It was supposed at Berne that the two confessions differed, while in fact they were fundamentally the same; and the lords of that city believed that if Geneva had a confession of her own, their ascendancy would be risked. That young Frenchman, who had arrived only the year before, had a soul, as they thought, too independent. He was ready to break the ties which bound Geneva to the Swiss Churches. Calvin saw how matters stood. He felt that it was necessary to enlighten the Bernese about the confession of Geneva, and therefore set out immediately with Farel for Berne. The two reformers represented to the council that the confession which they had prepared, so far from making them perjurers, confirmed the confession of Basel. At the same time they presented it to the Bernese senate. That body had it examined, and it was pronounced to be very good. ‘We are going to send ambassadors,’ said the Bernese lords, ‘and they will declare to your general council that the words spoken by our deputies were not uttered in our name.’ The satisfaction made was brilliant. The reformers had gained their cause.[550] They returned to Geneva without delay; and having been received, December 10, in the ordinary council, they communicated to it the happy issue of their journey.[551] But there were at Berne certain persons who desired to see the Church of Geneva placed in subordination to that of Berne. The projected embassy might baffle their schemes, and they resolved to prevent it. For that purpose they did not shrink even from blackening the reformers. They asserted that the Genevese preachers had said in their sermons that _all the mischief_ came from Germany! (that is to say, from German Switzerland, from Berne). The Bernese changed their mind, and wrote to Geneva, ‘that they would not send ambassadors.’[552] [Sidenote: THEIR VINDICATION AT BERNE.] Calvin and Farel were struck with astonishment. The letter from Berne had arrived on December 13. On the morning of the 14th they went to the council and asked that the Two Hundred might be convoked for the afternoon. Before that assembly they repeated that after having heard them, the Bernese magistrates had declared that ‘the thing (the confession) had been well done.’ As to the charge of having said that _all the mischief came from Germany_, they pointed out, that as ambassadors were about to be sent to Berne, they ought to be instructed to ascertain who it was that had reported such things. The council determined that Farel himself should go to Berne with the ambassadors, and should make inquiry.[553]