The city representatives refused their consent to the Turkish subsidy and withdrew.

The next step was the sending of a deputation to the young Emperor Karl, who was in Spain, and whose sanction to the decrees of the Reichstag was necessary before their promulgation.

The result of the conference held on this occasion was a decision to undermine the _Reichsregiment_ and weaken the power of the princes, by whom and by whose tools it was manned, as a factor in the Imperial constitution.
As for the princes, while some of their number were positively opposed to it, others cared little one way or the other.

Their chief aim was to strengthen and consolidate their power within the limits of their own territories, and a weak empire was perhaps better adapted for effecting this purpose than a stronger one, even though certain of their own order had a controlling voice in its administration.

As already hinted, the collapse of the rebellious knighthood under Sickingen, a few weeks later, clearly showed the political drift of the situation in the _haute politique_ of the empire.
The rising capitalists of the city, the monopolists, merchant princes, and syndicates, are the theme of universal invective throughout this period.