feld's barbaric
system of supporting his soldiers by plunder. The Emperor Ferdinand had
but few troops of his own, and they were needed for quelling rebellion
within his personal domains. 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. If I have thirty thousand, we
can take what we like."

The answer makes plain his whole system. His troops supported and paid
themselves at the expense of the neighborhood where they were quartered.
If it was a district which upheld the Emperor they took "contributions
to the necessity of the empire." If the land opposed him, no polite
words were needed to justify its pillage. Within three months
Wallenstein had nearly fifty thousand men under his standard, drawn to
him by the tempting offers of plunder that his agents held out. If the
war had been terrible before, imagine the awful phase it now assumed,
and the blighting curse that fell upon unhappy Germany!

Modern justice can find little to choose thereafter between the methods
of the opposing armies. We speak, therefore, only of the martial genius
which Wallenstein displayed. He completely outmanoeuvred Mansfeld,
defeated him, and drove him to flight and death. Then Wallenstein and
Tilly proceeded to destroy the high military reputation of the Danish
King. He was overcome in battle after battle, and his land so completely
devastated that he prayed for peace on any terms.

Peace seemed indeed at hand. The remaining Lutheran states of Saxony and
Brandenburg, which had been neutral and were as yet almost unharmed,
dared not interfere. The Emperor Ferdinand might have arranged
everything as he chose had he used his power with moderation. But his
hopes had grown with his fortunes, and he seems to have planned the
establishment of such an absolute power over Germany as had been the aim
of his ancestor, Charles V. Ferdinand passed laws and gave decrees,
without any pretence of calling a council or se