Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVII. Gustavus II. Adolphus. The German War. A.D. 1628—1632
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
2G4
Several German princes
join the king.
HISTORY OF THE SWEDES.
His embarrassments from
deficient supplies.
[IC2S—
Italians, formerly officers of WiiUenstein, who had
entered the service of Gustavus AtJolptius, were
detected in the camp at Stettin in a treasonable
plot against his per.son. He received warnings of
several such designs of assassination, instigated by
Jesuits; and wo find him transmitting to Sweden
directions that a watch should be kept over Jesuit
emissaries, who liad found opportunity to insinuate
themselves into his dominions ^. Tilly, general of
the League and of Bavaria, and now also of the
emperor, was still at a distance, but drawing nearer
to Lower Germany. In his way lay Magdeburg.
The dispossessed administrator of this see, Chris-
tian William, Margrave of Brandenburg, who had
already visited Gustavus Adolphus in Sweden ’, I’e-
paired on the intelligence of his landing to Mag-
deburg (wliose burgesses had taken up arms for
him), and forthwith declared publicly for the king,
who, although advising greater caution, yet pro-
mised him assistance, and sent him a subsidy for a
levy, witli a Swedish commander. Tiie adminis-
trator of Magdeburg was not the only German
prince who already declared publicly for Gustavus
Adolphus. Younger sons of Protestant reigning
houses joined the Swedish side from the first, while
the elder generally held with the emperor. So with
Francis Charles, duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, as after-
wards with his brother, Francis Albert ;
so with
^ He had received this last information from Holland.
To the Council of State, Stettin, July 31, 1630. Reg.
^ He was a youn<;er brother of the king’s father-in-law,
the deceased John Sigismund, elector of Brandenburg.
» His proffer was made shortly after the king’s airival.
Gustavus Adolphus communicates from Stettin (July 15,
1630) to Salvius the letters he had received from the duke,
who, he directs, may be advised to expel the enemy, no longer
very strong, from the territories of Brunswick. Reg.
’
Of the two brothers Adolphus Frederic and Jolin Albert
of Mecklenburg, the latter was married to Margaret Eliza-
beth, cousin of Gustavus Adolphus, and only child of Chris-
topher duke of Mecklenburg, by Elizabeth, youngest daugh-
ter of Gustavus I.
2 For the German war five different heads of the Swedisti
crown-funds were allocated. First, 429,145 Swedish dollars
(about £64,371) from rents and other revenues accruing from
land: II. A loan made on the king’s account, by the factor
Weiwitzer, of 202,781 rix-dollars specie (£45,625) : III.
1711 skeppunds copper, exported and sold in Hamburg by
Salvius : IV. 12,400 tuns grain, to be delivered in payment
of crown-lands sold : V, 3646 lasts (a last has 18 tuns) grain,
chiefly from Finland, by John Skytte. These supplies were
to be transmitted in certain instalments before the end of the
year, but the king complains that they did not come as had been
reckoned upon. July 31, he writes from Stettin to the coun-
cil of state :
" Ye know that since we left our kingdom we
have received therefrom not a penny, spite of all our injunc-
tions,
—and have here no contribution to expect, since we
must concede to the duke (of Pomerania) to remain as here-
tofore in respect of jurisdiction, state, and government.
Take order therefore for our supply, since the number of
heads grows daily." Again, Stettin, Sept. 3 :
" We have yet
received, notwithstanding all our orders and directions,
little or no assistance from Sweden. Now, although through
our occupation of tliis town we have some furtherance, our
outlay is yet so excessively large, that it goeth but a little
way, sinie every tenth day we require above 30,000 rix-dol-
lars (£6,250) for the sustentatioii of the infantry only." Reg.
for 1630.—To supply the deficiencies, recourse was had to
borrowing and anticipation (excolera crediten, Cultivating
credit, the king phrases it), or to such extraordinary means
as making the corn-trade a crown monopoly. Under such
circumstances, the value to the king of such a minister as
Oxenstiern,!, in spite of the difliculties of his own position in
George, duke of Brunswick Lunehurg, who, after
he had sought fortune in Denmark and with the
emperor, now tendered his services to Gustavus
Adolphus". Of the reigning houses, after the
Pomeranian, Hesse-Cassel was Sweden’s first ally,
as in the sequel Iter truest. Contrariwise, even the
expelled dukes of Mecklenburg, kinsmen of the
king ’, to whose families he had granted shelter in
Sweden, sought safety at the outset rather ifi the
emperor’s favour than in a league with the king,
although the restoration of these princes was one
of his first objects. It was indispensably necessary
for him to secure the Baltic coast before he ad-
vanced into Germany. All his steps to this end
were made with the greatest caution, a virtue he is
said to have more esteemed, in judging of military
affairs, than boldness. Yet was even his first plan
for the war so bold, that it must fill with astonish-
ment every one who knows intimately the daily
embarrassments in reference to means with which
he had to contend ’.
Gustavo Horn had brought him a considerable
reinforcement from Finland and Livonia. In his
letters to the chancellor, who commanded in Prus-
sia, he incessantly urges the sending of the troops
expected from that country, who, nevertheless, did
not arrive until late in the autumn. He left Horn
in Stettin to watch Conti, who had collected his
Prussia, is not to be described. Indefatigable activity, to
which hardly any thing was impossible, cemented the bond
that united these great men, otherwise so unlike. The king’s
remarkable letter to the chancellor, dated Golnou, Dec. 4,
1630, belongs to this period :
" I have received your advice
in respect to the conduct of the war lor tlie coming jear,"
—
writes the king,
—" and thence perceive your fidelity to myself
and the fatherland. He that survives will be a witness of
the success of our affairs, and posterity will celebrate your
fame. For this cause do well, and weary not in your labour
for my service and the realm’s, especially in putting in force
your opinion respecting the corn-trade. May God, on whom
we all rely, help us over the winter, for I promise mysell,
that by your . industry and care the summer will be made
easier. I would describe to you our position, but my hand,
which has become stiff from the tustie at Dirschau, does not
well allow it. Yet you may understand, that the enemy is
weak in infantry and cavalry both, but hath great advantage
in quarters, for all Germany is given over to him for prey.
I am collecting my people here on the Oder, and am of a
mind soon to engage. And though the cause be good and
righteous, yet is the issue, by reason of our sins, uncertain,
and so too is the life of man. Therefore do 1 eiliort and be-
seech you, for Christ’s sake, that if all go not as we wish, you
will not let your heart sink. My memory and the welfare af
mine commend to your best care, and deal so with them, as
I too will deal with you and yours, if I am spared, by God’s
will, so long as that I may be needed in such sort ; consider-
ing me as one that now, for twenty years, with much toil,
hut, praise be to God, with much honour, have stood for our
fatherland, have loved my country, and all its true indwel-
lers, honoured it, and for its renown have set at nought life,
goods, and good days ; who have sought no other treasure in
this world than to do the duties of my place to the lull. For
my sake, and if aught should happen to me, mine are, in
many respects, worthy to be pitied, of the weaker sex, the
mother without counsel, the daughter a tender girl ;
unhappy
if they themselves should rule, and in danger if others rule
over them. Natural affection (storge naturalis) extorts from
me these lines of the pen to you, who are an instrument
given to me from God, to accomplish many hard tilings. Y’’et
this, and life and soul, and all that He hath granted, I com-
mend to his holy power, hoping, undoubtingly, the best in
this world; and after this life peace, joy, and salvation. The
same I wish to you also in his good time."
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
