VIII. Thre about to the Protestants. invaded it, would have ventured to proceed to pope, Upon this fresh revival of their fears, with such violence as is natural to men roused from a false security, and conscious of their having been deceived, Charles saw that now it became necessary to throw aside the mask, and to declare openly what part he determined to act. By a long series of artifice and fallacy, he had gained so much time, that his measures, though not altogether ripe for execution, were in great forwardness. The pope by his proceedings against the elector of Cologne, as well as by the decree of the council, had precipitated matters into such a situation, as rendered a breach between the emperor and the protestants almost unavoidable. Charles had, therefore, no choice left him, but either to take part with them in overturning what the see of Rome had determined, or to support the authority of the church openly by force of arms. Nor did the pope think it enough to have brought the emperor under the necessity of acting; he pressed him to begin his operations, by promising to second him with such vigour as could not well fail of securing his success. Transported by his zeal against heresy, Paul forgot all the prudent and cautious maxims of the papal see, with Sleid. 354. F. Paul, 155. Pallav. 224. regard to the danger of extending the imperial authority beyond due bounds; and in order to crush the Lutherans, he was willing to contribute towards raising up a master that might one day prove formidable to himself as well as to the rest of Italy.. À. D. 1546. June 5. "Such was the situation of affairs,...when Diet of the diet of the empire met at Ratisbon. Many Ratisbon. of the Roman catholic members appeared there in person; but most of the confederates of Smalkalde, under pretence of being unable to bear the expence occasioned by the late unnecessary frequency of such assemblies, sent only deputies. Their jealousy of the emperor, together with an apprehension that violence might, perhaps, be employed, in order to force their approbation of what he should propose in the diet, was the true cause of their absence. The speech with which the emperor opened the diet was extremely artful. After professing, in common form, his regard for the prosperity of the Germanic body, and declaring that, in order to bestow his whole attention upon the reëstablishment of its order and tranquillity, he had at present abandoned all other cares, rejected the most pressing solicitations of his other subjects to reside among them, and postponed affairs of the greatest importance; he took notice, with some disapprobation, that his disinterested example had not been imitated; many members of chief consideration having neglected to attend an assembly, to which he had repaired with such manifest inconvenience to himself. He then mentioned their unhappy dissensions about religion; lamented the ill success of his past endeavours to compose them; complained of the abrupt dissolution of the late conference; and craved their advice with re CHAP. spect to the best and most effectual method of restoring union to the churches of Germany, together with the happy agreement in articles of faith, which their ancestors had found to be of no less advantage to their civil interests, than becoming their Christian profession. "By this gracious and popular method of consulting the members of the diet, rather than of obtruding upon them any opinion of his own, besides the appearance of great moderation, and the merit of paying much respect to their judgment, the emperor dexterously avoided discovering his own sentiments, and reserved to himself, as his only part, that of carrying into execution what they should recommend. Nor was he less secure of such a decision as he wished to obtain, by referring it wholly to themselves. The Roman catholic members, prompted by their own zeal, or prepared by his intrigues, joined immediately in representing that the authority of the council now met at Trent ought to be supreme in all matters of controversy; that all Christians should submit to its decrees as the infallible rule of their faith; and therefore they besought him to exert the power, with which he was invested by the Almighty, in protecting that assembly, and in compelling the protestants to acquiesce in its determinations. The protestants, on the other hand, presented a memorial, in which, after repeating their objections to the council of Trent, they proposed, as the only effectual method of deciding the points in dispute, that either a free general council should be assembled in Germany, or a select number of divines should be appointed out of each party to examine and define articles of faith. They mentioned the recesses of several diets favourable to this pro position, and which had afforded them the prospect of terminating all their differences in this amicable manner; they now conjured the emperor not to depart from his former plan, and, by offering violence to their consciences, to bring calamities upon Germany, the very thought of which must fill every lover of his country with horror. The emperor, receiving this paper with a contemptuous smile, paid no further regard to it. Having already taken his final resolution, and perceiving that nothing but force could compel them to acquiesce in it, he dispatched the cardinal of Trent to Rome, in order to conclude an alliance with the pope, the terms of which were already agreed on; he commanded a body of troops, levied on purpose in the Low-Countries, to advance towards Germany; he gave commissions to several officers for raising men in different parts of the empire; he warned John and Albert of Brandenburg, that now was the proper time of exerting themselves, in order to rescue their ally, Henry of Brunswick, from captivity.1 A. D. 1546. June 9. "All these things could not be transacted without the observation and knowledge of the protestants. The secret was now in many hands; under whatever veil the emperor still affected to conceal his designs, his officers kept no such mysterious reserve; and his allies and subjects spoke out his intentions plainly. Alarmed with reports of this kind from every Open prequarter, as well as with the preparations for parations war which they could not but observe, the de- June 16. puties of the confederates demanded audience of the emperor, and, in the name of their masters, required to know whether these military 1 Sleid. 374. Seck. iii, 658. F. Paul, 176-7. for war. VIII. CHAP. preparations were carried on by his command, and for what end, and against what enemy? To a question put in such a tone, and at a time when facts were become too notorious to be denied, it was necessary to give an explicit answer. Charles owned the orders he had issued, and, professing his purpose not to molest on account of religion those who should act as dutiful subjects, declared that he had nothing in view but to maintain the rights and prerogatives of the imperial dignity, and, by punishing some factious members, to preserve the ancient constitution of the empire from being impaired or dissolved by their irregular and licentious conduct. Though the emperor did not name the persons whom he charged with such high crimes, and destined to be the objects of his vengeance, it was obvious that he had the elector of Saxony and the landgrave of Hesse in view. Their deputies considering what he had said, as a plain declaration of his hostile intentions, immediately retired from Ratisbon.”1 July 24. The diet soon after broke up, and both parties openly prepared for war. In the mean time the great instrument which providence had employed in producing the reformation was no more. "While appearances of danger daily increased, and the tempest which had been so long gathering was ready to break forth in all its violence against the protestant church, Luther was saved, by a seasonable death, from feeling or beholding its destructive rage. Having gone, though in a declining state of health, and during a rigorous season, to his native city of Eisleben, in order to compose, by his authority, a dissension among 1 Sleid. 376. |