At length the troops of Ferdinand, defeated
at every point, were compelled to retreat in shame back to Austria,
leaving all Bohemia in the hands of the Protestants.
Ferdinand was now in trouble and disgrace. His plans had signally
failed. The Protestants all over Germany were in arms, and their spirits
roused to the highest pitch; many of the moderate Catholics refused to
march against them, declaring that the Protestants were right in
resisting such oppression. They feared Ferdinand, and were apprehensive
that his despotic temper, commencing with religious intolerance, would
terminate in civil tyranny. It was evident to all that the Protestants
could not be put down by force of arms, and even Ferdinand was so
intensely humiliated that he was constrained to assent to the proposal
which Matthias made to refer their difficulty to arbitration. Four
princes were selected as the referees--the Electors of Mentz, Bavaria,
Saxony and Palatine. They were to meet at Egra the 14th of April, 1619.
But Matthias, the victim of disappointment and grief, was now rapidly
approaching his end. The palace at Vienna was shrouded in gloom, and no
smiles were seen there, and no sounds of joy were heard in those regal
saloons.
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