The Thirty Years War, book 2 | Page 9

the town of Hoechst on the
Maine, which he crossed after a murderous action with Tilly, who
disputed with him the passage of the river. With the loss of half his
army he reached the opposite bank, where he quickly collected his
shattered troops, and formed a junction with Mansfeld. Pursued by
Tilly, this united host threw itself again into Alsace, to repeat their
former ravages. While the Elector Frederick followed, almost like a
fugitive mendicant, this swarm of plunderers which acknowledged him
as its lord, and dignified itself with his name, his friends were busily
endeavouring to effect a reconciliation between him and the Emperor.

Ferdinand took care not to deprive them of all hope of seeing the
Palatine restored to his dominion. Full of artifice and dissimulation, he
pretended to be willing to enter into a negotiation, hoping thereby to
cool their ardour in the field, and to prevent them from driving matters
to extremity. James I., ever the dupe of Spanish cunning, contributed
not a little, by his foolish intermeddling, to promote the Emperor's
schemes. Ferdinand insisted that Frederick, if he would appeal to his
clemency, should, first of all, lay down his arms, and James considered
this demand extremely reasonable. At his instigation, the Elector
dismissed his only real defenders, Count Mansfeld and the
Administrator, and in Holland awaited his own fate from the mercy of
the Emperor.
Mansfeld and Duke Christian were now at a loss for some new name;
the cause of the Elector had not set them in motion, so his dismissal
could not disarm them. War was their object; it was all the same to
them in whose cause or name it was waged. After some vain attempts
on the part of Mansfeld to be received into the Emperor's service, both
marched into Lorraine, where the excesses of their troops spread terror
even to the heart of France. Here they long waited in vain for a master
willing to purchase their services; till the Dutch, pressed by the Spanish
General Spinola, offered to take them into pay. After a bloody fight at
Fleurus with the Spaniards, who attempted to intercept them, they
reached Holland, where their appearance compelled the Spanish
general forthwith to raise the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom. But even
Holland was soon weary of these dangerous guests, and availed herself
of the first moment to get rid of their unwelcome assistance. Mansfeld
allowed his troops to recruit themselves for new enterprises in the
fertile province of East Friezeland. Duke Christian, passionately
enamoured of the Electress Palatine, with whom he had become
acquainted in Holland, and more disposed for war than ever, led back
his army into Lower Saxony, bearing that princess's glove in his hat,
and on his standards the motto "All for God and Her". Neither of these
adventurers had as yet run their career in this war.
All the imperial territories were now free from the enemy; the Union
was dissolved; the Margrave of Baden, Duke Christian, and Mansfeld,
driven from the field, and the Palatinate overrun by the executive
troops of the empire. Manheim and Heidelberg were in possession of

Bavaria, and Frankenthal was shortly afterwards ceded to the Spaniards.
The Palatine, in a distant corner of Holland, awaited the disgraceful
permission to appease, by abject submission, the vengeance of the
Emperor; and an Electoral Diet was at last summoned to decide his fate.
That fate, however, had been long before decided at the court of the
Emperor; though now, for the first time, were circumstances favourable
for giving publicity to the decision. After his past measures towards the
Elector, Ferdinand believed that a sincere reconciliation was not to be
hoped for. The violent course he had once begun, must be completed
successfully, or recoil upon himself. What was already lost was
irrecoverable; Frederick could never hope to regain his dominions; and
a prince without territory and without subjects had little chance of
retaining the electoral crown. Deeply as the Palatine had offended
against the House of Austria, the services of the Duke of Bavaria were
no less meritorious. If the House of Austria and the Roman Catholic
church had much to dread from the resentment and religious rancour of
the Palatine family, they had as much to hope from the gratitude and
religious zeal of the Bavarian. Lastly, by the cession of the Palatine
Electorate to Bavaria, the Roman Catholic religion would obtain a
decisive preponderance in the Electoral College, and secure a
permanent triumph in Germany.
The last circumstance was sufficient to win the support of the three
Ecclesiastical Electors to this innovation; and among the Protestants the
vote of Saxony was alone of any importance. But could John George be
expected to dispute with the Emperor a right, without which he would
expose to question his own