Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/118

 102 &E1GN OP ELtZASETtf. [CH. 63. and it is therefore impossible that we could have com- mitted treason. Our religion and our religion only is our crime.' He was asked why he had gone about disguised if he had meant no harm. He admitted that it was to escape arrest. The Clerk of the Crown produced copies of an oath found in Catholic houses, disclaiming obedience to the Queen. Campian protested that he had administered no such oath ; but he declined for himself to swear to the supremacy, nor would he give a direct answer on the effect of the Papal excommunication upon the duties of Catholic subjects. He repeated the answer which he had given to the Queen, and he argued ' that the jury, being lay- men and temporal, were unfit to decide so deep a matter.' In these words he had touched the exact point at issue. It was precisely this which the priests were to learn, that laymen were fit to decide and would decide. The national life and independence of England turned upon it, and though all the learning of the clergy, from the beginning of time, might be on the Pope's side, it was to avail him nothing. The English Reformation was a lay revolt against clerical domination in all its forms. The clergy, from highest to lowest, were divorced from political authority, and consigned to the sphere of opinion. Evidence was produced of language used by the Jesuits to their penitents, preparing them for the time when tyranny would end and the Church would enjoy her own again. Campian, in his address, put out. all his power of moving eloquence, but he was addressing bearded men, not