Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

BOOK strengthening his works, that the confederates, returning VIII. to the cannonade next day, found, that though they had

1546.

The Flem

now been willing to venture upon such a bold experiment, the opportunity of making an attack with advantage was lost.

After such a discovery of the feebleness or irresolution ish troops of their leaders, and the prudence, as well as firmness, of join the emperor. the emperor's conduct, the confederates turned their whole

Sept. 10.

State of both

armies.

attention towards preventing the arrival of a powerful reinforcement of ten thousand foot and four thousand horse, which the count de Buren was bringing to the emperor from the Low Countries. But, though that general had to traverse such an extent of country, though his route lay through the territories of several states warmly disposed to favour the confederates, though they were apprised of his approach, and, by their superiority in numbers, might easily have detached a force sufficient to overpower him, he advanced with such rapidity, and by such well-concerted movements, while they opposed him with such remissness, and so little military skill, that he conducted this body to the imperial camp without any loss.

Upon the arrival of the Flemings, in whom he placed great confidence, the emperor altered in some degree his plan of operations, and began to act more upon the offensive, though he still avoided a battle with the utmost industry. He made himself master of Neuburg, Dillingen, and Donawert on the Danube; of Nordlingen, and several other towns, situated on the most considerable streams which fall into that mighty river. By this he got the command of a great extent of country, though not without being obliged to engage in several sharp encounters, of which the success was various, nor without being exposed, oftener than once, to the danger of being drawn into a battle. In this manner the whole autumn was spent ; neither party gained any remarkable superiority over the

e Sleid. 395, 397. Avila, 27, a. Lamb. Hortens. ap. Scard. ii. Sleid. 103.

other, and nothing was yet done towards bringing the war to a period. The emperor had often foretold, with confidence, that discord and the want of money would compel the confederates to disperse that unwieldy body, which they had neither abilities to guide, nor funds to support. Though he waited with impatience for the accomplishment of his prediction, there was no prospect of that event being at hand. But he himself began to suffer from the want of forage and provisions; even the Catholic provinces being so much incensed at the introduction of foreigners into the empire, that they furnished them with reluctance; while the camp of the confederates abounded with a profusion of all necessaries, which the zeal of their friends in the adjacent countries poured in with the utmost liberality and good-will. Great numbers of the Italians and Spaniards, unaccustomed to the climate or food of Germany, were become unfit for service through sickness". Considerable arrears were now due to the troops, who had scarcely received any money from the beginning of the campaign; the emperor, experiencing on this as well as on former occasions that his jurisdiction was more extensive than his revenues, and that the former enabled him to assemble a greater number of soldiers than the latter were sufficient to support. Upon all these accounts, he found it difficult to keep his army in the field; some of his ablest generals, and even the duke of Alva himself, persevering and obstinate as he usually was in the prosecution of every measure, advising him to disperse his troops into winter-quarters. But as the arguments urged against any plan which he had adopted, rarely made much impression upon the emperor, he paid no regard to their opinion, and determined to continue his efforts in order to weary out the confederates; being well assured that if he could once oblige them to separate, there was little probability of their uniting again in a body. Still, however, it remained a

Belli Smalkaldici Commentarius, Græco sermone scriptus a Joach. Camerario, ap. Freherum, vol. iii, p. 479. * Thuan. 83.

Camerar. ap. Freher. 483.

[blocks in formation]

BOCK

VIIL

1540.

VIII.

1546.

BOOK doubtful point, whether his steadiness was most likely to fail, or their zeal to be exhausted. It was still uncertain which party, by first dividing its forces, would give the superiority to the other; when an unexpected event decided the contest, and occasioned a fatal reverse in the affairs of the confederates.

Schemes of

δλυπ).

Maurice of Saxony having insinuated himself into the Maurice of emperor's confidence by the arts which have already been described, no sooner saw hostilities ready to break out between the confederates of Smalkalde and that monarch, than vast prospects of ambition began to open upon him. That portion of Saxony which descended to him from his ancestors was far from satisfying his aspiring mind; and he perceived with pleasure the approach of civil war; as, amidst the revolutions and convulsions occasioned by it, opportunities of acquiring additional power or dignity, which, at other times, are sought in vain, present themselves to an enterprising spirit. As he was thoroughly acquainted with the state of the two contending parties, and the qualities of their leaders, he did not hesitate long in determining on which side the greatest advantages were to be expected. Having resolved all these things in his own breast, and having taken his final resolution of joining the emperor, he prudently determined to declare early in his favour; that, by the merit of this, he might acquire a title to a proportional recompence. With this view, he had repaired to Ratisbon in the month of May, under pretext of attending the diet; and, after many conferences with Charles or his ministers, he, with the most mysteriHis lagre ous secrecy, concluded a treaty, in which he engaged to

with the emperor.

concur in assisting the emperor, as a faithful subject; and Charles, in return, stipulated to bestow on him all the spoils of the elector of Saxony, his dignities as well as territories. History hardly records any treaty that can be considered as a more manifest violation of the most powerful principles which ought to influence human actions. Maurice, a professed Protestant, at a time when the belief

Harai Annal. Brabant. vol. i, 688. Struvii Corp. 1048. Thuan. 84

cent.

of religion, as well as zeal for its interests, took strong possession of every mind, binds himself to contribute his assistance towards carrying on a war which had manifestly no other object than the extirpation of the Protestant doctrines. He engages to take arms againt his father-in-law, and to strip his nearest relation of his honours and dominions. He joins a dubious friend against a known benefactor, to whom his obligations were both great and reNor was the prince who ventured upon all this, one of those audacious politicians, who, provided they can accomplish their ends, and secure their interest, avowedly disregard the most sacred obligations, and glory in contemning whatever is honourable or decent. Maurice's conduct, if the whole must be ascribed to policy, was more artful and masterly; he executed his plan in all its parts, and yet endeavoured to preserve, in every step which he took, the appearance of what was fair, and virtuous, and laudable. It is probable, from his subsequent behaviour, that, with regard to the Protestant religion at least, his intentions were upright, that he fondly trusted to the emperor's promises for its security, but that, according to the fate of all who refine too much in policy, and who tread in dark and crooked paths, in attempting to deceive others, he himself was in some degree deceived.

BOOK

VIII.

1546.

fices in or

His first care, however, was to keep the engagements His arti into which he had entered with the emperor closely con-, der to con. cealed and so perfect a master was he in the art of dis- ceal his insimulation, that the confederates, notwithstanding his declining all connections with them, and his remarkable assiduity in paying court to the emperor, seemed to have entertained no suspicion of his designs. Even the elector of Saxony, when he marched, at the beginning of the campaign, to join his associates, committed his dominions to Maurice's protection, which he, with an insidious appearance of friendship, readily undertook'. But scarcely had the elector taken the field, when Maurice began to consult privately with the king of the Romans how to invade those

Struvii Corp. 1016.

BOOK
VIII.

1540.

very territories, with the defence of which he was entrusted. Soon after, the emperor sent him a copy of the imperial ban denounced against the elector and land-. grave. As he was next heir to the former, and particularly interested in preventing strangers from getting his dominions into their possession, Charles required him, not only for his own sake, but upon the allegiance and duty which he owed to the head of the empire, instantly to seize, and detain in his hands, the forfeited estates of the elector; warning him, at the same time, that if he neglected to obey these commands, he should be held as accessary to the crimes of his kinsman, and be liable to the same punishment m.

This artifice, which, it is probable, Maurice himself suggested, was employed by him in order that his conduct towards the elector might seem a matter of necessity, but not of choice, an act of obedience to his superior, rather than a voluntary invasion of the rights of his kinsman and ally. But, in order to give some more specious appearance to this thin veil with which he endeavoured to cover his ambition, he, soon after his return from Ratisbon, had called together the states of his country; and representing to them that a civil war between the emperor and confederates of Smalkalde was now become unavoidable, desired their advice with regard to the part which he should act in that event. They having been prepared, no doubt, and tutored beforehand, and being desirous of gratifying their prince, whom they esteemed, as well as loved, gave such counsel as they knew would be most agreeable; advising him to offer his mediation towards reconciling the contending parties; but, if that were rejected, and he could obtain proper security for the protestant religion, they delivered it as their opinion, that, in all other points, he ought to yield obedience to the emperor. Upon receiving the imperial rescript, together with the ban against the elector and landgrave, Maurice summoned the states of his country a second time; he laid before them the orders

Sleid. 391. Thuan. 84.

« ForrigeFortsett »