Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 9

44. This reference is presumably to Henry IV's “grand design” to unify Europe under his authority and leadership that was forestalled by his assassination in 1610, but with which Elizabeth I was reportedly in essential agreement. Pownall's borrowing of this as a model for his plan was probably due to his reading of bk. 30 of the Mémoires of Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de Sully, superintendent of finances under Henry IV. That work is the only known source for Henry's plan and the absence of any corroboration makes its existence debatable.