Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/367

 Council was considering a system of Church reform, but that this matter must be dealt with cautiously. John Velvar, a citizen of Prague and member of the embassy, then said that the Council of Constance had already talked of Church reform, but that nothing had been done. In reply Palomar stated that that Council had re-established unity in the Church, and that everything could not be done at the same time.

On August 21 Sigismund arrived at Regensburg, and on the following day he received first the representatives of Bohemia, then those of the Council. Rokycan as usual spoke in the name of the Bohemians. Sigismund replied very graciously, reminding them that he was their countryman, and that he was the descendant of him whom they had once called from the plough to their throne. The Emperor then received the envoys of the Council. He again declared to them that he did not wish to interfere in questions of doctrine, but would in such matters be guided by their advice; on political matters, however, he would consult his Bohemian councillors. Such a distinction after a prolonged, mainly religious, war and at a time when religious controversies occupied the attention of all was, of course, inadmissible, and in suggesting it Sigismund cannot be acquitted of duplicity. Long discussions on subjects on which so many previous debates had taken place followed. The principal orators were Rokycan and Palomar. The Bohemians still upheld their demand that Communion in the two kinds should be declared obligatory in the kingdom of Bohemia and in the margraviate of Moravia, while Palomar and