This was a very broad hint to the emperor, and it surprisingly enlightened him.  He began to bow and to apologize, and to asserverate upon his word of honor that he meant to do what was right, and from denunciations, he passed by a single step to cajolery and fawning.  It was, however, only his intention to gain time till he could secure the cooeperation of the pope, and other Catholic princes.  The Protestants, however, were not to be thus deluded.  As unmindful of his protestations as they had been of his menaces, they proceeded resolutely in establishing an energetic organization for the defense of their civil and religious rights.  They decreed the levying of an army, and appointed three of the most distinguished nobles as generals.  The decree was hardly passed before it was carried into execution, and an army of three thousand foot soldiers, and two thousand horsemen was assembled as by magic, and their numbers were daily increasing.

Rhodolph, still cloistered in his palace, looked with amazement upon this rising storm.  He had no longer energy for any decisive action.  With mulish obstinacy he would concede nothing, neither had he force of character to marshal any decisive resistance.  But at last he saw that the hand of Matthias was also in the movement; that his ambitious, unrelenting brother was cooperating with his foes, and would inevitably hurl him from the throne of Bohemia, as he had already done from the kingdom of Hungary and from the dukedom of Austria.  He was panic-stricken by this sudden revelation, and in the utmost haste issued a decree, dated July 5th, 1609, granting to the Protestants full toleration of religious worship, and every other right they had demanded.  The despotic old king became all of a sudden as docile and pliant as a child.  He assured his faithful and well-beloved Protestant subjects that they might worship God in their own chapels without any molestation; that they might build churches that they might establish schools for their children; that their clergy might meet in ecclesiastical councils; that they might choose chiefs, who should be confirmed by the sovereign, to watch over their religious privileges and to guard against any infringement of this edict; and finally, all ordinances contrary to this act of free and full toleration, which might hereafter be issued, either by the present sovereign or any of his successors, were declared null and void.

The Protestants behaved nobly in this hour of bloodless triumph.  Their demands were reasonable and honorable, and they sought no infringement whatever of the rights of others.  Their brethren of Silesia had aided them in this great achievement.  The duchy of Silesia was then dependent upon Bohemia, and was just north of Moldavia.  It contained a population of about a million and a half, scattered over a territory of about fifteen thousand square miles.  The Protestants demanded that the Silesians should share in the decree.  “Most certainly,” replied the amiable Rhodolph.  An act of general amnesty for all political offenses was then passed, and peace was restored to Germany.