to maintain the decrees of
the council of Trent, whatever they might be.

The emperor had now apparently attained all his ends. He had crushed the
Protestant league, vanquished the Protestant princes, subjected the pope
to his will, arranged religious matters according to his views, and had
now assembled a subservient council to ratify and confirm all he had
done. But with this success he had become arrogant, implacable and
cruel. His friends had become alienated and his enemies exasperated.
Even the most rigorous Catholics were alarmed at his assumptions, and
the pope was humiliated by his haughty bearing.

Charles assembled a diet of the States of the empire at Augsburg, the
26th of July, 1550. He entered the city with the pomp and the pride of a
conqueror, and with such an array of military force as to awe the States
into compliance with his wishes. He then demanded of all the States of
the empire an agreement that they would enforce, in all their dominions
the decrees of the council of Trent, which council was soon to be
convened. There is sublimity in the energy with which this monarch
moved, step by step, toward the accomplishment of his plans. He seemed
to leave no chance for failure. The members of the diet were as
obsequious as spaniels to their imperious master, and watched his
countenance to learn when they were to say yes, and when no.

In one thing only he failed. He wished to have his son Philip elected as
his successor on the imperial throne. His brother Ferdinand opposed him
in this ambitious plan, and thus emboldened the diet to declare that
while the emperor was living it was illegal to choose his successor, as
it tended to render the imperial crown hereditary. The emperor,
sagacious as he was domineering, waived the prosecution of his plan for
the present, preparing to resume it when he had punished and paralyzed
those who opposed.

The emperor had deposed Frederic the Elector of Saxony, and placed over
his dominions, Maurice, a nephew of the deposed elector. Maurice had
married a daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel. He was a man of
commanding abilities, and as shrewd, sagacious and ambitious as the
emperor himself. He had been strongly inclined to the Lutheran
doctrines, but had been bought over to espouse the cause of Charles V.
by the brilliant offer of the territories of Saxony. Maurice, as he saw
blow after blow falling upon his former friends; one prince after
another ejected from his