Copy of the Resolution of the Elector of Saxony

[...acting in every] place from a peaceful heart, and wishing to leave nothing undone which could serve to prevent further unrest and destructive division, [His Electoral Serenity] dispatched a special embassy to the well-remembered Count Tilly at Oldisleben. He sought movingly that which the attached Extract original: "Extract"; a summary or excerpt of a longer document of the aforementioned Instruction original: "Instruction"; the formal written orders and talking points provided to an ambassador describes in greater detail.

He also sent friendly personal letters to His Electoral Grace of Mainz, as well as Their Electoral Serenities of Cologne and Bavaria. In these, he most highly and earnestly requested, sought, and faithfully reminded them to take milder measures, not to permit extremities original: "Extremiteten"; harsh, radical, or violent measures of war, and not to drive the oppressed to despair original: "desperation".

He warned them not to trust too much in wavering fortune, nor to further entrust the totality of the matter original: "summam rei"; a Latin legal and military term referring to the final outcome or the very survival of the state to it. Nor should they allow His Electoral Serenity—as such a truly loyal, useful, and highly deserving Elector, serving as an example to the whole world—to be repaid with such ingratitude. All of this can be seen in greater detail from the enclosed copies of such letters.

Furthermore, he repeatedly and kindly petitioned the Lord Elector of Mainz and sent to him a detailed and, it is hoped, well-founded further Justification original: "Salvationschrifft"; a formal legal defense or "writing of salvation" intended to justify political actions—in this case, the Protestant alliance formed at the Leipzig Convention regarding the resolution made at Leipzig. Copies of this were also dispatched to the ambassadors appointed to the Negotiation for Settlement original: "Composition"; referring to the "Compositions-Tag," a diplomatic meeting in Frankfurt aimed at settling the religious and legal disputes of the Empire at Frankfurt am Main. They were commanded to move the present Catholic Electoral embassies in the same persuasive manner. Likewise, His Electoral Serenity wrote to the Prince’s Grace, Lord Landgrave George of Hesse, in various friendly, cousinly, and fatherly [ways...]