Decline and Fall 211to force him to reconsider was still almost two months away. Trcˇka
was not the man to let such details stand in the way of his grandiose
schemes, and with his encouragement Kinsky hastened to contact the
French emissary Feuquières, to propose a revival of the proposition dis-
cussed the previous spring. The latter’s response was cordial but he was
privately dubious, and initially he did not even report the approach to
Paris.^23 Nevertheless Kinsky, after a meeting with the elector of Saxony,
and accompanied by his wife, set off to Pilsen, where he attached him-
self to the Imperialist headquarters. On 9 January Wallenstein duly
reported his arrival to Trauttmansdorff, as one of a number of accred-
ited representatives of Saxony who had come to renew efforts to find
a settlement, a move which Ferdinand himself not only approved but
assisted by despatching his leading lawyer to Pilsen to help.^24 Thereafter
Kinsky was ever present alongside Trcˇka and Ilow, playing a central part
in their manoeuvres and the contacts with the Saxons.
His other schemes made little progress. Feuquières did eventually
notify the contact to the French government, receiving a better recep-
tion than he had expected, but the matter progressed so slowly and cau-
tiously that Kinsky’s representative was still awaiting a definitive answer
after both his principal and Wallenstein were dead.^25 As for the Swedes,
Oxenstierna was as sceptical but even blunter than before, telling Bubna
that he would respond only to actions, not words, from Wallenstein.
Kinsky fared no better with Bernhard of Weimar, who did at first agree
to receive him, but then refused outright when Kinsky, pleading illness,
asked him instead to send a representative to Pilsen.^26 The only results
of these contacts were to increase Bernhard’s distrust of approaches
from those around Wallenstein, and to cause Oxenstierna to intensify
his efforts to nullify the general’s negotiations with the Saxons.
These latter contacts too had been renewed, and their most enthusias-
tic proponent was the indefatigable Franz Albrecht of Saxe-Lauenburg.
The elector of Saxony was wary but nevertheless willing, whereas by this
point Arnim was disillusioned with the whole process, despondent
about its chances of success, distrustful of Wallenstein, and determined
not to be used again. He was only persuaded by the recognition that the
sole alternative to negotiating with Wallenstein was to remain tied to
the Swedes, to whose long-term involvement in Germany he was even
more strongly opposed than the generalissimo himself. Faced with these
unpalatable options, he observed that ‘the first holds great danger, yet
some little hope; the other contains still greater danger, and to my mind
no hope at all’, adding that ‘one must have great anxiety about nego-
tiating with the duke of Friedland, but without him all negotiations