Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/625

1543.] anxious rather to arrange a persecution of the Lutherans. The Lutherans, intolerant as their opponents of opinions which they considered heterodox, desired freedom of religion to the extent of their own liberality, and a reformation of the Chamber of the Empire—the supreme legal court of appeal, by which, as at present constituted, Protestant communities were made amenable to Catholic canons. When these matters had been attended to, and not till then, they would consider Granvelle's demands. In the mean time the Elector of Saxe sent assistance to his brother-in-law the Duke of Cleves; and the Hungarians, worn out with suffering, were reported ready to acquiesce in destiny and submit to the Porte. The hopes of all moderate persons lay in the speedy arrival of Charles out of Spain; and the early summer, at the latest, was to find him in Germany. On his route he would pass through Italy, where it was expected that he was to hold an interview with the Pope, to urge on the Holy Father his forgotten duties; to warn him against encouraging Francis, or in deeper blindness mixing in the quarrel; to protest against any sudden convocation of a council, and to make palatable the English alliance, by holding out the