he event, that in the year 1854 England would
be united with an Emperor Napoleon for the preservation of European order.

Henry, then, in the spring of the year 1527, definitively breaking the
Spanish alliance, formed a league with Francis I., the avowed object of
which was the expulsion of the Imperialists from Italy; with a further
intention--if it could be carried into effect--of avenging the outrage
offered to Europe in the pope's imprisonment, by declaring vacant the
imperial throne. Simultaneously with the congress at Amiens where the terms
of the alliance were arranged, confidential persons were despatched into
Italy to obtain an interview--if possible--with the pope, and formally
laying before him the circumstances of the king's position, to request him
to make use of his powers to provide a remedy. It is noticeable that at the
outset of the negotiation the king did not fully trust Wolsey. The latter
had suggested, as the simplest method of proceeding, that the pope should
extend his authority as legate, granting him plenary power to act as
English vicegerent so long as Rome was occupied by the Emperor's troops.
Henry, not wholly satisfied that he was acquainted with his minister's full
intentions in desiring so large a capacity, sent his own secretary, unknown
to Wolsey, with his own private propositions--requesting simply a
dispensation to take a second wife, his former marriage being allowed to
stand with no definite sentence passed upon it; or, if that were
impossible, leaving the pope to choose his own method, and settle the
question in the manner least difficult and least offensive.[132]

Wolsey, however, soon satisfied the king that he had no sinister
intentions. By the middle of the winter we find the private messenger
associated openly with Sir Gregory Cassalis, the agent of the minister's
communications;[133] and a series of formal demands were presented jointly
by these two persons in the names of Henry and the legate; which, though
taking many forms, resolved themselves substantially into one. The pope was
required to make use of his dispensing power to enable the King of England
to marry a wife who could bear him children, and thus provide some better
security than already existed for the succession to the throne. This demand
could not be considered as in itself unreasonable; and if personal feeling
was combined with other motives to induce Henry to press it, personal
feeling did not affect the gener