Their leader, addressing Slavata, Martinetz, and Diepold, the burgrave, said, “Our business is with you.  We wish to know if you are responsible for the answer returned to us by the king.”

“That,” one of them replied, “is a secret of state which we are not bound to reveal.”

“Let us follow,” exclaimed the Protestant chief, “the ancient custom of Bohemia, and hurl them from the window.”

They were in a room in the tower of the castle, and it was eighty feet to the water of the moat.  The Catholic lords were instantly seized, dragged to the window and thrust out.  Almost incredible as it may seem, the water and the mud of the moat so broke their fall, that neither of them was killed.  They all recovered from the effects of their fall.  Having performed this deed, Count Thurn and his companions returned to the delegates, informed them of what they had done, and urged them that the only hope of safety now, for any Protestant, was for all to unite in open and desperate resistance.  Then mounting his horse, and protected by a strong body-guard, he rode through the streets of Prague, stopping at every corner to harangue the Protestant populace.  The city was thronged on the occasion by Protestants from all parts of the kingdom.

“I do not,” he exclaimed, “propose myself as your chief, but as your companion, in that peril which will lead us to happy freedom or to glorious death.  The die is thrown.  It is too late to recall what is past.  Your safety depends alone on unanimity and courage, and if you hesitate to burst asunder your chains, you have no alternative but to perish by the hands of the executioner.”

He was everywhere greeted with shouts of enthusiasm, and the whole Protestant population were united as one man in the cause.  Even many of the moderate Catholics, disgusted with the despotism of the newly elected king, which embraced civil as well as religious affairs, joined the Protestants, for they feared the loss of their civil rights more than they dreaded the inroads of heresy.

With amazing celerity they now organized to repel the force which they knew that the emperor would immediately send to crush them.  Within three days their plans were all matured and an organization effected which made the king tremble in his palace.  Count Thurn was appointed their commander, an executive committee of thirty very efficient men was chosen, which committee immediately issued orders for the levy of troops all over the kingdom.  Envoys were sent to Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia, and Hungary, and to the Protestants all over the German empire.  The Archbishop of Prague was expelled from the city, and the Jesuits were also banished.  They then issued a proclamation in defense of their conduct, which they sent to the king with a firm but respectful letter.