ambition of Richelieu, who was not only desirous of getting possession of Brisac, but apprehended that his scheme of humbling the house of Austria might be defeated if the duke should close with the emperor's proposals. Puffendorf not only supports this opinion, but positively affirms that the duke was taken off by poison, and that his body had all the marks of it1.

His death was no sooner known, than a violent contest arose for the possession of his army. Endeavours were used by the Swedish agents in Germany to engage the officers and soldiers to join general Banier: the emperor took every measure

A.D.

in his power to draw them into his service, and regain 1640. possession of the places which the duke had conquered; and the prince Palatine, the re-establishment of whose family had been the chief cause of the war, attempted to gain them through the influence of England and Holland. But cardinal Richelieu ordered the prince to be arrested at Moulins on his return from London, and carried prisoner to the castle of Vincennes, where he was confined, till a treaty was concluded between France and the Weimarian officers. It was stipulated that the duke's soldiers should constitute a separate body, under the direction of the officers named in his will for that purpose; that the French king should keep this body always effective, by the payment of a certain annual sum for raising recruits; that he should continue to the principal officers the same appointments which they had enjoyed under the duke, furnish them with bread, ammunition, and all other necessaries of war, and ratify the several donations which Bernard had made to his officers and soldiers; that the troops should receive their orders from the duke of Longueville, through the medium of their own commanders, who should be summoned to all councils convened for the service of the common cause; that the conquered places should be put into the hands of the French king, who might at pleasure appoint governors for Brisac and Freyberg, but that the garrison should consist of an equal number of French and German soldiers, and the governors of the other places be chosen from the Weimarian army 2.

Comment. de Reb. Suec. lib. xi. sect. 39.

* Londorp. Act. Pub. vol. iv.-The duke of Saxe-Weimar was a soldier of fortune, and one of the generals formed under Gustavus. After the death of that monarch, and the destructive battle of Nordlingen, where the Swedish infantry were cut off almost to a man, he collected a German army which was properly his own, and which he supported partly by the practice of war, and partly by the subsidy that he received from France. Notwithstanding his immature death, and the defeat at Nordlingen, he may be ranked among the greatest modern commanders. Turenne always acknowledged him to have been his master in the military science.—Mém. de la Fare.

In consequence of this important negotiation, which rendered the king of France sovereign of almost all Alsace and a great part of Brisgaw, the duke of Longueville, with the Weimarian army, marechal Guebriant, with the French troops, and the troops of Lunenburg, commanded by general Klitzing, joined Banier at Erfurt. Nothing farther was necessary to insure success to the confederates beside unanimity; but that unfortunately did not attend their operations. All claiming superiority, none chose to be directed, as each entertained a high opinion of his own merit, and sought to display his judgment by proposing some new plan of operations; so that Banier found, that although he had increased his numbers, he had acquired little additional strength. Perhaps his real force might rather be said to be diminished, as he was no longer allowed to follow the suggestions of his own genius, and strike those unexpected blows which distinguish the consummate general.

After long debates, it was agreed to attack Piccolomini, the imperial general, in his camp at Saltzburg. With this view the confederates seized an eminence, whence they began a violent cannonading, and afterwards attacked the enemy's entrenchments sword in hand; but Piccolomini was so advantageously posted, that the attempt to force his camp was found impracticable. It was accordingly laid aside; and both armies continued in sight of each other, until scarcity began to reign in each camp. There seemed to be a kind of rivalry, who could longest endure the pressure of famine. But, on the side of the confederates, this inaction proceeded from irresolution, and a division of councils; whereas, on that of the Imperialists, it was dictated by a prudent caution. Weary of such languid delay, Banier set out for Franconia, in order to seize some advantageous post upon the Maine. But as he advanced toward the river Sala, he perceived that the enemy occupied the opposite bank. They were there so strongly entrenched that it was impossible for him to force a passage: he was therefore under the necessity of marching through the landgraviate of Hesse, where his army suffered greatly by famine.

Piccolomini now endeavoured to penetrate into Lunenburg; but Banier's diligence baffled all his efforts. He prevented the Imperialists from crossing the Weser, and refreshed his own army in that duchy, which had not yet been exhausted by the ravages of war. Pinched with famine, and harassed by the perpetual alarms of the Hessians, Piccolomini determined to

lead his forces into Franconia. But, on his march thither, he was attacked by the Weimarian army; and although not totally defeated, he could scarcely have suffered more by such a disaster'. It must, however, be considered as very honourable for that general, to have been able to make head against the combined forces of the confederates, and even to oblige them to quit the imperial dominions.

The house of Austria was less fortunate in other quarters, during the year 1640. The affairs of Philip IV. declined in Italy Catalonia revolted, and Portugal threw off the Spanish yoke. The Catalans were desirous of forming a republic, but, too feeble to support themselves against the power of a tyrannical master, they were obliged to throw themselves into the arms of France, and ultimately to submit to the dominion of Spain. The Portuguese were more successful in their struggle for independence. Inflamed with national animosity, and irritated by despotic rule, they had long sought to break their chains. A law to compel the nobility, under pain of the forfeiture of their estates, to take up arms for the subjection of Catalonia, completed the general disaffection; and other circumstances conspired to hasten a revolution. A plot had been in agitation above three years, in favour of the duke of Braganza, whose grandfather had been deprived of his right to the crown of Portugal by Philip II. The conspirators now resolved to carry their design into execution, and effected it with incredible facility. Olivarez had been so imprudent as to recall the Spanish garrison from Lisbon; very few troops were left in Portugal; the oppressed people were ripe for an insurrection; and the Spanish minister, to amuse the duke of Braganza, whose ruin he meditated, had given him the command of the arsenal. The duchess of Mantua, who had been honoured with the empty title of vice-queen, was driven out of the kingdom without a blow. Vosconcellos, the Spanish secretary, and one of his clerks, were the only victims sacrificed to public vengeance. All the towns in Portugal followed the example of the capital, and almost on the same day. The duke of Braganza was unanimously proclaimed king, under the name of John IV. A son does not succeed more quietly to the possessions of his father in a wellregulated state. Ships were immediately dispatched from Lisbon to all the Portuguese settlements in Asia and Africa, as well as to those in the islands of the eastern and western ocean;

1 Puffend, lib. xii.-Barre, tome ix.

and they all, with one accord, expelled their Spanish governors'. Portugal became again an independent kingdom; and by the recovery of Brasil, which, during the Spanish administration, had been conquered by the Dutch, its former lustre was in some measure restored.

While all Europe rang with the news of this singular revolution, Philip IV., shut up in the inmost recesses of the Escurial, lost in the delirium of licentious pleasure, or bewildered in the maze of idle amusement, was utterly ignorant of it. The manner in which Olivarez made him acquainted with his misfortune is truly memorable. "I come," said that artful minister, "to communicate good news to your majesty; the whole fortune of the duke of Braganza is become yours. He has been so presumptuous as to get himself declared king of Portugal; and in consequence of this folly, your majesty is entitled to the forfeiture of all his estates."-" Let the sequestration be ordered!" replied Philip, and continued his dissipations'.

The emperor Ferdinand III. was of a less patient, or rather of a less indolent temper. He had convoked a diet at Ratisbon to concert measures for carrying on the war, though he pretended to be desirous of peace. Banier formed the design of dispersing this assembly, and even of surprising the city. Having joined the French army under Guebriant at Erfurt, he soon arrived at A.D. Hoff, and detaching thence five regiments of cavalry to 1641. Egra, under the command of major-general Wittemberg, who had orders to join the army at Porew, he advanced to Auerbach. The confederates then proceeded to Schwendorff, crossed the Danube upon the ice, and captured above fifteen hundred of the enemy's horse. The emperor himself, who intended to devote that day to the chase, narrowly escaped being made priHis advanced guard and equipage were taken.

soner.

The approach of the French and Swedish armies filled Ratisbon with consternation, as it was utterly unprovided against a siege, and full of strangers and suspected persons. The design of the confederates was to take advantage of the frost, in order to block up and starve the town; but the weather unexpectedly becoming more mild, it was resolved to repass the Danube, before the ice should be thawed. Banier, however, would not retire before he had made an attempt to dissolve the diet. With that view he approached Ratisbon; and Guebriant, who commanded the an

1 Vertot, Hist. des Révolut. de Portugal.

2 Anecdotes du Duc d'Olivarez.

guard, placing his artillery on the banks of the Regen, which ran between the town and the confederates, saluted the emperor with five hundred shot; an insult which stung Ferdinand so keenly, that he seemed bereft of all the powers of reason and recollection.

During the deliberations of the diet, the counts D'Avaux and Salvius, the plenipotentiaries of France and Sweden, were negotiating at Hamburg the preliminaries of a general peace with Lutzau, one of Ferdinand's aulic counsellors. After certain difficulties had been removed, it was agreed by these celebrated statesmen, that a congress for a general peace should be holden at Munster and Osnabrug, the garrisons of which should march out; that the inhabitants should be released from their oath of allegiance to either party, and observe a strict neutrality during the time of negotiation; that both towns should be guarded by their own burghers and soldiers, commanded by the magistrates, who should be accountable for the effects, persons, and attendants of the negotiators; that the two conferences should be considered as only one congress, and the roads between the two cities be safe for all; that if the negotiation should be interrupted before a treaty could be concluded, Munster and Osnabrug should return to the same situation in which they were before the congress, but that the neutrality should be observed six weeks after the conferences were broken off; that all the safe conducts on each side should be exchanged at Hamburg, through the mediation of the Danish ambassador, within two months after the date of the agreement; that the emperor and king of Spain should grant safe-conducts to the ministers of France, Sweden, and their allies in Germany and elsewhere, and receive the same security from his Most Christian majesty: and that the Swedish court should grant safe-conducts to the emperor's plenipotentiaries, as well as to those of the electors of Mentz and Brandenburg'. It was farther agreed, that France should treat at Munster, and Sweden at Osnabrug; and that each crown should have a secretary where the other's plenipotentiary was, in order to communicate their mutual resolutions.

The emperor refused to ratify this convention, which he said was prejudicial to his honour, as well as to the interests of the Germanic body; and some unexpected events, injurious to the cause of the confederates, confirmed him in his resolution of continuing the war. After the ineffectual attempt upon Ratisbon,

VOL. II.

Du Mont, Corps Diplomat. tome vi.

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