"'My loving cousin has great interest in this dukedom of Pomerania; this will I also defend for his advantage, but on the same condition as in the book of Ruth the next inheritor is commanded to take Ruth for his wife, so must my loving cousin take to him this Ruth; that is, unite himself with me in this righteous business if he wishes to inherit the country. If not, I here declare that he shall never obtain it.
"'I am not disinclined to peace, and have conformed myself to it contentedly. I know well that the chances of war are doubtful; I have experienced that, in the many years in which I have carried on war with various fortune. But as I have now, by God's grace, come so far, no one can counsel me to withdraw, not even the Emperor himself if he were to make use of his reason.
"'I might perhaps allow of an armistice for a month. It may appear fitting to me that my loving cousin should mediate. But he must place himself in a position, arms in hand, otherwise all his mediation will avail nothing. Some of the Hanse towns are ready to unite with me. I only wait for some one in the Empire to put himself prominently at the head. What might not the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg together with these cities, accomplish? Would to God that there were a Maurice!'
"Thereupon I replied that I had no commands from his Electoral Highness to confer with his Majesty, touching an armed alliance. But in my poor opinion, I doubted much whether his Electoral Highness would be able to come to an understanding without detriment to his honour and truth, salvo honore et fide sua.
"Then his Majesty interposed promptly: 'Yes, they will honour you when they have deprived you of your land and people. The Imperialists will keep faith with you as they have kept the capitulation.'
"I: 'It is necessary to look to the future, and consider how all will fall to ruin if the undertaking does not prosper.'
"The King: 'That will happen if you remain inactive, and would have done so already if I had not come. My loving cousin ought to do as I have done, and commend the result to God. I have not lain on a bed for fourteen days. I might have spared myself this trouble and sat at home with my wife if I had had no greater considerations.'
"I: 'As your Kingly Majesty is content that his Electoral Highness should become mediator, you must at least allow his Electoral Highness to remain neutral.'
"The King: 'Yes, till I come to his country. Such an idea is mere chaff, which the wind raises and blows away. What kind of a thing is that Neutrality? I do not understand it!'
"I: 'Yet your Kingly Majesty understood it well in Prussia, where you yourself suggested it to his Electoral Highness and to the city of Dantzic.'