of the Diet to meddle with religion had been as earnestly claimed by them as it had been passionately denied by the Pope. The Imperial Chamber, as the supreme court of appeal, and as governed by the traditional laws inherited from the period of an undisputed Roman supremacy, had been the chief instrument of persecution in the hands of the Catholic clergy, and the chief difficulty in the legal establishment of the Reformation.

But smooth language from the Emperor and appearances of concession were no sufficient guarantee of his intentions. He possessed in perfection the statesman's accomplishment of moving in one direction while looking in the other, and it was necessary to test his sincerity. The Duke of Brunswick had appeared in his train, and had taken his seat in the Diet. The Landgrave rose, and in his own name and the Elector's protested that Henry of Brunswick, having broken the laws of the Empire, had been deposed from his principality, and had therefore neither right nor place there. The Duke retorted; the Landgrave replied more resolutely, and, inasmuch as the Emperor in the preceding autumn had 'commanded the Duke's restoration, to forsake him now would be equivalent to a declared apostasy. The representatives of the Catholic States heard with dismay that their champion and martyr would not be defended. The difficulty was waived. The Emperor declared that the cause was too complicated to admit of settlement in the pressure of more urgent interests. He begged that it might be indefinitely postponed; and, to turn the current and conciliate the anti-Papal party still further, he

suggested that, as a first step towards the settlement of Europe, a letter should be addressed to the Pope, by the Catholic States, requiring him to state openly the part which he intended to take in the war with France.1 To invite any such step was to invite them to a rupture with Rome, or so at least they understood it. Exasperated at the double blow, the Catholics replied with a direct refusal. They would do nothing, they would consent to nothing, till the rights of the Church were recognized in their integrity; till the dissolved monasteries were restored; till the Augsburg Confession ceased to be tolerated; till the ordinances of Ratisbon were repealed, and the ancient liberty of persecution reestablished.

Fury begat fury. The Protestants could rave as well as they. The Catholics would not stir for the Emperor unless they had their own way. The Protestants declared as loudly that they would vote neither men nor money for the war till the Reform of the Church had been disposed of, till they had received a definite promise for ever of religious liberty. It was a very pretty quarrel.

The combatants being once engaged, would be separated only by mutual exhaustion. The Emperor allowed the discussion to rage on far into the spring; when the exhausted tongues sank into languor, in an interval of

1 'Imperator apud eos Principes facere velit; quod Status facere reet Status qui Catholici nominantur cusârunt.'-Mont to Henry VIII.: hic institit ut ad episcopum Roma-State Papers, vol. ix. p. 618; and num scribere velint, rogantes quid in see SLEIDAN.

hoc bello inter Cæsarem et Gallum

silence he brought forward his own resolutions. It was essential for him to secure a majority in the Diet, and he was prepared to pay for it in promissory notes which might or might not be honoured at his future convenience. He decided that, until the next meeting of the Diet and the final settlement of religion,1 the Catholics should not be allowed either to persecute or make proselytes among the Protestants, nor the Protestants among the Catholics. The religious houses suppressed already should remain suppressed; those which were standing should remain standing. The clergy of neither profession should be molested in person or property.

2

June 10. The Confession of Augsburg should remain a permitted declaration of faith. The laws of the Empire, when conflicting with it, should be placed in abeyance ; and all decrees affecting property, hitherto given in the Chamber against the acts of the Protestant princes, should be declared null and void. The Duke of Brunswick and the Catholic princes and prelates entered their protest against a judgment which appeared to them so monstrous; but their remonstrance was not accepted: they withdrew in real or pretended indignation, and the Diet, freed from its disturbing element, was now compliant. A letter was

written to the Pope. The French King was declared the enemy of the Empire, as the most ill-starred, the most wicked, dishonourable, and execrable prince who had ever reigned in Christendom.1 A force of eightand-twenty thousand men was voted for a six-months' campaign, to compel him to relinquish his impious confederacy, and all German subjects were forbidden to take service in his army under pain of death.2

So closed this remarkable session. The Catholics had found themselves slighted and set aside. The heretics, whom they and the Pope would have sent to the stake, were in cordial co-operation with the Emperor for the defence of Christendom and the punishment of a Catholic sovereign; and Granvelle appcared so happy in the strange result, that Dr Wotton expected that he would have embraced him in his arms.3

The time was now approaching which had been agreed upon for the opening of the French campaign. The inroad into Scotland had been completed, and Sir William Paget went over to make final arrangements for the movements of the two armies. On his On his way to Spain he passed through Brussels, where the Regent expressed her eager goodwill towards the King of Eng

1 'Le plus mal heureux, le plus meschant, le plus deshonoré, le plus detestable prince qui jamais fust en la Chrestiente.'

2 State Papers, vol. ix. p. 705. 3 I found M. de Granvelle marvellous jocund and pleasantly disposed. His face, his countenance, his gesture, the laying his hand now

| and then upon my hand, the sudden casting out of his arms towards me, so as I thought twice or thrice he would have embraced me, did evidently testify no small inward gladness of heart.' Wotton to Henry VIII.: State Papers, vol. ix. p. 625.

land. His commission was to suggest an alteration in the original scheme of the campaign. Both Charles and Henry had been unwell in the spring; the gout had hung about the Emperor, and had made fatigue dangerous to him; while he had been himself so anxious for the health of his good brother,' that he had sent a special messenger to urge the importance of his life to Europe, and to warn him against exposing himself to the hardships which would be inevitable if he took the field with his army.

On considering the circumstances, Henry had concluded that the plan of the two armies marching separately on Paris had been ill-considered. The advance of a large force through an enemy's country was always a critical operation. The Emperor had already experienced the difficulty alone; and, in a combined movement, if either army was checked or delayed, the other would be in serious danger. Supposing both invasions to be successful, they might sack Paris, indeed, or hold it to ransom, but to occupy it would be impossible; and a mere act of violent destruction, followed by a retreat, would be at once useless and dishonourable." He thought

'She said she could wish no longer to live than she had good will to do whatever should lie in her power for the continuation and increase of the amity between your Majesty and the Emperor.'-Paget to Henry VIII.: State Papers, vol. ix. p. 680. At Brussels, Paget found Richard Layton, the well-known visitor of the monasteries. He had

been rewarded for his services by a diplomatic appointment. He was now dying. The last moments of all noticeable men are curious. 'He hath a great heart to serve you,' Paget wrote to the King, and is wonderful loath to die.'

2 Yet he had not thought the destruction at Edinburgh dishonourable.