Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/388

362 CONQUEST OF NAVARRE. PART II. Right of pas- sage. But, whatever authority such a sanction may have had in the sixteenth century, it will find little re- spect in the present, at least beyond the limits of the Pyrenees. The only way, in which the ques- tion can be fairly tried, must be by those maxims of public law universally recognised as settling the intercourse of civilized nations ; a science, indeed, imperfectly developed at that time, but in its gene- ral principles the same as now, founded, as these are, on the immutable basis of morality and justice. We must go back a step beyond the war, to the proximate cause of it. This was Ferdinand's de- mand of a free passage for his troops through Na- varre. The demand was perfectly fair, and in ters, and the existence of which might well be doubted, since no record of it appears on the papal register. (Abarca, Reyes de Ara- gon, torn. ii. rey 30, cap. 21.) Paris de Grassis, mailre des ceremo- nies of the chapel of Julius II. and Leo X., makes no mention of bull or excommunication, although very exact and particular in report- ing such facts. (Br^quigny, Man- uscrits de la Bibliotheque du Roy, tom.ii.p.570.) There is no reason that I know for doubting the genu- ineness of the present instrument. There are conclusive reasons to my mind, however, for rejecting its date, and assigning it to some time posterior to the conquest. 1st. The bull denounces John and Catharine as having openly joined themselves to Louis XII., and borne arms with him against England, Spain, and the church; a charge for which there was no pretence till five montiis later. — 2d. With this bull the editor has given another, dated Rome, July 21st, 1512, noticed by Peter Mar- tyr. (Opus Epist., cpist. 497.) This latter is general in its import, being directed against all nations whatever, engaged in alliance with France against the church. The sovereigns of Navarre are not even mentioned, nor the nation itself, any further than to warn it of the imminent danger in which it stood of falling into the schism. Now it is obvious, that this second bull, so general in its import, would have been entirely superfluous in refer- ence to Navarre, after the publi- cation of the first ; while, on the other hand, nothing could be more natural than that these general menaces and warnings, having proved ineflectual, should be fol- lowed by the particular sentence of excommunication contained in the bull of February. — 3d. In fact, the bull of February makes repeat- ed allusion to a former one, in such a manner as to leave no doubt that the bull of July 21st is intended ; since not only the sentiments, but the very form of expression are per- fectly coincident in both for whole sentences together. — 4th. Ferdi- nand makes no mention of the pa- pal excommunication, either in his private correspondence, where he