Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/287

 lished a manifesto addressed to the whole Christian world. It began by again enumerating the articles of Prague, and strongly maintained that the Utraquists had always been favourable to a peaceful agreement and had proved this by taking part in the negotiations at Pressburg, Cracow, and Cheb. They, however, strongly protested against the attempt of the Roman Church to assume in the place of Jesus Christ the position of supreme arbitrator on the question of true Christianity. They then drew a contrast, worded in very bitter words, between the life of the Apostles and that of the pontiffs of the period. The bitter hatred of the Roman priesthood and the striving for a return to the primitive Church, so characteristic of the Hussite movement, appear very clearly in this interesting document.

On July 7 Cardinal Cesarini left Nürnberg and proceeded as far as the town of Weiden, where part of the army had already assembled. The crusaders, from motives which it is difficult to fathom, remained near this town up to the end of July. New levies gradually joined them, but by no means to as great an extent as had been hoped. The long delay at Weiden, as was inevitable, slackened the discipline in the German army, and the usual discord arose among the princes. Some princes began to suggest that the campaign should be abandoned and that the Council, which had already begun its sittings at Basel, should be called on to negotiate a pacific agreement with the Bohemians. The enthusiastic Cardinal Cesarini violently opposed these proposals, and urgently demanded an immediate advance. Some German writers