Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/25

 quence of the injustice designed against himself, and was clearly forced upon him. This conviction is supported by a second prominent investigator of Waldstein’s history, Dr. Hallwich. He builds upon the foundation of numerous recently discovered documents; while a third inquirer, Dr. Schebeck, seeks wholly to acquit Waldstein of all guilt whatever. Ranke, in his biography of Waldstein, holds in general the view of the earlier writers, but finds a bright side to Waldstein’s treason in the view that, in his transactions with Saxony, he sincerely labored for an adjustment between the religious parties. A final judgment upon this question will not be possible until all the original documents, for and against Waldstein, some of them still unknown to the public, and which lie at the foundation of my narrative, shall have been published. I shall of course early apply myself to the solution of this problem, until which time I shall claim only a provisional recognition of my judgment in the matter of this contest. The original documents, which I have myself discovered, have impressed me with a conviction of Waldstein’s guilt. The facts which I have brought forward and the confirmations which I have given of my view, as also the supporting proofs from single documents which have been indicated, may serve for the conviction of my readers also, who may, however, properly reserve their decisive conclusions until the future publication of the documentary proofs.

Besides the Waldstein catastrophe, the transactions in regard to the peace of Prague form the most important subject of the narrative of the third volume, which both France and the Papal Court sought to thwart, but upon the conclusion of which the Emperor determined, notwithstanding his confessor’s opposition and his own sacrifice of