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 for Ferdinand and were on their way to Bohemia. Godfrey von Starhemberg, the colonel of the Upper Austrian troops, urged Count Thurn to hasten into Lower Austria, where the people were waiting for him as their Messiah.

Ferdinand, who was informed in detail of the increasing hostility to him which was spreading in Lintz, sought to meet this by inviting Tschernembl to a personal interview in Vienna, in the hope that he might win this man to his cause by a few friendly words. But Tschernembl declined the invitation, and in his letter advised the King to refrain from assuming the government, as it did not belong to him; furthermore, that he should summon the Estates of all the provinces to Vienna, and have the matters at issue adjusted peaceably. It is possible that the insurrection would have been ended, if Ferdinand had taken this advice; but the price which he would have had to pay for the settlement would have been the dominion of Protestantism in all Austria, the administration would have fallen into the hands of the aristocracy, and the hereditary right of the ruling dynasty would have been circumscribed. Neither the existence of the State nor that of the dynasty could have been secured by an adjustment.

The example of the Estates at Lintz and the presence of their deputation in Vienna caused the Protestants of Lower Austria to act more energetically and to importune the Catholic nobility and the King with various requests and demands, in order either to protect their own interests, or cut off from the King all the means of his defence. To this end they sent envoys to Presburg, and made complaint to the Palatine in regard to the auxiliary troops which were enlisted in Hungary for Ferdinand. They sought to guard the interests of their faith by requesting the toleration of Protestants on the domains of