eatly disappointed as Gustavus when the money did not come. In June
Gustavus wrote that he had got together ten thousand marks,--a mere
nothing,--and that Lubeck had written to demand immediate payment of the
whole. "Her envoys have now closed our doors so tight that it is hardly
possible for us to go out." It was clear that some new scheme must be
devised, and on the 23d of June the king applied to certain members of
his Cabinet. "We have now," he wrote, "as frequently before, had letters
from Lubeck demanding in curt language the payment of her debt. You are
aware that we have often, especially in Cabinet meetings, asked you to
suggest some mode of meeting this requirement, and have never yet been
able to elicit any tangible response. Indeed, you have not had the
matter much at heart, but have rather left it to be arranged by us. You
have, it is true, suggested that the tithes be used, but we find that,
though we much relied upon them, they are but a tittle. Our entire taxes
for last year, including iron, skins, butter, salmon, amounted to
somewhat over ten thousand marks. This sum, which would naturally be
used to pay the expenses of our court, has been handed over to pay the
debt. The tithes received, which we were assured would be a considerable
sum, are shown by our books not to have exceeded two thousand marks in
all. The treasury balance has now run so low that we have but a trifle
left, and our soldiers, who are now much needed to keep off Christiern
and Norby, must be paid. We therefore beg you take this matter seriously
to heart, and devise some means by which the debt may soon be paid....
It is utterly impossible from the taxes alone to keep an army and pay
this heavy debt, for the taxes are no greater than they were some years
ago, though the expenses are very much increased; and, moreover, we have
no mines to turn to, as our fathers had." This urgent appeal inspired
the Cabinet to act, and at a meeting held in August they provided that a
new tax be laid on every subject in the realm. In the table that
accompanied this Act, the amounts to be contributed by the different
provinces were accurately fixed, as well as the amounts to be collected
in the towns. The bishops, too, were called upon to furnish each his
quota, based upon an estimate of his means: the archbishop of Upsala
paying four thousand marks, the bishop of Abo three thousand marks,
Linkoeping two thousand five hundred marks, Skara and Strengnaes eac