No More Learning

the world, lie will not abandon the sacred
cause which I defend. "
The king, like all true disciples of Christ,
often thought of the end of life, and pre-
pared himself earnestly to be ready to
meet his Judge. He knew that only a
breath separates time from eternity, and
that death is but the beginning of a new
life. The prestiges of pomp and grandeur
had not so dazzled him as to make him
forget his frailty, and the account that he
would have to settle beyond the tomb.
The cloud of glory that hung over him
had not hidden heaven out of his sight.
This is proved by that deep humility, that
constant recognition of his sins, that con-
tinual recourse to the grace of God, which
we have so often remarked in his words
and conduct. The farther he advanced in
life the more he occupied himself with the
salvation of his soul, and the more he pre-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 141
pared himself not to be surj)rised at the
coming of his Master. We may almost
think that a presentiment of the future
abided ever with him.
After leaving Ingolstadt, Gnstavus Adol-
phus took the Bavarian road and marched
straight for Munich. France had sent an
embassador to stop him. "Truly," said
Louis XIII. , "it is time to put a limit to
the enterprises of this Goth. " But to all
argumentation in favor of Maximilian and
of his pretended neutrality, the King of
Sweden replied, "I knov^ too well the
Elector of Bavaria; he wears a double
cloak, and, according to circumstances, he
turns out the red or the blue. . . . This
time I will not be entrapped. " The em-
bassador, then passing from soliciting to
threats, talked loudly of the powerful mili-
tary forces of France, which could, he said,
abandon Sweden to herself, and furnish
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? 142 GusTAYus Adolphus.
Bavaria witli forty thousand men. "If
France withdraws from me her alliance," im-
mediately said Gustavus Adolphus, "then
I shall have that of the Turks, and the
Turks are not worse allies than the papists.
In any event, I know that I can count
upon the aid of the All Powerful, and that
it is He who has sent me into Germany. "
In spite, then, of Louis XIII. the Goth
advanced upon the Bavarian territory, with-
out meeting a single soldier to dispute his
passage. But fanaticism had been so ex-
cited by the clergy, that every Bavarian
considered it as a sacred duty to preserve
his country from the impure contact of the
heretics. For them, the King of Sweden
was Antichrist, and in their prayers they
besought God to preserve them from the
Swedish demon. To slay a Swede was
thought a meritorious act, no matter how
accomplished. Bands of the peasantry
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 143
were formed, and woe to the soldier who
fell into their hands. Romish fanaticism
has ever known how to invent new and
varied tortures. In Bavaria, as in Spain,
it had the genius of cruelty.
Gustavus Adolphus, at the sight of these
horrors, felt his blood boil with indigna-
tion, and thoughts of vengeance presented
themselves before him. But he soon con-
quered these feelings, and instead of mal-
treating these madmen who were making
martyrs of his soldiers, and taking him for
an agent of Satan, he proved to them, by
his goodness and patience, that he was
more Christian and less heretic than they.
He watched more closely than ever to
maintain perfect army discipline, and met
the most bitter hatred by the most inex-
haustible clemency.
At Landshut, as soon as the Swedish
army appeared under the walls, the garri-
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? 144 GusTAvus Adolphus.
son fled and the inhabitants concealed
themselves, in order to escape a treatment
which they looked upon as just and inevi-
table. Ke-assnred by the peaceful attitude
of their victors, struck with the mildness
and order which reigned in their ranks,
they came forth, and the chiefs of the
authorities fell at the king's feet, and en-
treated him for their lives and for the lives
of the inhabitants. Gustavns replied to
them, '' When 1 think of the cruelties that
you have perpetrated on my soldiers, I
may truly ask myself whether you are men
or ferocious beasts, and I scarcely know
how to have compassion on you. " He
wished to make no promises, and departed
from the city, which kept a death-like si-
lence, without having made any decision.
The sky was covered with clouds, and
while setting out, the king was dazzled
by a vivid flash of lightning, followed by
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 145
a fearful clap of thunder. This incident
called to the mind of the king the living
God, who does not pardon those who will
not pardon, and Landshut was only con-
demned to pay a contribution to help carry
on the war.
From Landshut, Gustavus Adolphus
went toward Munich, which city he en-
tered May 7, 1632, with his usual cortege
of princes and Swedish generals. Fred-
erick, the unhappy King of Bohemia, was
by his side and saw his most cruel enemy
meet with an adversity similar to what had
befallen himself when, ten years before,
Maximilian invaded Bohemia, and drove
him from his capital. Now he, in his turn,
was exiled from his estates, and Frederick
sat down triumphant in his palace. What
a striking example of the instability and
changeability of human affairs ! At dinner,
Gustavus remarked to Frederick, "After
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? 146 GusTAvus Adolphus.
such unexpected revolutions, you may yet
hope to dine, in peace and repose, one day,
in your own capitoI"
Many sought to induce the king to
avenge upon this city the sacking of Mag-
deburg. He refused to gratify this feeling
of cruel revenge, and forbade, under pain
of death, any destruction or molestation
of the inhabitants. This conduct concili-
ated the minds of all. No one could help
rendering homage to so generous an adver-
sary. Even the Jesuits praised his nobil-
ity of soul. Toward the latter, Gustavus
manifested an extreme clemency. He not
only did not expel them, but he visited
them in their convent. The Superior ad-
dressed him with a speech in Latin, exalting
his eminent qualities. The king replied
in the same language, and engaged in a
discussion on the subject of the sacrament.
He vigorously sustained the evangelical
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? GusTAVus Adolphus. 147
doctrines upon this important point, with-
out once departing from language of the
most perfect courtesy, or failing to show a
sincere respect for the opinions of his an-
tagonists. His old generals complained
of so much complaisance, and said, "The
king would do better to put to flight these
Jesuits, than to discuss with them thus. "
Gustavus divined their thoughts, and
on leaving the convent he pleasantly re-
marked,
" Why would you persecute these men ?
Do you not see how much they injure the
cause which they defend, and how much
they help on the one which they oppose ? "
Wise words, and full of meaning, which
contain a lesson by which we, in our times,
as well as the King of Sweden in his,
might profit.
Gustavus Adolphus did not remain long
in Munich, whose magnificence he much
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? 148 GusTAYus Adolphus.
admired, and whicli, on account of its arid
surroundings, he called a golden saddle on
a poor liorse.
Wallenstein, at the head of a large army,
was coming to meet him. Already, Gus-
tavus possessed in Germany, Franconia, the
Electorate of Mayence, a part of Swabia,
and Bavaria; and his ally, the Elector of
Saxony, had just taken Bohemia from the
emperor. The different generals held well
their conquests. The Catholic League was
dissolved, and Austria lay open on all
sides. Ferdinand was trembling at Vienna.
He had no more troops, nor even a general.
The enemy was approaching. He now
humbled himself before the haughty Duke
of Friedland, and in a few months forty
thousand men were ready to defend him,
under the command of the greatest general
of the empire. Wallenstein began the
campaign by expelling the Saxons from
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 149
Boliemia. By the end of May there was
not a single Saxon soldier left in the coun-
try. Maximilian then conjured the victor
to save his States, and, like Ferdinand,
humbly besought succor from, and put
himself at the mercy of, the man whom he
had previously disgraced. The Duke of
Friedland, after this event, said to his
officers, "Finally, I have constrained my
mortal enemy to implore my pardon and
my support. I am avenged for all the evil
he has caused me. "
The two armies united amounted to
sixty thousand men, and the Swedes were
only twenty thousand, when it was ru-
mored that Wallenstein proposed to attack
Nuremberg. If Gustavus had only list-
ened to the cold counsels of selfishness, in-
stead of gathering up his troops dispersed
about Germany, he w^ould have avoided
meeting the enemy, and abandoned Nu-
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? 150 GusTAvus Adolphus.
remberg to its own resources. But the
terrible fate of Magdeburg was not effaced
from his memory, and he decided to perish
with his little army, rather than expose a
city from which he had received such ar-
dent affection and devotion, to the fury of
the savage imperials. He did not hesitate,
but hastened to make all possible prepara-
tion against danger. On arriving, he made
haste to surround the city with a fortified
camp, which formed a second rampart, and
gave a place for lodging the soldiers with-
out inconveniencing the inhabitants. Aid-
ed by the anxious zeal of the citizens and
neighboring peasantry, the soldiers soon
made ready their immense works. The
magistrates made all efforts to collect an
abundance of provisions, and to organize a
numerous guard of citizens, which should
maintain order or contribute to a defense.
"Nuremberg," said Gustavus, "is the
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 151
apple of my eye, and I will defend it with
all my power. " There was a most com-
plete union between soldiers and inhabit-
ants. The people sang, "Nuremberg, thou
ornament of the empire, the enemy has
sworn thy destruction. But God has looked
upon thee with a compassionate eye, and
has sent thee, from Sweden, a father. There
he is, yonder under the vault of heaven,
which, with his troop of heroes, watches
over thee. Let nothing be found wanting
by them. Thy safety depends upon them.
Magdeburg now wishes that she had done
yet more for her defense; but prudence
often comes too late, and after the whole
evil is accomplished. "
It was with such feelings of confidence
and mutual sympathy that they prepared
to receive the enemy. And they waited not
long. But instead of attacking the city,
Wallenstein established his camp opposite
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? 152 GusTAvus Adolphus.
to it, at less than a league's distance from
that of the Swedes, and in an impregnable
position. "Up to the present we have
had enough battles," said he; "I wish to
teacli the King of Sweden another mode
of warfare. "
He hoped to conquer the Swedes by
starving them. He was ignorant of the
resources that the city had furnished for
its defenders, and had not foreseen that he
and his army might be the first to suffer
from the scourge which he wished to draw
upon the enemy. The inhabitants of the
country around had fled, and borne all
away with them. The Duke of Friedland,
not findiug any thing for the feeding of his
army, was obliged to send to his ally, the
Elector of Bavaria, for provisions.
In
order to supply their daily wants, the im-
perials disputed with the Swedes the little
provisions that yet remained in the coun-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 153
try. Hence there followed frequent skir-
mishes, in which there was but little profit,
and a loss of time and men. The two
armies were thus exhausting themselves in
these fruitless struggles. Want began to
be felt on both sides, and contagion fol-
lowed in its train. So, only a few days
after the arrival of a re-inforcement of
forty thousand men, sent by Oxenstiern,
August 24, Gustavus Adolphus resolved
to attack the imperials in their camp, since
they refused battle. He hoped thus to
escape that slow agony which had been
diminishing the strength of his valiant
army for three months.
But the heights occupied by Wallen-
stein hurled out death by the mouths of
several hundred cannon, while . the assail-
ants made the most desperate efforts to
pass over that barrier of bullets and fire.
Exposed on all sides to the fire of an
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? 154 GusTAVus Adolphus.
enemy admirably sheltered beliind its in-
trenchments, the Swedes gained no inch
of space except to lose it a moment after.
The combat was terrible. Wallenstein had
his horse killed from under him, and a
cannon-ball grazed the sole of the boot
of the king. The battle raged with fury
until night. Gust ay us had two thousand
men less, and Wallenstein yet held his
position. The Swedish troops withdrew
in good order, the enemy not daring to fol-
low them.
The war of famine began afresh ; and
the laws of discipline were broken, even in
the Swedish camp. The German troops
first set the example, and the rest of the
army found the aggravation of their suffer-
ings sufficient reason for imitating them.
On hearing, through the complaints of the
maltreated peasantry, that his soldiers were
tarnishing their ancient reputation, and
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 155
causing the name Swede, which had ever
before been so much loved, to be now
hated, Gustavus was grievously afflicted,
and his displeasure fell upon the first au-
thors of these disorders. He called too;ether
the German princes and their officers. He
then talked to them with an extraordinary
measure of severity :
" Complaints are coming to me from all
sides," said he. " concernino^ the conduct of
our troops. The peo|)le say that their
friend, the King of Sweden, is doing them
more evil than their implacable enemy,
Wallenstein. The Swedes, say they, make
war like the Croatians. These reproaches
afflict my heart above all, knowing the
fact that they are only too well founded.
However, I am innocent of these disorders
-- I have ever forbidden them and severely
punished them. It is you, you miserable
Germans, who ravage your own country,
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? 156 GusTAvus Adolphus.
rob your fellow-citizens, and urge on to
despair your brethren in the faith, whom
you have sworn to protect ! Your pres-
ence recalls to me all vour infamies, and
my heart is stirred with indignation. You
horrify me ! If you were true Christians
at all, you would strive to do your duty
to your country and your brethren, and
you would recall to mind what I have
done for you. It is for you that I risk my
life and sacrifice my ease. It is for you
that I have depopulated my kingdom and
emptied my coffers. I have spent for you
immense sums of gold, and I have not re-
ceived of you, nor of all Germany, enough
to purchase a doublet. x\ll that God has
given me, I have given you without re-
serve, nor do I demand any thing of you
in return ; for I would rather return home
poor and naked than to enrich myself at
your expense.
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 157
" If you murmur, if you forget God and
honor enough to abandon me, I will sur-
round m3^self with my Swedes and my
Fins; we will defend ourselves to the last,
and the whole world shall see that, as a
Christian king, I would rather lose life
than sully by crime the sacred work
which God has intrusted to me. I pray
you, in the name of divine mercy, to look
within yourselves, to question your own
consciences. Kemember that you must ren-
der an account to God for your conduct,
and that you must one day appear before
the tribunal of that Judge who sees all
things. "
The situation of his army was no longer
tolerable. For a long time, the two armies
had been in presence of each other, and
Wallenstein remained ever within his in-
trenchments. The losses on both sides
were immense. The heat of dog-days in-
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? 158 GusTAvus Adolphus.
creased the general distress. The corpses
in both camps sent forth an infectious
odor, and provisions became every day
more rare. Deprived of food, and breath-
ing a pestilential air, the soldiers seemed
all condemned to perish, conquered by
disease and famine.
Gustavus could not impose so inglorious
and cruel death upon so many brave men.
On September 8, 1632, he left the territory
of Nuremberg, leaving a garrison in the
city sufficient to protect it from a surprise.
He passed slowly before the Austrian
camp, and awaited the enemy for four
hours. But Wallenstein stirred not. Ac-
customed to easy victories, he put off, as
long as possible, the meeting in battle with
that one whom he himself proclaimed to
be tlie hravest warrior and tlie most sMll-
ful general of the world. Himself, a man
without principles, whose onlv God and
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 159
law were cupidity and ambition, he made
war as a player, who, a long time success-
ful, fears to risk his whole fortune at a
single throw -- he was insolent to the feeble,
but timid before the strong.
Gustavus, despairing of bringing him
out, directed his course toward Windsheim
in Bavaria, in order to complete the con-
quest of that country, and penetrate far-
ther into Austria. Scarcely had he turned
his back than Wallenstein broke np his
camp, after having, according to his cus-
tom, marked his way by the burning of
several villages, and so manifested by this
terrible leave-taking what barbarous de-
signs he had had toward Nuremberg.
Of the sixty thousand men of which his
army was composed, he had only thirty-
six thousand left, of whom the Bavarians
formed a fourth part. The Swedes were
reduced to thirty thousand, and had left
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? 160 GrusTAvus Adolphus.
twenty thousand dead under the walls of
Nuremberg.
In order to insure the success of his
operations in Bavaria, Gustavus Adolphus
went to lay siege to Ingolstadt, hoping to
repair his former check, and to take from
Maximilian his surest asylum. Suddenly,
he learned that Wallen stein was laying
Saxony waste, and making it pay dearly
for its sympathy with the Swede. At
this news he again put aside the execution
of his plan and flew to the succor of his
ally.
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? CHAPTEK VII.
The Close of the Liee of Gustavus
Adolphus.
Eeturn of the Swedes into Saxony -- Victory and Death of Gus-
tavus Adolphus at Lutzeu -- His Administration in Sweden.
AFTER having joined his troops with
those of Bernard de Weimar, the
Kino; of Sweden marched ao:ainst the Duke
of Friedland, following the route of the
previous year, but in the opposite direc-
tion. Twenty thousand men, experienced
in former campaigns, were under his com-
mand. Every-where the people were hap-
py to see him again, and gave him a hearty
welcome. They never ceased admiring the
battalions in their imposing martial array,
with Gustavus at their head, riding in the
profoundest silence upon his large white
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? 162 GusTAvus Adolphus.
steed, not distinguishing himself from the
simple soldier, save by the long white
plume of his small gray hat, made after
the Swedish fashion.
When this valiant army stopped for
repose anywhere no disorderly conduct
whatever was observed. Men and their
possessions were every-where respected.
In Franconia and Thuringia the Swedes
prayed, morning and evening, with their
hosts and thanked them for their hospi-
tality. The Germans of these countries
looked upon the soldiers as members of
their own family, and separated from them
in tears.
A trifling event contributed particularly
to add to their appreciation of the good-
ness of the King of Sweden, and was looked
upon as a good omen for the future. Nor
is it forgotten among them to this day.
As he was passing through a certain sec-
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? GusTAVus Adolphus. 163
tion of the country, the king saw a bird
of prey pursuing a lark. Just as his atten-
tion was attracted to the scene, the little
persecuted bird flew down and lighted
upon his bosom. The king smilingly took
it, held it tenderly in his hands, and said,
"Poor little bird, may God protect you;"
then, when the bird of prey was flown
away, and the lark out of danger, he set it
free, thanking God for giving him even
this small opportunity for saving one of
his innocent creatures from persecution.
In this trifling event was plainly symbol-
ized the work which Gustavus Adolphus
accomplished. Austria, for Protestant Ger-
many, was a bird of prey, ready to devour
it ; and it was into his hands that it cast
itself, in order to recover its liberty.
At Erfart, Gustavus found the queen,
who was awaiting him there. She was so
anxious to see him that she hastened out
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? 164 GusTAvus Adolphus.
to meet Mm, which she did, in one of the
public squares of the city. But their re-
joicing could be but of short duration, for
Wallenstein was only a little way off from
Erfurt.
The next day, October 28, 1632, Gus-
tavus Adolphus called together the magis-
trates of the city, and addressed them in
the following words :
"I now confide to your care that which
I hold most precious upon earth, the queen,
my beloved wife. You know, sirs, that
every thing in this world is subject to vi-
cissitudes, and above all, war, that scourge
which God uses to chastise the perversity
of men. Just as to any other, some mis-
fortune may fall to my lot, perhaps death.
If such should be the will of God concern-
ing me, have, for my cherished wife, the
fidelity and devotion of which you have
ever given me the proofs. "
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