Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/505

 PAPAL

455

PAPAL

mon consent once accorded to the Supreme Judge of Christendom for the common welfare (Discorso agli Accademici cU Religione Cathohca, 20 July, 1871).

It appears, therefore, that in the past all papal at- tempts to end wars and decide between contending rights of disputing sovereigns, were really in the nature of arbitration. Popes like Innocent III never claimed to be the sources of temporal rule, or that whatever they did for the peace of Europe was done by them as supreme temporal rulers; but only on the invitation or acceptance of the princes interested. Even popes like Gregory VII, Boniface VIII, and others, who ex- ercised most fully their spiritual prerogatives, were unable to act efficiently as peacemakers, until they were called in by those at war.

B. Historical Cases of Papal Arbitration. — The various interpositions of Innocent III to allay the differences in European diplomacy, such as it then was, have been already alluded to. It will be better to pass at once to later historical examples.

(1) The popes made frequent efforts to negotiate between the Ivings of France and England during the Hundred Years' \\'ar, but the most famous attempt is that of Boniface VIII in 1297. It came just after the controversy between Philip the Fair and the pope concerning the Bull "Clericis laicos". Eventually Boniface gave up many of his earlier demands, partly through pressure from the French king, partly be- cause he found that he had gone too far, partly in the interests of European peace. The more fully to achieve the latter purpose, he offered to arbitrate in the quarrel that had been further complicated by the alliance formed between the Flemish and the Enghsh. The Cardinal of Albano and Pripneste was sent to Creil on 20 April, 1297. But the temper of French thought is expressed in the protest of King Philip that he would submit to arbitration, as did Edward I and the Count of Flanders, but that he looked for nothing more than arbitration, not for recourse to the pope as to a higher feudal court. He laid down three proposi- tions and completed them by a practical conclusion: (a) The government ot France belonged solely to the king; (b) the king recognized no temporal superior; (c) he submitted his temporal affairs to no man living. Therefore he came to the Roman Court for arbitra- tion, not as to Boniface VIII the supreme sovereign pontiff, but as to the lawyer Benedetto Gaetani. The terms of the arbitrament are not of present interest; this only should be noted, that Boniface placated the French king by deciding largely in his favour, to the disgust of the Count of Flanders, but issued his award in a Bull (Lavisse, 'Hist, de France" (Paris, 1901).

(2) One of the first public acts of Alexander VI was to effect a settlement between Spain and Portu- gal. These two nations had been foremost in under- dertaking voyages of discovery in the East and West. The result was, that as each expedition on landing annexed the new-found territories to its own home government, there was continual friction between the rival nations. In the interests of peace, Alexander VI offered to arbitrate between the two countries. He issued his Bull " Inter Ca?tera, " 14 May, 1493, fixing tile line at meridian of 100 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands — assumed to be practically of the same longitude — Spain to have the western, Por- tugal the eastern division. The following year (7 June) by the treaty of Tordesillas the imaginary line was moved to 370 leagues west of Cape Verde. To this the pope as arbitrator assented, and thus averted war between the two countries ("Civilta Cattolica", 1865, I, 665-80; Winsor, "History of America", 1886, I, 13, 592; "Cambridge Modern History", I, 23-24).

(3) More curious examples are found in the invita- tion given to Leo X and later to Clement VII to arbi- trate between Russia and Poland over Lithuania (Rombaud, "History of Russia", London, 1885).

The success of this led to Gregory XIII being asked to settle the difference between Bathory of Poland and Ivan the Terrible. Gregory between 1572 and 1583 sent to Moscow the Jesuit Antonio Pos.sevino (q. v.), who arranged peace between them. Ivan ceded Polotsk and all Livonia to the Poles ("Revue des Questions Historiques," Jan., 1885).

(4) Perhaps the best-remembered case is that of 1885, when war was averted between Germany and Spain by the arbitration of Leo XIII. It was over the question of the Caroline Islands, which though dis- covered by Spain had been practically abandoned for many years. England and Germany had presented a joint note to Spain, refusing to acknowledge her sovereignty over the Caroline and Palao group of islands. German colonists had been established there. But the climax was reached when on 25 August, 1885, both Spanish and German war vessels planted the flags of their respective countries and took solemn possession of Yap. On 24 September, Bismarck, out of compliment to Spain and to projMtiate the pope (Busch, " Life of Bismarck ", 469-70, London, 1899), referred the matter to Leo XIII. The pope gave his award on 22 October, succeeding perfectly in adjust- ing the conflicting claims of Spanish sovereignty and German interests. Finally the whole matter wps amicably accepted and signed at the Vatican by both powers on 17 December of the same year (O'Reilly, "Life of Leo XIII", xxxiii, 537-54).

(5) Lastly, in 1897, the same pontiff arbitrated be- tween Hayti and San Domingo. But the terms of his arbitration do not appear to have been published (Darby, "Proved Practicabihty of International Arbi- tration", London, 1904, 19). For the celebrated case of Adrian IV and his gift of Ireland to Henry II, see Adrian IV.

C. Future. — The increasing movement of arbitra- tion, growing stronger with each fresh exercise of it, together with the fact that owing to the action of Italy the popes have been excluded from the Hague Con- ference, makes the thought suggest itself of how far the papacy is situated to-day to act as a general arbi- trator: (1) It has ceased to hold any territorial do- minion and can therefore stand forward as an impar- tial judge unlikely to be affected by temporal interests.

(2) It has interests in too many lands to be likely to favour any one country at the expense of others.

(3) It is wholly international, and adaptable, because alive, to the various environments of temperament, customs, laws, languages, political constitutions, so- cial organizations, in which it finds itself. The clergy of each country are national in the sense of being patriotic; not in the sense of being separated in mat- ters of faith from Catholics elsewhere. (4) It is ruled by a pontiff, ordinarily indeed Italian; but his group of advisers is a privy council drawn from every con- tinent, race, and nation. So detached has he been, that it is precisely three Italian popes who have re- fused to acknowledge the Italian spoliation of the Patrimony of St. Peter. (5) As the greatest Christian force in the modern world its whole influence must be heavily thrown into the scale of peace. (6) It has about it a halo of past usefulness, touched about with the mellow hue of time. It has seemed to men so differ- ent as Leibniz (Opera, V, 65), Voltaire (E.ssais, II, ix), Ancillon (Tableau des Revolutions, I, 79, 106, Berhn, 1803), to have been set in a position not to dictate to, but to arbitrate for, the world. And because it has gone back to the older, simpler, more spiritual theories of Gelasius I, Gregory I, and Innocent III it has now opportunities which were denied it, so long as it claimcil the more showy rights of Gregory VII, Boniface \T1I, and John XXII. Just as under Pius II the Church created the idea of a European Congress (Boultmg, ".Eneas Sylvius," 279, 3.50-51, London, 1908), so it is to be hoped that under her presidency the practice of arbitration by a permanent tribunal