+when a Thuringian knight, of almost fabulous stature and strength,
+thrust his spear through the horse of the emperor, and both steed and
+rider fell to the ground. Rhodolph, encumbered by his heavy coat of
+mail, and entangled in the housings of his saddle, was unable to rise.
+He crouched upon the ground, holding his helmet over him, while saber
+strokes and pike thrusts rang upon cuirass and buckler like blows upon
+an anvil. A corps of reserve spurred to his aid, and the emperor was
+rescued, and the bold assailants who had penetrated the very center of
+his army were slain.
+
+The tide of victory now set strongly in favor of Rhodolph, for "the race
+is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." The troops of
+Bohemia were soon everywhere put to rout. The ground was covered with
+the dead. Ottocar, astounded at his discomfiture, and perhaps fearing
+the tongue of his wife more than the sabers of his foes, turned his back
+upon his flying army, and spurred his horse into the thickest of his
+pursuers. He was soon dismounted and slain. Fourteen thousand of his
+troops perished on that disastrous day. The body of Ottocar, mutilated
+with seventeen wounds, was carried to Vienna, and, after being exposed
+to the people, was buried with regal honors.
+
+Rhodolph, vastly enriched by the plunder of the camp, and having no
+enemy to encounter, took possession of Moravia, and triumphantly marched
+into Bohemia. All was consternation there. The queen Cunegunda, who had
+brought these disasters upon the kingdom, had no influence. Her only son
+was but eight years of age. The turbulent nobles, jealous of each other,
+had no recognized leader. The queen, humiliated and despairing, implored
+the clemency of the conqueror, and offered to place her infant son and
+the kingdom of Bohemia under his protection. Rhodolph was generous in
+this hour of victory. As the result of arbitration, it was agreed that
+he should hold Moravia for five years, that its revenues might indemnify
+him for the expenses of the war. The young prince, Wenceslaus, was
+acknowledged king, and during his minority the regency was assigned to
+Otho, margrave or military commander of Brundenburg. Then ensued some
+politic matrimonial alliances. Wenceslaus, the boy king, was affianced
+to Judith, one of the daughters of Rhodolph. The princess Agnes,
+daughter of Cunegunda, was to become the bride of Rhodolph's second son.
+These matters being all satisfactorily settled, Rhodolph returned in
+triumph to Vienna.
+
+The emperor now devoted his energies to the consolidation of these
+Austrian provinces. They were four in number, Austria, Styria, Carinthia
+and Carniola. All united, they made but a feeble kingdom, for they did
+not equal, in extent of territory, several of the States of the American
+Union. Each of these provinces had its independent government, and its
+local laws and customs. They were held together by the simple bond of an
+arbitrary monarch, who claimed, and exercised as he could, supreme
+control over them all. Under his wise and energetic administration, the
+affairs of the wide-spread empire were prosperous, and his own Austria
+advanced rapidly in order, civilization and power. The numerous nobles,
+turbulent, unprincipled and essentially robbers, had been in the habit
+of issuing from their castles at the head of banditti bands, and
+ravaging the country with incessant incursions. It required great
+boldness in Rhodolph to brave the wrath of these united nobles. He did
+it fearlessly, issuing the decree that there should be no fortresses in
+his States which were not necessary for the public defense. The whole
+country was spotted with castles, apparently impregnable in all the
+strength of stone and iron, the secure refuge of high-born nobles. In
+one year seventy of these turreted bulwarks of oppression were torn
+down; and twenty-nine of the highest nobles, who had ventured upon
+insurrection, were put to death. An earnest petition was presented to
+him in behalf of the condemned insurgents.
+
+"Do not," said the king, "interfere in favor of robbers; they are not
+nobles, but accursed robbers, who oppress the poor, and break the public
+peace. True nobility is faithful and just, offends no one, and commits
+no injury."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+REIGNS OF ALBERT I, FREDERIC, ALBERT AND OTHO.
+
+From 1291 to 1347.
+
+Anecdotes Of Rhodolph.--His Desire For The Election Of His Son.--His
+Death.--Albert.--His Unpopularity.--Conspiracy Of The Nobles.--Their
+Defeat.--Adolphus Of Nassau Chosen Emperor.--Albert's Conspiracy.--
+Deposition Of Adolphus And Election Of Albert.--Death Of Adolphus.--The
+Pope Defied.--Annexation Of Bohemia.--Assassination Of Albert.--Avenging
+Fury.--The Hermit's Direction.--Frederic The Handsome.--Election Of
+Henry, Count Of Luxemburg.--His Death.--Election Of Louis Of
+Bavaria.--Capture Of Frederic.--Remarkable Confidence Toward a
+Prisoner.--Death Of Frederic.--An Early Engagement.--Death Of
+Louis.--Accession Of Albert.
+
+
+Rhodolph of Hapsburg was one of the most remarkable men of his own or of
+any age, and many anecdotes illustrative of his character, and of the
+rude times in which he lived, have been transmitted to us. The
+Thuringian knight who speared the emperor's horse in the bloody fight of
+Murchfield, was rescued by Rhodolph from those who would cut him down.
+
+"I have witnessed," said the emperor, "his intrepidity, and never could
+forgive myself if so courageous a knight should be put to death."
+
+During the war with Ottocar, on one occasion the army were nearly
+perishing of thirst. A flagon of water was brought to him. He declined
+it, saying,
+
+"I can not drink alone, nor can I divide so small a quantity among all.
+I do not thirst for myself, but for the whole army."
+
+By earnest endeavor he obtained the perfect control of his passions,
+naturally very violent. "I have often," said he, "repented of being
+passionate, but never of being mild and humane."
+
+One of his captains expressed dissatisfaction at a rich gift the emperor
+made to a literary man who presented him a manuscript describing the
+wars of the Romans.
+
+"My good friend," Rhodolph replied, "be contented that men of learning
+praise our actions, and thereby inspire us with additional courage in
+war. I wish I could employ more time in reading, and could expend some
+of that money on learned men which I must throw away on so many
+illiterate knights."
+
+One cold morning at Metz, in the year 1288, he walked out dressed as
+usual in the plainest garb. He strolled into a baker's shop, as if to
+warm himself. The baker's termagant wife said to him, all unconscious
+who he was,
+
+"Soldiers have no business to come into poor women's houses."
+
+"True," the emperor replied, "but do not be angry, my good woman; I am
+an old soldier who have spent all my fortune in the service of that
+rascal Rhodolph, and he suffers me to want, notwithstanding all his fine
+promises."
+
+"Good enough for you," said the woman; "a man who will serve such a
+fellow, who is laying waste the whole earth, deserves nothing better."
+
+She then, in her spite, threw a pail of water on the fire, which,
+filling the room with smoke and ashes, drove the emperor into the
+street.
+
+Rhodolph, having returned to his lodgings, sent a rich present to the
+old woman, from the emperor who had warmed himself at her fire that
+morning, and at the dinner-table told the story with great glee to his
+companions. The woman, terrified, hastened to the emperor to implore
+mercy. He ordered her to be admitted to the dining-room, and promised to
+forgive her if she would repeat to the company all her abusive epithets,
+not omitting one. She did it faithfully, to the infinite merriment of
+the festive group.
+
+So far as we can now judge, and making due allowance for the darkness of
+the age in which he lived, Rhodolph appears to have been, in the latter
+part of his life, a sincere, if not an enlightened Christian. He was
+devout in prayer, and punctual in attending the services of the Church.
+The humble and faithful ministers of religion he esteemed and protected,
+while he was ever ready to chastise the insolence of those haughty
+prelates who disgraced their religious professions by arrogance and
+splendor.
+
+At last the infirmities of age pressed heavily upon him. When
+seventy-three years old, knowing that he could not have much longer to
+live, he assembled the congress of electors at Frankfort, and urged them
+to choose his then only surviving son Albert as his successor on the
+imperial throne. The diet, however, refused to choose a successor until
+after the death of the emperor. Rhodolph was bitterly disappointed, for
+he understood this postponement as a positive refusal to gratify him in
+this respect. Saddened in spirit, and feeble in body, he undertook a
+journey, by slow stages, to his hereditary dominions in Switzerland. He
+then returned to Austria, where he died on the 15th of July, 1291, in
+the seventy-third year of his age.
+
+Albert, who resided at Vienna, succeeded his father in authority over
+the Austrian and Swiss provinces. But he was a man stern, unconciliating
+and domineering. The nobles hated him, and hoped to drive him back to
+the Swiss cantons from which his father had come. One great occasion of
+discontent was, that he employed about his person, and in important
+posts, Swiss instead of Austrian nobles. They demanded the dismission of
+these foreign favorites, which so exasperated Albert that he clung to
+them still more tenaciously and exclusively.
+
+The nobles now organized a very formidable conspiracy, and offered to
+neighboring powers, as bribes for their aid, portions of Austria.
+Austria proper was divided by the river Ens into two parts called Upper
+and Lower Austria. Lower Austria was offered to Bohemia; Styria to the
+Duke of Bavaria; Upper Austria to the Archbishop of Saltzburg; Carniola
+to the Counts of Guntz; and thus all the provinces were portioned out to
+the conquerors. At the same time the citizens of Vienna, provoked by the
+haughtiness of Albert, rose in insurrection. With the energy which
+characterized his father, Albert met these emergencies. Summoning
+immediately an army from Switzerland, he shut up all the avenues to the
+city, which was not in the slightest degree prepared for a siege, and
+speedily starved the inhabitants into submission. Punishing severely the
+insurgents, he strengthened his post at Vienna, and confirmed his power.
+Then, marching rapidly upon the nobles, before they had time to receive
+that foreign aid which had been secretly promised them, and securing all
+the important fortresses, which were now not many in number, he so
+overawed them, and so vigilantly watched every movement, that there was
+no opportunity to rise and combine. The Styrian nobles, being remote,
+made an effort at insurrection. Albert, though it was in the depth of
+winter, plowed through the snows of the mountains, and plunging
+unexpectedly among them, routed them with great slaughter.
+
+While he was thus conquering discontent by the sword, and silencing
+murmurs beneath the tramp of iron hoofs, the diet was assembling at
+Frankfort to choose a new chief for the Germanic empire. Albert was
+confident of being raised to the vacant dignity. The splendor of his
+talents all admitted. Four of the electors were closely allied to him by
+marriage, and he arrogantly felt that he was almost entitled to the
+office as the son of his renowned father. But the electors feared his
+ambitious and despotic disposition, and chose Adolphus of Nassau to
+succeed to the imperial throne.
+
+Albert was mortified and enraged by this disappointment, and expressed
+his determination to oppose the election; but the troubles in his own
+domains prevented him from putting this threat into immediate execution.
+His better judgment soon taught him the policy of acquiescing in the
+election, and he sullenly received the investiture of his fiefs from the
+hands of the Emperor Adolphus. Still Albert, struggling against
+unpopularity and continued insurrection, kept his eye fixed eagerly upon
+the imperial crown. With great tact he conspired to form a confederacy
+for the deposition of Adolphus.
+
+Wenceslaus, the young King of Bohemia, was now of age, and preparations
+were made for his coronation with great splendor at Prague. Four of the
+electors were present on this occasion, which was in June, 1297. Albert
+conferred with them respecting his plans, and secured their cooeperation.
+The electors more willingly lent their aid since they were exceedingly
+displeased with some of the measures of Adolphus for the aggrandizement
+of his own family. Albert with secrecy and vigor pushed his plans, and
+when the diet met the same year at Metz, a long list of grievances was
+drawn up against Adolphus. He was summoned to answer to these charges.
+The proud emperor refused to appear before the bar of the diet as a
+culprit. The diet then deposed Adolphus and elected Albert II. to the
+imperial throne, on the 23d of June, 1298.
+
+The two rival emperors made vigorous preparations to settle the dispute
+with the sword, and the German States arrayed themselves, some on one
+side and some on the other. The two armies met at Gelheim on the 2d of
+July, led by the rival sovereigns. In the thickest of the fight Adolphus
+spurred his horse through the opposing ranks, bearing down all
+opposition, till he faced Albert, who was issuing orders and animating
+his troops by voice and gesture.
+
+"Yield," shouted Adolphus, aiming a saber stroke at the head of his foe,
+"your life and your crown."
+
+"Let God decide," Albert replied, as he parried the blow, and thrust his
+lance into the unprotected face of Adolphus. At that moment the horse of
+Adolphus fell, and he himself was instantly slain. Albert remained the
+decisive victor on this bloody field. The diet of electors was again
+summoned, and he was now chosen unanimously emperor. He was soon crowned
+with great splendor at Aix-la-Chapelle.
+
+Still Albert sat on an uneasy throne. The pope, indignant that the
+electors should presume to depose one emperor and choose another without
+his consent, refused to confirm the election of Albert, and loudly
+inveighed him as the murderer of Adolphus. Albert, with characteristic
+impulsiveness, declared that he was emperor by choice of the electors
+and not by ratification of the pope, and defiantly spurned the
+opposition of the pontiff. Considering himself firmly seated on the
+throne, he refused to pay the bribes of tolls, privileges, territories,
+etc., which he had so freely offered to the electors. Thus exasperated,
+the electors, the pope, and the King of Bohemia, conspired to drive
+Albert from the throne. Their secret plans were so well laid, and they
+were so secure of success, that the Elector of Mentz tauntingly and
+boastingly said to Albert, "I need only sound my hunting-horn and a new
+emperor will appear."
+
+Albert, however, succeeded by sagacity and energy, in dispelling this
+storm which for a time threatened his entire destruction. By making
+concessions to the pope, he finally won him to cordial friendship, and
+by the sword vanquishing some and intimidating others, he broke up the
+league. His most formidable foe was his brother-in-law, Wenceslaus, King
+of Bohemia. Albert's sister, Judith, the wife of Wenceslaus, had for
+some years prevented a rupture between them, but she now being dead,
+both monarchs decided to refer their difficulties to the arbitration of
+the sword. While their armies were marching, Wenceslaus was suddenly
+taken sick and died, in June, 1305. His son, but seventeen years of age,
+weak in body and in mind, at once yielded to all the demands of his
+imperial uncle. Hardly a year, however, had elapsed ere this young
+prince, Wenceslaus III., was assassinated, leaving no issue.
+
+Albert immediately resolved to transfer the crown of Bohemia to his own
+family, and thus to annex the powerful kingdom of Bohemia to his own
+limited Austrian territories. Bohemia added to the Austrian provinces,
+would constitute quite a noble kingdom. The crown was considered
+elective, though in fact the eldest son was almost always chosen during
+the lifetime of his father. The death of Wenceslaus, childless, opened
+the throne to other claimants. No one could more imperiously demand the
+scepter than Albert. He did demand it for his son Rhodolph in tones
+which were heard and obeyed. The States assembled at Prague on the 1st
+of April, 1306. Albert, surrounded by a magnificent retinue, conducted
+his son to Prague, and to confirm his authority married him to the widow
+of Wenceslaus, a second wife. Rhodolph also, about a year before, had
+buried Blanche, his first wife. Albert was exceedingly elated, for the
+acquisition of Bohemia was an accession to the power of his family which
+doubled their territory, and more than doubled their wealth and
+resources.
+
+A mild government would have conciliated the Bohemians, but such a
+course was not consonant with the character of the imperious and
+despotic Albert. He urged his son to measures of arbitrary power which
+exasperated the nobles, and led to a speedy revolt against his
+authority. Rhodolph and the nobles were soon in the field with their
+contending armies, when Rhodolph suddenly died from the fatigues of the
+camp, aged but twenty-two years, having held the throne of Bohemia less
+than a year.
+
+Albert, grievously disappointed, now demanded that his second son,
+Frederic, should receive the crown. As soon as his name was mentioned to
+the States, the assembly with great unanimity exclaimed, "We will not
+again have an Austrian king." This led to a tumult. Swords were drawn,
+and two of the partisans of Albert were slain. Henry, Duke of Carinthia,
+was then almost unanimously chosen king. But the haughty Albert was not
+to be thus easily thwarted in his plans. He declared that his son
+Frederic was King of Bohemia, and raising an army, he exerted all the
+influence and military power which his position as emperor gave him, to
+enforce his claim.
+
+But affairs in Switzerland for a season arrested the attention of
+Albert, and diverted his armies from the invasion of Bohemia.
+Switzerland was then divided into small sovereignties, of various names,
+there being no less than fifty counts, one hundred and fifty barons, and
+one thousand noble families. Both Rhodolph and Albert had greatly
+increased, by annexation, the territory and the power of the house of
+Hapsburg. By purchase, intimidation, war, and diplomacy, Albert had for
+some time been making such rapid encroachments, that a general
+insurrection was secretly planned to resist his power. All Switzerland
+seemed to unite as with one accord. Albert was rejoiced at this
+insurrection, for, confident of superior power, he doubted not his
+ability speedily to quell it, and it would afford him the most favorable
+pretext for still greater aggrandizement. Albert hastened to his domain
+at Hapsburg, where he was assassinated by conspirators led by his own
+nephew, whom he was defrauding of his estates.
+
+Frederic and Leopold, the two oldest surviving sons of Albert, avenged
+their father's death by pursuing the conspirators until they all
+suffered the penalty of their crimes. With ferocity characteristic of
+the age, they punished mercilessly the families and adherents of the
+assassins. Their castles were demolished, their estates confiscated,
+their domestics and men at arms massacred, and their wives and children
+driven out into the world to beg or to starve. Sixty-three of the
+retainers of Lord Balne, one of the conspirators, though entirely
+innocent of the crime, and solemnly protesting their unconsciousness of
+any plot, were beheaded in one day. Though but four persons took part in
+the assassination, and it was not known that any others were implicated
+in the deed, it is estimated that more than a thousand persons suffered
+death through the fury of the avengers. Agnes, one of the daughters of
+Albert, endeavored with her own hands to strangle the infant child of
+the Lord of Eschenback, when the soldiers, moved by its piteous cries,
+with difficulty rescued it from her hands.
+
+Elizabeth, the widow of Albert, with her implacable fanatic daughter
+Agnes, erected a magnificent convent on the spot at Koenigsburg, where
+the emperor was assassinated, and there in cloistered gloom they passed
+the remainder of their lives. It was an age of superstition, and yet
+there were some who comprehended and appreciated the pure morality of
+the gospel of Christ.
+
+"Woman," said an aged hermit to Agnes, "God is not served by shedding
+innocent blood, and by rearing convents from the plunder of families. He
+is served by compassion only, and by the forgiveness of injuries."
+
+Frederic, Albert's oldest son, now assumed the government of the
+Austrian provinces. From his uncommon personal attractions he was called
+Frederic the Handsome. His character was in conformity with his person,
+for to the most chivalrous bravery he added the most feminine amiability
+and mildness. He was a candidate for the imperial throne, and would
+probably have been elected but for the unpopularity of his despotic
+father. The diet met, and on the 27th of November, 1308, the choice fell
+unanimously upon Henry, Count of Luxemburg.
+
+This election deprived Frederic of his hopes of uniting Bohemia to
+Austria, for the new emperor placed his son John upon the Bohemian
+throne, and was prepared to maintain him there by all the power of the
+empire. In accomplishing this, there was a short conflict with Henry of
+Carinthia, but he was speedily driven out of the kingdom.
+
+Frederic, however, found a little solace in his disappointment, by
+attaching to Austria the dominions he had wrested from the lords he had
+beheaded as assassins of his father. In the midst of these scenes of
+ambition, intrigue and violence, the Emperor Henry fell sick and died,
+in the fifty-second year of his age. This unexpected event opened again
+to Frederic the prospect of the imperial crown, and all his friends, in
+the now very numerous branches of the family, spared neither money nor
+the arts of diplomacy in the endeavor to secure the coveted dignity for
+him. A year elapsed after the death of Henry before the diet was
+assembled. During that time all the German States were in intense
+agitation canvassing the claims of the several candidates. The prize of
+an imperial crown was one which many grasped at, and every little court
+was agitated by the question. The day of election, October 9th, 1314,
+arrived. There were two hostile parties in the field, one in favor of
+Frederic of Austria, the other in favor of Louis of Bavaria. The two
+parties met in different cities, the Austrians at Saxenhausen, and the
+Bavarians at Frankfort. There were, however, but four electors at
+Saxenhausen, while there were five at Frankfort, the ancient place of
+election. Each party unanimously chose its candidate. Louis, of Bavaria,
+receiving five votes, while Frederic received but four, was
+unquestionably the legitimate emperor. Most of the imperial cities
+acknowledged him. Frankfort sung his triumph, and he was crowned with
+all the ancient ceremonials of pomp at Aix-la-Chapelle.
+
+But Frederic and his party were not ready to yield, and all over Germany
+there was the mustering of armies. For two years the hostile forces were
+marching and countermarching with the usual vicissitudes of war. The
+tide of devastation and blood swept now over one State, and now over
+another, until at length the two armies met, in all their concentrated
+strength, at Muhldorf, near Munich, for a decisive battle. Louis of
+Bavaria rode proudly at the head of thirty thousand foot, and fifteen
+hundred steel-clad horsemen. Frederic of Austria, the handsomest man of
+his age, towering above all his retinue, was ostentatiously arrayed in
+the most splendid armor art could furnish, emblazoned with the Austrian
+eagle, and his helmet was surmounted by a crown of gold.
+
+As he thus led the ranks of twenty-two thousand footmen, and seven
+thousand horse, all eyes followed him, and all hearts throbbed with
+confidence of victory. From early dawn, till night darkened the field,
+the horrid strife raged. In those days gunpowder was unknown, and the
+ringing of battle-axes on helmet and cuirass, the strokes of sabers and
+the clash of spears, shouts of onset, and the shrieks of the wounded, as
+sixty thousand men fought hand to hand on one small field, rose like the
+clamor from battling demons in the infernal world. Hour after hour of
+carnage passed, and still no one could tell on whose banners victory
+would alight. The gloom of night was darkening over the exhausted
+combatants, when the winding of the bugle was heard in the rear of the
+Austrians, and a band of four hundred Bavarian horsemen came plunging
+down an eminence into the disordered ranks of Frederic. The hour of
+dismay, which decides a battle, had come. A scene of awful carnage
+ensued as the routed Austrians, fleeing in every direction, were pursued
+and massacred. Frederic himself was struck from his horse, and as he
+fell, stunned by the blow, he was captured, disarmed and carried to the
+presence of his rival Louis.
+
+The spirit of Frederic was crushed by the awful, the irretrievable
+defeat, and he appeared before his conqueror speechless in the extremity
+of his woe. Louis had the pride of magnanimity and endeavored to console
+his captive.
+
+"The battle is not lost by your fault," said he. "The Bavarians have
+experienced to their cost that you are a valiant prince; but Providence
+has decided the battle. Though I am happy to see you as my guest, I
+sympathize with you in your sorrow, and will do what I can to alleviate
+it."
+
+For three years the unhappy Frederic remained a prisoner of Louis of
+Bavaria, held in close confinement in the castle at Trausnitz. At the
+end of that time the emperor, alarmed at the efforts which the friends
+of Frederic were making to combine several Powers to take up arms for
+his relief, visited his prisoner, and in a personal interview proposed
+terms of reconciliation. The terms, under the circumstances, were
+considered generous, but a proud spirit needed the discipline of three
+years' imprisonment before it could yield to such demands.
+
+It was the 13th of March, 1325, when this singular interview between
+Louis the emperor, and Frederic his captive, took place at Trausnitz.
+Frederic promised upon oath that in exchange for his freedom he would
+renounce all claim to the imperial throne; restore all the districts and
+castles he had wrested from the empire; give up all the documents
+relative to his election as emperor; join with all his family influence
+to support Louis against any and every adversary, and give his daughter
+in marriage to Stephen the son of Louis. He also promised that in case
+he should fail in the fulfillment of any one of these stipulations, he
+would return to his captivity.
+
+Frederic fully intended a faithful compliance with these requisitions.
+But no sooner was he liberated than his fiery brother Leopold, who
+presided over the Swiss estates, and who was a man of great capacity and
+military energy, refused peremptorily to fulfill the articles which
+related to him, and made vigorous preparations to urge the war which he
+had already, with many allies, commenced against the Emperor Louis. The
+pope also, who had become inimical to Louis, declared that Frederic was
+absolved from the agreement at Trausnitz, as it was extorted by force,
+and, with all the authority of the head of the Church, exhorted Frederic
+to reassert his claim to the imperial crown.
+
+Amidst such scenes of fraud and violence, it is refreshing to record an
+act of real honor. Frederic, notwithstanding the entreaties of the pope
+and the remonstrances of his friends, declared that, be the consequences
+what they might, he never would violate his pledge; and finding that he
+could not fulfill the articles of the agreement, he returned to Bavaria
+and surrendered himself a prisoner to the emperor. It is seldom that
+history has the privilege of recording so noble an act. Louis of Bavaria
+fortunately had a soul capable of appreciating the magnanimity of his
+captive. He received him with courtesy and with almost fraternal
+kindness. In the words of a contemporary historian, "They ate at the
+same table and slept in the same bed;" and, most extraordinary of all,
+when Louis was subsequently called to a distant part of his dominions to
+quell an insurrection, he intrusted the government of Bavaria, during
+his absence, to Frederic.
+
+Frederic's impetuous and ungovernable brother Leopold, was unwearied in
+his endeavors to combine armies against the emperor, and war raged
+without cessation. At length Louis, harassed by these endless
+insurrections and coalitions against him, and admiring the magnanimity
+of Frederic, entered into a new alliance, offering terms exceedingly
+honorable on his part. He agreed that he and Frederic should rule
+conjointly as emperors of Germany, in perfect equality of power and
+dignity, alternately taking the precedence.
+
+With this arrangement Leopold was satisfied, but unfortunately, just at
+that time, his impetuous spirit, exhausted by disappointment and
+chagrin, yielded to death. He died at Strasbourg on the 28th of
+February, 1326. The pope and several of the electors refused to accede
+to this arrangement, and thus the hopes of the unhappy Frederic were
+again blighted, for Louis, who had consented to this accommodation for
+the sake of peace, was not willing to enforce it through the tumult of
+war. Frederic was, however, liberated from captivity, and he returned to
+Austria a dejected, broken-hearted man. He pined away for a few months
+in languor, being rarely known to smile, and died at the castle of
+Gullenstein on the 13th of January, 1330. His widow, Isabella, the
+daughter of the King of Arragon, became blind from excessive grief, and
+soon followed her husband to the tomb.
+
+As Frederic left no son, the Austrian dominions fell to his two
+brothers, Albert III. and Otho. Albert, by marriage, added the valuable
+county of Ferret in Alsace to the dominions of the house of Austria. The
+two brothers reigned with such wonderful harmony, that no indications
+can be seen of separate administrations. They renounced all claim to the
+imperial throne, notwithstanding the efforts of the pope to the
+contrary, and thus secured friendship with the Emperor Louis. There were
+now three prominent families dominant in Germany. Around these great
+families, who had gradually, by marriage and military encroachments,
+attained their supremacy, the others of all degrees rallied as vassals,
+seeking protection and contributing strength. The house of Bavaria,
+reigning over that powerful kingdom and in possession of the imperial
+throne, ranked first. Then came the house of Luxembourg, possessing the
+wide-spread and opulent realms of Bohemia. The house of Austria had now
+vast possessions, but these were widely scattered; some provinces on the
+banks of the Danube and others in Switzerland, spreading through the
+defiles of the Alps.
+
+John of Bohemia was an overbearing man, and feeling quite impregnable in
+his northern realms beyond the mountains, assumed such a dictatorial air
+as to rouse the ire of the princes of Austria and Bavaria. These two
+houses consequently entered into an intimate alliance for mutual
+security. The Duke of Carinthia, who was uncle to Albert and Otho, died,
+leaving only a daughter, Margaret. This dukedom, about the size of the
+State of Massachusetts, a wild and mountainous region, was deemed very
+important as the key to Italy. John of Bohemia, anxious to obtain it,
+had engaged the hand of Margaret for his son, then but eight years of
+age. It was a question in dispute whether the dukedom could descend to a
+female, and Albert and Otho claimed it as the heirs of their uncle.
+Louis, the emperor, supported the claims of Austria, and thus Carinthia
+became attached to this growing power.
+
+John, enraged, formed a confederacy with the kings of Hungary and
+Poland, and some minor princes, and invaded Austria. For some time they
+swept all opposition before them. But the Austrian troops and those of
+the empire checked them at Landau. Here they entered into an agreement
+without a battle, by which Austria was permitted to retain Carinthia,
+she making important concessions to Bohemia. In February, 1339, Otho
+died, and Albert was invested with the sole administration of affairs.
+The old King of Bohemia possessed vehemence of character which neither
+age nor the total blindness with which he had become afflicted could
+repress. He traversed the empire, and even went to France, organizing a
+powerful confederacy against the emperor. The pope, Clement VI., who had
+always been inimical to Louis of Bavaria, influenced by John of Bohemia,
+deposed and excommunicated Louis, and ordered a new meeting of the diet
+of electors, which chose Charles, eldest son of the Bohemian monarch,
+and heir to that crown, emperor.
+
+The deposed Louis fought bravely for the crown thus torn from his brow.
+Albert of Austria aided him with all his energies. Their united armies,
+threading the defiles of the Bohemian mountains, penetrated the very
+heart of the kingdom, when, in the midst of success, the deposed Emperor
+Louis fell dead from a stroke of apoplexy, in the year 1347. This event
+left Charles of Bohemia in undisputed possession of the imperial crown.
+Albert immediately recognized his claim, effected reconciliation, and
+becoming the friend and the ally of the emperor, pressed on cautiously
+but securely, year after year, in his policy of annexation. But storms
+of war incessantly howled around his domains until he died, a crippled
+paralytic, on the 16th of August, 1358.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+RHODOLPH II., ALBERT IV. AND ALBERT V.
+
+From 1339 to 1437.
+
+Rhodolph II.--Marriage of John to Margaret.--Intriguing for the
+Tyrol.--Death of Rhodolph.--Accession of Power to Austria.--Dividing the
+Empire.--Delight of the Emperor Charles.--Leopold.--His Ambition and
+Successes.--Hedwige, Queen of Poland.--"The Course of true Love never
+did run smooth."--Unhappy Marriage of Hedwige.--Heroism of Arnold of
+Winkelreid.--Death of Leopold.--Death of Albert IV.--Accession of Albert
+V.--Attempts of Sigismond to bequeath to Albert V. Hungary and Bohemia.
+
+
+Rhodolph II., the eldest son of Albert III., when but nineteen years of
+age succeeded his father in the government of the Austrian States. He
+had been very thoroughly educated in all the civil and military
+knowledge of the times. He was closely allied with the Emperor Charles
+IV. of Bohemia, having married his daughter Catherine. His character and
+manhood had been very early developed. When he was in his seventeenth
+year his father had found it necessary to visit his Swiss estates, then
+embroiled in the fiercest war, and had left him in charge of the
+Austrian provinces. He soon after was intrusted with the whole care of
+the Hapsburg dominions in Switzerland. In this responsible post he
+developed wonderful administrative skill, encouraging industry,
+repressing disorder, and by constructing roads and bridges, opening
+facilities for intercourse and trade.
+
+Upon the death of his father, Rhodolph removed to Vienna, and being now
+the monarch of powerful realms on the Danube and among the Alps, he
+established a court rivaling the most magnificent establishments of the
+age.
+
+Just west of Austria and south of Bavaria was the magnificent dukedom of
+Tyrol, containing some sixteen thousand square miles, or about twice the
+size of the State of Massachusetts. It was a country almost unrivaled in
+the grandeur of its scenery, and contained nearly a million of
+inhabitants. This State, lying equally convenient to both Austria and
+Bavaria, by both of these kingdoms had for many years been regarded with
+a wistful eye. The manner in which Austria secured the prize is a story
+well worth telling, as illustrative of the intrigues of those times.
+
+It will be remembered that John, the arrogant King of Bohemia, engaged
+for his son the hand of Margaret, the only daughter of the Duke of
+Carinthia. Tyrol also was one of the possessions of this powerful duke.
+Henry, having no son, had obtained from the emperor a decree that these
+possessions should descend, in default of male issue, to his daughter.
+But for this decision the sovereignty of these States would descend to
+the male heirs, Albert and Otho of Austria, nephews of Henry. They of
+course disputed the legality of the decree, and, aided by the Emperor
+Louis of Bavaria, obtained Carinthia, relinquishing for a time their
+claim to Tyrol. The emperor hoped to secure that golden prize for his
+hereditary estates of Bavaria.
+
+When John, the son of the King of Bohemia, was but seventeen years of
+age, and a puny, weakly child, he was hurriedly married to Margaret,
+then twenty-two. Margaret, a sanguine, energetic woman, despised her
+baby husband, and he, very naturally, impotently hated her. She at
+length fled from him, and escaping from Bohemia, threw herself under the
+protection of Louis. The emperor joyfully welcomed her to his court, and
+promised to grant her a divorce, by virtue of his imperial power, if she
+would marry his son Louis. The compliant princess readily acceded to
+this plan, and the divorce was announced and the nuptials solemnized in
+February, 1342.
+
+The King of Bohemia was as much exasperated as the King of Bavaria was
+elated by this event, for the one felt that he had lost the Tyrol, and
+the other that he had gained it. It was this successful intrigue which
+cost Louis of Bavaria his imperial crown; for the blood of the King of
+Bohemia was roused. Burning with vengeance, he traversed Europe almost
+with the zeal and eloquence of Peter the Hermit, to organize a coalition
+against the emperor, and succeeded in inducing the pope, always hostile
+to Louis, to depose and excommunicate him. This marriage was also
+declared by the pope unlawful, and the son, Meinhard, eventually born to
+them, was branded as illegitimate.
+
+While matters were in this state, as years glided on, Rhodolph succeeded
+in winning the favor of the pontiff, and induced him to legitimate
+Meinhard, that this young heir of Tyrol might marry the Austrian
+princess Margaret, sister of Rhodolph. Meinhard and his wife Margaret
+ere long died, leaving Margaret of Tyrol, a widow in advancing years,
+with no direct heirs. By the marriage contract of her son Meinhard with
+Margaret of Austria, she promised that should there be failure of issue,
+Tyrol should revert to Austria. On the other hand, Bavaria claimed the
+territory in virtue of the marriage of Margaret with Louis of Bavaria.
+
+Rhodolph was so apprehensive that Bavaria might make an immediate move
+to obtain the coveted territory by force of arms, that he hastened
+across the mountains, though in the depth of winter, obtained from
+Margaret an immediate possession of Tyrol, and persuaded her to
+accompany him, an honored guest, to his capital, which he had
+embellished with unusual splendor for her entertainment.
+
+Rhodolph had married the daughter of Charles, King of Bohemia, the
+emperor, but unfortunately at this juncture, Rhodolph, united with the
+kings of Hungary and Poland, was at war with the Bavarian king.
+Catherine his wife, however, undertook to effect a reconciliation
+between her husband and her father. She secured an interview between
+them, and the emperor, the hereditary rival of his powerful neighbor the
+King of Bavaria, confirmed Margaret's gift, invested Rhodolph with the
+Tyrol, and pledged the arm of the empire to maintain this settlement.
+Thus Austria gained Tyrol, the country of romance and of song,
+interesting, perhaps, above all other portions of Europe in its natural
+scenery, and invaluable from its location as the gateway of Italy.
+Bavaria made a show of armed opposition to this magnificent accession to
+the power of Austria, but soon found it in vain to assail Rhodolph
+sustained by Margaret of Tyrol, and by the energies of the empire.
+
+Rhodolph was an antiquarian of eccentric character, ever poring over
+musty records and hunting up decayed titles. He was fond of attaching to
+his signature the names of all the innumerable offices he held over the
+conglomerated States of his realm. He was Rhodolph, Margrave of Baden,
+Vicar of Upper Bavaria, Lord of Hapsburg, Arch Huntsman of the Empire,
+Archduke Palatine, etc., etc. His ostentation provoked even the jealousy
+of his father, the emperor, and he was ordered to lay aside these
+numerous titles and the arrogant armorial bearings he was attaching to
+his seals. His desire to aggrandize his family burned with a quenchless
+flame. Hoping to extend his influence in Italy, he negotiated a
+matrimonial alliance for his brother with an Italian princess. As he
+crossed the Alps to attend the nuptials, he was seized with an
+inflammatory fever, and died the 27th of July, 1365, but twenty-six
+years of age, and leaving no issue.
+
+His brother Albert, a young man but seventeen years of age, succeeded
+Rhodolph. Just as he assumed the government, Margaret of Tyrol died, and
+the King of Bavaria, thinking this a favorable moment to renew his
+claims for the Tyrol, vigorously invaded the country with a strong army.
+Albert immediately applied to the emperor for assistance. Three years
+were employed in fightings and diplomacy, when Bavaria, in consideration
+of a large sum of money and sundry other concessions, renounced all
+pretensions to Tyrol, and left the rich prize henceforth undisputed in
+the hands of Austria. Thus the diminutive margrave of Austria, which was
+at first but a mere military post on the Danube, had grown by rapid
+accretions in one century to be almost equal in extent of territory to
+the kingdoms of Bavaria and of Bohemia. This grandeur, instead of
+satisfying the Austrian princes, did but increase their ambition.
+
+The Austrian territories, though widely scattered, were declared, both
+by family compact and by imperial decree, to be indivisible. Albert had
+a brother, Leopold, two years younger than himself, of exceedingly
+restless and ambitious spirit, while Albert was inactive, and a lover of
+ease and repose. Leopold was sent to Switzerland, and intrusted with the
+administration of those provinces. But his imperious spirit so dominated
+over his elder but pliant brother, that he extorted from him a compact,
+by which the realm was divided, Albert remaining in possession of the
+Austrian provinces of the Danube, and Leopold having exclusive dominion
+over those in Switzerland; while the magnificent new acquisition, the
+Tyrol, lying between the two countries, bounding Switzerland on the
+east, and Austria on the west, was shared between them.
+
+Nothing can more clearly show the moderate qualities of Albert than that
+he should have assented to such a plan. He did, however, with easy good
+nature, assent to it, and the two brothers applied to the Emperor
+Charles to ratify the division by his imperial sanction. Charles, who
+for some time had been very jealous of the rapid encroachments of
+Austria, rubbed his hands with delight.
+
+"We have long," said he, "labored in vain to humble the house of
+Austria, and now the dukes of Austria have humbled themselves."
+
+Leopold the First inherited all the ambition and energy of the house of
+Hapsburg, and was ever watching with an eagle eye to extend his
+dominions, and to magnify his power. By money, war, and diplomacy, in a
+few years he obtained Friburg and the little town of Basle; attached to
+his dominions the counties of Feldkirch, Pludenz, Surgans and the
+Rienthal, which he wrested from the feeble counts who held them, and
+obtained the baillages of Upper and Lower Suabia, and the towns of
+Augsburg and Gingen. But a bitter disappointment was now encountered by
+this ambitious prince.
+
+Louis, the renowned King of Hungary and Poland, had two daughters, Maria
+and Hedwige, but no sons. To Maria he promised the crown of Hungary as
+her portion, and among the many claimants for her hand, and the
+glittering crown she held in it, Sigismond, son of the Emperor Charles,
+King of Bohemia, received the prize. Leopold, whose heart throbbed in
+view of so splendid an alliance, was overjoyed when he secured the
+pledge of the hand of Hedwige, with the crown of Poland, for William,
+his eldest son. Hedwige was one of the most beautiful and accomplished
+princesses of the age. William was also a young man of great elegance of
+person, and of such rare fascination of character, that he had acquired
+the epithet of William the Delightful. His chivalrous bearing had been
+trained and polished amidst the splendors of his uncle's court of
+Vienna. Hedwige, as the affianced bride of William, was invited from the
+more barbaric pomp of the Hungarian court, to improve her education by
+the aid of the refinements of Vienna. William and Hedwige no sooner met
+than they loved one another, as young hearts, even in the palace, will
+sometimes love, as well as in the cottage. In brilliant festivities and
+moonlight excursions the young lovers passed a few happy months, when
+Hedwige was called home by the final sickness of her father. Louis died,
+and Hedwige was immediately crowned Queen of Poland, receiving the most
+enthusiastic greetings of her subjects.
+
+Bordering on Poland there was a grand duchy of immense extent,
+Lithuania, embracing sixty thousand square miles. The Grand Duke
+Jaghellon was a burly Northman, not more than half civilized, whose
+character was as jagged as his name. This pagan proposed to the Polish
+nobles that he should marry Hedwige, and thus unite the grand duchy of
+Lithuania with the kingdom of Poland; promising in that event to
+renounce paganism, and embrace Christianity. The beautiful and
+accomplished Hedwige was horror-struck at the proposal, and declared
+that never would she marry any one but William.
+
+But the Polish nobles, dazzled by the prospect of this magnificent
+accession to the kingdom of Poland, and the bishops, even more powerful
+than the nobles, elated with the vision of such an acquisition for the
+Church, resolved that the young and fatherless maiden, who had no one to
+defend her cause, should yield, and that she should become the bride of
+Jaghellon. They declared that it was ridiculous to think that the
+interests of a mighty kingdom, and the enlargement of the Church, were
+to yield to the caprices of a love-sick girl.
+
+In the meantime William, all unconscious of the disappointment which
+awaited him, was hastening to Cracow, with a splendid retinue, and the
+richest presents Austrian art could fabricate, to receive his bride. The
+nobles, however, a semi-barbaric set of men, surrounded him upon his
+arrival, refused to allow him any interview with Hedwige, threatened him
+with personal violence, and drove him out of the kingdom. Poor Hedwige
+was in anguish. She wept, vowed deathless fidelity to William, and
+expressed utter detestation of the pagan duke, until, at last, worn out
+and broken-hearted, she, in despair, surrendered herself into the arms
+of Jaghellon. Jaghellon was baptized by the name of Ladislaus, and
+Lithuania was annexed to Poland.
+
+The loss of the crown of Poland was to Leopold a grievous affliction; at
+the same time his armies, engaged in sundry measures of aggrandizement,
+encountered serious reverses. Leopold, the father of William, by these
+events was plunged into the deepest dejection. No effort of his friends
+could lift the weight of his gloom. In a retired apartment of one of his
+castles he sat silent and woful, apparently incapacitated for any
+exertion whatever, either bodily or mental. The affairs of his realm
+were neglected, and his bailiffs and feudal chiefs, left with
+irresponsible power, were guilty of such acts of extortion and tyranny,
+that, in the province of Suabia the barons combined, and a fierce
+insurrection broke out. Forty important towns united in the confederacy,
+and secured the co-operation of Strasburg, Mentz and other large cities
+on the Rhine. Other of the Swiss provinces were on the eve of joining
+this alarming confederacy against Leopold, their Austrian ruler. As
+Vienna for some generations had been the seat of the Hapsburg family,
+from whence governors were sent to these provinces of Helvetia, as
+Switzerland was then called, the Swiss began to regard their rulers as
+foreigners, and even Leopold found it necessary to strengthen himself
+with Austrian troops.
+
+This formidable league roused Leopold from his torpor, and he awoke like
+the waking of the lion. He was immediately on the march with four
+thousand horsemen, and fourteen hundred foot, while all through the
+defiles of the Alps bugle blasts echoed, summoning detachments from
+various cantons under their bold barons, to hasten to the aid of the
+insurgents. On the evening of the 9th of July, 1396, the glittering host
+of Leopold appeared on an eminence overlooking the city of Sempach and
+the beautiful lake on whose border it stands. The horses were fatigued
+by their long and hurried march, and the crags and ravines, covered with
+forest, were impracticable for the evolutions of cavalry. The impetuous
+Leopold, impatient of delay, resolved upon an immediate attack,
+notwithstanding the exhaustion of his troops, and though a few hours of
+delay would bring strong reinforcements to his camp. He dismounted his
+horsemen, and formed his whole force in solid phalanx. It was an
+imposing spectacle, as six thousand men, covered from head to foot with
+blazing armor, presenting a front of shields like a wall of burnished
+steel, bristling with innumerable pikes and spears, moved with slow,
+majestic tread down upon the city.
+
+The confederate Swiss, conscious that the hour of vengeance had come, in
+which they must conquer or be miserably slain, marched forth to meet the
+foe, emboldened only by despair. But few of the confederates were in
+armor. They were furnished with such weapons as men grasp when despotism
+rouses them to insurrection, rusty battle-axes, pikes and halberts, and
+two-handed swords, which their ancestors, in descending into the grave,
+had left behind them. They drew up in the form of a solid wedge, to
+pierce the thick concentric wall of steel, apparently as impenetrable as
+the cliffs of the mountains. Thus the two bodies silently and sternly
+approached each other. It was a terrific hour; for every man knew that
+one or the other of those hosts must perish utterly. For some time the
+battle raged, while the confederates could make no impression whatever
+upon their steel-clad foes, and sixty of them fell pierced by spears
+before one of their assailants had been even wounded.
+
+Despair was fast settling upon their hearts, when Arnold of Winkelreid,
+a knight of Underwalden, rushed from the ranks of the confederates,
+exclaiming--
+
+"I will open a passage into the line; protect, dear countrymen, my wife
+and children."
+
+He threw himself upon the bristling spears. A score pierced his body;
+grasping them with the tenacity of death, he bore them to the earth as
+he fell. His comrades, emulating his spirit of self-sacrifice, rushed
+over his bleeding body, and forced their way through the gate thus
+opened into the line. The whole unwieldy mass was thrown into confusion.
+The steel-clad warriors, exhausted before the battle commenced, and
+encumbered with their heavy armor, could but feebly resist their nimble
+assailants, who outnumbering them and over-powering them, cut them down
+in fearful havoc. It soon became a general slaughter, and not less than
+two thousand of the followers of Leopold were stretched lifeless upon
+the ground. Many were taken prisoners, and a few, mounting their horses,
+effected an escape among the wild glens of the Alps.
+
+In this awful hour Leopold developed magnanimity and heroism worthy of
+his name. Before the battle commenced, his friends urged him to take
+care of his own person.
+
+"God forbid," said he, "that I should endeavor to save my own life and
+leave you to die! I will share your fate, and, with you, will either
+conquer or perish."
+
+When all was in confusion, and his followers were falling like autumn
+leaves around him, he was urged to put spurs to his horse, and,
+accompanied by his body-guard, to escape.
+
+"I would rather die honorably," said Leopold, "than live with dishonor."
+
+Just at this moment his standard-bearer was struck down by a rush of the
+confederates. As he fell he cried out, "Help, Austria, help!" Leopold
+frantically sprang to his aid, grasped the banner from his dying hand,
+and waving it, plunged into the midst of the foe, with saber strokes
+hewing a path before him. He was soon lost in the tumult and the carnage
+of the battle. His body was afterward found, covered with wounds, in the
+midst of heaps of the dead.
+
+Thus perished the ambitious and turbulent Leopold the 1st, after a
+stormy and unhappy life of thirty-six years, and a reign of constant
+encroachment and war of twenty years. Life to him was a dark and somber
+tempest. Ever dissatisfied with what he had attained, and grasping at
+more, he could never enjoy the present, and he finally died that death
+of violence to which his ambition had consigned so many thousands.
+Leopold, the second son of the duke, who was but fifteen years of age,
+succeeded his father, in the dominion of the Swiss estates; and after a
+desultory warfare of a few months, was successful in negotiating a
+peace, or rather an armed truce, with the successful insurgents.
+
+In the meantime, Albert, at Vienna, apparently happy in being relieved
+of all care of the Swiss provinces, was devoting himself to the arts of
+peace. He reared new buildings, encouraged learning, repressed all
+disorders, and cultivated friendly relations with the neighboring
+powers. His life was as a summer's day--serene and bright. He and his
+family were happy, and his realms in prosperity. He died at his rural
+residence at Laxendorf, two miles out from Vienna, on the 29th of
+August, 1395. All Austria mourned his death. Thousands gathered at his
+burial, exclaiming, "We have lost our friend, our father!" He was a
+studious, peace-loving, warm-hearted man, devoted to his family and his
+friends, fond of books and the society of the learned, and enjoying the
+cultivation of his garden with his own hands. He left, at his death, an
+only son, Albert, sixteen years of age.
+
+William, the eldest son of Leopold, had been brought up in the court of
+Vienna. He was a young man of fascinating character and easily won all
+hearts. After his bitter disappointment in Poland he returned to Vienna,
+and now, upon the death of his uncle Albert, he claimed the reins of
+government as the oldest member of the family. His cousin Albert, of
+course, resisted this claim, demanding that he himself should enter upon
+the post which his father had occupied. A violent dissension ensued
+which resulted in an agreement that they should administer the
+government of the Austrian States, jointly, during their lives, and that
+then the government should be vested in the eldest surviving member of
+the family.
+
+Having effected this arrangement, quite to the satisfaction of both
+parties, Albert, who inherited much of the studious thoughtful turn of
+mind of his father, set out on a pilgrimage to the holy land, leaving
+the government during his absence in the hands of William. After
+wanderings and adventures so full of romance as to entitle him to the
+appellation of the "Wonder of the World," he returned to Vienna. He
+married a daughter of the Duke of Holland, and settled down to a monkish
+life. He entered a monastery of Carthusian monks, and took an active
+part in all their discipline and devotions. No one was more punctual
+than he at matins and vespers, or more devout in confessions, prayers,
+genuflexions and the divine service in the choir. Regarding himself as
+one of the fraternity, he called himself brother Albert, and left
+William untrammeled in the cares of state. His life was short, for he
+died the 14th of September, 1404, in the twenty-seventh year of his age,
+leaving a son Albert, seven years old. William, who married a daughter
+of the King of Naples, survived him but two years, when he died
+childless.
+
+A boy nine years old now claimed the inheritance of the Austrian
+estates; but the haughty dukes of the Swiss branch of the house were not
+disposed to yield to his claims. Leopold II., who after the battle of
+Sempach succeeded his father in the Swiss estates, assumed the
+guardianship of Albert, and the administration of Austria, till the
+young duke should be of age. But Leopold had two brothers who also
+inherited their father's energy and ambition. Ernest ruled over Styria,
+Carinthia and Carniola. Frederic governed the Tyrol.
+
+Leopold II. repaired to Vienna to assume the administration; his two
+brothers claimed the right of sharing it with him. Confusion, strife and
+anarchy ensued. Ernest, a very determined and violent man, succeeded in
+compelling his brother to give him a share of the government, and in the
+midst of incessant quarrels, which often led to bloody conflicts, each
+of the two brothers strove to wrest as much as possible from Austria
+before young Albert should be of age. The nobles availed themselves of
+this anarchy to renew their expeditions of plunder. Unhappy Austria for
+several years was a scene of devastation and misery. In the year 1411,
+Leopold II. died without issue. The young Albert had now attained is
+fifteenth year.
+
+The emperor declared Albert of age, and he assumed the government as
+Albert V. His subjects, weary of disorder and of the strife of the
+nobles, welcomed him with enthusiasm. With sagacity and self-denial
+above his years, the young prince devoted himself to business,
+relinquishing all pursuits of pleasure. Fortunately, during his minority
+he had honorable and able teachers who stored his mind with useful
+knowledge, and fortified him with principles of integrity. The change
+from the most desolating anarchy to prosperity and peace was almost
+instantaneous. Albert had the judgment to surround himself with able
+advisers. Salutary laws were enacted; justice impartially administered;
+the country was swept of the banditti which infested it, and while all
+the States around were involved in the miseries of war, the song of the
+contented husbandman, and the music of the artisan's tools were heard
+through the fields and in the towns of happy Austria.
+
+Sigismond, second son of the Emperor Charles IV., King of Bohemia, was
+now emperor. It will be remembered that by marrying Mary, the eldest
+daughter of Louis, King of Hungary and Poland, he received Hungary as
+the dower of his bride. By intrigue he also succeeded in deposing his
+effeminate and dissolute brother, Wenceslaus, from the throne of
+Bohemia, and succeeded, by a new election, in placing the crown upon his
+own brow. Thus Sigismond wielded a three-fold scepter. He was Emperor of
+Germany, and King of Hungary and of Bohemia.
+
+Albert married the only daughter of Sigismond, and a very strong
+affection sprung up between the imperial father and his son-in-law. They
+often visited each other, and cooperated very cordially in measures of
+state. The wife of Sigismond was a worthless woman, described by an
+Austrian historian as "one who believed in neither God, angel nor devil;
+neither in heaven nor hell." Sigismond had set his heart upon
+bequeathing to Albert the crowns of both Hungary and Bohemia, which
+magnificent accessions to the Austrian domains would elevate that power
+to be one of the first in Europe. But Barbara, his queen, wished to
+convey these crowns to the son of the pagan Jaghellon, who had received
+the crown of Poland as the dowry of his reluctant bride, Hedwige.
+Sigismond, provoked by her intrigues for the accomplishment of this
+object, and detesting her for her licentiousness, put her under arrest.
+Sigismond was sixty-three years of age, in very feeble health, and daily
+expecting to die.
+
+He summoned a general convention of the nobles of Hungary and Bohemia to
+meet him at Znaim in Moravia, near the frontiers of Austria, and sent
+for Albert and his daughter to hasten to that place. The infirm emperor,
+traveling by slow stages, succeeded in reaching Znaim. He immediately
+summoned the nobles to his presence, and introducing to them Albert and
+Elizabeth, thus affectingly addressed them:
+
+"Loving friends, you know that since the commencement of my reign I have
+employed my utmost exertions to maintain public tranquillity. Now, as I
+am about to die, my last act must be consistent with my former actions.
+At this moment my only anxiety arises from a desire to prevent
+dissension and bloodshed after my decease. It is praiseworthy in a
+prince to govern well; but it is not less praiseworthy to provide a
+successor who shall govern better than himself. This fame I now seek,
+not from ambition, but from love to my subjects. You all know Albert,
+Duke of Austria, to whom in preference to all other princes I gave my
+daughter in marriage, and whom I adopted as my son. You know that he
+possesses experience and every virtue becoming a prince. He found
+Austria in a state of disorder, and he has restored it to tranquillity.
+He is now of an age in which judgment and experience attain their
+perfection, and he is sovereign of Austria, which, lying between Hungary
+and Bohemia, forms a connecting link between the two kingdoms.
+
+"I recommend him to you as my successor. I leave you a king, pious,
+honorable, wise and brave. I give him my kingdom, or rather I give him
+to my kingdoms, to whom I can give or wish nothing better. Truly you
+belong to him in consideration of his wife, the hereditary princess of
+Hungary and Bohemia. Again I repeat that I do not act thus solely from
+love to Albert and my daughter, but from a desire in my last moments to
+promote the true welfare of my people. Happy are those who are subject
+to Albert. I am confident he is no less beloved by you than by me, and
+that even without my exhortations you would unanimously give him your
+votes. But I beseech you by these tears, comfort my soul, which is
+departing to God, by confirming my choice and fulfilling my will."
+
+The emperor was so overcome with emotion that he could with difficulty
+pronounce these last words. All were deeply moved; some wept aloud;
+others, seizing the hand of the emperor and bathing it in tears, vowed
+allegiance to Albert, and declared that while he lived they would
+recognize no other sovereign.
+
+The very next day, November, 1437, Sigismond died. Albert and Elizabeth
+accompanied his remains to Hungary. The Hungarian diet of barons
+unanimously ratified the wishes of the late king in accepting Albert as
+his successor. He then hastened to Bohemia, and, notwithstanding a few
+outbursts of disaffection, was received with great demonstrations of joy
+by the citizens of Prague, and was crowned in the cathedral.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ALBERT, LADISLAUS AND FREDERIC.
+
+From 1440 to 1489.
+
+Increasing Honors of Albert V.--Encroachments of the Turks.--The
+Christians Routed.--Terror of the Hungarians.--Death of
+Albert.--Magnanimous Conduct of Albert of Bavaria.--Internal
+Troubles.--Precocity of Ladislaus.--Fortifications raised by the
+Turks.--John Capistrun.--Rescue of Belgrade.--The Turks
+dispersed.--Exultation over the Victory.--Death of Hunniades.--Jealousy
+of Ladislaus.--His Death.--Brotherly Quarrels.--Devastations by the
+Turks.--Invasion of Austria.--Repeal of the Compromise.--The Emperor a
+Fugitive.
+
+
+The kingdom of Bohemia thus attached to the duchies of Austria contained
+a population of some three millions, and embraced twenty thousand square
+miles of territory, being about three times as large as the State of
+Massachusetts. Hungary was a still more magnificent realm in extent of
+territory, being nearly five times as large as Bohemia, but inhabited by
+about the same number of people, widely dispersed. In addition to this
+sudden and vast accession of power, Albert was chosen Emperor of
+Germany. This distinguished sovereign displayed as much wisdom and
+address in administering the affairs of the empire, as in governing his
+own kingdoms.
+
+The Turks were at this time becoming the terror of Christendom.
+Originating in a small tribe between the Caspian Sea and the Euxine,
+they had with bloody cimeters overrun all Asia Minor, and, crossing the
+Hellespont, had intrenched themselves firmly on the shores of Europe.
+Crowding on in victorious hosts, armed with the most terrible
+fanaticism, they had already obtained possession of Bulgaria, Servia,
+and Bosnia, eastern dependencies of Hungary, and all Europe was
+trembling in view of their prowess, their ferocity and their apparently
+exhaustless legions.
+
+Sigismond, beholding the crescent of the Moslem floating over the
+castles of eastern Hungary, became alarmed for the kingdom, and sent
+ambassadors from court to court to form a crusade against the invaders.
+He was eminently successful, and an army of one hundred thousand men was
+soon collected, composed of the flower of the European nobility. The
+republics of Venice and Genoa united to supply a fleet. With this
+powerful armament Sigismond, in person, commenced his march to
+Constantinople, which city the Turks were besieging, to meet the fleet
+there. The Turkish sultan himself gathered his troops and advanced to
+meet Sigismond. The Christian troops were utterly routed, and nearly all
+put to the sword. The emperor with difficulty escaped. In the confusion
+of the awful scene of carnage he threw himself unperceived into a small
+boat, and paddling down the Danube, as its flood swept through an almost
+uninhabited wilderness, he reached the Black Sea, where he was so
+fortunate as to find a portion of the fleet, and thus, by a long
+circuit, he eventually reached his home.
+
+Bajazet, the sultan, returned exultant from this great victory, and
+resumed the siege of Constantinople, which ere long fell into the hands
+of the Turks. Amurath, who was sultan at the time of the death of
+Sigismond, thought the moment propitious for extending his conquests. He
+immediately, with his legions, overran Servia, a principality nearly the
+size of the State of Virginia, and containing a million of inhabitants.
+George, Prince of Servia, retreating before the merciless followers of
+the false prophet, threw himself with a strong garrison into the
+fortress of Semendria, and sent an imploring message to Albert for
+assistance. Servia was separated from Hungary only by the Danube, and it
+was a matter of infinite moment to Albert that the Turk should not get
+possession of that province, from which he could make constant forays
+into Hungary.
+
+Albert hastily collected an army and marched to the banks of the Danube
+just in time to witness the capture of Semendria and the massacre of its
+garrison. All Hungary was now in terror. The Turks in overwhelming
+numbers were firmly intrenched upon the banks of the Danube, and were
+preparing to cross the river and to supplant the cross with the crescent
+on all the plains of Hungary. The Hungarian nobles, in crowds, flocked
+to the standard of Albert, who made herculean exertions to meet and roll
+back the threatened tide of invasion. Exhausted by unremitting toil, he
+was taken sick and suddenly died, on a small island of the Danube, on
+the 17th of October, 1439, in the forty-third year of his age. The death
+of such a prince, heroic and magnanimous, loving the arts of peace, and
+yet capable of wielding the energies of war, was an apparent calamity to
+Europe.
+
+Albert left two daughters, but his queen Elizabeth was expecting, in a
+few months, to give birth to another child. Every thing was thus
+involved in confusion, and for a time intrigue and violence ran riot.
+There were many diverse parties, the rush of armed bands, skirmishes and
+battles, and all the great matters of state were involved in an
+inextricable labyrinth of confusion. The queen gave birth to a son, who
+was baptized by the name of Ladislaus. Elizabeth, anxious to secure the
+crown of Hungary for her infant, had him solemnly crowned at Alba Regia,
+by the Archbishop of Gran when the child was but four months old.
+
+But a powerful party arose, opposed to the claims of the infant, and
+strove by force of arms to place upon the throne Uladislaus, King of
+Poland and Lithuania, and son of the pagan Jaghellon and the unhappy
+Hedwige. For two years war between the rival parties desolated the
+kingdom, when Elizabeth died. Uladislaus now redoubled his endeavors,
+and finally succeeded in driving the unconscious infant from his
+hereditary domain, and established himself firmly on the throne of
+Hungary.
+
+The infant prince was taken to Bohemia. There also he encountered
+violent opposition. "A child," said his opponents, "can not govern. It
+will be long before Ladislaus will be capable of assuming the reins of
+government. Let us choose another sovereign, and when Ladislaus has
+attained the age of twenty-four we shall see whether he deserves the
+crown."
+
+This very sensible advice was adopted, and thirteen electors were
+appointed to choose a sovereign. Their choice fell upon Albert of
+Bavaria. But he, with a spirit of magnanimity very rare in that age,
+declared that the crown, of right, belonged to Ladislaus, and that he
+would not take it from him. They then chose Frederic, Duke of Styria,
+who, upon the death of Albert, had been chosen emperor. Frederic,
+incited by the example of Albert, also declined, saying, "I will not rob
+my relation of his right." But anxious for the peace of the empire, he
+recommended that they should choose some illustrious Bohemian, to whom
+they should intrust the regency until Ladislaus became of age, offering
+himself to assume the guardianship of the young prince.
+
+This judicious advice was accepted, and the Bohemian nobles chose the
+infant Ladislaus their king. They, however, appointed two regents
+instead of one. The regents quarreled and headed two hostile parties.
+Anarchy and civil war desolated the kingdom, with fluctuations of
+success and discomfiture attending the movements of either party. Thus
+several years of violence and blood passed on. One of the regents,
+George Podiebrad, drove his opponent from the realm and assumed regal
+authority. To legitimate its usurped power he summoned a diet at
+Pilgram, in 1447, and submitted the following question:
+
+"Is it advantageous to the kingdom that Ladislaus should retain the
+crown, or would it not be more beneficial to choose a monarch acquainted
+with our language and customs, and inspired with love of our country?"
+
+Warm opposition to this measure arose, and the nobles voted themselves
+loyal to Ladislaus. While these events were passing in Bohemia, scenes
+of similar violence were transpiring in Hungary. After a long series of
+convulsions, and Uladislaus, the Polish king, who had attained the crown
+of Hungary, having been slain in a battle with the Turks, a diet of
+Hungarian nobles was assembled and they also declared the young
+Ladislaus to be their king. They consequently wrote to the Emperor
+Frederic, Duke of Styria, who had assumed the guardianship of the
+prince, requesting that he might be sent to Hungary. Ladislaus
+Posthumous, so-called in consequence of his birth after the death of his
+father, was then but six years of age.
+
+The Austrian States were also in a condition of similar confusion, rival
+aspirants grasping at power, feuds agitating every province, and all
+moderate men anxious for that repose which could only be found by
+uniting in the claims of Ladislaus for the crown. Thus Austria, Bohemia
+and Hungary, so singularly and harmoniously united under Albert V., so
+suddenly dissevered and scattered by the death of Albert, were now,
+after years of turmoil, all reuniting under the child Ladislaus.
+
+Frederic, however, the faithful guardian of the young prince, was
+devoting the utmost care to his education, and refused to accede to the
+urgent and reiterated requests to send the young monarch to his realms.
+When Ladislaus was about ten years of age the Emperor Frederic visited
+the pope at Rome, and took Ladislaus in his glittering suite. The
+precocious child here astonished the learned men of the court, by
+delivering an oration in Latin before the consistory, and by giving many
+other indications of originality and vigor of mind far above his years.
+The pope became much attached to the youthful sovereign of three such
+important realms, and as Frederic was about to visit Naples, Ladislaus
+remained a guest in the imperial palace.
+
+Deputies from the three nations repaired to Rome to urge the pope to
+restore to them their young sovereign. Failing in this, they endeavored
+to induce Ladislaus to escape with them. This plan also was discovered
+and foiled. The nobles were much irritated by these disappointments, and
+they resolved to rescue him by force of arms. All over Hungary, Bohemia
+and Austria there was a general rising of the nobles, nationalities
+being merged in the common cause, and all hearts united and throbbing
+with a common desire. An army of sixteen thousand men was raised.
+Frederic, alarmed by these formidable preparations for war, surrendered
+Ladislaus and he was conveyed in triumph to Vienna. A numerous
+assemblage of the nobles of the three nations was convened, and it was
+settled that the young king, during his minority, should remain at
+Vienna, under the care of his maternal uncle, Count Cilli, who, in the
+meantime, was to administer the government of Austria. George Podiebrad
+was intrusted with the regency of Bohemia; and John Hunniades was
+appointed regent of Hungary.
+
+Ladislaus was now thirteen years of age. The most learned men of the age
+were appointed as his teachers, and he pursued his studies with great
+vigor. Count Cilli, however, an ambitious and able man, soon gained
+almost unlimited control over the mind of his young ward, and became so
+arrogant and dictatorial, filling every important office with his own
+especial friends, and removing those who displeased him, that general
+discontent was excited and conspiracy was formed against him. Cilli was
+driven from Vienna with insults and threats, and the conspirators placed
+the regency in the hands of a select number of their adherents.
+
+While affairs were in this condition, John Hunniades, as regent, was
+administering the government of Hungary with great vigor and sagacity.
+He was acquiring so much renown that Count Cilli regarded him with a
+very jealous eye, and excited the suspicions of the young king that
+Hunniades was seeking for himself the sovereignty of Hungary. Cilli
+endeavored to lure Hunniades to Vienna, that he might seize his person,
+but the sagacious warrior was too wily to be thus entrapped.
+
+The Turks were now in the full tide of victory. They had conquered
+Constantinople, fortified both sides of the Bosporus and the Hellespont,
+overrun Greece and planted themselves firmly and impregnably on the
+shores of Europe. Mahomet II. was sultan, succeeding his father Amurath.
+He raised an army of two hundred thousand men, who were all inspired
+with that intense fanatic ferocity with which the Moslem then regarded
+the Christian. Marching resistlessly through Bulgaria and Servia, he
+contemplated the immediate conquest of Hungary, the bulwark of Europe.
+He advanced to the banks of the Danube and laid siege to Belgrade, a
+very important and strongly fortified town at the point where the Save
+enters the great central river of eastern Europe.
+
+Such an army, flushed with victory and inspired with all the energies of
+fanaticism, appalled the European powers. Ladislaus was but a boy,
+studious and scholarly in his tastes, having developed but little
+physical energy and no executive vigor. He was very handsome, very
+refined in his tastes and courteous in his address, and he cultivated
+with great care the golden ringlets which clustered around his
+shoulders. At the time of this fearful invasion Ladislaus was on a visit
+to Buda, one of the capitals of Hungary, on the Danube, but about three
+hundred miles above Belgrade. The young monarch, with his favorite,
+Cilli, fled ingloriously to Vienna, leaving Hunniades to breast as he
+could the Turkish hosts. But Hunniades was, fortunately, equal to the
+emergence.
+
+A Franciscan monk, John Capistrun, endowed with the eloquence of Peter
+the Hermit, traversed Germany, displaying the cross and rousing
+Christians to defend Europe from the infidels. He soon collected a
+motley mass of forty thousand men, rustics, priests, students, soldiers,
+unarmed, undisciplined, a rabble rout, who followed him to the
+rendezvous where Hunniades had succeeded in collecting a large force of
+the bold barons and steel-clad warriors of Hungary. The experienced
+chief gladly received this heterogeneous mass, and soon armed them,
+brought them into the ranks and subjected them to the severe discipline
+of military drill.
+
+At the head of this band, which was inspired with zeal equal to that of
+the Turk, the brave Hunniades, in a fleet of boats, descended the
+Danube. The river in front of Belgrade was covered with the flotilla of
+the Turks. The wall in many places was broken down, and at other points
+in the wall they had obtained a foothold, and the crescent was proudly
+unfurled to the breeze. The feeble garrison, worn out with toil and
+perishing with famine, were in the last stages of despair. Hunniades
+came down upon the Turkish flotilla like an inundation; both parties
+fought with almost unprecedented ferocity, but the Christians drove
+every thing before them, sinking, dispersing, and capturing the boats,
+which were by no means prepared for so sudden and terrible an assault.
+The immense reinforcement, with arms and provisions, thus entered the
+city, and securing the navigation of the Danube and the Save, opened the
+way for continued supplies. The immense hosts of the Mohammedans now
+girdled the city in a semicircle on the land side. Their tents,
+gorgeously embellished and surmounted with the crescent, glittered in
+the rays of the sun as far as the eye could extend. Squadrons of
+steel-clad horsemen swept the field, while bands of the besiegers
+pressed the city without intermission, night and day.
+
+Mohammed, irritated by this unexpected accession of strength to the
+besieged, in his passion ordered an immediate and simultaneous attack
+upon the town by his whole force. The battle was long and bloody, both
+parties struggling with utter desperation. The Turks were repulsed.
+After one of the longest continuous conflicts recorded in history,
+lasting all one night, and all the following day until the going down of
+the sun, the Turks, leaving thirty thousand of their dead beneath the
+ramparts of the city, and taking with them the sultan desperately
+wounded, struck their tents in the darkness of the night and retreated.
+
+Great was the exultation in Hungary, in Germany and all over Europe. But
+this joy was speedily clouded by the intelligence that Hunniades, the
+deliverer of Europe from Moslem invasion, exhausted with toil, had been
+seized by a fever and had died. It is said that the young King Ladislaus
+rejoiced in his death, for he was greatly annoyed in having a subject
+attain such a degree of splendor as to cast his own name into
+insignificance. Hunniades left two sons, Ladislaus and Matthias. The
+king and Cilli manifested the meanest jealousy in reference to these
+young men, and fearful that the renown of their father, which had
+inspired pride and gratitude in every Hungarian heart, might give them
+power, they did every thing they could to humiliate and depress them.
+The king lured them both to Buda, where he perfidiously beheaded the
+eldest, Ladislaus, for wounding Cilli, in defending himself from an
+attack which the implacable count had made upon him, and he also threw
+the younger son, Matthias, into a prison.
+
+The widow of Hunniades, the heroic mother of these children, with a
+spirit worthy of the wife of her renowned husband, called the nobles to
+her aid. They rallied in great numbers, roused to indignation. The
+inglorious king, terrified by the storm he had raised, released
+Matthias, and fled from Buda to Vienna, pursued by the execrations and
+menaces of the Hungarians.
+
+He soon after repaired to Prague, in Bohemia, to solemnize his marriage
+with Magdalen, daughter of Charles VII., King of France. He had just
+reached the city, and was making preparations for his marriage in
+unusual splendor, when he was attacked by a malignant disease, supposed
+to be the plague, and died after a sickness of but thirty-six hours. The
+unhappy king, who, through the stormy scenes of his short life, had
+developed no grandeur of soul, was oppressed with the awfulness of
+passing to the final judgment. In the ordinances of the Church he sought
+to find solace for a sinful and a troubled spirit. Having received the
+sacrament of the Lord's Supper, with dying lips he commenced repeating
+the Lord's prayer. He had just uttered the words "deliver us from evil,"
+when his spirit took its flight to the judgment seat of Christ.
+
+Frederic, the emperor, Duke of Styria, was now the oldest lineal
+descendant of Rhodolph of Hapsburg, founder of the house of Austria. The
+imperial dignity had now degenerated into almost an empty title. The
+Germanic empire consisted of a few large sovereignties and a
+conglomeration of petty dukedoms, principalities, and States of various
+names, very loosely held together, in their heterogeneous and
+independent rulers and governments, by one nominal sovereign upon whom
+the jealous States were willing to confer but little real power. A
+writer at that time, AEneas Sylvius, addressing the Germans, says:
+
+"Although you acknowledge the emperor for your king and master, he
+possesses but a precarious sovereignty; he has no power; you only obey
+him when you choose; and you are seldom inclined to obey. You are all
+desirous to be free; neither the princes nor the States render to him
+what is due. He has no revenue, no treasure. Hence you are involved in
+endless contests and daily wars. Hence also rapine, murder,
+conflagrations, and a thousand evils which arise from divided
+authority."
+
+Upon the death of Ladislaus there was a great rush and grasping for the
+vacant thrones of Bohemia and Hungary, and for possession of the rich
+dukedoms of Austria. After a long conflict the Austrian estates were
+divided into three portions. Frederic, the emperor, took Upper Austria;
+his brother Albert, who had succeeded to the Swiss estates, took Lower
+Austria; Sigismond, Albert's nephew, a man of great energy of character,
+took Carinthia. The three occupied the palace in Vienna in joint
+residence.
+
+The energetic regent, George Podiebrad, by adroit diplomacy succeeded,
+after an arduous contest, in obtaining the election by the Bohemian
+nobles to the throne of Bohemia. The very day he was chosen he was
+inaugurated at Prague, and though rival candidates united with the pope
+to depose him, he maintained his position against them all.
+
+Frederic, the emperor, had been quite sanguine in the hopes of obtaining
+the crown of Bohemia. Bitterly disappointed there, he at first made a
+show of hostile resistance; but thinking better of the matter, he
+concluded to acquiesce in the elevation of Podiebrad, to secure amicable
+relations with him, and to seek his aid in promotion of his efforts to
+obtain the crown of Hungary. Here again the emperor failed. The nobles
+assembled in great strength at Buda, and elected unanimously Matthias,
+the only surviving son of the heroic Hunniades, whose memory was
+embalmed in the hearts of all the Hungarians. The boy then, for he was
+but a boy, and was styled contemptuously by the disappointed Frederic
+the boy king, entered into an alliance with Podiebrad for mutual
+protection, and engaged the hand of his daughter in marriage. Thus was
+the great kingdom of Austria, but recently so powerful in the union of
+all the Austrian States with Bohemia and Hungary, again divided and
+disintegrated. The emperor, in his vexation, foolishly sent an army of
+five thousand men into Hungary, insanely hoping to take the crown by
+force of arms, but he was soon compelled to relinquish the hopeless
+enterprise.
+
+And now Frederic and Albert began to quarrel at Vienna. The emperor was
+arrogant and domineering. Albert was irritable and jealous. First came
+angry words; then the enlisting of partisans, and then all the miseries
+of fierce and determined civil war. The capital was divided into hostile
+factions, and the whole country was ravaged by the sweep of armies. The
+populace of Vienna, espousing the cause of Albert, rose in insurrection,
+pillaged the houses of the adherents of Frederic, drove Frederic, with
+his wife and infant child, into the citadel, and invested the fortress.
+Albert placed himself at the head of the insurgents and conducted the
+siege. The emperor, though he had but two hundred men in the garrison,
+held out valiantly. But famine would soon have compelled him to
+capitulate, had not the King of Bohemia, with a force of thirteen
+thousand men, marched to his aid. Podiebrad relieved the emperor, and
+secured a verbal reconciliation between the two angry brothers, which
+lasted until the Bohemian forces had returned to their country, when the
+feud burst out anew and with increased violence. The emperor procured
+the ban of the empire against his brother, and the pope excommunicated
+him. Still Albert fought fiercely, and the strife raged without
+intermission until Albert suddenly died on the 4th of December, 1463.
+
+The Turks, who, during all these years, had been making predatory
+excursions along the frontiers of Hungary, now, in three strong bands of
+ten thousand each, overran Servia and Bosnia, and spread their
+devastations even into the heart of Illyria, as far as the metropolitan
+city of Laybach. The ravages of fire and sword marked their progress.
+They burnt every village, every solitary cottage, and the inhabitants
+were indiscriminately slain. Frederic, the emperor, a man of but little
+energy, was at his country residence at Lintz, apparently more anxious,
+writes a contemporary, "to shield his plants from frost, than to defend
+his domains against these barbarians."
+
+The bold barons of Carniola, however, rallied their vassals, raised an
+army of twenty thousand men, and drove the Turks back to the Bosphorus.
+But the invaders, during their unimpeded march, had slain six thousand
+Christians, and they carried back with them eight thousand captives.
+
+Again, a few years after, the Turks, with a still larger army, rushed
+through the defiles of the Illyrian mountains, upon the plains of
+Carinthia. Their march was like the flow of volcanic fire. They left
+behind them utter desolation, smouldering hearth-stones and fields
+crimsoned with blood. At length they retired of their own accord,
+dragging after them twenty thousand captives. During a period of
+twenty-seven years, under the imbecile reign of Frederic, the very heart
+of Europe was twelve times scourged by the inroads of these savages. No
+tongue can tell the woes which were inflicted upon humanity. Existence,
+to the masses of the people, in that day, must indeed have been a curse.
+Ground to the very lowest depths of poverty by the exactions of
+ecclesiastics and nobles, in rags, starving, with no social or
+intellectual joys, they might indeed have envied the beasts of the
+field.
+
+The conduct of Frederic seems to be marked with increasing treachery and
+perfidy. Jealous of the growing power of George Podiebrad, he instigated
+Matthias, King of Hungary, to make war upon Bohemia, promising Matthias
+the Bohemian crown. Infamously the King of Hungary accepted the bribe,
+and raising a powerful army, invaded Bohemia, to wrest the crown from
+his father-in-law. His armies were pressing on so victoriously, in
+conjunction with those of Frederic, that the emperor was now alarmed
+lest Matthias, uniting the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, should become
+too powerful. He therefore not only abandoned him, but stirred up an
+insurrection among the Hungarian nobles, which compelled Matthias to
+abandon Bohemia and return home.
+
+Matthias, having quelled the insurrection, was so enraged with the
+emperor, that he declared war against him, and immediately invaded
+Austria. The emperor was now so distrusted that he could not find a
+single ally. Austria alone, was no match for Hungary. Matthias overran
+all Lower Austria, took all the fortresses upon the Danube, and invested
+Vienna. The emperor fled in dismay to Lintz, and was obliged to purchase
+an ignominious peace by an immense sum of money, all of which was of
+course to be extorted by taxes on the miserable and starving peasantry.
+
+Poland, Bohemia and the Turks, now all pounced upon Hungary, and
+Frederic, deeming this a providential indication that Hungary could not
+enforce the fulfillment of the treaty, refused to pay the money.
+Matthias, greatly exasperated, made the best terms he could with Poland,
+and again led his armies in Austria. For four years the warfare raged
+fiercely, when all Lower Austria, including the capital, was in the
+hands of Matthias, and the emperor was driven from his hereditary
+domains; and, accompanied by a few followers, he wandered a fugitive
+from city to city, from convent to convent, seeking aid from all, but
+finding none.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE EMPERORS FREDERIC II. AND MAXIMILIAN I.
+
+From 1477 to 1500.
+
+Wanderings of the Emperor Frederic.--Proposed Alliance with the Duke of
+Burgundy.--Mutual Distrust.--Marriage of Mary.--The Age of
+Chivalry.--The Motive inducing the Lord of Praunstein to declare
+War.--Death of Frederic II.--The Emperor's Secret.--Designs of the
+Turks.--Death of Mahomet II.--First Establishment of standing
+Armies.--Use of Gunpowder.--Energy of Maximilian.--French
+Aggressions.--The League to expel the French.--Disappointments of
+Maximilian.--Bribing the Pope.--Invasion of Italy.--Capture and
+Recapture.--The Chevalier De Bayard.
+
+
+Adversity only developed more fully the weak and ignoble character of
+Frederic. He wandered about, recognized Emperor of Germany, but a
+fugitive from his own Austrian estates, occasionally encountering pity,
+but never sympathy or respect. Matthias professed his readiness to
+surrender Austria back to Frederic so soon as he would fulfill the
+treaty by paying the stipulated money. Frederic was accompanied in his
+wanderings by his son Maximilian, a remarkably elegant lad, fourteen
+years of age. They came to the court of the powerful Duke of Burgundy.
+The dukedom extended over wide realms, populous and opulent, and the
+duke had the power of a sovereign but not the regal title. He was
+ambitious of elevating his dukedom into a kingdom and of being crowned
+king; and he agreed to give his only daughter and heiress, Mary, a
+beautiful and accomplished girl, to the emperor's son Maximilian, if
+Frederic would confer upon his estates the regal dignity and crown him
+king. The bargain was made, and Maximilian and Mary both were delighted,
+for they regarded each other with all the warmth of young lovers. Mary,
+heiress to the dukedom of Burgundy, was a prize which any monarch might
+covet; and half the princes of Europe were striving for her hand.
+
+But now came a new difficulty. Neither the emperor nor duke had the
+slightest confidence in each other. The King of France, who had hoped to
+obtain the hand of Mary for his son the dauphin, caused the suspicion to
+be whispered into the ear of Frederic that the Duke of Burgundy sought
+the kingly crown only as the first step to the imperial crown; and that
+so soon as the dukedom was elevated into a kingdom, Charles, the Duke of
+Burgundy, would avail himself of his increased power, to dethrone
+Frederic and grasp the crown of Germany. This was probably all true.
+Charles, fully understanding the perfidious nature of Frederic, did not
+dare to solemnize the marriage until he first should be crowned.
+Frederic, on the other hand, did not dare to crown the duke until the
+marriage was solemnized, for he had no confidence that the duke, after
+having attained the regal dignity, would fulfill his pledge.
+
+Charles was for hurrying the coronation, Frederic for pushing the
+marriage. A magnificent throne was erected in the cathedral at Treves,
+and preparations were making on the grandest scale for the coronation
+solemnities, when Frederic, who did not like to tell the duke plumply to
+his face that he was fearful of being cheated, extricated himself from
+his embarrassment by feigning important business which called him
+suddenly to Cologne. A scene of petty and disgraceful intrigues ensued
+between the exasperated duke and emperor, and there were the marching
+and the countermarching of hostile bands and the usual miseries of war,
+until the death of Duke Charles at the battle of Nancy on the 5th of
+January, 1477.
+
+The King of France now made a desperate endeavor to obtain the hand of
+Mary for his son. One of the novel acts of this imperial courtship, was
+to send an army into Burgundy, which wrested a large portion of Mary's
+dominions from her, which the king, Louis XI., refused to surrender
+unless Mary would marry his son. Many of her nobles urged the claims of
+France. But love in the heart of Mary was stronger than political
+expediency, and more persuasive than the entreaties of her nobles. To
+relieve herself from importunity, she was hurriedly married, three
+months after the death of her father, by proxy to Maximilian.
+
+In August the young prince, but eighteen years of age, with a splendid
+retinue, made his public entry into Ghent. His commanding person and the
+elegance of his manners, attracted universal admiration. His subjects
+rallied with enthusiasm around him, and, guided by his prowess, in a
+continued warfare of five years, drove the invading French from their
+territories. But death, the goal to which every one tends, was suddenly
+and unexpectedly reached by Mary. She died the 7th of August, 1479,
+leaving two infant children, Philip and Margaret.
+
+The Emperor Frederic also succeeded, by diplomatic cunning, in convening
+the diet of electors and choosing Maximilian as his successor to the
+imperial throne. Frederic and Maximilian now united in the endeavor to
+recover Austria from the King of Hungary. The German princes, however,
+notwithstanding the summons of the emperor, refused to take any part in
+the private quarrels of Austria, and thus the battle would have to be
+fought between the troops of Maximilian and of Matthias. Maximilian
+prudently decided that it would be better to purchase the redemption of
+the territory with money than with blood. The affair was in negotiation
+when Matthias was taken sick and died the 15th of July, 1490. He left no
+heir, and the Hungarian nobles chose Ladislaus, King of Bohemia, to
+succeed him. Maximilian had been confident of obtaining the crown of
+Hungary. Exasperated by the disappointment, he relinquished all idea of
+purchasing his patrimonial estates, but making a sudden rush with his
+troops upon the Hungarians, he drove them out of Austria, and pursued
+them far over the frontiers of Hungary. Ladislaus, the new King of
+Hungary, now listened to terms of peace. A singular treaty was made. The
+Bohemian king was to retain the crown of Hungary, officiating as
+reigning monarch, while Maximilian was to have the _title_ of King of
+Hungary. Ladislaus relinquished all claim to the Austrian territories,
+and paid a large sum of money as indemnity for the war.
+
+Thus Austria again comes into independent existence, to watch amidst the
+tumult and strife of Europe for opportunities to enlarge her territories
+and increase her power. Maximilian was a prince, energetic and brave,
+who would not allow any opportunity to escape him. In those dark days of
+violence and of blood, every petty quarrel was settled by the sword. All
+over Germany the clash of steel against steel was ever resounding. Not
+only kings and dukes engaged in wars, but the most insignificant baron
+would gather his few retainers around him and declare formal war against
+the occupant of the adjacent castle. The spirit of chivalry, so called,
+was so rampant that private individuals would send a challenge to the
+emperor. Contemporary writers record many curious specimens of these
+declarations of war. The Lord of Praunstein declared war against the
+city of Frankfort, because a young lady of that city refused to dance
+with his uncle at a ball.
+
+Frederic was now suffering from the infirmities of age. Surrendering the
+administration of affairs, both in Austria and over the estates of the
+empire, to Maximilian, he retired, with his wife and three young
+daughters, to Lintz, where he devoted himself, at the close of his long
+and turbulent reign, to the peaceful pursuits of rural life. A cancerous
+affection of the leg rendered it necessary for him to submit to the
+amputation of the limb. He submitted to the painful operation with the
+greatest fortitude, and taking up his severed limb, with his accustomed
+phlegm remarked to those standing by,
+
+"What difference is there between an emperor and a peasant? Or rather,
+is not a sound peasant better than a sick emperor? Yet I hope to enjoy
+the greatest good which can happen to man--a happy exit from this
+transitory life."
+
+The shock of a second amputation, which from the vitiated state of his
+blood seemed necessary, was too great for his enfeebled frame to bear.
+He died August 19th, 1493, seventy-eight years of age, and after a reign
+of fifty-three years. He was what would be called, in these days, an
+ultra temperance man, never drinking even wine, and expressing ever the
+strongest abhorrence of alcoholic drinks, calling them the parent of all
+vices. He seems to have anticipated the future greatness of Austria; for
+he had imprinted upon all his books, engraved upon his plate and carved
+into the walls of his palace a mysterious species of anagram composed of
+the five vowels, A, E, I, O, U.
+
+The significance of this great secret no one could obtain from him. It
+of course excited great curiosity, as it everywhere met the eye of the
+public. After his death the riddle was solved by finding among his
+papers the following interpretation--
+
+_Austri Est Imperare Orbi Universo._
+
+Austria Is To govern The world Universal.
+
+Maximilian, in the prime of manhood, energetic, ambitious, and invested
+with the imperial dignity, now assumed the government of the Austrian
+States. The prospect of greatness was brilliant before Maximilian. The
+crowns of Bohemia and Hungary were united in the person of Ladislaus,
+who was without children. As Maximilian already enjoyed the title of
+King of Hungary, no one enjoyed so good a chance as he of securing both
+of those crowns so soon as they should fall from the brow of Ladislaus.
+
+Europe was still trembling before the threatening cimeter of the Turk.
+Mahomet II., having annihilated the Greek empire, and consolidated his
+vast power, and checked in his career by the warlike barons of Hungary,
+now cast a lustful eye across the Adriatic to the shores of Italy. He
+crossed the sea, landed a powerful army and established twenty thousand
+men, strongly garrisoned, at Otranto, and supplied with provisions for a
+year. All Italy was in consternation, for a passage was now open
+directly from Turkey to Naples and Rome. Mahomet boasted that he would
+soon feed his horse on the altar of St. Peter's. The pope, Sextus IV.,
+in dismay, was about abandoning Rome, and as there was no hope of
+uniting the discordant States of Italy in any effectual resistance, it
+seemed inevitable that Italy, like Greece, would soon become a Turkish
+province. And where then could it be hoped that the ravages of the Turks
+would be arrested?
+
+In this crisis, so alarming, Providence interposed, and the sudden death
+of Mahomet, in the vigor of his pride and ambition, averted the danger.
+Bajazet II. succeeded to the Moslem throne, an indolent and imbecile
+sultan. Insurrection in his own dominions exhausted all his feeble
+energies. The Neapolitans, encouraged, raised an army, recovered
+Otranto, and drove the Turks out of Italy. Troubles in the Turkish
+dominions now gave Christendom a short respite, as all the strength of
+the sultan was required to subjugate insurgent Circassia and Egypt.
+
+Though the Emperor of Germany was esteemed the first sovereign in
+Europe, and, on state occasions, was served by kings and electors, he
+had in reality but little power. The kings who formed his retinue on
+occasions of ceremonial pomp, were often vastly his superiors in wealth
+and power. Frequently he possessed no territory of his own, not even a
+castle, but depended upon the uncertain aids reluctantly granted by the
+diet.
+
+Gunpowder was now coming into use as one of the most efficient engines
+of destruction, and was working great changes in the science of war. It
+became necessary to have troops drilled to the use of cannon and
+muskets. The baron could no longer summon his vassals, at the moment, to
+abandon the plow, and seize pike and saber for battle, where the strong
+arm only was needed. Disciplined troops were needed, who could sweep the
+field with well-aimed bullets, and crumble walls with shot and shells.
+This led to the establishment of standing armies, and gave the great
+powers an immense advantage over their weaker neighbors. The invention
+of printing, also, which began to be operative about the middle of the
+fifteenth century, rapidly changed, by the diffusion of intelligence,
+the state of society, hitherto so barbarous. The learned men of Greece,
+driven from their country by the Turkish invasion, were scattered over
+Europe, and contributed not a little to the extension of the love of
+letters. The discovery of the mariner's compass and improvements in
+nautical astronomy, also opened new sources of knowledge and of wealth,
+and the human mind all over Europe commenced a new start in the career
+of civilization. Men of letters began to share in those honors which
+heretofore had belonged exclusively to men of war; and the arts of peace
+began to claim consideration with those who had been accustomed to
+respect only the science of destruction.
+
+Maximilian was at Innspruck when he received intelligence of the death
+of his father. He commenced his reign with an act of rigor which was
+characteristic of his whole career. A horde of Turks had penetrated
+Styria and Carniola, laying every thing waste before them as far as
+Carniola. Maximilian, sounding the alarm, inspired his countrymen with
+the same energy which animated his own breast. Fifteen thousand men
+rallied at the blast of his bugles. Instead of intrusting the command of
+them to his generals, he placed himself at their head, and made so
+fierce an onset upon the invaders, that they precipitately fled.
+Maximilian returned at the head of his troops triumphant to Vienna,
+where he was received with acclamations such as had seldom resounded in
+the metropolis. He was hailed as the deliverer of his country, and at
+once rose to the highest position in the esteem and affection of the
+Austrians.
+
+Maximilian had encountered innumerable difficulties in Burgundy, and was
+not unwilling to escape from the vexations and cares of that distant
+dukedom, by surrendering its government to his son Philip, who was now
+sixteen years of age, and whom the Burgundians claimed to be their ruler
+as the heir of Mary. The Swiss estates were also sundered from Austrian
+dominion, and, uniting with the Swiss confederacy, were no longer
+subject to the house of Hapsburg. Thus Maximilian had the Austrian
+estates upon the Danube only, as the nucleus of the empire he was
+ambitious of establishing.
+
+Conscious of his power, and rejoicing in the imperial title, he had no
+idea of playing an obscure part on the conspicuous stage of European
+affairs. With an eagle eye he watched the condition of the empire, and
+no less eagerly did he fix his eye upon the movements of those great
+southern powers, now becoming consolidated into kingdoms and empires,
+and marshaling armies which threatened again to bring all Europe under a
+dominion as wide and despotic as that of Rome.
+
+Charles VIII., King of France, crossed the Alps with an army of
+twenty-two thousand men, in the highest state of discipline, and armed
+with all the modern enginery of war. With ease he subjugated Tuscany,
+and in a triumphant march through Pisa and Siena, entered Rome as a
+conqueror. It was the 31st of December, 1394, when Charles, by
+torchlight, at the head of his exultant troops, entered the eternal
+city. The pope threw himself into the castle of St. Angelo, but was soon
+compelled to capitulate and to resign all his fortresses to the
+conqueror. Charles then continued his march to Naples, which he reached
+on the 22d of February. He overran and subjugated the whole kingdom,
+and, having consolidated his conquest, entered Naples on a white steed,
+beneath imperial banners, and arrogantly assumed the title of King of
+Naples, Sicily and Jerusalem. Alphonso, King of Naples, in despair,
+abdicated in favor of his son, Ferdinand; and Ferdinand, unable to
+oppose any effectual resistance, abandoned his kingdom to the conqueror,
+and fled to the island of Ischia.
+
+These alarming aggressions on the part of France, already very powerful,
+excited general consternation throughout Europe. Maximilian, as emperor,
+was highly incensed, and roused all his energies to check the progress
+of so dangerous a rival. The Austrian States alone could by no means
+cope with the kingdom of France. Maximilian sent agents to the pope, to
+the Dukes of Milan and Florence, and to the King of Arragon, and formed
+a secret league to expel the French from Italy, and restore Ferdinand to
+Naples. It was understood that the strength of France was such, that
+this enterprise could only be achieved through a long war, and that the
+allies must continue united to prevent France, when once expelled from
+Italy, from renewing her aggressions. The league was to continue
+twenty-two years. The pope was to furnish six thousand men, and the
+other Italian States twelve thousand. Maximilian promised to furnish
+nine thousand. Venice granted the troops of the emperor a free passage
+through her dominions.
+
+These important first steps being thus taken secretly and securely, the
+emperor summoned a diet of Germany to enlist the States of the empire in
+the enterprise. This was the most difficult task, and yet nothing could
+be accomplished without the cooeperation of Germany. But the Germanic
+States, loosely held together, jealous of each other, each grasping
+solely at its own aggrandizement, reluctantly delegating any power to
+the emperor, were slow to promise cooeperation in any general enterprise,
+and having promised, were still slower to perform. The emperor had no
+power to enforce the fulfillment of agreements, and could only
+supplicate. During the long reign of Frederic the imperial dignity had
+lapsed more and more into an empty title; and Maximilian had an arduous
+task before him in securing even respectful attention to his demands. He
+was fully aware of the difficulties, and made arrangements accordingly.
+
+The memorable diet was summoned at Worms, on the 26th of May, 1496. The
+emperor had succeeded, by great exertion, in assembling a more numerous
+concourse of the princes and nobles of the empire than had ever met on a
+similar occasion. He presided in person, and in a long and earnest
+address endeavored to rouse the empire to a sense of its own dignity and
+its own high mission as the regulator of the affairs of Europe. He spoke
+earnestly of their duty to combine and chastise the insolence of the
+Turks; but waiving that for the present moment, he unfolded to them the
+danger to which Europe was immediately and imminently exposed by the
+encroachments of France. To add to the force of his words, he introduced
+ambassadors from the King of Naples, who informed the assembly of the
+conquests of the French, of their haughty bearing, and implored the aid
+of the diet to repel the invaders. The Duke of Milan was then presented,
+and, as a member of the empire, he implored as a favor and claimed as a
+right, the armies of the empire for the salvation of his duchy. And then
+the legate of the pope, in the robes of the Church, and speaking in the
+name of the Holy Father to his children, pathetically described the
+indignities to which the pope had been exposed, driven from his palace,
+bombarded in the fortress to which he had retreated, compelled to
+capitulate and leave his kingdom in the hands of the enemy; he
+expatiated upon the impiety of the French troops, the sacrilegious
+horrors of which they had been guilty, and in tones of eloquence hardly
+surpassed by Peter the Hermit, strove to rouse them to a crusade for the
+rescue of the pope and his sacred possessions.
+
+Maximilian had now exhausted all his powers of persuasion. He had done
+apparently enough to rouse every heart to intensest action. But the diet
+listened coldly to all these appeals, and then in substance replied,
+
+"We admit the necessity of checking the incursions of the Turks; we
+admit that it is important to check the progress of the French. But our
+first duty is to secure peace in Germany. The States of the empire are
+embroiled in incessant wars with each other. All attempts to prevent
+these private wars between the States of the empire have hitherto
+failed. Before we can vote money and men for any foreign enterprise
+whatever, we must secure internal tranquillity. This can only be done by
+establishing a supreme tribunal, supported by a power which can enforce
+its decisions."
+
+These views were so manifestly judicious, that Maximilian assented to
+them, and, anxious to lose no time in raising troops to expel the French
+from Italy, he set immediately about the organization of an imperial
+tribunal to regulate the internal affairs of the empire. A court was
+created called the Imperial Chamber. It was composed of a president and
+sixteen judges, half of whom were taken from the army, and half from the
+class of scholars. To secure impartiality, the judges held their office
+for life. A majority of suffrages decided a question and in case of a
+tie, the president gave a casting vote. The emperor reserved the right
+of deciding certain questions himself. This court gradually became one
+of the most important and salutary institutions of the German empire.
+
+By the 7th of August these important measures were arranged. Maximilian
+had made great concessions of his imperial dignity in transferring so
+much of his nominal power to the Imperial Chamber, and he was now
+sanguine that the States would vote him the supplies which were needed
+to expel the French from Italy, or, in more honest words, to win for the
+empire in Italy that ascendency which France had attained. But bitter
+indeed was his disappointment. After long deliberation and vexatious
+delays, the diet voted a ridiculous sum, less than one hundred and fifty
+thousand dollars, to raise an army "sufficient to check the progress of
+the French." One third of this sum Maximilian was to raise from his
+Austrian States; the remaining two thirds he was permitted to obtain by
+a loan. Four years were to be allowed for raising the money, and the
+emperor, as a condition for the reception of even this miserable boon,
+was required to pledge his word of honor that at the expiration of the
+four years he would raise no more. And even these hundred and fifty
+thousand dollars were to be intrusted to seven treasurers, to be
+administered according to their discretion. One only of these treasurers
+was to be chosen by the emperor, and the other six by the diet.
+
+Deeply chagrined by this result, Maximilian was able to raise only three
+thousand men, instead of the nine thousand which he had promised the
+league. Charles VIII., informed of the formidable coalition combining
+against him, and not aware of the feeble resources of the emperor,
+apprehensive that the armies of Germany, marching down and uniting with
+the roused States of Italy, might cut off his retreat and overwhelm him,
+decided that the "better part of courage is discretion;" and he
+accordingly abandoned his conquests, recrossed the Apennines, fought his
+backward path through Italy, and returned to France. He, however, left
+behind him six thousand men strongly intrenched, to await his return
+with a new and more powerful armament.
+
+Maximilian now resolved chivalrously to throw himself into Italy, and
+endeavor to rouse the Italians themselves to resist the threatened
+invasion, trusting that the diet of Germany, when they should see him
+struggling against the hosts of France, would send troops to his aid.
+With five hundred horse, and about a thousand foot soldiers, he crossed
+the Alps. Here he learned that for some unknown reason Charles had
+postponed his expedition. Recoiling from the ridicule attending a
+quixotic and useless adventure, he hunted around for some time to find
+some heroic achievement which would redeem his name from reproach, when,
+thwarted in every thing, he returned to Austria, chagrined and
+humiliated.
+
+Thus frustrated in all his attempts to gain ascendency in Italy,
+Maximilian turned his eyes to the Swiss estates of the house of
+Hapsburg, now sundered from the Austrian territories. He made a vigorous
+effort, first by diplomacy, then by force of arms, to regain them. Here
+again he was frustrated, and was compelled to enter into a capitulation
+by which he acknowledged the independence of the Helvetic States, and
+their permanent severance from Austrian jurisdiction.
+
+In April, 1498, Charles VIII. died, and Louis XII. succeeded him on the
+throne of France. Louis immediately made preparations for a new invasion
+of Italy. In those miserable days of violence and blood, almost any
+prince was ready to embark in war under anybody's banner, where there
+was the least prospect of personal aggrandizement. The question of right
+or wrong, seemed seldom to enter any one's mind. Louis fixed his eyes
+upon the duchy of Milan as the richest and most available prize within
+his grasp. Conscious that he would meet with much opposition, he looked
+around for allies.
+
+"If you will aid me," he said to Pope Alexander VI., "I will assist you
+in your war against the Duke of Romagna. I will give your son, Caesar
+Borgia,[1] a pension of two thousand dollars a year, will confer upon
+him an important command in my army, and will procure for him a marriage
+with a princess of the royal house of Navarre."
+
+[Footnote 1: Caesar Borgia, who has filled the world with the renown of
+his infamy, was the illegitimate son of Alexander VI., and of a Roman
+lady named Yanozza.]
+
+The holy father could not resist this bribe, and eagerly joined the
+robber king in his foray. To Venice Louis said--
+
+"If you will unite with me, I will assist you in annexing to your
+domains the city of Cremona, and the Ghiaradadda." Lured by such hopes
+of plunder, Venice was as eager as the pope to take a share in the
+piratic expedition. Louis then sent to the court of Turin, and offered
+them large sums of money and increased territory, if they would allow
+him a free passage across the Alps. Turin bowed obsequiously, and
+grasped at the easy bargain. To Florence he said, "If you raise a hand
+to assist the Duke of Milan, I will crush you. If you remain quiet, I
+will leave you unharmed." Florence, overawed, remained as meek as a
+lamb. The diplomacy being thus successfully closed, an army of
+twenty-two thousand men was put in vigorous motion in July, 1499. They
+crossed the Alps, fought a few battles, in which, with overpowering
+numbers, they easily conquered their opposers, and in twenty days were
+in possession of Milan. The Duke Ludovico with difficulty escaped. With
+a few followers he threaded the defiles of the Tyrolese mountains, and
+hastened to Innspruck, the capital of Tyrol, where Maximilian then was,
+to whom he conveyed the first tidings of his disaster. Louis XII.
+followed after his triumphant army, and on the 6th of October made a
+triumphal entry into the captured city, and was inaugurated Duke of
+Milan.
+
+Maximilian promised assistance, but could raise neither money nor men.
+Ludovico, however, succeeded in hiring fifteen hundred Burgundian
+horsemen, and eight thousand Swiss mercenaries--for in those ages of
+ignorance and crime all men were ready, for pay, to fight in any
+cause--and emerging from the mountains upon the plains of Milan, found
+all his former subjects disgusted with the French, and eager to rally
+under his banners. His army increased at every step. He fell fiercely
+upon the invaders, routed them everywhere, drove them from the duchy,
+and recovered his country and his capital as rapidly as he had lost
+them. One fortress only the French maintained. The intrepid Chevalier De
+Bayard, _the knight without fear and without reproach_, threw himself
+into the citadel of Novarra, and held out against all the efforts of
+Ludovico, awaiting the succor which he was sure would come from his
+powerful sovereign the King of France.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+MAXIMILIAN I.
+
+From 1500 to 1519.
+
+Base Treachery of the Swiss Soldiers.--Perfidy of Ferdinand of
+Arragon.--Appeals by Superstition.--Coalition with Spain.--The League of
+Cambray.--Infamy of the Pope.--The Kings's Apology.--Failure of the
+Plot.--Germany Aroused.--Confidence of Maximilian.--Longings for the
+Pontifical Chair.--Maximilian Bribed.--Leo X.--Dawning Prosperity.--
+Matrimonial Projects.--Commencement of the War of Reformation.--Sickness
+of Maximilian.--His Last Directions.--His Death.--The Standard by which
+his Character is to be Judged.
+
+
+Louis XII., stung by the disgrace of his speedy expulsion from Milan,
+immediately raised another army of five thousand horse and fifteen
+thousand foot to recover his lost plunder. He also sent to Switzerland
+to hire troops, and without difficulty engaged ten thousand men to meet,
+on the plains of Milan, the six thousand of their brethren whom Ludovico
+had hired, to hew each other to pieces for the miserable pittance of a
+few pennies a day. But Louis XII. was as great in diplomacy as in war.
+He sent secret emissaries to the Swiss in the camp of Ludovico, offering
+them larger wages if they would abandon the service of Ludovico and
+return home. They promptly closed the bargain, unfurled the banner of
+mutiny, and informed the Duke of Milan that they could not, in
+conscience, fight against their own brethren. The duke was in despair.
+He plead even with tears that they would not abandon him. All was in
+vain. They not only commenced their march home, but basely betrayed the
+duke to the French. He was taken prisoner by Louis, carried to France
+and for five years was kept in rigorous confinement in the strong
+fortresses of the kingdom. Afterward, through the intercession of
+Maximilian, he was allowed a little more freedom. He was, however, kept
+in captivity until he died in the year 1510. Ludovico merits no
+commiseration. He was as perfidious and unprincipled as any of his
+assailants could be.
+
+The reconquest of Milan by Louis, and the capture of Ludovico, alarmed
+Maximilian and roused him to new efforts. He again summoned the States
+of the empire and implored their cooeperation to resist the aggressions
+of France. But he was as unsuccessful as in his previous endeavors.
+Louis watched anxiously the movements of the German diet, and finding
+that he had nothing to fear from the troops of the empire, having
+secured the investiture of Milan, prepared for the invasion of Naples.
+The venal pope was easily bought over. Even Ferdinand, the King of
+Arragon, was induced to loan his connivance to a plan for robbing a near
+relative of his crown, by the promise of sharing in the spoil. A treaty
+of partition was entered into by the two robber kings, by which
+Ferdinand of Arragon was to receive Calabria and Apulia, and the King of
+France the remaining States of the Neapolitan kingdom. The pope was
+confidentially informed of this secret plot, which was arranged at
+Grenada, and promised the plunderers his benediction, in consideration
+of the abundant reward promised to him.
+
+The doom of the King of Naples was now sealed. All unconscious that his
+own relative, Ferdinand of Arragon, was conspiring against him, he
+appealed to Ferdinand for aid against the King of France. The perfidious
+king considered this as quite a providential interposition in his favor.
+He affected great zeal for the King of Naples, sent a powerful army into
+his kingdom, and stationed his troops in the important fortresses. The
+infamous fraud was now accomplished. Frederic of Naples, to his dismay,
+found that he had been placing his empire in the hands of his enemies
+instead of friends; at the same time the troops of Louis arrived at
+Rome, where they were cordially received; and the pope immediately, on
+the 25th of June, 1501, issued a bull deposing Frederic from his
+kingdom, and, by virtue of that spiritual authority which he derived
+from the Apostle Peter, invested Louis and Ferdinand with the dominions
+of Frederic. Few men are more to be commiserated than a crownless king.
+Frederic, in his despair, threw himself upon the clemency of Louis. He
+was taken to France and was there fed and clothed by the royal bounty.
+
+Maximilian impatiently watched the events from his home in Austria, and
+burned with the desire to take a more active part in these stirring
+scenes. Despairing, however, to rouse the German States to any effectual
+intervention in the affairs of southern Europe, he now endeavored to
+rouse the enthusiasm of the German nobles against the Turks. In this, by
+appealing to superstition, he was somewhat successful. He addressed the
+following circular letter to the German States:
+
+"A stone, weighing two hundred pounds, recently fell from heaven, near
+the army under my command in Upper Alsace, and I caused it, as a fatal
+warning from God to men, to be hung up in the neighboring church of
+Encisheim. In vain I myself explained to all Christian kings the
+signification of this mysterious stone. The Almighty punished the
+neglect of this warning with a dreadful scourge, from which thousands
+have suffered death, or pains worse than death. But since this
+punishment of the abominable sins of men has produced no effect, God has
+imprinted in a miraculous manner the sign of the cross, and the
+instruments of our Lord's passion in dark and bloody colors, on the
+bodies and garments of thousands. The appearance of these signs in
+Germany, in particular, does not indeed denote that the Germans have
+been peculiarly distinguished in guilt, but rather that they should set
+the example to the rest of the world, by being the first to undertake a
+crusade against the infidels."
+
+For a time Maximilian seemed quite encouraged, for quite a wave of
+religious enthusiasm seemed to roll over Europe. All the energies of the
+pope were apparently enlisted, and he raised, through all the domains of
+the Church, large sums of money for the holy enterprise of driving the
+invading infidels out of Europe. England and France both proffered their
+co-operation, and England, opening her inexhaustible purse, presented a
+subsidy of ten thousand pounds. The German nobles rallied in large
+numbers under the banner of the cross. But disappointment seemed to be
+the doom of the emperor. The King of France sent no aid. The pope,
+iniquitously squandered all the money he had raised upon his infamous,
+dissolute son, Caesar Borgia. And the emperor himself was drawn into a
+war with Bavaria, to settle the right of succession between two rival
+claimants. The settlement of the question devolved upon Maximilian as
+emperor, and his dignity was involved in securing respect for his
+decision. Thus the whole gorgeous plan of a war against the Turks, such
+as Europe had never beheld, vanished into thin air, and Maximilian was
+found at the head of fourteen thousand infantry, and twelve thousand
+horse, engaged in a quarrel in the heart of Germany. In this war
+Maximilian was successful, and he rewarded himself by annexing to
+Austria several small provinces, the sum total of which quite enlarged
+his small domains.
+
+By this time the kings of France and Spain were fiercely fighting over
+their conquest of Naples and Sicily, each striving to grasp the lion's
+share. Maximilian thought his interests would be promoted by aiding the
+Spaniards, and he accordingly sent three thousand men to Trieste, where
+they embarked, and sailing down the Adriatic, united with the Spanish
+troops. The French were driven out of Italy. There then ensued, for
+several years, wars and intrigues in which France, Spain, Italy and
+Austria were involved; all alike selfish and grasping. Armies were ever
+moving to and fro, and the people of Europe, by the victories of kings
+and nobles, were kept in a condition of misery. No one seemed ever to
+think of their rights or their happiness.
+
+Various circumstances had exasperated Maximilian very much against the
+Venetians. All the powers of Europe were then ready to combine against
+any other power whatever, if there was a chance of obtaining any share
+in the division of the plunder. Maximilian found no difficulty in
+secretly forming one of the most formidable leagues history had then
+recorded, the celebrated league of Cambray. No sympathy need be wasted
+upon the Venetians, the victims of this coalition, for they had rendered
+themselves universally detestable by their arrogance, rapacity, perfidy
+and pride. France joined the coalition, and, in view of her power, was
+to receive a lion's share of the prey--the provinces of Brescia,
+Bergamo, Cremona, and the Ghiradadda. The King of Arragon was to send
+ships and troops, and receive his pay in the maritime towns on the
+shores of the Adriatic. The pope, Julius II., the most grasping,
+perfidious and selfish of them all, demanded Ravenna, Cervia, Faenza,
+Rimini, Immola and Cesena. His exorbitant claims were assented to, as it
+was infinitely important that the piratic expedition should be
+sanctioned by the blessing of the Church. Maximilian was to receive, in
+addition to some territories which Venice had wrested from him,
+Roveredo, Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Trevigi, and the Friuli. As Maximilian
+was bound by a truce with Venice, and as in those days of chivalry some
+little regard was to be paid to one's word of honor, Maximilian was only
+to march at the summons of the pope, which no true son of the Church,
+under any circumstances, was at liberty to disobey. Sundry other minor
+dukes and princes were engaged in the plot, who were also to receive a
+proportionate share of the spoil.
+
+After these arrangements were all completed, the holy father, with
+characteristic infamy, made private overtures to the Venetians,
+revealing to them the whole plot, and offering to withdraw from the
+confederacy and thwart all its plans, if Venice would pay more as the
+reward of perfidy than Rome could hope to acquire by force of arms. The
+haughty republic rejected the infamous proposal, and prepared for a
+desperate defense.
+
+All the powers of the confederacy were now collecting their troops. But
+Maximilian was dependent upon the German diet for his ability to fulfill
+his part of the contract. He assembled the diet at Worms on the 21st of
+April, 1509, presented to them the plan of the league, and solicited
+their support. The diet refused to cooperate, and hardly affecting even
+the forms of respect, couched its refusal in terms of stinging rebuke.
+
+"We are tired," they said, "of these innumerable calls for troops and
+money. We can not support the burden of these frequent diets, involving
+the expense of long journeys, and we are weary of expeditions and wars.
+If the emperor enters into treaties with France and the pope without
+consulting us, it is his concern and not ours, and we are not bound to
+aid him to fulfill his agreement. And even if we were to vote the
+succors which are now asked of us, we should only be involved in
+embarrassment and disgrace, as we have been by the previous enterprises
+of the emperor."
+
+Such, in brief, was the response of the diet. It drew from the emperor a
+long defense of his conduct, which he called an "Apology," and which is
+considered one of the most curious and characteristic documents of those
+days. He made no attempt to conceal his vexation, but assailed them in
+strong language of reproach.
+
+"I have concluded a treaty with my allies," he wrote, "in conformity to
+the dictates of conscience and duty, and for the honor, glory and
+happiness of the empire and of Christendom. The negotiation could not be
+postponed, and if I had convoked a diet to demand the advice of the
+States, the treaty would never have been concluded. I was under the
+necessity of concealing the project of the combined powers, that we
+might fall on the Venetians at once and unexpectedly, which could not
+have been effected in the midst of public deliberations and endless
+discussions; and I have, I trust, clearly proved, both in my public and
+my private communications, the advantage which is likely to result from
+this union. If the aids hitherto granted by diets have produced nothing
+but disgrace and dishonor, I am not to blame, but the States who acted
+so scandalously in granting their succors with so much reluctance and
+delay. As for myself, I have, on the contrary, exposed my treasure, my
+countries, my subjects and my life, while the generality of the German
+States have remained in dishonorable tranquillity at home. I have more
+reason to complain of you than you of me; for you have constantly
+refused me your approbation and assistance; and even when you have
+granted succors, you have rendered them fruitless by the scantiness and
+tardiness of your supplies, and compelled me to dissipate my own
+revenues, and injure my own subjects."
+
+Of course these bitter recriminations accomplished nothing in changing
+the action of the diet, and Maximilian was thrown upon the Austrian
+States alone for supplies. Louis of France, at the head of seventeen
+thousand troops, crossed the Alps. The pope fulminated a bull of
+excommunication against the Venetians, and sent an army of ten thousand
+men. The Duke of Ferrara and the Marquis of Mantua sent their
+contingents. Maximilian, by great exertions, sent a few battalions
+through the mountains of the Tyrol, and was preparing to follow with
+stronger forces. Province after province fell before the resistless
+invaders, and Venice would have fallen irretrievably had not the
+conquerors began to quarrel among themselves. The pope, in secret
+treaty, was endeavoring to secure his private interests, regardless of
+the interests of the allies. Louis, from some pique, withdrew his
+forces, and abandoned Maximilian in the hour of peril, and the emperor,
+shackled by want of money, and having but a feeble force, was quite
+unable to make progress alone against the Venetian troops.
+
+It does not seem to be the will of Providence that the plots of
+unprincipled men, even against men as bad as themselves, should be more
+than transiently prosperous. Maximilian, thus again utterly thwarted in
+one of his most magnificent plans, covered with disgrace, and irritated
+almost beyond endurance, after attempting in vain to negotiate a truce
+with the Venetians, was compelled to retreat across the Alps, inveighing
+bitterly against the perfidious refusal to fulfill a perfidious
+agreement.
+
+The holy father, Julius II., outwitted all his accomplices. He secured
+from Venice very valuable accessions of territory, and then, recalling
+his ecclesiastical denunciations, united with Venice to drive the
+_barbarians_, as he affectionately called his French and German allies,
+out of Italy. Maximilian returned to Austria as in a funeral march,
+ventured to summon another diet, told them how shamefully he had been
+treated by France, Venice and the pope, and again implored them to do
+something to help him. Perseverance is surely the most efficient of
+virtues. Incredible as it may seem, the emperor now obtained some little
+success. The diet, indignant at the conduct of the pope, and alarmed at
+so formidable a union as that between the papal States and Venice, voted
+a succor of six thousand infantry and eighteen hundred horse. This
+encouraged the emperor, and forgetting his quarrel with Louis XII. of
+France, in the stronger passion of personal aggrandizement which
+influenced him, he entered into another alliance with Louis against the
+pope and Venice, and then made a still stronger and a religious appeal
+to Germany for aid. A certain class of politicians in all countries and
+in all ages, have occasionally expressed great solicitude for the
+reputation of religion.
+
+"The power and government of the pope," the emperor proclaimed, "which
+ought to be an example to the faithful, present, on the contrary,
+nothing but trouble and disorder. The enormous sums daily extorted from
+Germany, are perverted to the purposes of luxury or worldly views,
+instead of being employed for the service of God, or against the
+infidels. As Emperor of Germany, as advocate and protector of the
+Christian Church, it is my duty to examine into such irregularities, and
+exert all my efforts for the glory of God and the advantage of the
+empire; and as there is an evident necessity to reestablish due order
+and decency, both in the ecclesiastical and temporal state, I have
+resolved to call a general council, without which nothing permanent can
+be effected."
+
+It is said that Maximilian was now so confident of success, that he had
+decided to divide Italy between himself and France. He was to take
+Venice and the States of the Church, and France was to have the rest.
+Pope Julius was to be deposed, and to be succeeded by Pope Maximilian.
+The following letter from Maximilian to his daughter, reveals his
+ambitious views at the time. It is dated the 18th of September, 1511.
+
+"To-morrow I shall send the Bishop of Guzk to the pope at Rome, to
+conclude an agreement with him that I may be appointed his coadjutor,
+and on his death succeed to the papacy, and become a priest, and
+afterwards a saint, that you may be bound to worship me, of which I
+shall be very proud. I have written on this subject to the King of
+Arragon, intreating him to favor my undertaking, and he has promised me
+his assistance, provided I resign my imperial crown to my grandson
+Charles, which I am very ready to do. The people and nobles of Rome have
+offered to support me against the French and Spanish party. They can
+muster twenty thousand combatants, and have sent me word that they are
+inclined to favor my scheme of being pope, and will not consent to have
+either a Frenchman, a Spaniard or a Venetian.
+
+"I have already began to sound the cardinals, and, for that purpose, two
+or three hundred thousand ducats would be of great service to me, as
+their partiality to me is very great. The King of Arragon has ordered
+his ambassadors to assure me that he will command the Spanish cardinals
+to favor my pretensions to the papacy. I intreat you to keep this matter
+secret for the present, though I am afraid it will soon be known, for it
+is impossible to carry on a business secretly for which it is necessary
+to gain over so many persons, and to have so much money. Adieu. Written
+with the hand of your dear father Maximilian, future pope. The pope's
+fever has increased, and he can not live long."
+
+It is painful to follow out the windings of intrigue and the labyrinths
+of guile, where selfishness seemed to actuate every heart, and where all
+alike seem destitute of any principle of Christian integrity. Bad as the
+world is now, and selfish as political aspirants are now, humanity has
+made immense progress since that dark age of superstition, fraud and
+violence. After many victories and many defeats, after innumerable
+fluctuations of guile, Maximilian accepted a bribe, and withdrew his
+forces, and the King of France was summoned home by the invasion of his
+own territories by the King of Arragon and Henry VIII. of England, who,
+for a suitable consideration, had been induced to join Venice and the
+pope. At the end of this long campaign of diplomacy, perfidy and blood,
+in which misery had rioted through ten thousand cottages, whose
+inhabitants the warriors regarded no more than the occupants of the
+ant-hills they trampled beneath their feet, it was found that no one had
+gained any thing but toil and disappointment.
+
+On the 21st of February, 1513, Pope Julius II. died, and the cardinals,
+rejecting all the overtures of the emperor, elected John of Medici pope,
+who assumed the name of Leo X. The new pontiff was but thirty-six years
+of age, a man of brilliant talents, and devoted to the pursuit of
+letters. Inspired by boundless ambition, he wished to signalize his
+reign by the magnificence of his court and the grandeur of his
+achievements.
+
+Thus far nothing but disaster seemed to attend the enterprises of
+Maximilian; but now the tide suddenly turned and rolled in upon him
+billows of prosperity. It will be remembered that Maximilian married,
+for his first wife, Mary, the daughter of the Duke of Burgundy. Their
+son Philip married Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, whose
+marriage, uniting the kingdoms of Castile and Arragon, created the
+splendid kingdom of Spain. Philip died young, leaving a son, Charles,
+and Joanna, an insane wife, to watch his grave through weary years of
+woe. Upon the death of Ferdinand, in January, 1516, Charles, the
+grandson of Maximilian, became undisputed heir to the whole monarchy of
+Spain; then, perhaps, the grandest power in Europe, including Naples,
+Sicily and Navarre. This magnificent inheritance, coming so directly
+into the family, and into the line of succession, invested Maximilian
+and the house of Austria with new dignity.
+
+It was now an object of intense solicitude with Maximilian, to secure
+the reversion of the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, which were both upon
+the brow of Ladislaus, to his own family. With this object in view, and
+to render assurance doubly sure, he succeeded in negotiating a marriage
+between two children of Ladislaus, a son and a daughter, and two of his
+own grand-children. This was a far pleasanter mode of acquiring
+territory and family aggrandizement than by the sword. In celebration of
+the betrothals, Ladislaus and his brother Sigismond, King of Poland,
+visited Vienna, where Ladislaus was so delighted with the magnificent
+hospitality of his reception, that he even urged upon the emperor, who
+was then a widower, fifty-eight years of age, that he should marry
+another of his daughters, though she had but attained her thirteenth
+year. The emperor declined the honor, jocularly remarking--
+
+"There is no method more pleasant to kill an old man, than to marry him
+to a young bride."
+
+The German empire was then divided into ten districts, or circles, as
+they were then called, each of which was responsible for the maintenance
+of peace among its own members. These districts were, Austria, Burgundy,
+the Upper Rhine, the Lower Rhine, Franconia, Bavaria, Suabia,
+Westphalia, Upper Saxony and Lower Saxony. The affairs of each district
+were to be regulated by a court of a few nobles, called a diet. The
+emperor devoted especial attention to the improvement of his own estate
+of Austria, which he subdivided into two districts, and these into still
+smaller districts. Over all, for the settlement of all important points
+of dispute, he established a tribunal called the Aulic Council, which
+subsequently exerted a powerful influence over the affairs of Austria.
+
+One more final effort Maximilian made to rouse Germany to combine to
+drive the Turks out of Europe. Though the benighted masses looked up
+with much reverence to the pontiff, the princes and the nobles regarded
+him only as a _power_, wielding, in addition to the military arm, the
+potent energies of superstition. A diet was convened. The pope's legate
+appeared, and sustained the eloquent appeal of the emperor with the
+paternal commands of the holy father. But the press was now becoming a
+power in Europe, diffusing intelligence and giving freedom to thought
+and expression. The diet, after listening patiently to the arguments of
+the emperor and the requests of the pontiff, dryly replied--
+
+"We think that Christianity has more to fear from the pope than from the
+Turks. Much as we may dread the ravages of the infidel, they can hardly
+drain Christendom more effectually than it is now drained by the
+exactions of the Church."
+
+It was at Augsburg in July, 1518, that the diet ventured thus boldly to
+speak. This was one year after Luther had nailed upon the church door in
+Wittemberg, his ninety-five propositions, which had roused all Germany
+to scrutinize the abominable corruptions of the papal church. This bold
+language of the diet, influenced by the still bolder language of the
+intrepid monk, alarmed Leo X., and on the 7th of August he issued his
+summons commanding Luther to repair to Rome to answer for heresy.
+Maximilian, who had been foiled in his own attempt to attain the chair
+of St. Peter, who had seen so much of the infamous career of Julius and
+Alexander, as to lose all his reverence for the sacred character of the
+popes, and who regarded Leo X. merely as a successful rival who had
+thwarted his own plans, espoused, with cautious development, but with
+true interest, the cause of the reformer. And now came the great war of
+the Reformation, agitating Germany in every quarter, and rousing the
+lethargic intellect of the nations as nothing else could rouse it.
+Maximilian, with characteristic fickleness, or rather, with
+characteristic pliancy before every breeze of self-interest, was now on
+the one side, now on the other, and now, nobody knew where, until his
+career was terminated by sudden and fatal sickness.
+
+The emperor was at Innspruck, all overwhelmed with his cares and his
+plans of ambition, when he was seized with a slight fever. Hoping to be
+benefited by a change of air, he set out to travel by slow stages to one
+of his castles among the mountains of Upper Austria. The disease,
+however, rapidly increased, and it was soon evident that death was
+approaching. The peculiarities of his character were never more
+strikingly developed than in these last solemn hours. Being told by his
+physicians that he had not long to live and that he must now prepare for
+the final judgment, he calmly replied, "I have long ago made that
+preparation. Had I not done so, it would be too late now."
+
+For four years he had been conscious of declining health, and had always
+carried with him, wherever he traveled, an oaken coffin, with his shroud
+and other requisites for his funeral. With very minute directions he
+settled all his worldly affairs, and gave the most particular
+instructions respecting his funeral. Changing his linen, he strictly
+enjoined that his shirt should not be removed after his death, for his
+fastidious modesty was shocked by the idea of the exposure of his body,
+even after the soul had taken its flight.
+
+He ordered his hair, after his death, to be cut off, all his teeth to be
+extracted, pounded to powder and publicly burned in the chapel of his
+palace. For one day his remains were to be exposed to the public, as a
+lesson of mortality. They were then to be placed in a sack filled with
+quicklime. The sack was to be enveloped in folds of silk and satin, and
+then placed in the oaken coffin which had been so long awaiting his
+remains. The coffin was then to be deposited under the altar of the
+chapel of his palace at Neustadt, in such a position that the
+officiating priest should ever trample over his head and heart. The king
+expressed the hope that this humiliation of his body would, in some
+degree, be accepted by the Deity in atonement for the sins of his soul.
+How universal the instinct that sin needs an atonement!
+
+Having finished these directions the emperor observed that some of his
+attendants were in tears. "Do you weep," said he, "because you see a
+mortal die? Such tears become women rather than men." The emperor was
+now dying. As the ecclesiastics repeated the prayers of the Church, the
+emperor gave the responses until his voice failed, and then continued to
+give tokens of recognition and of faith, by making the sign of the
+cross. At three o'clock in the morning of the 11th of January, 1519, the
+Emperor Maximilian breathed his last. He was then in the sixtieth year
+of his age.
+
+Maximilian is justly considered one of the most renowned of the
+descendants of Rhodolph of Hapsburg. It is saying but little for his
+moral integrity, to affirm that he was one of the best of the rulers of
+his age. According to his ideas of religion, he was a religious man.
+According to his ideas of honesty and of honor, he was both an honest
+and an honorable man. According to his idea of what is called _moral
+conduct_, he was irreproachable, being addicted to no _ungenteel_ vices,
+or any sins which would be condemned by his associates. His ambition was
+not to secure for himself ease or luxury, but to extend his imperial
+power, and to aggrandize his family. For these objects he passed his
+life, ever tossed upon the billows of toil and trouble. In industry and
+perseverance, he has rarely been surpassed.
+
+Notwithstanding the innumerable interruptions and cares attendant upon
+his station, he still found time, one can hardly imagine when, to become
+a proficient in all the learning of the day. He wrote and spoke four
+languages readily, Latin, French, German and Italian. Few men have
+possessed more persuasive powers of eloquence. All the arts and sciences
+he warmly patronized, and men of letters of every class found in him a
+protector. But history must truthfully declare that there was no perfidy
+of which he would not be guilty, and no meanness to which he would not
+stoop, if he could only extend his hereditary domains and add to his
+family renown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+CHARLES V. AND THE REFORMATION.
+
+From 1519 to 1531.
+
+Charles V. of Spain.--His Election as Emperor of Germany.--His
+Coronation.--The first Constitution.--Progress of the Reformation.--The
+Pope's Bull against Luther.--His Contempt for his Holiness.--The Diet at
+Worms.--Frederic's Objection to the Condemnation of Luther by the
+Diet.--He obtains for Luther the Right of Defense.--Luther's triumphal
+March to the Tribunal.--Charles urged to violate his Safe Conduct.--
+Luther's Patmos.--Marriage of Sister Catharine Bora to Luther.--Terrible
+Insurrection.--The Holy League.--The Protest of Spires.--Confession of
+Augsburg.--The two Confessions.--Compulsory Measures.
+
+
+Charles V. of Spain, as the nearest male heir, inherited from Maximilian
+the Austrian States. He was the grandson of the late emperor, son of
+Philip and of Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and was born
+on the 24th of February, 1500. He had been carefully educated in the
+learning and accomplishments of the age, and particularly in the arts of
+war. At the death of his grandfather, Ferdinand, Charles, though but
+sixteen years of age, assumed the title of King of Spain, and though
+strongly opposed for a time, he grasped firmly and held securely the
+reins of government.
+
+Joanna, his mother, was legally the sovereign, both by the laws of
+united Castile and Arragon, and by the testaments of Isabella and
+Ferdinand. But she was insane, and was sunk in such depths of melancholy
+as to be almost unconscious of the scenes which were transpiring around
+her. Two years had elapsed between the accession of Charles V. to the
+throne of Spain and the death of his grandfather, Maximilian. The young
+king, with wonderful energy of character, had, during that time,
+established himself very firmly on the throne. Upon the death of
+Maximilian many claimants rose for the imperial throne. Henry VIII. of
+England and Francis of France, were prominent among the competitors. For
+six months all the arts of diplomacy were exhausted by the various
+candidates, and Charles of Spain won the prize. On the 28th of June,
+1519, he was unanimously elected Emperor of Germany. The youthful
+sovereign, who was but nineteen years of age, was at Barcelona when he
+received the first intelligence of his election. He had sufficient
+strength of character to avoid the slightest appearance of exultation,
+but received the announcement with dignity and gravity far above his
+years.
+
+The Spaniards were exceedingly excited and alarmed by the news. They
+feared that their young sovereign, of whom they had already begun to be
+proud, would leave Spain to establish his court in the German empire,
+and they should thus be left, as a distant province, to the government
+of a viceroy. The king was consequently flooded with petitions, from all
+parts of his dominions, not to accept the imperial crown. But Charles
+was as ambitious as his grandfather, Maximilian, whose foresight and
+maneuvering had set in train those influences which had elevated him to
+the imperial dignity.
+
+Soon a solemn embassy arrived, and, with the customary pomp, proffered
+to Charles the crown which so many had coveted. Charles accepted the
+office, and made immediate preparations, notwithstanding the increasing
+clamor of his subjects, to go to Germany for his coronation. Intrusting
+the government of Spain during his absence to officers in whom he
+reposed confidence, he embarked on shipboard, and landing first at Dover
+in England, made a visit of four days to Henry VIII. He then continued
+his voyage to the Netherlands; proceeding thence to Aix-la-Chapelle, he
+was crowned on the 20th of October, 1520, with magnificence far
+surpassing that of any of his predecessors. Thus Charles V., when but
+twenty years of age, was the King of Spain and the crowned Emperor of
+Germany. It is a great mistake to suppose that youthful precocity is one
+of the innovations of modern times.
+
+In the changes of the political kaleidoscope, Austria had now become a
+part of Spain, or rather a prince of Austrian descent, a lineal heir of
+the house of Hapsburg, had inherited the dominion of Spain, the most
+extensive monarchy, in its continental domains and its colonial
+possessions, then upon the globe. The Germanic confederation at this
+time made a decided step in advance. Hitherto the emperors, when
+crowned, had made a sort of verbal promise to administer the government
+in accordance with the laws and customs of the several states. They
+were, however, apprehensive that the new emperor, availing himself of
+the vast power which he possessed independently of the imperial crown,
+might, by gradual encroachments, defraud them of their rights. A sort of
+constitution was accordingly drawn up, consisting of thirty-six
+articles, defining quite minutely the laws, customs and privileges of
+the empire, which constitution Charles was required to sign before his
+coronation.
+
+Charles presided in person over his first diet which he had convened at
+Worms on the 6th of January, 1521. The theological and political war of
+the Reformation was now agitating all Germany, and raging with the
+utmost violence. Luther had torn the vail from the corruptions of
+papacy, and was exhibiting to astonished Europe the enormous aggression
+and the unbridled licentiousness of pontifical power. Letter succeeded
+letter, and pamphlet pamphlet, and they fell upon the decaying hierarchy
+like shot and shell upon the walls of a fortress already crumbling and
+tottering through age.
+
+On the 15th of July, 1520, three months before the coronation of Charles
+V., the pope issued his world-renowned bull against the intrepid monk.
+He condemned Luther as a heretic, forbade the reading of his writings,
+excommunicated him if he did not retract within sixty days, and all
+princes and states were commanded, under pain of incurring the same
+censure, to seize his person and punish him and his adherents. Many were
+overawed by these menaces of the holy father, who held the keys of
+heaven and of hell. The fate of Luther was considered sealed. His works
+were publicly burned in several cities.
+
+Luther, undaunted, replied with blow for blow. He declared the pope to
+be antichrist, renounced all obedience to him, detailed with scathing
+severity the conduct of corrupt pontiffs, and called upon the whole
+nation to renounce all allegiance to the scandalous court of Rome. To
+cap the climax of his contempt and defiance, he, on the 10th of
+December, 1520, not two months after the crowning of Charles V., led his
+admiring followers, the professors and students of the university of
+Wittemberg, in procession to the eastern gate of the city, where, in the
+presence of a vast concourse, he committed the papal bull to the flames,
+exclaiming, in the words of Ezekiel, "Because thou hast troubled the
+Holy One of God, let eternal fire consume thee." This dauntless spirit
+of the reformer inspired his disciples throughout Germany with new
+courage, and in many other cities the pope's bull of excommunication was
+burned with expressions of indignation and contempt.
+
+Such was the state of this great religious controversy when Charles V.
+held his first diet at Worms. The pope, wielding all the energies of
+religious fanaticism, and with immense temporal revenues at his
+disposal, with ecclesiastics, officers of his spiritual court, scattered
+all over Europe, who exercised almost a supernatural power over the
+minds of the benighted masses, was still perhaps the most formidable
+power in Europe. The new emperor, with immense schemes of ambition
+opening before his youthful and ardent mind, and with no principles of
+heartfelt piety to incline him to seek and love the truth, as a matter
+of course sought the favor of the imperial pontiff, and was not at all
+disposed to espouse the cause of the obscure monk.
+
+Charles, therefore, received courteously the legates of the pontiff at
+the diet, gave them a friendly hearing as they inveighed against the
+heresy of Luther, and proposed that the diet should also condemn the
+reformer. Fortunately for Luther he was a subject of the electorate of
+Saxony, and neither pope nor emperor could touch him but through the
+elector. Frederic, the Duke of Saxony, one of the electors of the
+empire, governed a territory of nearly fifteen thousand square miles,
+more than twice as large as the State of Massachusetts, and containing
+nearly three millions of inhabitants. The duchy has since passed through
+many changes and dismemberments, but in the early part of the sixteenth
+century the Elector of Saxony was one of the most powerful princes of
+the German empire. Frederic was not disposed to surrender his subject
+untried and uncondemned to the discipline of the Roman pontiff. He
+accordingly objected to this summary condemnation of Luther, and
+declared that before judgment was pronounced, the accused should be
+heard in his own defense. Charles, who was by no means aware how
+extensively the opinions of Luther had been circulated and received, was
+surprised to find many nobles, each emboldened by the rest, rise in the
+diet and denounce, in terms of ever-increasing severity, the exactions
+and the arrogance of the court of Rome.
+
+Notwithstanding the remonstrances of the pope's legates, the emperor
+found it necessary to yield to the demands of the diet, and to allow
+Luther the privilege of being heard, though he avowed to the friends of
+the pope that Luther should not be permitted to make any defense, but
+should only have an opportunity to confess his heresy and implore
+forgiveness. Worms, where the diet was in session, on the west banks of
+the Rhine, was not within the territories of the Elector of Saxony, and
+consequently the emperor, in sending a summons to Luther to present
+himself before the diet, sent, also, a safe conduct. With alacrity the
+bold reformer obeyed the summons. From Wittemberg, where Luther was both
+professor in the university and also pastor of a church, to Worms, was a
+distance of nearly three hundred miles. But the journey of the reformer,
+through all of this long road was almost like a triumphal procession.
+Crowds gathered everywhere to behold the man who had dared to bid
+defiance to the terrors of that spiritual power before which the
+haughtiest monarchs had trembled. The people had read the writings of
+Luther, and justly regarded him as the advocate of civil and religious
+liberty. The nobles, who had often been humiliated by the arrogance of
+the pontiff, admired a man who was bringing a new power into the field
+for their disenthrallment.
+
+When Luther had arrived within three miles of Worms, accompanied by a
+few friends and the imperial herald who had summoned him, he was met by
+a procession of two thousand persons, who had come from the city to form
+his escort. Some friends in the city sent him a warning that he could
+not rely upon the protection of his _safe conduct_, that he would
+probably be perfidiously arrested, and they intreated him to retire
+immediately again to Saxony. Luther made the memorable reply,
+
+"I will go to Worms, if as many devils meet me there as there are tiles
+upon the roofs of the houses."
+
+The emperor was astonished to find that greater crowds were assembled,
+and greater enthusiasm was displayed in witnessing the entrance of the
+monk of Wittemberg, than had greeted the imperial entrance to the city.
+
+It was indeed an august assemblage before which Luther was arrayed. The
+emperor himself presided, sustained by his brother, the Archduke
+Ferdinand. Six electors, twenty-four dukes, seven margraves, thirty
+bishops and prelates, and an uncounted number of princes, counts, lords
+and ambassadors filled the spacious hall. It was the 18th of April,
+1521. His speech, fearless, dignified, eloquent, unanswerable, occupied
+two hours. He closed with the noble words,
+
+"Let me be refuted and convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or
+by the clearest arguments; otherwise I can not and will not recant; for
+it is neither safe nor expedient to act against conscience. Here I take
+my stand. I can do no otherwise, so help me God, Amen."
+
+In this sublime moral conflict Luther came off the undisputed conqueror.
+The legates of the pope, exasperated at his triumph, intreated the
+emperor to arrest him, in defiance of his word of honor pledged for his
+safety. Charles rejected the infamous proposal with disdain. Still he
+was greatly annoyed at so serious a schism in the Church, which
+threatened to alienate from him the patronage of the pope. It was
+evident that Luther was too strongly intrenched in the hearts of the
+Germans, for the youthful emperor, whose crown was not yet warm upon his
+brow, and who was almost a stranger in Germany, to undertake to crush
+him. To appease the pope he drew up an apologetic declaration, in which
+he said, in terms which do not honor his memory,
+
+"Descended as I am from the Christian emperors of Germany, the Catholic
+kings of Spain, and from the archdukes of Austria and the Dukes of
+Burgundy, all of whom have preserved, to the last moment of their lives,
+their fidelity to the Church, and have always been the defenders and
+protectors of the Catholic faith, its decrees, ceremonies and usages, I
+have been, am still, and will ever be devoted to those Christian
+doctrines, and the constitution of the Church which they have left to me
+as a sacred inheritance. And as it is evident that a simple monk has
+advanced opinions contrary to the sentiments of all Christians, past and
+present, I am firmly determined to wipe away the reproach which a
+toleration of such errors would cast on Germany, and to employ all my
+powers and resources, my body, my blood, my life, and even my soul, in
+checking the progress of this sacrilegious doctrine. I will not,
+therefore, permit Luther to enter into any further explanation, and will
+instantly dismiss and afterward treat him as a heretic. But I can not
+violate my safe conduct, but will cause him to be conducted safely back
+to Wittemberg."
+
+The emperor now attempted to accomplish by intrigue that which he could
+not attain by authority of force. He held a private interview with the
+reformer, and endeavored, by all those arts at the disposal of an
+emperor, to influence Luther to a recantation. Failing utterly in this,
+he delayed further operations for a month, until many of the diet,
+including the Elector of Saxony and other powerful friends of Luther,
+had retired. He then, having carefully retained those who would be
+obsequious to his will, caused a decree to be enacted, as if it were the
+unanimous sentiment of the diet, that Luther was a heretic; confirmed
+the sentence of the pope, and pronounced the ban of the empire against
+all who should countenance or protect him.
+
+But Luther, on the 26th of May, had left Worms on his return to
+Wittemberg. When he had passed over about half the distance, his friend
+and admirer, Frederic of Saxony, conscious of the imminent peril which
+hung over the intrepid monk, sent a troop of masked horsemen who seized
+him and conveyed him to the castle of Wartburg, where Frederic kept him
+safely concealed for nine months, not allowing even his friends to know
+the place of his concealment. Luther, acquiescing in the prudence of
+this measure, called this retreat his Patmos, and devoted himself most
+assiduously to the study of the Scriptures, and commenced his most
+admirable translation of the Bible into the German language, a work
+which has contributed vastly more than all others to disseminate the
+principles of the Reformation throughout Germany.
+
+It will be remembered that Maximilian's son Ferdinand, who was brother
+to Charles V., had married Anne, daughter of Ladislaus, King of Hungary
+and Bohemia. Disturbances in Spain rendered it necessary for the emperor
+to leave Germany, and for eight years his attention was almost
+constantly occupied by wars and intrigues in southern Europe. Ferdinand
+was invested with the government of the Austrian States. In the year
+1521, Leo X. died, and Adrian, who seems to have been truly a
+conscientious Christian man, assumed the tiara. He saw the deep
+corruptions of the Church, confessed them openly, mourned over them and
+declared that the Church needed a thorough reformation.
+
+This admission, of course, wonderfully strengthened the Lutheran party.
+The diet, meeting soon after, drew up a list of a hundred grievances,
+which they intreated the pope to reform, declaring that Germany could no
+longer endure them. They declared that Luther had opened the eyes of the
+people to these corruptions, and that they would not suffer the edicts
+of the diet of Worms to be enforced. Ferdinand of Austria, entering into
+the views of his brother, was anxious to arrest the progress of the new
+ideas, now spreading with great rapidity, and he entered--instructed by
+a legate, Campegio, from the pope--into an engagement with the Duke of
+Bavaria, and most of the German bishops, to carry the edict of Worms
+into effect.
+
+Frederic, the Elector of Saxony, died in 1525, but he was succeeded by
+his brother John the Constant, who cordially embraced and publicly
+avowed the doctrines of the Reformation; and Luther, in July of this
+year, gave the last signal proof of his entire emancipation from the
+superstitions of the papacy by marrying Catharine Bora, a noble lady
+who, having espoused his views, had left the nunnery where she had been
+an inmate. It is impossible for one now to conceive the impression which
+was produced in Catholic Europe by the marriage of a priest and a nun.
+
+Many of the German princes now followed the example of John of Saxony,
+and openly avowed their faith in the Lutheran doctrines. In the Austrian
+States, notwithstanding all Ferdinand's efforts to the contrary, the new
+faith steadily spread, commanding the assent of the most virtuous and
+the most intelligent. Many of the nobles avowed themselves Lutherans, as
+did even some of the professors in the university at Vienna. The vital
+questions at issue, taking hold, as they did, of the deepest emotions of
+the soul and the daily habits of life, roused the general mind to the
+most intense activity. The bitterest hostility sprung up between the two
+parties, and many persons, without piety and without judgment, threw off
+the superstitions of the papacy, only to adopt other superstitions
+equally revolting. The sect of Anabaptists rose, abjuring all civil as
+well as all religious authority, claiming to be the elect of God,
+advocating a community of goods and of wives, and discarding all
+restraint. They roused the ignorant peasantry, and easily showed them
+that they were suffering as much injustice from feudal lords as from
+papal bishops. It was the breaking out of the French Revolution on a
+small scale. Germany was desolated by infuriate bands, demolishing alike
+the castles of the nobles and the palaces of the bishops, and sparing
+neither age nor sex in their indiscriminate slaughter.
+
+The insurrection was so terrible, that both Lutherans and papists united
+to quell it; and so fierce were these fanatics, that a hundred thousand
+perished on fields of blood before the rebellion was quelled. These
+outrages were, of course, by the Catholics regarded as the legitimate
+results of the new doctrines, and it surely can not be denied that they
+sprung from them. The fire which glows on the hearth may consume the
+dwelling. But Luther and his friends assailed the Anabaptists with every
+weapon they could wield. The Catholics formed powerful combinations to
+arrest the spread of evangelical views. The reformers organized
+combinations equally powerful to diffuse those opinions, which they were
+sure involved the welfare of the world.
+
+Charles V., having somewhat allayed the troubles which harassed him in
+southern Europe, now turned his attention to Germany, and resolved, with
+a strong hand, to suppress the religious agitation. In a letter to the
+German States he very peremptorily announced his determination,
+declaring that he would exterminate the errors of Luther, exhorting
+them, to resist all attacks against the ancient usages of the Church,
+and expressing to each of the Catholic princes his earnest approval of
+their conduct.
+
+Germany was now threatened with civil war. The Catholics demanded the
+enforcement of the edict of Worms. The reformers demanded perfect
+toleration--that every man should enjoy freedom of opinion and of
+worship. A new war in Italy perhaps prevented this appeal to arms, as
+Charles V. found himself involved in new difficulties which engrossed
+all his energies. Ferdinand found the Austrian States so divided by this
+controversy, that it became necessary for him to assume some degree of
+impartiality, and to submit to something like toleration. A new pope,
+Clement VII., succeeded the short reign of Adrian, and all the ambition,
+intrigue and corruption which had hitherto marked the course of the
+court of Rome, resumed their sway. The pope formed the celebrated Holy
+League to arrest the progress of the new opinions; and this led all the
+princes of the empire, who had espoused the Lutheran doctrines, more
+openly and cordially to combine in self-defense. In every country in
+Europe the doctrines of the reformer spread rapidly, and the papal
+throne was shaken to its base.
+
+Charles V., whose arms were successful in southern Europe, and whose
+power was daily increasing, was still very desirous of restoring quiet
+to Europe by reestablishing the supremacy of the papal Church, and
+crushing out dissent. He accordingly convened another diet at Spires,
+the capital of Rhenish Bavaria, on the 15th of March, 1529. As the
+emperor was detained in Italy, his brother Ferdinand presided. The diet
+was of course divided, but the majority passed very stringent
+resolutions against the Reformation. It was enacted that the edict of
+Worms should be enforced; that the mass should be reestablished wherever
+it had been abolished; and that preachers should promulgate no new
+doctrines. The minority entered their protest. They urged that the mass
+had been clearly proved to be contrary to the Word of God; that the
+Scriptures were the only certain rule of life; and declared their
+resolution to maintain the truths of the Old and New Testaments,
+regardless of traditions. This _Protest_ was sustained by powerful
+names--John, Elector of Saxony; George, Margrave of Brandenburg; two
+Dukes of Brunswick; the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel; the Prince of Anhalt,
+and fourteen imperial cities, to which were soon added ten more. Nothing
+can more decisively show than this the wonderful progress which the
+Reformation in so short a time had made. From this Protest the reformers
+received the name of Protestants, which they have since retained.
+
+The emperor, flushed with success, now resolved, with new energy, to
+assail the principles of the Reformation. Leaving Spain he went to
+Italy, and met the pope, Clement VII., at Bologna, in February, 1530.
+The pope and the emperor held many long and private interviews. What
+they said no one knows. But Charles V., who was eminently a sagacious
+man, became convinced that the difficulty had become far too serious to
+be easily healed, that men of such power had embraced the Lutheran
+doctrines that it was expedient to change the tone of menace into one of
+respect and conciliation. He accordingly issued a call for another diet
+to meet in April, 1530, at the city of Augsburg in Bavaria.
+
+"I have convened," he wrote, "this assembly to consider the difference
+of opinion on the subject of religion. It is my intention to hear both
+parties with candor and charity, to examine their respective arguments,
+to correct and reform what requires to be corrected and reformed, that
+the truth being known, and harmony established, there may, in future, be
+only one pure and simple faith, and, as all are disciples of the same
+Jesus, all may form one and the same Church."
+
+These fair words, however, only excited the suspicions of the
+Protestants, which suspicions subsequent events proved to be well
+founded. The emperor entered Augsburg in great state, and immediately
+assumed a dictatorial air, requiring the diet to attend high mass with
+him, and to take part in the procession of the host.
+
+"I will rather," said the Marquis of Brandenburg to the emperor,
+"instantly offer my head to the executioner, than renounce the gospel
+and approve idolatry. Christ did not institute the sacrament of the
+Lord's Supper to be carried in pomp through the streets, nor to be
+adored by the people. He said, 'Take, eat;' but never said, 'Put this
+sacrament into a vase, carry it publicly in triumph, and let the people
+prostrate themselves before it.'"
+
+The Protestants, availing themselves of the emperor's declaration that
+it was his intention to hear the sentiments of all, drew up a confession
+of their faith, which they presented to the emperor in German and in
+Latin. This celebrated creed is known in history as the _Confession of
+Augsburg_. The emperor was quite embarrassed by this document, as he was
+well aware of the argumentative powers of the reformers, and feared that
+the document, attaining celebrity, and being read eagerly all over the
+empire, would only multiply converts to their views. At first he refused
+to allow it to be read. But finding that this only created commotion
+which would add celebrity to the confession, he adjourned the diet to a
+small chapel where but two hundred could be convened. When the
+Chancellor of Saxony rose to read the confession, the emperor commanded
+that he should read the Latin copy, a language which but few of the
+Germans understood.
+
+"Sire," said the chancellor, "we are now on German ground. I trust that
+your majesty will not order the apology of our faith, which ought to be
+made as public as possible, to be read in a language not understood by
+the Germans."
+
+The emperor was compelled to yield to so reasonable a request. The
+adjacent apartments, and the court-yard of the palace, were all filled
+with an eager crowd. The chancellor read the creed in a voice so clear
+and loud that the whole multitude could hear. The emperor was very
+uneasy, and at the close of the reading, which occupied two hours, took
+both the Latin and the German copies, and requested that the confession
+should not be published without his consent. Luther and Melancthon drew
+up this celebrated document. Melancthon was an exceedingly mild and
+amiable man, and such a lover of peace that he would perhaps do a little
+violence to his own conscience in the attempt to conciliate those from
+whom he was constrained to differ. Luther, on the contrary, was a man of
+great force, decision and fearlessness, who would speak the truth in the
+plainest terms, without softening a phrase to conciliate either friend
+or foe. The Confession of Augsburg being the joint production of both
+Melancthon and Luther, did not _exactly_ suit either. It was a little
+too uncompromising for Melancthon, a little too pliant and yielding for
+Luther. Melancthon soon after took the confession and changed it to
+bring it into more entire accordance with his spirit. Hence a division
+which, in oblivion of its origin, has continued to the present day.
+Those who adhered to the original document which was presented to the
+emperor, were called Lutherans; those who adopted the confession as
+softened by Melancthon, were called German Reformed.
+
+The emperor now threw off the mask, and carrying with him the majority
+of the diet, issued a decree of intolerance and menace, in which he
+declared that all the ceremonies, doctrines and usages of the papal
+church, without exception, were to be reestablished, married priests
+deposed, suppressed convents restored, and every innovation, of whatever
+kind, to be revoked. All who opposed this decree were to be exposed to
+the ban of the empire, with all its pains and penalties.
+
+This was indeed an appalling measure. Recantation or war was the only
+alternative. Charles, being still much occupied by the affairs of his
+vast kingdom of Spain, with all its ambitions and wars, needed a
+coadjutor in the government of Germany, as serious trouble was evidently
+near at hand. He therefore proposed the election of his brother
+Ferdinand as coadjutor with him in administering the affairs of Germany.
+Ferdinand, who had recently united to the Austrian territories the
+crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, was consequently chosen, on the 5th of
+January, 1531, King of the Romans. Charles was determined to enforce his
+decrees, and both parties now prepared for war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+CHARLES V. AND THE REFORMATION.
+
+From 1531 to 1552.
+
+Determination to crush Protestantism.--Incursion of the Turks.--Valor of
+the Protestants.--Preparations for renewed Hostilities.--Augmentation of
+the Protestant Forces.--The Council of Trent.--Mutual Consternation.--
+Defeat of the Protestant Army.--Unlooked for Succor.--Revolt in the
+Emperor's Army.--The Fluctuations of Fortune.--Ignoble Revenge.--Capture
+of Wittemberg.--Protestantism Apparently Crushed.--Plot against
+Charles.--Maurice of Saxony.--A Change of Scene.--The Biter Bit.--The
+Emperor humbled.--His Flight.--His determined Will.
+
+
+The intolerant decrees of the diet of Augsburg, and the evident
+determination of the emperor unrelentingly to enforce them, spread the
+greatest alarm among the Protestants. They immediately assembled at
+Smalkalde in December, 1530, and entered into a league for mutual
+protection. The emperor was resolved to crush the Protestants. The
+Protestants were resolved not to be crushed. The sword of the Catholics
+was drawn for the assault--the sword of the reformers for defense. Civil
+war was just bursting forth in all its horrors, when the Turks, with an
+army three hundred thousand strong, like ravening wolves rushed into
+Hungary. This danger was appalling. The Turks in their bloody march had,
+as yet, encountered no effectual resistance; though they had experienced
+temporary checks, their progress had been on the whole resistless, and
+wherever they had planted their feet they had established themselves
+firmly. Originating as a small tribe on the shores of the Caspian, they
+had spread over all Asia Minor, had crossed the Bosphorus, captured
+Constantinople, and had brought all Greece under their sway. They were
+still pressing on, flushed with victory. Christian Europe was trembling
+before them. And now an army of three hundred thousand had crossed the
+Danube, sweeping all opposition before them, and were spreading terror
+and destruction through Hungary. The capture of that immense kingdom
+seemed to leave all Europe defenseless.
+
+The emperor and his Catholic friends were fearfully alarmed. Here was a
+danger more to be dreaded than even the doctrines of Luther. All the
+energies of Christendom were requisite to repel this invasion. The
+emperor was compelled to appeal to the Protestant princes to cooeperate
+in this great emergence. But they had more to fear from the fiery
+persecution of the papal church than from the cimeter of the infidel,
+and they refused any cooeperation with the emperor so long as the menaces
+of the Augsburg decrees were suspended over them. The emperor wished the
+Protestants to help him drive out the Turks, that then, relieved from
+that danger, he might turn all his energies against the Protestants.
+
+After various negotiations it was agreed, as a temporary arrangement,
+that there should be a truce of the Catholic persecution until another
+general council should be called, and that until then the Protestants
+should be allowed freedom of conscience and of worship. The German
+States now turned their whole force against the Turks. The Protestants
+contributed to the war with energy which amazed the Catholics. They even
+trebled the contingents which they had agreed to furnish, and marched to
+the assault with the greatest intrepidity. The Turks were driven from
+Hungary, and then the emperor, in violation of his pledge, recommenced
+proceeding against the Protestants. But it was the worst moment the
+infatuated emperor could have selected. The Protestants, already armed
+and marshaled, were not at all disposed to lie down to be trodden upon
+by their foes. They renewed their confederacy, drove the emperor's
+Austrian troops out of the territories of Wirtemberg, which they had
+seized, and restored the duchy to the Protestant duke, Ulric. Civil war
+had now commenced. But the Protestants were strong, determined, and had
+proved their valor in the recent war with the Turks. The more moderate
+of the papal party, foreseeing a strife which might be interminable,
+interposed, and succeeded in effecting a compromise which again secured
+transient peace.
+
+Charles, however, had not yet abandoned his design to compel the
+Protestants to return to the papal church. He was merely temporizing
+till he could bring such an array of the papal powers against the
+reformers that they could present no successful resistance. With this
+intention he entered into a secret treaty with the powerful King of
+France, in which Francis agreed to concentrate all the forces of his
+kingdom to crush the Lutheran doctrines. He then succeeded in concluding
+a truce with the Turks for five years. He was now prepared to act with
+decision against the reformed religion.
+
+But while Charles had been marshaling his party the Protestants had been
+rapidly increasing. Eloquent preachers, able writers, had everywhere
+proclaimed the corruptions of the papacy and urged a pure gospel. These
+corruptions were so palpable that they could not bear the light. The
+most intelligent and conscientious, all over Europe, were rapidly
+embracing the new doctrines. These new doctrines embraced and involved
+principles of civil as well as religious liberty. The Bible is the most
+formidable book which was ever penned against aristocratic usurpation.
+God is the universal Father. All men are brothers. The despots of that
+day regarded the controversy as one which, in the end, involved the
+stability of their thrones. "Give us light," the Protestants said. "Give
+us darkness," responded the papacy, "or the submissive masses will rise
+and overthrow despotic thrones as well as idolatrous altars."
+
+Several of the ablest and most powerful of the bishops who, in that day
+of darkness, had been groping in the dark, now that light had come into
+the world, rejoiced in that light, and enthusiastically espoused the
+truth. The emperor was quite appalled when he learned that the
+Archbishop of Cologne, who was also one of the electors of the empire,
+had joined the reformers; for, in addition to the vast influence of his
+name, this conversion gave the Protestants a majority in the electoral
+diet, so many of the German princes had already adopted the opinions of
+Luther. The Protestants, encouraged by the rapidity with which their
+doctrines were spreading, were not at all disposed to humble themselves
+before their opponents, but with their hands upon the hilts of their
+swords, declared that they would not bow their necks to intolerance.
+
+It was indeed a formidable power which the emperor was now about to
+marshal against the Protestants. He had France, Spain, all the roused
+energies of the pope and his extended dominions, and all the Catholic
+States of the empire. But Protestantism, which had overrun Germany, had
+pervaded Switzerland and France, and was daily on the increase. The pope
+and the more zealous papists were impatient and indignant that the
+emperor did not press his measures with more vigor. But the sagacious
+Charles more clearly saw the difficulties to be surmounted than they
+did, and while no less determined in his resolves, was more prudent and
+wary in his measures.
+
+With the consent of the pope he summoned a general council to meet at
+Trent on the confines of his own Austrian territories, where he could
+easily have every thing under his own control. He did every thing in his
+power, in the meantime to promote division among the Protestants, by
+trying to enter into private negotiations with the Protestant princes.
+He had the effrontery to urge the Protestants to send their divines to
+the council of Trent, and agreed to abide by its decisions, even when
+that council was summoned by the pope, and was to be so organized as to
+secure an overwhelming majority to the papists. The Protestants, of
+course, rejected so silly a proposition, and refused to recognize the
+decrees of such a council as of any binding authority.
+
+In preparation for enforcing the decrees which he intended to have
+enacted by the council of Trent, Charles obtained from the pope thirteen
+thousand troops, and five hundred thousand ducats (one million one
+hundred thousand dollars). He raised one army in the Low Countries to
+march upon Germany. He gathered another army in his hereditary States of
+Austria. His brother Ferdinand, as King of Hungary and Bohemia, raised a
+large army in each of those dominions. The King of France mustered his
+legions, and boasted of the condign punishment to which he would consign
+the heretics. The pope issued a decree offering the entire pardon of all
+sins to those who should engage in this holy war for the extirpation of
+the doctrines of the reformers.
+
+The Protestants were for a moment in consternation in view of the
+gatherings of so portentous a storm. The emperor, by false professions
+and affected clemency, had so deceived them that they were quite
+unprepared for so formidable an attack. They soon, however, saw that
+their only salvation depended upon a vigorous defense, and they
+marshaled their forces for war. With promptness and energy which even
+astonished themselves, they speedily raised an army which, on the
+junction of its several corps, amounted to eighty thousand men. In its
+intelligence, valor, discipline and equipments, it was probably the best
+army which had ever been assembled in the States of Germany. Resolutely
+they marched under Schartlin, one of the most experienced generals of
+the age, toward Ratisbon, where the emperor was holding a diet.
+
+Charles V. was as much alarmed by this unexpected apparition, as the
+Protestants had been alarmed by the preparations of the emperor. He had
+supposed that his force was so resistless that the Protestants would see
+at once the hopelessness of resistance, and would yield without a
+struggle. The emperor had a guard of but eight thousand troops at
+Ratisbon. The Duke of Bavaria, in whose dominions he was, was wavering,
+and the papal troops had not commenced their march. But there was not a
+moment to be lost. The emperor himself might be surrounded and taken
+captive. He retired precipitately about thirty miles south to the strong
+fortress of Landshut, where he could hold out until he received succor
+from his Austrian territories, which were very near, and also from the
+pope.
+
+Charles soon received powerful reinforcements from Austria, from the
+pope, and from his Spanish kingdom. With these he marched some forty
+miles west to Ingolstadt and intrenched himself beneath its massive
+walls. Here he waited for further reinforcements, and then commencing
+the offensive, marched up the Danube, taking possession of the cities on
+either bank. And now the marshaled forces of the emperor began to crowd
+the Protestants on all sides. The army became bewildered, and instead of
+keeping together, separated to repel the attack at different points.
+This caused the ruin of the Protestant army. The dissevered fragments
+were speedily dispersed. The emperor triumphantly entered the Protestant
+cities of Ulm and Augsburg, Strasbourg and Frankfort, compelled them to
+accept humiliating conditions, to surrender their artillery and military
+stores, and to pay enormous fines. The Archbishop of Cologne was deposed
+from his dignities. The emperor had thrown his foes upon the ground and
+bound them.
+
+All the Protestant princes but two were vanquished, the Elector of
+Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse. It was evident that they must soon
+yield to the overwhelming force of the emperor. It was a day of
+disaster, in which no gleam of light seemed to dawn upon the Protestant
+cause. But in that gloomy hour we see again the illustration of that
+sentiment, that "the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to
+the strong." Unthinking infidelity says sarcastically, "Providence
+always helps the heavy battalions." But Providence often brings to the
+discomfited, in their despair, reinforcements all unlooked for.
+
+There were in the army of Ferdinand, gathered from the Austrian
+territories by the force of military conscription, many troops more or
+less influenced by the reformed religion. They were dissatisfied with
+this warfare against their brothers, and their dissatisfaction increased
+to murmurs and then to revolt. Thus encouraged, the Protestant nobles in
+Bohemia rose against Ferdinand their king, and the victorious Ferdinand
+suddenly found his strong battalions melting away, and his banners on
+the retreat.
+
+The other powers of Europe began to look with alarm upon the vast
+ascendency which Charles V. was attaining over Europe. His exacting and
+aggressive spirit assumed a more menacing aspect than the doctrines of
+Luther. The King of France, Francis I., with the characteristic perfidy
+of the times, meeting cunning with cunning, formed a secret league
+against his ally, combining, in that league, the English ministry who
+governed during the minority of Edward VI., and also the cooeperation of
+the illustrious Gustavus Vasa, the powerful King of Sweden, who was then
+strongly inclined to that faith of the reformers which he afterwards
+openly avowed. Even the pope, who had always felt a little jealous of
+the power of the emperor, thought that as the Protestants were now put
+down it might be well to check the ambition of Charles V. a little, and
+he accordingly ordered all his troops to return to Italy. The holy
+father, Paul III., even sent money to the Protestant Elector of Saxony,
+to enable him to resist the emperor, and sent ambassadors to the Turks,
+to induce them to break the truce and make war upon Christendom, that
+the emperor might be thus embarrassed.
+
+Charles thus found himself, in the midst of his victories, suddenly at a
+stand. He could no longer carry on offensive operations, but was
+compelled to prepare for defense against the attacks with which he was
+threatened on every side.
+
+Again, the kaleidoscope of political combination received a jar, and all
+was changed. The King of France died. This so embarrassed the affairs of
+the confederation which Francis had organized with so much toil and
+care, that Charles availed himself of it to make a sudden and vigorous
+march against the Elector of Saxony. He entered his territories with an
+army of thirty-three thousand men, and swept all opposition before him.
+In a final and desperate battle the troops of the elector were cut to
+pieces, and the elector himself, surrounded on all sides, sorely wounded
+in the face and covered with blood, was taken prisoner. Charles
+disgraced his character by the exhibition of a very ignoble spirit of
+revenge. The captive elector, as he was led into the presence of his
+conqueror, said--
+
+"Most powerful and gracious emperor, the fortune of war has now rendered
+me your prisoner, and I hope to be treated--"
+
+Here the emperor indignantly interrupted him, saying--
+
+"I am _now_ your gracious emperor! Lately you could only vouchsafe me
+the title of Charles of Ghent!"
+
+Then turning abruptly upon his heel, he consigned his prisoner to the
+custody of one of the Spanish generals. The emperor marched immediately
+to Wittemberg, which was distant but a few miles. It was a well
+fortified town, and was resolutely defended by Isabella, the wife of the
+elector. The emperor, maddened by the resistance, summoned a court
+martial, and sentenced the elector to instant death unless he ordered
+the surrender of the fortress. He at first refused, and prepared to die.
+But the tears of his wife and his family conquered his resolution, and
+the city was surrendered. The emperor took from his captive the
+electoral dignity, and extorted from him the most cruel concessions as
+the ransom for his life. Without a murmur he surrendered wealth, power
+and rank, but neither entreaties nor menaces could induce him in a
+single point to abjure his Christian faith.
+
+Charles now entered Wittemberg in triumph. The great reformer had just
+died. The emperor visited the grave of Luther, and when urged to
+dishonor his remains, replied--
+
+"I war not with the dead, but with the living. Let him repose in peace;
+he is already before his Judge."
+
+The Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, now the only member of the Protestant
+league remaining in arms, was in a condition utterly hopeless, and was
+compelled to make an unconditional submission.
+
+The landgrave, ruined in fortune, and crushed in spirit, was led a
+captive into the imperial camp at Halle, in Saxony, the 19th of June,
+1547. He knelt before the throne, and made an humble confession of his
+crime in resisting the emperor; he resigned himself and all his
+dominions to the clemency of his sovereign. As he rose to kiss the hand
+of the emperor, Charles turned contemptuously from him and ordered him
+to be conveyed to one of the apartments of the palace as a prisoner.
+Most ignobly the emperor led his two illustrious captives, the Elector
+of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, as captives from city to
+city, exhibiting them as proofs of his triumph, and as a warning to all
+others to avoid their fate. Very strong jealousies had now sprung up
+between the emperor and the pope, and they could not cooperate. The
+emperor, consequently, undertook to settle the religious differences
+himself. He caused twenty-six articles to be drawn up as the basis of
+pacification, which he wished both the Catholics and the Protestants to
+sign. The pope was indignant, and the Catholics were disgusted with this
+interference of the emperor in the faith of the Church, a matter which
+in their view belonged exclusively to the pope and the councils which he
+might convene.
+
+The emperor, however, resolutely persevered in the endeavor to compel
+the Protestants to subscribe to his articles, and punished severely
+those who refused to do so. In his Burgundian provinces he endeavored to
+establish the inquisition, that all heresy might be nipped in the bud.
+In his zeal he quite outstripped the pope. As Julius III. had now
+ascended the pontifical throne, Charles, fearful that he might be too
+liberal in his policy towards the reformers, and might make too many
+concessions, extorted from him the promise that he would not introduce
+any reformation in the Church without consulting him and obtaining his
+consent. Thus the pope himself became but one of the dependents of
+Charles V., and all the corruptions of the Church were sustained by the
+imperial arm. He then, through the submissive pope, summoned a council
+of Catholic divines to meet at Trent. He had arranged in his own mind
+the decrees which they were to issue, and had entered into a treaty with
+the new King of France, Henry II., by which the French monarch agreed,
+with all the military force of his kingdom, to maintain the decrees of
+the council of Trent, whatever they might be.
+
+The emperor had now apparently attained all his ends. He had crushed the
+Protestant league, vanquished the Protestant princes, subjected the pope
+to his will, arranged religious matters according to his views, and had
+now assembled a subservient council to ratify and confirm all he had
+done. But with this success he had become arrogant, implacable and
+cruel. His friends had become alienated and his enemies exasperated.
+Even the most rigorous Catholics were alarmed at his assumptions, and
+the pope was humiliated by his haughty bearing.
+
+Charles assembled a diet of the States of the empire at Augsburg, the
+26th of July, 1550. He entered the city with the pomp and the pride of a
+conqueror, and with such an array of military force as to awe the States
+into compliance with his wishes. He then demanded of all the States of
+the empire an agreement that they would enforce, in all their dominions
+the decrees of the council of Trent, which council was soon to be
+convened. There is sublimity in the energy with which this monarch
+moved, step by step, toward the accomplishment of his plans. He seemed
+to leave no chance for failure. The members of the diet were as
+obsequious as spaniels to their imperious master, and watched his
+countenance to learn when they were to say yes, and when no.
+
+In one thing only he failed. He wished to have his son Philip elected as
+his successor on the imperial throne. His brother Ferdinand opposed him
+in this ambitious plan, and thus emboldened the diet to declare that
+while the emperor was living it was illegal to choose his successor, as
+it tended to render the imperial crown hereditary. The emperor,
+sagacious as he was domineering, waived the prosecution of his plan for
+the present, preparing to resume it when he had punished and paralyzed
+those who opposed.
+
+The emperor had deposed Frederic the Elector of Saxony, and placed over
+his dominions, Maurice, a nephew of the deposed elector. Maurice had
+married a daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel. He was a man of
+commanding abilities, and as shrewd, sagacious and ambitious as the
+emperor himself. He had been strongly inclined to the Lutheran
+doctrines, but had been bought over to espouse the cause of Charles V.
+by the brilliant offer of the territories of Saxony. Maurice, as he saw
+blow after blow falling upon his former friends; one prince after
+another ejected from his estates, Protestantism crushed, and finally his
+own uncle and his wife's father led about to grace the triumph of the
+conqueror; as he saw the vast power to which the emperor had attained,
+and that the liberties of the German empire were in entire subjection to
+his will, his pride was wounded, his patriotism aroused, and his
+Protestant sympathies revived. Maurice, meeting Charles V. on the field
+of intrigue, was Greek meeting Greek.
+
+Maurice now began with great guile and profound sagacity to plot against
+the despotic emperor. Two circumstances essentially aided him. Charles
+coveted the dukedoms of Parma and Placentia in Italy, and the Duke
+Ottavia had been deposed. He rallied his subjects and succeeded in
+uniting France on his side, for Henry II. was alarmed at the
+encroachments the emperor was making in Italy. A very fierce war
+instantly blazed forth, the Duke of Parma and Henry II. on one side, the
+pope and the emperor on the other. At the same time the Turks, under the
+leadership of the Sultan Solyman himself, were organizing a formidable
+force for the invasion of Hungary, which invasion would require all the
+energies of Ferdinand, with all the forces he could raise in Austria,
+Hungary and Bohemia to repel.
+
+Next to Hungary and Bohemia, Saxony was perhaps the most powerful State
+of the Germanic confederacy. The emperor placed full reliance upon
+Maurice, and the Protestants in their despair would have thought of him
+as the very last to come to their aid; for he had marched vigorously in
+the armies of the emperor to crush the Protestants, and was occupying
+the territories of their most able and steadfast friend. Secretly,
+Maurice made proposals to all the leading Protestant princes of the
+empire, and having made every thing ready for an outbreak, he entered
+into a treaty with the King of France, who promised large subsidies and
+an efficient military force.
+
+Maurice conducted these intrigues with such consummate skill that the
+emperor had not the slightest suspicion of the storm which was
+gathering. Every thing being matured, early in April, 1552, Maurice
+suddenly appeared before the gates of Augsburg with an army of
+twenty-five thousand men. At the same time he issued a declaration that
+he had taken up arms to prevent the destruction of the Protestant
+religion, to defend the liberties of Germany which the emperor had
+infringed, and to rescue his relatives from their long and unjust
+imprisonment. The King of France and other princes issued similar
+declarations. The smothered disaffection with the emperor instantly
+blazed forth all over the German empire. The cause of Maurice was
+extremely popular. The Protestants in a mass, and many others, flocked
+to his standard. As by magic and in a day, all was changed. The imperial
+towns Augsburg, Nuremberg and others, threw open their gates joyfully to
+Maurice. Whole provinces rushed to his standard. He was everywhere
+received as the guardian of civil and religious liberty. The ejected
+Protestant rulers and magistrates were reinstated, the Protestant
+churches opened, the Protestant preachers restored. In one month the
+Protestant party was predominant in the German empire, and the Catholic
+party either neutral or secretly favoring one who was humbling that
+haughty emperor whom even the Catholics had begun to fear. The prelates
+who were assembling at Trent, alarmed by so sudden and astounding a
+revolution, dissolved the assembly and hastened to their homes.
+
+The emperor was at Innspruck seated in his arm chair, with his limbs
+bandaged in flannel, enfeebled and suffering from a severe attack of the
+gout, when the intelligence of this sudden and overwhelming reverse
+reached him. He was astonished and utterly confounded. In weakness and
+pain, unable to leave his couch, with his treasury exhausted, his armies
+widely scattered, and so pressed by their foes that they could not be
+concentrated from their wide dispersion, there was nothing left for him
+but to endeavor to beguile Maurice into a truce. But Maurice was as much
+at home in all the arts of cunning as the emperor, and instead of being
+beguiled, contrived to entrap his antagonist. This was a new and a very
+salutary experience for Charles. It is a very novel sensation for a
+successful rogue to be the dupe of roguery.
+
+Maurice pressed on, his army gathering force at every step. He entered
+the Tyrol, swept through all its valleys, took possession of all its
+castles and its sublime fastnesses, and the blasts of his bugles
+reverberated among the cliffs of the Alps, ever sounding the charge and
+announcing victory, never signaling a defeat. The emperor was reduced to
+the terrible humiliation of saving himself from capture only by flight.
+The emperor could hardly credit his senses when told that his conquering
+foes were within two days' march of Innspruck, and that a squadron of
+horse might at any hour appear and cut off his retreat. It was in the
+night when these appalling tidings were brought to him. The tortures of
+the gout would not allow him to mount on horseback, neither could he
+bear the jolting in a carriage over the rough roads. It was a dark and
+stormy night, the 20th of May, 1552. The rain fell in torrents, and the
+wind howled through the fir-trees and around the crags of the Alps. Some
+attendants wrapped the monarch in blankets, took him out into the
+court-yard of the palace, and placed him in a litter. Attendants led the
+way with lanterns, and thus, through the inundated and storm-swept
+defiles of the mountains, they fled with their helpless sovereign
+through the long hours of the tempestuous night, not daring to stop one
+moment lest they should hear behind them the clatter of the iron hoofs
+of their pursuers. What a change for one short month to produce! What a
+comment upon earthly grandeur! It is well for man in the hour of most
+exultant prosperity to be humble. He knows not how soon he may fall.
+Instructive indeed is the apostrophe of Cardinal Wolsey, illustrated as
+the truth he utters is by almost every page of history:
+
+  "This is the state of man; to-day he puts forth
+   The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms,
+   The third day comes a frost, a killing frost;
+   And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
+   His greatness is a ripening--nips his root,
+   And then he falls as I do."
+
+The fugitive emperor did not venture to stop for refreshment or repose
+until he had reached the strong town of Villach in Carinthia, nearly one
+hundred and fifty miles west of Innspruck. The troops of Maurice soon
+entered the city which the emperor had abandoned, and the imperial
+palace was surrendered to pillage. Heroic courage, indomitable
+perseverance always commands respect. These are great and noble
+qualities, though they may be exerted in a bad cause. The will of
+Charles was unconquerable. In these hours of disaster, tortured with
+pain, driven from his palace, deserted by his allies, impoverished, and
+borne upon his litter in humiliating flight before his foes, he was just
+as determined to enforce his plans as in the most brilliant hour of
+victory.
+
+He sent his brother Ferdinand and other ambassadors to Passau to meet
+Maurice, and mediate for a settlement of the difficulties. Maurice now
+had no need of diplomacy. His demands were simple and reasonable. They
+were, that the emperor should liberate his father-in-law from captivity,
+tolerate the Protestant religion, and grant to the German States their
+accustomed liberty. But the emperor would not yield a single point.
+Though his brother Ferdinand urged him to yield, though his Catholic
+ambassadors intreated him to yield, though they declared that if he did
+not they should be compelled to abandon his cause and make the best
+terms for themselves with the conqueror that they could, still nothing
+could bend his inflexible will, and the armies, after the lull of a few
+days, were again in motion. The despotism of the emperor we abhor; but
+his indomitable perseverance and unconquerable energy are worthy of all
+admiration and imitation. Had they but been exerted in a good cause!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+CHARLES V. AND THE TURKISH WARS.
+
+From 1552 to 1555.
+
+The Treaty of Passau.--The Emperor yields.--His continued Reverses.--The
+Toleration Compromise.--Mutual Dissatisfation.--Remarkable Despondency
+of the Emperor Charles.--His Address to the Convention at Brussels.--The
+Convent of St. Justus.--Charles returns to Spain.--His Convent
+Life.--The mock Burial.--His Death.--His Traits of Character.--The
+King's Compliment to Titian.--The Condition of Austria.--Rapid Advance
+of the Turks.--Reasons for the Inaction of the Christians.--The Sultan's
+Method of overcoming Difficulties.--The little Fortress of Guntz.--What
+it accomplished.
+
+
+The Turks, animated by this civil war which was raging in Germany, were
+pressing their march upon Hungary with great vigor, and the troops of
+Ferdinand were retiring discomfited before the invader. Henry of France
+and the Duke of Parma were also achieving victories in Italy endangering
+the whole power of the emperor over those States. Ferdinand, appalled by
+the prospect of the loss of Hungary, imploringly besought the emperor to
+listen to terms of reconciliation. The Catholic princes, terrified in
+view of the progress of the infidel, foreseeing the entire subjection of
+Europe to the arms of the Moslem unless Christendom could combine in
+self-defense, joined their voices with that of Ferdinand so earnestly
+and in such impassioned tones, that the emperor finally, though very
+reluctantly, gave his assent to the celebrated treaty of Passau, on the
+2d of August, 1552. By this pacification the captives were released,
+freedom of conscience and of worship was established, and the Protestant
+troops, being disbanded, were at liberty to enter into the service of
+Ferdinand to repel the Turks. Within six months a diet was to be
+assembled to attempt an amicable adjustment of all civil and religious
+difficulties.
+
+The intrepid Maurice immediately marched, accompanied by many of the
+Protestant princes, and at the head of a powerful army, to repel the
+Mohammedan armies. Charles, relieved from his German troubles, gathered
+his strength to wreak revenge upon the King of France. But fortune
+seemed to have deserted him. Defeat and disgrace accompanied his march.
+Having penetrated the French province of Lorraine, he laid siege to
+Metz. After losing thirty thousand men beneath its walls, he was
+compelled, in the depth of winter, to raise the siege and retreat. His
+armies were everywhere routed; the Turks menaced the shores of Italy;
+the pope became his inveterate enemy, and joined France against him.
+Maurice was struck by a bullet, and fell on the field of battle. The
+electorate of Saxony passed into the hands of Augustus, a brother of
+Maurice, while the former elector, Ferdinand, who shortly after died,
+received some slight indemnification.
+
+Such was the state of affairs when the promised diet was summoned at
+Passau. It met on the 5th of February, 1555. The emperor was confined
+with the gout at Brussels, and his brother Ferdinand presided. It was a
+propitious hour for the Protestants. Charles was sick, dejected and in
+adversity. The better portion of the Catholics were disgusted with the
+intolerance of the emperor, intolerance which even the more
+conscientious popes could not countenance. Ferdinand was fully aware
+that he could not defend his own kingdom of Hungary from the Turks
+without the intervention of Protestant arms. He was, therefore, warmly
+in favor of conciliation.
+
+The world was not yet sufficiently enlightened to comprehend the beauty
+of a true toleration, entire freedom of conscience and of worship. After
+long and very exciting debates--after being again and again at the point
+of grasping their arms anew--they finally agreed that the Protestants
+should enjoy the free exercise of their religion wherever Protestantism
+had been established and recognized by the Confession of Augsburg. That
+in all other places Protestant princes might prohibit the Catholic
+religion in their States, and Catholic princes prohibit the Protestant
+religion. But in each case the ejected party was at liberty to sell
+their property and move without molestation to some State where their
+religion was dominant. In the free cities of the empire, where both
+religions were established, both were to be tolerated.
+
+Thus far, and no further, had the spirit of toleration made progress in
+the middle of the sixteenth century.
+
+Such was the basis of the pacification. Neither party was satisfied.
+Each felt that it had surrendered far too much to the other; and there
+was subsequently much disagreement respecting the interpretation of some
+of the most important articles. The pope, Paul IV., was indignant that
+such toleration had been granted to the Protestants, and threatened the
+emperor and his brother Ferdinand of Austria with excommunication if
+they did not declare these decrees null and void throughout their
+dominions. At the same time he entered into correspondence with Henry
+II. of France to form a new holy league for the defense of the papal
+church against the inroads of heresy.
+
+And now occurred one of the most extraordinary events which history has
+recorded. Charles V., who had been the most enterprising and ambitious
+prince in Europe, and the most insatiable in his thirst for power,
+became the victim of the most extreme despondency. Harassed by the
+perplexities which pressed in upon him from his widely-extended realms,
+annoyed by the undutiful and haughty conduct of his son, who was
+endeavoring to wrest authority from his father by taking advantage of
+all his misfortunes, and perhaps inheriting a melancholy temperament
+from his mother, who died in the glooms of insanity, and, more than all,
+mortified and wounded by so sudden and so vast a reverse of fortune, in
+which all his plans seemed to have failed--thus oppressed, humbled, he
+retired in disgust to his room, indulged in the most fretful temper,
+admitted none but his sister and a few confidential servants to his
+presence, and so entirely neglected all business as to pass nine months
+without signing a single paper.
+
+While the emperor was in this melancholy state, his insane mother, who
+had lingered for years in delirious gloom, died on the 4th of April,
+1555. It will be remembered that Charles had inherited valuable estates
+in the Low Countries from his marriage with the daughter of the Duke of
+Burgundy. Having resolved to abdicate all his power and titles in favor
+of his son, he convened the States of the Low Countries at Brussels on
+the 25th of October, 1555. Charles was then but fifty-five years of age,
+and should have been in the strength of vigorous manhood. But he was
+prematurely old, worn down with care, toil and disappointment. He
+attended the assembly accompanied by his son Philip. Tottering beneath
+infirmities, he leaned upon the shoulders of a friend for support, and
+addressed the assembly in a long and somewhat boastful speech,
+enumerating all the acts of his administration, his endeavors, his long
+and weary journeys, his sleepless care, his wars, and, above all, his
+victories. In conclusion he said:
+
+"While my health enabled me to perform my duty, I cheerfully bore the
+burden; but as my constitution is now broken by an incurable distemper,
+and my infirmities admonish me to retire, the happiness of my people
+affects me more than the ambition of reigning. Instead of a decrepid old
+man, tottering on the brink of the grave, I transfer your allegiance to
+a sovereign in the prime of life, vigilant, sagacious, active and
+enterprising. With respect to myself, if I have committed any error in
+the course of a long administration, forgive and impute it to my
+weakness, not to my intention. I shall ever retain a grateful sense of
+your fidelity and attachment, and your welfare shall be the great object
+of my prayers to Almighty God, to whom I now consecrate the remainder of
+my days."
+
+Then turning to his son Philip, he said:
+
+"And you, my son, let the grateful recollection of this day redouble
+your care and affection for your people. Other sovereigns may rejoice in
+having given birth to their sons and in leaving their States to them
+after their death. But I am anxious to enjoy, during my life, the double
+satisfaction of feeling that you are indebted to me both for your birth
+and power. Few monarchs will follow my example, and in the lapse of ages
+I have scarcely found one whom I myself would imitate. The resolution,
+therefore, which I have taken, and which I now carry into execution,
+will be justified only by your proving yourself worthy of it. And you
+will alone render yourself worthy of the extraordinary confidence which
+I now repose in you by a zealous protection of your religion, and by
+maintaining the purity of the Catholic faith, and by governing with
+justice and moderation. And may you, if ever you are desirous of
+retiring like myself to the tranquillity of private life, enjoy the
+inexpressible happiness of having such a son, that you may resign your
+crown to him with the same satisfaction as I now deliver mine to you."
+
+The emperor was here entirely overcome by emotion, and embracing Philip,
+sank exhausted into his chair. The affecting scene moved all the
+audience to tears. Soon after this, with the same formalities the
+emperor resigned the crown of Spain to his son, reserving to himself, of
+all his dignities and vast revenues, only a pension of about twenty
+thousand dollars a year. For some months he remained in the Low
+Countries, and then returned to Spain to seek an asylum in a convent
+there.
+
+When in the pride of his power he once, while journeying in Spain, came
+upon the convent of St. Justus in Estramadura, situated in a lovely
+vale, secluded from all the bustle of life. The massive pile was
+embosomed among the hills; forests spread widely around, and a beautiful
+rivulet murmured by its walls. As the emperor gazed upon the enchanting
+scene of solitude and silence he exclaimed, "Behold a lovely retreat for
+another Diocletian!"
+
+The picture of the convent of St. Justus had ever remained in his mind,
+and perhaps had influenced him, when overwhelmed with care, to seek its
+peaceful retirement. Embarking in a ship for Spain, he landed at Loredo
+on the 28th of September, 1556. As soon as his feet touched the soil of
+his native land he prostrated himself to the earth, kissed the ground,
+and said,
+
+"Naked came I into the world, and naked I return to thee, thou common
+mother of mankind. To thee I dedicate my body, as the only return I can
+make for all the benefits conferred on me."
+
+Then kneeling, and holding the crucifix before him, with tears streaming
+from his eyes, and all unmindful of the attendants who were around, he
+breathed a fervent prayer of gratitude for the past, and commended
+himself to God for the future. By slow and easy stages, as he was very
+infirm, he journeyed to the vale of Estramadura, near Placentia, and
+entered upon his silent, monastic life.
+
+His apartments consisted of six small cells. The stone walls were
+whitewashed, and the rooms furnished with the utmost frugality. Within
+the walls of the convent, and communicating with the chapel, there was a
+small garden, which the emperor had tastefully arranged with shrubbery
+and flowers. Here Charles passed the brief remainder of his days. He
+amused himself with laboring in the garden with his own hands. He
+regularly attended worship in the chapel twice every day, and took part
+in the service, manifestly with the greatest sincerity and devotion.
+
+The emperor had not a cultivated mind, and was not fond of either
+literary or scientific pursuits. To beguile the hours he amused himself
+with tools, carving toys for children, and ingenious puppets and
+automata to astonish the peasants. For a time he was very happy in his
+new employment. After so stormy a life, the perfect repose and freedom
+from care which he enjoyed in the convent, seemed to him the perfection
+of bliss. But soon the novelty wore away, and his constitutional
+despondency returned with accumulated power.
+
+His dejection now assumed the form of religious melancholy. He began to
+devote every moment of his time to devotional reading and prayer,
+esteeming all amusements and all employments sinful which interfered
+with his spiritual exercises. He expressed to the Bishop of Toledo his
+determination to devote, for the rest of his days, every moment to the
+service of God. With the utmost scrupulousness he carried out this plan.
+He practiced rigid fasts, and conformed to all the austerity of convent
+discipline. He renounced his pension, and sitting at the abstemious
+table with the monks, declined seeing any other company than that of the
+world-renouncing priests and friars around him. He scourged himself with
+the most cruel severity, till his back was lacerated with the whip. He
+whole soul seemed to crave suffering, in expiation for his sins. His
+ingenuity was tasked to devise new methods of mortification and
+humiliation. Ambition had ever been the ruling passion of his soul, and
+now he was ambitious to suffer more, and to abuse himself more than any
+other mortal had ever done.
+
+Goaded by this impulse, he at last devised the scheme of solemnising his
+own funeral. All the melancholy arrangements for his burial were made;
+the coffin provided; the emperor reclined upon his bed as dead; he was
+wrapped in his shroud, and placed in his coffin. The monks, and all the
+inmates of the convent attended in mourning; the bells tolled; requiems
+were chanted by the choir; the funeral service was read, and then the
+emperor, as if dead, was placed in the tomb of the chapel, and the
+congregation retired. The monarch, after remaining some time in his
+coffin to impress himself with the sense of what it is to die, and be
+buried, rose from his tomb, kneeled before the altar for some time in
+worship, and then returned to his cell to pass the night in deep
+meditation and prayer.
+
+The shock and the chill of this solemn scene were too much for the old
+monarch's feeble frame and weakened mind. He was seized with a fever,
+and in a few days breathed his last, in the 59th year of his age. He had
+spent a little over three years in the convent. The life of Charles V.
+was a sad one. Through all his days he was consumed by unsatisfied
+ambition, and he seldom enjoyed an hour of contentment. To his son he
+said--
+
+"I leave you a heavy burden; for, since my shoulders have borne it, I
+have not passed one day exempt from disquietude."
+
+Indeed it would seem that there could have been but little happiness for
+anybody in those dark days of feudal oppression and of incessant wars.
+Ambition, intrigue, duplicity, reigned over the lives of princes and
+nobles, while the masses of the people were ever trampled down by
+oppressive lords and contending armies. Europe was a field of fire and
+blood. The cimeter of the Turk spared neither mother, maiden nor babe.
+Cities and villages were mercilessly burned, cottages set in flames,
+fields of grain destroyed, and whole populations carried into slavery,
+where they miserably died. And the ravages of Christian warfare, duke
+against duke, baron against baron, king against king, were hardly less
+cruel and desolating. Balls from opposing batteries regard not the
+helpless ones in their range. Charging squadrons must trample down with
+iron hoof all who are in their way. The wail of misery rose from every
+portion of Europe. The world has surely made some progress since that
+day.
+
+There was but very little that was loveable in the character of Charles,
+and he seems to have had but very few friends. So intense and earnest
+was he in the prosecution of the plans of grandeur which engrossed his
+soul, that he was seldom known to smile. He had many of the attributes
+of greatness, indomitable energy and perseverance, untiring industry,
+comprehensive grasp of thought and capability of superintending the
+minutest details. He had, also, a certain fanatic conscientiousness
+about him, like that which actuated Saul of Tarsus, when, holding the
+garments of those who stoned the martyr, he "verily thought that he was
+doing God service."
+
+Many anecdotes are told illustrative of certain estimable traits in his
+character. When a boy, like other boys, he was not fond of study, and
+being very self-willed, he would not yield to the entreaties of his
+tutors. He consequently had but an imperfect education, which may in
+part account for his excessive illiberality, and for many of his
+stupendous follies. The mind, enlarged by liberal culture, is ever
+tolerant. He afterwards regretted exceedingly this neglect of his early
+studies. At Genoa, on some public occasion, he was addressed in a Latin
+oration, not one word of which he understood.
+
+"I now feel," he said, "the justice of my preceptor Adrian's
+remonstrances, who frequently used to predict that I should be punished
+for the thoughtlessness of my youth."
+
+He was fond of the society of learned men, and treated them with great
+respect. Some of the nobles complained that the emperor treated the
+celebrated historian, Guicciardini, with much more respect than he did
+them. He replied--
+
+"I can, by a word, create a hundred nobles; but God alone can create a
+Guicciardini."
+
+He greatly admired the genius of Titian, and considered him one of the
+most resplendent ornaments of his empire. He knew full well that Titian
+would be remembered long after thousands of the proudest grandees of his
+empire had sunk into oblivion. He loved to go into the studio of the
+illustrious painter, and watch the creations of beauty as they rose
+beneath his pencil. One day Titian accidentally dropped his brush. The
+emperor picked it up, and, presenting it to the artist, said
+gracefully--
+
+"Titian is worthy of being served by an emperor."
+
+Charles V. never, apparently, inspired the glow of affection, or an
+emotion of enthusiasm in any bosom. He accomplished some reforms in the
+German empire, and the only interest his name now excites is the
+interest necessarily involved in the sublime drama of his long and
+eventful reign.
+
+It is now necessary to retrace our steps for a few years, that we may
+note the vicissitudes of Austria, while the empire was passing through
+the scenes we have narrated.
+
+Ferdinand I., the brother of Charles V., who was left alone in the
+government of Austria, was the second son of Philip the Handsome and
+Joanna of Spain. His birth was illustrious, the Emperor Maximilian being
+his paternal grandfather, and Ferdinand and Isabella being his
+grandparents on his mother's side. He was born in Spain, March 10, 1503,
+and received a respectable education. His manners were courteous and
+winning, and he was so much more popular than Charles as quite to excite
+the jealousy of his imperious and imperial spirit. Charles, upon
+attaining the throne, ceded to his brother the Austrian territories,
+which then consisted of four small provinces, Austria, Styria, Carinthia
+and Carniola, with the Tyrol.
+
+Ferdinand married Ann, princess of Hungary and Bohemia. The death of his
+wife's brother Louis made her the heiress of those two crowns, and thus
+secured to Ferdinand the magnificent dowry of the kingdoms of Hungary
+and Bohemia. But possession of the scepter of those realms was by no
+means a sinecure. The Turkish power, which had been for many years
+increasing with the most alarming rapidity and had now acquired
+appalling strength, kept Hungary, and even the Austrian States, in
+constant and terrible alarm.
+
+The Turks, sweeping over Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Syria, all Asia Minor,
+crossing the straits and inundating Greece, fierce and semi-savage, with
+just civilization enough to organize and guide with skill their
+wolf-like ferocity, were now pressing Europe in Spain, in Italy, and
+were crowding, in wave after wave of invasion, up the valley of the
+Danube. They had created a navy which was able to cope with the most
+powerful fleets of Europe, and island after island of the Mediterranean
+was yielding to their sway.
+
+In 1520, Solyman, called the Magnificent, overran Bosnia, and advancing
+to the Danube, besieged and captured Belgrade, which strong fortress was
+considered the only reliable barrier against his encroachments. At the
+same time his fleet took possession of the island of Rhodes. After some
+slight reverses, which the Turks considered merely embarrassments, they
+resumed their aggressions, and Solyman, in 1525, again crossing the
+Danube, entered Hungary with an army of two hundred thousand men. Louis,
+who was then King of Hungary, brother of the wife of Ferdinand, was able
+to raise an army of but thirty thousand to meet him. With more courage
+than discretion, leading this feeble band, he advanced to resist the
+foe. They met on the plains of Mohatz. The Turks made short work of it.
+In a few hours, with their cimeters they hewed down nearly the whole
+Christian army. The remnant escaped as lambs from wolves. The king, in
+his heavy armor, spurred his horse into a stream to cross in his flight.
+In attempting to ascend the bank, the noble charger, who had borne his
+master bravely through the flood, fell back upon his rider, and the dead
+body of the king was afterward picked up by the Turks, covered with the
+mud of the morass. All Hungary would now have fallen into the hands of
+the Turks had not Solyman been recalled by a rebellion in one of his own
+provinces.
+
+It was this event which placed the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary on the
+brow of Ferdinand, and by annexing those two kingdoms to the Austrian
+States, elevated Austria to be one of the first powers in Europe.
+Ferdinand, thus strengthened sent ambassadors to Constantinople to
+demand the restitution of Belgrade and other important towns which the
+Turks still held in Hungary.
+
+"Belgrade!" exclaimed the haughty sultan, when he heard the demand. "Go
+tell your master that I am collecting troops and preparing for my
+expedition. I will suspend at my neck the keys of my Hungarian
+fortresses, and will bring them to that plain of Mohatz where Louis, by
+the aid of Providence, found defeat and a grave. Let Ferdinand meet and
+conquer me, and take them, after severing my head from my body! But if I
+find him not there, I will seek him at Buda or follow him to Vienna."
+
+Soon after this Solyman crossed the Danube with three hundred thousand
+men, and advancing to Mohatz, encamped for several days upon the plain,
+with all possible display or Oriental pomp and magnificence. Thus
+proudly he threw down the gauntlet of defiance. But there was no
+champion there to take it up. Striking his tents, and spreading his
+banners to the breeze, in unimpeded march he ascended the Danube two
+hundred miles from Belgrade to the city of Pest. And here his martial
+bands made hill and vale reverberate the bugle blasts of victory. Pest,
+the ancient capital of Hungary, rich in all the wealth of those days,
+with a population of some sixty thousand, was situated on the left bank
+of the river. Upon the opposite shore, connected by a fine bridge three
+quarters of a mile in width, was the beautiful and opulent city of Buda.
+In possession of these two maritime towns, then perhaps the most
+important in Hungary, the Turks rioted for a few days in luxury and all
+abominable outrage and indulgence, and then, leaving a strong garrison
+to hold the fortresses, they continued their march. Pressing
+resistlessly onward some hundred miles further, taking all the towns by
+the way, on both sides of the Danube, they came to the city of Raab.
+
+It seems incredible that there could have been such an unobstructed
+march of the Turks, through the very heart of Hungary. But the Emperor
+Charles V. was at that time in Italy, all engrossed in the fiercest
+warfare there. Throughout the German empire the Catholics and the
+Protestants were engaged in a conflict which absorbed all other
+thoughts. And the Protestants resolutely refused to assist in repelling
+the Turks while the sword of Catholic vengeance was suspended over them.
+From Raab the invading army advanced some hundred miles further to the
+very walls of Vienna. Ferdinand, conscious of his inability to meet the
+foe in the open field, was concentrating all his available strength to
+defend his capital.
+
+At Cremnitz the Turks met with the first serious show of resistance. The
+fortress was strong, and the garrison, inspired by the indomitable
+energy and courage of their commandant, Nicholas, Count of Salm, for a
+month repelled every assault of the foe. Day after day and night after
+night the incessant bombardment continued; the walls were crumbed by the
+storm of shot; column after column of the Turks rushed to the assault,
+but all in vain. The sultan, disappointed and enraged, made one last
+desperate effort, but his strong columns, thined, mangled and bleeding,
+were compelled to retire in utter discomfiture.
+
+Winter was now approaching. Reinforcements were also hastening from
+Vienna, from Bohemia, and from other parts of the German empire.
+Solyman, having devastated the country around him, and being all
+unprepared for the storms of winter, was compelled to retire. He struck
+his tents, and slowly and sullenly descended the Danube, wreaking
+diabolical vengeance upon the helpless peasants, killing, burning and
+destroying. Leaving a strong garrison to hold what remained of Buda and
+Pest, he carried thousands with him into captivity, where, after years
+of woe, they passed into the grave.
+
+  "'Tis terrible to rouse the lion,
+     Dreadful to cross the tiger's path;
+  But the most terrible of terrors,
+     Is man himself in his wild wrath."
+
+Solyman spent two years in making preparation for another march to
+Vienna, resolved to wipe out the disgrace of his last defeat by
+capturing all the Austrian States, and of then spreading the terror of
+his arms far and wide through the empire of Germany. The energy with
+which he acted may be inferred from one well authenticated anecdote
+illustrative of his character. He had ordered a bridge to be constructed
+across the Drave. The engineer who had been sent to accomplish the task,
+after a careful survey, reported that a bridge could not be constructed
+at that point. Solyman sent him a linen cord with this message:
+
+"The sultan, thy master, commands thee, without consideration of the
+difficulties, to complete the bridge over the Drave. If thou doest it
+not, on his arrival he will have thee strangled with this cord."
+
+With a large army, thoroughly drilled, and equipped with all the
+enginery of war, the sultan commenced his campaign. His force was so
+stupendous and so incumbered with the necessary baggage and heavy
+artillery, that it required a march of sixty days to pass from
+Constantinople to Belgrade. Ferdinand, in inexpressible alarm, sent
+ambassadors to Solyman, hoping to avert the storm by conciliation and
+concessions. This indication of weakness but increased the arrogance of
+the Turk.
+
+He embarked his artillery on the Danube in a flotilla of three thousand
+vessels. Then crossing the Save, which at Belgrade flows into the
+Danube, he left the great central river of Europe on his right, and
+marching almost due west through Sclavonia, approached the frontiers of
+Styria, one of the most important provinces of the Austrian kingdom, by
+the shortest route. Still it was a long march of some two hundred miles.
+Among the defiles of the Illyrian mountains, through which he was
+compelled to pass in his advance to Vienna, he came upon the little
+fortress of Guntz, garrisoned only by eight hundred men. Solyman
+expected to sweep this slight annoyance away as he would brush a fly
+from his face. He sent his advance guard to demolish the impudent
+obstacle; then, surprised by the resistance, he pushed forward a few
+more battalions; then, enraged at the unexpected strength developed, he
+ordered to the attack what he deemed an overwhelming force; and then, in
+astonishment and fury, impelled against the fortress the combined
+strength of his whole army. But the little crag stood, like a rock
+opposing the flooding tide. The waves of war rolled on and dashed
+against impenetrable and immovable granite, and were scattered back in
+bloody spray. The fortress commanded the pass, and swept it clean with
+an unintermitted storm of shot and balls. For twenty-eight days the
+fortress resisted the whole force of the Turkish army, and prevented it
+from advancing a mile. This check gave the terrified inhabitants of
+Vienna, and of the surrounding region, time to unite for the defense of
+the capital. The Protestants and the Catholics having settled their
+difficulties by the pacification of Ratisbon, as we have before
+narrated, combined all their energies; the pope sent his choicest
+troops; all the ardent young men of the German empire, from the ocean to
+the Alps, rushed to the banners of the cross, and one hundred and thirty
+thousand men, including thirty thousand mounted horsemen, were speedily
+gathered within and around the walls of Vienna.
+
+Thus thwarted in his plans, Solyman found himself compelled to retreat
+ingloriously, by the same path through which he had advanced. Thus
+Christendom was relieved of this terrible menace. Though the Turks were
+still in possession of Hungary, the allied troops of the empire
+strangely dispersed without attempting to regain the kingdom from their
+domination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+FERDINAND I.--HIS WARS AND INTRIGUES.
+
+From 1555 To 1562.
+
+John Of Tapoli.--The Instability Of Compacts.--The Sultans's Demands.--A
+Reign Of War.--Powers And Duties Of The Monarchs Of Bohemia.--The
+Diet.--The King's Desire To Crush Protestantism.--The Entrance To
+Prague.--Terror Of The Inhabitants.--The King's Conditions.--The Bloody
+Diet.--Disciplinary Measures.--The Establishment Of The Order Of
+Jesuits.--abdication Of Charles V. In Favor Of Ferdinand.--Power Of The
+Pope.--Paul IV.--A Quiet But Powerful Blow.--The Progress Of The
+Reformers.--Attempts To Reconcile The Protestants--The Unsuccessful
+Assembly.
+
+
+During all the wars with the Turks, a Transylvanian count, John of
+Tapoli, was disputing Ferdinand's right to the throne of Hungary and
+claiming it for himself. He even entered into negotiations with the
+Turks, and cooeperated with Solyman in his invasion of Hungary, having
+the promise of the sultan that he should be appointed king of the realm
+as soon as it was brought in subjection to Turkey. The Turks had now
+possession of Hungary, and the sultan invested John of Tapoli with the
+sovereignty of the kingdom, in the presence of a brilliant assemblage of
+the officers of his army and of the Hungarian nobles.
+
+The last discomfiture and retreat of Solyman encouraged Ferdinand to
+redoubled exertions to reconquer Hungary from the combined forces of the
+Turks and his Transylvanian rival. Several years passed away in
+desultory, indecisive warfare, while John held his throne as tributary
+king to the sultan. At last Ferdinand, finding that he could not resist
+their united strength, and John becoming annoyed by the exactions of his
+Turkish master, they agreed to a compromise, by which John, who was
+aged, childless and infirm, was to remain king of all that part of
+Hungary which he held until he died; and the whole kingdom was then to
+revert to Ferdinand and his heirs--But it was agreed that should John
+marry and have a son, that son should be viceroy, or, as the title then
+was, _univode_, of his father's hereditary domain of _Transylvania_,
+having no control over any portion of Hungary proper.
+
+Somewhat to the disappointment of Ferdinand, the old monarch immediately
+married a young bride. A son was born to them, and in fourteen days
+after his birth the father died of a stroke of apoplexy. The child was
+entitled to the viceroyship of Transylvania, while all the rest of
+Hungary was to pass unincumbered to Ferdinand. But Isabella, the
+ambitious young mother, who had married the decrepit monarch that she
+might enjoy wealth and station, had no intention that her babe should be
+less of a king than his father was. She was the daughter of Sigismond,
+King of Poland, and relying upon the support of her regal father she
+claimed the crown of Hungary for her boy, in defiance of the solemn
+compact. In that age of chivalry a young and beautiful woman could
+easily find defenders whatever might be her claims. Isabella soon
+rallied around her banner many Hungarian nobles, and a large number of
+adventurous knights from Poland.
+
+Under her influence a large party of nobles met, chose the babe their
+king, and crowned him, under the name of Stephen, with a great display
+of military and religious pomp. They then conveyed him and his mother to
+the strong castle of Buda and dispatched an embassy to the sultan at
+Constantinople, avowing homage to him, as their feudal lord, and
+imploring his immediate and vigorous support.
+
+Ferdinand, thus defrauded, and conscious of his inability to rescue the
+crown from the united forces of the Hungarian partisans of Stephen, and
+from the Turks, condescended also to send a message to the sultan,
+offering to hold the crown as his fief and to pay to the Porte the same
+tribute which John had paid, if the sultan would support his claim. The
+imperious Turk, knowing that he could depose the baby king at his
+pleasure, insultingly rejected the proposals which Ferdinand had
+humiliated himself in advancing. He returned in answer, that he
+demanded, as the price of peace, not only that Ferdinand should renounce
+all claim whatever to the crown of Hungary, but that he should also
+acknowledge the Austrian territories as under vassalage to the Turkish
+empire, and pay tribute accordingly.
+
+Ferdinand, at the same time that he sent his embassy to Constantinople,
+without waiting for a reply dispatched an army into Hungary, which
+reached Buda and besieged Isabella and her son in the citadel.
+
+He pressed the siege with such vigor that Isabella must have surrendered
+had not an army of Turks come to her rescue. The Austrian troops were
+defeated and dispersed. The sultan himself soon followed with a still
+larger army, took possession of the city, secured the person of the
+queen and the infant prince, and placed a garrison of ten thousand
+janissaries in the citadel. The Turkish troops spread in all directions,
+establishing themselves in towns, castles, fortresses, and setting at
+defiance all Ferdinand's efforts to dislodge them. These events occurred
+during the reign of the Emperor Charles V. The resources of Ferdinand
+had become so exhausted that he was compelled, while affairs were in
+this state, in the year 1545, ten years before the abdication of the
+emperor, to implore of Solyman a suspension of arms.
+
+The haughty sultan reluctantly consented to a truce of five years upon
+condition that Ferdinand would pay him an annual tribute of about sixty
+thousand dollars, and become feudatory of the Porte. To these
+humiliating conditions Ferdinand felt compelled to assent. Solyman, thus
+relieved from any trouble on the part of Ferdinand, compelled the queen
+to renounce to himself all right which either she or her son had to the
+throne. And now for many years we have nothing but a weary record of
+intrigues, assassinations, wars and woes. Miserable Hungary was but a
+field of blood. There were three parties, Ferdinand, Stephen and
+Solyman, all alike ready to be guilty of any inhumanity or to perpetrate
+any perfidy in the accomplishment of their plans. Ferdinand with his
+armies held one portion of Hungary, Solyman another, and Stephen, with
+his strong partisans another. Bombardment succeeded bombardment; cities
+and provinces were now overrun by one set of troops and now by another;
+the billows of war surged to and fro incessantly, and the wail of the
+widow and the cry of the orphan ascended by day and by night to the ear
+of God.
+
+In 1556 the Turks again invested Stephen with the government of that
+large portion of Hungary which they held, including Transylvania.
+Ferdinand still was in possession of several important fortresses, and
+of several of the western districts of Hungary bordering on the Austrian
+States. Isabella, annoyed by her subjection to the Turks, made
+propositions to Ferdinand for a reconciliation, and a truce was agreed
+upon which gave the land rest for a few years.
+
+While these storms were sweeping over Hungary, events of scarcely less
+importance were transpiring in Bohemia. This kingdom was an elective
+monarchy, and usually upon the death of a king the fiercest strife
+ensued as to who should be his successor. The elected monarch, on
+receiving the crown, was obliged to recognize the sovereignty of the
+people as having chosen him for their ruler, and he promised to govern
+according to the ancient constitution of the kingdom. The monarch,
+however, generally found no difficulty in surrounding himself with such
+strong supporters as to secure the election of his son or heir, and
+frequently he had his successor chosen before his death. Thus the
+monarchy, though nominally elective, was in its practical operation
+essentially hereditary.
+
+The authority of the crown was quite limited. The monarch was only
+intrusted with so much power as the proud nobles were willing to
+surrender to one of their number whom they appointed chief, whose
+superiority they reluctantly acknowledged, and against whom they were
+very frequently involved in wars. In those days the _people_ had hardly
+a recognized existence. The nobles met in a congress called a diet, and
+authorized their elected chief, the king, to impose taxes, raise troops,
+declare war and institute laws according to their will. These diets were
+differently composed under different reigns, and privileged cities were
+sometimes authorized to send deputies whom they selected from the most
+illustrious of their citizens. The king usually convoked the diets; but
+in those stormy times of feuds, conspiracies and wars, there was hardly
+any general rule. The nobles, displeased at some act of the king, would
+themselves, through some one or more of their number, summon a diet and
+organize resistance. The numbers attending such an irregular body were
+of course very various. There appear to have been diets of the empire
+composed of not more than half a dozen individuals, and others where as
+many hundreds were assembled. Sometimes the meetings were peaceful, and
+again tumultuous with the clashing of arms.
+
+In Bohemia the conflict between the Catholics and the reformers had
+raged with peculiar acrimony, and the reformers in that kingdom had
+become a very numerous and influential body. Ferdinand was anxious to
+check the progress of the Reformation, and he exerted all the power he
+could command to defend and maintain Catholic supremacy. For ten years
+Ferdinand was absent from Bohemia, all his energies being absorbed by
+the Hungarian war. He was anxious to weaken the power of the nobles in
+Bohemia. There was ever, in those days, either an open or a smothered
+conflict between the king and the nobles, the monarch striving to grasp
+more power, the nobles striving to keep him in subjection to them.
+Ferdinand attempted to disarm the nobles by sending for all the
+artillery of the kingdom, professing that he needed it to carry on his
+war with the Turks. But the wary nobles held on to their artillery. He
+then was guilty of the folly of hunting up some old exploded compacts,
+in virtue of which he declared that Bohemia was not an elective but a
+hereditary monarchy, and that he, as hereditary sovereign, held the
+throne for himself and his heirs.
+
+This announcement spread a flame of indignation through all the castles
+of Bohemia. The nobles rallied, called a diet, passed strong
+resolutions, organized an army, and adopted measures for vigorous
+resistance. But Ferdinand was prepared for all these demonstrations. His
+Hungarian truce enabled him to march a strong army on Bohemia. The party
+in power has always numerous supporters from those who, being in office,
+will lose their dignities by revolution. The king summoned all the well
+affected to repair to his standards, threatening condign punishment to
+all who did not give this proof of loyalty. Nobles and knights in great
+numbers flocked to his encampment. With menacing steps his battalions
+strode on, and triumphantly entered Prague, the capital city, situated
+in the very heart of the kingdom.
+
+The indignation in the city was great, but the king was too strong to be
+resisted, and he speedily quelled all movements of tumult. Prague,
+situated upon the steep and craggy banks of the Moldau, spanning the
+stream, and with its antique dwellings rising tier above tier upon the
+heights, is one of the most grand and imposing capitals of Europe. About
+one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants crowd its narrow streets and
+massive edifices. Castles, fortresses, somber convents and the Gothic
+palaces of the old Bohemian monarchs, occupying every picturesque
+locality, as gray with age as the eternal crags upon which they stand,
+and exhibiting every fantastic variety of architecture, present an
+almost unrivaled aspect of beauty and of grandeur. The Palace on the
+Hill alone is larger than the imperial palace at Vienna, containing over
+four hundred apartments, some of them being rooms of magnificent
+dimensions. The cathedral within the precincts of this palace occupied
+more than one hundred and fifty years in its erection.
+
+Ferdinand, with the iron energy and determined will of an enraged,
+successful despot, stationed his troops at the gates, the bridges and at
+every commanding position, and thus took military possession of the
+city. The inhabitants, overawed and helpless, were in a state of terror.
+The emperor summoned six hundred of the most influential of the citizens
+to his palace, including all who possessed rank or office or wealth.
+Tremblingly they came. As soon as they had entered, the gates were
+closed and guarded, and they were all made prisoners. The king then,
+seated upon his throne, in his royal robes, and with his armed officers
+around him, ordered the captives like culprits to be led before him.
+Sternly he charged them with treason, and demanded what excuse they had
+to offer. They were powerless, and their only hope was in
+self-abasement. One, speaking in the name of the rest, said:
+
+"We will not presume to enter into any defense of our conduct with our
+king and master. We cast ourselves upon his royal mercy."
+
+They then all simultaneously threw themselves upon their knees,
+imploring his pardon. The king allowed them to remain for some time in
+that posture, that he might enjoy their humiliation. He then ordered his
+officers to conduct them into the hall of justice, and detain them there
+until he had decided respecting their punishment. For some hours they
+were kept in this state of suspense. He then informed them, that out of
+his great clemency he had decided to pardon them on the following
+conditions.
+
+They were to surrender all their constitutional privileges, whatever
+they were, into the hands of the king, and be satisfied with whatever
+privileges he might condescend to confer upon them. They were to bring
+all their artillery, muskets and ammunition to the palace, and surrender
+them to his officers; all the revenues of the city, together with a tax
+upon malt and beer, were to be paid into his hands for his disposal, and
+all their vassals, and their property of every kind, they were to resign
+to the king and to his heirs, whom they were to acknowledge as the
+_hereditary_ successors to the throne of Bohemia. Upon these conditions
+the king promised to spare the rebellious city, and to pardon all the
+offenders, excepting a few of the most prominent, whom he was determined
+to punish with such severity as to prove an effectual warning to all
+others.
+
+The prisoners were terrified into the immediate ratification of these
+hard terms. They were then all released, excepting forty, who were
+reserved for more rigorous punishment. In the same manner the king sent
+a summons to all the towns of the kingdom; and by the same terrors the
+same terms were extorted. All the rural nobles, who had manifested a
+spirit of resistance, were also summoned before a court of justice for
+trial. Some fled the kingdom. Their estates were confiscated to
+Ferdinand, and they were sentenced to death should they ever return.
+Many others were deprived of their possessions. Twenty-six were thrown
+into prison, and two condemned to public execution.
+
+The king, having thus struck all the discontented with terror, summoned
+a diet to meet in his palace at Prague. They met the 22d of August,
+1547. A vast assemblage was convened, as no one who was summoned dared
+to stay away. The king, wishing to give an intimation to the diet of
+what they were to expect should they oppose his wishes, commenced the
+session by publicly hanging four of the most illustrious of his
+captives. One of these, high judge of the kingdom, was in the seventieth
+year of his age. The Bloody Diet, as it has since been called, was
+opened, and Ferdinand found all as pliant as he could wish. The royal
+discipline had effected wonders. The slightest intimation of Ferdinand
+was accepted with eagerness.
+
+The execrable tyrant wished to impress the whole kingdom with a salutary
+dread of incurring his paternal displeasure. He brought out the forty
+prisoners who still remained in their dungeons. Eight of the most
+distinguished men of the kingdom were led to three of the principal
+cities, in each of which, in the public square, they were ignominiously
+and cruelly whipped on the bare back. Before each flagellation the
+executioner proclaimed--
+
+"These men are punished because they are traitors, and because they
+excited the people against their _hereditary_ master."
+
+They then, with eight others, their property being confiscated, in utter
+beggary, were driven as vagabonds from the kingdom. The rest, after
+being impoverished by fines, were restored to liberty. Ferdinand adopted
+vigorous measures to establish his despotic power. Considering the
+Protestant religion as peculiarly hostile to despotism, in the
+encouragement it afforded to education, to the elevation of the masses,
+and to the diffusion of those principles of fraternal equality which
+Christ enjoined; and considering the Catholic religion as the great
+bulwark of kingly power, by the intolerance of the Church teaching the
+benighted multitudes subjection to civil intolerance, Ferdinand, with
+unceasing vigilance, and with melancholy success, endeavored to
+eradicate the Lutheran doctrines from the kingdom. He established the
+most rigorous censorship of the press, and would allow no foreign work,
+unexamined, to enter the realm. He established in Bohemia the fanatic
+order of the Jesuits, and intrusted to them the education of the young.
+
+It is often impossible to reconcile the inconsistencies of the human
+heart. Ferdinand, while guilty of such atrocities, affected, on some
+points, the most scrupulous punctilios of honor. The clearly-defined
+privileges which had been promised the Protestants, he would not
+infringe in the least. They were permitted to give their children
+Protestant teachers, and to conduct worship in their own way. He
+effected his object of changing Bohemia from an elective to a hereditary
+monarchy, and thus there was established in Bohemia the renowned
+doctrine of regal legitimacy; of the _divine right_ of kings to govern.
+With such a bloody hand was the doctrine of the sovereignty, not of the
+_people_, but of the _nobles_, overthrown in Bohemia. The nobles are not
+much to be commiserated, for they trampled upon the people as
+mercilessly as the king did upon them. It is merely another illustration
+of the old and melancholy story of the strong devouring the weak: the
+owl takes the wren; the eagle the owl.
+
+Bohemia, thus brought in subjection to a single mind, and shackled in
+its spirit of free enterprise, began rapidly to exhibit symptoms of
+decline and decay. It was a great revolution, accomplished by cunning
+and energy, and maintained by the terrors of confiscation, exile and
+death.
+
+The Emperor Charles V., it will be remembered, had attempted in vain to
+obtain the reversion of the imperial crown for his son Philip at his own
+death. The crown of Spain was his hereditary possession, and that he
+could transmit to his son. But the crown of the empire was elective.
+Charles V. was so anxious to secure the imperial dignity for his son,
+that he retained the crown of the empire for some months after
+abdicating that of Spain, still hoping to influence the electors in
+their choice. But there were so many obstacles in the way of the
+recognition of the young Philip as emperor, that Charles, anxious to
+retain the dignity in the family, reluctantly yielded to the intrigues
+of his brother Ferdinand, who had now become so powerful that he could
+perhaps triumph over any little irregularity in the succession and
+silence murmurs.
+
+Consequently, Charles, nine months after the abdication of the thrones
+of the Low Countries and of Spain, tried the experiment of abdicating
+the _elective_ crown of the empire in favor of Ferdinand. It was in many
+respects such an act as if the President of the United States should
+abdicate in favor of some one of his own choice. The emperor had,
+however, a semblance of right to place the scepter in the hands of whom
+he would during his lifetime. But, upon the death of the emperor, would
+his appointee still hold his power, or would the crown at that moment be
+considered as falling from his brow? It was the 7th of August, 1556,
+when the emperor abdicated the throne of the empire in behalf of his
+brother Ferdinand. It was a new event in history, without a precedent,
+and the matter was long and earnestly discussed throughout the German
+States. Notwithstanding all Ferdinand's energy, sagacity and despotic
+power, two years elapsed before he could secure the acknowledgment of
+his title, by the German States, and obtain a proclamation of his
+imperial state.
+
+The pope had thus far had such an amazing control over the conscience,
+or rather the superstition of Europe, that the choice of the electors
+was ever subject to the ratification of the holy father. It was
+necessary for the emperor elect to journey to Rome, and be personally
+crowned by the hands of the pope, before he could be considered in legal
+possession of the imperial title and of a right to the occupancy of the
+throne. Julius II., under peculiar circumstances, allowed Maximilian to
+assume the title of _emperor elect_ while he postponed his visit to Rome
+for coronation; but the want of the papal sanction, by the imposition of
+the crown upon his brow by those _sacred hands_, thwarted Maximilian in
+some of his most fondly-cherished measures.
+
+Paul IV. was now pontiff, an old man, jealous of his prerogatives,
+intolerant in the extreme, and cherishing the most exorbitant sense of
+his spiritual power. He execrated the Protestants, and was indignant
+with Ferdinand that he had shown them any mercy at all. But Ferdinand,
+conscious of the importance of a papal coronation, sent a very
+obsequious embassy to Rome, announcing his appointment as emperor, and
+imploring the benediction of the holy father and the reception of the
+crown from his hands. The haughty and disdainful reply of the pope was
+characteristic of the times and of the man. It was in brief, as follows:
+
+"The Emperor Charles has behaved like a madman; and his acts are no more
+to be respected than the ravings of insanity. Charles V. received the
+imperial crown from the head of the Church; in abdicating, that crown
+could only return to the sacred hands which conferred it. The nomination
+of Ferdinand as his successor we pronounce to be null and void. The
+alleged ratification of the electors is a mockery, dishonored and
+vitiated as it is by the votes of electors polluted with heresy. We
+therefore command Ferdinand to relinquish all claim to the imperial
+crown."
+
+The irascible old pontiff, buried beneath the senseless pomps of the
+Vatican, was not at all aware of the change which Protestant preaching
+and writing had effected in the public mind of Germany. Italy was still
+slumbering in the gloom of the dark ages; but light was beginning to
+dawn upon the hills of the empire. One half of the population of the
+German empire would rally only the more enthusiastically around
+Ferdinand, if he would repel all papal assumptions with defiance and
+contempt. Ferdinand was the wiser and the better informed man of the
+two. He conducted with dignity and firmness which make us almost forget
+his crimes. A diet was summoned, and it was quietly decreed that a
+_papal coronation was no longer necessary_. That one short line was the
+heaviest blow the papal throne had yet received. From it, it never
+recovered and never can recover.
+
+Paul IV. was astounded at such effrontery, and as soon as he had
+recovered a little from his astonishment, alarmed in view of such a
+declaration of independence, he took counsel of discretion, and
+humiliating as it was, made advances for a reconciliation. Ferdinand was
+also anxious to be on good terms with the pope. While negotiations were
+pending, Paul died, his death being perhaps hastened by chagrin. Pius
+IV. succeeded him, and pressed still more earnestly overtures for
+reconciliation Ferdinand, through his ambassador, expressed his
+willingness to pledge the accustomed _devotion_ and _reverence_ to the
+head of the Church, omitting the word _obedience_. But the pope was
+anxious, above all things, to have that emphatic word _obey_ introduced
+into the ritual of subjection, and after employing all the arts of
+diplomacy and cajolery, carried his point. Ferdinand, with duplicity
+which was not honorable, let the word remain, saying that it was not his
+act, but that of his ambassador. The pope affected satisfaction with the
+formal acknowledgment of his power, while Ferdinand ever after refused
+to recognize his authority. Thus terminated the long dependence, running
+through ages of darkness and delusion, of the German emperors upon the
+Roman see.
+
+Ferdinand did not trouble himself to receive the crown from the pope,
+and since his day the emperors of Germany have no longer been exposed to
+the expense and the trouble of a journey to Rome for their coronation.
+Though Ferdinand was strongly attached to the tenets of the papal
+church, and would gladly have eradicated Protestantism from his domains,
+he was compelled to treat the Protestants with some degree of
+consideration, as he needed the aid of their arms in the wars in which
+he was incessantly involved with the Turks. He even made great efforts
+to introduce some measure of conciliation which should reconcile the two
+parties, and thus reunite his realms under one system of doctrine and of
+worship.
+
+Still Protestantism was making rapid strides all over Europe. It had
+become the dominant religion in Denmark and Sweden, and, by the
+accession of Elizabeth to the throne of England, was firmly established
+in that important kingdom. In France also the reformed religion had made
+extensive inroads, gathering to its defense many of the noblest spirits,
+in rank and intellect, in the realm. The terrors of the inquisition had
+thus far prevented the truth from making much progress in Spain and
+Portugal.
+
+With the idea of promoting reconciliation, Ferdinand adopted a measure
+which contributed greatly to his popularity with the Protestants. He
+united with France and Spain in urging Pius IV., a mild and pliant
+pontiff, to convene a council in Germany to heal the religious feud. He
+drew up a memorial, which was published and widely scattered, declaring
+that the Protestants had become far too powerful to be treated with
+outrage or contempt; that there were undeniable wrongs in the Church
+which needed to be reformed; and that no harm could accrue from
+permitting the clergy to marry, and to administer both bread and wine to
+the communicants in the Lord's Supper. It was a doctrine of the Church
+of Rome, that the laity could receive the bread only; the wine was
+reserved for the officiating priest.
+
+This memorial of Ferdinand, drawn up with much distinctness and great
+force of argument, was very grateful to the Protestants, but very
+displeasing to the court of Rome. These conflicts raged for several
+years without any decisive results. The efforts of Ferdinand to please
+both parties, as usual, pleased neither. By the Protestants he was
+regarded as a persecutor and intolerant; while the Catholics accused him
+of lukewarmness, of conniving at heresy and of dishonoring the Church by
+demanding of her concessions derogatory to her authority and her
+dignity.
+
+Ferdinand, finding that the Church clung with deathly tenacity to its
+corruptions, assumed himself quite the attitude of a reformer. A
+memorable council had been assembled at Trent on the 15th of January,
+1562. Ferdinand urged the council to exhort the pope to examine if there
+was not room for some reform in his own person, state or court.
+"Because," said he, "the only true method to obtain authority for the
+reformation of others, is to begin by amending oneself." He commented
+upon the manifest impropriety of scandalous indulgences: of selling the
+sacred offices of the Church to the highest bidder, regardless of
+character; of extorting fees for the administration of the sacrament of
+the Lord's Supper; of offering prayers and performing the services of
+public devotion in a language which the people could not understand; and
+other similar and most palpable abuses. Even the kings of France and
+Spain united with the emperor in these remonstrances.
+
+It is difficult now to conceive of the astonishment and indignation with
+which the pope and his adherents received these very reasonable
+suggestions, coming not from the Protestants but from the most staunch
+advocates of the papacy. The see of Rome, corrupt to its very core,
+would yield nothing. The more senseless and abominable any of its
+corruptions were, the more tenaciously did pope and cardinals cling to
+them. At last the emperor, in despair of seeing any thing accomplished,
+requested that the assembly might be dissolved, saying, "Nothing good
+can be expected, even if it continue its sittings for a hundred years."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+DEATH OF FERDINAND I.--ACCESSION OF MAXIMILIAN II.
+
+From 1562 to 1576.
+
+The Council of Trent.--Spread of the Reformation.--Ferdinand's Attempt
+to Influence the Pope.--His Arguments against Celibacy.--Stubbornness of
+the Pope.--Maximilian II.--Displeasure of Ferdinand.--Motives for not
+Abjuring the Catholic Faith.--Religious Strife in Europe.--Maximilian's
+Address to Charles IX.--Mutual Toleration.--Romantic Pastime of
+War.--Heroism of Nicholas, Count Of Zrini.--Accession of Power to
+Austria.--Accession of Rhodolph III.--Death of Maximilian.
+
+
+This celebrated council of Trent, which was called with the hope that by
+a spirit of concession and reform the religious dissensions which
+agitated Europe might be adjusted, declared, in the very bravado of
+papal intolerance, the very worst abuses of the Church to be essential
+articles of faith, which could only be renounced at the peril of eternal
+condemnation, and thus presented an insuperable barrier to any
+reconciliation between the Catholics and the Protestants. Ferdinand was
+disappointed, and yet did not venture to break with the pope by
+withholding his assent from the decrees which were enacted.
+
+The Lutheran doctrines had spread widely through Ferdinand's hereditary
+States of Austria. Several of the professors in the university at Vienna
+had embraced those views; and quite a number of the most powerful and
+opulent of the territorial lords even maintained Protestant chaplains at
+their castles. The majority of the inhabitants of the Austrian States
+had, in the course of a few years, become Protestants. Though Ferdinand
+did every thing he dared to do to check their progress, forbidding the
+circulation of Luther's translation of the Bible, and throwing all the
+obstacles he could in the way of Protestant worship, he was compelled to
+grant them very considerable toleration, and to overlook the infraction
+of his decrees, that he might secure their aid to repel the Turks.
+Providence seemed to overrule the Moslem invasion for the protection of
+the Protestant faith. Notwithstanding all the efforts of Ferdinand, the
+reformers gained ground in Austria as in other parts of Germany.
+
+The two articles upon which the Protestants at this time placed most
+stress were the right of the clergy to marry and the administration of
+the communion under both kinds, as it was called; that is, that the
+communicants should partake of both the bread and the wine. Ferdinand,
+having failed entirely in inducing the council to submit to any reform,
+opened direct communication with the pope to obtain for his subjects
+indulgence in respect to these two articles. In advocacy of this measure
+he wrote:
+
+"In Bohemia no persuasion, no argument, no violence, not even arms and
+war, have succeeded in abolishing the use of the cup as well as the
+bread in the sacrament. In fact the Church itself permitted it, although
+the popes revoked it by a breach of the conditions on which it was
+granted. In the other States, Hungary, Austria, Silesia, Styria,
+Carinthia, Carniola, Bavaria and other parts of Germany, many desire
+with ardor the same indulgence. If this concession is granted they may
+be reunited to the Church, but if refused they will be driven into the
+party of the Protestants. So many of the priests have been degraded by
+their diocesans for administering the sacrament in both kinds, that the
+country is almost deprived of priests. Hence children die or grow up to
+maturity without baptism; and men and women, of all ages and of all
+ranks, live like the brutes, in the grossest ignorance of God and of
+religion."
+
+In reference to the marriage of the clergy he wrote: "If a permission to
+the clergy to marry can not be granted, may not married men of learning
+and probity be ordained, according to the custom of the eastern church;
+or married priests be tolerated for a time, provided they act according
+to the Catholic and Christian faith? And it may be justly asked whether
+such concessions would not be far preferable to tolerating, as has
+unfortunately been done, fornication and concubinage? I can not avoid
+adding, what is a common observation, that priests who live in
+concubinage are guilty of greater sin than those who are married; for
+the last only transgress a law which is capable of being changed,
+whereas the first sin against a divine law, which is capable of neither
+change nor dispensation."
+
+The pope, pressed with all the importunity which Ferdinand could urge,
+reluctantly consented to the administration of the cup to the laity, but
+resolutely refused to tolerate the marriage of the clergy. Ferdinand was
+excessively annoyed by the stubbornness of the court of Rome in its
+refusal to submit to the most reasonable reform, thus rendering it
+impossible for him to allay the religious dissensions which were still
+spreading and increasing in acrimony. His disappointment was so great
+that it is said to have thrown him into the fever of which he died on
+the 25th of July, 1564.
+
+For several ages the archdukes of Austria had been endeavoring to unite
+the Austrian States with Hungary and Bohemia under one monarchy. The
+union had been temporarily effected once or twice, but Ferdinand
+accomplished the permanent union, and may thus be considered as the
+founder of the Austrian monarchy essentially as it now exists. As
+Archduke of Austria, he inherited the Austrian duchies. By his marriage
+with Anne, daughter of Ladislaus, King of Hungary and Bohemia, he
+secured those crowns, which he made hereditary in his family. He left
+three sons. The eldest, Maximilian, inherited the archduchy of Austria
+and the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary, of course inheriting, with
+Hungary, prospective war with the Turks. The second son, Ferdinand, had,
+as his legacy, the government and the revenues of the Tyrol. The third
+son, Charles, received Styria. There were nine daughters left, three of
+whom took the vail and the rest formed illustrious marriages.
+
+Ferdinand appears to have been a sincere Catholic, though he saw the
+great corruptions of the Church and earnestly desired reform. As he
+advanced in years he became more tolerant and gentle, and had his wise
+counsels been pursued Europe would have escaped inexpressible woes.
+Still he clung to the Church, unwisely seeking unity of faith and
+discipline, which can hardly be attained in this world, rather than
+toleration with allowed diversity.
+
+Maximilian II. was thirty-seven years of age on his accession to the
+throne. Although he was educated in the court of Spain, which was the
+most bigoted and intolerant in Europe, yet he developed a character
+remarkable for mildness, affability and tolerance. He was indebted for
+these attractive traits to his tutor, a man of enlarged and cultivated
+mind, and who had, like most men of his character at that time, a strong
+leaning towards Protestantism. These principles took so firm a hold of
+his youthful mind that they could never be eradicated. As he advanced in
+life he became more and more interested in the Protestant faith. He
+received a clergyman of the reformed religion as his chaplain and
+private secretary, and partook of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper,
+from his hands, in both kinds. Even while remaining in the Spanish court
+he entered into a correspondence with several of the most influential
+advocates of the Protestant faith. Returning to Austria from Spain, he
+attended public worship in the chapels of the Protestants, and communed
+with them in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. When some of his
+friends warned him that by pursuing such a course he could never hope to
+obtain the imperial crown of Germany, he replied:
+
+"I will sacrifice all worldly interests for the sake of my salvation."
+
+His father, the Emperor Ferdinand, was so much displeased with his son's
+advocacy of the Protestant faith, that after many angry remonstrances he
+threatened to disinherit him if he did not renounce all connection with
+the reformers. But Maximilian, true to his conscience, would not allow
+the apprehension of the loss of a crown to induce him to swerve from his
+faith. Fully expecting to be thus cast off and banished from the
+kingdom, he wrote to the Protestant elector Palatine:
+
+"I have so deeply offended my father by maintaining a Lutheran preacher
+in my service, that I am apprehensive of being expelled as a fugitive,
+and hope to find an asylum in your court."
+
+The Catholics of course looked with apprehension to the accession of
+Maximilian to the throne, while the Protestants anticipated the event
+with great hope. There were, however, many considerations of vast moment
+influencing Maximilian not to separate himself, in form, from the
+Catholic church. Philip, his cousin, King of Spain, was childless, and
+should he die without issue, Ferdinand would inherit that magnificent
+throne, which he could not hope to ascend, as an avowed Protestant,
+without a long and bloody war. It had been the most earnest dying
+injunction of his father that he should not abjure the Catholic faith.
+His wife was a very zealous Catholic, as was also each one of his
+brothers. There were very many who remained in the Catholic church whose
+sympathies were with the reformers--who hoped to promote reformation in
+the Church without leaving it. Influenced by such considerations,
+Maximilian made a public confession of the Catholic faith, received his
+father's confessor, and maintained, in his court, the usages of the
+papal church. He was, however, the kind friend of the Protestants, ever
+seeking to shield them from persecution, claiming for them a liberal
+toleration, and seeking, in all ways, to promote fraternal religious
+feeling throughout his domains.
+
+The prudence of Maximilian wonderfully allayed the bitterness of
+religious strife in Germany, while other portions of Europe were
+desolated with the fiercest warfare between the Catholics and
+Protestants. In France, in particular, the conflict raged with merciless
+fury. It was on August 24th, 1572, but a few years after Maximilian
+ascended the throne, when the Catholics of France perpetrated the
+Massacre of St. Bartholomew, perhaps the most atrocious crime recorded
+in history. The Catholics and Protestants in France were nearly equally
+divided in numbers, wealth and rank. The papal party, finding it
+impossible to crush their foes by force of arms, resolved to exterminate
+them by a simultaneous massacre. They feigned toleration and
+reconciliation. The court of Paris invited all the leading Protestants
+of the kingdom to the metropolis to celebrate the nuptials of Henry, the
+young King of Navarre, with Margaret, sister of Charles IX., the
+reigning monarch. Secret orders were dispatched all over the kingdom,
+for the conspirators, secretly armed, at a given signal, by midnight, to
+rise upon the Protestants, men, women and children, and utterly
+exterminate them. "Let not one remain alive," said the King of France,
+"to tell the story."
+
+The deed was nearly accomplished. The king himself, from a window of the
+Louvre, fired upon his Protestant subjects, as they fled in dismay
+through the streets. In a few hours eighty thousand of the Protestants
+were mangled corpses. Protestantism in France has never recovered from
+this blow. Maximilian openly expressed his execration of this deed,
+though the pope ordered Te Deums to be chanted at Rome in exultation
+over the crime. Not long after this horrible slaughter, Charles IX. died
+in mental torment. Henry of Valois, brother of the deceased king,
+succeeded to the throne. He was at that time King of Poland. Returning
+to France, through Vienna, he had an interview with Maximilian, who
+addressed him in those memorable words which have often been quoted to
+the honor of the Austrian sovereign:
+
+"There is no crime greater in princes," said Maximilian, "than to
+tyrannize over the consciences of their subjects. By shedding the blood
+of heretics, far from honoring the common Father of all, they incur the
+divine vengeance; and while they aspire, by such means, to crowns in
+heaven, they justly expose themselves to the loss of their earthly
+kingdoms."
+
+Under the peaceful and humane reign of Ferdinand, Germany was kept in a
+general state of tranquillity, while storms of war and woe were sweeping
+over almost all other parts of Europe. During all his reign, Maximilian
+II. was unwearied in his endeavors to promote harmony between the two
+great religious parties, by trying, on the one hand, to induce the pope
+to make reasonable concessions, and, on the other hand, to induce the
+Protestants to moderate their demands. His first great endeavor was to
+induce the pope to consent to the marriage of the clergy. In this he
+failed entirely. He then tried to form a basis of mutual agreement, upon
+which the two parties could unite. His father had attempted this plan,
+and found it utterly impracticable. Maximilian attempted it, with just
+as little success. It has been attempted a thousand times since, and has
+always failed. Good men are ever rising who mourn the divisions in the
+Christian Church, and strive to form some plan of union, where all true
+Christians can meet and fraternize, and forget their minor differences.
+Alas! for poor human nature, there is but little prospect that this plan
+can ever be accomplished. There will be always those who can not
+discriminate between essential and non-essential differences of opinion.
+Maximilian at last fell back simply upon the doctrine of a liberal
+toleration, and in maintaining this he was eminently successful.
+
+At one time the Turks were crowding him very hard in Hungary. A special
+effort was requisite to raise troops to repel them. Maximilian summoned
+a diet, and appealed to the assembled nobles for supplies of men and
+money. In Austria proper, Protestantism was now in the decided
+ascendency. The nobles took advantage of the emperor's wants to reply--
+
+"We are ready to march to the assistance of our sovereign, to repel the
+Turks from Hungary, if the Jesuits are first expelled from our
+territories."
+
+The answer of the king was characteristic of his policy and of his
+career. "I have convened you," he said, "to give me contributions, not
+remonstrances. I wish you to help me expel the Turks, not the Jesuits."
+
+From many a prince this reply would have excited exasperation. But
+Maximilian had established such a character for impartiality and
+probity, that the rebuke was received with applause rather than with
+murmurs, and the Protestants, with affectionate zeal, rallied around his
+standard. So great was the influence of the king, that toleration, as
+one of the virtues of the court, became the fashion, and the Catholics
+and Protestants vied with each other in the manifestation of mutual
+forbearance and good will. They met on equal terms in the palace of the
+monarch, shared alike in his confidence and his favors, and cooperated
+cordially in the festivities of the banqueting room, and in the toils of
+the camp. We love to dwell upon the first beautiful specimen of
+toleration which the world has seen in any court. It is the more
+beautiful, and the more wonderful, as having occurred in a dark age of
+bigotry, intolerance and persecution. And let us be sufficiently candid
+to confess, that it was professedly a Roman Catholic monarch, a member
+of the papal church, to whom the world is indebted for this first
+recognition of true mental freedom. It can not be denied that Maximilian
+II. was in advance of the avowed Protestants of his day.
+
+Pope Pius V. was a bigot, inflexible, overbearing; and he determined,
+with a bloody hand, to crush all dissent. From his throne in the Vatican
+he cast an eagle eye to Germany, and was alarmed and indignant at the
+innovations which Maximilian was permitting. In all haste he dispatched
+a legate to remonstrate strongly against such liberality. Maximilian
+received the legate, Cardinal Commendon, with courtesy, but for a time
+firmly refused to change his policy in obedience to the exactions of the
+pope. The pope brought to bear upon him all the influence of the Spanish
+court. He was threatened with war by all the papal forces, sustained by
+the then immense power of the Spanish monarchy. For a time Maximilian
+was in great perplexity, and finally yielded to the pope so far as to
+promise not to permit any further innovations than those which he had
+already allowed, and not to extend his principles of toleration into any
+of his States where they had not as yet been introduced. Thus, while he
+did not retract any concessions he had made, he promised to stop where
+he was, and proceed no further.
+
+Maximilian was so deeply impressed with the calamities of war, that he
+even sent an embassy to the Turks, offering to continue to pay the
+tribute which they had exacted of his father, as the price of a
+continued armistice. But Solyman, having made large preparations for the
+renewed invasion of Hungary, and sanguine of success, haughtily rejected
+the offer, and renewed hostilities.
+
+Nearly all of the eastern and southern portions of Hungary were already
+in the hands of the Turks. Maximilian held a few important towns and
+strong fortresses on the western frontier. Not feeling strong enough to
+attempt to repel the Turks from the portion they already held, he
+strengthened his garrisons, and raising an army of eighty thousand men,
+of which he assumed the command, he entered Hungary and marched down the
+Danube about sixty miles to Raab, to await the foe and act on the
+defensive. Solyman rendezvoused an immense army at Belgrade, and
+commenced his march up the Danube.
+
+"Old as I am," said he to his troops, "I am determined to chastise the
+house of Austria, or to perish in the attempt beneath the walls of
+Vienna."
+
+It was beautiful spring weather, and the swelling buds and hourly
+increasing verdure, decorated the fields with loveliness. For several
+days the Turks marched along the right bank of the Danube, through green
+fields, and beneath a sunny sky, encountering no foe. War seemed but as
+the pastime of a festive day, as gay banners floated in the breeze,
+groups of horsemen, gorgeously caparisoned, pranced along, and the
+turbaned multitude, in brilliant uniform, with jokes, and laughter and
+songs, leisurely ascended the majestic stream. A fleet of boats filled
+the whole body of the river, impelled by sails when the wind favored,
+or, when the winds were adverse, driven by the strong arms of the rowers
+against the gentle tide. Each night the white tents were spread, and a
+city for a hundred thousand inhabitants rose as by magic, with its
+grassy streets, its squares, its busy population, its music, its
+splendor, blazing in all the regalia of war. As by magic the city rose
+in the rays of the declining sun. As by magic it disappeared in the
+early dawn of the morning, and the mighty hosts moved on.
+
+A few days thus passed, when Solyman approached the fortified town of
+Zigeth, near the confluence of the Drave and the Danube. Nicholas, Count
+of Zrini, was intrusted with the defense of this place, and he fulfilled
+his trust with heroism and valor which has immortalized both his name
+and the fortress which he defended. Zrini had a garrison of but three
+thousand men. An army of nearly a hundred thousand were marching upon
+him. Zrini collected his troops, and took a solemn oath, in the presence
+of all, that, true to God, to his Christian faith, and his country, he
+never would surrender the town to the Turks, but with his life. He then
+required each soldier individually to take the same oath to his captain.
+All the captains then, in the presence of the assembled troops, took the
+same oath to him.
+
+The Turks soon arrived and commenced an unceasing bombardment day and
+night. The little garrison vigorously responded. The besieged made
+frequent sallies, spiking the guns of the besiegers, and again retiring
+behind their works. But their overpowering foes advanced, inch by inch,
+till they got possession of what was called the "old city." The besieged
+retiring to the "new city," resumed the defense with unabated ardor. The
+storm of war raged incessantly for many days, and the new city was
+reduced to a smoldering heap of fire and ashes. The Turks, with
+incredible labor, raised immense mounds of earth and stone, on the
+summits of which they planted their batteries, where they could throw
+their shot, with unobstructed aim, into every part of the city. Roads
+were constructed across the marsh, and the swarming multitudes, in
+defiance of all the efforts of the heroic little garrison, filled up the
+ditch, and were just on the rush to take the place by a general assault,
+when Zrini abandoned the new city to flames, and threw himself into the
+citadel. His force was now reduced to about a thousand men. Day after
+day the storm of war blazed with demoniac fury around the citadel. Mines
+were dug, and, as by volcanic explosions, bastions, with men and guns,
+were blown high into the air. The indomitable Hungarians made many
+sallies, cutting down the gunners and spiking the guns, but they were
+always driven back with heavy loss. Repeated demands for capitulation
+were sent in and as repeatedly rejected. For a week seven assaults were
+made daily upon the citadel by the Turks, but they were always repulsed.
+At length the outer citadel was entirely demolished. Then the heroic
+band retired to the inner works. They were now without ammunition or
+provisions, and the Turks, exasperated by such a defense, were almost
+gnashing their teeth with rage. The old sultan, Solyman, actually died
+from the intensity of his vexation and wrath. The death of the sultan
+was concealed from the Turkish troops, and a general assault was
+arranged upon the inner works. The hour had now come when they must
+surrender or die, for the citadel was all battered into a pile of
+smoldering ruins, and there were no ramparts capable of checking the
+progress of the foe. Zrini assembled his little band, now counting but
+six hundred, and said,
+
+"Remember your oath. We must die in the flames, or perish with hunger,
+or go forth to meet the foe. Let us die like men. Follow me, and do as I
+do."
+
+They made a simultaneous rush from their defenses into the thickest of
+the enemy. For a few moments there was a scene of wildest uproar and
+confusion, and the brave defenders were all silent in death. The Turks
+with shouts of triumph now rushed into the citadel. But Zrini had fired
+trains leading to the subterranean vaults of powder, and when the ruins
+were covered with the conquerors, a sullen roar ran beneath the ground
+and the whole citadel, men, horses, rocks and artillery were thrown into
+the air, and fell a commingled mass of ruin, fire and blood. A more
+heroic defense history has not recorded. Twenty thousand Turks perished
+in this siege. The body of Zrini was found in the midst of the mangled
+dead. His head was cut off and, affixed to a pole, was raised as a
+trophy before the tent of the deceased sultan.
+
+The death of Solyman, and the delay which this desperate siege had
+caused, embarrassed all the plans of the invaders, and they resolved
+upon a retreat. The troops were consequently withdrawn from Hungary, and
+returned to Constantinople.
+
+Maximilian, behind his intrenchments at Raab, did not dare to march to
+the succor of the beleaguered garrison, for overpowering numbers would
+immediately have destroyed him had he appeared in the open field. But
+upon the withdrawal of the Turks he disbanded his army, after having
+replenished his garrisons, and returned to Vienna. Selim succeeded
+Solyman, and Maximilian sent an embassy to Constantinople to offer terms
+of peace. At the same time, to add weight to his negotiations, he
+collected a large army, and made the most vigorous preparations for the
+prosecution of the war.
+
+Selim, just commencing his reign, anxious to consolidate his power, and
+embarrassed by insurrection in his own realms, was glad to conclude an
+armistice on terms highly favorable to Maximilian. John Sigismond, who
+had been crowned by the Turks, as their tributary King of Hungary, was
+to retain Transylvania. The Turks were to hold the country generally
+between Transylvania and the river Teiss, while Ferdinand was to have
+the remainder, extending many hundred miles from the Teiss to Austria.
+The Prince of Transylvania was compelled, though very reluctantly, to
+assent to this treaty. He engaged not to assume the title of King of
+Hungary, except in correspondence with the Turks. The emperor promised
+him one of his nieces in marriage, and in return it was agreed that
+should John Sigismond die without male issue, Transylvania should revert
+to the crown of Hungary.
+
+Soon after this treaty, John Sigismond died, before his marriage with
+the emperor's niece, and Transylvania was again united to Hungary and
+came under the sway of Maximilian. This event formed quite an accession
+to the power of the Austrian monarch, as he now held all of Hungary save
+the southern and central portion where the Turks had garrisoned the
+fortresses. The pope, the King of Spain, and the Venetians, now sent
+united ambassadors to the emperor urging him to summon the armies of the
+empire and drive the Turks entirely out of Hungary. Cardinal Commendon
+assured the emperor, in the name of the holy father of the Church, that
+it was no sin to violate any compact with the infidel. Maximilian nobly
+replied,
+
+"The faith of treaties ought to be considered as inviolable, and a
+Christian can never be justified in breaking an oath."
+
+Maximilian never enjoyed vigorous health, and being anxious to secure
+the tranquillity of his extended realms after his death, he had his
+eldest son, Rhodolph, in a diet at Presburg, crowned King of Hungary.
+Rhodolph at once entered upon the government of his realm as viceroy
+during the life of his father. Thus he would have all the reins of
+government in his hands, and, at the death of the emperor, there would
+be no apparent change.
+
+It will be remembered that Ferdinand had, by violence and treachery,
+wrested from the Bohemians the privilege of electing their sovereign,
+and had thus converted Bohemia into an hereditary monarchy. Maximilian,
+with characteristic prudence, wished to maintain the hereditary right
+thus established, while at the same time he wished to avoid wounding the
+prejudices of those who had surrendered the right of suffrage only to
+fraud and the sword. He accordingly convoked a diet at Prague. The
+nobles were assembled in large numbers, and the occasion was invested
+with unusual solemnity. The emperor himself introduced to them his son,
+and recommended him to them as their future sovereign. The nobles were
+much gratified by so unexpected a concession, and with enthusiasm
+accepted their new king. The emperor had thus wisely secured for his son
+the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia.
+
+Having succeeded in these two important measures, Maximilian set about
+the more difficult enterprise of securing for his son his succession
+upon the imperial throne. This was a difficult matter in the strong
+rivalry which then existed between the Catholics and the Protestants.
+With caution and conciliation, encountering and overturning innumerable
+obstacles, Maximilian proceeded, until having, as he supposed, a fair
+chance of success, he summoned the diet of electors at Ratisbon. But
+here new difficulties arose. The Protestants were jealous of their
+constantly imperiled privileges, and wished to surround them with
+additional safeguards. The Catholics, on the contrary, stimulated by the
+court of Rome, wished to withdraw the toleration already granted, and to
+pursue the Protestant faith with new rigor. The meeting of the diet was
+long and stormy, and again they were upon the point of a violent
+dissolution. But the wisdom, moderation and perseverance of Maximilian
+finally prevailed, and his success was entire. Rhodolph III. was
+unanimously chosen to succeed him upon the imperial throne, and was
+crowned at Ratisbon on the 1st of November, 1575.
+
+Poland was strictly an elective monarchy. The tumultuous nobles had
+established a law prohibiting the election of a successor during the
+lifetime of the monarch. Their last king had been the reckless,
+chivalrous Henry, Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX. of France.
+Charles IX. having died without issue, Henry succeeded him upon the
+throne of France, and abdicated the crown of the semi-barbaric wilds of
+Poland. The nobles were about to assemble for the election. There were
+many influential candidates. Maximilian was anxious to obtain the crown
+for his son Ernest. Much to the surprise of Maximilian, he himself was
+chosen king. Protestantism had gained the ascendency in Poland, and a
+large majority of the nobles united upon Maximilian. The electors
+honored both themselves and the emperor in assigning, as the reason for
+their choice, that the emperor had conciliated the contending factions
+of the Christian world, and had acquired more glory by his pacific
+policy than other princes had acquired in the exploits of war.
+
+There were curious conditions at that time assigned to the occupancy of
+the throne of Poland. The elected monarch, before receiving the crown,
+was required to give his pledge that he would reside two years
+uninterruptedly in the kingdom, and that then he would not leave without
+the consent of the nobles. He was also required to construct four
+fortresses at his own expense, and to pay all the debts of the last
+monarch, however heavy they might be, including the arrears of the
+troops. He was also to maintain a sort of guard of honor, consisting of
+ten thousand Polish horsemen.
+
+In addition to the embarrassment which these conditions presented, there
+were many indications of jealousy on the part of other powers, in view
+of the wonderful aggrandizement of Austria. Encouraged by the emperor's
+delay and by the hostility of other powers, a minority of the nobles
+chose Stephen Bathori, a Transylvanian prince, King of Poland; and to
+strengthen his title, married him to Anne, sister to Sigismond Augustus,
+the King of Poland who preceded the Duke of Anjou. Maximilian thus
+aroused, signed the articles of agreement, and the two rival monarchs
+prepared for war. The kingdoms of Europe were arraying themselves, some
+on the one side and some on the other, and there was the prospect of a
+long, desperate and bloody strife, when death stilled the tumult.
+
+Maximilian had long been declining. On the 12th of October, 1576, he
+breathed his last at Ratisbon. He apparently died the death of the
+Christian, tranquilly surrendering his spirit to his Saviour. He died in
+the fiftieth year of his age and the twelfth of his reign. He had lived,
+for those dark days, eminently the life of the righteous, and his end
+was peace.
+
+  "So fades the summer cloud away,
+    So sinks the gale when storms are o'er
+  So gently shuts the eye of day,
+    So dies a wave along the shore."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+CHARACTER OF MAXIMILIAN II.--SUCCESSION OF RHODOLPH III.
+
+From 1576 to 1604.
+
+Character of Maximilian.--His Accomplishments.--His Wife.--Fate of his
+Children.--Rhodolph III.--The Liberty of Worship.--Means of
+Emancipation.--Rhodolph's Attempts against Protestantism.--Declaration
+of a higher Law.--Theological Differences.--The Confederacy at
+Heilbrun.--The Gregorian Calendar.--Intolerance in Bohemia.--The Trap of
+the Monks.--Invasion of the Turks.--Their Defeat.--Coalition with
+Sigismond.--Sale of Transylvania.--Rule of Basta.--The Empire captured
+and recaptured.--Devastation of the Country.--Treatment of Stephen
+Botskoi.
+
+
+It is indeed refreshing, in the midst of the long list of selfish and
+ambitious sovereigns who have disgraced the thrones of Europe, to meet
+with such a prince as Maximilian, a gentleman, a philosopher, a
+philanthropist and a Christian. Henry of Valois, on his return from
+Poland to France, visited Maximilian at Vienna. Henry was considered one
+of the most polished men of his age. He remarked in his palace at Paris
+that in all his travels he had never met a more accomplished gentleman
+than the Emperor Maximilian. Similar is the testimony of all his
+contemporaries. With all alike, at all times, and under all
+circumstances, he was courteous and affable. His amiability shone as
+conspicuously at home as abroad, and he was invariably the kind husband,
+the tender father, the indulgent master and the faithful friend.
+
+In early life he had vigorously prosecuted his studies, and thus
+possessed the invaluable blessing of a highly cultivated mind. Fond of
+the languages, he not only wrote and conversed in the Latin tongue with
+fluency and elegance, but was quite at home in all the languages of his
+extensive domains. Notwithstanding the immense cares devolving upon the
+ruler of so extended an empire, he appropriated a portion of time every
+day to devotional reading and prayer; and his hours were methodically
+arranged for business, recreation and repose. The most humble subject
+found easy access to his person, and always obtained a patient hearing.
+When he was chosen King of Poland, some ambassadors from Bohemia
+voluntarily went to Poland to testify to the virtues of their king. It
+was a heartfelt tribute, such as few sovereigns have ever received.
+
+"We Bohemians," said they, "are as happy under his government as if he
+were our father. Our privileges, laws, rights, liberties and usages are
+protected and defended. Not less just than wise, he confers the offices
+and dignities of the kingdom only on natives of rank, and is not
+influenced by favor or artifice. He introduces no innovations contrary
+to our immunities; and when the great expenses which he incurs for the
+good of Christendom render contributions necessary, he levies them
+without violence, and with the approbation of the States. But what may
+be almost considered a miracle is, the prudence and impartiality of his
+conduct toward persons of a different faith, always recommending union,
+concord, peace, toleration and mutual regard. He listens even to the
+meanest of his subjects, readily receives their petitions and renders
+impartial justice to all."
+
+Not an act of injustice sullied his reign, and during his administration
+nearly all Germany, with the exception of Hungary, enjoyed almost
+uninterrupted tranquillity. Catholics and Protestants unite in his
+praises, and have conferred upon him the surname of the Delight of
+Mankind. His wife Mary was the daughter of Charles V. She was an
+accomplished, exemplary woman, entirely devoted to the Catholic faith.
+For this devotion, notwithstanding the tolerant spirit of her husband,
+she was warmly extolled by the Catholics. Gregory XIII. called her the
+firm column of the Catholic faith, and Pius V. pronounced her worthy of
+being worshiped. After the death of her husband she returned to Spain,
+to the bigoted court of her bigoted brother Philip. Upon reaching Madrid
+she developed the spirit which dishonored her, in expressing great joy
+that she was once more in a country where no heretic was tolerated. Soon
+after she entered a nunnery where she remained seven years until her
+death.
+
+It is interesting briefly to trace out the history of the children of
+this royal family. It certainly will not tend to make one any more
+discontented to move in a humbler sphere. Maximilian left three
+daughters and five sons.
+
+Anne, the eldest daughter, was engaged to her cousin, Don Carlos, only
+son of her uncle Philip, King of Spain. As he was consequently heir to
+the Spanish throne, this was a brilliant match. History thus records the
+person and character of Don Carlos. He was sickly and one of his legs
+was shorter than the other. His temper was not only violent, but
+furious, breaking over all restraints, and the malignant passions were
+those alone which governed him. He always slept with two naked swords
+under his pillow, two loaded pistols, and several loaded guns, with a
+chest of fire-arms at the side of his bed. He formed a conspiracy to
+murder his father. He was arrested and imprisoned. Choking with rage, he
+called for a fire, and threw himself into the flames, hoping to
+suffocate himself. Being rescued, he attempted to starve himself.
+Failing in this, he tried to choke himself by swallowing a diamond. He
+threw off his clothes, and went naked and barefoot on the stone floor,
+hoping to engender some fatal disease. For eleven days he took no food
+but ice. At length the wretched man died, and thus Anne lost her lover.
+But Philip, the father of Don Carlos, and own uncle of Anne, concluded
+to take her for himself. She lived a few years as Queen of Spain, and
+died four years after the death of her father, Maximilian.
+
+Elizabeth, the second daughter, was beautiful. At sixteen years of age
+she married Charles IX., King of France, who was then twenty years old.
+Charles IX. ascended the throne when but ten years of age, under the
+regency of his infamous mother, Catherine de Medici, perhaps the most
+demoniac female earth has known. Under her tutelage, her boy, equally
+impotent in body and in mind, became as pitiable a creature as ever
+disgraced a throne. The only energy he ever showed was in shooting the
+Protestants from a window of the Louvre in the horrible Massacre of St.
+Bartholomew, which he planned at the instigation of his fiend-like
+mother. A few wretched years the youthful queen lived with the monster,
+when his death released her from that bondage. She then returned to
+Vienna, a young and childless widow, but twenty years of age. She built
+and endowed the splendid monastery of St. Mary de Angelis, and having
+seen enough of the pomp of the world, shut herself up from the world in
+the imprisonment of its cloisters, where she recounted her beads for
+nineteen years, until she died in 1592.
+
+Margaret, the youngest daughter, after her father's death, accompanied
+her mother to Spain. Her sister Anne soon after died, and Philip II.,
+her morose and debauched husband, having already buried four wives, and
+no one can tell how many guilty favorites, sought the hand of his young
+and fresh niece. But Margaret wisely preferred the gloom of the cloister
+to the Babylonish glare of the palace. She rejected the polluted and
+withered hand, and in solitude and silence, as a hooded nun, she
+remained immured in her cell for fifty-seven years. Then her pure spirit
+passed from a joyless life on earth, we trust, to a happy home in
+heaven.
+
+Rhodolph, the eldest son, succeeded his father, and in the subsequent
+pages we shall record his career.
+
+Ernest, the second son, was a mild, bashful young man, of a temperament
+so singularly melancholy that he was rarely known to smile. His brother
+Rhodolph gave him the appointment of Governor of Hungary. He passed
+quietly down the stream of time until he was forty-two years of age,
+when he died of the stone, a disease which had long tortured him with
+excruciating pangs.
+
+Matthias, the third son, became a restless, turbulent man, whose deeds
+we shall have occasion to record in connection with his brother
+Rhodolph, whom he sternly and successfully opposed.
+
+Maximilian, the fourth son, when thirty years of age was elected King of
+Poland. An opposition party chose John, son of the King of Sweden. The
+rival candidates appealed to the cruel arbitration of the sword. In a
+decisive battle Maximilian's troops were defeated, and he was taken
+prisoner. He was only released upon his giving the pledge that he
+renounced all his right to the throne. He rambled about, now governing a
+province, and now fighting the Turks, until he died unmarried, sixty
+years of age.
+
+Albert, the youngest son, was destined to the Church. He was sent to
+Spain, and under the patronage of his royal uncle he soon rose to
+exalted ecclesiastical dignities. He, however, eventually renounced
+these for more alluring temporal honors. Surrendering his cardinal's
+hat, and archiepiscopal robes, he espoused Isabella, daughter of Philip,
+and from the governorship of Portugal was promoted to the sovereignty of
+the Netherlands. Here he encountered only opposition and war. After a
+stormy and unsuccessful life, in which he was thwarted in all his plans,
+he died childless.
+
+From this digression let us return to Rhodolph III., the heir to the
+titles and the sovereignties of his father the emperor. It was indeed a
+splendid inheritance which fell to his lot. He was the sole possessor of
+the archduchy of Austria, King of Bohemia and of Hungary, and Emperor of
+Germany. He was but twenty-five years of age when he entered upon the
+undisputed possession of all these dignities. His natural disposition
+was mild and amiable, his education had been carefully attended to, his
+moral character was good, a rare virtue in those days, and he had
+already evinced much industry, energy and talents for business. His
+father had left the finances and the internal administration of all his
+realms in good condition; his moderation had greatly mitigated the
+religious animosities which disturbed other portions of Europe, and all
+obstacles to a peaceful and prosperous reign seemed to have been
+removed.
+
+But all these prospects were blighted by the religious bigotry which had
+gained a firm hold of the mind of the young emperor. When he was but
+twelve years of age he was sent to Madrid to be educated. Philip II., of
+Spain, Rhodolph's uncle, had an only daughter, and no son, and there
+seemed to be no prospect that his queen would give birth to another
+child. Philip consequently thought of adopting Rhodolph as his successor
+to the Spanish throne, and of marrying him to his daughter. In the court
+of Spain where the Jesuits held supreme sway, and where Rhodolph was
+intrusted to their guidance, the superstitious sentiments which he had
+imbibed from his mother were still more deeply rooted. The Jesuits found
+Rhodolph a docile pupil; and never on earth have there been found a set
+of men who, more thoroughly than the Jesuits, have understood the art of
+educating the mind to subjection. Rhodolph was instructed in all the
+petty arts of intrigue and dissimulation, and was brought into entire
+subserviency to the Spanish court. Thus educated, Rhodolph received the
+crown.
+
+He commenced his reign with the desperate resolve to crush out
+Protestantism, either by force or guile, and to bring back his realms to
+the papal church. Even the toleration of Maximilian, in those dark days,
+did not allow freedom of worship to any but the nobles. The wealthy and
+emancipated citizens of Vienna, and other royal cities, could not
+establish a church of their own; they could only, under protection of
+the nobles, attend the churches which the nobles sustained. In other
+words, the people were slaves, who were hardly thought of in any state
+arrangements. The nobles were merely the slaveholders. As there was not
+difference of color to mark the difference between the slaveholder and
+the slaves or vassals, many in the cities, who had in various ways
+achieved their emancipation, had become wealthy and instructed, and were
+slowly claiming some few rights. The country nobles could assemble their
+vassals in the churches where they had obtained toleration. In some few
+cases some of the citizens of the large towns, who had obtained
+emancipation from some feudal oppressions, had certain defined political
+privileges granted them. But, in general, the nobles or slaveholders,
+some having more, and some having less wealth and power, were all whom
+even Maximilian thought of including in his acts of toleration. A
+learned man in the universities, or a wealthy man in the walks of
+commerce, was compelled to find shelter under the protection of some
+powerful noble. There were nobles of all ranks, from the dukes, who
+could bring twenty thousand armed men into the field, down to the most
+petty, impoverished baron, who had perhaps not half a dozen vassals.
+
+Rhodolph's first measure was to prevent the _burghers_, as they were
+called, who were those who had in various ways obtained emancipation
+from vassal service, and in the large cities had acquired energy, wealth
+and an air of independence, from attending Protestant worship. The
+nobles were very jealous of their privileges, and were prompt to combine
+whenever they thought them infringed. Fearful of rousing the nobles,
+Rhodolph issued a decree, confirming the toleration which his father had
+granted the nobles, but forbidding the burghers from attending
+Protestant worship. This was very adroitly done, as it did not interfere
+with the vassals of the rural nobles on their estates; and these
+burghers were freed men, over whom the nobles could claim no authority.
+At the same time Rhodolph silenced three of the most eloquent and
+influential of the Protestant ministers, under the plea that they
+assailed the Catholic church with too much virulence; and he also
+forbade any one thenceforward to officiate as a Protestant clergyman
+without a license from him. These were very decisive acts, and yet very
+adroit ones, as they did not directly interfere with any of the
+immunities of the nobles.
+
+The Protestants were, however, much alarmed by these measures, as
+indicative of the intolerant policy of the new king. The preachers met
+together to consult. They corresponded with foreign universities
+respecting the proper course to pursue; and the Protestant nobles met to
+confer upon the posture of affairs. As the result of their conferences,
+they issued a remonstrance, declaring that they could not yield to such
+an infringement of the rights of conscience, and that "they were bound
+to obey God rather than man."
+
+Rhodolph was pleased with this resistance, as it afforded him some
+excuse for striking a still heavier blow. He declared the remonstrants
+guilty of rebellion. As a punishment, he banished several Protestant
+ministers, and utterly forbade the exercise of any Protestant worship
+whatever, in any of the royal towns, including Vienna itself. He
+communicated with the leading Catholics in the Church and in the State,
+urging them to act with energy, concert and unanimity. He removed the
+Protestants from office, and supplied their places with Catholics. He
+forbade any license to preach or academical degree, or professorship in
+the universities from being conferred upon any one who did not sign the
+formulary of the Catholic faith. He ordered a new catechism to be drawn
+up for universal use in the schools, that there should be no more
+Protestant education of children; he allowed no town to choose any
+officer without his approbation, and he refused to ratify any choice
+which did not fall upon a Catholic. No person was to be admitted to the
+rights of burghership, until he had taken an oath of submission to the
+Catholic priesthood. These high-handed measures led to the outbreak of a
+few insurrections, which the emperor crushed with iron rigor. In the
+course of a few years, by the vigorous and unrelenting prosecution of
+these measures, Rhodolph gave the Catholics the ascendency in all his
+realms.
+
+While the Catholics were all united, the Protestants were shamefully
+divided upon the most trivial points of discipline, or upon abstruse
+questions in philosophy above the reach of mortal minds. It was as true
+then, as in the days of our Saviour, that "the children of this world
+are wiser in their generation than the children of light." Henry IV., of
+France, who had not then embraced the Catholic faith, was anxious to
+unite the two great parties of Lutherans and Calvinists, who were as
+hostile to each other as they were to the Catholics. He sent an
+ambassador to Germany to urge their union. He entreated them to call a
+general synod, suggesting, that as they differed only on the single
+point of the Lord's Supper, it would be easy for them to form some basis
+of fraternal and harmonious action.
+
+The Catholic church received the doctrine, so called, of
+_transubstantiation_; that is, the bread and wine, used in the Lord's
+Supper, is converted into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ,
+that it is no longer bread and wine, but real flesh and blood; and none
+the less so, because it does not appear such to our senses. Luther
+renounced the doctrine of transubstantiation, and adopted, in its stead,
+what he called _consubstantiation_; that is, that after the consecration
+of the elements, the body and blood of Christ are substantially _present
+with_ (cum et sub,) with and under, the substance of the bread and wine.
+Calvin taught that the bread and wine represented the real body and
+blood of Christ, and that the body and blood were _spiritually present_
+in the sacrament. It is a deplorable exhibition of the weakness of good
+men, that the Lutherans and the Calvinists should have wasted their
+energies in contending together upon such a point. But we moderns have
+no right to boast. Precisely the same spirit is manifested now, and
+denominations differ and strive together upon questions which the human
+mind can never settle. The spirit which then animated the two parties
+may be inferred from the reply of the Lutherans.
+
+"The partisans of Calvin," they wrote, "have accumulated such numberless
+errors in regard to the person of Christ, the communication of His
+merits and the dignity of human nature; have given such forced
+explanations of the Scriptures, and adopted so many blasphemies, that
+the question of the Lord's Supper, far from being the principal, has
+become the least point of difference. An outward union, merely for
+worldly purposes, in which each party is suffered to maintain its
+peculiar tenets, can neither be agreeable to God nor useful to the
+Church. These considerations induced us to insert into the formulary of
+concord a condemnation of the Calvinistical errors; and to declare our
+public decision that false principles should not be covered with the
+semblance of exterior union, and tolerated under pretense of the right
+of private judgment, but that all should submit to the Word of God, as
+the only rule to which their faith and instructions should be
+conformable."
+
+They, in conclusion, very politely informed King Henry IV. himself, that
+if he wished to unite with them, he must sign their creed. This was
+sincerity, honesty, but it was the sincerity and honesty of minds but
+partially disinthralled from the bigotry of the dark ages. While the
+Protestants were thus unhappily disunited, the pope cooeperated with the
+emperor, and wheeled all his mighty forces into the line to recover the
+ground which the papal church had lost. Several of the more enlightened
+of the Protestant princes, seeing all their efforts paralyzed by
+disunion, endeavored to heal the schism. But the Lutheran leaders would
+not listen to the Calvinists, nor the Calvinists to the Lutherans, and
+the masses, as usual, blindly followed their leaders.
+
+Several of the Calvinist princes and nobles, the Lutherans refusing to
+meet with them, united in a confederacy at Heilbrun, and drew up a long
+list of grievances, declaring that, until they were redressed, they
+should withhold the succors which the emperor had solicited to repel the
+Turks. Most of these grievances were very serious, sufficiently so to
+rouse men to almost any desperation of resistance. But it would be
+amusing, were it not humiliating, to find among them the complaint that
+the pope had changed the calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian.
+
+By the Julian calendar, or Old Style as it was called, the solar year
+was estimated at three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours; but it
+exceeds this by about eleven minutes. As no allowance was made for these
+minutes, which amount to a day in about one hundred and thirty years,
+the current year had, in process of ages, advanced ten days beyond the
+real time. Thus the vernal equinox, which really took place on the 10th
+of March, was assigned in the calendar to the 21st. To rectify this
+important error the New Style, or Gregorian calendar, was introduced, so
+called from Pope Gregory XII. Ten days were dropped after the 4th of
+October, 1582, and the 5th was called the 15th. This reform of the
+calendar, correct and necessary as it was, was for a long time adopted
+only by the Catholic princes, so hostile were the Protestants to any
+thing whatever which originated from the pope. In their list of
+grievances they mentioned this most salutary reform as one, stating that
+the pope and the Jesuits presumed even to change the order of times and
+years.
+
+This confederacy of the Calvinists, unaided by the Lutherans,
+accomplished nothing; but still, as year after year the disaffection
+increased, their numbers gradually increased also, until, on the 12th of
+February, 1603, at Heidelberg they entered into quite a formidable
+alliance, offensive and defensive.
+
+Rhodolph, encouraged by success, pressed his measure of intolerance with
+renovated vigor. Having quite effectually abolished the Protestant
+worship in the States of Austria, he turned his attention to Bohemia,
+where, under the mild government of his father, the Protestants had
+enjoyed a degree of liberty of conscience hardly known in any other part
+of Europe. The realm was startled by the promulgation of a decree
+forbidding both Calvinists and Lutherans from holding any meetings for
+divine worship, and declaring them incapacitated from holding any
+official employment whatever. At the same time he abolished all their
+schools, and either closed all their churches, or placed in them
+Catholic preachers. These same decrees were also promulgated and these
+same measures adopted in Hungary. And still the Protestants, insanely
+quarreling among themselves upon the most abstruse points of theological
+philosophy, chose rather to be devoured piecemeal by their great enemy
+than to combine in self-defense.
+
+The emperor now turned from his own dominions of Austria, Hungary and
+Bohemia, where he reigned in undisputed sway, to other States of the
+empire, which were governed by their own independent rulers and laws,
+and where the power of the emperor was shadowy and limited. He began
+with the city of Aix-la-Chapelle, in a Prussian province on the Lower
+Rhine; sent an army there, took possession of the town, expelled the
+Protestants from the magistracy, driving some of them into exile,
+inflicting heavy fines upon others, and abolishing entirely the exercise
+of the Protestant religion.
+
+He then turned to Donauworth, an important city of Bavaria, upon the
+Upper Danube. This was a Protestant city, having within its walls but
+few Catholics. There was in the city one Catholic religious
+establishment, a Benedictine abbey. The friars enjoyed unlimited freedom
+of conscience and worship within their own walls, but were not permitted
+to occupy the streets with their processions, performing the forms and
+ceremonies of the Catholic church. The Catholics, encouraged by the
+emperor, sent out a procession from the walls of the abbey, with
+torches, banners, relics and all the pageants of Catholic worship. The
+magistrates stopped the procession, took away their banners and sent
+them back to the abbey, and then suffered the procession to proceed.
+Soon after the friars got up another procession on a funeral occasion.
+The magistrates, apprehensive that this was a trap to excite them to
+some opposition which would render it plausible for the emperor to
+interfere, suffered the procession to proceed unmolested. In a few days
+the monks repeated the experiment. The populace had now become excited,
+and there were threats of violence. The magistrates, fearful of the
+consequences, did every thing in their power to soothe the people, and
+urged them, by earnest proclamation, to abstain from all tumult. For
+some time the procession, displaying all the hated pomp of papal
+worship, paraded the streets undisturbed. But at length the populace
+became ungovernable, attacked the monks, demolished their pageants and
+pelted them with mire back into the convent.
+
+This was enough. The emperor published the ban of the empire, and sent
+the Duke of Bavaria with an army to execute the decree. Resistance was
+hopeless. The troops took possession of the town, abolished the
+Protestant religion, and delivered the churches to the Catholics.
+
+The Protestants now saw that there was no hope for them but in union.
+Thus driven together by an outward pressure which was every day growing
+more menacing and severe, the chiefs of the Protestant party met at
+Aschhausen and established a confederacy to continue for ten years. Thus
+united, they drew up a list of grievances, and sent an embassy to
+present their demands to the emperor. And now came a very serious turn
+in the fortunes of Rhodolph. Notwithstanding the armistice which had
+been concluded with the Turks by Rhodolph, a predatory warfare continued
+to rage along the borders. Neither the emperor nor the sultan, had they
+wished it, could prevent fiery spirits, garrisoned in fortresses
+frowning at each other, from meeting occasionally in hostile encounter.
+And both parties were willing that their soldiers should have enough to
+do to keep up their courage and their warlike spirit. Aggression
+succeeding aggression, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other,
+the sultan at last, in a moment of exasperation, resolved to break the
+truce.
+
+A large army of Turks invaded Croatia, took several fortresses, and
+marching up the valley of the Save, were opening before them a route
+into the heart of the Austrian States. The emperor hastily gathered an
+army to oppose them. They met before Siseck, at the confluence of the
+Kulpa and the Save. The Turks were totally defeated, with the loss of
+twelve thousand men. Exasperated by the defeat, the sultan roused his
+energies anew, and war again raged in all its horrors. The advantage was
+with the Turks, and they gradually forced their way up the valley of the
+Danube, taking fortress after fortress, till they were in possession of
+the important town of Raab, within a hundred miles of Vienna.
+
+Sigismond, the waivode or governor of Transylvania, an energetic,
+high-spirited man, had, by his arms, brought the provinces of Wallachia
+and Moldavia under subjection to him. Having attained such power, he was
+galled at the idea of holding his government under the protection of the
+Turks. He accordingly abandoned the sultan, and entered into a coalition
+with the emperor. The united armies fell furiously upon the Turks, and
+drove them back to Constantinople.
+
+The sultan, himself a man of exceedingly ferocious character, was
+thoroughly aroused by this disgrace. He raised an immense army, placed
+himself at its head, and in 1596 again invaded Hungary. He drove the
+Austrians everywhere before him, and but for the lateness of the season
+would have bombarded Vienna. Sigismond, in the hour of victory, sold
+Transylvania to Rhodolph for the governorship of some provinces in
+Silesia, and a large annual pension. There was some fighting before the
+question was fully settled in favor of the emperor, and then he placed
+the purchased and the conquered province under the government of the
+imperial general Basta.
+
+The rule of Basta was so despotic that the Transylvanians rose in
+revolt, and under an intrepid chief, Moses Tzekeli, appealed to the
+Turks for aid. The Turks were rejoiced again to find the Christians
+divided, and hastened to avail themselves of the cooeperation of the
+disaffected. The Austrians were driven from Transylvania, and the Turks
+aided in crowning Tzekeli Prince of Transylvania, under the protection
+of the Porte. The Austrians, however, soon returned in greater force,
+killed Tzekeli in the confusion of battle, and reconquered the country.
+During all this time wretched Hungary was ravaged with incessant wars
+between the Turks and Austrians. Army after army swept to and fro over
+the smoldering cities and desolated plains. Neither party gained any
+decisive advantage, while Hungary was exposed to misery which no pen can
+describe. Cities were bombarded, now by the Austrians and now by the
+Turks, villages were burned, harvests trodden down, every thing eatable
+was consumed. Outrages were perpetrated upon the helpless population by
+the ferocious Turks which can not be told.
+
+The Hungarians lost all confidence in Rhodolph. The bigoted emperor was
+so much engaged in the attempt to extirpate what he called heresy from
+his realms, that he neglected to send armies sufficiently strong to
+protect Hungary from these ravages. He could have done this without much
+difficulty; but absorbed in his hostility to Protestantism, he merely
+sent sufficient troops to Hungary to keep the country in a constant
+state of warfare. He filled every important governmental post in Hungary
+with Catholics and foreigners. To all the complaints of the Hungarians
+he turned a deaf ear; and his own Austrian troops frequently rivaled the
+Turks in devastation and pillage. At the same time he issued the most
+intolerant edicts, depriving the Protestants of all their rights, and
+endeavoring to force the Roman Catholic religion upon the community.
+
+He allowed, and even encouraged, his rapacious generals to insult and
+defraud the Protestant Hungarian nobles, seizing their castles,
+confiscating their estates and driving them into exile. This oppression
+at last became unendurable. The people were driven to despair. One of
+the most illustrious nobles of Hungary, a magnate of great wealth and
+distinction, Stephen Botskoi, repaired to Prague to inform the emperor
+of the deplorable state of Hungary and to seek redress. He was treated
+with the utmost indignity; was detained for hours in the ante-chamber of
+the emperor, where he encountered the most cutting insults from the
+minions of the court. The indignation of the high-spirited noble was
+roused to the highest pitch. And when, on his return to Hungary, he
+found his estates plundered and devastated by order of the imperial
+governor, he was all ready to head an insurrection.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+RHODOLPH III. AND MATTHIAS.
+
+From 1604 to 1609.
+
+Botskoi's Manifesto.--Horrible Suffering in Transylvania.--Character of
+Botskoi.--Confidence of the Protestants.--Superstition of Rhodolph.--His
+Mystic Studies.--Acquirements of Matthias.--Schemes of Matthias.--His
+Increasing Power.--Treaty with the Turks.--Demands on Rhodolph.--The
+Compromise.--Perfidy of Matthias.--The Margravite.--Filibustering.--The
+People's Diet.--A Hint to Royalty.--The Bloodless Triumph.--Demands of
+the Germans.--Address of the Prince of Anhalt to the King.
+
+
+Stephen Botskoi issued a spirited manifesto to his countrymen, urging
+them to seek by force of arms that redress which they could obtain in no
+other way. The Hungarians flocked in crowds to his standard. Many
+soldiers deserted from the service of the emperor and joined the
+insurrection. Botskoi soon found himself in possession of a force
+sufficiently powerful to meet the Austrian troops in the field. The two
+hostile armies soon met in the vicinity of Cassau. The imperial troops
+were defeated with great slaughter, and the city of Cassau fell into the
+hands of Botskoi; soon his victorious troops took several other
+important fortresses. The inhabitants of Transylvania, encouraged by the
+success of Botskoi, and detesting the imperial rule, also in great
+numbers crowded his ranks and intreated him to march into Transylvania.
+He promptly obeyed their summons. The misery of the Transylvanians was,
+if possible, still greater than that of the Hungarians. Their country
+presented but a wide expanse of ruin and starvation. Every aspect of
+comfort and industry was obliterated. The famishing inhabitants were
+compelled to use the most disgusting animals for food; and when these
+were gone, in many cases they went to the grave-yard, in the frenzied
+torments of hunger, and devoured the decaying bodies of the dead.
+Pestilence followed in the train of these woes, and the land was filled
+with the dying and the dead.
+
+The Turks marched to the aid of Botskoi to expel the Austrians. Even the
+sway of the Mussulman was preferable to that of the bigoted Rhodolph.
+Hungary, Transylvania and Turkey united, and the detested Austrians were
+driven out of Transylvania, and Botskoi, at the head of his victorious
+army, and hailed by thousands as the deliverer of Transylvania, was
+inaugurated prince of the province. He then returned to Hungary, where
+an immense Turkish army received him, in the plains of Rahoz, with regal
+honors. Here a throne was erected. The banners of the majestic host
+fluttered in the breeze, and musical bands filled the air with their
+triumphal strains as the regal diadem was placed upon the brow of
+Botskoi, and he was proclaimed King of Hungary. The Sultan Achment sent,
+with his congratulations to the victorious noble, a saber of exquisite
+temper and finish, and a gorgeous standard. The grand vizier himself
+placed the royal diadem upon his brow.
+
+Botskoi was a nobleman in every sense of the word. He thought it best
+publicly to accept these honors in gratitude to the sultan for his
+friendship and aid, and also to encourage and embolden the Hungarians to
+retain what they had already acquired. He knew that there were bloody
+battles still before them, for the emperor would doubtless redouble his
+efforts to regain his Hungarian possessions. At the same time Botskoi,
+in the spirit of true patriotism, was not willing even to appear to have
+usurped the government through the energies of the sword. He therefore
+declared that he should not claim the crown unless he should be freely
+elected by the nobles; and that he accepted these honors simply as
+tokens of the confidence of the allied army, and as a means of
+strengthening their power to resist the emperor.
+
+The campaign was now urged with great vigor, and nearly all of Hungary
+was conquered. Such was the first great disaster which the intolerance
+and folly of Rhodolph brought upon him. The Turks and the Hungarians
+were now good friends, cordially cooeperating. A few more battles would
+place them in possession of the whole of Hungary, and then, in their
+alliance they could defy all the power of the emperor, and penetrate
+even the very heart of his hereditary dominions of Austria. Rhodolph, in
+this sudden peril, knew not where to look for aid. The Protestants, who
+constituted one half of the physical force, not only of Bohemia and of
+the Austrian States, but of all Germany, had been insulted and oppressed
+beyond all hope of reconciliation. They dreaded the papal emperor more
+than the Mohammedan sultan. They were ready to hail Botskoi as their
+deliverer from intolerable despotism, and to swell the ranks of his
+army. Botskoi was a Protestant, and the sympathies of the Protestants
+all over Germany were with him. Elated by his advance, the Protestants
+withheld all contributions from the emperor, and began to form
+combinations in favor of the Protestant chief. Rhodolph was astonished
+at this sudden reverse, and quite in dismay. He had no resource but to
+implore the aid of the Spanish court.
+
+Rhodolph was as superstitious as he was bigoted and cruel. Through the
+mysteries of alchymy he had been taught to believe that his life would
+be endangered by one of his own blood. The idea haunted him by night and
+by day; he was to be assassinated, and by a near relative. He was afraid
+to marry lest his own child might prove his destined murderer. He was
+afraid to have his brothers marry lest it might be a nephew who was to
+perpetrate the deed. He did not dare to attend church, or to appear any
+where in public without taking the greatest precautions against any
+possibility of attack. The galleries of his palace were so arranged with
+windows in the roof, that he could pass from one apartment to another
+sheltered by impenetrable walls.
+
+This terror, which pursued him every hour, palsied his energies; and
+while the Turks were drawing nearer to his capital, and Hungary had
+broken from his sway, and insurrection was breaking out in all parts of
+his dominions, he secluded himself in the most retired apartments of his
+palace at Prague, haunted by visions of terror, as miserable himself as
+he had already made millions of his subjects. He devoted himself to the
+study of the mystic sciences of astrology and alchymy. He became
+irritable, morose, and melancholy even to madness. Foreign ambassadors
+could not get admission to his presence. His religion, consisting
+entirely in ecclesiastical rituals and papal dogmas, not in Christian
+morals, could not dissuade him from the most degrading sensual vice.
+Low-born mistresses, whom he was continually changing, became his only
+companions, and thus sunk in sin, shame and misery, he virtually
+abandoned his ruined realms to their fate.
+
+Rhodolph had received the empire from the hands of his noble father in a
+state of the very highest prosperity. In thirty years, by shameful
+misgovernment, he had carried it to the brink of ruin. Rhodolph's third
+brother, Matthias, was now forty-nine years of age. He had been educated
+by the illustrious Busbequias, whose mind had been liberalized by study
+in the most celebrated universities of Flanders, France and Italy. His
+teacher had passed many years as an ambassador in the court of the
+sultan, and thus had been able to give his pupil a very intimate
+acquaintance with the resources, the military tactics, the manners and
+customs of the Turks. He excelled in military exercises, and was
+passionately devoted to the art of war. In all respects he was the
+reverse of his brother--energetic, frank, impulsive. The two brothers,
+so dissimilar, had no ideas in common, and were always involved in
+bickerings.
+
+The Netherlands had risen in revolt against the infamous Philip II. of
+Spain. They chose the intrepid and warlike Matthias as their leader.
+With alacrity he assumed the perilous post. The rivalry of the chiefs
+thwarted his plans, and he resigned his post and returned to Austria,
+where his brother, the emperor, refused even to see him, probably
+fearing assassination. Matthias took up his residence at Lintz, where he
+lived for some time in obscurity and penury. His imperial brother would
+neither give him help nor employment. The restless prince fretted like a
+tiger in his cage.
+
+In 1595 Rhodolph's second brother, Ernest, died childless, and thus
+Matthias became heir presumptive to the crown of Austria. From that time
+Rhodolph made a change, and intrusted him with high offices. Still the
+brothers were no nearer to each other in affection. Rhodolph dreaded the
+ambition and was jealous of the rising power of his brother. He no
+longer dared to treat him ignominiously, lest his brother should be
+provoked to some desperate act of retaliation. On the other hand,
+Matthias despised the weakness and superstition of Rhodolph. The
+increasing troubles in the realm and the utter inefficiency of Rhodolph,
+convinced Matthias that the day was near when he must thrust Rhodolph
+from the throne he disgraced, and take his seat upon it, or the splendid
+hereditary domains which had descended to them from their ancestors
+would pass from their hands forever.
+
+With this object in view, he did all he could to conciliate the
+Catholics, while he attempted to secure the Protestants by promising to
+return to the principles of toleration established by his father,
+Maximilian. Matthias rapidly increased in popularity, and as rapidly
+Rhodolph was sinking into disgrace. Catholics and Protestants saw alike
+that the ruin of Austria was impending, and that apparently there was no
+hope but in the deposition of Rhodolph and the enthronement of Matthias.
+
+It was not difficult to accomplish this revolution, and yet it required
+energy, secrecy and an extended combination. Even the weakest reigning
+monarch has power in his hands which can only be wrested from him by
+both strength and skill. Matthias first gained over to his plan his
+younger brother, Maximilian, and two of his cousins, princes of the
+Styrian line. They entered into a secret agreement, by which they
+declared that in consequence of the incapacity of Rhodolph, he was to be
+considered as deposed by the will of Providence, and that Matthias was
+entitled to the sovereignty as head of the house of Austria. Matthias
+then gained, by the varied arts of diplomatic bargaining, the promised
+support of several other princes. He purchased the cooeperation of
+Botskoi by surrendering to him the whole of Transylvania, and all of
+Hungary to the river Theiss, which, including Transylvania, constitutes
+one half of the majestic kingdom. Matthias agreed to grant general
+toleration to all Protestants, both Lutherans and Calvinists, and also
+to render them equally eligible with the Catholics to all offices of
+emolument and honor. Both parties then agreed to unite against the Turks
+if they refused to accede to honorable terms of peace. The sultan,
+conscious that such a union would be more than he could successfully
+oppose, listened to the conditions of peace when they afterwards made
+them, as he had never condescended to listen before. It is indicative of
+the power which the Turks had at that day attained, that a truce with
+the sultan for twenty years, allowing each party to retain possession of
+the territories which they then held, was purchased by paying a sum
+outright, amounting to two hundred thousand dollars. The annual tribute,
+however, was no longer to be paid, and thus Christendom was released
+from the degradation of vassalage to the Turk.
+
+Rhodolph, who had long looked with a suspicious eye upon Matthias,
+watching him very narrowly, began now to see indications of the plot. He
+therefore, aided by the counsel and the energy of the King of Spain, who
+was implacable in his hostility to Matthias, resolved to make his cousin
+Ferdinand, a Styrian prince, his heir to succeed him upon the throne. He
+conferred upon Ferdinand exalted dignities; appointed him to preside in
+his stead at a diet at Ratisbon, and issued a proclamation full of most
+bitter recriminations against Matthias.
+
+Matters had now come to such a pass that Matthias was compelled either
+to bow in humble submission to his brother, or by force of arms to
+execute his purposes. With such an alternative he was not a man long to
+delay his decision. Still he advanced in his plans, though firmly, with
+great circumspection. To gain the Protestants was to gain one half of
+the physical power of united Austria, and more than one half of its
+energy and intelligence. He appointed a rendezvous for his troops at
+Znaim in Moravia, and while Rhodolph was timidly secluding himself in
+his palace at Prague, Matthias left Vienna with ten thousand men, and
+marched to meet them. He was received by the troops assembled at Znaim
+with enthusiasm. Having thus collected an army of twenty-five thousand
+men, he entered Bohemia. On the 10th of May, 1608, he reached Craslau,
+within sixty miles of Prague. Great multitudes now crowded around him
+and openly espoused his cause. He now declared openly and to all, that
+it was his intention to depose his brother and claim for himself the
+government of Hungary, Austria and Bohemia.
+
+He then urged his battalions onward, and pressed with rapid march
+towards Prague. Rhodolph was now roused to some degree of energy. He
+summoned all his supporters to rally around him. It was a late hour for
+such a call, but the Catholic nobles generally, all over the kingdom,
+were instantly in motion. Many Protestant nobles also attended the
+assembly, hoping to extort from the emperor some measures of toleration.
+The emperor was so frightened that he was ready to promise almost any
+thing. He even crept from his secluded apartments and presided over the
+meeting in person. The Protestant nobles drew up a paper demanding the
+same toleration which Maximilian had granted, with the additional
+permission to build churches and to have their own burying-grounds. With
+this paper, to which five or six hundred signatures were attached, they
+went to the palace, demanded admission to the emperor, and required him
+immediately to give his assent to them. It was not necessary for them to
+add any threat, for the emperor knew that there was an Austrian and
+Hungarian army within a few hours' march.
+
+While matters were in this state, commissioners from Matthias arrived to
+inform the king that he must cede the crown to his brother and retire
+into the Tyrol. The emperor, in terror, inquired, "What shall I do?" The
+Protestants demanded an immediate declaration, either that he would or
+would not grant their request. His friends told him that resistance was
+unavailing, and that he must come to an accommodation. Still the emperor
+had now thirty-six thousand troops in and around Prague. They were,
+however, inspired with no enthusiasm for his person, and it was quite
+doubtful whether they would fight. A few skirmishes took place between
+the advance guards with such results as to increase Rhodolph's alarm.
+
+He consequently sent envoys to his brother. They met at Liebau, and
+after a negotiation of four days they made a partial compromise, by
+which Rhodolph ceded to Matthias, without reservation, Hungary, Austria
+and Moravia. Matthias was also declared to be the successor to the crown
+of Bohemia should Rhodolph die without issue male, and Matthias was
+immediately to assume the title of "appointed King of Bohemia." The
+crown and scepter of Hungary were surrendered to Matthias. He received
+them with great pomp at the head of his army, and then leading his
+triumphant battalions out of Bohemia, he returned to Vienna and entered
+the city with all the military parade of a returning conqueror.
+
+Matthias had now gained his great object, but he was not at all inclined
+to fulfill his promises. He assembled the nobles of Austria, to receive
+from them their oaths of allegiance. But the Protestants, taught caution
+by long experience, wished first to see the decree of toleration which
+he had promised. Many of the Protestants, at a distance from the
+capital, not waiting for the issuing of the decree, but relying upon his
+promise, reestablished their worship, and the Lord of Inzendorf threw
+open his chapel to the citizens of the town. But Matthias was now
+disposed to play the despot. He arrested the Lord of Inzendorf, and
+closed his church. He demanded of all the lords, Protestant as well as
+Catholic, an unconditional oath of allegiance, giving vague promises,
+that perhaps at some future time he would promulgate a decree of
+toleration, but declaring that he was not bound to do so, on the
+miserable quibble that, as he had received from Rhodolph a hereditary
+title, he was not bound to grant any thing but what he had received.
+
+The Protestants were alarmed and exasperated. They grasped their arms;
+they retired in a body from Vienna to Hern; threw garrisons and
+provisions into several important fortresses; ordered a levy of every
+fifth man; sent to Hungary and Moravia to rally their friends there, and
+with amazing energy and celerity formed a league for the defense of
+their faith. Matthias was now alarmed. He had not anticipated such
+energetic action, and he hastened to Presburg, the capital of Hungary,
+to secure, if possible, a firm seat upon the throne. A large force of
+richly caparisoned troops followed him, and he entered the capital with
+splendor, which he hoped would dazzle the Hungarians. The regal crown
+and regalia, studded with priceless jewels, which belonged to Hungary,
+he took with him, with great parade. Hungary had been deprived of these
+treasures, which were the pride of the nation, for seventy years. But
+the Protestant nobles were not to be cajoled with such tinsel. They
+remained firm in their demands, and refused to accept him as their
+sovereign until the promised toleration was granted. Their claims were
+very distinct and intelligible, demanding full toleration for both
+Calvinists and Lutherans, and equal eligibility for Protestants with
+Catholics, to all governmental offices; none but native Hungarians were
+to be placed in office; the king was to reside in Hungary, and when
+necessarily absent, was to intrust the government to a regent, chosen
+jointly by the king and the nobles; Jesuits were not to be admitted into
+the kingdom; no foreign troops were to be admitted, unless there was war
+with the Turks, and the king was not to declare war without the consent
+of the nobles.
+
+Matthias was very reluctant to sign such conditions, for he was very
+jealous of his newly-acquired power as a sovereign. But a refusal would
+have exposed him to a civil war, with such forces arrayed against him as
+to render the result at least doubtful. The Austrian States were already
+in open insurrection. The emissaries of Rhodolph were busy, fanning the
+flames of discontent, and making great promises to those who would
+restore Rhodolph to the throne. Intolerant and odious as Rhodolph had
+been, his great reverses excited sympathy, and many were disposed to
+regard Matthias but as a usurper. Thus influenced, Matthias not only
+signed all the conditions, but was also constrained to carry them, into
+immediate execution. These conditions being fulfilled, the nobles met on
+the 19th of November, 1606, and elected Matthias king, and inaugurated
+him with the customary forms.
+
+Matthias now returned to Vienna, to quell the insurrection in the
+Austrian States. The two countries were so entirely independent of each
+other, though now under the same ruler, that he had no fear that his
+Hungarian subjects would interfere at all in the internal administration
+of Austria. Matthias was resolved to make up for the concessions he had
+granted the Hungarians, by ruling with more despotic sway in Austria.
+The pope proffered him his aid. The powerful bishops of Passau and
+Vienna assured him of efficient support, and encouraged the adoption of
+energetic measures. Thus strengthened Matthias, who was so pliant and
+humble in Hungary, assumed the most haughty airs of the sovereign in
+Austria. He peremptorily ordered the Protestants to be silent, and to
+cease their murmurings, or he would visit them with the most exemplary
+punishment.
+
+North-east of the duchy of Austria, and lying between the kingdoms of
+Hungary and Bohemia, was the province of Moravia. This territory was
+about the size of the State of Massachusetts, and its chief noble, or
+governor, held the title of margrave, or marquis. Hence the province,
+which belonged to the Austrian empire, was called the margraviate of
+Moravia. It contained a population of a little over a million. The
+nobles of Moravia immediately made common cause with those of Austria,
+for they knew that they must share the same fate. Matthias was again
+alarmed, and brought to terms. On the 16th of March, 1609, he signed a
+capitulation, which restored to all the Austrian provinces all the
+toleration which they had enjoyed under Maximilian II. The nobles then,
+of all the States of Austria, took the oath of allegiance to Matthias.
+
+The ambitious monarch, having thus for succeeded, looked with a covetous
+eye towards Transylvania. That majestic province, on the eastern borders
+of Hungary, being three times the size of Massachusetts, and containing
+a population of about two millions, would prove a splendid addition to
+the Hungarian kingdom. While Matthias was secretly encouraging what in
+modern times and republican parlance is called a filibustering
+expedition, for the sake of annexing Transylvania to the area of
+Hungary, a new object of ambition, and one still more alluring, opened
+before him.
+
+The Protestants in Bohemia were quite excited when they heard of the
+great privileges which their brethren in Hungary, and in the Austrian
+provinces had extorted from Matthias. This rendered them more restless
+under the intolerable burdens imposed upon them. Soon after the armies
+of Matthias had withdrawn from Bohemia, Rhodolph, according to his
+promise, summoned a diet to deliberate upon the state of affairs. The
+Protestants, who despised Rhodolph, attended the diet, resolved to
+demand reform, and, if necessary, to seek it by force of arms. They at
+once assumed a bold front, and refused to discuss any civil affairs
+whatever, until the freedom of religious worship, which they had enjoyed
+under Maximilian, was restored to them. But Rhodolph, infatuated, and
+under the baleful influence of the Jesuits, refused to listen to their
+appeal.
+
+Matthias, informed of this state of affairs, saw that there was a fine
+opportunity for him to place himself at the head of the Protestants, who
+constituted not only a majority in Bohemia, but were also a majority in
+the diet. He therefore sent his emissaries among them to encourage them
+with assurances of his sympathy and aid. The diet which Rhodolph had
+summoned, separated without coming to other result than rousing
+thoroughly the spirit of the Protestants. They boldly called another
+diet to meet in May, in the city of Prague itself, under the very shadow
+of the palace of Rhodolph, and sent deputies to Matthias, and to the
+Protestant princes generally of the German empire, soliciting their
+support. Rhodolph issued a proclamation forbidding them to meet.
+Regardless of this injunction they met, at the appointed time and place,
+opened the meeting with imposing ceremonies, and made quiet preparation
+to repel force with force. These preparations were so effectually made
+that upon an alarm being given that the troops of Rhodolph were
+approaching to disperse the assembly, in less than an hour twelve
+hundred mounted knights and more than ten thousand foot soldiers
+surrounded their hall as a guard.
+
+This was a very broad hint to the emperor, and it surprisingly
+enlightened him. He began to bow and to apologize, and to asserverate
+upon his word of honor that he meant to do what was right, and from
+denunciations, he passed by a single step to cajolery and fawning. It
+was, however, only his intention to gain time till he could secure the
+cooeperation of the pope, and other Catholic princes. The Protestants,
+however, were not to be thus deluded. As unmindful of his protestations
+as they had been of his menaces, they proceeded resolutely in
+establishing an energetic organization for the defense of their civil
+and religious rights. They decreed the levying of an army, and appointed
+three of the most distinguished nobles as generals. The decree was
+hardly passed before it was carried into execution, and an army of three
+thousand foot soldiers, and two thousand horsemen was assembled as by
+magic, and their numbers were daily increasing.
+
+Rhodolph, still cloistered in his palace, looked with amazement upon
+this rising storm. He had no longer energy for any decisive action. With
+mulish obstinacy he would concede nothing, neither had he force of
+character to marshal any decisive resistance. But at last he saw that
+the hand of Matthias was also in the movement; that his ambitious,
+unrelenting brother was cooperating with his foes, and would inevitably
+hurl him from the throne of Bohemia, as he had already done from the
+kingdom of Hungary and from the dukedom of Austria. He was
+panic-stricken by this sudden revelation, and in the utmost haste issued
+a decree, dated July 5th, 1609, granting to the Protestants full
+toleration of religious worship, and every other right they had
+demanded. The despotic old king became all of a sudden as docile and
+pliant as a child. He assured his faithful and well-beloved Protestant
+subjects that they might worship God in their own chapels without any
+molestation; that they might build churches that they might establish
+schools for their children; that their clergy might meet in
+ecclesiastical councils; that they might choose chiefs, who should be
+confirmed by the sovereign, to watch over their religious privileges and
+to guard against any infringement of this edict; and finally, all
+ordinances contrary to this act of free and full toleration, which might
+hereafter be issued, either by the present sovereign or any of his
+successors, were declared null and void.
+
+The Protestants behaved nobly in this hour of bloodless triumph. Their
+demands were reasonable and honorable, and they sought no infringement
+whatever of the rights of others. Their brethren of Silesia had aided
+them in this great achievement. The duchy of Silesia was then dependent
+upon Bohemia, and was just north of Moldavia. It contained a population
+of about a million and a half, scattered over a territory of about
+fifteen thousand square miles. The Protestants demanded that the
+Silesians should share in the decree. "Most certainly," replied the
+amiable Rhodolph. An act of general amnesty for all political offenses
+was then passed, and peace was restored to Germany.
+
+Never was more forcibly seen, than on this occasion, the power of the
+higher classes over the masses of the people. In fact, popular tumults,
+disgraceful mobs, are almost invariably excited by the higher classes,
+who push the mob on while they themselves keep in the background. It was
+now for the interest of the leaders, both Catholic and Protestant, that
+there should be peace, and the populace immediately imbibed that spirit.
+The Protestant chapel stood by the side of the Romish cathedral, and the
+congregations mingled freely in courtesy and kindness, as they passed to
+and from their places of worship. Mutual forbearance and good will
+seemed at once to be restored. And now the several cities of the German
+empire, where religious freedom had been crushed by the emperor, began
+to throng his palace with remonstrants and demands. They, united,
+resolved at every hazard to attain the privileges which their brethren
+in Bohemia and Austria had secured. The Prince of Anhalt, an able and
+intrepid man, was dispatched to Prague with a list of grievances. In
+very plain language he inveighed against the government of the emperor,
+and demanded for Donauworth and other cities of the German empire, the
+civil and religious freedom of which Rhodolph had deprived them;
+declaring, without any softening of expression, that if the emperor did
+not peacefully grant their requests, they would seek redress by force of
+arms. The humiliated and dishonored emperor tried to pacify the prince
+by vague promises and honeyed words, to which the prince replied in
+language which at once informed the emperor that the time for dalliance
+had passed.
+
+"I fear," said the Prince of Anhalt, in words which sovereigns are not
+accustomed to hear, "that this answer will rather tend to prolong the
+dispute than to tranquillize the united princes. I am bound in duty to
+represent to your imperial majesty the dangerous flame which I now see
+bursting forth in Germany. Your counselors are ill adapted to extinguish
+this rising flame--those counselors who have brought you into such
+imminent danger, and who have nearly destroyed public confidence, credit
+and prosperity throughout your dominions. I must likewise exhort your
+imperial majesty to take all important affairs into consideration
+yourself, intreating you to recollect the example of Julius Caesar, who,
+had he not neglected to read the note presented to him as he was going
+to the capitol, would not have received the twenty wounds which caused
+his death."
+
+This last remark threw the emperor into a paroxysm of terror. He had
+long been trembling from the apprehension of assassination. This
+allusion to Julius Caesar he considered an intimation that his hour was
+at hand. His terror was so great that Prince Anhalt had to assure him,
+again and again, that he intended no such menace, and that he was not
+aware that any conspiracy was thought of any where, for his death. The
+emperor was, however, so alarmed that he promised any thing and every
+thing. He doubtless intended to fulfill his promise, but subsequent
+troubles arose which absorbed all his remaining feeble energies, and
+obliterated past engagements from his mind.
+
+Matthias was watching all the events with the intensest eagerness, as
+affording a brilliant prospect to him, to obtain the crown of Bohemia,
+and the scepter of the empire. This ambition consumed his days and his
+nights, verifying the adage, "uneasy lies the head which wears a crown."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+RHODOLPH III. AND MATTHIAS.
+
+From 1609 to 1612.
+
+Difficulties as to the Succession.--Hostility of Henry IV. to the House
+of Austria.--Assassination of Henry IV.--Similarity in Sully's and
+Napoleon's Plans.--Exultation of the Catholics.--The Brothers'
+Compact.--How Rhodolph Kept It.--Seizure of Prague.--Rhodolph a
+Prisoner.--The King's Abdication.--Conditions Attached to the
+Crown.--Rage of Rhodolph.--Matthias Elected King.--The Emperor's
+Residence.--Rejoicings of the Protestants.--Reply of the
+Ambassadors.--The Nuremburg Diet.--The Unkindest Cut of All.--Rhodolph's
+Humiliation And Death.
+
+
+And now suddenly arose another question which threatened to involve all
+Europe in war. The Duke of Cleves, Juliers, and Berg died without issue.
+This splendid duchy, or rather combination of duchies, spread over a
+territory of several thousand square miles, and was inhabited by over a
+million of inhabitants. There were many claimants to the succession, and
+the question was so singularly intricate and involved, that there were
+many who seemed to have an equal right to the possession. The emperor,
+by virtue of his imperial authority, issued an edict, putting the
+territory in sequestration, till the question should be decided by the
+proper tribunals, and, in the meantime, placing the territory in the
+hands of one of his own family as administrator.
+
+This act, together with the known wishes of Spain to prevent so
+important a region, lying near the Netherlands, from falling into the
+hands of the Protestants, immediately changed the character of the
+dispute into a religious contest, and, as by magic, all Europe wheeled
+into line on the one side or the other, Every other question was lost
+sight of, in the all-absorbing one, Shall the duchy fall into the hands
+of the Protestants or the Catholics?
+
+Henry IV. of France zealously espoused the cause of the Protestants. He
+was very hostile to the house of Austria for the assistance it had lent
+to that celebrated league which for so many years had deluged France in
+blood, and kept Henry IV. from the throne; and he was particularly
+anxious to humble that proud power. Though Henry IV., after fighting for
+many years the battles of Protestantism, had, from motives of policy,
+avowed the Romish faith, he could never forget his mother's
+instructions, his early predilections and his old friends and
+supporters, the Protestants; and his sympathies were always with them.
+Henry IV., as sagacious and energetic as he was ambitious, saw that he
+could never expect a more favorable moment to strike the house of
+Austria than the one then presented. The Emperor Rhodolph was weak, and
+universally unpopular, not only with his own subjects, but throughout
+Germany. The Protestants were all inimical to him, and he was involved
+in desperate antagonism with his energetic brother Matthias. Still he
+was a formidable foe, as, in a war involving religious questions, he
+could rally around him all the Catholic powers of Europe.
+
+Henry IV., preparatory to pouring his troops into the German empire,
+entered into secret negotiations with England, Denmark, Switzerland,
+Venice, whom he easily purchased with offers of plunder, and with the
+Protestant princes of minor power on the continent. There were not a
+few, indifferent upon religious matters, who were ready to engage in any
+enterprise which would humble Spain and Austria. Henry collected a large
+force on the frontiers of Germany, and, with ample materials of war, was
+prepared, at a given signal, to burst into the territory of the empire.
+
+The Catholics watched these movements with alarm, and began also to
+organize. Rhodolph, who, from his position as emperor, should have been
+their leader, was a wretched hypochondriac, trembling before imaginary
+terrors, a prey to the most gloomy superstitions, and still concealed in
+the secret chambers of his palace. He was a burden to his party, and was
+regarded by them with contempt. Matthias was watching him, as the tiger
+watches its prey. To human eyes it would appear that the destiny of the
+house of Austria was sealed. Just at that critical point, one of those
+unexpected events occurred, which so often rise to thwart the deepest
+laid schemes of man.
+
+On the 14th of May, 1610, Henry IV. left the Louvre in his carriage to
+visit his prime minister, the illustrious Sully, who was sick. The city
+was thronged with the multitudes assembled to witness the triumphant
+entry of the queen, who had just been crowned. It was a beautiful spring
+morning, and the king sat in his carriage with several of his nobles,
+the windows of his carriage being drawn up. Just as the carriage was
+turning up from the rue St. Honore into the rue Ferronnerie, the passage
+was found blocked up by two carts. The moment the carriage stopped, a
+man sprung from the crowd upon one of the spokes of the wheel, and
+grasping a part of the coach with his right hand, with his left plunged
+a dagger to the hilt into the heart of Henry IV. Instantly withdrawing
+it, he repeated the blow, and with nervous strength again penetrated the
+heart. The king dropped dead into the arms of his friends, the blood
+gushing from the wound and from his mouth. The wretched assassin, a
+fanatic monk, Francis Ravaillac, was immediately seized by the guard.
+With difficulty they protected him from being torn in pieces by the
+populace. He was reserved for a more terrible fate, and was subsequently
+put to death by the most frightful tortures human ingenuity could
+devise.
+
+The poniard of the assassin changed the fate of Europe. Henry IV. had
+formed one of the grandest plans which ever entered the human mind.
+Though it is not at all probable that he could have executed it, the
+attempt, with the immense means he had at his disposal, and with his
+energy as a warrior and diplomatist, would doubtless have entirely
+altered the aspect of human affairs. There was very much in his plan to
+secure the approval of all those enlightened men who were mourning over
+the incessant and cruel wars with which Europe was ever desolated. His
+intention was to reconstruct Europe into fifteen States, as nearly
+uniform in size and power as possible. These States were, according to
+their own choice, to be monarchical or republican, and were to be
+associated on a plan somewhat resembling that of the United States of
+North America. In each State the majority were to decide which religion,
+whether Protestant or Catholic, should be established. The Catholics
+were all to leave the Protestant States, and assemble in their own. In
+like manner the Protestants were to abandon the Catholic kingdoms. This
+was the very highest point to which the spirit of toleration had then
+attained. All Pagans and Mohammedans were to be driven out of Europe
+into Asia. A civil tribunal was to be organized to settle all national
+difficulties, so that there should be no more war. There was to be a
+standing army belonging to the confederacy, to preserve the peace, and
+enforce its decrees, consisting of two hundred and seventy thousand
+infantry, fifty thousand cavalry, two hundred cannon, and one hundred
+and twenty ships of war.
+
+This plan was by no means so chimerical as at first glance it might seem
+to be. The sagacious Sully examined it in all its details, and gave it
+his cordial support. The cooeperation of two or three of the leading
+powers would have invested the plan with sufficient moral and physical
+support to render its success even probable. But the single poniard of
+the monk Ravaillac arrested it all.
+
+The Emperor Napoleon I. had formed essentially the same plan, with the
+same humane desire to put an end to interminable wars; but he had
+adopted far nobler principles of toleration. "One of my great plans,"
+said he at St. Helena, "was the rejoining, the concentration of those
+same geographical nations which have been disunited and parcelled out by
+revolution and policy. There are dispersed in Europe upwards of thirty
+millions of French, fifteen millions of Spaniards, fifteen millions of
+Italians, and thirty millions of Germans. It was my intention to
+incorporate these several people each into one nation. It would have
+been a noble thing to have advanced into posterity with such a train,
+and attended by the blessings of future ages. I felt myself worthy of
+this glory.
+
+"After this summary simplification, it would have been possible to
+indulge the chimera of the _beau ideal_ of civilization. In this state
+of things there would have been some chance of establishing in every
+country a unity of codes, of principles, of opinions, of sentiments,
+views and interests. Then perhaps, by the help of the universal
+diffusion of knowledge, one might have thought of attempting in the
+great human family the application of the American Congress, or the
+Amphictyons of Greece. What a perspective of power, grandeur, happiness
+and prosperity would thus have appeared.
+
+"The concentration of thirty or forty millions of Frenchmen was
+completed and perfected. That of fifteen millions of Spaniards was
+nearly accomplished. Because I did not subdue the Spaniards, it will
+henceforth be argued that they were invincible, for nothing is more
+common than to convert accident into principle. But the fact is that
+they were actually conquered, and, at the very moment when they escaped
+me, the Cortes of Cadiz were secretly in treaty with me. They were not
+delivered either by their own resistance or by the efforts of the
+English, but by the reverses which I sustained at different points, and,
+above all, by the error I committed in transferring my whole forces to
+the distance of three thousand miles from them. Had it not been for
+this, the Spanish government would have been shortly consolidated, the
+public mind would have been tranquilized, and hostile parties would have
+been rallied together. Three or four years would have restored the
+Spaniards to profound peace and brilliant prosperity. They would have
+become a compact nation, and I should have well deserved their
+gratitude, for I should have saved them from the tyranny by which they
+are now oppressed, and the terrible agitations which await them.
+
+"With regard to the fifteen millions of Italians, their concentration
+was already far advanced; it only wanted maturity. The people were daily
+becoming more firmly established in the unity of principles and
+legislation, and also in the unity of thought and feeling--that certain
+and infallible cement of human thought and concentration. The union of
+Piedmont to France, and the junction of Parma, Tuscany and Rome, were,
+in my mind, only temporary measures, intended merely to guarantee and
+promote the national education of the Italians. The portions of Italy
+that were united to France, though that union might have been regarded
+as the result of invasion on our part, were, in spite of their Italian
+patriotism, the very places that continued most attached to us.
+
+"All the south of Europe, therefore, would soon have been rendered
+compact in point of locality, views, opinions, sentiments and interests.
+In this state of things, what would have been the weight of all the
+nations of the North? What human efforts could have broken through so
+strong a barrier? The concentration of the Germans must have been
+effected more gradually, and therefore I had done no more than simplify
+their monstrous complication. Not that they were unprepared for
+concentralization; on the contrary, they were too well prepared for it,
+and they might have blindly risen in reaction against us before they had
+comprehended our designs. How happens it that no German prince has yet
+formed a just notion of the spirit of his nation, and turned it to good
+account? Certainly if Heaven had made me a prince of Germany, amid the
+critical events of our times I should infallibly have governed the
+thirty millions of Germans combined; and, from what I know of them, I
+think I may venture to affirm that if they had once elected and
+proclaimed me they would not have forsaken me, and I should never have
+been at St. Helena.
+
+"At all events," the emperor continued, after a moment's pause, "this
+concentration will be brought about sooner or later by the very force of
+events. The impulse is given, and I think that since my fall and the
+destruction of my system, no grand equilibrium can possibly be
+established in Europe except by the concentration and confederation of
+the principal nations. The sovereign who in the first great conflict
+shall sincerely embrace the cause of the people, will find himself at
+the head of Europe, and may attempt whatever he pleases."
+
+Thus similar were the plans of these two most illustrious men. But from
+this digression let us return to the affairs of Austria. With the death
+of Henry IV., fell the stupendous plan which his genius conceived, and
+which his genius alone could execute. The Protestants, all over Europe,
+regarded his death as a terrible blow. Still they did not despair of
+securing the contested duchy for a Protestant prince. The fall of Henry
+IV. raised from the Catholics a shout of exultation, and they redoubled
+their zeal.
+
+The various princes of the house of Austria, brothers, uncles, cousins,
+holding important posts all over the empire, were much alarmed in view
+of the peril to which the family ascending was exposed by the feebleness
+of Rhodolph. They held a private family conference, and decided that the
+interests of all required that there should be reconciliation between
+Matthias and Rhodolph; or that, in their divided state, they would fall
+victims to their numerous foes. The brothers agreed to an outward
+reconciliation; but there was not the slightest mitigation of the rancor
+which filled their hearts. Matthias, however, consented to acknowledge
+the superiority of his brother, the emperor, to honor him as the head of
+the family, and to hold his possessions as fiefs of Rhodolph intrusted
+to him by favor. Rhodolph, while hating Matthias, and watching for an
+opportunity to crush him, promised to regard him hereafter as a brother
+and a friend.
+
+And now Rhodolph developed unexpected energy, mingled with treachery and
+disgraceful duplicity. He secretly and treacherously invited the
+Archduke Leopold, who was also Bishop of Passau and Strasbourg, and one
+of the most bigoted of the warrior ecclesiastics of the papal church, to
+invade, with an army of sixteen thousand men, Rhodolph's own kingdom of
+Bohemia, under the plea that the wages of the soldiers had not been
+paid. It was his object, by thus introducing an army of Roman Catholics
+into his kingdom, and betraying into their hands several strong
+fortresses, then to place himself at their head, rally the Catholics of
+Bohemia around him, annul all the edicts of toleration, crush the
+Protestants, and then to march to the punishment of Matthias.
+
+The troops, in accordance with their treacherous plan, burst into Upper
+Austria, where the emperor had provided that there should be no force to
+oppose them. They spread themselves over the country, robbing the
+Protestants and destroying their property with the most wanton cruelty.
+Crossing the Danube they continued their march and entered Bohemia.
+Still Rhodolph kept quiet in his palace, sending no force to oppose, but
+on the contrary contriving that towns and fortresses, left defenseless,
+should fall easily into their hands. Bohemia was in a terrible state of
+agitation. Wherever the invading army appeared, it wreaked dire
+vengeance upon the Protestants. The leaders of the Protestants hurriedly
+ran together, and, suspicious of treachery, sent an earnest appeal to
+the king.
+
+The infamous emperor, not yet ready to lay aside the vail, called Heaven
+to witness that the irruption was made without his knowledge, and
+advised vigorous measures to repel the foe, while he carefully thwarted
+the execution of any such measures. At the same time he issued a
+proclamation to Leopold, commanding him to retire. Leopold understood
+all this beforehand, and smiling, pressed on. Aided by the treason of
+the king, they reached Prague, seized one of the gates, massacred the
+guard, and took possession of the capital. The emperor now came forward
+and disclosed his plans. The foreign troops, holding Prague and many
+other of the most important towns and fortresses in the kingdom, took
+the oath of allegiance to Rhodolph as their sovereign, and he placed in
+their hands five pieces of heavy artillery, which were planted in
+battery on an eminence which commanded the town. A part of Bohemia
+rallied around the king in support of these atrocious measures.
+
+But all the Protestants, and all who had any sympathy with the
+Protestants, were exasperated to the highest pitch. They immediately
+dispatched messengers to Matthias and to their friends in Moravia,
+imploring aid. Matthias immediately started eight thousand Hungarians on
+the march. As they entered Bohemia with rapid steps and pushed their way
+toward Prague they were joined every hour by Protestant levies pouring
+in from all quarters. So rapidly did their ranks increase that Leopold's
+troops, not daring to await their arrival, in a panic, fled by night.
+They were pursued on their retreat, attacked, and put to flight with the
+loss of two thousand men. The ecclesiastical duke, in shame and
+confusion, slunk away to his episcopal castle of Passau.
+
+The contemptible Rhodolph now first proposed terms of reconciliation,
+and then implored the clemency of his indignant conquerors. They turned
+from the overtures of the perjured monarch with disdain, burst into the
+city of Prague, surrounded every avenue to the palace, and took Rhodolph
+a prisoner. Soon Matthias arrived, mounted in regal splendor, at the
+head of a gorgeous retinue. The army received him with thunders of
+acclaim. Rhodolph, a captive in his palace, heard the explosion of
+artillery, the ringing of bells and the shouts of the populace,
+welcoming his dreaded and detested rival to the capital. It was the 20th
+of March, 1611. The nobles commanded Rhodolph to summon a diet. The
+humiliated, degraded, helpless emperor knew full well what this
+signified, but dared not disobey. He summoned a diet. It was immediately
+convened. Rhodolph sent in a message, saying,
+
+"Since, on account of my advanced age, I am no longer capable of
+supporting the weight of government, I hereby abdicate the throne, and
+earnestly desire that my brother Matthias may be crowned without delay."
+
+The diet were disposed very promptly to gratify the king in his
+expressed wishes. But there arose some very formidable difficulties. The
+German princes, who were attached to the cause which Rhodolph had so
+cordially espoused, and who foresaw that his fall threatened the
+ascendency of Protestantism throughout the empire, sent their
+ambassadors to the Bohemian nobles with the menace of the vengeance of
+the empire, if they proceeded to the deposition of Rhodolph and to the
+inauguration of Matthias, whom they stigmatized as an usurper. This
+unexpected interposition reanimated the hopes of Rhodolph, and he
+instantly found such renovation of youth and strength as to feel quite
+able to bear the burden of the crown a little longer; and consequently,
+notwithstanding his abdication, through his friends, all the most
+accomplished mechanism of diplomacy, with its menaces, its bribes, and
+its artifice were employed to thwart the movements of Matthias and his
+friends.
+
+There was still another very great difficulty. Matthias was very
+ambitious, and wished to be a sovereign, with sovereign power. He was
+very reluctant to surrender the least portion of those prerogatives
+which his regal ancestors had grasped. But the nobles deemed this a
+favorable opportunity to regain their lost power. They were disposed to
+make a hard bargain with Matthias. They demanded--1st, that the throne
+should no longer be hereditary, but elective; 2d, that the nobles should
+be permitted to meet in a diet, or congress, to deliberate upon public
+affairs whenever and wherever they pleased; 3d, that all financial and
+military affairs should be left in their hands; 4th, that although the
+king might appoint all the great officers of state, they might remove
+any of them at pleasure; 5th, that it should be the privilege of the
+nobles to form all foreign alliances; 6th, that they were to be
+empowered to form an armed force by their own authority.
+
+Matthias hesitated in giving his assent to such demands, which seemed to
+reduce him to a cipher, conferring upon him only the shadow of a crown.
+Rhodolph, however, who was eager to make any concessions, had his agents
+busy through the diet, with assurances that the emperor would grant all
+these concessions. But Rhodolph had fallen too low to rise again. The
+diet spurned all his offers, and chose Matthias, though he postponed his
+decision upon these articles until he could convene a future and more
+general diet. Rhodolph had eagerly caught at the hope of regaining his
+crown. As his messengers returned to him in the palace with the tidings
+of their defeat, he was overwhelmed with indignation, shame and despair.
+In a paroxysm of agony he threw up his window, and looking out upon the
+city, exclaimed,
+
+"O Prague, unthankful Prague, who hast been so highly elevated by me;
+now thou spurnest at thy benefactor. May the curse and vengeance of God
+fall upon thee and all Bohemia."
+
+The 23d of May was appointed for the coronation. The nobles drew up a
+paper, which they required Rhodolph to sign, absolving his subjects from
+their oath of allegiance to him. The degraded king writhed in helpless
+indignation, for he was a captive. With the foolish petulance of a
+spoiled child, as he affixed his signature in almost an illegible
+scrawl, he dashed blots of ink upon the paper, and then, tearing the pen
+to pieces, threw it upon the floor, and trampled it beneath his feet.
+
+It was still apprehended that the adherents of Rhodolph might make some
+armed demonstration in his favor. As a precaution against this, the city
+was filled with troops, the gates closed, and carefully guarded. The
+nobles met in the great hall of the palace. It was called a meeting of
+the States, for it included the higher nobles, the higher clergy, and a
+few citizens, as representatives of certain privileged cities. The
+forced abdication of Rhodolph was first read. It was as follows:--
+
+"In conformity with the humble request of the States of our kingdom, we
+graciously declare the three estates, as well as all the inhabitants of
+all ranks and conditions, free from all subjection, duty and obligation;
+and we release them from their oath of allegiance, which they have taken
+to us as their king, with a view to prevent all future dissensions and
+confusion. We do this for the greater security and advantage of the
+whole kingdom of Bohemia, over which we have ruled six-and-thirty years,
+where we have almost always resided, and which, during our
+administration, has been maintained in peace, and increased in riches
+and splendor. We accordingly, in virtue of this present voluntary
+resignation, and after due reflection, do, from this day, release our
+subjects from all duty and obligation."
+
+Matthias was then chosen king, in accordance with all the ancient
+customs of the hereditary monarchy of Bohemia. The States immediately
+proceeded to his coronation. Every effort was made to dazzle the
+multitude with the splendors of the coronation, and to throw a halo of
+glory around the event, not merely as the accession of a new monarch to
+the throne, but as the introduction of a great reform in reinstating the
+nation in its pristine rights.
+
+While the capital was resounding with these rejoicings, Rhodolph had
+retired to a villa at some distance from the city, in a secluded glen
+among the mountains, that he might close his ears against the hateful
+sounds. The next day Matthias, fraternally or maliciously, for it is not
+easy to judge which motive actuated him, sent a stinging message of
+assumed gratitude to his brother, thanking him for relinquishing in his
+brother's favor his throne and his palaces, and expressing the hope that
+they might still live together in fraternal confidence and affection.
+
+Matthias and the States consulted their own honor rather than Rhodolph's
+merits, in treating him with great magnanimity. Though Rhodolph had
+lost, one by one, all his own hereditary or acquired territories,
+Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, he still retained the imperial crown of
+Germany. This gave him rank and certain official honors, with but little
+real power. The emperor, who was also a powerful sovereign in his own
+right, could marshal his own forces to establish his decrees. But the
+emperor, who had no treasury or army of his own, was powerless indeed.
+
+The emperor was permitted to occupy one of the palaces at Prague. He
+received an annual pension of nearly a million of dollars; and the
+territories and revenues of four lordships were conferred upon him.
+Matthias having consolidated his government, and appointed the great
+officers of his kingdom, left Prague without having any interview with
+his brother, and returned to his central capital at Vienna, where he
+married Anne, daughter of his uncle Ferdinand of Tyrol.
+
+The Protestants all over the German empire hailed these events with
+public rejoicing. Rhodolph had been their implacable foe. He was now
+disarmed and incapable of doing them any serious injury. Matthias was
+professedly their friend, had been placed in power mainly as their
+sovereign, and was now invested with such power, as sovereign of the
+collected realms of Austria, that he could effectually protect them from
+persecution. This success emboldened them to unite in a strong,
+wide-spread confederacy for the protection of their rights. The
+Protestant nobles and princes, with the most distinguished of their
+clergy from all parts of the German empire, held a congress at
+Rothenburg. This great assembly, in the number, splendor and dignity of
+its attendants, vied with regal diets. Many of the most illustrious
+princes of the empire were there in person, with imposing retinues. The
+emperor and Matthias both deemed it expedient to send ambassadors to the
+meeting. The congress at Rothenburg was one of the most memorable
+movements of the Protestant party. They drew up minute regulations for
+the government of their confederacy, established a system of taxation
+among themselves, made efficient arrangements for the levying of troops,
+established arsenals and magazines, and strongly garrisoned a fortress,
+to be the nucleus of their gathering should they at any time be
+compelled to appeal to arms.
+
+Rhodolph, through his ambassadors, appeared before this resplendent
+assembly the mean and miserable sycophant he ever was in days of
+disaster. He was so silly as to try to win them again to his cause. He
+coaxed and made the most liberal promises, but all in vain. Their reply
+was indignant and decisive, yet dignified.
+
+"We have too long," they replied, "been duped by specious and deceitful
+promises. We now demand actions, not words. Let the emperor show us by
+the acts of his administration that his spirit is changed, and then, and
+then only, can we confide in him."
+
+Matthias was still apprehensive that the emperor might rally the
+Catholic forces of Germany, and in union with the pope and the
+formidable power of the Spanish court, make an attempt to recover his
+Bohemian throne. It was manifest that with any energy of character,
+Rhodolph might combine Catholic Europe, and inundate the plains of
+Germany with blood. While it was very important, therefore, that
+Matthias should do every thing he could to avoid exasperating the
+Catholics, it was essential to his cause that he should rally around him
+the sympathies of the Protestants.
+
+The ambassadors of Matthias respectfully announced to the congress the
+events which had transpired in Bohemia in the transference of the crown,
+and solicited the support of the congress. The Protestant princes
+received this communication with satisfaction, promised their support in
+case it should be needed, and, conscious of the danger of provoking
+Rhodolph to any desperate efforts to rouse the Catholics, recommended
+that he should be treated with brotherly kindness, and, at the same
+time, watched with a vigilant eye.
+
+Rhodolph, disappointed here, summoned an electoral meeting of the
+empire, to be held at Nuremburg on the 14th of December, 1711. He hoped
+that a majority of the electors would be his friends. Before this body
+he presented a very pathetic account of his grievances, delineating in
+most melancholy colors the sorrows which attend fallen grandeur. He
+detailed his privations and necessities, the straits to which he was
+reduced by poverty, his utter inability to maintain a state befitting
+the imperial dignity, and implored them, with the eloquence of a
+Neapolitan mendicant, to grant him a suitable establishment, and not to
+abandon him, in his old age, to penury and dishonor.
+
+The reply of the electors to the dispirited, degraded, downtrodden old
+monarch was the unkindest cut of all. Much as Rhodolph is to be
+execrated and despised, one can hardly refrain from an emotion of
+sympathy in view of this new blow which fell upon him. A deputation sent
+from the electoral college met him in his palace at Prague. Mercilessly
+they recapitulated most of the complaints which the Protestants had
+brought against him, declined rendering him any pecuniary relief, and
+requested him to nominate some one to be chosen as his successor on the
+imperial throne.
+
+"The emperor," said the delegation in conclusion, "is himself the
+principal author of his own distresses and misfortunes. The contempt
+into which he has fallen and the disgrace which, through him, is
+reflected upon the empire, is derived from his own indolence and his
+obstinacy in following perverse counsels. He might have escaped all
+these calamities if, instead of resigning himself to corrupt and
+interested ministers, he had followed the salutary counsels of the
+electors."
+
+They closed this overwhelming announcement by demanding the immediate
+assembling of a diet to elect an emperor to succeed him on the throne of
+Germany. Rhodolph, not yet quite sufficiently humiliated to officiate as
+his own executioner, though he promised to summon a diet, evaded the
+fulfillment of his promise. The electors, not disposed to dally with him
+at all, called the assembly by their own authority to meet on the 31st
+of May.
+
+This seemed to be the finishing blow. Rhodolph, now sixty years of age,
+enfeebled and emaciated by disease and melancholy, threw himself upon
+his bed to die. Death, so often invoked in vain by the miserable, came
+to his aid. He welcomed its approach. To those around his bed he
+remarked,
+
+"When a youth, I experienced the most exquisite pleasure in returning
+from Spain to my native country. How much more joyful ought I to be when
+I am about to be delivered from the calamities of human nature, and
+transferred to a heavenly country where there is no change of time, and
+where no sorrow can enter!"
+
+In the tomb let him be forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+MATTHIAS.
+
+From 1612 to 1619.
+
+Matthias Elected Emperor of Germany.--His despotic Character.--His Plans
+thwarted.--Mulheim.--Gathering Clouds.--Family Intrigue.--Coronation of
+Ferdinand.--His Bigotry.--Henry, Count of Thurn.--Convention at
+Prague.--The King's Reply.--The Die cast.--Amusing Defense of an
+Outrage.--Ferdinand's Manifesto.--Seizure of Cardinal Kleses.--The
+King's Rage.--Retreat of the King's Troops.--Humiliation of
+Ferdinand.--The Difficulties referred.--Death of Matthias.
+
+
+Upon the death of Rhodolph, Matthias promptly offered himself as a
+candidate for the imperial crown. But the Catholics, suspicious of
+Matthias, in consequence of his connection with the Protestants,
+centered upon the Archduke Albert, sovereign of the Netherlands, as
+their candidate. Many of the Protestants, also, jealous of the vast
+power Matthias was attaining, and not having full confidence in his
+integrity, offered their suffrages to Maximilian, the younger brother of
+Matthias. But notwithstanding this want of unanimity, political intrigue
+removed all difficulties and Matthias was unanimously elected Emperor of
+Germany.
+
+The new emperor was a man of renown. His wonderful achievements had
+arrested the attention of Europe, and it was expected that in his hands
+the administration of the empire would be conducted with almost
+unprecedented skill and vigor. But clouds and storms immediately began
+to lower around the throne. Matthias had no spirit of toleration in his
+heart, and every tolerant act he had assented to, had been extorted from
+him. He was, by nature, a despot, and most reluctantly, for the sake of
+grasping the reins of power, he had relinquished a few of the royal
+prerogatives. He had thus far evaded many of the claims which had been
+made upon him, and which he had partially promised to grant, and now,
+being both king and emperor, he was disposed to grasp all power, both
+secular and religious, which he could attain.
+
+Matthias's first endeavor was to recover Transylvania. This province had
+fallen into the hands of Gabriel Bethlehem, who was under the protection
+of the Turks. Matthias, thinking that a war with the infidel would be
+popular, summoned a diet and solicited succors to drive the Turks from
+Moldavia and Wallachia, where they had recently established themselves.
+The Protestants, however, presented a list of grievances which they
+wished to have redressed before they listened to his request. The
+Catholics, on the other hand, presented a list of their grievances,
+which consisted, mainly, in privileges granted the Protestants, which
+they also demanded to have redressed before they could vote any supplies
+to the emperor. These demands were so diametrically hostile to each
+other, that there could be no reconciliation. After an angry debate the
+diet broke up in confusion, having accomplished nothing.
+
+Matthias, disappointed in this endeavor, now applied to the several
+States of his widely extended Austrian domains--to his own subjects. A
+general assembly was convened at Lintz. Matthias proposed his plans,
+urging the impolicy of allowing the Turks to retain the conquered
+provinces, and to remain in the ascendency in Transylvania. But here
+again Matthias was disappointed. The Bohemian Protestants were indignant
+in view of some restrictions upon their worship, imposed by the emperor
+to please the Catholics. The Hungarians, weary of the miseries of war,
+were disposed on any terms to seek peace with the Turks. The Austrians
+had already expended an immense amount of blood and money on the
+battle-fields of Hungary, and urged the emperor to send an ambassador to
+treat for peace. Matthias was excessively annoyed in being thus thwarted
+in all his plans.
+
+Just at this time a Turkish envoy arrived at Vienna, proposing a truce
+for twenty years. The Turks had never before condescended to send an
+embassage to a Christian power. This afforded Matthias an honorable
+pretext for abandoning his warlike plan, and the truce was agreed to.
+
+The incessant conflict between the Catholics and Protestants allowed
+Germany no repose. A sincere toleration, such as existed during the
+reign of Maximilian I., established fraternal feelings between the
+contending parties. But it required ages of suffering and peculiar
+combination of circumstances, to lead the king and the nobles to a
+cordial consent to that toleration. But the bigotry of Rhodolph and the
+trickery of Matthias, had so exasperated the parties, and rendered them
+so suspicious of each other, that the emperor, even had he been so
+disposed, could not, but by very slow and gradual steps, have secured
+reconciliation. Rhodolph had put what was called the ban of the empire
+upon the Protestant city of Aix-la-Chapelle, removing the Protestants
+from the magistracy, and banishing their chiefs from the city. When
+Rhodolph was sinking into disgrace and had lost his power, the
+Protestants, being in the majority, took up arms, reflected their
+magistracy, and expelled the Jesuits from the city. The Catholics now
+appealed to Matthias, and he insanely revived the ban against the
+Protestants, and commissioned Albert, Archduke of Cologne, a bigoted
+Catholic, to march with an army to Aix-la-Chapelle and enforce its
+execution.
+
+Opposite Cologne, on the Rhine, the Protestants, in the days of bitter
+persecution, had established the town of Mulheim. Several of the
+neighboring Protestant princes defended with their arms the refugees who
+settled there from all parts of Germany. The town was strongly
+fortified, and here the Protestants, with arms in their hands,
+maintained perfect freedom of religious worship. The city grew rapidly
+and became one of the most important fortresses upon the river. The
+Catholics, jealous of its growing power, appealed to the emperor. He
+issued a decree ordering the Protestants to demolish every fortification
+of the place within thirty days; and to put up no more buildings
+whatever.
+
+These decrees were both enforced by the aid of a Spanish army of thirty
+thousand men, which, having executed the ban, descended the river and
+captured several others of the most important of the Protestant towns.
+Of course all Germany was in a ferment. Everywhere was heard the
+clashing of arms, and every thing indicated the immediate outburst of
+civil war. Matthias was in great perplexity, and his health rapidly
+failed beneath the burden of care and sorrow. All the thoughts of
+Matthias were now turned to the retaining of the triple crown of
+Bohemia, Hungary and the empire, in the family. Matthias was old, sick
+and childless. Maximilian, his next brother, was fifty-nine years of age
+and unmarried. The next brother, Albert, was fifty-eight, and without
+children. Neither of the brothers could consequently receive the crowns
+with any hope of retaining them in the family. Matthias turned to his
+cousin Ferdinand, head of the Styrian branch of the family, as the
+nearest relative who was likely to continue the succession. In
+accordance with the custom which had grown up, Matthias wished to
+nominate his successor, and have him recognized and crowned before his
+death, so that immediately upon his death the new sovereign, already
+crowned, could enter upon the government without any interregnum.
+
+The brothers, appreciating the importance of retaining the crown in the
+family, and conscious that all the united influence they then possessed
+was essential to securing that result, assented to the plan, and
+cooeperated in the nomination of Ferdinand. All the arts of diplomatic
+intrigue were called into requisition to attain these important ends.
+The Bohemian crown was now electoral; and it was necessary to persuade
+the electors to choose Ferdinand, one of the most intolerant Catholics
+who ever swayed a scepter. The crown of Hungary was nominally
+hereditary. But the turbulent nobles, ever armed, and strong in their
+fortresses, would accept no monarch whom they did not approve. To secure
+also the electoral vote for Emperor of Germany, while parties were so
+divided and so bitterly hostile to each other, required the most adroit
+application of bribes and menaces.
+
+Matthias made his first movement in Bohemia. Having adopted previous
+measures to gain the support of the principal nobles, he summoned a diet
+at Prague, which he attended in person, accompanied by Ferdinand. In a
+brief speech he thus addressed them.
+
+"As I and my brothers," said the king, "are without children, I deem it
+necessary, for the advantage of Bohemia, and to prevent future contests,
+that my cousin Ferdinand should be proclaimed and crowned king. I
+therefore request you to fix a day for the confirmation of this
+appointment."
+
+Some of the leading Protestants opposed this, on the ground of the known
+intolerance of Ferdinand. But the majority, either won over by the arts
+of Matthias, or dreading civil war, accepted Ferdinand. He was crowned
+on the 10th of June, 1616, he promising not to interfere with the
+government during the lifetime of Matthias. The emperor now turned to
+Hungary, and, by the adoption of the same measures, secured the same
+results. The nobles accepted Ferdinand, and he was solemnly crowned at
+Presburg.
+
+Ferdinand was Archduke of Styria, a province of Austria embracing a
+little more than eight thousand square miles, being about the size of
+the State of Massachusetts, and containing about a million of
+inhabitants. He was educated by the Jesuits after the strictest manner
+of their religion. He became so thoroughly imbued with the spirit of his
+monastic education, that he was anxious to assume the cowl of the monk,
+and enter the order of the Jesuits. His devotion to the papal church
+assumed the aspect of the most inflexible intolerance towards all
+dissent. In the administration of the government of his own duchy, he
+had given free swing to his bigotry. Marshaling his troops, he had
+driven all the Protestant preachers from his domains. He had made a
+pilgrimage to Rome, to receive the benediction of the pope, and another
+to Loretto, where, prostrating himself before the miraculous image, he
+vowed never to cease his exertions until he had extirpated all heresy
+from his territories. He often declared that he would beg his bread from
+door to door, submit to every insult, to every calamity, sacrifice even
+life itself, rather than suffer the true Church to be injured. Ferdinand
+was no time-server--no hypocrite. He was a genuine bigot, sincere and
+conscientious. Animated by this spirit, although two thirds of the
+inhabitants of Styria were Protestants, he banished all their preachers,
+professors and schoolmasters; closed their churches, seminaries and
+schools; even tore down the churches and school-houses; multiplied papal
+institutions, and called in teachers and preachers from other States.
+
+Matthias and Ferdinand now seemed jointly to reign, and the Protestants
+were soon alarmed by indications that a new spirit was animating the
+councils of the sovereign. The most inflexible Catholics were received
+as the friends and advisers of the king. The Jesuits loudly exulted,
+declaring that heresy was no longer to be tolerated. Banishments and
+confiscations were talked of, and the alarm of the Protestants became
+intense and universal: they looked forward to the commencement of the
+reign of Ferdinand with terror.
+
+As was to be expected, such wrongs and perils called out an avenger.
+Matthew Henry, Count of Thurn, was one of the most illustrious and
+wealthy of the Bohemian nobles. He had long been a warm advocate of the
+doctrines of the Reformation; and having, in the wars with the Turks,
+acquired a great reputation for military capacity and courage, and being
+also a man of great powers of eloquence, and of exceedingly popular
+manners, he had become quite the idol of the Protestant party. He had
+zealously opposed the election of Ferdinand to the throne of Bohemia,
+and had thus increased that jealousy and dislike with which both
+Matthias and Ferdinand had previously regarded so formidable an
+opponent. He was, in consequence, very summarily deprived of some very
+important dignities. This roused his impetuous spirit, and caused the
+Protestants more confidingly to rally around him as a martyr to their
+cause.
+
+The Count of Thurn, as prudent as he was bold, as deliberate as he was
+energetic, aware of the fearful hazard of entering into hostilities with
+the sovereign who was at the same time king of all the Austrian realms,
+and Emperor of Germany, conferred with the leading Protestant princes,
+and organized a confederacy so strong that all the energies of the
+empire could with difficulty crush it. They were not disposed to make
+any aggressive movements, but to defend their rights if assailed. The
+inhabitants of a town in the vicinity of Prague began to erect a church
+for Protestant worship. The Roman Catholic bishop, who presided over
+that diocese, forbade them to proceed. They plead a royal edict, which
+authorized them to erect the church, and continued their work,
+regardless of the prohibition. Count Thurn encouraged them to persevere,
+promising them ample support. The bishop appealed to the Emperor
+Matthias. He also issued his prohibition; but aware of the strength of
+the Protestants, did not venture to attempt to enforce it by arms.
+Ferdinand, however, was not disposed to yield to this spirit, and by his
+influence obtained an order, demanding the immediate surrender of the
+church to the Catholics, or its entire demolition. The bishop attempted
+its destruction by an armed force, but the Protestants defended their
+property, and sent a committee to Matthias, petitioning for a revocation
+of the mandate. These deputies were seized and imprisoned by the king,
+and an imperial force was sent to the town, Brunau, to take possession
+of the church. From so small a beginning rose the Thirty Years' War.
+
+Count Thurn immediately summoned a convention of six delegates from each
+of the districts, called circles in Bohemia. The delegates met at Prague
+on the 16th of March, 1618. An immense concourse of Protestants from all
+parts of the surrounding country accompanied the delegates to the
+capital. Count Thurn was a man of surpassing eloquence, and seemed to
+control at will all the passions of the human heart. In the boldest
+strains of eloquence he addressed the assembly, and roused them to the
+most enthusiastic resolve to defend at all hazards their civil and
+religious rights. They unanimously passed a resolve that the demolition
+of the church and the suspension of the Protestant worship were
+violations of the royal edict, and they drew up a petition to the
+emperor demanding the redress of this grievance, and the liberation of
+the imprisoned deputies from Brunau. The meeting then adjourned, to be
+reassembled soon to hear the reply of the emperor.
+
+As the delegates and the multitudes who accompanied them returned to
+their homes, they spread everywhere the impression produced upon their
+minds by the glowing eloquence of Count Thurn. The Protestant mind was
+roused to the highest pitch by the truthful representation, that the
+court had adopted a deliberate plan for the utter extirpation of
+Protestant worship throughout Bohemia, and that foreign troops were to
+be brought in to execute this decree. These convictions were
+strengthened and the alarm increased by the defiant reply which Matthias
+sent back from his palace in Vienna to his Bohemian subjects. He accused
+the delegates of treason and of circulating false and slanderous
+reports, and declared that they should be punished according to their
+deserts. He forbade them to meet again, or to interfere in any way with
+the affairs of Brunau, stating that at his leisure he would repair to
+Prague and attend to the business himself.
+
+The king could not have framed an answer better calculated to exasperate
+the people, and rouse them to the most determined resistance. Count
+Thurn, regardless of the prohibition, called the delegates together and
+read to them the answer, which the king had not addressed to them but to
+the council of regency. He then addressed them again in those
+impassioned strains which he had ever at command, and roused them almost
+to fury against those Catholic lords who had dictated this answer to the
+king and obtained his signature.
+
+The next day the nobles met again. They came to the place of meeting
+thoroughly armed and surrounded by their retainers, prepared to repel
+force by force. Count Thurn now wished to lead them to some act of
+hostility so decisive that they would be irrecoverably committed. The
+king's council of regency was then assembled in the palace of Prague.
+The regency consisted of seven Catholics and three Protestants. For some
+unknown reason the Protestant lords were not present on this occasion.
+Three of the members of the regency, Slavata and Martinetz and the
+burgrave of Prague, were peculiarly obnoxious on account of the
+implacable spirit with which they had ever persecuted the reformers.
+These lords were the especial friends of Ferdinand and had great
+influence with Matthias, and it was not doubted that they had framed the
+answer which the emperor had returned. Incited by Count Thurn, several
+of the most resolute of the delegates, led by the count, proceeded to
+the palace, and burst into the room where the regency was in session.
+
+Their leader, addressing Slavata, Martinetz, and Diepold, the burgrave,
+said, "Our business is with you. We wish to know if you are responsible
+for the answer returned to us by the king."
+
+"That," one of them replied, "is a secret of state which we are not
+bound to reveal."
+
+"Let us follow," exclaimed the Protestant chief, "the ancient custom of
+Bohemia, and hurl them from the window."
+
+They were in a room in the tower of the castle, and it was eighty feet
+to the water of the moat. The Catholic lords were instantly seized,
+dragged to the window and thrust out. Almost incredible as it may seem,
+the water and the mud of the moat so broke their fall, that neither of
+them was killed. They all recovered from the effects of their fall.
+Having performed this deed, Count Thurn and his companions returned to
+the delegates, informed them of what they had done, and urged them that
+the only hope of safety now, for any Protestant, was for all to unite in
+open and desperate resistance. Then mounting his horse, and protected by
+a strong body-guard, he rode through the streets of Prague, stopping at
+every corner to harangue the Protestant populace. The city was thronged
+on the occasion by Protestants from all parts of the kingdom.
+
+"I do not," he exclaimed, "propose myself as your chief, but as your
+companion, in that peril which will lead us to happy freedom or to
+glorious death. The die is thrown. It is too late to recall what is
+past. Your safety depends alone on unanimity and courage, and if you
+hesitate to burst asunder your chains, you have no alternative but to
+perish by the hands of the executioner."
+
+He was everywhere greeted with shouts of enthusiasm, and the whole
+Protestant population were united as one man in the cause. Even many of
+the moderate Catholics, disgusted with the despotism of the newly
+elected king, which embraced civil as well as religious affairs, joined
+the Protestants, for they feared the loss of their civil rights more
+than they dreaded the inroads of heresy.
+
+With amazing celerity they now organized to repel the force which they
+knew that the emperor would immediately send to crush them. Within three
+days their plans were all matured and an organization effected which
+made the king tremble in his palace. Count Thurn was appointed their
+commander, an executive committee of thirty very efficient men was
+chosen, which committee immediately issued orders for the levy of troops
+all over the kingdom. Envoys were sent to Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia, and
+Hungary, and to the Protestants all over the German empire. The
+Archbishop of Prague was expelled from the city, and the Jesuits were
+also banished. They then issued a proclamation in defense of their
+conduct, which they sent to the king with a firm but respectful letter.
+
+One can not but be amused in reading their defense of the outrage
+against the council of regency. "We have thrown from the windows," they
+said, "the two ministers who have been the enemies of the State,
+together with their creature and flatterer, in conformity with an
+ancient custom prevalent throughout all Bohemia, as well as in the
+capital. This custom is justified by the example of Jezebel in holy
+Writ, who was thrown from a window for persecuting the people of God;
+and it was common among the Romans, and all other nations of antiquity,
+who hurled the disturbers of the public peace from rocks and
+precipices."
+
+Matthias had very reluctantly sent his insulting and defiant answer to
+the reasonable complaints of the Protestants, and he was thunderstruck
+in contemplating the storm which had thus been raised--a storm which
+apparently no human wisdom could now allay. There are no energies so
+potent as those which are aroused by religious convictions. Matthias
+well knew the ascendency of the Protestants all over Bohemia, and that
+their spirit, once thoroughly aroused, could not be easily quelled by
+any opposing force he could array. He was also aware that Ferdinand was
+thoroughly detested by the Protestant leaders, and that it was by no
+means improbable that this revolt would thwart all his plans in securing
+his succession.
+
+As the Protestants had not renounced their allegiance, Matthias was
+strongly disposed to measures of conciliation, and several of the most
+influential, yet fair-minded Catholics supported him in these views. The
+Protestants were too numerous to be annihilated, and too strong in their
+desperation to be crushed. But Ferdinand, guided by the Jesuits, was
+implacable. He issued a manifesto, which was but a transcript of his own
+soul, and which is really sublime in the sincerity and fervor of its
+intolerance.
+
+"All attempts," said he, "to bring to reason a people whom God has
+struck with judicial blindness will be in vain. Since the introduction
+of heresy into Bohemia, we have seen nothing but tumults, disobedience
+and rebellion. While the Catholics and the sovereign have displayed only
+lenity and moderation, these sects have become stronger, more violent
+and more insolent; having gained all their objects in religious affairs,
+they turn their arms against the civil government, and attack the
+supreme authority under the pretense of conscience; not content with
+confederating themselves against their sovereign, they have usurped the
+power of taxation, and have made alliances with foreign States,
+particularly with the Protestant princes of Germany, in order to deprive
+him of the very means of reducing them to obedience. They have left
+nothing to the sovereign but his palaces and the convents; and after
+their recent outrages against his ministers, and the usurpation of the
+regal revenues, no object remains for their vengeance and rapacity but
+the persons of the sovereign and his successor, and the whole house of
+Austria.
+
+"If sovereign power emanates from God, these atrocious deeds must
+proceed from the devil, and therefore must draw down divine punishment.
+Neither can God be pleased with the conduct of the sovereign, in
+conniving at or acquiescing in all the demands of the disobedient.
+Nothing now remains for him, but to submit to be lorded by his subjects,
+or to free himself from this disgraceful slavery before his territories
+are formed into a republic. The rebels have at length deprived
+themselves of the only plausible argument which their preachers have
+incessantly thundered from the pulpit, that they were contending for
+religious freedom; and the emperor and the house of Austria have now the
+fairest opportunity to convince the world that their sole object is only
+to deliver themselves from slavery and restore their legal authority.
+They are secure of divine support, and they have only the alternative of
+a war by which they may regain their power, or a peace which is far more
+dishonorable and dangerous than war. If successful, the forfeited
+property of the rebels will defray the expense of their armaments; if
+the event of hostilities be unfortunate, they can only lose, with honor,
+and with arms in their hands, the rights and prerogatives which are and
+will be wrested from them with shame and dishonor. It is better not to
+reign than to be the slave of subjects. It is far more desirable and
+glorious to shed our blood at the foot of the throne than to be driven
+from it like criminals and malefactors."
+
+Matthias endeavored to unite his own peace policy with the energetic
+warlike measures urged by Ferdinand. He attempted to overawe by a great
+demonstration of physical force, while at the same time he made very
+pacific proposals. Applying to Spain for aid, the Spanish court sent him
+eight thousand troops from the Netherlands; he also raised, in his own
+dominions, ten thousand men. Having assembled this force he sent word to
+the Protestants, that if they would disband their force he would do the
+same, and that he would confirm the royal edict and give full security
+for the maintenance of their civil and religious privileges. The
+Protestants refused to disband, knowing that they could place no
+reliance upon the word of the unstable monarch who was crowded by the
+rising power of the energetic Ferdinand. The ambitious naturally
+deserted the court of the sovereign whose days were declining, to enlist
+in the service of one who was just entering upon the kingly power.
+
+Ferdinand was enraged at what he considered the pusillanimity of the
+king. Maximilian, the younger brother of Matthias, cordially espoused
+the cause of Ferdinand. Cardinal Kleses, a Catholic of commanding
+influence and of enlightened, liberal views, was the counselor of the
+king. Ferdinand and Maximilian resolved that he should no longer have
+access to the ear of the pliant monarch, but he could be removed from
+the court only by violence. With an armed band they entered the palace
+at Vienna, seized the cardinal in the midst of the court, stripped him
+of his robes, hurried him into a carriage, and conveyed him to a strong
+castle in the midst of the mountains of the Tyrol, where they held him a
+close prisoner. The emperor was at the time confined to his bed with the
+gout. As soon as they had sent off the cardinal, Ferdinand and
+Maximilian repaired to the royal chamber, informed the emperor of what
+they had done, and attempted to justify the deed on the plea that the
+cardinal was a weak and wicked minister whose policy would certainly
+divide and ruin the house of Austria.
+
+The emperor was in his bed as he received this insulting announcement of
+a still more insulting outrage. For a moment he was speechless with
+rage. But he was old, sick and powerless. This act revealed to him that
+the scepter had fallen from his hands. In a paroxysm of excitement, to
+prevent himself from speaking he thrust the bed-clothes into his mouth,
+nearly suffocating himself. Resistance was in vain. He feared that
+should he manifest any, he also might be torn from his palace, a
+captive, to share the prison of the cardinal. In sullen indignation he
+submitted to the outrage.
+
+Ferdinand and Maximilian now pursued their energetic measures of
+hostility unopposed. They immediately put the army in motion to invade
+Bohemia, and boasted that the Protestants should soon be punished with
+severity which would teach them a lesson they would never forget. But
+the Protestants were on the alert. Every town in the kingdom had joined
+in the confederacy, and in a few weeks Count Thurn found himself at the
+head of ten thousand men inspired with the most determined spirit. The
+Silesians and Lusatians marched to help them, and the Protestant league
+of Germany sent them timely supplies. The troops of Ferdinand found
+opponents in every pass and in every defile, and in their endeavor to
+force their way through the fastnesses of the mountains, were frequently
+driven back with great loss. At length the troops of Ferdinand, defeated
+at every point, were compelled to retreat in shame back to Austria,
+leaving all Bohemia in the hands of the Protestants.
+
+Ferdinand was now in trouble and disgrace. His plans had signally
+failed. The Protestants all over Germany were in arms, and their spirits
+roused to the highest pitch; many of the moderate Catholics refused to
+march against them, declaring that the Protestants were right in
+resisting such oppression. They feared Ferdinand, and were apprehensive
+that his despotic temper, commencing with religious intolerance, would
+terminate in civil tyranny. It was evident to all that the Protestants
+could not be put down by force of arms, and even Ferdinand was so
+intensely humiliated that he was constrained to assent to the proposal
+which Matthias made to refer their difficulty to arbitration. Four
+princes were selected as the referees--the Electors of Mentz, Bavaria,
+Saxony and Palatine. They were to meet at Egra the 14th of April, 1619.
+
+But Matthias, the victim of disappointment and grief, was now rapidly
+approaching his end. The palace at Vienna was shrouded in gloom, and no
+smiles were seen there, and no sounds of joy were heard in those regal
+saloons. The wife of Matthias, whom he tenderly loved, oppressed by the
+humiliation and anguish which she saw her husband enduring, died of a
+broken heart. Matthias was inconsolable under this irretrievable loss.
+Lying upon his bed tortured with the pain of the gout, sinking under
+incurable disease, with no pleasant memories of the past to cheer him,
+with disgrace and disaster accumulating, and with no bright hopes beyond
+the grave, he loathed life and dreaded death. The emperor in his palace
+was perhaps the most pitiable object which could be found in all his
+realms. He tossed upon his pillow, the victim of remorse and despair,
+now condemning himself for his cruel treatment of his brother Rhodolph,
+now inveighing bitterly against the inhumanity and arrogance of
+Ferdinand and Maximilian. On the 20th of March, 1619, the despairing
+spirit of the emperor passed away to the tribunal of the "King of kings
+and the Lord of lords."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+FERDINAND II.
+
+From 1619 to 1621.
+
+Possessions of the Emperor.--Power of the Protestants of
+Bohemia.--General Spirit of Insurrection.--Anxiety of Ferdinand.--
+Insurrection led by Count Thurn.--Unpopularity of the Emperor.--
+Affecting Declaration of the Emperor.--Insurrection in Vienna.--The
+Arrival of Succor.--Ferdinand seeks the imperial Throne.--Repudiated by
+Bohemia.--The Palatinate.--Frederic offered the Crown of Bohemia.--
+Frederic crowned.--Revolt in Hungary.--Desperate Condition of the
+Emperor.--Catholic League.--The Calvinists and the Puritans.--Duplicity
+of the Emperor.--Foreign Combinations.--Truce between the Catholics and
+the Protestants.--The Attack upon Bohemia.--Battle of the White
+Mountain.
+
+
+Ferdinand, who now ascended the throne by right of the coronation he had
+already received, was in the prime of life, being but forty-one years of
+age, and was in possession of a rare accumulation of dignities. He was
+Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, Duke of Styria,
+Carinthia and Carniola, and held joint possession, with his two
+brothers, of the spacious territory of the Tyrol. Thus all these
+wide-spread and powerful territories, with different languages,
+different laws, and diverse manners and customs, were united under the
+Austrian monarchy, which was now undeniably one of the leading powers of
+Europe. In addition to all these titles and possessions, he was a
+prominent candidate for the imperial crown of Germany. To secure this
+additional dignity he could rely upon his own family influence, which
+was very powerful, and also upon the aid of the Spanish monarchy. When
+we contemplate his accession in this light, he appears as one of the
+most powerful monarchs who ever ascended a throne.
+
+But there is another side to the picture. The spirit of rebellion
+against his authority had spread through nearly all his territories, and
+he had neither State nor kingdom where his power seemed stable. In
+whatever direction he turned his eyes, he saw either the gleam of
+hostile arms or the people in a tumult just ready to combine against
+him.
+
+The Protestants of Bohemia had much to encourage them. All the kingdom,
+excepting one fortress, was in their possession. All the Protestants of
+the German empire had espoused their cause. The Silesians, Lusatians and
+Moravians were in open revolt. The Hungarian Protestants, animated by
+the success of the Bohemians, were eager to follow their example and
+throw off the yoke of Ferdinand. With iron tyranny he had silenced every
+Protestant voice in the Styrian provinces, and had crushed every
+semblance of religious liberty. But the successful example of the
+Bohemians had roused the Styrians, and they also were on the eve of
+making a bold move in defense of their rights. Even in Austria itself,
+and beneath the very shadow of the palaces of Vienna, conspiracies were
+rife, and insurrection was only checked by the presence of the army
+which had been driven out of Bohemia.
+
+Even Ferdinand could not be blind to the difficulties which were
+accumulating upon him, and to the precarious tenure of his power. He saw
+the necessity of persevering in the attempt at conciliation which he had
+so reluctantly commenced. And yet, with strange infatuation, he proposed
+an accommodation in a manner which was deemed insulting, and which
+tended only to exasperate. The very day of his accession to the throne,
+he sent a commission to Prague, to propose a truce; but, instead of
+conferring with the Protestant leaders, he seemed to treat them with
+intentional contempt, by addressing his proposal to that very council of
+regency which had become so obnoxious. The Protestants, justly regarding
+this as an indication of the implacable state of his mind, and conscious
+that the proposed truce would only enable him more effectually to rally
+his forces, made no reply whatever to his proposals. Ferdinand,
+perceiving that he had made a great mistake, and that he had not rightly
+appreciated the spirit of his foes, humbled himself a little more, and
+made still another attempt at conciliation. But the Protestants had now
+resolved that Ferdinand should never be King of Bohemia. It had become
+an established tenet of the Catholic church that it is not necessary to
+keep faith with heretics. Whatever solemn promises Ferdinand might make,
+the pope would absolve him from all sin in violating them.
+
+Count Thurn, with sixteen thousand men, marched into Moravia. The people
+rose simultaneously to greet him. He entered Brunn, the capital, in
+triumph. The revolution was immediate and entire. They abolished the
+Austrian government, established the Protestant worship, and organized a
+new government similar to that which they had instituted in Bohemia.
+Crossing the frontier, Count Thurn boldly entered Austria and, meeting
+no foe capable of retarding his steps, he pushed vigorously on even to
+the very gates of Vienna. As he had no heavy artillery capable of
+battering down the walls, and as he knew that he had many partisans
+within the walls of the city, he took possession of the suburbs,
+blockaded the town, and waited for the slow operation of a siege, hoping
+thus to be able to take the capital and the person of the sovereign
+without bloodshed.
+
+Ferdinand had brought such trouble upon the country, that he was now
+almost as unpopular with the Catholics as with the Protestants, and all
+his appeals to them for aid were of but little avail. The sudden
+approach of Count Thurn had amazed and discomfited him, and he knew not
+in what direction to look for aid. Cooped up in his capital, he could
+hold no communication with foreign powers, and his own subjects
+manifested no disposition to come to his rescue. The evidences of
+popular discontent, even in the city, were every hour becoming more
+manifest, and the unhappy sovereign was in hourly expectation of an
+insurrection in the streets.
+
+The surrender of Vienna involved the loss of Austria. With the loss of
+Austria vanished all hopes of the imperial crown. Bohemia, Austria, and
+the German scepter gone, Hungary would soon follow; and then, his own
+Styrian territories, sustained and aided by their successful neighbors,
+would speedily discard his sway. Ferdinand saw it all clearly, and was
+in an agony of despair. He has confided to his confessor the emotions
+which, in those terrible hours, agitated his soul. It is affecting to
+read the declaration, indicative as it is that the most cruel and
+perfidious man may be sincere and even conscientious in his cruelty and
+crime. To his Jesuitical confessor, Bartholomew Valerius, he said,
+
+"I have reflected on the dangers which threaten me and my family, both
+at home and abroad. With an enemy in the suburbs, sensible that the
+Protestants are plotting my ruin, I implore that help from God which I
+can not expect from man. I had recourse to my Saviour, and said, 'Lord
+Jesus Christ, Thou Redeemer of mankind, Thou to whom all hearts are
+opened, Thou knowest that I seek Thy honor, not my own. If it be Thy
+will, that, in this extremity, I should be overcome by thy enemies, and
+be made the sport and contempt of the world, I will drink of the bitter
+cup. Thy will be done.' I had hardly spoken these words before I was
+inspired with new hope, and felt a full conviction that God would
+frustrate the designs of my enemies."
+
+Nerved by such a spirit, Ferdinand was prepared to endure all things
+rather than yield the slightest point. Hour after hour his situation
+became more desperate, and still he remained inflexible. Balls from the
+batteries of Count Thurn struck even the walls of his palace; murmurs
+filled the streets, and menaces rose to his ears from beneath his
+windows. "Let us put his evil counselors to the sword," the disaffected
+exclaimed; "shut him up in a convent; and educate his children in the
+Protestant religion."
+
+At length the crisis had apparently arrived. Insurrection was organized.
+Clamorous bands surged through the streets, and there was a state of
+tumult which no police force could quell. A band of armed men burst into
+the palace, forced their way into the presence of Ferdinand, and
+demanded the surrender of the city. At that moment, when Ferdinand might
+well have been in despair, the unexpected sound of trumpets was heard in
+the streets, and the tramp of a squadron of cavalry. The king was as
+much amazed as were the insurgents. The deputies, not knowing what it
+meant, in great alarm retreated from the palace. The squadron swept the
+streets, and surrounded the palace. They had been sent to the city by
+the general who had command of the Austrian forces, and, arriving at
+full speed, had entered unexpectedly at the only gate which the
+besiegers had not guarded.
+
+Their arrival, as if by heavenly commission, and the tidings they
+brought of other succor near at hand, reanimated the king and his
+partisans, and instantly the whole aspect of things within the city was
+changed. Six hundred students in the Roman Catholic institutions of the
+city flew to arms, and organized themselves as a body-guard of the king.
+All the zealous Catholics formed themselves into military bands, and
+this encouraged that numerous neutral party, always existing in such
+seasons of uncertainty, ready to join those who shall prove to be the
+strongest. The Protestants fled from the city, and sought protection
+under the banners of Count Thurn.
+
+In the meantime the Catholics in Bohemia, taking advantage of the
+absence of Count Thurn with his troops, had surrounded Prague, and were
+demanding its capitulation. This rendered it necessary for the Bohemian
+army immediately to strike their tents and return to Bohemia. Never was
+there a more sudden and perfect deliverance. It was, however,
+deliverance only from the momentary peril. The great elements of
+discontent and conflict remained unchanged.
+
+It was very evident that the difficulties which Ferdinand had to
+encounter in his Austrian dominions, were so immense that he could not
+hope to surmount them without foreign aid. He consequently deemed it a
+matter important above all others to secure the imperial throne. Without
+this strength the loss of all his Austrian possessions was inevitable.
+With the influence and the power which the crown of Germany would confer
+upon him he could hope to gain all. Ferdinand immediately left Vienna
+and visited the most influential of the German princes to secure their
+support for his election. The Catholics all over Germany, alarmed by the
+vigor and energy which had been displayed by the Protestants, laid aside
+their several preferences, and gradually all united upon Ferdinand. The
+Protestants, foolishly allowing their Lutheran and Calvinistic
+differences to disunite them, could not agree in their candidate.
+Consequently Ferdinand was elected, and immediately crowned emperor, the
+9th of September, 1619.
+
+The Bohemians, however, remained firm in their resolve to repudiate him
+utterly as their king. They summoned a diet of the States of Bohemia,
+Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia to meet at Prague. Delegates also attended
+the diet from Upper and Lower Austria, as also many nobles from distant
+Hungary. The diet drew up a very formidable list of grievances, and
+declared, in view of them, that Ferdinand had forfeited all right to the
+crown of Bohemia, and that consequently it was their duty, in accordance
+with the ancient usages, to proceed to the election of a sovereign. The
+Catholics were now so entirely in the minority in Bohemia that the
+Protestants held the undisputed control. They first chose the Elector of
+Saxony. He, conscious that he could maintain his post only by a long and
+uncertain war, declined the perilous dignity. They then with great
+unanimity elected Frederic, the Elector of Palatine.
+
+The Palatinate was a territory bordering on Bohemia, of over four
+thousand square miles, and contained nearly seven hundred thousand
+inhabitants. The elector, Frederic V., was thus a prince of no small
+power in his own right. He had married a daughter of James I. of
+England, and had many powerful relatives. Frederic was an affable,
+accomplished, kind-hearted man, quite ambitious, and with but little
+force of character. He was much pleased at the idea of being elevated to
+the dignity of a king, and was yet not a little appalled in
+contemplating the dangers which it was manifest he must encounter. His
+mother, with maternal solicitude, trembling for her son, intreated him
+not to accept the perilous crown. His father-in-law, James, remonstrated
+against it, sternly declaring that he would never patronize subjects in
+rebellion against their sovereign, that he would never acknowledge
+Frederic's title as king, or render him, under any circumstances, either
+sympathy or support. On the other hand the members of the Protestant
+league urged his acceptance; his uncles united strongly with them in
+recommending it, and above all, his fascinating wife, whom he dotingly
+loved, and who, delighted at the idea of being a queen, threw herself
+into his arms, and plead in those persuasive tones which the pliant
+heart of Frederic could not resist. The Protestant clergy, also, in a
+strong delegation waited upon him, and intreated him in the name of that
+Providence which had apparently proffered to him the crown, to accept it
+in fidelity to himself, to his country and to the true religion.
+
+The trembling hand and the tearful eye with which Frederic accepted the
+crown, proved his incapacity to bear the burden in those stormy days.
+Placing the government of the Palatinate in the hands of the Duke of
+Deux Ponts, he repaired, with his family, to Prague. A rejoicing
+multitude met him at several leagues from the capital, and escorted him
+to the city with an unwonted display of popular enthusiasm. He was
+crowned with splendor such as Bohemia had never witnessed before.
+
+For a time the Bohemians surrendered themselves to the most extravagant
+joy. Frederic was exceedingly amiable, and just the prince to win, in
+calm and sunny days, the enthusiastic admiration of his subjects. They
+were highly gratified in having the King of Bohemia dwell in his own
+capital at Prague, a privilege and honor which they had seldom enjoyed.
+Many of the German princes acknowledged Frederic's title, as did also
+Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Vienna. The revolution in Bohemia was
+apparently consummated, and to the ordinary observer no cloud could be
+seen darkening the horizon.
+
+The Bohemians were strengthened in their sense of security by a similar
+revolution which was taking place in Hungary. As soon as Ferdinand left
+Vienna, to seek the crown of Germany, the Protestants of Hungary threw
+off their allegiance to Austria, and rallied around the banners of their
+bold, indomitable leader, Gabriel Bethlehem. They fell upon the imperial
+forces with resistless fury and speedily dispersed them. Having captured
+several of the most important fortresses, and having many troops to
+spare, Gabriel Bethlehem sent eighteen thousand men into Moravia to aid
+Count Thurn to disperse the imperial forces there. He then marched
+triumphantly to Presburg, the renowned capital of Hungary, within thirty
+miles of Vienna, where he was received by the majority of the
+inhabitants with open arms. He took possession of the sacred crown and
+of the crown jewels, called an assembly of the nobles from the various
+States of Hungary and Transylvania, and united them in a firm band
+against Ferdinand. He now marched up the banks of the Danube into
+Austria. Count Thurn advanced from Moravia to meet him. The junction of
+their forces placed the two leaders in command of sixty thousand men.
+They followed along the left bank of the majestic Danube until they
+arrived opposite Vienna. Here they found eighteen thousand troops posted
+to oppose. After a short conflict, the imperial troops retreated from
+behind their intrenchments across the river, and blew up the bridge.
+
+In such a deplorable condition did the Emperor Ferdinand find his
+affairs, as he returned from Germany to Austria. He was apparently in a
+desperate position, and no human sagacity could foresee how he could
+retrieve his fallen fortunes. Apparently, could his despotic arm then
+have been broken, Europe might have been spared many years of war and
+woe. But the designs of Providence are inscrutable. Again there was
+apparently almost miraculous interposition. The imperial troops were
+rapidly concentrated in the vicinity of Vienna, to prevent the passage
+of the broad, deep and rapid river by the allied army. A strong force
+was dispatched down the right bank of the Danube, which attacked and
+dispersed a force left to protect the communication with Hungary. The
+season was far advanced, and it was intensely cold in those northern
+latitudes. The allied army had been collected so suddenly, that no
+suitable provision had been made for feeding so vast a host. Famine
+added its terrors to the cold blasts which menacingly swept the plains,
+and as there was imminent danger that the imperial army might cut off
+entirely the communication of the allies with Hungary, Gabriel Bethlehem
+decided to relinquish the enterprise of taking Vienna, and retired
+unimpeded to Presburg. Almost every fortress in Hungary was now in the
+possession of the Hungarians, and Ferdinand, though his capital was
+released, saw that Hungary as well as Bohemia had escaped from his
+hands. At Presburg Gabriel was, with imposing ceremonies, proclaimed
+King of Hungary, and a decree of proscription and banishment was issued
+against all the adherents of Ferdinand.
+
+Germany was now divided into two great leagues, the Catholic and the
+Protestant. Though nominally religious parties, they were political as
+well as religious, and subject to all the fluctuations and corruptions
+attending such combinations. The Protestant league, composed of princes
+of every degree of dignity, who came from all parts of Germany, proudly
+mounted and armed, and attended by armed retainers, from a few score to
+many hundreds or even thousands, met at Nuremburg. It was one of the
+most influential and imposing assemblages which had ever gathered in
+Europe. The Catholics, with no less display of pomp and power, for their
+league embraced many of the haughtiest sovereigns in Europe, met at
+Wurtzburg. There were, of course, not a few who were entirely
+indifferent as to the religious questions involved, and who were
+Catholics or Protestants, in subserviency to the dictates of interest or
+ambition. Both parties contended with the arts of diplomacy as well as
+with those of war. The Spanish court was preparing a powerful armament
+to send from the Netherlands to the help of Ferdinand. The Protestants
+sent an army to Ulm to watch their movements, and to cut them off.
+
+Ferdinand was as energetic as he had previously proved himself
+inflexible and persevering. In person he visited Munich, the capital of
+Bavaria, that he might more warmly interest in his favor Maximilian, the
+illustrious and warlike duke. The emperor made him brilliant promises,
+and secured his cordial cooeperation. The Duke of Bavaria, and the
+Elector of the Palatinate, were neighbors and rivals; and the emperor
+offered Maximilian the spoils of the Palatinate, if they should be
+successful in their warfare against the newly elected Bohemian king.
+Maximilian, thus persuaded, placed all his force at the disposal of the
+emperor.
+
+The Elector of Saxony was a Lutheran; the Elector Palatine a Calvinist.
+The Lutherans believed, that after the consecration of the bread and
+wine at the sacramental table, the body and blood of Christ were
+spiritually present with that bread and wine. This doctrine, which they
+called _consubstantiation_, they adopted in antagonism to the papal
+doctrine of _transubstantiation_, which was that the bread and wine were
+actually transformed into, and became the real body and blood of Christ.
+
+The difference between the Calvinists and the Lutherans, as we have
+before mentioned, was that, while the former considered the bread and
+wine in the sacraments as _representing_ the body and the blood of
+Christ, the latter considered the body and the blood as spiritually
+present in the consecrated elements. This trivial difference divided
+brethren who were agreed upon all the great points of Christian faith,
+duty and obligation. It is melancholy, and yet instructive to observe,
+through the course of history, how large a proportion of the energies of
+Christians have been absorbed in contentions against each other upon
+shadowy points of doctrine, while a world has been perishing in
+wickedness. The most efficient men in the Church on earth, have had
+about one half of their energies paralyzed by contentions with their own
+Christian brethren. It is so now. The most energetic men, in pleading
+the cause of Christ, are often assailed even more unrelentingly by
+brethren who differ with them upon some small point of doctrine, than by
+a hostile world.
+
+Human nature, even when partially sanctified, is frail indeed. The
+Elector of Saxony was perhaps a good man, but he was a weak one. He was
+a zealous Lutheran, and was shocked that a Calvinist, a man who held the
+destructive error that the bread and wine only _represented_ the body
+and the blood of Christ, should be raised to the throne of Bohemia, and
+thus become the leader of the Protestant party. The Elector of Saxony
+and the Elector of the Palatine had also been naturally rivals, as
+neighbors, and possessors of about equal rank and power. Though the
+Calvinists, to conciliate the Lutherans, had offered the throne to the
+Elector of Saxony, and he had declined it, as too perilous a post for
+him to occupy, still he was weakly jealous of his rival who had assumed
+that post, and was thus elevated above him to the kingly dignity.
+
+Ferdinand understood all this, and shrewdly availed himself of it. He
+plied the elector with arguments and promises, assuring him that the
+points in dispute were political merely and not religious; that he had
+no intention of opposing the Protestant religion, and that if the
+elector would abandon the Protestant league, he would reward him with a
+large accession of territory. It seems incredible that the Elector of
+Saxony could have been influenced by such representations. But so it
+was. Averring that he could not in conscience uphold a man who did not
+embrace the vital doctrine of the spiritual presence, he abandoned his
+Protestant brethren, and drew with him the Landgrave of Hesse, and
+several other Lutheran princes. This was a very serious defection, which
+disheartened the Protestants as much as it encouraged Ferdinand.
+
+The wily emperor having succeeded so admirably with the Protestant
+elector, now turned to the Roman Catholic court of France--that infamous
+court, still crimsoned with the blood of the St. Bartholomew massacre.
+Then, with diplomatic tergiversation, he represented that the conflict
+was not a political one, but purely religious, involving the interests
+of the Church. He urged that the peace of France and of Europe required
+that the Protestant heresy should be utterly effaced; and he provoked
+the resentment of the court by showing how much aid the Protestants in
+Europe had ever received from the Palatinate family. Here again he was
+completely successful, and the young king, Louis XIII., who was
+controlled by his bigoted yet powerful minister, the Duke of Luines,
+cordially espoused his cause.
+
+Spain, intolerant, despotic, hating Protestantism with perfect hatred,
+was eager with its aid. A well furnished army of twenty-four thousand
+men was sent from the Netherlands, and also a large sum of money was
+placed in the treasury of Ferdinand. Even the British monarch,
+notwithstanding the clamors of the nation, was maneuvered into
+neutrality. And most surprising of all, Ferdinand was successful in
+securing a truce with Gabriel Bethlehem, which, though it conferred
+peace upon Hungary, deprived the Bohemians of their powerful support.
+
+The Protestants were strong in their combination; but still it was a
+power of fearful strength now arrayed against them. It was evident that
+Europe was on the eve of a long and terrible struggle. The two forces
+began to assemble. The Protestants rendezvoused at Ulm, under the
+command of the Margrave of Anspach. The Catholic troops, from their wide
+dispersion, were concentrating at Guntzburg, to be led by the Duke of
+Bavaria. The attention of all Europe was arrested by these immense
+gatherings. All hearts were oppressed with solicitude, for the parties
+were very equally matched, and results of most momentous importance were
+dependent upon the issue.
+
+In this state of affairs the Protestant league, which extended through
+Europe, entered into a truce with the Catholic league, which also
+extended through Europe, that they should both withdraw from the
+contest, leaving Ferdinand and the Bohemians to settle the dispute as
+they best could. This seemed very much to narrow the field of strife,
+but the measure, in its practical results, was far more favorable to
+Ferdinand than to the Bohemians. The emperor thus disembarrassed, by
+important concessions, and by menaces, brought the Protestants of Lower
+Austria into submission. The masses, overawed by a show of power which
+they could not resist, yielded; the few who refused to bow in homage to
+the emperor were punished as guilty of treason.
+
+Ferdinand, by these cautious steps, was now prepared to concentrate his
+energies upon Bohemia. He first attacked the dependent provinces of
+Bohemia, one by one, sending an army of twenty-five thousand men to take
+them unprepared. Having subjected all of Upper Austria to his sway, with
+fifty thousand men he entered Bohemia. Their march was energetic and
+sanguinary. With such an overpowering force they took fortress after
+fortress, scaling ramparts, mercilessly cutting down garrisons,
+plundering and burning towns, and massacreing the inhabitants. Neither
+sex nor age was spared, and a brutal soldiery gratified their passions
+in the perpetration of indescribable horrors. Even the Duke of Bavaria
+was shocked at such barbarities, and entered his remonstrances against
+them. Many large towns, terrified by the atrocities perpetrated upon
+those who resisted the imperial arms, threw open their gates, hoping
+thus, by submission, to appease the vengeance of the conqueror.
+
+Frederic was a weak man, not at all capable of encountering such a
+storm, and the Bohemians had consequently no one to rally and to guide
+them with efficiency. His situation was now alarming in the extreme. He
+was abandoned by the Protestant league, hemmed in on every side by the
+imperial troops, and his hereditary domains of the Palatinate were
+overrun by twenty thousand Spaniards. His subjects, alarmed at his utter
+inefficiency, and terrified by the calamities which were falling, like
+avalanche after avalanche upon them, became dissatisfied with him, and
+despairing respecting their own fate. He was a Calvinist, and the
+Lutherans had never warmly received him. The impotent monarch, instead
+of establishing himself in the affections of his subjects, by vigorously
+driving the invaders from his realms, with almost inconceivable
+silliness endeavored to win their popularity by balls and smiles,
+pleasant words and masquerades. In fact, Frederic, by his utter
+inefficiency, was a foe more to be dreaded by Bohemia than Ferdinand.
+
+The armies of the emperor pressed on, throwing the whole kingdom into a
+state of consternation and dismay. The army of Frederic, which dared not
+emerge from its intrenchments at Pritznitz, about fifty miles south of
+Prague, consisted of but twenty-two thousand men, poorly armed, badly
+clothed, wretchedly supplied with military stores, and almost in a state
+of mutiny from arrears of pay. The generals were in perplexity and
+disagreement. Some, in the recklessness of despair, were for marching to
+meet the foe and to risk a battle; others were for avoiding a conflict,
+and thus protracting the war till the severity of winter should drive
+their enemies from the field, when they would have some time to prepare
+for another year's campaign. These difficulties led Frederic to apply
+for a truce. But Ferdinand was too wise to lose by wasting time in
+negotiations, vantage ground he had already gained. He refused to listen
+to any word except the unequivocal declaration that Frederic
+relinquished all right to the crown. Pressing his forces onward, he
+drove the Bohemians from behind their ramparts at Pritznitz, and pursued
+them down the Moldau even to the walls of Prague.
+
+Upon a magnificent eminence called the White Mountain, which commanded
+the city and its most important approaches, the disheartened army of
+Frederic stopped in its flight, and made its last stand. The enemy were
+in hot pursuit. The Bohemians in breathless haste began to throw up
+intrenchments along the ravines, and to plant their batteries on the
+hills, when the banners of Ferdinand were seen approaching. The emperor
+was too energetic a warrior to allow his panic-stricken foes time to
+regain their courage. Without an hour's delay he urged his victorious
+columns to the charge. The Bohemians fought desperately, with far more
+spirit than could have been expected. But they were overpowered by
+numbers, and in one short hour the army of Frederic was annihilated.
+Four thousand were left dead upon the field, one thousand were drowned
+in the frantic attempt to swim the Moldau, and the rest were either
+dispersed as fugitives over hill and valley or taken captive. The
+victory of the emperor was complete, the hopes of Frederic crushed, and
+the fate of Bohemia sealed.
+
+The contemptible Frederic, while this fierce battle was raging beneath
+the very walls of his capital, instead of placing himself at the head of
+his troops, was in the heart of the city, in the banqueting-hall of his
+palace, bowing and smiling and feasting his friends. The Prince of
+Anhalt, who was in command of the Bohemian army, had sent a most urgent
+message to the king, intreating him to dispatch immediately to his aid
+all the troops in the city, and especially to repair himself to the camp
+to encourage the troops by his presence. Frederic was at the table when
+he received this message, and sent word back that he could not come
+until after dinner. As soon as the combat commenced, another still more
+urgent message was sent, to which he returned the same reply. _After
+dinner_ he mounted his horse and rode to the gate which led to the White
+Mountain. The thunders of the terrible battle filled the air; the whole
+city was in the wildest state of terror and confusion; the gates barred
+and barricaded. Even the king could not get out. He climbed one of the
+towers of the wall and looked out upon the gory field, strewn with
+corpses, where his army _had been_, but was no more. He returned hastily
+to his palace, and met there the Prince of Anhalt, who, with a few
+fugitives, had succeeded in entering the city by one of the gates.
+
+The city now could not defend itself for an hour. The batteries of
+Ferdinand were beginning to play upon the walls, when Frederic sent out
+a flag of truce soliciting a cessation of hostilities for twenty-four
+hours, that they might negotiate respecting peace. The peremptory reply
+returned was, that there should not be truce for a single moment, unless
+Frederic would renounce all pretension to the crown of Bohemia. With
+such a renunciation truce would be granted for eight hours. Frederic
+acceded to the demand, and the noise of war was hushed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+FERDINAND II.
+
+From 1621 to 1629.
+
+Pusillanimity of Frederic.--Intreaties of the Citizens of
+Prague.--Shameful Flight of Frederic.--Vengeance Inflicted Upon
+Bohemia.--Protestantism and Civil Freedom.--Vast Power of the
+Emperor.--Alarm of Europe.--James I.--Treaty of Marriage for the Prince
+of Wales.--Cardinal Richelieu.--New League of the Protestants.--
+Desolating War.--Defeat of the King of Denmark.--Energy of
+Wallenstein.--Triumph of Ferdinand.--New Acts of Intolerance.--
+Severities in Bohemia.--Desolation of the Kingdom.--Dissatisfaction of
+the Duke of Bavaria.--Meeting of the Catholic Princes.--The Emperor
+Humbled.
+
+
+The citizens of Prague were indignant at the pusillanimity of Frederic.
+In a body they repaired to the palace and tried to rouse his feeble
+spirits. They urged him to adopt a manly resistance, and offered to
+mount the ramparts and beat off the foe until succor could arrive. But
+Frederic told them that he had resolved to leave Prague, that he should
+escape during the darkness of the night, and advised them to capitulate
+on the most favorable terms they could obtain. The inhabitants of the
+city were in despair. They knew that they had nothing to hope from the
+clemency of the conqueror, and that there was no salvation for them from
+irretrievable ruin but in the most desperate warfare. Even now, though
+the enemy was at their gates, their situation was by no means hopeless
+with a leader of any energy.
+
+"We have still," they urged, "sufficient strength to withstand a siege.
+The city is not invested on every side, and reinforcements can enter by
+some of the gates. We have ample means in the city to support all the
+troops which can be assembled within its walls. The soldiers who have
+escaped from the disastrous battle need but to see the Bohemian banners
+again unfurled and to hear the blast of the bugle, to return to their
+ranks. Eight thousand troops are within a few hours' march of us. There
+is another strong band in the rear of the enemy, prepared to cut off
+their communications. Several strong fortresses, filled with arms and
+ammunition, are still in our possession, and the Bohemians, animated by
+the remembrance of the heroic deeds of their ancestors, are eager to
+retrieve their fortunes."
+
+Had Frederic possessed a tithe of the perseverance and energy of
+Ferdinand, with these resources he might soon have arrested the steps of
+the conqueror. Never was the characteristic remark of Napoleon to Ney
+better verified, that "an army of deer led by a lion is better than an
+army of lions led by a deer." Frederic was panic-stricken for fear he
+might fall into the hands of Ferdinand, from whom he well knew that he
+was to expect no mercy. With ignominious haste, abandoning every thing,
+even the coronation regalia, at midnight, surrounded by a few friends,
+he stole out at one of the gates of the city, and putting spurs to his
+horse, allowed himself no rest until he was safe within the walls of
+Berlin, two hundred miles from Prague.
+
+The despairing citizens, thus deserted by their sovereign, and with a
+victorious foe at their very walls, had no alternative but to throw open
+their gates and submit to the mercy of the conqueror. The next day the
+whole imperial army, under the Duke of Bavaria, with floating banners
+and exultant music, entered the streets of the capital, and took
+possession of the palaces. The tyrant Ferdinand was as vengeful and
+venomous as he was vigorous and unyielding. The city was immediately
+disarmed, and the government intrusted to a vigorous Roman Catholic
+prince, Charles of Lichtenstein. A strong garrison was left in the city
+to crush, with a bloody hand, any indications of insurrection, and then
+the Duke of Bavaria returned with most of his army to Munich, his
+capital, tottering beneath the burden of plunder.
+
+There was a moment's lull before the tempest of imperial wrath burst
+upon doomed Bohemia. Ferdinand seemed to deliberate, and gather his
+strength, that he might strike a blow which would be felt forever. He
+did strike such a blow--one which has been remembered for two hundred
+years, and which will not be forgotten for ages to come--one which
+doomed parents and children to weary years of vagabondage, penury and
+woe which must have made life a burden.
+
+On the night of the 21st of January, three months after the
+capitulation, and when the inhabitants of Prague had begun to hope that
+there might, after all, be some mercy in the bosom of Ferdinand, forty
+of the leading citizens of the place were simultaneously arrested. They
+were torn from their families and thrown into dungeons where they were
+kept in terrific suspense for four months. They were then brought before
+an imperial commission and condemned as guilty of high treason. All
+their property was confiscated, nothing whatever being left for their
+helpless families. Twenty-three were immediately executed upon the
+scaffold, and all the rest were either consigned to life-long
+imprisonment, or driven into banishment. Twenty-seven other nobles, who
+had escaped from the kingdom, were declared traitors. Their castles were
+seized, their property confiscated and presented as rewards to Roman
+Catholic nobles who were the friends of Ferdinand. An order was then
+issued for all the nobles and landholders throughout the kingdom to send
+in a confession of whatever aid they had rendered, or encouragement they
+had given to the insurrection. And the most terrible vengeance was
+threatened against any one who should afterward be proved guilty of any
+act whatever of which he had not made confession. The consternation
+which this decree excited was so great, that not only was every one
+anxious to confess the slightest act which could be construed as
+unfriendly to the emperor, but many, in their terror, were driven to
+accuse themselves of guilt, who had taken no share in the movement.
+Seven hundred nobles, and the whole body of Protestant landholders,
+placed their names on the list of those who confessed guilt and implored
+pardon.
+
+The fiend-like emperor, then, in the mockery of mercy, declared that in
+view of his great clemency and their humble confession, he would spare
+their forfeited lives, and would only punish them by depriving them of
+their estates. He took their mansions, their estates, their property,
+and turned them adrift upon the world, with their wives and their
+children, fugitives and penniless. Thus between one and two thousand of
+the most ancient and noble families of the kingdom were rendered
+houseless and utterly beggared. Their friends, involved with them in the
+same woe, could render no assistance. They were denounced as traitors;
+no one dared befriend them, and their possessions were given to those
+who had rallied beneath the banners of the emperor. "To the victors
+belong the spoils." No pen can describe the ruin of these ancient
+families. No imagination can follow them in their steps of starvation
+and despair, until death came to their relief.
+
+Ferdinand considered Protestantism and rebellion as synonymous terms.
+And well he might, for Protestantism has ever been arrayed as firmly
+against civil as against religious despotism. The doctrines of the
+reformers, from the days of Luther and Calvin, have always been
+associated with political liberty. Ferdinand was determined to crush
+Protestantism. The punishment of the Elector Palatine was to be a signal
+and an appalling warning to all who in future should think of disputing
+the imperial sway. The elector himself, having renounced the throne, had
+escaped beyond the emperor's reach. But Ferdinand took possession of his
+ancestral territories and divided them among his Roman Catholic allies.
+The electoral vote which he held in the diet of the empire, Ferdinand
+transferred to the Duke of Bavaria, thus reducing the Protestant vote to
+two, and securing an additional Catholic suffrage. The ban of the empire
+was also published against the Prince of Anhalt, the Count of Hohenloe,
+and the Duke Jaegendorf, who had been supporters of Frederic. This ban
+of the empire deprived them of their territories, of their rank, and of
+their possessions.
+
+The Protestants throughout the empire were terrified by these fierce
+acts of vengeance, and were fearful of sharing the same fate. They now
+regretted bitterly that they had disbanded their organization. They
+dared not make any move against the emperor, who was flushed with pride
+and power, lest he should pounce at once upon them. The emperor
+consequently marched unimpeded in his stern chastisements. Frederic was
+thus deserted entirely by the Protestant union; and his father-in-law,
+James of England, in accordance with his threat, refused to lend him any
+aid. Various most heroic efforts were made by a few intrepid nobles but
+one after another they were crushed by the iron hand of the emperor.
+
+Ferdinand, having thus triumphed over all his foes, and having divided
+their domains among his own followers, called a meeting of the electors
+who were devoted to his cause, at Ratisbon, on the 25th of February,
+1623, to confirm what he had done. In every portion of the empire, where
+the arm of the emperor could reach them, the Protestants were receiving
+heavy blows. They were now thoroughly alarmed and aroused. The Catholics
+all over Europe were renewing their league; all the Catholic powers were
+banded together, and Protestantism seemed on the eve of being destroyed
+by the sword of persecution.
+
+Other parts of Europe also began to look with alarm upon the vast power
+acquired by Austria. There was but little of conciliation in the
+character of Ferdinand, and his unbounded success, while it rendered him
+more haughty, excited also the jealousy of the neighboring powers. In
+Lower Saxony, nearly all the nobles and men of influence were
+Protestants. The principal portion of the ecclesiastical property was in
+their hands. It was very evident that unless the despotism of Ferdinand
+was checked, he would soon wrest from them their titles and possessions,
+and none the less readily because he had succeeded in bribing the
+Elector of Saxony to remain neutral while he tore the crown of Bohemia
+from the Elector of the Palatine, and despoiled him of his wide-spread
+ancestral territories.
+
+James I. of England had been negotiating a marriage of his son, the
+Prince of Wales, subsequently Charles I., with the daughter of the King
+of Spain. This would have been, in that day, a brilliant match for his
+son; and as the Spanish monarch was a member of the house of Austria,
+and a cooeperator with his cousin, the Emperor Ferdinand, in all his
+measures in Germany, it was an additional reason why James should not
+interfere in defense of his son-in-law, Frederic of the Palatine. But
+now this match was broken off by the influence of the haughty English
+minister Buckingham, who had the complete control of the feeble mind of
+the British monarch. A treaty of marriage was soon concluded between the
+Prince of Wales and Henrietta, a princess of France. There was
+hereditary hostility between France and Spain, and both England and
+France were now quite willing to humble the house of Austria. The nobles
+of Lower Saxony availed themselves of this new turn in the posture of
+affairs, and obtained promises of aid from them both, and, through their
+intercession, aid also from Denmark and Sweden.
+
+Richelieu, the imperious French minister, was embarrassed by two
+antagonistic passions. He was eager to humble the house of Austria; and
+this he could only do by lending aid to the Protestants. On the other
+hand, it was the great object of his ambition to restore the royal
+authority to unlimited power, and this he could only accomplish by
+aiding the house of Austria to crush the Protestants, whose love of
+freedom all despots have abhorred. Impelled by these conflicting
+passions, he did all in his power to extirpate Protestantism from
+France, while he omitted neither lures nor intrigues to urge the
+Protestants in Germany to rise against the despotism of Austria.
+Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, was personally inimical to Ferdinand, in
+consequence of injuries he had received at his hands. Christian IV. of
+Denmark was cousin to Elizabeth, the mother of Frederic, and, in
+addition to this interest in the conflict which relationship gave him,
+he was also trembling lest some of his own possessions should soon be
+wrested from him by the all-grasping emperor. A year was employed, the
+year 1624, in innumerable secret intrigues, and plans of combination,
+for a general rising of the Protestant powers. It was necessary that the
+utmost secrecy should be observed in forming the coalition, and that all
+should be ready, at the same moment, to cooperate against a foe so able,
+so determined and so powerful.
+
+Matters being thus essentially arranged, the States of Lower Saxony, who
+were to take the lead, held a meeting at Segeberg on the 25th of March,
+1625. They formed a league for the preservation of their religion and
+liberties, settled the amount of money and men which each of the
+contracting parties was to furnish, and chose Christian IV., King of
+Denmark, their leader. The emperor had for some time suspected that a
+confederacy was in the process of formation, and had kept a watchful eye
+upon every movement. The vail was now laid aside, and Christian IV.
+issued a proclamation, stating the reasons why they had taken up arms
+against the emperor. This was the signal for a blaze of war, which
+wrapped all northern Europe in a wide conflagration. Victory ebbed and
+flowed. Bohemia, Hungary, Denmark, Austria--all the States of the
+empire, were swept and devastated by pursuing and retreating armies. But
+gradually the emperor gained. First he overwhelmed all opposition in
+Lower Saxony, and riveting anew the shackles of despotism, rewarded his
+followers with the spoils of the vanquished. Then he silenced every
+murmur in Austria, so that no foe dared lift up the voice or peep. Then
+he poured his legions into Hungary, swept back the tide of victory which
+had been following the Hungarian banners, and struck blow after blow,
+until Gabriel Bethlehem was compelled to cry for peace and mercy.
+Bohemia, previously disarmed and impoverished, was speedily struck down.
+
+And now the emperor turned his energies against the panic-stricken King
+of Denmark. He pursued him from fortress to fortress; attacked him in
+the open field, and beat him; attacked him behind his intrenchments, and
+drove him from them through the valleys, and over the hills, across
+rivers, and into forests; bombarded his cities, plundered his provinces,
+shot down his subjects, till the king, reduced almost to the last
+extremity, implored peace. The emperor repelled his advances with scorn,
+demanding conditions of debasement more to be dreaded than death. The
+King of Denmark fled to the isles of the Baltic. Ferdinand took
+possession of the shores of this northern sea, and immediately commenced
+with vigor creating a fleet, that he might have sea as well as land
+forces, that he might pursue the Danish monarch over the water, and that
+he might more effectually punish Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. He had
+determined to dethrone this monarch, and to transfer the crown of Sweden
+to Sigismond, his brother-in-law, King of Poland, who was almost as
+zealous a Roman Catholic as was the emperor himself.
+
+He drove the two Dukes of Mecklenburg from their territory, and gave the
+rich and beautiful duchy, extending along the south-eastern shore of the
+Baltic, to his renowned general, Wallenstein. This fierce, ambitious
+warrior was made generalissimo of all the imperial troops by land, and
+admiral of the Baltic sea. Ferdinand took possession of all the ports,
+from the mouth of the Keil, to Kolberg, at the mouth of the Persante.
+Wismar, on the magnificent bay bearing the same name, was made the great
+naval depot; and, by building, buying, hiring and robbing, the emperor
+soon collected quite a formidable fleet. The immense duchy of Pomerania
+was just north-east of Mecklenburg, extending along the eastern shore of
+the Baltic sea some hundred and eighty miles, and about sixty miles in
+breadth. Though the duke had in no way displeased Ferdinand, the emperor
+grasped the magnificent duchy, and held it by the power of his
+resistless armies. Crossing a narrow arm of the sea, he took the rich
+and populous islands of Rugen and Usedom, and laid siege to the city of
+Stralsund, which almost commanded the Baltic sea.
+
+The kings of Sweden and Denmark, appalled by the rapid strides of the
+imperial general, united all their strength to resist him. They threw a
+strong garrison into Stralsund, and sent the fleets of both kingdoms to
+aid in repelling the attack, and succeeded in baffling all the attempts
+of Wallenstein, and finally in driving him off, though he had boasted
+that "he would reduce Stralsund, even if it were bound to heaven with
+chains of adamant." Though frustrated in this attempt, the armies of
+Ferdinand had swept along so resistlessly, that the King of Denmark was
+ready to make almost any sacrifice for peace. A congress was accordingly
+held at Lubec in May, 1629, when peace was made; Ferdinand retaining a
+large portion of his conquests, and the King of Denmark engaging no
+longer to interfere in the affairs of the empire.
+
+Ferdinand was now triumphant over all his foes. The Protestants
+throughout the empire were crushed, and all their allies vanquished. He
+now deemed himself omnipotent, and with wild ambition contemplated the
+utter extirpation of Protestantism, and the subjugation of nearly all of
+Europe to his sway. He formed the most intimate alliance with the branch
+of his house ruling over Spain, hoping that thus the house of Austria
+might be the arbiter of the fate of Europe. The condition of Europe at
+that time was peculiarly favorable for the designs of the emperor.
+Charles I. of England was struggling against that Parliament which soon
+deprived him both of his crown and his head. France was agitated, from
+the Rhine to the Pyrenees, by civil war, the Catholics striving to
+exterminate the Protestants. Insurrections in Turkey absorbed all the
+energies of the Ottoman court, leaving them no time to think of
+interfering with the affairs of Europe. The King of Denmark was
+humiliated and prostrate. Sweden was too far distant and too feeble to
+excite alarm. Sigismond of Poland was in intimate alliance with the
+emperor. Gabriel Bethlehem of Hungary was languishing on a bed of
+disease and pain, and only asked permission to die in peace.
+
+The first step which the emperor now took was to revoke all the
+concessions which had been granted to the Protestants. In Upper Austria,
+where he felt especially strong, he abolished the Protestant worship
+utterly. In Lower Austria he was slightly embarrassed by engagements
+which he had so solemnly made, and dared not trample upon them without
+some little show of moderation. First he prohibited the circulation of
+all Protestant books; he then annulled all baptisms and marriages
+performed by Protestants; then all Protestants were excluded from
+holding any civil or military office; then he issued a decree that all
+the children, without exception, should be educated by Catholic priests,
+and that every individual should attend Catholic worship. Thus coil by
+coil he wound around his subjects the chain of unrelenting intolerance.
+
+In Bohemia he was especially severe, apparently delighting to punish
+those who had made a struggle for civil and religious liberty. Every
+school teacher, university professor and Christian minister, was ejected
+from office, and their places in schools, universities and churches were
+supplied by Catholic monks. No person was allowed to exercise any
+mechanical trade whatever, unless he professed the Roman Catholic faith.
+A very severe fine was inflicted upon any one who should be detected
+worshiping at any time, even in family prayer, according to the
+doctrines and customs of the Protestant church. Protestant marriages
+were pronounced illegal, their children illegitimate, their wills
+invalid. The Protestant poor were driven from the hospitals and the
+alms-houses. No Protestant was allowed to reside in the capital city of
+Prague, but, whatever his wealth or rank, he was driven ignominiously
+from the metropolis.
+
+In the smaller towns and remote provinces of the kingdom, a military
+force, accompanied by Jesuits and Capuchin friars, sought out the
+Protestants, and they were exposed to every conceivable insult and
+indignity. Their houses were pillaged, their wives and children
+surrendered to all the outrages of a cruel soldiery; many were
+massacred; many, hunted like wild beasts, were driven into the forest;
+many were put to the torture, and as their bones were crushed and
+quivering nerves were torn, they were required to give in their adhesion
+to the Catholic faith. The persecution to which the Bohemians were
+subjected has perhaps never been exceeded in severity.
+
+While Bohemia was writhing beneath these woes, the emperor, to secure
+the succession, repaired in regal pomp to Prague, and crowned his son
+King of Bohemia. He then issued a decree abolishing the right which the
+Bohemians had claimed, to elect their king, forbade the use of the
+Bohemian language in the court and in all public transactions, and
+annulled all past edicts of toleration. He proclaimed that no religion
+but the Roman Catholic should henceforth be tolerated in Bohemia, and
+that all who did not immediately return to the bosom of the Church
+should be banished from the kingdom. This cruel edict drove into
+banishment thirty thousand families. These Protestant families composed
+the best portion of the community, including the most illustrious in
+rank, the most intelligent, the most industrious and the most virtuous,
+No State could meet with such a loss without feeling it deeply, and
+Bohemia has never yet recovered from the blow. One of the Bohemian
+historians, himself a Roman Catholic, thus describes the change which
+persecution wrought in Bohemia:
+
+"The records of history scarcely furnish a similar example of such a
+change as Bohemia underwent during the reign of Ferdinand II. In 1620,
+the monks and a few of the nobility only excepted, the whole country was
+entirely Protestant. At the death of Ferdinand it was, in appearance at
+least, Catholic. Till the battle of the White Mountain the States
+enjoyed more exclusive privileges than the Parliament of England. They
+enacted laws, imposed taxes, contracted alliances, declared war and
+peace, and chose or confirmed their kings. But all these they now lost.
+
+"Till this fatal period the Bohemians were daring, undaunted,
+enterprising, emulous of fame; now they have lost all their courage,
+their national pride, their enterprising spirit. Their courage lay
+buried in the White Mountain. Individuals still possessed personal
+valor, military ardor and a thirst of glory, but, blended with other
+nations, they resembled the waters of the Moldau which join those of the
+Elbe. These united streams bear ships, overflow lands and overturn
+rocks; yet the Elbe is only mentioned, and the Moldau forgotten.
+
+"The Bohemian language, which had been used in all the courts of
+justice, and which was in high estimation among the nobles, fell into
+contempt. The German was introduced, became the general language among
+the nobles and citizens, and was used by the monks in their sermons. The
+inhabitants of the towns began to be ashamed of their native tongue,
+which was confined to the villages and called the language of peasants.
+The arts and sciences, so highly cultivated and esteemed under Rhodolph,
+sunk beyond recovery. During the period which immediately followed the
+banishment of the Protestants, Bohemia scarcely produced one man who
+became eminent in any branch of learning. The greater part of the
+schools were conducted by Jesuits and other monkish orders, and nothing
+taught therein but bad Latin.
+
+"It can not be denied that several of the Jesuits were men of great
+learning and science; but their system was to keep the people in
+ignorance. Agreeably to this principle they gave their scholars only the
+rind, and kept to themselves the pulp of literature. With this view they
+traveled from town to town as missionaries, and went from house to
+house, examining all books, which the landlord was compelled under pain
+of eternal damnation to produce. The greater part they confiscated and
+burnt. They thus endeavored to extinguish the ancient literature of the
+country, labored to persuade the students that before the introduction
+of their order into Bohemia nothing but ignorance prevailed, and
+carefully concealed the learned labors and even the names of our
+ancestors."
+
+Ferdinand, having thus bound Bohemia hand and foot, and having
+accomplished all his purpose in that kingdom, now endeavored, by
+cautious but very decisive steps, to expel Protestant doctrines from all
+parts of the German empire. Decree succeeded decree, depriving
+Protestants of their rights and conferring upon the Roman Catholics
+wealth and station. He had a powerful and triumphant standing army at
+his control, under the energetic and bigoted Wallenstein, ready and able
+to enforce his ordinances. No Protestant prince dared to make any show
+of resistance. All the church property was torn from the Protestants,
+and this vast sum, together with the confiscated territories of those
+Protestant princes or nobles who had ventured to resist the emperor,
+placed at his disposal a large fund from which to reward his followers.
+The emperor kept, however, a large portion of the spoils in his own
+hands for the enriching of his own family.
+
+This state of things soon alarmed even the Catholics. The emperor was
+growing too powerful, and his power was bearing profusely its natural
+fruit of pride and arrogance. The army was insolent, trampling alike
+upon friend and foe. As there was no longer any war, the army had become
+merely the sword of the emperor to maintain his despotism. Wallenstein
+had become so essential to the emperor, and possessed such power at the
+head of the army, that he assumed all the air and state of a sovereign,
+and insulted the highest nobles and the most powerful bishops by his
+assumptions of superiority. The electors of the empire perceiving that
+the emperor was centralizing power in his own hands, and that they would
+soon become merely provincial governors, compelled to obey his laws and
+subject to his appointment and removal, began to whisper to each other
+their alarm.
+
+The Duke of Bavaria was one of the most powerful princes of the German
+empire. He had been the rival of Count Wallenstein, and was now
+exceedingly annoyed by the arrogance of this haughty military chief.
+Wallenstein was the emperor's right arm of strength. Inflamed by as
+intense an ambition as ever burned in a human bosom, every thought and
+energy was devoted to self-aggrandizement. He had been educated a
+Protestant, but abandoned those views for the Catholic faith which
+opened a more alluring field to ambition. Sacrificing the passions of
+youth he married a widow, infirm and of advanced age, but of great
+wealth. The death of his wrinkled bride soon left him the vast property
+without incumbrance. He then entered into a matrimonial alliance which
+favored his political prospects, marrying Isabella, the daughter of
+Count Harruch, who was one of the emperor's greatest favorites.
+
+When Ferdinand's fortunes were at a low ebb, and he knew not in which
+way to find either money or an army, Wallenstein offered to raise fifty
+thousand men at his own expense, to pay their wages, supply them with
+arms and all the munitions of war, and to call upon the emperor for no
+pecuniary assistance whatever, if the emperor would allow him to retain
+the plunder he could extort from the conquered. Upon this majestic scale
+Wallenstein planned to act the part of a highwayman. Ferdinand's
+necessities were so great that he gladly availed himself of this
+infamous offer. Wallenstein made money by the bargain. Wherever he
+marched he compelled the people to support his army, and to support it
+luxuriously. The emperor had now constituted him admiral of the Baltic
+fleet, and had conferred upon him the title of duke, with the splendid
+duchy of Mecklenburg, and the principality of Sagan in Silesia. His
+overbearing conduct and his enormous extortions--he having, in seven
+years, wrested from the German princes more than four hundred million of
+dollars--excited a general feeling of discontent, in which the powerful
+Duke of Bavaria took the lead.
+
+Envy is a stronger passion than political religion. Zealous as the Duke
+of Bavaria had been in the cause of the papal church, he now forgot that
+church in his zeal to abase an arrogant and insulting rival. Richelieu,
+the prime minister of France, was eagerly watching for opportunities to
+humiliate the house of Austria, and he, with alacrity, met the advances
+of the Duke of Bavaria, and conspired with him to form a Catholic
+league, to check the ambition of Wallenstein, and to arrest the enormous
+strides of the emperor. With this object in view, a large number of the
+most powerful Catholic princes met at Heidelberg, in March, 1629, and
+passed resolutions soliciting Ferdinand to summon a diet of the German
+empire to take into consideration the evils occasioned by the army of
+Wallenstein, and to propose a remedy. The emperor had, in his arrogance,
+commanded the princes of the various States in the departments of Suabia
+and Franconia, to disband their troops. To this demand they returned the
+bold and spirited reply,
+
+"Till we have received an indemnification, or a pledge for the payment
+of our expenses, we will neither disband a single soldier, nor
+relinquish a foot of territory, ecclesiastical or secular, _demand it
+who will_."
+
+The emperor did not venture to disregard the request for him to summon a
+diet. Indeed he was anxious, on his own account, to convene the
+electors, for he wished to secure the election of his son to the throne
+of the empire, and he needed succors to aid him in the ambitious wars
+which he was waging in various and distant parts of Europe. The diet was
+assembled at Ratisbon: the emperor presided in person. As he had
+important favors to solicit, he assumed a very conciliatory tone. He
+expressed his regret that the troops had been guilty of such disorders,
+and promised immediate redress. He then, supposing that his promise
+would be an ample satisfaction, very graciously solicited of them the
+succession of the imperial throne for his son, and supplies for his
+army.
+
+But the electors were not at all in a pliant mood. Some were resolved
+that, at all hazards, the imperial army, which threatened Germany,
+should be reduced, and that Wallenstein should be dismissed from the
+command. Others were equally determined that the crown of the empire
+should not descend to the son of Ferdinand. The Duke of Bavaria headed
+the party who would debase Wallenstein; and Cardinal Richelieu, with all
+the potent influences of intrigue and bribery at the command of the
+French court, was the soul of the party resolved to wrest the crown of
+the empire from the house of Austria. Richelieu sent two of the most
+accomplished diplomatists France could furnish, as ambassadors to the
+diet, who, while maintaining, as far as possible, the guise of
+friendship, were to do every thing in their power to thwart the election
+of Ferdinand's son. These were supplied with inexhaustible means for the
+purchase of votes, and were authorized to make any promises, however
+extravagant, which should be deemed essential for the attainment of
+their object.
+
+Ferdinand, long accustomed to have his own way, was not anticipating any
+serious resistance. He was therefore amazed and confounded, when the
+diet returned to him, instead of their humble submission and
+congratulations, a long, detailed, emphatic remonstrance against the
+enormities perpetrated by the imperial army, and demanding the immediate
+reduction of the army, now one hundred and fifty thousand strong, and
+the dismission of Wallenstein, before they could proceed to any other
+business whatever. This bold stand animated the Protestant princes of
+the empire, and they began to be clamorous for their rights. Some of the
+Catholics even espoused their cause, warning Ferdinand that, unless he
+granted the Protestants some degree of toleration, they would seek
+redress by joining the enemies of the empire.
+
+It would have been impossible to frame three demands more obnoxious to
+the emperor. To crush the Protestants had absorbed the energies of his
+life; and now that they were utterly prostrate, to lift them up and
+place them on their feet again, was an idea he could not endure. The
+imperial army had been his supple tool. By its instrumentality he had
+gained all his power, and by its energies alone he retained that power.
+To disband the army was to leave himself defenseless. Wallenstein had
+been every thing to the emperor, and Ferdinand still needed the support
+of his inflexible and unscrupulous energies. Wallenstein was in the
+cabinet of the emperor advising him in this hour of perplexity. His
+counsel was characteristic of his impetuous, headlong spirit. He advised
+the emperor to pour his army into the territory of the Duke of Bavaria;
+chastise him and all his associates for their insolence, and thus
+overawe the rest. But the Duke of Bavaria was in favor of electing the
+emperor's son as his successor on the throne of the empire; and
+Ferdinand's heart was fixed upon this object.
+
+"Dismiss Wallenstein, and reduce the army," said the Duke of Bavaria,
+"and the Catholic electors will vote for your son; grant the required
+toleration to the Protestants, and they will vote for him likewise."
+
+The emperor yielded, deciding in his own mind, aided by the Jesuitical
+suggestions of a monk, that he could afterwards recall Wallenstein, and
+assemble anew his dispersed battalions. He dismissed sixteen thousand of
+his best cavalry; suspended some of the most obnoxious edicts against
+the Protestants, and _implored_ Wallenstein to resign his post. The
+emperor was terribly afraid that this proud general would refuse, and
+would lead the army to mutiny. The emperor accordingly accompanied his
+request with every expression of gratitude and regret, and assured the
+general of his continued favor. Wallenstein, well aware that the
+disgrace would be but temporary, quietly yielded. He dismissed the
+envoys of the emperor with presents, wrote a very submissive letter,
+and, with much ostentation of obedience, retired to private life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+FERDINAND II. AND GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
+
+From 1629 to 1632.
+
+Vexation of Ferdinand.--Gustavus Adolphus.--Address to the nobles of
+Sweden.--March of Gustavus.--Appeal to the Protestants.--Magdeburg joins
+Gustavus.--Destruction of the city.--Consternation of the Protestants.--
+Exultation of the Catholics.--The Elector of Saxony driven from his
+domains.--Battle of Leipsig.--The Swedes penetrate Bohemia.--Freedom of
+conscience established.--Death of Tilly.--The Retirement of
+Wallenstein.--The command resumed by Wallenstein.--Capture of
+Prague.--Encounter between Wallenstein and Gustavus.--Battle of
+Lutzen.--Death of Gustavus.
+
+
+The hand of France was conspicuous in wresting all these sacrifices from
+the emperor, and was then still more conspicuous in thwarting his plans
+for the election of his son. The ambassadors of Richelieu, with
+diplomatic adroitness, urged upon the diet the Duke of Bavaria as
+candidate for the imperial crown. This tempting offer silenced the duke,
+and he could make no more efforts for the emperor. The Protestants
+greatly preferred the duke to any one of the race of the bigoted
+Ferdinand. The emperor was excessively chagrined by this aspect of
+affairs, and abruptly dissolved the diet. He felt that he had been duped
+by France; that a cunning monk, Richelieu's ambassador, had outwitted
+him. In his vexation he exclaimed, "A Capuchin friar has disarmed me
+with his rosary, and covered six electoral caps with his cowl."
+
+The emperor was meditating vengeance--the recall of Wallenstein, the
+reconstruction of the army, the annulling of the edict of toleration,
+the march of an invading force into the territories of the Duke of
+Bavaria, and the chastisement of all, Catholics as well as Protestants,
+who had aided in thwarting his plans--when suddenly a new enemy
+appeared. Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, reigning over his remote
+realms on the western shores of the Baltic, though a zealous Protestant,
+was regarded by Ferdinand as a foe too distant and too feeble to be
+either respected or feared. But Gustavus, a man of exalted abilities,
+and of vast energy, was watching with intense interest the despotic
+strides of the emperor. In his endeavors to mediate in behalf of the
+Protestants of Germany, he had encountered repeated insults on the part
+of Ferdinand. The imperial troops were now approaching his own kingdom.
+They had driven Christian IV., King of Denmark, from his continental
+territories on the eastern shore of the Baltic, had already taken
+possession of several of the islands, and were constructing a fleet
+which threatened the command of that important sea. Gustavus was
+alarmed, and roused himself to assume the championship of the civil and
+religious liberties of Europe. He conferred with all the leading
+Protestant princes, formed alliances, secured funds, stationed troops to
+protect his own frontiers, and then, assembling the States of his
+kingdom, entailed the succession of the crown on his only child
+Christiana, explained to them his plans of war against the emperor, and
+concluded a dignified and truly pathetic harangue with the following
+words.
+
+"The enterprise in which I am about to engage is not one dictated by the
+love of conquest or by personal ambition. Our honor, our religion and
+our independence are imperiled. I am to encounter great dangers, and may
+fall upon the field of battle. If it be God's will that I should die in
+the defense of liberty, of my country and of mankind, I cheerfully
+surrender myself to the sacrifice. It is my duty as a sovereign to obey
+the King of kings without murmuring, and to resign the power I have
+received from His hands whenever it shall suit His all-wise purposes. I
+shall yield up my last breath with the firm persuasion that Providence
+will support my subjects because they are faithful and virtuous, and
+that my ministers, generals and senators will punctually discharge their
+duty to my child because they love justice, respect me, and feel for
+their country."
+
+The king himself was affected as he uttered these words, and tears
+moistened the eyes of many of the stern warriors who surrounded him.
+With general acclaim they approved of his plan, voted him all the
+succors he required, and enthusiastically offered their own fortunes and
+lives to his service. Gustavus assembled a fleet at Elfsnaben, crossed
+the Baltic sea, and in June, 1630, landed thirty thousand troops in
+Pomerania, which Wallenstein had overrun. The imperial army, unprepared
+for such an assault, fled before the Swedish king. Marching rapidly,
+Gustavus took Stettin, the capital of the duchy, situated at the mouth
+of the Oder, and commanding that stream. Driving the imperial troops
+everywhere before him from Pomerania, and pursuing them into the
+adjoining Mark of Brandenburg, he took possession of a large part of
+that territory. He issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of Germany,
+recapitulating the arbitrary and despotic acts of the emperor, and
+calling upon all Protestants to aid in an enterprise, in the success of
+which the very existence of Protestantism in Germany seemed to be
+involved. But so utterly had the emperor crushed the spirits of the
+Protestants by his fiend-like severity, that but few ventured to respond
+to his appeal. The rulers, however, of many of the Protestant States met
+at Leipsic, and without venturing to espouse the cause of Gustavus, and
+without even alluding to his invasion, they addressed a letter to the
+emperor demanding a redress of grievances, and informing him that they
+had decided to establish a permanent council for the direction of their
+own affairs, and to raise an army of forty thousand men for their own
+protection.
+
+Most of these events had occurred while the emperor, with Wallenstein,
+was at Ratisbon, intriguing to secure the succession of the imperial
+crown for his son. They both looked upon the march of the King of Sweden
+into the heart of Germany as the fool-hardy act of a mad adventurer. The
+courtiers ridiculed his transient conquests, saying, "Gustavus Adolphus
+is a king of snow. Like a snowball he will melt in a southern clime."
+Wallenstein was particularly contemptuous. "I will whip him back to his
+country," said he, "like a truant school-boy, with rods." Ferdinand was
+for a time deceived by these representations, and was by no means aware
+of the real peril which threatened him. The diet which the emperor had
+assembled made a proclamation of war against Gustavus, but adopted no
+measures of energy adequate to the occasion. The emperor sent a silly
+message to Gustavus that if he did not retire immediately from Germany
+he would attack him with his whole force. To this folly Gustavus
+returned a contemptuous reply.
+
+A few of the minor Protestant princes now ventured to take arms and join
+the standard of Gustavus. The important city of Magdeburg, in Saxony, on
+the Elbe, espoused his cause. This city, with its bastions and outworks
+completely commanding the Elbe, formed one of the strongest fortresses
+of Europe. It contained, exclusive of its strong garrison, thirty
+thousand inhabitants. It was now evident to Ferdinand that vigorous
+action was called for. He could not, consistently with his dignity,
+recall Wallenstein in the same breath with which he had dismissed him.
+He accordingly concentrated his troops and placed them under the command
+of Count Tilly. The imperial troops were dispatched to Magdeburg. They
+surrounded the doomed city, assailed it furiously, and proclaimed their
+intention of making it a signal mark of imperial vengeance.
+Notwithstanding the utmost efforts of Gustavus to hasten to their
+relief, he was foiled in his endeavors, and the town was carried by
+assault on the 10th of May. Never, perhaps, did earth witness a more
+cruel exhibition of the horrors of war. The soul sickens in the
+contemplation of outrages so fiend-like. We prefer to give the narrative
+of these deeds, which it is the duty of history to record, in the
+language of another.
+
+"All the horrors ever exercised against a captured place were repeated
+and almost surpassed, on this dreadful event, which, notwithstanding all
+the subsequent disorders and the lapse of time, is still fresh in the
+recollection of its inhabitants and of Germany. Neither age, beauty nor
+innocence, neither infancy nor decrepitude, found refuge or compassion
+from the fury of the licentious soldiery. No retreat was sufficiently
+secure to escape their rapacity and vengeance; no sanctuary sufficiently
+sacred to repress their lust and cruelty. Infants were murdered before
+the eyes of their parents, daughters and wives violated in the arms of
+their fathers and husbands. Some of the imperial officers, recoiling
+from this terrible scene, flew to Count Tilly and supplicated him to put
+a stop to the carnage. 'Stay yet an hour,' was his barbarous reply; 'let
+the soldier have some compensation for his dangers and fatigues.'
+
+"The troops, left to themselves, after sating their passions, and almost
+exhausting their cruelty in three hours of pillage and massacre, set
+fire to the town, and the flames were in an instant spread by the wind
+to every quarter of the place. Then opened a scene which surpassed all
+the former horrors. Those who had hitherto escaped, or who were forced
+by the flames from their hiding-places, experienced a more dreadful
+fate. Numbers were driven into the Elbe, others massacred with every
+species of savage barbarity--the wombs of pregnant women ripped up, and
+infants thrown into the fire or impaled on pikes and suspended over the
+flames. History has no terms, poetry no language, painting no colors to
+depict all the horrors of the scene. In less than ten hours the most
+rich, the most flourishing and the most populous town in Germany was
+reduced to ashes. The cathedral, a single convent and a few miserable
+huts, were all that were left of its numerous buildings, and scarcely
+more than a thousand souls all that remained of more than thirty
+thousand inhabitants.
+
+"After an interval of two days, when the soldiers were fatigued, if not
+sated, with devastation and slaughter, and when the flames had begun to
+subside, Tilly entered the town in triumph. To make room for his passage
+the streets were cleared and six thousand carcasses thrown into the
+Elbe. He ordered the pillage to cease, pardoned the scanty remnant of
+the inhabitants, who had taken refuge in the cathedral, and, surrounded
+by flames and carnage, had remained three days without food or
+refreshment, under all the terrors of impending fate. After hearing a
+_Te Deum_ in the midst of military pomp, he paraded the streets; and
+even though his unfeeling heart seemed touched with the horrors of the
+scene, he could not refrain from the savage exultation of boasting to
+the emperor, and comparing the assault of Magdeburg to the sack of Troy
+and of Jerusalem."
+
+This terrible display of vengeance struck the Protestants with
+consternation. The extreme Catholic party were exultant, and their
+chiefs met in a general assembly and passed resolutions approving the
+course of the emperor and pledging him their support. Ferdinand was much
+encouraged by this change in his favor, and declared his intention of
+silencing all Protestant voices. He recalled an army of twenty-four
+thousand men from Italy. They crossed the Alps, and, as they marched
+through the frontier States of the empire, they spread devastation and
+ruin through all the Protestant territories, exacting enormous
+contributions, compelling the Protestant princes, on oath, to renounce
+the Protestant league, and to unite with the Catholic confederacy
+against the King of Sweden.
+
+In the meantime, Gustavus pressed forward into the duchy of Mecklenburg,
+driving the imperial troops before him. Tilly retired into the territory
+of the Elector of Saxony, robbing, burning and destroying everywhere.
+Uniting his force with the army from Italy he ravaged the country,
+resistlessly advancing even to Leipsic, and capturing the city. The
+elector, quite unable to cope with so powerful a foe, retired with his
+troops to the Swedish camp, where he entered into an offensive and
+defensive alliance with Gustavus. The Swedish army, thus reinforced,
+hastened to the relief of Leipsic, and arrived before its walls the very
+day on which the city surrendered.
+
+Tilly, with the pride of a conqueror, advanced to meet them. The two
+armies, about equal in numbers, and commanded by their renowned
+captains, met but a few miles from the city. Neither of the commanders
+had ever before suffered a defeat. It was a duel, in which one or the
+other must fall. Every soldier in the ranks felt the sublimity of the
+hour. For some time there was marching and countermarching--the planting
+of batteries, and the gathering of squadrons and solid columns, each one
+hesitating to strike the first blow. At last the signal was given by the
+discharge of three pieces of cannon from one of the batteries of Tilly.
+Instantly a thunder peal rolled along the extended lines from wing to
+wing. The awful work of death was begun. Hour after hour the fierce and
+bloody fight continued, as the surges of victory and defeat swept to and
+fro upon the plain. But the ever uncertain fortune of battle decided in
+favor of the Swedes. As the darkness of evening came prematurely on,
+deepened by the clouds of smoke which canopied the field, the
+imperialists were everywhere flying in dismay. Tilly, having been struck
+by three balls, was conveyed from the field in excruciating pain to a
+retreat in Halle. Seven thousand of his troops lay dead upon the field.
+Five thousand were taken prisoners. All the imperial artillery and
+baggage fell into the hands of the conqueror. The rest of the army was
+so dispersed that but two thousand could be rallied under the imperial
+banners.
+
+Gustavus, thus triumphant, dispatched a portion of his army, under the
+Elector of Saxony, to rescue Bohemia from the tyrant grasp of the
+emperor. Gustavus himself, with another portion, marched in various
+directions to cut off the resources of the enemy and to combine the
+scattered parts of the Protestant confederacy. His progress was like the
+tranquil march of a sovereign in his own dominions, greeted by the
+enthusiasm of his subjects. He descended the Maine to the Rhine, and
+then ascending the Rhine, took every fortress from Maine to Strasbourg.
+While Gustavus was thus extending his conquests through the very heart
+of Germany, the Elector of Saxony reclaimed all of Bohemia from the
+imperial arms. Prague itself capitulated to the Saxon troops. Count
+Thurn led the Saxon troops in triumph over the same bridge which he, but
+a few months before, had traversed a fugitive. He found, impaled upon
+the bridge, the shriveled heads of twelve of his companions, which he
+enveloped in black satin and buried with funeral honors.
+
+The Protestants of Bohemia rose enthusiastically to greet their
+deliverers. Their churches, schools and universities were reestablished.
+Their preachers resumed their functions. Many returned from exile and
+rejoiced in the restoration of their confiscated property. The Elector
+of Saxony retaliated upon the Catholics the cruel wrongs which they had
+inflicted upon the Protestants. Their castles were plundered, their
+nobles driven into exile, and the conquerors loaded themselves with the
+spoils of the vanquished.
+
+But Ferdinand, as firm and inexorable in adversity as in prosperity,
+bowed not before disaster. He roused the Catholics to a sense of their
+danger, organized new coalitions, raised new armies. Tilly, with
+recruited forces, was urged on to arrest the march of the conqueror.
+Burning under the sense of shame for his defeat at Leipsic, he placed
+himself at the head of his veterans, fell, struck by a musket-ball, and
+died, after a few days of intense suffering, at the age of
+seventy-three. The vast Austrian empire, composed of so many
+heterogeneous States, bound together only by the iron energy of
+Ferdinand, seemed now upon the eve of its dissolution. The Protestants,
+who composed in most of the States a majority, were cordially rallying
+beneath the banners of Gustavus. They had been in a state of despair.
+They now rose in exalted hope. Many of the minor princes who had been
+nominally Catholics, but whose Christian creeds were merely political
+dogmas, threw themselves into the arms of Gustavus. Even the Elector of
+Bavaria was so helpless in his isolation, that, champion as he had been
+of the Catholic party, there seemed to be no salvation for him but in
+abandoning the cause of Ferdinand. Gustavus was now, with a victorious
+army, in the heart of Germany. He was in possession of the whole western
+country from the Baltic to the frontiers of France, and apparently a
+majority of the population were in sympathy with him.
+
+Ferdinand at first resolved, in this dire extremity, to assume himself
+the command of his armies, and in person to enter the field. This was
+heroic madness, and his friends soon convinced him of the folly of one
+so inexperienced in the arts of war undertaking to cope with Gustavus
+Adolphus, now the most experienced and renowned captain in Europe. He
+then thought of appointing his son, the Archduke Ferdinand,
+commander-in-chief. But Ferdinand was but twenty-three years of age, and
+though a young man of decided abilities, was by no means able to
+encounter on the field the skill and heroism of the Swedish warrior. In
+this extremity, Ferdinand was compelled to turn his eyes to his
+discarded general Wallenstein.
+
+This extraordinary man, in renouncing, at the command of his sovereign,
+his military supremacy, retired with boundless wealth, and assumed a
+style of living surpassing even regal splendor. His gorgeous palace at
+Prague was patrolled by sentinels. A body-guard of fifty halberdiers, in
+sumptuous uniform, ever waited in his ante-chamber. Twelve nobles
+attended his person, and four gentlemen ushers introduced to his
+presence those whom he condescended to favor with an audience. Sixty
+pages, taken from the most illustrious families, embellished his courts.
+His steward was a baron of the highest rank; and even the chamberlain of
+the emperor had left Ferdinand's court, that he might serve in the more
+princely palace of this haughty subject. A hundred guests dined daily at
+his table. His gardens and parks were embellished with more than
+oriental magnificence. Even his stables were furnished with marble
+mangers, and supplied with water from an ever-living fountain. Upon his
+journeys he was accompanied by a suite of twelve coaches of state and
+fifty carriages. A large retinue of wagons conveyed his plate and
+equipage. Fifty mounted grooms followed with fifty led horses richly
+caparisoned. (Coxe's "House of Austria," ii., 254.)
+
+Wallenstein watched the difficulties gathering around the emperor with
+satisfaction which he could not easily disguise. Though intensely eager
+to be restored to the command of the armies, he affected an air of great
+indifference, and when the emperor suggested his restoration, he very
+adroitly played the coquette. The emperor at first proposed that his
+son, the Archduke Ferdinand, should nominally have the command, while
+Wallenstein should be his executive and advisory general. "I would not
+serve," said the impious captain, "as second in command under God
+Himself."
+
+After long negotiation, Wallenstein, with well-feigned reluctance,
+consented to relinquish for a few weeks the sweets of private life, and
+to recruit an army, and bring it under suitable discipline. He, however,
+limited the time of his command to three months. With his boundless
+wealth and amazing energy, he immediately set all springs in motion.
+Adventurers from all parts of Europe, lured by the splendor of his past
+achievements, crowded his ranks. In addition to his own vast opulence,
+the pope and the court of Spain opened freely to him their purses. As by
+magic he was in a few weeks at the head of forty thousand men. In
+companies, regiments and battalions they were incessantly drilled, and
+by the close of three months this splendid army, thoroughly furnished,
+and in the highest state of discipline, was presented to the emperor.
+Every step he had taken had convinced, and was intended to convince
+Ferdinand that his salvation depended upon the energies of Wallenstein.
+Gustavus was now, in the full tide of victory, marching from the Rhine
+to the Danube, threatening to press his conquests even to Vienna.
+Ferdinand was compelled to assume the attitude of a suppliant, and to
+implore his proud general to accept the command of which he had so
+recently been deprived. Wallenstein exacted terms so humiliating as in
+reality to divest the emperor of his imperial power. He was to be
+declared generalissimo of all the forces of the empire, and to be
+invested with unlimited authority. The emperor pledged himself that
+neither he nor his son would ever enter the camp. Wallenstein was to
+appoint all his officers, distribute all rewards, and the emperor was
+not allowed to grant either a pardon or a safe-conduct without the
+confirmation of Wallenstein. The general was to levy what contribution
+he pleased upon the vanquished enemy, confiscate property, and no peace
+or truce was to be made with the enemy without his consent. Finally, he
+was to receive, either from the spoils of the enemy, or from the
+hereditary States of the empire, princely remuneration for his services.
+
+Armed with such enormous power, Wallenstein consented to place himself
+at the head of the army. He marched to Prague, and without difficulty
+took the city. Gradually he drove the Saxon troops from all their
+fortresses in Bohemia. Then advancing to Bavaria, he effected a junction
+with Bavarian troops, and found himself sufficiently strong to attempt
+to arrest the march of Gustavus. The imperial force now amounted to
+sixty thousand men. Wallenstein was so sanguine of success, that he
+boasted that in a few days he would decide the question, whether
+Gustavus Adolphus or Wallenstein was to be master of the world. The
+Swedish king was at Nuremberg with but twenty thousand men, when he
+heard of the approach of the imperial army, three times outnumbering his
+own. Disdaining to retreat, he threw up redoubts, and prepared for a
+desperate defense. As Wallenstein brought up his heavy battalions, he
+was so much overawed by the military genius which Gustavus had displayed
+in his strong intrenchments, and by the bold front which the Swedes
+presented, that notwithstanding his boast, he did not dare to hazard an
+attack. He accordingly threw up intrenchments opposite the works of the
+Swedes, and there the two armies remained, looking each other in the
+face for eight weeks, neither daring to withdraw from behind their
+intrenchments, and each hoping to starve the other party out. Gustavus
+did every thing in his power to provoke Wallenstein to the attack, but
+the wary general, notwithstanding the importunities of his officers, and
+the clamors of his soldiers, refused to risk an engagement. Both parties
+were all the time strengthening their intrenchments and gathering
+reinforcements.
+
+At last Gustavus resolved upon an attack. He led his troops against the
+intrenchments of Wallenstein, which resembled a fortress rather than a
+camp. The Swedes clambered over the intrenchments, and assailed the
+imperialists with as much valor and energy as mortals ever exhibited.
+They were, however, with equal fury repelled, and after a long conflict
+were compelled to retire again behind their fortifications with the loss
+of three thousand of their best troops. For another fortnight the two
+armies remained watching each other, and then Gustavus, leaving a strong
+garrison in Nuremberg, slowly and defiantly retired. Wallenstein stood
+so much in fear of the tactics of Gustavus that he did not even venture
+to molest his retreat. During this singular struggle of patient
+endurance, both armies suffered fearfully from sickness and famine. In
+the city of Nuremberg ten thousand perished. Gustavus buried twenty
+thousand of his men beneath his intrenchments. And in the imperial army,
+after the retreat of Gustavus, but thirty thousand troops were left to
+answer the roll-call.
+
+Wallenstein claimed, and with justice, the merit of having arrested the
+steps of Gustavus, though he could not boast of any very chivalrous
+exploits. After various maneuvering, and desolating marches, the two
+armies, with large reinforcements, met at Lutzen, about thirty miles
+from Leipsic. It was in the edge of the evening when they arrived within
+sight of each other's banners. Both parties passed an anxious night,
+preparing for the decisive battle which the dawn of the morning would
+usher in.
+
+Wallenstein was fearfully alarmed. He had not willingly met his dreaded
+antagonist, and would now gladly escape the issues of battle. He called
+a council of war, and even suggested a retreat. But it was decided that
+such an attempt in the night, and while watched by so able and vigilant
+a foe, would probably involve the army in irretrievable ruin, besides
+exposing his own name to deep disgrace. The imperial troops, thirty
+thousand strong, quite outnumbered the army of Gustavus, and the
+officers of Wallenstein unanimously advised to give battle. Wallenstein
+was a superstitious man and deeply devoted to astrological science. He
+consulted his astrologers, and they declared the stars to be
+unpropitious to Gustavus. This at once decided him. He resolved,
+however, to act on the defensive, and through the night employed the
+energies of his army in throwing up intrenchments. In the earliest dawn
+of the morning mass was celebrated throughout the whole camp, and
+Wallenstein on horseback rode along behind the redoubts, urging his
+troops, by every consideration, to fight valiantly for their emperor and
+their religion.
+
+The morning was dark and lowering, and such an impenetrable fog
+enveloped the armies that they were not visible to each other. It was
+near noon ere the fog arose, and the two armies, in the full blaze of an
+unclouded sun, gazed, awe-stricken, upon each other. The imperial troops
+and the Swedish troops were alike renowned; and Gustavus Adolphus and
+Wallenstein were, by universal admission, the two ablest captains in
+Europe. Neither force could even affect to despise the other. The scene
+unfolded, as the vapor swept away, was one which even war has seldom
+presented. The vast plain of Lutzen extended many miles, almost as
+smooth, level and treeless as a western prairie. Through the center of
+this plain ran a nearly straight and wide road. On one side of this
+road, in long line, extending one or two miles, was the army of
+Wallenstein. His whole front was protected by a ditch and redoubts
+bristling with bayonets. Behind these intrenchments his army was
+extended; the numerous and well-mounted cavalry at the wings, the
+artillery, in ponderous batteries, at the center, with here and there
+solid squares of infantry to meet the rush of the assailing columns. On
+the other side of the road, and within musket-shot, were drawn up in a
+parallel line the troops of Gustavus. He had interspersed along his
+double line bands of cavalry, with artillery and platoons of musketeers,
+that he might be prepared from any point to make or repel assault. The
+whole host stood reverently, with uncovered heads, as a public prayer
+was offered. The Psalm which Watts has so majestically versified was
+read--
+
+  "God is the refuge of his saints,
+  When storms of dark distress invade;
+  Ere we can offer our complaints,
+  Behold him present with his aid.
+
+  "Let mountains from their seats be hurled
+  Down to the deep, and buried there,
+  Convulsions shake the solid world;
+  Our faith shall never yield to fear."
+
+From twenty thousand voices the solemn hymn arose and floated over the
+field--celestial songs, to be succeeded by demoniac clangor. Both
+parties appealed to the God of battle; both parties seemed to feel that
+their cause was just. Alas for man!
+
+Gustavus now ordered the attack. A solid column emerged from his ranks,
+crossed the road, in breathless silence approached the trenches, while
+both armies looked on. They were received with a volcanic sheet of flame
+which prostrated half of them bleeding upon the sod. Gustavus ordered
+column after column to follow on to support the assailants, and to
+pierce the enemy's center. In his zeal he threw himself from his horse,
+seized a pike, and rushed to head the attack. Wallenstein energetically
+ordered up cavalry and artillery to strengthen the point so fiercely
+assailed. And now the storm of war blazed along the whole lines. A
+sulphureous canopy settled down over the contending hosts, and
+thunderings, shrieks, clangor as of Pandemonium, filled the air. The
+king, as reckless of life as if he had been the meanest soldier, rushed
+to every spot where the battle raged the fiercest. Learning that his
+troops upon the left were yielding to the imperial fire, he mounted his
+horse and was galloping across the field swept by the storm of war, when
+a bullet struck his arm and shattered the bone. Almost at the same
+moment another bullet struck his breast, and he fell mortally wounded
+from his horse, exclaiming, "My God! my God!"
+
+The command now devolved upon the Duke of Saxe Weimar. The horse of
+Gustavus, galloping along the lines, conveyed to the whole army the
+dispiriting intelligence that their beloved chieftain had fallen. The
+duke spread the report that he was not killed, but taken prisoner, and
+summoned all to the rescue. This roused the Swedes to superhuman
+exertions. They rushed over the ramparts, driving the infantry back upon
+the cavalry, and the whole imperial line was thrown into confusion. Just
+at that moment, when both parties were in the extreme of exhaustion,
+when the Swedes were shouting victory and the imperialists were flying
+in dismay, General Pappenheim, with eight fresh regiments of imperial
+cavalry, came galloping upon the field. This seemed at once to restore
+the battle to the imperialists, and the Swedes were apparently undone.
+But just then a chance bullet struck Pappenheim and he fell, mortally
+wounded, from his horse. The cry ran through the imperial ranks,
+"Pappenheim is killed and the battle is lost." No further efforts of
+Wallenstein were of any avail to arrest the confusion. His whole host
+turned and fled. Fortunately for them, the darkness of the approaching
+night, and a dense fog settling upon the plain, concealed them from
+their pursuers. During the night the imperialists retired, and in the
+morning the Swedes found themselves in possession of the field with no
+foe in sight. But the Swedes had no heart to exult over their victory.
+The loss of their beloved king was a greater calamity than any defeat
+could have been. His mangled body was found, covered with blood, in the
+midst of heaps of the slain, and so much mutilated with the tramplings
+of cavalry as to be with difficulty recognized.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+FERDINAND II., FERDINAND III. AND LEOPOLD I
+
+From 1632 to 1662.
+
+Character of Gustavus Adolphus.--Exultation of the Imperialists.--
+Disgrace of Wallenstein.--He Offers to Surrender to the Swedish
+General.--His Assassination.--Ferdinand's Son Elected as his
+Successor.--Death of Ferdinand.--Close of the War.--Abdication of
+Christina.--Charles Gustavus.--Preparations for War.--Death Of Ferdinand
+III.--Leopold Elected Emperor.--Hostilities Renewed.--Death of Charles
+Gustavus.--Diet Convened.--Invasion of the Turks.
+
+
+The battle of Lutzen was fought on the 16th of November, 1632. It is
+generally estimated that the imperial troops were forty thousand, while
+there were but twenty-seven thousand in the Swedish army. Gustavus was
+then thirty-eight years of age. A plain stone still marks the spot where
+he fell. A few poplars surround it, and it has become a shrine visited
+by strangers from all parts of the world. Traces of his blood are still
+shown in the town-house of Lutzen, where his body was transported from
+the fatal field. The buff waistcoat he wore in the engagement, pierced
+by the bullet which took his life, is preserved as a trophy in the
+arsenal at Vienna.
+
+Both as a monarch and a man, this illustrious sovereign stands in the
+highest ranks. He possessed the peculiar power of winning the ardent
+attachment of all who approached him. Every soldier in the army was
+devoted to him, for he shared all their toils and perils. "Cities," he
+said, "are not taken by keeping in tents; as scholars, in the absence of
+the master, shut their books, so my troops, without my presence, would
+slacken their blows."
+
+In very many traits of character he resembled Napoleon, combining in his
+genius the highest attributes of the statesman and the soldier. Like
+Napoleon he was a predestinarian, believing himself the child of
+Providence, raised for the accomplishment of great purposes, and that
+the decrees of his destiny no foresight could thwart. When urged to
+spare his person in the peril of battle, he replied,
+
+"My hour is written in heaven, and can not be reversed."
+
+Frederic, the unhappy Elector of the Palatine, and King of Bohemia, who
+had been driven from his realms by Ferdinand, and who, for some years,
+had been wandering from court to court in Europe, seeking an asylum, was
+waiting at Mentz, trusting that the success of the armies of Gustavus
+would soon restore him to his throne. The death of the king shattered
+all his hopes. Disappointment and chagrin threw him into a fever of
+which he died, in the thirty-ninth year of his age. The death of
+Gustavus was considered by the Catholics such a singular interposition
+of Providence in their behalf, that, regardless of the disaster of
+Lutzen, they surrendered themselves to the most enthusiastic joy. Even
+in Spain bells were rung, and the streets of Madrid blazed with bonfires
+and illuminations. At Vienna it was regarded as a victory, and _Te
+Deums_ were chanted in the cathedral. Ferdinand, however, conducted with
+a decorum which should be recorded to his honor. He expressed the
+fullest appreciation of the grand qualities of his opponent, and in
+graceful words regretted his untimely death. When the bloody waistcoat,
+perforated by the bullet, was shown him, he turned from it with
+utterances of sadness and regret. Even if this were all feigned, it
+shows a sense of external propriety worthy of record.
+
+It was the genius of Gustavus alone which had held together the
+Protestant confederacy. No more aid of any efficiency could be
+anticipated from Sweden. Christina, the daughter and heiress of
+Gustavus, was in her seventh year. The crown was claimed by her cousin
+Ladislaus, the King of Poland, and this disputed succession threatened
+the kingdom with the calamities of civil war. The Senate of Sweden in
+this emergence conducted with great prudence. That they might secure an
+honorable peace they presented a bold front of war. A council of regency
+was appointed, abundant succors in men and money voted, and the
+Chancellor Oxenstiern, a man of commanding civil and military talents,
+was intrusted with the sole conduct of the war. The Senate declared the
+young queen the legitimate successor to the throne, and forbade all
+allusion to the claims of Ladislaus, under the penalty of high treason.
+
+Oxenstiern proved himself worthy to be the successor of Gustavus. He
+vigorously renewed alliances with the German princes, and endeavored to
+follow out the able plans sketched by the departed monarch. Wallenstein,
+humiliated by his defeat, had fallen back into Bohemia, and now, with
+moderation strangely inconsistent with his previous career, urged the
+emperor to conciliate the Protestants by publishing a decree of general
+amnesty, and by proposing peace on favorable terms. But the iron will of
+Ferdinand was inflexible. In heart, exulting that his most formidable
+foe was removed, he resolved with unrelenting vigor to prosecute the
+war. The storm of battle raged anew; and to the surprise of Ferdinand,
+Oxenstiern moved forward with strides of victory as signal as those of
+his illustrious predecessor. Wallenstein meanly attempted to throw the
+blame of the disaster at Lutzen upon the alleged cowardice of his
+officers. Seventeen of them he hanged, and consigned fifty others to
+infamy by inscribing their names upon the gallows.
+
+So haughty a man could not but have many enemies at court. They
+combined, and easily persuaded Ferdinand, who had also been insulted by
+his arrogance, again to degrade him. Wallenstein, informed of their
+machinations, endeavored to rally the army to a mutiny in his favor.
+Ferdinand, alarmed by this intelligence, which even threatened his own
+dethronement, immediately dismissed Wallenstein from the command, and
+dispatched officers from Vienna to seize his person, dead or alive. This
+roused Wallenstein to desperation. Having secured the cooeperation of his
+leading officers, he dispatched envoys to the Swedish camp, offering to
+surrender important fortresses to Oxenstiern, and to join him against
+the emperor. It was an atrocious act of treason, and so marvellous in
+its aspect, that Oxenstiern regarded it as mere duplicity on the part of
+Wallenstein, intended to lead him into a trap. He therefore dismissed
+the envoy, rejecting the offer. His officers now abandoned him, and
+Gallas, who was appointed as his successor, took command of the army.
+
+With a few devoted adherents, and one regiment of troops, he took refuge
+in the strong fortress of Egra, hoping to maintain himself there until
+he could enter into some arrangement with the Swedes. The officers
+around him, whom he had elevated and enriched by his iniquitous bounty,
+entered into a conspiracy to purchase the favor of the emperor by the
+assassination of their doomed general. It was a very difficult
+enterprise, and one which exposed the conspirators to the most imminent
+peril.
+
+On the 25th of February, 1634, the conspirators gave a magnificent
+entertainment in the castle. They sat long at the table, wine flowed
+freely, and as the darkness of night enveloped the castle, fourteen men,
+armed to the teeth, rushed into the banqueting hall from two opposite
+doors, and fell upon the friends of Wallenstein. Though thus taken by
+surprise, they fought fiercely, and killed several of their assailants
+before they were cut down. They all, however, were soon dispatched. The
+conspirators, fifty in number, then ascended the stairs of the castle to
+the chamber of Wallenstein. They cut down the sentinel at his door, and
+broke into the room. Wallenstein had retired to his bed, but alarmed by
+the clamor, he arose, and was standing at the window in his shirt,
+shouting from it to the soldiers for assistance.
+
+"Are you," exclaimed one of the conspirators, "the traitor who is going
+to deliver the imperial troops to the enemy, and tear the crown from the
+head of the emperor?"
+
+Wallenstein was perfectly helpless. He looked around, and deigned no
+reply. "You must die," continued the conspirator, advancing with his
+halberd. Wallenstein, in silence, opened his arms to receive the blow.
+The sharp blade pierced his body, and he fell dead upon the floor. The
+alarm now spread through the town. The soldiers seized their arms, and
+flocked to avenge their general. But the leading friends of Wallenstein
+were slain; and the other officers easily satisfied the fickle soldiery
+that their general was a traitor, and with rather a languid cry of "Long
+live Ferdinand," they returned to duty.
+
+Two of the leading assassins hastened to Vienna to inform the emperor of
+the deed they had perpetrated. It was welcome intelligence to Ferdinand,
+and he finished the work they had thus commenced by hanging and
+beheading the adherents of Wallenstein without mercy. The assassins were
+abundantly rewarded. The emperor still prosecuted the war with
+perseverance, which no disasters could check. Gradually the imperial
+arms gained the ascendency. The Protestant princes became divided and
+jealous of each other. The emperor succeeded in detaching from the
+alliance, and negotiating a separate peace with the powerful Electors of
+Saxony and Brandenburg. He then assembled a diet at Ratisbon on the 15th
+of September, 1639, and without much difficulty secured the election of
+his son Ferdinand to succeed him on the imperial throne. The emperor
+presided at this diet in person. He was overjoyed in the attainment of
+this great object of his ambition. He was now fifty-nine years of age,
+in very feeble health, and quite worn out by a life of incessant anxiety
+and toil. He returned to Vienna, and in four months, on the 15th of
+February, 1637, breathed his last.
+
+For eighteen years Germany had now been distracted by war. The
+contending parties were so exasperated against each other, that no human
+wisdom could, at once, allay the strife. The new king and emperor,
+Ferdinand III., wished for peace, but he could not obtain it on terms
+which he thought honorable to the memory of his father. The Swedish army
+was still in Germany, aided by the Protestant princes of the empire, and
+especially by the armies and the treasury of France. The thunders of
+battle were daily heard, and the paths of these hostile bands were ever
+marked by smoldering ruins and blood. Vials of woe were emptied,
+unsurpassed in apocalyptic vision. In the siege of Brisac, the wretched
+inhabitants were reduced to such a condition of starvation, that a guard
+was stationed at the burying ground to prevent them from devouring the
+putrid carcasses of the dead.
+
+For eleven years history gives us nothing but a dismal record of weary
+marches, sieges, battles, bombardments, conflagrations, and all the
+unimaginable brutalities and miseries of war. The war had now raged for
+thirty years. Hundreds of thousands of lives had been lost. Millions of
+property had been destroyed, and other millions squandered in the arts
+of destruction. Nearly all Europe had been drawn into this vortex of
+fury and misery. All parties were now weary. And yet seven years of
+negotiation had been employed before they could consent to meet to
+consult upon a general peace. At length congresses of the belligerent
+powers were assembled in two important towns of Westphalia, Osnabruck
+and Munster. Ridiculous disputes upon etiquette rendered this division
+of the congress necessary. The ministers of _electors_ enjoyed the title
+of _excellency_. The ministers of _princes_ claimed the same title.
+Months were employed in settling that question. Then a difficulty arose
+as to the seats at table, who were entitled to the positions of honor.
+After long debate, this point was settled by having a large round table
+made, to which there could be no head and no foot.
+
+For four years the great questions of European policy were discussed by
+this assembly. The all-important treaty, known in history as the peace
+of Westphalia, and which established the general condition of Europe for
+one hundred and fifty years, was signed on the 24th of October, 1648.
+The contracting parties included all the great and nearly all the minor
+powers of Europe. The articles of this renowned treaty are vastly too
+voluminous to be recorded here. The family of Frederic received back the
+Palatinate of which he had been deprived. The Protestants were restored
+to nearly all the rights which they had enjoyed under the beneficent
+reign of Maximilian II. The princes of the German empire, kings, dukes,
+electors, marquises, princes, of whatever name, pledged themselves not
+to oppress those of their subjects who differed from them in religious
+faith. The pope protested against this toleration, but his protest was
+disregarded. The German empire lost its unity, and became a
+conglomeration of three hundred independent sovereignties. Each petty
+prince or duke, though possessing but a few square miles of territory,
+was recognized as a sovereign power, entitled to its court, its army,
+and its foreign alliances. The emperor thus lost much of that power
+which he had inherited from his ancestors; as those princes, whom he had
+previously regarded as vassals, now shared with him sovereign dignity.
+
+Ferdinand III., however, weary of the war which for so many years had
+allowed him not an hour of repose, gladly acceded to these terms of
+peace, and in good faith employed himself in carrying out the terms of
+the treaty. After the exchange of ratifications another congress was
+assembled at Nuremburg to settle some of the minute details, which
+continued in session two years, when at length, in 1651, the armies were
+disbanded, and Germany was released from the presence of a foreign foe.
+
+Internal peace being thus secured, Ferdinand was anxious, before his
+death, to secure the succession of the imperial crown to his son who
+bore his own name. He accordingly assembled a meeting of the electors at
+Prague, and by the free use of bribes and diplomatic intrigue, obtained
+their engagement to support his son. He accomplished his purpose, and
+Ferdinand, quite to the astonishment of Germany, was chosen unanimously,
+King of the Romans--the title assumed by the emperor elect. In June,
+1653, the young prince was crowned at Ratisbon. The joy of his father,
+however, was of short duration. In one year from that time the
+small-pox, in its most loathsome form, seized the prince, and after a
+few days of anguish he died. His father was almost inconsolable with
+grief. As soon as he had partially recovered from the blow, he brought
+forward his second son, Leopold, and with but little difficulty secured
+for him the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, but was disappointed in his
+attempts to secure the suffrages of the German electors.
+
+With energy, moderation and sagacity, the peacefully disposed Ferdinand
+so administered the government as to allay for seven years all the
+menaces of war which were continually arising. For so long a period had
+Germany been devastated by this most direful of earthly calamities,
+which is indeed the accumulation of all conceivable woes, ever leading
+in its train pestilence and famine, that peace seemed to the people a
+heavenly boon. The fields were again cultivated, the cities and villages
+repaired, and comfort began again gradually to make its appearance in
+homes long desolate. It is one of the deepest mysteries of the divine
+government that the destinies of millions should be so entirely placed
+in the hands of a single man. Had Ferdinand II. been an enlightened,
+good man, millions would have been saved from life-long ruin and misery.
+
+One pert young king, in the search of glory, kindled again the lurid
+flames of war. Christina, Queen of Sweden, daughter of Gustavus
+Adolphus, influenced by romantic dreams, abdicated the throne and
+retired to the seclusion of the cloister. Her cousin, Charles Gustavus,
+succeeded her. He thought it a fine thing to play the soldier, and to
+win renown by consigning the homes of thousands to blood and misery. He
+was a king, and the power was in his hands. Merely to gratify this
+fiend-like ambition, he laid claim to the crown of Poland, and raised an
+army for the invasion of that kingdom. A portion of Poland was then in a
+state of insurrection, the Ukraine Cossacks having risen against John
+Cassimar, the king. Charles Gustavus thought that this presented him an
+opportunity to obtain celebrity as a warrior, with but little danger of
+failure. He marched into the doomed country, leaving behind him a wake
+of fire and blood. Cities and villages were burned; the soil was
+drenched with the blood of fathers and sons, his bugle blasts were
+echoed by the agonizing groans of widows and orphans, until at last, in
+an awful battle of three days, under the walls of Warsaw, the Polish
+army, struggling in self-defense, was cut to pieces, and Charles
+Gustavus was crowned a conqueror. Elated by this infernal deed, the most
+infernal which mortal man can commit, he began to look around to decide
+in what direction to extend his conquests.
+
+Ferdinand III., anxious as he was to preserve peace, could not but look
+with alarm upon the movements which now threatened the States of the
+empire. It was necessary to present a barrier to the inroads of such a
+ruffian. He accordingly assembled a diet at Frankfort and demanded
+succors to oppose the threatened invasion on the north. He raised an
+army, entered into an alliance with the defeated and prostrate, yet
+still struggling Poles, and was just commencing his march, when he was
+seized with sudden illness and died, on the 3d of March, 1657. Ferdinand
+was a good man. He was not responsible for the wars which desolated the
+empire during the first years of his reign, for he was doing every thing
+in his power to bring those wars to a close. His administration was a
+blessing to millions. Just before his death he said, and with truth
+which no one will controvert, "During my whole reign no one can reproach
+me with a single act which I knew to be unjust." Happy is the monarch
+who can go into the presence of the King of kings with such a
+conscience.
+
+The death of the emperor was caused by a singular accident. He was not
+very well, and was lying upon a couch in one of the chambers of his
+palace. He had an infant son, but a few weeks old, lying in a cradle in
+the nursery. A fire broke out in the apartment of the young prince. The
+whole palace was instantly in clamor and confusion. Some attendants
+seized the cradle of the young prince, and rushed with it to the chamber
+of the emperor. In their haste and terror they struck the cradle with
+such violence against the wall that it was broken to pieces and the
+child fell, screaming, upon the floor. The cry of fire, the tumult, the
+bursting into the room, the dashing of the cradle and the shrieks of the
+child, so shocked the debilitated king that he died within an hour.
+
+Leopold was but eighteen years of age when he succeeded to the
+sovereignty of all the Austrian dominions, including the crowns of
+Hungary and Bohemia. It was the first great object of his ambition to
+secure the imperial throne also, which his father had failed to obtain
+for him. Louis XIV. was now the youthful sovereign of France. He,
+through his ambitious and able minister, Mazarin, did every thing in his
+power to thwart the endeavors of Ferdinand, and to obtain the brilliant
+prize for himself. The King of Sweden united with the French court in
+the endeavor to abase the pride of the house of Austria. But
+notwithstanding all their efforts, Leopold carried his point, and was
+unanimously elected emperor, and crowned on the 31st of July, 1657. The
+princes of the empire, however, greatly strengthened in their
+independence by the articles of the peace of Westphalia, increasingly
+jealous of their rights, attached forty-five conditions to their
+acceptance of Leopold as emperor. Thus, notwithstanding the imperial
+title, Leopold had as little power over the States of the empire as the
+President of the United States has over the internal concerns of Maine
+or Louisiana. In all such cases there is ever a conflict between two
+parties, the one seeking the centralization of power, and the other
+advocating its dispersion into various distant central points.
+
+The flames of war which Charles Gustavus had kindled were still blazing.
+Leopold continued the alliance which his father had formed with the
+Poles, and sent an army of sixteen thousand men into Poland, hoping to
+cut off the retreat of Charles Gustavus, and take him and all his army
+prisoners. But the Swedish monarch was as sagacious and energetic as he
+was unscrupulous and ambitious. Both parties formed alliances. State
+after State was drawn into the conflict. The flame spread like a
+conflagration. Fleets met in deadly conflict on the Baltic, and
+crimsoned its waves with blood. The thunders of war were soon again
+echoing over all the plains of northern and western Germany--and all
+this because a proud, unprincipled young man, who chanced to be a king,
+wished to be called a _hero_.
+
+He accomplished his object. Through burning homes and bleeding hearts
+and crushed hopes he marched to his renown. The forces of the empire
+were allied with Denmark and Poland against him. With skill and energy
+which can hardly find a parallel in the tales of romance, he baffled all
+the combinations of his foes. Energy is a noble quality, and we may
+admire its exhibition even though we detest the cause which has called
+it forth. The Swedish fleet had been sunk by the Danes, and Charles
+Gustavus was driven from the waters of the Baltic. With a few transports
+he secretly conveyed an army across the Cattegat to the northern coast
+of Jutland, marched rapidly down those inhospitable shores until he came
+to the narrow strait, called the Little Belt, which separates Jutland
+from the large island of Fyen. He crossed this strait on the ice,
+dispersed a corps of Danes posted to arrest him, traversed the island,
+exposed to all the storms of mid-winter, some sixty miles to its eastern
+shore. A series of islands, with intervening straits clogged with ice,
+bridged by a long and circuitous way his passage across the Great Belt.
+A march of ten miles across the hummocks, rising and falling with the
+tides, landed him upon the almost pathless snows of Langeland. Crossing
+that dreary waste diagonally some dozen miles to another arm of the sea
+ten miles wide, which the ices of a winter of almost unprecedented
+severity had also bridged, pushing boldly on, with a recklessness which
+nothing but success redeems from stupendous infatuation, he crossed this
+fragile surface, which any storm might crumble beneath his feet, and
+landed upon the western coast of Laaland. A march of thirty-five miles
+over a treeless, shelterless and almost uninhabited expanse, brought him
+to the eastern shore. Easily crossing a narrow strait about a mile in
+width, he plunged into the forests of the island of Falster. A dreary
+march of twenty-seven miles conducted him to the last remaining arm of
+the sea which separated him from Zealand. This strait, from twelve to
+fifteen miles in breadth, was also closed by ice. Charles Gustavus led
+his hardy soldiers across it, and then, with accelerated steps, pressed
+on some sixty miles to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. In sixteen
+days after landing in Jutland, his troops were encamped in Zealand
+before the gates of the capital.
+
+The King of Denmark was appalled at such a sudden apparition. His allies
+were too remote to render him any assistance. Never dreaming of such an
+attack, his capital was quite defenseless in that quarter. Overwhelmed
+with terror and despondency, he was compelled to submit to such terms as
+the conqueror might dictate. The conqueror was inexorable in his
+demands. Sweden was aggrandized, and Denmark humiliated.
+
+Leopold was greatly chagrined by this sudden prostration of his faithful
+ally. In the midst of these scenes of ambition and of conquest, the
+"king of terrors" came with his summons to Charles Gustavus. The passage
+of this blood-stained warrior to the world of spirits reminds us of the
+sublime vision of Isaiah when the King of Babylon sank into the grave:
+
+"Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; it
+stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it
+hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they
+shall speak and say unto thee,
+
+"'Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy
+pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm
+is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from
+heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the
+ground which didst weaken the nations!'
+
+"They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee,
+saying, 'Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, and didst shake
+kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities
+thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners?'"
+
+The death of Charles Gustavus was the signal for the strife of war to
+cease, and the belligerent nations soon came to terms of accommodation.
+But scarcely was peace proclaimed ere new troubles arose in Hungary. The
+barbarian Turks, with their head-quarters at Constantinople, lived in a
+state of continual anarchy. The cimeter was their only law. The palace
+of the sultan was the scene of incessant assassinations. Nothing ever
+prevented them from assailing their neighbors but incessant quarrels
+among themselves. The life of the Turkish empire was composed of bloody
+insurrections at home, and still more bloody wars abroad. Mahomet IV.
+was now sultan. He was but twenty years of age. A quarrel for ascendency
+among the beauties of his harem had involved the empire in a civil war.
+The sultan, after a long conflict, crushed the insurrection with a
+blood-red hand. Having restored internal tranquillity, he prepared as
+usual for foreign war. By intrigue and the force of arms they took
+possession of most of the fortresses of Transylvania, and crossing the
+frontier, entered Hungary, and laid siege to Great Wardein.
+
+Leopold immediately dispatched ten thousand men to succor the besieged
+town and to garrison other important fortresses. His succors arrived too
+late. Great Wardein fell into the hands of the Turks, and they commenced
+their merciless ravages. Hungary was in a wretched condition. The king,
+residing in Vienna, was merely a nominal sovereign. Chosen by nobles
+proud of their independence, and jealous of each other and of their
+feudal rights, they were unwilling to delegate to the sovereign any
+efficient power. They would crown him with great splendor of gold and
+jewelry, and crowd his court in their magnificent display, but they
+would not grant him the prerogative to make war or peace, to levy taxes,
+or to exercise any other of the peculiar attributes of sovereignty. The
+king, with all his sounding titles and gorgeous parade, was in reality
+but the chairman of a committee of nobles. The real power was with the
+Hungarian diet.
+
+This diet, or congress, was a peculiar body. Originally it consisted of
+the whole body of nobles, who assembled annually on horseback on the
+vast plain of Rakoz, near Buda. Eighty thousand nobles, many of them
+with powerful revenues, were frequently convened at these tumultuous
+gatherings. The people were thought to have no rights which a noble was
+bound to respect. They lived in hovels, hardly superior to those which a
+humane farmer now prepares for his swine. The only function they
+fulfilled was, by a life of exhausting toil and suffering, to raise the
+funds which the nobles expended in their wars and their pleasure; and to
+march to the field of blood when summoned by the bugle. In fact history
+has hardly condescended to allude to the people. We have minutely
+detailed the intrigues and the conflicts of kings and nobles, when
+generation after generation of the masses of the people have passed
+away, as little thought of as billows upon the beach.
+
+These immense gatherings of the nobles were found to be so unwieldy, and
+so inconvenient for the transaction of any efficient business, that
+Sigismond, at the commencement of the fifteenth century, introduced a
+limited kind of representation. The bishops, who stood first in wealth,
+power and rank, and the highest dukes, attended in person. The nobles of
+less exalted rank sent their delegates, and the assembly, much
+diminished in number, was transferred from the open plain to the city of
+Presburg. The diet, at the time of which we write, was assembled once in
+three years, and at such other times as the sovereign thought it
+necessary to convene it. The diet controlled the king, unless he chanced
+to be a man of such commanding character, that by moral power he could
+bring the diet to his feet. A clause had been inserted in the coronation
+oath, that the nobles, without guilt, could oppose the authority of the
+king, whenever he transgressed their privileges; it was also declared
+that no foreign troops could be introduced into the kingdom without the
+consent of the diet.
+
+Under such a government, it was inevitable that the king should be
+involved in a continued conflict with the nobles. The nobles wished for
+aid to repel the Turks; and yet they were unwilling that an Austrian
+army should be introduced into Hungary, lest it should enable the king
+to enlarge those prerogatives which he was ever seeking to extend, and
+which they were ever endeavoring to curtail.
+
+Leopold convened the diet at Presburg. They had a stormy session.
+Leopold had commenced some persecution of the Protestants in the States
+of Austria. This excited the alarm of the Protestant nobles of Hungary;
+and they had reason to dread the intolerance of the Roman Catholics,
+more than the cimeter of the Turk. They openly accused Leopold of
+commencing persecution, and declared that it was his intention to reduce
+Hungary to the state to which Ferdinand II. had reduced Bohemia. They
+met all the suggestions of Leopold, for decisive action, with so many
+provisos and precautions, that nothing could be done. It is dangerous to
+surrender one's arms to a highway robber, or one whom we fear may prove
+such, even if he does promise with them to aid in repelling a foe. The
+Catholics and the Protestants became involved in altercation, and the
+diet was abruptly dissolved.
+
+The Turks eagerly watched their movements, and, encouraged by these
+dissensions, soon burst into Hungary with an army of one hundred
+thousand men. They crossed the Drave at Esseg, and, ascending the valley
+of the Danube, directly north one hundred and fifty miles, crossed that
+stream unopposed at Buda. Still ascending the stream, which here flows
+from the west, they spread devastation everywhere around them, until
+they arrived nearly within sight of the steeples of Vienna. The capital
+was in consternation. To add to their terror and their peril, the
+emperor was dangerously sick of the small-pox, a disease which had so
+often proved fatal to members of the royal family. One of the imperial
+generals, near Presburg, in a strong position, held the invading army in
+check a few days. The ministry, in their consternation, appealed to all
+the powers of Christendom to hasten to the rescue of the cross, now so
+seriously imperiled by the crescent. Forces flowed in, which for a time
+arrested the further advance of the Moslem banners, and afforded time to
+prepare for more efficient action.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+LEOPOLD I.
+
+From 1662 to 1697.
+
+Invasion of the Turks.--A Treaty concluded.--Possessions of Leopold.--
+Invasion of the French.--League of Augsburg.--Devastation of the
+Palatinate.--Invasion of Hungary.--Emeric Tekeli.--Union of Emeric
+Tekeli with the Turks.--Leopold applies to Sobieski.--He immediately
+marches to his Aid.--The Turks conquered.--Sobieski's triumphal
+Receptions.--Meanness of Leopold.--Revenge upon Hungary.--Peace
+concluded.--Contest for Spain.
+
+
+While Europe was rousing itself to repel this invasion of the Turks, the
+grand vizier, leaving garrisons in the strong fortresses of the Danube,
+withdrew the remainder of his army to prepare for a still more
+formidable invasion the ensuing year. Most of the European powers seemed
+disposed to render the emperor some aid. The pope transmitted to him
+about two hundred thousand dollars. France sent a detachment of six
+thousand men. Spain, Venice, Genoa, Tuscany and Mantua, forwarded
+important contributions of money and military stores. Early in the
+summer the Turks, in a powerful and well provided army, commenced their
+march anew. Ascending the valley of the Save, where they encountered no
+opposition, they traversed Styria, that they might penetrate to the seat
+of war through a defenseless frontier. The troops assembled by Leopold,
+sixty thousand in number, under the renowned Prince Montecuculi,
+stationed themselves in a very strong position at St. Gothard, behind
+the river Raab, which flows into the Danube about one hundred miles
+below Vienna. Here they threw up their intrenchments and prepared to
+resist the progress of the invader.
+
+The Turks soon arrived and spread themselves out in military array upon
+the opposite side of the narrow but rapid stream. As the hostile armies
+were preparing for an engagement, a young Turk, magnificently mounted,
+and in gorgeous uniform, having crossed the stream with a party of
+cavalry, rode in advance of the troop, upon the plain, and in the spirit
+of ancient chivalry challenged any Christian knight to meet him in
+single combat. The Chevalier of Lorraine accepted the challenge, and
+rode forth to the encounter. Both armies looked silently on to witness
+the issue of the duel. It was of but a few moments' duration. Lorraine,
+warding off every blow of his antagonist, soon passed his sword through
+the body of the Turk, and he fell dead from his horse. The victor
+returned to the Christian camp, leading in triumph the splendid steed of
+his antagonist.
+
+And now the signal was given for the general battle. The Turks
+impetuously crossing the narrow stream, assailed the Christian camp in
+all directions, with their characteristic physical bravery, the most
+common, cheap and vulgar of all earthly virtues. A few months of
+military discipline will make fearless soldiers of the most ignominious
+wretches who can be raked from the gutters of Christian or heathen
+lands. The battle was waged with intense fierceness on both sides, and
+was long continued with varying success. At last the Turks were routed
+on every portion of the field, and leaving nearly twenty thousand of
+their number either dead upon the plain or drowned in the Raab, they
+commenced a precipitate flight.
+
+Leopold was, for many reasons, very anxious for peace, and immediately
+proposed terms very favorable to the Turks. The sultan was so
+disheartened by this signal reverse that he readily listened to the
+propositions of the emperor, and within nine days after the battle of
+St. Gothard, to the astonishment of all Europe, a truce was concluded
+for twenty years. The Hungarians were much displeased with the terms of
+this treaty; for in the first place, it was contrary to the laws of the
+kingdom for the king to make peace without the consent of the diet, and
+in the second place, the conditions he offered the Turks were
+humiliating to the Hungarians. Leopold confirmed to the Turks their
+ascendency in Transylvania, and allowed them to retain Great Wardein,
+and two other important fortresses in Hungary. It was with no little
+difficulty that the emperor persuaded the diet to ratify these terms.
+
+Leopold is to be considered under the twofold light of sovereign of
+Austria and Emperor of Germany. We have seen that his power as emperor
+was quite limited. His power as sovereign of Austria, also varied
+greatly in the different States of his widely extended realms. In the
+Austrian duchies proper, upon the Danube, of which he was, by long
+hereditary descent, archduke, his sway was almost omnipotent. In Bohemia
+he was powerful, though much less so than in Austria, and it was
+necessary for him to move with caution there, and not to disturb the
+ancient usages of the realm lest he should excite insurrection. In
+Hungary, where the laws and customs were entirely different, Leopold
+held merely a nominal, hardly a recognized sway. The bold Hungarian
+barons, always steel-clad and mounted for war, in their tumultuous
+diets, governed the kingdom. There were other remote duchies and
+principalities, too feeble to stand by themselves, and ever changing
+masters, as they were conquered or sought the protection of other
+powers, which, under the reign of Leopold, were portions of wide
+extended Austria. Another large and vastly important accession was now
+made to his realms. The Tyrol, which, in its natural features, may be
+considered but an extension of Switzerland, is a territory of about one
+hundred miles square, traversed through its whole extent by the Alps.
+Lying just south of Austria it is the key to Italy, opening through its
+defiles a passage to the sunny plains of the Peninsula; and through
+those fastnesses, guarded by frowning castles, no foe could force his
+way, into the valleys of the Tyrol. The most sublime road in Europe is
+that over Mount Brenner, along the banks of the Adige. This province had
+long been in the hands of members of the Austrian family.
+
+On the 15th of June, 1665, Sigismond Francis, Duke of Tyrol, and cousin
+of Leopold, died, leaving no issue, and the province escheated with its
+million of inhabitants to Leopold, as the next heir. This brought a
+large accession of revenue and of military force, to the kingdom.
+Austria was now the leading power in Europe, and Leopold, in rank and
+position, the most illustrious sovereign. Louis XIV. had recently
+married Maria Theresa, eldest daughter of Philip IV., King of Spain.
+Philip, who was anxious to retain the crown of Spain in his own family,
+extorted from Maria Theresa, and from her husband, Louis XIV., the
+renunciation of all right of succession, in favor of his second
+daughter, Margaret, whom he betrothed to Leopold. Philip died in
+September, 1665, leaving these two daughters, one of whom was married to
+the King of France, and leaving also an infant son, who succeeded to the
+throne under the regency of his mother, Ann, daughter of Ferdinand III.,
+of Austria. Margaret was then too young to be married, but in a year
+from this time, in September, 1666, her nuptials were celebrated with
+great splendor at Madrid. The ambitious French monarch, taking advantage
+of the minority of the King of Spain, and of the feeble regency, and in
+defiance of the solemn renunciation made at his marriage, resolved to
+annex the Spanish provinces of the Low Countries to France, and invaded
+the kingdom, leading himself an army of thirty thousand men. The Spanish
+court immediately appealed to Leopold for assistance. But Leopold was so
+embarrassed by troubles in Hungary, and by discontents in the empire
+that he could render no efficient aid. England, however, and other
+powers of Europe, jealous of the aggrandizement of Louis XIV. combined,
+and compelled him to abandon a large portion of the Netherlands, though
+he still retained several fortresses. The ambition of Louis XIV. was
+inflamed, not checked by this reverse, and all Europe was involved again
+in bloody wars. The aggressions of France, and the devastations of
+Tarenne in the Palatinate, roused Germany to listen to the appeals of
+Leopold, and the empire declared war against France. Months of
+desolating war rolled on, decisive of no results, except universal
+misery. The fierce conflict continued with unintermitted fury until
+1679, when the haughty monarch of France, who was as sagacious in
+diplomacy as he was able in war, by bribes and threats succeeded in
+detaching one after another from the coalition against him, until
+Leopold, deserted by nearly all his allies, was also compelled to accede
+to peace.
+
+France, under Louis XIV., was now the dominant power in Europe. Every
+court seemed to be agitated by the intrigues of this haughty sovereign,
+and one becomes weary of describing the incessant fluctuations of the
+warfare. The arrogance of Louis, his unblushing perfidy and his
+insulting assumptions of superiority over all other powers, exasperated
+the emperor to the highest pitch. But the French monarch, by secret
+missions and abounding bribes, kept Hungary in continued commotion, and
+excited such jealousy in the different States of the empire, that
+Leopold was compelled to submit in silent indignation to wrongs almost
+too grievous for human nature to bear.
+
+At length Leopold succeeded in organizing another coalition to resist
+the aggressions of Louis XIV. The Prince of Orange, the King of Sweden
+and the Elector of Brandenburg were the principal parties united with
+the emperor in this confederacy, which was concluded, under the name of
+the "League of Augsburg," on the 21st of June, 1686. An army of sixty
+thousand men was immediately raised. From all parts of Germany troops
+were now hurrying towards the Rhine. Louis, alarmed, retired from the
+Palatinate, which he had overrun, and, to place a barrier between
+himself and his foes, ordered the utter devastation of the unhappy
+country. The diabolical order was executed by Turenne. The whole of the
+Palatinate was surrendered to pillage and conflagration. The elector,
+from the towers of his castle at Mannheim, saw at one time two cities
+and twenty-five villages in flames. He had no force sufficient to
+warrant him to leave the walls of his fortress to oppose the foe. He
+was, however, so moved to despair by the sight, that he sent a challenge
+to Turenne to meet him in single combat. Turenne, by command of the
+king, declined accepting the challenge. More than forty large towns,
+besides innumerable villages, were given up to the flames. It was
+mid-winter. The fields were covered with snow, and swept by freezing
+blasts. The wretched inhabitants, parents and children, driven into the
+bleak plains without food or clothing or shelter, perished miserably by
+thousands. The devastation of the Palatinate is one of the most cruel
+deeds which war has ever perpetrated. For these woes, which no
+imagination can gauge, Louis XIV. is responsible. He has escaped any
+adequate earthly penalty for the crime, but the instinctive sense of
+justice implanted in every breast, demands that he should not escape the
+retributions of a righteous God. "After death cometh the judgment."
+
+This horrible deed roused Germany. All Europe now combined against
+France, except Portugal, Russia and a few of the Italian States. The
+tide now turned in favor of the house of Austria. Germany was so alarmed
+by the arrogance of France, that, to strengthen the power of the
+emperor, the diet with almost perfect unanimity elected his son Joseph,
+though a lad but eleven years of age, to succeed to the imperial throne.
+Indeed, Leopold presented his son in a manner which seemed to claim the
+crown for him as his hereditary right, and the diet did not resist that
+claim. France, rich and powerful, with marvelous energy breasted her
+host of foes. All Europe was in a blaze. The war raged on the ocean,
+over the marshes of Holland, along the banks of the Rhine, upon the
+plains of Italy, through the defiles of the Alps and far away on the
+steppes of Hungary and the shores of the Euxine. To all these points the
+emperor was compelled to send his troops. Year after year of carnage and
+woe rolled on, during which hardly a happy family could be found in all
+Europe.
+
+  "Man's inhumanity to man
+  Made countless millions mourn."
+
+At last all parties became weary of the war, and none of the powers
+having gained any thing of any importance by these long years of crime
+and misery, for which Louis XIV., as the aggressor, is mainly
+responsible, peace was signed on the 30th of October, 1697. One
+important thing, indeed, had been accomplished. The rapacious Louis XIV.
+had been checked in his career of spoliation. But his insatiate ambition
+was by no means subdued. He desired peace only that he might more
+successfully prosecute his plans of aggrandizement. He soon, by his
+system of robbery, involved Europe again in war. Perhaps no man has ever
+lived who has caused more bloody deaths and more wide-spread destruction
+of human happiness than Louis XIV. We wonder not that in the French
+Revolution an exasperated people should have rifled his sepulcher and
+spurned his skull over the pavements as a foot-ball.
+
+Leopold, during the progress of these wars, by the aid of the armies
+which the empire furnished him, recovered all of Hungary and
+Transylvania, driving the Turks beyond the Danube. But the proud
+Hungarian nobles were about as much opposed to the rule of the Austrian
+king as to that of the Turkish sultan. The Protestants gained but little
+by the change, for the Mohammedan was about as tolerant as the papist.
+They all suspected Leopold of the design of establishing over them
+despotic power, and they formed a secret confederacy for their own
+protection. Leopold, released from his warfare against France and the
+Turks, was now anxious to consolidate his power in Hungary, and justly
+regarding the Roman Catholic religion as the great bulwark against
+liberty, encouraged the Catholics to persecute the Protestants.
+
+Leopold took advantage of this conspiracy to march an army into Hungary,
+and attacking the discontented nobles, who had raised an army, he
+crushed them with terrible severity. No mercy was shown. He exhausted
+the energies of confiscation, exile and the scaffold upon his foes; and
+then, having intimidated all so that no one dared to murmur, declared
+the monarchy of Hungary no longer elective but hereditary, like that of
+Bohemia. He even had the assurance to summon a diet of the nobles to
+confirm this decree which defrauded them of their time-honored rights.
+The nobles who were summoned, terrified, instead of obeying, fled into
+Transylvania. The despot then issued an insulting and menacing
+proclamation, declaring that the power he exercised he received from
+God, and calling upon all to manifest implicit submission under peril of
+his vengeance. He then extorted a large contribution of money from the
+kingdom, and quartered upon the inhabitants thirty thousand troops to
+awe them into subjection.
+
+This proclamation was immediately followed by another, changing the
+whole form of government of the kingdom, and establishing an unlimited
+despotism. He then moved vigorously for the extirpation of the
+Protestant religion. The Protestant pastors were silenced; courts were
+instituted for the suppression of heresy; two hundred and fifty
+Protestant ministers were sentenced to be burned at the stake, and then,
+as an act of extraordinary clemency, on the part of the despot, their
+punishment was commuted to hard labor in the galleys for life. All the
+nameless horrors of inquisitorial cruelty desolated the land.
+
+Catholics and Protestants were alike driven to despair by these civil
+and religious outrages. They combined, and were aided both by France and
+Turkey; not that France and Turkey loved justice and humanity, but they
+hated the house of Austria, and wished to weaken its power, that they
+might enrich themselves by the spoils. A noble chief, Emeric Tekeli, who
+had fled from Hungary to Poland, and who hated Austria as Hannibal hated
+Rome, was invested with the command of the Hungarian patriots. Victory
+followed his standard, until the emperor, threatened with entire
+expulsion from the kingdom, offered to reestablish the ancient laws
+which he had abrogated, and to restore to the Hungarians all those civil
+and religious privileges of which he had so ruthlessly defrauded them.
+
+But the Hungarians were no longer to be deceived by his perfidious
+promises. They continued the war; and the sultan sent an army of two
+hundred thousand men to cooperate with Tekeli. The emperor, unable to
+meet so formidable an army, abandoned his garrisons, and, retiring from
+the distant parts of the kingdom, concentrated his troops at Presburg.
+But with all his efforts, he was able to raise an army of only forty
+thousand men. The Duke of Lorraine, who was intrusted with the command
+of the imperial troops, was compelled to retreat precipitately before
+outnumbering foes, and he fled upon the Danube, pursued by the combined
+Hungarians and Turks, until he found refuge within the walls of Vienna.
+The city was quite unprepared for resistance, its fortifications being
+dilapidated, and its garrison feeble. Universal consternation seized the
+inhabitants. All along the valley of the Danube the population fled in
+terror before the advance of the Turks. Leopold, with his family, at
+midnight, departed ingloriously from the city, to seek a distant refuge.
+The citizens followed the example of their sovereign, and all the roads
+leading westward and northward from the city were crowded with
+fugitives, in carriages, on horseback and on foot, and with all kinds of
+vehicles laden with the treasures of the metropolis. The churches were
+filled with the sick and the aged, pathetically imploring the protection
+of Heaven.
+
+The Duke of Lorraine conducted with great energy, repairing the
+dilapidated fortifications, stationing in posts of peril the veteran
+troops, and marshaling the citizens and the students to cooeperate with
+the garrison. On the 14th of July, 1682, the banners of the advance
+guard of the Turkish army were seen from the walls of Vienna. Soon the
+whole mighty host, like an inundation, came surging on, and, surrounding
+the city, invested it on all sides. The terrific assault from
+innumerable batteries immediately commenced. The besieged were soon
+reduced to the last extremity for want of provisions, and famine and
+pestilence rioting within the walls, destroyed more than the shot of the
+enemy. The suburbs were destroyed, the principal outworks taken, several
+breaches were battered in the walls, and the terrified inhabitants were
+hourly in expectation that the city would be taken by storm. There can
+not be, this side of the world of woe, any thing more terrible than such
+an event.
+
+The emperor, in his terror, had dispatched envoys all over Germany to
+rally troops for the defense of Vienna and the empire. He himself had
+hastened to Poland, where, with frantic intreaties, he pressed the king,
+the renowned John Sobieski, whose very name was a terror, to rush to his
+relief. Sobieski left orders for a powerful army immediately to commence
+their march. But, without waiting for their comparatively slow
+movements, he placed himself at the head of three thousand Polish
+horsemen, and, without incumbering himself with luggage, like the sweep
+of the whirlwind traversed Silesia and Moravia, and reached Tulen, on
+the banks of the Danube, about twenty miles above Vienna. He had been
+told by the emperor that here he would find an army awaiting him, and a
+bridge constructed, by which he could cross the stream. But, to his
+bitter disappointment, he found no army, and the bridge unfinished.
+Indignantly he exclaimed,
+
+"What does the emperor mean? Does he think me a mere adventurer? I left
+my own army that I might take command of his. It is not for myself that
+I fight, but for him."
+
+Notwithstanding this disappointment, he called into requisition all his
+energies to meet the crisis. The bridge was pushed forward to its
+completion. The loitering German troops were hurried on to the
+rendezvous. After a few days the Polish troops, by forced marches,
+arrived, and Sobieski found himself at the head of sixty thousand men,
+experienced soldiers, and well supplied with all the munitions of war.
+On the 11th of September the inhabitants of the city were overjoyed, in
+descrying from the towers of the city, in the distance, the approaching
+banners of the Polish and German army. Sobieski ascended an elevation,
+and long and carefully scrutinized the position of the besieging host.
+He then calmly remarked,
+
+"The grand vizier has selected a bad position. I understand him. He is
+ignorant of the arts of war, and yet thinks that he has military genius.
+It will be so easy to conquer him, that we shall obtain no honor from
+the victory."
+
+Early the next morning, the 12th of September, the Polish and German
+troops rushed to the assault, with such amazing impetuosity, and guided
+by such military skill, that the Turks were swept before them as by a
+torrent. The army of the grand vizier, seized by a panic, fled so
+precipitately, that they left baggage, tents, ammunition and provisions
+behind. The garrison emerged from the city, and cooeperated with the
+victors, and booty of indescribable value fell into their hands. As
+Sobieski took possession of the abandoned camp, stored with all the
+wealth and luxuries of the East, he wrote, in a tone of pleasantry to
+his wife,
+
+"The grand vizier has left me his heir, and I inherit millions of
+ducats. When I return home I shall not be met with the reproach of the
+Tartar wives, 'You are not a man, because you have come back without
+booty.'"
+
+The inhabitants of Vienna flocked out from the city to greet the king as
+an angel deliverer sent from heaven. The next morning the gates of the
+city were thrown open, the streets were garlanded with flowers, and the
+King of Poland had a triumphal reception in the streets of the
+metropolis. The enthusiasm and gratitude of the people passed all
+ordinary bounds. The bells rang their merriest peals; files of maidens
+lined his path, and acclamations, bursting from the heart, greeted him
+every step of his way. They called him their father and deliverer. They
+struggled to kiss his feet and even to touch his garments. With
+difficulty he pressed through the grateful crowd to the cathedral, where
+he prostrated himself before the altar, and returned thanks to God for
+the signal victory. As he returned, after a public dinner, to his camp,
+he said, "This is the happiest day of my life."
+
+Two days after this, Leopold returned, trembling and humiliated to his
+capital. He was received in silence, and with undisguised contempt. His
+mortification was intense, and he could not endure to hear the praises
+which were everywhere lavished upon Sobieski. Jealousy rankled in his
+heart, and he vented his spite upon all around him. It was necessary
+that he should have an interview with the heroic king who had so nobly
+come to his rescue. But instead of meeting him with a warm and grateful
+heart, he began to study the punctilios of etiquette, that the dreaded
+interview might be rendered as cold and formal as possible.
+
+Sobieski was merely an elective monarch. Leopold was a hereditary king
+and an emperor. Leopold even expressed some doubt whether it were
+consistent with his exalted dignity to grant the Polish king the honor
+of an audience. He inquired whether an _elected monarch_ had ever been
+admitted to the presence of an _emperor_; and if so, with what forms, in
+the present case, the king should be received. The Duke of Lorraine, of
+whom he made the inquiry, disgusted with the mean spirit of the emperor,
+nobly replied, "With open arms."
+
+But the soulless Leopold had every movement punctiliously arranged
+according to the dictates of his ignoble spirit. The Polish and Austrian
+armies were drawn up in opposite lines upon the plain before the city.
+At a concerted signal the emperor and the king emerged from their
+respective ranks, and rode out upon the open plain to meet each other.
+Sobieski, a man of splendid bearing, magnificently mounted, and dressed
+in the brilliant uniform of a Polish warrior, attracted all eyes and the
+admiration of all hearts. His war steed pranced proudly as if conscious
+of the royal burden he bore, and of the victories he had achieved.
+Leopold was an ungainly man at the best. Conscious of his inability to
+vie with the hero, in his personal presence, he affected the utmost
+simplicity of dress and equipage. Humiliated also by the cold reception
+he had met and by the consciousness of extreme unpopularity in both
+armies, he was embarrassed and deject. The contrast was very striking,
+adding to the renown of Sobieski, and sinking Leopold still deeper in
+contempt.
+
+The two sovereigns advanced, formally saluted each other with bows,
+dismounted and embraced. A few cold words were exchanged, when they
+again embraced and remounted to review the troops. But Sobieski, frank,
+cordial, impulsive, was so disgusted with this reception, so different
+from what he had a right to expect, that he excused himself, and rode to
+his tent, leaving his chancellor Zaluski to accompany the emperor on the
+review. As Leopold rode along the lines he was received in contemptuous
+silence, and he returned to his palace in Vienna, tortured by wounded
+pride and chagrin.
+
+The treasure abandoned by the Turks was so abundant that five days were
+spent in gathering it up. The victorious army then commenced the pursuit
+of the retreating foe. About one hundred and fifty miles below Vienna,
+where the majestic Danube turns suddenly from its eastern course and
+flows toward the south, is situated the imperial city of Gran. Upon a
+high precipitous rock, overlooking both the town and the river, there
+had stood for centuries one of the most imposing fortresses which mortal
+hands have ever reared. For seventy years this post had been in the
+hands of the Turks, and strongly garrisoned by four thousand troops, had
+bid defiance to every assault. Here the thinned and bleeding battalions
+of the grand vizier sought refuge. Sobieski and the Duke of Lorraine,
+flushed with victory, hurled their masses upon the disheartened foe, and
+the Turks were routed with enormous slaughter. Seven thousand gory
+corpses of the dead strewed the plain. Many thousands were driven into
+the river and drowned. The fortress was taken, sword in hand; and the
+remnant of the Moslem army, in utter discomfiture, fled down the Danube,
+hardly resting, by night or by day, till they were safe behind the
+ramparts of Belgrade.
+
+Both the German and the Polish troops were disgusted with Leopold.
+Having reconquered Hungary for the emperor, they were not disposed to
+remain longer in his service. Most of the German auxiliaries,
+disbanding, returned to their own countries. Sobieski, declaring that he
+was willing to fight against the Turks, but not against Tekeli and his
+Christian confederates, led back his troops to Poland. The Duke of
+Lorraine was now left with the Austrian troops to struggle against
+Tekeli with the Hungarian patriots. The Turks, exasperated by the
+defeat, accused Tekeli of being the cause. By stratagem he was seized
+and sent in chains to Constantinople. The chief who succeeded him turned
+traitor and joined the imperialists. The cause of the patriots was
+ruined. Victory now kept pace with the march of the Duke of Lorraine.
+The Turks were driven from all their fortresses, and Leopold again had
+Hungary at his feet. His vengeance was such as might have been expected
+from such a man.
+
+Far away, in the wilds of northern Hungary, at the base of the
+Carpathian, mountains, on the river Tarcza, one of the tributaries of
+the Theiss, is the strongly fortified town of Eperies. At this remote
+spot the diabolical emperor established his revolutionary tribunal, as
+if he thought that the shrieks of his victims, there echoing through the
+savage defiles of the mountains, could not awaken the horror of
+civilized Europe. His armed bands scoured the country and transported to
+Eperies every individual, man, woman and child, who was even suspected
+of sympathizing with the insurgents. There was hardly a man of wealth or
+influence in the kingdom who was not dragged before this horrible
+tribunal, composed of ignorant, brutal, sanguinary officers of the king.
+Their summary trial, without any forms of justice, was an awful tragedy.
+They were thrown into dungeons; their property confiscated; they were
+exposed to the most direful tortures which human ingenuity could devise,
+to extort confession and to compel them to criminate friends. By scores
+they were daily consigned to the scaffold. Thirty executioners, with
+their assistants, found constant employment in beheading the condemned.
+In the middle of the town, the scaffold was raised for this butchery.
+The spot is still called "The Bloody Theater of Eperies."
+
+Leopold, having thus glutted his vengeance, defiantly convoked a diet
+and crowned his son Joseph, a boy twelve years of age, as King of
+Hungary, practically saying to the nobles, "Dispute his hereditary right
+now, if you dare." The emperor had been too often instructed in the
+vicissitudes of war to feel that even in this hour of triumph he was
+perfectly safe. He knew that other days might come; that other foes
+might rise; and that Hungary could never forget the rights of which she
+had been defrauded. He therefore exhausted all the arts of threats and
+bribes to induce the diet to pass a decree that the crown was no longer
+elective but hereditary. It is marvelous that in such an hour there
+could have been any energy left to resist his will. But with all his
+terrors he could only extort from the diet their consent that the
+succession to the crown should be confirmed in the males, but that upon
+the extinction of the _male_ line the crown, instead of being hereditary
+in the female line, should revert to the nation, who should again confer
+it by the right of election.
+
+Leopold reluctantly yielded to this, as the most he could then hope to
+accomplish. The emperor, elated by success, assumed such imperious airs
+as to repel from him all his former allies. For several years Hungary
+was but a battle field where Austrians and Turks met in incessant and
+bloody conflicts. But Leopold, in possession of all the fortresses,
+succeeded in repelling each successive invasion.
+
+Both parties became weary of war. In November, 1697, negotiations were
+opened at Carlovitz, and a truce was concluded for twenty-five years.
+The Turks abandoned both Hungary and Transylvania, and these two
+important provinces became more firmly than ever before, integral
+portions of the Austrian empire. By the peace of Carlovitz the sultan
+lost one half of his possessions in Europe. Austria, in the grandeur of
+her territory, was never more powerful than at this hour: extending
+across the whole breadth of Europe, from the valley of the Rhine to the
+Euxine sea, and from the Carpathian mountains to the plains of Italy. A
+more heterogeneous conglomeration of States never existed, consisting of
+kingdoms, archduchies, duchies, principalities, counties, margraves,
+landgraves and imperial cities, nearly all with their hereditary rulers
+subordinate to the emperor, and with their local customs and laws.
+
+Leopold, though a weak and bad man, in addition to all this power,
+swayed also the imperial scepter over all the States of Germany. Though
+his empire over all was frail, and his vast dominions were liable at any
+moment to crumble to pieces, he still was not content with consolidating
+the realms he held, but was anxiously grasping for more. Spain was the
+prize now to be won. Louis XIV., with the concentrated energies of the
+French kingdom, was claiming it by virtue of his marriage with the
+eldest daughter of the deceased monarch, notwithstanding his solemn
+renunciation of all right at his marriage in favor of the second
+daughter. Leopold, as the husband of the second daughter, claimed the
+crown, in the event, then impending, of the death of the imbecile and
+childless king. This quarrel agitated Europe to its center, and deluged
+her fields with blood. If the _elective_ franchise is at times the
+source of agitation, the law of _hereditary_ succession most certainly
+does not always confer tranquillity and peace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+LEOPOLD I. AND THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.
+
+From 1697 to 1710.
+
+The Spanish Succession.--The Impotence of Charles II.--Appeal to the
+Pope.--His Decision.--Death of Charles II.--Accession of Philip
+V.--Indignation of Austria.--The outbreak of War.--Charles III.
+crowned.--Insurrection in Hungary.--Defection of Bavaria.--The Battle of
+Blenheim.--Death of Leopold I.--Eleonora.--Accession of Joseph
+I.--Charles XII. of Sweden.--Charles III. in Spain.--Battle of
+Malplaquet.--Charles at Barcelona.--Charles at Madrid.
+
+
+Charles II., King of Spain, was one of the most impotent of men, in both
+body and mind. The law of hereditary descent had placed this semi-idiot
+upon the throne of Spain to control the destinies of twenty millions of
+people. The same law, in the event of his death without heirs, would
+carry the crown across the Pyrenees to a little boy in the palace of
+Versailles, or two thousand miles, to the banks of the Danube, to
+another little boy in the gardens of Vienna. Louis XIV. claimed the
+Spanish scepter in behalf of his wife, the Spanish princess Maria
+Theresa, and her son. Leopold claimed it in behalf of his deceased wife,
+Margaret, and her child. For many years before the death of Philip II.
+the envoys of France and Austria crowded the court of Spain, employing
+all the arts of intrigue and bribery to forward the interests of their
+several sovereigns. The different courts of Europe espoused the claims
+of the one party or the other, accordingly as their interests would be
+promoted by the aggrandizement of the house of Bourbon or the house of
+Hapsburg.
+
+Louis XIV. prepared to strike a sudden blow by gathering an army of one
+hundred thousand men in his fortresses near the Spanish frontier, in
+establishing immense magazines of military stores, and in filling the
+adjacent harbors with ships of war. The sagacious French monarch had
+secured the cooeperation of the pope, and of some of the most influential
+Jesuits who surrounded the sick and dying monarch. Charles II. had long
+been harassed by the importunities of both parties that he should give
+the influence of his voice in the decision. Tortured by the incessant
+vacillations of his own mind, he was at last influenced, by the
+suggestions of his spiritual advisers, to refer the question to the
+pope. He accordingly sent an embassage to the pontiff with a letter
+soliciting counsel.
+
+"Having no children," he observed, "and being obliged to appoint an heir
+to the Spanish crown from a foreign family, we find such great obscurity
+in the law of succession, that we are unable to form a settled
+determination. Strict justice is our aim; and, to be able to decide with
+that justice, we have offered up constant prayers to God. We are anxious
+to act rightly, and we have recourse to your holiness, as to an
+infallible guide, intreating you to consult with the cardinals and
+divines, and, after having attentively examined the testaments of our
+ancestors, to decide according to the rules of right and equity."
+
+Pope Innocent XII. was already prepared for this appeal, and was engaged
+to act as the agent of the French court. The hoary-headed pontiff, with
+one foot in the grave, affected the character of great honesty and
+impartiality. He required forty days to examine the important case, and
+to seek divine assistance. He then returned the following answer,
+admirably adapted to influence a weak and superstitious prince:
+
+"Being myself," he wrote, "in a situation similar to that of his
+Catholic majesty, the King of Spain, on the point of appearing at the
+judgment-seat of Christ, and rendering an account to the sovereign
+pastor of the flock which has been intrusted to my care, I am bound to
+give such advice as will not reproach my conscience on the day of
+judgment. Your majesty ought not to put the interests of the house of
+Austria in competition with those of eternity. Neither should you be
+ignorant that the French claimants are the rightful heirs of the crown,
+and no member of the Austrian family has the smallest legitimate
+pretension. It is therefore your duty to omit no precaution, which your
+wisdom can suggest, to render justice where justice is due, and to
+secure, by every means in your power, the undivided succession of the
+Spanish monarchy to the French claimants."
+
+Charles, as fickle as the wind, still remained undecided, and his
+anxieties preying upon his feeble frame, already exhausted by disease,
+caused him rapidly to decline. He was now confined to his chamber and
+his bed, and his death was hourly expected. He hated the French, and all
+his sympathies were with Austria. Some priests entered his chamber,
+professedly to perform the pompous and sepulchral service of the church
+of Rome for the dying. In this hour of languor, and in the prospect of
+immediate death, they assailed the imbecile monarch with all the terrors
+of superstition. They depicted the responsibility which he would incur
+should he entail on the kingdom the woes of a disputed succession; they
+assured him that he could not, without unpardonable guilt, reject the
+decision of the holy father of the Church; and growing more eager and
+excited, they denounced upon him the vengeance of Almighty God, if he
+did not bequeath the crown, now falling from his brow, to the Bourbons
+of France.
+
+The dying, half-delirious king, appalled by the terrors of eternal
+damnation, yielded helplessly to their demands. A will was already
+prepared awaiting his signature. With a hand trembling in death, the
+king attached to it his name; but as he did so, he burst into tears,
+exclaiming, "I am already nothing." It was supposed that he could then
+survive but a few hours. Contrary to all expectation he revived, and
+expressed the keenest indignation and anguish that he had been thus
+beguiled to decide against Austria, and in favor of France. He even sent
+a courier to the emperor, announcing his determination to decide in
+favor of the Austrian claimant. The flickering flame of life, thus
+revived for a moment, glimmered again in the socket and expired. The
+wretched king died the 1st of November, 1699, in the fortieth year of
+his age, and the thirty-sixth of his reign.
+
+On the day of his death a council of State was convened, and the will,
+the very existence of which was generally unknown, was read. It declared
+the Dauphin of France, son of the Spanish princess Maria Theresa, to be
+the successor to all the Spanish dominions; and required all subjects
+and vassals of Spain to acknowledge him. The Austrian party were
+astounded at this revelation. The French party were prepared to receive
+it without any surprise. The son of Maria Theresa was dead, and the
+crown consequently passed to her grandson Philip. Louis XIV. immediately
+acknowledged his title, when he was proclaimed king, and took quiet
+possession of the throne of Spain on the 24th of November, 1700, as
+Philip V.
+
+It was by such fraud that the Bourbons of France attained the succession
+to the Spanish crown; a fraud as palpable as was ever committed; for
+Maria Theresa had renounced all her rights to the throne; this
+renunciation had been confirmed by the will of her father Philip IV.,
+sanctioned by the Cortes of Spain, and solemnly ratified by her husband,
+Louis XIV. Such is "legitimacy--the divine right of kings." All the
+great powers of Europe, excepting the emperor, promptly acknowledged the
+title of Philip V.
+
+Leopold, enraged beyond measure, dispatched envoys to rouse the empire,
+and made the most formidable preparations for war. A force of eighty
+thousand men was soon assembled. The war commenced in Italy. Leopold
+sent down his German troops through the defiles of the Tyrol, and, in
+the valley of the Adige, they encountered the combined armies of France,
+Spain and Italy. Prince Eugene, who had already acquired great renown in
+the wars against the Turks, though by birth a French noble, had long
+been in the Austrian service, and led the Austrian troops. William, of
+England, jealous of the encroachments of Louis XIV., and leading with
+him the States of Holland, formed an alliance with Austria. This was
+pretty equally dividing the military power of Europe, and a war of
+course ensued, almost unparalleled in its sanguinary ferocity. The
+English nation supported the monarch; the House of Lords, in an address
+to the king, declared that "his majesty, his subjects and his allies,
+could never be secure till the house of Austria should be restored to
+its rights, and the invader of the Spanish monarchy brought to reason."
+Forty thousand sailors and forty thousand land troops were promptly
+voted for the war.
+
+William died on the 16th of March, in consequence of a fall from his
+horse, and was succeeded by Anne, daughter of James II. She was,
+however, but nominally the sovereign. The infamously renowned Duke of
+Marlborough became the real monarch, and with great skill and energy
+prosecuted the eleven years' war which ensued, which is known in history
+as the War of the Spanish Succession. For many months the conflict raged
+with the usual fluctuations, the Austrian forces being commanded on the
+Rhine by the Duke of Marlborough, and in Italy by Prince Eugene.
+Portugal soon joined the Austrian alliance, and Philip V. and the French
+becoming unpopular in Spain, a small party rose there, advocating the
+claims of the house of Austria. Thus supported, Leopold, at Vienna,
+declared his son Charles King of Spain, and crowned him as such in
+Vienna. By the aid of the English fleet he passed from Holland to
+England, and thence to Lisbon, where a powerful army was assembled to
+invade Spain, wrest the crown from Philip, and place it upon the brow of
+Charles III.
+
+And now Leopold began to reap the bitter consequences of his atrocious
+conduct in Hungary. The Hungarian nobles embraced this opportunity, when
+the imperial armies were fully engaged, to rise in a new and formidable
+invasion. Francis Ragotsky, a Transylvanian prince, led in the heroic
+enterprise. He was of one of the noblest and wealthiest families of the
+realm, and was goaded to action by the bitterest wrongs. His grandfather
+and uncle had been beheaded; his father robbed of his property and his
+rank; his cousin doomed to perpetual imprisonment; his father-in-law
+proscribed, and his mother driven into exile. The French court
+immediately opened a secret correspondence with Ragotsky, promising him
+large supplies of men and money, and encouraging him with hopes of the
+cooeperation of the Turks. Ragotsky secretly assembled a band of
+determined followers, in the savage solitudes of the Carpathian
+mountains, and suddenly descended into the plains of Hungary, at the
+head of his wild followers, calling upon his countrymen to rise and
+shake off the yoke of the detested Austrian. Adherents rapidly gathered
+around his standard; several fortresses fell into his hands, and he soon
+found himself at the head of twenty thousand well armed troops. The
+flame of insurrection spread, with electric rapidity, through all
+Hungary and Transylvania.
+
+The tyrant Leopold, as he heard these unexpected tidings, was struck
+with consternation. He sent all the troops he could collect to oppose
+the patriots, but they could make no impression upon an indignant nation
+in arms. He then, in his panic, attempted negotiation. But the
+Hungarians demanded terms both reasonable and honorable, and to neither
+of these could the emperor possibly submit. They required that the
+monarchy should no longer be hereditary, but elective, according to
+immemorial usage; that the Hungarians should have the right to resist
+_illegal_ power without the charge of treason; that foreign officers and
+garrisons should be removed from the kingdom; that the Protestants
+should be reestablished in the free exercise of their religion, and that
+their confiscated estates should be restored. The despot could not
+listen for one moment to requirements so just; and appalled by the
+advance of the patriots toward Vienna, he recalled the troops from
+Italy.
+
+About the same time the Duke of Bavaria, disgusted with the arrogance
+and the despotism of Leopold, renounced allegiance to the emperor,
+entered into an alliance with the French, and at the head of forty
+thousand troops, French and Bavarians, commenced the invasion of Austria
+from the west. Both Eugene and Marlborough hastened to the rescue of the
+emperor. Combining their forces, with awful slaughter they mowed down
+the French and Bavarians at Blenheim, and then overran all Bavaria. The
+elector fled with the mutilated remnants of his army to France. The
+conquerors seized all the fortresses, all the guns and ammunition;
+disbanded the Bavarian troops, took possession of the revenues of the
+kingdom, and assigned to the heart-broken wife of the duke a humble
+residence in the dismantled capital of the duchy.
+
+The signal victory of Blenheim enabled Leopold to concentrate his
+energies upon Hungary. It was now winter, and the belligerents, during
+these stormy months, were active in making preparations for the campaign
+of the spring. But Leopold's hour was now tolled. That summons came
+which prince and peasant must alike obey, and the emperor, after a few
+months of languor and pain, on the 5th of May, 1705, passed away to that
+tribunal where each must answer for every deed done in the body. He was
+sixty-five years of age, and had occupied the throne forty-six years.
+This is the longest reign recorded in the Austrian annals, excepting
+that of Frederic III.
+
+The reign of Leopold was eventful and woeful. It was almost one
+continued scene of carnage. In his character there was a singular
+blending of the good and the bad. In what is usually called moral
+character he was irreproachable. He was a faithful husband, a kind
+father, and had no taste for any sensual pleasures. In his natural
+disposition he was melancholy, and so exceedingly reserved, that he
+lived in his palace almost the life of a recluse. Though he was called
+the most learned prince of his age, a Jesuitical education had so
+poisoned and debauched his mind, that while perpetrating the most
+grievous crimes of perfidy and cruelty, he seemed sincerely to feel that
+he was doing God service. His persecution of the Protestants was
+persistent, relentless and horrible; while at the same time he was
+scrupulous in his devotions, never allowing the cares of business to
+interfere with the prescribed duties of the Church. _The Church_, the
+human church of popes, cardinals, bishops and priests, was his guide,
+not the _divine Bible_. Hence his darkness of mind and his crimes. Pope
+Innocent XI. deemed him worthy of canonization. But an indignant world
+must in justice inscribe upon his tomb, "Tyrant and Persecutor."
+
+He was three times married; first, to Margaret, daughter of Philip IV.
+of Spain; again, to Claudia, daughter of Ferdinand of Tyrol; and a third
+time, to Eleonora, daughter of Philip, Elector Palatine. The character
+and history of his third wife are peculiarly illustrative of the kind of
+religion inculcated in that day, and of the beautiful spirit of piety
+often exemplified in the midst of melancholy errors.
+
+In the castle of her father, Eleonora was taught, by priests and nuns,
+that God was only acceptably worshiped by self-sacrifice and
+mortification. The devout child longed for the love of God more than for
+any thing else. Guided by the teachings of those who, however sincere,
+certainly misunderstood the spirit of the gospel, she deprived herself
+of every innocent gratification, and practiced upon her fragile frame
+all the severities of an anchorite. She had been taught that celibacy
+was a virtue peculiarly acceptable to God, and resolutely declined all
+solicitations for her hand.
+
+The emperor, after the death of his first wife, sought Eleonora as his
+bride. It was the most brilliant match Europe could offer. Eleonora,
+from religious scruples, rejected the offer, notwithstanding all the
+importunities of her parents, who could not feel reconciled to the loss
+of so splendid an alliance. The devout maiden, in the conflict, exposed
+herself, bonnet-less, to sun and wind, that she might render herself
+unattractive, tanned, sun burnt, and freckled, so that the emperor might
+not desire her. She succeeded in repelling the suit, and the emperor
+married Claudia of the Tyrol. The court of the Elector Palatine was
+brilliant in opulence and gayety. Eleonora was compelled to mingle with
+the festive throng in the scenes of pomp and splendor; but her thoughts,
+her affections, were elsewhere, and all the vanities of princely life
+had no influence in leading her heart from God. She passed several
+hours, every day, in devotional reading and prayer. She kept a very
+careful register of her thoughts and actions, scrutinizing and
+condemning with unsparing severity every questionable emotion. Every
+sick bed of the poor peasants around, she visited with sympathy and as a
+tender nurse. She groped her way into the glooms of prison dungeons to
+convey solace to the prisoner. She wrought ornaments for the Church, and
+toiled, even to weariness and exhaustion, in making garments for the
+poor.
+
+Claudia in three years died, and the emperor again was left a widower.
+Again he applied for the hand of Eleonora. Her spiritual advisers now
+urged that it was clearly the will of God that she should fill the first
+throne of the universe, as the patroness and protectress of the Catholic
+church. For such an object she would have been willing to sweep the
+streets or to die in a dungeon. Yielding to these persuasions she
+married the emperor, and was conveyed, as in a triumphal march, to the
+gorgeous palaces of Vienna. But her character and her mode of life were
+not changed. Though she sat at the imperial table, which was loaded with
+every conceivable luxury, she condemned herself to fare as humble and
+abstemious as could be found in the hut of the most impoverished
+peasant. It was needful for her at times to appear in the rich garb of
+an empress, but to prevent any possible indulgence of pride, she had her
+bracelets and jewelry so arranged with sharp brads as to keep her in
+continued suffering by the laceration of the flesh.
+
+She was, notwithstanding these austerities, which she practiced with the
+utmost secrecy, indefatigable in the discharge of her duties as a wife
+and an empress. She often attended the opera with the emperor, but
+always took with her the Psalms of David, bound to resemble the books of
+the performance, and while the tragic or the comic scenes of the stage
+were transpiring before her, she was studying the devout lyrics of the
+Psalmist of Israel. She translated all the Psalms into German verse; and
+also translated from the French, and had printed for the benefit of her
+subjects, a devotional work entitled, "Pious Reflections for every Day
+of the Month." During the last sickness of her husband she watched with
+unwearied assiduity at his bed-side, shrinking from no amount of
+exhaustion or toil, She survived her husband fifteen years, devoting all
+this time to austerities, self-mortification and deeds of charity. She
+died in 1720; and at her express request was buried without any parade,
+and with no other inscription upon her tomb than--
+
+  ELEONORA,
+
+  A POOR SINNER,
+
+  Died, January 17, 1720.
+
+Joseph, the eldest son of Leopold, was twenty-five years of age when, by
+the death of his father, he was called to the throne as both king and
+emperor. He immediately and cordially cooeperated with the alliance his
+father had formed, and pressed the war against France, Spain and Italy.
+Louis XIV. was not a man, however, to be disheartened by disaster.
+Though thousands of his choicest troops had found a grave at Blenheim,
+he immediately collected another army of one hundred and sixty thousand
+men, and pushed them forward to the seat of war on the Rhine and the
+Danube. Marlborough and Eugene led Austrian forces to the field still
+more powerful. The whole summer was spent in marches, countermarches and
+bloody battles on both sides of the Rhine. Winter came, and its storms
+and snows drove the exhausted, bleeding combatants from the bleak plains
+to shelter and the fireside. All Europe, through the winter months,
+resounded with preparations for another campaign. There was hardly a
+petty prince on the continent who was not drawn into the strife--to
+decide whether Philip of Bourbon or Charles of Hapsburg, was entitled by
+hereditary descent to the throne of Spain.
+
+And now suddenly Charles XII. of Sweden burst in upon the scene, like a
+meteor amidst the stars of midnight. A more bloody apparition never
+emerged from the sulphureous canopy of war. Having perfect contempt for
+all enervating pleasures, with an iron frame and the abstemious habits
+of a Spartan, he rushed through a career which has excited the wonder of
+the world. He joined the Austrian party; struck down Denmark at a blow;
+penetrated Russia in mid-winter, driving the Russian troops before him
+as dogs scatter wolves; pressed on triumphantly to Poland, through an
+interminable series of battles; drove the king from the country, and
+placed a new sovereign of his own selection upon the throne; and then,
+proudly assuming to hold the balance between the rival powers of France
+and Austria, made demands of Joseph I., as if the emperor were but the
+vassal of the King of Sweden. France and Austria were alike anxious to
+gain the cooeperation of this energetic arm.
+
+Early in May, 1706, the armies of Austria and France, each about seventy
+thousand strong, met in the Netherlands. Marlborough led the allied
+Austrian troops; the Duke of Bavaria was in command of the French. The
+French were again routed, almost as disastrously as at Blenheim, losing
+thirteen thousand men and fifty pieces of artillery. On the Rhine and in
+Italy the French arms were also in disgrace. Throughout the summer
+battle succeeded battle, and siege followed siege. When the snows of
+another winter whitened the plains of Europe, the armies again retired
+to winter quarters, the Austrian party having made very decided progress
+as the result of the campaign. Marlborough was in possession of most of
+the Netherlands, and was threatening France with invasion. Eugene had
+driven the French out of Italy, and had brought many of the Italian
+provinces under the dominion of Austria.
+
+In Spain, also, the warfare was fiercely raging. Charles III., who had
+been crowned in Vienna King of Spain, and who, as we have mentioned, had
+been conveyed to Lisbon by a British fleet, joined by the King of
+Portugal, and at the head of an allied army, marched towards the
+frontiers of Spain. The Spaniards, though they disliked the French,
+hated virulently the English and the Dutch, both of whom they considered
+heretics. Their national pride was roused in seeing England, Holland and
+Portugal marching upon them to place over Spain an Austrian king. The
+populace rose, and after a few sanguinary conflicts drove the invaders
+from their borders. December's storms separated the two armies,
+compelling them to seek winter quarters, with only the frontier line
+between them. It was in one of the campaigns of this war, in 1704, that
+the English took the rock of Gibraltar, which they have held from that
+day till this.
+
+The British people began to remonstrate bitterly against this boundless
+expenditure of blood and treasure merely to remove a Bourbon prince, and
+place a Hapsburg prince upon the throne of Spain. Both were alike
+despotic in character, and Europe had as much to fear from the
+aggressions of the house of Austria as from the ambition of the King of
+France. The Emperor Joseph was very apprehensive that the English court
+might be induced to withdraw from the alliance, and fearing that they
+might sacrifice, as the price of accommodation, his conquests in Italy,
+he privately concluded with France a treaty of neutrality for Italy.
+This secured to him what he had already acquired there, and saved France
+and Spain from the danger of losing any more Italian States.
+
+Though the allies were indignant, and remonstrated against this
+transaction, they did not see fit to abandon the war. Immense
+preparations were made to invade France from the Netherlands and from
+Piedmont, in the opening of the spring of 1707. Both efforts were only
+successful in spreading far and wide conflagration and blood. The
+invaders were driven from the kingdom with heavy loss. The campaign in
+Spain, this year, was also exceedingly disastrous to the Austrian arms.
+The heterogeneous army of Charles III., composed of Germans, English,
+Dutch, Portuguese, and a few Spanish refugees, were routed, and with the
+loss of thirteen thousand men were driven from the kingdom. Joseph,
+however, who stood in great dread of so terrible an enemy as Charles
+XII., succeeded in purchasing his neutrality, and this fiery warrior
+marched off with his battalions, forty-three thousand strong, to drive
+Peter I. from the throne of Russia.
+
+Joseph I., with exhausted resources, and embarrassed by the claims of so
+wide-spread a war, was able to do but little for the subjugation of
+Hungary. As the campaign of 1708 opened, two immense armies, each about
+eighty thousand strong, were maneuvering near Brussels. After a long
+series of marches and combinations a general engagement ensued, in which
+the Austrian party, under Marlborough and Eugene, were decisively
+triumphant. The French were routed with the loss of fifteen thousand in
+killed, wounded and prisoners. During the whole summer the war raged
+throughout the Low Countries with unabated violence. In Spain, Austria
+was not able to make any progress against Philip and his forces.
+
+Another winter came, and again the wearied combatants, all of whom had
+received about as many blows as they had given, sought repose. The
+winter was passed in fruitless negotiations, and as soon as the buds of
+another spring began to swell, the thunders of war were again pealing
+over nearly all the hills and valleys of Europe. The Austrian party had
+resolved, by a gigantic effort, to send an army of one hundred thousand
+men to the gates of Paris, there to dictate terms to the French monarch.
+On the 11th of September, 1709, the Austrian force, eighty thousand
+strong, with eighty pieces of cannon, encountered the French, seventy
+thousand in number, with eighty pieces of cannon, on the field of
+Malplaquet. The bloodiest battle of the Spanish succession was then
+fought. The Austrian party, guided by Marlborough and Eugene, justly
+claimed the victory, as they held the field. But they lost twenty
+thousand in killed and wounded, and took neither prisoners nor guns. The
+loss of the French was but ten thousand. All this slaughter seemed to be
+accomplishing nothing. Philip still stood firm upon the Spanish throne,
+and Charles could scarcely gain the slightest foothold in the kingdom
+which he claimed. On the side of the Rhine and of Italy, though blood
+flowed like water, nothing was accomplished; the plan of invading France
+had totally failed, and again the combatants were compelled to retire to
+winter quarters.
+
+For nine years this bloody war had now desolated Europe. It is not easy
+to defend the cause of Austria and her allies in this cruel conflict.
+The Spaniards undeniably preferred Philip as their king. Louis XIV. had
+repeatedly expressed his readiness to withdraw entirely from the
+conflict. But the Austrian allies demanded that he should either by
+force or persuasion remove Philip from Spain, and place the kingdom in
+the hands of the Austrian prince. But Philip was now an independent
+sovereign who for ten years had occupied the throne. He was resolved not
+to abdicate, and his subjects were resolved to support him. Louis XIV.
+said that he could not wage warfare against his own grandson. The
+wretched old monarch, now feeble, childless, and woe crushed, whose soul
+was already crimsoned with the blood of countless thousands, was so
+dispirited by defeat, and so weary of the war, that though he still
+refused to send his armies against his grandson, he even offered to pay
+a monthly subsidy of two hundred thousand dollars (one million livres)
+to the allied Austrian party, to be employed in the expulsion of Philip,
+if they would cease to make war upon him. Even to these terms, after
+blood had been flowing in torrents for ten years, Austria, England and
+Holland would not accede. "If I must fight either Austria and her
+allies," said Louis XIV., "or the Spaniards, led by their king, my own
+grandson, I prefer to fight the Austrians."
+
+The returning sun of the summer of 1710, found the hostile armies again
+in the field. The allies of Austria, early in April, hoping to surprise
+the French, assembled, ninety thousand in number, on the Flemish
+frontiers of France, trusting that by an unexpected attack they might
+break down the fortresses which had hitherto impeded their way. But the
+French were on the alert to resist them, and the whole summer was again
+expended in fruitless battles. These fierce conflicts so concentrated
+the energies of war in the Netherlands, that but little was attempted in
+the way of invading Spain. The Spanish nobles rallied around Philip,
+melted their plate to replenish his treasury, and led their vassals to
+fight his battles. The ecclesiastics, as a body, supported his cause.
+Philip was a zealous Catholic, and the priests considered him as the
+defender of the Church, while they had no confidence in Charles of
+Austria, whose cause was advocated by heretical England and Holland.
+
+Charles III. was now in Catalonia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
+He had landed at Barcelona, with a strong force of English and Germans.
+He was a man of but little character, and his military operations were
+conducted entirely by the English general Stanhope and the German
+general Staremberg. The English general was haughty and domineering; the
+German proud and stubborn. They were in a continued quarrel contesting
+the preeminence. The two rival monarchs, with forces about equal, met in
+Catalonia a few miles from Saragossa, on the 24th of July, 1710. Though
+the inefficient Charles was very reluctant to hazard a battle, the
+generals insisted upon it. The Spaniards were speedily and totally
+routed. Philip fled with a small body-guard to Lerida. His array was
+thoroughly dispersed. The conquerors pressed on toward Madrid, crossed
+the Ebro at Saragossa, where they again encountered, but a short
+distance from the city, an army strongly posted upon some heights.
+Philip was already there. The conflict was short but bloody, and the
+generals of Charles were again victorious. Philip, with a disheartened
+remnant of his troops, retreated to Madrid. The generals dragged the
+timid and reluctant Charles on to Madrid, where they arrived on the 28th
+of September. There was no force at the capital to oppose them. They
+were received, however, by the citizens of the metropolis as foreign
+conquerors. Charles rode through the deserted streets, meeting only with
+sullen silence. A few who were hired to shout, were pelted, by the
+populace, with mud, as traitors to their lawful king. None flocked to
+his standard. Nobles, clergy, populace, all alike stood aloof from him.
+Charles and his generals were embarrassed and perplexed. They could not
+compel the nation to receive the Austrian king.
+
+Philip, in the meantime, who had much energy and popularity of
+character, was rapidly retrieving his losses, and troops were flocking
+to his camp from all parts of Spain. He established his court at
+Yalladolid, about one hundred and fifty miles north-east from Madrid.
+His troops, dispersed by the two disastrous battles, were reassembled at
+Lerida. The peasants rose in large numbers and joined them, and cut off
+all communication between Charles at Madrid and his ships at Barcelona.
+The Spanish grandees sent urgent messages to France for succors. General
+Yendome, at the head of three thousand horse, swept through the defiles
+of the Pyrenees, and, with exultant music and waving banners, joined
+Philip at Valladolid. Universal enthusiasm was excited. Soon thirty
+thousand infantry entered the camp, and then took positions on the
+Tagus, where they could cut off any reinforcements which might attempt
+to march from Portugal to aid the invaders.
+
+Charles was apparently in a desperate situation. Famine and consequent
+sickness were in his camp. His army was daily dwindling away. He was
+emphatically in an enemy's country. Not a soldier could stray from the
+ranks without danger of assassination. He had taken Madrid, and Madrid
+was his prison.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+JOSEPH I. AND CHARLES VI.
+
+From 1710 to 1717.
+
+Perplexities in Madrid.--Flight of Charles.--Retreat of the Austrian
+Army.--Stanhope's Division Cut Off.--Capture of Stanhope.--Staremberg
+Assailed.--Retreat to Barcelona.--Attempt to Pacify Hungary.--The
+Hungarian Diet.--Baronial Crowning of Kagotsky.--Renewal of the
+Hungarian War.--Enterprise of Herbeville.--The Hungarians
+Crushed.--Lenity of Joseph.--Death of Joseph.--Accession of Charles
+VI.--His Career in Spain.--Capture of Barcelona.--The Siege.--The
+Rescue.--Character of Charles.--Cloisters of Montserrat.--Increased
+Efforts for the Spanish Crown.--Charles Crowned Emperor of Austria and
+Hungary.--Bohemia.--Deplorable Condition of Louis XIV.
+
+
+Generals Stanhope and Staremberg, who managed the affairs of Charles,
+with but little respect for his judgment, and none for his
+administrative qualities, were in great perplexity respecting the course
+to be pursued. Some recommended the transference of the court from
+Madrid to Saragossa, where they would be nearer to their supplies.
+Others urged removal to Barcelona, where they would be under the
+protection of the British fleet. It was necessary to watch over Charles
+with the utmost care, as he was in constant danger of assassination.
+While in this state of uncertainty, tidings reached Madrid that the Duke
+of Noailles was on the march, with fifteen thousand men, to cut off the
+retreat of the Austrians, and at the same time Philip was advancing with
+a powerful army from Valladolid. This intelligence rendered instant
+action necessary. The Austrian party precipitately evacuated Madrid,
+followed by the execrations of the people. As soon as the last
+battalions had left the city, the ringing of bells, the firing of
+artillery, and the shouts of the people, announced the popular
+exultation in view of the departure of Charles, and the cordial greeting
+they were giving to his rival Philip. The complications of politics are
+very curious. The British government was here, through years of war and
+blood, endeavoring to drive from his throne the acknowledged King of
+Spain. In less than a hundred years we find this same government again
+deluging Europe in blood, to reseat upon the throne the miserable
+Ferdinand, the lineal descendant of this Bourbon prince.
+
+Charles put spurs to his horse, and accompanied by a glittering
+cavalcade of two thousand cavaliers, galloped over the mountains to
+Barcelona. His army, under the leadership of his efficient English
+general, followed rapidly but cautiously on, hoping to press through the
+defiles of the mountains which separated them from Arragon before their
+passage could be obstructed by the foe. The troops were chagrined and
+dispirited; the generals in that state of ill humor which want of
+success generally engenders. The roads were bad, provisions scarce, the
+inhabitants of the country bitterly hostile. It was the middle of
+November, and cold blasts swept through the mountains. Staremberg led
+the van, and Stanhope, with four thousand English troops, occupied the
+post of peril in a retreat, the rear. As the people of the country would
+furnish them with no supplies, the pillage of towns and villages became
+a necessity; but it none the less added to the exasperation of the
+Spaniards.
+
+A hurried march of about eighty miles brought the troops to the banks of
+the Tagus. As General Staremberg, at the head of the advance guard,
+pressed eagerly on, he left Stanhope at quite a distance behind. They
+encamped for a night, the advance at Cifuentes, the rear at Brihuega.
+The hostility of the natives was such that almost all communication was
+cut off between the two sections of the army. In the confusion of the
+hasty retreat, and as no enemy was apprehended in that portion of the
+way, the importance of hourly communication was forgotten. In the
+morning, as Stanhope put his troops again in motion, he was surprised
+and alarmed in seeing upon the hills before him the banners of an
+opposing host, far outnumbering his own, and strongly intrenched. The
+Earl of Stanhope at once appreciated the nearly utter hopelessness of
+his position. He was cut off from the rest of the army, had no
+artillery, but little ammunition, and was almost entirely destitute of
+provision. Still he scorned to surrender. He threw his troops behind a
+stone wall, and vigorously commenced fortifying his position, hoping to
+be able to hold out until Staremberg, hearing of his situation, should
+come to his release.
+
+During the whole day he beat back the assaults of the Spanish army. In
+the meantime Staremberg was pressing on to Barcelona. In the evening of
+that day he heard of the peril of his rear guard. His troops were
+exhausted; the night of pitchy blackness, and the miry roads, cut to
+pieces by the heavy artillery and baggage wagons, were horrible. Through
+the night he made preparations to turn back to aid his beleaguered
+friends. It was, however, midday before he could collect his scattered
+troops, from their straggling march, and commence retracing his steps.
+In a few hours the low sun of a November day sunk below the hills. The
+troops, overtaken by darkness, stumbling through the gloom, and
+apprehensive of a midnight attack, rested upon their arms, waiting,
+through the weary hours, for the dawn of the morning. The second day
+came, and the weary troops toiled through the mire, while Stanhope, from
+behind his slight parapet, baffled all the efforts of his foes.
+
+The third morning dawned. Staremberg was within some fifteen miles of
+Briehuga. Stanhope had now exhausted all his ammunition. The inhabitants
+of the town rose against him and attacked him in the rear, while the foe
+pressed him in front. A large number of his troops had already fallen,
+and no longer resistance was possible. Stanhope and the remnant of his
+band were taken captive and conducted into the town of Briehuga.
+Staremberg, unaware of the surrender, pushed on until he came within a
+league of Briehuga. Anxiously he threw up signals, but could obtain no
+response. His fears of the worst were soon confirmed by seeing the
+Spanish army, in brilliant battle array, approaching to assail him.
+Philip himself was there to animate them by his presence; and the heroic
+French general, the Duke of Vendome, a descendant of Henry IV., led the
+charging columns.
+
+Though the troops of Staremberg were inferior in number to those of the
+Spanish monarch, and greatly fatigued by their forced marches, a retreat
+at that moment, in the face of so active an enemy, was not to be thought
+of. The battle immediately commenced, with its rushing squadrons and its
+thunder peals. The Spaniards, sanguine of success, and inspired with the
+intensest hatred of their _heretical_ foes, charged with irresistible
+fury. The left wing of Staremberg was speedily cut to pieces, and the
+baggage taken. The center and the right maintained their ground until
+night came to their protection. Staremberg's army was now reduced to
+nine thousand. His horses were either slain or worn out by fatigue. He
+was consequently compelled to abandon all his artillery and most of his
+baggage, as he again commenced a rapid retreat towards Barcelona. The
+enemy pressed him every step of the way. But with great heroism and
+military skill he baffled their endeavors to destroy him, and after one
+of the most arduous marches on record, reached Barcelona with a feeble
+remnant of but seven thousand men, ragged, emaciated and bleeding.
+Behind the walls of this fortified city, and protected by the fleet of
+England, they found repose.
+
+We must now turn back a few years, to trace the progress of events in
+Hungary and Austria. Joseph, the emperor, had sufficient intelligence to
+understand that the rebellious and anarchical state of Hungary was owing
+to the cruelty and intolerance of his father. He saw, also, that there
+could be no hope of permanent tranquillity but in paying some respect to
+the aspirations for civil and religious liberty. The troubles in Hungary
+distracted his attention, exhausted the energies of his troops, and
+deprived him of a large portion of his political and military power. He
+now resolved to try the effect of concessions. The opportunity was
+propitious, as he could throw upon his father the blame of all past
+decrees. He accordingly sent a messenger to the Hungarian nobles with
+the declaration that during his father's lifetime he had never
+interfered in the government, and that consequently he was in no respect
+responsible for the persecution of which they complained. And he
+promised, on the honor of a king, that instead of attempting the
+enforcement of those rigorous decrees, he would faithfully fulfill all
+the articles he had sworn to observe at his coronation; and that he
+accordingly summoned a diet for the redress of their grievances and the
+confirmation of all their ancient privileges. As proof of his sincerity,
+he dismissed those ministers who had advised the intolerant decrees
+enacted by Leopold, and appointed in their place men of more mild and
+lenient character.
+
+But the Hungarians, deeming themselves now in a position to enforce
+their claims by the energies of their army, feared to trust to the
+promises of a court so often perjured. Without openly renouncing
+allegiance to Austria, and declaring independence, they, through
+Ragotsky, summoned a diet to meet at Stetzim, where their session would
+be protected by the Hungarian army. There was a large gathering of all
+the first nobility of the realm. A spacious tent was spread for the
+imposing assembly, and the army encircled it as with a sheltering
+embrace. The session was opened with prayer and the administration of
+the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Will the time ever come when the
+members of the United States Congress will meet as Christian brethren,
+at the table of our Saviour, as they commence their annual deliberations
+for the welfare of this republic? The nobles formed a confederacy for
+the government of the country. The legislative power was committed to a
+senate of twenty-four nobles. Ragotsky was chosen military chief, with
+the title of Dux, or leader. Four of the most illustrious nobles raised
+Ragotsky upon a buckler on their shoulders, when he took the oath of
+fidelity to the government thus provisionally established, and then
+administered the oath to his confederates. They all bound themselves
+solemnly not to conclude any peace with the emperor, until their ancient
+rights, both civil and religious, were fully restored.
+
+In reply to the advances made by the emperor, they returned the very
+reasonable and moderate demands that their chief, Ragotsky, should be
+reinstated in his ancestral realms of Transylvania, that the claim of
+_hereditary_ sovereignty should be relinquished, and that there should
+be the restoration of those ancient civil and religious immunities of
+which Leopold had defrauded them. Upon these conditions they promised to
+recognize Joseph as their sovereign during his lifetime; claiming at his
+death their time-honored right of choosing his successor. Joseph would
+not listen for one moment to these terms, and the war was renewed with
+fury.
+
+The Hungarian patriots had seventy-five thousand men under arms. The
+spirit of the whole nation was with them, and the Austrian troops were
+driven from almost every fortress in the kingdom. The affairs of Joseph
+seemed to be almost desperate, his armies struggling against
+overpowering foes all over Europe, from the remotest borders of
+Transylvania to the frontiers of Portugal. The vicissitudes of war are
+proverbial. An energetic, sagacious general, Herbeville, with great
+military sagacity, and aided by a peculiar series of fortunate events,
+marched down the valley of the Danube to Buda; crossed the stream to
+Pesth; pushed boldly on through the heart of Hungary to Great Waradin,
+forced the defiles of the mountains, and entered Transylvania. Through a
+series of brilliant victories he took fortress after fortress, until he
+subjugated the whole of Transylvania, and brought it again into
+subjection to the Austrian crown. This was in November, 1705.
+
+But the Hungarians, instead of being intimidated by the success of the
+imperial arms, summoned another diet. It was held in the open field in
+accordance with ancient custom, and was thronged by thousands from all
+parts of the kingdom. With great enthusiasm and public acclaim the
+resolution was passed that Joseph was a tyrant and a usurper, animated
+by the hereditary despotism of the Austrian family. This truthful
+utterance roused anew the ire of the emperor. He resolved upon a
+desperate effort to bring Hungary into subjection. Leaving his English
+and Dutch allies to meet the brunt of the battle on the Rhine and in the
+Netherlands, he recalled his best troops, and made forced levies in
+Austria until he had created an army sufficiently strong, as he thought,
+to sweep down all opposition. These troops he placed under the most
+experienced generals, and sent them into Hungary in the summer of 1708.
+France, weakened by repeated defeats, could send the Hungarians no aid,
+and the imperial troops, through bloody battles, victoriously traversed
+the kingdom. Everywhere the Hungarians were routed and dispersed, until
+no semblance of an army was left to oppose the victors. It seems that
+life in those days, to the masses of the people, swept incessantly by
+these fiery surges of war, could only have been a scene, from the cradle
+to the grave, of blood and agony. For two years this dismal storm of
+battle howled over all the Hungarian plains, and then the kingdom, like
+a victim exhausted, prostrate and bleeding, was taken captive and firmly
+bound.
+
+Ragotsky, denounced with the penalty of high treason, escaped to Poland.
+The emperor, anxious no longer to exasperate, proposed measures of
+unusual moderation. He assembled a convention; promised a general
+amnesty for all political offenses, the restitution of confiscated
+property, the liberation of prisoners, and the confirmation of all the
+rights which he had promised at his coronation. Some important points
+were not touched upon; others were passed over in vague and general
+terms. The Hungarians, helpless as a babe, had nothing to do but to
+submit, whatever the terms might be. They were surprised at the
+unprecedented lenity of the conqueror, and the treaty of peace and
+subjection was signed in January, 1711.
+
+In three months after the signing of this treaty, Joseph I. died of the
+small-pox, in his palace of Vienna. He was but thirty-three years of
+age. For a sovereign educated from the cradle to despotic rule, and
+instructed by one of the most bigoted of fathers, he was an unusually
+good man, and must be regarded as one of the best sovereigns who have
+swayed the scepter of Austrian despotism.
+
+The law of hereditary descent is frequently involved in great
+embarrassment. Leopold, to obviate disputes which he foresaw were likely
+to arise, had assigned Hungary, Bohemia, and his other hereditary
+estates, to Joseph. To Charles he had assigned the vast Spanish
+inheritance. In case Joseph should die without male issue he had decreed
+that the crown of the Austrian dominions should also pass to Charles. In
+case Charles should also die without issue male, the crown should then
+revert to the daughters of Joseph in preference to those of Charles.
+Joseph left no son. He had two daughters, the eldest of whom was but
+twelve years of age. Charles, who was now in Barcelona, claiming the
+crown of Spain as Charles III., had no Spanish blood in his veins. He
+was the son of Leopold, and of his third wife, the devout and lovely
+Eleonora, daughter of the Elector Palatine. He was now but twenty-eight
+years of age. For ten years he had been struggling for the crown which
+his father Leopold had claimed, as succeeding to the rights of his first
+wife Margaret, daughter of Philip IV.
+
+Charles was a genteel, accomplished young man of eighteen when he left
+his father's palace at Vienna, for England, where a British fleet was to
+convey him to Portugal, and, by the energy of its fleet and army, place
+him upon the throne of Spain. He was received at Portsmouth in England,
+when he landed from Holland, with much parade, and was conducted by the
+Dukes of Maryborough and Somerset to Windsor castle, where he had an
+interview with Queen Anne. His appearance at that time is thus described
+by his partial chroniclers:
+
+"The court was very splendid and much thronged. The queen's behavior
+toward him was very noble and obliging. The young king charmed all who
+were present. He had a gravity beyond his age, tempered with much
+modesty. His behavior in all points was so exact, that there was not a
+circumstance in his whole deportment which was liable to censure. He
+paid an extraordinary respect to the queen, and yet maintained a due
+greatness in it. He had the art of seeming well pleased with every
+thing, without so much as smiling once all the while he was at court,
+which was only three days. He spoke but little, and all he said was
+judicious and obliging."
+
+Young Charles was engaged to the daughter of the King of Portugal; but
+the young lady died just before his arrival at Lisbon. As he had never
+seen the infanta, his grief could not have been very deep, however great
+his disappointment might have been. He made several attempts to
+penetrate Spain by the Portuguese frontier, but being repelled in every
+effort, by the troops of Philip, he again embarked, and with twelve
+thousand troops in an English fleet, sailed around the Peninsula,
+entered the Mediterranean and landed on the shores of Catalonia, where
+he had been led to believe that the inhabitants in a body would rally
+around him. But he was bitterly disappointed. The Earl of Peterborough,
+who was intrusted with the command of this expedition, in a letter home
+gave free utterance to his disappointment and chagrin.
+
+"Instead of ten thousand men, and in arms," he wrote, "to cover our
+landing and strengthen our camp, we found only so many higglers and
+sutlers flocking into it. Instead of finding Barcelona in a weak
+condition, and ready to surrender upon the first appearance of our
+troops, we found a strong garrison to oppose us, and a hostile army
+almost equal to our own."
+
+In this dilemma a council of war was held, and though many were in favor
+of abandoning the enterprise and returning to Portugal, it was at last
+determined, through the urgency of Charles, to remain and lay siege to
+the city. Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, was then the principal
+sea-port of the Spanish peninsula on the Mediterranean. It contained a
+population of about one hundred and forty thousand. It was strongly
+fortified. West of the city there was a mountain called Montjoy, upon
+which there was a strong fort which commanded the harbor and the town.
+After a short siege this fort was taken by storm, and the city was then
+forced to surrender.
+
+Philip soon advanced with an army of French and Spaniards to retake the
+city. The English fleet had retired. Twenty-eight French ships of war
+blockaded the harbor, which they could not enter, as it was commanded by
+the guns of Montjoy. The siege was very desperate both in the assault
+and the defense. The young king, Charles, was in the most imminent
+danger of falling into the bands of his foes. There was no possibility
+of escape, and it seemed inevitable that the city must either surrender,
+or be taken by storm. The French and Spanish army numbered twenty
+thousand men. They first attempted to storm Montjoy, but were repulsed
+with great slaughter. They then besieged it, and by regular approaches
+compelled its capitulation in three weeks.
+
+This noble resistance enabled the troops in the city greatly to multiply
+and increase their defenses. They thus succeeded in protracting the
+siege of the town five weeks longer. Every day the beleagured troops
+from the crumbling ramparts watched the blue expanse of the
+Mediterranean, hoping to see the sails of an English fleet coming to
+their rescue. Two breaches were already effected in the walls. The
+garrison, reduced to two thousand, and exhausted by superhuman exertions
+by day and by night, were almost in the last stages of despair, when, in
+the distant horizon, the long looked-for fleet appeared. The French
+ships, by no means able to cope with such a force, spread their sails,
+and sought safety in flight.
+
+The English fleet, amounting to fifty sail of the line, and transporting
+a large number of land troops, triumphantly entered the harbor on the
+3rd of May, 1708. The fresh soldiers were speedily landed, and marched
+to the ramparts and the breaches. This strong reinforcement annihilated
+the hopes of the besiegers. Apprehensive of an immediate sally, they
+retreated with such precipitation that they left behind them in the
+hospitals their sick and wounded; they also abandoned their heavy
+artillery, and an immense quantity of military stores.
+
+Whatever energy Charles might have shown during the siege, all seemed
+now to evaporate. When the shot of the foe were crumbling the walls of
+Barcelona, he was in danger of the terrible doom of being taken a
+captive, which would have been the annihilation of all his hopes.
+Despair nerved him to effort. But now his person was no longer in
+danger; and his natural inefficiency and dilatoriness returned.
+Notwithstanding the urgent intreaties of the Earl of Peterborough to
+pursue the foe, he insisted upon first making a pilgrimage to the shrine
+of the holy Virgin at Montserrat, twenty-four miles from Barcelona.
+
+This curious monastery consists of but a succession of cloisters or
+hermitages hewn out of the solid rock. They are only accessible by steps
+as steep as a ladder, which are also hewn upon the face of the almost
+precipitous mountain. The highest of these cells, and which are occupied
+by the youngest monks, are at an elevation of three or four thousand
+feet above the level of the Mediterranean. Soon after Charles's
+pilgrimage to Montserrat, he made a triumphal march to Madrid, entered
+the city, and caused himself to be proclaimed king under the title of
+Charles III. But Philip soon came upon him with such force that he was
+compelled to retreat back to Barcelona. Again, in 1710, he succeeded in
+reaching Madrid, and, as we have described, he was driven back, with
+accumulated disaster, to Catalonia.
+
+Three months after this defeat, when his affairs in Spain were assuming
+the gloomiest aspect, a courier arrived at Barcelona, and informed him
+that his brother Joseph was dead; that he had already been proclaimed
+King of Hungary and Bohemia, and Archduke of Austria; and that it was a
+matter of the most urgent necessity that he should immediately return to
+Germany. Charles immediately embarked at Barcelona, and landed near
+Genoa on the 27th of September. Rapidly pressing on through the Italian
+States, he entered Milan on the 16th of October, where he was greeted
+with the joyful intelligence that a diet had been convened under the
+influence of Prince Eugene, and that by its unanimous vote he was
+invested with the imperial throne. He immediately proceeded through the
+Tyrol to Frankfort, where he was crowned on the 22d of December. He was
+now more than ever determined that the diadem of Spain should be added
+to the other crowns which had been placed upon his brow.
+
+In the incessant wars which for centuries had been waged between the
+princes and States of Germany and the emperor, the States had acquired
+virtually a constitution, which they called a capitulation. When Charles
+was crowned as Charles VI., he was obliged to promise that he would
+never assemble a diet or council without convening all the princes and
+States of the empire; that he would never wage war, or conclude peace,
+or enter into alliance with any nation without the consent of the
+States; that he would not, of his own authority, put any prince under
+the ban of the empire; that confiscated territory should never be
+conferred upon any members of his own family, and that no successor to
+the imperial crown should be chosen during his lifetime, unless absence
+from Germany or the infirmities of age rendered him incapable of
+administering the affairs of the empire.
+
+The emperor, invested with the imperial crown, hastened to Vienna, and,
+with unexpected energy, entered upon the administration of the
+complicated interests of his widespread realms. After passing a few
+weeks in Vienna, he repaired to Prague, where, in May, he was, with much
+pomp, crowned King of Hungary. He then returned to Vienna, and prepared
+to press with new vigor the war of the Spanish succession.
+
+Louis XIV. was now suffering the earthly retribution for his ill-spent
+life. The finances of the realm were in a state of hopeless
+embarrassment; famine was filling the kingdom with misery; his armies
+were everywhere defeated; the imprecations of a beggared people were
+rising around his throne; his palace was the scene of incessant feuds
+and intrigues. His children were dead; he was old, infirm, sick, the
+victim of insupportable melancholy--utterly weary of life, and yet
+awfully afraid to die. France, in the person of Louis XIV., who could
+justly say, "I am the State," was humbled.
+
+The accession of Charles to the throne of the empire, and to that of
+Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, while at the same time he claimed
+sovereignty over the vast realms of the Spanish kingdom, invested him
+with such enormous power, that England, which had combined Europe
+against the colossal growth of France, having humbled that power, was
+disposed to form a combination against Austria. There was in consequence
+an immediate relaxation of hostilities just at the time when the French
+batteries on the frontiers were battered down, and when the allied army
+had apparently an unobstructed way opened to the gates of Paris. In this
+state of affairs the British ministry pressed negotiations for peace.
+The preliminaries were settled in London on the 8th of October, 1711. By
+this treaty Louis XIV. agreed to make such a change in the law of
+hereditary descent, as to render it impossible for any king to wear at
+the same time the crowns of France and of Spain, and made various other
+important concessions.
+
+Charles, whose ambition was roused by his sudden and unexpected
+elevation, exerted all his energies to thwart the progress of
+negotiations, and bitterly complained that the allies were dishonorably
+deserting the cause which they had espoused. The emperor dispatched
+circular letters to all the courts of Europe, and sent Prince Eugene as
+a special ambassador to London, to influence Queen Anne, if possible, to
+persevere in the grand alliance. But he was entirely unsuccessful. The
+Duke of Marlborough was disgraced, and dismissed from office. The peace
+party rendered Eugene so unpopular that he was insulted in the streets
+of London. The Austrian party in England was utterly defeated, and a
+congress was appointed to meet at Utrecht to settle the terms of peace.
+But Charles was now so powerful that he resolved to prosecute the war
+even though abandoned by England. He accordingly sent an ambassador to
+Utrecht to embarrass the proceedings as much as possible, and, in case
+the grand alliance should be broken up, to secure as many powers as
+possible in fidelity to Austria.
+
+The States of the Netherlands were still warmly with Austria, as they
+dreaded so formidable a power as France directly upon their frontier.
+The other minor powers of the alliance were also rather inclined to
+remain with Austria. The war continued while the terms of peace were
+under discussion. England, however, entered into a private understanding
+with France, and the Duke of Ormond, who had succeeded Marlborough,
+received secret orders not to take part in any battle or siege. The
+developments, upon fields of battle, of this dishonorable arrangement,
+caused great indignation on the part of the allies. The British forces
+withdrew, and the French armies, taking advantage of the great
+embarrassments thus caused, were again gaining the ascendency. Portugal
+soon followed the example of England and abandoned the alliance. The
+Duke of Savoy was the next to leave. The alliance was evidently
+crumbling to pieces, and on the 11th of April, 1713, all the
+belligerents, excepting the emperor, signed the treaty of peace. Philip
+of Spain also acceded to the same articles.
+
+Charles was very indignant in being thus abandoned; and unduly
+estimating his strength, resolved alone, with the resources which the
+empire afforded him, to prosecute the war against France and Spain.
+Having nothing to fear from a Spanish invasion, he for a time
+relinquished his attempts upon Spain, and concentrating his armies upon
+the Rhine, prepared for a desperate onset upon France. For two years the
+war raged between Austria and France with war's usual vicissitudes of
+defeat and victory on either side. It was soon evident that the
+combatants were too equally matched for either party to hope to gain any
+decisive advantage over the other. On the 7th of September, 1714, France
+and Austria agreed to sheathe the sword. The war had raged for fourteen
+years, with an expenditure of blood and treasure, and an accumulation of
+misery which never can be gauged. Every party had lost fourfold more
+than it had gained. "A war," says Marshal Villers, "which had desolated
+the greater part of Europe, was concluded almost on the very terms which
+might have been procured at the commencement of hostilities."
+
+By this treaty of peace, which was signed at Baden, in Switzerland, the
+States of the Netherlands were left in the hands of Austria; and also
+the Italian States of Naples, Milan, Mantua and Sardinia. The thunders
+of artillery had hardly ceased to reverberate over the marshes of
+Holland and along the banks of the Rhine, ere the "blast of war's loud
+organ" and the tramp of charging squadrons were heard rising anew from
+the distant mountains of Sclavonia. The Turks, in violation of their
+treaty of peace, were again on the march, ascending the Danube along its
+southern banks, through the defiles of the Sclavonian mountains. In a
+motley mass of one hundred and fifty thousand men they had passed
+Belgrade, crossed the Save, and were approaching Peterwarden.
+
+Eugene was instantly dispatched with an efficient, compact army,
+disciplined by twelve years of warfare, to resist the Moslem invaders.
+The hostile battalions met at Karlowitz, but a few miles from
+Peterwarden, on the 5th of August, 1716. The tempest blazed with
+terrific fury for a few hours, when the Turkish host turned and fled.
+Thirty thousand of their number, including the grand vizier who led the
+host, were left dead upon the field. In their utter discomfiture they
+abandoned two hundred and fifty pieces of heavy artillery, and baggage,
+tents and military stores to an immense amount. Fifty Turkish banners
+embellished the camp of the victors.
+
+And now Eugene led his triumphant troops, sixty thousand in number, down
+the river to lay siege to Belgrade. This fortress, which the labor of
+ages had strengthened, was garrisoned by thirty thousand troops, and was
+deemed almost impregnable. Eugene invested the place and commenced the
+slow and tedious operations of a siege. The sultan immediately
+dispatched an army of two hundred thousand men to the relief of his
+beleaguered fortress. The Turks, arriving at the scene of action, did
+not venture an assault upon their intrenched foes, but intrenched
+themselves on heights, outside of the besieging camp, in a semicircle
+extending from the Danube to the Save. They thus shut up the besiegers
+in the miasmatic marshes which surrounded the city, cut off their
+supplies of provisions, and from their advancing batteries threw shot
+into the Austrian camp. "A man," said Napoleon, "is not a soldier." The
+Turks had two hundred thousand _men_ in their camp, raw recruits. Eugene
+had sixty thousand veteran _soldiers_. He decided to drive off the Turks
+who annoyed him. It was necessary for him to detach twenty thousand to
+hold in check the garrison of Belgrade, who might sally to the relief of
+their companions. This left him but forty thousand troops with whom to
+assail two hundred thousand strongly intrenched. He did not hesitate in
+the undertaking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CHARLES VI.
+
+From 1716 to 1727.
+
+Heroic Decision of Eugene.--Battle of Belgrade.--Utter Rout of the
+Turks.--Possessions of Charles VI.--The Elector of Hanover Succeeds to
+the English Throne.--Preparations for War.--State of Italy.--Philip V.
+of Spain.--Diplomatic Agitations.--Palace of St. Ildefonso.--Order of
+the Golden Fleece.--Rejection of Maria Anne.--Contest for the Rock of
+Gibraltar.--Dismissal of Ripperda.--Treaty of Vienna.--Peace Concluded.
+
+
+The enterprise upon which Eugene had resolved was bold in the extreme.
+It could only be accomplished by consummate bravery aided by equal
+military skill. The foe they were to attack were five to one, and were
+protected by well-constructed redoubts, armed with the most formidable
+batteries. They were also abundantly supplied with cavalry, and the
+Turkish cavalry were esteemed the finest horsemen in the world. There
+was but one circumstance in favor of Eugene. The Turks did not dream
+that he would have the audacity to march from the protection of his
+intrenchments and assail them behind their own strong ramparts. There
+was consequently but little difficulty in effecting a surprise.
+
+All the arrangements were made with the utmost precision and secrecy for
+a midnight attack. The favorable hour came. The sun went down in clouds,
+and a night of Egyptian darkness enveloped the armies. The glimmer of
+innumerable camp-fires only pointed out the position of the foe, without
+throwing any illumination upon the field. Eugene visited all the posts
+of the army, ordered abundant refreshment to be distributed to the
+troops, addressed them in encouraging words, to impress upon them the
+importance of the enterprise, and minutely assigned to each battalion,
+regiment, brigade and division its duty, that there might be no
+confusion. The whole plan was carefully arranged in all its details and
+in all its grand combination. As the bells of Belgrade tolled the hour
+of twelve at midnight, three bombs, simultaneously discharged, put the
+whole Austrian army in rapid and noiseless motion.
+
+A dense fog had now descended, through which they could with difficulty
+discern the twinkling lights of the Turkish camp. Rapidly they traversed
+the intervening space, and in dense, solid columns, rushed over the
+ramparts of the foe. Bombs, cannon, musketry, bayonets, cavalry, all
+were employed, amidst the thunderings and the lightnings of that
+midnight storm of war, in the work of destruction. The Turks, roused
+from their slumber, amazed, bewildered, fought for a short time with
+maniacal fury, often pouring volleys of bullets into the bosoms of their
+friends, and with bloody cimeters smiting indiscriminately on the right
+hand and the left, till, in the midst of a scene of confusion and horror
+which no imagination can conceive, they broke and fled. Two hundred
+thousand men, lighted only by the flash of guns which mowed their ranks,
+with thousands of panic-stricken cavalry trampling over them, while the
+crash of musketry, the explosions of artillery, the shouts of the
+assailants and the fugitives, and the shrieks of the dying, blended in a
+roar more appalling than heaven's heaviest thunders, presented a scene
+which has few parallels even in the horrid annals of war.
+
+The morning dawned upon a field of blood and death. The victory of the
+Austrians was most decisive. The flower of the Turkish army was cut to
+pieces, and the remnant was utterly dispersed. The Turkish camp, with
+all its abundant booty of tents, provisions, ammunition and artillery,
+fell into the hands of the conqueror. So signal was the victory, that
+the disheartened Turks made no attempt to retrieve their loss. Belgrade
+was surrendered to the Austrians, and the sultan implored peace. The
+articles were signed in Passarovitz, a small town of Servia, in July,
+1718. By this treaty the emperor added Belgrade to his dominions, and
+also a large part of Wallachia and Servia.
+
+Austria and Spain were still in heart at war, as the emperor claimed the
+crown of Spain, and was only delaying active hostilities until he could
+dispose of his more immediate foes. Charles, soon after the death of his
+cousin, the Portuguese princess, with whom he had formed a matrimonial
+engagement, married Elizabeth Christina, a princess of Brunswick. The
+imperial family now consisted of three daughters, Maria Theresa, Maria
+Anne and Maria Amelia. It will be remembered that by the family compact
+established by Leopold, the succession was entailed upon Charles in
+preference to the daughters of Joseph, in case Joseph should die without
+male issue. But should Charles die without male issue, the crown was to
+revert to the daughters of Joseph in preference to those of Charles. The
+emperor, having three daughters and no sons, with natural parental
+partiality, but unjustly, and with great want of magnanimity, was
+anxious to deprive the daughters of Joseph of their rights, that he
+might secure the crown for his own daughters. He accordingly issued a
+decree reversing this contract, and settling the right of succession
+first upon his daughters, should he die without sons, then upon the
+daughters of Joseph, one of whom had married the Elector of Saxony and
+the other the Elector of Bavaria. After them he declared his sister, who
+had married the King of Portugal, and then his other sisters, the
+daughters of Leopold, to be in the line of succession. This new law of
+succession Charles issued under the name of the Pragmatic Sanction. He
+compelled his nieces, the daughters of Joseph, to give their assent to
+this Sanction, and then, for the remainder of his reign, made the
+greatest efforts to induce all the powers of Europe to acknowledge its
+validity.
+
+Charles VI. was now, as to the extent of territory over which he reigned
+and the population subject to his sway, decidedly the most powerful
+monarch in Christendom. Three hundred princes of the German empire
+acknowledged him as their elected sovereign. By hereditary right he
+claimed dominion over Bohemia, Hungary, Transylvania, Wallachia, Servia,
+Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Tyrol, and all the rich and populous
+States of the Netherlands. Naples, Sicily, Mantua and Milan in Italy,
+also recognized his sovereignty. To enlightened reason nothing can seem
+more absurd than that one man, of very moderate capacities, luxuriating
+in his palace at Vienna, should pretend to hold dominion over so many
+millions so widely dispersed. But the progress of the world towards
+intelligent liberty has been very slow. When we contrast the
+constitution of the United States with such a political condition, all
+our evils and difficulties dwindle to utter insignificance.
+
+Still the power of the emperor was in many respects apparent rather than
+real. Each of these States had its own customs and laws. The nobles were
+tumultuary, and ever ready, if their privileges were infringed, to rise
+in insurrection. Military force alone could hold these turbulent realms
+in awe; and the old feudal servitude which crushed the millions, was but
+another name for anarchy. The peace establishment of the emperor
+amounted to one hundred thousand men, and every one of these was
+necessary simply to garrison his fortresses. The enormous expense of the
+support of such an army, with all the outlays for the materiel of war,
+the cavalry, and the structure of vast fortresses, exhausted the
+revenues of a kingdom in which the masses of the people were so
+miserably poor that they were scarcely elevated above the beasts of the
+field, and where the finances had long been in almost irreparable
+disorder. The years of peace, however, were very few. War, a maelstrom
+which ingulfs uncounted millions, seems to have been the normal state of
+Germany. But the treasury of Charles was so constantly drained that he
+could never, even in his greatest straits, raise more than one hundred
+and sixty thousand men; and he was often compelled to call upon the aid
+of a foreign purse to meet the expense which that number involved.
+Within a hundred years the nations have made vast strides in wealth, and
+in the consequent ability to throw away millions in war.
+
+Charles VI. commenced his reign with intense devotion to business. He
+resolved to be an illustrious emperor, vigorously superintending all the
+interests of the empire, legislative, judicial and executive. For a few
+weeks he was busy night and day, buried in a hopeless mass of diplomatic
+papers. But he soon became weary of this, and leaving all the ordinary
+affairs of the State in the hands of agents, amused himself with his
+violin and in chasing rabbits. As more serious employment, he gave
+pompous receptions, and enveloped himself in imperial ceremony and the
+most approved courtly etiquette. He still, however, insisted upon giving
+his approval to all measures adopted by his ministers, before they were
+carried into execution. But as he was too busy with his entertainments,
+his music and the chase, to devote much time to the dry details of
+government, papers were accumulating in a mountainous heap in his
+cabinet, and the most important business was neglected.
+
+Charles XII. was now King of Sweden; Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia;
+George I., King of England; and the shameful regency had succeeded, in
+France, the reign of Louis XIV. For eighteen years a bloody war had been
+sweeping the plains of Poland, Russia and Sweden. Thousands had been
+torn to pieces by the enginery of war, and trampled beneath iron hoofs.
+Millions of women and children had been impoverished, beggared, and
+turned out houseless into the fields to moan and starve and die. The
+claims of humanity must ever yield to the requisitions of war. This
+fierce battle of eighteen years was fought to decide which of three men,
+Peter of Russia, Charles of Sweden, or Augustus of Poland, should have
+the right to exact tribute from Livonia. This province was a vast
+pasture on the Baltic, containing about seventeen thousand square miles,
+and inhabited by about five hundred thousand poor herdsmen and tillers
+of the soil.
+
+Peter the Great was in the end victorious in this long conflict; and
+having attached large portions of Sweden to his territory, with a navy
+upon the Baltic, and a disciplined army, began to be regarded as a
+European power, and was quite disposed to make his voice heard in the
+diplomacy of Europe. Queen Anne having died, leaving no children, the
+law of hereditary descent carried the crown of England to Germany, and
+placed it upon the brow of the Elector of Hanover, who, as grandson of
+James I., was the nearest heir, but who could not speak a word of
+English, who knew nothing of constitutional law, and who was about as
+well qualified to govern England as a Patagonian or Esquimaux would have
+been. But obedience to this law of hereditary descent was a political
+necessity. There were thousands of able men in England who could have
+administered the government with honor to themselves and to the country.
+But it is said in reply that the people of England, as a body, were not
+then, and probably are not even now, sufficiently enlightened to be
+intrusted with the choice of their own rulers. Respect for the
+ballot-box is one of the last and highest attainments of civilization.
+Recent developments in our own land have led many to fear that barbarism
+is gaining upon the people. If the _ballot-box_ be overturned, the
+_cartridge-box_ must take its place. The great battle we have to fight
+is the battle against popular ignorance. The great army we are to
+support is the army of teachers in the schools and in the pulpit,
+elevating the mind to the highest possible intelligence, and guiding the
+heart by the pure spirit of the gospel.
+
+The emperor was so crowded with affairs of immediate urgency, and it was
+so evident that he could not drive Philip from the throne, now that he
+was recognized by all Europe, that he postponed the attempt for a
+season, while he still adopted the title of King of Spain. His troops
+had hardly returned from the brilliant campaign of Belgrade, ere the
+emperor saw a cloud gathering in the north, which excited his most
+serious apprehension. Russia and Sweden, irritated by some of the acts
+of the emperor, formed an alliance for the invasion of the German
+empire. The fierce warriors of the north, led by such captains as
+Charles XII. and Peter the Great, were foes not to be despised. This
+threatened invasion not only alarmed the emperor, but alarmed George I.
+of England, as his electorate of Hanover was imperiled; and also excited
+the fears of Augustus, the Elector of Saxony, who had regained the
+throne of Poland. England and Poland consequently united with the
+emperor, and formidable preparations were in progress for a terrible
+war, when one single chance bullet, upon the field of Pultowa, struck
+Charles XII., as he was looking over the parapet, and dispersed this
+cloud which threatened the desolation of all Europe.
+
+Austria was now the preponderating power in degenerate Italy. Even those
+States which were not in subjection to the emperor, were overawed by his
+imperious spirit. Genoa was nominally independent. The Genoese arrested
+one of the imperial officers for some violation of the laws of the
+republic. The emperor sent an army to the gates of the city, threatening
+it with bombardment and utter destruction. They were thus compelled
+immediately to liberate the officer, to pay a fine of three hundred
+thousand dollars, and to send a senator to Vienna with humble
+expressions of contrition, and to implore pardon.
+
+The kingdom of Sardinia was at this time the most powerful State in
+Italy, if we except those united Italian States which now composed an
+integral part of the Austrian empire. Victor Asmedeus, the energetic
+king, had a small but vigorous army, and held himself ready, with this
+army, for a suitable remuneration, to engage in the service of any
+sovereign, without asking any troublesome questions as to the
+righteousness of the expedition in which he was to serve. The Sardinian
+king was growing rich, and consequently ambitious. He wished to rise
+from the rank of a secondary to that of a primary power in Europe. There
+was but one direction in which he could hope to extend his territories,
+and that was by pressing into Lombardy. He had made the remark, which
+was repeated to the emperor, "I must acquire Lombardy piece by piece, as
+I eat an artichoke." Charles, consequently, watched Victor with a
+suspicious eye.
+
+The four great powers of middle and southern Europe were Austria,
+England, France, and Spain. All the other minor States, innumerable in
+name as well as number, were compelled to take refuge, openly or
+secretly, beneath one or another of these great monarchies.
+
+In France, the Duke of Orleans, the regent during the minority of Louis
+XV., whose court, in the enormous expenditures of vice, exhausted the
+yearly earnings of a population of twenty millions, was anxious to unite
+the Bourbon' branches of France and Spain in more intimate alliance. He
+accordingly affianced the young sovereign of France to Mary Anne,
+daughter of Philip V. of Spain. At the same time he married his own
+daughter to the king's oldest son, the Prince of Asturias, who was heir
+to the throne. Mary Anne, to whom the young king was affianced, was only
+four years of age.
+
+The personal history of the monarchs of Europe is, almost without
+exception, a melancholy history. By their ambition and their wars they
+whelmed the cottages in misery, and by a righteous retribution misery
+also inundated the palace. Philip V. became the victim of the most
+insupportable melancholy. Earth had no joy which could lift the cloud of
+gloom from his soul. For months he was never known to smile. Imprisoning
+himself in his palace he refused to see any company, and left all the
+cares of government in the hands of his wife, Elizabeth Farnese.
+
+Germany was still agitated by the great religious contest between the
+Catholics and the Protestants, which divided the empire into two nearly
+equal parties, bitterly hostile to each other. Various fruitless
+attempts had been made to bring the parties together, into _unity of
+faith_, by compromise. Neither party were reconciled to cordial
+_toleration_, free and full, in which alone harmony can be obtained. In
+all the States of the empire the Catholics and the Protestants were
+coming continually into collision. Charles, though a very decided
+Catholic, was not disposed to persecute the Protestants, as most of his
+predecessors had done, for he feared to rouse them to despair.
+
+England, France, Austria and Spain, were now involved in an inextricable
+maze of diplomacy. Congresses were assembled and dissolved; treaties
+made and violated; alliances formed and broken. Weary of the conflict of
+arms, they were engaged in the more harmless squabbles of intrigue, each
+seeking its own aggrandizement. Philip V., who had fought so many bloody
+battles to acquire the crown of Spain, now, disgusted with the cares
+which that crown involved, overwhelmed with melancholy, and trembling in
+view of the final judgment of God, suddenly abdicated the throne in
+favor of his son Louis, and took a solemn oath that he would never
+resume it again. This event, which surprised Europe, took place on the
+10th of February, 1724. Philip retired to St. Ildefonso.
+
+The celebrated palace of St. Ildefonso, which became the retreat of the
+monarch, was about forty miles north of Madrid, in an elevated ravine
+among the mountains of Gaudarruma. It was an enormous pile, nearly four
+thousand feet above the level of the sea, and reared by the Spanish
+monarchs at an expense exceeding thirty millions of dollars. The palace,
+two stories high, and occupying three sides of a square, presents a
+front five hundred and thirty feet in length. In this front alone there
+are, upon each story, twelve gorgeous apartments in a suite. The
+interior is decorated in the richest style of art, with frescoed
+ceilings, and splendid mirrors, and tesselated floors of variegated
+marble. The furniture was embellishcd with gorgeous carvings, and
+enriched with marble, jasper and verd-antique. The galleries were filled
+with the most costly productions of the chisel and the pencil. The
+spacious garden, spread out before the palace, was cultivated with the
+utmost care, and ornamented with fountains surpassing even those of
+Versailles.
+
+To this magnificent retreat Philip V. retired with his imperious,
+ambitious wife. She was the step-mother of his son who had succeeded to
+the throne. For a long time, by the vigor of her mind, she had dominated
+over her husband, and had in reality been the sovereign of Spain. In the
+magnificent palace of St. Ildefonso, she was by no means inclined to
+relinquish her power. Gathering a brilliant court around her, she still
+issued her decrees, and exerted a powerful influence over the kingdom.
+The young Louis, who was but a boy, was not disposed to engage in a
+quarrel with his mother, and for a time submitted to this interference;
+but gradually he was roused by his adherents, to emancipate himself from
+these shackles, and to assume the authority of a sovereign. This led to
+very serious trouble. The abdicated king, in his moping melancholy, was
+entirely in subjection to his wife. There were now two rival courts.
+Parties were organizing. Some were for deposing the son; others for
+imprisoning the father. The kingdom was on the eve of a civil war, when
+death kindly came to settle the difficulty.
+
+The young King Louis, but eighteen years of age, after a nominal reign
+of but eight months, was seized with that awful scourge the small-pox,
+and, after a few days of suffering and delirium, was consigned to the
+tomb. Philip, notwithstanding his vow, was constrained by his wife to
+resume the crown, she probably promising to relieve him of all care.
+Such are the vicissitudes of a hereditary government. Elizabeth, with
+woman's spirit, now commanded the emperor to renounce the title of King
+of Spain, which he still claimed. Charles, with the spirit of an
+emperor, declared that he would do no such thing.
+
+There was another serious source of difficulty between the two monarchs,
+which has descended, generation after generation, to our own time, and
+to this day is only settled by each party quietly persisting in his own
+claim.
+
+In the year 1430 Philip III., Duke of Burgundy, instituted a new order
+of knighthood for the protection of the Catholic church, to be called
+the order of the Golden Fleece. But twenty-four members were to be
+admitted, and Philip himself was the grand master. Annual meetings were
+held to fill vacancies. Charles V., as grand master, increased the
+number of knights to fifty-one. After his death, as the Burgundian
+provinces and the Netherlands passed under the dominion of Spain, the
+Spanish monarchs exercised the office of grand master, and conferred the
+dignity, which was now regarded the highest order of knighthood in
+Europe, according to their pleasure. But Charles VI., now in admitted
+possession of the Netherlands, by virtue of that possession claimed the
+office of grand master of the Golden Fleece. Philip also claimed it as
+the inheritance of the kings of Spain. The dispute has never been
+settled. Both parties still claim it, and the order is still conferred
+both at Vienna and Madrid.
+
+Other powers interfered, in the endeavor to promote reconciliation
+between the hostile courts, but, as usual, only increased the acrimony
+of the two parties. The young Spanish princess Mary Anne, who was
+affianced to the Dauphin of France, was sent to Paris for her education,
+and that she might become familiar with the etiquette of a court over
+which she was to preside as queen. For a time she was treated with great
+attention, and child as she was, received all the homage which the
+courtiers were accustomed to pay to the Queen of France. But amidst the
+intrigues of the times a change arose, and it was deemed a matter of
+state policy to marry the boy-king to another princess. The French court
+consequently rejected Maria Anne and sent her back to Spain, and married
+Louis, then but fifteen years of age, to Maria Lebrinsky, daughter of
+the King of Poland. The rejected child was too young fully to appreciate
+the mortification. Her parents, however, felt the insult most keenly.
+The whole Spanish court was roused to resent it as a national outrage.
+The queen was so indignant that she tore from her arm a bracelet which
+she wore, containing a portrait of Louis XV., and dashing it upon the
+floor, trampled it beneath her feet. Even the king was roused from his
+gloom by the humiliation of his child, and declared that no amount of
+blood could atone for such an indignity.
+
+Under the influence of this exasperation, the queen resolved to seek
+reconciliation with Austria, that all friendly relations might be
+abandoned with France, and that Spain and Austria might be brought into
+intimate alliance to operate against their common foe. A renowned
+Spanish diplomatist, the Baron of Ripperda, had been for some time a
+secret agent of the queen at the court of Vienna, watching the progress
+of events there. He resided in the suburbs under a fictitious name, and
+eluding the vigilance of the ministry, had held by night several secret
+interviews with the emperor, proposing to him, in the name of the queen,
+plans of reconciliation. Letters were immediately dispatched to Ripperda
+urging him to come to an accommodation with the emperor upon almost any
+terms.
+
+A treaty was soon concluded, early in the spring of 1725. The emperor
+renounced all claim to the Spanish crown, entered into an alliance, both
+offensive and defensive, with Philip, and promised to aid, both with men
+and money, to help recover Gibraltar from the English, which fortress
+they had held since they seized upon it in the war of the Spanish
+succession. In consideration of these great concessions Philip agreed to
+recognize the right of the emperor to the Netherlands and to his
+acquisitions in Italy. He opened all the ports of Spain to the subjects
+of the emperor, and pledged himself to support the Pragmatic Sanction,
+which wrested the crown of Austria from the daughters of Joseph, and
+transmitted it to the daughters of Charles. It was this last clause
+which influenced the emperor, for his whole heart was set upon the
+accomplishment of this important result, and he was willing to make
+almost any sacrifice to attain it. There were also some secret articles
+attached which have never been divulged.
+
+The immediate demand of Spain for the surrender of the rock of Gibraltar
+was the signal for all Europe to marshal itself for war--a war which
+threatened the destruction of hundreds of thousands of lives, millions
+of property, and which was sure to spread far and wide over populous
+cities and extended provinces, carnage, conflagration, and unspeakable
+woe. The question was, whether England or Spain should have possession
+of a rock seven miles long and one mile broad, which was supposed, but
+very erroneously, to command the Mediterranean. To the rest of Europe it
+was hardly a matter of the slightest moment whether the flag of England
+or Spain waved over those granite cliffs. It seems incredible that
+beings endowed with reason could be guilty of such madness.
+
+England, with great vigor, immediately rallied on her side France,
+Hanover, Holland, Denmark and Sweden. On the other side were Spain,
+Austria, Russia, Prussia and a large number of the minor States of
+Germany. Many months were occupied in consolidating these coalitions,
+and in raising the armies and gathering the materials for the war.
+
+In the meantime Ripperda, having so successfully, as he supposed,
+concluded his negotiations at Vienna, in a high state of exultation
+commenced his journey back to Spain. Passing down through the Tyrol and
+traversing Italy he embarked at Genoa and landed at Barcelona. Here he
+boasted loudly of what he had accomplished.
+
+"Spain and the emperor now united," he said, "will give the law to
+Europe. The emperor has one hundred and fifty thousand troops under
+arms, and in six months can bring as many more into the field. France
+shall be pillaged. George I. shall be driven both from his German and
+his British territories."
+
+From Barcelona Ripperda traveled rapidly to Madrid, where he was
+received with almost regal honors by the queen, who was now in reality
+the sovereign. She immediately appointed him Secretary of State, and
+transferred to him the reins of government which she had taken from the
+unresisting hands of her moping husband. Thus Ripperda became, in all
+but title, the King of Spain. He was a weak man, of just those traits of
+character which would make him a haughty woman's favorite. He was so
+elated with this success, became so insufferably vain, and assumed such
+imperious airs as to disgust all parties. He made the most extravagant
+promises of the subsidies the emperor was to furnish, and of the powers
+which were to combine to trample England and France beneath their feet.
+It was soon seen that these promises were merely the vain-glorious
+boasts of his own heated brain. Even the imperial ambassador at Madrid
+was so repelled by his arrogance, that he avoided as far as possible all
+social and even diplomatic intercourse with him. There was a general
+combination of the courtiers to crush the favorite. The queen, who, with
+all her ambition, had a good share of sagacity, soon saw the mistake she
+had made, and in four months after Ripperda's return to Madrid, he was
+dismissed in disgrace.
+
+A general storm of contempt and indignation pursued the discarded
+minister. His rage was now inflamed as much as his vanity had been.
+Fearful of arrest and imprisonment, and burning with that spirit of
+revenge which is ever strongest in weakest minds, he took refuge in the
+house of the British ambassador, Mr. Stanhope. Hostilities had not yet
+commenced. Indeed there had been no declaration of war, and diplomatic
+relations still continued undisturbed. Each party was acting secretly,
+and watching the movements of the other with a jealous eye.
+
+Ripperda sought protection beneath the flag of England, and with the
+characteristic ignominy of deserters and traitors, endeavored to
+ingratiate himself with his new friends by disclosing all the secrets of
+his negotiations at Vienna. Under these circumstances full confidence
+can not be placed in his declarations, for he had already proved himself
+to be quite unscrupulous in regard to truth. The indignant queen sent an
+armed force, arrested the duke in the house of the British ambassador,
+and sent him, in close imprisonment, to the castle of Segovia. He,
+however, soon escaped from there and fled to England, where he
+reiterated his declarations respecting the secret articles of the treaty
+of Vienna. The most important of these declarations was, that Spain and
+the emperor had agreed to drive George I. from England and to place the
+Pretender, who had still many adherents, upon the British throne. It was
+also asserted that marriage contracts were entered into which, by
+uniting the daughters of the emperor with the sons of the Spanish
+monarch, would eventually place the crowns of Austria and Spain upon the
+same brow. The thought of such a vast accumulation of power in the hands
+of any one monarch, alarmed all the rest of Europe. Both Spain and the
+emperor denied many of the statements made by Ripperda. But as _truth_
+has not been esteemed a diplomatic virtue, and as both Ripperda and the
+sovereigns he had served were equally tempted to falsehood, and were
+equally destitute of any character for truth, it is not easy to decide
+which party to believe.
+
+England and France took occasion, through these disclosures, to rouse
+the alarm of Europe. So much apprehension was excited in Prussia,
+Bavaria, and with other princes of the empire, who were appalled at the
+thought of having another Spanish prince upon the imperial throne, that
+the emperor sent ambassadors to these courts to appease their anxiety,
+and issued a public declaration denying that any such marriages were in
+contemplation; while at the same time he was promising the Queen of
+Spain these marriages, to secure her support. England and France accuse
+the emperor of deliberate, persistent, unblushing falsehood.
+
+The emperor seems now to have become involved in an inextricable maze of
+prevarication and duplicity, striving in one court to accomplish
+purposes which in other courts he was denying that he wished to
+accomplish. His embarrassment at length became so great, the greater
+part of Europe being roused and jealous, that he was compelled to
+abandon Spain, and reluctantly to sign a treaty of amity with France and
+England. A general armistice was agreed upon for seven years. The King
+of Spain, thus abandoned by the emperor, was also compelled to smother
+his indignation and to roll back his artillery into the arsenals. Thus
+this black cloud of war, which threatened all Europe with desolation,
+was apparently dispelled. This treaty, which seemed to restore peace to
+Europe, was signed in June, 1727. It was, however, a hollow peace. The
+spirit of ambition and aggression animated every court; and each one was
+ready, in defiance of treaties and in defiance of the misery of the
+world, again to unsheath the sword as soon as any opportunity should
+offer for the increase of territory or power.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+CHARLES VI. AND THE POLISH WAR.
+
+From 1727 to 1735.
+
+Cardinal Fleury.--The Emperor of Austria Urges the Pragmatic Sanction.--
+He Promises His Two Daughters to the Two Sons of the Queen of
+Spain.--France, England and Spain Unite Against Austria.--Charles VI.
+Issues Orders to Prepare for War.--His Perplexities.--Secret Overtures
+to England.--The Crown of Poland.--Meeting of the Polish Congress.--
+Stanislaus Goes to Poland.--Augustus III. Crowned.--War.--Charles Sends
+an Army to Lombardy.--Difficulties of Prince Eugene.--Charles's
+Displeasure with England.--Letter to Count Kinsky.--Hostilities Renewed.
+
+
+The young King of France, Louis XV., from amidst the orgies of his court
+which rivaled Babylon in corruption, was now seventeen years of age, and
+was beginning to shake off the trammels of guardianship and to take some
+ambitious part in government. The infamous regent, the Duke of Orleans,
+died suddenly of apoplexy in 1723. Gradually the king's preceptor,
+Fleury, obtained the entire ascendency over the mind of his pupil, and
+became the chief director of affairs. He saw the policy of reuniting the
+Bourbons of France and Spain for the support of each other. The policy
+was consequently adopted of cultivating friendly relations between the
+two kingdoms. Cardinal Fleury was much disposed to thwart the plans of
+the emperor. A congress of the leading powers had been assembled at
+Soissons in June, 1728, to settle some diplomatic questions. The
+favorite object of the emperor now was, to obtain from the European
+powers the formal guarantee to support his decree of succession which
+conveyed the crown of Austria to his daughters, in preference to those
+of his brother Joseph.
+
+The emperor urged the Pragmatic Sanction strongly upon the congress, as
+the basis upon which he would enter into friendly relations with all the
+powers. Fleury opposed it, and with such influence over the other
+plenipotentiaries as to secure its rejection. The emperor was much
+irritated, and intimated war. France and England retorted defiance.
+Spain was becoming alienated from the emperor, who had abandoned her
+cause, and was again entering into alliance with France. The emperor had
+promised his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, to Carlos, son of the Queen
+of Spain, and a second daughter to the next son, Philip. These were as
+brilliant matches as an ambitious mother could desire. But while the
+emperor was making secret and solemn promises to the Queen of Spain,
+that these marriages should be consummated, which would secure to the
+son of the queen the Austrian, as well as the Spanish crown, he was
+declaring to the courts of Europe that he had no such plans in
+contemplation.
+
+The Spanish queen, at length, annoyed, and goaded on by France and
+England, sent an ambassador to Vienna, and demanded of the emperor a
+written promise that Maria Theresa was to be the bride of Carlos. The
+emperor was now brought to the end of his intrigues. He had been careful
+heretofore to give only verbal promises, through his ministers. After
+his reiterated public denials that any such alliance was anticipated, he
+did not dare commit himself by giving the required document. An
+apologetic, equivocal answer was returned which so roused the ire of the
+queen, that, breaking off from Austria, she at once entered into a
+treaty of cordial union with England and France.
+
+It will readily be seen that all these wars and intrigues had but little
+reference to the welfare of the masses of the people. They were hardly
+more thought of than the cattle and the poultry. The only purpose they
+served was, by unintermitted toil, to raise the wealth which supported
+the castle and the palace, and to march to the field to fight battles,
+in which they had no earthly interest. The written history of Europe is
+only the history of kings and nobles--their ambitions, intrigues and
+war. The unwritten history of the dumb, toiling millions, defrauded of
+their rights, doomed to poverty and ignorance, is only recorded in the
+book of God's remembrance. When that page shall be read, every ear that
+hears it will tingle.
+
+The frail connection between Austria and Spain was now terminated.
+England, France and Spain entered into an alliance to make vigorous war
+against Charles VI. if he manifested any hostility to any of the
+articles of the treaty into which they had entered. The Queen of Spain,
+in her spite, forbade the subjects of the emperor from trading at all
+with Spain, and granted to her new allies the exclusive right to the
+Spanish trade. She went so far in her reconciliation with England as to
+assure the king that he was quite welcome to retain the rock of
+Gibraltar which he held with so tenacious a grasp.
+
+In this treaty, with studied neglect, even the name of the emperor was
+not mentioned; and yet the allies, as if to provoke a quarrel, sent
+Charles VI. a copy, peremptorily demanding assent to the treaty without
+his having taken any part whatever in the negotiation.
+
+This insulting demand fell like a bomb-shell in the palace at Vienna.
+Emperor, ministers, courtiers, all were aroused to a frenzy of
+indignation. "So insulting a message," said Count Zinzendorf, "is
+unparalleled, even in the annals of savages." The emperor condescended
+to make no reply, but very spiritedly issued orders to all parts of the
+empire, for his troops to hold themselves in readiness for war.
+
+And yet Charles was overwhelmed with anxiety, and was almost in despair.
+It was a terrible humiliation for the emperor to be compelled to submit,
+unavenged, to such an insult. But how could the emperor alone, venture
+to meet in battle England, France, Spain and all the other powers whom
+three such kingdoms could, either by persuasion or compulsion, bring
+into their alliance? He pleaded with his natural allies. Russia had not
+been insulted, and was unwilling to engage in so distant a war. Prussia
+had no hope of gaining any thing, and declined the contest. Sardinia
+sent a polite message to the emperor that it was more for her interest
+to enter into an alliance with her nearer neighbors, France, Spain and
+England, and that she had accordingly done so. The treasury of Charles
+was exhausted; his States were impoverished by constant and desolating
+wars. And his troops manifested but little zeal to enter the field
+against so fearful a superiority of force. The emperor, tortured almost
+beyond endurance by chagrin, was yet compelled to submit.
+
+The allies were quite willing to provoke a war with the emperor; but as
+he received their insults so meekly, and made no movement against them,
+they were rather disposed to march against him. Spain wanted Parma and
+Tuscany, but France was not willing to have Spain make so great an
+accession to her Italian power. France wished to extend her area north,
+through the States of the Netherlands. But England was unwilling to see
+the French power thus aggrandized. England had her aspirations, to which
+both France and Spain were opposed. Thus the allies operated as a check
+upon each other.
+
+The emperor found some little consolation in this growing disunion, and
+did all in his power to foment it. Wishing to humble the Bourbons of
+France and Spain, he made secret overtures to England. The offers of the
+emperor were of such a nature, that England eagerly accepted them,
+returned to friendly relations with the emperor, and, to his extreme
+joy, pledged herself to support the Pragmatic Sanction.
+
+It seems to have been the great object of the emperor's life to secure
+the crown of Austria for his daughters. It was an exceedingly
+disgraceful act. There was no single respectable reason to be brought
+forward why his daughters should crowd from the throne the daughters of
+his elder deceased brother, the Emperor Joseph. Charles was so aware of
+the gross injustice of the deed, and that the ordinary integrity of
+humanity would rise against him, that he felt the necessity of
+exhausting all the arts of diplomacy to secure for his daughters the
+pledged support of the surrounding thrones. He had now by intrigues of
+many years obtained the guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction from Russia,
+Prussia, Holland, Spain and England. France still refused her pledge, as
+did also many of the minor States of the empire. The emperor, encouraged
+by the success he had thus far met with, pushed his efforts with renewed
+vigor, and in January, 1732, exulted that he had gained the guarantee of
+the Pragmatic Sanction from all the Germanic body, with the exception of
+Bavaria, Palatine and Saxony.
+
+And now a new difficulty arose to embroil Europe in trouble. When
+Charles XII., like a thunderbolt of war, burst upon Poland, he drove
+Augustus II. from the throne, and placed upon it Stanislaus Leczinski, a
+Polish noble, whom he had picked up by the way, and whose heroic
+character secured the admiration of this semi-insane monarch. Augustus,
+utterly crushed, was compelled by his eccentric victor to send the crown
+jewels and the archives, with a letter of congratulation, to Stanislaus.
+This was in the year 1706. Three years after this, in 1709, Charles XII.
+suffered a memorable defeat at Pultowa. Augustus II., then at the head
+of an army, regained his kingdom, and Stanislaus fled in disguise. After
+numerous adventures and fearful afflictions, the court of France offered
+him a retreat in Wissembourg in Alsace. Here the ex-king remained for
+six years, when his beautiful daughter Mary was selected to take the
+place of the rejected Mary of Spain, as the wife of the young dauphin,
+Louis XV.
+
+In the year 1733 Augustus II. died. In anticipation of this event
+Austria had been very busy, hoping to secure the elective crown of
+Poland for the son of Augustus who had inherited his father's name, and
+who had promised to support the Pragmatic Sanction. France was equally
+busy in the endeavor to place the scepter of Poland in the hand of
+Stanislaus, father of the queen. From the time of the marriage of his
+daughter with Louis XV., Stanislaus received a handsome pension from the
+French treasury, maintained a court of regal splendor, and received all
+the honors due to a sovereign. All the energies of the French court were
+now aroused to secure the crown for Stanislaus. Russia, Prussia and
+Austria were in natural sympathy. They wished to secure the alliance of
+Poland, and were also both anxious to destroy the republican principle
+of _electing_ rulers, and to introduce hereditary descent of the crown
+in all the kingdoms of Europe. But an election by the nobles was now
+indispensable, and the rival powers were, with all the arts known in
+courts, pushing the claims of their several candidates. It was an
+important question, for upon it depended whether warlike Poland was to
+be the ally of the Austrian or of the French party. Poland was also
+becoming quite republican in its tendencies, and had adopted a
+constitution which greatly limited the power of the crown. Augustus
+would be but a tool in the hands of Russia, Prussia and Austria, and
+would cooperate with them in crushing the spirit of liberty in Poland.
+These three great northern powers became so roused upon the subject,
+that they put their troops in motion, threatening to exclude Stanislaus
+by force.
+
+This language of menace and display of arms roused France. The king,
+while inundating Poland with agents, and lavishing the treasure of
+France in bribes to secure the election of Stanislaus, assumed an air of
+virtuous indignation in view of the interference of the Austrian party,
+and declared that no foreign power should interfere in any way with the
+freedom of the election. This led the emperor to issue a
+counter-memorial inveighing against the intermeddling of France.
+
+In the midst of these turmoils the congress of Polish nobles met to
+choose their king. It was immediately apparent that there was a very
+powerful party organized in favor of Stanislaus. The emperor was for
+marching directly into the kingdom with an army which he had already
+assembled in Silesia for this purpose, and with the bayonet make up for
+any deficiency which his party might want in votes. Though Prussia
+demurred, he put his troops in motion, and the imperial and Russian
+ambassadors at Warsaw informed the marshal of the diet that Catharine,
+who was now Empress of Russia, and Charles, had decided to exclude
+Stanislaus from Poland by force.
+
+These threats produced their natural effect upon the bold warrior barons
+of Poland. Exasperated rather than intimidated, they assembled, many
+thousands in number, on the great plain of Wola, but a few miles from
+Warsaw, and with great unanimity chose Stanislaus their king. This was
+the 12th of September, 1733. Stanislaus, anticipating the result, had
+left France in disguise, accompanied by a single attendant, to undertake
+the bold enterprise of traversing the heart of Germany, eluding all the
+vigilance of the emperor, and of entering Poland notwithstanding all the
+efforts of Austria, Russia and Prussia to keep him away. It was a very
+hazardous adventure, for his arrest would have proved his ruin. Though
+he encountered innumerable dangers, with marvelous sagacity and heroism
+he succeeded, and reached Warsaw on the 9th of September, just three
+days before the election. In regal splendor he rode, as soon as informed
+of his election, to the tented field where the nobles were convened. He
+was received with the clashing of weapons, the explosions of artillery,
+and the acclamations of thousands.
+
+But the Poles were not sufficiently enlightened fully to comprehend the
+virtue and the sacredness of the ballot-box. The Russian army was now
+hastening to the gates of Warsaw. The small minority of Polish nobles
+opposed to the election of Stanislaus seceded from the diet, mounted
+their horses, crossed the Vistula, and joined the invading array to make
+war upon the sovereign whom the majority had chosen. The retribution for
+such folly and wickedness has come. There is no longer any Poland. They
+who despise the authority of the ballot-box inevitably usher in the
+bayonets of despotism. Under the protection of this army the minority
+held another diet at Kamien (on the 5th of October), a village just
+outside the suburbs of Warsaw, and chose as the sovereign of Poland
+Augustus, son of the deceased king. The minority, aided by the Russian
+and imperial armies, were too strong for the majority. They took
+possession of Warsaw, and crowned their candidate king, with the title
+of Augustus III. Stanislaus, pressed by an overpowering force, retreated
+to Dantzic, at the mouth of the Vistula, about two hundred miles from
+Warsaw. Here he was surrounded by the Russian troops and held in close
+siege, while Augustus III. took possession of Poland. France could do
+nothing. A weary march of more than a thousand miles separated Paris
+from Warsaw, and the French troops would be compelled to fight their way
+through the very heart of the German empire, and at the end of the
+journey to meet the united armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Poland
+under her king, now in possession of all the fortresses.
+
+Though Louis XV. could make no effectual resistance, it was not in human
+nature but that he should seek revenge. When shepherds quarrel, they
+kill each other's flocks. When kings quarrel, they kill the poor
+peasants in each other's territories, and burn their homes. France
+succeeded in enlisting in her behalf Spain and Sardinia. Austria and
+Russia were upon the other side. Prussia, jealous of the emperor's
+greatness, declined any active participation. Most of the other powers
+of Europe also remained neutral. France had now no hope of placing
+Stanislaus upon the throne; she only sought revenge, determined to
+humble the house of Austria. The mercenary King of Sardinia, Charles
+Emanuel, was willing to serve the one who would pay the most. He first
+offered himself to the emperor, but upon terms too exorbitant to be
+accepted. France and Spain immediately offered him terms even more
+advantageous than those he had demanded of the emperor. The contract was
+settled, and the Sardinian army marched into the allied camp.
+
+The King of Sardinia, who was as ready to employ guile as force in
+warfare, so thoroughly deceived the emperor as to lead him to believe
+that he had accepted the emperor's terms, and that Sardinia was to be
+allied with Austria, even when the whole contract was settled with
+France and Spain, and the plan of the campaign was matured. So utterly
+was the emperor deluded by a fraud so contemptible, in the view of every
+honorable mind, that he sent great convoys of grain, and a large supply
+of shot, shells and artillery from the arsenals of Milan into the
+Sardinian camp. Charles Emanuel, dead to all sense of magnanimity,
+rubbed his hands with delight in the successful perpetration of such
+fraud, exclaiming, "_An virtus an dolos, quis ab hoste requirat_."
+
+So cunningly was this stratagem carried on, that the emperor was not
+undeceived until his own artillery, which he had sent to Charles
+Emanuel, were thundering at the gates of the city of Milan, and the shot
+and shells which he had so unsuspectingly furnished were mowing down the
+imperial troops. So sudden was the attack, so unprepared was Austrian
+Lombardy to meet it, that in twelve weeks the Sardinian troops overran
+the whole territory, seized every city and magazine, with all their
+treasures, leaving the fortress of Mantua alone in the possession of the
+imperial troops. It was the policy of Louis XV. to attack Austria in the
+remote portions of her widely-extended dominions, and to cut off
+province by province. He also made special and successful efforts to
+detach the interests of the German empire from those of Austria, so that
+the princes of the empire might claim neutrality. It was against the
+possessions of Charles VI., not against the independent States of the
+empire, that Louis XV. urged war.
+
+The storms of winter were now at hand, and both parties were compelled
+to abandon the field until spring. But during the winter every nerve was
+strained by the combatants in preparation for the strife which the
+returning sun would introduce. The emperor established strong defenses
+along the banks of the Rhine to prevent the passage of the French; he
+also sent agents to all the princes of the empire to enlist them in his
+cause, and succeeded, notwithstanding the remonstrances of many who
+claimed neutrality, in obtaining a vote from a diet which he assembled,
+for a large sum of money, and for an army of one hundred and twenty
+thousand men.
+
+The loss of Lombardy troubled Charles exceedingly, for it threatened the
+loss of all his Italian possessions. Notwithstanding the severity of the
+winter he sent to Mantua all the troops he could raise from his
+hereditary domains; and ordered every possible effort to be made to be
+prepared to undertake the offensive in the spring, and to drive the
+Sardinians from Lombardy. In the beginning of May the emperor had
+assembled within and around Mantua, sixty thousand men, under the
+command of Count Merci. The hostile forces soon met, and battle after
+battle thundered over the Italian plains. On the 29th of June the two
+armies encountered each other in the vicinity of Parma, in such numbers
+as to give promise of a decisive battle. For ten hours the demoniac
+storm raged unintermitted. Ten thousand of the dead covered the ground.
+Neither party had taken a single standard or a single prisoner, an event
+almost unparalleled in the history of battles. From the utter exhaustion
+of both parties the strife ceased. The Sardinians and French, mangled
+and bleeding, retired within the walls of Parma. The Austrians, equally
+bruised and bloody, having lost their leader, retired to Reggio. Three
+hundred and forty of the Austrian officers were either killed or
+wounded.
+
+The King of Sardinia was absent during this engagement, having gone to
+Turin to visit his wife, who was sick. The morning after the battle,
+however, he joined the army, and succeeded in cutting off an Austrian
+division of twelve hundred men, whom he took prisoners. Both parties now
+waited for a time to heal their wounds, repair their shattered weapons,
+get rested and receive reinforcements. Ten thousand poor peasants, who
+had not the slightest interest in the quarrel, had now met with a bloody
+death, and other thousands were now to be brought forward and offered as
+victims on this altar of kingly ambition. By the middle of July they
+were again prepared to take the field. Both parties struggled with
+almost superhuman energies in the work of mutual destruction; villages
+were burned, cities stormed, fields crimsoned with blood and strewn with
+the slain, while no decisive advantage was gained. In the desperation of
+the strife the hostile battalions were hurled against each other until
+the beginning of January. They waded morasses, slept in drenching
+storms, and were swept by freezing blasts. Sickness entered the camp,
+and was even more fatal than the bullet of the foe. Thousands moaned and
+died in their misery, upon pallets of straw, where no sister, wife or
+mother could soothe the dying anguish. Another winter only afforded the
+combatants opportunity to nurse their strength that they might deal
+still heavier blows in another campaign.
+
+While the imperial troops were struggling against Sardinia and France on
+the plains of Lombardy, a Spanish squadron landed a strong military
+force of French and Spaniards upon the peninsula of southern Italy, and
+meeting with no force sufficiently powerful to oppose them, speedily
+overran Naples and Sicily. The Spanish troops silenced the forts which
+defended the city of Naples, and taking the garrison prisoners, entered
+the metropolis in triumphal array, greeted by the acclamations of the
+populace, who hated the Austrians. After many battles, in which
+thousands were slain, the Austrians were driven out of all the
+Neapolitan States, and Carlos, the oldest son of Philip V. of Spain, was
+crowned King of Naples, with the title of Charles III. The island of
+Sicily was speedily subjugated and also attached to the Neapolitan
+crown.
+
+These losses the emperor felt most keenly. Upon the Rhine he had made
+great preparations, strengthening fortresses and collecting troops,
+which he placed under the command of his veteran general, Prince Eugene.
+He was quite sanguine that here he would be abundantly able to repel the
+assaults of his foes. But here again he was doomed to bitter
+disappointment. The emperor found a vast disproportion between promise
+and performance. The diet had voted him one hundred and twenty thousand
+troops; they furnished twelve thousand. They voted abundant supplies;
+they furnished almost none at all.
+
+The campaign opened the 9th of April, 1734, the French crossing the
+Rhine near Truerbuch, in three strong columns, notwithstanding all the
+efforts of the Austrians to resist them. Prince Eugene, by birth a
+Frenchman, reluctantly assumed the command. He had remonstrated with the
+emperor against any forcible interference in the Polish election,
+assuring him that he would thus expose himself, almost without allies,
+to all the power of France. Eugene did not hesitate openly to express
+his disapprobation of the war. "I can take no interest in this war," he
+said; "the question at issue is not important enough to authorize the
+death of a chicken."
+
+Eugene, upon his arrival from Vienna, at the Austrian camp, found but
+twenty-five thousand men. They were composed of a motley assemblage from
+different States, undisciplined, unaccustomed to act together and with
+no confidence in each other. The commanders of the various corps were
+quarreling for the precedence in rank, and there was no unity or
+subordination in the army. They were retreating before the French, who,
+in numbers, in discipline, and in the materiel of war, were vastly in
+the superiority. Eugene saw at once that it would be folly to risk a
+battle, and that all he could hope to accomplish was to throw such
+embarrassments as he might in the path of the victors.
+
+The young officers, ignorant, impetuous and reckless, were for giving
+battle, which would inevitably have resulted in the destruction of the
+army. They were so vexed by the wise caution of Eugene, which they
+regarded as pusillanimity, that they complained to the emperor that the
+veteran general was in his dotage, that he was broken both in body and
+mind, and quite unfit to command the army. These representations induced
+the emperor to send a spy to watch the conduct of Eugene. Though deeply
+wounded by these suspicions, the experienced general could not be
+provoked to hazard an engagement. He retreated from post to post, merely
+checking the progress of the enemy, till the campaign was over, and the
+ice and snow of a German winter drove all to winter quarters.
+
+While recruiting for the campaign of 1735, Prince Eugene wrote a series
+of most earnest letters to his confidential agent in London, which
+letters were laid before George II., urging England to come to the help
+of the emperor in his great extremity. Though George was eager to put
+the fleet and army of England in motion, the British cabinet wisely
+refused to plunge the nation into war for such a cause, and the emperor
+was left to reap the bitter fruit of his despotism and folly. The
+emperor endeavored to frighten England by saying that he was reduced to
+such an extremity that if the British cabinet did not give him aid, he
+should be compelled to seek peace by giving his daughter, with Austria
+in her hand as her dowry, to Carlos, now King of Naples and heir
+apparent to the crown of Spain. He well knew that to prevent such an
+acquisition of power on the part of the Spanish monarch, who was also in
+intimate alliance with France, England would be ready to expend any
+amount of blood and treasure.
+
+Charles VI. waited with great impatience to see the result of this
+menace, hardly doubting that it would bring England immediately to
+terms. Bitter was his disappointment and his despair when he received
+from the court of St. James the calm reply, that England could not
+possibly take a part in this war, and that in view of the great
+embarrassments in which the emperor was involved, England would take no
+offense in case of the marriage of the emperor's second daughter to
+Carlos. England then advised the emperor to make peace by surrendering
+the Netherlands.
+
+The emperor was now greatly enraged, and inveighed bitterly against
+England as guilty of the grossest perfidy. He declared that England had
+been as deeply interested as he was in excluding Stanislaus from the
+throne of Poland; that it was more important for England than for
+Austria to curb the exorbitant power of France; that in every step he
+had taken against Stanislaus, he had consulted England, and had acted in
+accordance with her counsel; that England was reaping the benefit of
+having the father-in-law of the French king expelled from the Polish
+throne; that England had solemnly promised to support him in these
+measures, and now having derived all the advantage, basely abandoned
+him. There were bitter charges, and it has never been denied that they
+were mainly true. The emperor, in his indignation, threatened to tell
+the whole story to the _people_ of England. It is strange that the
+emperor had found out that there were _people_ in England. In no other
+part of Europe was there any thing but _nobles_ and _peasants_.
+
+In this extraordinary letter, addressed to Count Kinsky, the imperial
+ambassador in London, the emperor wrote:
+
+"On the death of Augustus II., King of Poland, my first care was to
+communicate to the King of England the principles on which I acted. I
+followed, in every instance, his advice.... England has never failed to
+give me promises, both before and since the commencement of the war, but
+instead of fulfilling those promises, she has even favored my
+enemies.... Let the king know that I never will consent to the plan of
+pacification now in agitation; that I had rather suffer the worst of
+extremities than accede to such disadvantageous proposals, and that even
+if I should not be able to prevent them, I will justify my honor and my
+dignity, by publishing a circumstantial account of all the transaction,
+together with all the documents which I have now in possession.... If
+these representations fail, means must be taken to publish and circulate
+throughout England our answer to the proposal of good offices which was
+not made till after the expiration of nine months. Should the court of
+London proceed so far as to make such propositions of peace as are
+supposed to be in agitation, you will not delay a moment to circulate
+throughout England a memorial, containing a recapitulation of all
+negotiations which have taken place since 1710, together with the
+authentic documents, detailing my just complaints, and reclaiming, in
+the most solemn manner, the execution of the guaranties."
+
+One more effort the emperor made, and it was indeed a desperate one. He
+dispatched a secret agent, an English Roman Catholic, by the name of
+Strickland, to London, to endeavor to overthrow the ministry and bring
+in a cabinet in favor of him. In this, of course, he failed entirely.
+Nothing now remained for him but to submit, with the best grace he
+could, to the terms exacted by his foes. In the general pacification
+great interests were at stake, and all the leading powers of Europe
+demanded a voice in the proceedings. For many months the negotiations
+were protracted. England and France became involved in an angry dispute.
+Each power was endeavoring to grasp all it could, while at the same time
+it was striving to check the rapacity of every other power. There was a
+general armistice while these negotiations were pending. It was,
+however, found exceedingly difficult to reconcile all conflicting
+interests. New parties were formed; new combinations entered into, and
+all parties began to aim for a renewal of the strife. England,
+exasperated against France, in menace made an imposing display of her
+fleet and navy. The emperor was delighted, and, trusting to gain new
+allies, exerted his skill of diplomacy to involve the contracting
+parties in confusion and discord.
+
+Thus encouraged, the emperor refused to accede to the terms demanded. He
+was required to give up the Netherlands, and all his foreign
+possessions, and to retire to his hereditary dominions. "What a severe
+sentence," exclaimed Count Zinzendorf, the emperor's ambassador, "have
+you passed on the emperor. No malefactor was ever carried with so hard a
+doom to the gibbet."
+
+The armies again took the field. Eugene, again, though with great
+reluctance, assumed the command of the imperial forces. France had
+assembled one hundred thousand men upon the Rhine. Eugene had but thirty
+thousand men to meet them. He assured the emperor that with such a force
+he could not successfully carry on the war. Jealous of his reputation,
+he said, sadly, "to find myself in the same condition as last year, will
+be only exposing myself to the censure of the world, which judges by
+appearance, as if I were less capable, in my old age, to support the
+reputation of my former successes." With consummate generalship, this
+small force held the whole French army in check.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+CHARLES VI. AND THE TURKISH WAR RENEWED.
+
+From 1735 to 1730.
+
+Anxiety Of Austrian Office-Holders.--Maria Theresa.--The Duke Of
+Lorraine.--Distraction Of The Emperor.--Tuscany Assigned To The Duke Of
+Lorraine.--Death Of Eugene.--Rising Greatness Of Russia.--New War With
+The Turks.--Condition Of The Army.--Commencement Of Hostilities.--
+Capture Of Nissa.--Inefficient Campaign.--Disgrace Of Seckendorf.--The
+Duke Of Lorraine Placed In Command.--Siege Of Orsova.--Belgrade Besieged
+By The Turks.--The Third Campaign.--Battle Of Crotzka.--Defeat Of The
+Austrians.--Consternation In Vienna.--Barbarism Of The Turks.--The
+Surrender Of Belgrade.
+
+
+The emperor being quite unable, either on the Rhine or in Italy,
+successfully to compete with his foes, received blow after blow, which
+exceedingly disheartened him. His affairs were in a desperate condition,
+and, to add to his grief, dissensions filled his cabinet; his
+counsellors mutually accusing each other of being the cause of the
+impending ruin. The Italian possessions of the emperor had been thronged
+with Austrian nobles, filling all the posts of office and of honor, and
+receiving rich salaries. A change of administration, in the transference
+of these States to the dominion of Spain and Sardinia, "reformed" all
+these Austrian office-holders out of their places, and conferred these
+posts upon Spaniards and Sardinians. The ejected Austrian nobles crowded
+the court of the emperor, with the most passionate importunities that he
+would enter into a separate accommodation with Spain, and secure the
+restoration of the Italian provinces by giving his eldest daughter,
+Maria Theresa, to the Spanish prince, Carlos. This would seem to be a
+very simple arrangement, especially since the Queen of Spain so
+earnestly desired this match, that she was willing to make almost any
+sacrifice for its accomplishment. But there was an inseparable obstacle
+in the way of any such arrangement.
+
+Maria Theresa had just attained her eighteenth year. She was a young
+lady of extraordinary force of character, and of an imperial spirit; and
+she had not the slightest idea of having her person disposed of as a
+mere make-weight in the diplomacy of Europe. She knew that the crown of
+Austria was soon to be hers; she understood the weakness of her father,
+and was well aware that she was far more capable of wearing that crown
+than he had ever been; and she was already far more disposed to take the
+reins of government from her father's hand, than she was to submit
+herself to his control. With such a character, and such anticipations,
+she had become passionately attached to the young Duke of Lorraine, who
+was eight years her senior, and who had for some years been one of the
+most brilliant ornaments of her father's court.
+
+The duchy of Lorraine was one of the most extensive and opulent of the
+minor States of the German empire. Admirably situated upon the Rhine and
+the Meuse, and extending to the sea, it embraced over ten thousand
+square miles, and contained a population of over a million and a half.
+The duke, Francis Stephen, was the heir of an illustrious line, whose
+lineage could be traced for many centuries. Germany, France and Spain,
+united, had not sufficient power to induce Maria Theresa to reject
+Francis Stephen, the grandson of her father's sister, the playmate of
+her childhood, and now her devoted lover, heroic and fascinating, for
+the Spanish Carlos, of whom she knew little, and for whom she cared
+less. Ambition also powerfully operated on the very peculiar mind of
+Maria Theresa. She had much of the exacting spirit of Elizabeth,
+England's maiden queen, and was emulous of supremacy which no one would
+share. She, in her own right, was to inherit the crown of Austria, and
+Francis Stephen, high-born and noble as he was, and her recognized
+husband, would still be her subject. She could confer upon him dignity
+and power, retaining a supremacy which even he could never reach.
+
+The emperor was fully aware of the attachment of his daughter to
+Francis, of her inflexible character; and even when pretending to
+negotiate for her marriage with Carlos, he was conscious that it was all
+a mere pretense, and that the union could never be effected. The British
+minister at Vienna saw very clearly the true state of affairs, and when
+the emperor was endeavoring to intimidate England by the menace that he
+would unite the crowns of Spain and Austria by uniting Maria and Carlos,
+the minister wrote to his home government as follows:
+
+"Maria Theresa is a princess of the highest spirit; her father's losses
+are her own. She reasons already; she enters into affairs; she admires
+his virtues, but condemns his mismanagement; and is of a temper so
+formed for rule and ambition, as to look upon him as little more than
+her administrator. Notwithstanding this lofty humor by day, she sighs
+and pines all night for her Duke of Lorraine. If she sleeps, it is only
+to dream of him; if she wakes, it is but to talk of him to the lady in
+waiting; so that there is no more probability of her forgetting the very
+individual government, and the very individual husband which she thinks
+herself born to, than of her forgiving the authors of her losing
+either."
+
+The empress was cordially cooeperating with her daughter. The emperor was
+in a state of utter distraction. His affairs were fast going to ruin; he
+was harassed by counter intreaties; he knew not which way to turn, or
+what to do. Insupportable gloom oppressed his spirit. Pale and haggard,
+he wandered through the rooms of his palace, the image of woe. At night
+he tossed sleepless upon his bed, moaning in anguish which he then did
+not attempt to conceal, and giving free utterance to all the mental
+tortures which were goading him to madness. The queen became seriously
+alarmed lest his reason should break down beneath such a weight of woe.
+It was clear that neither reason nor life could long withstand such a
+struggle.
+
+Thus in despair, the emperor made proposals for a secret and separate
+accommodation with France. Louis XV. promptly listened, and offered
+terms, appallingly definite, and cruel enough to extort the last drop of
+blood from the emperor's sinking heart. "Give me," said the French king,
+"the duchy of Lorraine, and I will withdraw my armies, and leave Austria
+to make the best terms she can with Spain."
+
+How could the emperor wrest from his prospective son-in-law his
+magnificent ancestral inheritance? The duke could not hold his realms
+for an hour against the armies of France, should the emperor consent to
+their surrender; and conscious of the desperation to which the emperor
+was driven, and of his helplessness, he was himself plunged into the
+deepest dismay and anguish. He held an interview with the British
+minister to see if it were not possible that England might interpose her
+aid in his behalf. In frantic grief he lost his self control, and,
+throwing himself into a chair, pressed his brow convulsively, and
+exclaimed, "Great God! will not England help me? Has not his majesty
+with his own lips, over and over again, promised to stand by me?"
+
+The French armies were advancing; shot and shell were falling upon
+village and city; fortress after fortress was surrendering. "Give me
+Lorraine," repeated Louis XV., persistently, "or I will take all
+Austria." There was no alternative but for the emperor to drink to the
+dregs the bitter cup which his own hand had mingled. He surrendered
+Lorraine to France. He, however, succeeded in obtaining some slight
+compensation for the defrauded duke. The French court allowed him a
+pension of ninety thousand dollars a year, until the death of the aged
+Duke of Tuscany, who was the last of the Medici line, promising that
+then Tuscany, one of the most important duchies of central Italy, should
+pass into the hands of Francis. Should Sardinia offer any opposition,
+the King of France promised to unite with the emperor in maintaining
+Francis in his possession by force of arms. Peace was thus obtained with
+France. Peace was then made with Spain and Sardinia, by surrendering to
+Spain Naples and Sicily, and to Sardinia most of the other Austrian
+provinces in Italy. Thus scourged and despoiled, the emperor, a humbled,
+woe-stricken man, retreated to the seclusion of his palace.
+
+While these affairs were in progress, Francis Stephen derived very
+considerable solace by his marriage with Maria Theresa. Their nuptials
+took place at Vienna on the 12th of February, 1736. The emperor made the
+consent of the duke to the cession of Lorraine to France, a condition of
+the marriage. As the duke struggled against the surrender of his
+paternal domains, Cartenstein, the emperor's confidential minister,
+insultingly said to him, "Monseigneur, point de cession, point
+d'archiduchesse." _My lord, no cession, no archduchess._ Fortunately for
+Francis, in about a year after his marriage the Duke of Tuscany died,
+and Francis, with his bride, hastened to his new home in the palaces of
+Leghorn. Though the duke mourned bitterly over the loss of his ancestral
+domains, Tuscany was no mean inheritance. The duke was absolute monarch
+of the duchy, which contained about eight thousand square miles and a
+population of a million. The revenues of the archduchy were some four
+millions of dollars. The army consisted of six thousand troops.
+
+Two months after the marriage of Maria Theresa, Prince Eugene died
+quietly in his bed at the age of seventy-three. He had passed his whole
+lifetime riding over fields of battle swept by bullets and plowed by
+shot. He had always exposed his own person with utter recklessness,
+leading the charge, and being the first to enter the breach or climb the
+rampart. Though often wounded, he escaped all these perils, and breathed
+his last in peace upon his pillow in Vienna.
+
+His funeral was attended with regal honors. For three days the corpse
+lay in state, with the coat of mail, the helmet and the gauntlets which
+the warrior had worn in so many fierce battles, suspended over his
+lifeless remains. His heart was sent in an urn to be deposited in the
+royal tomb where his ancestors slumbered. His embalmed body was interred
+in the metropolitan church in Vienna. The emperor and all the court
+attended the funeral, and his remains were borne to the grave with
+honors rarely conferred upon any but crowned heads.
+
+The Ottoman power had now passed its culminating point, and was
+evidently on the wane. The Russian empire was beginning to arrest the
+attention of Europe, and was ambitious of making its voice heard in the
+diplomacy of the European monarchies. Being destitute of any sea coast,
+it was excluded from all commercial intercourse with foreign nations,
+and in its cold, northern realm, "leaning," as Napoleon once said,
+"against the North Pole," seemed to be shut up to barbarism. It had been
+a leading object of the ambition of Peter the Great to secure a maritime
+port for his kingdom. He at first attempted a naval depot on his extreme
+southern border, at the mouth of the Don, on the sea of Azof. This would
+open to him the commerce of the Mediterranean through the Azof, the
+Euxine and the Marmora. But the assailing Turks drove him from these
+shores, and he was compelled to surrender the fortresses he had
+commenced to their arms. He then turned to his western frontier, and,
+with an incredible expenditure of money and sacrifice of life, reared
+upon the marshes of the Baltic the imperial city of St. Petersburg.
+Peter I. died in 1725, leaving the crown to his wife Catharine. She,
+however, survived him but two years, when she died, in 1727, leaving two
+daughters. The crown then passed to the grandson of Peter I., a boy of
+thirteen. In three years he died of the small-pox. Anna, the daughter of
+the oldest brother of Peter I., now ascended the throne, and reigned,
+through her favorites, with relentless rigor.
+
+It was one of the first objects of Anna's ambition to secure a harbor
+for maritime commerce in the more sunny climes of southern Europe. St.
+Petersburg, far away upon the frozen shores of the Baltic, where the
+harbor was shut up with ice for five months in the year, presented but a
+cheerless prospect for the formation of a merchant marine. She
+accordingly revived the original project of Peter the Great, and waged
+war with the Turks to recover the lost province on the shores of the
+Euxine. Russia had been mainly instrumental in placing Augustus II. on
+the throne of Poland; Anna was consequently sure of his sympathy and
+cooeperation. She also sent to Austria to secure the alliance of the
+emperor. Charles VI., though his army was in a state of decay and his
+treasury empty, eagerly embarked in the enterprise. He was in a
+continued state of apprehension from the threatened invasion of the
+Turks. He hoped also, aided by the powerful arm of Russia, to be able to
+gain territories in the east which would afford some compensation for
+his enormous losses in the south and in the west.
+
+While negotiations were pending, the Russian armies were already on the
+march. They took Azof after a siege of but a fortnight, and then overran
+and took possession of the whole Crimea, driving the Turks before them.
+Charles VI. was a very scrupulous Roman Catholic, and was animated to
+the strife by the declaration of his confessor that it was his duty, as
+a Christian prince, to aid in extirpating the enemies of the Church of
+Christ. The Turks were greatly alarmed by these successes of the
+Russians, and by the formidable preparations of the other powers allied
+against them.
+
+The emperor hoped that fortune, so long adverse, was now turning in his
+favor. He collected a large force on the frontiers of Turkey, and
+intrusted the command to General Seckendorf. The general hastened into
+Hungary to the rendezvous of the troops. He found the army in a
+deplorable condition. The treasury being exhausted, they were but poorly
+supplied with the necessaries of war, and the generals and contractors
+had contrived to appropriate to themselves most of the funds which had
+been furnished. The general wrote to the emperor, presenting a
+lamentable picture of the destitution of the army.
+
+"I can not," he said, "consistently with my duty to God and the emperor,
+conceal the miserable condition of the barracks and the hospitals. The
+troops, crowded together without sufficient bedding to cover them, are a
+prey to innumerable disorders, and are exposed to the rain, and other
+inclemencies of the weather, from the dilapidated state of the caserns,
+the roofs of which are in perpetual danger of being overthrown by the
+wind. All the frontier fortresses, and even Belgrade, are incapable of
+the smallest resistance, as well from the dilapidated state of the
+fortifications as from a total want of artillery, ammunition and other
+requisites. The naval armament is in a state of irreparable disorder.
+Some companies of my regiment of Belgrade are thrust into holes where a
+man would not put even his favorite hounds; and I can not see the
+situation of these miserable and half-starved wretches without tears.
+These melancholy circumstances portend the loss of these fine kingdoms
+with the same rapidity as that of the States of Italy."
+
+The bold Commander-in-chief also declared that many of the generals were
+so utterly incapable of discharging their duties, that nothing could be
+anticipated, under their guidance, but defeat and ruin. He complained
+that the governors of those distant provinces, quite neglecting the
+responsibilities of their offices, were spending their time in hunting
+and other trivial amusements. These remonstrances roused the emperor,
+and decisive reforms were undertaken. The main plan of the campaign was
+for the Russians, who were already on the shores of the Black sea, to
+press on to the mouth of the Danube, and then to march up the stream.
+The Austrians were to follow down the Danube to the Turkish province of
+Wallachia, and then, marching through the heart of that province, either
+effect a junction with the Russians, or inclose the Turks between the
+two armies. At the same time a large Austrian force, marching through
+Bosnia and Servia, and driving the Turks out, were to take military
+possession of those countries and join the main army in its union on the
+lower Danube.
+
+Matters being thus arranged, General Seckendorf took the command of the
+Austrian troops, with the assurance that he should be furnished with one
+hundred and twenty-six thousand men, provided with all the implements of
+war, and that he should receive a monthly remittance of one million two
+hundred thousand dollars for the pay of the troops. The emperor,
+however, found it much easier to make promises than to fulfill them. The
+month of August had already arrived and Seckendorf, notwithstanding his
+most strenuous exertions, had assembled at Belgrade but thirty thousand
+infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry. The Turks, with extraordinary
+energy, had raised a much more formidable and a better equipped army.
+Just as Seckendorf was commencing his march, having minutely arranged
+all the stages of the campaign, to his surprise and indignation he
+received orders to leave the valley of the Danube and march directly
+south about one hundred and fifty miles into the heart of Servia, and
+lay siege to the fortress of Nissa. The whole plan of the campaign was
+thus frustrated. Magazines, at great expense, had been established, and
+arrangements made for floating the heavy baggage down the stream. Now
+the troops were to march through morasses and over mountains, without
+suitable baggage wagons, and with no means of supplying themselves with
+provisions in so hostile and inhospitable a country.
+
+But the command of the emperor was not to be disobeyed. For twenty-eight
+days they toiled along, encountering innumerable impediments, many
+perishing by the way, until they arrived, in a state of extreme
+exhaustion and destitution, before the walls of Nissa. Fortunately the
+city was entirely unprepared for an attack, which had not been at all
+anticipated, and the garrison speedily surrendered. Here Seckendorf,
+having dispatched parties to seize the neighboring fortress, and the
+passes of the mountains, waited for further orders from Vienna. The army
+were so dissatisfied with their position and their hardships, that they
+at last almost rose in mutiny, and Seckendorf, having accomplished
+nothing of any moment, was compelled to retrace his steps to the banks
+of the Danube, where he arrived on the 16th of October. Thus the
+campaign was a total failure.
+
+Bitter complaints were uttered both by the army and the nation. The
+emperor, with the characteristic injustice of an ignoble mind,
+attributed the unfortunate campaign to the incapacity of Seckendorf,
+whose judicious plans he had so ruthlessly thwarted. The heroic general
+was immediately disgraced and recalled, and the command of the army
+given to General Philippi. The friends of General Seckendorf, aware of
+his peril, urged him to seek safety in flight. But he, emboldened by
+conscious innocence, obeyed the imperial commands and repaired to
+Vienna. Seckendorf was a Protestant. His appointment to the supreme
+command gave great offense to the Catholics, and the priests, from their
+pulpits, inveighed loudly against him as a heretic, whom God could not
+bless. They arraigned his appointment as impious, and declared that, in
+consequence, nothing was to be expected but divine indignation.
+Immediately upon his arrival in Vienna the emperor ordered his arrest. A
+strong guard was placed over him, in his own house, and articles of
+impeachment were drawn up against him. His doom was sealed. Every
+misadventure was attributed to negligence, cupidity or treachery. He
+could offer no defense which would be of any avail, for he was not
+permitted to exhibit the orders he had received from the emperor, lest
+the emperor himself should be proved guilty of those disasters which he
+was thus dishonorably endeavoring to throw upon another. The unhappy
+Seckendorf, thus made the victim of the faults of others, was condemned
+to the dungeon. He was sent to imprisonment in the castle of Glatz,
+where he lingered in captivity for many years until the death of the
+emperor.
+
+Charles now, in accordance with the clamor of the priests, removed all
+Protestants from command in the army and supplied their places with
+Catholics. The Duke of Lorraine, who had recently married Maria Theresa,
+was appointed generalissimo. But as the duke was young, inexperienced in
+war, and, as yet, had displayed none of that peculiar talent requisite
+for the guidance of armies, the emperor placed next to him, as the
+acting commander, Marshal Konigsegg. The emperor also gave orders that
+every important movement should be directed by a council of war, and
+that in case of a tie the casting vote should be given, not by the Duke
+of Lorraine, but by the veteran commander Konigsegg. The duke was an
+exceedingly amiable man, of very courtly manners and winning address. He
+was scholarly in his tastes, and not at all fond of the hardships of
+war, with its exposure, fatigue and butchery. Though a man of perhaps
+more than ordinary intellectual power, he was easily depressed by
+adversity, and not calculated to brave the fierce storms of disaster.
+
+Early in March the Turks opened the campaign by sending an army of
+twenty thousand men to besiege Orsova, an important fortress on an
+island of the Danube, about one hundred miles below Belgrade. They
+planted their batteries upon both the northern and the southern banks of
+the Danube, and opened a storm of shot and shell upon the fortress. The
+Duke of Lorraine hastened to the relief of the important post, which
+quite commanded that portion of the stream. The imperial troops pressed
+on until they arrived within a few miles of the fortress. The Turks
+marched to meet them, and plunged into their camp with great fierceness.
+After a short but desperate conflict, the Turks were repulsed, and
+retreating in a panic, they broke up their camp before the walls of
+Orsova and retired.
+
+This slight success, after so many disasters, caused immense exultation.
+The Duke of Lorraine was lauded as one of the greatest generals of the
+age. The pulpits rang with his praises, and it was announced that now,
+that the troops were placed under a true child of the Church, Providence
+might be expected to smile. Soon, however, the imperial army, while
+incautiously passing through a defile, was assailed by a strong force of
+the Turks, and compelled to retreat, having lost three thousand men. The
+Turks resumed the siege of Orsova; and the Duke of Lorraine, quite
+disheartened, returned to Vienna, leaving the command of the army to
+Konigsegg. The Turks soon captured the fortress, and then, ascending the
+river, drove the imperial troops before them to Belgrade. The Turks
+invested the city, and the beleaguered troops were rapidly swept away by
+famine and pestilence. The imperial cavalry, crossing the Save, rapidly
+continued their retreat. Konigsegg was now recalled in disgrace, as
+incapable of conducting the war, and the command was given to General
+Kevenhuller. He was equally unsuccessful in resisting the foe; and,
+after a series of indecisive battles, the storms of November drove both
+parties to winter quarters, and another campaign was finished. The
+Russians had also fought some fierce battles; but their campaign was as
+ineffective as that of the Austrians.
+
+The court of Vienna was now in a state of utter confusion. There was no
+leading mind to assume any authority, and there was irremediable
+discordance of counsel. The Duke of Lorraine was in hopeless disgrace;
+even the emperor assenting to the universal cry against him. In a state
+almost of distraction the emperor exclaimed, "Is the fortune of my
+empire departed with Eugene?" The disgraceful retreat to Belgrade seemed
+to haunt him day and night; and he repeated again and again to himself,
+as he paced the floor of his apartment, "that unfortunate, that fatal
+retreat." Disasters had been so rapidly accumulating upon him, that he
+feared for every thing. He expressed the greatest anxiety lest his
+daughter, Maria Theresa, who was to succeed him upon the throne, might
+be intercepted, in the case of his sudden death, from returning to
+Austria, and excluded from the throne. The emperor was in a state of
+mind nearly bordering upon insanity.
+
+At length the sun of another spring returned, the spring of 1739, and
+the recruited armies were prepared again to take the field. The emperor
+placed a new commander, Marshal Wallis, in command of the Austrian
+troops. He was a man of ability, but overbearing and morose, being
+described by a contemporary as one who hated everybody, and who was
+hated by everybody in return. Fifty miles north of Belgrade, on the
+south bank of the Danube, is the fortified town of Peterwardein, so
+called as the rendezvous where Peter the Hermit marshaled the soldiers
+of the first crusade. This fortress had long been esteemed one of the
+strongest of the Austrian empire. It was appointed as the rendezvous of
+the imperial troops, and all the energies of the now exhausted empire
+were expended in gathering there as large a force as possible. But,
+notwithstanding the utmost efforts, in May but thirty thousand men were
+assembled, and these but very poorly provided with the costly
+necessaries of war. Another auxiliary force of ten thousand men was
+collected at Temeswar, a strong fortress twenty-five miles north of
+Peterwardein. With these forces Wallis was making preparations to
+attempt to recover Orsova from the Turks, when he received positive
+orders to engage the enemy with his whole force on the first
+opportunity.
+
+The army marched down the banks of the river, conveying its baggage and
+heavy artillery in a flotilla to Belgrade, where it arrived on the 11th
+of June. Here they were informed that the Turkish army was about twenty
+miles below on the river at Crotzka. The imperial army was immediately
+pressed forward, in accordance with the emperor's orders, to attack the
+foe. The Turks were strongly posted, and far exceeded the Austrians in
+number. At five o'clock on the morning of the 21st of July the battle
+commenced, and blazed fiercely through all the hours of the day until
+the sun went down. Seven thousand Austrians were then dead upon the
+plain. The Turks were preparing to renew the conflict in the morning,
+when Wallis ordered a retreat, which was securely effected during the
+darkness of the night. On the ensuing day the Turks pursued them to the
+walls of Belgrade, and, driving them across the river, opened the fire
+of their batteries upon the city. The Turks commenced the siege in form,
+and were so powerful, that Wallis could do nothing to retard their
+operations. A breach was ere long made in one of the bastions; an
+assault was hourly expected which the garrison was in no condition to
+repel. Wallis sent word to the emperor that the surrender of Belgrade
+was inevitable; that it was necessary immediately to retreat to
+Peterwardein, and that the Turks, flushed with victory, might soon be at
+the gates of Vienna.
+
+Great was the consternation which pervaded the court and the capital
+upon the reception of these tidings. The ministers all began to
+criminate each other. The general voice clamored for peace upon almost
+any terms. The emperor alone remained firm. He dispatched another
+officer, General Schmettan, to hasten with all expedition to the
+imperial camp, and prevent, if possible, the impending disaster. He
+earnestly pressed the hand of the general as he took his leave, and
+said--
+
+"Use the utmost diligence to arrive before the retreat of the army;
+assume the defense of Belgrade, and save it, if not too late, from
+falling into the hands of the enemy."
+
+The energy of Schmettan arrested the retreat of Wallis, and revived the
+desponding hopes of the garrison of Belgrade. Bastion after bastion was
+recovered. The Turks were driven back from the advance posts they had
+occupied. A new spirit animated the whole Austrian army, and from the
+depths of despair they were rising to sanguine hopes of victory, when
+the stunning news arrived that the emperor had sent an envoy to the
+Turkish camp, and had obtained peace by the surrender of Belgrade. Count
+Neuperg having received full powers from the emperor to treat, very
+imprudently entered the camp of the barbaric Turk, without requiring any
+hostages for his safety. The barbarians, regardless of the flag of
+truce, and of all the rules of civilized warfare, arrested Count
+Neuperg, and put him under guard. He was then conducted into the
+presence of the grand vizier, who was arrayed in state, surrounded by
+his bashaws. The grand vizier haughtily demanded the terms Neuperg was
+authorized to offer.
+
+"The emperor, my master," said Neuperg, "has intrusted me with full
+powers to negotiate a peace, and is willing, for the sake of peace, to
+cede the province of Wallachia to Turkey provided the fortress of Orsova
+be dismantled."
+
+The grand vizier rose, came forward, and deliberately spit in the face
+of the Count Neuperg, and exclaimed,
+
+"Infidel dog! thou provest thyself a spy, with all thy powers. Since
+thou hast brought no letter from the Vizier Wallis, and hast concealed
+his offer to surrender Belgrade, thou shalt be sent to Constantinople to
+receive the punishment thou deservest."
+
+Count Neuperg, after this insult, was conducted into close confinement.
+The French ambassador, Villeneuve, now arrived. He had adopted the
+precaution of obtaining hostages before intrusting himself in the hands
+of the Turks. The grand vizier would not listen to any terms of
+accommodation but upon the basis of the surrender of Belgrade. The Turks
+carried their point in every thing. The emperor surrendered Belgrade,
+relinquished to them Orsova, agreed to demolish all the fortresses of
+his own province of Media, and ceded to Turkey Servia and various other
+contiguous districts. It was a humiliating treaty for Austria. Already
+despoiled in Italy and on the Rhine, the emperor was now compelled to
+abandon to the Turks extensive territories and important fortresses upon
+the lower Danube.
+
+General Schmettan, totally unconscious of these proceedings, was
+conducting the defense of Belgrade with great vigor and with great
+success, when he was astounded by the arrival of a courier in his camp,
+presenting to him the following laconic note from Count Neuperg:
+
+"Peace was signed this morning between the emperor, our master, and the
+Porte. Let hostilities cease, therefore, on the receipt of this. In half
+an hour I shall follow, and announce the particulars myself."
+
+General Schmettan could hardly repress his indignation, and, when Count
+Neuperg arrived, intreated that the surrender of Belgrade might be
+postponed until the terms had been sent to the emperor for his
+ratification. But Neuperg would listen to no such suggestions, and,
+indignant that any obstacle should be thrown in the way of the
+fulfillment of the treaty, menacingly said,
+
+"If you choose to disobey the orders of the emperor, and to delay the
+execution of the article relative to Belgrade, I will instantly dispatch
+a courier to Vienna, and charge you with all the misfortunes which may
+result. I had great difficulty in diverting the grand vizier from the
+demand of Sirmia, Sclavonia and the bannat of Temeswar; and when I have
+dispatched a courier, I will return into the Turkish camp and protest
+against this violation of the treaty."
+
+General Schmettan was compelled to yield. Eight hundred janissaries took
+possession of one of the gates of the city; and the Turkish officers
+rode triumphantly into the streets, waving before them in defiance the
+banners they had taken at Crotzka. The new fortifications were blown up,
+and the imperial army, in grief and shame, retired up the river to
+Peterwardein. They had hardly evacuated the city ere Count Neuperg, to
+his inexpressible mortification, received a letter from the emperor
+stating that nothing could reconcile him to the idea of surrendering
+Belgrade but the conviction that its defense was utterly hopeless; but
+that learning that this was by no means the case, he intreated him on no
+account to think of the surrender of the city. To add to the chagrin of
+the count, he also ascertained, at the same time, that the Turks were in
+such a deplorable condition that they were just on the point of
+retreating, and would gladly have purchased peace at almost any
+sacrifice. A little more diplomatic skill might have wrested from the
+Turks even a larger extent of territory than the emperor had so
+foolishly surrendered to them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+MARIA THERESA.
+
+From 1739 to 1741.
+
+Anguish of the King.--Letter to the Queen of Russia.--The imperial
+Circular.--Deplorable Condition of Austria.--Death of Charles
+VI.--Accession of Maria Theresa.--Vigorous Measures of the Queen.--Claim
+of the Duke of Bavaria.--Responses from the Courts.--Coldness of the
+French Court.--Frederic of Russia.--His Invasion of Silesia.--March of
+the Austrians.--Battle of Molnitz.--Firmness of Maria Theresa.--Proposed
+Division of Plunder.--Villainy of Frederic.--Interview with the
+King.--Character of Frederic.--Commencement of the General Invasion.
+
+
+Every intelligent man in Austria felt degraded by the peace which had
+been made with the Turks. The tidings were received throughout the ranks
+of the army with a general outburst of grief and indignation. The troops
+intreated their officers to lead them against the foe, declaring that
+they would speedily drive the Turks from Belgrade, which had been so
+ignominiously surrendered. The populace of Vienna rose in insurrection,
+and would have torn down the houses of the ministers who had recommended
+the peace but for the interposition of the military. The emperor was
+almost beside himself with anguish. He could not appease the clamors of
+the nation. He was also in alliance with Russia, and knew not how to
+meet the reproaches of the court of St. Petersburg for having so
+needlessly surrendered the most important fortress on the Turkish
+frontier. In an interview which he held with the Russian ambassador his
+embarrassment was painful to witness. To the Queen of Russia he wrote in
+terms expressive of the extreme agony of his mind, and, with
+characteristic want of magnanimity cast the blame of the very measures
+he had ordered upon the agents who had merely executed his will.
+
+"While I am writing this letter," he said, "to your imperial majesty, my
+heart is filled with the most excessive grief. I was much less touched
+with the advantages gained by the enemy and the news of the siege of
+Belgrade, than with the advice I have received concerning the shameful
+preliminary articles concluded by Count Neuperg.
+
+"The history of past ages exhibits no vestiges of such an event. I was
+on the point of preventing the fatal and too hasty execution of these
+preliminaries, when I heard that they were already partly executed, even
+before the design had been communicated to me. Thus I see my hands tied
+by those who ought to glory in obeying me. All who have approached me
+since that fatal day, are so many witnesses of the excess of my grief.
+Although I have many times experienced adversity, I never was so much
+afflicted as by this event. Your majesty has a right to complain of some
+who ought to have obeyed my orders; but I had no part in what they have
+done. Though all the forces of the Ottoman empire were turned against me
+I was not disheartened, but still did all in my power for the common
+cause. I shall not, however, fail to perform in due time what avenging
+justice requires. In this dismal series of misfortunes I have still one
+comfort left, which is that the fault can not be thrown upon me. It lies
+entirely on such of my officers as ratified the disgraceful
+preliminaries without my knowledge, against my consent, and even
+contrary to my express orders."
+
+This apologetic letter was followed by a circular to all the imperial
+ambassadors in the various courts of Europe, which circular was filled
+with the bitterest denunciation of Count Neuperg and Marshal Wallis. It
+declared that the emperor was not in any way implicated in the shameful
+surrender of Belgrade. The marshal and the count, thus assailed and held
+up to the scorn and execration of Europe, ventured to reply that they
+had strictly conformed to their instructions. The common sense of the
+community taught them that, in so rigorous and punctilious a court as
+that of Vienna, no agent of the emperor would dare to act contrary to
+his received instructions. Thus the infamous attempts of Charles to
+brand his officers with ignominy did but rebound upon himself. The
+almost universal voice condemned the emperor and acquitted the
+plenipotentiaries.
+
+While the emperor was thus filling all the courts of Europe with his
+clamor against Count Neuperg, declaring that he had exceeded his powers
+and that he deserved to be hung, he at the same time, with almost
+idiotic fatuity, sent the same Count Neuperg back to the Turkish camp to
+settle some items which yet required adjustment. This proved, to every
+mind, the insincerity of Charles. The Russians, thus forsaken by
+Austria, also made peace with the Turks. They consented to demolish
+their fortress of Azof, to relinquish all pretensions to the right of
+navigating the Black sea, and to allow a vast extent of territory upon
+its northern shores to remain an uninhabited desert, as a barrier
+between Russia and Turkey. The treaty being definitively settled, both
+Marshal Wallis and Count Neuperg were arrested and sent to prison, where
+they were detained until the death of Charles VI.
+
+Care and sorrow were now hurrying the emperor to the grave. Wan and
+haggard he moved about his palace, mourning his doom, and complaining
+that it was his destiny to be disappointed in every cherished plan of
+his life. All his affairs were in inextricable confusion, and his empire
+seemed crumbling to decay. A cotemporary writer thus describes the
+situation of the court and the nation:
+
+"Every thing in this court is running into the last confusion and ruin;
+where there are as visible signs of folly and madness, as ever were
+inflicted upon a people whom Heaven is determined to destroy, no less by
+domestic divisions, than by the more public calamities of repeated
+defeats, defenselessness, poverty and plagues."
+
+Early in October, 1740, the emperor, restless, and feverish in body and
+mind, repaired to one of his country palaces a few miles distant from
+Vienna. The season was prematurely cold and gloomy, with frost and
+storms of sleet. In consequence of a chill the enfeebled monarch was
+seized with an attack of the gout, which was followed by a very severe
+fit of the colic. The night of the 10th of October he writhed in pain
+upon his bed, while repeated vomitings weakened his already exhausted
+frame. The next day he was conveyed to Vienna, but in such extreme
+debility that he fainted several times in his carriage by the way.
+Almost in a state of insensibility he was carried to the retired palace
+of La Favourite in the vicinity of Vienna, and placed in his bed. It was
+soon evident that his stormy life was now drawing near to its close.
+Patiently he bore his severe sufferings, and as his physicians were
+unable to agree respecting the nature of his disease, he said to them,
+calmly,
+
+"Cease your disputes. I shall soon be dead. You can then open my body
+and ascertain the cause of my death."
+
+Priests were admitted to his chamber who performed the last offices of
+the Church for the dying. With perfect composure, he made all the
+arrangements relative to the succession to the throne. One after another
+the members of his family were introduced, and he affectionately bade
+them adieu, giving to each appropriate words of counsel. To his
+daughter, Maria Theresa, who was not present, and who was to succeed
+him, he sent his earnest blessing. With the Duke of Lorraine, her
+husband, he had a private interview of two hours. On the 20th of
+October, 1740, at two o'clock in the morning, he died, in the
+fifty-sixth year of his age, and the thirtieth of his reign. Weary of
+the world, he willingly retired to the anticipated repose of the grave.
+
+  "To die,--to sleep;--
+  To sleep! perchance to dream;--ay, there's the rub;
+  For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
+  When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
+  Must give us pause."
+
+By the death of Charles VI. the male line of the house of Hapsburg
+became extinct, after having continued in uninterrupted succession for
+over four hundred years. His eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, who now
+succeeded to the crown of Austria, was twenty-four years of age. Her
+figure was tall, graceful and commanding. Her features were beautiful,
+and her smile sweet and winning. She was born to command, combining in
+her character woman's power of fascination with man's energy. Though so
+far advanced in pregnancy that she was not permitted to see her dying
+father, the very day after his death she so rallied her energies as to
+give an audience to the minister of state, and to assume the government
+with that marvelous vigor which characterized her whole reign.
+
+Seldom has a kingdom been in a more deplorable condition than was
+Austria on the morning when the scepter passed into the hands of Maria
+Theresa. There were not forty thousand dollars in the treasury; the
+state was enormously in debt; the whole army did not amount to more than
+thirty thousand men, widely dispersed, clamoring for want of pay, and
+almost entirely destitute of the materials for war. The vintage had been
+cut off by the frost, producing great distress in the country. There was
+a famine in Vienna, and many were starving for want of food. The
+peasants, in the neighborhood of the metropolis, were rising in
+insurrection, ravaging the fields in search of game; while rumors were
+industriously circulated that the government was dissolved, that the
+succession was disputed, and that the Duke of Bavaria was on the march,
+with an army, to claim the crown. The distant provinces were anxious to
+shake off the Austrian yoke. Bohemia was agitated; and the restless
+barons of Hungary were upon the point of grasping their arms, and, under
+the protection of Turkey, of claiming their ancestral hereditary rights.
+Notwithstanding the untiring endeavors of the emperor to obtain the
+assent of Europe to the Pragmatic Sanction, many influential courts
+refused to recognize the right of Maria Theresa to the crown. The
+ministers were desponding, irresolute and incapable. Maria Theresa was
+young, quite inexperienced and in delicate health, being upon the eve of
+her confinement. The English ambassador, describing the state of affairs
+in Vienna as they appeared to him at this time, wrote:
+
+"To the ministers, the Turks seem to be already in Hungary; the
+Hungarians in insurrection; the Bohemians in open revolt; the Duke of
+Bavaria, with his army, at the gates of Vienna; and France the soul of
+all these movements. The ministers were not only in despair, but that
+despair even was not capable of rousing them to any desperate
+exertions."
+
+Maria Theresa immediately dispatched couriers to inform the northern
+powers of her accession to the crown, and troops were forwarded to the
+frontiers to prevent any hostile invasion from Bavaria. The Duke of
+Bavaria claimed the Austrian crown in virtue of the will of Ferdinand
+I., which, he affirmed, devised the crown to his daughters and their
+descendants in case of the failure of the male line. As the male line
+was now extinct, by this decree the scepter would pass to the Duke of
+Bavaria. Charles VI. had foreseen this claim, and endeavored to set it
+aside by the declaration that the clause referred to in the will of
+Ferdinand I. had reference to _legitimate heirs_, not _male_ merely, and
+that, consequently, it did not set aside female descendants. In proof of
+this, Maria Theresa had the will exhibited to all the leading officers
+of state, and to the foreign ambassadors. It appeared that _legitimate
+heirs_ was the phrase. And now the question hinged upon the point,
+whether females were _legitimate heirs_. In some kingdoms of Europe they
+were; in others they were not. In Austria the custom had been variable.
+Here was a nicely-balanced question, sufficiently momentous to divide
+Europe, and which might put all the armies of the continent in motion.
+There were also other claimants for the crown, but none who could
+present so plausible a plea as that of the Duke of Bavaria.
+
+Maria Theresa now waited with great anxiety for the reply she should
+receive from the foreign powers whom she had notified of her accession.
+The Duke of Bavaria was equally active and solicitous, and it was quite
+uncertain whose claim would be supported by the surrounding courts. The
+first response came from Prussia. The king sent his congratulations, and
+acknowledged the title of Maria Theresa. This was followed by a letter
+from Augustus of Poland, containing the same friendly recognition.
+Russia then sent in assurances of cordial support. The King of England
+returned a friendly answer, promising cooeperation. All this was
+cheering. But France was then the great power on the continent, and
+could carry with her one half of Europe in almost any cause. The
+response was looked for from France with great anxiety. Day after day,
+week after week passed, and no response came. At length the French
+Secretary of State gave a cautious and merely verbal declaration of the
+friendly disposition of the French court. Cardinal Fleury, the
+illustrious French Secretary of State, was cold, formal and excessively
+polite. Maria Theresa at once inferred that France withheld her
+acknowledgment, merely waiting for a favorable opportunity to recognize
+the claims of the Duke of Bavaria.
+
+While matters were in this state, to the surprise of all, Frederic, King
+of Prussia, drew his sword, and demanded large and indefinite portions
+of Austria to be annexed to his territories. Disdaining all appeal to
+any documentary evidence, and scorning to reply to any questionings as
+to his right, he demanded vast provinces, as a highwayman demands one's
+purse, with the pistol at his breast. This fiery young prince,
+inheriting the most magnificent army in Europe, considering its
+discipline and equipments, was determined to display his gallantry as a
+fighter, with Europe for the arena. As he was looking about to find some
+suitable foe against which he could hurl his seventy-five thousand men,
+the defenseless yet large and opulent duchy of Silesia presented itself
+as a glittering prize worth the claiming by a royal highwayman.
+
+The Austrian province of Silesia bordered a portion of Prussia. "While
+treacherously professing friendship with the court of Vienna, with great
+secrecy and sagacity Frederic assembled a large force of his best troops
+in the vicinity of Berlin, and in mid-winter, when the snow lay deep
+upon the plains, made a sudden rush into Silesia, and, crushing at a
+blow all opposition, took possession of the whole duchy. Having
+accomplished this feat, he still pretended great friendship for Maria
+Theresa, and sent an ambassador to inform her that he was afraid that
+some of the foreign powers, now conspiring against her, might seize the
+duchy, and thus wrest it from her; that he had accordingly taken it to
+hold it in safety; and that since it was so very important, for the
+tranquillity of his kingdom, that Silesia should not fall into the hands
+of an enemy, he hoped that Maria Theresa would allow him to retain the
+duchy as an indemnity for the expense he had been at in taking it."
+
+This most extraordinary and impertinent message was accompanied by a
+threat. The ambassador of the Prussian king, a man haughty and
+semi-barbaric in his demeanor, gave his message in a private interview
+with the queen's husband, Francis, the Duke of Lorraine. In conclusion,
+the ambassador added, "No one is more firm in his resolutions than the
+King of Prussia. He must and will take Silesia. If not secured by the
+immediate cession of that province, his troops and money will be offered
+to the Duke of Bavaria."
+
+"Go tell your master," the Duke of Lorraine replied with dignity, "that
+while he has a single soldier in Silesia, we will rather perish than
+enter into any discussion. If he will evacuate the duchy, we will treat
+with him at Berlin. For my part, not for the imperial crown, nor even
+for the whole world, will I sacrifice one inch of the queen's lawful
+possessions."
+
+While these negotiations were pending, the king himself made an
+ostentatious entry into Silesia. The majority of the Silesians were
+Protestants. The King of Prussia, who had discarded religion of all
+kinds, had of course discarded that of Rome, and was thus nominally a
+Protestant. The Protestants, who had suffered so much from the
+persecutions of the Catholic church, had less to fear from the
+infidelity of Berlin than from the fanaticism of Rome. Frederic was
+consequently generally received with rejoicings. The duchy of Silesia
+was indeed a desirable prize. Spreading over a region of more than
+fifteen thousand square miles, and containing a population of more than
+a million and a half, it presented to its feudal lord an ample revenue
+and the means of raising a large army. Breslau, the capital of the
+duchy, upon the Oder, contained a population of over eighty thousand.
+Built upon several islands of that beautiful stream, its situation was
+attractive, while in its palaces and its ornamental squares, it vied
+with the finest capitals of Europe.
+
+Frederic entered the city in triumph in January, 1741. The small
+Austrian garrison, consisting of but three thousand men, retired before
+him into Moravia. The Prussian monarch took possession of the revenues
+of the duchy, organized the government under his own officers,
+garrisoned the fortresses and returned to Berlin. Maria Theresa appealed
+to friendly courts for aid. Most of them were lavish in promises, but
+she waited in vain for any fulfillment. Neither money, arms nor men were
+sent to her. Maria Theresa, thus abandoned and thrown upon her own
+unaided energies, collected a small army in Moravia, on the confines of
+Silesia, and intrusted the command to Count Neuperg, whom she liberated
+from the prison to which her father had so unjustly consigned him. But
+it was mid-winter. The roads were almost impassable. The treasury of the
+Austrian court was so empty that but meager supplies could be provided
+for the troops. A ridge of mountains, whose defiles were blocked up with
+snow, spread between Silesia and Moravia.
+
+It was not until the close of March that Marshal Neuperg was able to
+force his way through these defiles and enter Silesia. The Prussians,
+not aware of their danger, were reposing in their cantonments. Neuperg
+hoped to take them by surprise and cut them off in detail. Indeed
+Frederic, who, by chance, was at Jagerndorf inspecting a fortress, was
+nearly surrounded by a party of Austrian hussars, and very narrowly
+escaped capture. The ground was still covered with snow as the Austrian
+troops toiled painfully through the mountains to penetrate the Silesian
+plains. Frederic rapidly concentrated his scattered troops to meet the
+foe. The warlike character of the Prussian king was as yet undeveloped,
+and Neuperg, unconscious of the tremendous energies he was to encounter,
+and supposing that the Prussian garrisons would fly in dismay before
+him, was giving his troops, after their exhausting march, a few days of
+repose in the Vicinity of Molnitz.
+
+On the 8th of April there was a thick fall of snow, filling the air and
+covering the fields. Frederic availed himself of the storm, which
+curtained him from all observation, to urge forward his troops, that he
+might overwhelm the Austrians by a fierce surprise. While Neuperg was
+thus resting, all unconscious of danger, twenty-seven battalions,
+consisting of sixteen thousand men, and twenty-nine squadrons of horse,
+amounting to six thousand, were, in the smothering snow, taking their
+positions for battle. On the morning of the 10th the snow ceased to
+fall, the clouds broke, and the sun came out clear and bright, when
+Neuperg saw that another and a far more fearful storm had gathered, and
+that its thunderbolts were about to be hurled into the midst of his
+camp.
+
+The Prussian batteries opened their fire, spreading death through the
+ranks of the Austrians, even while they were hastily forming in line of
+battle. Still the Austrian veterans, accustomed to all the vicissitudes
+of war, undismayed, rapidly threw themselves into columns and rushed
+upon the foe. Fiercely the battle raged hour after hour until the middle
+of the afternoon, when the field was covered with the dead and crimsoned
+with blood. The Austrians, having lost three thousand in slain and two
+thousand in prisoners, retired in confusion, surrendering the field,
+with several guns and banners, to the victors. This memorable battle
+gave Silesia to Prussia, and opened the war of the Austrian succession.
+
+The Duke of Lorraine was greatly alarmed by the threatening attitude
+which affairs now assumed. It was evident that France, Prussia, Bavaria
+and many other powers were combining against Austria, to rob her of her
+provinces, and perhaps to dismember the kingdom entirely. Not a single
+court as yet had manifested any disposition to assist Maria Theresa.
+England urged the Austrian court to buy the peace of Prussia at almost
+any price. Francis, Duke of Lorraine, was earnestly for yielding, and
+intreated his wife to surrender a part for the sake of retaining the
+rest. "We had better," he said, "surrender Silesia to Prussia, and thus
+purchase peace with Frederic, than meet the chances of so general a war
+as now threatens Austria."
+
+But Maria Theresa was as imperial in character and as indomitable in
+spirit as Frederic of Prussia. With indignation she rejected all such
+counsel, declaring that she would never cede one inch of her territories
+to any claimant, and that, even if her allies all abandoned her, she
+would throw herself upon her subjects and upon her armies, and perish,
+if need be, in defense of the integrity of Austria.
+
+Frederic now established his court and cabinet at the camp of Molnitz.
+Couriers were ever coming and going. Envoys from France and Bavaria were
+in constant secret conference with him. France, jealous of the power of
+Austria, was plotting its dismemberment, even while protesting
+friendship. Bavaria was willing to unite with Prussia in seizing the
+empire and in dividing the spoil. These courts seemed to lay no claim to
+any higher morality than that of ordinary highwaymen. The doom of Maria
+Theresa was apparently sealed. Austria was to be plundered. Other
+parties now began to rush in with their claims, that they might share in
+the booty. Philip V. of Spain put in his claim for the Austrian crown as
+the lineal descendant of the Emperor Charles V. Augustus, King of
+Poland, urged the right of his wife Maria, eldest daughter of Joseph.
+And even Charles Emanuel, King of Sardinia, hunted up an obsolete claim,
+through the line of the second daughter of Philip II.
+
+At the camp of Molnitz the plan was matured of giving Bohemia and Upper
+Austria to the Duke of Bavaria. Frederic of Prussia was to receive Upper
+Silesia and Glatz. Augustus of Poland was to annex to his kingdom
+Moravia and Upper Silesia. Lombardy was assigned to Spain. Sardinia was
+to receive some compensation not yet fully decided upon. The whole
+transaction was a piece of as unmitigated villainy as ever transpired.
+One can not but feel a little sympathy for Austria which had thus fallen
+among thieves, and was stripped and bleeding. Our sympathies are,
+however, somewhat alleviated by the reflection that Austria was just as
+eager as any of the other powers for any such piratic expedition, and
+that, soon after, she united with Russia and Prussia in plundering
+Poland. And when Poland was dismembered by a trio of regal robbers, she
+only incurred the same doom which she was now eager to inflict upon
+Austria. When pirates and robbers plunder each other, the victims are
+not entitled to much sympathy. To the masses of the people it made but
+little difference whether their life's blood was wrung from them by
+Russian, Prussian or Austrian despots. Under whatever rule they lived,
+they were alike doomed to toil as beasts of burden in the field, or to
+perish amidst the hardships and the carnage of the camp.
+
+These plans were all revealed to Maria Theresa, and with such a
+combination of foes so powerful, it seemed as if no earthly wisdom could
+avert her doom. But her lofty spirit remained unyielding, and she
+refused all offers of accommodation based upon the surrender of any
+portion of her territories. England endeavored to induce Frederic to
+consent to take the duchy of Glogau alone, suggesting that thus his
+Prussian majesty had it in his power to conclude an honorable peace, and
+to show his magnanimity by restoring tranquillity to Europe.
+
+"At the beginning of the war," Frederic replied, "I might perhaps have
+been contented with this proposal. At present I must have four duchies.
+But do not," he exclaimed, impatiently, "talk to me of _magnanimity_. A
+prince must consult his own interests. I am not averse to peace; but I
+want four duchies, and I will have them."
+
+Frederic of Prussia was no hypocrite. He was a highway robber and did
+not profess to be any thing else. His power was such that instead of
+demanding of the helpless traveler his watch, he could demand of
+powerful nations their revenues. If they did not yield to his demands he
+shot them down without compunction, and left them in their blood. The
+British minister ventured to ask what four duchies Frederic intended to
+take. No reply could be obtained to this question. By the four duchies
+he simply meant that he intended to extend the area of Prussia over
+every inch of territory he could possibly acquire, either by fair means
+or by foul.
+
+England, alarmed by these combinations, which it was evident that France
+was sagaciously forming and guiding, and from the successful prosecution
+of which plans it was certain that France would secure some immense
+accession of power, granted to Austria a subsidy of one million five
+hundred thousand dollars, to aid her in repelling her foes. Still the
+danger from the grand confederacy became so imminent, that the Duke of
+Lorraine and all the Austrian ministry united with the British
+ambassador, in entreating Maria Theresa to try to break up the
+confederacy and purchase peace with Prussia by offering Frederic the
+duchy of Glogau. With extreme reluctance the queen at length yielded to
+these importunities, and consented that an envoy should take the
+proposal to the Prussian camp at Molnitz. As the envoy was about to
+leave he expressed some apprehension that the Prussian king might reject
+the proffer.
+
+"I wish he may reject it," exclaimed the queen, passionately. "It would
+be a relief to my conscience. God only knows how I can answer to my
+subjects for the cession of the duchy, having sworn to them never to
+alienate any part of our country."
+
+Mr. Robinson, the British ambassador, as mediator, took these terms to
+the Prussian camp. In the endeavor to make as good a bargain as
+possible, he was first to offer Austrian Guelderland. If that failed he
+was then to offer Limburg, a province of the Netherlands, containing
+sixteen hundred square miles, and if this was not accepted, he was
+authorized, as the ultimatum, to consent to the cession of the duchy of
+Glogau. The Prussian king received the ambassadors, on the 5th of
+August, in a large tent, in his camp at Molanitz. The king was a blunt,
+uncourtly man, and the interview was attended with none of the amenities
+of polished life. After a few desultory remarks, the British ambassador
+opened the business by saying that he was authorized by the Queen of
+Austria to offer, as the basis of peace, the cession to Prussia of
+Austrian Guelderland.
+
+"What a beggarly offer," exclaimed the king. "This is extremely
+impertinent. What! nothing but a paltry town for all my just pretensions
+in Silesia!"
+
+In this tirade of passion, either affected or real, he continued for
+some time. Mr. Robinson waited patiently until this outburst was
+exhausted, and then hesitatingly remarked that the queen was so anxious
+to secure the peace of Europe, that if tranquillity could not be
+restored on other terms she was even willing to cede to Prussia, in
+addition, the province of Limburg.
+
+"Indeed!" said the ill-bred, clownish king, contemptuously. "And how can
+the queen think of violating her solemn oath which renders every inch of
+the Low Countries inalienable. I have no desire to obtain distant
+territory which will be useless to me; much less do I wish to expend
+money in new fortification. Neither the French nor the Dutch have
+offended me; and I do not wish to offend them, by acquiring territory in
+the vicinity of their realms. If I should accept Limburg, what security
+could I have that I should be permitted to retain it?"
+
+The ambassador replied, "England, Russia and Saxony, will give their
+guaranty."
+
+"Guaranties," rejoined the king, sneeringly. "Who, in these times, pays
+any regard to pledges? Have not both England and France pledged
+themselves to support the Pragmatic Sanction? Why do they not keep their
+promises? The conduct of these powers is ridiculous. They only do what
+is for their own interests. As for me, I am at the head of an invincible
+army. I want Silesia. I have taken it, and I intend to keep it. What
+kind of a reputation should I have if I should abandon the first
+enterprise of my reign? No! I will sooner be crushed with my whole army,
+than renounce my rights in Silesia. Let those who want peace grant me my
+demands. If they prefer to fight again, they can do so, and again be
+beaten."
+
+Mr. Robinson ventured to offer a few soothing words to calm the
+ferocious brute, and then proposed to give to him Glogau, a small but
+rich duchy of about six hundred square miles, near the frontiers of
+Prussia.
+
+Frederic rose in a rage, and with loud voice and threatening gestures,
+exclaimed,
+
+"If the queen does not, within six weeks, yield to my demands, I will
+double them. Return with this answer to Vienna. They who want peace with
+me, will not oppose my wishes. I am sick of ultimatums; I will hear no
+more of them. I demand Silesia. This is my final answer. I will give no
+other."
+
+Then turning upon his heel, with an air of towering indignation, he
+retired behind the inner curtain of his tent. Such was the man to whom
+Providence, in its inscrutable wisdom, had assigned a throne, and a
+highly disciplined army of seventy-five thousand men. To northern Europe
+he proved an awful scourge, inflicting woes, which no tongue can
+adequately tell.
+
+And now the storm of war seemed to commence in earnest. The Duke of
+Bavaria issued a manifesto, declaring his right to the whole Austrian
+inheritance, and pronouncing Maria Theresa a usurper. He immediately
+marched an army into one of the provinces of Austria. At the same time,
+two French armies were preparing to cross the Rhine to cooperate with
+the Bavarian troops. The King of Prussia was also on the march,
+extending his conquests. Still Maria Theresa remained inflexible,
+refusing to purchase peace with Prussia by the surrender of Silesia.
+
+"The resolution of the queen is taken," she said. "If the House of
+Austria must perish, it is indifferent whether it perishes by an Elector
+of Bavaria, or by an Elector of Brandenburg."
+
+While these all important matters were under discussion, the queen, on
+the 13th of March, gave birth to a son, the Archduke Joseph. This event
+strengthened the queen's resolution, to preserve, not only for herself,
+but for her son and heir, the Austrian empire in its integrity. From her
+infancy she had imbibed the most exalted ideas of the dignity and
+grandeur of the house of Hapsburg. She had also been taught that her
+inheritance was a solemn trust which she was religiously bound to
+preserve. Thus religious principle, family pride and maternal love all
+now combined to increase the inflexibility of a will which by nature was
+indomitable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+MARIA THERESA.
+
+From 1741 to 1743.
+
+Character of Francis, Duke of Lorraine.--Policy of European
+Courts.--Plan of the Allies.--Siege of Prague.--Desperate Condition of
+the Queen.--Her Coronation in Hungary.--Enthusiasm of the Barons.--
+Speech of Maria Theresa.--Peace with Frederic of Prussia.--His
+Duplicity.--Military Movement of the Duke of Lorraine.--Battle of
+Chazleau.--Second Treaty with Frederic.--Despondency of the Duke of
+Bavaria.--March of Mallebois.--Extraordinary Retreat of
+Belleisle.--Recovery of Prague by the Queen.
+
+
+Maria Theresa, as imperial in spirit as in position, was unwilling to
+share the crown, even with her husband. Francis officiated as her chief
+minister, giving audience to foreign ambassadors, and attending to many
+of the details of government, yet he had but little influence in the
+direction of affairs. Though a very handsome man, of polished address,
+and well cultivated understanding, he was not a man of either brilliant
+or commanding intellect. Maria Theresa, as a woman, could not aspire to
+the imperial throne; but all the energies of her ambitious nature were
+roused to secure that dignity for her husband. Francis was very anxious
+to secure for himself the electoral vote of Prussia, and he,
+consequently, was accused of being willing to cede Austrian territory to
+Frederic to purchase his support. This deprived him of all influence
+whenever he avowed sentiments contrary to those of the queen.
+
+England, jealous of the vast continental power of France, was anxious to
+strengthen Austria, as a means of holding France in check. Seldom, in
+any of these courts, was the question of right or wrong considered, in
+any transaction. Each court sought only its own aggrandizement and the
+humiliation of its foes. The British cabinet, now, with very
+considerable zeal, espoused the cause of Maria Theresa. Pamphlets were
+circulated to rouse the enthusiasm of the nation, by depicting the
+wrongs of a young and beautiful queen, so unchivalrously assailed by
+bearded monarchs in overwhelming combination. The national ardor was
+thus easily kindled. On the 8th of August the King of England, in an
+animated speech from the throne, urged Parliament to support Maria
+Theresa, thus to maintain the _balance of power_ in Europe. One million
+five hundred thousand dollars were immediately voted, with strong
+resolutions in favor of the queen. The Austrian ambassador, in
+transmitting this money and these resolutions to the queen, urged that
+no sacrifice should be made to purchase peace with Prussia; affirming
+that the king, the Parliament, and the people of England were all roused
+to enthusiasm in behalf of Austria; and that England would spend its
+last penny, and shed its last drop of blood, in defense of the cause of
+Maria Theresa. This encouraged the queen exceedingly, for she was
+sanguine that Holland, the natural ally of England, would follow the
+example of that nation. She also cherished strong hopes that Russia
+might come to her aid.
+
+It was the plan of France to rob Maria Theresa of all her possessions
+excepting Hungary, to which distant kingdom she was to be driven, and
+where she was to be left undisturbed to defend herself as she best could
+against the Turks. Thus the confederates would have, to divide among
+themselves, the States of the Netherlands, the kingdom of Bohemia, the
+Tyrol, the duchies of Austria, Silesia, Moravia, Carinthia, Servia and
+various other duchies opulent and populous, over which the vast empire
+of Austria had extended its sway.
+
+The French armies crossed the Rhine and united with the Bavarian troops.
+The combined battalions marched, sweeping all opposition before them, to
+Lintz, the capital of upper Austria. This city, containing about thirty
+thousand inhabitants, is within a hundred miles of Vienna, and is one of
+the most beautiful in Germany. Here, with much military and civic pomp,
+the Duke of Bavaria was inaugurated Archduke of the Austrian duchies. A
+detachment of the army was then dispatched down the river to Polten,
+within twenty-four miles of Vienna; from whence a summons was sent to
+the capital to surrender. At the same time a powerful army turned its
+steps north, and pressing on a hundred and fifty miles, over the
+mountains and through the plains of Bohemia, laid siege to Prague, which
+was filled with magazines, and weakly garrisoned. Frederic, now in
+possession of all Silesia, was leading his troops to cooperate with
+those of France and Bavaria.
+
+The cause of Maria Theresa was now, to human vision, desperate. Immense
+armies were invading her realms. Prague was invested; Vienna threatened
+with immediate siege; her treasury was empty; her little army defeated
+and scattered; she was abandoned by her allies, and nothing seemed to
+remain for her but to submit to her conquerors. Hungary still clung
+firmly to the queen, and she had been crowned at Presburg with boundless
+enthusiasm. An eyewitness has thus described this scene:--
+
+"The coronation was magnificent. The queen was all charm. She rode
+gallantly up the Royal Mount, a hillock in the vicinity of Presburg,
+which the new sovereign ascends on horseback, and waving a drawn sword,
+defied the four corners of the world, in a manner to show that she had
+no occasion for that weapon to conquer all who saw her. The antiquated
+crown received new graces from her head; and the old tattered robe of
+St. Stephen became her as well as her own rich habit, if diamonds,
+pearls and all sorts of precious stones can be called clothes,"
+
+She had but recently risen from the bed of confinement and the delicacy
+of her appearance added to her attractions. A table was spread for a
+public entertainment, around which all the dignitaries of the realm were
+assembled--dukes who could lead thousands of troops into the field, bold
+barons, with their bronzed followers, whose iron sinews had been
+toughened in innumerable wars. It was a warm summer day, and the cheek
+of the youthful queen glowed with the warmth and with the excitement of
+the hour. Her beautiful hair fell in ringlets upon her shoulders and
+over her full bosom. She sat at the head of the table all queenly in
+loveliness, and imperial in character. The bold, high-spirited nobles,
+who surrounded her, could appreciate her position, assailed by half the
+monarchies of Europe, and left alone to combat them all. Their
+chivalrous enthusiasm was thus aroused.
+
+The statesmen of Vienna had endeavored to dissuade the queen from making
+any appeal to the Hungarians. When Charles VI. made an effort to secure
+their assent to the Pragmatic Sanction, the war-worn barons replied
+haughtily, "We are accustomed to be governed by men, not by women." The
+ministers at Vienna feared, therefore, that the very sight of the queen,
+youthful, frail and powerless, would stir these barons to immediate
+insurrection, and that they would scorn such a sovereign to guide them
+in the fierce wars which her crown involved. But Maria Theresa better
+understood human nature. She believed that the same barons, who would
+resist the demands of the Emperor Charles VI., would rally with
+enthusiasm around a defenseless woman, appealing to them for aid. The
+cordiality and ever-increasing glow of ardor with which she was greeted
+at the coronation and at the dinner encouraged her hopes.
+
+She summoned all the nobles to meet her in the great hall of the castle.
+The hall was crowded with as brilliant an assemblage of rank and power
+as Hungary could furnish. The queen entered, accompanied by her retinue.
+She was dressed in deep mourning, in the Hungarian costume, with the
+crown of St. Stephen upon her brow, and the regal cimiter at her side.
+With a majestic step she traversed the apartment, and ascended the
+platform or tribune from whence the Kings of Hungary were accustomed to
+address their congregated lords. All eyes were fixed upon her, and the
+most solemn silence pervaded the assemblage.
+
+The Latin language was then, in Hungary, the language of diplomacy and
+of the court. All the records of the kingdom were preserved in that
+language, and no one spoke, in the deliberations of the diet, but in the
+majestic tongue of ancient Rome. The queen, after a pause of a few
+moments, during which she carefully scanned the assemblage, addressing
+them in Latin, said:--
+
+"The disastrous situation of our affairs has moved us to lay before our
+dear and faithful States of Hungary, the recent invasion of Austria, the
+danger now impending over this kingdom, and a proposal for the
+consideration of a remedy. The very existence of the kingdom of Hungary,
+of our own person, of our children and our crown, is now at stake.
+Forsaken by all, we place our sole resource in the fidelity, arms and
+long tried valor of the Hungarians; exhorting you, the states and
+orders, to deliberate without delay in this extreme danger, on the most
+effectual measures for the security of our person, of our children and
+of our crown, and to carry them into immediate execution. In regard to
+ourself, the faithful states and orders of Hungary shall experience our
+hearty cooeperation in all things which may promote the pristine
+happiness of this ancient kingdom, and the honor of the people."
+
+(Some may feel interested in reading this speech in the original Latin,
+as it is now found recorded in the archives of Hungary. It is as
+follows:
+
+"Allocutio Reginae Hungariae Mariae Theresiae, anno 1741. Afflictus rerum
+nostrarum status nos movit, ut fidelibus perchari regni Hungariae
+statibus de hostili provinciae nostrae hereditariae, Austriae invasione, et
+imminente regno huic periculo, adeoque de considerando remedio
+propositionem scripto faciamus. Agitur de regno Hungaria, de persona
+nostra, prolibus nostris, et corona, ab omnibus derelicti, unice ad
+inclytorum statuum fidelitatem, arma, et Hungarorum priscam virtutem
+confugimus, impense hortantes, velint status et ordines in hoc maximo
+periculo de securitate personae nostrae, prolium, coronae, et regni quanto
+ocius consulere, et ea in effectum etiam deducere. Quantum ex parte
+nostra est, quaecunque pro pristina regni hujus felicitate, et gentis
+decore forent, in iis omnibus benignitatem et clementiam nostram regiam
+fideles status et ordines regni experturi sunt.")
+
+The response was instantaneous and emphatic. A thousand warriors drew
+their sabers half out of their scabbards, and then thrust them back to
+the hilt, with a clangor like the clash of swords on the field of
+battle. Then with one voice they shouted, "Moriamur pro nostra rege,
+Maria Theresa"--_We will die for our sovereign, Maria Theresa_.
+
+The queen, until now, had preserved a perfectly calm and composed
+demeanor. But this outburst of enthusiasm overpowered her, and
+forgetting the queen, she pressed her handkerchief to her eyes and burst
+into a flood of tears. No manly heart could stand this unmoved. Every
+eye was moistened, every heart throbbed with admiration and devotion,
+and a scene of indescribable enthusiasm ensued. Hungary was now
+effectually roused, and Maria Theresa was queen of all hearts. Every
+noble was ready to march his vassals and to open his purse at her
+bidding. All through the wide extended realm, the enthusiasm rolled like
+an inundation. The remote tribes on the banks of the Save, the Theiss,
+the Drave, and the lower Danube flocked to her standards. They came,
+semi-savage bands, in uncouth garb, and speaking unintelligible
+tongues--Croats, Pandours, Sclavonians, Warusdinians and Tolpaches.
+Germany was astounded at the spectacle of these wild, fierce men,
+apparently as tameless and as fearless as wolves. The enthusiasm spread
+rapidly all over the States of Austria. The young men, and especially
+the students in the universities, espoused the cause of the queen with
+deathless fervor. Vienna was strongly fortified, all hands engaging in
+the work. So wonderful was this movement, that the allies were alarmed.
+They had already become involved in quarrels about the division of the
+anticipated booty.
+
+Frederic of Prussia was the first to implore peace. The Elector of
+Bavaria was a rival sovereign, and Frederic preferred seeing Austria in
+the hands of the queen, rather than in the hands of the elector. He was,
+therefore, anxious to withdraw from the confederacy, and to oppose the
+allies. The queen, as anxious as Frederic to come to an accommodation,
+sent an ambassador to ascertain his terms. In laconic phrase,
+characteristic of this singular man, he returned the following answer:--
+
+"All lower Silesia; the river Neiss for the boundary. The town of Neiss
+as well as Glatz. Beyond the Oder the ancient limits to continue between
+the duchies of Brieg and Oppelon. Breslau for us. The affairs of
+religion in _statu quo_. No dependence on Bohemia; a cession forever. In
+return we will proceed no further. We will besiege Neiss for form. The
+commandant shall surrender and depart. We will pass quietly into winter
+quarters, and the Austrian army may go where they will. Let the whole be
+concluded in twelve days."
+
+These terms were assented to. The king promised never to ask any further
+territory from the queen, and not to act offensively against the queen
+or any of her allies. Though the queen placed not the slightest
+confidence in the integrity of the Prussian monarch, she rejoiced in
+this treaty, which enabled her to turn all her attention to her other
+foes. The allies were now in possession of nearly all of Bohemia and
+were menacing Prague.
+
+The Duke of Lorraine hastened with sixty thousand men to the relief of
+the capital. He had arrived within nine miles of the city, when he
+learned, to his extreme chagrin, that the preceding night Prague had
+been taken by surprise. That very day the Elector of Bavaria made a
+triumphal entry into the town, and was soon crowned King of Bohemia. And
+now the electoral diet of Germany met, and, to the extreme
+disappointment of Maria Theresa, chose, as Emperor of Germany, instead
+of her husband, the Elector of Bavaria, whom they also acknowledged King
+of Bohemia. He received the imperial crown at Frankfort on the 12th of
+February, 1742, with the title of Charles VII.
+
+The Duke of Lorraine having been thus thwarted in his plan of relieving
+Prague, and not being prepared to assail the allied army in possession
+of the citadel, and behind the ramparts of the city, detached a part of
+his army to keep the enemy in check, and sent General Kevenhuller, with
+thirty thousand men, to invade and take possession of Bavaria, now
+nearly emptied of its troops. By very sagacious movements the general
+soon became master of all the defiles of the Bavarian mountains. He then
+pressed forward, overcoming all opposition, and in triumph entered
+Munich, the capital of Bavaria, the very day Charles was chosen emperor.
+Thus the elector, as he received the imperial crown, dropped his own
+hereditary estates from his hand.
+
+This triumph of the queen's arms alarmed Frederic of Prussia. He reposed
+as little confidence in the honesty of the Austrian court as they
+reposed in him. He was afraid that the queen, thus victorious, would
+march her triumphant battalions into Silesia and regain the lost duchy.
+He consequently, in total disregard of his treaty, and without troubling
+himself to make any declaration of war, resumed hostilities. He entered
+into a treaty with his old rival, the Elector of Bavaria, now King of
+Bohemia, and Emperor of Germany. Receiving from the emperor large
+accessions of territory, Frederic devoted his purse and array to the
+allies. His armies were immediately in motion. They overran Moravia, and
+were soon in possession of all of its most important fortresses. All the
+energies of Frederic were consecrated to any cause in which he enlisted.
+He was indefatigable in his activity. With no sense of dishonor in
+violating a solemn treaty, with no sense of shame in conspiring with
+banded despots against a youthful queen, of whose youth, and feebleness
+and feminine nature they wished to take advantage that they might rob
+her of her possessions, Frederic rode from camp to camp, from capital to
+capital, to infuse new vigor into the alliance. He visited the Elector
+of Saxony at Dresden, then galloped to Prague, then returned through
+Moravia, and placed himself at the head of his army. Marching vigorously
+onward, he entered upper Austria. His hussars spread terror in all
+directions, even to the gates of Vienna.
+
+The Hungarian troops pressed forward in defense of the queen. Wide
+leagues of country were desolated by war, as all over Germany the
+hostile battalions swept to and fro. The Duke of Lorraine hastened from
+Moravia for the defense of Vienna, while detached portions of the
+Austrian army were on the rapid march, in all directions, to join him.
+On the 16th of May, 1742, the Austrian army, under the Duke of Lorraine,
+and the Prussian army under Frederic, encountered each other, in about
+equal numbers, at Chazleau. Equal in numbers, equal in skill, equal in
+bravery, they fought with equal success. After several hours of awful
+carnage, fourteen thousand corpses strewed the ground. Seven thousand
+were Austrians, seven thousand Prussians. The Duke of Lorraine retired
+first, leaving a thousand prisoners, eighteen pieces of artillery and
+two standards, with the foe; but he took with him, captured from the
+Prussians, a thousand prisoners, fourteen cannon, and two standards. As
+the duke left Frederic in possession of the field, it was considered a
+Prussian victory. But it was a victory decisive of no results, as each
+party was alike crippled. Frederic was much disappointed. He had
+anticipated the annihilation of the Austrian army, and a triumphant
+march to Vienna, where, in the palaces of the Austrian kings, he
+intended to dictate terms to the prostrate monarchy.
+
+The queen had effectually checked his progress, new levies were crowding
+to her aid, and it was in vain for Frederic, with his diminished and
+exhausted regiments, to undertake an assault upon the ramparts of
+Vienna. Again he proposed terms of peace. He demanded all of upper as
+well as lower Silesia, and the county of Glatz, containing nearly seven
+hundred square miles, and a population of a little over sixty thousand.
+Maria Theresa, crowded by her other enemies, was exceedingly anxious to
+detach a foe so powerful and active, and she accordingly assented to the
+hard terms. This new treaty was signed at Breslau, on the 11th of June,
+and was soon ratified by both sovereigns. The Elector of Saxony was also
+included in this treaty and retired from the contest.
+
+The withdrawal of these forces seemed to turn the tide of battle in
+favor of the Austrians. The troops from Hungary fought with the most
+romantic devotion. A band of Croats in the night swam across a river,
+with their sabers in their mouths, and climbing on each other's
+shoulders, scaled the walls of the fortress of Piseck, and made the
+garrison prisoners of war. The Austrians, dispersing the allied French
+and Bavarians in many successful skirmishes, advanced to the walls of
+Prague. With seventy thousand men, the Duke of Lorraine commenced the
+siege of this capital, so renowned in the melancholy annals of war. The
+sympathies of Europe began to turn in favor of Maria Theresa. It became
+a general impression, that the preservation of the Austrian monarchy was
+essential to hold France in check, which colossal power seemed to
+threaten the liberties of Europe. The cabinet of England was especially
+animated by this sentiment, and a change in the ministry being effected,
+the court of St. James sent assurances to Vienna of their readiness to
+support the queen with the whole power of the British empire. Large
+supplies of men and money were immediately voted. Sixteen thousand men
+were landed in Flanders to cooperate with the Austrian troops. Holland,
+instigated by the example of England, granted Maria Theresa a subsidy of
+eight hundred and forty thousand florins. The new Queen of Russia, also,
+Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, adopted measures highly
+favorable to Austria.
+
+In Italy affairs took a singular turn in favor of the Austrian queen.
+The King of Sardinia, ever ready to embark his troops in any enterprise
+which gave him promise of booty, alarmed by the grasping ambition of
+France and Spain, who were ever seizing the lion's share in all plunder,
+seeing that he could not hope for much advantage in his alliance with
+them, proposed to the queen that if she would cede to him certain of the
+Milanese provinces, he would march his troops into her camp. This was a
+great gain for Maria Theresa. The Sardinian troops guarding the passes
+of the Alps, shut out the French, during the whole campaign, from
+entering Italy. At the same time the Sardinian king, with another
+portion of his army, aided by the Austrian troops, overran the whole
+duchy of Modena, and drove out the Spaniards. The English fleet in the
+Mediterranean cooperated in this important measure. By the threat of a
+bombardment they compelled the King of Naples to withdraw from the
+French and Spanish alliance. Thus Austria again planted her foot in
+Italy. This extraordinary and unanticipated success created the utmost
+joy and exultation in Vienna. The despondency of the French court was
+correspondingly great. A few months had totally changed the aspect of
+affairs. The allied troops were rapidly melting away, with none to fill
+up the dwindling ranks. The proud army which had swept over Germany,
+defying all opposition, was now cooped up within the walls of Prague,
+beleaguered by a foe whom victory had rendered sanguine. The new
+emperor, claiming the crown of Austria, had lost his own territory of
+Bavaria; and the capital of Bohemia, where he had so recently been
+enthroned, was hourly in peril of falling into the hands of his foes.
+
+Under these circumstances the hopes of the Duke of Bavaria sank rapidly
+into despair. The hour of disaster revealed a meanness of spirit which
+prosperity had not developed. He sued for peace, writing a dishonorable
+and cringing letter, in which he protested that he was not to blame for
+the war, but that the whole guilt rested upon the French court, which
+had inveigled him to present his claim and commence hostilities. Maria
+Theresa made no other reply to this humiliating epistle than to publish
+it, and give it a wide circulation throughout Europe. Cardinal Fleury,
+the French minister of state, indignant at this breach of confidence,
+sent to the cabinet of Vienna a remonstrance and a counter statement.
+This paper also the queen gave to the public.
+
+Marshal Belleisle was in command of the French and Bavarian troops,
+which were besieged in Prague. The force rapidly gathering around him
+was such as to render retreat impossible. The city was unprepared for a
+siege, and famine soon began to stare the citizens and garrison in the
+face. The marshal, reduced to the last extremity, offered to evacuate
+the city and march out of Bohemia, if he could be permitted to retire
+unmolested, with arms, artillery and baggage. The Duke of Lorraine, to
+avoid a battle which would be rendered sanguinary through despair, was
+ready and even anxious to assent to these terms. His leading generals
+were of the same opinion, as they wished to avoid a needless effusion of
+blood.
+
+The offered terms of capitulation were sent to Maria Theresa. She
+rejected them with disdain. She displayed a revengeful spirit, natural,
+perhaps, under the circumstances, but which reflects but little honor
+upon her character.
+
+"I will not," she replied, in the presence of the whole court; "I will
+not grant any capitulation to the French army. I will listen to no
+terms, to no proposition from Cardinal Fleury. I am astonished that he
+should come to me now with proposals for peace; _he_ who endeavored to
+excite all the princes of Germany to crush me. I have acted with too
+much condescension to the court of France. Compelled by the necessities
+of my situation I debased my royal dignity by writing to the cardinal in
+terms which would have softened the most obdurate rock. He insolently
+rejected my entreaties; and the only answer I obtained was that his most
+Christian majesty had contracted engagements which he could not violate.
+I can prove, by documents now in my possession, that the French
+endeavored to excite sedition even in the heart of my dominions; that
+they attempted to overturn the fundamental laws of the empire, and to
+set all Germany in a flame. I will transmit these proofs to posterity as
+a warning to the empire."
+
+The ambition of Maria Theresa was now greatly roused. She resolved to
+retain the whole of Bavaria which she had taken from the elector. The
+duchy of Lorraine, which had been wrested from her husband, was
+immediately to be invaded and restored to the empire. The dominions
+which had been torn from her father in Italy were to be reannexed to the
+Austrian crown, and Alsace upon the Rhine was to be reclaimed. Thus, far
+from being now satisfied with the possessions she had inherited from her
+father, her whole soul was roused, in these hours of triumph, to conquer
+vast accessions for her domains. She dreamed only of conquest, and in
+her elation parceled out the dominions of France and Bavaria as
+liberally and as unscrupulously as they had divided among themselves the
+domain of the house of Austria.
+
+The French, alarmed, made a great effort to relieve Prague. An army,
+which on its march was increased to sixty thousand men, was sent six
+hundred miles to cross rivers, to penetrate defiles of mountains crowded
+with hostile troops, that they might rescue Prague and its garrison from
+the besiegers. With consummate skill and energy this critical movement
+was directed by General Mallebois. The garrison of the city were in a
+state of great distress. The trenches were open and the siege was pushed
+with great vigilance. All within the walls of the beleaguered city were
+reduced to extreme suffering. Horse flesh was considered a delicacy
+which was reserved for the sick. The French made sally after sally to
+spike the guns which were battering down the walls. As Mallebois, with
+his powerful reenforcement, drew near, their courage rose. The Duke of
+Lorraine became increasingly anxious to secure the capitulation before
+the arrival of the army of relief, and proposed a conference to decide
+upon terms, which should be transmitted for approval to the courts of
+Vienna and of Paris. But the imperious Austrian queen, as soon as she
+heard of this movement, quite regardless of the feelings of her husband,
+whom she censured as severely as she would any corporal in the army,
+issued orders prohibiting, peremptorily, any such conference.
+
+"I will not suffer," she said "any council to be held in the army. From
+Vienna alone are orders to be received. I disavow and forbid all such
+proceedings, _let the blame fall where it may_."
+
+She knew full well that it was her husband who had proposed this plan;
+and he knew, and all Austria knew, that it was the Duke of Lorraine who
+was thus severely and publicly reprimanded. But the husband of Maria
+Theresa was often reminded that he was but the subject of the queen. So
+peremptory a mandate admitted of no compromise. The Austrians plied
+their batteries with new vigor, the wan and skeleton soldiers fought
+perseveringly at their embrasures; and the battalions of Mallebois, by
+forced marches, pressed on through the mountains of Bohemia, to the
+eventful arena. A division of the Austrian army was dispatched to the
+passes of Satz and Caden, which it would be necessary for the French to
+thread, in approaching Prague. The troops of Mallebois, when they
+arrived at these defiles, were so exhausted by their long and forced
+marches, that they were incapable of forcing their way against the
+opposition they encountered in the passes of the mountains. After a
+severe struggle, Mallebois was compelled to relinquish the design of
+relieving Prague, and storms of snow beginning to incumber his path, he
+retired across the Danube, and throwing up an intrenched camp,
+established himself in winter quarters. The Austrian division, thus
+successful, returned to Prague, and the blockade was resumed. There
+seemed to be now no hope for the French, and their unconditional
+surrender was hourly expected. Affairs were in this state, when Europe
+was astounded by the report that the French general, Belleisle, with a
+force of eleven thousand foot and three thousand horse, had effected his
+escape from the battered walls of the city and was in successful
+retreat.
+
+It was the depth of winter. The ground was covered with snow, and
+freezing blasts swept the fields. The besiegers were compelled to
+retreat to the protection of their huts. Taking advantage of a cold and
+stormy night, Belleisle formed his whole force into a single column,
+and, leaving behind him his sick and wounded, and every unnecessary
+incumbrance, marched noiselessly but rapidly from one of the gates of
+the city. He took with him but thirty cannon and provisions for twelve
+days. It was a heroic but an awful retreat. The army, already exhausted
+and emaciate by famine, toiled on over morasses, through forests, over
+mountains, facing frost and wind and snow, and occasionally fighting
+their way against their foes, until on the twelfth day they reached Egra
+on the frontiers of Bavaria, about one hundred and twenty miles east
+from Prague.
+
+Their sufferings were fearful: They had nothing to eat but frozen bread,
+and at night they sought repose, tentless, and upon the drifted snow.
+The whole distance was strewed with the bodies of the dead. Each morning
+mounds of frozen corpses indicated the places of the night's bivouac.
+Twelve hundred perished during this dreadful march. Of those who
+survived, many, at Egra, were obliged to undergo the amputation of their
+frozen limbs. General Belleisle himself, during the whole retreat, was
+suffering from such a severe attack of rheumatism, that he was unable
+either to walk or ride. His mind, however, was full of vigor and his
+energies unabated. Carried in a sedan chair he reconnoitred the way,
+pointed out the roads, visited every part of the extended line of march,
+encouraged the fainting troops, and superintended all the minutest
+details of the retreat. "Notwithstanding the losses of his army," it is
+recorded, "he had the satisfaction of preserving the flower of the
+French forces, of saving every cannon which bore the arms of his master,
+and of not leaving the smallest trophy to grace the triumph of the
+enemy."
+
+In the citadel of Prague, Belleisle had left six thousand troops, to
+prevent the eager pursuit of the Austrians. The Prince Sobcuitz, now in
+command of the besieging force, mortified and irritated by the escape,
+sent a summons to the garrison demanding its immediate and unconditional
+surrender. Chevert, the gallant commander, replied to the officer who
+brought the summons,--
+
+"Tell the prince that if he will not grant me the honors of war, I will
+set fire to the four corners of Prague, and bury myself under its
+ruins."
+
+The destruction of Prague, with all its treasures of architecture and
+art, was too serious a calamity to be hazarded. Chevert was permitted to
+retire with the honors of war, and with his division he soon rejoined
+the army at Egra. Maria Theresa was exceedingly chagrined by the escape
+of the French, and in the seclusion of her palace she gave vent to the
+bitterness of her anguish. In public, however, she assumed an attitude
+of triumph and great exultation in view of the recovery of Prague. She
+celebrated the event by magnificent entertainments. In imitation of the
+Olympic games, she established chariot races, in which ladies alone were
+the competitors, and even condescended herself, with her sister, to
+enter the lists.
+
+All Bohemia, excepting Egra, was now reclaimed. Early in the spring
+Maria Theresa visited Prague, where, on the 12th of May, 1743, with
+great splendor she was crowned Queen of Bohemia. General Belleisle,
+leaving a small garrison at Egra, with the remnant of his force crossed
+the Rhine and returned to France. He had entered Germany a few months
+before, a conqueror at the head of forty thousand men. He retired a
+fugitive with eight thousand men in his train, ragged, emaciate and
+mutilated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+MARIA THERESA.
+
+From 1743 to 1748.
+
+Prosperous Aspect of Austrian Affairs.--Capture of Egra.--Vast Extent of
+Austria.--Dispute with Sardinia.--Marriage of Charles of Lorraine with
+The Queen's Sister.--Invasion of Alsace.--Frederic Overruns Bohemia.--
+Bohemia Recovered by Prince Charles.--Death of the Emperor Charles
+VII.--Venality of the Old Monarchies.--Battle of Hohenfriedberg.--Sir
+Thomas Robinson's Interview with Maria Theresa.--Hungarian
+Enthusiasm.--The Duke of Lorraine Elected Emperor.--Continuation of the
+War.--Treaty of Peace.--Indignation of Maria Theresa.
+
+
+The cause of Maria Theresa, at the commencement of the year 1743, was
+triumphant all over her widely extended domains. Russia was cordial in
+friendship. Holland, in token of hostility to France, sent the queen an
+efficient loan of six thousand men, thoroughly equipped for the field.
+The King of Sardinia, grateful for his share in the plunder of the
+French and Spanish provinces in Italy, and conscious that he could
+retain those spoils only by the aid of Austria, sent to the queen, in
+addition to the cooeperation of his armies, a gift of a million of
+dollars. England, also, still anxious to check the growth of France,
+continued her subsidy of a million and a half, and also with both fleet
+and army contributed very efficient military aid. The whole force of
+Austria was now turned against France. The French were speedily driven
+from Bavaria; and Munich, the capital, fell into the hands of the
+Austrians. The emperor, in extreme dejection, unable to present any
+front of resistance, sent to the queen entreating a treaty of
+neutrality, offering to withdraw all claims to the Austrian succession,
+and consenting to leave his Bavarian realm in the hands of Maria Theresa
+until a general peace. The emperor, thus humiliated and stripped of all
+his territories, retired to Frankfort.
+
+On the 7th of September Egra was captured, and the queen was placed in
+possession of all her hereditary domains. The wonderful firmness and
+energy which she had displayed, and the consummate wisdom with which she
+had conceived and executed her measures, excited the admiration of
+Europe. In Vienna, and throughout all the States of Austria, her
+popularity was unbounded. After the battle of Dettingen, in which her
+troops gained a decisive victory, as the queen was returning to Vienna
+from a water excursion, she found the banks of the Danube, for nine
+miles, crowded with her rejoicing subjects. In triumph she was escorted
+into the capital, greeted by every demonstration of the most
+enthusiastic joy.
+
+Austria and England were now prepared to mature their plans for the
+dismemberment of France. The commissioners met at Hanau, a small
+fortified town, a few miles east of Frankfort. They met, however, only
+to quarrel fiercely. Austrian and English pride clashed in instant
+collision. Lord Stair, imperious and irritable, regarded the Austrians
+as outside barbarians whom England was feeding, clothing and protecting.
+The Austrian officers regarded the English as remote islanders from whom
+they had hired money and men. The Austrians were amazed at the impudence
+of the English in assuming the direction of affairs. The British
+officers were equally astounded that the Austrians should presume to
+take the lead. No plan of cooeperation could be agreed upon, and the
+conference broke up in confusion,
+
+The queen, whose heart was still fixed upon the elevation of her husband
+to the throne of the empire, was anxious to depose the emperor. But
+England was no more willing to see Austria dominant over Europe than to
+see France thus powerful. Maria Theresa was now in possession of all her
+vast ancestral domains, and England judged that it would endanger the
+balance of power to place upon the brow of her husband the imperial
+crown. The British cabinet consequently espoused the cause of the
+Elector of Bavaria, and entered into a private arrangement with him,
+agreeing to acknowledge him as emperor, and to give him an annual
+pension that he might suitably support the dignity of his station. The
+wealth of England seems to have been inexhaustible, for half the
+monarchs of Europe have, at one time or other, been fed and clothed from
+her treasury. George II. contracted to pay the emperor, within forty
+days, three hundred thousand dollars, and to do all in his power to
+constrain the queen of Austria to acknowledge his title.
+
+Maria Theresa had promised the King of Sardinia large accessions of
+territory in Italy, as the price for his cooeperation. But now, having
+acquired those Italian territories, she was exceedingly reluctant to
+part with any one of them, and very dishonorably evaded, by every
+possible pretense, the fulfillment of her agreement. The queen
+considered herself now so strong that she was not anxious to preserve
+the alliance of Sardinia. She thought her Italian possessions secure,
+even in case of the defection of the Sardinian king. Sardinia appealed
+to England, as one of the allies, to interpose for the execution of the
+treaty. To the remonstrance of England the queen peevishly replied,
+
+"It is the policy of England to lead me from one sacrifice to another. I
+am expected to expose my troops for no other end than voluntarily to
+strip myself of my possessions. Should the cession of the Italian
+provinces, which the King of Sardinia claims, be extorted from me, what
+remains in Italy will not be worth defending, and the only alternative
+left is that of being stripped either by England or France."
+
+While the queen was not willing to give as much as she had agreed to
+bestow, the greedy King of Sardinia was grasping at more than she had
+promised. At last the king, in a rage threatened, that if she did not
+immediately comply with his demands, he would unite with France and
+Spain and the emperor against Austria. This angry menace brought the
+queen to terms, and articles of agreement satisfactory to Sardinia were
+signed. During the whole of this summer of 1743, though large armies
+were continually in motion, and there were many sanguinary battles, and
+all the arts of peace were destroyed, and conflagration, death and woe
+were sent to ten thousand homes, nothing effectual was accomplished by
+either party. The strife did not cease until winter drove the weary
+combatants to their retreats.
+
+For the protection of the Austrian possessions against the French and
+Spanish, the queen agreed to maintain in Italy an army of thirty
+thousand men, to be placed under the command of the King of Sardinia,
+who was to add to them an army of forty-five thousand. England, with
+characteristic prodigality, voted a million of dollars annually, to aid
+in the payment of these troops. It was the object of England, to prevent
+France from strengthening herself by Italian possessions. The cabinet of
+St. James took such an interest in this treaty that, to secure its
+enactment, one million five hundred thousand dollars were paid down, in
+addition to the annual subsidy. England also agreed to maintain a strong
+squadron in the Mediterranean to cooeperate with Sardinia and Austria.
+
+Amidst these scenes of war, the usual dramas of domestic life moved on.
+Prince Charles of Lorraine, had long been ardently attached to Mary
+Anne, younger sister of Maria Theresa. The young prince had greatly
+signalized himself on the field of battle. Their nuptials were attended
+in Vienna with great splendor and rejoicings. It was a union of loving
+hearts. Charles was appointed to the government of the Austrian
+Netherlands. One short and happy year passed away, when Mary Anne, in
+the sorrows of child-birth, breathed her last.
+
+The winter was passed by all parties in making the most vigorous
+preparations for a new campaign. England and France were now thoroughly
+aroused, and bitterly irritated against each other. Hitherto they had
+acted as auxiliaries for other parties. Now they summoned all their
+energies, and became principals in the conflict. France issued a formal
+declaration of war against England and Austria, raised an army of one
+hundred thousand men, and the debauched king himself, Louis XV., left
+his _Pare Aux Cerfs_ and placed himself at the head of the army. Marshal
+Saxe was the active commander. He was provided with a train of artillery
+superior to any which had ever before appeared on any field. Entering
+the Netherlands he swept all opposition before him.
+
+The French department of Alsace, upon the Rhine, embraced over forty
+thousand square miles of territory, and contained a population of about
+a million. While Marshal Saxe was ravaging the Netherlands, an Austrian
+army, sixty thousand strong, crossed the Rhine, like a torrent burst
+into Alsace, and spread equal ravages through the cities and villages of
+France. Bombardment echoed to bombardment; conflagration blazed in
+response to conflagration; and the shrieks of the widow, and the moans
+of the orphan which rose from the marshes of Burgundy, were reechoed in
+an undying wail along the valleys of the Rhine.
+
+The King of France, alarmed by the progress which the Austrians were
+making in his own territories, ordered thirty thousand troops, from the
+army in the Netherlands, to be dispatched to the protection of Alsace.
+Again the tide was turning against Maria Theresa. She had become so
+arrogant and exacting, that she had excited the displeasure of nearly
+all the empire. She persistently refused to acknowledge the emperor,
+who, beyond all dispute, was legally elected; she treated the diet
+contemptuously; she did not disguise her determination to hold Bavaria
+by the right of conquest, and to annex it to Austria; she had compelled
+the Bavarians to take the oath of allegiance to her; she was avowedly
+meditating gigantic projects in the conquest of France and Italy; and it
+was very evident that she was maturing her plans for the reconquest of
+Silesia. Such inordinate ambition alarmed all the neighboring courts.
+Frederic of Prussia was particularly alarmed lest he should lose
+Silesia. With his accustomed energy he again drew his sword against the
+queen, and became the soul of a new confederacy which combined many of
+the princes of the empire whom the haughty queen had treated with so
+much indignity. In this new league, formed by Frederic, the Elector
+Palatine and the King of Sweden were brought into the field against
+Maria Theresa. All this was effected with the utmost secrecy, and the
+queen had no intimation of her danger until the troops were in motion.
+Frederic published a manifesto in which he declared that he took up arms
+"to restore to the German empire its liberty, to the emperor his
+dignity, and to Europe repose."
+
+With his strong army he burst into Bohemia, now drained of its troops to
+meet the war in the Netherlands and on the Rhine. With a lion's tread,
+brushing all opposition away, he advanced to Prague. The capital was
+compelled to surrender, and the garrison of fifteen thousand troops
+became prisoners of war. Nearly all the fortresses of the kingdom fell
+into his hands. Establishing garrisons at Tabor, Budweiss, Frauenberg,
+and other important posts, he then made an irruption into Bavaria,
+scattered the Austrian troops in all directions, entered Munich in
+triumph, and reinstated the emperor in the possession of his capital and
+his duchy. Such are the fortunes of war. The queen heard these tidings
+of accumulated disaster in dismay. In a few weeks of a summer's
+campaign, when she supposed that Europe was almost a suppliant at her
+feet, she found herself deprived of the Netherlands, of the whole
+kingdom of Bohemia, the brightest jewel in her crown, and of the
+electorate of Bavaria.
+
+But the resolution and energy of the queen remained indomitable. Maria
+Theresa and Frederic were fairly pitted against each other. It was Greek
+meeting Greek. The queen immediately recalled the army from Alsace, and
+in person repaired to Presburg, where she summoned a diet of the
+Hungarian nobles. In accordance with an ancient custom, a blood-red flag
+waved from all the castles in the kingdom, summoning the people to a
+levy _en masse_, or, as it was then called, to a general insurrection.
+An army of nearly eighty thousand men was almost instantly raised. A
+cotemporary historian, speaking of this event, says:
+
+"This amazing unanimity of a people so divided amongst themselves as the
+Hungarians, especially in point of religion, could only be effected by
+the address of Maria Theresa, who seemed to possess one part of the
+character of Elizabeth of England, that of making every man about her a
+hero."
+
+Prince Charles re-crossed the Rhine, and, by a vigorous march through
+Suabia, returned to Bohemia. By surprise, with a vastly superior force,
+he assailed the fortresses garrisoned by the Prussian troops, gradually
+took one after another, and ere long drove the Prussians, with vast
+slaughter, out of the whole kingdom. Though disaster, in this campaign,
+followed the banners of Maria Theresa in the Netherlands and in Italy,
+she forgot those reverses in exultation at the discomfiture of her great
+rival Frederic. She had recovered Bohemia, and was now sanguine that she
+soon would regain Silesia, the loss of which province ever weighed
+heavily upon her heart. But in her character woman's weakness was allied
+with woman's determination. She imagined that she could rouse the
+chivalry of her allies as easily as that of the Hungarian barons, and
+that foreign courts, forgetful of their own grasping ambition, would
+place themselves as pliant instruments in her hands.
+
+In this posture of affairs, the hand of Providence was again interposed,
+in an event which removed from the path of the queen a serious obstacle,
+and opened to her aspiring mind new visions of grandeur. The Emperor
+Charles VII., an amiable man, of moderate abilities, was quite crushed
+in spirit by the calamities accumulating upon him. Though he had
+regained his capital, he was in hourly peril of being driven from it
+again. Anguish so preyed upon his mind, that, pale and wan, he was
+thrown upon a sick bed. While in this state he was very injudiciously
+informed of a great defeat which his troops had encountered. It was a
+death-blow to the emperor. He moaned, turned over in his bed, and died,
+on the 20th of January, 1745.
+
+The imperial crown was thus thrown down among the combatants, and a
+scramble ensued for its possession such as Europe had never witnessed
+before. Every court was agitated, and the combinations of intrigue were
+as innumerable as were the aspirants for the crown. The spring of 1745
+opened with clouds of war darkening every quarter of the horizon.
+England opened the campaign in Italy and the Netherlands, her whole
+object now being to humble France. Maria Theresa remained uncompromising
+in her disposition to relinquish nothing and to grasp every thing. The
+cabinet of England, with far higher views of policy, were anxious to
+detach some of the numerous foes combined against Austria; but it was
+almost impossible to induce the queen to make the slightest abatement of
+her desires. She had set her heart upon annexing all of Bavaria to her
+realms. That immense duchy, now a kingdom, was about the size of the
+State of South Carolina, containing over thirty thousand square miles.
+Its population amounted to about four millions. The death of the Emperor
+Charles VII., who was Elector of Bavaria, transmitted the sovereignty of
+this realm to his son, Maximilian Joseph.
+
+Maximilian was anxious to withdraw from the strife. He agreed to
+renounce all claim to the Austrian succession, to acknowledge the
+validity of the queen's title, to dismiss the auxiliary troops, and to
+give his electoral vote to the Duke of Lorraine for emperor. But so
+eager was the queen to grasp the Bavarian dominions, that it was with
+the utmost difficulty that England could induce her to accede even to
+these terms.
+
+It is humiliating to record the readiness of these old monarchies to
+sell themselves and their armies to any cause which would pay the price
+demanded. For seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars England purchased
+the alliance of Poland, and her army of thirty thousand men. Before the
+treaty was formally ratified, the Emperor Charles VII. died, and there
+were indications that Bavaria would withdraw from the French alliance.
+This alarmed the French ministry, and they immediately offered Poland a
+larger sum than England had proffered, to send her army to the French
+camp. The bargain was on the point of being settled, when England and
+Austria again rushed in, and whispered in the ear of Augustus that they
+intended to chastise the King of Prussia thoroughly, and that if Poland
+would help them, Poland should be rewarded with generous slices of the
+Prussian territory. This was a resistless bribe, and the Polish banners
+were borne in the train of the Austrian alliance.
+
+The Duke of Lorraine was much annoyed by the imperial assumption of his
+wife. She was anxious to secure for him the crown of Germany, as adding
+to her power and grandeur. But Francis was still more anxious to attain
+that dignity, as his position in the court, as merely the docile subject
+of his wife, the queen, was exceedingly humiliating. The spring of 1745
+found all parties prepared for the renewal of the fight. The drama was
+opened by the terrible battle of Fontenoy in the Netherlands. On the
+11th of May eighty thousand French met the Austrian allied army of fifty
+thousand. After a few hours of terrific slaughter the allies retreated,
+leaving the French in possession of the field. In Italy, also, the tide
+of war set against the queen. The French and Spaniards poured an army of
+seventy thousand men over the Alps into Italy. The queen, even with the
+aid of Sardinia, had no force capable of resisting them. The allies
+swept the country. The King of Sardinia was driven behind the walls of
+his capital. In this one short campaign Tortona, Placentia, Parma,
+Pavia, Cazale and Aste were wrested from the Austrians, and the citadels
+of Alexandria and Milan were blockaded.
+
+The queen had weakened her armies both in the Netherlands and Italy that
+she might accumulate a force sufficient to recover Silesia, and to crush,
+if possible, her great antagonist Frederic. Maria Theresa was greatly
+elated by her success in driving the Prussians from Bavaria, and
+Frederic was mortified and irritated by this first defeat of his arms.
+Thus animated, the one by hope, the other by vengeance, Maria and
+Frederic gathered all their resources for a trial of strength on the
+plains of Silesia. France, fully occupied in the Netherlands and in
+Italy, could render Frederic no assistance. His prospects began to look
+dark. War had made sad ravages in his army, and he found much difficulty
+in filling up his wasted battalions. His treasury was exhausted. Still
+the indomitable monarch indulged in no emotions of dejection.
+
+Each party was fully aware of the vigilance and energy of its
+antagonist. Their forces were early in the field. The month of April was
+passed in stratagems and skirmishes, each endeavoring in vain to obtain
+some advantage over the other in position or combinations. Early in May
+there was a pretty severe conflict, in which the Prussians gained the
+advantage. They feigned, however, dejection and alarm, and apparently
+commenced a retreat. The Austrians, emboldened by this subterfuge,
+pursued them with indiscreet haste. Prince Charles pressed the retiring
+hosts, and followed closely after them through the passes of the
+mountains to Landshut and Friedburg. Frederic fled as if in a panic,
+throwing no obstacle in the path of his pursuers, seeming only anxious
+to gain the ramparts of Breslau. Suddenly the Prussians turned--the
+whole army being concentrated in columns of enormous strength. They had
+chosen their ground and their hour. It was before the break of day on
+the 3d of June, among the hills of Hohenfriedberg. The Austrians were
+taken utterly by surprise. For seven hours they repelled the impetuous
+onset of their foes. But when four thousand of their number were mangled
+corpses, seven thousand captives in the hands of the enemy, seventy-six
+standards and sixty-six pieces of artillery wrested from them, the
+broken bands of the Austrians turned and fled, pursued and incessantly
+pelted by Frederic through the defiles of the mountains back to Bohemia.
+The Austrians found no rest till they had escaped beyond the
+Riesengeberg, and placed the waves of the Elbe between themselves and
+their pursuers. The Prussians followed to the opposite bank, and there
+the two armies remained for three months looking each other in the face.
+
+Frederic, having gained so signal a victory, again proposed peace.
+England, exceedingly desirous to detach from the allies so energetic a
+foe, urged the queen, in the strongest terms, to accede to the
+overtures. The queen, however, never dismayed by adversity, still
+adhered to her resolve to reconquer Silesia. The English cabinet,
+finding Maria Theresa deaf to all their remonstrances and entreaties,
+endeavored to intimidate her by the threat of withdrawing their
+subsidies.
+
+The English ambassador, Sir Thomas Robinson, with this object in view,
+demanded an audience with the queen. The interview, as he has recorded
+it, is worthy of preservation.
+
+"England," said the ambassador to the queen, "has this year furnished
+five million, three hundred and ninety-three thousand seven hundred and
+sixty-five dollars. The nation is not in a condition to maintain a
+superiority over the allies in the Netherlands, Italy and Silesia. It
+is, therefore, indispensable to diminish the force of the enemy. France
+can not be detached from the alliance. Prussia can be and must be. This
+concession England expects from Austria. What is to be done must be done
+immediately. The King of Prussia can not be driven from Bohemia this
+campaign. By making peace with him, and thus securing his voluntary
+withdrawal, your majesty can send troops to the Netherlands, and check
+the rapid progress of the French, who now threaten the very existence of
+England and Holland. If they fall, Austria must inevitably fall also. If
+peace can be, made with Prussia France can be checked, and the Duke of
+Lorraine can be chosen emperor."
+
+"I feel exceedingly grateful," the queen replied, "to the king and the
+English nation, and am ready to show it in every way in my power. Upon
+this matter I will consult my ministers and acquaint you with my answer.
+But whatever may be the decision, I can not spare a man from the
+neighborhood of the King of Prussia. In peace, as well as in war, I need
+them all for the defense of my person and family."
+
+"It is affirmed," Sir Thomas Robinson replied, "that seventy thousand
+men are employed against Prussia. From such a force enough might be
+spared to render efficient aid in Italy and in the Netherlands."
+
+"I can not spare a man," the queen abruptly replied.
+
+Sir Thomas was a little touched, and with some spirit rejoined, "If your
+majesty can not spare her troops for the general cause, England will
+soon find it necessary to withdraw her armies also, to be employed at
+home."
+
+This was a home thrust, and the queen felt it, and replied, "But why may
+we not as well detach France from the alliance, as Prussia?"
+
+"Because Prussia," was the reply, "can be more easily induced to accede
+to peace, by allowing her to retain what she now has, than France can be
+induced to yield, by surrendering, as she must, large portions of her
+present acquisitions."
+
+"I must have an opportunity," Maria Theresa continued, "to strike
+Prussia another blow. Prince Charles has still enough men to give
+battle."
+
+"But should he be the victor in the battle," Sir Thomas replied,
+"Silesia is not conquered. And if the battle be lost, your majesty is
+well nigh ruined."
+
+"If I had determined," said the queen, "to make peace with Frederic
+to-morrow, I would give him battle to-night. But why in such a hurry?
+Why this interruption of operations which are by no means to be
+despaired of? Give me only to October, and then you may do as you
+please."
+
+"October will close this campaign," was the answer. "Our affairs are
+going so disastrously, that unless we can detach Prussia, by that time
+France and Prussia will be able to dictate terms to which we shall be
+compelled to accede."
+
+"That might be true," the queen replied, tartly, "if I were to waste my
+time, as you are urging me to do, in marching my troops from Bohemia to
+the Rhine, and from the Rhine to the Netherlands. But as for my troops,
+I have not a single general who would condescend to command such merely
+_machinery_ armies. As for the Duke of Lorraine, and my brother, Prince
+Charles, they shall not thus degrade themselves. The great duke is not
+so ambitious of an empty honor, much less to enjoy it under the
+patronage of Prussia. You speak of the imperial dignity! Is it
+compatible with the loss of Silesia? Great God! give me only till
+October. I shall then at least be able to secure better conditions."
+
+The English ambassador now ventured, in guarded phrase, but very
+decisively, to inform the queen that unless she could accede to these
+views, England would be constrained to withdraw her assistance, and,
+making the best terms she could for herself with the enemy, leave
+Austria to fight her own battles; and that England requested an
+immediate and a specific answer. Even this serious menace did not move
+the inflexible will of the queen. She, with much calmness, replied,
+
+"It is that I might, with the utmost promptness, attend to this
+business, that I have given you so expeditious an audience, and that I
+have summoned my council to meet so early. I see, however, very clearly,
+that whatever may be my decisions, they will have but little influence
+upon measures which are to be adopted elsewhere."
+
+The queen convened her council, and then informed England, in most
+courteous phrase, that she could not accede to the proposition. The
+British cabinet immediately entered into a private arrangement with
+Prussia, guaranteeing to Frederic the possession of Silesia, in
+consideration of Prussia's agreement not to molest England's Hanoverian
+possessions.
+
+Maria Theresa was exceedingly indignant when she became acquainted with
+this treaty. She sent peremptory orders to Prince Charles to prosecute
+hostilities with the utmost vigor, and with great energy dispatched
+reenforcements to his camp. The Hungarians, with their accustomed
+enthusiasm, flocked to the aid of the queen; and Frederic, pressed by
+superior numbers, retreated from Bohemia back to Silesia, pursued and
+pelted in his turn by the artillery of Prince Charles. But Frederic soon
+turned upon his foes, who almost surrounded him with double his own
+number of men. His army was compact and in the highest state of
+discipline. A scene of terrible carnage ensued, in which the Austrians,
+having lost four thousand in killed and two thousand taken prisoners,
+were utterly routed and scattered. The proud victor, gathering up his
+weakened battalions, one fourth of whom had been either killed or
+wounded in this short, fierce storm of war, continued his retreat
+unmolested.
+
+While Maria Theresa, with such almost superhuman inflexibility, was
+pressing her own plans, the electoral diet of Germany was assembled at
+Frankfort, and Francis, Duke of Lorraine, was chosen emperor, with the
+title of Francis I. The queen was at Frankfort when the diet had
+assembled, and was plying all her energies in favor of her husband,
+while awaiting, with intense solicitude, the result of the election.
+When the choice was announced to her, she stepped out upon the balcony
+of the palace, and was the first to shout, "Long live the emperor,
+Francis I." The immense concourse assembled in the streets caught and
+reechoed the cry. This result was exceedingly gratifying to the queen;
+she regarded it as a noble triumph, adding to the power and the luster
+of her house.
+
+The duke, now the emperor, was at Heidelberg, with an army of sixty
+thousand men. The queen hastened to him with her congratulations. The
+emperor, no longer a submissive subject, received his queenly spouse
+with great dignity at the head of his army. The whole host was drawn up
+in two lines, and the queen rode between, bowing to the regiments on the
+right hand and the left, with majesty and grace which all admired.
+
+Though the queen's treasury was so exhausted that she had been compelled
+to melt the church plate to pay her troops, she was now so elated that,
+regardless of the storms of winter, she resolved to send an army to
+Berlin, to chastise Frederic in his own capital, and there recover long
+lost Silesia. But Frederic was not thus to be caught napping. Informed
+of the plan, he succeeded in surprising the Austrian army, and dispersed
+them after the slaughter of five thousand men. The queen's troops, who
+had entered Silesia, were thus driven pell-mell back to Bohemia. The
+Prussian king then invaded Saxony, driving all before him. He took
+possession of the whole electorate, and entered Dresden, its capital, in
+triumph. This was a terrible defeat for the queen. Though she had often
+said that she would part with her last garment before she would consent
+to the surrender of Silesia, she felt now compelled to yield. Accepting
+the proffered mediation of England, on the 25th of December, 1745, she
+signed the treaty of Dresden, by which she left Silesia in the hands of
+Frederic. He agreed to withdraw his troops from Saxony, and to
+acknowledge the imperial title of Francis I.
+
+England, in consequence of rebellion at home, had been compelled to
+withdraw her troops from the Netherlands; and France, advancing with
+great vigor, took fortress after fortress, until nearly all of the Low
+Countries had fallen into her hands. In Italy, however, the Austrians
+were successful, and Maria Theresa, having dispatched thirty thousand
+troops to their aid, cherished sanguine hopes that she might recover
+Milan and Naples. All the belligerent powers, excepting Maria Theresa,
+weary of the long war, were anxious for peace. She, however, still
+clung, with deathless tenacity, to her determination to recover Silesia,
+and to win provinces in Italy. England and France were equally desirous
+to sheathe the sword. France could only attack England in the
+Netherlands; England could only assail France in her marine. They were
+both successful. France drove England from the continent; England drove
+France from the ocean.
+
+Notwithstanding the most earnest endeavors of the allies, Maria Theresa
+refused to listen to any terms of peace, and succeeded in preventing the
+other powers from coming to any accommodation. All parties,
+consequently, prepared for another campaign. Prussia entered into an
+alliance with Austria, by which she agreed to furnish her with thirty
+thousand troops. The queen made gigantic efforts to drive the French
+from the Netherlands. England and Holland voted an army of forty
+thousand each. The queen furnished sixty thousand; making an army of one
+hundred and forty thousand to operate in the Netherlands. At the same
+time the queen sent sixty thousand men to Italy, to be joined by
+forty-five thousand Sardinians. All the energies of the English fleet
+were also combined with these formidable preparations. Though never
+before during the war had such forces been brought into the field, the
+campaign was quite disastrous to Austria and her allies. Many bloody
+battles were fought, and many thousands perished in agony; but nothing
+of any importance was gained by either party. When winter separated the
+combatants, they retired exhausted and bleeding.
+
+Again France made overtures for a general pacification, on terms which
+were eminently honorable. England was disposed to listen to those terms.
+But the queen had not yet accomplished her purposes, and she succeeded
+in securing the rejection of the proposals. Again the belligerents
+gathered their resources, with still increasing vigor, for another
+campaign. The British cabinet seemed now to be out of all patience with
+Maria Theresa. They accused her of not supplying the contingents she had
+promised, they threatened to withhold their subsidies, many bitter
+recriminations passed, but still the queen, undismayed by the
+contentions, urged forward her preparations for the new campaign, till
+she was thunderstruck with the tidings that the preliminaries of peace
+were already signed by England, France and Holland.
+
+Maria Theresa received the first formal notification of the terms agreed
+to by the three contracting powers, from the English minister, Sir
+Thomas Robinson, who urged her concurrence in the treaty. The indignant
+queen could not refrain from giving free vent to her displeasure.
+Listening for a moment impatiently to his words, she overwhelmed him
+with a torrent of reproaches.
+
+"You, sir," she exclaimed, "who had such a share in the sacrifice of
+Silesia; you, who contributed more than any one in procuring the
+cessions to Sardinia, do you still think to persuade me? No! I am
+neither a child nor a fool! If you will have an instant peace, make it.
+I can negotiate for myself. Why am I always to be excluded from
+transacting my own business? My enemies will give me better conditions
+than my friends. Place me where I was in Italy before the war; but _your
+King of Sardinia_ must have all, without one thought for me. This treaty
+was not made for me, but for him, for him singly. Great God, how have I
+been used by that court! There is _your King of Prussia_! Indeed these
+circumstances tear open too many old wounds and create too many new
+ones. Agree to such a treaty as this!" she exclaimed indignantly. "No,
+no, I will rather lose my head."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+MARIA THERESA.
+
+From 1748 to 1759.
+
+Treaty of Peace.--Dissatisfaction of Maria Theresa.--Preparation for
+War.--Rupture between England and Austria.--Maria Theresa.--Alliance
+with France.--Influence of Marchioness of Pompadour.--Bitter Reproaches
+Between Austria and England.--Commencement of the Seven Years'
+War.--Energy of Frederic of Prussia.--Sanguinary Battles.--Vicissitudes
+of War.--Desperate Situation of Frederic.--Elation of Maria Theresa.--
+Her Ambitious Plans.--Awful Defeat of the Prussians at Berlin.
+
+
+Notwithstanding the bitter opposition of Maria Theresa to peace, the
+definitive treaty was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 18th of October,
+1748, by France, England and Holland. Spain and Sardinia soon also gave
+in their adhesion. The queen, finding it impossible to resist the
+determination of the other powers, at length reluctantly yielded, and
+accepted the terms, which they were ready unitedly to enforce should she
+refuse to accede to them. By this treaty all the contracting powers gave
+their assent to the Pragmatic Sanction. The queen was required to
+surrender her conquests in Italy, and to confirm her cessions of Silesia
+to Prussia. Thus terminated this long and cruel war. Though at the
+commencement the queen was threatened with utter destruction, and she
+had come out from the contests with signal honor, retaining all her vast
+possessions, excepting Silesia and the Italian provinces, still she
+could not repress her chagrin. Her complaints were loud and reiterated.
+When the British minister requested an audience to congratulate her upon
+the return of peace, she snappishly replied,
+
+"A visit of condolence would be more proper, under these circumstances,
+than one of congratulation. The British minister will oblige me by
+making no allusion whatever to so disagreeable a topic."
+
+The queen was not only well aware that this peace could not long
+continue, but was fully resolved that it should not be permanent. Her
+great rival, Frederic, had wrested from her Silesia, and she was
+determined that there should be no stable peace until she had regained
+it. With wonderful energy she availed herself of this short respite in
+replenishing her treasury and in recruiting her armies. Frederic himself
+has recorded the masculine vigor with which she prepared herself for the
+renewal of war.
+
+"Maria Theresa," he says, "in the secrecy of her cabinet, arranged those
+great projects which she afterwards carried into execution. She
+introduced an order and economy into the finances unknown to her
+ancestors; and her revenues far exceeded those of her father, even when
+he was master of Naples, Parma, Silesia and Servia. Having learned the
+necessity of introducing into her army a better discipline, she annually
+formed camps in the provinces, which she visited herself that she might
+animate the troops by her presence and bounty. She established a
+military academy at Vienna, and collected the most skillful professors
+of all the sciences and exercises which tend to elucidate or improve the
+art of war. By these institutions the army acquired, under Maria
+Theresa, such a degree of perfection as it had never attained under any
+of her predecessors; and a woman accomplished designs worthy of a great
+man."
+
+The queen immediately organized a standing army of one hundred and eight
+thousand men, who were brought under the highest state of discipline,
+and were encamped in such positions that they could, at any day, be
+concentrated ready for combined action. The one great object which now
+seemed to engross her mind was the recovery of Silesia. It was, of
+course, a subject not to be spoken of openly; but in secret conference
+with her ministers she unfolded her plans and sought counsel. Her
+intense devotion to political affairs, united to a mind of great
+activity and native strength, soon placed her above her ministers in
+intelligence and sagacity; and conscious of superior powers, she leaned
+less upon them, and relied upon her own resources. With a judgment thus
+matured she became convinced of the incapacity of her cabinet, and with
+great skill in the discernment of character, chose Count Kaunitz, who
+was then her ambassador at Paris, prime minister. Kaunitz, son of the
+governor of Moravia, had given signal proof of his diplomatic abilities,
+in Rome and in Paris. For nearly forty years he remained at the head of
+foreign affairs, and, in conjunction with the queen, administered the
+government of Austria.
+
+Policy had for some time allied Austria and England, but there had never
+been any real friendship between the two cabinets. The high tone of
+superiority ever assumed by the court of St. James, its offensive
+declaration that the arm of England alone had saved the house of Austria
+from utter ruin, and the imperious demand for corresponding gratitude,
+annoyed and exasperated the proud court of Vienna. The British cabinet
+were frequently remonstrated with against the assumption of such airs,
+and the employment of language so haughty in their diplomatic
+intercourse. But the British government has never been celebrated for
+courtesy in its intercourse with weaker powers. The chancellor Kaunitz
+entreated them, in their communications, to respect the sex and temper
+of the queen, and not to irritate her by demeanor so overbearing. The
+emperor himself entered a remonstrance against the discourtesy which
+characterized their intercourse. Even the queen, unwilling to break off
+friendly relations with her unpolished allies, complained to the British
+ambassador of the arrogant style of the English documents.
+
+"They do not," said the queen, "disturb me, but they give great offense
+to others, and endanger the amity existing between the two nations. I
+would wish that more courtesy might mark our intercourse."
+
+But the amenities of polished life, the rude islanders despised. The
+British ambassador at Vienna, Sir Robert Keith, a gentlemanly man, was
+often mortified at the messages he was compelled to communicate to the
+queen. Occasionally the messages were couched in terms so peremptory and
+offensive that he could not summon resolution to deliver them, and thus
+he more than once incurred the censure of the king and cabinet, for his
+sense of propriety and delicacy. These remonstrances were all
+unavailing, and at length the Austrian cabinet began to reply with equal
+rancor.
+
+This state of things led the Austrian cabinet to turn to France, and
+seek the establishment of friendly relations with that court. Louis XV.,
+the most miserable of debauchees, was nominally king. His mistress,
+Jeanette Poisson, who was as thoroughly polluted as her regal paramour,
+governed the monarch, and through him France. The king had ennobled her
+with the title of Marchioness of Pompadour. Her power was so boundless
+and indisputable that the most illustrious ladies of the French court
+were happy to serve as her waiting women. Whenever she walked out, one
+of the highest nobles of the realm accompanied her as her attendant,
+obsequiously bearing her shawl upon his arm, to spread it over her
+shoulders in case it should be needed. Ambassadors and ministers she
+summoned before her, assuming that air of royalty which she had
+purchased with her merchantable charms. Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu,
+waited in her ante-chambers, and implored her patronage. The haughty
+mistress became even weary of their adulation.
+
+"Not only," said she one day, to the Abbe de Bernis, "have I all the
+nobility at my feet, but even my lap-dog is weary of their fawning."
+
+With many apologies for requiring of the high-minded Maria Theresa a
+sacrifice, Kaunitz suggested to her the expediency of cultivating the
+friendship of Pompadour. Silesia was engraved upon the heart of the
+queen, and she was prepared to do any thing which could aid her in the
+reconquest of that duchy. She stooped so low as to write a letter with
+her own hand to the marchioness, addressing her as "our dear friend and
+cousin."
+
+This was a new triumph for Pompadour, and it delighted her beyond
+measure. To have the most illustrious sovereign of Europe, combining in
+her person the titles of Queen of Austria and Empress of Germany,
+solicit her friendship and her good offices, so excited the vanity of
+the mistress, that she became immediately the warm friend of Maria
+Theresa, and her all powerful advocate in the court of Versailles.
+England was now becoming embroiled with France in reference to the
+possessions upon the St. Lawrence and Ohio in North America. In case of
+war, France would immediately make an attack upon Hanover. England was
+anxious to secure the Austrian alliance, that the armies of the queen
+might aid in the protection of Hanover. But Austria, being now in secret
+conference with France, was very reserved. England coaxed and
+threatened, but could get no definite or satisfactory answer. Quite
+enraged, the British cabinet sent a final declaration that, "should the
+empress decline fulfilling the conditions required, the king can not
+take any measures in cooeperation with Austria, and the present system of
+European policy must be dissolved."
+
+The reply of the empress queen develops the feelings of irritation and
+bitterness which at that time existed between the two cabinets of
+Austria and England.
+
+"The queen," Maria Theresa replied, "has never had the satisfaction of
+seeing England do justice to her principles. If the army of Austria were
+merely the hired soldiers of England, the British cabinet could not more
+decisively assume the control of their movements than it now does, by
+requiring their removal from the center of Austria, for the defense of
+England and Hanover. We are reproached with the great efforts England
+has made in behalf of the house of Austria. But to these efforts England
+owes its present greatness. If Austria has derived useful succors from
+England, she has purchased those succors with the blood and ruin of her
+subjects; while England has been opening to herself new sources of
+wealth and power. We regret the necessity of uttering these truths in
+reply to unjust and unceasing reproaches. Could any consideration
+diminish our gratitude towards England, it would be thus diminished by
+her constant endeavor to represent the aid she has furnished us as
+entirely gratuitous, when this aid has always been and always will be
+dictated by her own interests."
+
+Such goading as this brought back a roar. The British envoy was ordered
+to demand an explicit and categorical reply to the following questions:
+
+1. If the French attack Hanover, will the queen render England
+assistance?
+
+2. What number of troops will she send; and how soon will they be in
+motion to join the British and Hanoverian troops?
+
+The Austrian minister, Kaunitz, evaded a reply, coldly answering, "Our
+ultimatum has been given. The queen deems those declarations as ample as
+can be expected in the present posture of affairs; nor can she give any
+further reply till England shall have more fully explained her
+intentions."
+
+Thus repulsed, England turned to Prussia, and sought alliance with the
+most inveterate enemy of Austria. Frederic, fearing an assault from
+united Russia and Austria, eagerly entered into friendly relations with
+England, and on the 16th of January, 1756, entered into a treaty with
+the cabinet of Great Britain for the defense of Hanover.
+
+Maria Theresa was quite delighted with this arrangement, for affairs
+were moving much to her satisfaction at Versailles. Her "dear friend and
+cousin" Jeanette Poisson, had dismissed all the ministers who were
+unfriendly to Austria, and had replaced them with her own creatures who
+were in favor of the Austrian alliance. A double motive influenced the
+Marchioness of Pompadour. Her vanity was gratified by the advances of
+Maria Theresa, and revenge roused her soul against Frederic of Prussia,
+who had indulged in a cutting witticism upon her position and character.
+
+The marchioness, with one of her favorites, Cardinal Bernis, met the
+Austrian ambassador in one of the private apartments of the palace of
+the Luxembourg, and arranged the plan of the alliance between France and
+Austria. Maria Theresa, without the knowledge of her ministers, or even
+of her husband the emperor, privately conducted these negotiations with
+the Marchioness du Pompadour. M. Kaunitz was the agent employed by the
+queen in this transaction. Louis XV., sunk in the lowest depths of
+debauchery, consented to any arrangements his mistress might propose.
+But when the treaty was all matured it became necessary to present it to
+the Council of State. The queen, knowing how astounded her husband would
+be to learn what she had been doing, and aware of the shock it would
+give the ministry to think of an alliance with France, pretended to
+entire ignorance of the measures she had been so energetically
+prosecuting.
+
+In very guarded and apologetic phrase, Kaunitz introduced the delicate
+subject. The announcement of the unexpected alliance with France struck
+all with astonishment and indignation. Francis, vehemently moved, rose,
+and smiting the table with his hand, exclaimed, "Such an alliance is
+unnatural and impracticable--it never shall take place." The empress, by
+nods and winks, encouraged her minister, and he went on detailing the
+great advantages to result from the French alliance. Maria Theresa
+listened with great attention to his arguments, and was apparently
+convinced by them. She then gave her approbation so decisively as to
+silence all debate. She said that such a treaty was so manifestly for
+the interest of Austria, that she was fearful that France would not
+accede to it. Since she knew that the matter was already arranged and
+settled with the French court, this was a downright lie, though the
+queen probably regarded it as a venial fib, or as diplomacy.
+
+Thus curiously England and Austria had changed their allies. George II.
+and Frederic II., from being rancorous foes became friends, and Maria
+Theresa and Louis XV. unfurled their flags together. England was
+indignant with Austria for the French alliance, Austria was indignant
+with England for the Prussian alliance. Each accused the other of being
+the first to abandon the ancient treaty. As the British ambassador
+reproached the queen with this abandonment, she replied,
+
+"I have not abandoned the old system, but Great Britain has abandoned me
+and that system, by concluding the Prussian treaty, the first
+intelligence of which struck me like a fit of apoplexy. I and the King
+of Prussia are incompatible. No consideration on earth shall induce me
+to enter into any engagement to which he is a party. Why should you be
+surprised if, following your example in concluding a treaty with
+Prussia, I should enter into an engagement with France?"
+
+"I have but two enemies," Maria Theresa said again, "whom I have to
+dread--the King of Prussia and the Turks. And while I and the Empress of
+Russia continue on the same good terms as now subsist between us, we
+shall, I trust, be able to convince Europe that we are in a condition to
+defend ourselves against those adversaries, however formidable."
+
+The queen still kept her eye anxiously fixed upon Silesia, and in secret
+combination with the Empress of Russia made preparation for a sudden
+invasion. With as much secrecy as was possible, large armies were
+congregated in the vicinity of Prague, while Russia was cautiously
+concentrating her troops upon the frontiers of Livonia. But Frederic was
+on the alert, and immediately demanded of the empress queen the
+significance of these military movements.
+
+"In the present crisis," the queen replied, "I deem it necessary to take
+measures for the security of myself and my allies, which tend to the
+prejudice of no one."
+
+So vague an answer was of course unsatisfactory, and the haughty
+Prussian king reiterated his demand in very imperious tones.
+
+"I wish," said he, "for an immediate and categorical answer, not
+delivered in an oracular style, ambiguous and inconclusive, respecting
+the armaments in Bohemia, and I demand a positive assurance that the
+queen will not attack me either during this or the following year."
+
+The answer returned by the queen to this demand was equally
+unsatisfactory with the first, and the energetic Prussian monarch,
+wasting no more words, instantly invaded Saxony with a powerful army,
+overran the duchy, and took possession of Dresden, its capital. Then
+wheeling his troops, with twenty-four thousand men he marched boldly
+into Bohemia. The queen dispatched an army of forty thousand to meet
+him. The fierce encounter took place at Lowositz, near the banks of the
+Elbe. The military genius of Frederic prevailed, and the Austrians were
+repulsed, though the slaughter was about equal on each side, six
+thousand men, three thousand upon each side, being left in their blood.
+Frederic took possession of Saxony as a conquered province. Seventeen
+thousand soldiers, whom he made prisoners, he forced into his own
+service. Eighty pieces of cannon were added to his artillery train, and
+the revenues of Saxony replenished his purse.
+
+The anger of Maria Theresa, at this humiliation of her ally, was roused
+to the highest pitch, and she spent the winter in the most vigorous
+preparations for the campaign of the spring. She took advantage of
+religious fanaticism, and represented, through all the Catholic courts
+of Europe, that there was a league of the two heretical powers, England
+and Prussia, against the faithful children of the Church. Jeanette
+Poisson, Marchioness of Pompadour, who now controlled the destinies of
+France, raised, for the service of Maria Theresa, an army of one hundred
+and five thousand men, paid all the expenses of ten thousand Bavarian
+troops, and promised the queen an annual subsidy of twelve millions of
+imperial florins. The emperor, regarding the invasion of Saxony as an
+insult to the empire, roused the States of Germany to cooeperate with the
+queen. Europe was again ablaze with war.
+
+It was indeed a fearful combination now prepared to make a rush upon the
+King of Prussia. France had assembled eighty thousand men on the Rhine.
+The Swedes were rallying in great numbers on the frontiers of Pomerania.
+The Russians had concentrated an army sixty thousand strong on the
+borders of Livonia. And the Queen of Austria had one hundred and fifty
+thousand men on the march, through Hungary and Bohemia, to the frontiers
+of Silesia. Frederic, with an eagle eye, was watching all these
+movements, and was employing all his amazing energies to meet the
+crisis. He resolved to have the advantage of striking the first blow,
+and adopted the bold measure of marching directly into the heart of the
+Austrian States. To deceive the allies he pretended to be very much
+frightened, and by breaking down bridges and establishing fortresses
+seemed intent upon merely presenting a desperate defense behind his
+ramparts.
+
+Suddenly, in three strong, dense columns, Frederic burst into Bohemia
+and advanced, with rapid and resistless strides, towards Prague. The
+unprepared Austrian bands were driven before these impetuous assailants
+as chaff is dispersed by the whirlwind. With great precipitation the
+Austrian troops, from all quarters, fled to the city of Prague and
+rallied beneath its walls. Seventy thousand men were soon collected,
+strongly intrenched behind ramparts, thrown up outside of the city, from
+which ramparts, in case of disaster, they could retire behind the walls
+and into the citadel.
+
+The king, with his army, came rushing on like the sweep of the tornado,
+and plunged, as a thunderbolt of war, into the camp of the Austrians.
+For a few hours the battle blazed as if it were a strife of demons--hell
+in high carnival. Eighteen thousand Prussians were mowed down by the
+Austrian batteries, before the fierce assailants could scale the
+ramparts. Then, with cimeter and bayonet, they took a bloody revenge.
+Eight thousand Austrians were speedily weltering in blood. The shriek of
+the battle penetrated all the dwellings in Prague, appalling every ear,
+like a wail from the world of woe. The routed Austrians, leaving nine
+thousand prisoners, in the hands of Frederic, rushed through the gates
+into the city, while a storm of shot from the batteries on the walls
+drove back the pursuing Prussians.
+
+Prague, with the broken army thus driven within its walls, now contained
+one hundred thousand inhabitants. The city was totally unprepared for a
+siege. All supplies of food being cut off, the inhabitants were soon
+reduced to extreme suffering. The queen was exceedingly anxious that the
+city should hold out until she could hasten to its relief. She succeeded
+in sending a message to the besieged army, by a captain of grenadiers,
+who contrived to evade the vigilance of the besiegers and to gain
+entrance to the city.
+
+"I am concerned," said the empress, "that so many generals, with so
+considerable a force, must remain besieged in Prague, but I augur
+favorably for the event. I can not too strongly impress upon your minds
+that the troops will incur everlasting disgrace should they not effect
+what the French in the last war performed with far inferior numbers. The
+honor of the whole nation, as well as that of the imperial aims, is
+interested in their present behavior. The security of Bohemia, of my
+other hereditary dominions, and of the German empire itself, depends on
+a gallant defense and the preservation of Prague.
+
+"The army under the command of Marshal Daun is daily strengthening, and
+will soon be in a condition to raise the siege. The French are
+approaching with all diligence. The Swedes are marching to my
+assistance. In a short space of time affairs will, under divine
+Providence, wear a better aspect."
+
+The scene in Prague was awful. Famine strode through all the streets,
+covering the pavements with the emaciate corpses of the dead. An
+incessant bombardment was kept up from the Prussian batteries, and shot
+and shell were falling incessantly, by day and by night, in every
+portion of the city. Conflagrations were continually blazing; there was
+no possible place of safety; shells exploded in parlors, in chambers, in
+cellars, tearing limb from limb, and burying the mutilated dead beneath
+the ruins of their dwellings. The booming of the cannon, from the
+distant batteries, was answered by the thunder of the guns from the
+citadel and the walls, and blended with all this uproar rose the
+uninterrupted shrieks of the wounded and the dying. The cannonade from
+the Prussian batteries was so destructive, that in a few days one
+quarter of the entire city was demolished.
+
+Count Daun, with sixty thousand men, was soon advancing rapidly towards
+Prague. Frederic, leaving a small force to continue the blockade of the
+city, marched with the remainder of his troops to assail the Austrian
+general. They soon met, and fought for some hours as fiercely as mortals
+can fight. The slaughter on both sides was awful. At length the fortune
+of war turned in favor of the Austrians, though they laid down nine
+thousand husbands, fathers, sons, in bloody death, as the price of the
+victory. Frederic was almost frantic with grief and rage as he saw his
+proud battalions melting away before the batteries of the foe. Six times
+his cavalry charged with the utmost impetuosity, and six times they were
+as fiercely repulsed. Frederic was finally compelled to withdraw,
+leaving fourteen thousand of his troops either slain or prisoners.
+Twenty-two Prussian standards and forty-three pieces of artillery were
+taken by the Austrians.
+
+The tidings of this victory elated Maria Theresa almost to delirium.
+Feasts were given, medals struck, presents given, and the whole empire
+blazed with illuminations, and rang with all the voices of joy. The
+queen even condescended to call in person upon the Countess Daun to
+congratulate her upon the great victory attained by her husband. She
+instituted, on the occasion, a new military order of merit, called the
+order of Maria Theresa. Count Daun and his most illustrious officers
+were honored with the first positions in this new order of knighthood.
+
+The Prussians were compelled to raise the siege of Prague, and to
+retreat with precipitation. Bohemia was speedily evacuated by the
+Prussian troops. The queen was now determined to crush Frederic
+entirely, so that he might never rise again. His kingdom was to be taken
+from him, carved up, and apportioned out between Austria, Sweden, Poland
+and Russia.
+
+The Prussians retreated, in a broken band of but twenty-five thousand
+men, into the heart of Silesia, to Breslau, its beautiful and strongly
+fortified capital. This city, situated upon the Oder, at its junction
+with the Ohlau, contained a population of nearly eighty thousand. The
+fugitive troops sought refuge behind its walls, protected as they were
+by batteries of the heaviest artillery. The Austrians, strengthened by
+the French, with an army now amounting to ninety thousand, followed
+closely on, and with their siege artillery commenced the cannonade of
+the city. An awful scene of carnage ensued, in which the Austrians lost
+eight thousand men and the Prussians five thousand, when the remnant of
+the Prussian garrison, retreating by night through a remote gate, left
+the city in the hands of the Austrians.
+
+It was now mid-winter. But the iron-nerved Frederic, undismayed by these
+terrible reverses, collected the scattered fragments of his army, and,
+finding himself at the head of thirty thousand men, advanced to Breslau
+in the desperate attempt to regain his capital. His force was so
+inconsiderable as to excite the ridicule of the Austrians. Upon the
+approach of Frederic, Prince Charles, disdaining to hide behind the
+ramparts of the city on the defensive, against a foe thus insulting him
+with inferior numbers, marched to meet the Prussians. The interview
+between Prince Charles and Frederic was short but very decisive, lasting
+only from the hour of dinner to the going down of a December's sun. The
+twilight of the wintry day had not yet come when seven thousand
+Austrians were lying mangled in death on the blood-stained snow. Twenty
+thousand were made prisoners. All the baggage of the Austrian army, the
+military chest, one hundred and thirty-four pieces of cannon, and
+fifty-nine standards fell into the hands of the victors. For this
+victory Frederic paid the price of five thousand lives; but _life_ to
+the poor Prussian soldier must have been a joyless scene, and death must
+have been a relief.
+
+Frederic now, with triumphant banners, approached the city. It
+immediately capitulated, surrendering nearly eighteen thousand soldiers,
+six hundred and eighty-six officers and thirteen generals as prisoners
+of war. In this one storm of battle, protracted through but a few days,
+Maria Theresa lost fifty thousand men. Frederic then turned upon the
+Russians, and drove them out of Silesia. The same doom awaited the
+Swedes, and they fled precipitately to winter quarters behind the cannon
+of Stralsund. Thus terminated the memorable campaign of 1757, the most
+memorable of the Seven Years' War. The Austrian army was almost
+annihilated; but the spirit of the strife was not subdued in any breast.
+
+The returning sun of spring was but the harbinger of new woes for
+war-stricken Europe. England, being essentially a maritime power, could
+render Frederic but little assistance in troops; but the cabinet of St.
+James was lavish in voting money. Encouraged by the vigor Frederic had
+shown, the British cabinet, with enthusiasm, voted him an annual subsidy
+of three million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
+
+Austria was so exhausted in means and in men, that notwithstanding the
+most herculean efforts of the queen, it was not until April of the year
+1758 that she was able to concentrate fifty thousand men in the field,
+with the expensive equipments which war demands. Frederic, aided by the
+gold of England, was early on the move, and had already opened the
+campaign by the invasion of Moravia, and by besieging Olmutz.
+
+The summer was passed in a series of incessant battles, sweeping all
+over Germany, with the usual vicissitudes of war. In the great battle of
+Hockkirchen Frederic encountered a woful defeat. The battle took place
+on the 14th of October, and lasted five hours. Eight thousand Austrians
+and nine thousand Prussians were stretched lifeless upon the plain.
+Frederic was at last compelled to retreat, abandoning his tents, his
+baggage, one hundred and one cannon, and thirty standards. Nearly every
+Prussian general was wounded. The king himself was grazed by a ball; his
+horse was shot from under him, and two pages were killed at his side.
+
+Again Vienna blazed with illuminations and rang with rejoicing, and the
+queen liberally dispensed her gifts and her congratulations. Still
+nothing effectual was accomplished by all this enormous expenditure of
+treasure, this carnage and woe; and again the exhausted combatants
+retired to seek shelter from the storms of winter. Thus terminated the
+third year of this cruel and wasting war.
+
+The spring of 1759 opened brightly for Maria Theresa. Her army, flushed
+by the victory of the last autumn, was in high health and spirits. All
+the allies of Austria redoubled their exertions; and the Catholic States
+of Germany with religious zeal rallied against the two heretical
+kingdoms of Prussia and England. The armies of France, Austria, Sweden
+and Russia were now marching upon Prussia, and it seemed impossible that
+the king could withstand such adversaries. More fiercely than ever the
+storm of war raged. Frederic, at the head of forty thousand men, early
+in June met eighty thousand Russians and Austrians upon the banks of the
+Oder, near Frankfort. For seven hours the action lasted, and the allies
+were routed with enormous slaughter; but the king, pursuing his victory
+too far with his exhausted troops, was turned upon by the foe, and was
+routed himself in turn, with the slaughter of one half of his whole
+army. Twenty-four thousand of the allies and twenty thousand Prussians
+perished on that bloody day.
+
+Frederic exposed his person with the utmost recklessness. Two horses
+were shot beneath him; several musket balls pierced his clothes; he was
+slightly wounded, and was rescued from the foe only by the almost
+superhuman exertions of his hussars. In the darkness of the night the
+Prussians secured their retreat.
+
+We have mentioned that at first Frederic seemed to have gained the
+victory. So sanguine was he then of success that he dispatched a courier
+from the field, with the following billet to the queen at Berlin:--
+
+"We have driven the enemy from their intrenchments; in two hours expect
+to hear of a glorious victory."
+
+Hardly two hours had elapsed ere another courier was sent to the queen
+with the following appalling message:--
+
+"Remove from Berlin with the royal family. Let the archives be carried
+to Potsdam, and the capital make conditions with the enemy."
+
+In this terrible battle the enemy lost so fearfully that no effort was
+made to pursue Frederic. Disaster never disheartened the Prussian king.
+It seemed but to rouse anew his energies. With amazing vigor he rallied
+his scattered forces, and called in reenforcements. The gold of England
+was at his disposal; he dismantled distant fortresses and brought their
+cannon into the field, and in a few days was at the head of twenty-eight
+thousand men, beneath the walls of his capital, ready again to face the
+foe.
+
+The thunderings of battle continued week after week, in unintermitted
+roar throughout nearly all of Germany. Winter again came. Frederic had
+suffered awfully during the campaign, but was still unsubdued. The
+warfare was protracted even into the middle of the winter. The soldiers,
+in the fields, wading through snow a foot deep, suffered more from
+famine, frost and sickness than from the bullet of the foe. In the
+Austrian army four thousand died, in sixteen days of December, from the
+inclemency of the weather. Thus terminated the campaign of 1759.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+MARIA THERESA.
+
+From 1759 to 1780.
+
+Desolations of War.--Disasters of Prussia.--Despondency of Frederic.--
+Death of the Empress Elizabeth.--Accession of Paul III.--Assassination
+of Paul III.--Accession of Catharine.--Discomfiture of the Austrians.--
+Treaty of Peace.--Election of Joseph to the Throne of the Empire.--Death
+of Francis.--Character of Francis.--Anecdotes.--Energy of Maria
+Theresa.--Poniatowski.--Partition of Poland.--Maria Theresa as a
+Mother.--War With Bavaria.--Peace.--Death of Maria Theresa.--Family of
+the Empress.--Accession of Joseph II.--His Character.
+
+
+The spring of 1760 found all parties eager for the renewal of the
+strife, but none more so than Maria Theresa. The King of Prussia was,
+however, in a deplorable condition. The veteran army, in which he had
+taken so much pride, was now annihilated. With despotic power he had
+assembled a new army; but it was composed of peasants, raw recruits, but
+poorly prepared to encounter the horrors of war. The allies were
+marching against him with two hundred and fifty thousand men. Frederic,
+with his utmost efforts, could muster but seventy-five thousand, who, to
+use his own language, "were half peasants, half deserters from the
+enemy, soldiers no longer fit for service, but only for show."
+
+Month after month passed away, during which the whole of Prussia
+presented the aspect of one wide field of battle. Frederic fought with
+the energies of desperation. Villages were everywhere blazing, squadrons
+charging, and the thunders of an incessant cannonade deafened the ear by
+night and by day. On the whole the campaign terminated in favor of
+Frederic; the allies being thwarted in all their endeavors to crush him.
+In one battle Maria Theresa lost twenty thousand men.
+
+During the ensuing winter all the continental powers were again
+preparing for the resumption of hostilities in the spring, when the
+British people, weary of the enormous expenditures of the war, began to
+be clamorous for peace. The French treasury was also utterly exhausted.
+France made overtures to England for a cessation of hostilities; and
+these two powers, with peaceful overtures, addressed Maria Theresa. The
+queen, though fully resolved to prosecute the war until she should
+attain her object, thought it not prudent to reject outright such
+proposals, but consented to the assembling of a congress at Augsburg.
+Hostilities were not suspended during the meeting of the congress, and
+the Austrian queen was sanguine in the hope of being speedily able to
+crush her Prussian rival. Every general in the field had experienced
+such terrible disasters, and the fortune of war seemed so fickle, now
+lighting upon one banner and now upon another, that all parties were
+wary, practicing the extreme of caution, and disposed rather to act upon
+the defensive. Though not a single pitched battle was fought, the
+allies, outnumbering the Prussians, three to one, continually gained
+fortresses, intrenchments and positions, until the spirit even of
+Frederic was broken by calamities, and he yielded to despair. He no
+longer hoped to be able to preserve his empire, but proudly resolved to
+bury himself beneath its ruins. His despondency could not be concealed
+from his army, and his bravest troops declared that they could fight no
+longer.
+
+Maria Theresa was elated beyond measure. England was withdrawing from
+Prussia. Frederic was utterly exhausted both as to money and men; one
+campaign more would finish the work, and Prussia would lie helpless at
+the feet of Maria Theresa, and her most sanguine anticipations would be
+realized. But the deepest laid plans of man are often thwarted by
+apparently the most trivial events. One single individual chanced to be
+taken sick and die. That individual was Elizabeth, the Empress of
+Russia. On the 5th of January, 1762, she was lying upon her bed an
+emaciate suffering woman, gasping in death. The departure of her last
+breath changed the fate of Europe.
+
+Paul III., her nephew, who succeeded the empress, detested Maria
+Theresa, and often inveighed bitterly against her haughtiness and her
+ambition. On the contrary, he admired the King of Prussia. He had
+visited the court of Berlin, where he had been received with marked
+attention; and Frederic was his model of a hero. He had watched with
+enthusiastic admiration the fortitude and military prowess of the
+Prussian king, and had even sent to him many messages of sympathy, and
+had communicated to him secrets of the cabinet and their plans of
+operation. Now, enthroned as Emperor of Russia, without reserve he
+avowed his attachment to Frederic, and ordered his troops to abstain
+from hostilities, and to quit the Austrian army. At the same time he
+sent a minister to Berlin to conclude an alliance with the hero he so
+greatly admired. He even asked for himself a position in the Prussian
+army as lieutenant under Frederic.
+
+The Swedish court was so intimately allied with that of St. Petersburg,
+that the cabinet of Stockholm also withdrew from the Austrian alliance,
+and thus Maria Theresa, at a blow, lost two of her most efficient
+allies. The King of Prussia rose immediately from his despondency, and
+the whole kingdom shared in his exultation and his joy. The Prussian
+troops, in conjunction with the Russians, were now superior to the
+Austrians, and were prepared to assume the offensive. But again
+Providence interposed. A conspiracy was formed against the Russian
+emperor, headed by his wife whom he had treated with great brutality,
+and Paul III. lost both his crown and his life, in July 1762, after a
+reign of less than six months.
+
+Catharine II., wife of Paul III., with a bloody hand took the crown from
+the brow of her murdered husband and placed it upon her own head. She
+immediately dissolved the Prussian alliance, declared Frederic an enemy
+to the Prussian name, and ordered her troops, in cooeperation with those
+of Austria, to resume hostilities against Frederic. It was an
+instantaneous change, confounding all the projects of man. The energetic
+Prussian king, before the Russian troops had time so to change their
+positions as to cooeperate with the Austrians, assailed the troops of
+Maria Theresa with such impetuosity as to drive them out of Silesia.
+Pursuing his advantage Frederic overran Saxony, and then turning into
+Bohemia, drove the Austrians before him to the walls of Prague.
+Influenced by these disasters and other considerations, Catharine
+decided to retire from the contest. At the same time the Turks, excited
+by Frederic, commenced anew their invasion of Hungary. Maria Theresa was
+in dismay. Her money was gone. Her allies were dropping from her. The
+Turks were advancing triumphantly up the Danube, and Frederic was
+enriching himself with the spoils of Saxony and Bohemia. Influenced by
+these considerations she made overtures for peace, consenting to
+renounce Silesia, for the recovery of which province she had in vain
+caused Europe to be desolated with blood for so many years. A treaty of
+peace was soon signed, Frederic agreeing to evacuate Saxony; and thus
+terminated the bloody Seven Years' War.
+
+Maria Theresa's eldest son Joseph was now twenty-three years of age. Her
+influence and that of the Emperor Francis was such, that they secured
+his election to succeed to the throne of the empire upon the death of
+his father. The emperor elect received the title of King of the Romans.
+The important election took place at Frankfort, on the 27th of May,
+1764. The health of the Emperor Francis I., had for some time been
+precarious, he being threatened with apoplexy. Three months after the
+election of his son to succeed him upon the imperial throne, Francis was
+at Inspruck in the Tyrol, to attend the nuptials of his second son
+Leopold, with Maria Louisa, infanta of Spain. He was feeble and
+dejected, and longed to return to his home in Vienna. He imagined that
+the bracing air of the Tyrol did not agree with his health, and looking
+out upon the summits which tower around Inspruck exclaimed,
+
+"Oh! if I could but once quit these mountains of the Tyrol."
+
+On the morning of the 18th of August, his symptoms assumed so
+threatening a form, that his friends urged him to be bled. The emperor
+declined, saying,
+
+"I am engaged this evening to sup with Joseph, and I will not disappoint
+him; but I will be blooded to-morrow."
+
+The evening came, and as he was preparing to go and sup with his son, he
+dropped instantly dead upon the floor. Fifty-eight years was his
+allotted pilgrimage--a pilgrimage of care and toil and sorrow. Even when
+elevated to the imperial throne, his position was humiliating, being
+ever overshadowed by the grandeur of his wife. At times he felt this
+most keenly, and could not refrain from giving imprudent utterance to
+his mortification. Being at one time present at a levee, which the
+empress was giving to her subjects, he retired, in chagrin, from the
+imperial circle into a corner of the saloon, and took his seat near two
+ladies of the court. They immediately, in accordance with regal
+etiquette, rose.
+
+"Do not regard me," said the emperor bitterly, and yet with an attempt
+at playfulness, "for I shall remain here until the _court_ has retired,
+and shall then amuse myself in contemplating the crowd."
+
+One of the ladies replied, "As long as your imperial majesty is present
+the court will be here."
+
+"You are mistaken," rejoined the emperor, with a forced smile; "the
+empress and my children are the court. I am here only as a private
+individual."
+
+Francis I., though an impotent emperor, would have made a very good
+exchange broker. He seemed to be fond of mercantile life, establishing
+manufactories, and letting out money on bond and mortgage. When the
+queen was greatly pressed for funds he would sometimes accept her paper,
+always taking care to obtain the most unexceptionable security. He
+engaged in a partnership with two very efficient men for farming the
+revenues of Saxony. He even entered into a contract to supply the
+_Prussian_ army with forage, when that army was expending all its
+energies, during the Seven Years' War, against the troops of Maria
+Theresa. He judged that his wife was capable of taking care of herself.
+And she was. Notwithstanding these traits of character, he was an
+exceedingly amiable and charitable man, distributing annually five
+hundred thousand dollars for the relief of distress. Many anecdotes are
+related illustrative of the emperor's utter fearlessness of danger, and
+of the kindness of his heart. There was a terrible conflagration in
+Vienna. A saltpeter magazine was in flames, and the operatives exposed
+to great danger. An explosion was momentarily expected, and the firemen,
+in dismay, ventured but little aid. The emperor, regardless of peril,
+approached near the fire to give directions. His attendants urged him
+not thus to expose his person.
+
+"Do not be alarmed for me," said the emperor, "think only of those poor
+creatures who are in such danger of perishing."
+
+At another time a fearful inundation swept the valley of the Danube.
+Many houses were submerged in isolated positions, all but their roofs.
+In several cases the families had taken refuge on the tops of the
+houses, and had remained three days and three nights without food.
+Immense blocks of ice, swept down by the flood, seemed to render it
+impossible to convey relief to the sufferers. The most intrepid boatmen
+of the Danube dared not venture into the boiling surge. The emperor
+threw himself into a boat, seized the oars, and saying, "My example may
+at least influence others," pushed out into the flood and successfully
+rowed to one of the houses. The boatmen were shamed into heroism, and
+the imperiled people were saved.
+
+Maria Theresa does not appear to have been very deeply afflicted by the
+death of her husband; or we should, perhaps, rather say that her grief
+assumed the character which one would anticipate from a person of her
+peculiar frame of mind. The emperor had not been faithful to his kingly
+spouse, and she was well acquainted with his numerous infidelities.
+Still she seems affectionately to have cherished the memory of his
+gentle virtues. With her own hands she prepared his shroud, and she
+never after laid aside her weeds of mourning. She often descended into
+the vault where his remains were deposited, and passed hours in prayer
+by the side of his coffin.
+
+Joseph, of course, having been preelected, immediately assumed the
+imperial crown. Maria Theresa had but little time to devote to grief.
+She had lost Silesia, and that was a calamity apparently far heavier
+than the death of her husband. Millions of treasure, and countless
+thousands of lives had been expended, and all in vain, for the recovery
+of that province. She now began to look around for territory she could
+grasp in compensation for her loss. Poland was surrounded by Austria,
+Russia and Prussia. The population consisted of two classes--the nobles
+who possessed all the power, and the _people_ who were in a state of the
+most abject feudal vassalage. By the laws of Poland every person was a
+noble who was not engaged in any industrial occupation and who owned any
+land, or who had descended from those who ever had held any land. The
+government was what may perhaps be called an aristocratic republic. The
+masses were mere slaves. The nobles were in a state of political
+equality. They chose a chieftain whom they called _king_, but whose
+power was a mere shadow. At this time Poland was in a state of anarchy.
+Civil war desolated the kingdom, the nobles being divided into numerous
+factions, and fighting fiercely against each other. Catharine, the
+Empress of Russia, espoused the cause of her favorite, Count
+Poniatowski, who was one of the candidates for the crown of Poland, and
+by the influence of her money and her armies placed him upon the throne
+and maintained him there. Poland thus, under the influence of the
+Russian queen, became, as it were, a mere province of the Russian
+empire.
+
+Poniatowski, a proud man, soon felt galled by the chains which Catharine
+threw around him. Frederic of Prussia united with Catharine in the
+endeavor to make Poniatowski subservient to their wishes. Maria Theresa
+eagerly put in her claim for influence in Poland. Thus the whole realm
+became a confused scene of bloodshed and devastation. Frederic of
+Prussia, the great regal highwayman, now proposed to Austria and Russia
+that they should settle all the difficulty by just dividing Poland
+between them. To their united armies Poland could present no resistance.
+Maria Theresa sent her dutiful son Joseph, the emperor, to Silesia, to
+confer with Frederic upon this subject. The interview took place at
+Neiss, on the 25th of August, 1769. The two sovereigns vied with each
+other in the interchange of courtesies, and parted most excellent
+friends. Soon after, they held another interview at Neustadt, in
+Moravia, when the long rivalry between the houses of Hapsburg and
+Brandenburg seemed to melt down into most cordial union. The map of
+Poland was placed before the two sovereigns, and they marked out the
+portion of booty to be assigned to each of the three imperial
+highwaymen. The troops of Russia, Austria and Prussia were already in
+Poland. The matter being thus settled between Prussia and Austria, the
+Prussian king immediately conferred with Catharine at St. Petersburg.
+This ambitious and unprincipled woman snatched at the bait presented,
+and the infamous partition was agreed to. Maria Theresa was very greedy,
+and demanded nearly half of Poland as her share. This exorbitant claim,
+which she with much pertinacity adhered to, so offended the two other
+sovereigns that they came near fighting about the division of the spoil.
+The queen was at length compelled to lower her pretensions. The final
+treaty was signed between the three powers on the 5th of August, 1772.
+
+The three armies were immediately put in motion, and each took
+possession of that portion of the Polish territory which was assigned to
+its sovereign. In a few days the deed was done. By this act Austria
+received an accession of twenty-seven thousand square miles of the
+richest of the Polish territory, containing a population of two million
+five hundred thousand souls. Russia received a more inhospitable region,
+embracing forty-two thousand square miles, and a population of one
+million five hundred thousand. The share of Frederic amounted to
+thirteen thousand three hundred and seventy-five square miles, and eight
+hundred and sixty thousand souls.
+
+Notwithstanding this cruel dismemberment, there was still a feeble
+Poland left, upon which the three powers were continually gnawing, each
+watching the others, and snarling at them lest they should get more than
+their share. After twenty years of jealous watchings the three powers
+decided to finish their infamous work, and Poland was blotted from the
+map of Europe. In the two divisions Austria received forty-five thousand
+square miles and five million of inhabitants. Maria Theresa was now upon
+the highest pinnacle of her glory and her power. She had a highly
+disciplined army of two hundred thousand men; her treasury was
+replenished, and her wide-spread realms were in the enjoyment of peace.
+Life had been to her, thus far, but a stormy sea, and weary of toil and
+care, she now hoped to close her days in tranquillity.
+
+The queen was a stern and stately mother. While pressed by all these
+cares of state, sufficient to have crushed any ordinary mind, she had
+given birth to sixteen children. But as each child was born it was
+placed in the hands of careful nurses, and received but little of
+parental caressings. It was seldom that she saw her children more than
+once a week. Absorbed by high political interests, she contented herself
+with receiving a daily report from the nursery. Every morning her
+physician, Van Swieter, visited the young imperial family, and then
+presented a formal statement of their condition to the strong-minded
+mother. Yet the empress was very desirous of having it understood that
+she was the most faithful of parents. Whenever any foreign ambassador
+arrived at Vienna, the empress would contrive to have an interview, as
+it were by accident, when she had collected around her her interesting
+family. As the illustrious stranger retired the children also retired to
+their nursery.
+
+One of the daughters, Josepha, was betrothed to the King of Naples. A
+few days before she was to leave Vienna the queen required her, in
+obedience to long established etiquette, to descend into the tomb of her
+ancestors and offer up a prayer. The sister-in-law, the Emperor Joseph's
+wife, had just died of the small-pox, and her remains, disfigured by
+that awful disease, had but recently been deposited in the tomb. The
+timid maiden was horror-stricken at the requirement, and regarded it as
+her death doom. But an order from Maria Theresa no one was to disobey.
+With tears filling her eyes, she took her younger sister, Maria
+Antoinette, upon her knee, and said,
+
+"I am about to leave you, Maria, not for Naples, but to die. I must
+visit the tomb of our ancestors, and I am sure that I shall take the
+small-pox, and shall soon be buried there." Her fears were verified. The
+disease, in its most virulent form, seized her, and in a few days her
+remains were also consigned to the tomb.
+
+In May, 1770, Maria Antoinette, then but fifteen years of age, and
+marvelously beautiful, was married to the young dauphin of France,
+subsequently the unhappy Louis XVI. As she left Vienna, for that throne
+from which she was to descend to the guillotine, her mother sent by her
+hand the following letter to her husband:
+
+"Your bride, dear dauphin, is separated from me. As she has ever been my
+delight so will she be your happiness. For this purpose have I educated
+her; for I have long been aware that she was to be the companion of your
+life. I have enjoined upon her, as among her highest duties, the most
+tender attachment to your person, the greatest attention to every thing
+that can please or make you happy. Above all, I have recommended to her
+humility towards God, because I am convinced that it is impossible for
+us to contribute to the happiness of the subjects confided to us,
+without love to Him who breaks the scepters and crushes the thrones of
+kings according to His own will."
+
+In December, 1777, the Duke of Bavaria died without male issue. Many
+claimants instantly rose, ambitious of so princely an inheritance. Maria
+Theresa could not resist the temptation to put in her claim. With her
+accustomed promptness, she immediately ordered her troops in motion,
+and, descending from Bohemia, entered the electorate. Maria Theresa had
+no one to fear but Frederic of Prussia, who vehemently remonstrated
+against such an accession of power to the empire of Austria. After an
+earnest correspondence the queen proposed that Bavaria should be divided
+between them as they had partitioned Poland. Still they could not agree,
+and the question was submitted to the cruel arbitrament of battle. The
+young Emperor Joseph was much pleased with this issue, for he was
+thirsting for military fame, and was proud to contend with so renowned
+an antagonist. The death of hundreds of thousands of men in the game of
+war, was of little more moment to him than the loss of a few pieces in a
+game of chess.
+
+The Emperor Joseph was soon at the head of one hundred thousand men. The
+King of Prussia, with nearly an equal force, marched to meet him. Both
+commanders were exceedingly wary, and the whole campaign was passed in
+maneuvers and marchings, with a few unimportant battles. The queen was
+weary of war, and often spoke, with tears in her eyes, of the
+commencement of hostilities. Without the knowledge of her son, who
+rejoiced in the opening strife, she entered into a private
+correspondence with Frederic, in which she wrote, by her secret
+messenger, M. Thugut:
+
+"I regret exceedingly that the King of Prussia and myself, in our
+advanced years, are about to tear the gray hairs from each other's
+heads. My age, and my earnest desire to maintain peace are well known.
+My maternal heart is alarmed for the safety of my sons who are in the
+army. I take this step without the knowledge of my son the emperor, and
+I entreat that you will not divulge it. I conjure you to unite your
+efforts with mine to reestablish harmony."
+
+The reply of Frederic was courteous and beautiful. "Baron Thugut," he
+wrote, "has delivered me your majesty's letter, and no one is, or shall
+be acquainted with his arrival. It was worthy of your majesty to give
+such proofs of moderation, after having so heroically maintained the
+inheritance of your ancestors. The tender attachment you display for
+your son the emperor, and the princes of your blood, deserves the
+applause of every heart, and augments, if possible, the high
+consideration I entertain for your majesty. I have added some articles
+to the propositions of M. Thugut, most of which have been allowed, and
+others which, I hope, will meet with little difficulty. He will
+immediately depart for Vienna, and will be able to return in five or six
+days, during which time I will act with such caution that your imperial
+majesty may have no cause of apprehension for the safety of any part of
+your family, and particularly of the emperor, whom I love and esteem,
+although our opinions differ in regard to the affairs of Germany."
+
+But the Emperor Joseph was bitterly opposed to peace, and thwarted his
+mother's benevolent intentions in every possible way. Still the empress
+succeeded, and the articles were signed at Teschen, the 13th day of May,
+1779. The queen was overjoyed at the result, and was often heard to say
+that no act of her administration had given her such heartfelt joy. When
+she received the news she exclaimed,
+
+"My happiness is full. I am not partial to Frederic, but I must do him
+the justice to confess that he has acted nobly and honorably. He
+promised me to make peace on reasonable terms, and he has kept his word.
+I am inexpressibly happy to spare the effusion of so much blood."
+
+The hour was now approaching when Maria Theresa was to die. She had for
+some time been failing from a disease of the lungs, and she was now
+rapidly declining. Her sufferings, as she took her chamber and her bed,
+became very severe; but the stoicism of her character remained unshaken.
+In one of her seasons of acute agony she exclaimed,
+
+"God grant that these sufferings may soon terminate, for, otherwise, I
+know not if I can much longer endure them."
+
+Her son Maximilian stood by her bed-side. She raised her eyes to him and
+said,
+
+"I have been enabled thus far to bear these pangs with firmness and
+constancy. Pray to God, my son, that I may preserve my tranquillity to
+the last."
+
+The dying hour, long sighed for, came. She partook of the sacrament of
+the Lord's Supper, and then, assembling her family around her, addressed
+to them her last words.
+
+"I have received the sacraments," said she, "and feel that I am now to
+die." Then addressing the emperor, she continued, "My son, all my
+possessions after my death revert to you. To your care I commend my
+children. Be to them a father. I shall die contented, you giving me that
+promise." Then looking to the other children she added, "Regard the
+emperor as your sovereign. Obey him, respect him, confide in him, and
+follow his advice in all things, and you will secure his friendship and
+protection."
+
+Her mind continued active and intensely occupied with the affairs of her
+family and of her kingdom, until the very last moment. During the night
+succeeding her final interview with her children, though suffering from
+repeated fits of suffocation, she held a long interview with the emperor
+upon affairs of state. Her son, distressed by her evident exhaustion,
+entreated her to take some repose; but she replied,
+
+"In a few hours I shall appear before the judgment-seat of God; and
+would you have me lose my time in sleep?"
+
+Expressing solicitude in behalf of the numerous persons dependent upon
+her, who, after her death, might be left friendless, she remarked,
+
+"I could wish for immortality on earth, for no other reason than for the
+power of relieving the distressed."
+
+She died on the 29th of November, 1780, in the sixty-fourth year of her
+age and the forty-first of her reign.
+
+This illustrious woman had given birth to six sons and ten daughters.
+Nine of these children survived her. Joseph, already emperor, succeeded
+her upon the throne of Austria, and dying childless, surrendered the
+crown to his next brother Leopold. Ferdinand, the third son, became
+governor of Austrian Lombardy. Upon Maximilian was conferred the
+electorate of Cologne. Mary Anne became abbess of a nunnery. Christina
+married the Duke of Saxony. Elizabeth entered a convent and became
+abbess. Caroline married the King of Naples, and was an infamous woman.
+Her sister Joanna, was first betrothed to the king, but she died of
+small-pox; Josepha was then destined to supply her place; but she also
+fell a victim to that terrible disease. Thus the situation was vacant
+for Caroline. Maria Antoinette married Louis the dauphin, and the story
+of her woes has filled the world.
+
+The Emperor Joseph II., who now inherited the crown of Austria, was
+forty years of age, a man of strong mind, educated by observation and
+travel, rather than by books. He was anxious to elevate and educate his
+subjects, declaring that it was his great ambition to rule over freemen.
+He had many noble traits of character, and innumerable anecdotes are
+related illustrative of his energy and humanity. In war he was ambitious
+of taking his full share of hardship, sleeping on the bare ground and
+partaking of the soldiers' homely fare. He was exceedingly popular at
+the time of his accession to the throne, and great anticipations were
+cherished of a golden age about to dawn upon Austria. "His toilet,"
+writes one of his eulogists, "is that of a common soldier, his wardrobe
+that of a sergeant, business his recreation, and his life perpetual
+motion."
+
+The Austrian monarchy now embraced one hundred and eighty thousand
+square miles, containing twenty-four millions of inhabitants. It was
+indeed a heterogeneous realm, composed of a vast number of distinct
+nations and provinces, differing in language, religion, government,
+laws, customs and civilization. In most of these countries the feudal
+system existed in all its direful oppression. Many of the provinces of
+the Austrian empire, like the Netherlands, Lombardy and Suabia, were
+separated by many leagues from the great central empire. The Roman
+Catholic religion was dominant in nearly all the States, and the clergy
+possessed enormous wealth and power. The masses of the people were sunk
+in the lowest depths of poverty and ignorance. The aristocratic few
+rejoiced in luxury and splendor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+JOSEPH II. AND LEOPOLD II.
+
+From 1780 to 1792.
+
+Accession of Joseph II.--His Plans of Reform.--Pius VI.--Emancipation of
+the Serfs.--Joseph's Visit to his Sister, Maria Antoinette.--Ambitions
+Designs.--The Imperial Sleigh Ride.--Barges on the Dneister.--Excursion
+to the Crimea.--War with Turkey.--Defeat of the Austrians.--Great
+Successes.--Death of Joseph.--His Character.--Accession of Leopold
+II.--His Efforts to confirm Despotism.--The French Revolution.--European
+Coalition.--Death of Leopold.--His Profligacy.--Accession of Francis
+II.--Present Extent and Power of Austria.--Its Army.--Policy of the
+Government.
+
+
+When Joseph ascended the throne there were ten languages, besides
+several dialects, spoken in Austria--the German, Hungarian, Sclavonian,
+Latin, Wallachian, Turkish, modern Greek, Italian, Flemish and French.
+The new king formed the desperate resolve to fuse the discordant kingdom
+into one homogeneous mass, obliterating all distinctions of laws,
+religion, language and manners. It was a benevolent design, but one
+which far surpassed the power of man to execute. He first attempted to
+obliterate all the old national landmarks, and divided the kingdom into
+thirteen States, in each of which he instituted the same code of laws.
+He ordered the German language alone to be used in public documents and
+offices; declared the Roman Catholic religion to be dominant. There were
+two thousand convents in Austria. He reduced them to seven hundred, and
+cut down the number of thirty-two thousand idle monks to twenty-seven
+hundred; and nobly issued an edict of toleration, granting to all
+members of Protestant churches the free exercise of their religion. All
+Christians, of every denomination, were declared to be equally eligible
+to any offices in the State.
+
+These enlightened innovations roused the terror and rage of bigoted
+Rome. Pope Pius VI. was so much alarmed that he took a journey to
+Vienna, that he might personally remonstrate with the emperor. But
+Joseph was inflexible, and the Pope returned to Rome chagrined and
+humiliated that he had acted the part of a suppliant in vain.
+
+The serfs were all emancipated from feudal vassalage, and thus, in an
+hour, the slavery under which the peasants had groaned for ages was
+abolished. He established universities, academies and public schools;
+encouraged literature and science in every way, and took from the
+priests their office of censorship of the press, an office which they
+had long held. To encourage domestic manufactures he imposed a very
+heavy duty upon all articles of foreign manufacture. New roads were
+constructed at what was called enormous expense, and yet at expense
+which was as nothing compared with the cost of a single battle.
+
+Joseph, soon after his coronation, made a visit to his sister Maria
+Antoinette in France, where he was received with the most profuse
+hospitality, and the bonds of friendship between the two courts were
+much strengthened. The ambition for territorial aggrandizement seems to
+have been an hereditary disease of the Austrian monarchs. Joseph was
+very anxious to attach Bavaria to his realms. Proceeding with great
+caution he first secured, by diplomatic skill, the non-intervention of
+France and Russia. England was too much engaged in the war of the
+American Revolution to interfere. He raised an army of eighty thousand
+men to crush any opposition, and then informed the Duke of Bavaria that
+he must exchange his dominions for the Austrian Netherlands. He
+requested the duke to give him an answer in eight days, but declared
+peremptorily that in case he manifested any reluctance, the emperor
+would be under the painful necessity of compelling him to make the
+exchange.
+
+The duke appealed to Russia, France and Prussia for aid. The emperor had
+bought over Russia and France. Frederic of Prussia, though seventy-four
+years of age, encouraged the duke to reject the proposal, and promised
+his support. The King of Prussia issued a remonstrance against this
+despotic act of Austria, which remonstrance was sent to all the courts
+of Europe. Joseph, on encountering this unexpected obstacle, and finding
+Europe combining against him, renounced his plan and published a
+declaration that he had never intended to effect the exchange by force.
+This disavowal, however, deceived no one. A confederacy was soon formed,
+under the auspices of Frederic of Prussia, to check the encroachments of
+the house of Austria. This Germanic League was almost the last act of
+Frederic. He died August 17, 1786, after a reign of forty-seven years,
+in the seventy-fifth year of his age.
+
+The ambitious Empress of Russia, having already obtained the Crimea, was
+intent upon the subversion of the Ottoman empire, that she might acquire
+Constantinople as her maritime metropolis in the sunny south. Joseph was
+willing to allow her to proceed unobstructed in the dismemberment of
+Turkey, if she would not interfere with his plans of reform and
+aggrandizement in Germany.
+
+In January, 1787, the Empress of Russia set out on a pleasure excursion
+of two thousand miles to the Crimea; perhaps the most magnificent
+pleasure excursion that was ever attempted. She was accompanied by all
+the court, by the French, English and Austrian ministers, and by a very
+gorgeous retinue. It was mid-winter, when the imperial party, wrapped in
+furs, and in large sledges richly decorated, and prepared expressly for
+the journey, commenced their sleigh ride of a thousand miles. Music
+greeted them all along the way; bonfires blazed on every hill; palaces,
+brilliant with illuminations and profusely supplied with every luxury,
+welcomed them at each stage where they stopped for refreshment or
+repose. The roads were put in perfect order; and relays of fresh horses
+every few miles being harnessed to the sledges, they swept like the wind
+over the hills and through the valleys.
+
+The drive of a few weeks, with many loiterings for pleasure in the
+cities on the way, took them to Kief on the Dnieper. This ancient city,
+the residence of the grand dukes of Russia, contained a population of
+about twenty-six thousand. Here the imperial court established itself in
+the ducal palaces, and with music, songs and dances beguiled the days
+until, with the returning spring, the river opened. In the meantime an
+immense flotilla of imperial barges had been prepared to drift down the
+stream, a thousand miles, to its mouth at Kherson, where the river flows
+into the Black sea. These barges were of magnificent dimensions,
+floating palaces, containing gorgeous saloons and spacious sleeping
+apartments. As they were constructed merely to float upon the rapid
+current of the stream, impelled by sails when the breeze should favor,
+they could easily be provided with all the appliances of luxury. It is
+difficult to conceive of a jaunt which would present more of the
+attractions of pleasure, than thus to glide in saloons of elegance, with
+imperial resources and surrounded by youth, beauty, genius and rank, for
+a thousand miles down the current of one of the wildest and most
+romantic streams of Europe.
+
+It was a beautiful sunny morning of May, when the regal party,
+accompanied by the music of military bands, and with floating banners,
+entered the barges. The river, broad and deep, rolls on with majestic
+flow, now through dense forests, black and gloomy, where the barking of
+the bear is heard and wolves hold their nightly carousals; now it winds
+through vast prairies hundreds of miles in extent; again it bursts
+through mountain barriers where cliffs and crags rise sublimely
+thousands of feet in the air; here with precipitous sides of granite,
+bleak and scathed by the storms of centuries, and there with gloomy firs
+and pines rising to the clouds, where eagles soar and scream and rear
+their young. Flocks and herds now graze upon the banks; here lies the
+scattered village, and its whole population, half civilized men, and
+matrons and maidens in antique, grotesque attire, crowd the shores. Now
+the pinnacles and the battlements of a great city rise to view. Armies
+were gathered at several points to entertain the imperial pleasure-party
+with all the pomp and pageantry of war. At Pultowa they witnessed the
+maneuverings of a battle, with its thunderings and uproar and apparent
+carnage--the exact representation of the celebrated battle of Pultowa,
+which Peter the Great gained on the spot over Charles XII. of Sweden.
+
+The Emperor Joseph had been invited to join this party, and, with his
+court and retinue, was to meet them at Kherson, near the mouth of the
+Dneister, and accompany the empress to the Crimea. But, perhaps
+attracted by the splendor of the water excursion, he struck across the
+country in a north-east direction, by the way of Lemberg, some six
+hundred miles, to intercept the flotilla and join the party on the
+river. But the water of the river suddenly fell, and some hundred miles
+above Kherson, the flotilla ran upon a sand bar and could not be forced
+over. The empress, who was apprised of the approach of the emperor, too
+proud to be found in such a situation, hastily abandoned the flotilla,
+and taking the carriages which they had with them, drove to meet Joseph.
+The two imperial suites were soon united, and they swept on, a
+glittering cavalcade, to Kherson. Joseph and Catharine rode in a
+carriage together, where they had ample opportunity of talking over all
+their plans of mutual aggrandizement. As no one was permitted to listen
+to their conversations, their decisions can only be guessed at.
+
+They entered the city of Kherson, then containing about sixty thousand
+inhabitants, surrounded by all the magnificence which Russian and
+Austrian opulence could exhibit. A triumphal arch spanned the gate, upon
+which was inscribed in letters of gold, "The road to Byzantium." Four
+days were passed here in revelry. The party then entered the Crimea, and
+continued their journey as far as Sevastopol, where the empress was
+delighted to find, within its capacious harbor, many Russian frigates at
+anchor. Immense sums were expended in furnishing entertainments by the
+way. At Batcheseria, where the two sovereigns occupied the ancient
+palace of the khans, they looked out upon a mountain in a blaze of
+illumination, and apparently pouring lava floods from its artificial
+volcanic crater.
+
+Joseph returned to Vienna, and immediately there was war--Austria and
+Russia against Turkey. Joseph was anxious to secure the provinces of
+Bosnia, Servia, Moldavia and Wallachia, and to extend his empire to the
+Dneister. With great vigor he made his preparations, and an army of two
+hundred thousand men, with two thousand pieces of artillery, were
+speedily on the march down the Danube. Catharine was equally energetic
+in her preparations, and all the north of Europe seemed to be on the
+march for the overthrow of the Ottoman empire.
+
+Proverbially fickle are the fortunes of war. Joseph commenced the siege
+of Belgrade with high hopes. He was ignominiously defeated, and his
+troops were driven, utterly routed, into Hungary, pursued by the Turks,
+who spread ruin and devastation widely around them. Disaster followed
+disaster. Disease entered the Austrian ranks, and the proud army melted
+away. The emperor himself, with about forty thousand men, was nearly
+surrounded by the enemy. He attempted a retreat by night. A false alarm
+threw the troops into confusion and terror. The soldiers, in their
+bewilderment fired upon each other, and an awful scene of tumult ensued.
+The emperor, on horseback, endeavored to rally the fugitives, but he was
+swept away by the crowd, and in the midnight darkness was separated from
+his suite. Four thousand men perished in this defeat, and much of the
+baggage and several guns were lost. The emperor reproached his
+aides-de-camp with having deserted him. One of them sarcastically
+replied,
+
+"We used our utmost endeavors to keep up with your imperial majesty, but
+our horses were not so fleet as yours."
+
+Seventy thousand Austrians perished in this one campaign. The next year,
+1789, was, however, as prosperous as this had been adverse. The Turks at
+Rimnik were routed with enormous slaughter, and their whole camp, with
+all its treasures, fell into the hands of the victors. Belgrade was
+fiercely assailed and was soon compelled to capitulate. But Joseph was
+now upon his dying bed. The tidings of these successes revived him for a
+few hours, and leaving his sick chamber he was conveyed to the church of
+St. Stephen, where thanksgivings were offered to God. A festival of
+three days in Vienna gave expression to the public rejoicing.
+
+England was now alarmed in view of the rapid strides of Austria and
+Russia, and the cabinet of St. James formed a coalition with Holland and
+Prussia to assist the Turks. France, now in the midst of her
+revolutionary struggle, could take no part in these foreign questions.
+These successes were, however, but a momentary gleam of sunshine which
+penetrated the chamber of the dying monarch. Griefs innumerable
+clustered around him. The inhabitants of the Netherlands rose in
+successful rebellion and threw off the Austrian yoke. Prussia was making
+immense preparations for the invasion of Austria. The Hungarians were
+rising and demanding emancipation from the court of Vienna. These
+calamities crushed the emperor. He moaned, and wept and died. In his
+last hours he found much solace in religious observances, devoutly
+receiving the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and passing much of his
+time in prayer. He died on the 20th of February, 1790, in the
+forty-ninth year of his age, and the tenth of his reign.
+
+Joseph had been sincerely desirous of promoting the best interests of
+his realms; but had been bitterly disappointed in the result of most of
+his efforts at reform. Just before he died, he said, "I would have
+engraven on my tomb, 'Here lies the sovereign who, with the best
+intentions, never carried a single project into execution.'" He was
+married twice, but both of his wives, in the prime of youth, fell
+victims to the small-pox, that awful disease which seems to have been a
+special scourge in the Austrian royal family. As Joseph II. died without
+children, the crown passed to his next brother, Leopold, who was then
+Grand Duke of Tuscany.
+
+Leopold II., at his accession to the throne, was forty-three years of
+age. He hastened to Vienna, and assumed the government. By prudent acts
+of conciliation he succeeded in appeasing discontents, and soon
+accomplished the great object of his desire in securing the election to
+the imperial throne. He was crowned at Frankfort, October 9, 1790. With
+frankness very unusual in the diplomacy of kings, he sought friendly
+relations with all the neighboring powers. To Frederic William, who was
+now King of Prussia, he wrote:
+
+"In future, I solemnly protest, no views of aggrandizement will ever
+enter into my political system. I shall doubtless employ all the means
+in my possession to defend my country, should I unfortunately be driven
+to such measures; but I will endeavor to give no umbrage. To your
+majesty in particular, I will act as you act towards me, and will spare
+no efforts to preserve perfect harmony."
+
+To these friendly overtures, Frederic William responded in a similar
+spirit; but still there were unsettled points of dispute between the two
+kingdoms which threatened war, and large armies were gathered on their
+respective frontiers in preparation for the commencement of hostilities.
+In 1790, after much correspondence, they came to terms, and articles of
+peace were signed. At the same time an armistice was concluded with the
+Turks.
+
+The spirit of liberty which had emancipated the colonies of North
+America from the aristocratic sway of England, shivering the scepter of
+feudal tyranny in France, had penetrated Hungary. Leopold was
+endeavoring to rivet anew the shackles of despotism, when he received a
+manly remonstrance from an assembly of Hungarians which had been
+convened as Pest. In the following noble terms they addressed the king.
+
+"The fame, august sovereign, which has preceded you, has declared you a
+just and gracious prince. It says that you forget not that you are a
+man; that you are sensible that the king was made for the people, not
+the people for the king. From the rights of nations and of man, and from
+that social compact whence states arose, it is incontestable that the
+sovereignty originates from the people. This axiom, our parent Nature
+has impressed on the hearts of all. It is one of those which a just
+prince (and such we trust your majesty ever will be) can not dispute. It
+is one of those inalienable imprescriptible rights which the people can
+not forfeit by neglect or disuse. Our constitution places the
+sovereignty jointly in the king and people, in such a manner that the
+remedies necessary to be applied according to the ends of social life,
+for the security of persons and property, are in the power of the
+people.
+
+"We are sure, therefore, that at the meeting of the ensuing diet, your
+majesty will not confine yourself to the objects mentioned in your
+rescript, but will also restore our freedom to us, in like manner as to
+the Belgians, who have conquered theirs with the sword. It would be an
+example big with danger, to teach the world that a people can only
+protect or regain their liberties by the sword and not by obedience."
+
+But Leopold, trembling at the progress which freedom was making in
+France, determined to crush this spirit with an iron heel. Their
+petition was rejected with scorn and menace.
+
+With great splendor Leopold entered Presburg, and was crowned King of
+Hungary on the 10th of November, 1790. Having thus silenced the murmurs
+in Hungary, and established his authority there, he next turned his
+attention to the recovery of the Netherlands. The people there,
+breathing the spirit of French liberty, had, by a simultaneous rising,
+thrown off the detestable Austrian yoke. Forty-five thousand men were
+sent to effect their subjugation. On the 20th of November, the army
+appeared before Brussels. In less than one year all the provinces were
+again brought under subjection to the Austrian power.
+
+Leopold, thus successful, now turned his attention to France. Maria
+Antoinette was his sister. He had another sister in the infamous Queen
+Caroline of Naples. The complaints which came incessantly from
+Versailles and the Tuilleries filled his ear, touched his affections,
+and roused his indignation. Twenty-five millions of people had ventured
+to assert their rights against the intolerable arrogance of the French
+court. Leopold now gathered his armies to trample those people down, and
+to replace the scepter of unlimited despotism in the hands of the
+Bourbons. With sleepless zeal Leopold cooeperated with nearly all the
+monarchs in Europe, in combining a resistless force to crush out from
+the continent of Europe the spirit of popular liberty. An army of ninety
+thousand men was raised to cooeperate with the French emigrants and all
+the royalists in France. The king was to escape from Paris, place
+himself at the head of the emigrants, amounting to more than twenty
+thousand, rally around his banners all the advocates of the old regime,
+and then, supported by all the powers of combined Europe, was to march
+upon Paris, and take a bloody vengeance upon a people who dared to wish
+to be free. The arrest of Louis XVI. at Varennes deranged this plan.
+Leopold, alarmed not only by the impending fate of his sister, but lest
+the principles of popular liberty, extending from France, should
+undermine his own throne, wrote as follows to the King of England:
+
+"I am persuaded that your majesty is not unacquainted with the unheard
+of outrage committed by the arrest of the King of France, the queen my
+sister and the royal family, and that your sentiments accord with mine
+on an event which, threatening more atrocious consequences, and fixing
+the seal of illegality on the preceding excesses, concerns the honor and
+safety of all governments. Resolved to fulfill what I owe to these
+considerations, and to my duty as chief of the German empire, and
+sovereign of the Austrian dominions, I propose to your majesty, in the
+same manner as I have proposed to the Kings of Spain, Prussia and
+Naples, as well as to the Empress of Russia, to unite with them, in a
+concert of measures for obtaining the liberty of the king and his
+family, and setting bounds to the dangerous excesses of the French
+Revolution."
+
+The British _people_ nobly sympathized with the French in their efforts
+at emancipation, and the British government dared not _then_ shock the
+public conscience by assailing the patriots in France. Leopold
+consequently turned to Frederic William of Prussia, and held a private
+conference with him at Pilnitz, near Dresden, in Saxony, on the 27th of
+August, 1791. The Count d'Artois, brother of Louis XVI., and who
+subsequently ascended the French throne as Charles X., joined them in
+this conference. In the midst of these agitations and schemes Leopold
+II. was seized with a malignant dysentery, which was aggravated by a
+life of shameless debauchery, and died on the 1st of March, 1792, in the
+forty-fifth year of his age, and after a reign of but two years.
+
+Leopold has the reputation of having been, on the whole, a kind-hearted
+man, but his court was a harem of unblushing profligacy. His
+broken-hearted wife was compelled to submit to the degradation of daily
+intimacy with the mistress of her husband. Upon one only of these
+mistresses the king lavished two hundred thousand dollars in drafts on
+the bank of Vienna. The sums thus infamously squandered were wrested
+from the laboring poor. His son, Francis II., who succeeded him upon the
+throne, was twenty-two years of age. In most affecting terms the widowed
+queen entreated her son to avoid those vices of his father which had
+disgraced the monarchy and embittered her whole life.
+
+The reign of Francis II. was so eventful, and was so intimately blended
+with the fortunes of the French Revolution, the Consulate and the
+Empire, that the reader must be referred to works upon those subjects
+for the continuation of the history. During the wars with Napoleon
+Austria lost forty-five thousand square miles, and about three and a
+half millions of inhabitants. But when at length the combined monarchs
+of Europe triumphed over Napoleon, the monarch of the people's choice,
+and, in the carnage of Waterloo, swept constitutional liberty from the
+continent, Austria received again nearly all she had lost.
+
+This powerful empire, as at present constituted, embraces:
+
+                                     square miles          inhabitants
+ 1 The hereditary States of Austria,  76,199                 9,843,490
+ 2 The duchy of Styria,                8,454                   780,100
+ 3 Tyrol,                             11,569                   738,000
+ 4 Bohemia,                           20,172                 3,380,000
+ 5 Moravia                            10,192                 1,805,500
+ 6 The duchy of Auschnitz in Galicia,  1,843                   335,190
+ 7 Illyria,                            9,132                   897,000
+ 8 Hungary,                          125,105                10,628,500
+ 9 Dalmatia,                           5,827                   320,000
+10 The Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom,     17,608                 4,176,000
+11 Galicia,                           32,272                 4,075,000
+
+Thus the whole Austrian monarchy contains 256,399 square miles, and a
+population which now probably exceeds forty millions. The standing army
+of this immense monarchy, in time of peace, consists of 271,400 men,
+which includes 39,000 horse and 17,790 artillery. In time of war this
+force can be increased to almost any conceivable amount.
+
+Thus slumbers this vast despotism, in the heart of central Europe, the
+China of the Christian world. The utmost vigilance is practiced by the
+government to seclude its subjects, as far as possible, from all
+intercourse with more free and enlightened nations. The government is in
+continual dread lest the kingdom should be invaded by those liberal
+opinions which are circulating in other parts of Europe. The young men
+are prohibited, by an imperial decree, from leaving Austria to prosecute
+their studies in foreign universities. "Be careful," said Francis II. to
+the professors in the university at Labach, "not to teach too much. I do
+not want learned men in my kingdom; I want good subjects, who will do as
+I bid them." Some of the wealthy families, anxious to give their
+children an elevated education, and prohibited from sending them abroad,
+engaged private tutors from France and England. The government took the
+alarm, and forbade the employment of any but native teachers. The Bible,
+the great chart of human liberty, all despots fear and hate. In 1822 a
+decree was issued by the emperor prohibiting the distribution of the
+Bible in any part of the Austrian dominions.
+
+The censorship of the press is rigorous in the extreme. No printer in
+Austria would dare to issue the sheet we now write, and no traveler
+would be permitted to take this book across the frontier. Twelve public
+censors are established at Vienna, to whom every book published within
+the empire, whether original or reprinted, must be referred. No
+newspaper or magazine is tolerated which does not advocate despotism.
+Only those items of foreign intelligence are admitted into those papers
+which the emperor is willing his subjects should know. The _freedom_ of
+republican America is carefully excluded. The slavery which disgraces
+our land is ostentatiously exhibited in harrowing descriptions and
+appalling engravings, as a specimen of the degradation to which
+republican institutions doom the laboring class.
+
+A few years ago, an English gentleman dined with Prince Metternich, the
+illustrious prime minister of Austria, in his beautiful castle upon the
+Rhine. As they stood after dinner at one of the windows of the palace,
+looking out upon the peasants laboring in the vineyards, Metternich, in
+the following words, developed his theory of social order:
+
+"Our policy is to extend all possible _material_ happiness to the whole
+population; to administer the laws patriarchaly; to prevent their
+tranquility from being disturbed. Is it not delightful to see those
+people looking so contented, so much in the possession of what makes
+them comfortable, so well fed, so well clad, so quiet, and so
+religiously observant of order? If they are injured in persons or
+property, they have immediate and unexpensive redress before our
+tribunals, and in that respect, neither I, nor any nobleman in the land,
+has the smallest advantage over a peasant."
+
+But volcanic fires are heaving beneath the foundations of the Austrian
+empire, and dreadful will be the day when the eruption shall burst
+forth.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+ADOLPHUS (of Nassau) election of over the Germanic empire, 36.
+  summoned to answer charges against him, 37.
+  deposed by the diet, 37.
+  death of, 37.
+
+ADRIAN assumes the tiara, 114.
+
+AENEAS SYLVIUS, remarks of, 72.
+
+AGNES (daughter of Cunegunda) to marry Rhodolph's son, 31.
+  engaged in the massacre, 40.
+  enters a convent, 41.
+
+AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, coronation of Albert I. at, 88.
+  coronation of Charles V. at, 107.
+  taken possession of by Rhodolph, 193.
+  peace of, 461.
+
+ALBERT (fourth Count of Hapsburg), 17.
+  departure of for the holy war, 17.
+  address of to his sons, 18.
+  death of, 18.
+  the favorite captain of Frederic II., 19.
+
+ALBERT I. succeeds his father, 35.
+  his character, 35.
+  elected Emperor of Germany, 37.
+  victor at Gelheim, 37.
+  assassination of, 40.
+
+ALBERT III. rules with Otho, 46.
+  acquisitions of, 47.
+
+ALBERT IV., succession of, 51.
+  improvements projected by, 58.
+
+ALBERT V. declared of age, 59.
+  accepted King of Hungary, 62.
+  death of, 65.
+
+ALBERT (of Bavaria) declines the throne of Hungary, 66.
+
+ALBERT (Archduke) the candidate of the Catholics, 229.
+
+ALLIANCE of barons to crush Rhodolph of Hapsburg, 21.
+  same dissolved, 22.
+
+ALPHONSO (of Castile) candidate for crown of Germany, 23.
+
+ALPHONSO (King of Naples), abdication of, 84.
+
+AMURATH, conquests of, 64.
+
+ANABAPTISTS, rise of the sect of, 115.
+
+ANHALT (Prince of), dispatched with a list of grievances to the emperor,
+    211.
+  address to the emperor, 212.
+  ban of the empire declared against, 265.
+
+ANN (Princess of Hungary and Bohemia), marriage of to Ferdinand I., 145.
+
+ANNA (of Russia), desire of to secure a harbor for Russia, 400.
+
+ANECDOTES of Rhodolph, 33.
+  of Charles V., 144.
+
+APOLOGY of Maximilian, 96.
+
+ASCHHAUSEN, confederacy at, 194.
+
+AUGSBURG, diet of, 24.
+  bold speech of the diet at, 102.
+  triumphal reception of Maurice at, 133.
+  Confession of, 118.
+
+AUGUSTUS II. loses and regains his empire, 382.
+  death of, 382.
+
+AULIC COUNCIL, establishment of the, 102.
+
+AUSTRIA, a portion of given as dowry to Hedwige, 25.
+  nucleus of the empire of, 27.
+  invasion of by John of Bohemia, 49.
+  wonderful growth of, 52.
+  division of, 72.
+  accession of Ladislaus over, 81.
+  the house of invested with new dignity, 101.
+  becomes a part of Spain, 108.
+  the empire of apparently on the eve of dissolution, 286.
+  the leading power in Europe, 314.
+  dispute as to the succession to the crown of, 352.
+  treaty between Spain and, 373.
+  Maria Theresa ascends the throne of, 415.
+  deplorable state of at that time, 415.
+  defeat of by Frederic, 420.
+  the proposed division of, 422.
+  prosperity of, 444.
+  important territory wrested from, 453.
+  alliance of with Prussia, 459.
+  Joseph II. ascends the throne of, 491.
+  situation and character of, 492.
+  languages spoken in, 493.
+  Leopold ascends the throne of, 500.
+  acquisitions of by the battle of Waterloo, 504
+  present constitution of, 504.
+  doctrines of the government of, 503.
+  its future, 506.
+
+AUSTRIANS, triumph of the at Brussels, 340.
+  triumph of the at Malplaquet, 341.
+  evacuation of Madrid by the, 345.
+  prohibited from trading-with Spain, 380.
+  the, driven from the Neapolitan States, 388.
+  the, defeated at Crotzka, 407.
+
+
+BADEN, peace of, 359.
+
+BAJAZET, victory achieved by, 64.
+
+BALDER, attack of Rhodolph upon, 22.
+
+BALLOT-BOX, its authority in Poland, 385.
+
+BALNE (Lord), followers of put to death, 40.
+
+BANDITTI, companies of put down by Rhodolph, 32.
+
+BARBARIA, wife of Sigismond, 60.
+
+BARCELONA, capture of by Charles, 354.
+
+BASLE, attack upon the city of, 20.
+  demands of the Bishop of upon Rhodolph, 22.
+  impious remark of the Bishop of, 23
+  aid of the Bishop of to Rhodolph, 29.
+
+BAVARIA (Henry, Duke of), intimidated by Rhodolph, 25.
+  marriage of Hedwige to Otho of, 25.
+  agrees to carry the edict of Worms into effect, 114.
+  his hatred of Wallenstein, 275.
+  urged as a candidate for the imperial crown, 279.
+  dishonorable despair of, 438.
+  death of, 488.
+
+BAVARIA (Charles of), death of, 451.
+
+BAVARIA, Maximilian Joseph ascends the throne of, 451.
+
+BAYARD (Chevalier De), the knight without fear or reproach, 90.
+
+BELGRADE, relief of, 69.
+  siege of, 360.
+  capture of by Eugene, 363.
+  surrendered to the Turks, 408.
+
+BELLEISLE (General), heroic retreat of, 441.
+
+BLENHEIM, massacre at, 334.
+
+BLOODY diet, the, 158.
+  theater of Eperies, 325.
+
+BOHEMIA, triumphal march of Rhodolph into, 30.
+  the crown of demanded by Albert I., 39.
+  revolt in, 89.
+  rise of the nobles of against Ferdinand, 127.
+  the monarchy of, 154.
+  religious conflicts in, 155.
+  resistance of to Ferdinand, 156.
+  symptoms of the decay of, 160.
+  Ferdinand's blow at, 263.
+  severity of Ferdinand towards, 270.
+  son of Ferdinand crowned king of, 271.
+  change of prosperity of during reign of Ferdinand II., 272.
+  rise of the Protestants in, 286.
+  the Elector of Bavaria crowned king of, 434.
+  the Prussians driven from, 450.
+  (King of), chosen Emperor of Germany, 431.
+
+BRANDENBURG, reply of the Marquis of to Charles V., 118.
+
+BRITISH MINISTER, letter of the in regard to Maria Theresa, 295.
+  letter of the in regard to the affairs in Hungary, 416.
+
+BRUNAU, the Protestant church of, 235.
+
+BRUNSWICK, marriage of Charles VI. to Elizabeth Christina of, 164.
+
+BRUSSELS, diet at, 139.
+
+BUDA taken by the Turks, 147.
+
+BULL (see Pope).
+
+BURGHERS prevented from attending Protestant worship, 188.
+
+BURGUNDY (Duke of), ambition of the, 77.
+
+BURGUNDY (Mary of), marriage of by proxy, 79.
+  death of, 79.
+
+
+CAESAR BORGIA, plans for, 89.
+
+CALENDAR, the Julian and Gregorian, 192.
+
+CAMPEGIO, a legate from the Pope to, 114.
+
+CAPISTRUN, JOHN, rousing eloquence of, 69.
+
+CARDINAL KLESES, counselor to the king, 241.
+  abduction of, 242.
+
+CARINTHIA, dukedom of, 48.
+
+CARLOS crowned as Charles III., 388.
+
+CARLOVITZ, treaty of, 326.
+
+CASSAU captured by Botskoi, 198.
+
+CASTLE (Hawk's), situation of, 17.
+  (Oeltingen), the dowry of Gertrude of Hohenburg, 19.
+
+CATHARINE II. ascends the throne of Russia, 480.
+  cooperates with Austria. 481.
+  desire of to acquire Constantinople, 495.
+  grand excursion of, 496.
+  places Count Poniatowski on the throne of Poland, 484.
+
+CATHERINE BORA, marriage of to Luther, 114.
+
+CHANCELLOR OF SAXONY, reading of the Confession of Augsburg by, 118.
+  reply of to the emperor, 118.
+
+CHARLES OF BOHEMIA, succession of to the kingdom of Austria, 47.
+  death of, 47.
+
+CHARLES EMANUEL (King of Sardinia) character of, 386.
+
+CHARLES GUSTAVUS succeeds Christina, Queen of Sweden, 302.
+  his invasion of Poland, 303.
+  energy of, 305.
+
+CHARLES (Prince), defeat of by Frederic, 254.
+
+CHARLES (Prince of Lorraine) marriage of, 447.
+
+CHARLES II., the throne of Spain held by, 328.
+  sends embassage to the pope, 329.
+  induced to bequeath the crown to France, 330.
+  death of, 331.
+
+CHARLES III. crowned King of Spain, 332.
+  army of routed, 340.
+  arrival of at Barcelona, 342.
+  desperate condition of, 344.
+  flight of, 346.
+  description of his appearance, 353.
+  dilatoriness of, 355.
+  crowned king, 356.
+  Carlos crowned as, 388.
+  (See also Charles VI.)
+
+CHARLES V. (of Spain) inherits the Austrian States, 106.
+  petitions to, 106.
+  required to sign a constitution, 108.
+  ambition of, 109.
+  apologetic declaration of, 112.
+  refusal of to violate his safe conduct, 112.
+  attempts of to bribe Luther, 113.
+  determination of to suppress religious agitation, 115.
+  interview of with the pope at Bologna, 117.
+  call of for the diet at Augsburg, 117.
+  intolerance of, 119.
+  appeal of to the Protestants for aid, 122.
+  in violation of his pledge, turns against the Protestants, 122.
+  secret treaty of with the King of France, 123.
+  treaty of with the Turks, 123.
+  forces secured by against the Protestants, 124.
+  alarm of at the preparations of the Protestants, 125.
+  preparations of to enforce the Council of Trent, 125.
+  march of to Ingolstadt, 126.
+  flight of to Landshut, 126.
+  triumph of over the Protestants, 126.
+  conquers the Elector of Saxony, 128.
+  revenge of towards the Elector of Saxony, 128.
+  march to Wittemberg, 128.
+  visit to the grave of Luther, 129.
+  attempts of to settle the religious differences, 129.
+  attempt of to establish the inquisition in Burgundy, 129.
+  power of over the pope, 130.
+  calls a diet at Augsburg. 130.
+  failure of to accomplish the election of Philip, 131.
+  confounded at the success of the Protestants. 133.
+  flight of from Maurice, 133.
+  unconquerable will of, 135.
+  urged to yield, 136.
+  fortune deserting, 137.
+  extraordinary despondency of, 138.
+  abdication of in favor of Philip, his son, 139.
+  enters the convent of St. Justus, 141.
+  convent life of, 141.
+  death of, 143.
+  anecdotes of, 144.
+  attempt of to abdicate the elective crown of Germany to Ferdinand, 160.
+
+CHARLES VI. (see also Charles III. for previous information),
+  limitations imposed on the power of, 356.
+  desertion of by his allies, 357.
+  addition of Wallachia and Servia to the dominion of, 364.
+  marriage of, 364.
+  his alteration of the compact established by Leopold, 364.
+  power of, 365.
+  involved in duplicity, 377.
+  insult to, 380.
+  ambition of to secure the throne of Spain for his daughters, 382.
+  the loss of Lombardy felt by, 387.
+  attempt of to force assistance from France, 390.
+  his first acknowledgment of the people, in his letter to Count Kinsky,
+    391.
+  interference of in Poland, 393.
+  sends Strickland to London to overthrow the cabinet, 391.
+  troubles of in Italy, 394.
+  distraction of, 396.
+  proposal of for a settlement with France, 397.
+  humbled by loss of empire. 398.
+  a scrupulous Romanist, 400.
+  removal of all the Protestants from the army, 404.
+  fears of for the safety of Maria Theresa, 406.
+  anguish of at the surrender of Belgrade, 411.
+  letter of to the Queen of Russia, 412.
+  death of, 414.
+
+CHARLES VII., death of, 451.
+
+CHARLES VIII. informed of the league against him, 88.
+  death of, 89.
+
+CHARLES XII. joins the Austrian party, 335.
+  death of, 368.
+  conquests of, 382.
+
+CHAZLEAU, battle of, 435.
+
+CHRISTIANA, the succession of Sweden conferred upon, 280.
+  abdicates in favor of Charles Gustavus, 302.
+
+CHRISTIAN IV. (of Denmark), leader of the Protestants, declares war, 267.
+  conquered by Ferdinand, 268.
+
+CHURCH, exactions of the, 102.
+
+CILLI, influence of Count over Ladislaus, 68.
+  driven from the empire, 68.
+
+CLEMENT VII. succeeds Adrian as pope, 116.
+
+CLEVES, duchy of put in sequestration, 213.
+
+COLOGNE, the Archbishop of joins the Protestants, 124.
+  deposition of the Archbishop of, 126.
+
+CONDUCT, Luther presented with a safe, 110.
+
+CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG, 118.
+  reading of, 119.
+
+CONGRESS at Rothenburg, 226.
+  at Hanau, 445.
+  at Prague, 1618, and letter of to Matthias, 236.
+  of electors at Frankfort, 35.
+
+CONSPIRACY against Albert, 36.
+  formed by Albert against Adolphus, 37.
+
+CONSTANTINOPLE, capture of by the Turks, 64.
+
+CONSTITUTION, Charles V. required to sign a, 108.
+
+COUNCIL of Trent, 124.
+  of Trent in 1562, 164.
+  of State convened in Spain, 331.
+
+CREMNITZ, resistance of, 148.
+
+CREMONIA to be disposed of as plunder, 89.
+
+CROATIA invaded by the Turks, 195.
+
+CROTZKA. battle of, 407.
+
+CRUSADE against the Turks, 64.
+
+CUNEGUNDA (wife of Ottocar), her taunts, 27.
+  offer of to place Bohemia under the protection of Rhodolph, 31.
+
+
+DANUBE, position of Austria on the, 25.
+
+DAUN (Count), honors of at his victory, 473.
+
+DENMARK, the King of obliged to yield to Charles Gustavus, 306.
+
+DIEPOLD thrown from the palace by the mob, 328.
+
+DIET, command of the of Augsburg to Ottocar, 14.
+  at Augsburg, 118.
+  at Augsburg, 130.
+  at Brussels. 139.
+  at Lubec, 269.
+  at Prague, in 1547, 158.
+  at Prague, 179.
+  the Protestant at Prague, 209.
+  decrees of the, 210.
+  at Passau, 137.
+  its agreement as to the rights of the Protestants, 138.
+  at Pilgram, 66.
+  at Presburg, accusation of Leopold by the, 309.
+  at Ratisbon, 179.
+  at Spires, 116.
+  at Stetzim, 349.
+  demands of, 350.
+  at Worms, 86.
+  refusal of the at Worms to cooperate with Maximilian, 96.
+  at Znaim, 61.
+  power of the Hungarian, 308.
+
+DOCTRINE of the three parties, 190.
+  ancient and modern, contention about shadowy points of, 255.
+
+DRESDEN, treaty of, 458.
+
+
+ERNEST, death of, 202.
+
+ELEONORA (wife of Leopold), her character, 335.
+  marriage of, 336.
+  her death, 337.
+
+ELFSNABEN, a fleet assembled at by Gustavus Adolphus, 281,
+
+ELIZABETH (wife of Philip V.), ambition of, 371.
+  demands of on Charles VI., 372.
+
+ELIZABETH (of Russia), death of, 479.
+
+EMERIO TEKELI invested with the Hungarian forces, 319.
+
+ENGLAND, assistance of against the Turks, 94.
+  supports the house of Austria against France, 332.
+  curious contradictory conduct of, 346.
+  pledge of to support the Pragmatic Sanction, 380.
+  supports Austria to check France, 428.
+  determines to support Maria Theresa, 436.
+  prodigality of, 447.
+  war declared against by France, 448.
+  purchases the aid of Poland, 452.
+  private arrangement of with Prussia, 457.
+  remonstrated with for its treatment of the queen, 463.
+  alliance of with Prussia, 466.
+  a subsidy voted Prussia by, 475.
+  alarmed at the strides of Austria and Russia, 499.
+
+EPERIES, tribunal at, 324.
+
+ERNEST, conquests of, 59.
+
+EUGENE (Prince) commands the Austrian army, 332.
+  his heroic capture of Belgrade, 363.
+  his disapproval of the war, 389.
+  death of, 398.
+  funeral honors of. 399.
+
+EUROPE, condition of the different powers of, 269.
+
+EXCOMMUNICATION of the Venetians, 97.
+
+
+FAMILY of Rhodolph, 25.
+  the three daughters of the imperial, 364.
+
+FERDINAND (of Austria) invested with the government of the Austrian
+    States, 113.
+  determines to arrest Protestantism, 114.
+  assumes some impartiality, 116.
+  chosen King of the Romans, 120.
+  Bohemia and Hungary added to his kingdom, 146.
+  demands the restitution of Belgrade, 146.
+  his siege of Buda, 153.
+  tribute of to the Turks, 153.
+  his attempts to weaken the power of the Hungarian nobles, 155.
+  conditions of his pardon of the Hungarian nobles, 157.
+  his punishment of the revolters, 158.
+  his establishment of the Jesuits in Bohemia, 158.
+  his inconsistencies, 158.
+  obtains the crown of Germany, 161.
+  opposed by the pope, 162.
+  elected Emperor of Germany, 233.
+  character of, 234.
+  rich spoils of, 273.
+  he assembles a diet at Eatisbon, 275.
+  perplexity of in regard to the demands of the diet, 277.
+
+FERDINAND (King of Arragon) furnishes supplies for the war against the
+    Venetians, 95.
+
+FERDINAND (of Naples), flight of to Ischia, 85.
+
+FERDINAND (King of the Romans)
+  crowned at Ratisbon, 302.
+  his death, 302.
+
+FERDINAND I.
+  illustrious birth of, 145.
+  marriage of, 145.
+  efforts of to unite Protestants and Catholics, 164.
+  attempts of to prevent the spread of Protestantism, 167.
+  the founder of the Austrian empire, 168.
+  death of, 168.
+
+FERDINAND II.
+  manifesto of, 240.
+  abduction of Cardinal Kleses by, 242.
+  troops of defeated by the Protestants, 243.
+  refers the complaints of the Protestants to arbitration, 343.
+  unpopularity of with the Catholics, 247.
+  unexpected rescue of, 249.
+  elected King of Germany, 250.
+  concludes an alliance with Maximilian, 254.
+  secures the cooeperation of the Elector of Saxony and Louis XIII., 256.
+  subdues Austria, 257.
+  barbarity of the troops of, 258.
+  vengeance of, 263.
+  meeting at Ratisbon to approve the acts of, 265.
+  victories of, 268.
+  capture of the duchies of Mecklenburg, 268.
+  seizes Pomerania, 268.
+  revokes all concessions to the Protestants, 270.
+  son of crowned King of Bohemia, 271.
+  manifesto of against Gustavus Adolphus, 283.
+  decorous appreciation of to the memory of Gustavus Adolphus, 296.
+  outwitted by a Capuchin friar, 279.
+  succeeds in securing the election of his son Ferdinand, 299.
+  his death, 299.
+
+FERDINAND III.
+  ascends the throne, 245.
+  his proposal for a truce with Prague, 246.
+  desire of for peace, 300.
+  succeeds in securing the election of his son as Ferdinand King of the
+    Romans, 302.
+  death of, 303.
+
+FLEURY (Cardinal), ascendancy of over Louis XV., 378.
+
+FLORENCE threatened by Louis XII., 90.
+
+FRANCE
+  influence of in wresting sacrifices from the emperor, 279.
+  the dominant power, 315.
+  fraud by which obtained possession of Spain, 331.
+  condition of under Louis XIV., 357.
+  refusal of to engage in the Polish war, 390.
+  design of to deprive Maria Theresa of her kingdom, 428.
+  declares war against England, 448.
+  alliance of effected with Austria. 467.
+
+FRANCIS (of France)
+  claims Austria, 106.
+  perfidy of, 127.
+  death of, 128.
+
+FRANCIS I. (Duke of Lorraine) elected Emperor of Germany, 457.
+
+FRANCIS II. ascends the throne, 504.
+
+FRANCIS RAVAILLAC, the assassin of Henry IV., 215.
+
+FRANKFORT, congress at, 35.
+
+FREDERIC (King of Naples), doom of, 92.
+
+FREDERIC (of Saxony)
+  friendly seizure of Luther by, 113.
+  death of, 114.
+
+FREDERIC I. (the Handsome)
+  capture of 43.
+  surrender of, 44.
+  death of, 45.
+
+FREDERIC II. (of Germany)
+  renown of, 18.
+  death of, 482.
+  curious occupations of, 483.
+
+FREDERIC II. (of Austria)
+  treachery of, 75.
+  wanderings of, 77.
+  death of, 81.
+
+FREDERIC V., character of, 251.
+  accepts the crown of Bohemia, 251.
+  inefficiency of, 258.
+  his feast during the assault, 258.
+  renounces all claim to Bohemia, 259.
+  flight of, 262.
+  his property sequestrated, 264.
+
+FREDERIC (King of Bohemia, Elector of Palatine),
+  death of, 296.
+
+FREDERIC (of Prussia),
+  demands of, 417.
+  seizure of Silesia by, 418.
+  triumphal entrance into Breslau, 419.
+  his defeat of Neuperg, 420.
+  opinions of on magnanimity, 423.
+  his indignation at the small concessions of Austria, 424.
+  implores peace, 433.
+  violation of his pledge, 435.
+  capture of Prague by, 419.
+  surprises and defeats Prince Charles, 454.
+  invasion of Saxony by, 458.
+  explanation demanded from Austria by, 469.
+  artifice of to entrap the allies, 470.
+  defeat of at Prague, 473.
+  recklessness of, 476.
+  undaunted perseverance of, 477.
+  despair of, 479.
+  secures an alliance with Prussia, 480.
+  letter of to Maria Theresa, 488.
+  peaceful reply of, 500.
+
+FRENCH, the, driven out of Italy, 94.
+  the, routed near Brussels, 340.
+  rout of at Brussels, 340.
+  defeat of the at Malplaquet, 341.
+
+
+GABRIEL BETHLEHEM
+  chosen leader in the Hungarian revolution, 152.
+  he retires to Presburg, 253.
+  compelled to sue for peace, 268.
+
+GELHEIM, battle of, 37.
+
+GALLAS appointed commander in place of Wallenstein, 268.
+
+GENOA, aid furnished Leopold by, 311.
+
+GERMANY,
+  its conglomeration of States, 18.
+  independence of each State of, 18.
+  position of the Emperor of, 19.
+  decline of the imperial dignity of, 85.
+  its division into ten districts, 101.
+  growing independence in of the pope, 162.
+  tranquillity of under Ferdinand, 172.
+  rejoicing in at the downfall of Rhodolph, 225.
+  divided into two leagues, 253.
+  distracted state of, 299.
+  religious agitation in, 370.
+  the Elector of Bavaria chosen Emperor of, 434.
+
+GERTRUDE (of Hohenburg),
+  marriage of to Rhodolph of Hapsburg, 19.
+  her dowry, 19.
+
+GHIARADADDA to be bestowed on Venice, 89.
+
+GIBRALTAR taken by the English, 339.
+
+GOLDEN FLEECE, establishment of the order of the, 372.
+
+GRAN, capture of the fortress at, 324.
+
+GREAT WARDEIN,
+  siege of, 307.
+  the Turks retain, 313.
+
+GRENADER, the plot at, 92.
+
+GRIEVANCES complained of by the confederacy at Heilbrun, 192.
+
+GUICCIARDINI, remark of Charles V. about, 144.
+
+GUNPOWDER, its introduction, 82.
+
+GUNTZ, triumphant resistance of the fortress of, 150.
+
+GUSTAVUS YASA (King of Sweden),
+  league with against Charles V., 127.
+
+GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS,
+  rouses the country against Ferdinand II., 280.
+  assembles a fleet at Elfsnaben, 281.
+  Stettin captured by, 281.
+  Mark of Brandenburg taken possession of by, 281.
+  conquers at the battle of Leipsic, 285.
+  his tranquil campaign, 286.
+  his intrenchment at Nuremberg, 290.
+  his attack on Wallenstein, 293.
+  his death, 293.
+  relics of, 295.
+
+
+HANAU, conference at, 445.
+
+HANOVER, title of the Elector of to the crown of England, 367.
+
+HAWK'S Castle. (See Castle.)
+
+HEDWIGE,
+  wife of Albert of Hapsburg, 18.
+  betrothal of, 53.
+
+HELVETIC STATES, independence of acknowledged, 89.
+
+HENRY (Duke of Anjou),
+  abdication of the throne of Poland, 180.
+  succeeds Charles IX., 180.
+
+HENRY (Duke of Carinthia) chosen king, 39.
+
+HENRY (Count of Luxemburg)
+  elected Emperor of Austria, 41.
+  his death, 41.
+
+HENRY (of Valois) succeeds Charles IX., 171.
+
+HENRY VIII. (of England) claims Austria, 107.
+
+HENRY IV. (of France),
+  efforts of to unite Lutherans and Calvinists, 190.
+  political course of, 214.
+  assassination of, 215.
+  his plans for remodeling Europe, 216.
+
+HOCKKIRCHEN, battle of, 475.
+
+HOLY LEAGUE, formation of, 116.
+
+HUNGARIANS, the, summons a diet, 349.
+  the, remonstrate with Leopold, 501.
+  (see also Hungary.)
+
+HUNGARY, despotism of Rhodolph III. in, 196.
+  new revolt in, 307.
+  attempt of Leopold to establish despotic power in, 317.
+  rise of against Leopold, 333.
+  troubles in observed by Joseph I., 349.
+  enthusiastic support of Maria Theresa in, 432.
+  (see also Hungarian.)
+
+HUNNLADES (John), regent of Hungary, 68,
+  popularity of, 68.
+  death of, 71.
+
+HYMN, singing of a by the army of Gustavus on the field of battle, 292.
+
+
+ISABELLA (wife of Frederic), death of, 45.
+
+ISABELLA (of Spain), determination of to obtain for her son the crown of
+    Hungary, 152.
+  propositions of to Ferdinand for peace, 154.
+
+IMPERIAL CHAMBER, creation of the, 87.
+
+INGOLSTADT, Charles V. marches to, 126.
+
+INNSPRUCK, arrival of the Duke of Ludovico at, 90.
+  the emperor sick at, 103.
+  the palace at surrendered to pillage, 134.
+
+INSURRECTION in Vienna, 36.
+  of Suabia, 55.
+
+INZENDORF, the Lord of arrested by Matthias, 206.
+
+ISCHIA, flight of Ferdinand to the island of, 85.
+
+ITALY, invasion of by Mahomet II., 82.
+  victories of Henry of France in, 136.
+  invaded by the Spaniards, 388.
+  invaded by the French and Spaniards, 452.
+
+
+JAGHELLON, the Grand Duke, 53.
+  marriage of Hedwige to, 54.
+  baptism of, 54.
+  (for further reference see Ladislaus.)
+
+JAMES I., matrimonial negotiations of, 266.
+
+JEANETTE POISSON (see Marchioness of Pompadour).
+
+JESUITS, the, expelled from Prague, 239.
+
+JOANNA (of Spain), insanity of, 106.
+
+JOHN (of Bohemia), character of, 46.
+  his invasion of Austria, 49.
+
+JOHN SIGISMOND, death of, 178.
+
+JOHN SOBIESKI goes to the relief of Vienna, 320.
+  enthusiastic reception of, 322.
+  refuses to fight Tekeli, 324.
+
+JOHN (the Constant) succeeds Frederic, Elector of Saxony, 114.
+
+JOHN (of Tapoli), negotiations of with the Turks for the throne of
+    Hungary, 151.
+  marriage and death of, 52.
+
+JOHN (of Medici) elected pope, 100.
+
+JOSEPH (of Germany) elected as successor of Leopold, 316.
+
+JOSEPH I. secures a treaty with France for neutrality for Italy, 339.
+  continues the war against Spain, 338.
+  political concessions of in Hungary, 349.
+  refusal of to grant the demands of the diet, 350.
+  Transylvania again subject to, 351.
+  rout of the Hungarians by, 351.
+  death of, 352.
+
+JOSEPH II. (of Austria) elected to succeed the Emperor Francis, 481.
+  assumes the crown of Germany, 484.
+  succeeds Maria Theresa, 491.
+  character of, 492.
+  death of, 500.
+  attempt of to obliterate distinctions in Austria, 493.
+  emancipates the serfs of, 494.
+  joins the excursion of Catherine II., 497.
+  defeat of at Belgrade, 498.
+  successes of, 499.
+
+JULIUS III. ascends the pontifical throne, 130.
+
+
+KAUNITZ (Count) appointed prime minister, 462.
+
+KEVENHULLER (General) given the command of the Austrian army, 405.
+
+KING, nominal power of the, 308.
+
+KINSKY, letter of Charles VI. to, 391.
+
+KLESES. (See Cardinal.)
+
+KONIGSEGG (General), power of in a counsel of war, 404.
+  recalled in disgrace, 405.
+
+
+LADISLAUS I., coronation of, 65.
+  visit of to the pope, 67.
+  inglorious flight of, 69.
+  tyranny of towards the family of Hunniades, 71.
+  flight of from Buda, 71.
+  his projected marriage to Magdalen, 71.
+  death of, 72.
+
+LADISLAUS II. elected King of Hungary, 79.
+  assumes the government of Austria, 81.
+
+LANDAU, the Austrians checked at, 47.
+
+LANDSHUT, flight of Charles V. to, 126.
+
+LEAGUE against France, 85.
+  of Augsburg, 315.
+
+LEIPSIC captured by Tilly, 285.
+
+LEO X., John of Medici assumes the name of, 100.
+
+LEOPOLD I. (of Austria) succeeds Ferdinand III., 304.
+  convenes the diet at Presburg, 309.
+  accused by the diet of persecution, 309.
+  his desire for peace, 312.
+  organizes a coalition against Louis XIV., 315.
+  attempt of to establish despotic power in Hungary, 317.
+  driven from Hungary, 317.
+  flight of with his family, 319.
+  humiliation of, 322.
+  disgust of the people with, 324.
+  vengeance of, 324.
+  efforts of to obtain a decree that the crown was hereditary, 325.
+  claims Spain, 326.
+  declares war against France, 331.
+  deserted by the Duke of Bavaria, 334.
+  death of, 334.
+  canonization of, 335.
+  his various marriages, 336.
+
+LEOPOLD II. ascends the Austrian throne, 500.
+  despotism of in Hungary meets with a remonstrance, 501.
+  interposes against France, 502.
+  letter of to the King of England, 502.
+  death of, 502.
+
+LEOPOLD I. (of Germany), character and death of, 45.
+
+LEOPOLD I. (of Switzerland), character of, 52.
+  death of, 57.
+
+LEOPOLD II., succession of, 57.
+  assumes the guardianship of Albert V., 59.
+  death of, 59.
+
+LEOPOLD (Archduke) invasion of Upper Austria by, 220.
+  defeat of by Matthias, 221.
+
+LEWIS II., excommunication of, 50.
+
+LIBERTY, the spirit of acting in France, 501.
+
+LITHUANIA, duchy of, 53.
+  annexation of to Poland, 54.
+
+LOREDO, arrival of Charles V. at, 141.
+
+LORRAINE (Chevalier De), duel between the and the young Turk, 312.
+
+LORRAINE, duchy of demanded by France, 397.
+
+LORRAINE (Francis Stephen, Duke of) compelled to flee from Hungary, 319.
+  his engagement with Maria Theresa, 395.
+  deprived of his kingdom, 397.
+  his marriage, 398.
+  appointed commander of the army, 404.
+  reply of the to the demand of Frederic, 418.
+
+LOUIS XII., succession of to the throne of France, 89.
+  inaugurated Duke of Milan, 90.
+  diplomacy of, 91.
+
+LOUIS XIII. espouses the cause of Ferdinand I., 256.
+
+LOUIS XIV., attempt of to thwart Leopold, 304.
+  marriage of, 314.
+  resolve of to annex a part of Spain, 314.
+  responsible for devastation of the Palatinate, 316.
+  rapacious character of, 317.
+  claims Spain, 326.
+  preparations of to invade Spain, 329.
+  desire of to retire from the conflict, 341.
+  melancholy situation of, 357.
+
+LOUIS XV. begins to take part in the government, 378.
+
+LOUIS XVI., plans of, 502.
+
+LOUIS (of Bavaria) elected emperor, 42.
+  excommunication of, 47.
+  death of, 47.
+
+LOUIS (of Hungary), death of, 146.
+
+LOUIS (son of Philip V.), death of, 371.
+
+LUBEC, peace of, 269.
+
+LUDOVICO, escape of the Duke of, 90.
+
+LUDOVICO (Duke of Milan), recovery of Italy by the Duke of, 90.
+  mutiny of the troops of, 91.
+  death of, 92.
+
+LUTHER summoned to repair to Rome, 102.
+  bull of the pope against, 108.
+  works of burned, 109.
+  support of at the diet of Worms, 110.
+  summoned to appear before the diet, 110.
+  triumphal march of, 111.
+  memorable reply of, 111.
+  triumph of, 112.
+  attempts of Charles V. to bribe, 113.
+  his Patmos, 113.
+  his German Bible, 113.
+  the party of encouraged by Adrian the pope, 114.
+  marriage of, 114.
+  the Confession of Augsburg too mild for, 119.
+  visit of Charles V. to grave of, 128.
+
+LUTHERANS, reply of to Henry IV., 191.
+  (see also Luther.)
+
+LUTZEN, meeting of the armies at, 291.
+  battle of, 292.
+
+
+MADRID, evacuation of, by the Austrians, 345.
+
+MAGDEBURG, the city of, espouses Gustavus, 282.
+  sacking of, by the imperial troops, 283.
+
+MAHOMET II., siege of Belgrade by, 69.
+
+MAHOMET IV., his foreign war, 307.
+
+MARLBOROUGH (Duke of), the guardian of Anne, 332.
+
+MALPLAQUET, battle at, 341.
+
+MANTUA, aid furnished Leopold by, 311.
+  battle at, 387.
+
+MARCHIONESS OF POMPADOUR, arrogance of, 464.
+
+MARIA ANTOINETTE, history of, 487.
+  letter of Maria Theresa to, 488.
+
+MARIA THERESA (of Spain), marriage of to Louis XIV., 314.
+
+MARIA THERESA (of Austria), character of, 395.
+  her attachment for the Duke of Lorraine, 395.
+  marriage of, 398.
+  ascends the Austrian throne, 415.
+  solicitations of to foreign powers, 417.
+  her apparent doom, 421.
+  consents to part with Glogau, 424.
+  a son born to her, 426.
+  desire of that her husband should obtain the imperial crown, 427.
+  her coronation at Presburg, 429.
+  address of to the diet, 431.
+  reinforcements of, 436.
+  ambitious dreams of, 439.
+  forbids the conference for the relief of Prague, 440.
+  attempt of to evade her promise to Sardinia, 446.
+  arrogance of excites indignation of the other powers, 449.
+  rouses the Hungarians, 450.
+  recovers Bohemia, 450.
+  interview of the English ambassador with, 454.
+  signs the treaty of Dresden, 458.
+  indignation of at peace being signed by England, 460.
+  chagrin of, 461.
+  her energetic discipline, 462.
+  secures the friendship of the Marchioness of Pompadour, 465
+  reproaches towards England, 466.
+  her diplomatic fib, 468.
+  victories of, 475.
+  loses Russia and Sweden, 480.
+  recovers the cooeperation of Russia, 481.
+  children of, 486.
+  letter of to Maria Antoinette, 488.
+  letter to Frederic desiring peace, 489.
+  charge to her son, 490.
+  death of, 491.
+  fate of her children, 491.
+
+MARY ANNE (of Spain) affianced to the dauphin of France, 372.
+  insulting rejection of, 373.
+
+MARGARET (of Bohemia), engagement of, 46.
+  marriage and flight of, 49.
+  divorce of, 49.
+
+MARGARET, celebration of the nuptials of, 314.
+
+MARK OF BRANDENBURG, taken possession of by Gustavus Adolphus, 281.
+
+MARTINETS thrown from the palace by the mob, 328.
+
+MASSACRE, the, of St. Bartholomew, 171.
+
+MATHEW HENRY (Count of Thurn), leader of the Protestants, 234.
+  convention called by, 236.
+
+MATTHIAS (of Hungary), invasion of Austria by, 75.
+  death of, 79.
+
+MATTHIAS, character of, 201.
+  chosen leader of the revolters in the Netherlands, 202.
+  increasing popularity of, 203.
+  announces his determination to depose Rhodolph III., 204.
+  his demand that Rhodolph should abdicate, 205.
+  distrust of by the Protestants, 205.
+  arrest of the Lord of Inzendorf by, 206.
+  reluctance of to sign the conditions, 207.
+  elected king, 207.
+  haughtiness of towards the Austrians, 208.
+  political reconciliation between Rhodolph III. and, 219.
+  march of against Leopold, 221.
+  limitations affixed to the offer of the crown to, 222.
+  coronation of, 224.
+  marriage of, 225.
+  suspicions of the Catholics against, 229.
+  elected Emperor of Germany, 229.
+  thwarted in his attempts to levy an army, 230.
+  concludes a truce with Turkey, 231.
+  his revival of the ban against the Protestants, 231.
+  efforts of to secure the crown of Germany for Ferdinand, 232.
+  opposed by the Protestants, 233.
+  defiant reply of to the congress at Prague, 236.
+  disposition of to favor toleration, 239.
+  death of, 344.
+
+MAURICE (of Saxony), Protestant principles of, 131.
+  treaty of with the King of France, 132
+  capture of the Tyrol by, 133.
+  demands of from Charles V., 135
+  death of, 137.
+
+MAXIMILIAN I., ambition of, 84.
+  efforts of to rouse the Italians, 88.
+  efforts to secure the Swiss estates, 89.
+  defeat of at the diet of Worms, 87.
+  roused to new efforts, 92.
+  superstitious fraud of, 93.
+  drawn into a war with Bavaria, 94.
+  league formed by against the Venetians, 95.
+  abandoned by his allies, 97.
+  perseverance of rewarded, 98.
+  confident of success against Italy, 99.
+  letter of to his daughter, 99.
+  success beginning to attend, 100.
+  plans of to secure the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, 101.
+  contempt of for the pope, 103.
+  peculiarities of exhibited, 103.
+  death of, 104.
+  accomplishments of, 105.
+
+MAXIMILIAN II. allowed to assume the title of emperor elect, 161.
+  character of, 169.
+  his letter to the Elector Palatine, 170.
+  profession of the Catholic faith, 170.
+  address of to Henry of Valois, 172.
+  liberal toleration maintained by, 172.
+  answer of to the complaints of the diet, 173.
+  offer of to pay tribute to the Turks, 174.
+  elected King of Poland, 180.
+  death of, 181.
+  character and acquirements of, 182.
+  tribute of honor by the ambassadors to, 183.
+  wife of, 183.
+  fate of his children, 184.
+
+MAXIMILIAN (brother of Matthias), the candidate of the Protestants, 229.
+
+MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH, ascends the throne of Bavaria, 451.
+
+MEINHARD, legitimate rights of, 50.
+  death of, 50.
+
+MELANCTHON, character of, 119.
+
+MENTZ, taunts of the Elector of, 38.
+
+METTERNICH, his theory of social order, 506.
+
+METZ, siege of, 137.
+
+MILAN, captured by Louis XII., 90.
+  Louis XII. created Duke of, 90.
+
+MINISTER (see the countries for which the minister acted).
+
+MOHATZ, battle of, 146.
+
+MOLNITZ, the court of Frederic established at, 421.
+
+MONTECUCULI (Prince), commander of the troops of Leopold, 311.
+
+MONTSERRAT, shrine of the holy Virgin at, 355.
+
+MORAVIA, to be held five years by Rhodolph, 81.
+  the province of, 208.
+  triumphal march of Count Thurn into, 247.
+
+MOSES TZEKELI crowned Prince of Transylvania, 196.
+
+MULHEIM, the fortifications of demolished, 232.
+
+MUNICH captured by Frederic, 449.
+
+MURCHFIELD, meeting of the armies on the field of, 29.
+
+
+NAPLES, subjugation of, 84.
+
+NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, similarity of the plans of Henry IV. and, 216.
+  remark of verified, 262.
+  remark of concerning Russia, 399.
+
+NETHERLANDS, revolt in the, 201.
+  Marlborough in possession of the, 339.
+
+NEUPERG (General), imprudence and insult of, 408.
+  arrested by Charles, 413.
+
+NEUSTADT, the emperor's remains to be deposited at, 104.
+
+NICHOLAS (Count of Zrini), heroic defense of Zigeth by, 175.
+
+NISSA, capture of, 402.
+
+NOBLES, the, of Bohemia banished, 271.
+
+NOVARRA, defense of the citadel of, 90.
+
+NUREMBURG, congress at, 227.
+  request of, that Rhodolph should abdicate, 228.
+  battle of, 290.
+  famine in the city of, 290.
+
+
+OFFICERS, ignorance of the Austrian, 389.
+
+ORLEANS (Duke of), matrimonial arrangements of the, 369.
+  death of the, 378.
+
+ORSOVA captured by the Turks, 405.
+  surrendered to the Turks, 408.
+
+OTHO marries Hedwige, of Hapsburg, 25.
+  harmonious rule of, 46.
+
+OTTOCAR (of Bohemia), candidate for crown of Germany, 23.
+  opposition of Rhodolph, 24.
+  command of the diet to, 24.
+  message of, to Rhodolph, 24.
+  power of, 25.
+  his contempt for Rhodolph, 25.
+  his excommunication by the pope, 26.
+  his performance of feudal homage, 27.
+  violates his oath, 28.
+  the body of found after battle, 30.
+
+OXENSTIERN (Chancellor), appointed commander of the Swedish army, 297.
+
+
+PALATINATE, territory of the, 250.
+
+PAPPENHEIM (General), death of, 293.
+
+PASSAU, diet at, 187.
+
+PATMOS, Luther's, 113.
+
+PAUL III. (of Russia), alliance of with Prussia, 480.
+  assassination of, 480.
+
+PAUL IV. (Pope), death of, 162.
+
+Peace of Passarovitz, 364
+
+PEOPLE, contempt for the, 95.
+
+PEST taken by the Turks, 147.
+
+PETER THE GREAT, ambition of, 399.
+  death of, 399.
+
+PETERWARDEIN, strength of, 406.
+
+PHILIP (of Burgundy), obtains the dukedom of Burgundy, 84.
+
+PHILIP III. institutes the order of the Golden Fleece, 372.
+
+PHILIP IV. (of Spain) obtains renunciation of succession in favor of
+    Margaret, 314.
+  resolve of, to maintain his throne, 341.
+  supported by his subjects, 342.
+  flight of, from Catalona, 343.
+
+PHILIP V. despondency of, 369.
+  abdication of, 370.
+  resumes his crown, 371.
+
+PILGRAM, diet at, 66.
+
+PIUS IV. elected pope, 162.
+
+PODIEBRAD (George), assumes regal authority, 66.
+  intrusted with the regency of Bohemia, 68.
+  elected King of Bohemia, 73.
+
+POLAND, conditions affixed to the throne of, 180.
+  Stephen Barthori chosen king of, by the minority, 181.
+  attempts of France to place Stanislaus on the throne of, 383.
+  Count Poniatowski secures the crown of, 484.
+  to be carved out, 485.
+  annihilation of, 486.
+
+POMERANIA, seizure of, by Ferdinand, 269.
+
+POMPADOUR (Marchioness of), arrogance of the, 464.
+
+PONIATOWSZI (Count), elected King of Poland, 484.
+
+POPE, the, letter of Rhodolph to, 24.
+  character of Pope Gregory N., 24.
+  indignation of the, 38.
+  capitulation of the, 84.
+  (Alexander VI.) bribery of, 89.
+  (Julius II.) the, bought over, 92.
+    bull of the, deposing the King of Naples, 93.
+    demands of the, as booty, 95.
+    infamy of, 95.
+    infamous acquisitions of, 98.
+    proclamation against the, by Maximilian, 98.
+    death of, 100.
+  John of Medici elected as, 100.
+  (Leo X.), command of the, to Luther to repair to Rome, 102.
+  Maximilian's contempt for the, 103.
+  bull of the, against Luther, 108.
+  bull of the, burned by Luther, 109.
+  death of Leo X., the, 113.
+  (Adrian), accession of, as, 113.
+  (Clement VII.) succeeds Adrian, 116.
+    offer of pardon by the, for those who assist in enforcing the
+      Council of Trent, 125.
+  disgust of the, against Charles V., 129.
+  (Julius III.) elected as, 130.
+  indignation of the, at the toleration of the diet at Passau, 138.
+  the, allows Maximilian to assume the title of emperor elect, 161.
+  intolerant pride of, 161.
+  (Pius IV.) elected as, 162.
+  dependence on the, dispensed with, 163.
+  refusal of the, to reform abuses, 165.
+  attempts of the, to influence Maximilian II., 174.
+  aid extended to Leopold by the, 311.
+  embassage from Charles II. to the, 329.
+  alarm of the, at the innovations of  Joseph II., 494.
+
+PRAGMATIC SANCTION, the, 364.
+  the, supported by various powers, 461.
+
+PRAGUE, Ferdinand crushes the revolt in. 156.
+  diet at, 158.
+  seizure of, by Leopold, 221.
+  archbishop of, expelled from the city, 239.
+  indignation of the inhabitants of, against Frederic, 262.
+  surrender of, to Ferdinand, 262.
+  surrender of, to the Austrians, 443.
+  suffering in, on account of the siege, 472.
+
+PRAUNSTEIN (Lord of), reasons for the, declaring war, 80.
+
+PRECOCITY, not a modern innovation, 108.
+
+PRESBURG, diet at, 309.
+
+PRESS, success of the, in diffusing intelligence, 102.
+
+PRINTING, the influence of, beginning to be felt, 83.
+
+PRIVILEGES confined to the nobles, 187.
+
+PROTEST of the minority at the diet of Spires, 116.
+
+PROTESTANTISM, spread of, in Europe, 163.
+  its working for liberty, 264.
+
+PROTESTANTS, assembly of, at Smalkalde, 121.
+  refusal of the, to assist Charles V, 122.
+  contributions of the, to expel the Turks, 122.
+  increase of the, 123.
+  the, reject the council of Trent, 124.
+  ruin of the army of the, by Charles V., 126.
+  party of the, predominant in Germany, 183.
+  shameful quarreling among the, 190.
+  union of, at Aschhausen, 194.
+  opposition of the, to Matthias, 206.
+  their demands on Matthias, 207.
+  reasonable demands of, 211.
+  forces of the, vanquished at Pritznitz, 259.
+  secret combinations of the, for the rising of the, 267.
+  concessions to, revoked by Ferdinand, 276.
+  the, prefer the Duke of Bavaria to any of the family of Ferdinand, 279.
+  loss of the, in the death of Gustavus, 296.
+  pleasure of the, at the entry of Frederic into Silesia, 419.
+
+PRUSSIA, inhabited by a pagan race, 20.
+  alliance of, with Austria, 459.
+  alliance of, with England, 466.
+  a subsidy voted to, by England, 475.
+  formidable preparations against, 470.
+
+PRUSSIANS, the, driven from Bohemia, 450.
+
+
+RAAB taken by the Turks, 147.
+
+RAGOTSKY (Francis), leader of the rebellion, 333.
+  assembles a diet, 349.
+  chosen dux, or leader, 350.
+  outlawed, and escape of, 351.
+
+RATISBON, diet at, in 1629, 275.
+  refusal of, to accept Ferdinand's word, 276.
+
+REFORMATION, commencement of the, 103.
+
+RELIGION, remarkable solicitude for the reputation of, 98.
+
+REWARD offered for the head of Rhodolph, 30.
+
+RHODOLPH (of Hapsburg), at the time of his father's death, 18.
+  presentation of, by the emperor for baptism, 19,
+  his incursions, 19.
+  marriage, 19.
+  excommunication of, 20.
+  engaged in Prussian crusade, 20.
+  a monument reared to, by the city of Strasburg, 21.
+  principles of honor, 21.
+  chosen chief of Uri, Schweitz, and Underwalden, 21.
+  chosen mayor of Zurich, 21.
+  elected Emperor of Germany, 23.
+  power of, as emperor, 25.
+  family of, 25.
+  gathering clouds around, 28.
+  address of the citizens of Vienna to, 28.
+  death of, 35.
+
+RHODOLPH II., character and court of, 48.
+  ostentatious titles of, 51.
+  death of, 51.
+
+RHODOLPH III, crowned King of Hungary, 178.
+  obtains the imperial throne, 180.
+  bigotry of, 187.
+  his infringement of the rights of the burghers, 188.
+  his blows against Protestantism, 189.
+  intolerance of in Bohemia, 193.
+  superstition of, 200.
+  his favor to Ferdinand; 204.
+  demands of the Protestants on, 205.
+  his encouragement of filibustering expeditions, 208.
+  remarkable pliancy of, 210.
+  his terror at the chance of assassination, 212.
+  political reconciliation between Matthias and, 219.
+  his plot with Leopold, 220.
+  Rhodolph taken prisoner, 221.
+  his abdication, 222.
+  required to absolve his subjects from their oath of allegiance, 223.
+  retains the crown of Germany, 225.
+  supplication of to the congress at Rothemberg, 226.
+  a congress at Nuremberg summoned by, 227.
+  death of, 228.
+
+RHODOLPH (of Bohemia), death of, 39.
+
+RHINE, separating Basle from Rhodolph, 23.
+
+RICHELIEU, motives influencing, 267.
+  ambassadors of urge the Duke of Bavaria as candidate for the imperial
+    crown, 279.
+
+RIPPERDA (Baron), the secret agent of the Queen of Spain at Vienna, 373.
+  rise and fall of, 375.
+  escape of to England, 376.
+
+ROBINSON (Sir Thomas), interview of with Maria Theresa, 454.
+
+ROTHENBURG, congress at, 226.
+
+RUSSIA, growing power of, 399.
+  succession of the crown of, 399.
+  instrumental in placing Augustus II on the throne, 400.
+
+
+SARAGOSSA, battle of, 343.
+
+SAXONY, defeat of the Elector of, 128.
+  nobility of, 128.
+  degradation of, 129.
+  power of, 132.
+  the electorate of, passes to Augustus, 137.
+
+SCHARTLIN (General), the Protestants march under, 125.
+
+SCHWEITZ, Rhodolph of Hapsburg chosen chief of, 21.
+
+SCLAVONIA, marriage of the Duke of to the daughter of Rhodolph, 25.
+
+SECKENDORF, (General), the Austrian army intrusted to, 400.
+  his plans of campaign broken up by Charles, 402.
+  capture of Nissa by, 402.
+  condemned to the dungeon, 402.
+
+SECRET ARTICLES of the treaty with Austria, 376.
+
+SEGEBERG, league at, 267.
+
+SCHMETTAU (General), the retreat of Wallis arrested by, 407.
+  compelled to yield Belgrade, 409.
+
+SELIM succeeds Solyman, 177.
+
+SEMENDRIA, defense of, 64.
+  its capture, 65.
+
+SEMPACH, battle of, 55.
+
+SERFS emancipated by Joseph II., 494.
+  his plan for seizing Bavaria frustrated, 495.
+
+SEVEN YEARS' WAR, termination of the, 481.
+
+SICILY, subjugated and attached to the Neapolitan crown, 388.
+
+SIGISMOND (Francis, Duke of Tyrol), his alliance with Rhodolph, 195.
+  representation in the diet introduced by, 308.
+  death of, 314.
+
+SIGISMOND (of Bohemia), power of, 60.
+  address of to the diet at Znaim, 61.
+  death of, 62.
+
+SILESIA sold to Rhodolph, 195.
+  taken possession of by Frederic, 418.
+
+SISECK, Turks routed at, 195.
+
+SLAVATA thrown from the palace by the mob, 238.
+
+SMALKALDE, assembly of the Protestants at, 121.
+
+SOLYMAN (the Magnificent), victories of, 146.
+  reply of to the demand made by Ferdinand, 147.
+  his method of overcoming difficulties, 149.
+  his attack upon Guntz, 150.
+  his price of peace with Hungary, 153.
+  death of from rage, 176.
+
+SPAIN decreed by the will of Charles II. to succeed to France, 331.
+  espouses the cause of Ferdinand II., 256.
+  assistance furnished Leopold by, 311.
+  invasion of by the British and Charles III., 354.
+  treaty between Austria and, 373.
+  the Austrians forbidden to trade in,  380.
+  invasion of Italy by, 388.
+
+SPANIARDS, the, routed at Catalonia, 343.
+
+ST. BARTHOLOMEW, massacre of, 171.
+
+ST. GOTHARD, troops stationed at, 311.
+  battle of, 312.
+
+ST. ILDEFONSO, the palace of, 370.
+
+ST. JUSTUS, convent of, 140.
+
+ST. PETERSBURG, rearing of the city of, 399.
+
+STANHOPE (General), bearing of, 342.
+  desperate position of, 347.
+
+STANISLAUS LECZINSKI, career of, 382.
+  daughter of married to Louis XV., 382.
+  receives a pension from France, 383.
+  elected King of Poland, 383.
+  his marvelous journey through Germany, 384.
+
+STAREMBERG (General), bearing of, 342.
+
+STATE, the independence of each German, 18.
+
+STEPHEN, crowning of the infant as king, 152.
+
+STEPHEN BOTSKOI, indignity offered to, 197.
+  his manifesto, 198.
+  proclaimed King of Hungary, 199.
+
+STETTIN captured by Gustavus Adolphus, 281.
+
+STETZIM, diet at, 349.
+
+STRALSUND, defense of, 269.
+
+STRICKLAND sent to London to overthrow the cabinet, 392.
+
+STYRIA traversed by the Turks, 311.
+
+SWEDEN roused by Gustavus Adolphus
+  against Ferdinand II., 280.
+  prudent conduct of on death of Gustavus, 297.
+
+SWEDES, sorrow of the at the death of Gustavus, 294.
+
+SWITZERLAND, divisions of, 40.
+
+
+THURN (Count) leads the mob to the king's council, 237.
+  appointed commander of the Protestants, 338.
+  invades Austria, 247.
+
+TILLY (Count), the imperial troops intrusted to, 282.
+
+TITIAN, graceful compliment of Charles V to, 144.
+
+TRAUSNITZ, Frederic I. a prisoner at the castle of, 43.
+
+TRANSYLVANIA, rebellion in, 333.
+
+TREASURE abandoned by the Turks, 323.
+
+TREATY of Passau, 136.
+
+TRENT, Council of, 124.
+  the second council at, 130.
+  council at in 1562, 164.
+  declarations of, 166
+
+TRIBUNAL at Eperies, 324.
+
+TRIESTE, arrival of troops at, 94.
+
+TURENNE, the Palatinate devastated by, 315.
+  challenged by the Elector of Palatinate, 316.
+
+TURIN, the court of bribed, 89.
+
+TURKS, origin and increase of the, 63.
+  defeat of at Belgrade, 70.
+  spread of the, 121.
+  invasion of Hungary by the, 122.
+  the, driven from Hungary, 122.
+  treaty of Charles V. with the, 123.
+  victorious in Hungary, 136.
+  invasion of Europe by the, 145.
+  compelled to return home, 148.
+  the, retire from Hungary, 177.
+  peace made by Maximilian with the, 178.
+  invasion of Croatia by the, 195.
+  union of the with the forces of Botskoi, 199.
+  truce of Hungary with the, 203.
+  the, conclude a peace with Austria, 231.
+  invasion of Hungary by the, 310.
+  defeat of on the field of St. Gothard, 312.
+  favorable treaty secured by the, 313.
+  the invasion of Sclavonia by the, 360.
+  destruction of the army of the, 363.
+  the, implore peace, 364.
+  Orsova besieged by the, 404.
+  the, routed at Einmik, 499.
+
+TUSCANY, subjugation of by Charles VIII, 84.
+  aid furnished Leopold by, 311.
+  death of the Duke of, 398.
+
+TYROL, marriage of Albert to Elizabeth,
+  daughter of the Count of, 25.
+  possession of obtained by Rhodolph II., 50.
+  its power as the key to Italy, 313.
+  death of the Duke of, 314.
+
+
+ULADISLAUS obtains the throne of Hungary, 66.
+
+ULM, rendezvous of the Protestants at, 257.
+
+ULRIC, the Protestant Duke of restored to Wirtemberg, 122.
+
+UNDERWALDEN, Rhodolph of Hapsburg chosen chief of, 21.
+
+URI, Rhodolph of Hapsburg chosen chief of, 21.
+
+UTTLEBERG, capture of the castle of by Rhodolph, 22.
+
+
+VALERIUS BARTHOLOMEW, the king's confessor, 248.
+
+VALLADOLID, court of Philip established at, 343.
+
+VENDOME (General) joins Philip, 313.
+
+VENICE bribed, 89.
+  Maximilian bound by truce with, 95.
+  aid furnished Leopold by, 311.
+
+VICTOR ASMEDEUS, business of, 369.
+
+VIENNA one of the strongest defenses of the empire, 26.
+  the king's residence at, 27.
+  address of the citizens of to Rhodolph, 28.
+  siege of, 74.
+  the professors of the university at avow the doctrines of Luther, 114.
+  assault of, 320.
+  delivered by Sobieski, 322.
+
+
+WALLENSTEIN made generalissimo of all the forces, 268.
+  arrogance of, 273.
+  matrimonial alliances of, 274.
+  his dismissal from the army demanded, 276.
+  he retires from the army 278.
+  his regal mode of living, 287.
+  his humiliating exactions from the emperor, 289.
+  superstition of, 291.
+  urges Ferdinand to make peace, 297.
+  traitorous offer to surrender to the Swedes, 298.
+  his assassination, 299.
+
+WALLIS (Marshal) given the command of the army, 406.
+  arrested by Charles, 413.
+
+WAR, its debit and credit account, 359.
+  (see also the various campaigns.)
+
+WATERLOO, its advantage to Austria, 404.
+
+WENCESLAUS acknowledged king, 31.
+  marriage to Judeth, 31.
+  death of, 38.
+
+WESTPHALIA, signing of the peace of, 300.
+  conditions of the treaty of, 301.
+
+WHITE MOUNTAIN, battle of, 259.
+
+WILLIAM (son of Leopold), demand of for the government, 58.
+  marriage of, 59.
+
+WINKELREID (Arnold), heroism of, 56.
+
+WISMAR, the naval depot of Ferdinand, 268.
+
+WITTEMBERG, procession of the students of, 109.
+
+WORMS, diet at in 1521, 108.
+  the diet of inveighs Luther, 110.
+
+
+ZEALAND, encampment of Charles Gustavus in, 306.
+
+ZIGETH, heroic defense of by Nicholas, 176.
+  noble death of the garrison of, 177.
+
+ZINZENDORF, remark of, 393.
+
+ZNAIM, diet at, 61.
+
+ZURICH, Rhodolph of Hapsburg chosen chief of, 21.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA; ITS RISE AND
+PRESENT POWER***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 16070.txt or 16070.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/0/7/16070
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+