204 Wallenstein
never did.^10 From late 1633 onwards his references to the subject were
no longer confined to private correspondence with a close relative, but
were made openly to senior councillors such as Trauttmansdorff, who
did not number among his particular friends, while by early 1634 he
progressed to making specific offers of his resignation to the court and
the Imperial war council. This difference of approach also reflects a dif-
ference of substance. In 1626 Wallenstein was temperamentally inclined
to resign but could see no practical way of doing so without seriously
endangering both his fortune and his position in Bohemia. From late
1633 onwards he began to realise that he had little alternative, given
his poor state of health and the deterioration of his relationship with
the court. Again resignation was not an easy option, despite which his
offers appear to have been increasingly serious rather than a protracted
ruse, while those in the latest stage of his life give every indication of
having been genuine.
As winter approached another matter also developed into a sharp dis-
pute between the emperor and his general. On 9 December Ferdinand
wrote to Wallenstein that he had ordered Colonel Suys to advance from
Upper Austria to the River Inn near Passau ‘as I deem it more useful for
his regiments to be moved forward to join our other troops facing the
enemy than to remain in their present position, where they are only
consuming supplies and may cause a new rebellion among the peas-
ants’. This, he added, was a provisional order, which he had no doubt
that Wallenstein would immediately confirm. Ferdinand was no soldier,
and the impetus for this move undoubtedly came from his advisers, but
he was sensitive about his authority, to which the military question was
purely secondary. For Wallenstein both issues were important. Suys had
been stationed where he was for good reasons and he was not needed on
the Inn, while direct orders to officers from the court were contrary to
the terms of his own appointment. Wallenstein had always lacked politi-
cal skills, and by this time he was less than ever inclined to defer tact-
fully, contrary to his military judgement. Far from confirming the order,
although he was diplomatic enough not to refer to it, he instructed Suys
to stay where he was, carefully setting out his reasons and emphasis-
ing that these were in the best interests of the emperor’s service. The
unfortunate colonel thus received contradictory orders from his emperor
and his commander-in-chief. Much to Ferdinand’s annoyance he chose
to obey Wallenstein. More orders from the court and countermands
from headquarters followed, but Ferdinand shrunk from confronting
Wallenstein directly. Instead on 24 December he wrote peevishly to
Questenberg in Pilsen, instructing him to remonstrate with the general,