Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/137

 advantage. He had himself never used religion to cover up political designs, and shared the views of the Bohemian Brethren, to whom he belonged, that, especially for the Church, her best condition was one of persecution. How could he then rise against his King, when he would not so much as enter a complaint in regard to the abridgment of ecclesiastical liberties?

In the meantime Buquoi, as he saw his peril constantly increasing, had begun negotiations with Hohenloe, and declared his readiness to evacuate Budweis, provided an unhindered retreat to the Danube should be granted him. Fortunately for the Emperor, Hohenloe made conditions which Buquoi could not accept; fortunately, we say, for if Buquoi had withdrawn with his troops, the opposition in Austria would have been so increased by the calamities of the war as to have become insurmountable, and Matthias would have been compelled on some terms to conclude a peace with the Bohemians. When the negotiations for Bohemia’s evacuation were broken off, then vanished also the danger which led to opening them. The Bohemians had in their expedition to Austria and in their cantonments before Budweis suffered very great losses. The sufferings from winter and the hardships of the war, with the deficiency of care and clothing, had resulted in a fearful mortality, which, during the month of January, 1619, continued to increase from day to day, and by the end of February had swept off more than 8,000 men. With those who prolonged lives so miserable that they were scarcely able to carry their weapons, no attack could be carried out against the enemy, who, from his covered position, was at least sheltered against the severest sufferings from the weather.