Less apprehensive of open enemies, than of the jealousy
of the friendly powers, he left Upper Germany, which he had secured
by conquests and alliances, and set out in person to prevent
a total defection of the Lower German states, or, what would have been
almost equally ruinous to Sweden, a private alliance among themselves.
Offended at the boldness with which the chancellor assumed
the direction of affairs, and inwardly exasperated at the thought
of being dictated to by a Swedish nobleman, the Elector of Saxony
again meditated a dangerous separation from Sweden; and the only question
in his mind was, whether he should make full terms with the Emperor,
or place himself at the head of the Protestants and form a third party
in Germany.  Similar ideas were cherished by Duke Ulric of Brunswick, who,
indeed, showed them openly enough by forbidding the Swedes from recruiting
within his dominions, and inviting the Lower Saxon states to Luneburg,
for the purpose of forming a confederacy among themselves.
The Elector of Brandenburg, jealous of the influence which Saxony was likely
to attain in Lower Germany, alone manifested any zeal for the interests
of the Swedish throne, which, in thought, he already destined for his son.
At the court of Saxony, Oxenstiern was no doubt honourably received;
but, notwithstanding the personal efforts of the Elector of Brandenburg,
empty promises of continued friendship were all which he could obtain.
With the Duke of Brunswick he was more successful, for with him he ventured
to assume a bolder tone.  Sweden was at the time in possession of
the See of Magdeburg, the bishop of which had the power of assembling
the Lower Saxon circle.  The chancellor now asserted the rights of the crown,
and by this spirited proceeding, put a stop for the present
to this dangerous assembly designed by the duke.  The main object,
however, of his present journey and of his future endeavours,
a general confederacy of the Protestants, miscarried entirely,
and he was obliged to content himself with some unsteady alliances
in the Saxon circles, and with the weaker assistance of Upper Germany.

As the Bavarians were too powerful on the Danube, the assembly of
the four Upper Circles, which should have been held at Ulm, was removed
to Heilbronn, where deputies of more than twelve cities of the empire,
with a brilliant crowd of doctors, counts, and princes, attended.
The ambassadors of foreign powers likewise, France, England, and Holland,
attended this Congress, at which Oxenstiern appeared in person,
with all the splendour of the crown whose representative he was.
He himself opened the proceedings, and conducted the deliberations.
After receiving from all the assembled estates assurances of
unshaken fidelity, perseverance, and unity, he required of them
solemnly and formally to declare the Emperor and the league as enemies.
But desirable as it was for Sweden to exasperate the ill-feeling
between the emperor and the estates into a formal rupture, the latter,
on the other hand, were equally indisposed to shut out the possibility
of reconciliation, by so decided a step, and to place themselves
entirely in the hands of the Swedes.  They maintained,
that any formal declaration of war was useless and superfluous,
where the act would speak for itself, and their firmness on this point
silenced at last the chancellor.  Warmer disputes arose
on the third and principal article of the treaty, concerning the means
of prosecuting the war, and the quota which the several states
ought to furnish for the support of the army.  Oxenstiern's maxim,
to throw as much as possible of the common burden on the states,
did not suit very well with their determination to give as little as possible.
The Swedish chancellor now experienced, what had been felt by thirty emperors
before him, to their cost, that of all difficult undertakings,
the most difficult was to extort money from the Germans.  Instead of granting
the necessary sums for the new armies to be raised, they eloquently dwelt upon
the calamities occasioned by the former, and demanded relief
from the old burdens, when they were required to submit to new.
The irritation which the chancellor's demand for money
raised among the states, gave rise to a thousand complaints;
and the outrages committed by the troops, in their marches and quarters,
were dwelt upon with a startling minuteness and truth.

In the service of two absolute monarchs, Oxenstiern had but little opportunity
to become accustomed to the formalities and cautious proceedings
of republican deliberations, or to bear opposition with patience.
Ready to act, the instant the necessity of action was apparent,
and inflexible in his resolution, when he had once taken it,
he was at a loss to comprehend the inconsistency of most men,
who, while they desire the end, are yet averse to the means.
Prompt and impetuous by nature, he was so on this occasion from principle;
for every thing depended on concealing the weakness of Sweden,
under a firm and confident speech, and by assuming the tone of a lawgiver,
really to become so.  It was nothing wonderful, therefore, if,
amidst these interminable discussions with German doctors and deputies,
he was entirely out of his sphere, and if the deliberateness which
distinguishes the character of the Germans in their public deliberations,
had driven him almost to despair.  Without respecting a custom,
to which even the most powerful of the emperors had been obliged to conform,
he rejected all written deliberations which suited so well
with the national slowness of resolve.  He could not conceive how ten days
could be spent in debating a measure, which with himself was decided
upon its bare suggestion.  Harshly, however, as he treated the States,
he found them ready enough to assent to his fourth motion,
which concerned himself.  When he pointed out the necessity of giving
a head and a director to the new confederation, that honour
was unanimously assigned to Sweden, and he himself was humbly requested
to give to the common cause the benefit of his enlightened experience,
and to take upon himself the burden of the supreme command.
But in order to prevent his abusing the great powers thus conferred upon him,
it was proposed, not without French influence, to appoint
a number of overseers, in fact, under the name of assistants,
to control the expenditure of the common treasure, and to consult with him
as to the levies, marches, and quarterings of the troops.
Oxenstiern long and strenuously resisted this limitation of his authority,
which could not fail to trammel him in the execution of every enterprise
requiring promptitude or secrecy, and at last succeeded, with difficulty,
in obtaining so far a modification of it, that his management
in affairs of war was to be uncontrolled.  The chancellor finally approached
the delicate point of the indemnification which Sweden was to expect
at the conclusion of the war, from the gratitude of the allies,
and flattered himself with the hope that Pomerania, the main object of Sweden,
would be assigned to her, and that he would obtain from the provinces,
assurances of effectual cooperation in its acquisition.  But he could obtain
nothing more than a vague assurance, that in a general peace
the interests of all parties would be attended to.  That on this point,
the caution of the estates was not owing to any regard for the constitution
of the empire, became manifest from the liberality they evinced
towards the chancellor, at the expense of the most sacred laws of the empire.
They were ready to grant him the archbishopric of Mentz,
(which he already held as a conquest,) and only with difficulty
did the French ambassador succeed in preventing a step,
which was as impolitic as it was disgraceful.  Though on the whole,
the result of the congress had fallen far short of Oxenstiern's expectations,
he had at least gained for himself and his crown his main object, namely,
the direction of the whole confederacy; he had also succeeded in strengthening
the bond of union between the four upper circles, and obtained from the states
a yearly contribution of two millions and a half of dollars,
for the maintenance of the army.

These concessions on the part of the States, demanded some return from Sweden.
A few weeks after the death of Gustavus Adolphus, sorrow ended the days
of the unfortunate Elector Palatine.  For eight months he had swelled
the pomp of his protector's court, and expended on it the small remainder
of his patrimony.  He was, at last, approaching the goal of his wishes,
and the prospect of a brighter future was opening, when death deprived him
of his protector.  But what he regarded as the greatest calamity,
was highly favourable to his heirs.  Gustavus might venture to delay
the restoration of his dominions, or to load the gift with hard conditions;
but Oxenstiern, to whom the friendship of England, Holland, and Brandenburg,
and the good opinion of the Reformed States were indispensable,
felt the necessity of immediately fulfilling the obligations of justice.
At this assembly, at Heilbronn, therefore, he engaged to surrender
to Frederick's heirs the whole Palatinate, both the part already conquered,
and that which remained to be conquered, with the exception of Manheim,
which the Swedes were to hold, until they should be indemnified
for their expenses.  The Chancellor did not confine his liberality
to the family of the Palatine alone; the other allied princes received proofs,
though at a later period, of the gratitude of Sweden, which, however,
she dispensed at little cost to herself.

Impartiality, the most sacred obligation of the historian, here compels us
to an admission, not much to the honour of the champions of German liberty.
However the Protestant Princes might boast of the justice of their cause,
and the sincerity of their conviction, still the motives from which they acted
were selfish enough; and the desire of stripping others of their possessions,
had at least as great a share in the commencement of hostilities,
as the fear of being deprived of their own.  Gustavus soon found
that he might reckon much more on these selfish motives,
than on their patriotic zeal, and did not fail to avail himself of them.
Each of his confederates received from him the promise of some possession,
either already wrested, or to be afterwards taken from the enemy;
and death alone prevented him from fulfilling these engagements.
What prudence had suggested to the king, necessity now prescribed
to his successor.  If it was his object to continue the war,
he must be ready to divide the spoil among the allies, and promise them
advantages from the confusion which it was his object to continue.
Thus he promised to the Landgrave of Hesse, the abbacies of Paderborn, Corvey,
Munster, and Fulda; to Duke Bernard of Weimar, the Franconian Bishoprics;
to the Duke of Wirtemberg, the Ecclesiastical domains,
and the Austrian counties lying within his territories,
all under the title of fiefs of Sweden.  This spectacle,
so strange and so dishonourable to the German character,
surprised the Chancellor, who found it difficult to repress his contempt,
and on one occasion exclaimed, "Let it be writ in our records,
for an everlasting memorial, that a German prince made such a request
of a Swedish nobleman, and that the Swedish nobleman granted it to the German
upon German ground!"

After these successful measures, he was in a condition to take the field,
and prosecute the war with fresh vigour.  Soon after the victory at Lutzen,
the troops of Saxony and Lunenburg united with the Swedish main body;
and the Imperialists were, in a short time, totally driven from Saxony.
The united army again divided:  the Saxons marched towards
Lusatia and Silesia, to act in conjunction with Count Thurn
against the Austrians in that quarter; a part of the Swedish army
was led by the Duke of Weimar into Franconia, and the other by George,
Duke of Brunswick, into Westphalia and Lower Saxony.

The conquests on the Lech and the Danube, during Gustavus's expedition
into Saxony, had been maintained by the Palatine of Birkenfeld,
and the Swedish General Banner, against the Bavarians;
but unable to hold their ground against the victorious progress of the latter,
supported as they were by the bravery and military experience
of the Imperial General Altringer, they were under the necessity
of summoning the Swedish General Horn to their assistance, from Alsace.
This experienced general having captured the towns of Benfeld,
Schlettstadt, Colmar, and Hagenau, committed the defence of them
to the Rhinegrave Otto Louis, and hastily crossed the Rhine
to form a junction with Banner's army.  But although the combined force
amounted to more than 16,000, they could not prevent the enemy
from obtaining a strong position on the Swabian frontier, taking Kempten,
and being joined by seven regiments from Bohemia.  In order to retain
the command of the important banks of the Lech and the Danube,
they were under the necessity of recalling the Rhinegrave Otto Louis
from Alsace, where he had, after the departure of Horn,
found it difficult to defend himself against the exasperated peasantry.
With his army, he was now summoned to strengthen the army on the Danube;
and as even this reinforcement was insufficient, Duke Bernard of Weimar
was earnestly pressed to turn his arms into this quarter.

Duke Bernard, soon after the opening of the campaign of 1633,
had made himself master of the town and territory of Bamberg,
and was now threatening Wurtzburg.  But on receiving the summons
of General Horn, without delay he began his march towards the Danube,
defeated on his way a Bavarian army under John de Werth, and joined the Swedes
near Donauwerth.  This numerous force, commanded by excellent generals,
now threatened Bavaria with a fearful inroad.  The bishopric of Eichstadt
was completely overrun, and Ingoldstadt was on the point of being delivered up
by treachery to the Swedes.  Altringer, fettered in his movements
by the express order of the Duke of Friedland, and left without assistance
from Bohemia, was unable to check the progress of the enemy.
The most favourable circumstances combined to further the progress
of the Swedish arms in this quarter, when the operations of the army
were at once stopped by a mutiny among the officers.

All the previous successes in Germany were owing altogether to arms;
the greatness of Gustavus himself was the work of the army,
the fruit of their discipline, their bravery, and their persevering courage
under numberless dangers and privations.  However wisely his plans were laid
in the cabinet, it was to the army ultimately that he was indebted
for their execution; and the expanding designs of the general
did but continually impose new burdens on the soldiers.
All the decisive advantages of the war, had been violently gained
by a barbarous sacrifice of the soldiers' lives in winter campaigns,
forced marches, stormings, and pitched battles; for it was Gustavus's maxim
never to decline a battle, so long as it cost him nothing but men.
The soldiers could not long be kept ignorant of their own importance,
and they justly demanded a share in the spoil which had been won
by their own blood.  Yet, frequently, they hardly received their pay;
and the rapacity of individual generals, or the wants of the state,
generally swallowed up the greater part of the sums raised by contributions,
or levied upon the conquered provinces.  For all the privations he endured,
the soldier had no other recompense than the doubtful chance
either of plunder or promotion, in both of which he was often disappointed.
During the lifetime of Gustavus Adolphus, the combined influence
of fear and hope had suppressed any open complaint, but after his death,
the murmurs were loud and universal; and the soldiery seized
the most dangerous moment to impress their superiors with a sense
of their importance.  Two officers, Pfuhl and Mitschefal,
notorious as restless characters, even during the King's life,
set the example in the camp on the Danube, which in a few days was imitated
by almost all the officers of the army.  They solemnly bound themselves
to obey no orders, till these arrears, now outstanding for months,
and even years, should be paid up, and a gratuity, either in money or lands,
made to each man, according to his services.  "Immense sums," they said,
"were daily raised by contributions, and all dissipated by a few.
They were called out to serve amidst frost and snow, and no reward
requited their incessant labours.  The soldiers' excesses at Heilbronn
had been blamed, but no one ever talked of their services.
The world rung with the tidings of conquests and victories,
but it was by their hands that they had been fought and won."

The number of the malcontents daily increased; and they even attempted
by letters, (which were fortunately intercepted,) to seduce the armies
on the Rhine and in Saxony.  Neither the representations of Bernard of Weimar,
nor the stern reproaches of his harsher associate in command,
could suppress this mutiny, while the vehemence of Horn seemed only
to increase the insolence of the insurgents.  The conditions they insisted on,
were that certain towns should be assigned to each regiment
for the payment of arrears.  Four weeks were allowed to the Swedish Chancellor
to comply with these demands; and in case of refusal, they announced
that they would pay themselves, and never more draw a sword for Sweden.

These pressing demands, made at the very time when the military chest
was exhausted, and credit at a low ebb, greatly embarrassed the chancellor.
The remedy, he saw, must be found quickly, before the contagion should spread
to the other troops, and he should be deserted by all his armies at once.
Among all the Swedish generals, there was only one of sufficient authority
and influence with the soldiers to put an end to this dispute.
The Duke of Weimar was the favourite of the army, and his prudent moderation
had won the good-will of the soldiers, while his military experience
had excited their admiration.  He now undertook the task
of appeasing the discontented troops; but, aware of his importance,
he embraced the opportunity to make advantageous stipulations for himself,
and to make the embarrassment of the chancellor subservient to his own views.

Gustavus Adolphus had flattered him with the promise of the Duchy
of Franconia, to be formed out of the Bishoprics of Wurtzburg and Bamberg,
and he now insisted on the performance of this pledge.
He at the same time demanded the chief command, as generalissimo of Sweden.
The abuse which the Duke of Weimar thus made of his influence,
so irritated Oxenstiern, that, in the first moment of his displeasure,
he gave him his dismissal from the Swedish service.  But he soon
thought better of it, and determined, instead of sacrificing
so important a leader, to attach him to the Swedish interests at any cost.
He therefore granted to him the Franconian bishoprics,
as a fief of the Swedish crown, reserving, however, the two fortresses
of Wurtzburg and Koenigshofen, which were to be garrisoned by the Swedes;
and also engaged, in name of the Swedish crown, to secure these territories
to the duke.  His demand of the supreme authority was evaded
on some specious pretext.  The duke did not delay to display his gratitude
for this valuable grant, and by his influence and activity
soon restored tranquillity to the army.  Large sums of money,
and still more extensive estates, were divided among the officers,
amounting in value to about five millions of dollars,
and to which they had no other right but that of conquest.  In the mean time,
however, the opportunity for a great undertaking had been lost,
and the united generals divided their forces to oppose the enemy
in other quarters.

Gustavus Horn, after a short inroad into the Upper Palatinate,
and the capture of Neumark, directed his march towards the Swabian frontier,
where the Imperialists, strongly reinforced, threatened Wuertemberg.
At his approach, the enemy retired to the Lake of Constance, but only
to show the Swedes the road into a district hitherto unvisited by war.
A post on the entrance to Switzerland, would be highly serviceable
to the Swedes, and the town of Kostnitz seemed peculiarly well fitted
to be a point of communication between him and the confederated cantons.
Accordingly, Gustavus Horn immediately commenced the siege of it;
but destitute of artillery, for which he was obliged to send to Wirtemberg,
he could not press the attack with sufficient vigour, to prevent the enemy
from throwing supplies into the town, which the lake afforded them
convenient opportunity of doing.  He, therefore, after an ineffectual attempt,
quitted the place and its neighbourhood, and hastened to meet
a more threatening danger upon the Danube.

At the Emperor's instigation, the Cardinal Infante, the brother of
Philip IV. of Spain, and the Viceroy of Milan, had raised an army
of 14,000 men, intended to act upon the Rhine, independently of Wallenstein,
and to protect Alsace.  This force now appeared in Bavaria,
under the command of the Duke of Feria, a Spaniard; and, that they might be
directly employed against the Swedes, Altringer was ordered to join them
with his corps.  Upon the first intelligence of their approach,
Horn had summoned to his assistance the Palsgrave of Birkenfeld,
from the Rhine; and being joined by him at Stockach, boldly advanced
to meet the enemy's army of 30,000 men.

The latter had taken the route across the Danube into Swabia,
where Gustavus Horn came so close upon them, that the two armies
were only separated from each other by half a German mile.
But, instead of accepting the offer of battle, the Imperialists moved
by the Forest towns towards Briesgau and Alsace, where they arrived in time
to relieve Breysack, and to arrest the victorious progress of the Rhinegrave,
Otto Louis.  The latter had, shortly before, taken the Forest towns,
and, supported by the Palatine of Birkenfeld, who had liberated
the Lower Palatinate and beaten the Duke of Lorraine out of the field,
had once more given the superiority to the Swedish arms in that quarter.
He was now forced to retire before the superior numbers of the enemy;
but Horn and Birkenfeld quickly advanced to his support,
and the Imperialists, after a brief triumph, were again expelled from Alsace.
The severity of the autumn, in which this hapless retreat had to be conducted,
proved fatal to most of the Italians; and their leader, the Duke of Feria,
died of grief at the failure of his enterprise.

In the mean time, Duke Bernard of Weimar had taken up his position
on the Danube, with eighteen regiments of infantry and 140 squadrons of horse,
to cover Franconia, and to watch the movements of the Imperial-Bavarian army
upon that river.  No sooner had Altringer departed, to join
the Italians under Feria, than Bernard, profiting by his absence,
hastened across the Danube, and with the rapidity of lightning
appeared before Ratisbon.  The possession of this town
would ensure the success of the Swedish designs upon Bavaria and Austria;
it would establish them firmly on the Danube, and provide a safe refuge
in case of defeat, while it alone could give permanence to their conquests
in that quarter.  To defend Ratisbon, was the urgent advice
which the dying Tilly left to the Elector; and Gustavus Adolphus
had lamented it as an irreparable loss, that the Bavarians had anticipated him
in taking possession of this place.  Indescribable, therefore,
was the consternation of Maximilian, when Duke Bernard suddenly appeared
before the town, and prepared in earnest to besiege it.

The garrison consisted of not more than fifteen companies,
mostly newly-raised soldiers; although that number was more than sufficient
to weary out an enemy of far superior force, if supported
by well-disposed and warlike inhabitants.  But this was not
the greatest danger which the Bavarian garrison had to contend against.
The Protestant inhabitants of Ratisbon, equally jealous
of their civil and religious freedom, had unwillingly submitted
to the yoke of Bavaria, and had long looked with impatience
for the appearance of a deliverer.  Bernard's arrival before the walls
filled them with lively joy; and there was much reason to fear
that they would support the attempts of the besiegers without,
by exciting a tumult within.  In this perplexity, the Elector addressed
the most pressing entreaties to the Emperor and the Duke of Friedland
to assist him, were it only with 5,000 men.  Seven messengers in succession
were despatched by Ferdinand to Wallenstein, who promised immediate succours,
and even announced to the Elector the near advance of 12,000 men under Gallas;
but at the same time forbade that general, under pain of death, to march.
Meanwhile the Bavarian commandant of Ratisbon, in the hope
of speedy assistance, made the best preparations for defence,
armed the Roman Catholic peasants, disarmed and carefully watched
the Protestant citizens, lest they should attempt any hostile design
against the garrison.  But as no relief arrived, and the enemy's artillery
incessantly battered the walls, he consulted his own safety,
and that of the garrison, by an honourable capitulation, and abandoned
the Bavarian officials and ecclesiastics to the conqueror's mercy.

The possession of Ratisbon, enlarged the projects of the duke,
and Bavaria itself now appeared too narrow a field for his bold designs.
He determined to penetrate to the frontiers of Austria,
to arm the Protestant peasantry against the Emperor, and restore to them
their religious liberty.  He had already taken Straubingen,
while another Swedish army was advancing successfully along the northern bank
of the Danube.  At the head of his Swedes, bidding defiance to the severity
of the weather, he reached the mouth of the Iser, which he passed
in the presence of the Bavarian General Werth, who was encamped on that river.
Passau and Lintz trembled for their fate; the terrified Emperor
redoubled his entreaties and commands to Wallenstein, to hasten with all speed
to the relief of the hard-pressed Bavarians.  But here the victorious Bernard,
of his own accord, checked his career of conquest.  Having in front of him
the river Inn, guarded by a number of strong fortresses, and behind him
two hostile armies, a disaffected country, and the river Iser,
while his rear was covered by no tenable position, and no entrenchment
could be made in the frozen ground, and threatened by the whole force
of Wallenstein, who had at last resolved to march to the Danube,
by a timely retreat he escaped the danger of being cut off from Ratisbon,
and surrounded by the enemy.  He hastened across the Iser to the Danube,
to defend the conquests he had made in the Upper Palatinate
against Wallenstein, and fully resolved not to decline a battle,
if necessary, with that general.  But Wallenstein, who was not disposed
for any great exploits on the Danube, did not wait for his approach;
and before the Bavarians could congratulate themselves on his arrival,
he suddenly withdrew again into Bohemia.  The duke thus ended
his victorious campaign, and allowed his troops their well-earned repose
in winter quarters upon an enemy's country.

While in Swabia the war was thus successfully conducted by Gustavus Horn,
and on the Upper and Lower Rhine by the Palatine of Birkenfeld,
General Baudissen, and the Rhinegrave Otto Louis, and by Duke Bernard
on the Danube; the reputation of the Swedish arms was as gloriously sustained
in Lower Saxony and Westphalia by the Duke of Lunenburg and the
Landgrave of Hesse Cassel.  The fortress of Hamel was taken by Duke George,
after a brave defence, and a brilliant victory obtained over the imperial
General Gronsfeld, by the united Swedish and Hessian armies, near Oldendorf.
Count Wasaburg, a natural son of Gustavus Adolphus, showed himself
in this battle worthy of his descent.  Sixteen pieces of cannon,
the whole baggage of the Imperialists, together with 74 colours,
fell into the hands of the Swedes; 3,000 of the enemy perished on the field,
and nearly the same number were taken prisoners.  The town of Osnaburg
surrendered to the Swedish Colonel Knyphausen, and Paderborn to the Landgrave
of Hesse; while, on the other hand, Bueckeburg, a very important place
for the Swedes, fell into the hands of the Imperialists.
The Swedish banners were victorious in almost every quarter of Germany;
and the year after the death of Gustavus, left no trace of the loss
which had been sustained in the person of that great leader.

In a review of the important events which signalized the campaign of 1633,
the inactivity of a man, of whom the highest expectations had been formed,
justly excites astonishment.  Among all the generals
who distinguished themselves in this campaign, none could be compared
with Wallenstein, in experience, talents, and reputation;
and yet, after the battle of Lutzen, we lose sight of him entirely.
The fall of his great rival had left the whole theatre of glory open to him;
all Europe was now attentively awaiting those exploits, which should efface
the remembrance of his defeat, and still prove to the world
his military superiority.  Nevertheless, he continued inactive in Bohemia,
while the Emperor's losses in Bavaria, Lower Saxony, and the Rhine,
pressingly called for his presence -- a conduct equally unintelligible
to friend and foe -- the terror, and, at the same time, the last hope
of the Emperor.  After the defeat of Lutzen he had hastened into Bohemia,
where he instituted the strictest inquiry into the conduct of his officers
in that battle.  Those whom the council of war declared guilty of misconduct,
were put to death without mercy, those who had behaved with bravery,
rewarded with princely munificence, and the memory of the dead honoured
by splendid monuments.  During the winter, he oppressed the imperial provinces
by enormous contributions, and exhausted the Austrian territories
by his winter quarters, which he purposely avoided taking up
in an enemy's country.  And in the spring of 1633, instead of being the first
to open the campaign, with this well-chosen and well-appointed army,
and to make a worthy display of his great abilities, he was the last
who appeared in the field; and even then, it was an hereditary province
of Austria, which he selected as the seat of war.

Of all the Austrian provinces, Silesia was most exposed to danger.
Three different armies, a Swedish under Count Thurn, a Saxon under Arnheim
and the Duke of Lauenburg, and one of Brandenburg under Borgsdorf,
had at the same time carried the war into this country;
they had already taken possession of the most important places,
and even Breslau had embraced the cause of the allies.  But this crowd
of commanders and armies was the very means of saving this province
to the Emperor; for the jealousy of the generals, and the mutual hatred
of the Saxons and the Swedes, never allowed them to act with unanimity.
Arnheim and Thurn contended for the chief command; the troops of
Brandenburg and Saxony combined against the Swedes, whom they looked upon
as troublesome strangers who ought to be got rid of as soon as possible.
The Saxons, on the contrary, lived on a very intimate footing
with the Imperialists, and the officers of both these hostile armies
often visited and entertained each other.  The Imperialists were allowed
to remove their property without hindrance, and many did not affect to conceal
that they had received large sums from Vienna.  Among such equivocal allies,
the Swedes saw themselves sold and betrayed; and any great enterprise
was out of the question, while so bad an understanding
prevailed between the troops.  General Arnheim, too,
was absent the greater part of the time; and when he at last returned,
Wallenstein was fast approaching the frontiers with a formidable force.

His army amounted to 40,000 men, while to oppose him the allies had
only 24,000.  They nevertheless resolved to give him battle,
and marched to Munsterberg, where he had formed an intrenched camp.
But Wallenstein remained inactive for eight days; he then left
his intrenchments, and marched slowly and with composure to the enemy's camp.
But even after quitting his position, and when the enemy,
emboldened by his past delay, manfully prepared to receive him, he declined
the opportunity of fighting.  The caution with which he avoided a battle
was imputed to fear; but the well-established reputation of Wallenstein
enabled him to despise this suspicion.  The vanity of the allies
allowed them not to see that he purposely saved them a defeat,
because a victory at that time would not have served his own ends.
To convince them of his superior power, and that his inactivity proceeded
not from any fear of them, he put to death the commander of a castle
that fell into his hands, because he had refused at once to surrender
an untenable place.

For nine days, did the two armies remain within musket-shot of each other,
when Count Terzky, from the camp of the Imperialists, appeared with
a trumpeter in that of the allies, inviting General Arnheim to a conference.
The purport was, that Wallenstein, notwithstanding his superiority,
was willing to agree to a cessation of arms for six weeks.
"He was come," he said, "to conclude a lasting peace with the Swedes,
and with the princes of the empire, to pay the soldiers,
and to satisfy every one.  All this was in his power;
and if the Austrian court hesitated to confirm his agreement,
he would unite with the allies, and (as he privately whispered to Arnheim)
hunt the Emperor to the devil."  At the second conference,
he expressed himself still more plainly to Count Thurn.
"All the privileges of the Bohemians," he engaged, "should be confirmed anew,
the exiles recalled and restored to their estates, and he himself
would be the first to resign his share of them.  The Jesuits,
as the authors of all past grievances, should be banished, the Swedish crown
indemnified by stated payments, and all the superfluous troops on both sides
employed against the Turks."  The last article explained the whole mystery.
"If," he continued, "HE should obtain the crown of Bohemia,
all the exiles would have reason to applaud his generosity;
perfect toleration of religions should be established within the kingdom,
the Palatine family be reinstated in its rights, and he would accept
the Margraviate of Moravia as a compensation for Mecklenburg.
The allied armies would then, under his command, advance upon Vienna,
and sword in hand, compel the Emperor to ratify the treaty."

Thus was the veil at last removed from the schemes, over which
he had brooded for years in mysterious silence.  Every circumstance
now convinced him that not a moment was to be lost in its execution.
Nothing but a blind confidence in the good fortune and military genius
of the Duke of Friedland, had induced the Emperor, in the face of
the remonstrances of Bavaria and Spain, and at the expense
of his own reputation, to confer upon this imperious leader
such an unlimited command.  But this belief in Wallenstein's being invincible,
had been much weakened by his inaction, and almost entirely overthrown
by the defeat at Lutzen.  His enemies at the imperial court
now renewed their intrigues; and the Emperor's disappointment
at the failure of his hopes, procured for their remonstrances
a favourable reception.  Wallenstein's whole conduct was now reviewed
with the most malicious criticism; his ambitious haughtiness,
his disobedience to the Emperor's orders, were recalled to the recollection
of that jealous prince, as well as the complaints of the Austrian subjects
against his boundless oppression; his fidelity was questioned,
and alarming hints thrown out as to his secret views.  These insinuations,
which the conduct of the duke seemed but too well to justify, failed not
to make a deep impression on Ferdinand; but the step had been taken,
and the great power with which Wallenstein had been invested, could not
be taken from him without danger.  Insensibly to diminish that power,
was the only course that now remained, and, to effect this,
it must in the first place be divided; but, above all, the Emperor's
present dependence on the good will of his general put an end to.
But even this right had been resigned in his engagement with Wallenstein,
and the Emperor's own handwriting secured him against every attempt to unite
another general with him in the command, or to exercise any immediate act
of authority over the troops.  As this disadvantageous contract
could neither be kept nor broken, recourse was had to artifice.
Wallenstein was Imperial Generalissimo in Germany, but his command
extended no further, and he could not presume to exercise any authority
over a foreign army.  A Spanish army was accordingly raised in Milan,
and marched into Germany under a Spanish general.  Wallenstein now ceased
to be indispensable because he was no longer supreme,
and in case of necessity, the Emperor was now provided
with the means of support even against him.

The duke quickly and deeply felt whence this blow came,
and whither it was aimed.  In vain did he protest against this violation
of the compact, to the Cardinal Infante; the Italian army continued its march,
and he was forced to detach General Altringer to join it with a reinforcement.
He took care, indeed, so closely to fetter the latter, as to prevent
the Italian army from acquiring any great reputation in Alsace and Swabia;
but this bold step of the court awakened him from his security,
and warned him of the approach of danger.  That he might not a second time
be deprived of his command, and lose the fruit of all his labours,
he must accelerate the accomplishment of his long meditated designs.
He secured the attachment of his troops by removing the doubtful officers,
and by his liberality to the rest.  He had sacrificed to
the welfare of the army every other order in the state, every consideration
of justice and humanity, and therefore he reckoned upon their gratitude.
At the very moment when he meditated an unparalleled act of ingratitude
against the author of his own good fortune, he founded all his hopes
upon the gratitude which was due to himself.

The leaders of the Silesian armies had no authority from their principals
to consent, on their own discretion, to such important proposals as those
of Wallenstein, and they did not even feel themselves warranted in granting,
for more than a fortnight, the cessation of hostilities which he demanded.
Before the duke disclosed his designs to Sweden and Saxony,
he had deemed it advisable to secure the sanction of France
to his bold undertaking.  For this purpose, a secret negociation
had been carried on with the greatest possible caution and distrust,
by Count Kinsky with Feuquieres, the French ambassador at Dresden,
and had terminated according to his wishes.  Feuquieres received orders
from his court to promise every assistance on the part of France,
and to offer the duke a considerable pecuniary aid in case of need.

But it was this excessive caution to secure himself on all sides,
that led to his ruin.  The French ambassador with astonishment discovered
that a plan, which, more than any other, required secrecy,
had been communicated to the Swedes and the Saxons.  And yet it was
generally known that the Saxon ministry was in the interests of the Emperor,
and on the other hand, the conditions offered to the Swedes
fell too far short of their expectations to be likely to be accepted.
Feuquieres, therefore, could not believe that the duke could be serious
in calculating upon the aid of the latter, and the silence of the former.
He communicated accordingly his doubts and anxieties
to the Swedish chancellor, who equally distrusted the views of Wallenstein,
and disliked his plans.  Although it was no secret to Oxenstiern,
that the duke had formerly entered into a similar negociation
with Gustavus Adolphus, he could not credit the possibility
of inducing a whole army to revolt, and of his extravagant promises.
So daring a design, and such imprudent conduct, seemed not to be consistent
with the duke's reserved and suspicious temper, and he was the more inclined
to consider the whole as the result of dissimulation and treachery,
because he had less reason to doubt his prudence than his honesty.

Oxenstiern's doubts at last affected Arnheim himself, who, in full confidence
in Wallenstein's sincerity, had repaired to the chancellor at Gelnhausen,
to persuade him to lend some of his best regiments to the duke,
to aid him in the execution of the plan.  They began to suspect
that the whole proposal was only a snare to disarm the allies,
and to betray the flower of their troops into the hands of the Emperor.
Wallenstein's well-known character did not contradict the suspicion,
and the inconsistencies in which he afterwards involved himself,
entirely destroyed all confidence in his sincerity.  While he was endeavouring
to draw the Swedes into this alliance, and requiring the help
of their best troops, he declared to Arnheim that they must begin
with expelling the Swedes from the empire; and while the Saxon officers,
relying upon the security of the truce, repaired in great numbers to his camp,
he made an unsuccessful attempt to seize them.  He was the first
to break the truce, which some months afterwards he renewed, though not
without great difficulty.  All confidence in his sincerity was lost;
his whole conduct was regarded as a tissue of deceit and low cunning,
devised to weaken the allies and repair his own strength.
This indeed he actually did effect, as his own army daily augmented,
while that of the allies was reduced nearly one half by desertion
and bad provisions.  But he did not make that use of his superiority
which Vienna expected.  When all men were looking for a decisive blow
to be struck, he suddenly renewed the negociations; and when the truce
lulled the allies into security, he as suddenly recommenced hostilities.
All these contradictions arose out of the double and irreconcileable designs
to ruin at once the Emperor and the Swedes, and to conclude a separate peace
with the Saxons.

Impatient at the ill success of his negociations, he at last determined to
display his strength; the more so, as the pressing distress within the empire,
and the growing dissatisfaction of the Imperial court, admitted not
of his making any longer delay.  Before the last cessation of hostilities,
General Holk, from Bohemia, had attacked the circle of Meissen,
laid waste every thing on his route with fire and sword,
driven the Elector into his fortresses, and taken the town of Leipzig.
But the truce in Silesia put a period to his ravages,
and the consequences of his excesses brought him to the grave at Adorf.
As soon as hostilities were recommenced, Wallenstein made a movement,
as if he designed to penetrate through Lusatia into Saxony,
and circulated the report that Piccolomini had already invaded that country.
Arnheim immediately broke up his camp in Silesia, to follow him,
and hastened to the assistance of the Electorate.  By this means
the Swedes were left exposed, who were encamped in small force
under Count Thurn, at Steinau, on the Oder, and this was exactly
what Wallenstein desired.  He allowed the Saxon general to advance
sixteen miles towards Meissen, and then suddenly turning towards the Oder,
surprised the Swedish army in the most complete security.  Their cavalry
were first beaten by General Schafgotsch, who was sent against them,
and the infantry completely surrounded at Steinau by the duke's army
which followed.  Wallenstein gave Count Thurn half an hour to deliberate
whether he would defend himself with 2,500 men, against more than 20,000,
or surrender at discretion.  But there was no room for deliberation.
The army surrendered, and the most complete victory was obtained
without bloodshed.  Colours, baggage, and artillery all fell into the hands
of the victors, the officers were taken into custody,
the privates drafted into the army of Wallenstein.  And now at last,
after a banishment of fourteen years, after numberless changes of fortune,
the author of the Bohemian insurrection, and the remote origin
of this destructive war, the notorious Count Thurn, was in the power
of his enemies.  With blood-thirsty impatience, the arrival of
this great criminal was looked for in Vienna, where they already anticipated
the malicious triumph of sacrificing so distinguished a victim
to public justice.  But to deprive the Jesuits of this pleasure,
was a still sweeter triumph to Wallenstein, and Thurn was set at liberty.
Fortunately for him, he knew more than it was prudent to have divulged
in Vienna, and his enemies were also those of Wallenstein.
A defeat might have been forgiven in Vienna, but this disappointment
of their hopes they could not pardon.  "What should I have done
with this madman?" he writes, with a malicious sneer, to the minister
who called him to account for this unseasonable magnanimity.
"Would to Heaven the enemy had no generals but such as he.
At the head of the Swedish army, he will render us much better service
than in prison."

The victory of Steinau was followed by the capture of Liegnitz, Grossglogau,
and even of Frankfort on the Oder.  Schafgotsch, who remained in Silesia
to complete the subjugation of that province, blockaded Brieg,
and threatened Breslau, though in vain, as that free town was jealous
of its privileges, and devoted to the Swedes.  Colonels Illo and Goetz
were ordered by Wallenstein to the Warta, to push forwards into Pomerania,
and to the coasts of the Baltic, and actually obtained possession
of Landsberg, the key of Pomerania.  While thus the Elector of Brandenburg
and the Duke of Pomerania were made to tremble for their dominions,
Wallenstein himself, with the remainder of his army,
burst suddenly into Lusatia, where he took Goerlitz by storm,
and forced Bautzen to surrender.  But his object was merely to alarm
the Elector of Saxony, not to follow up the advantages already obtained;
and therefore, even with the sword in his hand, he continued his negociations
for peace with Brandenburg and Saxony, but with no better success than before,
as the inconsistencies of his conduct had destroyed all confidence
in his sincerity.  He was therefore on the point of turning his whole force
in earnest against the unfortunate Saxons, and effecting his object
by force of arms, when circumstances compelled him to leave these territories.
The conquests of Duke Bernard upon the Danube, which threatened Austria itself
with immediate danger, urgently demanded his presence in Bavaria;
and the expulsion of the Saxons and Swedes from Silesia,
deprived him of every pretext for longer resisting the Imperial orders,
and leaving the Elector of Bavaria without assistance.  With his main body,
therefore, he immediately set out for the Upper Palatinate,
and his retreat freed Upper Saxony for ever of this formidable enemy.

So long as was possible, he had delayed to move to the rescue of Bavaria,
and on every pretext evaded the commands of the Emperor.  He had, indeed,
after reiterated remonstrances, despatched from Bohemia a reinforcement of
some regiments to Count Altringer, who was defending the Lech and the Danube
against Horn and Bernard, but under the express condition of his acting
merely on the defensive.  He referred the Emperor and the Elector,
whenever they applied to him for aid, to Altringer, who,
as he publicly gave out, had received unlimited powers;
secretly, however, he tied up his hands by the strictest injunctions,
and even threatened him with death, if he exceeded his orders.
When Duke Bernard had appeared before Ratisbon, and the Emperor
as well as the Elector repeated still more urgently their demand for succour,
he pretended he was about to despatch General Gallas with a considerable army
to the Danube; but this movement also was delayed, and Ratisbon,
Straubing, and Cham, as well as the bishopric of Eichstaedt,
fell into the hands of the Swedes.  When at last he could no longer neglect
the orders of the Court, he marched slowly toward the Bavarian frontier,
where he invested the town of Cham, which had been taken by the Swedes.
But no sooner did he learn that on the Swedish side
a diversion was contemplated, by an inroad of the Saxons into Bohemia,
than he availed himself of the report, as a pretext for immediately retreating
into that kingdom.  Every consideration, he urged, must be postponed
to the defence and preservation of the hereditary dominions of the Emperor;
and on this plea, he remained firmly fixed in Bohemia, which he guarded
as if it had been his own property.  And when the Emperor laid upon him
his commands to move towards the Danube, and prevent the Duke of Weimar from
establishing himself in so dangerous a position on the frontiers of Austria,
Wallenstein thought proper to conclude the campaign a second time,
and quartered his troops for the winter in this exhausted kingdom.

Such continued insolence and unexampled contempt of the Imperial orders,
as well as obvious neglect of the common cause, joined to
his equivocal behaviour towards the enemy, tended at last
to convince the Emperor of the truth of those unfavourable reports
with regard to the Duke, which were current through Germany.
The latter had, for a long time, succeeded in glozing over
his criminal correspondence with the enemy, and persuading the Emperor,
still prepossessed in his favour, that the sole object
of his secret conferences was to obtain peace for Germany.  But impenetrable
as he himself believed his proceedings to be, in the course of his conduct,
enough transpired to justify the insinuations with which his rivals
incessantly loaded the ear of the Emperor.  In order to satisfy himself
of the truth or falsehood of these rumours, Ferdinand had already,
at different times, sent spies into Wallenstein's camp; but as the Duke took
the precaution never to commit anything to writing, they returned
with nothing but conjectures.  But when, at last, those ministers
who formerly had been his champions at the court, in consequence of
their estates not being exempted by Wallenstein from the general exactions,
joined his enemies; when the Elector of Bavaria threatened,
in case of Wallenstein being any longer retained in the supreme command,
to unite with the Swedes; when the Spanish ambassador
insisted on his dismissal, and threatened, in case of refusal,
to withdraw the subsidies furnished by his Crown, the Emperor found himself
a second time compelled to deprive him of the command.