[Footnote 360: _Ven. Cal._, ii., 1220, 1230; _L.
and P._, iii., 246, 247, 249, 250. Francis I.
thought they were dismissed as being too favourable
to him, and as a rule the younger courtiers
favoured France and the older Spain.]
Two years later Wolsey was abroad at the conference of Calais, and
again Henry's hand in State affairs becomes apparent. Pace, defending
himself from the Cardinal's complaints, tells him that he had done
everything "by the King's express commandment, who readeth all your
letters with great diligence". One of the letters which angered Wolsey
was the King's, for Pace "had devised it very different"; but the King
would not approve of it; "and commanded me to bring your said letters
into his privy chamber with pen and ink, and there he would declare
unto me what I should write. And when his grace had your said letters,
he read the same three times, and marked such places as it pleased him
to make answer unto, and commanded me to write and rehearse as liked
him, and not further to meddle with that answer; so that I herein
nothing did but obeyed the King's commandment, and especially at (p. 130)
such time _as he would upon good grounds be obeyed, whosoever spake to
the contrary_."[361] Wolsey might say in his pride "I shall do so and
so," and foreign envoys might think that the Cardinal made the King
"go hither and thither, just as he liked"; but Wolsey knew perfectly
well that when he thought fit, Henry "would be obeyed, whosoever spake
to the contrary". He might delegate much of his authority, but men
were under no misapprehension that he could and would revoke it
whenever he chose. For the time being, King and Cardinal worked
together in general harmony, but it was a partnership in which Henry
could always have the last word, though Wolsey did most of the work.
As early as 1518 he had nominated Standish to the bishopric of St.
Asaph, disregarding Wolsey's candidate and the opposition of the
clerical party at Court, who detested Standish for his advocacy of
Henry's authority in ecclesiastical matters, and dreaded his promotion
as an evil omen for the independence of the Church.[362]
[Footnote 361: _L. and P._, iii., 1713.]
[Footnote 362: _Ibid._, ii., 4074, 4083, 4089.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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