hem. Yet we do not wish to deal in mutual
crimination to our own injury, but rather to favor the liberty, which
we have inherited from our fathers, or what is the welfare of all,
according to the Gospel to which we adhere, the restoration of the old
Confederate pledges, which, as we ask them from you, we are also
willing and ready to give to our Confederates." The country-people
supported the speech of the citizen. Upon many of the hearers the
impression was evidently good, for a general belief prevailed among the
Catholics, that the country-people of Zurich had only submitted to the
Reformation with reluctance. Others, on the contrary, thought the
grievances in the paper of the Zurich Council exaggerated. "When have
we refused you justice?" said they. "How often have you appealed to us
in vain?"--"Yes," rejoined the treasurer Funk, an active young man, and
one of Zwingli's warmest adherents--"we know your ways of doing
justice. That unhappy pastor made an appeal and you referred him to the
executioner." The rash word was spoken. "Funk! you had better been
silent," one of his companions called out to him. A fearful tumult
arose; the troops put themselves in motion. The more considerate
warned the Zurichers to retire without delay, and secured them by a
detailed escort.

The negotiation continued in Steinhausen and the Zurichan camp. The
issue lay in the hands of the Bernese. Without them, Zurich was no
longer able to carry on the war. The favorable moment had passed. Time
had been given to the Five Cantons to gather and strengthen their army.
The sight of their collective force raised the courage of individuals.
In numbers they were not inferior to the Zurichers; surpassed them
rather. And then, they beheld an abundance of provisions in the
Zurichan camp, whilst in theirs, and at home in their vallies, want and
famine prevailed, on account of the prohibition against importation.
The assurance of this accessible and needful booty whetted their thirst
for combat. To know that the power of deciding lay with the present
leaders of the Bernese, made the prospect intolerable to Zwingli. He
found in the _schultheiss_ Diesbach, their general, a lukewarm friend
of the Reformation, and in him and most of the others advocates, rather
than opposers, of pension-taking. The latter practice found such
special favor among the Bernese Counsellors, that even Nicholas Manuel,
otherwise one of the most powerful heads of the Evangelical par