ontiff, it is not surprising that the first step taken was to concede to
the Pope or his legates the exclusive right to introduce subjects for
discussion, as well as the yet more important claim of sitting as judge
and ratifying the decisions of the assembled Fathers before they became
valid. Notwithstanding this disgraceful surrender of their independence
and authority, the Roman See was by no means sure as to the results at
which the prelates of the Council of Trent would arrive. France and the
empire demanded radical reforms in the Pope and his court, and some
concessions to the Protestants--the permission of marriage for the
priesthood, the distribution of the wine to the laity in the eucharistic
sacrament, and the use of the vernacular tongue in a portion, at least,
of the public services. The arrival of the Cardinal of Lorraine and other
bishops, in the month of November, 1562, to reinforce the handful of
French prelates in attendance, enhanced the apprehensions of Pius. For,
strange as it may appear to us, even Pius suspected Charles of favoring
innovation--so far had the arch-hypocrite imposed on friend as well as foe
by his declaration of adhesion to the Augsburg Confession! The fact was
that there was no lack of dissimulation on any side, and that the prelates
who urged reforms were among the most insincere. They had drawn up certain
articles without the slightest expectation, and certainly without the
faintest desire, to have them accepted. Their sole aim seemed to be to
shift the blame for the flagrant disorders of the Church from their own
shoulders to those of the Pope. If their suggestions had been seriously
entertained and acted upon, no men would have had more difficulty than
they in concealing their chagrin.[326] The monarchs--and it was their
ambassadors who, with the papal legates, directed all the most important
conclusions--were at heart equally averse to the restoration of canonical
elections, and to everything which, by relieving the ecclesiastics of
their servile dependence upon the crown, might cut off that perennial
fountain for the payment of their debts and for defraying the expenses of
their military enterprises, which they had discovered in the contributions
wrung from churchmen's purses. Thus, in the end, by a series of
compromises, in which Pope and king each obtained what he was anxious to
secure, and sacrificed little for which he really cared, the council
managed to confirm the greater n