. Europe 1598-1715. domination, but simply by recognising accom-plished facts. Calvinism had worked its way to an equal 1 position with Lutheranism among the religious forces ofGermany, and that fact was accordingly recognised. Thesupremacy of each prince in his own dominions over thereligious as well as the political conduct of his people hadbeen recognised by the peace of Augsburg in 1555, and been V uniformly acted upon by Catholic and Protestant alike eversince. It was now definitely, if tacitly admitted, and possibleevils guarded against by drawing the territorial line betweenCatholicism
. Europe 1598-1715. domination, but simply by recognising accom-plished facts. Calvinism had worked its way to an equal 1 position with Lutheranism among the religious forces ofGermany, and that fact was accordingly recognised. Thesupremacy of each prince in his own dominions over thereligious as well as the political conduct of his people hadbeen recognised by the peace of Augsburg in 1555, and been V uniformly acted upon by Catholic and Protestant alike eversince. It was now definitely, if tacitly admitted, and possibleevils guarded against by drawing the territorial line betweenCatholicism and Protestantism as nearly as possible to co-incide with the actual difference of belief. It was still pos-sible for a Protestant prince in the north to oppress his Catholicsubjects, it was still possible for a CathoHc prince of the southto banish all Protestants from his dominions, but the questionhenceforth was but a local one, a matter solely between theprince and his subjects, which imposed upon Protestants and. The Aggrandisement of France 125 Catholics elsewhere in Germany no greater duty, and gavethem no more right to interfere, than did the revocation of theEdict of Nantes by Louis xiv. in France. Such a solution maynot have been from the point of view of morals the best con-ceivable. It was under the circumstances of the time the bestpossible. To modern ideas it may seem that the negotiatorsof Westphalia lost a great opportunity of forcing into theunwilling hands of Germany the priceless boon of religioustoleration. Had they attempted to do so, they would onlyhave kept alive the spirit of religious animosity, and given topolitical ambition the right again to shelter itself under theclaims of religion and renew the flame of war. By makingthe question wholly one between prince and people, theyensured that all the conservative forces of human nature, theforces that make against novelty, disturbance, and revolution,the forces which impel men and governments so powerfully
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