d broken into violent abuse of the Pope himself and the whole
Roman Court. The Church, Henry had said, required a thorough reformation,
and the Church should have it. The Pope alone was to blame for the
difficulty in which he found himself. He had sent him a brief from
Orvieto, admitting the divorce to be a necessity, and now he had promised
the Emperor, as he knew from good authority, that judgment should be given
for the Queen. He would not endure such treatment. He would never consent
that the cause should be decided at Rome, or in any place where either
Pope or Emperor had jurisdiction. It was an ancient privilege of England,
"that no cause having its origin in that kingdom should be advoked to
another." If the Pope would not do him justice, he would appeal to his
Parliament, which was about to assemble, and if the Emperor threatened
him with war, he hoped to be able to defend himself. The Nuncio had
deprecated precipitate action. If the King would only do nothing, the
Pope, he said, would pause also, till an amicable settlement could be
arrived at; but the King would promise nothing; "he would act as seemed
best to himself."

Henry being thus peremptory, Chapuys and the Nuncio had to consider what
was to be done. The Pope, before the Nuncio's despatch, had received
private advices from Wolsey, of which the Baron de Burgo had been
informed. The evil, Wolsey had admitted, was too far gone for gentle
treatment: it needed cautery and incision; but they must proceed
cautiously. If the Pope used threats, the King would go at once to
Parliament; there would then be war, in which France would take a part.
Might not a personal interview be brought about between the King and the
Emperor? The Nuncio could not see his way, but was willing to be guided by
Chapuys. Chapuys was for instant action on the Pope's part. Moderation, he
said, was useless. He believed (of course Wolsey had told him so) that, if
the Pope would deliver sentence at Rome immediately, the King would find
no one in the realm, or out of it, to help him in a quarrel against the
Church. The responsibility ought not to be thrown upon the Emperor. The
Pope must speak, and all good Catholics would be at his side.[126] The
Nuncio agreed. The clergy in England were irritated and alarmed, and the
opportunity was favourable. The Nuncio and the Ambassadors decided between
them that the Pope was to be advised to end the cause at once, threaten
the King with excommunicatio