nts and
retainers, the Elector would not dare to arrest and accuse you. He begins
much more prudently, much more circumspectly! In the first place, you are
to swear the governors and officers into the Elector's service. That is to
say, in other words, they are no longer to recognize the Emperor as lord
paramount or you as the Elector's representative, but their oath is to
bind them to the Elector alone, and only on his will are they to be
dependent. After having accomplished all this, you are to proceed to
Prussia, where no one defends you, where your friends can not rally around
you, where you will vanish, uncared for and unwept. No, my lord and
father, you must not go to Prussia, or if you do, not until you have
assembled around you your loyal subjects, when, at the head of your
regiments, you go forth to meet the Elector as his powerful and determined
foe, not as his servant."

"What do you say, my son?" asked the Stadtholder, shocked.

"I say, father, that your friends and I have been secretly active, that we
have prepared to defend you in case the Elector threatens you. Throughout
the whole Mark your friends are ready to make open opposition to the
Elector, and firmly determined to protect you and their own rights and
privileges sword in hand. Only carry out Frederick William's order,
summon the commandants of the forts here to Berlin, and demand of them
their oath of allegiance to the Elector. This they will refuse. All, with
the exception of Burgsdorf of Kuestrin and Trotha of Peitz, will declare
that they have already given in their oath to the Emperor, and can not
conscientiously take any other. The colonels of the regiments will say the
same, especially Goldacker, the boldest, bravest of them all. They will
keep faith with the Emperor, and therefore the Elector of Brandenburg is
not their commander in chief. _You_, who administered the imperial oath,
they will obey in the Emperor's name, they will follow whithersoever _you_
lead."

"But whither can I lead them?" asked the Stadtholder.

"To battle against the little Elector of Brandenburg, who would revolt
against his lord the Emperor; to battle against the heretical vassal of
the Emperor, who threatens the German Empire and the Church, who would
break loose from Emperor and empire, who threatens all creeds, making
every effort to strengthen and aggrandize the reformed party. Oh, believe
me, not merely good Catholics, but the Evangelical and Lutheran sects,