ntioned, had, by their harshness,
immorality and acts of violence, stirred up the righteous indignation
of the people; yet the forms, under which Zurich proceeded, were not
those of confederate law, but the offspring rather of an arbitrary
will, whose continued assumption of power tended only to awaken the
most bitter animosity amongst the Five Cantons, and found no approval
with her own party, including even the cities of the Christian
_Buergerrecht_. The good end could not justify the unlawful means. And
still less was this the case, when, in spite of the decided protest of
the other cantons of the protectorate, she allowed herself to make a
one-sided scale of salaries, increasing the revenues of benefices in
the parishes, which had accepted the Reformation, at the expense of the
rest; and compel Catholics, who had resigned these benefices, to call
in Reformed preachers and pay them more, than required by the treaties.
In vain did the Five Cantons raise a voice of protest at all the
sittings of the general Diet; in vain did they send embassies with
complaints and prayers for redress to the other states. Zurich pushed
forward, secure of support from the majority of the people in the
Territories.

But more yet was in reserve, and principally through Zwingli's
influence. He too sank under the weakness of our common humanity; as
Luther and Calvin in solitary moments, as Borromoo and Francis de
Sales, as the Apostles themselves. _One_ alone never yielded, and
proved by that very fact, that He had come from God. A writing of the
Reformer, still extant, its margin covered with corrections,
improvements and additions--signs of great mental agitation--shows
incontestibly, that with him also, in hours, when his feelings may have
been embittered by the unworthy attacks to which he saw himself more
and more exposed, hatred had prevailed over love, passion over calmness
of spirit, and earthly policy over the guidance of faith. It has this
heading: "What, in the dealings of the Five Cantons, there is need for
Zurich and Bern to ponder over." It affords us a deep glance into his
inner life, and reveals to us the plans with which he was occupied; and
whilst the cold-blooded reader, who sees in history only the results of
human struggles, and declares those most successful, where the most
comprehensive means have accompanied the grandest designs, may read
these with admiration of Zwingli's political sagacity, he, on the other
hand, w