CHARACTERS. 
Maximilian was, therefore, reluc- 
tantly necessitated to Jay bim under 
the ban of the empire; and Au- 
gustus; the reigning elector of Sax- 
ony, principally charged with its 
‘execution, besieged him in the city 
of Gothas He was reduced to a 
surrender, carried prisoner to Vien- 
na, and, after being exposed to 
the view of the populace, in a state 
of ignominy and degradation, he was 
finally detained in captivity till his. 
death. Grumbach suffered by the 
hand of the executioner, toget'* 
with several of his adherent: 
accomplices. Some slight ene 
ances, in the electorate f ies 
and in the dutchy of yecklen a 
were the oniy circunstancey 4 
sides, which invade: the py 08? 
. : ~ Germany under 
quiet enjoyed by © ) 
Maximilian. 
Encourage? by so” 
aspect of pablic affaiy’ 
ing to the benignity 
tion, he ventured 0 
places the superl 
sion of his min 
spicuous point 
f,ourable an 
and yield- 
his disposi- 
a step, which 
ty and expan- 
the most con- 
view. The. sti- 
; ed in his coruna- 
pylauions cor elected emperor, as 
tion-oath, Wicles constituting ** the 
wellasthe?. —,, hi ij ity 
Agion,” on which alone 
peace of / “and maintenance of 
lic faith depended,  fet- 
in hisimperial capacity, 
rmitted tim to make no in- | 
ment what:ver on those points. 
, as -archdike of Austria, he 
sessed a pwer of relaxing the 
everity of tle laws which denied 
liberty of coscience to his Protest- 
ant subjects. Notwithstanding the 
remonstranes of the Spanish em- 
bassador, i the name of his sove- 
reign, Phip II. and in defiance 
of the mnaces .of Pius V. who 
fled the papal chair, Maximilian, 
“But, 
os 
gave the first voluntary example of 
religious toleration te Europe, by 
permitting the nosility and eque- 
trian order, in A4sttia; to celebrate 
publicly the -eremonies of their 
worship, in Heit castles and houses, 
as well as 0M their estates. This 
indulgen® Was, however; strictly 
Hivnicatte the two classes above 
menoned ; and neither extended 
te the people at large; nor even 
o the ifihabitants of cities; who 
vainly endeavoured to shake the em- 
peror’s determination on the Subject, 
or to elude his vigilance. 
In the present century; when the 
minds of men, enlarged and hu- 
manized by philosophy; are become 
familiar with toleration; and when 
the most bigotted European nations 
admit some species of religious free- 
dom; a permission so circumscrib- 
ed in its operation, as that granted 
by Maximilian, may not appear to 
merit any extravagant eulogiums. 
the actions of men are not 
only to be appreciated by the eter- 
hal laws of rectitude and justice; 
they must be, in some measure, 
likewise, referable to the modes of 
thinking,! received by their cons 
temporaries, and generally adopted. 
On every side, Maximilian saw only 
the most intolerant bigotry. The 
Netherlands, and France, were de- 
solated by their respective soves - 
reigns, in order to extinguish he- 
resy, and to spread the unity of the 
Catholic faith. Even among the 
Protestants themselves, the most ran- 
corous and sanguinary animosities 
prevailed, to the subversion of. all 
mutual good offices. Servetus was 
committed to the flames at Geneva, 
by Calvin, for some speculative dif- 
ference of opinion on abstruse points 
of theology; and the Lutherans re- 
garded with horror the doctrines 
[*A 2] inculcated 
