Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/186

 not comprehend that his mission had failed, and tried still to keep alive the hopes placed upon Saxony, and excused the delay of the Elector on the ground that the lands of the Bohemian crown had not with sufficient energy declared their intention to elect a new King. The Elector, so Schlick maintained, was so inclined to the cause of Bohemia as to give them cause for earnest rejoicing, and those who asserted the opposite of this were either ignorant or they lied. So it came to pass that, in the beginning of the transactions relating to the confederation in Prague, the opinion still prevailed that, in the approaching election of a King, Saxony would prevail. Even the agent of Saxony thought this; at least he wrote, two days before the confederation was concluded, that the most prominent of the Directors were captivated by Electoral Saxony, and the reasons were earnestly stated which would determine this prince to accept the offered crown. When the confederation had been formed, he reported that the three Estates all equally desired the Saxon rule, and were ready to pledge for it property and blood. Still he did not conceal the fact that there was also intriguing for another candidate, the Duke of Savoy, though he did not think that this rival could become specially dangerous. And yet all the hopes and reports rested on illusions. The Elector did not obtain the election, because he did not at all aspire to it.

The election was begun in the Bohemian Diet on the 26th of August. The decisive session was opened with a prayer, after which one of the Directors, Bohuchwal Berka, called attention in a few words to the purpose of the meeting of the Estates, and then called upon Field Marshal Fels to declare his vote. Fels, who belonged to the Saxon party, wished to protract the election, and desired