o attack him, then
marched with all haste to the Lech and advanced against Landsberg, which
they took by assault. In the city were the principal magazines of the
Imperialist army, and the allies, finding sufficient provisions there to
last for six months, encamped round the city and decided to winter there
unless attacked, in the meantime sending out bodies of cavalry, which
levied contributions up to the very gates of Munich. Leopold, thus
deprived of his magazines, retired with the Austrian contingent, and the
Bavarians returned home.

The Duke of Bavaria, finding that his whole dominions would be captured
unless he made terms, therefore opened negotiations, and on the 14th of
March, 1646, peace was signed, the terms being that he should separate
himself entirely from the empire and deliver five of his fortresses to
the allies, who would thus, should he again break his word, have means
of access into his dominions. The allied forces were now in a condition
to march upon Vienna. They had during the winter plundered a large
portion of Bavaria; they and their horses had recovered from their
fatigue, and their force now amounted to fourteen thousand foot and
twenty thousand horse. At this moment, when the Imperialists believed
that all was lost, for without the assistance of Bavaria they could put
no army in the field that could hope to make head against the allies,
Mazarin interposed and saved Austria from destruction.

The Catholic powers had long been privately urging upon him the danger
that would arise should Austria be crushed. The Swedes would acquire
very large accessions of territory, the Protestant German princes, their
allies, would similarly benefit, and Protestantism would become the
dominant religion in Germany. Such would, indeed, have undoubtedly been
the case had the allies marched to Vienna and dictated terms of peace
there. An order was therefore sent to Turenne to march with his army to
Flanders, where the Spaniards were gaining great advantages, as Enghien,
now become Prince of Conde by the death of his father, had been sent
into Catalonia with the greater portion of his army. Turenne, foreseeing
that his German regiments would refuse to march to Flanders, leaving
their own country open to invasion and plunder by the Imperialists,
warmly opposed the plan, and sent messenger after messenger to the
cardinal urging him to countermand the order. The friends of Bavaria and
the Catholic princes urged stron