Richard was laboring to get over these disadvantages, when he was informed by repeated expresses of the disorder of his affairs in Europe,—­disorders which arose from the ill dispositions he had made at his departure.  The heads of his regency had abused their power; they quarrelled with each other, and the nobility with them.  A sort of a civil war had arisen, in which they were deposed.  Prince John was the main spring of these dissensions; he engaged in a close communication of councils with the King of France, who had seized upon several places in Normandy.  It was with regret that Richard found himself obliged to leave a theatre on which he had planned such an illustrious scene of action.  A constant emulation in courtesy and politeness, as well as in military exploits, had been kept up between him and Saladin.  He now concluded a truce with that generous enemy, and on his departure sent a messenger to assure him that on its expiration he would not fail to be again in Palestine.  Saladin replied, that, if he must lose his kingdom, he would choose to lose it to the King England.  Thus Richard returned, leaving Jerusalem in the hands of the Saracens; and this end had an enterprise in which two of the most powerful monarchs in Europe were personally engaged, an army of upwards of one hundred thousand men employed, and to furnish which the whole Christian world had been vexed and exhausted.  It is a melancholy reflection, that the spirit of great designs can seldom be inspired, but where the reason of mankind is so uncultivated that they can be turned to little advantage.

[Sidenote:  A.D. 1193]

With this war ended the fortune of Richard, who found the Saracens less dangerous than his Christian allies.  It is not well known what motive induced him to land at Aquileia, at the bottom of the Gulf of Venice, in order to take his route by Germany; but he pursued his journey through, the territories of the Duke of Austria, whom he had personally affronted at the siege of Acre.  And now, neither keeping himself out of the power of that prince, nor rousing his generosity by seeming to confide in it, he attempted to get through his dominions in disguise.  Sovereigns do not easily assume the private character; their pride seldom suffers their disguise to be complete:  besides, Richard had made himself but too well known.  The Duke, transported with the opportunity of base revenge, discovered him, seized him, and threw him into prison; from whence he was only released to be thrown into another.  The Emperor claimed him, and, without regarding in this unfortunate captive the common dignity of sovereigns, or his great actions in the common cause of Europe, treated him with yet greater cruelty.  To give a color of justice to his violence, he proposed to accuse Richard at the Diet of the Empire upon certain articles relative to his conduct in the Holy Land.