The wildest charges against Henry were now printed and circulated in Germany and the Low Countries. Cromwell complained to Chapuys. "Worse," he said, "could not be said against Jew or Devil." Chapuys replied ironically that he was sorry such things should be published. The Emperor would do his best to stop them, but in the general disorder tongues could not be controlled.
So critical the situation had become in these autumn months that Cromwell, of course with the King's consent, was obliged to take the unusual step of interfering with the election of the Lord Mayor of London, alleging that, with the State in so much peril, it was of the utmost consequence to have a well-disposed man of influence and experience at the head of the City.
"Cromwell came to me this morning," Chapuys wrote to his master on the 13th of October; "he said the King was informed that the Emperor intended to attack him in the Pope's name (he called his Holiness, 'bishop of Rome,' but begged my pardon while he did so,) and that a Legate or Bishop was coming to Flanders to stir the fire. The King could not believe that the Emperor had any such real intention after the friendship which he had shown him, especially when there was no cause. In breaking with the Pope he had done nothing contrary to the law of God, and religion was nowhere better regulated and reformed than it was now in England. The King would send a special embassy to the Emperor, if I thought it would be favourably received. I said I could not advise so great a Prince. I believed that, if the object of such an embassy was one which your Majesty could grant in honour and conscience, it would not only be well
