It
was, however, only his intention to gain time till he could secure the
cooeperation of the pope, and other Catholic princes. The Protestants,
however, were not to be thus deluded. As unmindful of his protestations
as they had been of his menaces, they proceeded resolutely in
establishing an energetic organization for the defense of their civil
and religious rights. They decreed the levying of an army, and appointed
three of the most distinguished nobles as generals. The decree was
hardly passed before it was carried into execution, and an army of three
thousand foot soldiers, and two thousand horsemen was assembled as by
magic, and their numbers were daily increasing.
Rhodolph, still cloistered in his palace, looked with amazement upon
this rising storm. He had no longer energy for any decisive action. With
mulish obstinacy he would concede nothing, neither had he force of
character to marshal any decisive resistance. But at last he saw that
the hand of Matthias was also in the movement; that his ambitious,
unrelenting brother was cooperating with his foes, and would inevitably
hurl him from the throne of Bohemia, as he had already done from the
kingdom of Hungary and from the dukedom of Austria.
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