478 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Tlio authority is usually referred to and in a rejMiblic would read — in 

 virtue of the authority committed to me by the peo])lc, etc., etc. It is 

 merely the substitution ol'the will of the majority for Divine Providence. 

 In despite of the form of donation it will appear that, even in 

 those days, the title went by discovery. The reason of the request for 

 the special Bull is shown later on, and we learn from Herrera that, 

 when nsking for it, the Catholic sovereigns did not compromise their 

 prerogative ; but stated that "most learned scholars in Spain tliought 

 " that the application for a grant of territory already in their possession 

 *' wns unnecessary." No other decision was open to the 'Pope, seeing 

 that Spain gave clear proof of discovery and of possession taken. These 

 circumstances are recited in the Bull. In those days, title by di.scovery 

 required a formal taking possession in the name of the sovereign with 

 ceremonies, frequently of a religious character, as well as by unfurling 

 and saluting a flag. There has been very little change in succeeding 

 years. As the European nations began to overflow and unoccupied 

 regions were seized, the extent of territory covered by a settlement grew 

 narrower, but the presently existing doctrine of "effectual occupation" 

 wias not formulated until the conference at Berlin, in 1884. when Ger- 

 many waked up to the fact that the world had been almost occupied 

 while she had been busy in consolidating her national unity. There 

 is not so much "presumption" in the Bull as in the charter of Henry 

 VII. to Cabot three years later. He granted power to "saile to all parts, 

 "countreys, and seas of the Ea.st, of the West and of the North, to 

 " seeke out, discover and fmde whatsoever islesj regions, etc., of the 

 "heathen and infidels whatsoever they be and in what part of the 

 "worlde soever they be." Then Henry gives the grantees power to 

 " subdue, occupy and ])ossess all such townes, cities, cavstles and isles of 

 " them fo'und, which they are to occupy and possess as our vassals, etc., 

 "giving unto us the rule, title and jurisdiclicm of the same villages, 

 " townes, etc., and firme land so found," and in the same lofty style 

 Henry disposes of the regions to be discovered as if they were his 

 property or his by right of his Crown. An unprejudiced comjmrison 

 will compel the admission that Pope Alexander was the less "arrogant 

 and presumptuous" of the two ; for he at least assigned a defensible 

 reason ; namely, the conversion of the infidels and the carrying of the 

 gosj)el into all lands. Thi.s, in fact, it was his projier function to see to ; 

 for he was at the head of the only mission board then in existence. 

 For centuries after it was not thought that a non-Christian people were 

 capable of sovereignty and proprietorship. Indeed, the question is 

 hardly settled yet in the ease of pagan nations. I am not discussing 

 the i)rincii)le ; 1 am simply asserting that it still survives, and that in 



