Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 3.djvu/204

 134 STATESMEN AND SAGES some examples, but soon held his hand, with the declaration, that " too much blood had been spilt." An amnesty was more effectual than severities, and the royal authority was strengthened, as it will seldom fail to be, by clemency. Some of- his courtiers informed him of the place where one of the ring leaders was con- cealed. His answer is worthy of everlasting remembrance : " You ought to warn him that I am here, rather than acquaint me where he is." Spain, the Two Sicilies, the Low Countries, and Franche Comte', belonged to Charles V. by inheritance ; and by his grandfather Maximilian's intervention he was elected king of the Romans ; nor had he to wait long before that prince's death, in 1519, cleared his path to the empire. But Francis I. of France was also a candidate for the imperial crown, with the advantage of being six years senior to Charles, and of having already given proof of military talent. The Germans, however, were jealous of their liberties ; and not unreasonably dreading the power of each competitor, rejected both. Their choice fell on Frederic, Elector of Saxony, surnamed the Wise, celebrated as the protector of Luther ; but that prince declined the splendid boon, and recommended Charles, on the plea that a powerful emperor was required to stop the rapid progress of the Turkish arms. The political jealousy, embittered by personal emulation, which existed be- tween the Emperor and the King of France, broke out into war in 1521. France, Navarre, and the Low Countries were at times the seat of the long con- test which ensued ; but chiefly Italy. The duchy of Milan had been conquered by Francis in 1515. It was again wrested from the French by the emperor in 1522. In 1523, a strong confederacy was formed against France, by the Pope, the Emperor, the King of England, the Archduke Ferdinand, to whom his brother Charles had ceded the German dominions of the House of Austria, the states of Milan, Venice, and Genoa ; all united against a single power. And in addition, the celebrated Constable of Bourbon became a traitor to France to gratify his revenge ; brought his brilliant military talents to the emperor's ser- vice, and was invested with the command of the Imperial troops in Italy To this formidable enemy Francis opposed his weak and presumptuous favorite, the Admiral Bonnivet, who was driven out of Italy in 1524, the year in which the gallant Bayard lost his life in striving to redeem his commander's errors. The confidence of Francis seemed to increase with his dangers, and his faults with his confidence. He again entered the Milanese in 1525, and retook the capital. But Bonnivet was his only counsellor ; and under such guidance the siege of Pavia was prosecuted with inconceivable rashness, and the battle of Pavia fought without a chance of gaining it. Francis was taken prisoner, and wrote thus to his mother, the Duchess of Angouleme : " Everything is lost, except our honor." This Spartan spirit has been much admired ; but whether justly, may be a question. From a Bayard, nothing could have been better ; but the honor of a king is not confined to fighting a battle ; and this specimen, like the conduct of Francis in general, proves him to have been the mirror of knighthood, rather than of royalty. Charles, notwithstanding his victory at Pavia, did not invade France, but, as