Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/293

269 of EXPEDITION OF CHARLES VIII. 269 had long been a principal object of Ferdinand's chapter policy. He had not, indeed, confined himself to '. . negotiation, but had made active demonstrations more than once of occupying the contested territory by force. Negotiation, however, was more conso- nant to his habitual policy ; and, after the termina- tion of the Moorish war, he pressed it with the utmost vigor, repairing with the queen to Barce- lona, in order to watch over the deliberations of the envoys of the two nations at Figueras. ^^ The French historians accuse Ferdinand of brib- charieB's counsellors ing two ecclesiastics, in high influence at their Fer'Smand. court, to make such a representation of the affair, as should alarm the conscience of the young mon- arch. These holy men insisted on the restoration of Roussillon as an act of justice ; since the sums for which it had been mortgaged, though not repaid, had been spent in the common cause of Christen- dom, the Moorish war. The soul, they said, could never hope to escape from purgatory, until resti- tution was made of all property unlawfully held during life. His royal father, Louis the Eleventh, was clearly in this predicament, as he himself would hereafter be, unless the Spanish territories should be relinquished ; a measure, moreover, the more obligatory on him, since it was well known to be the dying request of his parent. These a pity that this romantic piece of be relied on for what passed in his gallantry does not rest on any bet- own province, may be found fre- ter foundation than the Curate of quently tripping- in the details of Los Palacios, who shows a degree what passed out of it. Bernaldez, of ignorance in the first part of his Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 117. statement, that entitles him to little 18 Zurita, Hist, del Rey Hernan credit in the last. Indeed, the do, lib. 1, cap. 4, 7, 10, worthy curate, although much to