Karl von Wallenstein

“ The immense riches Wallenstein possessed, the universal reputation he enjoyed, the rapidity with which six years before he had assembled an army of 40,000 men, the little expense at which he had maintained this formidable force, the actions he had performed at its head, and lastly, the zeal and fidelity he had displayed for his master's honor, still lived in the Emperor's recollection and made Wallenstein seem to him the ablest instrument to restore the balance between the belligerent powers, to save Austria, and preserve the Catholic religion. ”

“ Few generals have surpassed him in the power of quickly organizing great masses of men and of inspiring them with confidence and enthusiasm. But it is as a statesman that Wallenstein is immortal. However much or little motives of personal aggrandisement influenced his schemes and his conduct, “Germany turns ever to Wallenstein as she turns to no other amongst the leaders of the Thirty Years' War. ... Such faithfulness is not without reason. ... Wallenstein's wildest schemes, impossible of execution by military violence, were always built upon the foundation of German unity. ”

“ For carrying on the war along the Rhine, he was entirely dependent upon the princes of the Catholic League and their army under Tilly.
Wallenstein now came forward and offered to supply the Emperor with a powerful imperial army which should not cost him a penny. This offer, coming from a mere private gentleman, sounded absurd; and for a time Wallenstein was put aside with contemptuous laughter. At last the Emperor told him, if he thought he could raise as many as ten thousand men, to go ahead. "If I have only ten thousand," said Wallenstein, "we must accept what people choose to give us. ”

“ Thy heart, say rather—'twas thy heart, my child!
THEKLA.
Faith hath no voice but the heart's impulses.
I am all his! His Present—his alone,
Is this new life, which lives in me? He hath
A right to his own creature. What was I
Ere his fair love infus'd a soul into me?
COUNTESS.
Thou would'st oppose thy father, then, should he
Have otherwise determin'd with thy person?
(Thekla remains silent. The Countess continues.)
Thou mean'st to force him to thy liking?—Child,
His name is Friedland.
THEKLA.
My name too is Friedland.
He shall have found a genuine daughter in me. ”

“ Questenberg, Octavio, and Max. Piccolomini,
Butler, Isolani, Maradas, and three other Generals.
Wallenstein motions Questenberg, who in
consequence takes the chair directly opposite
to him; the others follow, arranging themselves
according to their rank. There reigns
a momentary Silence.
WALLENSTEIN.
I have understood, 'tis true, the sum and import
Of your instructions, Questenberg, have weigh'd them,
And form'd my final, absolute resolve;
Yet it seems fitting that the Generals
Should hear the will of th' Emperor from your mouth. ”

“ Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein, a distinguished Austrian general, the most noted opponent of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years’ War, born 1583, assassinated 1634. Wallenstein had already achieved the most brilliant rank among the Imperialist generals, except Tilly, when the defeat of the latter made the ambitious soldier, whose great wealth and unscrupulous daring had excited the jealousy of the Emperor Ferdinand, again a necessity to the Catholic cause. ”

“ With fifteen thousand men, and only waits
For orders to proceed and join your army.
Those orders I give out, immediately
We're compromis'd.
WALLENSTEIN.
What asks the Chancellor?
WRANGLE. (considerately.)
Twelve Regiments, every man a Swede—my head
The warranty—and all might prove at last
Only false play———
WALLENSTEIN. (starting.)
Sir Swede!
WRANGLE. (calmly proceeding.)
Am therefore forc'd
T' insist thereon, that he do formally,
Irrevocably break with th' Emperor,
Else not a Swede is trusted to Duke Friedland.
WALLENSTEIN.
Come, brief, and open! What is the demand? ”

“ Nay, yield them up that dot, that speck of land—
It goes not from your portion. If you win
The game, what matters it to you who pays it?
WALLENSTEIN.
Off with them, off! Thou understand'st not this.
Never shall it be said of me, I parcell'd
My native land away, dismember'd Germany,
Betray'd it to a foreigner, in order
To come with stealthy tread, and filch away
My own share of the plunder.—Never! never!—
No foreign power shall strike root in the empire,
And least of all, these Goths! these hunger-wolves! ”

“ Ferdinand, to gain his aid, gave him uncontrolled authority over the army he should raise and all its operations.
Wallenstein began recruiting. He soon had forty thousand men. The Catholics grew braver when the reconciliation of Wallenstein and the Emperor became known. This, added to the suspicions of the allies, constrained Gustavus to cease his successful offensive for a cautious holding of what he already had.
Wallenstein marched into Bohemia, the Saxons offering no resistance, and took Prague. He then moved to Bavaria and joined the Elector. ”

“ Cheap souls, to whom their honor, their good name
Is their poor saving, their last worthless Keep,
Which having stak'd and lost, they stake themselves
In the mad rage of gaming. Thou art rich,
And glorious; with an unpolluted heart
Thou canst make conquest of whate'er seems highest!
But he, who once hath acted infamy,
Does nothing more in this world.
WALLENSTEIN. (grasps his hand)
Calmly, Max!
Much that is great and excellent will we
Perform together yet. ”

“ In brief, 'tis sign'd and seal'd that this Octavio
Is my good angel—and now no word more.
(He is retiring.)
TERTSKY.
This is my comfort—Max. remains our hostage.
ILLO.
And he shall never stir from here alive.
WALLENSTEIN. (stops, and turns himself round)
Are ye not like the women, who for ever
Only recur to their first word, altho'
One had been talking reason by the hour?
Know, that the human being's thoughts and deeds
Are not, like ocean billows, blindly mov'd.
The inner world, his microcosmus, is
The deep shaft, out of which they spring eternally. ”

“ There serve here many foreigners in th' army,
And were the man in all else brave and gallant,
I was not wont to make nice scrutiny
After his pedigree or catechism.
This will be otherwise i'the time to come.
Well—me no longer it concerns.
⁠ (He seats himself.)
MAX. PICCOLOMINI.
Forbid it, Heaven, that it should come to this!
Our troops will swell in dreadful fermentation—
The Emperor is abus'd—it cannot be.
ISOLANI.
It cannot be; all goes to instant wreck.
WALLENSTEIN.
Thou hast said truly, faithful Isolani! ”

“ But however little confidence he had in the moderation of his friend, the extravagant contents of his writing surpassed even his worst expectations. Wallenstein required the uncontrolled command over all the German armies of Austria and Spain, with unlimited powers to reward and punish. Neither the King of Hungary, nor the Emperor himself, were to appear in the army, still less to exercise any act of authority over it. No commission in the army, no pension or letter of grace, was to be granted by the Emperor without Wallenstein's approval. ”

“ But Wallenstein had many enemies; and never has any man been hated by a greater variety of foes at once. All who were envious or jealous of him—all whom he had eclipsed and mortified, and whom he had dispossessed of lands; all whom he had offended by his own haughtiness; all foreigners, because he openly disliked them; all priests, because he secretly distrusted them;—these and his Protestant countrymen joined in common action against him, under the lead of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. ”

“ But the movements of Wallenstein's army soon led him to suspect that he himself was the object of attack; and the Duke's march through the Upper Palatinate placed the matter beyond a doubt. The question now was, how to provide for his own security, and the prize was no longer his supremacy but his very existence. His fertile genius must now supply the means, not of conquest, but of preservation. The approach of the enemy had surprised him before he had time to concentrate his troops, which were scattered all over Germany, or to summon his allies to his aid. ”

“ Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, Generalissimo of the Imperial Forces in the Thirty-years War.
Duchess of Friedland, Wife of Wallenstein.
Thekla, her Daughter, Princess of Friedland.
The Countess Tertsky, Sister of the Duchess.
Lady Neubrunn.
Octavio Piccolomini, Lieutenant General.
Max. Piccolomini, his Son, Colonel of a Regiment of Cuirassiers.
Count Tertsky, the Commander of federal Regiments, and Brother-in-law of Wallenstein.
Illo, Field Marshal, Wallenstein's Confidant. ”

“ Duke Friedland sentenc'd and condemned!
OCTAVIO.
Even so.
MAX. (throws down the paper) .
Oh, this is too much!—O unhappy error!
OCTAVIO.
Read on. Collect thyself.
MAX. (after he has read further, with a look
of affright and astonishment on his father) .
How!—what!—Thou!—thou!
OCTAVIO.
But for the present moment, till the King
Of Hungary may safely join the army,
Is the command assign'd to me.
MAX.
And think'st thou,
Dost thou believe, that thou wilt tear it from him?
Oh, never hope it!—Father! father! father!
An inauspicious office is enjoin'd thee. ”

“ To this proud subject of his, fresh from his dalliances with his enemies, the emperor now appealed for help. Wallenstein agreed to raise an army, provided his control of it should be absolute. Ferdinand was constrained to grant all that his old general demanded. Wallenstein now raised his standard, to which rallied the adventurers not only of Germany, but of all Europe as well. The array was a vast and heterogeneous host, bound together by no bonds of patriotism, loyalty, or convictions, but by the spell and prestige of the name of Wallenstein. ”

“ Yet, notwithstanding his superiority, he did nothing to fulfil his promise; and even let slip the opportunity of crushing his enemy when the latter had the hardihood to leave his lines to meet him. "Battles enough have been fought," was his answer to those who advised him to attack the King; "it is now time to try another method." Wallenstein's well-founded reputation required not any of those rash enterprises on which younger soldiers rush, in the hope of gaining a name. ”

“ While these feelings were gathering strength in Germany; while Wallenstein, with no friends, though many supporters, saw himself an object of jealousy or hatred to the leaders of every party throughout the empire; and while the suppressed but cherished indignation of all Protestant Germany was preparing for the emperor a dreadful day of reckoning, events were taking place in other countries which hurried on rapidly the dangers that Wallenstein had foreseen. In France, a weak king, and a powerful, politic, and relentless minister, appeared in undissembled hostility to the house of Austria ”

“ But to the point! The best is yet to come,
Attend now, Generals!
QUESTENBERG.
⁠The Prince Cardinal
Begins his route at the approach of spring
From the Milanese; and leads a Spanish army
Thro' Germany into the Netherlands.
That he may march secure and unimpeded,
'Tis th' Emperor's will, you grant him a detachment
Of eight horse-regiments from the army here.
WALLENSTEIN.
Yes, yes! I understand!—Eight regiments! Well,
Right well concerted, Father Lamormain!
Eight thousand horse! Yes, yes! 'Tis as it should be!
I see it coming.
QUESTENBERG.
⁠There is nothing coming. ”

“ Not from the Swedes, not from the Lutherans—
No! from his own troops to hide and hurry them!
MAX.
Cease, cease! thou tortur'st, shatter'st me. I know
That oft we tremble at an empty terror;
But the false phantasm brings a real misery.
OCTAVIO.
It is no phantasm. An intestine war,
Of all the most unnatural and cruel,
Will burst out into flames, if instantly
We do not fly and stifle it. The Generals
Are many of them long ago won over;
The subalterns are vacillating—whole
Regiments and garrisons are vacillating.
To foreigners our strong holds are entrusted ”

“ Wallenstein courted his friendship by restoring to him without ransom some of his attendants captured at Luetzen. The Duke was not ungrateful, and took a zealous part in the negotiations between Wallenstein and the Elector of Saxony, and Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar in January and February, 1634. On the night of Wallenstein's assassination he was arrested by Gordon and sent to Vienna, where he remained a year in imprisonment, but, at the expiration of that time, by embracing the Roman Catholic faith, obtained at once his freedom and a command in the Imperial army in Silesia. ”

“ It might yet be an easier thing from nothing
To call forth sixty thousand men of battle,
Than to persuade one sixtieth part of them—
WALLENSTEIN.
What now? Out with it, friend?
WRANGEL.
To break their oaths.
WALLENSTEIN.
And he thinks so?—He judges like a Swede,
And like a Protestant. You Lutherans
Fight for your Bible. You are int'rested
About the cause ”

“ Ruined churches, villages in ashes, harvests wilfully destroyed, families plundered, and murdered peasants, marked the progress of these barbarians, under whose scourge the whole of Thuringia, Vogtland, and Meissen, lay defenceless. Yet this was but the prelude to greater sufferings with which Wallenstein himself, at the head of the main army, threatened Saxony. After having left behind him fearful monuments of his fury, in his march through Franconia and Thuringia, he arrived with his whole army in the Circle of Leipzic, and compelled the city, after a short resistance, to surrender. ”