But the outside world of course knew nothing of the difference of opinion between King and minister, and had no suspicion that the foundations were being laid here for the quarrel which was later to bring Cromwell to disaster. The Lutherans were greatly flattered by the proposals that had been made to them, and in May an embassy, headed by Franz Burckhard, Vice-Chancellor of Saxony, arrived in England. But in spite of all the trouble that had been taken, the plans of the King’s minister were not destined to bear fruit, for the only result of the Lutheran embassy was procrastination which seemed little better than failure. Theological differences were the ostensible reason for inability to conclude an agreement, but not the real one. The Protestantism of the Lutherans differed from that of Henry and Cromwell in much the same way as that of Tyndale, years before: they cared for their theology for its own sake, and not, like Henry, as a means to an end, as a stepping-stone to political greatness. A theological _entente_, however, would have been possible, had Cromwell and Henry united to bring it about; but they did not. The true reason for the failure to conclude an agreement was the obstinacy of the King, which asserted itself at the very moment that his minister had hoped to gain his complete consent to the proposed alliance. In the midst of the negotiations with the Lutherans, Henry’s faith in his old policy had been suddenly revived by the news that the extensive preparations of the Emperor, which he at first had feared were to be aimed at England, were in reality directed against the Turk[601]: the King was at least persuaded that he had no cause to fear an attack in the immediate future. Gardiner in Paris, moreover, had been steadily working to defeat the plans of Cromwell[602], and at the crucial moment his efforts appear to have borne fruit. The King refused to commit himself any further to the policy to which he had given his temporary sanction, but which, if definitely adopted, would have seriously hampered his own schemes. The most that Cromwell could do was to persuade the King to keep up the appearance of amity, and not to cut himself off from all chances of returning to his Lutheran friends at a later date. So the envoys were sent home in October, with a letter to the Elector of Saxony, telling him that his representatives had given assurance of such sound erudition and Christian piety, as would certainly lead to the best results; but as the matter of the negotiations concerned the glory of Christ and the discipline of religion, it required much more mature deliberation, and that a second embassy would have to be sent over before matters could be concluded[603]. For Cromwell, the dismissal of the Lutherans amounted to a second rebuke from the King, for meddling in foreign affairs; but this time the minister did not humbly accept the rebuff as he had done before, but continued to oppose his schemes to those of his master.