The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

192 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
several of the Emperor's requirements, such as the establishment
of a general peace, and the participation of all the
Christian powers, was really not in the Pope's power, and
that others, such as the discussion anew with the Protestants
of points of dogma, which had already been defined in a
general council, meant nothing less than the overthrow
,of the Church ; none of these points, however, were put
forward by Hosius. His misgivings only concerned points
of minor importance, such as several strong phrases or modes
of expression, certain false arguments, the quotations from
Scripture in favour of the marriage of priests, and in general
the theological and biblical proofs upon which the proposed
concessions were based. The Imperial statesmen made no
difficulty about taking into consideration objections which
left the essential points of the memorandum untouched.^
The document, altered in the sense demanded by Hosius,
was handed to the nuncio by the Emperor on June 26th,
and sent by the former on June 28th to Rome, where it
arrived on the evening of July 12th. ^ The Imperial ambassador
in Rome, Count Prospero d'Arco, also received a copy
of the document, as did Philip II. of Spain.
The replies of the three principal Catholic powers arrived
in Rome in the course of July, 1560. The Abbot of Manne
was the first to deliver his letter, which he had received on
July 4th. On July loth Vargas and Tendilla presented the
reply from their sovereign, dated June i8th. Pius IV. ex-
pressed to the Spanish envoys his great joy at the decision
of Philip II., in whom abne he had perfect confidence, and
at the same time acquainted them with the answer of the
French government. The Pope complained that the French,
although they spoke of a general council, obviously did not
want one. Their intention was to gain time by heaping up
difficulties and making promises, so that eventually they
1 C/. Steinherz, I., Ixxi, 55, 63; BucHOLTZ, IX., 678 seq. ;
Sicked, Konzil, 70 seq. ; Eder, I., 50 seq.
^ See Ehses, loc. cit., 9.
^ See SiCKEL, Konzil, 71 seq , 73 seq.
^