erity."

The elector, when the prince and the high chancellor answered this
discourse of the cup-bearer merely with an angry glance, and the
discussion seemed to be at an end, said that he would by himself
reflect on the different opinions he had heard till the next sitting of
the council. His heart being very susceptible to friendship, the
preliminary measure proposed by the prince had extinguished in him the
desire of commencing the expedition against Kohlhaas, for which every
preparation had been made. At all events he kept with him the high
chancellor, Count Wrede, whose opinion appeared the most feasible; and
when this nobleman showed him letters, from which it appeared that the
horse-dealer had already acquired a force of four hundred men, and was
likely, in a short time, to double and treble it, amid the general
discontent which prevailed in the land on account of the chamberlain's
irregularities, he resolved without delay to adopt Dr. Luther's advice;
he, therefore, entrusted to Count Wrede the whole management of the
Kohlhaas affair, and in a few days appeared a placard, the substance of
which was as follows:

"We, &c., &c., Elector of Saxony, having especial regard to the
intercession of Dr. Martin Luther, do give notice to Michael Kohlhaas,
horse-dealer of Brandenburg, that, on condition of his laying down
arms, within three days after sight hereof, he shall have free conduct
to Dresden, to the end that his cause be tried anew. And if, as is not
to be expected, his suit, concerning the horses, shall be rejected by
the tribunal at Dresden, then shall he be prosecuted with all the
severity of the law for attempting to obtain justice by his own might;
but, in the contrary case, mercy instead of justice shall be granted,
and a full amnesty shall be given to Kohlhaas and all his troop."

No sooner had Kohlhaas received a copy of this notice, which was posted
up all over the country, through the hands of Dr. Luther, than,
notwithstanding the conditional manner in which it was worded, he
dismissed his whole band with gifts, thanks, and suitable advice. All
that he gained by plunder--money, arms, and implements--he gave up to
the courts of Luetzen, as the elector's property, and after he had sent
Waldmann to Kohlhaasenbrueck, with letters to the farmer, that he might,
if possible, re-purchase his farm, and Sternbald to Schwerin to fetch
his children, whom he again wished to have with him, he left the Castle
of