esty's requests, in such form as the church's treasure and the authority
of the Vicar of Christ shall permit, or so far as that authority extends or
may extend. I have undertaken, moreover, for all these things in their
utmost latitude, pledging my salvation, my faith, my honour and soul upon
them. I have said that his demands shall be granted amply and fully,
without scruple, without room or occasion being left for
after-retractation; and the King's Majesty, in consequence, believing on
these my solemn asseverations that the Pope's Holiness is really and indeed
well inclined towards him, accepting what is spoken by me as spoken by the
legate of the Apostolic See, and therefore, as in the name of his Holiness,
has determined to run the risk which I have pressed upon him; he will spare
no labour or expense, he will disregard the wishes of his subjects, and the
private interest of his Realm, to attach himself cordially and constantly
to the Holy See."[129]

These were the words of a man who loved England well, but who loved Rome
better; and Wolsey has received but scanty justice from catholic writers,
since he sacrificed himself for the catholic cause. His scheme was bold and
well laid, being weak only in that it was confessedly in contradiction to
the instincts and genius of the nation, by which, and by which alone, in
the long run, either this or any other country has been successfully
governed. And yet he might well be forgiven if he ventured on an unpopular
course in the belief that the event would justify him; and that, in uniting
with France to support the pope, he was not only consulting the true
interest of England, but was doing what England actually desired, although
blindly aiming at her object by other means. The French wars, however
traditionally popular, were fertile only in glory. The rivalry of the two
countries was a splendid folly, wasting the best blood of both countries
for an impracticable chimera; and though there was impatience of
ecclesiastical misrule, though there was jealousy of foreign interference,
and general irritation with the state of the church, yet the mass of the
people hated protestantism even worse than they hated the pope, the clergy,
and the consistory courts. They believed--and Wolsey was, perhaps, the only
leading member of the privy council, except Archbishop Warham, who was not
under the same delusion--that it was possible for a national church to
separate itself from the unity of