“They were alarmed because two thousand Englishmen, sent by King James, arrived yesterday at Potsdam.”
“Will they enter Berlin?”
“God forbid! They are going in a few days still farther, to Bohemia. They are auxiliaries sent to the Elector of the Palatinate who has been crowned at Prague. But our people were apprehensive that they had come here because of the uprising six years ago. They have a guilty conscience.”
“Uprising? here in Berlin?”
“Nurse, how little you know about things. I will explain. The blessed Elector about that time went over from the Lutheran to the Reformed Church. The people of Cöln[2] and Berlin were greatly incensed. They are nearly all Lutherans, and there was a great uproar. The governor, Margrave Johann George, had to clear the streets to silence the tumult, and was severely injured by a stone thrown at him. The crowd then attacked and demolished the house of Füssell, the Reformed preacher.”
Extreme surprise was visible upon the nurse’s countenance. “Have such things happened here?” said she.
“Yes. They have happened here,” replied the maid; “and worse yet, they happened without investigation or punishment. The Lutherans are in the ascendant and they are making the lives of Reformers wretched to-day in the city and country. Perhaps now you understand what I meant when I said ‘the people have a guilty conscience.’”
“Yes; now I understand. The people are afraid that these two thousand Englishmen are going to occupy the city.”
“Yes, and would that it were true. It would serve the people right. They would quickly settle matters. But I know it will not happen. Our Elector is much too gentle to adopt harsh measures.”
Hardly were these words uttered, when they heard a great noise in the vicinity of St. George’s, now King street.