r in its broadest
acceptation; it was a personal struggle of the Hapsburger against the
German princes. Henceforth the German sovereigns knew what they had to
expect from their Emperor: the last respect for order and duty to the
Empire vanished, and each had cause to look after his own interests.
The only safety against the fearful power of the Hapsburger was to be
found in alliance with foreign sovereigns. More bold became the
intercourse with France, and whoever opposed the Emperor looked there
for help. Maurice of Saxony and Albrecht of Brandenburg rose against
the Emperor in alliance with France. The German general, Schaertlin, who
was in the French pay, assisted in depriving Germany of Metz, Toul, and
Verdun. The younger princes of Germany went to the courts of the
Valois, the Guises, and the Bourbon, to acquire refinement and obtain
money and rank in the army; and this was done not only by the
Protestant princes, but also by the Roman Catholics and even
ecclesiastical Electors. The overpowering influence of France on the
fate of the Fatherland dates not from the time of Richelieu, but from
the wars of Charles V. The real disruption of the German empire dated
from the battle of Muehlberg and the Diet of Augsburg; and however
objectionable the alliance of these German princes with a foreign power
may appear to us, it must not be forgotten, that it was owing to the
un-German policy of the Imperial house. The destroyer of German
self-dependence, the great Emperor, met with his punishment almost
immediately. A very different man from the scrupulous and irresolute
John Frederic, had received the electoral crown from Charles; his own
disciple in self-seeking policy, with an overbearing character, without
consideration, and secret in his resolves, like the Emperor himself. So
Charles reaped what he had sown: the Landsknechte of Maurice drove him
even to the last gorges of the Alps. The naked egotism of the Wettiner
triumphed over the reckless policy of the great Hapsburger. What the
lord of half Europe had striven for all his life, slipped out of his
hands. Germany was not to be governed in his way; he had not been able
to guide the great movement of the German mind, nor yet could he
entirely destroy it. He had not succeeded in making the German princes
serviceable to his house, nor had he been able to destroy their power.
The far-seeing cautious player threw up his game, and quietly, as was
his wont, laid down the cards.