468 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



1. — Introduction. 



While (liirinp: tlie hisl five years scholars in tlio north liave been dis- 

 cussing the voyages of the Calx)ts ; in the south, an acrimonious con- 

 troversy was carried on by politicians concerning the coasts of Vene- 

 zuela and Ouiana, the scenes of the discoveries of Columbus, Hojeda 

 and Pinzon. The question has now been settled, but it would seem 

 that civilization has not gained as much, during the last four hundred 

 years, as might have been expected, inasmuch as political recklessness 

 nearly resulted in bringing on a war between the United States and 

 Great Britain. Patient statesmanship averted that crime and the con- 

 troversy was at last referred to a tribunal of arbitration and a great 

 calamity to civilization was prevented. 



The diplomatic documents cited in support of the claim of Vene- 

 zuela go b(ack to the very earliest years of the discovery of the New 

 World. With the direct question of the boundary between Venezuela 

 and British Guiana, now happily settled, the present paper is not con- 

 cerned: but indirect questions were raised, interesting to every student 

 of early American history, and therefore, of early Canadian history, for 

 the history of Canada strikes its roots as deep down into the centuries as 

 does the history of any part of the continent. Before Columbus 

 touched the mainland neax the Boca de la Sierpe, Cabot had coasted the 

 shores of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. 



The main object of this paper is to elucidate the line of demarca- 

 tion drawn in 1493 between the Old World and the New by Pope 

 Alexander VI. and its modification by treaty the following year. Not 

 much has been written upon this subject in English. There is a very 

 excellent article by Prof. Edward G. Bourne in the Report of the 

 American Historical Association for 1891, and a recent volume by Mr. 

 Henry Harrisse {Diplomatic History of America, London, 1897), full of 

 research, as all his books are ; but beyond these the student must have 

 recourse to other languages than English if he should seek information 

 of value concerning what has been called, somewhat hastily, that '"ab- 

 surd act of assumption." We shall find, on closer inquir}', that we have 

 no right to a patent for the idea of an international tribunal of arbitra- 

 tion. There was one in permanent session in 1493 ; and, by its de- 

 cision, war was then averted between the two foremost nations in 

 Christendom. We shall see, moreover, that although the ownership of 

 half the world was involved war was not then so imminent as it wajs 



