This act, together with the known wishes of Spain to prevent so
important a region, lying near the Netherlands, from falling into the
hands of the Protestants, immediately changed the character of the
dispute into a religious contest, and, as by magic, all Europe wheeled
into line on the one side or the other, Every other question was lost
sight of, in the all-absorbing one, Shall the duchy fall into the hands
of the Protestants or the Catholics?
Henry IV. of France zealously espoused the cause of the Protestants. He
was very hostile to the house of Austria for the assistance it had lent
to that celebrated league which for so many years had deluged France in
blood, and kept Henry IV. from the throne; and he was particularly
anxious to humble that proud power. Though Henry IV., after fighting for
many years the battles of Protestantism, had, from motives of policy,
avowed the Romish faith, he could never forget his mother's
instructions, his early predilections and his old friends and
supporters, the Protestants; and his sympathies were always with them.
Henry IV., as sagacious and energetic as he was ambitious, saw that he
could never expect a more favorable moment to strike the house of
Austria than the one then presented.
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