Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/245

219 HE RESIGNS TO PHILIP. 219 conquests, which after such cost of toil and treasure chapter he had finally secured to himself, must be shared '— with his unsuccessful competitor. In any event, he had pledged himself to such an indemnification of the Angevin faction in Naples, as must create inex- tricable embarrassment, and inflict great injury on his loyal partisans, into whose hands their estates had already passed. And last, though not least, he dishonored by this unsuitable and precipitate alli- ance his late illustrious queen, the memory of whose transcendent excellence, if it had faded in any de- gree from his own breast, was too deeply seated in those of her subjects, to allow them to look on the present union otherwise than as a national indig- nity. So, indeed, they did regard it ; although the peo- ple of Aragon, in whom late events had rekindled their ancient jealousy of Castile, viewed the match with more complacency, as likely to restore them to that political importance which had been some- what impaired by the union with their more power- ful neighbour. ^^ The European nations could not comprehend an arrangement, so irreconcilable with the usual saga- cious policy of the Catholic king. The petty Italian powers, who, since the introduction of France and Spain into their political system, were controlled by them more or less in all their movements, viewed this sinister conjunction as auspicious of no good to 27 Zurita, Anales, torn. vi. lib. 6, cap. 19. — Mariana, Hist, de Es- paiia, torn. ii. lib. 28, cap. 16.