Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/108

 the imperial military power in Hungary, the other the financial subordination of this country to the Austrian exchequer. The court would not yield in either case, and sought to escape by evasive answers. After various and useless debate, the coronation was fixed for the 1st of July. It is reported that the King elect but two days previous to this could not come to an agreement with the Diet in regard to a religious question which had just arisen, and that the opposition in the very last hour threatened to depart, when Ferdinand ended the discord by yielding. The coronation took place on the 1st of July, and the Diet was dissolved.

The news of the throwing from the windows at Prague surprised the Emperor at Vienna—King Ferdinand at Presburg. Ferdinand had just gone to dine with the Archbishop of Gran, when the startling intelligence came to hand and caused dumbness to succeed to noisy festivity. The next day Ferdinand held a consultation with Khlesl and some others, in which it was agreed that several men should be proposed to the Emperor to be sent to Prague to gather on the ground more exact information. When the necessary understanding of the case should have been reached, then a special commission of regency with an Archduke at its head should be sent to Bohemia to restore order.

In pursuance of this counsel, the Emperor sent Baron von Khuen to Prague, where he arrived on the 6th of June, but did not meet there the consideration upon which he had reckoned. The Directory paid no regard to his rank as special envoy of the Emperor, but treated him