ourselves and him both, and look to be esteemed accordingly._"

Should it appear that on receipt of this communication, Francis was still
resolved to persevere, and that he had other objects in view to which Henry
had not been made privy, the ambassadors were then to remind him of the
remaining obligations into which he had entered; and to ascertain to what
degree his assistance might be calculated upon, should the pope pronounce
Henry deposed, and the emperor attempt to enforce the sentence.

After forwarding these instructions, the king's next step was to anticipate
the pope by an appeal which would neutralise his judgment should he venture
upon it; and which offered a fresh opportunity of restoring the peace of
Christendom, if there was true anxiety to preserve that peace. The hinge of
the great question, in the form which at last it assumed, was the validity
or invalidity of the dispensation by which Henry had married his brother's
widow. Being a matter which touched the limit of the pope's power, the pope
was himself unable to determine it in his own favour; and the only
authority by which the law could be ruled, was a general council. In the
preceding winter, the pope had volunteered to submit the question to this
tribunal; but Henry believing that it was on the point of immediate
solution in another way, had then declined, on the ground that it would
cause a needless delay. He was already married, and he had hoped that
sentence might be given in his favour in time to anticipate the publication
of the ceremony. But he was perfectly satisfied that justice was on his
side; and was equally confident of obtaining the verdict of Europe, if it
could be fairly pronounced. Now, therefore, under the altered
circumstances, he accepted the offered alternative. He anticipated with
tolerable certainty the effect which would be produced at Rome, when the
news should arrive there of the Dunstable divorce; and on the 29th of June,
he appealed formally, in the presence of the Archbishop of York, from the
pope's impending sentence, to the next general council.[602]

Of this curious document the substance was as follows:--It commenced with a
declaration that the king had no intention of acting otherwise than became
a good Catholic prince; or of injuring the church or attacking the
privileges conceded by God to the Holy See. If his words could be lawfully
shown to have such a tendency he would revoke, emend, and correct them in a
Cat