At the Diet of 1558-1559, called at Piotrków for November 20, 1558, the Protestants were again in full control, and for president of the Chamber of Deputies they again elected Nicholas Siennicki, who presided over its deliberations in 1555. The foremost problem before the present Diet was “the execution of laws,” and, of course, inseparably connected with it was that of religion. Growing out of these, there were the further problems of the exemption from military service of the mayors of ecclesiastical villages, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the participation of the clergy in royal elections. Bishop Uchański moved in the Senate that problems of religion be set aside until the calling of a national synod, in which both the clergy and the laity would be free to participate. He argued that only such an assembly so composed and gathered for that particular purpose would be able to adjust the troublesome religious differences. The Chamber was willing to set matters of religion aside until a national synod could be called together, but on condition that ecclesiastical jurisdiction, not only in matters of religion, but in all matters, with all cases pending, be suspended. Knowing the seriousness of the situation, yet very reluctant to surrender their jurisdiction, the bishops pledged themselves to use it with utmost care. But the new papal legate, Kamill, bishop of Sutri, refused to countenance any idea of calling a national synod, to which, besides the Roman clergy, the laity and the heretics would be admitted. The Chamber, on the other hand, was equally determined to do away and for good with ecclesiastical jurisdiction in all matters.[164] Next, in connection with the larger problem of the execution of laws, the Chamber questioned the legality of the exemption from military service of the mayors of ecclesiastical villages. It was found that according to the Code of Casimir the Great the mayors of ecclesiastical villages were required to render military service. The Diets of 1538 and of 1550 confirmed the old law, requiring compliance with its provisions, unless the clergy produced documentary evidence of special privileges of exemption for such cases. The Chamber of 1558, therefore, demanded that the clergy produce the documentary privileges they claimed to possess,[165] but the evidence was not forthcoming. Thereupon a still more serious question was raised, namely, that concerning the clergy’s participation in royal elections. Since the bishops were ever appealing to canonical law rather than to the law of the land, and since they regarded the interests of the Church of Rome and their loyalty to the Pope of greater importance than the interests of the country and their loyalty to the Polish king, the Chamber through its spokesman, Hieronimus Ossoliński, a Protestant, argued in the Senate in the king’s presence that from such a weighty matter as the election of a Polish king the bishops, whose allegiance is divided, should be excluded.[166]