Swedes would be delighted to have your highness for an
ally, to stand with them against the Emperor and the German Empire, and
the States-General, too, would gladly give you the right hand of
confederation."

"Oh, yes, the Swedes would gladly accept me as their ally, provided that I
would voluntarily resign to them Pomerania and Ruegen, renouncing all claim
to these lands; and the States would gladly extend to me the right hand of
fellowship, only I must have first laid down in this hand the duchies of
Cleves and Julich as an offering of friendship! But such a thing would I
never do, and never shall I peaceably resign the smallest strip of land
that should be mine to purchase thereby repose for myself. Up to this time
I have enjoyed only the title to my lands, but it must and shall be now
the purpose of my whole life to substantiate these claims, and not merely
to conquer back what is my own, but, an' it please God, to enlarge my
territories and give to them unity and compactness. I am now a Prince only
by my armorial bearings, but I _will_ be a veritable Prince. I now wear
only the most delapidated semblance of a Prince's mantle, inflated by
hollow wind, but I shall change it into a purple mantle, such as no German
Prince would be ashamed of, which every one in the German Empire shall
respect, yea, even the Emperor himself."

"And you will gain your end," cried Leuchtmar, "yes, you will gain it. It
stands written on your lofty brow, it shines forth from your fiery eyes,
and is spoken by every feature of your noble, energetic face. You will
gain your end. From the confusion and chaos of the present times you will
emerge as a distinguished, mighty Prince; out of nothingness and disorder
you will construct a powerful state, and to your towering titles give a
firm basis of strength and truth!"

"Amen! God grant it!" said Frederick William, piously lifting his large
eyes to Heaven. "It seems now, indeed, as if it were an unattainable
goal," he continued, after a pause, "and to no one else would I confess
it, for I would only become the scorn and derision of my enemies."

"But the delight of your friends!" cried Leuchtmar, deeply moved, "the
invigorator and uplifter of your friends!" "Friends, say you? Where are my
friends? Look abroad throughout the whole German Empire, the whole of
Europe, and then tell me where my friends are. I have not even friends in
my next-door neighbors, not even in my nearest relations! Yes, wer