Chapter XXVI: Section I: Fresh Successes of Wallenstein

[Sidenote: 1626.

§ 1. Confiscations in the north.]

Differences had already arisen between Wallenstein and the League. It was understood that the defeat of the northern rebels would lead to confiscations in the north, as the defeat of Frederick had led to confiscations in the south. To part at least of the land of one of the defeated princes the Elector of Mentz laid claim. Wallenstein wished to have it all for George of Lüneburg, who, Lutheran as he was, had held high command in the imperial army.

[Sidenote: §2. Wallenstein advocates religious equality.]

The quarrel was more than a mere personal dispute. The League wished to pursue the old policy of pushing forward the interests of the Catholic clergy under cover of legality. Wallenstein wished Catholic and Protestant, already united in his army, to be equally united in the Empire. Rebellion would then be the only punishable crime; loyalty, and especially the loyalty of his own officers, the only virtue to be rewarded.

[Sidenote: § 3. Comes into collision with the League.]

Another question between the two powers reached almost as deeply. The League demanded that Wallenstein should support his army upon supplies taken from the Protestants alone. Wallenstein asserted his right, as the Emperor's general, to quarter his men where he would, and to levy contributions for their maintenance even on the territories of the League.

[Sidenote: § 4. Wallenstein could not found unity.]

For the first time for many a long year, a friendly voice had been heard urging the Emperor in the only wise direction. Ferdinand, turning aside from the promotion of a sectional policy, was, if he would listen to Wallenstein, to place the unity of the Empire above the interests of the princes, by resting it on the basis of religious equality. Unhappily that advice was tendered to him by a man who could not offer him security for the realization of so wise a policy. To stand above parties it is necessary to obtain the confidence of a nation, and how could men have confidence in Wallenstein? Durable institutions may be guarded by the sword. They cannot be founded by the sword. All that was known of Wallenstein in Germany was that he was master of an army more numerous and more oppressive than that of Tilly. German unity, coming in the shape of boundless contributions and extortions, and enforced by the example of starving peasants and burning villages, was not likely to prove very attractive.

[Sidenote: § 5. Wallenstein's conference with Eggenberg.]

It is strange that the better part of Wallenstein's programme did not repel Ferdinand at once. But Ferdinand never made up his mind in a hurry when there were difficulties on both sides, and he was accustomed to defer to the opinion of his chief minister, Eggenberg. In November Wallenstein held a conference with that minister. He unfolded all his scheme. He would increase his army, if it were necessary, to 70,000 men. With such a force he would be able to avoid a pitched battle, always dangerous to troops not thoroughly inured to campaigning. By the occupation of superior strategical points, he would be able to out-manoeuvre the enemy. And then Ferdinand would be master in Germany. The whole of the Empire would be brought under contribution. There would be submission at home, and abroad no power would be strong enough to lay a finger upon the re-established Empire.

[Sidenote: 1627.

§ 6. Ferdinand supports Wallenstein.]

Eggenberg was easily persuaded, and when Eggenberg was won, Ferdinand was won. In January, Wallenstein was created Duke of Friedland, a higher title than that of Prince of Friedland, which he already bore, in token of the Emperor's approbation. If only Wallenstein could have shown Ferdinand the way to win the hearts of Germans as readily as he showed him the way to overpower their resistance, the history of Germany and of Europe would have been changed.

[Sidenote: § 7. Preponderance of Wallenstein.]

The resistance of the Protestants to the institutions of the Empire had hitherto failed. They had been weak because there had been something revolutionary in all their proceedings. And now those institutions, which up to this time had been working harmoniously, were giving signs of breaking-up. There was a little rift in them which might any day become wider. "Is the Emperor," asked Wallenstein, "to be a mere image which is never to move?" "It is not only the Empire," answered the representatives of the League, "which is bound to the Emperor. The Emperor is also bound to the Empire." There was nothing to reconcile the opposing theories. The Emperor who claimed to be something had been the tool of a few bishops; he would be, if Wallenstein had his way, the tool of a successful general. The Empire, in the mouth of the representatives of the League, meant not the populations of Germany, not even the true interest of the princes, but simply the interest of the bishops and their Church.

[Sidenote: § 8. The campaign of 1627.]

The time had not yet come for an open quarrel. The enemy, though weakened, was still powerful. Charles I., by dint of a forced loan, which every Englishman except himself and his courtiers declared to be in violation of all constitutional precedents, contrived to get some money into his exchequer, and Sir Charles Morgan was sent over to the King of Denmark's aid with an army nominally of 6,000 men, but which in reality never reached two-thirds of that number. Thurn, the old hero of the revolution at Prague, and the Margrave of Baden-Durlach, brought their experience, such as it was, to Christian's aid, and a younger brother of John Ernest's, soon to be known to fame as Bernhard of Weimar, was also to be found fighting under his banners. Strong towns--Wolfenbüttel, Nordheim, and Nienburg--still held out on his side, and peasants and citizens were eager to free the land from the oppressions of the soldiery and the yoke of the priests.

[Sidenote: § 9. Submission of Bethlen Gabor.]

Once more the Protestants of the north looked anxiously to the east. But Bethlen Gabor did not stir. Without Turkish help he could do nothing, and the Turks, involved in a war with Persia, resolved to negotiate a peace with the Emperor. When peace was agreed upon in September Bethlen Gabor was powerless.

[Sidenote: § 10. Wallenstein in Silesia.]

Wallenstein's hands were freed as soon as these negotiations were opened. John Ernest of Weimar had died the year before, but his lieutenants were still in possession of Silesia. In May, Wallenstein sent Duke George of Lüneburg to cut off their retreat. In July, he was in Silesia himself. His men were three to one of the enemy. Place after place surrendered. Only once did he meet with an attempt at resistance in the open field. Before the end of August the whole of Silesia was in his hands. Fifty-five standards were sent in triumph to Vienna. The Silesian towns were set to ransom, and the money of the citizens went to swell the military chest of the Emperor's general.

[Sidenote: § 11. Combat of Heiligenhafen.]

When Silesia was lost Christian sought to avert destruction by offering terms of peace. But the two generals would accept nothing less than the surrender of Holstein, and to that Christian refused to accede. Wallenstein and Tilly joined their forces to drive him northwards before them. By this movement the Margrave of Baden was cut off from the rest of the Danish army. Making his way to the coast near Wismar, he had long to wait before transports arrived to carry him across the sea to join the King of Denmark. Scarcely had he landed at Heiligenhafen when a large body of imperialist troops arrived, and at once commenced the attack. He himself and a few of his principal officers escaped on ship-board. His men, seeing themselves deserted, took service under Wallenstein, and seven of the best regiments in the Danish army were lost to Christian.

[Sidenote: § 12. Conquest of Schleswig and Jutland.]

Tilly found occupation for his men in the siege of the strong places in Lower Saxony. Wallenstein undertook to follow up the King of Denmark. Before the end of the year all Schleswig and Jutland, with the exception of two or three fortified towns, were in Wallenstein's hands.

[Sidenote: § 13. Wallenstein's schemes.]

A few sieges, and all, it seemed, would be over. Wallenstein had begun to cherish the wildest plans. When resistance had been put down in Germany, he would place himself at the head of 100,000 men and drive the Turks out of Constantinople. Such dreams, however, were to remain dreams. If Denmark had been beaten down, Tilly was still there, and Tilly represented forces with which the new military Empire was certain sooner or later to be brought into collision.