same moment, to cooperate against a foe so able,
so determined and so powerful.

Matters being thus essentially arranged, the States of Lower Saxony, who
were to take the lead, held a meeting at Segeberg on the 25th of March,
1625. They formed a league for the preservation of their religion and
liberties, settled the amount of money and men which each of the
contracting parties was to furnish, and chose Christian IV., King of
Denmark, their leader. The emperor had for some time suspected that a
confederacy was in the process of formation, and had kept a watchful eye
upon every movement. The vail was now laid aside, and Christian IV.
issued a proclamation, stating the reasons why they had taken up arms
against the emperor. This was the signal for a blaze of war, which
wrapped all northern Europe in a wide conflagration. Victory ebbed and
flowed. Bohemia, Hungary, Denmark, Austria--all the States of the
empire, were swept and devastated by pursuing and retreating armies. But
gradually the emperor gained. First he overwhelmed all opposition in
Lower Saxony, and riveting anew the shackles of despotism, rewarded his
followers with the spoils of the vanquished. Then he silenced every
murmur in Austria, so that no foe dared lift up the voice or peep. Then
he poured his legions into Hungary, swept back the tide of victory which
had been following the Hungarian banners, and struck blow after blow,
until Gabriel Bethlehem was compelled to cry for peace and mercy.
Bohemia, previously disarmed and impoverished, was speedily struck down.

And now the emperor turned his energies against the panic-stricken King
of Denmark. He pursued him from fortress to fortress; attacked him in
the open field, and beat him; attacked him behind his intrenchments, and
drove him from them through the valleys, and over the hills, across
rivers, and into forests; bombarded his cities, plundered his provinces,
shot down his subjects, till the king, reduced almost to the last
extremity, implored peace. The emperor repelled his advances with scorn,
demanding conditions of debasement more to be dreaded than death. The
King of Denmark fled to the isles of the Baltic. Ferdinand took
possession of the shores of this northern sea, and immediately commenced
with vigor creating a fleet, that he might have sea as well as land
forces, that he might pursue the Danish monarch over the water, and that
he might more effectually punish Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. He ha