Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/139

 peror, it is conceiveble that the Elector of the Palatinate might have cherished the hope of wresting the Bohemian crown with the aid of these 7,000 to 8,000 men, maintained at the cost of a foreign power, from the Hapsburgs, and wearing it himself. The Duke, K of Savoy was not, however, so sanguine in his judgment of the situation. He felt indeed flattered by the offer of the crown of Germany, but he was of the opinion that the end could be gained only by a large alliance, in which he and the Elector of the Palatinate would be but subordinate members; this should, as he thought, include France, England, and especially the two wealthy republics of Venice and Holland; if all these powers should join it, then he would consent to enlarge his aid—otherwise not.

When Dohna returned with this information, it became evident that the demands of the Duke must be taken into the account, and an ambassador was accordingly dispatched to England to make a beginning by gaining James I. to the measure. It was thought in Heidelberg that this would be attended with less difficulty, since James, by his relation-with the Elector, to whom he had given his daughter Elizabeth in marriage, would feel himself specially obligated to the protection of his interests.

Unfortunately for the expectations cherished in the Palatinate, the English King had no thought of supporting the Bohemian insurrection. From the views which he held of the inviolable legitimacy of kingly rights, he disapproved the movement from the first, and repeatedly expressed himself to the Spanish ambassador accredited to his court in words friendly to the rights of the house of Hapsburg. When Dohna applied to him for aid to the Bohemian Estates, and further intimated that they might elect the Palsgrave as their King, he was by no means grati-