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Attorney Holtermann’s arguments, concerning artful quibbles of the sort that the foregoing deserves to be called, absolutely refuted, and I have not the least doubt about my empowerment to use the alternate punishment, that the aforesaid section 8 of the militia law requires to be used in the case of a person, who does not have a trade license to violate, and that such, by comparison, seems to be the loss of the attorney license; however, as there is no danger in delay, I have, in order to act with greater certainty, preferred merely to suspend his attorney license until Your Majesty’s supreme desire is made known.
It is certainly true, that Holtermann’s behavior and conduct include very little which would justify my recommending him to Your Majesty’s mercy, as throughout, he has allowed himself to be guided by (unreadable) and stubbornness before and during the trial, yes even in his presentation where his effusions concerning lieutenant generals von Walterstorff’s and von Oxholm’s militia laws, which, even if he were right, are not suitable; It is therefore, solely my faith in Your Majesty’s kindness as father of our country, that causes me to venture, most humbly, to recommend for him, instead of the loss of trade license, the suspension for a fixed time, or possibly better yet, incarceration in the fortress for a short period of 2 to 3 months, as this punishment, although less damaging to his prospects, would venture to make a more suitable impression on him and anyone of like mind.
It might have been considered more suitable, when, in any case I chose to set the case before Your Royal Majesty, to have let it rest there upon for the time being and not to have suspended Holtermann; this, however, was done because the foreign born or foreign language speaking inhabitants had, among themselves, acquired the widespread opinion that they were always treated in an arbitrary manner by the militia, which manner, when resisted by a determined man knowledgeable of the law, did not have any basis in law and constitution, and if in the intervening time, I did not take notice of the case, until the supreme will of Your Majesty was ascertained, insubordination would increase in a manner difficult to determine, but certainly always to the greatest danger for the colonies’ current difficult position where, a well disciplined militia is a precondition for existence.-
I must therefore, at the same time as I recommend Holtermann for reduction in punishment, most humbly apply for Your Royal Majesty’s protection of the maintenance of the authority, for the example of a protracted resistance to the established militia statutes has, indeed, generated the above referenced cases of insubordination and depravity, which is the more regrettable as, on the one hand, the spirit of the militia is good and of increasing improvement, all of which would evaporate and again expose to the colonies the old negligence and decay, were it not for a show, in the most unambiguous manner, of Your Royal Majesty’s disapproval of such sentiments of independence and disruptions |