Part 40 (1/2)
”And for this reason you wanted to bribe me with your bits of porcelain. Oh, you are a reckoner, but this time you have reckoned without your host. No pity for these obstinate Leipsigers. They must pay the eleven hundred thousand dollars, or--”
”Or what?” asked Gotzkowsky, as he hesitated.
The king looked angrily at him. ”You are very bold,” said he, ”to interrupt me. The Leipsigers must pay, for I need the money for my soldiers, and they are rich; they are able to pay!”
”They are not able to pay, sire! They are as little able to pay as Berlin is if Russia insists upon her demands, and her magnanimous king does not come to her a.s.sistance. But your majesty certainly does not wish that the world and history shall say that Russia acted with more forbearance and clemency toward Berlin than Prussia did toward Leipsic? To be sure, the Russians carried off the Jewish elders into captivity because they could not pay, but then they treated these poor victims of their avarice like human beings. They did not make them sleep on rotten straw; they did not let them starve, and die of misery and filth; they did not have them scourged and tortured until they wet with their tears the bit of bread thrown to them.”
”Who does that?” cried the king, with thundering voice and flas.h.i.+ng eye.
Gotzkowsky bowed low. ”Your majesty, the King of Prussia does that!”
Frederick uttered a cry of anger, and advanced with his arm raised on Gotzkowsky, who looked at him quietly and firmly. ”You lie! retract!”
thundered the king.
”I have, as long as I have lived, spoken the truth, sire--the truth, without fear or dread of man. Your majesty is the first man who has accused me of a lie. I have seen with my own eyes your majesty's officials treating the poor captive Leipsic merchants like dogs. What do I say--like dogs? Oh, how would the poor down-trodden men envy those dogs the delicacies contained in that dis.h.!.+ It may be right to compel and humble the refractory, but it is not right to tread out the human soul, and even in the conquered you should honor G.o.d's image.”
The king looked at him with ludicrous surprise. ”Do you wish to give me a lesson? Well, I will forgive you this time, and, as you express it, honor G.o.d's image in the owner of the Berlin porcelain factory.
But hush about these hard-headed Leipsigers. They must pay. My soldiers cannot live on air, and my coffers are empty.”
”The Leipsigers are very willing to contribute, but the demand must not exceed their powers.”
”How do you know that?”
”The magistracy and merchant guild of Leipsic sent a deputation to me, and entreated my mediation.”
”You have then already the reputation of one who knows how to use his tongue well, and goes about tattling with it.”
”Sire,” said Gotzkowsky, smiling, ”we only follow the example of our hero-king. We all are anxious to fight, and those who have no swords must fight with the tongue. I have latterly been compelled to fight a great deal with it, and the Leipsic merchants may have heard something about that. They knew that I had some exercise with my tongue, and gained a little victory with it over the Russians in Berlin.”
”How much do you think the city of Leipsic can pay?” asked the king after a pause.
”If your majesty will remit them a few hundred thousand dollars, and allow the merchants time, they are willing to bind themselves in joint bonds.”
”_Parbleu_! are they willing to do that?” asked the king, derisively.
”The bonds of the Leipsic merchants would be no security to me.”
And turning quickly on Gotzkowsky, he asked him, ”Are you willing to guarantee the payment?”
”If your majesty orders it, the bonds shall be drawn out with my guaranty.”
”I look to you, then, for their payment.”
”At your orders, sire.”
”Well, then, for your sake I will remit the Leipsigers three hundred thousand dollars; but for the rest of the million you are answerable.”
”I will be answerable for it.”