Deduction Concerning the Free Exercise of the Augsburg Confession in Silesia

...to contribute to similar peoples—indeed, for the sake of providing supplies, they were forced to enter into certain Capitulations Capitulationes: formal agreements or terms of surrender signed and sealed by the High Princely Episcopal Government itself—and yet no such fault, which deserves any punishment, let alone the deprivation of privileges original: culpa, quæ poenam aliquam, nedum Privilegiorum p[rivatione]m meretur was imputed to them. Why then have the Hereditary Principalities Silesian territories under direct Imperial rule deserved such a high and heavy punishment—one that concerns not just the body or temporal goods, but primarily the salvation of souls—namely, the deprivation and removal of their free Exercise of Religion?

Regarding the City of Leuven in Brabant: when they had to reach an agreement with the Prince of Orange due to a lack of military relief, and had to provide him with provisions and money, the historian Johan Baptista Gramay wrote: thus succumbing to necessity, the citizens never turned their minds or eyes from their King. Indeed, when the Prince stayed at Mechelen, but was considering other things, the people of Leuven were often consulted regarding the formation of the state of the Republic, but they never favored him with an answer. And finally, after the first fires of unrest were somewhat calmed, the Catholic King, having been informed of the outcome of the entire matter, declared in his letters to Leuven that they would not only be held harmless, but judged that they had not even sinned; by succumbing to necessity, they had by their prudence prevented the ruin of the city and the university. original: ita succumbentes necessitati Civ[es], [nu]quam tamen animum & Oculos à Regi suo averterunt. Imò, cùm [Me]chliniæ ageret, sed aliò cogitans Princeps, sæpè super forman[da] Reipubl. statu Lovanienses consulti, nunquam vel responso eum [digna]ti sunt. Et denique post sedatos aliquantisper primi incendij motus [suc]cessu totius negotij edoctus Rex Catholicus, literis suis Lovanien[ses] tantùm indemnes fore pronunciavit, sed ne peccasse quidem judic[avit] necessitati succumbentes prudentiâ suâ urbis & universitatis ruin[am] [prohibu]issent.

But when such a misfortune befalls the Protestant Estates Evangelische Stände: the political representative bodies of the Protestant territories or cities,? people immediately start throwing around accusations of "rebellion"; they cry out against them, and in no way wish to admit equal laws for equal causes original: in pari causâ, paria jura. I will for now remain silent about the fact that, in a similar (though unacknowledged) case, where the Protestant Evangelisch forces marched in without any prior request, the principalities were already brought to the highest state of ruin and exhausted of goods and property. Furthermore, if some among the Hereditary Principalities should have [caused] this, the Electors would have all the less to answer for in their consciences if they should fail to take up the cause of the Hereditary Principalities with the utmost loyalty and zeal.

And this is despite the fact that the Hereditary Principalities cannot bring or solicit their most pressing needs to the Protestant Electors and Princes themselves—neither in writing, nor through a person appointed with full power, nor by means of His Imperial Majesty's Administrator of the High Office Ober-Ampts Verwalter: the chief Imperial official in Silesia and the highly praiseworthy Lords and Princes in Silesia. For it is not only expressly forbidden in the Hereditary Principalities for anyone to allow themselves to be used for such a commission or delegation, but there is also no way to devise how the burdened places prægravirte Oerter: territories suffering under heavy legal or military pressure might provide their envoys with full power and instructions (even if someone could be persuaded to go). This is because the landed gentry Landsassen are not allowed to meet without the knowledge and consent of the Captains Hauptleute: local district governors, and because of the new Catholic councilors in the town halls, the city seals cannot be obtained, nor can they be reached because of the pressure...