Boniface and Dandolo hastened to congratulate the Count of Flanders, and to take their part in raising him on the buckler; according to the ancient custom, he was thus carried from the palace to St. Sophia, and placed on the golden throne of the Emperors, while the barons pressed forward to kiss his hand, and he was solemnly invested with the scarlet buskins. A few days later, he was crowned by the Legate, as no Patriarch then existed in Constantinople. The Venetians, however, soon had the satisfaction of seeing one of their nobles, Thomas Morosini, on the ecclesiastical throne, while their clergy filled the Chapter of St. Sophia. The French clergy did not regard this with favor, and a lengthy correspondence with Rome ensued. At first Innocent declared the election of Morosini to be entirely null; but in the course of the correspondence {66} many considerations were presented to his Holiness which moderated his views. He did not love the Venetians, but he feared them, and thought it wiser to be at peace with them than to arouse their stubbornness. Indeed, Venice now had some claim to consideration at the Vatican. The restorers of the papal supremacy at the Greek capital were a different people from the conquerors of Zara, and after mature reflection Innocent approved of the elevation of Morosini to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. One can but feel a certain sympathy with Innocent at the result of the great Crusade for which he had labored and from which he hoped so much. "His long and careful preparations had been defeated by Philip, Boniface, and Dandolo. All the efforts he had made to strike a deadly blow at Islam had come to naught. The preparations made at so much cost had resulted in an attack upon Christians, and not upon Moslems. Constantinople had been captured instead of Jerusalem. The opportunity, so favorable from many causes, had been lost, and no other presenting equal advantages was ever to occur again. The internal quarrel between the Saracen leaders, and the weakening of Egypt by the non-rising of the Nile during a succession of years, were accidental circumstances which were never repeated. The supreme moment for striking a blow at the Saracens at a time when it could have been struck with effect had passed. Innocent's energy was too great to allow him to sit idle under the failure, but all his efforts were unable to create an expedition equal in strength to that of 1202."