Let the council read these letters; let them consider them well; let them compare the life and conversation of the man with these acts of the pontiff, and then decide whether it is not the duty of the Most Christian King, not only to march to Rome, but to call a council of the Church Universal, for the trial and deposition of one who holds his seat, not by the grace of God, but by the aid of simony, and the machinations of the devil. My lord the king, I address you as the eldest son of the Church, as the descendant of those who have struggled, and fought, and bled for her; and I call upon you to deliver her from the oppression under which she groans, to eject from her highest place the profane man who has no right to the seat of St. Peter, and to purify the temple and the altar from the desecration of a Borgia."[2] Charles hesitated for a few moments ere he replied, and two or three of those quiet counsellors, one of whom had previously addressed him, now came separately and spoke to him in low tones over the back of his chair. "My lord the cardinal," he said at length, "the grave subject your Eminence has brought before us, is of so important a nature that it requires much and calm consideration. Rome is yet far off, and on our march thither we shall have many an occasion to call for your counsel. This subject, surpassing all others in importance, must engage our attention when we can have a more private interview; for it will be needful to avoid in doing our best to purify the Church, the great danger of creating a scandal in the Church itself." "Wisely spoken, my lord the king," answered the prelate, "but I should like at present to know, who is the messenger who has had the hardihood to bear a prohibition from entering the holy city to the successor of Charlemagne.[3] Can it be one of the Sacred College? If so, why is he not here present?" "Why, to speak the truth," said the Bishop of St. Malo, with a rueful smile, "his holiness has not altogether shown the respect which is due to his own brief, or to his Majesty's crown, in the choice of a messenger. He who has brought the missive is a common courier. He calls himself, indeed, a gentleman of Rome, and, by the way, he has with him a man who desires to see and speak with your Eminence, for whom, he says, he has letters. They may, perhaps, throw some light upon the question why his holiness did not entrust such an important paper to a more dignified bearer." To uninstructed ears the words of the good bishop had little special meaning; but intrigue and corruption were then so general, especially in Italian courts, that the Cardinal Julian at once perceived from the language used, a doubt in the mind of some of the king's counsellors as to whether, while declaiming against Alexander, he might not be secretly negotiating with him for his own purposes.