“Had Mathias lived matters would probably have arranged themselves, but he died the following spring, and was succeeded by Ferdinand II.  Ferdinand is one of the most bigoted Catholics living, and is at the same time a bold and resolute man; and he had taken a solemn vow at the shrine of Loretto that, if ever he came to the throne, he would re-establish Catholicism throughout his dominions.  Both parties prepared for the strife; the Bohemians renounced their allegiance to him and nominated the Elector Palatine Frederick V, the husband of our Scotch princess, their king.

“The first blow was struck at Zablati.  There a Union army, led by Mansfeldt, was defeated by the Imperial general Bucquoi.  A few days later, however, Count Thurn, marching through Moravia and Upper Austria, laid siege to Vienna.  Ferdinand’s own subjects were estranged from him, and the cry of the Protestant army, `Equal rights for all Christian churches,’ was approved by the whole population —­ for even in Austria itself there were a very large number of Protestants.  Ferdinand had but a few soldiers, the population of the city were hostile, and had Thurn only entered the town he could have seized the emperor without any resistance.

“Thurn hesitated, and endeavoured instead to obtain the conditions of toleration which the Protestants required; and sixteen Austrian barons in the city were in the act of insisting upon Ferdinand signing these when the head of the relieving army entered the city.  Thurn retired hastily.  The Catholic princes and representatives met at Frankfort and elected Ferdinand Emperor of Germany.  He at once entered into a strict agreement with Maximilian of Bavaria to crush Protestantism throughout Germany.  The Bohemians, however, in concert with Bethlem Gabor, king of Hungary, again besieged Vienna; but as the winter set in they were obliged to retire.  From that moment the Protestant cause was lost; Saxony and Hesse-Darmstadt left the Union and joined Ferdinand.  Denmark, which had promised its assistance to the Protestants, was persuaded to remain quiet.  Sweden was engaged in a war with the Poles.

“The Protestant army was assembled at Ulm; the army of the League, under the order of Maximilian of Bavaria, was at Donauworth.  Maximilian worked upon the fears of the Protestant princes, who, frightened at the contest they had undertaken, agreed to a peace, by which they bound themselves to offer no aid to Frederick V.

“The Imperial forces then marched to Bohemia and attacked Frederick’s army outside Prague, and in less than an hour completely defeated it.  Frederick escaped with his family to Holland.  Ferdinand then took steps to carry out his oath.  The religious freedom granted by Mathias was abolished.  In Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Austria proper.  Many of the promoters of the rebellion were punished in life and property.  The year following all members of the Calvinistic sect were forced to leave their country, a few months afterwards the Lutherans were also expelled, and in 1627 the exercise of all religious forms except those of the Catholic Church was forbidden; 200 of the noble, and 30,000 of the wealthier and industrial classes, were driven into exile; and lands and property to the amount of 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 pounds were confiscated.