1618 THE DUKE OF SAVOY. 277 that arch intriguer, the Duke of Savoy, who happened to have two thousand men in Germany under the command of the Count of Mansfeld, a soldier of fortune, who had been driven by personal insults to forsake the Spanish service, and who had, accordingly, vowed implacable enmity against the House of Austria. The Duke had originally levied these men for service in Italy against Spain; but, as peace had been signed, he had no further use for them, and now offered, for the sake of the influence which he might gain in Germany, to continue to pay them, if the Princes of the Union were willing to take them into their service. He had no doubt, he added, that the Venetians would be ready to advance large sums of money, and that the Elector would thus be able to appear at the head of an imposing force in the spring. For a time, Frederick hung back; but the prospect was too seducing to be long resisted. Christian of Anhalt was beside himself with joy. Already he was witnessing in imagination. the dismemberment of the dominions of the House of Austria; the only question in his mind was how the spoil was to be divided. At one time it was arranged that the Duke of Savoy was to be Emperor, and that Frederick was to be King of Bohemia. The ecclesiastical princes were to be stripped of their dominions. Then there was a change of plan. The Duke thought that he would like to keep Bohemia for himself ; Frederick should be King of Hungary. He might, if he pleased, annex Alsace to the Palatinate; if events were favourable, he might even lay claim to some portions of Austria.1 At first these schemes were kept from Frederick's knowledge ; but he soon grew accustomed to listen to them without showing any distaste. That they were not at once rejected goes far to explain the reluctance of the Elector of Saxony to be found in close alliance with the Calvinist Prince. It was this also which furnished Ferdinand with an excuse, unhappily too valid, for looking down from the height of his moral superiority upon Protestantism, as if it were only another name for selfishness and unprincipled ambition. 1 Londorp, Acta Publica, iii. 596-621. I suppose the portions of Austria referred to are the scattered territories in Swabia. The preparations for mediation were not completed for many months after the revolution at Prague. At the Emperor's request, the names of the Elector of Mentz and of the Duke of Bavaria had been added to those of the two Protestant Electors. The four Successes of the One at least of the mediators was doing his best to make mediation impossible. Not venturing to speak out plainly his opinion on the prospects of peace, Frederick was continuing, to all outward appearance, his good Bohemians. offices in co-operation with the Elector of Saxony, at the same time that, with the strictest injunctions to secrecy, he sent Mansfeld to the assistance of the revolutionary chiefs. Whatever the ultimate effect of such duplicity might be, the immediate result was favourable to the Bohemian cause. Pilsen was taken, and the Imperialists were driven back on every side. Before the end of the year, Budweis was the only place in Bohemia remaining in the hands of the soldiers of Matthias. Heated by these successes, and still more by the hope of further support from Heidelberg, the Directors had become more than ever averse to any terms short of complete independence. It was only natural that the events which were passing in Bohemia should engage the earnest attention of the Spanish The condition of 1 ministers. Their sympathies, religious and political, urged them to place at once their whole force at Spain. the disposal of the Emperor. But their poverty was great. How desperate the condition of the monarchy was, is best known from the celebrated report which was at this time in course of preparation by the Council of Castile. Lerma had recently been driven from power by a palace intrigue, in which his own son, the Duke of Uzeda, had taken part with Aliaga, the King's confessor. He was now in retirement, enjoying, under the shadow of a cardinal's hat, the illgotten wealth which he had amassed during his years of office. The opportunity was seized by the prudent statesmen whose presence at the Council alone preserved the monarchy from ruin, to call the 1 Lafuente, Historia de España, xv. 481. Compare the notices in the Relazi ni Venete. Spagna. 1618 CONDITION OF SPAIN. 279 King's attention to the miserable condition of the country. The population of the Castiles, they said, was decreasing every day. The taxes were so heavy that it was impossible to pay them. The landowners were absentees, living at Court, and careless of the misery of their dependents. Money had been squandered with unheard-of profusion by the King. The courtiers alone were enriched. The expenses of the royal household exceeded by two-thirds the sum which had sufficed for the wants of Philip II. Impediments were thrown in the way of the sale of the produce of the soil, and of its carriage to market. Finally, the number of the monasteries was out of all proportion to the population, and was increasing every day. ment. Proposed mediation of James. For, Nothing was done in consequence of this representation. The men who succeeded Lerma were busily imitating his example by filling their own purses, and had no time Anxiety of the Govern- to think about the misery of the people; but the knowledge that such a state of things existed could not fail in influencing the decision of the Government when it was called upon to engage in a long and expensive war.1 Above all, it made them anxious to know what would be the course which England would adopt. whatever Castilian pride might suggest, they knew well enough that to engage in a maritime contest with England, at the same time that they were keeping on foot large armies on the Danube and in Flanders, would tax the resources of the monarchy to the uttermost. Accordingly, Cottington, now again agent at Madrid, during Digby's absence in England, was asked to convey to James the assurance that his good offices in the Bohemian quarrel would readily be accepted by the King of Spain.2 At the same time, Lafuente,3 Gondomar's confessor, was despatched to England, to support Sanchez in securing a hold on the mind of James, and to tempt him to offer his mediation in Germany, by the assurance of Philip's readiness to go on with the marriage treaty. 1 Cottington to Lake, June 25, 1618, Letters and Documents, 3. 2 Naunton's Notes, Sept. 10, 1618, ibid. 13. 3 Commonly known in England as the Padre Maestro, which is some thing like calling a man "His Reverence" as a proper name. Lafuente had his first audience on September 24, the day after Cottington's despatch arrived. He found James in a thoroughly good humour, anxious to see the marriage accomplished, not ashamed to season his conversation with indecent jests, and never able to speak highly enough of Gondomar to satisfy himself.1 James's reply to the request conveyed through Cottington was all that Lafuente could desire. His reply. The English agent at Madrid was directed to say that, if it were true, as the Bohemians alleged, that they had been forced to take arms in defence of their lives and property from massacre and spoliation, it was impossible that the King of England could leave them to destruction. He would prefer, however, to see peace established, and he would therefore joyfully take upon himself the proposed mediation.2 His policy compared with that of the Elector of Saxony. In short, the policy of James was the same as that of the Elector of Saxony. Resembling one another in character and position, the two men agreed in looking with favour upon the appeal of the Bohemians for help against religious persecution, and in disliking any popular movement which bore the slightest semblance of rebellion. Yet, whatever his policy may have been, James should have remembered that his position was very different from that of the Elector of Saxony. It was not on his personal qualities that the right of John George to be listened to in the Bohemian dispute was founded. He was a Prince of the Empire. He was the nearest neighbour of the territory where the dispute had arisen. He was well acquainted with the characters of the leaders on both sides. His religion made him the natural ally of one party; his politics made him the natural ally of the other. He could bring into the field no inconsiderable force of his own, and it was probable that his influence would enable him, if not to dispose of, at least to neutralise, the whole strength of the north of Germany. Lafuente to Philip III. Oct. Madrid Fa'ace Library. 2. 12. Lafuente to Gondomar, Oct. 2 12, 2 Cottington to Naunton, Sept. 17. Buckingham to Gondomar, Sept. 30, 1618, ibid., 9, 13. 1618 JAMES PROposes meDIATION. 281 All this was wanting to James. He was far from the scene of action, and he was ignorant alike of the nature of the quarrel, and of the character of the disputants. What was scarcely of less consequence, with no standing army at his disposal, and no surplus in his exchequer, James would be unable to exercise any appreciable influence over the course of events in the centre of the Continent. If the two Protestant Electors were agreed, they could carry out their views without his aid. If they were at variance, his help would hardly enable either of them to dispose of the fortunes of Germany. Danger If the evil consequences of James's acceptance of the proposed mediation had been limited to the expenditure of some 20,000l. in a bootless embassage, no one but himself would have had any right to complain. Unhappily intervention. this was not the case. The interest which the Spanish Government took in the affairs of Bohemia, made it highly probable that Philip would sooner or later send succours to his kinsman; and though, even then, it would hardly be wise, in a cause in which German opinion was hopelessly divided, to give the signal for a war which would wrap the whole of the Continent in flames, it could never be either right or prudent to smooth the way for the intervention of Spain in the affairs of Germany. That the acceptance of the mediation, without obtaining a guarantee of the neutrality of Spain, was almost tantamount to an invitation to Philip to persevere in his interference was evident to all who chose to think about the matter. Whilst James was taking this affair into consideration, the excitement in England against everything Spanish, which had Attempts to induce James to break with Spain. manifested itself at the time of Raleigh's execution, had not at all subsided, and James was constantly pressed to embark in a war with Spain. The Dutch Commissioners, who were in London to negotiate a mercantile peace in the East Indies,' did their best to urge him in the same direction.2 James was himself annoyed at the return of many of the priests whom he had set at liberty 1 See p. 172. Lafuente to Philip III Dec. 10 Madrid Palace Library. 20, |