Every leisure hour was spent by Bunsen in the Lepsius’ house, which at this time was the scene of a great celebration. This was arranged in honor of the beloved and revered guest, and some of the most distinguished members of the Alliance were invited to be present at it. It is not necessary to say how pleasant it must have been to the scholarly statesman to find assembled here Ehrenberg and Gerhard, J. Grimm, whom he had not previously known, and with whom he conversed at length, Pertz, Peters, Pinder, Geffken, Schelling, Stüler, Olfers, Abeken, the former chaplain of his embassy, General Superintendent Hoffman, Dr. Barth, the divine from Würtemberg, and many other leading men in science and in the evangelical church. Lepsius was especially delighted just at that time by once more meeting Lobstein, who had first invited him in Bunsen’s name to take up the study of Egyptology, and who had since become French ambassador to Sweden. The members of the Alliance had assembled from all parts of the world. They met in Berlin, held sessions, and listened to many orators, but the great results which had been anticipated from this congress failed to manifest themselves, or were dissipated in smoke; indeed, shortly before its close the stamp of absurdity was set upon it by Krummacher of Westphalia, who was a strictly orthodox pastor and the cousin of the Berlin minister. At the last meeting but one this zealot openly, and in a spirit of denunciation, expressed his regret that the famous French preacher, Merle d’Aubigné, had, on the steps of the railway station, embraced and kissed a man whose rationalism and Romanism must be a terror to the assembly. The man thus proscribed was no less a person than Bunsen. Unfortunately this absurd attack was not disregarded, but called forth a most unpleasant controversy.