THE EVAPORATION OF THE APPLE of Palaestine That is The Sifting of the Answeres and Rescripts lately given in the Cause of the Restitution of the Palatinate Together With a briefe Demonstration of the Nullities of the clandestine dispositions by which the Electourship and the Palatinate hath beene transferred on the House of Bavaria Translated out of Latine LONDON Printed by A G. for Ioyce Norton and Richard Whitaker And are to be sold at the Kings Aâ—mâ—s iâ— Pauls Church-yard M.DC.XXXVII TO THE MOST HIGH and MIGHTIE PRINCE Charles Lodowicke Count Palatine of the Rhine Archidapifer and Prince Electour of the Sacred Empire Duke of Bavaria c. THis amongst other reasons Most Illustrious Prince which prevailed with mee for the publication of this booke was the prime and principall that I might give notice to the whole world and to them who either out of ignorance or affection will not judge aright of the truth of things that the cause why that same solemne Ambassage which the most incomparable Peere THOMAS HOVVARD Earle of Arundell and Surry lately performed in Germany for the restitution of peace and of the Palatinate both with one commission to bee dispatched came not to a happy conclusion was neither in the most renowned King CHARLES Your Vncle nor in Your selfe but in those onely who upon honest conditions and demands would not suffer any thing that is moderate and of it selfe equall and just to bee obtained For Your part the mindes of all that were any way interessed in You were ready and willing to accept of any tolerable conditions But of the other side such things were prescribed and exacted as neither with honour and safety nor with conscience and the good of the Common-wealth could either bee granted or submitted unto as it is evident by the publike Acts and which we have shewed in this Enodation That which concerned mee in this businesse I hope and that not without some diligence I have discharged that is to say with our penne style writing as much as our ability would permit We doe vindicate and maintaine both the justice of Your cause and the innocency of Your person and exhibite to the world how great injustice is done to Your selfe and Kindred It is Your duty now since You have assaied all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faire meanes and Your honest endeavours have beene frustrated that You advise of other remedies and embrace such instruments as You may by just armes recover and wrest from those unjust usurpers and possessours that which by violent force they have extorted from You. But that neither the power and fortune of Your adversaries nor the diffidence of Your owne abilities nor the warres proving for the most part unfortunate to King Fredericke Your Father and his Allies should either deterre procrastinate or make You timorous Tu ne cede malis sed contrâ audentior ito To evils doe not you give way But forward goe with vertues sway The felicitie of Your adversaries is so much the more slippery by how much the higher it is ascended it is come to its height and now stands tottering by and by ready to fall with his branches if but once shaken with some sudden violence of the North South-wind Things of moment are ruined in a moment and the dubious fortune of that injurious and ingratefull House is wheeled about It will not long retaine those things which by violence fraud and injustice it hath detained from Thee Quem Dies vidit veniens superbum Hunc Dies vidit fugiens jacentem Whom the Sun rising saw in honours place Him the Sun setting saw in great disgrace Goe forward then most Illustrious Prince bee bold confident adventure to the utmost You shall have God and the winds to second your Sailes with a prosperous gale A small Army guided with Councell and true valour have many times subdued great forces How often have a little Company by marching forward and adventuring in warlike affaires got the victory of a mighty hoste A Cane non magno saepe tenetur Aper Not seldome times in open Field By little Dogge great Boare is held Even small Creatures have procured danger and destruction to greatest beasts Your cause is good and You shall have Armes that will maintaine Your cause The revenge of cruelty and injustice doth pursue your enemies put on persist if that the Land denies a way let the Sea prepare your passage to them by perverting and preventing said that great King by turning aside and by going forward are battailes wonne The first preparations of warre are somewhat difficult but once gone into the field You shall have Councels Associates Companions Souldiers A small Band under the conduct of a couragious and valiant Leader in time will encrease to a great Army Observe the occasions and moments of times actions and men as they offer themselves and thinke upon them If You will associate Your selfe with any of Your friends that doe warre with You You shall be a most welcome Companion and receive sociable assistance from them The experience of many ages and the Annales doe testifie that in the beginning all warres almost have gone against them to whom of right the victory appertained but in the end the better cause have alwaies triumphed and prevailed Fortune is not without its returne shee hath a long while favoured Your adversaries and forsaken you now the wheele is turned shee may forsake them and follow You. But whether am I carried These things are not for this place and time Onely the God of Heaven make and keepe You most Illustrious Prince flourishing and in safety and prosper all Your Councells and designes to Your hearts desire From the Vbij the Nones of March 1637. VOLRADUS a TRUBACN To the Courteous Reader AS he who afarre off beholds Brasse or Tinne cannot easily distinguish the one from Silver or the other from Gold unlesse hee comes neere them And as to one having the crystalline humors of his eyes darkened or using spectacles the object beheld appeares lesser or greater than in trueth it is So for the most part those which are possessed with an over-weaning opinion and conceit or led away by ignorance or a false perswasion or stirred up with a troublous passion or sudden motion of the mind examine things sleightly not prying into the more hidden secrets of the matter and touching onely as I may so speake the shell but not at all attaining the kernell they judge and determine farre otherwise of mens actions counsells intentions opinions words and writings than is lawfull and agreeable to trueth That fatall Palatine Cause so generally knowne through the whole world affords a notable and lively example hereof Cui non dictus Hylas Where is the man to whom this sad newes hath not beene related But who I beseech you amongst so many thousands doth at this present sincerely and faithfully and uprightly judge thereof who among so many doth well know and understand it For who
and his Letters of Investiture and a little after n. 175 nothing is granted provisionally and for time of life no title is reserved for the Duke of Newburg and n. 182. For the Electorate Palatine was by the meere good will and arbitrement of the Emperour other great and most just causes moving him to it tranâ—ferred upon the Duke of Bavaria and his Noble Family without respect or mention of his expence in warre and n. 184. the matter by the space of two yeeres and more being throughly scanned examined and advised of hee began to translate it upon Maximilian the Duke of Bavaria and his Family n. 188. that so Iustice dipsosing it the Electorall dignity raked out of the Ashes againe might returne to that Family to which of old it did belong though contrary to right law and covenants confirmed by oath it was taken from it n. 190. of the Electorate Palatine by reason of the most haynous crime of rebellion committed and perpetrated by the proscribed Fredericke fully devolved to him and justly and lawfully translated to the Duke of Bavaria and his family But what needes many words Have we not heard sufficiently already that the Emperour doth no longer deny but openly and publikely professe in the hearing of all the world that he hath given conferred and by Investiture delivered the Palatine Septemvirate to Duke Maximilian and the whole Bavarian Line This Act indeed was not long knowne among the Commons Before the publication of the Articles of Prague no man ever heard of it unlesse perhaps either by divination suspition or conjecture he did smell it out But these things as all other passages in this businesse of transferring the Electorall Dignity were ordered and ennacted privately and by a compact plot as it were in hugger-mugger they being neither heard nor called without defence and absent whom it most concerned without the privity and consent of the chiefe Electours and Princes except that some afterwards enforced with feare did not contradict them against the Laws Right and faith given to the contrary But how doe these things suit and agree with those of the Emperour and the Duke of Bavaria who when in the Diet at Ratisbone he invested Maximilian into the Electorate both to the Electours and King Iames did religiously assure promise and avow engaging his inviolable faith that hee had translated and conferred the Electorall Dignitie to the Bavarian but upon certain Condions as namely without prejudice to the right of the pretenders and no longer than for his life For thus hee expresseth himselfe in his declaration solemnly made to the Electours Feb. 23. An. 1623 That the Investiture was made without prejudice of the sonnes of the Count Palatine and his Brethren as also of the Duke Wolfgangus Willhelmus Count Palatine and other his kinsmen so that nothing was detracted from any of his right but that it was expressely reserved to bee decided as soone as might be either by a friendly composition or by law the controversie being decided whatsoever was adjudged for them should be delivered them instantly after the death of Maximilian the Duke of Bavaria and the Investiture thereupon to bee granted The Electours also of Saxony and Brandenburg acknowledged the Duke of Bavaria but it was upon certaine conditions and no longer than he lived for when he died the title was to be restored to those to whom before the Proscription and the translation of the Palatine so the words runne by reason of the simultaneous Investiture the Electorall dignitie did of right belong The Emperour in his letters to King Iames the 5. of March the same yeare writeth in this manner That hee by his declaration would not in the least derogate or prejudice any in their rights but to the pretended succession in the Electorall Dignitie and dominions a doore of his Imperiall grace and equitie should bee alwaies left open both to the children brother and kinsmen of the Palatine Furthermore that it was expressely inserted in the Instrument of Investiture that by a friendly treatie or if that would not prevaile by a summarie or royall processe it should be pleaded and decided what of grace might be given to the Nephewes of the King pretending a right of succession and what of equitie to the Kindred in the Dignitie and Electorall Priviledges And the Bavarian himselfe also did averre and promise upon his faith that he would possesse the Electorate upon Condition and no otherwise and that after his death it should be restored to him or them to whom by Composition or sentence of Iudicature it should bee adjudged As it is more largely expressed both in the Charter of the Investiture and in the foresaid Declaration of the Emperour as also in Letters of the Electour of Saxony to the Elector of Mentz and in the answere of the Electour of Brandenburg to the Embassadour of Caesar dated at Regiomontium in Borussia the 12. of May 1627. All which notwithstanding being violated and cast by the septemvirall dignity with the Country by secret contracts and agreements is granted and conferred upon the Line of William that is upon all the Dukes of Bavaria and their children In that Decree also made the 24. of February this yeere last past to which the Emperour doth now and then affirme that hee will constantly adhere he hath left some hope of regaining the Electorall Dignity whilest he thus writes againe When it shall come to a Treaty concerning the Electorall Dignity and the other demands His Majesty will observe such moderation that in those things which may be granted upon reasonable Conditions both the most Illustrious King of Great Brittaine may thence discover the good will and affection of His Sacred Imperiall Majesty towards Him and the often named Count Palatine may apprehend the inclination of His Caesarean Grace towards Him And this He also repeated word for word in His Answere to the English Ambassadour the 30. day of Iune of the forementioned yeere But it is to be observed that these words were spoken and rehearsed long after the agreement of Prague and the translation made in facto upon the Line of William Quanto in pectore hanc rem meo magis voluto Tanto mihi aegritudo auctior est in animo Ad illum modum os sublitum esse To use the Plantine phrase not onely to all the Counts Palatines but to all the Princes of the Empire and others who favoured the cause Palatine being perswaded that the proscription and hatred of the Caesareans was onely against Fredericke and not against his children and that the Electorate should be restored to them after the Bavarians death and yet deceived especially the two Electous of Saxony and Brandenburg who were so cautelous of being deluded and yet shewed lesse care when they seemed most carefull But upon what ground with what conscience by what right could such clandestine and prejudiciall disposals be done they being unheard and unconsulted whom it principally concerned Yet as such
bin done hitherto by so many Legations and Embassies in the Cause of the Palatinate but that all that labour and endeavour vanished into smoke Yet that it was to be considered That after the death of the King Friderick for whom especially it was interceded whose restitution and reconciliation was chiefly aimed at whom the Caesareans stiled the Author and fire-brand of all those troubles and with whom only they averred themselves to be offended The state of things was not a little altered and therefore it was probable that their hatred and wrath was somewhat abated that the Imperialists as they pretended would now become more moderate men and casting off their old rancour the father being dead would not take vengeance of the guiltlesse children and therefore concluded the King did wisely that by a solemne Legation in the name of his Nephews He attempted to make their composition and procure the restitution upon Conditions and might try whether their adversaries were still as cruell and insolent against them as they had bin formerly against their father seeing there was far lesse cause for it against them then against him Besides of the other side the King had good hope to obtaine their restitution that he was desired to come to a Parley and to send an Embassie with full power to Caesar assoone as might be and these concurrents promised an happy issue This hope if hee had despised or either relinquished the businesse as lost or made warre upon that occasion the adversaries then might have had good cause and pretence to complaine of his weakenesse or rashnesse Besides they said there were some other causes that made the King demurre upon the matter holding it unfit to take Armes with vnwashed hands and before hee had better setled his owne affaires and that though it was to be feared that this Embassie would be also fruitlesse and unhappy and in the meane season the faire occasion of warre would be neglected Yet the King neverthelesse should thereby get this benefit that not onely the justice of the cause the innocency of his Nephewes the pride of their enemies and the injuries done by them would more cleerely appeare but that himselfe also must be justly excused and commended if after all experiments and this last endeavour which yet remained of making a Peace by Treaties he should bee unwillingly forced to attempt another way These and the like reasons mooved the deservedly stiled most Wise and Moderate King to send His Ambassador Thomas Howard Earle of Arundel and Sarriâ— with all speed to Caesar with perfect instructions for that negotiation At the Ambassadors first arrivall in Germany some things happened beyond his expectation from whence the more curious sort of men began to divine forthwith of the successe of his Embassie For first he was compelled to bee an eye-witnesse of the cruelties practised upon the bodies and goods of the miserable Citizens and inhabitants of Frankendale for whom himselfe became an intercessor Some were clapt in prison and constrained by threats and famine to pay their unjust ransomes others vexed with extorsions tributes burthens and services pined away for sorrow the more he complained and intreated for them the sharper was their vsage No mercy could hee obtaine for them by his suit and intreaties either from Caesar the King of Hungary their Ministers or the Spanish Ambassadors no assurance that those Conditions which were granted them at their yeelding should be observed but from the time that he first pleaded for them they were as on purpose used more hardly And how then could he hope to obtaine the maine suit when these trifles were denyed him Againe when at Norimberg he understood by Iohn Taylor who came from the Emperors Court that the King of Hungary who was then at Nordlingen in Swaben and going to the Imperiall Army desired that he would meet him upon the way as he seemed desirous to speake with the Ambassador he sent Taylor before him to appoint the time and the place of their meeting and to informe him of what was done But after some dayes waiting for an answere he perceived in the end the King did either seeme lesse carefull of meeting him then any other businesse or else to have meerely forgot it And yet more neither by Letters nor Agent which is the custome when the Ambassadors of Kings come to the Provinces and Dominions of other Princes did hee vouchsafe to greet him which was accounted a token either of pride or contempt or inurbanity At last he found the King according to his fathers command and the writings drawen up at Donawerth the very same time when they had appointed to meet giving and delivering to the Iesuits certaine consecrated goods lands revenues and intire Monasteries in the Lower Palatinate which upon the marriage of the Queene of Bohemia his Kings sister were conveighed unto her for her Iointure which was no good token of a will inclining to restitution when he shewed himselfe more forward to alienate rend and distract that estate then to restore it When he came to Lintz a towne of eminency in the upper Austria where Caesar then abode being within few dayes after bound for Ratisbon where the Septemvirat Counsell was assembled he was indeed entertained in great state and much complement and had free and frequent accesse to Caesar and the Empresse but about the Cause he came to treat of for many dayes he found a still silence Neverthelesse at last impatient of delay he having more importunately urged it Caesar as seeming desirous to treat of the businesse seriously appointed certain Counsellors who should conferre with him namely the Bishop of Vienna Peter Henry Stralendorff Vice-Chancellor of the Empire and Iustus Gebhard a Civilian Once they met and no more to wit upon the 14. of the Kalends of August for the Ambassador having perused the Commission which the Emperour had given his Counsellours for treating about this businesse found amongst other instructions this That the King of Great Britaine by Iohn Taylor had offered to enter into and settle an offensive and defensive League with his Imperiall Majesty and the house of Austria against the common enemies and adversaries of that State The Ambassadour knowing this to be false and against the Kings repute credit and integrity accounted that by vertue of his office he was bound to vindicate the King from this imputation and to confute and contradict it both by word and writing And this was the cause which then hindred him from further discourse with them And thus he began These things said he being so unworthy and altogether from the meaning faith and integrity of the Kings Majesty I have conceived that it wholly appertaineth to my office and the honour and dignity of his Royall Majesty to declare the sorrow and griefe of mind which I have hence received both by word and writing to your Imperiall Majesty protesting publikely That it is not only against the intention of my Soveraigne the King nor
man thought it neither reasonable just nor honest to goe further in answere of things particularly before the Emperour would come nearer to his demandes and plainely declare whether hee would consent to the whole and intire restitution as it was required or at least what part and upon what tearmes he determined to restore giving hope and promise that the remainder likewise in short time should be surrendred Those offers which were made and propounded in the name of the King were not onely honourable excellent and beseeming such a magnanimous King most desirous of the publike peace but also most necessary for setling a peace in the whole Empire to this adde that the King not bound thereunto by any obligation offered these things meerely in testimony of his good affection But those propositions obtruded and thrust as it were upon the King by the Emperour are uncertaine dishonourable unworthy imperfect such as are neither answerable to the Kings demands expectation and merits and such as are not expressions of a generous and free spirit but testimonies of a tenacious covetous and sordid disposition To passe by that the Caesarean Majesty both in respect of the innocency of the Princes that are to bee restored in respect of the justice of the cause and in respect of the publike good that would have ensued was obliged to farre greater conditions namely to the intire restitution of the Electorall dignity and dominions And yet if hee had come somewhat neerer to the just reasonable and so often iterated demands of the Ambassadour and had passed over those ignominious conditions which he prescribed to the Electour by consenting to an honourable restitution which might have beene accepted without prejudice and with safety and withall had propounded noble and honest conditions upon which hee would have granted a restitution then the Ambassadour knowing how much the favour and benevolence of Caesar would merit had beene ready to proceede further But the drift of the Caesareans was first to know what they might certainely and particularly expect from the King whether any and what provision of Armes money or shipping hee would grant unto them and all to this end that if they perceived it would not answere and much conduce to their purposes then it might be lawfull for them to goe backe and dismisse the Ambassadour the treaty unconcluded Those things which are objected concerning the Dispositions confirmed by the treaty of Prague and ratified by all the Princes of the Empire and brought in only to excuse and settle the Emperours decrees in the Palatine cause do sufficiently declare what is to be hoped for in the integrall restitution of the dominions and dignity By the decrees of Prague it appeareth plainely that there were certaine private and secret contracts betweene the Bavarian and the Emperour by vertue whereof the Electorall dominions and dignities were not onely given granted and confirmed to the Duke of Bavaria for tearme of life but also to the whole face of his father William from whom it is called the Wilhelmian Line to endure for ever for the decree runneth in these words As much as concerneth the Palatin cause it is enacted that thosâ— things which His Imperial Maiesty hath determined both concerning the Electorate dominions therof in the behalfe of the most Illustrious Duke of Bavaria and the Line of William and otherwise as also what hee hath ordered concerning the goods of certaine Palatine Administrators they shall abide firme and ratified yet so as it shall bee lawfull for the widow of Fredericke the fourth sometimes Count Palatine of the Rhine to enioy her dowry so farre as She can make it appeare to appertaine unto Her But for the children of the proscribed Palatine when they shall submissely have humbled themselves as it beseemes them to His Caesarean Maiesty some Princely allowance shall bee appointed to them not as a due but as a favour not that they can claime it as their Right but as it proceedes from the grace of the Emperour In the dispute concerning the Septemvirate Palatine transferred by full power upon the Duke of Bavaria it is often repeated â—â—d affirmed that the Electorate is not onely given to the Duke of Bavaria but to the whole Line of the Bavarians and that the Duke of Neâ—burg and others are mistaken who conceive the Investiture to be meerely provisionall and for terme of life The most Augustine Emperour thus he writeth Cap. 4. n. 24. hath cast the most just and deserved thunderbolt of proscription of the Ban upon the rebell Frederick and thereby declared him to have lost all his Priviledges Honours Goods and particularly the Electorall Dignity with the Dominions thereunto annexed Secondly that he hath adjudged the said Electorate for Felony done by Frederick to bee devolved to himselfe upon mature hearing and knowledge of the Cause examining withall theaersons allegations and pretences of the Duke of Neuburg Lastly that he being moved with most weighty and just argument hath by consent and approbation of the Electors of the Empire and perswasion of the Pope really and for ever transferred the said Electorate together with the Priviledges thereunto annexed unto the most Illustrious Prince Maximilian Duke of Bavaria and the whole Bavarian Family notwithstanding the Duke of Neuburgs gain-saying of it by a solemne and wonted Investiture so that His Electorall Highnesse having taken possession as well of the Right Voice Dignity and Electorall power as of the Goods Territories Lands Dominions and other things thereunto annexed or as it were admitted into the Famous Colledge of Electours associated unto that Fraternall union and in all things publikely enjoying the Office Right Function and Dignity of the former Electour Palatine is thought worthy of and honoured with that Title as well by the Pope Colledge of Cardinalls his Imperiall Majesty as the Kings of France Spain Poland and Denmarke With what face then credit or honesty doth the Relator write that the Investiture of the most Illustrious Duke Maximilian concerning the Electorall dignitie is onely provisionall and made but upon certaine conditions to bee of force onely for teâ—rme of life The Imperiall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth convinâ—â— this calumny which the Relator himselfe though unwilling cannot but acknowledge Item fol. 15. cap. 5. n. 17. Hee hath freely saith he the cause being maturely deliberated by the space of 2. yeares and more the purpose communicated to the Electours the Pope assenting or rather instantly desiring it the Princes of the sacred Roman Empire urging and approving it forraigne Kings also and Dukes the Duke of Newburge onely excepted earnestly interceding for it with the applause of all good men translated the Electorate upon the most illustrious Maximilian Duke of Bavaria and the whole Bavarian line the merits of his highnesse being knowne to the whole world his Agnation and right from that ancient Family sueing for it and other most weighty causes moving the Emperour thereunto as it appeareth more at large by the Charter of his Patent
Bavarians Henricus Rebdorff in annal and afterwards miserably spoyled all Bavaria When therefore hee would give way to his owne desire while he sought to please his owne affection foming with a most burning hatred against the Bavarians he greedily snatcheth at that occasion agreeing with his Genios that hee might take vengeance of his enemies and keepe them unable to resist him below the dignity of their Ancestours And not much after fol. 72. these things being thus ordered when the Electors were preposessed when Rupert the Count Palatine did flourish in most eminent grace when the Bavarians were involved in the doubtfull hazard of warre briefely when all things were brought to that passe that the Bavarians were accounted as enemies and the Palatine stood as a favourite Rupertus the Count Palatine in the yeare 1356. in the Diet at Norinberg obtained a Charter of Letters patents by which the Electours affirme the office of Arch-Sewer and the Electorate to be annexed to the Countie Palatine of the Rhine Surely nothing at that time was more easie to be obtained than that Hee had the Emperour of his party and the Emperour drew all the Electours unto his sentence for they all subscribed according to the forme which Charles had prescribed them They had severally concluded what they ought all joyntly to have questioned fol. 232. You were better not speake of Charles the 4th and his Bull we know we know what he intended and now all men know that we know it Hee sacrificed unto his wrath against all law and right against the customes of our Ancestours he endeavoured to conferre the Electorate upon the Palatines whom hee loved most dearely that he might snatch it from the Bavarians whom he hated most deadly This is that he would have this is that hee intended and aymed at and how he might attaine unto this end hee summoned all his wits together Speake now fol. 298. what as much and as eloquently as you can yet this is our Iewell which Otho the third set into Bavaria by him we came into possession and upon him we rest Charles the fourth laboured in vaine to take it thence what ever he did he could effect nothing It stood secure and immoved above the top of power the supreame hand of puissance could not reach thither nothing was done lawfully nothing orderly nothing solemnely It was no judiciary sentence but violence He cast out the Bavarians by extreame injury that against all right he might bring in the Palatines Your beginning is wicked the proceeding unjust and to conclude the whole possession vitious Thus farre he But now as before is done place onely the Palatines and the Palatinate for the Bavarians and Bavaria Maximilian Duke of Bavaria for Rupertus Ferdinand for Charles the dispositions of the Electorate and the treaty of Prague for the golden Bull the Diet of Ratisbone for that â—t Norimberg you will say the persons onely being changed the same play is acted at this day which is feigned by Burgundus to have beene acted lnog since and was first shewed upon the stage by Christopherus Gewaldus by an artificially contrived tale These were the first which stood up as the chiefe patrons of the Bavarian cause who have not feared to oppose and accuse of falsitie and nullity the sacred and for so many ages inviolate authority of the golden Bull. But if it bee lawfull for private men to vilefie and make voide the most sacred decrees the wisest ordinances of our Ancestours the continuall custome observed by so many Ages allowed confirmed and sealed with the imprinted seales of the Emperours and Electours I will not say what confidence but what hope of setling the state remaines What can be safe just and inviolable in the common society of men in the succession and possession of dignities and offices woefull experience doth testifie what miseries have attended this opposall of the golden Bull and usurpation of the Palatine Electorate In one word deadly warre cruell slaughter horrid proscriptions and the most to bee lamented distraction of the whole Empire the chiefe and principall cause of this continued and renewed mortall warre being the snatching away of the Electorall dignity which the most illustrious Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg foresaw immediately and foretold from the beginni g They affirmed that the translation of the Electorate was not a meanes to stay the warre but rather an occasion which might produce and raise more bitternes of mind schisme and division among the Princes and the universall distraction and desolation of the Empire that therefore they thought it needfull that the Count Palatine should be restored that a secure and true peace might be setled that by rigour there could bee no course taken for the safety of the Republique which by that meanes was rather drawne into danger and involved in a perpetuall warre Againe that they adiudged the translation of the Electorate to be the principall cause of these troubles and warre because the children of the Count Palatine in regard of their knowne innocency might by no meanes be excluded from their dignity and dominions those especially who before the pretended cryme of the Father had obtained the priviledges atchieved by the providence and covenant of their forefathers in the Electorall Palatinate Besides that their neerest kinsmen of blood to whom the right of atchivement did likewise appertaine by the simultaneous Investiture were wronged and deprived of their right The same most Illustrious Princes have more then on e and againe complained openly that their good peaceable counsels were not hearkned unto but that those meanes were undertaken which in deede were causes of more stirs commotion and enmity for experience it selfe plainely shewing that the state did still grow worse in regard that those courses from which they had used all arguments of disswasion as being the seeds of discord were neverthelesse preferred and put into execution with all vehemency of spirit Besides not onely both those Electours by their owne Ambassadours but also the rest of their colleagues and the other Princes which were present at Ratisbone in the yeare 1623 when Caesar was about to have confirmed the Electorall dignity upon the Bavarian by a generall consent testified that King Frederick was not the incendiary and architect of the stirres in the Empire themselves affirming it in these words That the Count Palatine is a young Prince who being seduced by others knowes not how to advise himselfe and againe that hee was not the authour and beginner of those commotions in Bohemia but that they had their beginning and proceedings before he was ingaged therein But it is much to be admired at and lamented that I may not say it is worthy of blame and reproofe that the Emperour and Electours for so many yeares and in so many sundry Parliaments and in these two last kept at Ratisbone in the yeares 1630 and 1636. neglected to hearken to the demands of the King of great Brittaine and by the granted and