Assassination Is the Quickest Way 233news that the generalissimo had finally broken with the emperor,
although in fact he was already dead. The following morning Arnim
at last set off for his long-delayed meeting with Wallenstein, but he
was fortunate that information about the assassination reached him
on 2 March, before he had crossed the Bohemian border and before
he received a letter bearing Kinsky’s seal which the loyalists had sent,
hoping to trap him too. He was appalled by the murder. ‘I know of no
instance where such a thing has happened in the realm of a Christian
emperor. As for peace I see little hope for us to cling to, and for my own
part I will never in my life be used again in the matter. I shall stick to
my profession.’ To John George he summed up his view of the Imperial
House: ‘Sanguine coepit, sanguine crevit, sanguine finis erit’ (starting in
blood, flourishing in blood, it will end in blood).^19 Fifteen months later,
when Saxony and the emperor came to terms of sorts in the aftermath
of a major Swedish defeat at Nördlingen, Arnim resigned his appoint-
ment in protest.
There was little such high-mindedness on the Imperialist side, only
an undignified scramble for rewards. Butler had promised a month’s
salary to the troops in Eger to ensure their cooperation, which Gallas
duly authorised, adding 500 Reichstaler per man for the twelve soldiers
in the assassination squads, as well as 1000 each for Devereux and
Macdaniel, while Geraldine received 2000 on account of his higher
rank. Butler and Leslie also immediately applied for allocation to them
of better – that is more profitable – regiments, which they received soon
afterwards, as did Gordon, while Devereux, Wallenstein’s actual killer,
was promoted from captain to lieutenant-colonel.^20
That was not enough for the three organisers of the murder. Gordon
immediately sent Leslie to give a verbal account of the events at Eger to
Gallas, who sent him on to do the same in Vienna, where he pressed for
generous recompense for their loyalty. Butler, determined not to be out-
done, sent Geraldine to Gallas and Macdaniel to Vienna to do likewise.
Arriving there on 3 March, only a day after the first news of the assas-
sination, Leslie was promptly honoured and promoted by Ferdinand,
and after converting to Catholicism the following month he went on
to become a count three years later. All three principals were granted
substantial properties from Wallenstein’s estates, while Devereux,
Macdaniel and Geraldine received large bounties paid out in cash or
property of equivalent value. Butler was not satisfied, and a letter written
on his behalf to Schlick complained that everyone in Vienna ‘is giving
the honour and thanks solely to Herr Leslie and Colonel Gordon, while
he [Butler], who was in charge of the Friedland execution, is forgotten,