“The refusal of the pope to grant the bulls to the “bishops nominated by the king, causes a derange− “ment which encreases daily, and which requires a “prompt and efficacious remedy. The councils of “Constance and of Basle having laboured to reduce “to some moderation the usurpations of the court of “Rome, and the confusion which was introduced in “the distribution of benefices, the pragmatic sanction “was subsequently compiled from the decrees of these “councils. But the popes, seeing their authority “diminished by it, exerted eveiy artifice to cause “its abolition; and by the concordat entered into “between Francis I. and pope Leo X., the mode of “appointing to the vacant sees and abbeys was re− “gulated: not only the devolution, or right of pre− “sentation by lapse, but the reversion, was granted “to the pope, with power to admit resignations in fa− “vour of individuals, and many other articles; which “were very burdensome on the ordinary collators, “and altogether opposed to the ancient canons. “Besides, our ancestors for a long period have re− “monstrated against the concordat: the ordonnance “of Orleans had restored the elections; and it would “be very advantageous if all ecclesiastical affairs were “arranged in the kingdom, without being obliged to “have recourse to Rome. In the sequel, however, “the concordat was acted on faithfully by us, and “we cannot conceive that the pope by an invincible “obstinacy, wishes now to compel us to deprive him “of the advantages which the court of Rome derives “from a treaty so advantageous to it....