ber, put to flight luckily
two robbers, who attacked him on the plain of Brescia, and was
introduced to the Doge and Council in Venice on the 28th of the same
month. In his report to the Privy Council of Zurich may be found his
address on that occasion. He represented himself as a deputy of the
Council of Zurich in agreement with the cities of the Christian
_Buergerrecht_, communities living jointly under free constitutions,
like that of Venice. Natural and common interests bound them to resist
a universal, all-devouring monarchy, such as the Emperor aimed at. He
expressed the wish that Venice would enter into correspondence with
Zurich, who would act for the other allied cities, to communicate to
them what happened in Italy on the side of the Emperor, or what
transpired of his dangerous schemes. He excused the sending of a
solitary, youthful, undistinguished man, to such an enlightened
republic by the necessity of the case, the desire to avoid notice,--to
conceal the movement toward a close alliance between two free states
from the watchful glance of the Emperor and his assistants.

But Venice herself had just then concluded a treaty of peace with the
Emperor. This was disclosed to the deputy, and a reply made to his
offer in very general terms, so that the distrust, which a mission of
such doubtful appearance awakened in the minds of the Doge and the
Senate, could not escape his notice. He was strictly questioned as to
what Confederate cities composed this _Buergerrecht_, what opposed it,
and what remained neutral. Everything was written down. The ceremonies
with which he was dismissed, and a present of twenty crowns show also
that no great importance was attached to the embassy. Far otherwise did
they receive the ambassadors, who in former years had appeared before
them in the name of the whole Confederacy. Although an attempt was made
to keep the matter secret, it yet became known, and produced
indignation among those who were not privy to it, and chagrin at the
sorry roll which such crooked dealings obliged them to play. Zwingli
alone and his princely confidents were not discouraged. "The
transaction with the Venitians," he wrote to Duke Ulric of Wuertemberg,
"is greatly despised, but, as I observe from your letter, may yet turn
to our advantage. For with my cousin (the _Landgrave_) there is no lack
of devotion in person and property, as you can in some degree learn
from his letters. Therefore he is willing to aid