f the campaign was
thus frustrated. Magazines, at great expense, had been established, and
arrangements made for floating the heavy baggage down the stream. Now
the troops were to march through morasses and over mountains, without
suitable baggage wagons, and with no means of supplying themselves with
provisions in so hostile and inhospitable a country.

But the command of the emperor was not to be disobeyed. For twenty-eight
days they toiled along, encountering innumerable impediments, many
perishing by the way, until they arrived, in a state of extreme
exhaustion and destitution, before the walls of Nissa. Fortunately the
city was entirely unprepared for an attack, which had not been at all
anticipated, and the garrison speedily surrendered. Here Seckendorf,
having dispatched parties to seize the neighboring fortress, and the
passes of the mountains, waited for further orders from Vienna. The army
were so dissatisfied with their position and their hardships, that they
at last almost rose in mutiny, and Seckendorf, having accomplished
nothing of any moment, was compelled to retrace his steps to the banks
of the Danube, where he arrived on the 16th of October. Thus the
campaign was a total failure.

Bitter complaints were uttered both by the army and the nation. The
emperor, with the characteristic injustice of an ignoble mind,
attributed the unfortunate campaign to the incapacity of Seckendorf,
whose judicious plans he had so ruthlessly thwarted. The heroic general
was immediately disgraced and recalled, and the command of the army
given to General Philippi. The friends of General Seckendorf, aware of
his peril, urged him to seek safety in flight. But he, emboldened by
conscious innocence, obeyed the imperial commands and repaired to
Vienna. Seckendorf was a Protestant. His appointment to the supreme
command gave great offense to the Catholics, and the priests, from their
pulpits, inveighed loudly against him as a heretic, whom God could not
bless. They arraigned his appointment as impious, and declared that, in
consequence, nothing was to be expected but divine indignation.
Immediately upon his arrival in Vienna the emperor ordered his arrest. A
strong guard was placed over him, in his own house, and articles of
impeachment were drawn up against him. His doom was sealed. Every
misadventure was attributed to negligence, cupidity or treachery. He
could offer no defense which would be of any avail, for he was not
permi