not trust himself in Roman hands,
was badly wounded near his own door. This was the famous Father Paul,
whose History of the Council of Trent issued from this controversy.
He was a Servite monk and theological adviser to the government, and
the emissaries who flocked from England, France, Geneva, and the
German states, to see how far the Venetians would move away from Rome,
believed that he was at heart a Calvinist. In reality Sarpi had more
of the eighteenth century than of the sixteenth in his turn of mind,
and stood far aloof from the doctrines over which his contemporaries
contended, and the expectations entertained of his countrymen were
illusory. The city was placed under an interdict, and the orders that
were faithful to Rome departed across the Lagoon, singing hymns. The
Pope looked about for means of coercion when Henry mediated. He owed
much to Venice, which was the first of the Catholic Powers to
recognise him. In action, he called to his men to watch where his
white plume waved, and to follow wherever they saw it. In gratitude
to the Republic he presented it with his suit of armour, which is
still conspicuous at the Arsenal, the helmet still displaying the
famous feather, changed to a melancholy yellow. Henry induced both
parties to yield something of their extreme attitude, and prevented a
collision. No such conflict has ever since occurred in Europe.

The other great event in his foreign policy was his protectorate of
the Netherlands. By his influence, pursued through an intricate
negotiation, the twelve years' truce was concluded. Spain would not
consent to a permanent treaty, and when the Thirty Years' War broke
out, again fought with her ancient enemy. It was during this truce
that the best-known events of Dutch history occurred--the Synod of
Dort, the suppression of the Republicans and Arminians by Maurice of
Nassau, when he put Olden Barnevelt to death, and compelled the most
illustrious of all Dutchmen, Grotius, to make his escape packed in a
box of books.

After some years of prosperous tranquillity, Henry IV found himself
the first personage in Europe. He had done much for the army,
something for the finances and the national wealth. He was watching
for an opportunity to break the power of the Habsburgs, which
surrounded him everywhere, and threatened Amiens, not a hundred miles
from Paris. He relied on Protestant alliances, and did not despair of
the Pope. From Sully's Memoirs,