“I well knew,” cried the Elector, “that this gentleman had made sure of his own safety before venturing near me.  That was the reason of my question.  As imperial officer and chamberlain he is secure against my just wrath, and his Majesty’s safe conduct a glorious wall behind which to hide himself.  Let him profit by it; I shall not see him behind the wall, but instead only a piece of white paper, on which his Imperial Majesty has inscribed his name, and accordingly I shall respect this piece of paper, which otherwise I would tear in twain.”

“Your highness!” cried Count Schwarzenberg—­“your highness, I—­”

“Count von Martinitz,” interposed the Elector haughtily, “I empower you to say to the ambassador extraordinary of his Imperial Majesty, that I give him leave to deliver the Emperor’s message to me and to impart to me his Majesty’s desires.”

“Most respected lord and Elector,” said Dr. Gebhard with solemnity, “his Majesty the Emperor Ferdinand sends me to your highness in the assured hope that in your justice and exalted wisdom your grace will be superior to all personal enmities, and not visit upon the son faults, perhaps unintentional, committed against you by the father.”

“Of what father and son do you speak, sir?” asked the Elector.

“Of the father who for twenty years was the honored counselor and friend of Elector George William, who, faithful even beyond the tomb, forsook the earth no longer tenanted by his lord and Elector.  Of the son who has committed no crime except that of being his father’s heir, and 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]