'You must know as well as I do the disasters and public calamities which this present war has brought on the Christian world at large, and on the empire in particular, and the great lack there is of appropriate remedy. To the cure of those evils it is my intention to apply myself entirely, since I am duly bound to do so; but I find one great obstacle in my way. You are aware of the great evils and disasters which my absence from these kingdoms once caused, owing to my not having been able to make such provision as was needed for the government of this country. In consequence whereof my subjects are pressingly requesting me to marry a princess who may fill my place, and govern during my absence, which is, in my opinion, the only way to keep them contented, and enable me to go about freely, and attend to my personal affairs. The only remedy I see for this difficulty, and for many others--which to so poor a writer as myself would take too much time to describe--is to anticipate the time of my said marriage, and likewise the payment of the sums to be allotted as the princess's dower. But as your ambassadors here have positively declared to me, in your name, that this expedient can nowise be adopted, nor the said marriage effected until the conclusion of a solid and lasting peace, I see no way to obviate the said difficulties, and ward off the impending evils. I hope you will be reasonable enough to appreciate at its due value the answer I have just given to your ambassadors, and will consider it as both just and expedient in the present state of my affairs. As to the continuance of our mutual friendship, on that point there is not the least danger. I can assure you there is nothing I desire so much, being of opinion that, although the form and terms of our alliance might be altered through my marrying in another quarter, yet our amity is to continue the same as ever, and so to be increased as to secure the mutual and lasting alliance which would have ensured from my union with the princess, your daughter. The better to accomplish the said object, and provide for our common interest, thereby promoting the welfare of Christendom at large, I propose that you and I should work together for the conclusion of a durable peace, likely to turn to our own mutual advantage and profit, so as to satisfy our consciences and discharge our duty towards God as Christian princes; and if, through our enemy's fault, the said peace should not be made, to devise together such means as may ensure the fulfilment of our common wishes, and the satisfaction of our claims.