Innocent refused the request made to him to exclude Dandolo, on account of his great age, from the performance of the vow to make the crusade. When he learned that Cardinal Peter had actually arrived in Constantinople to aid in the reorganization of the Orthodox Church, he reproached him bitterly for his continual misconduct. He had removed the excommunication for the sack of Zara; he had allowed the first siege of Constantinople; he had absolved the Crusaders from their vow. Innocent formally charged him with having known, and even having formed, the plot in 1202 for the restoration of young Alexis.

" When the Crusaders, after having consecrated themselves to the Saviour, have abandoned their route, drawn away by earthly attractions, were you free to change so holy and so solemn a vow, and to permit them to take another destination ? Think on it yourself. Disappointment, shame, and anxiety weaken us when we ask whether the Greek Church can enter into union with the Apostolic See when that Church has seen only the works of darkness among the Latins." Innocent had heard that after a year the pilgrims in Constantinople were to be at liberty to return home. "

The Saracens," he declares, "who trembled after the fall of Constantinople, will they not throw themselves on you, like wolves on an abandoned flock, when they learn that the Crusaders will return during the year to their homes? And we, how can we ask the people of the West to come to the aid of Palestine, even to the help of Constantinople, if they reproach us who are guiltless for what you have done, because the Crusaders have abandoned their vows, and have returned to their homes loaded with the booty of an empire which they cannot even defend… We do not wish to blame you further for the absolution which you have granted to the Venetians; that will be the subject of a special letter.

Put we order you to return without delay to the Holy Land." Ponifaee, who had been the leader of the expedition and its evil spirit, was in like manner not spared by Innocent. He was mean enough to endeavor to throw all the blame of the deviation of the expedition on Cardinal Peter, and a long letter endeavoring to justify himself in this manner was carried to Rome by a special messenger.1 His arguments and excuses were answered by Innocent, who holds him responsible as the leader of the expedition for the horrors of the plunder of Constantinople, and refuses to absolve him from his vow to make the pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

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