Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/101

1544.] gave no hint that he would himself move to assist them in doing so.

On the 18th of October the Calais conference opened, while the Dauphin's army, still twenty-six thousand strong, hovered at Mottreul, and threatened to return to the attack if the negotiations came to nothing. The Duke of Norfolk, in a preliminary interview with Arras, informed him of the resolutions in which England would persist, and of their expectations under the treaty. 'We took it,' he warned the Bishop, 'that, if leagues were of force and strength, like as the French King sued apart to the Emperor, fearing both princes' powers, so must he now sue to the King's Majesty, fearing both princes' powers; and if the Emperor would not maintain them, they would have cause to complain to the world of faith and leagues as justly as ever men did.' The representatives of the three powers then assembled, and Cardinal du Bellay required a statement of the English demands. They were simple, being a repetition of the terms which he had brought himself five weeks previously from Paris, with the addition of a retention of their conquest as a security for their debt. But five weeks had made other differences besides the capture of a French town. 'Then was then,' the French commissioners frankly answered, 'and now is now.' If they pleased, they might dispute the pensions; and, for 'damages of war,' it was they,