The more rapid the advance of Zurich, the slower that of Bern became. She could count less on the support of her own subjects than the former. In the Oberland, the fire yet glowed beneath the ashes; discontent prevailed among the mass of those, who were punished on account of the rebellion of 1528. With that rude people, the Reformation, hastily carried out, and not as yet rooted in their minds and hearts, had tended to weaken the bonds of allegiance. Signs of war appeared also in the west. Geneva, with whom she had formed a defensive alliance, was threatened by the Duke of Savoy, and not fully relying on her own citizens, called on Bern for help. The Government delayed, but finally asked the Confederates for their usual contingent. The Five Cantons refused it; and Zurich also, concerned for her own safety, hesitated about marching an army to such a great distance. Urged by the repeated demands of Geneva, Bern at last sent out 5,000 men, who passed through the Pays de Vaud, burning and pillaging, to the great terror of the inhabitants, and in the end became troublesome in Geneva itself, through their want of discipline. A treaty with Savoy, concluded at St. Julien, restored peace for a while; but the lack of zeal manifested by Zurich, in not coming to the succor, could not but dampen the sympathy of the Bernese in her affairs. Two new events occurred, to make her condition only the more critical. The biennial term of the governor-general of St. Gall expired with the close of the year 1530. A Luzerner was to take the place of the retiring Zuricher. Before she would give her consent to the change, Zurich demanded of him a public avowal, in favor of the Reformation, and an oath to protect the people of the abbacy. Luzern entreated her to dispense with such an avowal, and be content with that oath, by which he was pledged to maintain the _Landfriede_, on the ground that this of itself would serve to protect the Reformation, wherever introduced by a majority of votes. Zurich persisted in her demand. She wished all others to put the same construction on the _Landfriede_ that she did. In consequence of this, the governor-general Frei not only refused to leave Wyl, but marched also at the head of an armed troop of the abbey-people, beyond the limits of his jurisdiction, to compel two parishes in the Rheinthal, where strife had arisen, to accept the Reformation. Vainly had Bern, on complaint of the Five Cantons, implored Zurich to keep faith and admit the Luzernese governor-general, on the strength of the pledge required by the _Landfriede_, thus giving his administration a trial. No escape being left for the Five Cantons, except an appeal to the Confederates, a General Diet was assembled in Baden, on the 8th of January. The unanimous instruction of the Five Cantons at this Diet shows the position which they were resolved to maintain, as well as what was expected from their federal associates.