Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/102

 negotiations. The imperial court prepared, therefore, to hold the Diet in check by displaying an imposing array of troops, and so compel the acceptance of Ferdinand as King. Circumstances were more favorable to the success of this plan, because the Palatine Thurzo, whom Matthias hated and feared as the soul of any opposition which might arise, had been dead for more than a year. The centre of gravity was therefore wanting, and one or another influential party leader might be baited with the prospect of the Palatine’s dignity.

The Diet initiated a conflict with the royal proposition by asking of the Emperor to attend first to filling the vacant place of the Palatine, as the statutory time for this was already long passed by. This request was so just that it ought not to have been dismissed, and Matthias, in his answer, gave assurance that, immediately after the question of the throne should be settled, this would be attended to, and justified the temporary delay with the simple remark, that it was not proper “that the servant precede his lord.” Ferdinand and the royal envoys in Presburg now set their hopes chiefly upon the Catholic party in the Diet, who were exceedingly active, and embraced all the bishops and the majority of the magnates. The conduct, however, of bishops and magnates specially irritated the other members of the Diet, and so increased their opposition that the debates soon became heated. Their criticism on the wording of the royal proposition procured for the opposition at least a partial victory, so that the friends of the dynasty seemed willing without further delay to “elect ” Ferdinand as King in the manner in which this had been done in case of Matthias and others of the Hapsburgs.

Thus the word “election,” so carefully avoided by the