the opposition of his own supporters and the reproofs of Luther, was
unwilling to modify his position. What the conference of theologians
had failed to do was undertaken by a mixed commission consisting of
princes, theologians, and lawyers, but without any result. In
September the Emperor announced that he was endeavouring to procure
the convocation of a General Council and that in the meantime the
Protestants should return to the old faith, a certain time being
allowed them for consideration, that they should attempt no further
innovations or interference with the followers of the old faith, that
they should restore the ecclesiastical goods which had been seized,
and that they should unite with the Catholics in opposing the
Anabaptists and the Sacramentarians.

The Protestant princes refused to submit on the ground that their
doctrines were in harmony with the Word of God, and to justify this
contention Melanchthon published the /Apologia Confessionis
Augustanae/, which was in many points more full and explicit than the
Confession itself. Some of the German cities that had embraced the
Zwinglian doctrine, notably, Strassburg and Constance, repudiated the
Augsburg Confession, and presented a document embodying their beliefs,
known as the /Confessio Tetrapolitana/ which found no favour with
Charles V. or with the Diet. Finally, on the 18th November, the
Emperor announced to the Diet that until a General Council should
meet, everything must be restored to the /status quo/, that he felt it
incumbent upon him as protector of the Church to defend the Catholic
faith with all his might, and that in this work he could count on the
full support of the Catholic princes. Unfortunately, it was by no
means correct to state that the Catholic rulers of Germany stood
behind their Emperor. Nearly all of them were anxious to avoid civil
war at any cost, and not a few of them hesitated to support the