The landgrave glanced again at the man sitting next to him. Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar. A duke deprived of his duchy who had decided to abdicate in order to strive for power as a commoner in a new republic. But still a man who was very close to the emperor, and now one whose younger brother seemed likely to become the administrator of one of the most important regions in the CPE. The Oberpfalz portion of it, at least—which, perhaps not by coincidence, happened to be one of the great centers of German mining and manufacture.
A commoner now, yes. Out of power? With no influence?
Hardly.
“Until the rightful heir returns, no doubt,” grumbled Hesse-Kassel. “But by the time that happens—if it happens—what might have been transformed in the meanwhile? And transformed permanently.”
Saxe-Weimar shrugged. “So it is, Wilhelm. Whether we like it or not, it is a new world.”
The landgrave grunted. “And the policies of this new league?”
“Everything the emperor has asked for. Every last thing. And not simply the emergency measures he proposed yesterday, but everything else he and Oxenstierna have advanced since the Confederation was formed last autumn. Free navigation of all waters, drastic reduction in tolls, elimination of all medieval vestiges of forced labor—every shred of serfdom gone—a commission empowered to begin implementing a rationalization of all these idiotic little local practices which interfere with commerce . . .” He hesitated.
“And the currency reform, too, I suppose?” Hesse-Kassel asked glumly. “Wilhelm, you know what that will end up with, not too many years from now. An ‘imperial’ currency which is for all practical purposes an American currency. Damn them and their Jewish bankers, anyway.”
Saxe-Weimar shrugged. “It’s not really the Jews, Wilhelm, and you know it perfectly well. Yes, the Abrabanels and their allies have provided the immediate liquid currency. But the real reason the American dollar is the hardest currency in the land—even though it’s really only paper and everybody knows it—is because it is backed by the wealth being produced in the principality which issues it.”
Again, he shrugged. “There is no reason that production cannot be extended quickly in Hesse-Kassel also.” He heard Amalie mutter a word or two of agreement. “And . . . I am fairly certain I can manage an arrangement myself, with the Abrabanels. There is also no reason, when you think about it, that a branch of their bank—issuing a new imperial currency—cannot be opened in your principality also.”
The landgrave cocked a skeptical eyebrow. Saxe-Weimar shook his head. “They are financiers, after all. Not ideologues, no matter how many of them may have close political and personal ties to the Americans. Don’t forget, too, that the Abrabanels are not so much a family as an extended clan. There will be any number of them who care little enough for the Americans and their more extreme political views.” A bit sternly: “You would, of course, have to guarantee their safety from pogroms and the right to practice their faith, at least in private.”
Hesse-Kassel shrugged. “Not a problem, that. For all I care, they could open a synagogue. Most of my subjects are as tired of the zealots as I am. As for the ones who aren’t . . .”
He straightened up in the couch. “That’s why I have soldiers, after all.”
“Well said!” exclaimed his wife. “Besides, look on the bright side. Remember what happened when the count of Schaumburg allowed universal free worship in his village of Altona?”
Her husband did seem to be cheered up, a bit. The episode—scandalous at the time—was well known. Very quickly, Altona found itself well-nigh flooded with every unpopular religious group: Mennonites, Anabaptists, Jews. The count was thought to be crazy—until his coffers began filling up. Whatever else they were, these outcast religious groups tended to be thrifty and industrious.
“And finally—” said Wilhelm.
Hesse-Kassel threw hands. “Yes! Yes! The precious tax reform. The symbol of it all. End, once and for all, the nobility’s exemption from taxation.”
His wife spoke softly, but firmly. “It is the most important thing, husband. Whatever else they disagree about, there is not a commoner in Germany—Lutheran, Calvinist, Catholic, it matters not—who does not hate and resent that noble privilege. That exemption is a burr under the saddle of Gustav’s growing empire—and don’t think the Americans will hesitate to ride it, if we do not help the emperor to remove it. Better to lose some income, than to lose it all. When peace comes, don’t forget, the taxes from those noble lands will be part of the revenues of those territorial rulers who have ridden the coming storm instead of being drowned by it.”