wrath? But it shall not be--I solemnly swear, it shall not be! I will
_not_ involve my land in new dangers and calamities of war. I will _not_
depart from my neutrality. I _will_ have peace--peace with the Emperor,
peace for my poor people, and for their unhappy Prince! But I shall not
act as my father did, and prepare a pleasure for my son by resigning
sovereignty and rule in my lifetime and becoming the servant and subject
of my own son! Before me shall he bow--me shall he acknowledge to be his
lord so long as I live, and never while I breathe shall I cease to lay to
his charge these hours of pain and vexation. I am Elector and ruler, and
he is nothing further than my son and subject, my successor when I die,
but not my coregent while I live! Count Adam Schwarzenberg, I charge you
to stand courageously at my side, to remain zealous in my service, and to
direct your attention especially to unraveling all the arts and wiles, the
plots and schemes of my son and his abettors; to give me always
information on these points, to keep nothing in the background, and not to
conceal anything from me merely to save me from vexation. Will you promise
and swear so to manage and act, my Adam?"

"I swear and promise it, and in affirmation will my Prince allow me to
give him my hand upon it?" asked Schwarzenberg, laying his own right hand
in the outstretched one of the Elector. "You will find in me a true
servant and guardian of your sacred person and your throne, and he who
would supplant or harm you must first step over the corpse of Count
Schwarzenberg! But now, most gracious sir, I beseech you not to be
overpowered by your feelings of indignation, and to be amiable and
condescending toward the home-coming Electoral Prince; for it is sometimes
very necessary to wear a mask and assume an appearance of harmlessness and
unconcern in order the better to fathom the designs of one's enemies, and
to make them feel secure, that they may the more easily betray themselves."