Letters declaring
war were sent to the confederate assembly by twenty distinct expresses,
with the hope that this rapid succession of threats would overwhelm them
with fear. The separate nobles followed with their declarations. On St.
John's day a messenger arrived from Wuertemberg bearing fifteen
declarations of war. Hardly had these letters been read when nine more
arrived, sent by John Ulric of Pfirt and eight other nobles. Others
quickly followed; it fairly rained declarations of war; the members of
the assembly had barely time to read one batch of threatening
fulminations before another arrived. Letters from the lords of Thurn
came after those named, followed by a batch from the nobles of
Schaffhausen. This seemed surely enough, but on the following day the
rain continued, eight successive messengers arriving, who bore no less
than forty-three declarations of war.
It seemed as if the whole north was about to descend in a cyclone of
banners and spears upon the mountain land. The assembly sat breathless
under this torrent of threats.
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