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

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DIFFICULT POSITION OF THE LEGATES. 347
cause the French bishops to leave, as soon as the Council
touched upon the rights and liberties of the French crown.
The power of the Council, so Charles IX. declared, was ex-
clusively limited to the reform of the ecclesiastical body,
and it had no authority to interfere in the affairs and rights
of the state.
The legates found themselves in an increasingly critical
position, as the majority of the fathers insisted that the
whole of the thirty-six articles, including that on the reform
of the princes, should be submitted. The conferences on
the first twenty-one chapters were begun on September
nth with a speech by Cardinal Guise, who spoke in words of
praise of the readiness of the Pope and the legates to promote
the work of reform. Among his remarks, his demand for a
special decision as to the reform of the Cardinals met with
great and almost universal approval. ^ It was found im-
possible to bring these conferences to an end before the
Session fixed for September i6th, and for this reason, as
well as on account of the great differences of opinion con-
cerning the sacrament of Matrimony, Morone, at the General
Congregation on September 15th, announced to the fathers
that the Session appointed for the following day could not
be held. His proposal to postpone it to St. Martin's day
was accepted against a minority.^
On the afternoon of September 15th, the Imperial envoy
delivered a letter of the 4th from Ferdinand I., which asked
for a further adjournment of the reform of the princes. The
legates replied that they could only delay the matter so
long as the conferences on the first twenty-one chapters
should last."*
The treatment of the reform of the princes was impatiently
1 See Le Plat, VI., 194 seq. ; Lettres de Cath. de Medicis II.,
87 seq. Cf. Baguenault de Puchesse, 366.
2 See Theiner, II., 397 seqq. Cf. Paleotto, ibid., 663 seq. ;
Pallavicini, 23, 3 ;
Susta, IV., 237 seq.
^ See Theiner, II., 406 seq. ; Mendo^a, 696 seq. ; Susta, IV.,
242 seq.
* See §usT.\, IV., 243 seq.