[Footnote 76: I cannot overlook this great national cause,
which was vigorously maintained by the English ambassadors
against those of France. The latter contended, that
Christendom was essentially distributed into the four great
nations and votes, of Italy, Germany, France, and Spain, and
that the lesser kingdoms (such as England, Denmark,
Portugal, &c.) were comprehended under one or other of these
great divisions. The English asserted, that the British
islands, of which they were the head, should be considered
as a fifth and coordinate nation, with an equal vote; and
every argument of truth or fable was introduced to exalt the
dignity of their country. Including England, Scotland,
Wales, the four kingdoms of Ireland, and the Orkneys, the
British Islands are decorated with eight royal crowns, and
discriminated by four or five languages, English, Welsh,
Cornish, Scotch, Irish, &c. The greater island from north
to south measures 800 miles, or 40 days' journey; and
England alone contains 32 counties and 52,000 parish
churches, (a bold account!) besides cathedrals, colleges,
priories, and hospitals. They celebrate the mission of St.
Joseph of Arimathea, the birth of Constantine, and the
legatine powers of the two primates, without forgetting the
testimony of Bartholomey de Glanville, (A.D. 1360,) who
reckons only four Christian kingdoms, 1. of Rome, 2. of
Constantinople, 3. of Ireland, which had been transferred to
the English monarchs, and 4, of Spain. Our countrymen
prevailed in the council, but the victories of Henry V.
added much weight to their arguments. The adverse pleadings
were found at Constance by Sir Robert Wingfield, ambassador
of Henry VIII. to the emperor Maximilian I., and by him
printed in 1517 at Louvain. From a Leipsic Ms. they are more
correctly published in the collection of Von der Hardt, tom.
v.; but I have only seen Lenfant's abstract of these acts,
(Concile de Constance, tom. ii. p. 447, 453, &c.)]