It was only with the view of weakening the army that six thousand
troops were ordered to be detached from it, and solely to harass
it by a winter campaign that they were now called upon at this
inhospitable season to undertake the recovery of Ratisbon. The Jesuits
and the ministry enriched themselves with the treasure wrung from
the provinces, and squandered the money intended for the pay of
the troops.
The general, then, abandoned by the court, was forced to acknowledge
his inability to keep his engagements to the army. For all the
services which for two-and-twenty years he had rendered to the house
of Austria, in return for all the difficulties with which he had
struggled, for all the treasures of his own which he had expended
in the Imperial service, a second disgraceful dismissal awaited
him. But he was resolved the matter should not come to this; he
was determined voluntarily to resign the command before it should
be wrested from his hands, "and this," continued the speaker, "is
what he has summoned you here to make known to you, and what he
has commissioned me to inform you."
It was now for them to say whether they would permit him to leave
them; it was for each man present to consider who was to repay him
the sums he had expended in the emperor's service; how he was ever
to reap the rewards for his bravery and devotion, when the chief who
alone was cognizant of their efforts, who was their sole advocate
and champion, was removed from them.
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