and tiresome, and it would be profitless for our purposes to go into their details. It is enough to say that the people of Waldshut speedily learned from Austria that before they would be left in peace they must return fully to the Catholic religion and submit to whatever other exactions that Government chose to impose. The truth is, that the city was in a condition of political as well as religious unrest and revolt; of this Austria was fully conscious, and was determined to reduce the town to submission. On the other hand, the citizens desired such liberties and immunities as the neighbouring Swiss towns possessed, such as were enjoyed by the free cities of the Empire, and they would be satisfied with nothing less. But as Austria was determined to grant nothing of the kind, it is evident that here were all the conditions of an irrepressible conflict, the issue of which could only be decided finally by the sword.
The strife seemed an unequal one—on the one side all the power of Austria, on the other, this small town. But Waldshut knew that she did not stand alone. The fact that she had entered on a reformation similar in spirit and method to that of
