Page:Henryk Sienkiewicz - Potop - The Deluge (1898 translation by Jeremiah Curtin) - Vol 1.djvu/255

Rh "1. To make war together against mutual enemies, excepting the king and the kingdom of Poland.

"2. The Grand Principality of Lithuania will not be incorporated with Sweden, but will be joined to it in such manner as hitherto with the kingdom of Poland; that is, people shall be equal to people, senate to senate, and knighthood to knighthood in all things.

"3. Freedom of speech at the diets shall not be prohibited to any man.

"4. Freedom of religion is to be inviolable — "

And so Pan Komorovski read on further, amid silence and terror, till he came to the paragraph: "This act we confirm with our signature for ourselves and our descendants, we promise and stipulate — "when a murmur rose in the hall, like the first breath of a storm shaking the pinewoods. But before the storm burst. Pan Stankyevich, gray as a pigeon, raised his voice and began to implore, —

"Your highness, we are unwilling to believe our own ears! By the wounds of Christ ! must the labor of Vladislav and Sigismund Augustus come to nothing? Is it possible, is it honorable, to desert brothers, to desert the country, and unite with the enemy? Remember the name which you bear, the services which you have rendered the country, the fame of your house, hitherto unspotted; tear and trample on that document of shame. I know that I ask not in my own name alone, but in the names of all soldiers here present and nobles. It pertains to us also to consider our own fate. Gracious prince, do not do this; there is still time ! Spare yourself, spare us, spare the Commonwealth!"

"Do it not ! Have pity, have pity!" called hundreds of voices.

All the colonels sprang from their places and went toward him; and the gray Stankyevich knelt down in the middle of the hall between the two arms of the table, and then was heard more loudly : "Do that not! spare us!"

Radzivill raised his powerful head, and lightnings of wrath began to fly over his forehead; suddenly he burst out, —

"Does it become you, gentlemen, first of all to give an example of insubordination ? Does it become soldiers to desert their leader, their hetman, and bring forward protests ? Do you wish to be my conscience ? Do you wish to teach me how to act for the good of the country? This ::VOL. I. — 15