The Thirty Years War, book 2 | Page 6

of Denmark, who had ascended the throne before the birth
of Gustavus, in an inroad upon Sweden, had gained some considerable
advantages over the father of that hero. Gustavus Adolphus hastened to
put an end to this destructive war, and by prudent sacrifices obtained a

peace, in order to turn his arms against the Czar of Muscovy. The
questionable fame of a conqueror never tempted him to spend the blood
of his subjects in unjust wars; but he never shrunk from a just one. His
arms were successful against Russia, and Sweden was augmented by
several important provinces on the east.
In the meantime, Sigismund of Poland retained against the son the
same sentiments of hostility which the father had provoked, and left no
artifice untried to shake the allegiance of his subjects, to cool the ardour
of his friends, and to embitter his enemies. Neither the great qualities of
his rival, nor the repeated proofs of devotion which Sweden gave to her
loved monarch, could extinguish in this infatuated prince the foolish
hope of regaining his lost throne. All Gustavus's overtures were
haughtily rejected. Unwillingly was this really peaceful king involved
in a tedious war with Poland, in which the whole of Livonia and Polish
Prussia were successively conquered. Though constantly victorious,
Gustavus Adolphus was always the first to hold out the hand of peace.
This contest between Sweden and Poland falls somewhere about the
beginning of the Thirty Years' War in Germany, with which it is in
some measure connected. It was enough that Sigismund, himself a
Roman Catholic, was disputing the Swedish crown with a Protestant
prince, to assure him the active support of Spain and Austria; while a
double relationship to the Emperor gave him a still stronger claim to his
protection. It was his reliance on this powerful assistance that chiefly
encouraged the King of Poland to continue the war, which had hitherto
turned out so unfavourably for him, and the courts of Madrid and
Vienna failed not to encourage him by high-sounding promises. While
Sigismund lost one place after another in Livonia, Courland, and
Prussia, he saw his ally in Germany advancing from conquest after
conquest to unlimited power. No wonder then if his aversion to peace
kept pace with his losses. The vehemence with which he nourished his
chimerical hopes blinded him to the artful policy of his confederates,
who at his expense were keeping the Swedish hero employed, in order
to overturn, without opposition, the liberties of Germany, and then to
seize on the exhausted North as an easy conquest. One circumstance
which had not been calculated on--the magnanimity of Gustavus--
overthrew this deceitful policy. An eight years' war in Poland, so far
from exhausting the power of Sweden, had only served to mature the

military genius of Gustavus, to inure the Swedish army to warfare, and
insensibly to perfect that system of tactics by which they were
afterwards to perform such wonders in Germany.
After this necessary digression on the existing circumstances of Europe,
I now resume the thread of my history.
Ferdinand had regained his dominions, but had not indemnified himself
for the expenses of recovering them. A sum of forty millions of florins,
which the confiscations in Bohemia and Moravia had produced, would
have sufficed to reimburse both himself and his allies; but the Jesuits
and his favourites soon squandered this sum, large as it was.
Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, to whose victorious arm, principally, the
Emperor owed the recovery of his dominions; who, in the service of
religion and the Emperor, had sacrificed his near relation, had the
strongest claims on his gratitude; and moreover, in a treaty which,
before the war, the duke had concluded with the Emperor, he had
expressly stipulated for the reimbursement of all expenses. Ferdinand
felt the full weight of the obligation imposed upon him by this treaty
and by these services, but he was not disposed to discharge it at his
own cost. His purpose was to bestow a brilliant reward upon the duke,
but without detriment to himself. How could this be done better than at
the expense of the unfortunate prince who, by his revolt, had given the
Emperor a right to punish him, and whose offences might be painted in
colours strong enough to justify the most violent measures under the
appearance of law. That, then, Maximilian may be rewarded, Frederick
must be further persecuted and totally ruined; and to defray the
expenses of the old war, a new one must be commenced.
But a still stronger motive combined to enforce the first. Hitherto
Ferdinand had been contending for existence alone; he had been
fulfilling no other duty than that of self-defence. But now, when victory
gave him freedom to act, a higher duty occurred to him, and he
remembered the