When, therefore, the absurd people who wish to prove simoniacal the election of the Lord Alexander P.P. VI, or the stupid craven Catholics who fatuously think to conciliate by joining rabidly in the hue and cry against a Pope, can show a definite declaration from one or more of the cardinals-assistant of the Conclave of 1492, couched in some such terms as these, “_I acknowledge and confess that, seduced by the dignities and the money that he offered me_, (or, _intimidated by the menaces of Cardinal Rodrigo de Lançol y Borja_,) _I allowed myself to be corrupted; and, against my will and better knowledge, I sold my vote to this unworthy cardinal_: or, _I declare that I have resisted all his promises, threats, and flatteries, and firmly have refused to sell my vote to Cardinal Rodrigo de Lançol y Borja_ : then, and only then, can this silly or malicious calumny be said to have any foundation in fact.[76] One thing is perfectly certain. The Lord Alexander P.P. VI, Who really was the last man in the world _à S’ encanailler_, never behaved as though He had gained the Triregno by illegitimate means. Not when all Europe yelped around His footstool did He blench or quail or shew a sign of fear. The heathen raged; and the people imagined a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves; and the rulers took counsel together. The Monarchs of Naples nagged; the Catholic King and Queen denounced; the Christian Kings minced, grimaced, and gibbered; Caesar Semper Augustus protested; Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere raved and nursed sedition; the barons of Rome revolted; the dukes and tyrants and republics of Italy took up arms; the dominions of the Pope’s Holiness were invaded; the Eternal City suffered violence; the sacrosanctity of the pontifical person was in imminent danger: but the invincible Lord Alexander P.P. VI magnificently retired into the Mola of Hadrian, the only spot in all Christendom where His rule remained; and held His Own, inflexibly, implacably, with an enormous dignity impossible in one who was a mere usurper, a venal simoniac. So much is sure. The demeanour of the Lord Alexander P.P. VI in direst straits, was the demeanour of a man who had no doubt regarding his own integrity. * * * * *