Gustavus Adolphus was the first who landed.  In the presence of his suite,
he knelt on the shore of Germany to return thanks to the Almighty
for the safe arrival of his fleet and his army.  He landed his troops
on the Islands of Wollin and Usedom; upon his approach, the imperial garrisons
abandoned their entrenchments and fled.  He advanced rapidly on Stettin,
to secure this important place before the appearance of the Imperialists.
Bogislaus XIV., Duke of Pomerania, a feeble and superannuated prince,
had been long tired out by the outrages committed by the latter
within his territories; but too weak to resist, he had contented himself
with murmurs.  The appearance of his deliverer, instead of
animating his courage, increased his fear and anxiety.  Severely as
his country had suffered from the Imperialists, the risk of incurring
the Emperor's vengeance prevented him from declaring openly for the Swedes.
Gustavus Adolphus, who was encamped under the walls of the town,
summoned the city to receive a Swedish garrison.  Bogislaus appeared
in person in the camp of Gustavus, to deprecate this condition.
"I come to you," said Gustavus, "not as an enemy but a friend.
I wage no war against Pomerania, nor against the German empire,
but against the enemies of both.  In my hands this duchy shall be sacred;
and it shall be restored to you at the conclusion of the campaign, by me,
with more certainty, than by any other.  Look to the traces
of the imperial force within your territories, and to mine in Usedom;
and decide whether you will have the Emperor or me as your friend.
What have you to expect, if the Emperor should make himself master
of your capital?  Will he deal with you more leniently than I?  Or is it
your intention to stop my progress?  The case is pressing:  decide at once,
and do not compel me to have recourse to more violent measures."

The alternative was a painful one.  On the one side, the King of Sweden
was before his gates with a formidable army; on the other,
he saw the inevitable vengeance of the Emperor, and the fearful example
of so many German princes, who were now wandering in misery, the victims
of that revenge.  The more immediate danger decided his resolution.
The gates of Stettin were opened to the king; the Swedish troops entered;
and the Austrians, who were advancing by rapid marches, anticipated.
The capture of this place procured for the king a firm footing in Pomerania,
the command of the Oder, and a magazine for his troops.  To prevent a charge
of treachery, Bogislaus was careful to excuse this step to the Emperor
on the plea of necessity; but aware of Ferdinand's implacable disposition,
he entered into a close alliance with his new protector.
By this league with Pomerania, Gustavus secured a powerful friend in Germany,
who covered his rear, and maintained his communication with Sweden.

As Ferdinand was already the aggressor in Prussia, Gustavus Adolphus
thought himself absolved from the usual formalities, and commenced hostilities
without any declaration of war.  To the other European powers,
he justified his conduct in a manifesto, in which he detailed the grounds
which had led him to take up arms.  Meanwhile he continued his progress
in Pomerania, while he saw his army daily increasing.  The troops which had
fought under Mansfeld, Duke Christian of Brunswick, the King of Denmark,
and Wallenstein, came in crowds, both officers and soldiers,
to join his victorious standard.

At the Imperial court, the invasion of the king of Sweden
at first excited far less attention than it merited.  The pride of Austria,
extravagantly elated by its unheard-of successes, looked down with contempt
upon a prince, who, with a handful of men, came from an obscure corner
of Europe, and who owed his past successes, as they imagined, entirely to
the incapacity of a weak opponent.  The depreciatory representation
which Wallenstein had artfully given of the Swedish power,
increased the Emperor's security; for what had he to fear from an enemy,
whom his general undertook to drive with such ease from Germany?
Even the rapid progress of Gustavus Adolphus in Pomerania,
could not entirely dispel this prejudice, which the mockeries of the courtiers
continued to feed.  He was called in Vienna the Snow King,
whom the cold of the north kept together, but who would infallibly melt
as he advanced southward.  Even the electors, assembled in Ratisbon,
disregarded his representations; and, influenced by an abject complaisance
to Ferdinand, refused him even the title of king.  But while they mocked him
in Ratisbon and Vienna, in Mecklenburg and Pomerania,
one strong town after another fell into his hands.

Notwithstanding this contempt, the Emperor thought it proper
to offer to adjust his differences with Sweden by negociation,
and for that purpose sent plenipotentiaries to Denmark.
But their instructions showed how little he was in earnest in these proposals,
for he still continued to refuse to Gustavus the title of king.
He hoped by this means to throw on the king of Sweden the odium of being
the aggressor, and thereby to ensure the support of the States of the empire.
The conference at Dantzic proved, as might be expected, fruitless,
and the animosity of both parties was increased to its utmost
by an intemperate correspondence.

An imperial general, Torquato Conti, who commanded in Pomerania, had,
in the mean time, made a vain attempt to wrest Stettin from the Swedes.
The Imperialists were driven out from one place after another;
Damm, Stargard, Camin, and Wolgast, soon fell into the hands of Gustavus.
To revenge himself upon the Duke of Pomerania, the imperial general
permitted his troops, upon his retreat, to exercise every barbarity
on the unfortunate inhabitants of Pomerania, who had already suffered
but too severely from his avarice.  On pretence of cutting off the resources
of the Swedes, the whole country was laid waste and plundered;
and often when the Imperialists were unable any longer to maintain a place,
it was laid in ashes, in order to leave the enemy nothing but ruins.
But these barbarities only served to place in a more favourable light
the opposite conduct of the Swedes, and to win all hearts
to their humane monarch.  The Swedish soldier paid for all he required;
no private property was injured on his march.  The Swedes consequently
were received with open arms both in town and country,
whilst every Imperialist that fell into the hands of the Pomeranian peasantry
was ruthlessly murdered.  Many Pomeranians entered into the service of Sweden,
and the estates of this exhausted country willingly voted the king
a contribution of 100,000 florins.

Torquato Conti, who, with all his severity of character,
was a consummate general, endeavoured to render Stettin useless
to the king of Sweden, as he could not deprive him of it.
He entrenched himself upon the Oder, at Gartz, above Stettin, in order,
by commanding that river, to cut off the water communication of the town
with the rest of Germany.  Nothing could induce him to attack
the King of Sweden, who was his superior in numbers, while the latter was
equally cautious not to storm the strong entrenchments of the Imperialists.
Torquato, too deficient in troops and money to act upon the offensive
against the king, hoped by this plan of operations to give time for Tilly
to hasten to the defence of Pomerania, and then, in conjunction with
that general, to attack the Swedes.  Seizing the opportunity
of the temporary absence of Gustavus, he made a sudden attempt upon Stettin,
but the Swedes were not unprepared for him.  A vigorous attack
of the Imperialists was firmly repulsed, and Torquato was forced to retire
with great loss.  For this auspicious commencement of the war,
however, Gustavus was, it must be owned, as much indebted to his good fortune
as to his military talents.  The imperial troops in Pomerania
had been greatly reduced since Wallenstein's dismissal; moreover,
the outrages they had committed were now severely revenged upon them;
wasted and exhausted, the country no longer afforded them a subsistence.
All discipline was at an end; the orders of the officers were disregarded,
while their numbers daily decreased by desertion, and by a general mortality,
which the piercing cold of a strange climate had produced among them.

Under these circumstances, the imperial general was anxious
to allow his troops the repose of winter quarters, but he had to do
with an enemy to whom the climate of Germany had no winter.
Gustavus had taken the precaution of providing his soldiers
with dresses of sheep-skin, to enable them to keep the field
even in the most inclement season.  The imperial plenipotentiaries,
who came to treat with him for a cessation of hostilities,
received this discouraging answer:  "The Swedes are soldiers in winter
as well as in summer, and not disposed to oppress the unfortunate peasantry.
The Imperialists may act as they think proper, but they need not expect
to remain undisturbed."  Torquato Conti soon after resigned a command,
in which neither riches nor reputation were to be gained.

In this inequality of the two armies, the advantage was necessarily
on the side of the Swedes.  The Imperialists were incessantly harassed
in their winter quarters; Greifenhagan, an important place upon the Oder,
taken by storm, and the towns of Gartz and Piritz were at last abandoned
by the enemy.  In the whole of Pomerania, Greifswald, Demmin, and Colberg
alone remained in their hands, and these the king made great preparations
to besiege.  The enemy directed their retreat towards Brandenburg,
in which much of their artillery and baggage, and many prisoners
fell into the hands of the pursuers.

By seizing the passes of Riebnitz and Damgarden, Gustavus had opened
a passage into Mecklenburg, whose inhabitants were invited to return
to their allegiance under their legitimate sovereigns, and to expel
the adherents of Wallenstein.  The Imperialists, however,
gained the important town of Rostock by stratagem, and thus prevented
the farther advance of the king, who was unwilling to divide his forces.
The exiled dukes of Mecklenburg had ineffectually employed
the princes assembled at Ratisbon to intercede with the Emperor:
in vain they had endeavoured to soften Ferdinand, by renouncing
the alliance of the king, and every idea of resistance.  But,
driven to despair by the Emperor's inflexibility, they openly espoused
the side of Sweden, and raising troops, gave the command of them
to Francis Charles Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg.  That general made himself
master of several strong places on the Elbe, but lost them afterwards
to the Imperial General Pappenheim, who was despatched to oppose him.
Soon afterwards, besieged by the latter in the town of Ratzeburg,
he was compelled to surrender with all his troops.  Thus ended the attempt
which these unfortunate princes made to recover their territories;
and it was reserved for the victorious arm of Gustavus Adolphus
to render them that brilliant service.

The Imperialists had thrown themselves into Brandenburg, which now became
the theatre of the most barbarous atrocities.  These outrages were inflicted
upon the subjects of a prince who had never injured the Emperor, and whom,
moreover, he was at the very time inciting to take up arms
against the King of Sweden.  The sight of the disorders of their soldiers,
which want of money compelled them to wink at, and of authority
over their troops, excited the disgust even of the imperial generals;
and, from very shame, their commander-in-chief, Count Schaumburg,
wished to resign.

Without a sufficient force to protect his territories,
and left by the Emperor, in spite of the most pressing remonstrances,
without assistance, the Elector of Brandenburg at last issued an edict,
ordering his subjects to repel force by force, and to put to death
without mercy every Imperial soldier who should henceforth be detected
in plundering.  To such a height had the violence of outrage
and the misery of the government risen, that nothing was left
to the sovereign, but the desperate extremity of sanctioning private vengeance
by a formal law.

The Swedes had pursued the Imperialists into Brandenburg;
and only the Elector's refusal to open to him the fortress of Custrin
for his march, obliged the king to lay aside his design of besieging
Frankfort on the Oder.  He therefore returned to complete the conquest
of Pomerania, by the capture of Demmin and Colberg.  In the mean time,
Field-Marshal Tilly was advancing to the defence of Brandenburg.

This general, who could boast as yet of never having suffered a defeat,
the conqueror of Mansfeld, of Duke Christian of Brunswick, of the Margrave
of Baden, and the King of Denmark, was now in the Swedish monarch
to meet an opponent worthy of his fame.  Descended of a noble family in Liege,
Tilly had formed his military talents in the wars of the Netherlands,
which was then the great school for generals.  He soon found an opportunity
of distinguishing himself under Rodolph II. in Hungary, where he rapidly rose
from one step to another.  After the peace, he entered into the service of
Maximilian of Bavaria, who made him commander-in-chief with absolute powers.
Here, by his excellent regulations, he was the founder of the Bavarian army;
and to him, chiefly, Maximilian was indebted for his superiority in the field.
Upon the termination of the Bohemian war, he was appointed commander
of the troops of the League; and, after Wallenstein's dismissal,
generalissimo of the imperial armies.  Equally stern towards his soldiers
and implacable towards his enemies, and as gloomy and impenetrable
as Wallenstein, he was greatly his superior in probity and disinterestedness.
A bigoted zeal for religion, and a bloody spirit of persecution,
co-operated, with the natural ferocity of his character, to make him
the terror of the Protestants.  A strange and terrific aspect bespoke
his character:  of low stature, thin, with hollow cheeks, a long nose,
a broad and wrinkled forehead, large whiskers, and a pointed chin;
he was generally attired in a Spanish doublet of green satin,
with slashed sleeves, with a small high peaked hat upon his head,
surmounted by a red feather which hung down to his back.  His whole aspect
recalled to recollection the Duke of Alva, the scourge of the Flemings,
and his actions were far from effacing the impression.  Such was the general
who was now to be opposed to the hero of the north.

Tilly was far from undervaluing his antagonist, "The King of Sweden,"
said he in the Diet at Ratisbon, "is an enemy both prudent and brave,
inured to war, and in the flower of his age.  His plans are excellent,
his resources considerable; his subjects enthusiastically attached to him.
His army, composed of Swedes, Germans, Livonians, Finlanders,
Scots and English, by its devoted obedience to their leader,
is blended into one nation:  he is a gamester in playing with whom
not to have lost is to have won a great deal."

The progress of the King of Sweden in Brandenburg and Pomerania,
left the new generalissimo no time to lose; and his presence
was now urgently called for by those who commanded in that quarter.
With all expedition, he collected the imperial troops which were dispersed
over the empire; but it required time to obtain from the exhausted
and impoverished provinces the necessary supplies.  At last,
about the middle of winter, he appeared at the head of 20,000 men,
before Frankfort on the Oder, where he was joined by Schaumburg.
Leaving to this general the defence of Frankfort, with a sufficient garrison,
he hastened to Pomerania, with a view of saving Demmin, and relieving Colberg,
which was already hard pressed by the Swedes.  But even before
he had left Brandenburg, Demmin, which was but poorly defended
by the Duke of Savelli, had surrendered to the king, and Colberg,
after a five months' siege, was starved into a capitulation.
As the passes in Upper Pomerania were well guarded, and the king's camp
near Schwedt defied attack, Tilly abandoned his offensive plan of operations,
and retreated towards the Elbe to besiege Magdeburg.

The capture of Demmin opened to the king a free passage into Mecklenburg;
but a more important enterprise drew his arms into another quarter.
Scarcely had Tilly commenced his retrograde movement, when suddenly
breaking up his camp at Schwedt, the king marched his whole force
against Frankfort on the Oder.  This town, badly fortified, was defended by
a garrison of 8,000 men, mostly composed of those ferocious bands
who had so cruelly ravaged Pomerania and Brandenburg.  It was now attacked
with such impetuosity, that on the third day it was taken by storm.
The Swedes, assured of victory, rejected every offer of capitulation,
as they were resolved to exercise the dreadful right of retaliation.
For Tilly, soon after his arrival, had surrounded a Swedish detachment,
and, irritated by their obstinate resistance, had cut them in pieces to a man.
This cruelty was not forgotten by the Swedes.  "New Brandenburg Quarter",
they replied to the Imperialists who begged their lives, and slaughtered them
without mercy.  Several thousands were either killed or taken,
and many were drowned in the Oder, the rest fled to Silesia.
All their artillery fell into the hands of the Swedes.  To satisfy the rage
of his troops, Gustavus Adolphus was under the necessity of giving up the town
for three hours to plunder.

While the king was thus advancing from one conquest to another,
and, by his success, encouraging the Protestants to active resistance,
the Emperor proceeded to enforce the Edict of Restitution,
and, by his exorbitant pretensions, to exhaust the patience of the states.
Compelled by necessity, he continued the violent course which he had begun
with such arrogant confidence; the difficulties into which
his arbitrary conduct had plunged him, he could only extricate himself from
by measures still more arbitrary.  But in so complicated a body
as the German empire, despotism must always create
the most dangerous convulsions.  With astonishment, the princes beheld
the constitution of the empire overthrown, and the state of nature to which
matters were again verging, suggested to them the idea of self-defence,
the only means of protection in such a state of things.
The steps openly taken by the Emperor against the Lutheran church,
had at last removed the veil from the eyes of John George,
who had been so long the dupe of his artful policy.  Ferdinand, too,
had personally offended him by the exclusion of his son
from the archbishopric of Magdeburg; and field-marshal Arnheim,
his new favourite and minister, spared no pains to increase the resentment
of his master.  Arnheim had formerly been an imperial general
under Wallenstein, and being still zealously attached to him,
he was eager to avenge his old benefactor and himself on the Emperor,
by detaching Saxony from the Austrian interests.  Gustavus Adolphus,
supported by the Protestant states, would be invincible;
a consideration which already filled the Emperor with alarm.
The example of Saxony would probably influence others, and the Emperor's fate
seemed now in a manner to depend upon the Elector's decision.
The artful favourite impressed upon his master this idea
of his own importance, and advised him to terrify the Emperor,
by threatening an alliance with Sweden, and thus to extort from his fears,
what he had sought in vain from his gratitude.  The favourite, however,
was far from wishing him actually to enter into the Swedish alliance,
but, by holding aloof from both parties, to maintain his own importance
and independence.  Accordingly, he laid before him a plan, which only wanted
a more able hand to carry it into execution, and recommended him,
by heading the Protestant party, to erect a third power in Germany,
and thereby maintain the balance between Sweden and Austria.

This project was peculiarly flattering to the Saxon Elector,
to whom the idea of being dependent upon Sweden, or of longer submitting
to the tyranny of the Emperor, was equally hateful.  He could not,
with indifference, see the control of German affairs wrested from him
by a foreign prince; and incapable as he was of taking a principal part,
his vanity would not condescend to act a subordinate one.  He resolved,
therefore, to draw every possible advantage from the progress of Gustavus,
but to pursue, independently, his own separate plans.  With this view,
he consulted with the Elector of Brandenburg, who, from similar causes,
was ready to act against the Emperor, but, at the same time,
was jealous of Sweden.  In a Diet at Torgau, having assured himself
of the support of his Estates, he invited the Protestant States of the empire
to a general convention, which took place at Leipzig,
on the 6th February 1631.  Brandenburg, Hesse Cassel, with several princes,
counts, estates of the empire, and Protestant bishops were present,
either personally or by deputy, at this assembly, which the chaplain to
the Saxon Court, Dr. Hoe von Hohenegg, opened with a vehement discourse
from the pulpit.  The Emperor had, in vain, endeavoured to prevent
this self-appointed convention, whose object was evidently to provide for
its own defence, and which the presence of the Swedes in the empire,
rendered more than usually alarming.  Emboldened by the progress
of Gustavus Adolphus, the assembled princes asserted their rights,
and after a session of two months broke up, with adopting a resolution
which placed the Emperor in no slight embarrassment.  Its import was
to demand of the Emperor, in a general address, the revocation
of the Edict of Restitution, the withdrawal of his troops from
their capitals and fortresses, the suspension of all existing proceedings,
and the abolition of abuses; and, in the mean time, to raise an army
of 40,000 men, to enable them to redress their own grievances,
if the Emperor should still refuse satisfaction.

A further incident contributed not a little to increase the firmness
of the Protestant princes.  The King of Sweden had, at last,
overcome the scruples which had deterred him from a closer alliance
with France, and, on the 13th January 1631, concluded a formal treaty
with this crown.  After a serious dispute respecting the treatment
of the Roman Catholic princes of the empire, whom France took under
her protection, and against whom Gustavus claimed the right of retaliation,
and after some less important differences with regard to the title of majesty,
which the pride of France was loth to concede to the King of Sweden,
Richelieu yielded the second, and Gustavus Adolphus the first point,
and the treaty was signed at Beerwald in Neumark.  The contracting parties
mutually covenanted to defend each other with a military force,
to protect their common friends, to restore to their dominions
the deposed princes of the empire, and to replace every thing,
both on the frontier and in the interior of Germany, on the same footing
on which it stood before the commencement of the war.  For this end,
Sweden engaged to maintain an army of 30,000 men in Germany, and France agreed
to furnish the Swedes with an annual subsidy of 400,000 dollars.
If the arms of Gustavus were successful, he was to respect
the Roman Catholic religion and the constitution of the empire
in all the conquered places, and to make no attempt against either.
All Estates and princes whether Protestant or Roman Catholic,
either in Germany or in other countries, were to be invited to become parties
to the treaty; neither France nor Sweden was to conclude a separate peace
without the knowledge and consent of the other; and the treaty itself
was to continue in force for five years.

Great as was the struggle to the King of Sweden to receive subsidies
from France, and sacrifice his independence in the conduct of the war,
this alliance with France decided his cause in Germany.  Protected,
as he now was, by the greatest power in Europe, the German states
began to feel confidence in his undertaking, for the issue of which
they had hitherto good reason to tremble.  He became truly formidable
to the Emperor.  The Roman Catholic princes too, who, though they were anxious
to humble Austria, had witnessed his progress with distrust, were less alarmed
now that an alliance with a Roman Catholic power ensured his respect
for their religion.  And thus, while Gustavus Adolphus protected
the Protestant religion and the liberties of Germany against the aggression
of Ferdinand, France secured those liberties, and the Roman Catholic religion,
against Gustavus himself, if the intoxication of success should hurry him
beyond the bounds of moderation.

The King of Sweden lost no time in apprizing the members
of the confederacy of Leipzig of the treaty concluded with France,
and inviting them to a closer union with himself.  The application
was seconded by France, who spared no pains to win over the Elector of Saxony.
Gustavus was willing to be content with secret support, if the princes
should deem it too bold a step as yet to declare openly in his favour.
Several princes gave him hopes of his proposals being accepted
on the first favourable opportunity; but the Saxon Elector,
full of jealousy and distrust towards the King of Sweden,
and true to the selfish policy he had pursued, could not be prevailed upon
to give a decisive answer.

The resolution of the confederacy of Leipzig, and the alliance betwixt
France and Sweden, were news equally disagreeable to the Emperor.
Against them he employed the thunder of imperial ordinances,
and the want of an army saved France from the full weight of his displeasure.
Remonstrances were addressed to all the members of the confederacy,
strongly prohibiting them from enlisting troops.  They retorted
with explanations equally vehement, justified their conduct
upon the principles of natural right, and continued their preparations.

Meantime, the imperial generals, deficient both in troops and money,
found themselves reduced to the disagreeable alternative of losing sight
either of the King of Sweden, or of the Estates of the empire,
since with a divided force they were not a match for either.
The movements of the Protestants called their attention to the interior
of the empire, while the progress of the king in Brandenburg,
by threatening the hereditary possessions of Austria, required them
to turn their arms to that quarter.  After the conquest of Frankfort,
the king had advanced upon Landsberg on the Warta, and Tilly,
after a fruitless attempt to relieve it, had again returned to Magdeburg,
to prosecute with vigour the siege of that town.

The rich archbishopric, of which Magdeburg was the capital,
had long been in the possession of princes of the house of Brandenburg,
who introduced the Protestant religion into the province.  Christian William,
the last administrator, had, by his alliance with Denmark,
incurred the ban of the empire, on which account the chapter,
to avoid the Emperor's displeasure, had formally deposed him.
In his place they had elected Prince John Augustus,
the second son of the Elector of Saxony, whom the Emperor rejected,
in order to confer the archbishopric on his son Leopold.
The Elector of Saxony complained ineffectually to the imperial court;
but Christian William of Brandenburg took more active measures.
Relying on the attachment of the magistracy and inhabitants of Brandenburg,
and excited by chimerical hopes, he thought himself able to surmount
all the obstacles which the vote of the chapter, the competition of
two powerful rivals, and the Edict of Restitution opposed to his restoration.
He went to Sweden, and, by the promise of a diversion in Germany,
sought to obtain assistance from Gustavus.  He was dismissed by that monarch
not without hopes of effectual protection, but with the advice
to act with caution.

Scarcely had Christian William been informed of the landing of his protector
in Pomerania, than he entered Magdeburg in disguise.  Appearing suddenly
in the town council, he reminded the magistrates of the ravages
which both town and country had suffered from the imperial troops,
of the pernicious designs of Ferdinand, and the danger of
the Protestant church.  He then informed them that the moment of deliverance
was at hand, and that Gustavus Adolphus offered them his alliance
and assistance.  Magdeburg, one of the most flourishing towns in Germany,
enjoyed under the government of its magistrates a republican freedom,
which inspired its citizens with a brave heroism.  Of this they had already
given proofs, in the bold defence of their rights against Wallenstein, who,
tempted by their wealth, made on them the most extravagant demands.
Their territory had been given up to the fury of his troops,
though Magdeburg itself had escaped his vengeance.  It was not difficult,
therefore, for the Administrator to gain the concurrence of men
in whose minds the rememberance of these outrages was still recent.
An alliance was formed between the city and the Swedish king,
by which Magdeburg granted to the king a free passage through its gates
and territories, with liberty of enlisting soldiers within its boundaries,
and on the other hand, obtained promises of effectual protection
for its religion and its privileges.

The Administrator immediately collected troops and commenced hostilities,
before Gustavus Adolphus was near enough to co-operate with him.  He defeated
some imperial detachments in the neighbourhood, made a few conquests,
and even surprised Halle.  But the approach of an imperial army obliged him
to retreat hastily, and not without loss, to Magdeburg.  Gustavus Adolphus,
though displeased with his premature measures, sent Dietrich Falkenberg,
an experienced officer, to direct the Administrator's military operations,
and to assist him with his counsel.  Falkenberg was named by the magistrates
governor of the town during the war.  The Prince's army was daily augmented
by recruits from the neighbouring towns; and he was able for some months
to maintain a petty warfare with success.

At length Count Pappenheim, having brought his expedition against
the Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg to a close, approached the town.
Driving the troops of the Administrator from their entrenchments,
he cut off his communication with Saxony, and closely invested the place.
He was soon followed by Tilly, who haughtily summoned the Elector forthwith
to comply with the Edict of Restitution, to submit to the Emperor's orders,
and surrender Magdeburg.  The Prince's answer was spirited and resolute,
and obliged Tilly at once to have recourse to arms.

In the meanwhile, the siege was prolonged, by the progress of
the King of Sweden, which called the Austrian general from before the place;
and the jealousy of the officers, who conducted the operations in his absence,
delayed, for some months, the fall of Magdeburg.  On the 30th March 1631,
Tilly returned, to push the siege with vigour.

The outworks were soon carried, and Falkenberg, after withdrawing
the garrisons from the points which he could no longer hold,
destroyed the bridge over the Elbe.  As his troops were barely sufficient
to defend the extensive fortifications, the suburbs of Sudenburg and Neustadt
were abandoned to the enemy, who immediately laid them in ashes.
Pappenheim, now separated from Tilly, crossed the Elbe at Schonenbeck,
and attacked the town from the opposite side.

The garrison, reduced by the defence of the outworks,
scarcely exceeded 2000 infantry and a few hundred horse; a small number
for so extensive and irregular a fortress.  To supply this deficiency,
the citizens were armed -- a desperate expedient, which produced more evils
than those it prevented.  The citizens, at best but indifferent soldiers,
by their disunion threw the town into confusion.  The poor complained
that they were exposed to every hardship and danger, while the rich,
by hiring substitutes, remained at home in safety.  These rumours
broke out at last in an open mutiny; indifference succeeded to zeal;
weariness and negligence took the place of vigilance and foresight.
Dissension, combined with growing scarcity, gradually produced
a feeling of despondence, many began to tremble at the desperate nature of
their undertaking, and the magnitude of the power to which they were opposed.
But religious zeal, an ardent love of liberty, an invincible hatred
to the Austrian yoke, and the expectation of speedy relief,
banished as yet the idea of a surrender; and divided as they were
in every thing else, they were united in the resolve to defend themselves
to the last extremity.

Their hopes of succour were apparently well founded.  They knew that
the confederacy of Leipzig was arming; they were aware of the near approach
of Gustavus Adolphus.  Both were alike interested in the preservation
of Magdeburg; and a few days might bring the King of Sweden before its walls.
All this was also known to Tilly, who, therefore, was anxious
to make himself speedily master of the place.  With this view,
he had despatched a trumpeter with letters to the Administrator,
the commandant, and the magistrates, offering terms of capitulation;
but he received for answer, that they would rather die than surrender.
A spirited sally of the citizens, also convinced him that their courage
was as earnest as their words, while the king's arrival at Potsdam,
with the incursions of the Swedes as far as Zerbst, filled him
with uneasiness, but raised the hopes of the garrison.  A second trumpeter
was now despatched; but the more moderate tone of his demands
increased the confidence of the besieged, and unfortunately
their negligence also.

The besiegers had now pushed their approaches as far as the ditch,
and vigorously cannonaded the fortifications from the abandoned batteries.
One tower was entirely overthrown, but this did not facilitate an assault,
as it fell sidewise upon the wall, and not into the ditch.
Notwithstanding the continual bombardment, the walls had not suffered much;
and the fire balls, which were intended to set the town in flames,
were deprived of their effect by the excellent precautions
adopted against them.  But the ammunition of the besieged was nearly expended,
and the cannon of the town gradually ceased to answer the fire
of the Imperialists.  Before a new supply could be obtained,
Magdeburg would be either relieved, or taken.  The hopes of the besieged
were on the stretch, and all eyes anxiously directed towards the quarter
in which the Swedish banners were expected to appear.  Gustavus Adolphus
was near enough to reach Magdeburg within three days; security grew with hope,
which all things contributed to augment.  On the 9th of May, the fire
of the Imperialists was suddenly stopped, and the cannon withdrawn from
several of the batteries.  A deathlike stillness reigned in the Imperial camp.
The besieged were convinced that deliverance was at hand.
Both citizens and soldiers left their posts upon the ramparts
early in the morning, to indulge themselves, after their long toils,
with the refreshment of sleep, but it was indeed a dear sleep,
and a frightful awakening.

Tilly had abandoned the hope of taking the town, before the arrival
of the Swedes, by the means which he had hitherto adopted;
he therefore determined to raise the siege, but first to hazard
a general assault.  This plan, however, was attended with great difficulties,
as no breach had been effected, and the works were scarcely injured.
But the council of war assembled on this occasion, declared for an assault,
citing the example of Maestricht, which had been taken early in the morning,
while the citizens and soldiers were reposing themselves.
The attack was to be made simultaneously on four points; the night betwixt
the 9th and 10th of May, was employed in the necessary preparations.
Every thing was ready and awaiting the signal, which was to be given
by cannon at five o'clock in the morning.  The signal, however,
was not given for two hours later, during which Tilly,
who was still doubtful of success, again consulted the council of war.
Pappenheim was ordered to attack the works of the new town,
where the attempt was favoured by a sloping rampart, and a dry ditch
of moderate depth.  The citizens and soldiers had mostly left the walls,
and the few who remained were overcome with sleep.  This general, therefore,
found little difficulty in mounting the wall at the head of his troops.

Falkenberg, roused by the report of musketry, hastened from the town-house,
where he was employed in despatching Tilly's second trumpeter,
and hurried with all the force he could hastily assemble towards the gate
of the new town, which was already in the possession of the enemy.
Beaten back, this intrepid general flew to another quarter,
where a second party of the enemy were preparing to scale the walls.
After an ineffectual resistance he fell in the commencement of the action.
The roaring of musketry, the pealing of the alarm-bells,
and the growing tumult apprised the awakening citizens of their danger.
Hastily arming themselves, they rushed in blind confusion against the enemy.
Still some hope of repulsing the besiegers remained; but the governor
being killed, their efforts were without plan and co-operation, and at last
their ammunition began to fail them.  In the meanwhile, two other gates,
hitherto unattacked, were stripped of their defenders, to meet
the urgent danger within the town.  The enemy quickly availed themselves
of this confusion to attack these posts.  The resistance was nevertheless
spirited and obstinate, until four imperial regiments, at length,
masters of the ramparts, fell upon the garrison in the rear,
and completed their rout.  Amidst the general tumult, a brave captain,
named Schmidt, who still headed a few of the more resolute against the enemy,
succeeded in driving them to the gates; here he fell mortally wounded,
and with him expired the hopes of Magdeburg.  Before noon,
all the works were carried, and the town was in the enemy's hands.

Two gates were now opened by the storming party for the main body,
and Tilly marched in with part of his infantry.  Immediately occupying
the principal streets, he drove the citizens with pointed cannon
into their dwellings, there to await their destiny.  They were not long
held in suspense; a word from Tilly decided the fate of Magdeburg.

Even a more humane general would in vain have recommended mercy
to such soldiers; but Tilly never made the attempt.  Left by their
general's silence masters of the lives of all the citizens,
the soldiery broke into the houses to satiate their most brutal appetites.
The prayers of innocence excited some compassion in the hearts of the Germans,
but none in the rude breasts of Pappenheim's Walloons.  Scarcely had
the savage cruelty commenced, when the other gates were thrown open,
and the cavalry, with the fearful hordes of the Croats,
poured in upon the devoted inhabitants.

Here commenced a scene of horrors for which history has no language --
poetry no pencil.  Neither innocent childhood, nor helpless old age;
neither youth, sex, rank, nor beauty, could disarm the fury of the conquerors.
Wives were abused in the arms of their husbands, daughters at the feet
of their parents; and the defenceless sex exposed to the double sacrifice
of virtue and life.  No situation, however obscure, or however sacred,
escaped the rapacity of the enemy.  In a single church fifty-three women
were found beheaded.  The Croats amused themselves with throwing children
into the flames; Pappenheim's Walloons with stabbing infants
at the mother's breast.  Some officers of the League,
horror-struck at this dreadful scene, ventured to remind Tilly
that he had it in his power to stop the carnage.  "Return in an hour,"
was his answer; "I will see what I can do; the soldier must have some reward
for his danger and toils."  These horrors lasted with unabated fury,
till at last the smoke and flames proved a check to the plunderers.
To augment the confusion and to divert the resistance of the inhabitants,
the Imperialists had, in the commencement of the assault,
fired the town in several places.  The wind rising rapidly, spread the flames,
till the blaze became universal.  Fearful, indeed, was the tumult
amid clouds of smoke, heaps of dead bodies, the clash of swords,
the crash of falling ruins, and streams of blood.  The atmosphere glowed;
and the intolerable heat forced at last even the murderers to take refuge
in their camp.  In less than twelve hours, this strong, populous,
and flourishing city, one of the finest in Germany, was reduced to ashes,
with the exception of two churches and a few houses.  The Administrator,
Christian William, after receiving several wounds, was taken prisoner,
with three of the burgomasters; most of the officers and magistrates
had already met an enviable death.  The avarice of the officers
had saved 400 of the richest citizens, in the hope of extorting from them
an exorbitant ransom.  But this humanity was confined to the officers
of the League, whom the ruthless barbarity of the Imperialists caused
to be regarded as guardian angels.

Scarcely had the fury of the flames abated, when the Imperialists returned
to renew the pillage amid the ruins and ashes of the town.
Many were suffocated by the smoke; many found rich booty in the cellars,
where the citizens had concealed their more valuable effects.
On the 13th of May, Tilly himself appeared in the town,
after the streets had been cleared of ashes and dead bodies.
Horrible and revolting to humanity was the scene that presented itself.
The living crawling from under the dead, children wandering about
with heart-rending cries, calling for their parents;
and infants still sucking the breasts of their lifeless mothers.
More than 6,000 bodies were thrown into the Elbe to clear the streets;
a much greater number had been consumed by the flames.
The whole number of the slain was reckoned at not less than 30,000.

The entrance of the general, which took place on the 14th,
put a stop to the plunder, and saved the few who had hitherto contrived
to escape.  About a thousand people were taken out of the cathedral,
where they had remained three days and two nights, without food,
and in momentary fear of death.  Tilly promised them quarter,
and commanded bread to be distributed among them.  The next day,
a solemn mass was performed in the cathedral, and `Te Deum' sung amidst
the discharge of artillery.  The imperial general rode through the streets,
that he might be able, as an eyewitness, to inform his master that
no such conquest had been made since the destruction of Troy and Jerusalem.
Nor was this an exaggeration, whether we consider the greatness, importance,
and prosperity of the city razed, or the fury of its ravagers.

In Germany, the tidings of the dreadful fate of Magdeburg
caused triumphant joy to the Roman Catholics, while it spread
terror and consternation among the Protestants.  Loudly and generally
they complained against the king of Sweden, who, with so strong a force,
and in the very neighbourhood, had left an allied city to its fate.
Even the most reasonable deemed his inaction inexplicable;
and lest he should lose irretrievably the good will of the people,
for whose deliverance he had engaged in this war, Gustavus was under
the necessity of publishing to the world a justification of his own conduct.

He had attacked, and on the 16th April, carried Landsberg,
when he was apprised of the danger of Magdeburg.  He resolved immediately
to march to the relief of that town; and he moved with all his cavalry,
and ten regiments of infantry towards the Spree.  But the position which
he held in Germany, made it necessary that he should not move forward
without securing his rear.  In traversing a country where he was surrounded
by suspicious friends and dangerous enemies, and where a single
premature movement might cut off his communication with his own kingdom,
the utmost vigilance and caution were necessary.  The Elector of Brandenburg
had already opened the fortress of Custrin to the flying Imperialists,
and closed the gates against their pursuers.  If now Gustavus should fail
in his attack upon Tilly, the Elector might again open his fortresses
to the Imperialists, and the king, with an enemy both in front and rear,
would be irrecoverably lost.  In order to prevent this contingency,
he demanded that the Elector should allow him to hold the fortresses
of Custrin and Spandau, till the siege of Magdeburg should be raised.

Nothing could be more reasonable than this demand.  The services which
Gustavus had lately rendered the Elector, by expelling the Imperialists
from Brandenburg, claimed his gratitude, while the past conduct
of the Swedes in Germany entitled them to confidence.  But by the surrender
of his fortresses, the Elector would in some measure make the King of Sweden
master of his country; besides that, by such a step, he must at once
break with the Emperor, and expose his States to his future vengeance.
The Elector's struggle with himself was long and violent,
but pusillanimity and self-interest for awhile prevailed.
Unmoved by the fate of Magdeburg, cold in the cause of religion
and the liberties of Germany, he saw nothing but his own danger;
and this anxiety was greatly stimulated by his minister Von Schwartzenburgh,
who was secretly in the pay of Austria.  In the mean time,
the Swedish troops approached Berlin, and the king took up his residence
with the Elector.  When he witnessed the timorous hesitation of that prince,
he could not restrain his indignation:  "My road is to Magdeburg," said he;
"not for my own advantage, but for that of the Protestant religion.
If no one will stand by me, I shall immediately retreat,
conclude a peace with the Emperor, and return to Stockholm.  I am convinced
that Ferdinand will readily grant me whatever conditions I may require.
But if Magdeburg is once lost, and the Emperor relieved from all fear of me,
then it is for you to look to yourselves and the consequences."
This timely threat, and perhaps, too, the aspect of the Swedish army,
which was strong enough to obtain by force what was refused to entreaty,
brought at last the Elector to his senses, and Spandau was delivered
into the hands of the Swedes.

The king had now two routes to Magdeburg; one westward led through
an exhausted country, and filled with the enemy's troops, who might
dispute with him the passage of the Elbe; the other more to the southward,
by Dessau and Wittenberg, where bridges were to be found
for crossing the Elbe, and where supplies could easily be drawn from Saxony.
But he could not avail himself of the latter without the consent
of the Elector, whom Gustavus had good reason to distrust.
Before setting out on his march, therefore, he demanded from that prince
a free passage and liberty for purchasing provisions for his troops.
His application was refused, and no remonstrances could prevail on the Elector
to abandon his system of neutrality.  While the point was still in dispute,
the news of the dreadful fate of Magdeburg arrived.

Tilly announced its fall to the Protestant princes in the tone of a conqueror,
and lost no time in making the most of the general consternation.
The influence of the Emperor, which had sensibly declined
during the rapid progress of Gustavus, after this decisive blow
rose higher than ever; and the change was speedily visible
in the imperious tone he adopted towards the Protestant states.
The decrees of the Confederation of Leipzig were annulled by a proclamation,
the Convention itself suppressed by an imperial decree,
and all the refractory states threatened with the fate of Magdeburg.
As the executor of this imperial mandate, Tilly immediately ordered troops
to march against the Bishop of Bremen, who was a member of the Confederacy,
and had himself enlisted soldiers.  The terrified bishop
immediately gave up his forces to Tilly, and signed the revocation
of the acts of the Confederation.  An imperial army, which had lately
returned from Italy, under the command of Count Furstenberg,
acted in the same manner towards the Administrator of Wirtemberg.
The duke was compelled to submit to the Edict of Restitution,
and all the decrees of the Emperor, and even to pay a monthly subsidy
of 100,000 dollars, for the maintenance of the imperial troops.
Similar burdens were inflicted upon Ulm and Nuremberg,
and the entire circles of Franconia and Swabia.  The hand of the Emperor
was stretched in terror over all Germany.  The sudden preponderance,
more in appearance, perhaps, than in reality, which he had obtained
by this blow, carried him beyond the bounds even of the moderation which
he had hitherto observed, and misled him into hasty and violent measures,
which at last turned the wavering resolution of the German princes
in favour of Gustavus Adolphus.  Injurious as the immediate consequences
of the fall of Magdeburg were to the Protestant cause, its remoter effects
were most advantageous.  The past surprise made way for active resentment,
despair inspired courage, and the German freedom rose, like a phoenix,
from the ashes of Magdeburg.

Among the princes of the Leipzig Confederation, the Elector of Saxony and
the Landgrave of Hesse were the most powerful; and, until they were disarmed,
the universal authority of the Emperor was unconfirmed.
Against the Landgrave, therefore, Tilly first directed his attack,
and marched straight from Magdeburg into Thuringia.  During this march,
the territories of Saxe Ernest and Schwartzburg were laid waste,
and Frankenhausen plundered before the very eyes of Tilly,
and laid in ashes with impunity.  The unfortunate peasant paid dear
for his master's attachment to the interests of Sweden.  Erfurt,
the key of Saxony and Franconia, was threatened with a siege,
but redeemed itself by a voluntary contribution of money and provisions.
From thence, Tilly despatched his emissaries to the Landgrave,
demanding of him the immediate disbanding of his army,
a renunciation of the league of Leipzig, the reception of imperial garrisons
into his territories and fortresses, with the necessary contributions,
and the declaration of friendship or hostility.  Such was the treatment
which a prince of the Empire was compelled to submit to from a servant
of the Emperor.  But these extravagant demands acquired a formidable weight
from the power which supported them; and the dreadful fate of Magdeburg,
still fresh in the memory of the Landgrave, tended still farther
to enforce them.  Admirable, therefore, was the intrepidity
of the Landgrave's answer:  "To admit foreign troops into
his capital and fortresses, the Landgrave is not disposed;
his troops he requires for his own purposes; as for an attack,
he can defend himself.  If General Tilly wants money or provisions,
let him go to Munich, where there is plenty of both."
The irruption of two bodies of imperial troops into Hesse Cassel
was the immediate result of this spirited reply, but the Landgrave gave them
so warm a reception that they could effect nothing; and just as Tilly
was preparing to follow with his whole army, to punish the unfortunate country
for the firmness of its sovereign, the movements of the King of Sweden
recalled him to another quarter.