our ears, that some weighty act may be committed by him or others to the
prejudice of ourselves and of our realm;--We, therefore, in behalf of
all and every of our subjects, and of all persons adhering to us in this
our cause, do make our appeal to the next general council, which shall
be lawfully held, in place convenient, with the consent of the Christian
princes, and of such others as it may concern--not in contempt of the
Holy See, but for defence of the truth of the Gospel, and for the other
causes afore rehearsed. And we do trust in God that it shall not be
interpreted as a thing ill done on our part, if preferring the salvation
of our soul and the relief of our conscience to any mundane respects or
favours, we have in this cause regarded more the Divine law than the
laws of man, and have thought it rather meet to obey God than to obey
man."[156]

By the appeal and the causes which were assigned for it, Henry
preoccupied the ground of the conflict; he entrenched himself in the
"debatable land" of legal uncertainty; and until his position had been
pronounced untenable by the general voice of Christendom, any sentence
which the pope could issue would have but a doubtful validity. It was,
perhaps, but a slight advantage; and the niceties of technical fencing
might soon resolve themselves into a question of mere strength; yet, in
the opening of great conflicts, it is well, even when a resort to force
is inevitable, to throw on the opposing party the responsibility of
violence; and Henry had been led, either by a refinement of policy, or
by the plain straightforwardness of his intentions, into a situation
where he could expect without alarm the unrolling of the future.

[Sidenote: The news of the divorce pronounced at Dunstable arrives at
Rome.]

[Sidenote: General indignation in the consistory.]

[Sidenote: Bonner is impertinent. The pope threatens to boil him in
lead. He writes in terror to England.]

[Sidenote: Henry comforts him.]

The character of that future was likely soon to be decided. The appeal
was published on the 29th of June; and as the pope must have heard, by
the middle of the month at latest, of the trial and judgment at
Dunstable, a few days would bring an account of the manner in which he
had received the intelligence. Prior to the arrival of the couriers,
Bennet, with the assistance of Cardinal Tournon, had somewhat soothed
down his exasperation. Francis, also, having heard that immediate
pr