em beyond the Elbe. Wallenstein, nevertheless,
in the following campaign, won his laurels, both as a statesman and a
general, by his intrigues and conquests. Displaying the greatest ardor
in the cause of the Empire, he attempted to render it an absolute
despotism. After routing Count Mansfeldt on the Elbe, he marched into
Hungary, and defeated the united armies of the count and Bethlem
Gabor. Christian of Denmark having assembled a new army in 1628,
Wallenstein marched to meet it; and, by a series of brilliant
successes, recaptured all the towns garrisoned by the Danes, and
forced the king to sue for peace. At the Congress of Lubeck, in May,
1629, this was accorded on favorable terms to Denmark. Wallenstein
during these campaigns astonished his compeers, and excited their
envy, by the wondrous rapidity of his movements, and the skill with
which he surmounted difficulties that seemed insuperable. He was
rewarded with the duchy of Mecklenburg, which was forfeited to the
Empire by the treason of its former owner.

The envious schemes of Tilly and Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, induced
Ferdinand to remove Wallenstein from his rank of commander in 1630. He
had hardly withdrawn to his Bohemian estates, when Gustavus Adolphus,
who had been hitherto prevented from affording active assistance to
the Protestant party, landed in Pomerania with a small but highly
disciplined army. This illustrious monarch, eminent for virtue and
piety, no less than for political wisdom and military skill, was now
the sole hope of the Reformation in Germany. The princes who professed
its tenets were lukewarm and unready,--divided by jealousies among
themselves, and careless of all but their own worldly interests. He,
on the contrary, was devoted to the cause of his faith, and his solemn
disavowal of personal ambition in undertaking its championship is
stamped with sincerity.

He soon commenced a career of conquest. New Brandenburg and other
districts yielded to his arms, and he formed an alliance with France,
now under the sway of Cardinal Richelieu, which the emperor had vainly
negotiated to prevent. The rich city of Magdeburg declared for him,
and was accordingly besieged by Tilly. The selfishness of the Lutheran
leaders, the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, in not responding to
the appeal of the Protestants in the city, led to its fall in 1631,
before Gustavus could reach it. The most atrocious cruelties were
perpetrated by the Catholics at th