The assassins reap no profit by their crime;But we shall pluck with unpolluted hands The teeming fruits of their most bloody deed.
For we are ransomed from our heaviest fear;The direst foe of liberty has fallen, And, 'tis reported, that the crown will pass From Hapsburg's house into another line;The Empire is determined to assert Its old prerogative of choice, I hear.
FURST (and several others).
Is any named?
STAUFF.
The Count of Luxembourg's Already chosen by the general voice.
FURST.
'Tis well we stood so staunchly by the Empire!
Now we may hope for justice, and with cause.
STAUFF.
The Emperor will need some valiant friends.
He will 'gainst Austria's vengeance be our shield.
[The peasantry embrace.Enter Sacristan with Imperial messenger.]
SACRIS.
Here are the worthy chiefs of Switzerland!
ROSSEL.(and several others.)
Sacrist, what news?
SACRIS.
A courier brings this letter.
ALL (to Walter Furst).
Open and read it.
FURST (reading).
"To the worthy men Of Uri, Schwytz, and Unterwald, the Queen Elizabeth sends grace and all good wishes."MANY VOICES.
What wants the queen with us? Her reign is done.
FURST (reading).
"In the great grief and doleful widowhood, In which the bloody exit of her lord Has plunged the queen, still in her mind she bears The ancient faith and love of Switzerland."MELCH.
She ne'er did that in her prosperity.
ROSSEL.
Hush, let us hear!
FURST (reading).
"And she is well assured, Her people will in due abhorrence hold The perpetrators of this damned deed.
On the three Cantons, therefore, she relies, That they in nowise lend the murderers aid;But rather, that they loyally assist, To give them up to the avenger's hand, Remembering the love and grace which they Of old received from Rudolph's royal house."[Symptoms of dissatisfaction among the peasantry.]
MANY VOICES.
The love and grace!
STAUFF.
Grace from the father we, indeed, received, But what have we to boast of from the son?
Did he confirm the charter of our freedom, As all preceding emperors had done?
Did he judge righteous judgment, or afford Shelter, or stay, to innocence oppress'd?
Nay, did he e'en give audience to the men We sent to lay our grievances before him?
Not one of all these things did the king do, And had we not ourselves achieved our rights By our own stalwart hands, the wrongs we bore Had never touch'd him.Gratitude to him!
Within these vales he sowed no seeds of that;He stood upon an eminence--he might Have been a very father to his people, But all his aim and pleasure was to raise Himself and his own house: and now may those Whom he has aggrandized, lament for him.
FURST.
We will not triumph in his fall, nor now Recall to mind the wrongs that we endured.
Far be't from us! Yet, that we should avenge The sovereign's death, who never did us good, And hunt down those who ne'er molested us, Becomes us not, nor is our duty.Love Must be a tribute free, and unconstrain'd;From all enforced duties death absolves, And unto him we owe no further debt.
MELCH.
And if the queen laments within her bower, Accusing Heaven in sorrow's wild despair;Here see a people, from its anguish freed, To that same Heav'n send up its thankful praise.
Who would reap tears, must sow the seeds of love.
[Exit the Imperial courier.]
STAUFF.(to the people).
But where is Tell? Shall he, our freedom's founder, Alone be absent from our festival?
He did the most--endured the worst of all.
Come--to his dwelling let us all repair, And bid the Saviour of our country hail!
[Exeunt omnes.]
