CHAPTER VI.
STRALSUND AND ROCHELLE
Section I. —Fresh Successes of Wallenstein
1626
§ 1. Confiscations in the north.
Differences had already arisen between Wallenstein and the League. It was understood that the defeat of the northern rebels would lead to confiscations in the north, as the defeat of Frederick had led to confiscations in the south. To part at least of the land of one of the defeated princes the Elector of Mentz laid claim. Wallenstein wished to have it all for George of Lüneburg, who, Lutheran as he was, had held high command in the imperial army.
§ 2. Wallenstein advocates religious equality.
The quarrel was more than a mere personal dispute. The League wished to pursue the old policy of pushing forward the interests of the Catholic clergy under cover of legality. Wallenstein wished Catholic and Protestant, already united in his army, to be equally united in the Empire. Rebellion would then be the only punishable crime; loyalty, and especially the loyalty of his own officers, the only virtue to be rewarded.
§ 3. Comes into collision with the League.
Another question between the two powers reached almost as deeply. The League demanded that Wallenstein should support his army upon supplies taken from the Protestants alone. Wallenstein asserted his right, as the Emperor's general, to quarter his men where he would, and to levy contributions for their maintenance even on the territories of the League.
§ 4. Wallenstein could not found unity.
For the first time for many a long year, a friendly voice had been heard urging the Emperor in the only wise direction. Ferdinand, turning aside from the promotion of a sectional policy, was, if he would listen to Wallenstein, to place the unity of the Empire above the interests of the princes, by resting it on the basis of religious equality. Unhappily that advice was tendered to him by a man who could not offer him security for the realization of so wise a policy. To stand above parties it is necessary to obtain the confidence of a nation, and how could men have confidence in Wallenstein? Durable institutions may be guarded by the sword. They cannot be founded by the sword. All that was known of Wallenstein in Germany was that he was master of an army more numerous and more oppressive than that of Tilly. German unity, coming in the shape of boundless contributions and extortions, and enforced by the example of starving peasants and burning villages, was not likely to prove very attractive.
§ 5. Wallenstein's conference with Eggenberg.
It is strange that the better part of Wallenstein's programme did not repel Ferdinand at once. But Ferdinand never made up his mind in a hurry when there were difficulties on both sides, and he was accustomed to defer to the opinion of his chief minister, Eggenberg. In November Wallenstein held a conference with that minister. He unfolded all his scheme. He would increase his army, if it were necessary, to 70,000 men. With such a force he would be able to avoid a pitched battle, always dangerous to troops not thoroughly inured to campaigning. By the occupation of superior strategical points, he would be able to out-manœuvre the enemy. And then Ferdinand would be master in Germany. The whole of the Empire would be brought under contribution. There would be submission at home, and abroad no power would be strong enough to lay a finger upon the re-established Empire.
1627
§ 6. Ferdinand supports Wallenstein.
Eggenberg was easily persuaded, and when Eggenberg was won, Ferdinand was won. In January, Wallenstein was created Duke of Friedland, a higher title than that of Prince of Friedland, which he already bore, in token of the Emperor's approbation. If only Wallenstein could have shown Ferdinand the way to win the hearts of Germans as readily as he showed him the way to overpower their resistance, the history of Germany and of Europe would have been changed.
§ 7. Preponderance of Wallenstein.
The resistance of the Protestants to the institutions of the Empire had hitherto failed. They had been weak because there had been something revolutionary in all their proceedings. And now those institutions, which up to this time had been working harmoniously, were giving signs of breaking-up. There was a little rift in them which might any day become wider. "Is the Emperor," asked Wallenstein, "to be a mere image which is never to move?" "It is not only the Empire," answered the representatives of the League, "which is bound to the Emperor. The Emperor is also bound to the Empire." There was nothing to reconcile the opposing theories. The Emperor who claimed to be something had been the tool of a few bishops; he would be, if Wallenstein had his way, the tool of a successful general. The Empire, in the mouth of the representatives of the League, meant not the populations of Germany, not even the true interest of the princes, but simply the interest of the bishops and their Church.
§ 8. The campaign of 1627.
The time had not yet come for an open quarrel. The enemy, though weakened, was still powerful. Charles I., by dint of a forced loan, which every Englishman except himself and his courtiers declared to be in violation of all constitutional precedents, contrived to get some money into his exchequer, and Sir Charles Morgan was sent over to the King of Denmark's aid with an army nominally of 6,000 men, but which in reality never reached two-thirds of that number. Thurn, the old hero of the revolution at Prague, and the Margrave of Baden-Durlach, brought their experience, such as it was, to Christian's aid, and a younger brother of John Ernest's, soon to be known to fame as Bernhard of Weimar, was also to be found fighting under his banners. Strong towns – Wolfenbüttel, Nordheim, and Nienburg – still held out on his side, and peasants and citizens were eager to free the land from the oppressions of the soldiery and the yoke of the priests.
§ 9. Submission of Bethlen Gabor.
Once more the Protestants of the north looked anxiously to the east. But Bethlen Gabor did not stir. Without Turkish help he could do nothing, and the Turks, involved in a war with Persia, resolved to negotiate a peace with the Emperor. When peace was agreed upon in September Bethlen Gabor was powerless.
§ 10. Wallenstein in Silesia.
Wallenstein's hands were freed as soon as these negotiations were opened. John Ernest of Weimar had died the year before, but his lieutenants were still in possession of Silesia. In May, Wallenstein sent Duke George of Lüneburg to cut off their retreat. In July, he was in Silesia himself. His men were three to one of the enemy. Place after place surrendered. Only once did he meet with an attempt at resistance in the open field. Before the end of August the whole of Silesia was in his hands. Fifty-five standards were sent in triumph to Vienna. The Silesian towns were set to ransom, and the money of the citizens went to swell the military chest of the Emperor's general.
§ 11. Combat of Heiligenhafen.
When Silesia was lost Christian sought to avert destruction by offering terms of peace. But the two generals would accept nothing less than the surrender of Holstein, and to that Christian refused to accede. Wallenstein and Tilly joined their forces to drive him northwards before them. By this movement the Margrave of Baden was cut off from the rest of the Danish army. Making his way to the coast near Wismar, he had long to wait before transports arrived to carry him across the sea to join the King of Denmark. Scarcely had he landed at Heiligenhafen when a large body of imperialist troops arrived, and at once commenced the attack. He himself and a few of his principal officers escaped on ship-board. His men, seeing themselves deserted, took service under Wallenstein, and seven of the best regiments in the Danish army were lost to Christian.
§ 12. Conquest of Schleswig and Jutland.
Tilly found occupation for his men in the siege of the strong places in Lower Saxony. Wallenstein undertook to follow up the King of Denmark. Before the end of the year all Schleswig and Jutland, with the exception of two or three fortified towns, were in Wallenstein's hands.
§ 13. Wallenstein's schemes.
A few sieges, and all, it seemed, would be over. Wallenstein had begun to cherish the wildest plans. When resistance had been put down in Germany, he would place himself at the head of 100,000 men and drive the Turks out of Constantinople. Such dreams, however, were to remain dreams. If Denmark had been beaten down, Tilly was still there, and Tilly represented forces with which the new military Empire was certain sooner or later to be brought into collision.
Section II. —Resistance to Wallenstein in the Empire
§ 1. The Assembly of Mühlhausen.
In October, the electors in person, or by deputy, met at Mühlhausen to take into consideration the condition of the Empire. The Ecclesiastical electors urged that the engagement given in 1620 to the Protestant administrators was no longer valid. They had been told that they would not be dispossessed by force if they acted as loyal subjects. But they had not been loyal subjects. They had joined the King of Denmark in a war in which, with the aid of foreign powers, he had attempted to dismember the Empire. It was now time for justice to prevail, and for the Church, so far as the Peace of Augsburg allowed, to come by its own. To this reasoning the new Elector of Bavaria gave the whole weight of his authority, and even the two Protestant electors did not venture to meet the argument by an open denial. The circle of Lower Saxony had entered upon the war against the advice of John George, and he held that the administrators were only reaping the consequences of neglecting his counsel.
§ 2. The Catholic Electors complain of Wallenstein.
The Catholic electors felt themselves within reach of the settlement which they had long proclaimed as the object of their desires. They then proceeded to kick away the ladder by which they had climbed so high. It is not derogating from the merits of Tilly and his veterans to say that without Wallenstein they would have been unable to cope with the forces opposed to them. Wallenstein's army had driven Mansfeld back, had hemmed in Bethlen Gabor, had recovered Silesia, had contributed to the victory of Lutter. And yet that army threatened to establish itself upon the ruins of the authority of the princes and electors, and to set up a military despotism of the most intolerable kind. Everywhere Wallenstein's recruiting officers were beating their drums. Quiet episcopal cities in the south of Germany, which hoped to have seen the last of their troubles when Mansfeld vanished westward out of Alsace in 1622, found themselves suddenly selected as a trysting-place for some new regiment. Rough men poured in from every direction to be armed, clothed, lodged, and fed at their expense. The alarming doctrine that the army was to support itself, that men were to be raised for the purpose not of fighting the enemy, but of pressing contributions out of friends caused universal consternation. Wallenstein's officers, too, had been heard to talk with military frankness about pulling down princes and electors, and making a real sovereign of the Emperor.
§ 3. Yet they cannot do without him.
The voice of complaint swelled loudly. But those who raised it did not see that their own policy was at fault; that but for their refusal to yield on the question of the bishoprics, there would have been no need for Wallenstein's army at all. What they were doing required the aid of overpowering military force, and they were startled when he who wielded the sword insisted on being their master. For the present, therefore, the electors did not venture on anything more than a gentle remonstrance with Wallenstein, and a petition to the Emperor to remove the abuses which, as they well knew, were radically connected with the new system.
1628
§ 4. The commercial towns of the north.
The dislike of the rule of the sword which was felt amongst those for whom that sword had been drawn was sure to be felt far more strongly in the Protestant cities of North Germany. Up to Wallenstein's appearance the commercial oligarchies by which those cities were governed, had shown themselves at the best but lukewarm in the Protestant cause. The towns of the south had been the first to desert the Union. The towns of the north had been dragged half against their will into the Danish war. To them the imperial sway was connected by a tradition of centuries with support against the encroachments of the princes. But they had no traditions in favour of an army living at free quarters amongst them, of bullying colonels and hectoring soldiers. Magdeburg braved all the terrors of Wallenstein's anger rather than admit a single company within its walls. Hamburg declared itself ready to submit to the Emperor's authority, but closed its gates against his army. And though Magdeburg might be besieged when there was leisure, Hamburg and the other maritime towns were less easily to be gained. All-powerful on land, Wallenstein's authority ended at low-water mark. The King of Denmark had fled to his islands. The King of Sweden was master of the Baltic. If it was doubtful whether they could set an army in battle array in Germany, at least they could throw provisions and munitions of war into a besieged seaport town. If the Empire was to be secured, these seaports must be brought under the Emperor's authority.
§ 5. Wallenstein in possession of the Duchy of Mecklenburg.
Here, therefore, in the midst of the danger Wallenstein determined to plant himself firmly, with the instinctive conviction that the post of danger is the post of power. The two Dukes of Mecklenburg had steadily supported the King of Denmark in his struggle against the Emperor. In 1627, when most of the other states ceased to pay any contributions towards the war, they had continued to fulfil their engagements, and though they now professed their readiness to make their submission, it was Wallenstein's interest to make the most of their treason, and the least of their repentance. In February, 1628, the Emperor, using the rights which he had claimed in the case of the Elector Palatine, declared them to have forfeited their lands and dignities, and placed the Duchies in Wallenstein's hands as a pledge for the payment of military expenses which still remained to be liquidated. It was significant of the change of feeling in Germany that the ecclesiastical electors, who had seen nothing amiss in the deprivation of Frederick, had not a good word to say for this concession to Wallenstein.
§ 6. Negotiation with the Hanse Towns.
In Mecklenburg the imperial general had gained a footing on the Baltic coast. But more than that was needed if he was to be safe from attack. All through the winter negotiations had been going on with the Hanse Towns, the maritime cities of the old commercial league, which had once taken up a dominant position in the north, and which, though shorn of its ancient glory, was still worth courting by a power which aspired to rule in Germany.
§ 7. Wallenstein's offers tempting.
Reasons were not wanting to induce the Hanse Towns to accept the Emperor's offers. There was something very tempting in the notion of having the power of the imperial armies to fall back upon in their conflicts for foreign states. Hamburg especially had been the object of the jealousy of these states, as the mart from whence the western nations supplied themselves with the materials used in ship-building. The King of Denmark had built Glückstadt, lower down the Elbe, in the hope of intercepting so lucrative a trade. The King of England had blockaded the river, and carried off Hamburg vessels which he suspected of being freighted with timber and hemp for the use of his enemies in Spain.
§ 8. But they are repelled when they understand his plan.
From the growth of a national authority in Germany, therefore, the Hanse Towns would have had everything to gain. But Ferdinand was not, could not be really national. What he had to offer was a special agreement with Spain, which would have given them the monopoly of the trade between Germany and the Spanish dominions. Such a trade could only be supported by war. It was a privilege which would bring with it a deadly conflict with England and Holland, perhaps with Denmark and Sweden as well. And the prospect was none the more alluring because Wallenstein was to play the principal part in the design. The general of the imperial forces was appointed Admiral of the Baltic, and the Hanse Towns were expected to find him a fleet.
§ 9. They decline to accept his proposal.
What a prospect for a body of calculating traders. The Spanish monopoly, under such circumstances, was hardly to be recommended as a prudent investment. The Emperor's overtures were politely declined. Wallenstein, when he heard of their answer, rated them soundly. He had means, he said, to shut up their trade by land, and to seize goods which they might import either from England or the Netherlands. He would deal with them, in short, as Napoleon was to deal with them two centuries later.
§ 10. Wallenstein and the Baltic towns.
Wallenstein's thoughts, however, were more immediately directed to the towns on the Baltic. He had long been alarmed at the danger which threatened him from Sweden. In November, 1627, he had entered into negotiations with an adventurer who offered to set fire to the ships in the Swedish harbours. But as the project had broken down there was nothing for it but to gain possession of the port towns on the Baltic coast, and to bar them against the enemy. For no man could expect that Gustavus would look on quietly, whilst a great military power was forming on the southern coast of the Baltic.
§ 11. Growth of his power.
Wismar was soon in Wallenstein's hands. The harbour of Rostock was blocked up by a line of sunken ships. Though Boguslav, the Duke of Pomerania, promised to keep his long line of coast safe from attack, he was compelled to admit a strong imperialist force within his territory. Everything seemed to be succeeding as Wallenstein wished.
Section III. —The Siege of Stralsund
§ 1. Stralsund holds out.
One town alone held out. Stralsund was not a free city of the Empire. But though it was nominally dependent on the Duke of Pomerania it was practically its own mistress. The citizens had no wish to put themselves forward in opposition to the Emperor, far less to assist a foreign power to gain a footing in Germany. But they would never admit a garrison of such troops as Wallenstein's within their walls.
§ 2. He orders the siege to be commenced.
Wallenstein would have all or nothing. He ordered his commander in those parts, the Lutheran Arnim, to enforce submission. "I will never," he wrote, "allow them to keep anything back from me, lest others should be encouraged to do the like." Arnim, already master of Rügen, seized Dänholm, a smaller island commanding the mouth of the harbour. In February hostilities were commenced. In March the citizens attacked the imperialists in Dänholm, and drove them out of the island.
§ 3. Wallenstein's first check.
It was Wallenstein's first check, and desperately did he struggle to wipe out the disgrace. Every day the spirit of the citizens was rising. There were old soldiers there, fugitives from the Danish war, and peasants who had fled from their desolated homes, and who had terrible tales to tell of the wretchedness which followed in the track of Wallenstein's soldiers. In April, all within the town bound themselves by a solemn oath to defend their religion and their liberty to the last drop of their blood, and to admit no garrison within their walls. In the midst of their resistance they still kept up some recollection of their nationality, so far as any tie of nationality could still be said to exist. The name of the Emperor was carefully avoided, but they professed attachment to the Empire and its laws.
§ 4. Succour from Denmark and Sweden.
Practically, however, the shape in which the Empire presented itself to them was that of Wallenstein's army, and if they were to resist that army, the Stralsunders must, whether they liked it or not, make common cause with those who were hostile to the Empire. In May a Danish embassy appeared amongst them, and the King of Sweden sent a present of gunpowder. When the siege was formally opened, these overtures were followed by a succour of armed men. Sweden and Denmark were working together to break up the new military Empire, and their forlorn hope was thrown into Stralsund.
§ 5. Wallenstein abandons the siege.
Wallenstein saw that the case was serious, and came in person to the help of his lieutenant. According to a doubtful story, he exclaimed, 'I will have Stralsund, even if it be fastened by chains to heaven.' It is certain that when a deputation from the citizens pleaded with him that he would abandon his demand that they should admit a garrison within their walls, he drew his hand along the surface of a table before him, and answered sternly, 'Your town shall be made as flat as this.' But the problem of overcoming the resistance of a fortress open to unlimited succours by sea is one of the most difficult in the whole art of war. Still, however, there were fearful odds in favour of the besiegers. Without the walls Wallenstein had no enemy to fear. He was himself Duke of Mecklenburg. With the Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of Pomerania he was on friendly terms, and he had received the support of the latter in his attempts upon the town. Within the walls there was no certainty of ultimate success. Those who had anything to lose placed their property on shipboard. Many sent their wives and daughters to seek a safe refuge in Sweden. But whatever doubts might arise the defenders of the town fought sturdily on. Week after week passed away, and Stralsund was still untaken. Wallenstein lowered his terms. He ceased to demand entrance for a garrison of his own men. It would be enough, he now said, if the citizens would entrust their walls to troops of their own ruler, the Duke of Pomerania, and would in this manner tear themselves away from the connexion with foreign powers hostile to the Emperor. And to this offer the governing council of the town was ready to assent. But the general body of the citizens rejected it utterly. They deliberately preferred the alliance of the two foreign kings to submission, however indirect, to the Emperor's authority. Before this resolution, Wallenstein, with all his armies, was powerless. On August 3 he raised the siege.
§ 6. Character of the resistance.
Wallenstein's failure was an event of incalculable importance in the history of Germany. It was much that one, and that not one of the first, towns of the Empire should have beaten back the tide of conquest. But it was more that the resistance should have been attempted in a case which sooner or later would be the cause of the great majority of Germans. Ferdinand had floated to power because he personified order as opposed to anarchy. The Stralsunders fought for the Protestant religion and freedom from the presence of a garrison. Ferdinand's order meant the rule of the priest, and the rule of the soldiers. Slowly and unwillingly the citizens of Stralsund declared for the presence of foreigners as better than such order as this.