The Merchant of Berlin Part 40

"And for this reason you wanted to bribe me with your bits of porcelain. Oh, you are a reckoner, but this time you have reckoned without your host. No pity for these obstinate Leipsigers. They must pay the eleven hundred thousand dollars, or--"

"Or what?" asked Gotzkowsky, as he hesitated.

The king looked angrily at him. "You are very bold," said he, "to interrupt me. The Leipsigers must pay, for I need the money for my soldiers, and they are rich; they are able to pay!"

"They are not able to pay, sire! They are as little able to pay as Berlin is if Russia insists upon her demands, and her magnanimous king does not come to her a.s.sistance. But your majesty certainly does not wish that the world and history shall say that Russia acted with more forbearance and clemency toward Berlin than Prussia did toward Leipsic? To be sure, the Russians carried off the Jewish elders into captivity because they could not pay, but then they treated these poor victims of their avarice like human beings. They did not make them sleep on rotten straw; they did not let them starve, and die of misery and filth; they did not have them scourged and tortured until they wet with their tears the bit of bread thrown to them."

"Who does that?" cried the king, with thundering voice and flashing eye.

Gotzkowsky bowed low. "Your majesty, the King of Prussia does that!"

Frederick uttered a cry of anger, and advanced with his arm raised on Gotzkowsky, who looked at him quietly and firmly. "You lie! retract!"

thundered the king.

"I have, as long as I have lived, spoken the truth, sire--the truth, without fear or dread of man. Your majesty is the first man who has accused me of a lie. I have seen with my own eyes your majesty's officials treating the poor captive Leipsic merchants like dogs. What do I say--like dogs? Oh, how would the poor down-trodden men envy those dogs the delicacies contained in that dish! It may be right to compel and humble the refractory, but it is not right to tread out the human soul, and even in the conquered you should honor G.o.d's image."

The king looked at him with ludicrous surprise. "Do you wish to give me a lesson? Well, I will forgive you this time, and, as you express it, honor G.o.d's image in the owner of the Berlin porcelain factory.

But hush about these hard-headed Leipsigers. They must pay. My soldiers cannot live on air, and my coffers are empty."

"The Leipsigers are very willing to contribute, but the demand must not exceed their powers."

"How do you know that?"

"The magistracy and merchant guild of Leipsic sent a deputation to me, and entreated my mediation."

"You have then already the reputation of one who knows how to use his tongue well, and goes about tattling with it."

"Sire," said Gotzkowsky, smiling, "we only follow the example of our hero-king. We all are anxious to fight, and those who have no swords must fight with the tongue. I have latterly been compelled to fight a great deal with it, and the Leipsic merchants may have heard something about that. They knew that I had some exercise with my tongue, and gained a little victory with it over the Russians in Berlin."

"How much do you think the city of Leipsic can pay?" asked the king after a pause.

"If your majesty will remit them a few hundred thousand dollars, and allow the merchants time, they are willing to bind themselves in joint bonds."

"_Parbleu_! are they willing to do that?" asked the king, derisively.

"The bonds of the Leipsic merchants would be no security to me."

And turning quickly on Gotzkowsky, he asked him, "Are you willing to guarantee the payment?"

"If your majesty orders it, the bonds shall be drawn out with my guaranty."

"I look to you, then, for their payment."

"At your orders, sire."

"Well, then, for your sake I will remit the Leipsigers three hundred thousand dollars; but for the rest of the million you are answerable."

"I will be answerable for it."

"I will let these gentlemen of Leipsic know that it is to your intercession and your guaranty that they are indebted for the mitigation of their contributions; and then you can, if it gives you pleasure, bargain with the rich town for some reward for your services rendered."

"That would give me no pleasure, sire!" cried Gotzkowsky, with n.o.ble indignation. "Your majesty must not think so meanly of me as to suppose that I would make a profit out of the misfortunes of others, and that I have interceded for the poor Leipsigers in order to make a trade out of them!"

"I think that you are a hard-headed, obstinate fellow, who must be allowed to have his own way," said the king, with an affable smile.

"But I must bear you witness that, in your own way, you have rendered me many a good service. For that reason, you will always find me well affected toward you, and in the Sans-Souci gallery you have created a beautiful memorial to yourself."

"If your majesty would come there now, you would find the Correggio about which you wrote to the Marquis d'Argens."

The king's eyes sparkled. "The Correggio is mine!" said he, walking up and down slowly, with his hands behind his back. "Ah," added he, after a long pause, in a low tone, as if speaking to himself, "when will this nomadic life cease, and the world be at peace, to allow this poor, badgered king a few hours of leisure and recreation, to enjoy the contemplation of his house and his pictures? The wandering Jew, if he ever existed, did not lead such a rambling life as I do. We get at last to be like the roving play-actors, who have neither hearth nor home, and thus we pa.s.s through the world, playing our b.l.o.o.d.y tragedies, with the wailings of our subjects for chorus.[2] When will it end?"

"When your majesty has subdued all your enemies."

The king looked around with surprise--he had quite forgotten Gotzkowsky. "Ah! are you still there? and you prophesy me victory?

Well, that will be as good to me as the Leipsic money. Go back home, and tell the Leipsigers to hurry with the money. And hark ye! when you get to Potsdam, greet the Correggio, and tell him I yearn for him as a lover does for his mistress Adieu!"

[Footnote 1: Porcelain-making was then a great secret in Germany, only known in Meissen; the process being conducted with closed doors, and the foreman bound by oath. Gotzkowsky paid ten thousand dollars down, a life income of a thousand dollars, and house and firewood free.--"Life of a Patriotic Merchant," p. 87.]

[Footnote 2: "Correspondance de Frederic II. avec le Comte Algarottis."]

CHAPTER IV.

GRAt.i.tUDE AND RECOMPENSE.

Thus did Gotzkowsky save unfortunate Leipsic from the heavy burden which weighed her down. The prisoners were released, and the merchants gave a bond, for whose punctual and prompt payment Gotzkowsky guaranteed with his signature.

He did not do this from a selfish or vain ambition to have the praise of his name sounded, nor to increase the number of his addresses of grat.i.tude, or written a.s.severations of affection. He did it from love of mankind; because he desired to fulfil the vow he had made to G.o.d and himself on the highway as a shivering, starving lad: that if he should ever become rich, he would be to every unfortunate and needy one the hand which had appeared out of the dust-cloud to his relief.

He did it because, as he tells us naively and simply in his Life, "I knew from my own experience how difficult it was for a community to collect such a sum, and because the idea of profiting by such misfortune was abhorrent to me."

And now there was a brilliant banquet, and no end to the words of grat.i.tude and tears of emotion. This banquet was given by the Leipsic merchants in honor of him who had so magnanimously taken their part, saved them three hundred thousand dollars, and guaranteed their bonds.

And they devoured the delicate viands and emptied the beakers to his honor, and praised him in high-sounding speeches.

When Gotzkowsky, wearied and bored by this festival, returned home, he found on his table three letters. The one which bore on its seal the arms of Prussia he opened first. It was a cabinet order from the king to his private secretary, Leinning, to pay to the merchant, John Gotzkowsky, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. "Ah," said he, smiling, "payment on account; I bought a hundred thousand ducats'

worth of paintings for the king, and he does not wish to remain always in my debt." With a slight shrug of the shoulders he opened the second letter. Suddenly he burst into a loud laugh, and his countenance a.s.sumed an expression of derisive mirth. "The Elector of Saxony, in consideration of services rendered to the town of Leipsic, appoints me his commercial privy councillor!" cried he, waving the paper in the air; "that is a good joke! The little elector, who has been my debtor for many long years, is gracious enough to throw me a bit of rank--a t.i.tle! Much obliged! My name sounds well enough. It is not necessary to have a t.i.tle to be a man of honor. Throw t.i.tles to numskulls, not to me--away with it!"

He then threw the paper aside with scorn, and took up the third letter. As he read it his n.o.ble countenance brightened up with proud pleasure, and his eyes sparkled. It was a doc.u.ment from the town of Leipsic, an address of thanks from the magistracy, the concluding words of which ran thus:

"In our extreme need we had recourse to Herr Gotzkowsky, the respected merchant and banker of Berlin, imploring the same to intercede for this town and its merchants with the king of Prussia; affording them his credit and valuable a.s.sistance, to accord to said town some reasonable respite for payment, with security. To this earnest pleading Herr Gotzkowsky yielded, and, as a true philanthropist, without any ulterior views of profit to himself, did in the most praiseworthy manner a.s.sist us, and averted this misfortune from the town. These services we are compelled to acknowledge. We therefore offer our services in return on all possible occasions, not doubting that the mercantile community of this place entertain the same sentiments, and feel themselves equally bound to all imaginable reciprocity.

[SIGNED] "The Council of Leipsic.

"Leipsic, _February_ 26, 1761."

"This paper I will carry to my daughter, as a souvenir," said Gotzkowsky, folding it up carefully, and then added thoughtfully: "Who knows but what the time may come when it will be necessary to remind the merchants of Leipsic of this doc.u.ment? The opinions and destinies of men are very variable."