The Youth of the Great Elector Part 49

"If flattery and persuasions bring forth no fruit," replied Kospoth, "it would be a satisfaction to me, too, to threaten."

"A poor satisfaction!" cried the Elector, "unless we could forthwith follow up our threat by action, and send out our regiments to declare war!

No, sirs, if you try in vain to bribe with fair words, then we must resort to money! Money is also a weapon, and, if report speak truly, an effective one among the Polish lords, their King himself respecting it. In extremity, therefore, if you can not go forward at all, then have their Majesties, the King as well as Queen, notified, by means of some trusty person, that if we obtain the grant of the government on the spot, and have no difficulty with regard to invest.i.ture, we shall pay to both their Majesties, as a bonus, the sum of sixty thousand Polish florins, and afterward wait upon the great chancellor, vice chancellor, and lord high chancellor, salute these gentlemen from me, and promise each one of them ten thousand Polish florins. Take care, though, to stipulate for some time to be allowed us for the fulfillment of these promises, for where the money is to come from is as yet a riddle to ourselves. Such is my commission, gentlemen. Hasten to execute it."

"And now," exclaimed the Elector, when the two gentlemen had left the cabinet, "now, Colonel von Burgsdorf, you have received your first lesson, and have learned to wait a little. Come forward now; I have something to say to you."

"And I, sir," called out Burgsdorf, as he rushed forth from the bay window and threw himself on his knees before the Elector, "first of all, I have something to say to you. Your highness, above all things I must beg your pardon from the bottom of my heart, and confess to you the evil thoughts that led me to suppose that the Elector at twenty years of age did not understand government and was only a timid young gentleman. I see now that you are far wiser and more prudent than the old fool Burgsdorf, and that you have learned more in your twenty years than will ever penetrate my thick skull. You are a great statesman, your highness; on my knees I implore your pardon for having doubted you, and beseech you, reject me not, sir! Forget the nonsense I gave utterance to that time at Berlin, and take the old broadsword into your service. It desires nothing better than to be worn out in your service, to fly out of its scabbard at your bidding and slash away at the enemy."

"To slash away at the enemy!" repeated the Elector. "First of all, stand up, old colonel. There," he continued, smiling, holding out his hand to him, "I must help you a little, for your old limbs have grown stiff in my father's service. And now, just tell me, old broadsword, what you think of it. How will you attack the enemy for me now? Enemies enough we have, indeed, but too few soldiers, I should think, to cope with them. Or think you that we could soon set an army on foot? Would you go out to battle with your regiment of two thousand six hundred men, and win back for me my contested territories?"

"I beg your highness not to speak of my two thousand six hundred men. You know well that they have long since melted away, because there was no money wherewith to pay them."

"Well then," said the Elector, "I will gratify you by forgetting that splendid regiment, and by no longer reminding you of the things that were.

But this I tell you, Burgsdorf, under my administration everything must correspond, and what is noted down on paper must really exist. And now we shall see if you are acquainted with our military affairs."

"Alas! most n.o.ble sir," sighed Burgsdorf, "would that I did not know, for it is a most sorrowful knowledge to an old soldier and in a most distressing condition is the Brandenburg military department."

"Yes, indeed!" exclaimed the Elector. "The knights no longer take horse, the citizens no longer care to defend their towns and gates, the States refuse to pay subsidies for the support of the army, and our coffers are exhausted. It is no wonder if there can be no talk of an army. How much infantry and cavalry have we in all, Burgsdorf?"

"Most gracious sir," sighed the colonel, "in the Mark and Prussia together we have not more than twenty companies of infantry, allowing a hundred and twenty-five men to each."

"That would make two thousand five hundred men," said the Elector--"a small nucleus for an army, truly; but something, nevertheless, provided that these men are attached to me, and owe fealty to none besides myself."

"But that is just our misfortune," said Burgsdorf; "these men have sworn allegiance not only to you, but to the Emperor's Majesty. They were enlisted in the Emperor's name, and carry the imperial banner."

"Ah!" cried the Elector, "I see you know how it is, Conrad von Burgsdorf, and understand the difficulties of the position in which we find ourselves. Yes, the regiments of the Elector of Brandenburg have given oath to the Emperor, and the Emperor's banners wave above our forts. All my officers serve the Emperor first! Tell me, Burgsdorf, are you yourself not in the Emperor's service? Have you not a regiment in the imperial army, although you are governor of Kustrin, and therefore under my command?"

"That is so," replied Burgsdorf. "I could not refuse the imperial regiment because it was such a lucrative post, and the governorship paid me hardly anything. The emoluments for heading the imperial regiment were more in one year than I would have gained in twenty years from my Brandenburg post. Necessity drove me to it."[38]

"I know that very well," said the Elector, "and I repeat that the past shall be forgotten if you promise that in future you will be true and loyal to myself alone."

"Your highness!" shouted Burgsdorf, "I will be faithful to you and your government to the end of my life! I renounce empire and Emperor, and henceforth the Elector of Brandenburg is my sole lord and general! Allow me on the spot to give into your own hand my oath of office, and swear to you eternal fidelity!"

"Here is my hand," said the Elector solemnly. "Swear upon this hand hereafter to become the sword of Brandenburg, to serve me faithfully and zealously, and to have no other Sovereign than myself!"

"In G.o.d's name I swear that I will have no other Sovereign, and serve under no other Prince, than yourself alone, the Elector of Brandenburg!"

cried Burgsdorf, laying both his hands in that of the Elector and pressing it fervently to his lips.

"And now, having sworn you into my service," said the Elector, in a majestic tone, "now I commission you to return home to Kustrin and to administer the oath to all the officers and men there. But understand, to me alone, not to the Emperor."

"To you alone, not to the Emperor!" cried Burgsdorf, with animation.

"And I further order you to receive no imperial garrison into your fortress, for we have a right to exact this, since it is clearly stipulated in the peace of Prague that each Prince is at liberty to man his fortresses with his own people, which clause gives validity to this a.s.sertion of right."[39]

"Your Electoral Highness!" cried Burgsdorf, "that was spoken like a man!

Begin the good work in earnest, and command the Stadtholder without delay to swear in the other governors of your remaining fortresses!"[40]

"You are of opinion, then, that this is very necessary, and that these gentlemen might refuse to swear allegiance to me alone?"

"Yes, sir, I am strongly of that opinion, and would venture to lay a wager that Colonel von Rochow at Spandow, and Goldacker and Kracht in Berlin, will not take oath to your Electoral Highness."

"Woe to them if they do it not!" cried the Elector, with flashing eyes. "I shall prove to them that they must bow in obedience to me, and that I recognize no other lord but myself within the limits of my own dominions.

Now go back to the Mark, Burgsdorf, and do as I have bidden you. You may also, as would once have been so pleasant to you, go over right often to Berlin. Attend well to all that is going on, for it may be that I shall soon have occasion for you there. Be on your guard, therefore, colonel, and be pretty circ.u.mspect in word and deed. Ponder upon the advice given you by the little Electoral Prince once: 'Learn and wait.'"

"Sir, you give me another thrust!" cried Burgsdorf; "but it does me good, and I am glad of it. Yes, I shall learn and wait, for I see plainly the last night of the world has not come yet, and my dearest master will not always have to act so on the defensive as now; when the right time comes, he will strike and prove to all his enemies, even the mightiest of them, that he is more powerful than they. Mark now, mark my words; Schwarzenberg may look out!"

"But meanwhile let Burgsdorf look out! Farewell now, Burgsdorf, you have received my orders. Execute them."

"Now," cried the Elector, after the colonel had left the room--"now, my dear Leuchtmar, you know all my views and plans. But the most weighty, important, and difficult task I have reserved for you."

"I think I know what your highness means," said Leuchtmar, smiling. "Your precautionary measures have been taken in all directions; as early as yesterday your envoys departed laden with most submissive messages of respect for the Emperor. Only in one direction have you done nothing, and that remains for me. I am to go to Sweden, am I not?"

The Elector nodded and smiled. "It is as you say--you are to go to Sweden.

A great danger threatens my country. The Swedes are on the frontiers, or rather within my territories, for they hold possession of Pomerania, which is mine. They are on the point of invading the Mark, Banner again threatens my poor, exhausted lands, and it is said that he has already issued orders for the demolishing of Berlin. Schwarzenberg for that very reason had the suburbs of Berlin and Cologne burned down, thus laying the city open to a.s.sault; from Saxony, also, the Swedish general Stallhansch advances upon Brandenburg, and all is in a fair way to encircle the Mark in the flames of war. But, as you know, I have no money and no soldiers, no power and no lands. I can not conduct a war! My single purpose must now be, in the first place, to withdraw my oppressed land and people from these flames of war into lasting repose and a peaceful security, and then to govern them well.[41] I shall send you to Sweden, therefore, Leuchtmar, to conclude for me a temporary armistice with the Swedes, and also to negotiate the conditions of a peace. I must have peace at any price, for on no terms can I carry on a war. Chancellor Oxenstiern is indeed a proud and overbearing man, who will probably make hard conditions, but we must accommodate ourselves to them, yield gracefully now, and defer our revenge for a later day. Only if he demands Pomerania as the price of peace, you may not yield; we will indeed be yielding, but not suffer ourselves to be humbled. We can grant much, but not allow ourselves to be imposed upon in everything. If Oxenstiern desires money and other material things, promise them, but land and towns you may not give."

"Not a single t.i.tle to land or town, your highness!" cried Leuchtmar, "for you have said that you would substantiate your t.i.tles, and give kernels to the empty sh.e.l.ls; therefore the Swede shall not crack a single one of your nuts."

"Not a single one," repeated the Elector, while he smilingly extended his hand to his friend. "And now, one thing more, Leuchtmar. Do you remember the plan about which my great-uncle Gustavus Adolphus spoke to my mother, when he was here on a visit?"

"Yes, indeed," returned Leuchtmar promptly, "I remember it, and think it were time now to carry it into execution. There is one means of uniting Sweden and Brandenburg in the bonds of peace, without reducing Brandenburg to humiliation. Only follow the plan of the great Gustavus Adolphus; you know he destined his daughter Christina for your wife."

"Yes," said the Elector, and a sudden pallor overspread his cheeks--"yes, he meant his daughter to be my wife. Go, Leuchtmar, and woo her, but quite secretly and quietly. As I have already told you, my heart is dead, young Frederick William no longer desires anything for himself, but the young Elector a great deal still, and it is the Elector who offers his hand to Queen Christina for the good of his country. I believe the little, young Queen interests herself somewhat in her cousin Frederick William, at least so my aunt, the widowed Queen, a.s.sured me. I shall intrust to you a letter for the young Queen, which you must try to slip into her own hand without Oxenstiern knowing anything about it. Go now, dear Leuchtmar, and prepare all things for your journey. Meanwhile I shall write the letter."

"In one hour, your highness, I shall be ready," said Leuchtmar, withdrawing with a low bow.

The Elector thoughtfully followed him with his eyes. "In one hour he will be ready," he said, "and he goes away to woo for me a woman's heart. Oh, Love and Faith, must you, too, bow to the great laws which govern the world? Must you, too, be laid as sacrifices upon the altar of country?

Hush, poor heart and murmur not! Sink down into the sea of forgetfulness, ye days of the past! A new era dawns upon me. I stand before the gates of a great future, and I write above these gates, 'I will be a mighty and distinguished ruler!' That is my future."

IV.--CONFIRMED IN POWER.

With triumphant expression of countenance Count Adam von Schwarzenberg walked to and fro in his cabinet. The Chamberlain Werner von Schulenburg had just left him, and the glad tidings which he had brought from the young Elector had banished all doubts, all cares from the Stadtholder's heart.

"I did him injustice," he said cheerfully to himself. "Frederick William was not my enemy, not my opponent! He was only the son of his father, and he will now also walk in his father's ways. I therefore remain what I am, remain Stadtholder, the lord of the Mark! And," he continued, more softly, "I would have put this amiable Prince out of the way! Who knows whether it would have been for my advantage if he had died and my son stepped into his place! My son is of my blood--that is to say, he is ambitious and thirsts after power and distinction. He would not have left the government in my hands, if he could have wrested it from me, and perhaps I would not have remained Stadtholder in the Mark had it been in his power to displace me!"

The count had thrown himself into a fauteuil, and supported his head on his hand. The triumphant expression had long since faded from his features, which were mow grave and lined by care.

"It pleases me not," he murmured, after a long pause--"no, it pleases me not at all that my son a.s.sociates so constantly with Goldacker, Kracht, and Rochow at Spandow. They are disorderly fellows, who recognize no law or restraint, and find their sole pleasure in tumult and strife. It would seem fine to them if they could embroil father and son, for they would surely fish in the troubled waters, and draw out some advantage for themselves, which is ever their only concern. They exert an evil influence over my son, I know that, and it would be infinitely better for him to go away from here and--Ha! a good thought! I shall immediately carry it out."

He started up and grasped the large gold bell, which had been recently presented to him by the Emperor. The clear, sonorous tones called a smile to the count's lips.

"Yes, yes," he said, "the old Elector is dead, and I ring the new times in; yet the new era is but a repet.i.tion of the old, and the end remains ever the same, although the means by which we attain it differ. I used to whistle, now I ring, but the object remains identically the same--to summon serviceable spirits to my side.

"They do not come, though," he continued after a long pause, in which he had awaited in vain the appearance of a lackey. "No, these, my serviceable spirits come not; they incline not to the new order of things, and prefer clinging to the old."