The Thirty Years War | Page 8

the
Imperial Chamber the German States judge themselves, for they elect
the judges; it was the very end of its institution that they should do so,
in order that equal justice should be dispensed to all; but would this be
still possible, if the representatives of both professions were not equally
admissible to a seat in the Chamber? That one religion only existed in
Germany at the time of its establishment, was accidental; that no one
estate should have the means of legally oppressing another, was the
essential purpose of the institution. Now this object would be entirely

frustrated if one religious party were to have the exclusive power of
deciding for the other. Must, then, the design be sacrificed, because that
which was merely accidental had changed? With great difficulty the
Protestants, at last, obtained for the representatives of their religion a
place in the Supreme Council, but still there was far from being a
perfect equality of voices. To this day no Protestant prince has been
raised to the imperial throne.
Whatever may be said of the equality which the peace of Augsburg was
to have established between the two German churches, the Roman
Catholic had unquestionably still the advantage. All that the Lutheran
Church gained by it was toleration; all that the Romish Church
conceded, was a sacrifice to necessity, not an offering to justice. Very
far was it from being a peace between two equal powers, but a truce
between a sovereign and unconquered rebels. From this principle all the
proceedings of the Roman Catholics against the Protestants seemed to
flow, and still continue to do so. To join the reformed faith was still a
crime, since it was to be visited with so severe a penalty as that which
the Ecclesiastical Reservation held suspended over the apostacy of the
spiritual princes. Even to the last, the Romish Church preferred to risk
to loss of every thing by force, than voluntarily to yield the smallest
matter to justice. The loss was accidental and might be repaired; but the
abandonment of its pretensions, the concession of a single point to the
Protestants, would shake the foundations of the church itself. Even in
the treaty of peace this principle was not lost sight of. Whatever in this
peace was yielded to the Protestants was always under condition. It was
expressly declared, that affairs were to remain on the stipulated footing
only till the next general council, which was to be called with the view
of effecting an union between the two confessions. Then only, when
this last attempt should have failed, was the religious treaty to become
valid and conclusive. However little hope there might be of such a
reconciliation, however little perhaps the Romanists themselves were in
earnest with it, still it was something to have clogged the peace with
these stipulations.
Thus this religious treaty, which was to extinguish for ever the flames
of civil war, was, in fact, but a temporary truce, extorted by force and

necessity; not dictated by justice, nor emanating from just notions
either of religion or toleration. A religious treaty of this kind the
Roman Catholics were as incapable of granting, to be candid, as in
truth the Lutherans were unqualified to receive. Far from evincing a
tolerant spirit towards the Roman Catholics, when it was in their power,
they even oppressed the Calvinists; who indeed just as little deserved
toleration, since they were unwilling to practise it. For such a peace the
times were not yet ripe--the minds of men not yet sufficiently
enlightened. How could one party expect from another what itself was
incapable of performing? What each side saved or gained by the treaty
of Augsburg, it owed to the imposing attitude of strength which it
maintained at the time of its negociation. What was won by force was
to be maintained also by force; if the peace was to be permanent, the
two parties to it must preserve the same relative positions. The
boundaries of the two churches had been marked out with the sword;
with the sword they must be preserved, or woe to that party which
should be first disarmed! A sad and fearful prospect for the tranquillity
of Germany, when peace itself bore so threatening an aspect.
A momentary lull now pervaded the empire; a transitory bond of
concord appeared to unite its scattered limbs into one body, so that for
a time a feeling also for the common weal returned. But the division
had penetrated its inmost being, and to restore its original harmony was
impossible. Carefully as the treaty of peace appeared to have defined
the rights of both parties, its interpretation was nevertheless the subject
of many disputes. In the heat of conflict it had produced a cessation of
hostilities; it covered, not