the field; with this force, which might be increased by Spanish aid, the war-party hoped the more readily to succeed, as they set a low estimate upon the enemy’s power of resistance.
Ferdinand and his friends who favored war so far prevailed that they persuaded the Emperor, without waiting for Khuen’s return, to publish a manifesto promising to observe the Royal Charter as hitherto, and threatening punishment to all who should not return to quiet. As the manifesto thus utterly disregarded the as yet unknown counsel of Khuen, so the effect of the publication of this latter was to throw oil into the fire. But even when Khuen returned and reported what he had learned, the Emperor, evidently influenced by Ferdinand, did not fall in with his envoy’s advice, but sent another letter to the Directors which repeated substantially the contents of the manifesto. When, therefore, on the 25th of June, the Bohemian Diet came together in Prague for a new session, and the imperial letter was read, there showed itself no sign of peaceful feeling. The Estates approved the war preparations which had been ordered, and justified their necessity in a letter to the Emperor, which contained not a word indicating a wish for adjustment.
As the contending parties came no nearer together, and the preparations for war were vigorously carried on in Bohemia, Ferdinand desired that this should be done also in Vienna; but his warnings were not heeded as they deserved and as had been intimated in the manifestoes sent to Bohemia. Indignation now seized all the partisans of the imperial house. Count Oñate [Onyate], the Spanish ambassador, gave utterance to this in a memorial which he handed to the Emperor, and in which he urged
