Page:First Voyage Round the World.djvu/25

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LIFE OF MAGELLAN.
xiii

'You speak truth, I am a brother of profit, but you are and will be one of loss; and were it not for the respect due to the presence in which we stand, I would teach you the manner in which you should treat me; but you are not to blame for it, but rather he who has brought you up and taught you so ill.' The king, against whom this complaint appeared to be directed, then said: 'Your brother does not speak ill, for so it is the custom in Castile to name those who are not children of women married to their husbands.' 'So also,' he replied, 'is it the custom of the nobles of Castile, when they are not well treated by their sovereigns, to go abroad to seek those who will treat them well; I will do likewise; and I swear not to return until with truth they may call me a man of profit. Grant me, therefore, the term which the privilege of the nobles of Castile gives, that I may go out of the kingdom, for from this day I disnaturalise myself, and take leave of being your vassal.' The king attempted to dissuade him, but his efforts being in vain, he had to grant him the term which he asked for; during which Guzman sold all that he had inherited from his father or acquired in the war, and went out from Castile, accompanied by thirty of his friends and servants."—Quintana, Vidas de Españoles Celebres.

There seems to be some inconsistency on the part of those who refuse to admit of disnaturalisation, yet at the same time maintain that rebellion can be justified. If there is a justification of rebellion, the right of expatriation, or of withdrawal from amongst those who provoke rebellion, must exist; and there can be no doubt that the peaceable withdrawal of those who are oppressed or injured is preferable in the interests of all to armed insurrection. Even Bishop Osorio and Mariana would probably admit that the disnaturalisation of Prim and Serrano would have been better than