upright pastor of the Church, which he certainly is. The attitude of the Council towards the Pope," he says, "is a direct perversion of the order established by Christ. 'What the Vicar of Christ binds, you endeavour to loose, what he looses you desire to bind; what he thinks well to open you endeavour to shut up, etc.' By the waves of this discord you cause the bark of Peter to be tossed about hither and thither."[1]
He writes also to the Pope in the same strain of grave anxiety, begging him by every means to put an end at once to the dissensions, which will lead to a schism.[2] It endangers the possible union of the Greeks with the West, which he ardently desires. He himself has spared no pains in this matter and has written to the Emperor and the Imperial electors to beg them to extend their authority and, if necessary, their arms to avert this schism.[3]
Henry's appeals to the obstinate contingent at Basle had no effect: they were indeed treated with arrogant protests and disdain. On hearing this, he wrote again in May 1438, saying that this treatment in no wise has
