nsylvania.--Character of
Botskoi.--Confidence of the Protestants.--Superstition of Rhodolph.--His
Mystic Studies.--Acquirements of Matthias.--Schemes of Matthias.--His
Increasing Power.--Treaty with the Turks.--Demands on Rhodolph.--The
Compromise.--Perfidy of Matthias.--The Margravite.--Filibustering.--The
People's Diet.--A Hint to Royalty.--The Bloodless Triumph.--Demands of
the Germans.--Address of the Prince of Anhalt to the King.

Stephen Botskoi issued a spirited manifesto to his countrymen, urging
them to seek by force of arms that redress which they could obtain in no
other way. The Hungarians flocked in crowds to his standard. Many
soldiers deserted from the service of the emperor and joined the
insurrection. Botskoi soon found himself in possession of a force
sufficiently powerful to meet the Austrian troops in the field. The two
hostile armies soon met in the vicinity of Cassau. The imperial troops
were defeated with great slaughter, and the city of Cassau fell into the
hands of Botskoi; soon his victorious troops took several other
important fortresses. The inhabitants of Transylvania, encouraged by the
success of Botskoi, and detesting the imperial rule, also in great
numbers crowded his ranks and intreated him to march into Transylvania.
He promptly obeyed their summons. The misery of the Transylvanians was,
if possible, still greater than that of the Hungarians. Their country
presented but a wide expanse of ruin and starvation. Every aspect of
comfort and industry was obliterated. The famishing inhabitants were
compelled to use the most disgusting animals for food; and when these
were gone, in many cases they went to the grave-yard, in the frenzied
torments of hunger, and devoured the decaying bodies of the dead.
Pestilence followed in the train of these woes, and the land was filled
with the dying and the dead.

The Turks marched to the aid of Botskoi to expel the Austrians. Even the
sway of the Mussulman was preferable to that of the bigoted Rhodolph.
Hungary, Transylvania and Turkey united, and the detested Austrians were
driven out of Transylvania, and Botskoi, at the head of his victorious
army, and hailed by thousands as the deliverer of Transylvania, was
inaugurated prince of the province. He then returned to Hungary, where
an immense Turkish army received him, in the plains of Rahoz, with regal
honors. Here a throne was erected. The banners of the majestic host
fluttered in the breeze, and musi