e cannot march out
against us. Then we have the Wallisers (people of the canton of
_Valais_) with us, who are waiting, and if we would undertake anything
with the Confederates, they would march homo again in an hour, even if
they had to leave their beds; and who could hinder them? Lastly, there
is the negotiation with the Duke of Savoy not yet settled, and we know
not where we are. Therefore, we pray you, for the sake of Christ's
passion, not to be so violent."

But this language availed nothing; for on the same day dreadful tidings
arrived. Jacob Kaiser, surnamed the Locksmith of Utznach, the place of
his birth, had a benefice and settlement given him at Neftenbach, in
the canton of Zurich. Now he received a call as a preacher to
Oberkirch, in Gaster. Before he resigned his former charge, he
sometimes visited his new parish. Being much hated by the Schwyzers,
because when pastor at the Ufnau he had declared himself strongly
opposed to image-worship, the bailiff (_vogt_) in Utznach, which was
under the dominion of Schwyz and Glarus, caused him to be apprehended,
as he journeyed through, and brought to Schwyz.[2] This was done in
pursuance of an order, which all the bailiffs of the Five Cantons had
received, to keep an eye on innovating preachers in the Territories,
and seize them, and hand them over to justice. Like an earlier victim
in Schwyz, another in the Thurgau, and three preachers delivered to the
Bishop at M[oe]rsburg, by Catholic bailiffs of that place, Kaiser was
condemned to die at the stake. In vain did Zurich intercede for him; in
vain did she write more earnest letters; in vain did she send the
treasurer Edlebach to Schwyz. On the day of his execution the Schwyzers
answered: "The territory of Utznach belongs not to you it is a property
bought by us and our Confederates of Glarus. For what we do there you
have no right to call us to account. And if the parson is so dear to
you as you say in your letter, then you should have kept him at home,
and not suffered him to come among our people. This would have been
most agreeable to us, and certainly much better for him." Such scorn
and the flames of the faggot were decisive. War was determined on.

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTH:

Footnote 1: It is printed at large in _Escher_ and _Hottinger_, fuer
Schweizerische Geschichte und Landeskunde. Bd. II. S. 263 ff.

Footnote 2: So it is expressed in the verbal process of the Privy
Council; that he was once pastor at