day be far distant when I
enter upon the succession--may my venerated father for long years to come
rule his land in peace and tranquillity. I long not to grasp the reins of
government, for I know very well that I am yet much too young to guide
them with wisdom and prudence."

"You will not understand me, your highness," cried the colonel
impatiently, and his red swollen face glowed with a brighter hue. "But I
must still try to make you understand, for to that very end have I been
sent hither by your friends; they have chosen me as spokesman for them
all, and therefore I must speak, if your highness will grant me leave so
to do."

"Speak, my dear colonel, speak, and may God enlighten my heart, that I may
rightly understand you! Let us sit down, colonel, and now let us hear what
is the matter."

"This is the matter, your highness, the Mark of Brandenburg is lost to
you, if you do not seize it now with swift, determined hand. You do not
believe me, sir; you shake your head incredulously and smile. Ah! I see
plainly, that you have been suffered to remain in great darkness as
regards the situation of affairs here, and you know very little of our
sufferings and our distresses. You know not that poverty and want prevail
throughout the whole land; that the peasant, the burgher, the nobleman,
all classes of the people, in short, are equally oppressed; that trade and
commerce lie prostrate; and the aim of each one is only how he may prolong
a wretched existence from day to day."

"Nevertheless, my dear colonel, I know that. I saw enough solitary, ruined
villages, waste and empty towns, uncultivated and ravaged fields on my
journey hither to prove to me what the poor inhabitants of the Mark have
had to suffer in these evil days of war."

"Have had to suffer, says your highness?" cried Burgsdorf impatiently;
"they still suffer continuously, and their suffering will be without
cessation or end if your highness does not take pity upon the poor people,
upon us all."

"I?" asked Frederick William, astonished. "What then can I do?"

"You can do everything, my Prince, everything, and in the name of your
future country, in the name of your subjects, I beseech you to do so. The
Mark Brandenburg stands upon the brink of a precipice. Save it, Electoral
Prince. The religion, policy, and independence of Brandenburg are in
danger; take your sword in hand and save her. Speak three words, three
little insignificant words, and all the no