His speech before the diet was long and eloquent, but weakened by his bitterness and vehemence. He said he spoke in defense of the papal throne, which was so dear to them all. He enumerated the heresies taught in Luther’s works. Luther was obstinate, disobedient to the pope’s summons, refused to be instructed; the pope had condemned him, and it was the emperor’s duty to enforce the condemnation; the laity had nothing to do with such questions except to carry out the pope’s decrees; ruin would follow if Luther was not condemned; a decree from the diet and the emperor would restore quiet, and preserve the Church and empire. Such were the considerations urged by Aleander. He sat down amid murmurs of approbation, but he had made no new points, given no fresh reasons. A few days afterward a representative German, Duke George of Saxony, already Luther’s enemy, presented the case of Germany against the pope. There were many things of which he complained, exactions and usurpations, the growth and accumulation of years. A committee of the diet was appointed to draft the grievances, and brought in a long list. With so many grievances against the pope already the diet was in no hurry to take the pope’s part against a popular German; the condemnation of Luther, and especially the manner of condemnation, was itself another grievance. The law required the execution of the pope’s bull, and was against granting to a condemned heretic a new hearing before a secular tribunal. It was a case in which the law demanded one thing and expediency and justice another. After a long discussion in the diet it was “held stoutly that no countryman of theirs should be placed under the ban of the empire without being heard in his defense, and that they and not the pope of Rome were to be the judges in the matter.” There was open opposition between the emperor and the diet, and abundant secret intrigue—“an edict proposed against Luther, which the diet refused to accept; an edict proposed to order the burning of Luther’s books, which the diet also objected to; this edict revised and limited to seizure of Luther’s writings, which was also found fault with by the diet; and, finally, the emperor issuing this revised edict of his own authority and without the consent of the diet.”