v^^ ;^-o; •>'-. 'V, C '-J- :^^ c - " '- « ''b. ,A^' \- . ^^ ;.^ '^ ^._ v-^' ^-^- ^,- ^/ -■ '^.''^%^'^ '^' ^^ a'' V .^■^ : x^ ^^ ^ ^ ■^ - ^ <^^ -'; ^^. -^ 9 >- .'V^ . 1^^^- ./ :- .^^^^ - <^^ A' ^ c , -^Z-' -\,^ c cP^^^ •^o 0^ •^^ ^y -^c^ Q~ /- O ■^ -^ o ' -^^ %.,^^ GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 7 God lias not prescribed others ; the Scriptures speak neither of tapers, nor of palms, nor of masses for the redemption of souls, nor of the worship of saints. God, on the contrary, has prohibited such practices. He has given us the holy sacrament, as a pledge and token of the forgiveness of our sins ; but not that we should put it into a gold or silver frame and carry it about to cemeteries and other places. This was Gustavas Vasa's profession of faith, which suffices to justify his change of religion and that of his subjects. To devote himself entirely to the salvation of his soul, and to prepare to meet his God, since declining strength admonished him of approaching death, he abdicated in favor of his son Eric. He died shortly afterwards, regretted by his countrymen, and leaving Sweden a happy and prosperous kingdom. Eric inherited the power, but not the genius of his father. At the commencement of his reign, he quar- relled with his brothers, who, being invested with hereditary duchies, gave umbrage to him. Subject to frequent fits of folly, he was by turns, whimsical and cruel, as is exemplified by his asking in marriage, at the same time, Elizabeth, Queen of England, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, the princess Renee, of Lorraine, Christina of Hessen, and finally marrying the daughter of a peasant ; or stabbing, with the cool- ness of a savage, on imaginary suspicions, Nicolas Sture, one of Sweden's noblest sons — then shedding, a few days later, tears of remorse, and refusing all food. All these excesses, joined to other ruinous extravagances, caused the representatives of the 8 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. Swedish nation to declare Eric incapable of reigning, and to condemn him to an imprisonment which short- ened his life. The children of this monarch were excluded from the succession, and his brother John ascended the throne. But influenced by his wife, Catharine Jao;ellon, dauo;hter of Siorismund, Kino; of Poland, John called the Jesuits into his States and attempted to restore the Romish Church. The nation, indignant at his treachery, withdrew from him their sympathy and confidence. At John's death, the States, anxious to maintain their rights and the faith of the kingdom, required of his son Sigismund, who had been brought up in Poland, and instructed in the Catholic principles of his mother, a decree prohibiting any religion except Lutheranism. These energetic measures induced the new king to yield. But he soon violated his promise, and ordered a Catholic church to be built in each town of his kingdom. To render his perjury still more glaring, he refused to be crowned by a Pro- testant prelate, and granted this honor to the Pope's Nuncio. Then all Sweden protested against so much audacity, united with so much perfidy. Sur- rounded by Poles and Jesuits, Sigismund shocked both the national and religious feelings of his subjects. Bloody afi"rays took place between the inhabitants of Stockholm and the foreisiners. In the midst of these intestine contests, Sigismund, recalled by Poland, whose king he was also, left Sweden, to return no more. The Duke Charles, youngest son of Gustavus Yasa, and Sigismund's uncle, was the only one who GrSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 9' showed himself worthy of his father, and the only son who had conciliated the affection and esteem of his countrymen. The interests of his fellow-citizens, and the dangers which threatened his religion, silenced his scruples, and caused him to yield to the desire of the Estates by accepting the regency of the kingdom, to the great joy of the people, whose friend and hope he was for a long time. The Augsburg Confession was again proclaimed, and all the Swedes present cried: "Our persons and our property, all that we have in this world, we wi]l sacrifice, if it is necessary, rather than abandon the pure Gospel!" During these storms Gustavus-Adolphus was born. His baptism, celebrated on the first of January, 1595, gave rise to public rejoicings. People took pleasure in relating that ten years before this happy day, the renowned astronomer Tycho-Brahe had foretold the birth of a prince, who would render illustrious the States of Northern Europe and save the evangelical Church. Without dwelling on such legends, we see in them the superstitious, but sincere expression of the enthusiasm, which greeted the heir of the Duke of Sudermania and foreboded his future elevation. The child, according to a biblical expression, grew and waxed strong in spirit. His brilliant qualities were developed under the beneficial influence of his parents. Bravery and a predilection for the military profession soon manifested themselves in him. This disposition was early developed by the accounts Gus- tavus received from his father of the wars continually engrossing his attention, often causing long and fre- '10 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. quent absences from home, and wlio thus inflamed the imagination of his son and fostered his warlike in- clination. In September, 1595, the national assembly of Swe- den, the Diet, had excluded from the throne every Catholic candidate. Sigismund refused to subscribe to this condition, pretending to maintain the rights which his father had bequeathed to him. His religious con- victions had allowed him to obtain the inheritance of his mother and to reign over Poland. He hoped to possess also the crown of Sweden without renouncing the tenets of Rome. He invaded this kingdom and tried to obtain it by force. But a decisive defeat obliged him to withdraw, after having signed a capitula- tion which was tantamount to an abdication. His uncle and conqueror, who as yet had only been regent, now became king under the name of Charles IX., and his descendants were proclaimed by the Estates the only legitimate heirs to the throne of Sweden. Charles had already once refused to replace his nephew, and in yielding to the renewed entreaties of his country and to the force of circumstances, he wished to ease his conscience. He remarked to the deputies of the nation that if one of Sio;ismund's sons would embrace the Reformation, he should inherit the crown. He re- located in his will this generous reservation. In com- paring this scrupulousness with Sigismund' s conduct, who trampled on all his engagements, it is impossible not to recognize in the king of Poland the disciple of the Jesuits, and in Charles the disciple of a religion which above all speaks to the conscience. GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. ll After the war against the Polish invaders, Charles had been obliged to defend his power on the continent. Finland, urged to rebellion by Sigismund's intrigues, submitted only after a bloody contest. Gustavus, who was scarcely seven years old, accompanied his father in this expedition. The ship on board of which they were embarked, became ice-bound, and the child was obliged to continue his way on foot in the midst of a rigorous Russian winter. The vigor of his constitu- tion overcame this obstacle, which did not impair his health. A fact is reported which shows that his soul was as intrepid as his body. He took a walk in a meadow near Stockholm, and while playing there with perfect freedom, he ran toward a copse very distant from the persons who were watching over him. They, trying to stop him with stories of large snakes concealed in the wood, were answered: "Well, give me a stick, I will kill them." He was much pleased with the military preparations, and thus revealed, from his infancy, his disposition for the profession of arms. In visiting with his father, the Swedish fleet, at Calmar, he was called upon by an officer, who asked him, when the tour of all the ships had been made, which one he preferred : "The Black Knight," said he, (this was the name of one of the vessels) ; when asked the reason, he immedi- ately replied : " Because it carries more guns than the others." Another fact, which also took place in his child- hood, betokens a generosity not less remarkable than 12 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. his strength and courage. A peasant once brought to him a pretty little pony of the island of (Eland, whose horses are renowned in all northern Europe. This worthy man requested the prince to accept his nag as a small token of his devotion. " I keep your horse," said Gustavus to him, ''but I will pay you for it, you are in want of money, aiid this present exceeds your resources." While saying this, he brought out his purse full of ducats and emptied the contents of it into the hand of the countryman, who was stupefied at the sight of such disinterestedness and liberality in a child. The intellect of Gustavus was above all surprising. Before he was sixteen years old, he had studied six languages. He knew equally well the Swedish, Latin, German, Dutch, French, and Italian tongues. He could also speak the Russian and the Polish to some extent. His father however did not confine himself to cultivating his intellect, but took special care of his heart. He inspired him with a love for labor, and trained him to the practice of all those virtues which make great men and good Christians. His religious instruction was thorough, enabling him to account for his faith, though its object was not so much to ex- plain the principles of the Reformation as to endear them to his heart. In one word, Charles IX. spared nothing to render his son capable and , worthy of governing Sweden. The letter is still extant in which this wise monarch gave to his son, with his last farewell, his last advice. "Above all," said he to him, " fear God ; honor thy GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 13 father and tliy mother ; show for thy brothers and sisters a deep attachment ; love the faithful servants of thy father, and reward each one according to his merits; be humane towards thy subjects; punish the 'wicked ; love the good ; trust everybody, though not unreservedly, observe the laws without respect to persons; injure nobody's well acquired privileges, if they are consistent with the law." In this simple and austere language we find those maxims which moulded noble and resolute characters, men of granite, whose sublime type the effeminacy of our age has effaced. The mother of Grustavus-Adolphus also contributed to the development of his numerous gifts. She per- fectly seconded her husband and carefully avoided those dangerous allowances, which an indulgent love too often suggests to mothers. Severe and perhaps a little haughty, she would not suffer the least violation of her rule. Her virtues exerted the most happy influence on all, and thus the court was not dangerous to her sons. She had a very decided predilection for her second son, Charles-Philip. Her conduct might have wound- ed the affection of the elder and caused disunion in the family, but Gustavus was too good a son to com- plain of his mother, and too good a brother to be jealous. To complete the education of Gustavus, Charles thought it best to accustom him early to the manage- ment of affairs and to a practical life which books have never taught. When Adolphus was ten years old, his 2 14 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. fatHer made him attend tlie meetings of the counsellors of the crown, and the diJ0ferent public assemblies. He even allowed him to converse, in his presence, with the foreign officers, who from time to time were present at these sittings. He loved to hear the joung prince speak of battles, sieges, military organizations, like an old general, and ask questions with the eagerness of a child whose curiosity never grows weary. At the age of fourteen, the king sent him, with his mother, into northern Sweden to become acquainted with his future subjects. He recommended him to listen to all who would solicit his protection, to help them according to his means, and to dismiss none without comfort. This journey resulted in a complete success. When he was fifteen years old, he wished to lead an army against the Russians, but his services were not accepted, and the campaign took place with- out him. However, when, in April, 1611, Denmark had declared war against Sweden, Gustavus-Adolphus ob- tained the command of a body of troops. He immedi- ately marched forward to deliver the town of Calmar, which was besieged by the Danes. From the begin- ning to the end of this war, he displayed the talents of a great captain, and directed all the operations in an admirable manner. The confidence, which he had inspired, was such that the King departed to hold a diet, and left him alone at the head of the army. Charles had no sooner started, than he became dan- gerously ill. "When no hope for his recovery could be any longer entertained, his attendants lamented over GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 15 the misfortunes which his death would cause to Sweden, and over the works which he would leave unfinished. Then the old king, placing his hand upon his son's head, who had come to his father's death-bed, said with a voice feeble, but full of conviction : " Ille faciet (this one will do it)." He died on the 10th of Octo- ber, 1611, sixtj-one years of age. CHAPTEE II. G USTA VUS-AD OLPH US' EEIGN: niS GALLANTRY — HIS DOMESTIC YIRTUES — HIS PIETY, LTHOUGH Gustavus Adolphus was only seven- . teen years old, when lie succeeded liis father, lie was declared to have attained his majority. His precocious maturity rendered him worthy of this ex- ception. His ability had been tested in the war which the nation had sustained against the Danes. He con- tinued the struggle successfully, and the king of Den- mark renounced his claims to the throne of Sweden. He had scarcely concluded peace with this prince, when he was called into Russia, to support the party that had oifered the crown of this country to his brother. The competitor of Charles-Philip was Uladislas, son of Sigismund, king of Poland, lately dethroned in Sweden. To bring their divisions to an end the Rus- sians rejected these two princes, and elected by com- mon consent a chief among themselves. Gustavus- Adolphus consented to peace, and obtained an increase of territory which the new sovereign ceded to him. This short war had been a severe school to the young king of Sweden ; he had fought under his valiant con- stable, James de la Gardie, whose gallantry had struck 16 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 17 tlie Russians to sucli a degree, that they put his name in their calendar, thus conferring religious honors upon him. After having improved his rare military talents hy experience, Gustavus-Adolphus, seconded by brave and distinguished Generals, easily conquered Sigis- mund, the unrelenting enemy of his race, who had already possessed himself of one of his continental provinces. He forced him to retreat, and even took several towns from Prussia, which had favored that king. All these victories rendered his power secure, which' had been threatened on all sides. The disinterested- ness of the Swedes, whose devotion to their king did not shrink from any sacrifice, united to a wise adminis- tration, replenished the treasury exhausted by so many wars. It has been remarked that no king ever took the reins of government under more difficult circum- stances than Gustavus-Adolphus.* TVe must add that no one ever overcame obstacles so rapidly. He was obliged to conquer his inheritance in some manner, and to pay with his blood his claims to the throne. He drew not his sword actuated by a spirit of conquest ; the interest of his country was his sole incentive, and he only waged war to secure peace. He repressed with decision every deed of vengeance, and thus pre- sents an example of courage during the battle and of * Money was so scarce that, to carry on the war, Gustavus sold his gold and silver plate and his jewels. Many great personages imitated his example. 2* 18 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. generosity after the triumph. Pull of solicitude for his soldiers he tolerated no licentiousness and upheld religion and morals in his camp. Divine service was regularly celebrated. In the morning and in the evening, the whole army bent their knees before God and implored His blessing. The king multiplied him- self. He was everywhere found dispensing encourage- ments and counsels, putting even his hand to the work, taking the lead in the bloody conflicts, and handling the pickaxe in the trenches. He maintained disci- pline, out abolished bastinado, and thus showed more solicitude for the dignity of man, than is exhibited, at the present day, in some civilized countries. As pru- dent as he was brave, he surrounded himself with wise counsellors, and, before every undertaking, always consulted the Estates of his kingdom. His energy and the strength of his constitution are inconceivable. Whether sick or wounded, he never complained, and even ~ did not take care of himself. During the Russian war, he was attacked by an inter- mittent fever. Far from keeping his bed, he enjoyed himself in fencing with an officer of his court, and carried on this exercise with so much earnestness as to produce a copious perspiration, which cured him of his disease. Providence visibly protected his life and preserved him for great purposes. During the Livonian cam- paign against the Poles, a bullet swept the place that lie had just left. At another time, a number of persons fell at his side struck by grape shot, and so near him that blood gushed on his garments. A GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 19 moment later, a ball crossed his tent and passed over liis head. At Dantzig, lie ordered seven boats to take a redoubt, and, to be surer of the result, he himself commanded one of these crafts. He vras shot in the abdomen. Xot"withstanding the severity of the wound, he Tvrote on that very day to the Estates: "As the engagement was warm. I also was wounded ; I thank God that my health and life are not endangered, and hope that, in a few days, I shall be able to resume the command." His friends, fearinir that greater misfor- tune might happen to him in future, entreated him through Oxenstiern henceforth not to expose his life anymore. Gustavus answered: ^^As yet no king has lost his life by a bullet, moreover the soldier folloi^s the example of his leader, and a general who shrinks from dancrer, will never cover himself with crlorv. Cassar was alwavs to be found in the first rank, and Alexander moistened each battle-field with his blood." Three months later he was again seriously wounded in a battle which he fous:ht in Prussia ao-ainst the Duke of Brandenburg, a vassal and an ally of his rival, the King of Poland. The day after this accident he wrote, as at Dantzig, a letter remarkable for the courage and the resignation which it breathes: ''We met," said he, "the enemy on foot and horseback; our artillery made such execution that we thought we had put him to flight, but God would not have it ; when we had arrived at a pass from which we wanted to dislodge him, a musket ball struck me at the shoulder near the neck ; this was the chief cause of our losing the battle. I thank God however for allowing me, in 20 . GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. mj misfortune, to hope for mj speedy restoration to health." The V.ing's fearlessness and courage inspired indeed his soldiers with the highest admiration for him, and actuated them to follow his example, but his generals, anticipating the fatal consequences which his untimely death would inflict upon his cause, did not approve of his temerity. Therefore they again besought him through Oxenstiern, their spokesman, to consider of what importance his life was to the country, and not to expose himself so often as he had done of late. Gustavus-Adolphus answered: "My friends, I cannot believe, that my person is of so great a consequence as you pretend. For should the worst befall me, I am nevertheless fully convinced that God would henceforth watch over Sweden as he has done hitherto. And as God has made me king, I dare not allow my- self to be frightened or to be actuated by my own ad- vantage. Should, in the vicissitude of war, death be my lot, how can a king fall more honorably than in the contest for God and his people." When once a surgeon, while dressing his wound, dared to make to him similar remonstrances, Gustavus contented him* self with answering: "iVe sutor ultra crepidamT' Every one to his own trade. Towards the end of the same war against Poland and Russia, Gustavus-Adolphus incurred another great danger. An Austrian army, composed of eight thousand men of infantry, and two thousand men of cavalry, having come to the aid of Poland, the king of Sweden asked Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, who J i'- h J 1 1 1 I i^eek to fi.rtifv mvself, by meditations upon the Holy Scriptures.— p. 20.) GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 21 had sent him, and what motive actuated Austria to meddle with his affairs. Wallenstein arrogantly an- swered : "The Emperor, my master, has more soldiers than he wants for himself; he must help his friends." To fight these new adversaries, the King of Sweden was in need of reinforcements, and, in the meantime, he wished to take shelter behind the ramparts of Marienburg, one of the cities which he had taken from the Prussians. But one of his generals was led into a fight against the Imperialists, thus exposing his divi- sion to full destruction. The Swedish battalions were already giving way before Wallenstein's soldiers, when Gustavus-Adolphus, informed of the imminent defeat, made haste 'to succor them. Involved in the rout, and lost, as it were, in the tumult, he was in danger of being made a prisoner by one of the enemy's cavalry, w^hose sword grazed his head and knocked off his hat. Escaping, with difficulty, from this peril, he fell into the hands of another rider, who seized him by the arm. It would have been all over with him, if a Swedish dragoon had not, by a timely intervention, killed the Austrian. Gustavus-Adolphus was always very grateful for this divme protection, and relied on it unreservedly. In the most bloody battles, as in his palace, he felt himself under the all-seeing eye of God, and commit- ted his life to His care. He used to say: " God has given me a crown, not to dread or to rest, but to devote my life to His glory, and to the happiness of my subjects." God's glory was indeed the only aim of all the acts of Gustavus-Adolphus. His i'aith 22 aUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. sliines forth in all liis words. The cause of the gospel was his own, and its triumph his dearest wish. Master of Prussia, as far as Dantzig, he everywhere expelled the Jesuits, and publicly declared himself the Protec- tor of the evangelical faith. His first care was to write to the governors of the conquered country to restore to the Protestants the places of worship, which the Catholics had taken from them. He recommended the ministers to preach Grod's word faithfully, to administer the communion carefully, and to awaken everywhere Christian life. A synod was to meet every year, to provide for the administration of the Churches, common schools, and the higher instruction of the youth. He could not bear swearing, and frivolous and dis- respectful expressions about religion. He was often found alone, reading the Bible. On such occasions, he would say: "I try to strengthen myself, by^the meditation of Holy Writ, against perverse seducers. A man of my rank has to account for his actions to God only ; and, it is precisely this independence, which produces many temptations, against which we are never sufficiently on our guard." Gustavus-Adolphus was, in the purity of his morals, a model for all his soldiers. "He devoted," accord- ing to the testimony of a historian, ''all his time and strength to action ; none to pleasure ; and was always great." Before Riga, which had defended itself to the last extremity, the Swedish army had experienced severe losses, and therefore, it was expected, that a dreadful GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 23 punishment Tronld be inflicted upon this town. But, Gustavus Adolphus showed also, on this occasion, his evangelical feelings. He treated the conquered "with the greatest mildness, and his admirable conduct astonished both his friends and his enemies. His domestic life was as beautiful as his public life. Gentle and afi'ectionate toward all his relations, he was, to his mother, the most affectionate and respectful son. Power did not chano-e his feelino-s in this resiard. a o o Long after his accession to the throne, he requested her not to leave him. After the siege of Riga, his brother, Charles- Philip, having been taken ill, Gustavus attended him so assiduously and so fondly, that the young duke wrote to his sister Catharine: "The king's conversation is so interesting, and his society so pleasant, that I do not think of my evil." The death of this prince wrung his heart. He breathed forth his regrets in a touching letter, in which he said: "His heart was not dejected by misfortunes and reverses. In spite of his youth, he loved his country too much to remain at home. And when Sweden was attacked by Poland, he endeavored to arouse the courage of the young nobility. country, how much hast thou lost!" Charles-Philip was a young man of the greatest promise, who had but reached his 21st year. The royal family of Sweden, which, a few years before, was composed of three members, was now reduced to a single one. Gustavus-Adolphus married the beautiful Maria-Eleanor of Brandenburg. No royal union was 24 vGUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. ever concluded with more love, and under happier auspices. Pietj directed the choice of the monarch. During his short stay in Berlin, whither he had repaired to ask for the consent of the mother of the princess, he did not neglect his religious duties, and went to church to implore God's blessing upon his intended union. His marriage was celebrated with great pomp, on the 28th of November, 1620, in the palace, at Stock- holm. But his domestic happiness was clouded', at the very moment, when all his wishes seemed about to be realized. Maria-Eleanor's first child died, when born, an event which changed a day of rejoicing into a day of mourning. Gustavus-Adolphus keenly felt this visitation, but, in the midst of it, he saw the hand of the Heavenly Father, ^the ruler over kings, who inflicted this chastisement to teach him submission under the severest tests. He wrote to his brother- in-law, the Duke of Brandenburg: "I must tell you the misfortune that has befallen my house. God has punished me, by giving a dead child to my wife." His resignation was the same, when, in the following year, a similar unfortunate event happened, and made him apprehensive of dying without an heir. At last, he had a daughter ; and, although he desired a son, he took this child in his arms, lavished upon her his caresses, and cried : "■ God be blessed! I wish that this daughter may be to me as good as a son. May God, who has given her, preserve her to me." Then, he added, smilingly: '' She will be cunning, for she has deceived all of us." He alluded hereby to his and 1 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 25 his people's hopes, who considered the birth of a prince as certain. He did not surmise that his words would once be verified in two respects, and that Gus- tavus-Adolphus' daughter would dishonor her name by debauchery and apostasy.* What a sad prophecy was contained in the king's pleasantry ; and how the event shows that faith is not hereditary, but personal ! God spared the Christian hero the grief of witnessing this double disgrace * Christina, Gustavus-Adolphus' daughter, idolized by the Swedes, on account of her father, disappointed their hopes, by sur- rounding herself with corrupt men, and by squandering the finances of the state to satisfy her criminal whims. Tired of her pecuniary embarrassments, she abdicated, and later, apostatized, in Belgium. She lived for some time in France, where her hands were stained with the murder of Monaldeshi, her favorite. She died in Rome. CHAPTER III. THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR, ITS ORIGIN — INTERVENTION OF GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS HIS DL* PARTURE. T LAST the moment had arrived when G-ustavus- -^i^ Adolphus was ^bout to perform the work for which Providence had destined him. For a long time, he had been longing to shed his blood in de- fence of the evangelical Church, which was attacked by powerful enemies. The perils and sufferings- of the Protestants of Germany stirred up his most lively sym- pathy. Their complaints were re-echoed in his heart. Involved in three wars after his father's death, he had been obliged to postpone his projects, and impatiently to regard, as a distant witness, the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. By the peace of Augsburg the victorious Lutherans had extorted from Charles the Fifth the pledge of religious liberty ; and the struggle between Catholicism and the German Reformation was apparently brought to an end. This peace, however, was' but a short truce. It is well known, that the Romish Church has never admitted any other religious faith, and has always considered all those w^ho refuse to accept, without reserve, her doctrines and observances as rebels and 26 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 27 enemies of divine truth, of which she proclaims herself the only and infallible organ. Faithful to these principles, the Jesuits scattered throughout the whole empire were working to cause a rupture, and were calling on the emperor to accelerate by force of arms the too slow conversion of the heretics. However, a pretext was wanted to justify the renewal of hostilities.* Bohemia soon furnished it. This land, the native country of John Huss, who had fallen at Constance a martyr to that Reformation of which he was a fore- runner, had begun by separating from Rome in the celebration of the Lord's supper, and had finally em- braced Protestantism. The emperor, Rodolph II., was obliged to authorize there the freedom of evangelical worship. He also gave the Bohemians the right of opening new churches and schools, if wanted, and of convening their consistories. All those concessions, required by a nation which was prepared to obtain them by force of arms, were recorded, on July 12th, 1609, in a celebrated document called Letter of Majesty. Matthias, brother and successor of Rodolph, not only confirmed, but even increased the religious liberties of Bohemia, and gave to this country as king the heir of the imperial crown, his nephew, Ferdinand of Gratz, Archduke of Styria, who first took'^an oath to maintain the franchises stipulated in the Letter of 3fajesty. But he did not feel himself bound by this oath. Being a docile subject of the Holy See and de- ■^^Schilbr in Ms history of the Thirty Years' War, says: "The Jesuits represented it (the peace of Augsburg,) as a measura of mere temporary convenience, solemnly repudiated in Rome. 28 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. voted to the interests of Catholicism, he believed, like other Romish princes, that the Pope, according to a most disgraceful subterfuge, had power to relieve from the most solemn oaths, and anticipated that his perjury "would be sanctioned, conformably to the detestable maxim: that toioards a heretic neither faith nor honor is binding. What could be expected from a prince who used to say that he would rather govern a wilder- ness than a country peopled with hereticd ? How could such a man be otherwise than intolerant ! Reliorious perseeutions were unavoidable. The Protestant noble- men were deprived of their honors, and even of their employments. The officers of the crown, who admin- istered the kingdom, were chosen from among the open enemies of the creeds, held by the majority of the nation, and subjected the Protestants to every kind of moles- tation. The general dissatisfaction at last found vent, when a new violation of the rights of the Protestants was perpetrated. In the Letter of Blajesty the right of building, without let or hinder ance, churches and school-houses had been conceded to the Protestants. The evano-elical conD-reorations of Braunau and Klos- tergarb having made use of this right, the church in the former place was closed, that in the latter village demolished, and the most zealous of the citizens thrown into prison. Ferdinand, in contempt of all rights, treaties as well as promises, impugned the mainten- ance of the formerly conceded religious liberties and interdicted their religious meetings. The emperor Matthias, being the lord paramount of Bohemia, the complaints of his subjects were brought before him, GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 29 but, instead of righting these wronged congregations, he utterly disregarded their grievances, and declared that these measures had been taken in accordance with his orders. Then the indignation of the Bohemians knew no bounds. Not content with forcing upon them a detested sovereign, Matthias moreover approved all the acts of violence of which they were the victims, and openly proclaimed the abolition of their privileges and of liberty of conscience. The regency, composed of bigoted Catholics, was considered by the people as the true author of the imperial answer, and as the instigator of the iniquitous orders which had been sent from Vienna. A number of armed men, headed by the deputies of the Protestant provinces, and followed by a mutinous crowd, immediately repaired to the palace of Prague, where the counsellors were sitting, and summoned the president and his colleagues to answer, whether the imperial response had been drawn up in their offices and sent from Bohemia to Vienna to be returned with the signature of Matthias. Two of these high officials spoke calmly and nobly; Slawata and Martinitz, the two others, replied with insults and threat's. The Protestant deputies, therefore, contented themselves with expelling the two former, while the two latter, were dragged by the infuriated populace, to a window and precipitated from a height of eighty feet, into the castle trench. The secretary, their accomplice, shared the same fate. This singular mode of execution naturally excited the surprise of civilized nations. The Bohemians justified it as a national custom, and saw nothing remarkable in the whole 3* 30 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. affair, excepting that, after such a fall, those upon "whom this punishment had been inflicted should have been able to rise again safe and sound. The imperial commissioners were indebted for this good fortune to a dunghill on which thej had fallen, and which, in breaking their fall, had saved their lives. This event inaugurated the Thirty Years' War, onMay 23d, 1618. After such an act of violence, no other resource remained to the Bohemians but to arm and defend their persons, home and religion. Negotiation was impossible, and force alone could restore them their rights. With a commendable promptness and energy, they established a national government, and informed their king Ferdinand, that they felt free from every obligation towards a prince who had incessantly con- spired against their faith and the laws of his subjects. The Jesuits, whom the common hatred accused as the instigators of every previous oppression, and as the destroyers of the peace of Bohemia, were banished. The thirty directors, chosen from among the deputies to administer the state affairs, invited all the Protes- tants of the kingdom to further the national movement, and raised an army, the command of which was intrusted to the Count of Thurn, the instigator of the revolt, who had forced Rodolph to sign the celebrated Letter of Majesty, and who was the principal defender of Bohemia's civil and religious liberty. At the same time an appeal was addressed to the Hungarians, Moravians and Silesians as well as to their brethren of the Evangelical Union, a powerful league formed by the Protestant Princes of Germany against the Pope GUSTAVUS-ADOLPIIUS. 31 and the Emperor, tlieir common enemies. Matthias, supplied with gold by Spain, mustered an army to op- pose the rebels. But two successive defeats taught the Imperialists the difficulty of conquering a nation which is fighting for its religion and independence. About the same time, and in order to secure these first successes, the Evangelical Union sent to the assistance of their co-religionists a reinforcement of four thousand men, under the command of Count Mans- feld. This skillful captain signalized his arrival in Bohemia by the capture of Pilsen, the strongest of the three towns beloncrinor to the Catholics in that kinojdom. This continued success seemed to secure the triumph of the Bohemians, and the conquest of their rights. A negotiation for peace was entered into with the Emperor, at the moment, when he was removed from the scene by death and left the imperial crown to the exile from Bohemia, the irreconcilable enemy of Reformation, Ferdinand of Styria. With the new' emperor there was no longer any hope of reconcilia- tion. The Count of Thurn resumed his march, which he had suspended for a time, and arrived triumphantly before Vienna. The Bohemian army, augmented on its way by recruits from all the Protestant provinces, which Ferdinand had, for a long time, estranged through his fanatical violence and injustice, was about to dictate orders to the emperor in his very palace, and to dispose of the empire at its pleasure. The garrison was exhausted. The members of the Estates urged Ferdinand, and, by menaces, tried to compel him to surrender his capital. The emperor with immovable 32 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. Urmness refused to comply, and ordered a part of his troops to enter the city in order to silence the malcontents, and to resist the besiegers, whom the intelligence of the successes of the Austrians in Bohemia, and the fear of seeing their own capital beleaguered, soon forced to retreat. In the meantime, the Bohemians, to secure still better their deliverance from Ferdinand's rule, chose the Elector Palatine, Frederick Y., King, who being the leader of the Evangelical Union, could be consid- ered the chief of Reformation in Germany. This election, greeted by the cheers of the people, took place on the 26th of August, 1619. But this reign, so auspiciously begun, was of short duration. Fer- dinand's policy alienated all the Protestant Princes from Frederick Y., who saw himself deprived of the support which he had expected, and reduced to the Bohemians. . He might, notwithstanding, have con- quered, had he not, by many blunders, estranged from him a considerable part of his subjects, and had not his excessive carelessness, and his indulgence in carnal pleasures unfitted him for the high station which he occupied in so difficult circumstances. His enemies were the more active. Under two distinguished generals, Maximilian of Bavaria, and Tilly, the armies of the Emperor and of the Catholic League marched on Prague. Frederick's troops had taken up the most advantageous position on the White Mountain near this city, where they were attacked on the 8th of November, 1620. In less than an hour the king's army, composed of Germans, Hungarians and GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 3 Q Bohemians, and lacking good-will, unity and courage, was defeated by the superior numbers of the enemy. Frederick was seated at table in Prague, while his army was cut to pieces. He availed himself of the armistice of eight hours, which the Duke of Bavaria granted him, to fly by night from the capital with his wife and the chief officers of his army. This flight was so hurried, that he left behind him his crown. The battle of Prague (White-Mountain) had decided the fate of Bohemia. Prague surrendered the next day to the victors; the other towns followed the example of the capital. The Estates did homage, and the same was done by those of Silesia and Moravia. The Emperor allowed three months to elapse before instituting any inquiry into the past. Reassured by this apparent clemency, many who at first had fled in terror, appeared again in the capital. All at once, however, the storm burst forth; forty-eight of the most active among the insurgents were arrested on the same day and hour, and tried by an extraordinary commission, composed of native Bohemians and Aus- trians. Of these, twenty-seven expired on the scaff'old ; all died in a manner worthy of the cause they had em- braced. ^' Tear this body into a thousand pieces," cried the Count Schlick, "ransack my heart, and you will find nothing but what we have asseverated in our con- fessions ; our love of liberty and religion actuated us to take up arms; but God having given victory to the Emperor, I say, the Lord's will be done." Many of the people also sufi*ered capital punishment. Con- fiscation and exile were the chastisements inflicted on 34 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. ^ the other abettors of the insurrection. In order to crush the Reformation entirely the most violent mea- sures were resorted to. All the Protestant churches were closed, the evangelical ministers exiled, and 30,000 families, unwilling to apostatize from their faith, followed them ; soldiers drove inoffensive country people into the mass; a Baron of Oppersheim gloried in having effected without sermon many more conver- sions than the Apostle Peter, who through his sermon had converted only 3000 souls. Pinally, in a solemn meeting of the Estates, Ferdinand II. himself tore into pieces the Letter of Majesty^ and burnt this document by which the Emperor Rodolph had guaranteed religious liberty to the Bohemians, on the 9th of July, 1609. Then, to crown his vengeance, he put Frederick, the elect king of Bohemia, under the ban of the empire, and deprived him thereby of his titles and territories. These he gave to Maximilian of Bavaria as a reward for his good services. Thus the work for which John Huss had sacrificed his life was, for centuries, laid low in this country. It was in vain that a few Protestant Princes, indignant at a spoliation which threatened their crowns, resolved to oppose despotism. Tilly, general of the Duke of Bavaria, vanquished them, and Fer- dinand's power was henceforth limited only by his will. His iron sceptre lay heavy on Protestant Ger- many, which was treated as a conquered country. The savage gangs of Tilly roved through the provinces, plundering and ravaging all, while he sequestered the former property of the Bomish clergy, which had GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. 35 been secularized by tbe Protestant Princes. This standing army, and the numerous acts of injustice from the court of Vienna, drove the Protestants to extremi- ties. They understood that all these outrages "were the sinister prelude of approaching extermination. Ferdinand had made a vow, at Loretto and at Rome, to his generalissima the. Holy Virgin,, to enforce her worship, even at the peril of hi& Kfe, in all countries -which might come under his sway. It was not difficult to foresee that, encouraged and strengthened by his numerous victories, he would soon fulfill his vow. In this state of things, weary of the yoke which crushed them, exasperated by persecution, solicitous for the future, the Estates of Lower- Saxony united in a treaty with this intent: to defend themselves against unjust aggressions and to repel force by force. Too weak to begin the struggle, they turned to the north- ern Protestant Princes. Gustavus-Adolphus, although detained in Poland, would have come with his large and well disciplined army to accept the command of the Protestant League, but the King of Denmark, Christian IV., brother-in-law of the Elector Palatine, as Duke of Holstein and member of the circle of Lower- Saxony was preferred to him. Jealous of the renown of the King of Sweden, and glad of an opportunity to cover himself with no less glory. Christian prepared for war and took the field in the month of March, 1625, with sixty thousand men. But his incapacity compromitted the cause which he wished to serve. He experienced several losses, and to crown his misfortune, at the very moment, 36 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. when he was trying to repair his defeat by reinforce- ments received from England and Scotland, Ferdinand opposed to him a still more formidable adversary than Tilly. Wallenstein appeared on the scene to second the efforts of the Catholic League and to rank first. This nobleman, the richest in Bohemia, was celebra- ted for his military genius. He had given proofs of his ability and his devotion to the house of Austria in several campaigns. Colonel at the battle of Prague, (White-Mountain), he had acquired by his gallantry and talents the rank of Major-General. Such rapid promotion was justified by the expulsion of the Hun- garian troops from Moravia, for which brilliant success he had been rewarded by a large share of the confisca- ted estates of his unfortunate countrymen. Possessed of immense property, excited by ambitious views and confident in his good fortune, he ofi*ered to raise, at his own expense, an army for the Emperor, on con- dition that he would be invested with the chief command and be no longer subordinate to the League. Ferdinand accepted an ofi'er which agreed with his dearest wishes. The reputation of the general, the prospect of rapid promotion and the hope of plunder attracted to his standard adventurers from all quarters of Germany. This army, which soon numbered more than one hundred thousand men, took the field to fight the Protestants, who were always at variance among themselves, while concord reigned among their adversaries. The issue of this contest, now renewed with greater animosity, was most unfortunate. Wallenstein, after gustaVus-adolphus. 37 having routed the troops of Mansfeld, the most valua- ble auxiliary of the King of Denmark, in a few days subdued Silesia, Lower-Saxony and Holstein. Tilly defeated Christian IV. in the battle of Lutter, (August, 1626), and forced this king to restrict himself to the defence of his own country, and to abandon his allies to the vengeance of their enemies. Everywhere the Imperialists made dreadful havoc, and the Protestant Princes, who had been unwilling to participate in the contest with their brethren, now suffered the well deserved chastisement. Trenibling for his kingdom, which the emperor publicly promised to Wallenstein, Christian availed himself of the check, experienced by the imperial general before Stralsund to obtain peace. In a conference at Lubeck, on May 22d, 1629, from which Wallenstein, with studied contempt, excluded the Swedish ambassadors, who came to intercede for the Dukes of Mecklenburg, all the conquests taken by the Imperialists, were restored to the Danes. The conditions imposed upon the king were, that he should interfere no farther with the affairs of Grermany than was called for by his character of Duke of Holstein, and should leave the Dukes of Mecklenburg to their fate. Christian, who himself had involved these princes in the war with the emperor, now basely sacrificed them to gain the favor of the usurper of their terri- tories. While the Protestants experienced a succession of disasters, threatening the very existence of the Refor- mation, one example of immovable religious faithfulness and heroic constancy is prominent, and deserves to be 4 88 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. honorably mentioned. "Wallenstem, wko everywhere allowed his wild troops to plunder, rob, and levy con- tributions of war, required also the peaceable Duke of Pomerania to receive them. The latter unable to re- sist, yielded to force, but Stralsund, a Hanse town* well fortified both by its location on the sea, its strong ramparts and walls, resolutely opposed the de- mand. Wallenstein immediately besieged the place. Then the brave inhabitants took the solemn oath: to abide by the true religion of the Augsburg Confession to the end,- — to fight for it, as well as for the rights and liberties of their city to the last drop of their blood, — to attend in all things only to the welfare of the country without fear, selfishness, or a view to sav- ing their lives and property, — and to continue to stand by the Empire as a member, as long as this line of conduct would be justifiable before God, posterity and in accordance with the solemn oath taken to defend the interests of the city. In this oath are embodied genuine evangelical views, no haughty arrogance. It contains the expression of their immovable resolution to defend their faith, and of their sincere loyalty to the country and authority or- dained of God. At the request of the inhabitants of Stralsund, the Emperor ordered the siege to be raised, but Wallenstein arrogantly replied: ''I will take this town, though it were fastened by a chain to the *The Hanse towns were certain commercial cities in Germany ■which associated themselves for the protection of commerce. For centuries this confederacy commanded the respect and defied the power of Kings. It has now ceased to exist. — Webster. GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. 39 lieavens.'' But God in heaven scorned such a proud boast, and showed that he could defend against all the powers of the world even a small troop that relies on Him. Wallenstein had sworn that he would not spare either age or sex, therefore the inhabitants of Stralsund sent their children and women to Sweden, exposed themselves day and night to the fire of their enemies, and endured all the hardships connected with a siege. Here AVallenstein lost twelve thousand of his best men, which incensed him to such a degree that he swore : ''not to withdraw from the town, should he even be flaved alive before its walls." But of what avail? His stubbornness was finally obliged to yield to the undaunted courage of the citizens of Stralsund. This was but a single instance of successful resistance, while nearly the whole of Protestant Germany had submitted. Ferdinand had not waited for Christian's shameful defection to inflict the fatal blow on Protestantism. On the 6th of March, 1629, he issued the Edict of Resti- tutioii, and decided: ''That every secularization of a religious foundation by the Protestants, subsequent to the date of the religious peace concluded at Augsburg in 1555, was contrary to its spirit, and must be revoked as a breach of it." He further decided: " That, by the religious peace. Catholic sovereigns were no further bound to their Protestant subjects than to allow them full liberty to quit their territories." In obedience to this decision the Protestant States were ordered, under pain of the ban of the empire, immedi- ately to surrender the secularized religious founda- 40 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. tions to the imperial commissioners. The edict came like a thunderbolt on the whole of Protestant Germany. The Protestants were now convinced that the suppres- sion of their religion had been resolved on by the Emperor. Their remonstrances were unheeded; the commissioners were named, and Wallenstein was charged to enforce obedience. The edict was first put in force in Augsburg, where the peace was concluded. The bishop was scarcely reinstated there, when he prohibited Protestantism in bis diocese, and had gallows erected before the town-hall, which unmistak- ably announced what the refractory might expect. Impatient of all dependence, Wallenstein everywhere levied enormous contributions, and encouraged the horrible depredations of the soldiery. The Jesuits were triumphant, and stimulated the persecution by words expressing, in a cynic language, the implacable hatred with which reformation inspired them. History has preserved the name of one of these, Lorenz Forer, who said to the troops that had come to Dilingen with commissioners appointed to take, in the name of the Emperor, possession of the Protestant property: "Be active, my friends, and if some with- stand you, kill and burn them in a fire that shall make the stars melt and force the angels of heaven to with- draw their feet." A continued cry of terror resounded through all Germany. The complaints of the Roman Catholics were scarcely less numerous than those of the Pro- testants. The Emperor's own brother wrote: "Your Majesty cannot form any idea of the conduct of the GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 41 troops. I have myself waged war for a few years, and I know that it can seldom be carried on without leaving traces of violence. But to break windows, to overthrow walls, to commit arson, to cut off noses and ears, to torment, to commit rape, to murder for amuse- ment's sake, are disorders which field officers can and ought to oppose. I know there are people who en- deavor to persuade your Majesty that these accusa- tions are ungrounded; but I hope that your Majesty will place at least as much reliance on me as on such gentlemen who fill their purses with the blood and the toil of poor people. I could name you many officers who, a short time ago, had scarcely the means to clothe themselves, and who to-day possess three or four hundred thousand florins in specie. Malcontent in- creases threateningly, and my conscience does not allow me to conceal from your Majesty the true state of affairs." Thanks to the earnest entreaties of the Duke Maxi- milian of Bavaria and of the Catholic princes, "VYallen- stein was dismissed, and his dreadful hordes were disbanded, though the violent measures against the Protestants were not discontinued, and their complaints became the subject of derision. This horrible oppres- sion lasted a year. All the princes of Germany looked in their misfortune to the king of Sweden, as seamen look to the harbor. The truce, which Gustavus-Adolphus concluded with Poland (August 26th, 1629), the very year in which the celebrated Edict of Restitution was issued, permitted him 'to realize hope?, which, for a 4* 42 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. long time, had also been liis own. The misfortunes of his German brethren had aiTected him deeply. By letters patent of November 11th, 1627, Sweden had become the asylum for all the victims of Austrian fanaticism.* The Swedes were therefore not aston- ished when they saw their king preparing to make war on the emperor. Gustavus-Adolphus assembled, in November, 1629, the senate, at Upsal, and described the increasing mis- fortunes of their German brethren and the dangers which were threatening Sweden, if she awaited the Austrians at home, instead of attacking them first. His chancellor and friend, Oxenstiern, disapproved of this war, not because he deemed it unjust and un- necessary, but, as a fearful and discreet statesman, he would not engage his king and his country in a ruin- ous and uncertain undertaking. Gustavus disclosed to him his plans and hopes, and ended his explanations with these words: "What can or cannot be done, God alone knows; He alone can change wishes into pro- jects, will into execution, and a good beginning into a good end." The language in which he addressed the senators, who wished to detain him and advised him to rest after so many battles, was both so dignified and so humble, that no one doubted his obedience to a divine impulse. "In eternity alone," said he to them, "I shall find rest." From this time, Gustavus-Adolphus, encountered no more obstacles to his projects. Richelieu, who was *The exiled dukes of Mecklenburg found in Sweden a hospita- ble reception, and their sons honorable stations GUSTAVUS-ADOLPIIUS. 43 then governing France, favored them, and sent to liim an embassador, invitinfj him to take the field as soon as possible, and assuring him that all Germany "would receive him as a Messiah. The Swedish hero answered these flatteries "with noble open-heartedness, saying that he had received from Germany advices of an entirely different character, that the Elector of Saxony, although a Protestant, was an ally of the emperor, and that Bavaria and the "whole Catholic League "would take up arms against him, that he relied more on people than on princes, and on God and his sword more than on the whole world. Then, animated by a praiseworthy feeling of independence, he refused the considerable subsidies which were offered to him. He wrote to his chancellor: "I did not think it proper to become dependent on the King of France." It was repugnant to him to associate the sacred cause of Reformation with the wily policy of Richelieu, whose only aim was to lower the ascendency of the House of Austria, because the immense power of the emperor roused his fears and wounded his pride. Above all he was loth to unite with the cardinal, who had taken La Rochelle and vanquished the French Protestants. With his own resources, Gusta\'Tis-Adolphus did not hesitate to fight a sovereign dreaded by all Europe, who believed liimselF invincible. He demanded the restoration of the old rights of Protestant Germany and vouchsafed peace only on that condition. When the imperial commissioner heard this bold message, he cried: " The King of Sweden would not speak differ- 44 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. entlj, if he were, with his victorious army, in the center of Germany." At the same time, Gustavus-Adolphus made with the greatest activity the preparations for this expedi- tion. When Ferdinand heard this news, he said with contempt: ^'We shall have to contend with another little enemy." Wallenstein boasted of expelling this imprudent aggressor from Germany with a rod,' although he offered $30,000 to anyone who would, by assassinating the king, save him this trouble. Without being intimidated by these insolent brava- does, the King of Sweden prosecuted his warlike pre- parations, and took those precautionary measures which prudence required. Before engaging in so distant a war, it was necessary to secure Sweden against its neighbors. At a personal interview with the King of Denmark, Gustavus assured himself of the friendship of that monarch; his frontier, on the side of Moscow, was well guarded, and Poland might be held in check from Germany, if it betrayed any design of infringing the truce. Falkenberg, a Swedish ambassa- dor, who visited the courts of Holland and Germany, obtained the most flattering promises from several Protestant Princes, though none of them yet possessed couraoje or self-devotion enoun-h to enter into a formal alliance with him. Lubeck and Hamburg engaged to advance him money, and to accept Swedish copper in return. Emissaries were also dispatched to the Prince of Transylvania to excite that implacable enemy of Austria to arms. In the mean time, Swedish levies were made in Ger- GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 45 many and tke Netherlands, the regiments increased to their full complement, new ones raised, ships provided, a fleet fitted out, provisions, military stores and money collected. Thirty men-of-war were in a short time prepared, fifteen thousand men equipped, and two hundred transports were ready to convey them across the Baltic. However small this army, it was admira- ble in all points of discipline, courage and experience, and might serve as a nucleus of a more powerful armament. Oxenstiern was posted with ten thousand men in Prussia, to protect that province against Poland. Some regular troops and a considerable body of militia, which served as a nursery for the main body of .the army, remained in Sweden, as a defense against a sudden invasion by any treacherous neighbor. These were the measures taken for the external de- fense of the kingdom. Its internal administration was provided for with equal care. The government was intrusted to the Council of State, while the queen, tenderly as he was attached to her, was excluded from all share in the government, for which her limited talents incapacitated her. H"e set his house in order like a dying man. On the 20th of May, 1630, when all his measures were arranged, and all was ready for his departure, the king appeared in the Diet at Stock- holm, to bid the Estates* a solemn farewell. Taking * The law-making power is vested in the four Estates, (Nobility, Clergy, Burghers, and Peasants), into which the Swedes are divided. Each Estate has a house and a separate and equal vote. The concurrence of at least three houses is required to make a law. Various attempts have been made to change this representa- tion, but the Nobles and the Clergy have always defeated , them. — Neiv American Cyclopedia, Art., Sioeden^ Vol. JTF. 46 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. in his arms his daughter Christina, then only four years old, he presented her to the Estates as the future Sovereign, exacted from them a renewal of the oath of allegiance to her, in case he should never more return, and then read the ordinances for the government of the kingdom during his absence, or the minority of his daughter. The whole assembly was dissolved in tears, and the king himself was some time, before he could attain sufficient composure to deliver his farewell ad- dress. ^'Not lightly nor wantonly," said he, ^'am I about to involve myself and you in this new and dangerous ■war ; God is my witness that I do not fight to gratify my own ambition. But the Emperor has wronged me most grievously in the persons of my ambassadors, he has supported my enemies, persecutes my friends and brethren, tramples my religion, in the dust — and even stretches his arm against my crown. The oppressed States of Germany call loudly for aid, which, by God's help, vre will give them." " I am fully sensible of the dangers to which my life will be exposed. I have never yet shrunk from them, nor IS it likely that I shall escape them all. Hitherto Providence has wonderfully protected me; but I shall at last fall in defense of my country. I commend you and all my subjects, to the protection of Heaven, and hope that we shall meet in eternity. "To you, my Counsellors of State, I address myself first. May God enlighten you, and fill you with wisdom to promote the w^elfare of my people. You too, my brave Noblemen, I commend to the divine pro- GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 47 tectlon ; continue to prove yourselves the worthy succes- sors of those heroic Goths whose bravery humbled to the (lust the pride of ancient Rome. To you, Minis- ters of religion, I recommend peaceableness and piety ; be yourselves examples of the virtues which you preach, and abuse not your influence over the minds of my people. On you, deputies of the Burgesses and the Peasantry, I entreat the blessing of Heaven ; may your industry be rewarded by a prosperous harvest ; your stores 25lenteously filled, and may you be crowned abundantly with all the blessings of this life. For the prosperity of all my subjects, absent and present, I offer my warmest prayers to Heaven. I bid you all a sincere — it may be an eternal farewell." Here the whole assembly burst into tears, and the king himself could not forbear weeping. However, after a silence of a few minutes, he pro- nounced with a loud voice the words of the Psalm xc, which he used to repeat before beginning any under- taking : Oh, satisfy us early with Thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. — Make us glad ac- cording to the days wherein Thou hast afilicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. — Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children. — And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us ; yea, the work of our hands, establish Thou it. He set apart the first Friday of the months of July, August, and September as days of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, to call God's blessing on his undertaking, 48 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. and embarked with his little army nine or ten days afterwards, at the beginning of June, in Elfsnabbe, followed by the regrets and good wishes of an immense concourse, which had flocked thither to cheer his de- parture. CHAPTER IV. ' GUSTAVUS-ADOLPRUS AY GFEMAXY. HIS DIFFICULTIES — SIEGE OF MAGDEBUKG — BATTLE OF LEIPZIG. tSSAILED by contrary -vrinds, the Swedish fleet ^^__^^ ' was soon obliged to seek a shelter in a harbor, "^ near the roadstead which it had just left. "When it again put to sea, the weather was not more favorable, and the passage was so protracted that the troops were short of provisions. This double trial, at the very be- ginning of the expedition, would have disturbed a man less steadfast than the king of Sweden, and induced him to return. But Gustavus Adolphus, certain that the Lord had acknowledo-ed his undertakina:, far from see- ing bad omens in these obstacles, looked upon them merely as heavenly visitations. He was, therefore, not an instant discouracjed, and immediately sent for a new supply of provisions. At last he reached, during a violent storm, the island of Kugen in Pomerania, then possessed by Austria. He landed his troops on the islands of Wollin and Usedom. Stepping on shore, he fell on his knees, and, in the presence of his retinue, he thanked God in these words: "0 Thou who rulest over the heavens and the earth, over the wind and sea, Lord! how can I worthily thank Thee for the miracu- lous protection which Thou hast so graciously vouch- 5 49 50 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPnUS. safed to me during this dangerous passage ! My heart is full of gratitude for all Thy benefits. Oh ! deign to bless this enterprise undertaken for the defence of Thy distressed church, and the consolation of Thy faithful servants. Let it redound not to my glory, but to Thine. O Grod, who triest the hearts and the reins, Thou knowest the purity of my intentions ! Grant me favorable weather and a good wind, which will cheer my brave army and allow me to continue Thy sacred work. Amen !" A war waged with such feelings and for so noble an end, was indeed a holy work. The general, who sanctified every action of his life by prayer, and lived in an uninterrupted communion with God, was not an ambitious man, .eager for conquests and fame. Such a fervor is very rarely found, especially among leaders of armies, who, generally, are more confident in their own resources than in the help from above. But Gus- tavus-Adolphus relied on God's assistance; and con- sequently he marched without money and with but a handful of soldiers against the troops of a great Empire. It was on the 24th of June, 1630, that the landing of the Swedes took place. A century before, on the same day of the very same month, the Protestants had made in Augsburg, in the presence of the Emperor Charles Y., the princes, dukes, and bishops of all Ger- many, that celebrated Confession which served them as a standard and as a rallying point. It was in the moment when the principles, then proclaimed, were endangered, that Gustavus-Adolphus hastened to GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. 51 defend tliem. This seemingly fortuitous, but provi- dential coincidence must undoubtedly bave struck bis mind wben be thanked God for his preservation from the fury of the waves. The reminiscences of such an anniversary, by recalling to bis memory a glorious past, must have inflamed his zeal, and inspired him "with confidence for the future. The undaunted courage, the immovable energy, the firm faith and the deep piety of Luther and Melanchthon, those, great reformers and authors of the Augsburg Confession, were revived in the heart of the Swedish hero and enlivened his prayers so powerfully that his soldiers were moved to tears. ''Do not weep," said he to them, "but pray without ceasing. The more you pray, the more victories will be ours. Incessant prayer is half a victory." After having called the blessing of God on himself and his soldiers, Gustavus-Adolphus took up the spade, and his whole army, following his example, began to throw up intrenchments to fortify the camp against the enemies, who were very numerous in the neighborhood. When these works were finished, the kin or said to his soldiers: "Do not believe that I undertake this war for myself or my kiagdom. "We march to the relief of our oppressed brethren. You will, by brilliant victories, accomplish this generous project and acquire an immortal glory. Be not afraid of the enemies whom we are going to meet; they are the same whom you have already defeated in Prussia. Your gallantry has just forced Poland to conclude a truce of six years. If you show the same courage and the same perseverance, 52 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. you will procure for the Evangelical Church and for our German brethren the security and peace which they need." This address was followed by a pro- clamation of military laws and regulations, according to which any outrage on persons or property was punished with death. However necessary a strict discipline may be to the maintenance of order in the army, Gustavus was not content with it; but, fully convinced that all such ordinances must remain ineffec- tual, as long as the soldiers are not actuated by higher motives, and above all by the fear of God, he made it the duty of the chaplains to preach the gospel faithfully in the camp, and besides, established prayer-meetings, which were held twice every day. Without loss of time, Gustavus- Adolphus siibdued the shore on which he had made this descent, and, after having taken possession of the island of Rugen, he expelled the imperial troops from the neighboring islands, and thus secured easy communications with Sweden. Then, he rapidly advanced on Stettin, the capital of Pomerania, resolved to put an end to the hesitations of the old Buke Bogislaus XIV., who feared to choose between the alliance of Sweden or the despotism of Austria. Encamped before this city, which Gustavus had summoned to receive a Swedish garj-ison, he was, while waiting for Bogislaus' answer, visited by citizens, who were anxious to see the man that called himself the defender of the Protestant cause, to which they were themselves devoted. The king received them with the utmost kindness. He conversed with them about their common faith, the misfortunes of their GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 53 German brethren and the plans which he had made for their deliverance, and which, with the help of God, he hoped to carry into effect. They were no less touched by his affability than convinced by his eloquence. Even his pleasing exterior and his majestic stature contributed to win hearts and rouse enthusiasm. His countenance was pale and long, but regular and ex- pressive. His hair was light, his beard beautiful, his look piercing. Like his ancestor Gustavus Yasa, he was tall, nimble, well formed and gentlemanlike in his deportment. He liked music and played the lute very well. His brilliant military achievements, united to so many accomplishments, soon rendered him popular. Finally, Bogislaus, after a conference with the king, was prevailed upon to enter 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. The gates of Stettin were opened to thft Swedes, but in order not to be a burden to the inhabi- tants, Gustavus-Adolphus made his soldiers encarap in their tents. Afterwards the Swedish army left this city to con- quer the remainder of Pomerania. The efforts of the general Torquato-Conti, who corumanded the imperial troops stationed in this Duchy, could not prevent the progress of the Swedes. He was obliged to retreat, but, in doing so, his soldiers wreaked a dreadful ven- geance upon the innocent inhabitants. They vented their wrath by perpetrating outrages and the most shocking acts of cruelty, not only on inoffensive citizens, 5* 54 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. ' uut also on feeble women and innocent cliildren. It is not surprising therefore, that the Swedes were hailed ns saviours, and that their pious king was considered as an angel sent by God to relieve the oppressed. But Protestant princes, far from sharing these views and favoring his undertaking, were animated with hostile feelings towards him and inclined to impede his progress. Appalled by the successes of Gustavus-Adolohus, his enemies did not shrink from resorting to every means, however criminal, to rid themselves of their unconquerable adversary, and once they almost suc- ceeded. The king of Sweden, with a view to an attack, was, with seventy horsemen, reconnoitering the. accesses to the Austrian camp. Suddenly he was sur- prised by five hundred hostile cuirassiers. His dra- goons displayed wonderful bravery ; their efibrts were of no avail. They were crushed by the overwhelming number. The king's horse was killed under him. He saw his faithful servants fall. He was surrounded on all sides, and was about to be taken prisoner, when two hundred Finlanders, who were awaiting his return, informed of his danger by the discharge of musketry, rushed with lightning speed on the assailants, scattered them and once more saved their king. An Italian, named Quinti del Ponto, who had left the emperor's standard to pass into the Swedish camp, was suspected to have caused the king to fall into this ambush, by apprizing the Austrians of the intention of Gustavus, and of the smallness of his escort. The following day, this wicked wretch, who had ingratiated himself to &USTAVUS-AD0LPHU9. " " 55 such a degree as to be appointed an officer, disappear- ed and was heard of no more. Another Italian deserter, his friend, being arrested, denounced him and even confessed to being his accomplice. When he was examined, before his condemnation, he said to his judges : "It was often my intention to kill the king; but my heart always checked me; and whenever I seized the murderous weapon, my hand seemed para- lyzed." What a man he must have been, who inspired his fiercest enemies with respect and affection ! He never troubled himself about these cowardly plots. Mistrust had no access to this loyal soul, and fior a long time he liked to repeat David's words: "In God I put my trust : I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." Ps. Ivi: 11. Nothing could dampen his courage, nor disturb his cheerfulness, nor did he neglect to follow up his successes. He continued his progress in Pomerania, and saw his army daily in- creasing. The troops which had fought under Mans- feld, Duke Christian of Brunswick, the King of Den- mark and Wallenstein, came in crowds, both officers and soldiers, to join his victorious standard. The Es- tates, glad to see the country freed from Torquato- Conti's insatiable avarice, and from'the excesses of the imperial troops, unanimously voted the king a contri- bution of one hundred thousand florins. The modera- tion and humanity of the Swedes, won for them the hearts of the people, who every where received them with joy. Soon Gustavus-Adolphus 'forced the Impe- rialists to evacuate the Duchy, and, at the end of 1630, but a few months after his departure from Sweden, he 56 GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. there commanded as sovereign. Notwithstanding his desire to penetrate into Mecklenburg, he was obliged to restrict himself to surrounding it, and waiting for the end of winter. The Emperor, after having, with his courtiers, de- rided Gustavus-Adolphus, who was called in Vienna the Snow-King, whom the cold of the North kept to- gether, but who would infallibly melt away as he .advanced southward, soon saw that the Swedes were inured to all seasons, and brave soldiers not to be trifled with. He gathered an army which he intrusted to a companion in arms- of Wallenstein, the General Pappenheim, equally experienced and intrepid. On the other hand, the Catholic League, alarmed by the rapid successes of this most terrible champion of Protestant- ism, had levied troops, and put at their head the Lieu- tenant of Maximilian of Bavaria, the conqueror of Mansfeld and of the King of Denmark, General Tilly, who as yet had never lost a battle. Since Wallenstein had incurred the Emperor's displeasure, there was no lack of mercenary soldiers, who indiscriminately served all parties, according to the advantages offered them. Had Gustavus-Adolphus been rich, it would have been easy for him to take most of them into his pay, and thus increase . his troops, which were not numerous enough to battle with two armies at the same time. He was reduced to maintain his position in Pomerania,, and to procure, before advancing, a supply of soldiers and money. Abetter which, in December,, IG'SO^ he: addressed to his faithful Chancellor Oxensijiern, shows, his painful situation and his inalterable confidence iu GTJSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 57 God: "May God," said he, ''into whose hands I com- mit all, help us to live through the winter. Then, thanks to your care and foresight, the summer will be more prosperous. I would like to describe our position to you, but a sabre-cut having rendered my hand stiff, I am prevented from doing so. Let it suf- fice, you to know that the enemy enjoys every advan- tage for establishing his winter-quarters, since all Germany has become his prey. If I had more soldiers with me on the banks of the Oder, I would march for- ward. Although our cause is good and just, the issue is uncertain — uncertain are also man's days. There- fore I pray you, for Christ's sake, be not discouraged, if all does not succeed to our wishes. I most earnestly recommend my family to your care, if a misfortune should befall me. It is in many respects worthy of interest. The mother needs advice ; the daughter, a tender child, will be exposed to many difficulties, if she should reign, and to many dangers, if others should teign over her. I commit both of them, their future, my life and all that I possess in this world, to God's holy and powerful keeping. I am persuaded that whatever may befall me on this earth, will always be for my good, and, after this life, I hope to enjoy eter- nal peace and joy." By suspending the course of his victories, Gustavus- Adolphus did not, however, remain inactive. He completed the conquest of Pomerania, where two or three strongholds had refused to surrender, and ad- vanced into the Duchy of Brandenburg, the key of Meck- lenburg. He defeated the Imperial troops wherever 58 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. lie encountered them, and maintained his position so well, that Tilly, who had come to the attack, retired and fell back to the Elbe, without venturing to defend Frankfort-on-the-Oder, which the Swedes took by as- sault towards the middle of winter, after a siege of three, days. Notwithstanding the victories which he won, and the divine protection which he enjoyed, no evangeli- cal prince dared league with him, except the Landgrave William Y. of Hesse Cassel (October, 1630), who was his first and most faithful ally. Even the enforcement of the Edict of Restitution, and the steps openly taken by the Emperor against the Lutheran Church, did not in- duce the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg to con- federate with him. Gustavus-Adolphus deeply grieved by this distrust, and satisfied that he could not expect the cooperation of all the Protestant Princes of Ger- many, who dreaded his influence upon their subjects, and saw in him rather a rival than a friend, resolved to accept the alliance of France. The treaty with this Power was signed on the 13th of January, 1631, at Bgerwaldcj in the Duchy of Brandenburg. The contracting parties mutually covenanted to defend each other with a military force, to protect their com- mon friends, to restore to their dominions the deposed Princes of the Empire, and to replace every thing on the same footing on which it stood before the rebel- lion of Bohemia and the Edict of Restitution. For this end, Sweden engaged to maintain an army of forty-six thousand men in Germany, and France agreed- to furnish the Swedes, during five years, .with an an- GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 59 nual subsidy of four hundred thousand dollars, thus hoping to set bounds to Austria's ever increasing ambition, and to destroy its preponderance in Europe, As soon as the Protestant States of the Empire, convened by John-George, Elector of Saxony, had assembled in Leipzig, on the 6th of February, 1631, to assert their rights and oppose the oppressive course pursued by the Emperor, the King of Sweden apprised the members of the Confederacy of the treaty con- cluded with France, 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 favor. Several Princes gave him hopes of his proposals being accepted on the fii'st favorable opportunity; but the Saxon Elector, full of jealousy and distrust toward the Kiug of Sweden, and true to the selfish policy he had pur- sued, could not be prevailed upon to give a decisive answer, and finally the Conventiorf declined to enter into any alliance with Gustavus-Adolphus. The Duke Bernard of Weimar, and his brother, convinced that the interests of Protestantism in Germany required a league of all the Protestant Princes, under the leadership of the King of Sweden, withdrew from the Council, indignant at this decision. In the mean time, Tilly had gone to besiege Magde- burg, which had embraced the cause of the King. When Gustavus was apprised, on the 16th of April, of the danger of this city, he resolved immediately to GO GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. marcli to its relief; and moved, "vyith all his cavalry, and ten regiments of infantry, towards the Spree. In order to secure his rear, he demanded that the Elector of Brandenburg, his hrother-in-law, should allow him to hold the fortresses of Kllstrin and Spandau, till the siege of Magdeburg would be raised. But this Prince, afraid -that, by such a step, he must at once break with the Emperor, and expose his states to the vengeance of this monarch, was not willing to grant this demand. "When the King witnessed his timorous hesitation, 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 rea- dily grant me whatever conditions I may require. But if Magdeburg is once lost, and the Emperor re- lieved from all fear of me, then it is for you to look for 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 Elec- - tor to his senses, and Spandau was delivered into the hands of the Swedes. Then John-George, Elector of Saxony, controlled by selfish considerations and jeal- ousy, would not listen to the arguments which Gustavus advanced in the name of German liberties, of religion and of humanity, and refused to allow him a free pas- saore throus^h his states. The Kino; of Sweden hesi- tated to employ force against a Protestant Prince who, GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 61 in Leipzig, had proyoked the formation of a Protes- tant League, and demanded the revocation of the Edict of Restitution. While he was still soliciting, Magde- burg, after a heroic resistance, succumbed. May 20th, to the efforts of Tilly's numerous soldiers, who were reinforced by Pappenheim's troops, and assisted by traitors. The King of Sweden had done for this city all that was in his power. He had sent to the Mag- deburgers Dietrich of Falkenberg, an experienced of- ficer, who succeeded in passing the enemy's outposts, and in reaching the city only by disguising himself as a boatm.an. This general was appointed by the magis- trates governor of the town, during the war,, and had to direct the military operations. He found one part of the inhabitants quite discouraged and inclined to yield. He revived their spirits, so that, with a gar- rison reduced to 2000 infantry, 150 horsemen and 3000- raw recruits, it was resolved to resist Tilly's army, which numbered 33,000 infantry and 9000 cavalry. However, when the outworks of the city had been carried by Tilly, the magistrates determined to capitulate. But religious zeal, an ardent love of liberty, an invincible hatred of 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 succor were apparently well founded. They knew that the Confederacy of Leipzig was arm- ing, and were aware of the near approach of Gusta- vus-Adolphus. Both were alike interested in the 6 62 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 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. On the 9th of May, the fire of the Imperialists was suddenly stopped, and the cannon withdrawn from several of the batteries. The besieged were convinced that deli- verance was at hand. Both citizens and soldiers left their posts on the ramparts early in the morning, to indulge themselves after their long toils, with the re- freshment of sleep, when Pappenheim forced his way into the city. Falkenberg, roused by the report of musketry, hurried to the scene of action with all the force he could hastily assemble, but his resistance was of no avail, 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. The governor being killed, their efforts were without plan and cooperation, and at last their ammunition began to fail. Before noon, all the works were car- ried, and the town was in the enemy's hands. The city, the richest in Germany, was plundered and drenched with the blood of its inhabitants. The scenes of slaughter and barbarity of which it was the theatre, have acquired a melancholy celebrity in his- tory. Neither innocent childhood, nor helpless old age; neither youth, sex, rank, nor beauty, could dis- arm the fury of the conquerors. Wives were abused in the arms of their husbands, daughters at the feet of GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 63 • their parents. No place, however obscure, or however sacred, escaped the rapacity of the enemy. In a sin- gle 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 Catholic League, horror-struck at this dreadful scene, ventured to remind Tilly that he might stop the car- nage. ''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 inhabi- tants, the Imperialists had, in the commeijcement of the assault, fired the city in several places. The wind, rising rapidly, spread the flames, till tlie 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 refuGje in their camp. In less than twelve hours, this strong, populous and flourishing city, one of the finest in Ger- many, was reduced to ashes, with the exception of two churches and a few houses. 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 sufl'o- cated by the smoke ; many found rich booty in the cellars, where the citizens had concealed their more G4 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPIIUS. 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 wan- dering about with heart-rending cries, calling for their parents ; and infants still sucking the breasts of their lifeless mothers. More than six thousand 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 thirty thousand. — In his report, which Tilly sent to Vienna, he said, that since the destruction of Troy and Jerusalem, nothing similar had occurred. This dreadful catastrophe struck all the Protestants of Germany with horror. The Jesuits, always crafty to avail themselves of circumstances, accused Gustavus- Adolphus, in order to make him odious, of having abandoned Magdeburg, and sacrificed an important and devoted city, to carry into effect some plan of campaign. By these insidious rumors, they hoped to deprive the King of Sweden of the confidence and esteem of his German brethren. It was not difficult for him to prove the untruth of these accusations, and to justify himself. The destruction of Magdeburg must be chiefly imputed to the prejudices and the mis- trust of the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony. The innocence of Gustavus-Adolphus is established in the letter which he addressed to the Elector of Saxony, when Magdeburg was threatened. He wrote : *'I see myself obliged to lower my pretensions, and GUSTAVUS-ADOLPIITJS. - 65 not to advance further. To post myself between two wavering powers, or to abandon the rivers by which all my convoys arrive, would be contrary to all the rules of military science. However, I wish to show Magdeburg, how much solicitude I feel for her, and, should I sacrifice my person, I will do all that I can to deliver her. May God sustain me by Tlis grace, and make my perseverance triumphant. Before God and before men, I declare that I am innocent of all the blood that will be shed, and of all the misfortunes that will happen. Those are responsible, who in a Christian cause, did not scruple to abandon me most unexpectedly." The terror which the ruin of Magdeburg first caused, soon changed into a legitimate indignation. Injurious as the immediate consequences of the fall of the city were to the Protestant cause, its remoter eifects were more advantageous. Exasperated by the renewed rigors of the Emperor, who became more and more exacting and cruel, the Protestant Princes saw no other means to escape their unfortunate fate, than to throw themselves into the arms of Gustavus-Adolphus. Several of them made an alliance with him, except the Elector George- William of Brandenburg, who de- manded the restitution of the fortress of Spandau, and was obstinately bent upon a neutrality, which was too favorable to the interests of Austria to be longer tole- rated. The King of Sv/cden, after having exhausted all means of conciliation, declared to his brother-in-law that he was willing to evacuate Spandau, but hence- forth would regard him as an enemy. 6* GQ GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. To give weight to this declaration, he appeared with his whole force before Berlin. ''I will not be treated worse than the Imperial Generals," was his reply to the Ambassadors, whom the bewildered Elector dis- patched to his camp. ''Your master has received them into his territories, furnished them with all necessary supplies, ceded to them every place which they required, and yet, by all these concessions, he could not prevail upon them to treat his subjects with common humanity. All that I require of him is secu- rity, a moderate sum of money, and provisions for my troops; in return, I promise to protect his country, and to keep the war at a distance from him. On these points, however, I must insist; and my brother, the Elector, must instantly determine to have me as a friend, or to see his capital plundered." This decisive tone brought about a good effect, and the cannon pointed against the town put an end to the doubts of George- William. In a few days, a treaty was signed, by which the Elector engaged to furnish a monthly subsidy of thirty thousand dollars, to leave Spandau in the King's hands, and to open CUstrin at all times to the Swedish troops. The King's satisfac- tion on this favorable event, was increased by the agreeable intelligence that Greifswald, the only for- tress which the Imperialists still held in Pomerania, had surrendered. He appeared once more in the Duchy, and was gratified at the sight of the general joy which he had caused to the people. A year had elapsed since Gustavus first entered Germany, and this event was now celebrated by all Pomerania as a GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 67 :Sational festival. Shortly before, the Czar of Moscow had sent ambassadors to congratulate him, to renew his alliance, and even to offer him troops. He had great reason to rejoice at the friendly disposition of Russia, as it was indispensable to his interests that Sweden itself should remain undisturbed by any dan- gerous neighbor during the war in which he himself was engao'ed. 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 uncon- firmed. Against the Landgrave, therefore, Tilly first directed his attack, and marched straight from Mag- deburg into Thuringia. During this march, the ter- ritories through which he passed were laid waste and plundered. The troops seemed governed entirely by their thirst of gold and sensual enjoyments. Nothing could still their brutal passions, their eager covetous- ness. Summoned by Tilly to disband his army, to receive Imperial garrisons in his fortresses, and to pay the necessary contributions, the Landgrave of Hesse- Cassel refused to comply with these demands. The irruption of two bodies of Imperial troops was the im- mediate result of his refusal ; but the Landgrave gave them so warm a reception, that they could effect no- thing; 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. During Tilly's expedition into Thuringia, Pappen- 68 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. heim commanded in Magdeburg, but was unable to prevent the Swedes from crossing the Elbe, routing some Imperial detachments, and seizing several posts. Alarmed at the approach of the King of Sweden, he anxiously recalled Tilly, who encamped on the same side of the river as Gustavus. The Swedes routed three of his regiments, carried off half their baggage, and burned the remainder. Tilly in vain advanced within cannon-shot of the King's camp, and offered him battle. Gustavus, weaker by one-half than his adversary, prudently declined it. His position being too strong for an attack; nothing more ensued but a few skirmishes, in which the Swedes had invariably the advantage. Fortune seemed to have forsaken Tilly, since the carnage of Magdeburg. The King of Sweden, on the contrary, was followed by uninterrupted success. While he himself was encamped in Werben, on the banks of the Elbe, the whole of Mecklenburg, with the exception of a few towns, was conquered by his General Tott; and he enjoyed the satisfaction of reinstating both Dukes in their dominions. He proceeded in person to Gustrow, where the reinstatement was solemnly to take place, to give additional dignity to the ceremony by his pre- sence. < The two Dukes, with their deliverer between them, and attended by a splendid train of Princes, made a public entry into the city, which the joy of their subjects converted into an affecting solemnity. Soon after his return to Werben, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel appeared in his camp, to conclude an offen- sive and defensive alliance; he was the first sovereign We contend not for earthly possessions : but for the Word, and the glory of God. — (p. 69.) GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 69 Prince in Germany who voluntarily and openly declared against the Emperor. Tilly, after having wasted his time and forces before the Swedish camp, retreated and bent his course to- wards the states of the Elector of Saxony, whose in- tentions Austria dreaded, and whose levies of troops she disapproved. Saxony was for the Imperialists a rich lure. Hitherto this country had been spared in consequence of the attachment of its Prince to th-e House of Austria, and of Ferdinand's desire to retain him in his party. Tilly and his band pounced upon the Saxons with the greediness of birds of prey. The Elector, rendered desperate by the entrance of Tilly into his territories, and by the devastations which this general committed, threw himself under the pro- tection of Sweden. He dispatched his Field-Marshal, Arnheim, in all haste to the camp of Gustavus, to solicit the prompt assistance of that monarch, whom he had so long neg- lected. The King concealed the inward satisfaction he felt at this long wished-for result. " I am sorry for the Elector," said he, with dissembled coldness, to the ambassador, "had he heeded my repeated remonstrances, his country would never have seen the face of an enemy, and Magdeburg would not have fallen. Now, when necessity leaves him no alterna- tive, he has recourse to my assistance. But tell him that I cannot, for the sake of the Elector gf Saxony, ruin my own cause and that of my confederates. What pledge have I for the sincerity of a Prince whose minister is in the pay of Austria, aiad who will aban- 70 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. don me as soon as the Emperor flatters him, and with- draws his troops from his territory ?" Arnheim, an able and cunning man, who had been charged with this delicate negotiation, was ordered to succeed at any price. Therefore, in spite of the severe and discouraging answer, he pressed the King to name the conditions on which he would afford assis- tance to Saxony, and offered to guaranty their accep- tance. '' I require," said Gustavus, ^' that the Elector shall cede to me the fortress of Wittenberg: deliver. to me his eldest son as hostage, furnish my troops with three months' pay, and deliver up to me the traitors among his ministry." "Not Wittenberg alone," said the Elector, when he received this answer, and hurried back his minister to the Swedish camp, "not Wittenberg alone, but Torgau, and all Saxony shall be open to him ; my whole family shall be his hostages; and if that is insufficient, I will place myself in his hands. Return and inform him, I am ready to deliver to him any traitors he shall name, to furnish his army with the money he requires, and to venture my life and fortune in the good cause." Then the King, who intended only to test John- George's sincerity, convinced of the soundness of his resolutions, retracted these harsh demands. "The distrust," said he, "which he had shown to myself when advancing to the relief of Magdeburg, had natu- rally excited mine; the Elector's present confidence demands a return. I am satisfied, provided he grants my army one month's pay; and even for this advance I hope to indemnify him." GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 71 On September 1st, 1631, the two Princes signed a treaty of alliance, in consequence of which the Saxon army joined the Swedish (September 5th). Already, Tilly stood before Leipzig, and fired on the city. To rouse the courage of his soldiers, he said in his coun- cil of war: "Hitherto heretics have never gained a victory in a pitched battle." Gustavus-Adolphus, on the contrary, told the captains of his army, as- sembled around him, the evening before the battle: *•! will neither despise our adversaries, nor represent the affair as more easy than it is. I do not conceal it; we have before us an experienced, powerful, victorious enemy, who has hitherto, during his long wars, always been triumphant. But the more celebrated this enemy is, the greater will be the renown which we shall ob- tain by conquering him. All honor, praise and glory which our adversaries have acquired, during so many years, can, with the help of God, be .our own within twenty-four hours. On our side is the right. We do not contend for temporal goods, but for the glory and the word of God, for the true religion which alone is able to save, hitherto grievously oppressed by the Catholics, and which they now intend entirely to de- stroy. We must not doubt that Almighty God, who, in spite of all resistance, has led us safely through all kinds of danger, will now grant us his efficient assis- tance." Then he rode through the camp, and ad- dressed cheering and afi*ectionate words to the soldiers severally.' Early on the morning of September 9th, 1631, the hostile armies came in sight of each other, between 72 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. Breitenfeld and Leipzig. It was here that the two most illustrious captains of Europe, Gustavus-Adol- phus and Tillj, were going to fight a battle, which was to decide not only the superiority of the one over the other, but also the future of Protestant- ism and Catholicism. On the success of this day hung much more than a high military reputation, viz., the existence of the Reformation in Germany. Gustavus- Adolphus knew it well, and he displayed, in the dispo- sition of his troops, all the resources of his admirable genius. The united troops of the Emperor and the League, on this day, did not amount to thirty-four thousand men; the Swedes and Saxons were about the same number. But had a million been confronted with a million, it could only have rendered the action more bloody, certainly not more important and deci- sive. Tilly's 'usual intrepidity and resolution seemed to forsake him on this eventful day. He had formed no regular place for giving battle to the King, and 'he displayed as little firmness in avoiding it. Contrary to his own judgment, Pappenheim had forced him to action. Doubts, which he had never before felt, strug- gled in his bosom; gloomy forebodings clouded his ever open brow; the shade of Magdeburg seemed to hover over him. A cannonade of two hours commenced the battle; the wind, which was from the West, blew thick clouds of smoke and dust from the newly ploughed and parched fields into the faces of the Swedes. This compelled the King insensibly to move northward, and GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 73 the rapidity with which this movement was executed, left no time to the enemy to prevent it. Tilly at last left his positions, and began the first attack upon the Swedes; but, to avoid their hot fire, he moved to the right, and fell upon the Saxons with such impetuosity, that their line was broken, and the whole army thrown into confusion. The Elector him- self retired to Eilenburg, though a few regiments still maintained their ground upon the field, and by a bold stand saved the honor of Saxony. Pappenheim had thrown himself, with the whole force of his cavalry upon the right wing of the Swedes, but without being able to make it waver. The King com- manded here in person. Seven times did Pappenheim renew the attack, and seven times was he repulsed. He fled at last with great loss, and abandoned the field to his conquerors. ^ In the mean time, Tilly, having routed the remainder of the Saxons, attacked with his victorious troops the left wing of the Swedes. To this wing, the King, as soon as he perceived that the Saxons were thrown into disorder, had, with a ready foresight, detached a rein- forcement of three regiments to cover its flank, which the flight of the Saxons had left exposed. Gustavus Horn, who commanded here, showed the enemy so spirited a resistance, that they were already beginning to relax the vigor of their attack, when Gustavus- Adolphus appeared to terminate the contest. Then the left wing of the Imperialists having been routed, and the King's division having no longer any enemy to oppose, astavus-Adolphus attacked the heights on which the 7 74 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. enemy's artillery was planted. Gaining possession of them in a short time, he turned upon the enemy the full fire of their own cannons. The play of artillery upon their flank, and the terri- ble onslaught of the Swedes in front, threw this hitherto invincible army into confusion. A sudden retreat was the only course left to Tilly, but even this was to be made through the midst of the conquerors. The whole army was in disorder, with the exception of four regiments of veteran soldiers, who never as yet had fled from the field, and were resolved not to do so now. They maintained their resistance till night, *vhen their number was reduced to six hundred men, they availed themselves of the darkness to retreat from the battle-field, of which the Swedes, whose victory was complete, remained undisputed masters. ^mid the dead and the wounded Gustavus-Adolphus threw himself on his knees; and the first joy of his victory gushed forth in fervent prayer. Then he mounted his horse, and, proceeding from rank to rank, he returned his thanks to his brave soldiers. He him- self, without coat of mail- had been present wherever danger was greatest. On this very day, he announced his victory to his chancellor in these simple words: "Although we mourn the loss of ihany brave men, we must neverthe- less above all thank God for this victory and protec- tion, which he vouchsafed to us, for we have never in- curred greater danger." GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. ' 75 On the battle-field now stands a monument witli tlie inscription : GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS, The Christian and the Hero^ SAVED, NEAR BREITENFELD, Religious Liberty to the "World. CHAPTER Y. CONTIJSrUATION' OF THE SUCCESSES OF G USTA VUS-AD OLPEUS. HIS SOJOUKN IN FRANKFORT — HIS ENTRANCE INTO NUREMBERG — BATTLE OF THE LECH. HE consequences of the victory of Leipzig were immense. In this battle Gustavus-Adolphus reaped the fruits of more than one year of fatigue, of unimportant contests and deprivations of every kind. The united forces of the Catholic League and of the Emperor were annihilated. Of a formidable army there remained only two thousand combatants, and Tilly discredited and discouraged by an irretriev- able defeat. Gustavus could do as he pleased and go wherever he wished. The gallant Swedes had thrown down all the obstacles with which Austria had opposed them, and henceforth nothing could stop their progress. The King of Sweden, who stood in the heart of Ger- many without a rival, or without an adversary that was a match for him, did not abuse his victory. His first thought, after having thanked God, was a,th ought of reparation and of justice. He wrote from Halle, whither he had pursued and scattered the last remnants of the hostile army, a letter, bearing the date of September 2Tth, in which he requested his chancellor 76 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 77 Oxenstiern to join him in order to regulate the restitu- tions, which he wished to make to his despoiled i)rethren. He continued to preserve discipline in his camp, and his soldiers did not relax their habits of order and piety. Every morning, after prayer, they sang a favorite hymn* of Gustavus, which expresses the con- dition of the Christian soul before God, and breathes the most unreserved confidence in God's will. Such a morning-hymn, sung by a victorious king at the head of his army could only be the effusion of sincere godli- ness and must have awakened religious enthusiasm. At Halle, Gustavus divided his army. He charged the Elector of Saxony, his ally, to penetrate into Bohemia, which country was impatient to shake off the imperial yoke. On his part, he prepared to conquer all western Germany, in order to dispossess Austria of the rich countries whence she derived her greatest resources, and to crush the Catholic League in its different centres. The Catholics themselves, who, as well as the Pro- testants, were the victims of the covetousness and bad treatment of the Imperialists, received Gustavus- Adolphus as their liberator. His march from Halle throuo^h Thurinojia and Eranconia to the Main and Rhine was a triumphal procession. In Thuringia, he obtained a new ally, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who soon became one of his most skillful generals. He issued * This hymn commences with the words: "Aus meines Herzens Grunde, sag 'ich dir Lob und Dank," (From the bottom of my heart I praise and thank Thee). The undersigned does not know whether there exists an English translation of it. The Lyra Germanica does not contain any. L. W. H. 78 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. and enforced the strictest orders against all abuse of power by the oflficers, and every outrage committed by the soldiers. He desired to show himself the more mod- erate and just, even where it could not have been ex- pected, in countries whose creed he rejected and which had always fought against his cause. The irreproachable conduct of his army called forth admiration and confidence. When the Swedish troops approached, the bishop of Wurzburg, one of the most bitter enemies of Protestant- ism and one of the most active members of the Catho- lic League, fled and abandoned his defenceless subjects to a powerful and ofi'ended foe. Wurzburg surrendered without resistance. The whole bishopric followed the example of the capital, and submitted to the Swedes. Gustavus considered a country which had been aban- doned by its sovereign as his own, and immediately appointed a regency, one half of whose members were Protestants. He restored to the Protestants their property and opened churches to them, but with- out retaliating on the Catholics the cruelties which they had practiced on his coreligionists. On such only as, sword in hand, refused to submit, were the fearful rights of war enforced. Those who were peaceably disposed, or defenceless, were treated with mildness. It was a sacred principle of Gustavus to spare the blood of his enemies, as well as that of his own troops. By every where practicing the same toleration, he has had the imperishable honor of being the first prince, who has understood the great principle of religious GUSTAVUS-ADOLPIIUS. T9 liberty. In the very midst of a war kindled by reli- gious fanaticism, he proclaimed in Europe the sacred rights of conscience. So much honesty and mildness disarmed the most inveterate hatred, and Gustavus- Adolphus was to most of the Catholics, if not a deliverer, at least a good and just master, who re- spected their rights and preserved their liberties. At the capture of a Catholic town, his officers urged him to deal severely with its inhabitants for their hostility to the Protestants, and in retaliation for the cruelties which had been perpetrated in Magdeburg. The king answered: ''I have come to break the chains of slavery, aiid not to forge new ones ; let them live, as they hitherto have lived." Surrounded by the affection, and accepted even by the Catholics, Gustavus-Adolphus was sure to succeed, had he not met with a new obstacle. The intelligence of his victory and triumphal march caused in the Catholic courts the greatest consternation.* Eichelieu, who had intended to weaken and humiliate Austria, trembled when he saw the increasing power of the King of Sweden. The preponderance of Austria was fol- lowed by the preponderance of the Protestant party. On the ruins of the old empire a new empire was going to be established, the chief of which would be the great. est captain of the epoch. This danger, which threat- ened Europe with a revolution, was to be averted. Richelieu, the former ally of Gustavus-Adolphus, * The King of Poland was quite terrified. One of his courtiers exclaimed: " No, it is impossible I I cannot believe that God has become a Lutheran !" 80 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. almost became his enemy. He declared himself the protector of the Catholic Princes of Germany, and demanded for them neutrality, thus affording them the opportunity of arming themselves for Austria, and siding in appearance with nobody. By his distrust and intrigues he roused the jealousy of the Protestant Princes and made them fear in him a master, who called himself their friend. The Elector of Saxony soon listened to all these imputations and shared all these fears. The northern hero was about to stand isolated, as at his arrival in Germany. Nevertheless he continued to advance, and conquered Franconia in a trice. Before Frankfort-on-the-Main he met with an unexpected resistance. This opulent and populous city had always been attached to the imperial cause, in return for commercial privileges which she enjoyed. By opening her gates to the Swedes, she was afraid of losing her celebrated fairs. Summoned to surrender, she sent a deputation to the king to explain her embarrassed position and the sel- fish reasons, which prevented her from complying with his demand. Gustavus-x^dolphus was indignant: "I am very much astonished," said he to the deputies, "that, when the liberties of Germany and the Protestant religion are at stake, the citizens of Frankfort talk of annual fairs, and postpone, for temporal interests, the great cause of their country and their conscience." " I have moreover," he continued in a menacing tone, "found the keys of every town and fortress from the island of Rugen to the Main, and know also where to find a GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 81 key to Frankfort ; the safety of Germany, and the freedom of the Protestant Church are the sole objects of my invasion ; conscious of the justice of my cause I am determined not to allow any obstacle to impede my progress. I am well aware that the inhabitants of Frankfort wish to stretch out only a finger to me, but I must have the whole hand, in order to have some- thing to grasp." At the head of the army, he closely followed the deputies as they carried back his answer, and, in order of battle, awaited in the neighborhood the decision of the council. These frank and energetic words, accompanied with menacing preparations, admitted neither of reply nor delay. The gates were, therefore, opened to the King of Sweden, who marched his army through this impe- rial town in magnificent procession, and in admirable order. In this city, a number of princes and ambas- sadors assembled to congratulate Gustavus on his suc- cess, and either to conciliate his favor, or to appease his indignation. This brilliant company, that sur- rounded him, displeased the Queen Maria-Eleanor and the Chancellor Oxenstiern. Under all these appear- ances of devotion, and through all these protestations of friendship, the Queen, guided by her womanly instinct and tenderness, the Chancellor, enlightened by his experience in afi'airs and his consummate prudence, had recognized the distrust and envy with which Gustavus -Adolphus inspired all these sovereigns, and the disunion which prevailed among them. The KinfT himself did not mistake the feelinors of his allies. He was sometimes deeply grieved and almost 82 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. dejected. He felt pained to see his intentions miscon- strued, and the great cause, which he defended, compromitted every moment by paltry jealousy and the meanest interests. Once, he could not forbear expressing his feelings with bitterness in the presence of many Princes. " I wish to make peace," said he, '•if I am offered honorable conditions, such as will secure the welfare of Protestant Princes and their op- pressed subjects, for whose sake I have undertaken this war and shed my blood." "But I shall never conclude a peace by which the honor of the Protestant Princes would be sacrificed, their unhappy subjects obliged to bear an iron yoke, and our religion seriously compromitted." He knew very well, that there were traitors among his guests, and that George, Landgrave of Hesse- Darmstadt, who was ambitious of reconciling the two parties, held secret intercourse with the Emperor, though he appeared to be very much attached to the King. Therefore, on the same occasion, Gustavus said to this Prince: " If the Emperor does not care for me, I shall not care for him; you may inform him of this, for I know that you are all well disposed towards his majesty." The Landgrave, confused by this unex- pected apostrophe, stammered a few excuses, but the King interrupted him, and added: "He who receives a reward of thirty thousand dollars a year, has indeed a reason to be the Emperor's friend. Were I to make such a present to some one, he must have well deserved it. It would be easy for me to enter into negotiation, did I not consider the danger of those who have acted GUSTAVUS-ADOLPIIUS. 83' a prominent part in the struggle for the restoration of true reliirion." The King was not onlj surrounded by traitors and by open enemies, but also exposed to the poniards of assassins. His most implacable foes were the Jesuits. First they ridiculed him in words and publications, then they defamed him and made every effort to alienate from him people and Princes. Jesuits were sent from Germany to France to provoke among the high and low of this country a hostile disposition towards him. While in Menz, they offered public pray- ers for his welfare, they paid assassins to take his life. One evening there was an armed individual in his room. He was arrested, and found to be a Catholic priest of Antwerp. About the same time, at Vienna, a Jesuit, during two successive Lord's days, invited his hearers to pray for the successful execution of a pro- ject which God and one man alone knew, and on which rested the welfare of the Romish Church. In these circumstances, it was thought the King's duty to be on his guard, and to watch over his personal safety more than he had done heretofore. "A king," answered Gustavus-Adolphus, "cannot live shut up in a box. The wicked have not so much power as will, and confidence in God is the best safeguard. There- fore I do not consider this danger formidable. More- over, my loss, had this man succeeded, would not have been so injurious to you as you think. God knows how long He will use my weak arm. If I fall, He will employ another instrument, worthier and more powerful than I. His work does not depend on one 84 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPnUS. man's life." To his friends, insisting upon greater pre- cautions, he replied with animation : ^' Do jou wish me to mistrust Providence?" The general clamor of discontent which the Jesuits raised in all the Catholic courts, against the alliance between France and the enemy of the Church, at last compelled Richelieu to take a step to convince the Roman Catholic world of the zeal of France. His only aim being the humiliation of Austria, he hoped to gain the great object of his policy, and to satisfy, at the same time, the demands of the Jesuits, by separating the interests of the Catholic League from those of Ferdinand. Therefore he promised to the Catholic Princes, on the part of Sweden, a complete neutrality, as soon as they abandoned their alliance with the Em- peror, and withdrew their troops. He hoped that, Ferdinand being isolated, Grustavus-Adolphus would direct his undivided force against the hereditary dominions of Austria, and accomplish the downfall of this house. NBat if the French court had powerful motives for wishing for this neutrality, the King of Sweden had as grave reasons for desiring the contrary. Convinced by numerous proofs that the hatred of the Princes of the League to the Protestant religion was invincible, their aversion to the foreign power of the Swedes inextinguishable, and their attachment to the House of Austria irrevocable, he apprehended less danger from their open hostility, than from a neutrality which was so little in unison with their real inclina- tion; and, moreover, as he was constrained to carry on the war in Germany at the expense of the enemy, he GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 85 manifestlj sustained great loss, if he diminisliecl their number without increasing that of his friends. It was not surprising, therefore, if Gustavus evinced little in- clination to purchase the neutrality of the League by which he was likely to gain so little, at the expense of the advantages he had already obtained. The conditions, accordingly, upon which he offered to adopt the neutrality towards Bavaria, T^ere severe and suited to these views. He required of the whole League a full and entire cessation from all hostilities ; the recall of their troops from the imperial army, from the conquered towns, and from all the Protestant countries; the reduction of their military force; the exclusion of the Imperial armies from their territories, and from supplies either of men, provisions, or ammu- nition ; the restoration of all property which had been taken from the Protestants; the concession of reli- gious liberty, and the expulsion of the Jesuits. Hard as the conditions were, which the victor thus imposed upon the vanquished, the French Mediator flattered himself, he should be able to induce the Elector of Bavaria to accept them. In order to give time for an accommodation, Gustavus had agreed to a cessation of hostilities for a fortnight. But at the very time, when this monarch was receiving from the Prench agents repeated assurances of the favorable progress of the negotiation, an intercepted letter from the Elector to Pappenheim, the generalissimo of the Austrian army, revealed the perfidy of that Prince, as having no other object in view by the whole negotiation than to gain time for his secret preparations for war. Gusta- 8 8G GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. vus, irritated by this knavery^ informed France of it and declared his intention to invade Bavaria. When the Pope, Urban YIII., was informed of this determina- tion, he said : " The Kino; of Sweden takes a necessary and wise resolution. He would commit a great im- prudence, if he advanced anywhere before having crushed Maximilian." Truth requires us moreover to state, that neither the Jesuits nor the Emperor suc- ceeded in inducing this Pope to take any serious steps against Gustavus-Adolphus, because he was fully con- vinced that the King of Sweden did not intend to oppress the Catholic religion, but was willing to grant religious liberty to all. While waiting for a favorable moment, the King of Sweden crossed the Rhine, where the Spaniards made only a vain resistance, and on December 13th, 1631, Mentz, after a siege of four days, opened her gates. He stopped for some time in this city, and left his generals to complete the conquest of the surrounding country. His rest was not of long duration. Recalled into Franconia by Tilly's successes, who had expelled the Swedish troops from the bishopric of Bamberg, and was marching on Nuremberg, he hastened to meet the Bavarian general, and forced him to retreat towards the Danube. Thus he reached Nuremberg, where he was enthu- siastically received, March 21st. He entered the town with a small escort of dragoons and mounted arquebu. siers. He had left his army at FUrth, a town at some distance from this city. The generals and the German GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 87 Princes wbom he had delivered accompanied him. The magistrates and the prominent inhabitants went to meet him and offered him the keys, as a sign of obedience and loyaltj. The people, who thronged the streets, gave vent to their joy by cheering and shouting. The ringing of bells and the roaring of cannons mingled with the acclamations of the multitude. This welcome deeply affected the King. The noble appearance of his person, completed the impression produced by his glorious exploits, and the condescen- sion with which he received the congratulations of this free city won all hearts. When Gustavus-Adolphus had arrived in the apart- ments which had been prepared, the presents, offered by the city, were delivered to him. They consisted of considerable sums of money, and of two silver orbs of remarkable workmanship. Then the King addressed the magistrates and burghers in the following words, which were immediately penned down and spread, by thousands of copies, among the inhabitants : "I thank you and the city for these valuable presents. In re- turn, I can wish you nothing better than perseverance in the evangelic faith. May nothing avert you from it, neither threats nor promises, nor any passion to which human nature is liable. You have given me the emblems of heaven and earth; may the riches of the earth not make you forgetful of the still more pre- cious treasures of heaven. I ask for you this grace of God. We have cunning, wicked and powerful enemies. All their thoughts are bent upon the destruction of Pro- testantism. Apparently they seek peace, but it would 88 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPnUS. indeed prove fatal to you and to all Protestants, and ruinous to many millions of souls." " God has entrusted you witli the administration of a rich and powerful city ; I do not doubt of your gov- erning it so that you need not fear the account which will one day be required of you before God's tribunal." "Your city, encompassed with dangers and perse- cutions, has, as yet, been miraculously preserved; I have been not less astonishingly protected since arriving in these countries. I had expected to see the end of the world rather than your city. In the mis- fortunes that have befallen your brethren, and in your own sufferings, God intended to make you feel and acknowledge what great sinners we all are. It is for your sake, for the defense of the Gospel, that I have left my peaceful, native land, and come to these dis- turbed countries. I have sacrificed the resources of my poor subjects, their blood, exposed my life, and re- nounced domestic happiness. I shall do all that the grace of God will give me the strength to do. On your side, learn to suffer, during a short time, if it is necessary for our holy cause ; remain faithful to it. God will bless you. He will increase your city, make it prosperous, and your renown will be spread every- where. Let us together praise, magnify and glorify God here on earth, and in heaven forever." After dinner the King left the city, surrounded by a population more enthusiastic still than when he arrived. Mothers lifted up their children, that they might see the hero, and impress his countenance on their youthful minds. Old people wept with joy that GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 89 tliey had lived to -witness the protector of the Protes- tant Cburch. To perpetuate the remembrance of his visit, painters took his portrait, which was scattered ia many copies, and poets sang his virtues. The verses, which were composed on this occasion, bear that bibli- cal stamp which is peculiar to the Protestant authors of that time — Gustavus is called therein a new Gideon, a second Joshua, another David, who has thrown down Goliath, a man like the pious Maccabseus. After a short stay in Nuremberg, Gustavus-Adolphus followed his army to the Danube, and appeared unex- pectedly before the frontier-town of Donauwoerth, celebrated for the misfortunes it had incurred, in its ardent zeal for Reformation. A numerous Bavarian garrison defended the place, and their commander showed at first a resolute determination to defend it, till the arrival of Tilly. But the vigor with which Gustavus prosecuted the siege, soon compelled him to take measures for a speedy and secure retreat, which, amid a tremendous fire from the Swedish artillery, he successfully executed. The Evangelical worship, which had been abolished by the Duke of Bavaria, was re-established. The conquest of Donauwoerth made the King master of the Danube, and now the small river Lech alone separated him from the states of Maximilian, the bul. wark of Catholicism in Germany. Protected by this river, which had been transformed into a raging tor- rent by the melting of snow from the Tyrol Mountains, the Bavarians under Tilly's, and their Duke's leader, bhip, occupied a strongly fortified camp which seemed 8* 90 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. to bid defiance to every assult. The bravest and most skillful generals of the Swedish army considered this position as impregnable, and any attack as a foolhardy enterprise. "What," said the King to Gustavus Horn, who opposed more energetically than all the others this perilous undertaking, *'we have crossed the Baltic, and so many great rivers of Germany, and we shall now be checked by a brook like the Lech!" Gustavus had already, at the peril of his life, recon- noitered the ground, and discovered that his own side of the river was higher than the other, and consequent- ly gave a considerable advantage to the fire of the Swedish artillery over that of the enemy. With great presence of mind, he determined to profit by this cir- cumstance. He immediately caused three batteries to be erected, from which seventy- two field-pieces maintained a cross fire upon the enemy. While this tremendous cannonade drove the Bavarians from the opposite bank, he caused a bridge to be erected over the river, with all possible rapidity. A thick smoke, kept up by burning wood and wet straw, concealed for some time the progress of the work from the enemy, while the continued thunder of the cannon overpow- ered the noise of the axes. He kept alive, by his own example, the courage of his troops, and discharged more than sixty cannons with his own hand. The cannonade was returned by the Bavarians with equal vivacity, for two hours, though with less efi'ect, as the Swedish batteries swept the lower opposite bank, while their height served as a breast-work to their own troops. In vain, therefore, did the Bavarians GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 91 attempt to destroy these works; the superior fire of the Swedes threw them into disorder, and the bridge was completed under their very eyes. On this dread- ful day, Tilly did every thing in his power to encourage his troops, and no danger could drive him from the bank. At length, mortally wounded, he was obliged to see in the young, triumphant Gustavus-Adolphus the minister of divine justice, who punished him for the crimes which he had perpetrated in Magdeburg. De- prived of the animating presence of their general, the Bavarians gave way, and Maximilian, overcome by the persuasions of the dying Tilly, gave up this impregna- ble position for lost. The same night, 5th of April, before a single Swede had crossed the Lech, he broke up his camp and retreated in good order to Neuburg and Ingolstadt. When the King had closely examined the hostile camp, and the admirable intrenchments which defended it, he said: "Had I been the Bavarian, though a cannon-ball had carried away my beard and chin, never would I have abandoned a position like this, and laid open my territory to my enemies." This victory opened Bavaria to Gustavus-Adolphus. He could unmolested penetrate into this country, but wished first to relieve Augsburg, with which city great and pious reminiscences were connected. It surren- dered on April 14th. The Edict of Restitution had deprived the Protestants of this town of divine service, had placed at their head a Catholic administration, and Protestant Germany was grieved to see the Augsburg Confession outraged even in its birth-place. Gustavus- 92 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPnUS. Adolpliiis expelled the Bavarian garrison, wbicli occu- pied the city ; and replaced the Catholic authorities by 'otestant magistrates, who took the oath of loyalty. Then he proceeded with his whole retinue to St. Ann's Church, which he restored, as well as the others, to the Lutheran worship. Here, his chaplain, Dr. Fabricius, preached from the 5th verse of Psalm xii. ^' For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord: I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him." After this sermon, Psalm ciii. was sung with an accompaniment of beau- tiful music. It was not without a very lively emotion that the citizens of Augsburg sang this hymn, which corresponded so well with the grateful feelings that per- vaded their hearts and which, so to say, described to them their deliverance. ''Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits. ''The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed, etc." Several days were spent in festivals and public re- joicings. CHAPTER VI. LAST CAMPAIGN'S OF GUSTAVUS- ADOLPHUS. SIEGE OF IXGOLSTADT. — CONQUEST OF BAVARIA. — WALLEXSTEIX'S EXPEDITION AGAINST NUEEMBEEG. ^%, FTER his defeat, Maximilian had taken refuge /^rV behind the walls of Infjolstadt. Gustavus-Adol- phus, anxious to obtain a firm footing on the Danube, and to complete the destruction of the Bava- rian army, did not indulge in the festivities of Augs- burg, but advanced already on the 15th of April against this stronghold, whose possession was very important. But the bravery of the garrison, which had been in- creased by Maximilian's troops, and the solidity of its fortifications, foiled his attempt. During the siege of this town, the King nearly lost his life, on the same day (April 20th), when Tilly died within of his wounds. While reconnoitering the works a twenty-four-pounder struck his horse, which broke down and involved him in its fall. Those who surrounded him uttered shrieks, of dismay, and rushed towards him, afraid of finding a corpse. Gustavus-Adolphus, at the same moment, all covered with blood and dust, rose saying: "The apple is not yet ripe." His horse had been killed, and his young friend, the Margrave of Baden, who stood near him, had his head carried away by a second ball, a few moments afterwards. On his return to the camp, the 93 9J: GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. King was congratuliited hj Lis officers, Trho, at the same time, manifested their recrrcts at the Martrrave's untimely end. The King answered them: "The Mar- grave's death and the ball which passed so close to me recall to my mind my mortality. — Man, thou must die! that is the old law from which neither my high descent, nor my royal crown, nor my arms, nor my numerous victories can save me. I submit to God's will and guid- ance. If he remove me from this world, he will not for- sake the holy cause which I now defend." . Gustavus-Adolphus, like all true disciples of Jesus Christ, often thought of his end, and seriously prepared himself to meet his God. He knew that but a gasp separates time from eternity, and that death is the be- ginning of a new life. The fascination of power had not dazzled him so as to make him forgetful of his frailty and of the judgment which was awaiting him beyond the tomb. The bubble of glory had not con- cealed heaven from him. His deep humility, his con- tinued perception of his sinfulness and his recourse to God's grace prove it. The more he advanced in life, the more eno-rossed he was with death and the salva- o tion of his soul, the more sedulous he was not to be surprised by the coming of his Divine Master. He had a salutary presentiment of his early departure. Hence his mildness and mercifulness, which we are forced so much the more to admire, because practiced in coun- tries where, as in Bavaria, the remembrance of the wrongs, which Protestants had suffered, must have pre- disposed him to inflict well deserved punishment upon the adversaries of Reformation. GUSTAVUS-ADOLPIIUS. 95 The occupation of Ratisbon by the Bavarians caus- ed . Gustavus-Adolphus to resolve upon raising the siege of Ingolstadt, and to penetrate into the interior of Bavaria, in order to draw the Elector into that quarter for the defense of his territories, and thus to strip the Danube of its defenders. But, before he had carried into effect this plan of operations, France sent an ambassador to stop him by negotiating peace for Bavaria. To all the reasons invoked in favor of Maximilian, and of his pretended neutrality, the King of Sweden replied : "I clearly see that you have only come to impose upon me ; I cannot believe that the Puke of Bavaria seriously intends to come to a settle- ment of our differences. I know him and his priest- hood too well. He wears a double cassock, and accord- ing to circumstances, he turns it, to-day the red, to- morrow the blue. This time I shall not be deceived." The ambassador, then passing from entreaties to threats, spoke in very high terms of the military strength of France, which could, said he, abandon Sweden to her- self and supply Bavaria with forty thousand men. ''If France withdraws from me her alliance," — replied Gustavus-Adolphus immediately, — "well ! I shall have that of the Turks, and the Turks are no worse allies than the Papists with their idolatry. At all events, I know that I can rely on the help of Almighty God, who has sent me into Germany." — Undoubtedly the Duke of Bavaria only wished to keep him inactive, un- til Wallenstein should have gathered the auxiliary troops w^hich this general had promised to the Emperor. For the latter in his great distress had applied again to 96 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. the man whom he had formerly dismissed and humbly requested his help. Wallenstein finally promised his assistance, but on such conditions, as to make of the Emperor his servant. In spite of Louis XIIL, the Goth advanced on the Bavarian territory without encountering a soldier to contend with him for the passage. Hitherto the Swedes had found the inhabitants of the different countries, on the whole, friendly disposed, but now they had entered a State whose people harbored the most hostile feelings to them. Religious fanaticism had been aroused by the priests to such a degree, that each Bavarian considered it his sacred duty to preserve his country from the impure contact of the heretics. The King of Sweden was to them the Antichrist^ and in their public prayers they asked of God to deliver them from the Swedish devil. To kill a Swede, no matter by what means, was a meritorious deed. Bands of peasants were organized and woe to the Swedish soldier who fell into their hands ! All the torments, which inventive malice could de- vise, were exercised upon these unhappy victims ; and the sight of their mangled bodies exasperated the army to a fearful retaliation. Gustavus-Adolphus, at the view of these horrors, sometimes felt his blood boil with anger, and thoughts of vengeance arose in his mind. But he soon overcame these first impulses and sullied the lustre of his heroic character by no act of revenge. Instead of maltreating these madmen, who made his soldiers suffer martyrdom, and considered him an imp of Satan, he showed them by his kindness and patience, that he was a better Christian than they were. GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 97 He attended more energetically than ever to the main- tenance of discipline, and answered the most implaca- ble hatred by an inexhaustible clemency. As soon as the Swe^dish army appeared before the town of Landshut, the garrison fled and the inhabi- tants concealed themselves to escape the retaliation, which they considered well merited and unavoidable. Tranquilized by the pacific attitude of their conquerors, struck by their moderation and by the order which reigned in their ranks, the citizens reappeared, and the most eminent from among them threw themselves at the King's feet, supplicating him to spare them as well as the town. Gustavus answered them: "When I think of the cruelties which you have practiced on my soldiers, I ask indeed the question, whether you are men, or ferocious animals, and I know not how I can have compassion on you." He refused to promise any- thing and even left the town, in which a death-like si- lence reigned, without having come to a decision. The sky was cloudy. While the King went away, he was dazzled by lightning, and a dreadful thunderclap re- echoed. This roar reminded him of the living God, whose chastisements are dreadful, and who will not for- give those who are unforgiving, and Landshut wa3 only obliged to pay one hundred thousand dollars, as a contribution for war expenses. From Landshut Gustavus-Adolphus proceeded to Munich. The approach of the King spread terror and consternation in the capital, which placed all its hopes in the magnanimity of the conqueror. By an uncon- ditional and voluntary surrender, it hoped to disarm 9 98 GUSTAYU3-AD0LPHUS. his vengeance, and sent deputies, as far as Freysingen, to lay at his feet the keys of the city. The King said to this deputation : " You have done well. With justice I might have avenged on your city the fall of Magde- burg. But be not afraid about your property, your families and your religion. Go in peace." And true to his word, Gustavus did not retaliate, and refused to satisfy the resentment of the Germans, who desired him to revenge the sack of Magdeburg on the capital of its destroyer. The very helplessness of his enemies dis- armed his severity. He contented himself with the more noble triumph of conducting the unfortunate King of Bohemia, the Palatine Frederick, with the pomp of a victor, into the very palace of the Prince, who had been the chief instrument of his ruin, and the usurper of his territories, and heightened the brilliancy of his triumphal entry by the brighter splendor of mod- eration and clemency. By his kindness, the King won the hearts of the inhabitants, who could not forbear paying homage to the virtues of so generous an adver- sary. The Jesuits themselves, flattered by his conde- scension and affability, praised his magnanimity. When he visited their convent, the superior addressed him in a Latin speech in which he exalted his eminent quali- ties. The King answered in the same language and entered into a discussion of the Lord's Supper. He vigorously maintained the evangelical doctrines on this important point, without ever deviating from the terms of the most perfect courtesy, and the most sincere re- spect for the opinions of his antagonists. His old (j61onels murmured against so much kindness and said: *' The GUSTAVU3-AD0LPHUS. 99 King had better expel these Jesuits than discourse Vfith them." Gustavus guessed their thoughts, and, Avhen leaving the convent, he said to them smiling: "Why would you persecute these men ? Do you not see, how much they injure the cause they defend, and how use- ful they are to that which they combat?" Wise and profound words, containing a lesson from which our age may also derive benefit, as well as the age of the great King of Sweden ! The King found in Munich only a forsaken palace, for the Elector's treasures had been carried away. The mag;nificence of the building; astonished him: and he asked the guide, who showed the apartments, who was the architect. '-No other," replied he, "than the Elector himself." — "I wish," said the King, "I had this architect to send to Stockholm." — "That," he was answered, "the architect will take care to prevent." When the arsenal was examined, they found nothing but carriages, stripped of their cannons. The latter had been so artfully concealed under the floor, that no traces of them remained; and, but for the treachery of a workman, the deceit would not have been detected. "Rise up from the dead," said the King, " and come to judgment." The floor was pulled up, and one hun- dred and forty pieces of cannon discovered. A trea- sure of thirty thousand gold ducats, concealed in one of the largest, completed the pleasure which the King received from this valuable acquisition. Gustavus- Adolphus did not remain long in Munich whose magnificence he admired and which he called, on account of its melancholy and barren environs, a 100 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. gold saddle on a had horse. Wallenstein, at the liead of a powerful army, advanced to meet liim. Thus far had Gustavus advanced from victory to victory, without meeting with an enemy able to cope with him. A part of Bavaria and Suabia, the bishop- rics of Franconia, the Lower Palatinate and the arch- bishopric of Mentz lay subdued in his rear. The Catholic League was weakened. His ally, the Elector of Saxony^ had conquered Bohemia and was advancing against Austria, while he himself was rapidly moving to the same point. A long war had exhausted the strength of the Austrian monarchy, wasted the coun- try and diminished the armies, which, moreover, were destitute of generals that inspired the soldiers with the confidence of victory. The confederates of the Empe- ror were disarmed, or their fidelity shaken. Most of the Protestant States were openly declaring against Austria. The Hungarian frontier was threatened by the Transylvanian Prince, Ragosky, while Turkey was making great preparations, to profit by the favorable conjuncture for aggression. To complete the embar- rassment, a dangerous insurrection broke out in the territory of the Ens, where the fanaticism of the gov- ernment had provoked the Protestants to resistance. Thus the Emperor saw himself on the brink of an abyss. There was but one man able to avert the danger, that was threatening the Austrian monarchy, and that one had been mortally afi'ronted. The Emperor hesitated for some time, but the pressure increasing every day, he finally resolved to intrust Wallenstein again with the command of the army. This general first pretend- GU.STAVUS-ADOLnHUS. 131 e-.l to decline, but, at last, yielded to the most urgent solicitations, after the Emperor had conceded the most humiliating conditions, hj which he was deprived of all control over the armies, and placed at the mercy of the proud Duke. In less than three months, this great captain raised an army of forty thousand men, com- manded by experienced officers, and inflamed by en- thusiasm. He restored Bohemia to the Emperor in" less time than it had been lost, and at the end of May, not a single Saxon soldier remained in this country. While he was conquering Bohemia, Gustavus-Adol- phus had been gaining the victories, already detailed on the Rhine and the Danube, and carried the war to the frontiers of Bavaria. Maximilian, defeated on the Lech, and deprived by death of Count Tilly, his best support, besought Wallenstein to come to his assist- ance. But although his request was seconded by Fer- dinand's order, the Duke of Friedland remained inac- tive in Bohemia and abandoned the Elector to his fate. The remembrance that Maximilian had been instru- mental in his dismission, was deeply engraved in the implacable mind of the Duke, who embraced this op- portunity to wreak his vengeance upon him. It was only when the conquests of Gustavus-Adolphus in Ba- varia threatened Austria itself, that he yielded to the pressing entreaties of the Elector and the Emperor, and effected the long expected union with the former, on the humiliating condition that Wallenstein would be the chief commander of both armies. Thus the chief of the Catholic League, the first Prince of the Empire, consented to become the inferior of that Bohemian up- 102 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPIIUS. start, whom lie had formerlj^ refused to take into his service. After this step, the Duke of Friedland said to his officers : " At last I have forced my mortal enemy to implore my pardon and my support. 1 am avenged of all the evil he has done me." The comhined hostile armies amounted to sixty thousand men, and the Swedes had only about iwenty thousand to oppose, when they heard that Wallenstein intended to attack Nuremberg. Had Gustavus been only actuated by egotism, he would, before gathering his scattered troops, have avoided the enemy and aban- doned the city. But the Magdeburg disaster was not obliterated from his memory, and he resolved to per- ish with his weak army rather than to expose to the savage fury of the Imperialists a city from which he had received tokens of sincere devotion and aifection. He did not hesitate, and prepared to meet the danger. At his arrival, he hastened to surround the town with an intrenched camp, which formed, so to say, second ram- parts, and enabled him to lodge the soldiers without inconvenience to the Nurembergers. Zealously assist- ed by the inhabitants of the city and of the surround- ing country, tlie Swedish troops had, in a fortnight, rinished this immense work. AVhile these operations were carried on without the walls, the magistrates ex- erted themselves to fill the magazines with provisions and ammunition for a long siege, and to organize a numerous militia, which maintained order in the city, and could, if necessary, help to defend it. " Nurem- berg," said Gustavus-Adolphus, "is the apple of my eye, and I shall defend it with all my might." The GUSTAVUS-ADOLPnUS. 103 most perfect union prevailed between tlie soldiers and the inhabitants. Animated bv feelings of mutual confidence and sym- pathy, they prepared to receive the enemy, which soon arrived. But, instead of attacking the city, Wallen- stein pitched his camp directly opposite to it, at less than three miles from that of Gustavus-Adolphus, and in an impregnable position. "Hitherto," said he, "battles enouiijh have been fought; it is now time to try anotlier method." lie hoped to conquer the Swedes by famine and pestilence. Little aware,, however, of the resources and the strength of his adversary, "Wallenstein had not taken sufl5icient precautions, to avert from himself the fate he was designing for others. The peasantry of the neighboring country had fled with their property, and what little provision remained must be obstinately con- tested with the Swedes. The King spared the maga- zines within the town, as long as it was possible to provision his army from without; and these forays produced constant skirmishes between the Croats and the Swedes, in which many men were lost without benefit to either party. "When this supply fciiled, the town opened its magazines to the King, but Wallen- stein had to support his troops from a distance. Once a large convoy from Bavaria was on its way to him, with an escort of a thousand men. Gustavus-Adolphus, having received intelligence of its approach, immedi- ately sent out a regiment of cavalry to intercept it, and the darkness of the night favored the enterprise. The whole convoy, with the town in which it was, fell 10^4 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. into the hands of the Swedes; the imperial escort was cut to pieces, about twelve thousand cattle carried off, and a thousand wagons, loaded with bread, which could not be brought away, were set on fire. Seven regiments, which Wallenstein had sent forward to cover the entrance of the long and anxiously expected convoy, were attacked by the King, and, after an ob- ttinate action, driven back into the imperial camp with the loss of four hundred men. So many checks and difficulties," and so firm and unexpected a resistance on the part of the King, made the Duke of Friedland repent that he had not hazarded a battle. The strength of the Swedish camp rendered an attack impracticable. The want of provisions, which began to be felt, the contagious diseases, the natural consequence of bad food, and a crowded population, and the inactivity always connected with camp life, were the causes which broke up all discipline and order in the Swedish camp. The German troops gave the example of plunder, and the remainder of the army found in the aggravation of its sufi'erinor a reason for imitatinc; them. These shame- ful breaches of discipline, on the maintenance of which he had hitherto justly prided himself, severely pained the King ; and the vehemence with which he reproached the German officers for their negligence, bespoke the liveliness of his emotion. He assembled them, June 29tli, and thus addressed them : " Complaints reach me, from all sides, about the conduct of our troops in regard to our allies. People complain that the Swedes begin to wage war like the Croats. These reproaches break my heart, especially since I know that they arc GUSTAVUS-ADOLPnUS. 105 but too true. I am innocent of all these disorders; I iiave always forbidden and punished them severely. It is you yourselves, Germans, who lay waste your native country, ransack your fellow-citizens, and drive your co-religionists to despair, whom you have sworn to protect. As God is my judge, I abhor you ; I loathe you; my heart sinks within me, even when I look upon you. Ye break my orders; ye are the cause that the world curses me, that the tears of poverty follow me, that complaints ring in my ear: — ' The King, our friend, does us more harm than even Wallenstein, our worst enemy.' — If you were true Christians, you would fulfil your duties to your country and your brethren, and you would remember what I have done for you. It is for you that I have ventured my life, and sacrificed my peace. It is for you that I have depopulated Sweden, stripped my kingdom of its treasures, and spent upon you more than forty tuns of gold;* while from your German Empire I have not received the least aid, not even so much as to buy a miserable doublet. I ask nothing of you, and would prefer to return home poor and naked to enriching and clothing myself at your expense. I gave you a share of all that God had given to me ; and had ye regarded my orders, I would gladly have shared with you all my future acquisitions. Your want of discipline convinces me of your evil intentions, whatever cause I might otherwise have to applaud your bravery. *A tun of gold in Sweden amounts to one hundred thousand dollars. 106 GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. "If you murmur, if you forget God and honor so as 1 forsake me, I shall surround myself with my Swedes and Finlanders;* we shall defend ourselves to the last man, and the whole world will see that, being a Chris- tian King, I have preferred to give up my life rather than to defile by a crime the holy work which God has entrusted to me. "I request you for God's sake, commune with your- selves, ask your consciences. Remember that you will render an account to God of your conduct, and that you will appear before the judgment-seat of the all- seeing heavenly Judge." These words made a powerful impression upon the hearers, many of whom were touched to tears. When afterwards the King saw a stolen cow before the tent of a corporal, he delivered the delinquent to the pro- vost for punishment, with these words : '' Come, my son, it is better I punish you than that God should punish not only you, but, on your account, also me and all of us together." Likewise two captains, who had stolen, were called to account and punished. At last the expected succor, brought by the Chan- cellor Oxenstiern, arrived in the Swedish camp. This reinforcement amounted to nearly fifty thousand men, and was attended by a train of sixty pieces of cannon, and four thousand bas-nraoje wa2;ons. Gustavus now saw himself at the head of an army of nearly seventy thousand strong, without reckoning the militia of Nu- remberg, which, in case of necessity, could bring into * Finland belongs no more to Sweden, but is now a province of Kussia. GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 107 tlie field about thirty thousand fighting men, a formid- able force opposed to another not less formidable. If, before the arrival of the Swedish succors, a want of provisions had been felt, the evil was now fearfully increased in both camps, for Wallenstein had also re- ceived reinforcements from Bavaria. Beside the one hundi'ed thousand men confronted to each other, and more than fifty thousand horses, in the two armies, and beside the inhabitants of Nuremberg, whose number far exceeded the Swedish army, there were in the camp of Wallenstein fifteen thousand women, with as many drivers, and nearly the same number in that of the Swedes. The custom of the time permitted the sol- dier to carry his family with him into the field. No wonder that the necessaries of life rose to an exorbi- tant price. All the mills of Nuremberg were insuffi- cient to grind the grain, required for each day; and fifty thousand pounds of bread, which were daily de- livered by the town into the Swedish camp, excited, without allaying, the hunger of the soldiers. The laudable exertions of the magistrates of Nuremberg could not prevent the greater part of the horses from dying for want of forage, while the increasing mor- tality in the camp consigned more than one hundred men daily to the grave. To put an end to these distresses, Gustavus-Adol- phus, relying on his numerical superiority, left his lines on the fifty-fifth day, forming before the enemy in order of battle, while he cannonaded the Duke's camp from three batteries. But "Wallenstein remained immovable in his intrenchments. His plan was to wear 108 GUSTAVUS'ADOLPHUS., out the King by his inactivity, and by the force of famine to overcome his resolute determination. Gus- tavus, deceived in his hope of forcing a battle, and compelled by his increasing necessities, now attempted impossibilities, and resolved to storm a position which art and nature had combined to render impregnable. On the fifty-eighth day of his encampment (Aug. 24th), he advanced in full order of battle, and easily drove the enemy's out-posts before him. The main army of the Imperialists occupied steep heights, on which the whole of the artillery was placed. Deep trenches surrounded inaccessible redoubts, while thick barricades and pointed palisades defended the ap- proaches to the heights. Against this dangerous post Gustavus now directed his attack. The assault was furious; the resistance obstinate. Exposed to the whole fire of the enemy's artillery, and infuriated by the prospect of inevitable death, thes'e determined war- riors rushed forward to storm the heights, which dis- charged on them a shower of shot. The intrepid band, conquered, was obliged to retreat. The assault was renewed six times, with no better result. After a ten hours' action, a thousand mangled bodies covered the field. In the mean time, a sharp contest had taken place between the imperial cavalry and the left wing of the Swedes, with varying success, but with equal intre- pidity and loss on both sides. The Duke of Friedland and Prince Bernard, of Weimar, had each a horse shot under them. The King himself had the sole of his boot carried off by a cannon-ball. The combat was GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 109 maintained with undiminished obstinacy, until the ap- proach of night separated the combatants. Two thou- sand dead, which Gustavus left behind him on the field, testified to the extent of his loss; and the Duke of Friedland remained unconquered within his lines. For fourteen days after this action, the two armies still continued fronting each other, each in the hope that the other would first withdraw. Every day re- duced their provisions. By the casualties of war and sickness, Nuremberg had lost more than ten thousand of its inhabitants, and Gustavus-Adolphus nearly twen- ty thousand of his soldiers. The fields around the city were trampled down, the villages lay in ashes, dead bodies infected the air, and bad food, the exhalations from so dense a population and so many putrifying carcasses, together with the heat of the dog-days, pro- duced a desolating pestilence, which raged among men and beasts. Affected by the general distress, and de- spairing of conquering the determination of the Duke of Friedland, the King broke up his camp, on the 8th of September, leaving in jNuremberg a garrison suffi- cient to shield the city from a surprise. He advanced in full order of battle before the enemy, and waited four hours in front of the Austrian camp. But Wal- lenstein remained motionless, and did not attempt in the least to harass his retreat. Gustavus bent his course towards Windsheim, in Bavaria, to complete the conquest of this country, and afterwards to pene- trate into Austria. Wallenstein, as exhausted as him- self, had only awaited the retreat of the Swedes to commence his own. Five days afterwards he broke 10 110 GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. . up his camp, and set it on fire. A hundred columns of smoke, rising from all the burning villages in the neighborhood, announced his retreat, and showed the city the fate it had escaped. His army, which lately had amounted to sixty-thousand men, had dwindled down to about twenty-four thousand, and of these a fourth were Bavarians. The Swedes were reduced to twenty thousand men, and had left more than twenty thousand near Nuremberg. To secure the success of his operations in Bavaria, Gustavus-Adolphus was going to beleaguer Ingolstadt, hoping to retrieve his former repulse, and to deprive Maximilian of his surest asylum, when he heard that "Wallenstein was devastating Saxony, and making her pay dearly for her sympathy with Sweden. At this intelligence, his loyalty and faithfulness induced him to relinquish the execution of his plan of operation a second time. He retraced his steps, and hastened to come to the rescue of his ally. CHAPTER YII. END OF THE LIFE OF GUSTAYU^- ADOLPHUS. RETURN OF THE SWEDES INTO SAXONY VICTORY AND DEATH OF GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS AT .LUTZEN — HIS ADMINISTRATION IN SWE- DEN. FTER having united his troops with those of Bernard of Weimar, who had been despatched to ■act against Pappenheim, the King of Sweden, with twenty thousand veterans, followed the route of Wallenstein. He received every where the most af- fectionate welcome. Gustavus, who, at the head of his army, rode a large white hors^, and was only dis- tinguished from the private soldier by the long white plume, which he wore on his little gray hat, according to the Swedish fashion, was the object of general ad- miration, as well as his sun-burnt soldiers, who were remarkable by their martial gait. When this gallant army stopped anywhere, it did not make the least dis- turbance, but respected persons and property. In Franconia and Thuringia the Swedes prayed in the morning and eveniag with their landlords, and thanked them for their hospitality, on leaving. The inhabitants of these countries considered these soldiers as members of their families, and reluctantly parted from them. Ill 112 GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. An event, wMch they considered as a good omen, particularly contributed to make them appreciate the kindness of the King of Sweden. Their imagination was struck by it so much, that it has been recorded in their chronicles and preserved until now. When GustaVus-Adolphus approached Pfofflingen, he saw a hawk pursuing a lark, which came to seek a shelter in his bosom. He took the bird, smiling, in his hand, and holding it very gently, lest he might wound it, he said: "Poor little bird, may God protect you!" Then, when the hawk was out of sight, and the lark out of danger, he let it loose, thanking God for having given him an opportunity of saving an innocent crea- ture. There is in this anecdote a touching allegory of the work which Gustavus-Adolphus was performing. Austria was to the German Protestants a bird of prey, ready to devour them, and it was into the arms of the King of Sweden that they had thrown themselves to recover their liberty. On the 23d of Oo-tober, the different divisions of his army met in Arnstadt. Here his Chancellor parted with him, and the two friends saw one another for the last time. At Erfurt, Gustavus-Adolphus found the Queen, who was awaiting him. But overwhelmed with busi- ness, he could enjoy her presence but little. Wallen- stein was at a short distance from the city. On the following day, October 28th, 1632, Gustavus convened the town council, and spoke to that body in the following terms: "I intrust you with my most precious jewel, the Qaeen, my well-beloved spouse. GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 113 You know, gentlemen, that all things in this world are liable to vicissitudes, and above all war, a scourge which God uses to chastise men for their sins. Like another, I may meet with misfortune, perhaps death. If this is the will of God, show to my beloved wife the loyalty, the devotion of which you have always given me proofs." And as the Queen was bursting into tears, he clasped her to his heart and said: "Cheer up ! we shall see each other again ; if not in this life, it will be sooner or later in the celestial abodes of eternal bliss." Then embracing her a last time, he sprang on his horse, and rejoined his army, which was starting. He reached Naumburg on the 1st of November, 1632, before the corps, which the Duke of Friedland had dispatched for that purpose, could make itself master of that place. The inhabitants of the sur- rounding country flocked in crowds to look upon the hero, the avenger, the great king, who, a year before, had first appeared in that quarter, like a guardian angel. Shouts of joy every where attended his pro- gress ; the people knelt before him, and struggled for the honor of touching the sheath of his sword, or the hem of his garment. The modest hero disliked this in- nocent tribute which a sincerely grateful and admiring multitude paid him. "Is it not," said he to his chap- liin, "as if this people would make a god of me? Our cause prospers indeed; but I fear the vengeance of Heaven will punish us for this presumption, and soon enough reveal to this deluded multitude my human weakness and mortality." 10* 114 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. How amiable does Gustavus appear before us at this moment, when about to leave us forever! Even in the plenitude of success, he declines that homage which is due only to the Immortal, and strengthens his title to our tears, the nearer the moment approaches that is to call them forth ! The enemy, which had come too late to take Naum- burg, encamped at Weissenfels, a place not quite two miles distant from that town. Twice as numerous as the Swedes, the Austrians hoped to defeat the latter as soon as opportunity presented. Gustavus-Adolphus, following the same tactics as at Nuremberg, made pre- parations for intrenching himself, with the intention of awaiting there the reinforcements, which the Duke of Lunenburg was bringing up from Lower-Saxony. "Wallenstein did not think it prudent to attack the King in his advantageous position, and, almost con- vinced that, at this season, he had no reason to appre- hend any thing from the Swedes, he put his troops into winter quarters, supposing that the enemy would do the same at Naumburg. Count Pappenheim was dis- patched with eleven thousand men to the assistance of Cologne, that was threatened by the Dutch. When Gustavus-Adolphus was informed of Pappenheim's de- parture, he said: "I believe indeed that God has delivered the enemy into my hand;" and, suddenly breaking up his camp at Naumburg, he hastened with his whole force to attack Wallenstein, now weakened to nearly one-half. Notwithstanding his speed, he met his adversary only on the evening of the same day before Lutzen, and was, to his great regret, obliged to defer the battle to the next day. GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. " 115 When the fateful morning of November 6th dawned, the King sent for his chaplain, and spent with him an hour in prayer. Then he attended the divine service which was celebrated every morning in the camp.* Kneeling in front of his lines, he offered up his devo- tions ; and the whole army, at the same moment, dropping on their knees, burst into the following war- hymn, f accompanied by military music, which inspired the hearts of his soldiers with new ardor : Fear not, little flock, the foe Who madly seeks your overthrow — Dread not his rage and power. What though your courage sometimes faints His seeming triumph o'er God's saints Lasts but a little hour. Be of good cheer; your cause belongs To Ilim who can avenge your wrongs — Leave it to Him, our Lord. Though hidden yet from all our eyes, *^ .• • He sees the Gideon who shall rise To save us and His word. * Luther's celebrated hymn : Ein' feste Burg is unser Gott — God is our stronghold firm and sure — was usually sung during this service. The words in the second stanza," 'Tis Jesus Christ,'^ which are the answer to the question, " Askest thou His name," were always accompanied with a salute of artillery. This hymn has been translated by Miss C. Winkworth in Lyra Germanica I..p, 173. f After the battle of Leipzig (Breitenfeld) in 1631, Gustavus- Adolphus indited the ideas and words of this hymn, which his chaplain. Dr. Fabricius, versified. The above translation is from Miss C. Winkworth, and is contained in Lyra Germanica L, p. 17. The fourth strophe, which usually is found in German hymn-books, not being from Gustavus-Adolphus, but from Samuel Zehner, has been omitted. 3-16 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. As true as God's own word is true, Not earth, nor hell, with all their crew Against us, ghall lorevail. A jest and by-word are they grown ; God is with us, we are His own, Our victory cannot fail. A thick fog covered the plain on whicli the battle was to be fought, so that the troops, which were closest, could not see one another. The sino-inor of hymns and psalms was at times drowned by the roar- ing of Wallenstein's cannons, which announced the imminent attack. Then the King mounted his horse and drew up his army in battle array. Clad only in a leathern doublet and surtout, he answered his friends who remonstrated with him on the necessity of pro- tecting himself from wounds, in a day like this : " God is my armor.'' He rode along the ranks to animate the courage of his troops. He first addressed the Swedes: ^' Dear compatriots and friends, the day has come when you must show, what you have learned in your numerous battles. You have before you the enemy, which you have so long sought. He is neither sheltered behind formidable ifetrenchments, nor secured by his position on mountains. He is yonder in the plain, which opens before you. It is not of his own accord, you know it, that he accepts the battle, and not because he believes himself sure of the victory; no, it is because he cannot longer avoid the encounter of our arms. Therefore, be prepared, behave well, as becomes brave soldiers. Fight valiantly for your God, your country, and your king." GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 117 After that, lie passed to the left ■wing of the army, formed of German auxiliaries, and said to them: *' Brothers and loyal companions! I request and ex- hort you as Christians and men of honor, to do your duty to-day as you have done it previously. About a year since, and not far from this place, you defeated Tilly and his army. I hope that the enemy which is before you will not fare better. March on coura- geously; you will fight, not under my command, but with and aside of me. I shall myself take the lead. I am prepared to venture my life and to shed my blood. If you follow me, I trust in God that you will achieve a victory, the fruits of which you and your descendants will reap. If you are defeated, it is all over forever with your religion, your liberty, your welfare." The soldiers answered the words of their chief with shouts of joy and enthusiasm. Gustavus-Adolphus, far from participating in their transports, was more earnest than usual, and appeared almost melancholy. He had made all his arrangements like a man who knows that his last hour is drawino- near. He had designated the Duke Bernard of Weimar to take the command in his stead, if he should perish during the battle. The sadness which was expressed in his counte- nance, showed the foreboding presentiment of his bosom. At about 11 o'clock the fog cleared away, and Llitzen was seen in flames, having been set on fire at the com- mand of the. Duke, to prevent his being Outflanked on that side. When the two armies were within sight, Gustavus-Adolphus bowed his head and ofi"ered his 118 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. last prayer with unusual fervor. Then, raising his eyes towards heaven, and with his clasped hands on the hilt of his sword, he cried: ''Jesus, Jesus, help me fight to-day for the glory of Thy holy name!" He then brandished his sword above his head, and added: "Forward, in the name of the Lord!" The charge was now sounded ; the cavalry rushed upon the enemy, and the infantry advanced against the trenches. "God with us!" was the war-cry of the Swedes. "Jesus Mary!" that of the Imperialists. Received by a tremendous fire of musketry and heavy artillery, the Swedish battalions maintained the attack with undaunted courage, forced the enemy's musketeers to abandon their posts, passed the trenches and carried and turned a battery against their adver- saries. They pressed forward with irresistible impe- tuosity ; the first of the five Imperial brigades was im- mediately routed, the second soon after, and the third put to flight. With the rapidity of lightning Wallen- stein was on the spot, to rally his discomfited troops; and his powerful word was sufficient to stop the flight of the fugitives. Supported by three regiments of cavalry, the vanquished brigades, forming anew, faced the enemy, and pressed vigorously into the broken ranks of the Swedes. A murderous conflict ensued. The nearness of the enemy left no room for fire-arms, the fury of the attack, no time for loading ; man was matched to man, the useless musket exchanged for the sword and pike. Overpowered by numbers, the wea- ried Swedes at last retired beyond the trenches, and the captured battery is lost by the retreat. A thou- Eh GUSTAVUS-AD0LPHU3. 119 sand mangled bodies already strewed the plain, and as yet not a single step of ground had been won. In the mean time, the King's right wing, led by him- self, had fallen upon the enemy's left. The first im- petuous shock of the heavy Finland Cuirassiers dis- persed the lightly mounted Poles and Croats, who were posted here, and their disorderly flight spread terror and confusion among the rest of the cavalry. At this moment notice was brouo;ht to the Kino;, that his infantry were retreating over the trenches, and also that his left wing, exposed to a severe fire, was beginning to give way. With rapid decision he commit- ted to General Horn the pursuit of the enemy's left, while he hastened, at the head of a regiment, to repair the disorder of his left wing. His noble charger bore him, with the velocity of lightning, across the trenches, but the squadrons that followed could not come on with the same speed, and only a few horsemen, among whom was Francis Albert, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, were able to keep up with the King. He rode directly to the place where his infantry were most closely pressed, and while he was reconnoitering the enemy's line for an exposed point of attack, the shortness of his sight unfortunately led him too close to their ranks. An Imperial corporal, remarking that every one re- spectfully made way for him as he rode along, imme- diately ordered a musketeer to take aim at him. "Fire at him yonder," said he; " that must be a man of consequence." The soldier fired, and the King's left arm was shattered. At that moment his squadrons came hurrying up, and a confused cry of "the King 120 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. bleeds! the King is shot!" spread terror and conster- nation through all the ranks. — "It is nothing; follow me," cried the King, collecting his whole force; but overcome bj pain, and nearly fainting, he requested the Duke of Lauenburg, in French, to lead him unob- served out of the tumult, ^^hile the Duke proceeded towards the right wing with the King, making a long circuit to keep this discouraging sight from the de- jected infantry, his majesty received a second shot through the back, which deprived him of his remaining strength. "Brother," said he, in a dying voice, "I have enough ! look only to your own life." At the same moment, he fell from his horse, pierced by several more shots; and, abandoned by all his attendants,* ■^ The young page, Leubelfingen, was tlie only one who remained with the King, and was pierced, at his side, by a stab of a sword, which ran through his body. He, however, survived the battle a few days, and it was he who related, that at 1 o'clock in the after- noon hostile cuirassiers had come, one of whom shot the King through the head, while others pierced him with their swords and robbed him. A huge stone, still known under the name of Si07ie of the Swedes, was rolled on the spot where the King had fallen. — As only a few persons witnessed the last moments of the King, re- ports of different kinds were spread about his death. Common people could not realize that Gustavus-Adolphus should have fal- len like a private soldier ; they thought that the death of an ex- traordinary man ought to have been extraordinary. Tne many former attempts against his life suggested the idea that the hand of an assassin must have interrupted his brilliaiit career. How- ever, the stories related differed widely. It was generally be- lieved that the duke Francis-A(bert of Saxe-Lauenburg, hired by the Emperor or by Wallenstein, and actuated by the desire of tak- ing revenge for an insult received in his youth from Gustavus- Adolphus, murdered him. This rumor has little or no foundation. GUSTAYUS-ADOLPIIUS. 121 lie breathed his last amid a plundering band of Croats. His charger, flying without its rider, and covered with blood, soon made known to the Swedish cavalry the fall of their king. They rushed madly (forward to rescue his corpse from the hands of the enemy; a murderous conflict ensued over the body, till his mangled remains were buried beneath a heap of slain. The mournful tidings soon ran through the Swedish army ; but, instead of destroying the courage of these brave troops, it but stirred up a new, a wild and con- suming flame. Life had lessened in value, now that the most sacred hfe of all was gone; death had no terrors for the lowly, since the anointed head was not spared. With the fury of lions, the Upland, Smaland, Finland, East and West Gothland regiments rushed a second time uj)on the left wing of the enemy, which, already making but feeble resistance to Greneral Horn, was now entirely beaten from the field. Bernard, Duke of S axe- Weimar, gave to the bereaved Swedes a noble leader in his own person ; and the spirit of Gustavus led his victorious squadrons anew. The Im- perialists being vigorously pressed upon every where, their resistance became gradually less. Chance con- spired with Swedish valor to complete the defeat. The Imperial powder-wagons took fire, and, with a tremendous explosion, grenades and bombs filled the air. The enemy, now in confusion, thought they were attacked in the rear, while the Swedish brigades pressed them in front. Their courage began to fail them. Their left wing was already beaten, their right 11 122 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPIIUS. wavering, and their artillery in the hands of the Swedes. The battle seemed to be almost decided, wlien Pappenheim appeared on the field with his cui- rassiers and dragoons, and a new battle was to be fought. The order which recalled the General to Llitzen, had reached him in Ilalle. Without trying to collect his scattered infantry, he ordered eight' regiments of cavalry to mount, and, at their head, he repaired with all speed to Llitzen to share in the battle. His unex- pected appearance revived the drooping courage of the Imperialists. The closely-serried battalions of the Swedes were, after a tremendous conflict, again driven across the trenches. An ardent desire to encounter the King in person, carried Pappenheim into the thickest of the fight, where he thought his noble oppo- nent was most surely to be met. Gustavus had also expressed a wish to meet his brave antagonist, but these hostile wishes remained ungratified; death first brou2;ht to2:ether these two heroes. Two musket-balls pierced the breast of Pappenheim, and his men forcibly carried him from the field. With Pappenheim, the good fortune of the Impe- rialists departed. The cavalry of the left wing, no sooner missed their victorious leader, than they gave up every thing for lost, and abandoned the field of battle in spiritless despair. The right wing fell into the same confusion, with the exception of a few regi- ments which kept the ground. The Swedish infantry, with prompt determination, made a final and decisive charge, and when night and darkness at last put an i GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 123 end to the desperate figlit, it remained in the posses- sion of the battle-fiekl. The Duke of Friedland had retreated to Leipzig, and was followed on the morrow by the scattered re- mains of his army, without artillery, without colors, and almost without arms. Of the two armies, more than nine thousand men lay dead, a still greater number were wounded; and among the Imperialists scarcely a man escaped from the field uninjured. The entire plain of Llitzen was strewed with the wounded, the dying and the dead. Pappenheim died the day after this bloody battle, of his wounds, at Leipzig, and Wallenstein soon* after abandoned all Saxony to the victors, who possessed themselves of all the strongholds, occupied by the Austrians. It was a dear conquest, a sad triumph ! It was not until the fury of the contest was over, that the full weight of the loss sustained was felt, and the shout of triumph died away into a silent, gloomy despair. He who had led them to the charge, returned not with them ; there he lies upon the field which he had won, mingled with the dead bodies of the common crowd. After a long and almost fruitless search, the corpse of the King was found, stripped by the rude hand of plunderers, of its ornaments and clothes, beneath a * Wallenstein, first forced by liis defeat to inactivity, later beat the Swedes at Steinau, thanks to the incapacity of the Count of Thurn, who commanded them, and to their small number. After- wards, he conspired against the Emperor, who had him assassi- nated February 25th, 1G34. A melancholy death, but worthy of this illustrious adventurer. 124 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. - heap of dead. Covered with blood and wounds, trampled beneath the horses' hoofs, it was so disfigured, that it could scarcely be recognized. It was first re- moved to the village of Meuchen, deposited there in a plain cofiin, made by the schoolmaster, who was a joiner by trade, and laid out before the altar. A funeral service, in which the schoolmaster performed the office of a minister, and a Swedish commander de- livered an oration, was celebrated in the church of the place. The next day, the mortal remains of the hero were conveyed to Weissenfels, where a druggist, named Kasparius, who was charged with embalming them, found that the King had received nine wounds. — Here his remains were delivered up to the lamentations of his soldiers, and the last embraces of the Queen. The first tribute had been paid to revenge, and blood had atoned for the blood of the monarch; but now afi'ec- tion assumes its rights, and tears of grief must flow for the man. The universal sorrow absorbs all indi- vidual woes. The generals, still stupefied by the un- expected blow, stood speechless and motionless around his bier, and no one trusted himself sufficiently to con- template the full extent of their loss. The following summer, the body was sent from Saxony to the Baltic shore. The most poignant re- grets were manifested in all places through which the procession passed. Protestant Germany felt that no- thing could compensate for the irretrievable loss of her liberator. From Wolgast, in Pomerania, the body was taken to Sweden, accompanied by the inconsolable Queen, Maria-Eleanor, and a deputation of the Senate. GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 125 After a prosperous passage, the fleet arrived, August 8tli, at Njkjoeping. When it approached the Swedish shore, the heavens became overcast with dark clouds, which soon resolved themselves into a heavy rain, as thouo;h Sweden intended to receive the remains of the greatest and the most beloved of her sons in tears. In compliance with the desire of the Queen, who was not willing to s;eparate herself from the mortal re- mains of her consort, and desired to keep them to the moment, when she could rest with them in the same tomb, the solemn funeral, which was to take place at Stockholm, was postponed to June 21st, 1634. It was then celebrated with the utmost pomp, and in the midst of universal affliction. The coffin was entombed in the church of Ridderholm, which Gustavus-Adolphus had himself chosen for his burial-place. A magnifi- cent mausoleum, which still subsists, had been erected for him. On seven sides of this monument short sen- tences, relating to his achievements, and qualities, are engraved. Beneath the cross which surmounts it, a pelican, feeding its young with his own blood, has been represented. A striking emblem, which very ade- quately expresses the most characteristic feature of the Swedish hero, and sums up his whole life, which was but a long and bloody self-devotion. At the death of Gustavus-Adolphus, we may indeed, with good reason, say: "There is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel," 2 Sam. iii. 38. Gustavus-Adolphus died in the 38th year of his life. What would he have done, if God had permitted him to live longer ? — Did he aspire, as has been main- 11* 126 GUSTAYUS-ADOLPHUS. tained, after tlie Imperial crown, and has death, hy destroying his ambitious projects, hindered him from tarnishing his glory? — We cannot answer these ques- tions. His life was exempt from all self-interest, and, to his last hour, he remained faithful to his holy mis- sion. He fought for the gospel and for liberty. God caused the seed, which he had sown and moistened with his blood, to spring up and ripen. — Truth is im- mortal, and even its enemies are often, against their will and unwittingly, the tools chosen by Providence to favor its unavoidable triumph. "Who would have believed, when the hero of the !N"orth, the most re- doubtable defender of Reformation, fell, that not the achievements of his gallant successors, but the policy of two Cardinals would give to Germany that religious liberty, which she had pursued during thirty years, and would thus secure the future of Protestantism in Europe?"^ When Gustavus-Adolphus was conjured to spare his life, he used to answer : ''Almighty God lives." The unexpected issue of this long and bloody war, the manner in which the work of the great King of Sweden was accomplished, has justified this pious expression, * After Gustavus-Adolphus, the war, save a few reverses, was continued to the honor of Sweden. His genius was wanting to take advantage of all the victories, and to give unity to all these campaigns. But France, always jealous of Austria's power, in- terfered through the Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin ; and when the Swedish General Wrangel had defeated, with the help of Turenne, the Imperialists, at Sommerhausen, near that same brook Lech, where sixteen years before, Gustavus-Adolphus had also conquered them, Austria yielded, and the peace of Westpha- lia was signed (1G48). GUSTAVCS-ADOLPHUS. 127 whicli moreover is confirmed by many otlier facts of history, where the irresistible and consoling poAver of the Lord of the universe, continually manifests itself by disappointing the previsions of man, and baffling his combinations. The death of few men has made so deep an impres- sion on the world as that of our hero. As far as his name was known, it was a ray of hope to the oppressed. Even the Greek, when he heard it, dreamed of liberty ; and at the holy sepulchre, prayers were offered for the success of his arms. We are therefore not surprised to see those of his cotempora- ries, who were personally acquainted with him, or who, thanks to his exertions, enjoyed the invaluable privi- lege of religious liberty, bewail his loss as that of a father, because they considered their most cherished hopes buried with him. So great was the power and the lustre of his virtues, that the Pope recognized them by saying: "He is the greatest King in the world;" and that Wallenstein, his inveterate enemy, when in- formed of his death, could not forbear paying homage to them in these words: "It is well for him and me that he is gone. The German Empire does not require two such leaders." In his person were blended the most solemn and brilliant qualities. We have seen his deep faith, his firm piety, his inflexible justice and his unalterable kindness, his courage, his touching tenderness to his family : all the virtues of the man and hero, united to a military genius which could be equalled, but not sur- passed. 128 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. He completely transformed the science of war. He relied less on the impetus of masses of soldiers, on walls or scientifical fortifications, than on moral force. Yv^hat was still more beautiful than his tactics, was the discipline which he introduced into his armj, and his martial law, in which severity rests upon the love of justice and the fear of God. ^^One can," he used to say, ''be a bold combatant, but not a good soldier, w^ithout being a good Christian." But Gustavus-Adolphus was not only a great cap- tain and an excellent Christian, he was also an admin- istrator c L the highest order, and proved that he was not less able to govern a country than to be the leader of an army. In the very midst of his camps his mind w^as not -exclusively engrossed with the execution of his strategic plans, but found also time to devote to the internal improvements which his kingdom required. He made a penal code, appointed new courts and re- gulated the jurisprudence. He promoted commerce by wise decrees, and rendered it prosperous by favor- ing a great number of industrial associations, and by inducing skillful workmen from foreign countries to set- tle in his States. Sweden is indebted to him for her first manufactories of arms and paper, her breweries, tanneries, etc. He regulated the administration of the provinces, encouraged, in particular, .instruction in the difi'erent classes of Swedish society, and contributed much to the enlightenment of the nation by the organization of high schools. He secured to the Professors suitable salaries, and, in exchange, asked of them guaranties of learning and morality. He purified the Universities, GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS. 129 "Wjiere, according to 'his own expression, there were "instructors who neither respected themselves, nor performed their mission." He assisted poor, but in- telligent and industrious students, and enabled them to complete their education. He founded the Univer- sity of Dorpat, and made that of Upsal a donation of the private property of his family. Finally, he intended giving to Sweden a Canstitu- tion destined to inau^nrate a more liberal o;overnment, when he was snatched away from the affection of his subjects. Without a few imperfections, which are the common lot of frail humanity, and which, with him,^were mostly the result of good qualities carried to excess, he could have been considered higher than human nature, but death, according to his own previsions, put him on a level with other men, and most memorably exemplified our frailty. We understand the feelings which caused the people of Augsburg to be moved to tears, when, thanks to Gustavus-Adolphus, they enjoyed again the privilege of attending evangelical worship, of which they had been so long deprived, and the sentiments which prompted the grateful inhabitants of Saxony to stretch out their hands towards their deliverer, on bended knees, — but these feelings, however respectable, have become foreign to our age. We see in him the Chris- tian hero, whom Providence has raised to contend with carnal weapons for the pure doctrine of the gos- pel, and to secure religious liberty to his oppressed brethren. Endowed by God with the qualities and 130 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPHUS, talents necessary to accomplish his great mission, he has nobly performed his part in that great drama. In 1630, when first he appeared on the scene as the de- fender of the Reformation, the free exercise of the Protestant religion was gravely endangered, and nearly all seemed irretrievably lost. Had Gustavus- Adolphus not entered the lists, Austria would probably have succeeded in annihilating by the force of arms the work, on the success of which Luther and his noble fellow-laborers had bestowed for many years their un- wearied exertions, and the world, for some time, would have been deprived of the benefits of Reformation. Protestants must gratefully acknowledge that, next to God, their ancestors are indebted to the efi'orts of Gustavus-Adolphus for the enjoyment of equal rights with Catholics, which were conceded to them in 1648, by the treaty of peace of "Westphalia. Thirty years of bloody warfare were required to have religious tolera- tion and liberty inscribed in the public law of Ger- many. In the 19th century, a grateful posterity celebrated the second anniversary of the demise of this Christian hero, whom Protestant Germany appreciates and re- spects no less than Sweden, his native country. It was then resolved to raise, in honor of his memory, not a monumelit of brass or marble, but to lay the foun- dation of an Institution, the only aim of which should be, to foster and spread Evangelical Protestantism. This institution, known as the Gustavus-Adolphus Society, has nobly answered this purpose and is a monu- ment worthy of the great man whose name it bears. t > .->>^, ^^ .c;^-^ V N^^- - . . = . ^ -^ H .^ X ' ^'.^:5!<^ %. ^ ^. ,0 '^^ <^' V' .\N X^^x. ^^^ V AX^ -n^ L^' ■> *■ 0' '^A v^' ^C^ '^c*^ .^0-' ^<>. xv ^* , •^o 1^ ■' '■ "b o"< v^-^ ■^=': \ ^ it'" w - t. ^ ■^oo^ ~^--. O^, s'''' '>v '^o %>,^' :^/ aV .y>.