The fervent catholics next proceeded to the hotel where the Friburg ambassadors were staying. 'If Geneva is reformed,' said the latter, 'there is an end to the alliance.' The Friburgers did more than this: leaving their lodgings, they accosted the more decided liberals, and repeated to them in a firm tone: 'If Geneva is reformed, there is an end to the alliance!' The huguenots hurried off to the Bernese ambassadors; but the battle of Cappel was not far off, and it was a matter of doubt whether the Reformation could be preserved even in Berne and Zurich. The Bernese received the Genevans coldly, and the latter returned astonished and incensed. 'Alas!' said Farel, 'the Bernese show less zeal for the glory of Christ than the Friburgers for the decrees of the pope.'[874]
A new difficulty arose. The huguenots would have desired to march to the deliverance of Zurich and the reformed, while the catholics wished to support Lucerne and the smaller cantons. On the 11th of October—the very day of the battle of Cappel, but it was not yet known—Berne demanded a hundred arquebusiers of Geneva; and the next day Friburg wrote desiring them to send all the help they could against the heretical cantons. Which side should Geneva take? 'Let us refuse Friburg,' said some. 'Let us refuse Berne,' said others. The former called to mind the assistance which the most powerful republic in Switzerland had sent them; the latter remembered that Friburg had espoused the cause of Geneva when Berne was against them. The council, impelled in contrary directions, resolved to preserve a just balance, and extricated themselves from their embarrassment by the strangest middle course. They resolved that a hundred Genevans should go and fight in favour of the Reformation, and appointed Jean Philippe, one of the most zealous huguenots, to command them; after which they also gave Friburg a favourable answer, and elected syndic Girardet chief of the auxiliaries intended for the catholics.[875]
[853] Hist. of the Ref. of the Sixteenth Century, vol. iv. bk. xiv. ch. xii.
[854] See the emperor's letter of Nov. 18, 1530, and the answer of the Council, Dec. 10. Registers, December 9, 1530. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. pp. 591-594.
[855] Journal de Balard, pp. 306-309.
[856] Ibid. pp. 312, 313. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. pp. 595, 607. Galiffe fils, Besançon Hugues, p. 407. Ruchat, ii. p. 305.
[857] Chais, Lettres sur les Jubilés, ii. p. 583.
[858] La Sœur J. de Jussie, p. 25.
[859] La Sœur J. de Jussie, p. 28.
[860] 'Sunt qui ad pietatem aspirant.'—Farel to Zwingle, October 1, 1531, Epp. ii. p. 647. This letter, written from Granson eleven days before Zwingle's death, was the last the Zurich reformer ever received. That which comes after, dated simply from Orbe, 1531, is evidently anterior to that from Granson.