And these blank charters, before which his enemies trembled, which had struck his partisans and friends as a precious attribute of his power—these blank charters he was now called upon to resign!
"I shall not do it," he exclaimed, in a loud, determined voice—"no, I shall not do it! I shall not be such a fool as to lessen my own power. No; the blank charters are mine, I shall know how to hold them fast!"
He threw the rescript aside and seized another letter. Again from the
Elector's cabinet—again a command from him to the Stadtholder in the Mark!
He broke open the seal, unfolded the paper with trembling hands, and again shuddered as he read; and a momentary pallor overspread his cheeks. This writing contained the Elector's orders to suspend hostilities, and to refrain from any attack upon the Swedes and the places occupied by them, and most rigidly to confine himself to the defensive until an abiding peace could be concluded with Sweden.[44]
"You assail me, little Elector!" he said, with smothered, threatening voice. "You bring out your reserves against me, and would cause the proud edifice of my power to crumble away stone by stone! You fear lest if the great Colossus falls at once it might crush you, and therefore you would destroy it piecemeal, a little at a time! You shall not succeed, though, little Elector; the Colossus will rear its head on high, and you alone will fall!"
At this moment loud, angry and excited voices made themselves heard from the antechamber, and a lackey tore open the door.
"Your excellency, the Commandants von Rochow, von Kracht, and Colonel von
Goldacker request an audience."
But the three gentlemen did not wait for the granting of this audience. With unseemly haste they rushed into the cabinet, unceremoniously thrust out the lackey, and closed the door behind him.
"Most gracious sir, do you know it?" screamed Rochow, the commandant of
Spandow.
"Do you know, your excellency, what things are going on?" growled Kracht, the commandant of Berlin.