challenge to Spain's claim, moreover, was to come from Protestants, to whom the pope's grant was rather an incitement than a restraint. As a matter of fact the bulls were not much relied upon by Spanish diplomats in their general negotiations, although they may have contributed to the feeling on their part, remarked in 1565 by one of the Venetian ambassadors, that like Israel of old, the Spaniards were a people chosen of God to occupy a promised land.1 In determining the relations between the two great oceanic powers of that day, Spain and Portugal, however, the third bull proved to have a great and lasting influ- Demarcation ence. Accepting its principle, the two countries line and Brazil agreed in the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 to make the meridian fixed by the pope, or rather one somewhat to the west of it, the dividing line between their "spheres of influence," each respecting the rights of the other to the exclusive enjoyment of everything discovered within its sphere, Spain taking what lay to the west, Portugal to the east. As the drawing of the line was beyond the scientific abilities of the day, its exact location was never determined. Nevertheless, to the surprise of both nations it soon became evident that, even allowing the most easterly position possible for the boundary, a portion of South America projected beyond it into the Portuguese sphere. To this line of demarcation laid down by Alexander VI in 1493 and modified by the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 the existence of the Portuguese language and civilization in Brazil to-day is distinctly traceable, and the first event in American diplomacy is thus still a factor in our daily life.2 When Magellan circumnavigated the world and made "east" and "west" relative terms, it was at once realized that if the demarcation line were to remain useful it must 1C. R. Fish, Guide to the Materials for American History in Roman and other Italian Archives (Washington, 1911), 239. * Henry Harrisse, The Diplomatic History of America, its first Chapter, 1452-1494, London, 1897. Demarcation girdle the globe. The matter was one of great scientific difficulty, and national interests did not leave science to work unfettered, but by the treaties of Vicline and the toria in 1524 and Zaragoza in 1529 the boundPhilippines ary was reduced to terms. In point of fact the line was incorrectly drawn, but, as is often the case when an accident occurs in times of flux and uncertainty, the error has become embedded in history. The Philippines, properly Portuguese, became Spanish, and, being Spanish, ultimately became American. This second permanent result of Pope Alexander's demarcation line can, of course, hardly be attributed to its influence alone; for Spain by discovery and occupation, and by her actual power, helped produce the error in location. In spite of inaccuracies, however, the existence of the principle of a dividing line, aided in the early and peaceful settlement of the question.1 In America the effect of the treaty of Tordesillas was to leave Spain a free hand west of Brazil. By voyages of disSpanish em- covery, followed up by conquests and settlepire ments, she speedily established a firm hold on all the territory as far north as Mexico and Florida, and presently came to regard the entire continent and adjacent seas as hers by all rights divine and human. In 1555 Charles V on relinquishing his authority to his son Philip II drew up a set of instructions to guide him in his government, in which, among the problems relating to the various portions of his vast territories, he discussed the situation in the Indies. In 1558 he issued another instruction, dealing for the first time with the subject of the defence of the Indies.2 We may, therefore, believe that during this interval the Spanish government first became seriously alarmed for the safety of its American possessions. Although the attacks 1 Blair and Robertson, Philippine Islands, i. 159–164, 222–239; Justin Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America (8 vols., Boston, 1884-89), ii. 441. 2 Fish, Guide, 113. upon them which excited the apprehension of the dying statesman were not at that time such as to test the strength of his son's empire, yet the enormous extent of Rise of the Spanish dominions rendered defence difficult, pirates and its riches attracted the hardy adventurer. The assailants, moreover, Mohammedans from Barbary, French Huguenots, and, a little later, Dutch and English Protestants,—were in a position to give to their plundering expeditions the sanction of religion.-But although they rendered property unsafe, they were not powerful enough to cope with the organized forces of Spain, their only serious attempt upon the integrity of the empire being thwarted in the aweinspiring massacre of the French Huguenots on the river St. John in 1563. French, and ments With the defeat of the Spanish Armada by England in 1588 the situation changed. Fear of Spain was almost forgotten, and information spread as to the possibilities of the vast areas to the north of Spanish settlement. To these regions England, France, and Holland set up rival claims, based on the discoveries of the Cabots, Verrazzano and Cartier, and Hendrik Hudson respectively; and each country began permanent settlements. By 1625 the English were established in Virginia and New England, the French in Canada and Acadia, or Nova Scotia, and the Dutch on the Hudson; but there was as yet no mutual recognition of each other's rights, and no recognition of any alien rights by Spain. The first treaty after Tordesillas which referred to America was that of St. Germain in 1632, according to the terms of which England restored to France International colonies the post of Quebec and other American forts recognition of taken in the preceding war, and which may therefore be taken as a recognition by each country that the other had American possessions. By royal patent of 1645 1 Thomas Rymer, Foedera, etc. (3d ed., 10 vols., The Hague, 1739–45), viii. pt. iii. 228-229. Spain tacitly acknowledged the presence of the English in America by permitting them to import into Spain certain products peculiar to America;1 in the famous treaty of Munster, in 1648, she recognized the American possessions of the Dutch;2 and by the treaty of Madrid in 1670 she formally acknowledged the existence of the English colonies. By 1670, therefore, the colonial empires of these four rival countries had acquired international standing, but no definite boundary line in North America had international recognition. Of these rivals the Dutch were the first to disappear. Already by the treaty of Breda in 1667 Holland had ceded to Elimination of North America England not only her own settlements about the Hudson but also those of the Swedes on the Delaware which she had seized in 1655.4 Recaptured by the Dutch a few years later, these were finally ceded by the treaty of Westminster, in 1674, to remain united forever with their English neighbors.5 Almost more important was the fusion of Dutch and English interests in 1688 on the accession of the stadtholder of Holland to the throne of England as William III. United by strict treaties, by which the Dutch practically conceded naval supremacy to England in return for the profits to be derived from a liberal grant of rights to their neutral vessels when England was at war, the latter rose to world power, while Holland sank into a desuetude which was innocuous to all except her own citizens. 1 George Chalmers, A Collection of Treaties between Great Britain and other Powers (2 vols., London, 1790), ii. 27. 2 P. J. Blok, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Volk (8 vols., Groningen, etc., 1892-1908), iv. 444; translated by O. A. Bierstadt, History of the People of the Netherlands (5 vols., New York, etc., 1898-1912), iv. 148. 3 Cambridge Modern History (1908), v. 105. Comte de Garden, Histoire générale des traités de paix (15 vols., Paris, 1848-87), ii. 52. Cambridge Modern History, v. 161. "Garden, Traités de paix, ii. 129, iii. 9-10; Charles Jenkinson, Collection of... Treaties (3 vols., London, 1785), i. 190, 279, 364. Spanish de fence Of the rivals that remained Spain was on the defensive. To the effort to fortify and defend that which she had already occupied she devoted great energy, and, with the assistance of Rome, was in the main successful for over a hundred years. It was not so easy to monopolize the commerce of her possessions in the face of the persistent intrusions of Dutch and English merchants; but by concentrating it in certain ports and confining ocean traffic to the regular passage of great protected fleets, she went far toward accomplishing her purpose. England France and England confronted the situation in a different spirit. The conspicuously great powers of the day both aimed at world empire, and regarded France and America as a field for contest and a prize for the victor. Between 1688 and 1815 they seven times engaged in war, and for sixty-three years out of the one hundred and twenty-seven they were in open conflict. All these wars involved America, and out of them emerged American boundaries, American foreign policies, and to a considerable extent the spirit of American nationality. The first two of these wars grew out of European causes, and the third from Spanish-American trade; but in each case the French and English colonists of North America Colonial wars were drawn into the conflict. Although the two groups were still separated by hundreds of miles of wilderness, the Indians constituted a medium by which the shock of hostility was communicated: the burning of Schenectady in 1690 by the French and Indians caused a first thrill of mutual dependence and helpfulness to run through the northern group of English colonies. The point of closest contact, however, was in the northeast, where ever since 1613 the absence of a boundary between the French and English spheres of influence had given rise to occasional encounters. In particular the depredations of the French privateers, first from Port Royal, later from Louisburg, made the possession of those ports a practical question to the New England |