ach
was pursuing.

Henry only, among the great powers, laid his conduct open to the world,
declaring truly what he desired, and seeking it by open means. He was
determined to proceed with the divorce, and he was determined also to
continue the Reformation of the English Church. If consistently with these
two objects he could avoid a rupture with the pope, he was sincerely
anxious to avoid it. He was ready to make great efforts, to risk great
sacrifices, to do anything short of surrendering what he considered of
vital moment, to remain upon good terms with the See of Rome. If his
efforts failed, and a quarrel was inevitable, he desired to secure himself
by a close maintenance of the French alliance; and having induced Francis
to urge compliance upon the pope by a threat of separation if he refused,
to prevail on him, in the event of the pope's continued obstinacy, to put
his threat in execution, and unite with England in a common schism. All
this is plain and straightforward--Henry concealed nothing, and, in fact,
had nothing to conceal. In his threats, his promises, and his entreaties,
we feel entire certainty that he was speaking his real thoughts.

The emperor's position, also, though not equally simple, is intelligible,
and commands our respect. Although if he had consented to sacrifice his
aunt, he might have spared himself serious embarrassment; although both by
the pope and by the consistory such a resolution would probably have been
welcomed with passionate thankfulness; yet at all hazards Charles was
determined to make her his first object, even with the risk of convulsing
Europe. At the same time his position was encumbered with difficulty. The
Turks were pressing upon him in Hungary and in the Mediterranean; his
relations with Francis--fortunately for the prospects of the
Reformation--were those of inveterate hostility; while in Germany he had
been driven to make terms with the Protestant princes; he had offended the
pope by promising them a general council, in which the Lutheran divines
should be represented; and the pope, taught by recent experience, was made
to fear that these symptoms of favour towards heresy, might convert
themselves into open support.

With Francis the prevailing feeling was rivalry with the emperor, combined
with an eager desire to recover his influence in Italy, and to restore
France to the position in Europe which had been lost by the defeat of
Pavia, and the failure of Lautrec at N