As a step towards this end, Wallenstein now demanded the cession
of Mecklenburg, to be held in pledge till the repayment of his advances
for the war.  Ferdinand had already created him Duke of Friedland,
apparently with the view of exalting his own general over Bavaria;
but an ordinary recompense would not satisfy Wallenstein's ambition.
In vain was this new demand, which could be granted only at the expense
of two princes of the empire, actively resisted in the Imperial Council;
in vain did the Spaniards, who had long been offended by his pride,
oppose his elevation.  The powerful support which Wallenstein had purchased
from the imperial councillors prevailed, and Ferdinand was determined,
at whatever cost, to secure the devotion of so indispensable a minister.
For a slight offence, one of the oldest German houses was expelled
from their hereditary dominions, that a creature of the Emperor
might be enriched by their spoils (1628).

Wallenstein now began to assume the title of generalissimo of the Emperor
by sea and land.  Wismar was taken, and a firm footing gained on the Baltic.
Ships were required from Poland and the Hanse towns to carry the war
to the other side of the Baltic; to pursue the Danes into the heart
of their own country, and to compel them to a peace which might
prepare the way to more important conquests.  The communication between
the Lower German States and the Northern powers would be broken,
could the Emperor place himself between them, and encompass Germany,
from the Adriatic to the Sound, (the intervening kingdom of Poland
being already dependent on him,) with an unbroken line of territory.
If such was the Emperor's plan, Wallenstein had a peculiar interest
in its execution.  These possessions on the Baltic should, he intended,
form the first foundation of a power, which had long been the object
of his ambition, and which should enable him to throw off his dependence
on the Emperor.

To effect this object, it was of extreme importance to gain possession
of Stralsund, a town on the Baltic.  Its excellent harbour,
and the short passage from it to the Swedish and Danish coasts,
peculiarly fitted it for a naval station in a war with these powers.
This town, the sixth of the Hanseatic League, enjoyed great privileges
under the Duke of Pomerania, and totally independent of Denmark,
had taken no share in the war.  But neither its neutrality,
nor its privileges, could protect it against the encroachments
of Wallenstein, when he had once cast a longing look upon it.

The request he made, that Stralsund should receive an imperial garrison,
had been firmly and honourably rejected by the magistracy, who also refused
his cunningly demanded permission to march his troops through the town,
Wallenstein, therefore, now proposed to besiege it.

The independence of Stralsund, as securing the free navigation of the Baltic,
was equally important to the two Northern kings.  A common danger
overcame at last the private jealousies which had long divided these princes.
In a treaty concluded at Copenhagen in 1628, they bound themselves
to assist Stralsund with their combined force, and to oppose in common
every foreign power which should appear in the Baltic with hostile views.
Christian IV. also threw a sufficient garrison into Stralsund,
and by his personal presence animated the courage of the citizens.
Some ships of war which Sigismund, King of Poland, had sent
to the assistance of the imperial general, were sunk by the Danish fleet;
and as Lubeck refused him the use of its shipping,
this imperial generalissimo of the sea had not even ships enough
to blockade this single harbour.

Nothing could appear more adventurous than to attempt the conquest
of a strongly fortified seaport without first blockading its harbour.
Wallenstein, however, who as yet had never experienced a check,
wished to conquer nature itself, and to perform impossibilities.  Stralsund,
open to the sea, continued to be supplied with provisions and reinforcements;
yet Wallenstein maintained his blockade on the land side, and endeavoured,
by boasting menaces, to supply his want of real strength.
"I will take this town," said he, "though it were fastened by a chain
to the heavens."  The Emperor himself, who might have cause to regret
an enterprise which promised no very glorious result, joyfully availed himself
of the apparent submission and acceptable propositions of the inhabitants,
to order the general to retire from the town.  Wallenstein despised
the command, and continued to harass the besieged by incessant assaults.
As the Danish garrison, already much reduced, was unequal to the fatigues
of this prolonged defence, and the king was unable to detach
any further troops to their support, Stralsund, with Christian's consent,
threw itself under the protection of the King of Sweden.  The Danish commander
left the town to make way for a Swedish governor, who gloriously defended it.
Here Wallenstein's good fortune forsook him; and, for the first time,
his pride experienced the humiliation of relinquishing his prey,
after the loss of many months and of 12,000 men.  The necessity to which
he reduced the town of applying for protection to Sweden, laid the foundation
of a close alliance between Gustavus Adolphus and Stralsund,
which greatly facilitated the entrance of the Swedes into Germany.

Hitherto invariable success had attended the arms of the Emperor
and the League, and Christian IV., defeated in Germany, had sought refuge
in his own islands; but the Baltic checked the further progress of
the conquerors.  The want of ships not only stopped the pursuit of the king,
but endangered their previous acquisitions.  The union of the two
northern monarchs was most to be dreaded, because, so long as it lasted,
it effectually prevented the Emperor and his general from acquiring a footing
on the Baltic, or effecting a landing in Sweden.  But if they could succeed
in dissolving this union, and especially securing the friendship of
the Danish king, they might hope to overpower the insulated force of Sweden.
The dread of the interference of foreign powers, the insubordination
of the Protestants in his own states, and still more the storm
which was gradually darkening along the whole of Protestant Germany,
inclined the Emperor to peace, which his general, from opposite motives,
was equally desirous to effect.  Far from wishing for a state of things
which would reduce him from the meridian of greatness and glory
to the obscurity of private life, he only wished to change the theatre of war,
and by a partial peace to prolong the general confusion.  The friendship
of Denmark, whose neighbour he had become as Duke of Mecklenburgh,
was most important for the success of his ambitious views; and he resolved,
even at the sacrifice of his sovereign's interests, to secure its alliance.

By the treaty of Copenhagen, Christian IV. had expressly engaged
not to conclude a separate peace with the Emperor, without the consent
of Sweden.  Notwithstanding, Wallenstein's proposition was readily received
by him.  In a conference at Lubeck in 1629, from which Wallenstein,
with studied contempt, excluded the Swedish ambassadors who came to intercede
for Mecklenburgh, all the conquests taken by the imperialists
were restored to the Danes.  The conditions imposed upon the king were,
that he should interfere no farther with the affairs of Germany
than was called for by his character of Duke of Holstein;
that he should on no pretext harass the Chapters of Lower Germany,
and should leave the Dukes of Mecklenburgh to their fate.
By Christian himself had these princes been involved in the war
with the Emperor; he now sacrificed them, to gain the favour of the usurper
of their territories.  Among the motives which had engaged him
in a war with the Emperor, not the least was the restoration of his relation,
the Elector Palatine -- yet the name of that unfortunate prince
was not even mentioned in the treaty; while in one of its articles
the legitimacy of the Bavarian election was expressly recognised.
Thus meanly and ingloriously did Christian IV. retire from the field.

Ferdinand had it now in his power, for the second time,
to secure the tranquillity of Germany; and it depended solely on his will
whether the treaty with Denmark should or should not be the basis
of a general peace.  From every quarter arose the cry of the unfortunate,
petitioning for an end of their sufferings; the cruelties of his soldiers,
and the rapacity of his generals, had exceeded all bounds.  Germany,
laid waste by the desolating bands of Mansfeld and the Duke of Brunswick,
and by the still more terrible hordes of Tilly and Wallenstein, lay exhausted,
bleeding, wasted, and sighing for repose.  An anxious desire for peace
was felt by all conditions, and by the Emperor himself; involved as he was
in a war with France in Upper Italy, exhausted by his past warfare in Germany,
and apprehensive of the day of reckoning which was approaching.
But, unfortunately, the conditions on which alone the two religious parties
were willing respectively to sheath the sword, were irreconcileable.
The Roman Catholics wished to terminate the war to their own advantage;
the Protestants advanced equal pretensions.  The Emperor,
instead of uniting both parties by a prudent moderation, sided with one;
and thus Germany was again plunged in the horrors of a bloody war.

From the very close of the Bohemian troubles, Ferdinand had carried on
a counter reformation in his hereditary dominions, in which, however,
from regard to some of the Protestant Estates, he proceeded, at first,
with moderation.  But the victories of his generals in Lower Germany
encouraged him to throw off all reserve.  Accordingly he had it intimated
to all the Protestants in these dominions, that they must either abandon
their religion, or their native country, -- a bitter and dreadful alternative,
which excited the most violent commotions among his Austrian subjects.
In the Palatinate, immediately after the expulsion of Frederick,
the Protestant religion had been suppressed, and its professors expelled
from the University of Heidelberg.

All this was but the prelude to greater changes.  In the Electoral Congress
held at Muehlhausen, the Roman Catholics had demanded of the Emperor
that all the archbishoprics, bishoprics, mediate and immediate,
abbacies and monasteries, which, since the Diet of Augsburg,
had been secularized by the Protestants, should be restored to the church,
in order to indemnify them for the losses and sufferings in the war.
To a Roman Catholic prince so zealous as Ferdinand was, such a hint
was not likely to be neglected; but he still thought it would be premature
to arouse the whole Protestants of Germany by so decisive a step.
Not a single Protestant prince but would be deprived,
by this revocation of the religious foundations, of a part of his lands;
for where these revenues had not actually been diverted to secular purposes
they had been made over to the Protestant church.  To this source,
many princes owed the chief part of their revenues and importance.
All, without exception, would be irritated by this demand for restoration.
The religious treaty did not expressly deny their right to these chapters,
although it did not allow it.  But a possession which had now been held
for nearly a century, the silence of four preceding emperors,
and the law of equity, which gave them an equal right with the Roman Catholics
to the foundations of their common ancestors, might be strongly pleaded
by them as a valid title.  Besides the actual loss of power and authority,
which the surrender of these foundations would occasion,
besides the inevitable confusion which would necessarily attend it,
one important disadvantage to which it would lead, was,
that the restoration of the Roman Catholic bishops would increase
the strength of that party in the Diet by so many additional votes.
Such grievous sacrifices likely to fall on the Protestants,
made the Emperor apprehensive of a formidable opposition;
and until the military ardour should have cooled in Germany,
he had no wish to provoke a party formidable by its union,
and which in the Elector of Saxony had a powerful leader.  He resolved,
therefore, to try the experiment at first on a small scale, in order
to ascertain how it was likely to succeed on a larger one.  Accordingly,
some of the free cities in Upper Germany, and the Duke of Wirtemberg,
received orders to surrender to the Roman Catholics
several of the confiscated chapters.

The state of affairs in Saxony enabled the Emperor to make
some bolder experiments in that quarter.  In the bishoprics
of Magdeburg and Halberstadt, the Protestant canons had not hesitated
to elect bishops of their own religion.  Both bishoprics,
with the exception of the town of Magdeburg itself, were overrun
by the troops of Wallenstein.  It happened, moreover, that by the death
of the Administrator Duke Christian of Brunswick, Halberstadt was vacant,
as was also the Archbishopric of Magdeburg by the deposition
of Christian William, a prince of the House of Brandenburgh.
Ferdinand took advantage of the circumstance to restore the see of Halberstadt
to a Roman Catholic bishop, and a prince of his own house.
To avoid a similar coercion, the Chapter of Magdeburg hastened to elect
a son of the Elector of Saxony as archbishop.  But the pope,
who with his arrogated authority interfered in this matter,
conferred the Archbishopric of Magdeburg also on the Austrian prince.
Thus, with all his pious zeal for religion, Ferdinand never lost sight
of the interests of his family.

At length, when the peace of Lubeck had delivered the Emperor
from all apprehensions on the side of Denmark, and the German Protestants
seemed entirely powerless, the League becoming louder and more urgent
in its demands, Ferdinand, in 1629, signed the Edict of Restitution,
(so famous by its disastrous consequences,) which he had previously
laid before the four Roman Catholic electors for their approbation.
In the preamble, he claimed the prerogative, in right of his
imperial authority, to interpret the meaning of the religious treaty,
the ambiguities of which had already caused so many disputes,
and to decide as supreme arbiter and judge between the contending parties.
This prerogative he founded upon the practice of his ancestors,
and its previous recognition even by Protestant states.  Saxony had actually
acknowledged this right of the Emperor; and it now became evident
how deeply this court had injured the Protestant cause by its dependence
on the House of Austria.  But though the meaning of the religious treaty
was really ambiguous, as a century of religious disputes sufficiently proved,
yet for the Emperor, who must be either a Protestant or a Roman Catholic,
and therefore an interested party, to assume the right of deciding
between the disputants, was clearly a violation of an essential article
of the pacification.  He could not be judge in his own cause,
without reducing the liberties of the empire to an empty sound.

And now, in virtue of this usurpation, Ferdinand decided,
"That every secularization of a religious foundation, mediate or immediate,
by the Protestants, subsequent to the date of the treaty,
was contrary to its spirit, and must be revoked as a breach of it."
He further decided, "That, by the religious peace, Catholic proprietors
of estates were no further bound to their Protestant subjects
than to allow them full liberty to quit their territories."
In obedience to this decision, all unlawful possessors of benefices --
the Protestant states in short without exception -- were ordered,
under pain of the ban of the empire, immediately to surrender
their usurped possessions to the imperial commissioners.

This sentence applied to no less than two archbishoprics
and twelve bishoprics, besides innumerable abbacies.
The edict came like a thunderbolt on the whole of Protestant Germany;
dreadful even in its immediate consequences; but yet more so
from the further calamities it seemed to threaten.  The Protestants
were now convinced that the suppression of their religion
had been resolved on by the Emperor and the League, and that the overthrow
of German liberty would soon follow.  Their remonstrances were unheeded;
the commissioners were named, and an army assembled to enforce obedience.
The edict was first put in force in Augsburg, where the treaty was concluded;
the city was again placed under the government of its bishop, and six
Protestant churches in the town were closed.  The Duke of Wirtemberg was,
in like manner, compelled to surrender his abbacies.  These severe measures,
though they alarmed the Protestant states, were yet insufficient
to rouse them to an active resistance.  Their fear of the Emperor
was too strong, and many were disposed to quiet submission.
The hope of attaining their end by gentle measures,
induced the Roman Catholics likewise to delay for a year
the execution of the edict, and this saved the Protestants;
before the end of that period, the success of the Swedish arms
had totally changed the state of affairs.

In a Diet held at Ratisbon, at which Ferdinand was present in person
(in 1630), the necessity of taking some measures for the immediate restoration
of a general peace to Germany, and for the removal of all grievances,
was debated.  The complaints of the Roman Catholics
were scarcely less numerous than those of the Protestants,
although Ferdinand had flattered himself that by the Edict of Restitution
he had secured the members of the League, and its leader by the gift
of the electoral dignity, and the cession of great part of the Palatinate.
But the good understanding between the Emperor and the princes of the League
had rapidly declined since the employment of Wallenstein.
Accustomed to give law to Germany, and even to sway the Emperor's own destiny,
the haughty Elector of Bavaria now at once saw himself supplanted
by the imperial general, and with that of the League, his own importance
completely undermined.  Another had now stepped in to reap the fruits
of his victories, and to bury his past services in oblivion.
Wallenstein's imperious character, whose dearest triumph was in degrading
the authority of the princes, and giving an odious latitude
to that of the Emperor, tended not a little to augment the irritation
of the Elector.  Discontented with the Emperor, and distrustful
of his intentions, he had entered into an alliance with France,
which the other members of the League were suspected of favouring.
A fear of the Emperor's plans of aggrandizement, and discontent with
existing evils, had extinguished among them all feelings of gratitude.
Wallenstein's exactions had become altogether intolerable.
Brandenburg estimated its losses at twenty, Pomerania at ten,
Hesse Cassel at seven millions of dollars, and the rest in proportion.
The cry for redress was loud, urgent, and universal; all prejudices
were hushed; Roman Catholics and Protestants were united on this point.
The terrified Emperor was assailed on all sides by petitions
against Wallenstein, and his ear filled with the most fearful descriptions
of his outrages.  Ferdinand was not naturally cruel.  If not totally innocent
of the atrocities which were practised in Germany under the shelter
of his name, he was ignorant of their extent; and he was not long in yielding
to the representation of the princes, and reduced his standing army
by eighteen thousand cavalry.  While this reduction took place, the Swedes
were actively preparing an expedition into Germany, and the greater part
of the disbanded Imperialists enlisted under their banners.

The Emperor's concessions only encouraged the Elector of Bavaria
to bolder demands.  So long as the Duke of Friedland
retained the supreme command, his triumph over the Emperor was incomplete.
The princes of the League were meditating a severe revenge on Wallenstein
for that haughtiness with which he had treated them all alike.
His dismissal was demanded by the whole college of electors,
and even by Spain, with a degree of unanimity and urgency
which astonished the Emperor.  The anxiety with which Wallenstein's enemies
pressed for his dismissal, ought to have convinced the Emperor
of the importance of his services.  Wallenstein, informed of the cabals
which were forming against him in Ratisbon, lost no time in opening the eyes
of the Emperor to the real views of the Elector of Bavaria.
He himself appeared in Ratisbon, with a pomp which threw his master
into the shade, and increased the hatred of his opponents.

Long was the Emperor undecided.  The sacrifice demanded was a painful one.
To the Duke of Friedland alone he owed his preponderance; he felt how much
he would lose in yielding him to the indignation of the princes.
But at this moment, unfortunately, he was under the necessity
of conciliating the Electors.  His son Ferdinand had already been chosen
King of Hungary, and he was endeavouring to procure his election
as his successor in the empire.  For this purpose, the support of Maximilian
was indispensable.  This consideration was the weightiest,
and to oblige the Elector of Bavaria he scrupled not to sacrifice
his most valuable servant.

At the Diet at Ratisbon, there were present ambassadors from France,
empowered to adjust the differences which seemed to menace
a war in Italy between the Emperor and their sovereign.  Vincent,
Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, dying without issue, his next relation,
Charles, Duke of Nevers, had taken possession of this inheritance,
without doing homage to the Emperor as liege lord of the principality.
Encouraged by the support of France and Venice, he refused to surrender
these territories into the hands of the imperial commissioners,
until his title to them should be decided.  On the other hand,
Ferdinand had taken up arms at the instigation of the Spaniards,
to whom, as possessors of Milan, the near neighbourhood of a vassal of France
was peculiarly alarming, and who welcomed this prospect of making,
with the assistance of the Emperor, additional conquests in Italy.
In spite of all the exertions of Pope Urban VIII. to avert a war
in that country, Ferdinand marched a German army across the Alps,
and threw the Italian states into a general consternation.
His arms had been successful throughout Germany, and exaggerated fears
revived the olden apprehension of Austria's projects of universal monarchy.
All the horrors of the German war now spread like a deluge
over those favoured countries which the Po waters; Mantua was taken by storm,
and the surrounding districts given up to the ravages of a lawless soldiery.
The curse of Italy was thus added to the maledictions upon the Emperor
which resounded through Germany; and even in the Roman Conclave,
silent prayers were offered for the success of the Protestant arms.

Alarmed by the universal hatred which this Italian campaign had drawn
upon him, and wearied out by the urgent remonstrances of the Electors,
who zealously supported the application of the French ambassador,
the Emperor promised the investiture to the new Duke of Mantua.

This important service on the part of Bavaria, of course,
required an equivalent from France.  The adjustment of the treaty
gave the envoys of Richelieu, during their residence in Ratisbon,
the desired opportunity of entangling the Emperor in dangerous intrigues,
of inflaming the discontented princes of the League still more strongly
against him, and of turning to his disadvantage all the transactions
of the Diet.  For this purpose Richelieu had chosen an admirable instrument
in Father Joseph, a Capuchin friar, who accompanied the ambassadors
without exciting the least suspicion.  One of his principal instructions
was assiduously to bring about the dismissal of Wallenstein.
With the general who had led it to victory, the army of Austria
would lose its principal strength; many armies could not compensate
for the loss of this individual.  It would therefore be
a masterstroke of policy, at the very moment when a victorious monarch,
the absolute master of his operations, was arming against the Emperor,
to remove from the head of the imperial armies the only general who,
by ability and military experience, was able to cope with the French king.
Father Joseph, in the interests of Bavaria, undertook to overcome
the irresolution of the Emperor, who was now in a manner besieged
by the Spaniards and the Electoral Council.  "It would be expedient,"
he thought, "to gratify the Electors on this occasion,
and thereby facilitate his son's election to the Roman Crown.
This object once gained, Wallenstein could at any time
resume his former station."  The artful Capuchin was too sure of his man
to touch upon this ground of consolation.

The voice of a monk was to Ferdinand II. the voice of God.
"Nothing on earth," writes his own confessor, "was more sacred in his eyes
than a priest.  If it could happen, he used to say,
that an angel and a Regular were to meet him at the same time and place,
the Regular should receive his first, and the angel his second obeisance."
Wallenstein's dismissal was determined upon.

In return for this pious concession, the Capuchin dexterously counteracted
the Emperor's scheme to procure for the King of Hungary the further dignity
of King of the Romans.  In an express clause of the treaty just concluded,
the French ministers engaged in the name of their sovereign to observe
a complete neutrality between the Emperor and his enemies; while,
at the same time, Richelieu was actually negociating with the King of Sweden
to declare war, and pressing upon him the alliance of his master.
The latter, indeed, disavowed the lie as soon as it had served its purpose,
and Father Joseph, confined to a convent, must atone for the alleged offence
of exceeding his instructions.  Ferdinand perceived, when too late,
that he had been imposed upon.  "A wicked Capuchin," he was heard to say,
"has disarmed me with his rosary, and thrust nothing less
than six electoral crowns into his cowl."

Artifice and trickery thus triumphed over the Emperor, at the moment
when he was believed to be omnipotent in Germany, and actually was so
in the field.  With the loss of 18,000 men, and of a general who alone
was worth whole armies, he left Ratisbon without gaining the end
for which he had made such sacrifices.  Before the Swedes had vanquished him
in the field, Maximilian of Bavaria and Father Joseph had given him
a mortal blow.  At this memorable Diet at Ratisbon the war with Sweden
was resolved upon, and that of Mantua terminated.  Vainly had the princes
present at it interceded for the Dukes of Mecklenburgh;
and equally fruitless had been an application by the English ambassadors
for a pension to the Palatine Frederick.

Wallenstein was at the head of an army of nearly a hundred thousand men
who adored him, when the sentence of his dismissal arrived.
Most of the officers were his creatures: --  with the common soldiers
his hint was law.  His ambition was boundless, his pride indomitable,
his imperious spirit could not brook an injury unavenged.  One moment
would now precipitate him from the height of grandeur into the obscurity
of a private station.  To execute such a sentence upon such a delinquent
seemed to require more address than it cost to obtain it from the judge.
Accordingly, two of Wallenstein's most intimate friends were selected
as heralds of these evil tidings, and instructed to soften them
as much as possible, by flattering assurances of the continuance
of the Emperor's favour.

Wallenstein had ascertained the purport of their message
before the imperial ambassadors arrived.  He had time to collect himself,
and his countenance exhibited an external calmness, while grief and rage
were storming in his bosom.  He had made up his mind to obey.
The Emperor's decision had taken him by surprise before circumstances
were ripe, or his preparations complete, for the bold measures
he had contemplated.  His extensive estates were scattered
over Bohemia and Moravia; and by their confiscation, the Emperor might at once
destroy the sinews of his power.  He looked, therefore, to the future
for revenge; and in this hope he was encouraged by the predictions
of an Italian astrologer, who led his imperious spirit like a child
in leading strings.  Seni had read in the stars, that his master's
brilliant career was not yet ended; and that bright and glorious prospects
still awaited him.  It was, indeed, unnecessary to consult the stars
to foretell that an enemy, Gustavus Adolphus, would ere long
render indispensable the services of such a general as Wallenstein.

"The Emperor is betrayed," said Wallenstein to the messengers;
"I pity but forgive him.  It is plain that the grasping spirit of the Bavarian
dictates to him.  I grieve that, with so much weakness, he has sacrificed me,
but I will obey."  He dismissed the emissaries with princely presents;
and in a humble letter besought the continuance of the Emperor's favour,
and of the dignities he had bestowed upon him.

The murmurs of the army were universal, on hearing of the dismissal
of their general; and the greater part of his officers immediately quitted
the imperial service.  Many followed him to his estates
in Bohemia and Moravia; others he attached to his interests by pensions,
in order to command their services when the opportunity should offer.

But repose was the last thing that Wallenstein contemplated when he returned
to private life.  In his retreat, he surrounded himself with a regal pomp,
which seemed to mock the sentence of degradation.  Six gates led to the palace
he inhabited in Prague, and a hundred houses were pulled down to make way
for his courtyard.  Similar palaces were built on his other numerous estates.
Gentlemen of the noblest houses contended for the honour of serving him,
and even imperial chamberlains resigned the golden key to the Emperor,
to fill a similar office under Wallenstein.  He maintained sixty pages,
who were instructed by the ablest masters.  His antichamber was protected
by fifty life guards.  His table never consisted of less than 100 covers,
and his seneschal was a person of distinction.  When he travelled,
his baggage and suite accompanied him in a hundred wagons,
drawn by six or four horses; his court followed in sixty carriages,
attended by fifty led horses.  The pomp of his liveries,
the splendour of his equipages, and the decorations of his apartments,
were in keeping with all the rest.  Six barons and as many knights,
were in constant attendance about his person, and ready to execute
his slightest order.  Twelve patrols went their rounds about his palace,
to prevent any disturbance.  His busy genius required silence.
The noise of coaches was to be kept away from his residence,
and the streets leading to it were frequently blocked up with chains.
His own circle was as silent as the approaches to his palace;
dark, reserved, and impenetrable, he was more sparing of his words
than of his gifts; while the little that he spoke was harsh and imperious.
He never smiled, and the coldness of his temperament was proof
against sensual seductions.  Ever occupied with grand schemes,
he despised all those idle amusements in which so many waste their lives.
The correspondence he kept up with the whole of Europe was chiefly managed
by himself, and, that as little as possible might be trusted
to the silence of others, most of the letters were written by his own hand.
He was a man of large stature, thin, of a sallow complexion, with short
red hair, and small sparkling eyes.  A gloomy and forbidding seriousness
sat upon his brow; and his magnificent presents alone retained
the trembling crowd of his dependents.

In this stately obscurity did Wallenstein silently, but not inactively,
await the hour of revenge.  The victorious career of Gustavus Adolphus
soon gave him a presentiment of its approach.  Not one of his lofty schemes
had been abandoned; and the Emperor's ingratitude had loosened the curb
of his ambition.  The dazzling splendour of his private life
bespoke high soaring projects; and, lavish as a king, he seemed already
to reckon among his certain possessions those which he contemplated with hope.

After Wallenstein's dismissal, and the invasion of Gustavus Adolphus,
a new generalissimo was to be appointed; and it now appeared advisable
to unite both the imperial army and that of the League under one general.
Maximilian of Bavaria sought this appointment, which would have enabled him
to dictate to the Emperor, who, from a conviction of this,
wished to procure the command for his eldest son, the King of Hungary.
At last, in order to avoid offence to either of the competitors,
the appointment was given to Tilly, who now exchanged the Bavarian
for the Austrian service.  The imperial army in Germany,
after the retirement of Wallenstein, amounted to about 40,000 men;
that of the League to nearly the same number, both commanded
by excellent officers, trained by the experience of several campaigns,
and proud of a long series of victories.  With such a force,
little apprehension was felt at the invasion of the King of Sweden,
and the less so as it commanded both Pomerania and Mecklenburg,
the only countries through which he could enter Germany.

After the unsuccessful attempt of the King of Denmark to check
the Emperor's progress, Gustavus Adolphus was the only prince in Europe
from whom oppressed liberty could look for protection -- the only one who,
while he was personally qualified to conduct such an enterprise,
had both political motives to recommend and wrongs to justify it.
Before the commencement of the war in Lower Saxony,
important political interests induced him, as well as the King of Denmark,
to offer his services and his army for the defence of Germany;
but the offer of the latter had, to his own misfortune, been preferred.
Since that time, Wallenstein and the Emperor had adopted measures
which must have been equally offensive to him as a man and as a king.
Imperial troops had been despatched to the aid of the Polish king, Sigismund,
to defend Prussia against the Swedes.  When the king complained to Wallenstein
of this act of hostility, he received for answer, "The Emperor has
more soldiers than he wants for himself, he must help his friends."
The Swedish ambassadors had been insolently ordered by Wallenstein
to withdraw from the conference at Lubeck; and when, unawed by this command,
they were courageous enough to remain, contrary to the law of nations,
he had threatened them with violence.  Ferdinand had also insulted
the Swedish flag, and intercepted the king's despatches to Transylvania.
He also threw every obstacle in the way of a peace betwixt Poland and Sweden,
supported the pretensions of Sigismund to the Swedish throne,
and denied the right of Gustavus to the title of king.  Deigning no regard
to the repeated remonstrances of Gustavus, he rather aggravated the offence
by new grievances, than acceded the required satisfaction.

So many personal motives, supported by important considerations,
both of policy and religion, and seconded by pressing invitations
from Germany, had their full weight with a prince, who was naturally
the more jealous of his royal prerogative the more it was questioned,
who was flattered by the glory he hoped to gain as Protector of the Oppressed,
and passionately loved war as the element of his genius.  But,
until a truce or peace with Poland should set his hands free,
a new and dangerous war was not to be thought of.

Cardinal Richelieu had the merit of effecting this truce with Poland.
This great statesman, who guided the helm of Europe, while in France
he repressed the rage of faction and the insolence of the nobles,
pursued steadily, amidst the cares of a stormy administration,
his plan of lowering the ascendancy of the House of Austria.
But circumstances opposed considerable obstacles to the execution
of his designs; and even the greatest minds cannot, with impunity,
defy the prejudices of the age.  The minister of a Roman Catholic king,
and a Cardinal, he was prevented by the purple he bore from joining
the enemies of that church in an open attack on a power which had the address
to sanctify its ambitious encroachments under the name of religion.
The external deference which Richelieu was obliged to pay to the narrow views
of his contemporaries limited his exertions to secret negociations,
by which he endeavoured to gain the hand of others to accomplish
the enlightened projects of his own mind.  After a fruitless attempt
to prevent the peace between Denmark and the Emperor,
he had recourse to Gustavus Adolphus, the hero of his age.
No exertion was spared to bring this monarch to a favourable decision,
and at the same time to facilitate the execution of it.  Charnasse,
an unsuspected agent of the Cardinal, proceeded to Polish Prussia,
where Gustavus Adolphus was conducting the war against Sigismund,
and alternately visited these princes, in order to persuade them
to a truce or peace.  Gustavus had been long inclined to it,
and the French minister succeeded at last in opening the eyes of Sigismund
to his true interests, and to the deceitful policy of the Emperor.
A truce for six years was agreed on, Gustavus being allowed to retain
all his conquests.  This treaty gave him also what he had so long desired,
the liberty of directing his arms against the Emperor.
For this the French ambassador offered him the alliance of his sovereign
and considerable subsidies.  But Gustavus Adolphus was justly apprehensive
lest the acceptance of the assistance should make him dependent upon France,
and fetter him in his career of conquest, while an alliance
with a Roman Catholic power might excite distrust among the Protestants.

If the war was just and necessary, the circumstances under which
it was undertaken were not less promising.  The name of the Emperor,
it is true, was formidable, his resources inexhaustible,
his power hitherto invincible.  So dangerous a contest would have dismayed
any other than Gustavus.  He saw all the obstacles and dangers
which opposed his undertaking, but he knew also the means by which,
as he hoped, they might be conquered.  His army, though not numerous,
was well disciplined, inured to hardship by a severe climate and campaigns,
and trained to victory in the war with Poland.  Sweden,
though poor in men and money, and overtaxed by an eight years' war,
was devoted to its monarch with an enthusiasm which assured him
of the ready support of his subjects.  In Germany, the name of the Emperor
was at least as much hated as feared.  The Protestant princes only awaited
the arrival of a deliverer to throw off his intolerable yoke,
and openly declare for the Swedes.  Even the Roman Catholic states
would welcome an antagonist to the Emperor, whose opposition might control
his overwhelming influence.  The first victory gained on German ground
would be decisive.  It would encourage those princes who still hesitated
to declare themselves, strengthen the cause of his adherents,
augment his troops, and open resources for the maintenance of the campaign.
If the greater part of the German states were impoverished by oppression,
the flourishing Hanse towns had escaped, and they could not hesitate,
by a small voluntary sacrifice, to avert the general ruin.
As the imperialists should be driven from the different provinces,
their armies would diminish, since they were subsisting on the countries
in which they were encamped.  The strength, too, of the Emperor
had been lessened by ill-timed detachments to Italy and the Netherlands;
while Spain, weakened by the loss of the Manilla galleons, and engaged in
a serious war in the Netherlands, could afford him little support.
Great Britain, on the other hand, gave the King of Sweden hope
of considerable subsidies; and France, now at peace with itself,
came forward with the most favourable offers.

But the strongest pledge for the success of his undertaking
Gustavus found -- in himself.  Prudence demanded that he should embrace
all the foreign assistance he could, in order to guard his enterprise
from the imputation of rashness; but all his confidence and courage
were entirely derived from himself.  He was indisputably the greatest general
of his age, and the bravest soldier in the army which he had formed.
Familiar with the tactics of Greece and Rome, he had discovered
a more effective system of warfare, which was adopted as a model
by the most eminent commanders of subsequent times.  He reduced
the unwieldy squadrons of cavalry, and rendered their movements
more light and rapid; and, with the same view, he widened the intervals
between his battalions.  Instead of the usual array in a single line,
he disposed his forces in two lines, that the second might advance
in the event of the first giving way.

He made up for his want of cavalry, by placing infantry among the horse;
a practice which frequently decided the victory.  Europe first learned
from him the importance of infantry.  All Germany was astonished
at the strict discipline which, at the first, so creditably distinguished
the Swedish army within their territories; all disorders were punished
with the utmost severity, particularly impiety, theft, gambling, and duelling.
The Swedish articles of war enforced frugality.  In the camp,
the King's tent not excepted, neither silver nor gold was to be seen.
The general's eye looked as vigilantly to the morals as to the martial bravery
of his soldiers; every regiment was ordered to form round its chaplain
for morning and evening prayers.  In all these points the lawgiver was also
an example.  A sincere and ardent piety exalted his courage.  Equally free
from the coarse infidelity which leaves the passions of the barbarian
without a control, -- and from the grovelling superstition of Ferdinand,
who humbled himself to the dust before the Supreme Being,
while he haughtily trampled on his fellow-creature --
in the height of his success he was ever a man and a Christian --
in the height of his devotion, a king and a hero.  The hardships of war
he shared with the meanest soldier in his army; maintained a calm serenity
amidst the hottest fury of battle; his glance was omnipresent,
and he intrepidly forgot the danger while he exposed himself
to the greatest peril.  His natural courage, indeed, too often
made him forget the duty of a general; and the life of a king ended
in the death of a common soldier.  But such a leader was followed to victory
alike by the coward and the brave, and his eagle glance marked
every heroic deed which his example had inspired.  The fame of their sovereign
excited in the nation an enthusiastic sense of their own importance;
proud of their king, the peasant in Finland and Gothland joyfully contributed
his pittance; the soldier willingly shed his blood; and the lofty energy
which his single mind had imparted to the nation long survived its creator.

The necessity of the war was acknowledged, but the best plan of conducting it
was a matter of much question.  Even to the bold Chancellor Oxenstiern,
an offensive war appeared too daring a measure; the resources of
his poor and conscientious master, appeared to him too slender
to compete with those of a despotic sovereign, who held all Germany
at his command.  But the minister's timid scruples were overruled
by the hero's penetrating prudence.  "If we await the enemy in Sweden,"
said Gustavus, "in the event of a defeat every thing would be lost,
by a fortunate commencement in Germany everything would be gained.
The sea is wide, and we have a long line of coast in Sweden to defend.
If the enemy's fleet should escape us, or our own be defeated, it would,
in either case, be impossible to prevent the enemy's landing.
Every thing depends on the retention of Stralsund.  So long as this harbour
is open to us, we shall both command the Baltic, and secure a retreat
from Germany.  But to protect this port, we must not remain in Sweden,
but advance at once into Pomerania.  Let us talk no more, then,
of a defensive war, by which we should sacrifice our greatest advantages.
Sweden must not be doomed to behold a hostile banner; if we are vanquished
in Germany, it will be time enough to follow your plan."

Gustavus resolved to cross the Baltic and attack the Emperor.
His preparations were made with the utmost expedition,
and his precautionary measures were not less prudent
than the resolution itself was bold and magnanimous.  Before engaging in
so distant a war, it was necessary to secure Sweden against its neighbours.
At a personal interview with the King of Denmark at Markaroed,
Gustavus assured himself of the friendship of that monarch; his frontier
on the side of Moscow was well guarded; Poland might be held in check
from Germany, if it betrayed any design of infringing the truce.  Falkenberg,
a Swedish ambassador, who visited the courts of Holland and Germany,
obtained the most flattering promises from several Protestant princes,
though none of them yet possessed courage or self-devotion enough
to enter into a formal alliance with him.  Lubeck and Hamburg engaged
to advance him money, and to accept Swedish copper in return.
Emissaries were also despatched to the Prince of Transylvania,
to excite that implacable enemy of Austria to arms.

In the mean time, Swedish levies were made in Germany and the Netherlands,
the regiments increased to their full complement, new ones raised,
transports provided, a fleet fitted out, provisions, military stores,
and money collected.  Thirty ships of war were in a short time prepared,
15,000 men equipped, and 200 transports were ready to convey them
across the Baltic.  A greater force Gustavus Adolphus was unwilling
to carry into Germany, and even the maintenance of this
exceeded the revenues of his kingdom.  But however small his army,
it was admirable in all points of discipline, courage, and experience,
and might serve as the nucleus of a more powerful armament, if it once gained
the German frontier, and its first attempts were attended with success.
Oxenstiern, at once general and chancellor, was posted with 10,000 men
in Prussia, to protect that province against Poland.  Some regular troops,
and a considerable body of militia, which served as a nursery
for the main body, remained in Sweden, as a defence against a sudden invasion
by any treacherous neighbour.

These were the measures taken for the external defence of the kingdom.
Its internal administration was provided for with equal care.
The government was intrusted to the Council of State, and the finances
to the Palatine John Casimir, the brother-in-law of the King,
while his wife, tenderly as he was attached to her, was excluded from
all share in the government, for which her limited talents incapacitated her.
He set his house in order like a dying man.  On the 20th May, 1630,
when all his measures were arranged, and all was ready for his departure,
the King appeared in the Diet at Stockholm, to bid the States
a solemn farewell.  Taking in his arms his daughter Christina,
then only four years old, who, in the cradle, had been acknowledged
as his successor, he presented her to the States as the future sovereign,
exacted from them a renewal of the oath of allegiance to her,
in case he should never more return; and then read the ordinances
for the government of the kingdom during his absence,
or the minority of his daughter.  The whole assembly was dissolved in tears,
and the King himself was some time before he could attain
sufficient composure to deliver his farewell address to the States.

"Not lightly or wantonly," said he, "am I about to involve myself and you
in this new and dangerous war; God is my witness that _I_ do not fight
to gratify my own ambition.  But the Emperor has wronged me most shamefully
in the person of my ambassadors.  He has supported my enemies,
persecuted my friends and brethren, trampled my religion in the dust,
and even stretched his revengeful arm against my crown.
The oppressed states of Germany call loudly for aid, which, by God's help,
we will give them.

"I am fully sensible of the dangers to which my life will be exposed.
I have never yet shrunk from them, nor is it likely that I shall escape
them all.  Hitherto, Providence has wonderfully protected me,
but I shall at last fall in defence of my country.  I commend you
to the protection of Heaven.  Be just, be conscientious, act uprightly,
and we shall meet again in eternity.

"To you, my Counsellors of State, I address myself first.
May God enlighten you, and fill you with wisdom, to promote the welfare
of my people.  You, too, my brave nobles, I commend to the divine protection.
Continue to prove yourselves the worthy successors of those Gothic heroes,
whose bravery humbled to the dust the pride of ancient Rome.  To you,
ministers of religion, I recommend moderation and unity; be yourselves
examples of the virtues which you preach, and abuse not your influence
over the minds of my people.  On you, deputies of the burgesses,
and the peasantry, I entreat the blessing of heaven; may your industry
be rewarded by a prosperous harvest; your stores plenteously filled,
and may you be crowned abundantly with all the blessings of this life.
For the prosperity of all my subjects, absent and present,
I offer my warmest prayers to Heaven.  I bid you all
a sincere -- it may be -- an eternal farewell."

The embarkation of the troops took place at Elfsknaben,
where the fleet lay at anchor.  An immense concourse flocked thither
to witness this magnificent spectacle.  The hearts of the spectators
were agitated by varied emotions, as they alternately considered
the vastness of the enterprise, and the greatness of the leader.
Among the superior officers who commanded in this army were Gustavus Horn,
the Rhinegrave Otto Lewis, Henry Matthias, Count Thurn, Ottenberg,
Baudissen, Banner, Teufel, Tott, Mutsenfahl, Falkenberg, Kniphausen,
and other distinguished names.  Detained by contrary winds,
the fleet did not sail till June, and on the 24th of that month
reached the Island of Rugen in Pomerania.