Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/222

 170 ENGLAND'S ATTEMPTS TO EEACH INDIA two nations in Asiatic waters. But the sea mathematics of that age were unequal to the accurate determination of either line, although the second Borgian map in 1529 attempts to show both. Charles V of Spain had, as emperor, too many wars on hand in Europe to wish for further complications in the East. He possessed, more- over, in America, an India nearer home: an India which, instead of draining the mother-country of specie every year to carry on trade, was beginning to pour into her treasury inexhaustible stores of silver. Charles V wanted the sinews of war, and he could not pay his armies in nutmegs and cloves. Notwithstanding his promise to the Spanish Cortes in 1523, during the first enthusiasm of Magellan's dis- coveries, to defend them, Charles V in 1529 sold his claims to the Moluccas for 350,000 golden ducats (say 170,000) to Portugal. By the same Convention of Saragossa he accepted an Asiatic boundary-line between the two Catholic nations at 297% leagues east of the Moluccas, reserving to Spain the right of annulling the bargain on repayment of the money. This disposed for the time of the difficulty, and the union of the Spanish and Portuguese crowns in 1580 solemnly con- firmed in 1581 seemed to render the settlement final. But diplomacy in Europe proved powerless, then and for two centuries afterwards, to quell the stormy passions of European rivals in Asia. The Portuguese jealousy had already been excited by the influx into India of Castilian Jews driven forth from Spain. Albu- querque proposed to make short work with these un-