the envoys of Pope Eugenius. They brought the Pope’s proposal that the Council should transfer its deliberations to Bologna. This suggestion was rejected by the Council. There is no doubt that its acceptance would have immediately brought the negotiations with the Bohemians to an end, as it would have been impossible to induce them to journey to Italy. Rokycan then resumed his oration, and, at its conclusion on March 10, expressed his views with regard to the universal Church and to Councils. He endeavoured to prove that neither part of the Church nor the whole Church could abrogate God’s commands, and he maintained that not all the ecumenical Councils had been inspired by the Holy Ghost. John of Ragusa then demanded to be heard immediately, and a somewhat animated discussion began. Cardinal Cesarini, however, here, as before, acted as peacemaker, and it was agreed that Nicholas of Pelhřimov, one of the Bohemian spokesmen, should next be heard. The monotonous and resultless debate on the correct interpretation of the four articles was then continued. Both the members of the Council and the Bohemian delegates listened with ever-increasing distaste, and the discussions were no longer carried on in an orderly fashion, as had at first been the case; noisy exclamations and interruptions frequently interfered with the debates.
On March 13 Cardinal Cesarini declared that the Council could not express a definite opinion on the four articles till its representatives had again spoken on the subject. Rokycan replied, in the name of his countrymen, that an agreement would only have been possible if the four articles had been favourably received by the Council; otherwise all negotiations were vain. He said that his countrymen had come to Basel in the hope that an agreement would be speedily concluded; but it was now clear that no progress whatever had been made. He therefore declared in his own name and in that of his colleagues that they wished to return to their own country, and begged that the necessary letters of safe conduct be given
