Then the elders, who had hitherto kept silent, and whose grave, modest, and firm looks inspired respect, came forward. One of them, speaking for all, raised his trembling hands, 'and declared that such had always been the law of Geneva, and that never in the course of their long lives had they had the pain to see the prince trample it under foot.' The feeble voices and calm looks of these venerable men added a strange, and one might almost say a heavenly, force to their testimony. That humble speech in favour of liberty possessed an eloquence more penetrating than the most admirable orations of a Cicero or a Demosthenes. But, if liberty had never been more touching, despotism had never been more obstinate. The syndics conjured the bishop in vain, in the name of the laws and of God, to surrender the prisoners to them, according to the law, so that they might try them conformably with their office; Pierre de la Baume kept repeating: 'I cannot, I have cited the cause before me.' The Friburg ambassadors begged the syndics to consent to the episcopal citation, 'for this time only,' but the magistrates of Geneva were unwilling that the franchises of the city should be violated either now or later. They quitted the bishop's palace with sorrow, and the six elders followed them.[779] When they arrived at the hôtel-de-ville, the council of sixty was still sitting. They gave a faithful account of their mission. They reported that the bishop-prince persisted in his iniquitous _non possumus_, and although the council felt deep pain at hearing the statement, no one flinched. These Genevans knew the fidelity that freemen owe to the institutions of their ancestors. The ambassadors of Berne then asked to be admitted. Importuned by their allies, the Friburgers, and by the councillors of the bishop, these haughty Bernese, unfaithful to their renown, had come to imagine that the Genevans might very well, for _once_, on this solemn occasion, renounce their charter and their rights. Sebastian de Diesbach therefore invited the council to try if they could not 'consent to this citation, which the prelate positively would not recal.' Thus the only allies of Geneva solicited them to enter voluntarily upon the path of concessions.... The council deliberated, and the Sixty were unanimous. Here is the resolution which the secretary entered upon the register: 'Ordered to reply to My Lords of Berne, that we will not consent to this citation, as it is entirely contrary to our franchises, and resolved to ask them to be pleased to aid us with their advice.' My Lords of Berne did not like to see their advice rejected, but as they withdrew they said that such men deserved to be free.[780]