But there is another side to the picture.  The spirit of rebellion against his authority had spread through nearly all his territories, and he had neither State nor kingdom where his power seemed stable.  In whatever direction he turned his eyes, he saw either the gleam of hostile arms or the people in a tumult just ready to combine against him.

The Protestants of Bohemia had much to encourage them.  All the kingdom, excepting one fortress, was in their possession.  All the Protestants of the German empire had espoused their cause.  The Silesians, Lusatians and Moravians were in open revolt.  The Hungarian Protestants, animated by the success of the Bohemians, were eager to follow their example and throw off the yoke of Ferdinand.  With iron tyranny he had silenced every Protestant voice in the Styrian provinces, and had crushed every semblance of religious liberty.  But the successful example of the Bohemians had roused the Styrians, and they also were on the eve of making a bold move in defense of their rights.  Even in Austria itself, and beneath the very shadow of the palaces of Vienna, conspiracies were rife, and insurrection was only checked by the presence of the army which had been driven out of Bohemia.

Even Ferdinand could not be blind to the difficulties which were accumulating upon him, and to the precarious tenure of his power.  He saw the necessity of persevering in the attempt at conciliation which he had so reluctantly commenced.  And yet, with strange infatuation, he proposed an accommodation in a manner which was deemed insulting, and which tended only to exasperate.  The very day of his accession to the throne, he sent a commission to Prague, to propose a truce; but, instead of conferring with the Protestant leaders, he seemed to treat them with intentional contempt, by addressing his proposal to that very council of regency which had become so obnoxious.  The Protestants, justly regarding this as an indication of the implacable state of his mind, and conscious that the proposed truce would only enable him more effectually to rally his forces, made no reply whatever to his proposals.  Ferdinand, perceiving that he had made a great mistake, and that he had not rightly appreciated the spirit of his foes, humbled himself a little more, and made still another attempt at conciliation.  But the Protestants had now resolved that Ferdinand should never be King of Bohemia.  It had become an established tenet of the Catholic church that it is not necessary to keep faith with heretics.  Whatever solemn promises Ferdinand might make, the pope would absolve him from all sin in violating them.