Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/295

EXPEDITION OF CHARLES VIII. 271 out the French king's consent. It was finally stip- chapter ulated that Roussillon and Cerdagne should be re- '. stored to Aragon ; but that, as doubts might be entertained to which power the possession of these countries rightfully appertained, arbitrators named by Ferdinand and Isabella should be appointed, if requested by the French monarch, with full power to decide the question, by whose judgment the contracting parties mutually promised to abide. This last provision, obviously too well guarded to jeopard the interests of the Spanish sovereigns, was introduced to allay in some measure the discon- tents of the French, who loudly inveighed against their cabinet, as sacrificing the interests of the na- tion ; accusing, indeed, the cardinal D'Albi, the principal agent in the negotiation, of being in the pay of Ferdinand. ^° The treaty excited equal surprise and satisfaction itsimpor ./ i A taiice to in Spain, where Roussillon was regarded as of the ^^ last importance, not merely from the extent of its resources, but from its local position, which made it the key of Catalonia. The nation, says Zurita, looked on its recovery as scarcely less important 20 Paolo Giovio, Historia sui — Voltaire, Essai sur les Moeurs, Temporis, (Basilias, 1578,) lib. 1, chap. 107. — Comines, M^moires, p. 16. — The treaty of Barcelona liv. 8, chap. 23. — Giovio, Hist. is given at length by Dumont. sui Temporis, lib. 1, p. 16. — (Corps Diplomatique, tom. iii. pp. Varillas, Politique d'Espagne, ou 297-300.) It is reported with du Roi Ferdinand, (Amsterdam, sufficient inaccuracy by many his- 1688,) pp. 11, 12. — Roscoe, Life torians, who make no hesitation in of Leo X., tom. i. chap. 3.) So saying, that Ferdinand expressly far from this, there is no allusion bound himself, by one of the arti- whatever to the proposed expedi- cles, not to interfere with Charles's tion in the treaty, nor is the name meditated attempt on Naples, of Naples once mentioned in it. (Gaillard, Rivaliie, tom. iv. p. 11 taiice to ain.