172 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. I. to Rome. PART nominate to all offices, without application to gov- ernment ; and ordinances and letters patent, bearing the royal seal, were to be issued by him, subscribed by himself or his deputy. He was intrusted, in fine, with such unlimited jurisdiction, as showed, that, however tardy the sovereigns may have been in granting him their confidence, they were not dis- posed to stint the measure of it, when his deserts were once established." Application Soou aftcr Columbus's return to Spain, Ferdi- nand and Isabella applied to the court of Rome, to confirm them in the possession of their recent discoveries, and invest them with similar extent of jurisdiction with that formerly conferred on the kings of Portugal. It was an opinion, as ancient perhaps as the crusades, that the pope, as vicar of Christ, had competent authority to dispose of all countries inhabited by heathen nations, in favor of Christian potentates. Although Ferdinand and Isabella do not seem to have been fully satisfied of this right, yet they were willing to acquiesce in its assumption in the present instance, from the con- viction that the papal sanction would most eflfect- ually exclude the pretensions of all others, and especially their Portuguese rivals. In their appli- cation to the Holy See, they were careful to repre- sent their own di.scoveries as in no way interfering with the rights formerly conceded by it to their neighbours. They enlarged on their services in the propagation of the faith, which they affirmed to ^9 See copies of the original doc- de Viages, torn. ii.,Col. Diplom. uments, apud Navarrete, Coleccion nos. 39, 41, 42, 43. I
