r, and the dishonour which would result to the
sacred person of the elector by such a proceeding appeared to him so
great, that he said, with all the fire of eloquence, that he would
rather see the decree of the round-headed rebel acted on, and the
squire, his cousin, carried off to feed the horses at Kohlhaasenbrueck,
than he would see the proposition of Dr. Martin Luther accepted. The
high chancellor of the tribunal, half turning to the chamberlain,
expressed his regret that such a tender anxiety, as he now showed to
clear up this affair to the honour of his sovereign, had not inspired
him in the first instance. He pointed out to the elector his objection
against the employment of force to carry out a measure which was
manifestly unjust; he alluded to the constant increase of the
horse-dealer's followers as a most important circumstance, observing
that the thread of misdeeds seemed to be spinning itself out to an
infinite length, and declared that only an act of absolute justice,
which should immediately and without reserve make good the false step
that had been taken, could rescue the elector and the government from
this hateful affair.

Prince Christian of Misnia, in answer to the elector's question, "what
he thought of it," answered, turning respectfully to the high
chancellor, that the sentiments which he had just heard filled him with
great respect, but that the chancellor did not consider that while he
was for helping Kohlhaas to his rights, he was compromising Wittenberg,
Leipzig, and the whole of the country, which he had laid waste, in
their just claims to restitution or at least to the punishment of the
offender. The order of the state had been so completely distorted in
the case of this man, that a maxim, taken from the science of law,
could scarcely set it right again. Hence he agreed with the opinion of
the chamberlain that the measures appointed for such cases should be
adopted, that an armed force of sufficient magnitude should be raised,
and that the horse-dealer, who had settled himself in the Castle of
Luetzen, should be arrested, or, at any rate, that his power should be
crushed.

The chamberlain, politely taking from the wall two chairs for the
elector and the prince, said he rejoiced that a man of such known
integrity and acuteness agreed with him in the means to be employed in
arranging this difficult affair. The prince, holding the chair without
sitting down, and looking hard at him, obse