Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/386

360 360 CONQUEST OF NAVARRE. PART II. The king's conduct ex- amined that he was chiefly indebted for the conquest ; and it was on her superior wealth and resources, that he relied for maintaining it. With this was combined the politic consideration, that the Navarrese, natural- ly turbulent and factious, would be held more easi- ly in subordination when associated with Castile, than with Aragon, where the spirit of independence was higher, and often manifested itself in such bold assertion of popular rights, as falls most unwelcome on a royal ear. To all this must be added the despair of issue by his present marriage, which had much abated his personal interest in enlarging the extent of his patrimonial domains. Foreign writers characterize the conquest of Na- varre as a bold, unblushing usurpation, rendered more odious by the mask of religious hypocrisy. The national writers, on the other hand, have em- ployed their pens industriously to vindicate it ; some endeavouring to rake a good claim for Castile out of its ancient union with Navarre, almost as ancient, indeed, as the Moorish conquest. Others resort to considerations of expediency, relying on the mutual benefits of the connexion to both king- doms ; arguments, which prove little else than the weakness of the cause. ^^ All lay more or less stress on the celebrated bull of Julius the Second, 2G The honest canon Salazar de Menddza, (taking the hint from Lebrija, indeed,) finds abundant warrant for Ferdinand's treatment of Navarre in the hard measure dealt by the Israelites of old to the people of Ephron, and to Sihon, Kingof the Amorites. (Monarquia, torn. i. lib. 3, cap. G.) It might seem strange, that a Christian should look for authority in the practices of the race he so much abominates, instead of the inspired precepts of the Founder of his reli- gion ! But in truth your thorougii- bred casuist is apt to be very little of a Christian.