to the principle of absolute publicity, who expected in favor of Christianity, as he found it in the Holy Scriptures and drew it thence, a more lively acknowledgment from the sound sense of the people than from learned craftiness; from the uncorrupted feelings of men than philosophical arrogance, to whom Christianity was the most elevated--the only worthy religion for a nation; who, therefore, had to look to the people for the maintenance of his reformatory measures; this same man began now to employ all the arts of a politician, for the upholding and spread of these same measures of reform--a bold undertaking, altogether too bold--one that compelled him to play a double part, in which superhuman effort he at last fell a bloody sacrifice. As we proceed, this will become more clear and evident from authenticated facts. At the time, when Zurich yet stood alone among her sister-confederates, shortly after the Conference of Baden, when her repeated vindication, her fourth complaint against exclusion from the public councils in direct violation of treaties resounded unheard, and her letters to the Five Cantons were no longer read, and threats multiplied, the neighboring imperial city of Constance found herself in a like forsaken condition. There also, through the preaching of Ambrosius Blaarer, a friend of Zwingli, and others, the reformation of the church had made such active progress, that the bishop and the majority of the canons withdrew in anger to Ueberlingen and Mœrsburg, and the Emperor caused the city to feel the weight of his displeasure; but the Council, devoted to the new order of things, looked around beyond the walls for support in case of need. The necessity appeared the greater, because the suspicion prevailed among many of the citizens that Austria, sure of the secret approval of the head of the Empire, would use the favorable moment to take possession of a place so well situated on the frontier. The behavior of the Archducal Vicegerent, Marcus Sittich von Ems, strengthened the suspicion. His troopers rode up close to the gates of the city. He himself looked about in the neighborhood for a spot, as he said, on which to pitch a camp. In these straits Constance turned toward Zurich and sought a defensive alliance with her. After long negotiations, conducted in secret, this was at last concluded on the 25th of December, 1527, a few days before the Zurichers set out to the Conference at Bern. They carried the news thither. Bern also, in a certain measure by storm, was won over as a party. As early as the 6th of January, 1528, the very day on which the Religious Conference was opened, the majority of the Great Council expressed their willingness to take the matter in hand. The name given to the Alliance, the Christian _Buergerrecht_, (Citizen's rights), was easy to understand, not so its spirit. In the ancient treaties the Five Cantons had surrendered the privilege of contracting other alliances without the