I say it is to her ladyship's credit that she refused the
highest station in the land in the interests of what she supposes to be,
however erroneously, the cause of honesty, sobriety, and, I may add, of
Christianity; qualities for which we three men should stand."
"My Lord," objected Treves, "we meet here as temporal Princes, and not
as Archbishops of the Church."
"I know that, my brother of Treves, and my appeal is to the temporal
law. Prince Roland, despite his high lineage, is merely a citizen of the
Empire, and a subject of his Majesty, the Emperor. It is therefore
impossible that the crime of treason can be committed against him."
During this protest and discussion the Elector of Mayence had leaned
back again in his usual attitude of tired indifference; his keen eyes
almost closed. When he spoke he made no reference to what either of his
two confreres had said.
"Madam," he began, without raising his voice, "it is the sentence of
this Court that you shall be imprisoned during its pleasure in the
Castle of Pfalzgrafenstein, which stands on a rock in the middle of the
Rhine.
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