The Elector turned to Baron Leuchtmar von Kalkhun as soon as the jeweler had taken his departure, saying, "Now for you, friend, and our plans of government."
II.—PLANS FOE THE FUTURE.
"Yes, friend, I want to discuss government affairs with you," continued the Elector, with a faint smile, sinking back in the armchair before the writing table. "Sit down, Leuchtmar, quite close to me, for I shall now disclose to you what no other mortal ear must hear; I shall reveal to you my thoughts and plans. Man is, after all, but a weak and tender creature, and it is a necessity with him to have some trusted soul on whom he can rely for sympathy, and to whom he can tell all that moves his inner being. To me, Leuchtmar, you are that trusted soul, and in this hour I will make known to you the inmost recesses of my heart. You shall learn who I am, what I think, and what are my aspirations, that you may always comprehend and appreciate me, standing with ever-ready succor at my side. For I hope you have no engagements elsewhere, and from this moment enter my service?"
"I have hitherto lived in quiet and retirement at Cologne on the Rhine, waiting for the hour which should summon me to my gracious master's presence, for you are the only Sovereign upon earth whom I would serve, and to you belong my being, thoughts, and all that in me is of energy and skill."
"I have counted on you, Leuchtmar, and well I knew that my reliance would not be in vain. You must aid and sustain me, for I stand in urgent need of wise friends, of diligent, faithful workers, in order to gain the goal which I have placed before me in the future, and to execute the schemes which I have planned. In the first place, Leuchtmar, do you know properly who I am?"
"Yes, your highness," replied Leuchtmar, smiling. "I think I know right well. You are the youthful hero, the Hercules to whom the gods have committed the twelve difficult tasks, that he may prove himself a demi-god, and who now begins his work with the zeal of courage and the inspiration of faith."
"The comparison may be slightly applicable," said the Elector, "and as far as the Augean stable is concerned. I, too, have my stable to cleanse; only it belongs not to Augias, but to Schwarzenberg. Still, I will try to purify it. But I must set about my undertaking with dexterous hands; of that, however, let us speak hereafter. I shall first consider your simile, drawn from the story of Hercules. Do you know, Leuchtmar, the names of my twelve tasks, and their extent? I ask you once more, do you know who I am, or, rather, what my name is? Look, there lies the document which I am just on the point of sending to my good subjects, and by means of which I shall notify them of my assumption of the reins of government. Just read the heading, Leuchtmar."
Leuchtmar took the paper handed him and read: "'We, Frederick William,
Marquis of Brandenburg, Lord High Chancellor and Elector of the Holy Roman
Empire, Duke of Prussia, Julich, Cleves, Stettin, Pomerania, Cassuben, and
Vandalia, as also Duke of Silesia, Croatia, and Jägerndorf, Burgrave of
Nuremberg, Prince of Rugen, Count of Markberg and Ravensberg, Baron of
Ravenstein.'"
"Enough!" cried the Elector. "You have now read the outlines of my Herculean task, you now know who I am. A Prince of long titles, not one of which has its foundation in truth and reality. And this is my Herculean task, to make these titles real, and to give a good kernel to these empty nut shells. Look, Leuchtmar, there is a map. Let us examine it and compare it with my titles, for it is a map corresponding finely with these titles, and on which all the counties and provinces pertaining to them are designated. Marquis of Brandenburg, that is my first title, and you would naturally suppose that this, at least, was veritable, for the Mark is the oldest possession of our house, and my ancestor, the Burgrave Frederick von Nuremberg, was invested with it by the Emperor. But what do I obtain from the Mark? Friend and foe have quartered there, until they have changed it into a desert; famine and pestilence hold sway there, and the despairing inhabitants have left their fields untilled and wander about shelterless and hungry. The only prosperous man there, possessed of power and consideration, is the Stadtholder in the Mark, Count Adam von Schwarzenberg. The Mark suffers and groans, but he is of glad heart, and the distress of the people touches him not. What cares he for land or people, save in so far as they conduce to the furtherance of his own ends, and do you know what those ends are?"
"He is an Imperialist and a strict Catholic," said Leuchtmar, "and it must be confessed that he would rather see the whole Mark go to destruction than behold it Protestant and independent."