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256 Danger of Stralsutid.
Design for its relief.
HISTORY OF THE SWEDES. Besieged by the Imperialists.
Alliance wltli the town. [1628—
The king of Spain now remits 200,000 crowns for
the maintenance of twenty-five ships of war. The
emperor requests it most prcssingly. I hope yet
to seek them in their islands, for as to the Swede, I
fear him not a jot ’." Simulated contempt and real
dread of Gustavus Adolphus alternate in these
letters of Wallenstein. In the end the latter feel-
ing attains the ascendant, and expresses itself in
the most victlent projects. While he continues the
negotiations opened with Gustavus Adolphus, he
gives incessant commands to Arnheim to have the
Swedish fleet burned. It is uncertain whether the
great reward of 35,000 dollars, which he secretly
promises as the price of an obscure but dangerous
scheme m Sweden, had reference to the fleet or
to the king’s person. In Gustavus Adolphus he
foresees his most formidable foe, and takes counsel
of the stars respecting that monarch’s fortunes*.
Stralsund was the key of the Baltic; and it is
said that Wallenstein had sworn to make himself
master of this fortress even if it were bound with
cliains to heaven. Stralsund, in the emperor’s
hand, was the turning-point of the career of Gus-
tavus Adolphus; for Stralsund he cast himself into
the German war. Already in 1625 he assured the
town that if it should be reduced to any straits he
would be well inclined to its relief. In the now
threatening prospect of danger he repeats the same
assurance ’, but at first hesitates respecting the
manner of its execution. " We have sent the
count of Solms to Denmark," he writes to the
chancellor, March 29, KJ28,
" to represent to the
king, how highly it interests Denmark as well as
Sweden that Stralsund fall not into the emperor’s
hands. Alone we cannot midertake this matter,
how gladly soever we would. But the means of
the king of Denmark are small, and the business
weighty. We have maturely considered it. We
could thereby divert Wallenstein’s army from the
Prussian frontiers. We would thus come Ukewise
so close to the Imperialists, that our own state and
the borders of our land might be wholly freed from
German military. From Stralsund we could sup-
port Denmark, and there keep our fleet together,
in case any danger should appear likely from the
North Sea, where, as we hear, the enemy makes
great preparations, and has seized above thirty
merchant vessels to be converted into war ships,
and might be expected easily against harvest. We
might also use the time, while the towns are hesi-
tating, ere desperation throws them into the hands
of the emperor. On the other hand, it strikes us
on the face, that for this work a considerable army
i§ required, which, since on the spot there are no
means, must be supported by help of ready money,
a thing impossible for us. Herein to rely upon the
other towns is not advisable, for they oppo.se the
emperor precisely because they will disburse no
money. It is likewise uncertain whether the towns
would consent that a foreign prince should come to
8
Wallenstein’s Letters, by Fbrster. Berlin, 1828, i. 155.
168. 267.
9 Forster’s Wallenstein, 106, 107.
’
Hallenberg, v. 33y.
2 A letter from a burgher of Stralsund, named Joachim
Rhodes, to Ake Axelson (Natt och Dag), was the first in-
duction to this. The king commissions this person, by
letter dated Ulfvesund, Feb. 8, 1628, to attest his readiness
to come to the aid of the town. Reg.
3 It arrived May 17, as did on the 31st a new present from
their relief, especially as no man requests this from
us. Therefore we have resolved to allow this mat-
ter to rest for some time."
Howbeit, the king lost not sight of it for a mo-
ment; and when Stralsund besieged solicited powder
from Dantzic, which, in consequence of a PoHsh
prohibition, was refused, he availed himself of the
occasion to send to the town a freight of powder ^,
with a friendly letter to the burgomasters and coun-
cil. His envoy, George Borchardt, who had a
secret commission to proffer the assistance of Swe-
den *, was accompanied back by the deputies of
Stralsund, who were presented to the king May 30,
1628, in the camp on the Vistula. He writes on
this subject to the comicil of state: " The deputies
of Stralsund have stated to us how pitiably they
were this winter treated bj’ the Imperialists, who
had sought by wiles and menaces to become mas-
ters of the town and haven, in order afterward to
disquiet the whole Baltic with a fleet constructed
there, to reduce under Popish thraldom the neigh-
bouring dominions and towns, and here to break
through old alliances by false practices. Herein
they went so far, that colonel Arnheim (who is said
to have been made field-marshal), without any in-
quiry, had beleaguered the town on all sides ;
and
although the duke of Pomerania, with the towns of
Hamburg and Lubeck, interposed, tendered such
conditions as were more grievous than death. In
this great danger Stralsund hath repaired to us,
who were in doubt what to resolve, foreseeing
danger on one side if the leaguists were to occupy
such a port on the Baltic, and the certain war
which impends over Sweden after the fall of Stral-
sund ;
but considering on the other the Polish war
and the difficulties which here are urgent. At last
we have of two evils chosen the lesser. We will
not allow Stralsund to lapse to the emperor if we
can prevent it. Therewith were Denmark and the
Sound lost, and then would come Sweden’s turn,
although the danger might for some time be
averted. How might then our fleet suffice to keep
free the coasts of Sweden, Finland, and Livonia ?
Besides the emperor hath already a year ago rein-
forced the king of Poland against ua •’’,
obstructed
peace and truce, and seeks now all means to avert
the war from himself and to keep it here in action.
We have therefore sent to the relief of Stralsund
600 foot and a quantity of ammunition, under
colonel Fritz Rosladin, as we hear that they are in
want of able men and captains, as also the vice-ad-
miral, Claes Fleming, to make accord with the coun-
cil and burgesses of Stralsvmd ^." There an alliance
was concluded, June 25, 1628, between Stralsund
and Sweden, remarkable for the expressions in the
third article,
" the town of Stralsmid shall belong
henceforward for ever to the king and crown of
Sweden." These words, certainly not employed on
the Swedish side without design, were declared by
the king, consisting of one hundred tons of powder, six can-
non, one hundred oxen. Neubur, 1. c. 13.
• In his instructions (Register, May 8, 1628), it is re-
marked that Borchardt was only to have them to read, but
should nut take them with him in writing. If he were taken
by the Imperialists, he was to protest that the king did not
know himself to be in any open hostility to the emperor.
’
Namely, with an auxiliary corps of four thousand men,
which was then sent to support Sigismund, under the com-
mand of the duke of HoLstein.
«
Marienburg, June 12, 1628. Reg.
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