With all these forces of Rome assailing them one would think the hearts of Protestants would beat as the heart of one man, but selfish interests still divided them. The Elector of Saxony could not endure taking his orders from a Swedish king as the September treaty forced him to do. He could only be true to the faith when his particular State was in danger of being ravaged, and he now began again to work for a reconciliation with Ferdinand.
The German States of the second and third rank fully acknowledged Gustavus as their deliverer. They assisted with both men and money to the full measure of their ability, and after the death of the king of Sweden they did not desert the cause. The Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, the two chief States, had been forced into the war and did only such service as Gustavus, and danger to their own possessions, obliged them to perform.
As one considers that last winter, a survey reveals how very much had been accomplished. Bernard of Weimar, Christian, Palgrave of Birkenfield, and the Rhinegrave, Otto Lewis, kept the States of the Rhine. Horn carried victorious arms from Franconia to the Neckar. Tott completed the conquest of Mecklenburg, Baner was master at Magdeburg—what was left of it. Yet with all this to encourage Gustavus the real sorrow of the invasion was yet before them.
Of all the curious pages of history the relations between Gustavus and Wallenstein is one of the most curious. It would seem that very soon after the Emperor had sent Wallenstein home, or retired him, Gustavus had been in correspondence with Wallenstein, hoping to obtain his services in the Protestant army. Oxenstiern claimed that the king had written Wallenstein from Stralsund as early as October 30th, 1630. It is quite possible that the king hoped that the great general's anger at the Emperor could be used for the Protestants' benefit.
In February, 1631, Tilly wrote the Emperor that he felt sure that Wallenstein had been tampered with by the kings of England and Sweden, that these kings had tried to have Wallenstein take up arms against the Emperor in Bohemia. "But," said Tilly, "he thanks their majesties for the great honor they have done him, and when he sees the armies of England in the Palatinate he will not lose the opportunity."
Count Thurn, the leader of the Protestant party in Bohemia, seems to have been the friend of both Gustavus and Wallenstein, and acted as the go-between. In June, 1631, just after the fall of Magdeburg, when Gustavus was surrounded with great difficulties, Wallenstein made this demand as necessary to secure his services. Gustavus must victoriously complete a trip to the sea coast, ally himself with Saxony (which he did September 1st, 1631), attack Tilly (which he did at Breitenfield), then send twelve thousand men under Count Thurn, and with this nucleus Wallenstein was to raise an army of fifty thousand men. To these terms Gustavus agreed, and promised to make Wallenstein Viceroy of Bohemia.
At the same time Wallenstein was in secret correspondence with the Emperor of Austria. Never was there a creature of more duplicity than Wallenstein. He met Gustavus soon after the battle of Breitenfield, offered what seemed genuine congratulations, told Gustavus the Emperor thought of reinstating him, possibly to impress the king with the importance of closing negotiations with him. He said, "You will soon chase the Emperor out of his empire."
Gustavus seems to have had in mind that Wallenstein (both he and the Emperor were from Bohemia), would clear Bohemia of Imperialists, while John George of Saxony would clear Silesia, and that after Gustavus himself should master western Germany, they would all meet with their triumphant armies before the walls of Vienna.
It was a beautiful dream, but its fulfillment rested on a man false to every tie which binds man to God or to his fellow-man. But as Gustavus made his successful trip through western Germany he began to fear more and more that such an alliance would not be pleasing to God.
Wallenstein asked for the twelve thousand troops. Gustavus asked delay, saying he was not in a position to spare that number of men. That Wallenstein was a traitor to his Emperor who had really made him all that he was, was a fact well known to the king of Sweden and made him hesitate to employ Wallenstein. A traitor to one is not likely to be true to another.