Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/74

 had turned his attention to his dearly beloved cousin, the Archduke Ferdinand, and prayed the Estates “to accept, proclaim, and crown” him as King. The instrument by which the Archdukes Maximilian and Albert declined their rights in their cousin’s favor was then read. The decisive transactions were begun in the Diet on the following day by calling upon the higher officials, according to usage, to express themselves in regard to Ferdinand’s elevation, which was done in the order of their rank. When Thurn was called, he protested at length against the substitution of “acceptance” for “election,” and against the exclusion of the dependent lands; the Archduke Ferdinand, he added by way of moderating the tone of his protest, would no doubt prefer that his future reign should be a peaceful one, and would not, therefore, by slighting the other lands, give rise to distrust and dissatisfaction.

Instead of continuing the voting, the chief Burggrave rose and attempted to overthrow Thurn’s view by making an application of the Chancellor’s arguments, showing, in a striking manner and by the citation of several precedents, that the Bohemian Estates, in filling the throne, never troubled themselves about the concurrences of other lands. Thurn replied that he was free, just as any other man, and that he should persevere in the view which he had expressed. The holders of territorial rights, whose turn came next to that of the officials, voted, with the exception of Colonna von Fels, who shared the view of Thurn, for Ferdinand. All the other members of the nobility voted for Ferdinand, even Ruppa having yielded to