knew
better than More the need in which the Church stood of the surgeon's hand;
no one saw clearer the fox's face under the monk's cowl: but, like other
moderate reformers, he detested impatient enthusiasts who spoilt their
cause by extravagance. He felt towards the Protestantism which was
spreading in England as Burke felt towards the Convention and the Jacobin
Club, and while More lived and defied the statute the vast middle party in
the nation which was yet undecided found encouragement in opposition from
his example. His execution has been uniformly condemned by historians as
an act of wanton tyranny. It was not wanton, and it was not an act of
tyranny. It was an inevitable and painful incident of an infinitely
blessed revolution.

The received accounts of his trial are confirmed with slight additions by
a paper of news from England which was sent to the Imperial Court.

More was charged with having deprived the King of the title of "Supreme
Head of the Church," which had been granted to him by the last Parliament.
He replied that, when questioned by the King's Secretary what he thought
of the statute, he had answered that, being a dead man to the world, he
cared nothing for such things, and he could not be condemned for silence.
The King's Attorney said that all good subjects were bound to answer
without dissimulation or reserve, and silence was the same as speech.
Silence, More objected, was generally taken to mean consent. Whatever his
thoughts might be, he had never uttered them.

He was charged with having exchanged letters with the Bishop of Rochester
in the Tower on the replies which they were to give on their examination.
Each had said that the statute was a sword with two edges, one of which
slew the body, the other the soul. As they had used the same words it was
clear that they were confederated.

More replied that he had answered as his conscience dictated, and had
advised the Bishop to do the same. He did not believe that he had ever
said or done anything maliciously against the statute.

The jury consulted only for a quarter of an hour and returned a verdict of
"guilty." Sentence passed as a matter of course, and then More spoke out.
As he was condemned, he said he would now declare his opinion. He had
studied the question for seven years, and was satisfied that no temporal
lord could be head of the spiritualty. For each bishop on the side of the
Royal Supremacy he could produce a hundred saints.