e deputies to a
conference of the four protectorate cantons at Wyl received a
commission to act in harmony with Zurich; but numbers of the opposite
party withdrew reluctantly from the assembly, lamenting "that old
letters and seals had no more value, since many a Saint Friedli[1] hung
miserable, naked and bare on the rolls of parchment."

At this conference of the protectorate cantons held at Wyl, the abbot
wished to conduct his cause in person. Zurich, to whom his absence was
all-important, sent an order to the governor-general secretly to fill
the castle with a garrison of trusty men. Kilian, learning this and
fearing an ambuscade, staid away; but the people of the abbacy appeared
before the deputies of the cantons with a petition, which showed that
they knew how to carry out the doctrine of the unscriptural character
of spiritual lordship to a further extent than was pleasant even to
Zurich herself. "Accordingly, since the Holy Word of God does not
direct or oblige us, we do not wish henceforth to have this or any
other abbot; and because we are without court or council, and so
exposed to outrage that no one scarcely is safe, we desire permission
to have a chief-bailiff, a court, a council and similar officers _of
our own_, so that crime may be punished, the peaceful and good
protected, evil-doers suppressed, and a happy life led; for, as we pay
rents and tithes we ought not to be left without law; and that you may
see we do not ask for anything unreasonable, aged persons can yet be
found, who remember that such a chief-bailiff and council, as we now
desire, formerly existed among the people of the abbacy."

None of the Four Cantons was at all willing to grant this petition. The
deputies of Luzern and Schwyz simply defended the rights of the abbot,
complained to the Zurichers of the tyrannical proceeding of their
governor-general and requested the removal of the garrison from the
castle. Zurich and Glarus endeavored to quiet the people of the abbacy
by promising to send home a report and afterward to communicate the
views of their governments. The resolution now passed by the privy
council of Zurich plainly unfolds its policy in this affair.--"Whereas
you, our worthy deputies," so it reads, "cannot but see and regard the
petition of the people of the abbacy as a desire, under show of a good
spirit, to obtain the liberty of the flesh, to shake off authority, to
lay hold of the rein with their own hands and appropriat