Charles then sought other means to prevent the conference. He will contrive that the pope shall delay his departure from week to week, until the winter sets in, and then it is not to be thought of. A very natural occasion for these delays presented itself. The marriage of Henry VIII. with Anne Boleyn having been made public, the emperor haughtily demanded that justice should be done to the queen, his aunt. Here, certainly, was matter enough to occupy the court of Rome for months; but Clement, who had let the English business drag along for years, being eager to finish the _other_ marriage, hastily assembled a consistory, and pronounced against Henry VIII. all the censures which Charles V. demanded. Then, in his zeal forgetting his usual cunning, he made Catherine's marriage the peroration of his speech, and having done with England and its king, he ended by saying: 'Gentlemen, if any of you desire to make the voyage with me, you must hold yourselves in readiness for departure.'[459] Immediate preparations were made for fitting up the galleys of Rhodes in which the pope was to sail. All was bustle in the harbour. Those long low barks were supplied with everything necessary for subsistence, for sailing, and even for attack and defence. The oars were fixed in their places; the yards and sails were set; the flags were hoisted.... Then the imperialists, trying to outwit the pope, had recourse to a new stratagem; they were smitten with a sudden fondness for Coron.—'Coron, that city in the south of Greece,' they said to the pope, 'a city of such great importance to christendom, is attacked by the Turks; we require the galleys of Rhodes to defend it; we must deliver the Greeks our brothers from slavery, and restore the empire of the East.'... The pope understood; it was difficult to beat him in cunning. 'Well, well,' said he, 'make haste; fly to the help of christendom.... I will lend you the said galleys, and will add my own ... and ... I will make the passage on board the galleys of France.'[460] Then the emperor turned to the Swiss; the Dukes of Savoy and Milan, also, fearing that at the projected interview something would be _brewed_ to their detriment, united with him. These three princes attempted to induce the catholic cantons to enter the Italian league. If these terrible Helvetic bands pass the Alps, all idea of travelling will be abandoned by the pope. How could he expose himself to pikes and arquebuses? Clement VII. had not the warlike disposition of Julius II. 'The King of France favours the protestants,' said Charles's deputies to the catholic cantons; 'he desires to put the evangelical cantons in a condition to avenge the defeat at Cappel; but if you join us, you have nothing to fear.' At these words the catholics became eager[461] to enter the league against the king and the pope; but Francis sent them money to keep quiet, and they did not move.[462]