Melancthon’s letter to the Bishop of Paris was not without effect. That prelate had just been made a cardinal; but the new dignity in nowise diminished his desire for the restoration of truth and unity in the Church; on the contrary, it gave him more power to realize the great project. The Reformation was approaching. Delighted with the sentiments expressed to him by the _master_ of Germany, he communicated his letter to such as might feel an interest in it, and among others, no doubt, to the king. ‘There is not one of our friends here,’ he said, ‘to whom Melancthon’s mode of seeing things is not agreeable. As for myself, it is pleasant far beyond what I can express.’[697] It was the same with his brother William. While the new cardinal especially desired a union with Melancthon in the hope of obtaining a wise and pious reform, the councillor of Francis I. desired, while leaving to the pope his spiritual authority, to make France politically independent of Rome. The two brothers united in entreating the king to send for Luther’s friend. De la Fosse joined them, and all the friends of peace, in conjuring the king to give the German doctor some proof of his good-will. ‘He will come if you write to him,’ they said. [Sidenote: Letter Of The King.] Francis I. made up his mind, and instead of addressing the sovereign whose subject Melancthon was, the proud king of France wrote to the plain doctor of Wittemberg. This was not quite regular; had the monarch written to the elector, such a step might have produced very beneficial results; not so much because the susceptibility of the latter prince would not have been wounded, as because the reasons which Francis, with Du Bellay’s help, might have given him, would perhaps have convinced a ruler so friendly to the Gospel and to peace as John Frederick. It is sometimes useful to observe the rules of diplomacy. This is the letter from the King of France to the learned doctor, dated 23d of June, 1535. ‘Francis, by the grace of God King of the French, to our dear Philip Melancthon, greeting: ‘I have long since been informed by William du Bellay, my chamberlain and councillor, of the zeal with which you are endeavoring to appease the dissensions to which the Christian doctrine has given rise. I now learn from the letter which you have written to him, and from Voré de la Fosse, that you are much inclined to come to us, to confer with some of our most distinguished doctors on the means of restoring in the Church that divine harmony which is the first of all my desires.[698] Come then, either in an official character, or in your own name; you will be very acceptable to me, and you will learn, in either case, the interest I feel in the glory of your Germany and the peace of the universe.’