Henry’s ministers ventured on this occasion to resist him: they showed him that this clause would prevent an immediate rupture with Rome, and it might be repealed hereafter. He yielded at last, and the archbishop submitted the clause with the amendment to convocation. It was a solemn moment for England. The bishops were convinced that the king was asking them to do what was wrong, the end of which would be a rupture with Rome. In the time of Hildebrand the prelates would have answered No, and found a sympathetic support in the laity. But things had changed; the people were beginning to be weary of the long domination of the priests. The primate, desirous of ending the matter, said to his colleagues: ‘Do you recognize the king as sole protector of the Church and clergy of England, and, so far as is allowed by the law of Christ, also as your supreme head?’ All remained speechless. ‘Will you let me know your opinions?’ resumed the archbishop. There was a dead silence. ‘Whoever is silent seems to consent,’ said the primate.—‘Then we are all silent,’ answered one of the members.[115] Were these words inspired by courage or by cowardice? Were they an assent or a protest? We cannot say. In this matter we cannot side either with the king or with the priests. The heart of man easily takes the part of those who are oppressed; but here the oppressed were also oppressors. Convocation next gave its support to the opinion of the universities respecting the divorce, and thus Henry gained his first victory. Now that the king had the power, the clergy were permitted to give him their money. They offered a hundred thousand pounds sterling,—an enormous sum for those times,—nearly equivalent to fifteen times as much of our money. On the 22d of March, 1531, the courteous archbishop signed the document which at one stroke deprived the clergy of England of both riches and honor.[116] The discussion was still more animated in the Convocation of York. ‘If you proclaim the king supreme head,’ said Bishop Tonstal, ‘it can only be in temporal matters.’—‘Indeed!’ retorted Henry’s minister, ‘is an act of convocation necessary to determine that the king reigns?‘—‘If spiritual things are meant,’ answered the bishop, ‘I withdraw from convocation that I may not withdraw from the Church.’[117] ‘My lords,’ said Henry, ‘no one disputes your right to preach and administer the sacraments.[118] Did not Paul submit to Cæsar’s tribunal, and our Saviour himself to Pilate’s?’ Henry’s ecclesiastical theories prevailed also at York. A great revolution was effected in England, and fresh compromises were to consolidate it.