The ambassadors, followed by their suites, then approached the throne, and the Count of Guyenne, French ambassador, commenced in pompous terms an harangue, in which he assured the Emperor of the friendship of his royal master. He deplored and regretted in a diplomatic manner the discord and dissension prevalent in the Church, using terms so vague and meaningless that the Count Otho became impatient and let his sword fall. The loud ring of the weapon had a calming effect upon the orator; he concluded with a brief and high-sounding phrase, bowed respectfully, and withdrew. The English ambassador, on the other hand, was stiff and sententious, his face retained a grave and stern expression, and Frederic's presence alone gave some appearance of animation to the features of this phlegmatic son of Albion. Frederic was neither excited by the flatteries of the Frenchman, nor wounded by the Englishman's assumption of importance. He knew Louis's crafty policy, as well as the ambition and cruelty of the English King. Henry possessed certain territorial rights in France which he was desirous of aggrandizing, and the constant quarrels, resulting from these pretensions, rendered each sovereign desirous of cultivating exclusively for himself the Emperor's friendship and favor. Frederic knew all this, and he meant to profit by his knowledge. The maxim, "Divide and conquer," was always present to his mind. Alexander had used every effort to reconcile the two sovereigns; Barbarossa, on the contrary, did everything in his power to widen the breach between them. An alliance between the two nations might have been fatal to his projects, and the end to which he now looked was to detach both France and England from the Holy Father, deprive him of his strongest support, and then gain over each, separately, to the recognition of his schism. The Emperor's answer, unlike the harangue of the French envoy, was clear and decided. He expressed, delicately, the consciousness which he possessed of his own power, and the importance which he attached to it; at times, indeed, his words sounded almost like threats. Basing his rights upon the old Roman law, Barbarossa claimed that the Imperial power was supreme, and that the sovereignty of the Emperor extended despotically to all the countries immediately bordering upon it. Perhaps even Frederic himself had not yet foreseen whither his ambition might lead him; but he knew, by heart, all the texts of the digest which could be cited in support of his prerogatives.