Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/323

 members of the Council met four of the leading Bohemian delegates at the house of Cardinal Cesarini. The discussion was entirely private, and the accounts of it which have been preserved can lay no claim to authenticity. It, however, appears certain that this exchange of views had a moderating influence on the men of both parties. Some Bohemians of the advanced party, and Prokop in particular, relying on the phenomenal military successes of their countrymen, had genuinely believed that Bohemia was strong enough to impose on Europe a reformed Church similar to that of the early Christian period. The more intimate intercourse with men of Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and other countries, who all unreservedly recognised the authority of the Church of Rome, necessarily convinced the Bohemians that their plans were impracticable and utopian. The fact that sporadic manifestations in favour of Hussitism took place in some parts of Europe could not alter this conviction. They therefore concluded that it would be impossible to obtain more than the recognition of certain special rights and privileges of the Bohemian Church. On the other hand, the divines of the Council perceived that an unconditional surrender of the Bohemians was not within the range of possibility. Even the Utraquist nobles and the conservative citizens of Prague, they now knew, would never return unconditionally to the Roman Church. It was, therefore, inevitable that concessions would have to be made, and the purpose of the Council was henceforth to limit these concessions as far as was possible. Though the elaborate orations pronounced at the public meetings of the diet continued for some time longer, it was now already practically settled that the Bohemians should return to their country. It had, however, also been agreed—probably at the meeting at the house of Cesarini—that they should on their return journey be accompanied by representatives of the Council. This appeared all the more plausible as the Bohemians had previously declared that any permanent agreement would only be binding