The most important affair was the Reformation. Some represented to the Emperor that, victor over all his enemies, he should carry matters with a high hand, and constrain the Protestants by force of arms.[325] Charles was more moderate; he preferred weakening the Protestants by the Papists, and then the Papists by the Protestants, and by this means raising his power above them both. [325] Armis cogandos.--(Seckend. ii. p. 112; Maimbourg, ii. p. 194.) A wiser course was nevertheless proposed in a solemn conference. "The Church is torn in pieces," said Chancellor Gattinara. "You (Charles) are the head of the empire: you (the Pope) are the head of the Church. It is your duty to provide by common accord against unprecedented wants. Assemble the pious men of all nations, and let a free council deduce from the Word of God a scheme of doctrine such as may be received by every people."[326] [326] Oratio _de Congressu Bononiensi_, in _Melancthonis Orationum_, iv. p. 87, and Cælestinus Hist. Concil. 1830, Augustæ, i. p. 10. Respectable authors, Walsh, Muller, and Beausobre, incorrectly quote at full length the speeches delivered at this conference. They are amplifications; but to deny that they have some historical foundation would be flying to the opposite extreme. A thunderbolt would not have so greatly startled Clement VII. The offspring of an illegitimate union, and having obtained the Papacy by means far from honourable, and squandered the treasures of the Church in an unjust war, this Pontiff had a thousand personal motives for dreading an assembly of Christendom. "Large congregations," replied he, "serve only to introduce popular opinions. It is not with the decrees of councils, but with the edge of the sword, that we should decide controversies."[327] [327] Non concilii decretis, sed armis controversias dirimendas--(Scultet. p. 248; Maimbourg the Jesuit, ii. p. 177.) [Sidenote: WAR IMMINENT--LUTHER'S OBJECTIONS.] As Gattinara still persisted: "What!" said the Pope, angrily interrupting him, "you dare to contradict me, and to excite your master against me!" Charles rose up; all the assembly preserved the profoundest silence, and the prince having resumed his seat, seconded his chancellor's request. Clement was satisfied with saying that he would reflect upon it. He then began to work upon the young Emperor in their private conferences, and Charles promised at last to constrain the heretics by violence, while the Pope should summon all other princes to his aid.[328] "To overcome Germany by force, and then erase it from the surface of the earth, is the sole object of the Italians," they wrote from Venice to the Elector.[329] [328] Pontifex, ut cæteri Christiani principes, ipsos pro viribus juvent.--(Guicciardini, xix. p. 908.) [329] Ut Germania vi et armis opprimatur, funditus deleatur et eradicetur.--(Cælestin. i. p. 42.)