Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/535

 no more as Luther rejected councfls. So Luther left, escortci by all and particularly by many Saxon nobles from the retinue of the elector; and as Martin left the hall he stretched forth his hand as the German landsknechts do when in jousting they exult over a telling blow.

As this morning [April 19] we went to the Emperor, wc found that the electors and many other princes had been summoned to him to give their opinions as to what further should be done in Luther's affair. As they desired time for deliberation, the Emperor replied : "Good, I will first let you know my opinion." Then he had read aloud the declaration,^ a page long, which he had himself composed and written down with his own hand in French, and he also had read a Ger* man translation of the same. During this reading in the presence of the Emperor and of the Elector of Saxony many of the princes became as pale as death. The reason for this your Lordship will learn from the declaration of the Em- peror, which he handed to his ambassador, in order that he might fittingly announce the good news to his Holiness and the college of cardinals. His declaration will also be printed in Latin, Italian, German, Spanish, French and Dutch, and be sent to all parts of Christendom, to make known the noble and strictly Catholic position of his Majesty in this so danger- ous affair. He has publicly expressed his will at a time and under circumstances which made everyone think that he would have to act cautiously with all these princes if he wanted to get their co-operation in his plans. But God strengthened the piety of this most Christian and truly Catholic prince, who has always made us expect that he would act in a man- ner pleasing to God and the Pope, and has now done so much that we ourselves would have been satisfied with less. He also declared that he had caused the matter to be pro- tracted and had allowed Luther to appear, with the best inten- tions, so that the German people could not complain that Martin had not been heard, and pretend that wrong had been done him by not having been asked whether he would recant As this is a fact, the procedure has been much better than

^Reichttagjoken, no. 82. Translated in 6. J. Kidd: Documtnts of tht Comii- nental Reformation, no. 43. Cf. Smith, op. cit., 120.

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