not
allowing his patrimony to be diminished and torn from him. For this son,
in the Emperor's name, I would plead with your Electoral Highness for
grace and favor, beseeching you not to deprive him of his rights, but to
restore to him what belongs to him."

"Tell me, Dr. Gebhard," asked the Elector, "what those rights are of which
I have deprived him, according to his Majesty's opinion, and what things I
have taken from him which belong to him?"

"Already in his father's lifetime Count John Adolphus Schwarzenberg was
elected his coadjutor in the Order of St. John, therefore on his father's
demise he had a right to the vacant dignity of grand master, and yet this
has not been accorded him by your highness. As his father's heir, Count
John Adolphus received all his father's property, and entered into
possession of it. Yet this your highness did not allow him uncontested,
and withheld what was his. Nay, your highness even instituted a criminal
process against the young count, his father's heir. This last proceeding
is especially distasteful and annoying to his Majesty; the Emperor wishes
above all things that your highness withdraw this criminal suit, referring
it to the imperial court at Vienna, and that you again receive Count John
into favor." [52]

"Truly his Imperial Majesty asks and requires a great deal of me," cried
Frederick William, with flashing eyes and cheeks flushed with anger. "More
than a prince dare give, who has to act not merely in subjection and
dependence, but as Sovereign of his people. It seems to me as if no one
had cause to interfere in this affair of Count Adolphus Schwarzenberg, for
it concerns the interior interests of my realm. Within the limits of my
own country I alone am lord and ruler, and only one lord there is, before
whom I bow, and whom I recognize as my superior--_the law_! Law is
properly supreme within the Brandenburg provinces, and shall and must
reign over high and low! But my favor, sir, my favor, can only flow
spontaneously from within, and can not be arbitrarily bestowed even at an
Emperor's behest. I have not withdrawn my favor from Count Adolphus
Schwarzenberg, for he never possessed it. Law and right alone must decide
for or against him. Many of my subjects have brought accusations against
him, and for these I am pledged to procure justice at the hands of the
courts of justice. What was done in my lands must be also judged in my
lands, else my subjects might be wounded in