Henry M. Baird · 133 of 379

CHAPTER VIII · Embassy from the Protestant Electors of Germany.

Other causes contributed to delay the full execution of the plan of the Inquisition. A united embassy from the three Protestant Electors of Germany—the Count Palatine, the Duke of Saxony, and the Marquis of Brandenburg—and from the Dukes of Deux Ponts and Wurtemberg, bearing a powerful appeal to Henry in behalf of his persecuted subjects, arrived in Paris. Such noble and influential petitioners could not be dismissed—especially at a time when their assistance was indispensable—without a gracious reply; and, in order that the German princes might not have occasion to accuse Henry of too flagrant bad faith, the persecution was allowed for a short time to abate.