ou. We have therefore recalled him from his
post, and made Nils Eriksson commander of Kalmar Castle and governor of
the town and fief. We beg you be submissive and pay to him all rents and
taxes which fall due until we find an opportunity to visit you in
person. He will govern you, by God's help, according to Saint Erik's law
and the good old customs of your fathers. If any among you are found
encouraging dissension or engaged in plots, we pray you all be zealous
in aiding Eriksson to bring them to destruction." Along with this letter
Gustavus sent one to the burghers in the town of Kalmar. It appears they
had protested against the taxes imposed on them by Mehlen. There can be
little doubt these taxes were imposed by order of the king. As matters
stood, however, it seemed poor policy to claim them. These are the
monarch's words: "Some of your fellow-townsmen have let us understand
that taxes have been laid on you for which you are in no wise liable. We
have already written you that you are to be free therefrom; but that
letter, we now are told, has never reached you. God knows we grieve
extremely that any such burden should have been imposed against our wish
and orders, and we hereby notify you that we shall not claim these taxes
laid on you by Mehlen." Simultaneously with this document others of like
tenor were despatched to other persons to allay their wrath.[111]

These summary proceedings of Gustavus made Mehlen more ready to accept
proposals from the other side; and he was further impelled in that
direction by recent plots among the Dalesmen. The insurrection under
Sunnanvaeder, which the monarch had fancied he could extinguish by a
generous supply of salt, had not yet yielded to the treatment. Indeed,
according to the best reports, the malady had spread. How serious the
insurrection was, appears from the frequency of the monarch's
exhortations. All through the winter he was writing to the people,
condoling with them for the exorbitant price of food, and attributing
all their evils to the continuance of wars in Europe. The Cabinet also
addressed the Dalesmen, urging them not to ally themselves with
Sunnanvaeder, who was disgruntled, so they heard, because he had not been
given the bishopric of Vesteras. In one of his appeals Gustavus warned
the rebels to be still, lest Christiern might be encouraged to return.
The spectre of their gory tyrant seems not, however, to have haunted
them, and in February we find that Knu