Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/90

70 last advance of Maurice, or the Emperor would have been a prisoner. It was said, also, that Maurice was unwilling to burden himself with so considerable a captive; 'he had no cage large enough for such a bird.' But Charles, to save himself, had to fly through a midnight storm. He himself weak with gout, in a litter, his Court with such comforts as they could carry on their backs and no more, made their way in the darkness through the mountain valleys and across the swollen streams to the Venetian frontier. Maurice did not follow. He gave his troops the plunder of the Imperial palace; for himself, it was enough to know that he had broken the spell which threatened Germany with slavery. In July he dictated the terms of the pacification of Passau; and the Emperor, at war with France, with the Turks in the Mediterranean, and the council for which he had so long laboured scattered to all the winds, gave up the battle with the Reformation. The Landgrave and John Frederick were set free. The Confession of Augsburg was again acknowledged. The Imperial chamber was reorganized as the Protestants had so long demanded. These points, few but vital, satisfied the moderate desires of the Lutheran princes; and making up his mind to leave them thenceforward unmolested in their freedom, Charles directed his remaining strength upon France.

Broken as he was, England was now finally safe from the Emperor. In his present weakness, whatever party were dominant in England, Puritan, Anglican, or Papist, Charles V. would equally be compelled to