ting the justice of his cause and promising _sanctissime sub verbo
Pontificis_ that he would never advocate it to Rome."[34]

Engagements which he intended to keep or break according to the turns of
the war between Francis and Charles did not press very heavily perhaps on
Clement's conscience, but they were not extorted from him without many
agonies. "He has granted the commission," Casalis wrote. "He is not
unwilling to please the King and Wolsey, but fears the Spaniards more than
ever he did. The Friar-General has forbidden him in the Emperor's name to
grant the King's request. He fears for his life from the Imperialists if
the Emperor knows of it. Before he would grant the brief he said, weeping,
that it would be his utter ruin. The Venetians and Florentines desired his
destruction. His sole hope of life was from the Emperor. He asked me to
swear whether the King would desert him or not. Satisfied on this point,
he granted the brief, saying that he placed himself in the King's arms, as
he would be drawn into perpetual war with the Emperor. Wolsey might
dispose of him and the Papacy as if he were Pope himself."[35]

The Emperor had insisted, at Catherine's desire, that the cause should not
be heard in England. The Pope had agreed that it should be heard in
England. Consent had been wrung from him, but his consent had been given,
and Campeggio was to go and make the best of it. His open commission was
as ample as words could make it. He and Wolsey were to hear the cause and
decide it. The secret "decretal" which he had wept over while he signed it
declared, before the cause was heard, the sentence which was to be given,
and he had pledged his solemn word not to revoke the hearing to Rome. All
that Clement could do was to instruct the Legate before he started to
waste time on his way, and, on his arrival in England, to use his skill to
"accommodate matters," and to persuade the Queen--if he found her
persuadeable--to save him from his embarrassments by taking the veil. This
was a course which Charles himself in his private mind would have
recommended, but was too honourable to advise it. The fatal decretal was
to be seen only by a very few persons, and then, as Henry said, Campeggio
was to burn it. He was instructed also to pass no sentence without first
referring back to Rome, and, if driven to extremity, was to find an excuse
for postponing a decision; very natural conduct on the part of a weak,
frightened mortal--cond