ers had been sent to
the Legate to proceed, and give sentence in virtue of the first
commission. In that case the sentence would certainly be against the
Queen, and not a moment must be lost in pressing an appeal to Rome.[68]

CHAPTER VI.

The Court at Blackfriars--The point at issue--The Pope's competency as
judge--Catherine appeals to Rome--Imperial pressure upon Clement--The
Emperor insists on the Pope's admission of the appeal--Henry demands
sentence--Interference of Bishop Fisher--The Legates refuse to give
judgment--The Court broken up--Peace of Cambray.

The great scene in the hall at the Blackfriars when the cause of Henry
VIII. and Catherine of Aragon was pleaded before Wolsey and Campeggio is
too well known to require further description. To the Legates it was a
splendid farce. They knew that it was to end in nothing. The world
outside, even the parties chiefly concerned, were uncertain what the Pope
intended, and waited for the event to determine their subsequent conduct.
There was more at issue than the immediate question before the Court. The
point really at stake was, whether the interests of the English nation
could be trusted any longer to a judge who was degrading his office by
allowing himself to be influenced by personal fears and interests; who,
when called on to permit sentence to be delivered, by delegates whom he
had himself appointed, yet confessed himself unable, or unwilling, to
decide whether it should be delivered or not. Abstractly Henry's demand
was right. A marriage with a brother's wife was not lawful, and no Papal
dispensation could make it so; but long custom had sanctioned what in
itself was forbidden. The Pope could plead the undisputed usage of
centuries, and if when the case was first submitted to him he had
unequivocally answered that a marriage contracted _bona fide_ under his
predecessor's sanction could not be broken, English opinion, it is likely,
would have sustained him, even at the risk of a disputed succession, and
the King himself would have dropped his suit. But the Pope, as a weak
mortal, had wished to please a powerful sovereign. He had entertained the
King's petition; he had hesitated, had professed inability to come to a
conclusion, finally had declared that justice was on the King's side, and
had promised that it should be so declared. If he now drew back, broke his
engagements, and raised new difficulties in the settlement of a doubt
which the long discuss