Pagina 688 di 788

"Sophia, I must take counsel with you in a very important matter;

I have already asked my uncle's opinion, and he is not opposed.

You know that a considerable portion of the villages that I am to

be the owner of, according to the law ought to have descended to

you. These serfs are not my subjects, but yours; I should not

venture to dispose of their affairs without the consent of their

lady. Now, when we ourselves possess once more our beloved

Fatherland, shall the peasants by that happy change gain only

this much, that they receive another lord? To be sure, they have

hitherto been governed with kindness, but after my death God

knows to whom I may leave them; I am a soldier, and we both are

mortal; I am a man, and I fear my own caprices: I shall act with

greater security if I renounce my own authority and give over the

fate of the villagers into the protection of the law.