religious liberties of Europe. He conferred with all the leading
Protestant princes, formed alliances, secured funds, stationed troops to
protect his own frontiers, and then, assembling the States of his
kingdom, entailed the succession of the crown on his only child
Christiana, explained to them his plans of war against the emperor, and
concluded a dignified and truly pathetic harangue with the following
words.

"The enterprise in which I am about to engage is not one dictated by the
love of conquest or by personal ambition. Our honor, our religion and
our independence are imperiled. I am to encounter great dangers, and may
fall upon the field of battle. If it be God's will that I should die in
the defense of liberty, of my country and of mankind, I cheerfully
surrender myself to the sacrifice. It is my duty as a sovereign to obey
the King of kings without murmuring, and to resign the power I have
received from His hands whenever it shall suit His all-wise purposes. I
shall yield up my last breath with the firm persuasion that Providence
will support my subjects because they are faithful and virtuous, and
that my ministers, generals and senators will punctually discharge their
duty to my child because they love justice, respect me, and feel for
their country."

The king himself was affected as he uttered these words, and tears
moistened the eyes of many of the stern warriors who surrounded him.
With general acclaim they approved of his plan, voted him all the
succors he required, and enthusiastically offered their own fortunes and
lives to his service. Gustavus assembled a fleet at Elfsnaben, crossed
the Baltic sea, and in June, 1630, landed thirty thousand troops in
Pomerania, which Wallenstein had overrun. The imperial army, unprepared
for such an assault, fled before the Swedish king. Marching rapidly,
Gustavus took Stettin, the capital of the duchy, situated at the mouth
of the Oder, and commanding that stream. Driving the imperial troops
everywhere before him from Pomerania, and pursuing them into the
adjoining Mark of Brandenburg, he took possession of a large part of
that territory. He issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of Germany,
recapitulating the arbitrary and despotic acts of the emperor, and
calling upon all Protestants to aid in an enterprise, in the success of
which the very existence of Protestantism in Germany seemed to be
involved. But so utterly had the emperor crushed the spirits of the
Pro