Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/498

352 WAR OF GRANADA. PART by means of secret agents whom he pensioned '■ there. Ferdinand obtained a similar result by the more honorable expedient of resident embassies, a practice, which he is said to have introduced, ^'^ and which, while it has greatly facilitated commercial intercourse, has served to perpetuate friendly rela- tions between different countries, by accustoming them to settle their differences by negotiation rath- er than the sword. AfTiirsoi The position of the Italian states, at this period, whose petty feuds seemed to blind them to the in- vasion which menaced them from the Ottoman em- pire, was such as to excite a lively interest through- out Christendom, and especially in Ferdinand, as sovereign of Sicily. He succeeded, by means of his ambassadors at the papal court, in opening a negotiation between the belligerents, and in finally adjusting the terms of a general pacification, signed December 12th, 1482. The Spanish court, in con- sequence of its friendly mediation on this occa- sion, received three several embassies with suit- able acknowledgments, on the part of the pope Sixtus the Fourth, the college of cardinals, and the city of Rome ; and certain marks of distinction were conferred by his Holiness on the Castilian en- voys, not enjoyed by those of any other potentate. This event is worthy of notice as the first instance of Ferdinand's interference in the politics of Italy, ^0 Fred. Marslaar, De Leg. 3, Spanish word cmhiar, " to send." 11. — M. dc Wicquefort derives See Rights of Embassadors, trans- the word amhassadcvr (anciently lated by Digby, (London, 1740,) in English embassador) from the book 1, cliaji. 1.