is reply
was also made, when the Council of Bern, in contrast with the sluggish
leaders of her army, referred the mediators, sent from Solothurn,
Appenzell and Neunburg, to Zurich with the declaration that without her
consent their could be no talk of peace: "It shall never be forgotten,
but told to our children and children's children." Her town-clerk was
authorized, the very day after the battle on the Gubel, to inform the
soldiers on the Italian frontiers: "We are ready to pledge hide and fur
and all that God has given us, not to abandon the field, till the
religious rights of the bailiwicks are secured." Word was sent to the
camp at Baar: "We wish to know what happened at the defeat on the
mountain, who was to blame and who was innocent. You should remember
every day the disgrace of our city of Zurich and seek means to recover
our lost honor." Continually and repeatedly were the Bernese captains
and the government exhorted to prosecute the war with greater vigor;
and when the latter, in order to justify her irresolution, referred to
the armed preparations on the Rhine and on her western borders, against
which she was obliged to guard, when she communicated the fact that the
Archduke Ferdinand had, immediately after receiving the news of the
disaster at Cappel, sat more than half a day in council and, leaving
the Imperial Diet, ridden off to Inspruck, the indignant reply was
made. "We can get nothing more out of it than this, that all our
friends are on the other side of the Rhine, and your reports and ours
in no wise agree; and since these things are not half so dreadful as
represented to you, we beg you not to be frightened at such bug-bears,
but come manfully to our aid." The _Landgrave_ of Hesse, who had
offered money and a thousand men, and the Duke of Wuertemberg, who had
placed at their disposal all his heavy guns at Hohentwiel, were warmly
thanked; but as there was less lack of men than of concord in the camp,
it was resolved to decline this foreign assistance, which could
scarcely have been used.

In the camp itself undoubtedly lay the chief causes of the crippled
condition of affairs, the confusion and the unfortunate results. Not
only did a continual strife prevail between the Bernese and Zurichan
commanders, but the latter stood isolated among his own people. He
himself felt that he had lost the confidence of his troops, and
although he could point to undeniable proofs of his bravery in Italy,
and of his