and conscience, his mother, with the prudence of years, warned him against the rash and hazardous enterprise, for which neither his character nor his resources fitted him. More significant still was the opposition of Maurice of Hesse-Cassel. No bitterer enemy of the House of Austria could be found in the Empire. He would, have been glad to join in a general crusade against Ferdinand. But that Frederick, who had a few days before raised no open objection to the vote which had been tendered at Frankfort by his rival as King of Bohemia, should now seek to seat himself upon his throne, appeared to him to be subversive of all political morality.' And if it was intolerable to Maurice that the great conflict against Rome should dwindle down into a struggle for the aggrandisement of the Elector Palatine, with what eyes would the Duke of Bavaria and the Elector of Saxony be likely to regard the spectacle? Protestant as he was, John George would find it hard to look calmly on, whilst Frederick, once his equal, was lording it over the broad lands which, with scarcely an interruption, stretched away from the banks of the Moselle to the western slopes of the Carpathians.

Objections

to his

Maurice, in truth, had hit upon the decisive point of the question. It is hard for us, amidst the changed circumstances September. of European politics, to estimate at its full worth the doctrine which at the commencement of the sevenacceptance. teenth century inculcated the divine right of territorial governments. We are apt to forget that in this imperfect belief a protection was found for the time against the anarchy which threatened to take the place of the Imperial institutions in Germany. If every prince was to be at liberty to take advantage of the rebellion of his neighbour's subjects to enlarge his own dominions, men would soon welcome Ferdinand and the Jesuits to rescue them at any price from the turmoil and confusion which was certain to ensue. If Frederick had wished to help the Bohemians to maintain their independence, he might have assisted them materially by keeping in check the

Menzel, Neuere Geschichte der Deutschen, vi. 339. Haüsser, Geschichte der Rheinischen Pfalz, ii. 306. Ranke, Zur Deutschen Geschichte,

1019

THE NEW KING OF BOHEMIA.

311

forces of the Duke of Bavaria, and by thus obtaining for them a breathing-space in which to reorganise their army. But, encircled as he was by jealous rivals and lukewarm friends, his acceptance of the crown was the greatest injury that he could do to their cause.

Frederick knew not what to think. mind found it impossible to weigh the

He accepts

His weak and helpless value of the prudential considerations which were set before him; and, in the crown. his despair of coming to a conclusion, he clutched at the idea that by accepting the invitation of the Bohemians he was following a Divine vocation. "I beg you to believe," he wrote to the Duke of Bouillon, the friend and guardian of his youth, "that this resolution does not proceed from any ambitious desire to aggrandise my House; but that my only end is to serve God and His Church. I can say with truth that, as you know, I have not been eager for this, but that I have rather sought to be content with the States which God has given me; and that I have tried to hinder this election rather than to further it. It is this which gives me the greater assurance that it is a Divine call which I ought not to neglect." Thus, with his eyes blinded, he plunged headlong into the darkness before him.

August.

back to

England.

Already, before his decision was made, Frederick had despatched Christopher Dohna to England to ask for the advice of his father-in-law. As the ambassador Dohna sent passed through the Hague, he received every encouragement from the Prince of Orange. In the expectation of a renewal of the war with Spain as soon as the truce expired in 1621, the States had naturally been eager to gain allies. They had sympathized heartily with the Bohe mians, and had granted them a considerable subsidy. Maurice now asked Dohna whether Silesia and Moravia had consented to Frederick's election? Dohna assured him that they had. "That is something." said Maurice; "but what does the

Oct. 4

The Elector Palatine to Bouillon, Sept. 24, 1619. Ambassade Extraordinaire de MM. les Duc d'Angoulesme, Comte de Bethune, &c. (Paris, 1667) 95.

Electress say ?" "She says,” replied the ambassador, "that she will sell her jewels to support the war." "That is not enough," replied Maurice, with a laugh. He could hardly have characterised more correctly the resources of the Elector himself than by the words "That is not enough."

His interview with James.

Dohna found James at Bagshot. If ever there was a case for swift decision, it was this. Even now, a word might have September. nipped the mischief in the bud. But James found it impossible to decide. The first words which he uttered in Dohna's presence betrayed his irresoluteness. "Do not expect," he said, "to return to Germany in a hurry." It was in vain that Dohna urged the importance of his advice as a reason for haste. "Your Majesty's son-in-law," he said, "has declared that he will not determine upon his course till he can hear what your opinion is." "I will consider of it," was the only response that could be drawn from James.1

The Council's opinion asked.

Downcast and disappointed, Dohna followed the Court to Windsor, and finally to Wanstead. At last James was so far moved by his entreaties as to promise to consult his Council. On September 10, more than a week after Dohna's arrival, Naunton, by the King's directions, laid a full account of the past negotiations before the Board,3 in order to elicit the opinion of the Councillors. Great expectations had been founded on their meeting by all who wished well to the Bohemian cause. A majority, it was said, would declare in favour of supporting the Elector energetically. But before the discussion was opened, news arrived that Frederick had made his choice. Aware that the time was

1 Voigt in Kaumer's Historisches Taschenvuch, 1853, 141. Philip III., Sept. Letters and Documents, Ser. ii. 22.

17

27

Sanchez to

The King's

visit to Bagshot is not mentioned in Nichols' Frogresses; but there is a proclamation dated there on the 2nd of September; and a letter written from thence by Buckingham (S. P. Holland) on the 4th.

• Dohna to Buckingham, Sept. 2. Letters and Documents, Ser. ii. 9. Ibid. Ser. ii. 13.

17

3 A brief of Naunton's relation, Sept. 10.

Dohna, as quoted by Voigt, says the news arrived on the 12th ; but

this must be from a slip of the memory.

1619

JAMES'S DISPLEASURE.

313

past when their advice would be of avail, they referred the Frederick's whole matter back again to the King. James's reply was an order to come down to Wanstead London on the 12th, to hear what he had to say upon the question.

acceptance known in

The news had been brought to Dohna with a letter which he was charged to deliver into the hands of the King. By some mistake, it was written in German instead of Language of James. the customary French. As soon as he opened it, James suspected it to be a forgery of the ambassador's, concocted in the hope of bringing him to the point. For some time he refused to speak to Dohna, and kept him waiting in the garden whilst he was himself chatting with the Spanish agent, and inveighing against the heinousness of his sonin-law's offence. At last, the unlucky Dohna was sent for. James told him briefly that as his master had chosen to take his own counsel, he must get out of his difficulties as best he could.

His speech to the Council.

On the morning of the 12th the Council met. James would not allow a single word to be spoken in his son-in-law's behalf. With his usual skill in discovering expedients which would serve as an excuse for inaction, he had come to the conclusion that the main question to be decided was the legal validity of the election. There was no hurry, he said. The winter was approaching. As soon as he could make up his mind as to the justice of Frederick's cause, it would be time enough to decide what to do. Seeing that some who were listening showed signs of impatience at the announcement, he ended by reminding the Council that it was for him, and not for them, to decide between peace and war. Two days afterwards he informed Lafuente that he had refused to allow the question to be put to the vote, because he was sure that the majority would have been on the side of the Elector. Being an honest man, he was bound to convince the King of Spain of his sincerity in the late negotiations. Besides, Frederick's conduct in asking for his advice, and then deciding for himself before first hearing it, was really unbearable.

Never had any man been so affronted as he had been by his son-in-law.1

On the 16th, Dohna took his leave. As he was going, James told him that he expected him, as soon as it was possible, to send him proofs of the legality of the election. Unless he could convince him on this head, his sonin-law must look for no assistance from England, His subjects were as dear to him as his children, and he had no mind to embroil them in an unjust and unnecessary war.2

Dohna leaves England.

Abbot's letter to

It

On the very day, perhaps at the very hour, in which James was announcing his intentions to the Council, the English warparty found a spokesman in Abbot. From a sickbed, which made his attendance at Wanstead imposNaunton. sible, the Archbishop addressed a letter to Naunton. His humble advice, he wrote, was, that there should be no hanging back. The cause was a just one. He was glad that the Bohemians had rejected that proud and bloody man. was God who had set up the Elector in his stead to propagate the Gospel and to protect the oppressed. The kings of the earth were about to tear the whore, and to make her desolate, as had been foretold in the Revelation. He trusted, therefore, that the cause would be seriously taken up, that the world might see that England was awake to the call of God. As for the means, God would supply them. The Parliament was the old and honourable way. It would seem that God had provided the jewels left by the late Queen, that they might be used for her daughter's preservation.3

Abbot and

It was not a wise letter. The Archbishop's policy displayed gross ignorance of the forces and the designs James. of the Continental powers. But there was that generosity of feeling, and sympathy with the oppressed, without

16 26

'Lafuente to Philip III., Sept. Madrid Palace Library.

2 Voigt, in Raumer's Historisches Taschenbuch, 1853, 144.

to

Sept. 16, 17. Court and Times, ii. 187. Harwood to Carleton, Sept. 14. Herbert to Carleton, Sept. 16. Chamberlain to Carleton, Oct. 2. S. P. Dom. cx. 59, 83, 94. Herbert's letter is erroneously calendared under the date of Sept. 26.

Abbot to Naunton, Sept. 12. Cabala, 102.