The eloquent expressions of reason and truth were wasted upon the sordid soul of Eugenius. He persisted in measures of opposition; they were met by a process of citation on the part of the council; and this was retorted by a Bull of dissolution; both were equally ineffectual. At length, on the 12th of July, 1433, the fathers proceeded one step farther; they suspended the pontiff from his dignity, and prohibited all Christians from paying him obedience. Eugenius, in the plenitude of his own power, annulled their decree; and this noisy but innocuous altercation might have continued for some time longer, without any advantage or any honour to either party, had not some accidental circumstances interrupted it. The political enterprises of the Pope had not been more happily conducted, than his ecclesiastical measures. During the winter of 1433 he was threatened by a complication of disasters. The Colonna attacked him at home; the Duke of Milan assailed him from abroad; his subjects were universally discontented, and their menaces resounded in his capital; while Sigismond had declared loudly in favour of the council, and had even countenanced it by his presence. Under these circumstances, Eugenius suddenly lowered his pretensions, and withdrew his opposition. The offensive Bulls were revoked; and under the plea of co-operating with the council, and with the design of embarrassing it, he sent two legates to Basle to represent his authority.

This hollow reconciliation took place early in 1434; and as the difficulties of the Pope increased during the following spring, so far as to oblige him to fly from his capital and take refuge at Florence, the fathers were at length enabled to turn with some reviving hopes to the subject of reformation.

*

Nineteen sessions, during four invaluable years, had already been consumed without any benefit either to the Pope, the council, or the Church. In the twentieth, which did not meet until Articles of Reformation. January 23, 1435, some edicts were at length published for the repression of ecclesiastical abuses; and during the fourteen months which followed, other canons were enacted to the same end. Their substance may be expressed in very few lines. (1.) Severe penalties were proclaimed against concubinary clergy, including all who, having suspicious women in their service, had disregarded the command of the Superior to dismiss them. (2.) It was prohibited (in the name of the Holy Spirit) to pay any fees in the court of Rome, or elsewhere, for confirmation of elections, for admissions, postulations, or presentations; for provision, collation, disposition, &c. &c. by laymen; for institution, installation, or investiture, in cathedral or metropolitan churches or monasteries, in dignities, benefices, or other ecclesiastical offices; for holy orders, for benedictions, or concessions of the pallium; for Bulls, for the seal, for common annates, servitia minuta, first-fruits, deports; or on any other colour or pretext. The exaction, payment or

*We should, perhaps, mention that, in the nineteenth session, the council renewed the antient decrees about the conversion and excommunication of Jews, and the necessary distinction in their dress and residence; and also on the establishment of oriental professorships in the various Universities-the last, in confirmation of a lifeless canon of the council of Vienne. Previously, too—in the twelfth session-a general decree had been promulgated, with a view to restore episcopal elections to their original form, and to deprive the Pope of reservations; but it was so general, that little practical effect could be expected from it.

(1.) The deport was the year's income of vacant cures paid to the Pope or bishop. It was a tax instituted by the Popes of Avignon, under the pretext of holy wars. (2.) The

promise, of such fees were forbidden under the penalties of simony. And even (it was enacted), even, which may God prohibit, if the Roman pontiff himself, who is bound more than any other to observe the holy canons, should throw scandal on the Church by violating, in any way, this decree, he shall be brought to trial before a general council.' This passed in the twenty-first session (June 9, 1435); and it is curious to observe the desperate exertions, with which the Pope and his legates and inferior myrmidons put every resource of craft and intrigue into action, in order to prevent, to annul, or to neutralize this measure. But they were defeated by the firmness of the majority of the council in a good cause: and if many more such triumphs had been obtained by the same party; if many more such restrictions on the worst excesses of Rome had been imposed and enforced, her supremacy over the Catholic Church had not so speedily passed away from her.

(3.) The twenty-third session (March 25, 1436) regulated the election of the Pope, and confirmed the decree of the thirty-ninth session of Constance, which had prescribed a formula of faith, to be approved on oath, on the day of election. The oath was to be renewed every year on the anniversary of the election. It proceeded to moderate the nepotism of the pontiffs, -so far, at least, as to confine their secular favours, the dukedoms, marquisates, captaincies, governorships, and other offices which were at their disposal as temporal monarchs-to the second degree of relationship. New laws were also published for the better constitution of the Sacred College, which differed in very trifling, if in any, respects, from the enactments of Constance on the same subject. The legislation of Basle also descended to some less important subjects: it consulted the delicacy of 'timorous consciences' by specifying the degree of obedience due to general sentences of excommunication; it restrained the punishment of interdicts to the offences of the city or its government: any sins of an individual citizen were held insufficient to provoke that indiscriminate chastisement. It prohibited appeals, while the causes were yet pending; it condemned the spectacles, which took place in the churches on particular festivals; it promulgated decrees for the greater solemnity of the divine offices, and for the more decorous dress and deportment of the officiating ministers.

Such is the substance of the enactments of the council of Basle for the reform of the Church. It is true that, at a much later period of its continuance, it published, in the thirty-first session (January 24, 1438,) two de

grace expectative was the Pope's assurance of presentation to a particular benefice, when it should become vacant. This right originated in simple recommendation; afterwards it changed into command. To the first letters, called monitory, letters preceptory were added; and when it was necessary, letters executory were also addressed to some papal commissioners, whose duty it became to compel the ordinary to present, on pain of excommunication. This procedure gradually gained ground from the twelfth age. (3.) The reservation was a declaration, by which the Pope pretended to appoint to a benefice, when it should become vacant, with prohibition to the chapter to elect, or the ordinary to collate. From special, the Popes proceeded to general, reservations; from general to universal; at least John XXII. reserved, by a single edict, all the cathedrals in Christendom. This usurpation was attacked with success both at Pisa, Constance, and Basle; and the rights, which the French Church acquired in that matter at Basle, passed into the Pragmatic Sanction, and thence, with some modification, into the Concordat. The council of Trent abolished reservations entirely. The practice is traced as high as Innocent III. ... Both the second and third of these were contrary to the canons of the third Lateran council, held by Alexander III. in 1179, which published a general prohi bition against all dispositions of benefices previous to vacancy.-Fleury, Institut. au Droit Eccles., p. ii., ch. xv.

crees; the one for the limitation of appeals to Rome, the other to revoke and prohibit expectative graces, and subject the provisions of the Pope to certain specified restrictions; but these, even had they been very fundamental improvements, were passed at a period when the legitimacy of the council itself was much disputed; and probably they never acquired general authority. Those which we have above enumerated may be considered as comprising all that the assembled fathers really accomplished, during deliberations which continued, at least nominally, through the space of nearly twelve years.

Conduct of the
Pope's Legales.

The two legates, to whom the pontifical interests had been entrusted by Eugenius, followed with abundant zeal and capacity their private instructions. No device, which seemed calculated to thwart the progress of reform, had been neglected by them. Every objection had been magnified into a difficulty, every difficulty had been swelled into an insurmountable impediment. The meanest sophistry had been confronted with the boldest reason; artifice, fraud, seduction had been arrayed against upright purposes and generous principles*; delays had been created, falsehoods propagated, subterfuges invented, and all that minute machinery set in motion, which is at all times employed in the defence of corrupt systems, by those who find their profit in the corruptiont. To the honour of the reformers of Basle be it recorded, that the intrigues which were eternally in operation to divide or to degrade them, were inefficient; the firmness of those respectable ecclesiastics‡, their intelligence and their honesty reflected upon the Catholic Church a splendid gleam of glory in the moment of her danger and tribulation; and their perseverance might still have wrought some great advantage, had not a new circumstance arisen to foil it.

The conciliation of the Greek Church was one of the avowed objects of the council; and as deputies were expected from the east to confer on

Final breach between the Pope and the

Council.

that subject, their convenience and inclinations as to the place of conference required some attention; both (it was justly said) would be best consulted by substituting for Basle some city in Italy. It was in vain that the council then

Scitis vosmetipsi quoties hæ vobis dilationes nocuerint, quotiesque paucorum mora dierum longissimum traxit spatium; qui jam octavum annum in dilationibus agitis, semper dilationes ex dilationibus vidistis emergere.'-Cardinalis Arelatensis, ap. Æn. Sylv. Gest. Basil. Concil.

Quis est qui existimet Romanum pontificem ad sui emendationem concilium conjugare? Nempe ut peccant homines, sic etiam impunè peccar evolunt.' Eneas Sylv. de Gest. Basil. Conc., 1. i., p. 20.

The expressions of Æneas Sylvius almost rise into eloquence. Ubinam gentium talis patrum est chorus, ubi tantum scientiæ lumen, ubi prudentia, ubi bonitas est, quæ nomen patrum æquare virtutibus queat? Oh integerrimam fraternitatem! oh verum orbis terrarum Senatum! Quam pulchra, quam suavis, quam devota res fuit, hic celebrantes episcopos, illic orantes abbates, alibi vero doctores divinas legentes historias audire! . . et unum ad lumen candela scribentem cernere, alium vero grande aliquid meditantem intueri. . . . Illic cum exeuntem cella aut Christianum aut alium quempiam ex antiquioribus vidisses, non alium certe videre putasses, quam vel magnum Antonium, vel Paulum simplicem; et illum sane Hilarioni, illum Paphnutio, illum Amoni æquiparasses. Plus autem hoc in loco quam in Antoniana solitudine reperisses, siquidem Hieronymo etiam et Augustino obviasses, quorum litteræ in conclavi fuerunt, in eremo non fuerunt. . Custodiebatur inter dominos magna charitas, inter famulos bona dilectio, inter utrosque optimum silentium, &c. &c.' De Gestis Basil. Concil., lib. ii., pag. 57. It should be mentioned that this description is not general, but relates only to the fathers who constituted the conclave for the election of the new Pope-the élite of the council.

In

proposed Avignon, or Savoy; the Pope would listen to no such compromise, but pressed the superior advantages of an Italian city. . . At the same time, both parties had opened negotiations at Constantinople; and the contests, which had been enacted at Basle, were repeated, with a different result, before the patriarch and the emperor. that refined court, the superior tactics of the papal party prevailed; and in the intestine commotions of the hierarchy of the west, the oriental autocrat listened more partially to the monarch, than to the senate, of the Church. Besides, while his emissaries were thus advancing his views abroad, the Pope's domestic embarrassments had gradually diminished, and with them his fears and his prudence. Thus elated, he determined again to engage with the council in open warfare. Accordingly we observe, that, about the twenty-third and twenty-fourth sessions, his legates assumed a higher tone than formerly: on the other hand, the council breathed nothing but indignation and defiance; and thus, after a short and feverish suspension, the former quarrels were renewed, and not even the semblance of concord was ever afterwards restored.

The second contest began nearly where the first had ended. The Pope manœuvred to transfer the council to Italy. The council cited the Pope to Basle (July 31, 1437), to answer for his vexatious opposition to the reform of the Church. And the Pope, in that plenitude of power to which he had never formally abandoned his pretensions, declared the council transferred to Ferrara. In the 28th session (Oct. 1, 1437), Eugenius was convicted of contumacy; and on the 10th of the January following, he celebrated, in defiance of the sentence, the first session of the council of Ferrara. On that occasion he solemnly annulled every future act of the assembly at Basle, excepting only such, as should have reference to the troubles of Bohemia.

Desertion of Cardinal
Julian.

On the eve of the opening of the Council of Ferrara, Cardinal Julian, whose fidelity to the body over which he presided, and earnestness in the discharge of that office, had never been questioned, suddenly departed from Basle, and passed over to the party of the Pope. The defection of so considerable a person, at so dangerous a crisis, might naturally have shaken the firmness of the fathers; and we can also readily believe, that, after Cesarini had taken his resolution, he exerted his great talents to induce as many as he could influence, to follow him. It remains, however, as a memorable fact, that, among the numerous prelates assembled at Basle, four only were persuaded to imitate the example of their president; nor does it appear that, even after the arrival of the Greeks in Italy, any one bishop, or doctor, or dignified ecclesiastic, deserted the cause in which he had first engaged. The sovereigns of Europe remained equally firm, and the king of France even prohibited his subjects from joining the assembly at Ferrara.

Questions on the legitimacy of the Council.

It is almost needless to say, that the legitimacy of the Council of Basle has been a subject of dispute among Roman Catholic writers, and that they have differed, according to the diversity of their opinions on the extent and nature of papal supremacy. It has been commonly designated the Acephalous Council; and some have maintained that its authority expired as early as the tenth Session; but even Bellarmine allows, that its decrees were binding on the Church, until it commenced its deliberations respecting the deposition of the Pope. This last is the more general opinion even among the Transalpine divines-of

whom none have been found so rash and inconsistent, as to dispute its canonical convocation and origin. If it be admitted, then, thus generally, that, during those few Sessions, which it devoted to the reform of the Church, it was a true and infallible Council, the controversy, respecting the sessions which followed, can have little importance in the eyes of the historian; since they were consumed in an obstinate contest with a perverse pontiff, without producing any lasting alteration either in the principles or administration of the government of the Church.

We shall not pursue that contest into any detail. The Cardinal Archbishop of Arles, who was born in France near the borders of Savoy, was elected, no unworthy successor to the Chair of Deposition of Eugenius. Cesarini*. Eugenius was presently superseded from all jurisdiction;' but it was not until the middle of April, 1439, that the Council published its celebrated 'Eight Propositions' against that pontiff, as a measure preparatory to his deposition. On this occasion great dissensions arose; the prelates of Spain combined almost unanimously with the Italian party; and the opposition was powerfully conducted by the Archbishop of Palermo (Panormus or Panormitanus †), who had recently made the sacrifice of his private principles to the will of his sovereign. His talents and his eloquence were admired by all; his sophistry influenced the weak or the wavering; and when the Fathers next assembled for the resumption of the debate, the benches of the prelates were almost deserted; of the multitudes collected at Basle, scarcely twenty mitred heads could be numbered in that congregation ‡. The Cardinal of

*Vir omnium constantissimus et ad gubernationem Generalium Conciliorum natus.' Æn. Sylv. Comment. de Gestis Basil. Concil., lib. i. p. 25. This particular commendation is explained by subsequent expressions. We shall select two of a very different character. (1) The Cardinal, on an important occasion, fearing to be left in a minority, out-manœuvred the opposition, and prorogued the Council. His friends were delighted'Alii quidem eum, alii vestimentorum fimbrias, deosculabantur, secutique ipsum plurimi, prudentiam ejus magnopere commendabant, qui, licet origine esset Gallicus, Italos tamen hac die summa homines astutia, superasset.' Ibid. p. 37. (2) A violent pestilence broke out at Basle, and swept away some distinguished members of the Council. Every one supplicated the Cardinal to retire into the country; all his domestics, all his friends, joined with one voice in the same entreaty-" Quid agis, spectate Pater! fuge hunc saltem lunæ defectum, salva tuum caput, quo salvo salvamur omnes; quo etiam pereunte omnes perimus. Quod si te pestis opprimat, ad quem confugiemus? quis nos reget? quis ductor hujus fidelis exercitus erit? Jam tuam Cameram irrepsit virus, jam Secretarius tuus, jamque Cubicularius tuus mortem obiit. Considera discrimen, salva teipsum et nos Sed neque illum preces neque domesticorum funera flectere potuerunt, volentem potius cum vitæ periculo salvare concilium, quam cum periculo concilii salvare vitam. Sciebat enim, quoniam, se recedente, pauci_remansissent, facileque committi fraus in ejus absentia potuisset.' Ibid. lib. ii. p. 48. The man, who united more than Italian subtlety with the courage and self-devotion here discovered, was undoubtedly born to rule his fellow creatures.

His speech is reported in the Commentaries of the then admirable advocate for the independence of the Church, Æneas Sylvius. His work is chiefly employed on those Acts of the Council, which more immediately preceded the election of Felix V. Panormitanus urged, among other things, that the Pope's error in dissolving the Council was not a heresy; since, though the superiority of the General Council was a truth, it was not an article of faith-so that the Council had not sufficient ground for deposing Eugenius. This seemed unpardonable sophistry to Æneas Sylvius-to Pope Pius II. it probably appeared a very feeble defence of papal rights.

The Council of Basle was composed, besides numerous prelates and abbots, of a great multitude of inferior clergy, who appear to have formed the majority; and we observe, from the narrative of Eneas Sylvius, that, during the violent debates which preceded the deposition of Eugenius, the prelates were for the most part on the side of Panormitanus, that is of the Pope, and the inferior orders on the other. In the session (the