cedure of diplomacy, and show his hand with the careless indifference of a passionate enthusiast, seems beyond a doubt. In sending an ambassador to the young king he was acting in conjunction with and under the direct influence of Comenius. Constantine Schaum, to whom the task of conducting the negotiations with Charles and with Oxenstierna was entrusted, had orders to go to Lissa on his way to Sweden, and the Count begged Comenius to give his envoy what advice he could.
For the Protestant exiles in Lissa the position was now greatly altered. Though Count Bohuslaw, on embracing the Catholic faith, had not withdrawn his protection from Comenius and the Brethren under his spiritual charge, it was evident that, in case of war, their situation was precarious. The undisguised sympathy that they displayed for Sweden did not mend matters, and, when Charles Gustavus, in the August of 1657, actually crossed the Polish frontier and marched as a victor on Warsaw and Cracow, danger stared them daily in the face. It was distinctly the moment when Comenius should have preserved a discreet silence, and have suffered himself and his compatriots to remain screened by their political insignificance; instead of this, with his habitual simplicity, he published a Panegyric on Charles Gustavus, in which he hailed him as “the liberator of humanity, the comfort of the afflicted, and the pattern for kings.” The work, which had a considerable vogue, cannot have failed to embitter the feelings of the Poles against the aliens in their midst, and, as Comenius’ enemies afterwards declared, may have been partly responsible for the calamities that befell Lissa. During his victorious march through Poland, Charles had spared a town that contained so many non-Catholics, and merely left a Swedish garrison to maintain the footing that he had acquired in the district. On the 17th of April, a large body of Polish troops came down unexpectedly, compelling the garrison to withdraw and leave Lissa at the mercy of the infuriated Poles. A large number of Protestants sought safety by fleeing into the forests on the
