Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

conformity with that altered opinions-gathering
where the others had strewed -- and noiselessly
achieving victory where the swords of their
soldiers would have but sustained defeat. No doubt
the liberty enjoyed in Poland necessitated this
alteration of the Roman tactics; but it was soon
seen that it was a more effectual method than the
vulgar weapons of force, and that if a revolted
Christendom was to be brought back to the Papal
obedience, it must be mainly, though not
exclusively, by the means of this spiritual artillery.
It was under the same reign, that of Stephen
Bathory, that the political influence of the
Kingdom of Poland began to wane. The ebb in its
national prestige was almost immediately
consequent on the ebb in its Protestantism. The
victorious wars which Bathory had carried on with
Russia were ended, mainly through the counsels of
the Jesuit Possevinus, by a peace which stripped
Poland of the advantages she was entitled to expect
from her victories. This was the last gleam of
military success that shone upon the country.
Stephen Bathory died in 1586, having reigned ten
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