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My brothers then announced themselves as the successors to this fief, and the King bestowed on them the estate of Great Sharlack conformable to the feudal laws. That it might be properly divided, it was put up to auction, and bought by the youngest of my brothers, who paid surplus to the other, and to my sister. He likewise paid debts charged upon it, according to the express orders of the court.
Let the Fiscus pay me its actual value, and then let them bestow it on whom they please. If the reigning king gives what his predecessor sold to me, I ought not thereby to be a loser." This is a problem which the people of Berlin must resolve. My brother has no children, and, without going to law, will bequeath Great Sharlack to mine, when he shall happen to die.
The King demanded that the necessary proofs should be sent from the chamber at Konigsberg. He was uninformed that I had two brothers living, that Great Sharlack was an ancient family inheritance, and that it appertained to my brothers, and not to Derschau.
At present, therefore, the affair stands thus: Frederic William has taken off the sentence of confiscation, and ordered me to be put in possession of my estates, by a gracious rescript: empowered by this I come and demand restitution; my brother answers, "I have bought and paid for the estate, am the legal possessor, have improved it so much that Great Sharlack, at present, is worth three or four times the sum it was at the time of confiscation.
Such is the present state of the business. How the monarch shall think proper to decide, will be seen hereafter. I have demanded of the Fiscus that it shall make a fair valuation of Great Sharlack, reimburse my brother, and restore it to me. My brother has other estates. These he will dispose of by testament, according to his good pleasure.
Was it not sufficient that he should wreak his wrath on my head alone? Why has the name of Trenck been hateful to him, to the very hour of his death? One Derschau, captain of horse, and brother of my mother, addressed himself to the King, in 1753, alleging he was my nearest relation and feudal heir, and petitioned that he would bestow on him my confiscated estates of Great Sharlack.
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