uld be
borne by her. It was, therefore, not till May of 1526, when Russian
depredations became unbearable in Finland, that an arrangement could be
made. Envoys then were sent to Moscow, and presented to the grand duke a
letter from Gustavus under date of 20th of May. In this document the
monarch stated that his envoys had once before been sent to Moscow to
ratify the treaty made with Sture, but for some reason had never reached
the capital. Since then great injury had been done in Finland by Russian
subjects. Gustavus desired, therefore, to renew the treaty, and begged
the grand duke to recompense his subjects, and also to make known to him
in what towns in Russia his subjects would be allowed to trade. This
letter appears to have been some months upon the road, for the grand
duke's answer was not given till the 2d of September. In this answer he
declared that the previous embassy of Gustavus had held a conference
with Russian envoys, and by them the treaty made with Sture had been
ratified. Swedish merchants were allowed to trade in all the towns of
Russia, and all wrongs done to Swedish subjects should be punished and
the persons injured recompensed. On the other hand, he should expect
Gustavus to punish his own subjects for wrongs which they had done in
Russia, and all buildings by them erected on Russian soil must be torn
down. While the Swedish envoys were returning with this letter, Norby
reached the grand duke and complained that Swedes had injured Russian
subjects in Lapland. The grand duke therefore ordered that Gustavus be
notified of the complaint, and asked to punish the offenders if the
charge were true. When the embassy returned to Sweden, and the monarch
found they had not yet obtained the grand duke's seal, he resolved to go
to Finland in the spring of 1527 and meet the Russian emissaries there.
This plan, however, was given up for lack of funds, and the Russian
emissaries were asked to meet the king in Stockholm. The offer was
accepted, the emissaries came, and after an elaborate exchange of costly
presents, both parties signed a ratification of the treaty made for
seventy years with Sture. The ratification was dated on the 26th of
May.[128]

The main reason why Gustavus dreaded a rupture between himself and
Lubeck was that it would cause great injury to his commerce. Immediately
after his election in 1523, the monarch in a moment of enthusiasm had
conferred on Lubeck, Dantzic, and their allies a perpet