“My lord chancellor,” he continued, “the House of Commons has taken some steps toward discharging my debts. What do they think of this in the city?”
“Sire,” replied More, “I must tell you candidly they complain openly and loudly. They say if the ministers had not taken care to introduce into the house members who had received their positions from themselves, the bill would never have passed; for it is altogether unjust and iniquitous for Parliament to dispose in this manner of private property. They say still farther that it has been inserted in the preamble of the bill that the prosperity of the kingdom under the king’s paternal administration had induced them to testify their gratitude by discharging his debts. If this pretext is sincere, it reflects the greatest honor on Cardinal Wolsey; and if, on the contrary, it is false, it covers his successors with shame.”
“What!” exclaimed the king, “do they dare express themselves in this manner?”
“Yes,” replied Sir Thomas; “and I will frankly say to the king that it would have been far better to have imposed a new tax supported equally by all than thus to despoil individuals of their patrimony.”
“They are never contented!” exclaimed the king impatiently. “I have sacrificed Wolsey to their hatred, whom there is no person in the kingdom now able to replace. This Dr. Gardiner torments me with questions which are far from satisfactory to his dull comprehension. Everything goes wrong, unless I take the trouble of managing it myself; while with the cardinal the slightest suggestion was sufficient. I constantly feel inclined to recall him! Then we will see what they will say! But no!” he continued, with an expression of gloomy sullenness, “they gave me no rest until I had banished him from his archbishopric of York. It was, they said, the sole means of preventing Parliament from pronouncing his condemnation. By this time he is doubtless already reconciled; he is so vain a creature that the three or four words I have said in his favor to my nobles of the north will have been worth more to him than the homage and adulation of a court, without which he cannot exist. He is pious now, they say, occupying himself only with good works and in doing penance for his many sins of the past. In fact, he is entirely reconciled! He has already forgotten all that I have done for him! I shall devote myself, then, to those who now serve me!”
“I doubt very much if your majesty has been correctly informed with regard to the latter fact,” replied More. “Indeed, I know that the order compelling him to be entirely removed from your majesty’s presence is the one that caused him the deepest grief.”
“Ah! More,” interrupted the king very suddenly, as if to take him by surprise, “you are opposed to my divorce. I have known it perfectly well for a long time; and these extracts from the fathers of the church to which you refer me are simply the expression of your own opinions, which you wish to convey to me in this indirect manner.”
“Sire,” replied More, slightly embarrassed, “I had hoped your majesty would not force me to give my opinion on a subject of such grave importance, and one, as I have already explained, on which I possess neither the authority nor the ability to decide.”
“Ah! well, Sir Thomas,” replied the king in a confident manner, wishing to discover what effect his words would produce on More, “being entirely convinced of the justice of my cause, and that nothing can prevent me from availing myself of it, I am determined, if the pope refuses what I have a right to demand, to withdraw from the tyrannical yoke of his authority. I will appoint a patriarch in my kingdom, and the bishops shall no longer submit to his jurisdiction.”
“A schism!” exclaimed More, “a schism! Dismember the church of Jesus Christ for a woman!”