He could have done this without much
difficulty; but absorbed in his hostility to Protestantism, he merely
sent sufficient troops to Hungary to keep the country in a constant
state of warfare. He filled every important governmental post in Hungary
with Catholics and foreigners. To all the complaints of the Hungarians
he turned a deaf ear; and his own Austrian troops frequently rivaled the
Turks in devastation and pillage. At the same time he issued the most
intolerant edicts, depriving the Protestants of all their rights, and
endeavoring to force the Roman Catholic religion upon the community.
He allowed, and even encouraged, his rapacious generals to insult and
defraud the Protestant Hungarian nobles, seizing their castles,
confiscating their estates and driving them into exile. This oppression
at last became unendurable. The people were driven to despair. One of
the most illustrious nobles of Hungary, a magnate of great wealth and
distinction, Stephen Botskoi, repaired to Prague to inform the emperor
of the deplorable state of Hungary and to seek redress. He was treated
with the utmost indignity; was detained for hours in the ante-chamber of
the emperor, where he encountered the most cutting insults from the
minions of the court.
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