190 A Century of Science 



tion. The plan of Henry IV. of France and the 

 Duke of Sully contemplated a federal republic 

 of Christendom, comprising six hereditary crowns 

 (France, England, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Lom- 

 bardy), five elective crowns (the Empire, the Pa 

 pacy, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland), and four re 

 publics (Venice, the small Italian states, Switzer 

 land, and the Netherlands). There was to be a 

 federal government in three branches, legislative, 

 executive, judicial ; a federal army of about three 

 hundred thousand men, and a powerful federal 

 fleet. The purpose of the federation was to put 

 an end once and forever to wars, both civil and 

 international. Probably the two great statesmen 

 were not sanguine as to the immediate success of 

 their Great Design, and doubtless none knew bet 

 ter than they that it would cost at least one mighty 

 war to establish it. But there is a largeness of 

 view about the scheme that is refreshing to meet in 

 a world of arid and narrow commonplaces. With 

 all their breadth of vision, however, Henry and 

 Sully would surely have been amazed had they 

 been told that the handful of half -starved English 

 men at Jamestown were inaugurating a political 

 and social development that in course of time 

 would contribute powerfully toward the success of 

 something like their Great Design. 



