, to which he would absolutely and wholly remit the
consideration of the question."[402]

Both proposals carried on their front a show of fair dealing, and if
honestly proffered, were an evidence that something more might at length be
hoped than words. But the true obstacle to a settlement lay, as had been
long evident, rather in the want of an honest will, than in legal
difficulties or uncertainty as to the justice of the cause; and while
neither of the alternatives as they stood were admissible or immediately
desirable, there were many other roads, if the point of honesty were once
made good, which would lead more readily to the desired end. Once for all
Henry could not consent to plead out of England; while an appeal to a
council would occupy more time than the condition of the country could
conveniently allow. But the offer had been courteously made; it had been
accompanied with language which might be sincere; and the king replied with
grace, and almost with cordiality; not wholly giving Clement his
confidence, but expressing a hope that he might soon be no longer justified
in withholding it. He was unable, he said, to accept the first condition,
because it was contrary to his coronation oath; "it so highly touched the
prerogative royal of the realm, that though he were minded to do it, yet
must he abstain without the assent of the court of parliament, which he
thought verily would never condescend to it."[403] The other suggestion he
did not absolutely reject, but the gathering of a council was too serious a
matter to be precipitated, and the situation of Christendom presented many
obstacles to a measure which would be useless unless it were carried
through by all the great powers in a spirit of cordial unanimity. He
trusted therefore that if the pope's intentions were really such as he
pretended to entertain, he would find some method more convenient of
proving his sincerity.

It was happy for Henry that experience had taught him to be distrustful.
Events proved too clearly that Clement's assumed alteration of tone was no
more than a manoeuvre designed to entice him to withdraw from the position
in which he had entrenched himself, and to induce him to acknowledge that
he was amenable to an earthly authority exterior to his own realm.[404] In
his offer to refer the cause to a general council, he proved that he was
insincere, when in the following year he refused to allow a council to be a
valid tribunal for the tr