In this matter, at least, James had hardly any choice. With the best will in the world it would be impossible for him to send an English army into the Palatinate before the end of March. His fault was, not that he advocated the sequestration of Frankenthal, but that he had allowed affairs to fall into such a deplorable state that nothing better could be done. Yet even now news came from Germany which would have been grateful to anyone with a clear perception of the position of affairs. For it was now known that the Elector of Saxony, who in July had been thrown into the arms of the Emperor by Frederick's ill-advised proceedings at Darmstadt, was beginning in October to doubt the wisdom of the course which he had been pursuing. October. the Lutheran Ferdinand, elated with success, had thought that the time was come to take one more step in the reduction of Bohemia to his own religion. In the spring he had expelled Expulsion of the native Bohemian clergy from the country, and he clergy from now gave orders that the German Lutheran churches Bohemia. should be closed, and that the last of the Protestant clergy should be sent into exile. Against this the Elector of Saxony protested. Special promises, he said, had been made to him that Lutheranism should be left untouched in Bohemia. He was answered, that those promises had only been given on condition that the Bohemians made their submission peaceably. As, however, it was notorious that this had not been the case, Ferdinand had as much right as any other of the Princes of the Empire to provide as he pleased for the religious teaching of his subjects. The special arrangements made in Silesia by the Elector in the name of the Emperor would be respected, but no interference with the other states of the Austrian monarchy could be permitted.1 The theory which strained to the uttermost the rights of territorial sovereignty in matters of religion, had been too long the basis of the whole political system in Germany to make it probable that John George would do more than make empty remonstrances against the persecution which State of the Palatinate. Londorp, ii. 630-653. Hurter, Gesch. Ferdinands II., ix. 213. Pescheck, Gegenreformation in Böhmen, ii. 36. 1622 MANSFELD IN EAST FRIESLAND. 401 was setting in in Bohemia. But it was different with the Palatinate, which was not yet legally in the hands of a Catholic sovereign. Tilly's first act after the surrender of Heidelberg had been to found a college for the Jesuits there, and it was not long before the churches were filled with Catholic priests. Unless something were done shortly, the Palatinate would be lost to Protestantism for ever. Difficult the neutral Unfortunately, John George was no more likely than James to strike out a new and vigorous policy in accordance with the altered circumstances of the time. Yet the diffiposition of culties which beset him in common with the other Protestants. neutral Protestants, were not altogether of his own creation. In leaning to the side of Ferdinand, he had been defending the cause of order against anarchy. If he was to change his attitude and to defend the cause of the religious independence of the Protestant States against the Emperor, what assurance could he have that he was not bringing back the anarchy which he detested? Nor was this a mere theoretical question, as, long before the end of the year, Mansfeld, at the head of his free companies, was once more at his work of plunder and destruction within the limits of the Empire. With the relief of Bergen-op-Zoom the need for Mansfeld's services in the Netherlands had come to an end, and it was not Mansfeld discharged by the States. likely that the States-General, in the midst of their own financial necessities, would keep in pay an army which they no longer wanted, merely to suit the convenience of James. Mansfeld was accordingly discharged on October 27, and sent over the frontier to find support as best he could. An attempt upon the Bishopric of Münster brought him face to face with the enemy in superior force,1 and he turned his steps towards East Friesland. To him it ings in East was a matter of perfect indifference that he had no Friesland. cause of quarrel whatever with the unlucky Count of East Friesland or his subjects. It was enough for him that the country was rich in meadows and in herds of cattle, and that, surrounded as it was by morasses, it would form a natural His proceed VOL. IV. 1 Carleton to Calvert, Nov. 5, S. P. Holland. DD 1 fortress from which he might issue to plunder the neighbouring territories at his pleasure. He at once sent to the Count to demand quarters for 15,000 men, a loan of 30,000 thalers, and the possession of Stickhausen, a strong fort on the Soest, which commanded the only road by which the country was accessible from the south. Before an answer could arrive, he made himself master of the place; and in a few days his troops had spread over the whole country. The aged Count himself was placed under arrest with his whole family, and his money was confiscated for the use of the army. Heavy contributions were laid upon the landowners and farmers, whilst the soldiery were suffered to deal at their pleasure with the miserable inhabitants.2 Such were the proceedings of the man who, if James had listened to the unwise advice of the Prince of Orange, would have been furnished with English gold, and sent to reconquer the Palatinate. He was now looking to He looks to France for aid. France for aid; for Louis had at last made peace with his Huguenot subjects, and it was understood that the French ministers were beginning to view with jealousy the increasing vigour of the House of Austria. His Meanwhile Frederick had once more returned to the Hague. Still floating aimlessly, like a cork on the tumbling waves, he was as irresolute and as impracticable as ever. own wishes would have led him to give full support the Hague. to Mansfeld, and to proclaim war to the knife against the Emperor and Spain; but he was absolutely penniless himself, and there were no signs that his father-in-law would support him in any such enterprise. In the midst of his sorrows, the news of the change in the Elector of Saxony's feelings came like a gleam of sunshine across the watery sky; but Frederick never knew how to profit by his advantages when they came. He could not see that he must choose once for Frederick returns to 525. 1 Carleton to Calvert, Nov. 18, S. P. Holland. Uetterodt's Mansfeld, 2 Uetterodt's Mansfeld, 526. 3 The Prince of Orange to the King, Nov., S. P. Holland. 1622 FREDERICK APPEALS TO SAXONY. 403 all between anarchy and order, and that alliance with Mansfeld's brigands and the hordes with which Bethlen Gabor was again proposing to sweep over the Empire,1 was utterly incompatible with the friendship of John George, and of those unenthusiastic princes and populations who wished to see the Emperor powerful enough to put down with a strong hand such atrocities as those of which Mansfeld had recently been guilty in East Friesland. Under these circumstances, the long letter which Frederick despatched to the Elector of Saxony was only calculated to produce an effect the very opposite to that which he desired. Scarcely touching upon the catastrophe of Bohemia, he dwelt at length upon the wrongs which 1623. January. Frederick's letter to the Elector of Saxony. he had suffered at the hands of the Emperor. He had just been unjustly put to the ban, unheard and uncondemned. His towns had been seized and plundered; his subjects ruined, and debarred from the exercise of their religion. The Emperor and the League were not in earnest when they spoke of peace. Yet, much as he had been injured, he was ready, at the request of his father-in-law, to surrender his private pretensions. John George, he was certain, would acknowledge that the ban was utterly illegal, and would do his best to induce the Emperor to withdraw it and to issue a general amnesty. In that case, if not required to do anything contrary to his honour and his conscience, he would be prepared, as soon as he was perfectly restored to his lands and dignities, to acknowledge all due respect and obedience to the Emperor.2 That Frederick should have entertained such views of his rights and duties is not to be wondered at; but it is strange Terms proposed by him unacceptable. that he did not see that John George's alliance was not to be won on such terms; for the question whether his submission was to be made before or after the grant of the amnesty, involved the whole matter at issue, not merely with Ferdinand, but also with the great majority of the Princes of the Empire. Before giving any 1 Chichester to Carleton, Nov. 25, S. P. Holland. 2 Frederick to the Elector of Saxony, Jan., Londorp ii. 653. DD2 support to the injured Protestants of the Palatinate, the German neutrals wanted to know whether Frederick had renounced the right of making war upon any other prince who happened to displease him; and unless he could assure them on this point, he had small chance of obtaining a hearing wherever the right of private war was regarded as an intolerable nuisance. Nor was it only by reference to the existing political necessities of Germany that Frederick stands condemned, for he had distinctly promised his father-in-law to accept peace on the principles which he now repudiated, and he had never informed James that he had retracted his promise. How fatal an enemy Frederick was to his own cause was now, not for the first time, to be seen. On November 14 1622. November. The assembly at Ratisbon. Ferdinand had reached Ratisbon, eager to force upon the assembly which he had summoned the acceptance of the act by which he had privately conferred the Electorate upon the Duke of Bavaria. The ill-treatment of the Bohemian Lutherans had robbed the gathering of its character as an impartial representative of the two religions. The Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg were present only by their ambassadors. The Dukes of Brunswick and Pomerania were not present at all. The only Protestant who appeared in person was the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. 1623. Resistance to the Em From an assembly thus constituted Frederick could hope for little favour. Yet scarcely had the Emperor announced his intention than opposition arose on every side. January. It was not till January 20 that the answer of the assembly was delivered to him. Ferdinand's treatperor. ment of Frederick was approved of; but he was nevertheless recommended to lay the question of his deposition before the Electoral College; and a strong opinion was expressed as to the impolicy of passing over his immediate relations in favour of Maximilian. Such an answer from such a body leaves no doubt that the peace of Germany was in Frederick's hands. If he had sent a representative to Ratisbon to offer any reasonable guarantees of his intention to keep the peace, he could by no possibility |