Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 2.djvu/136

116 be maintained at all; if it was just, there must be no respect of persons.

The clauses to which the Bishop and the ex-chancellor declined to bind themselves were those which declared illegal the marriage of the King with Catherine, and the marriage legal between the King and Queen Anne. To refuse these was to declare Mary legitimate, to declare Elizabeth illegitimate, and would do more to strengthen Mary's claims than could be undone by a thousand oaths. However large might be More's estimate of the power of Parliament, he could have given no clear answer—and far less could Fisher have given a clear answer—if they had been required to say the part which they would take, should the Emperor invade the kingdom under the Pope's sanction. The Emperor would come to execute a sentence which in their consciences they believed to be just; how could they retain their allegiance to Henry, when their convictions must be with the invading army?

What ought to have been done let those say who disapprove of what was actually done. The high character of the prisoners, while it increased the desire, increased the difficulty of sparing them; and to have given way would have been a confession of a doubtful cause, which at such a time would not have been dangerous, but would have been fatal. Anne Boleyn is said to have urged the King to remain peremptory; but the following letter of Cromwell's explains the ultimate