The ice was broken. France and Germany were face to face in that castle on the banks of the Elbe. The opposition immediately showed itself. The audience given to Melancthon set all the court in motion. The Germanic spirit prevailed there more than the evangelical spirit, and the knowledge that Germans could be found who were willing to hold out their hands to Francis I. irritated the courtiers. They met in secret conference, looked coldly upon Melancthon, and addressed him rudely. Gifted with the tenderest feelings, the noble-hearted man was deeply wounded. ‘Alas!’ he wrote to Jonas, ‘the court is full of mysteries, or rather of hatreds!... I will tell you all about it when I see you.’[736] He awaited with anxiety the official communication from the elector. The next day, 16th of August, he was informed that John Frederick’s councillors had a communication to make to him on the part of their master. If the interview with the Elector had been cold, this was icy. Chancellor Bruck—better known as Pontanus, according to the fashion of latinizing names—had been intrusted with this mission. Bruck, who at the famous diet of Augsburg had presented the Evangelical Confession to Charles V. in the presence of all the princes of Germany, was an excellent man, more decided than Melancthon, and in some respects more enlightened; he saw that it was dangerous to accept the pope, if they desired to reject his doctrines. He received the doctor with a severe look, and said to him in a harsh tone: ‘His Highness informs you that the business you have submitted to him is of such importance, that you ought not to have engaged yourself in it without his consent. As your intentions were good, he will overlook it; but as to permitting you to make a hasty and perilous journey to France, all sorts of reasons are against it. Not only his Highness cannot expose your safety; but as he is on the point of discussing with the emperor several questions which concern religion, he fears that if he sent a deputy to Paris, his Imperial Majesty, and the other princes of Germany, would imagine that he was charged with negotiations opposed to the declarations we have made to them. That journey might be the cause of divisions, quarrels, and irreparable evils.[737] You are consequently desired to excuse yourself to the King of France in the best way you can, and the elector promises you he will write to him on the subject.’ [Sidenote: Melancthon’s Sorrow.]