Nevertheless, Alexander III. thought of establishing himself, and dreaded the consequences of too long a war with the emperor. He detached himself from Some English writers say that the four assassins, Fitzurse, Tracy, Britton and Morville, were so far from having an order to kill Becket, that they dared not re-appear at Court after the commission of the crime. Hume adds, that the king suspecting the intention of these gentlemen from some words which had escaped them, dispatched a messenger after them, prohibiting their attacking the person of the prelate, but that the messenger arrived too late. the Lombard League, and came to Venice in 1177, to offer Frederick a peace, which the reverses of this prince were to render useful and glorious to the church. The pope reaped the fruits of the labours and combats of Italy. Frederick acknowledged Alexander, kissed his feet, held the stirrup of his horse, and restored the ecclesiastical goods, without, however, including herein the inheritance of Matilda, and signed a truce for six years²¹¹ For ten years past, Alexander had invariably resided at Anagni; he seldom resorted to Rome, where the seeds of sedition had not ceased to ferment. He returned to it in 1178; his entry was solemn; he received the homage of the people and the oaths of the nobles, and held in 1179 the third general council of the Lateran. A crown being sent by him to the king of Portugal, Alphonso Henriquez, in order that this conqueror should not reign without the approbation of the Holy See, he was repaid by an annual tribute of two marks of gold.²¹² Such have been the principal events of the pontificate of Alexander III. to whom the college of cardinals is indebted for the exclusive privilege of electing the popes; he ruled that this election should be effected by the union of two thirds of the suffrages in favour of one candidate. The memory of this pope has remained dear to the Italians, who were pleased at beholding in him the defender of their liberties; but he evinced still more zeal for the aggrandizement of the ecclesiastical power. They owe greater praise to his address and constancy than to his patriotism. He knew how to triumph over obstacles, support long reverses, weary out the prosperity of Frederick Barbarossa, and subject to the pontifical authority, the enemy of the Italian republics. ²¹¹ Maratori’s Antiquit Ital. med. ævi. vol. 4, p. 249.— Orig. Guelph, vol. 2, p. 479. ²¹² Velly’s Hist, of France, vol. 3, p. 327.