Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/75

 the Chancellor’s argument. Count Andrew Schlick, on whose support the opposition had counted, expressed himself to the effect that he had originally designed to move the summoning of the dependent lands and the adjournment of the election; but the proofs of the hereditary rights of the house of Hapsburg which had been adduced had convinced him, and, as a true subject of that house, he felt himself under obligation to vote for Ferdinand’s elevation.

The knighthood and other deputies of the cities, who also voted one by one, all followed the example of loyalty which had been set, and, after a few minutes of question and response, the chief Burggrave was able to announce that the three Estates of the kingdom had almost unanimously “accepted,” not elected, Ferdinand as King. Thus the hereditary right of the Hapsburgs, which they themselves had a few years before almost given up, was restored in the person of the Archduke Ferdinand, of Styria, now King of Bohemia, to its full splendor.

The opposition had sustained, in the question of the King, a defeat; but they attempted to win success in another field. Usage required that a successor, whose succession was fixed beforehand in the life of a reigning King, must promise to confirm, at his entrance upon his administration, all the privileges of the land, and that too without being called upon by any detailed specifications. Nor could the opposition content itself with the general formula, but demanded that Ferdinand assent to a confirmation of their privileges entire in “all points and clauses,” and they obtained for their motion the majority of the votes in the Diet. By this vote the Royal Charter was to be secured against all attacks whatever.