[s. B. DAWSON] THE LINES OF DEMARCATION 481 



" You must also use all possible diligence to seize the messenger who pre- 

 ' ' sented the said Brief ; if you can get hold of him, he must retract the presenta- 

 " tion which he made you of the Brief, and renounce it by a formal act ; after 

 " which you will have him immediately hanged," etc., etc. 



These letters cover the period of the greatest height of pap'al 

 power, and it is strange that a Venezuelan statesman familiar with 

 the fundamental law of Spain, could have fallen into such an error. 

 Mr. Harrisse has evidently not turned his attention to this branch of 

 history for he wrote in 1893 in his Discovery of America (p. 54). 

 " Nay, whenever a new pope was elected all the Christian kings had 

 " again to do homage for their possessions, old and recent." It is a 

 surprising statement. Claims were in past ages sometimes made by 

 popes and extremists, whom Dante (De Monarchia) calls '^decretalists," 

 but no such general claims as these extending to all kingdoms were made 

 and, beyond doubt, no such acts of homage were ever performed. 



Although the remarks immediately preceding may seem to lead 

 away from the main subject, they do not in reality. It is necessary 

 to clear away these misconceptions concerning the early documents of 

 our history. The Venezuelan dispute was not settled by the Bull or 

 by the principle of discovery ; but by the occurrences of the Dutch 

 occupation. In 1875, the dispute between Spain and Gennany for 

 the Caroline islands was referred to Pope Leo XIII., and he decided for 

 Spain ; but he did not go upon the title by discovery, nor did he even 

 allude to the Bull of his predecessor. He based his award upon re- 

 peated acts of occupation by Spain down to the very moment the dis- 

 pute arose. In 1493, circumstances were veiy different, and while we 

 must take exception to such statements as the preceding, concerning 

 the submission of European princes generally, or English princes 

 specially, in temporals to the Eoman See, we must concede to the Pon- 

 tiffs a position as international judges if upon no higher ground than 

 upon the ground of consensual jurisdiction. 



III. — The Outward Form. 



Before proceeding to consider the papal Bulls bearing on this 

 question, it is necessary to dwell for a moment upon the outward form 

 of these documents ; because, in Protestant countries, vague notions 

 often prevail concerning them and also because, in his Diplomatic 

 History, Mr. Harrisse has treated these American BuUs so incau- 

 tiously as to throw new stumbling blocks in the way of a student of 

 American history. 



The official decisions of the popes were for the most part set forth 

 in two forms of equal authority — Bulls and Briefs — and this was the 



