146 Marcel Moraud
the permission to raise two hundred men in France, fifty
buccaneers at Santo Domingo—and he required no more
than a maximum delay of three years, after which he would
refund his Majesty all the expenses incurred and forfeit the
possession of the ports he might have established.
To understand the boldness of this venture we must remem-
ber that Spain and France at the time were at war. Now,
war in such distant parts as the West Indies or the Gulf of
Mexico was conducted in the most merciless manner, ending
generally in the complete destruction of one or the other of
the adversaries. Moreoverthe territories in which de La Salle
proposed to settle were claimed by the King of Spain.
Without going back to a royal decree of April 30th, 1492,
by which Columbus had been appointed Admiral, Viceroy
and Governor of the discovered and undiscovered lands and
seas of the Indies, the Spaniards had what they considered
better titles to all the territories bordering the Gulf of
Mexico. A bull of Pope Alexander the sixth had conferred
upon Ferdinand and Isabelle in 1494 “all the territories dis-
covered and to be discovered in the West Indies, and for-
bidden all other Kings to occupy them under threat of
excommunication.”
This grant, the validity and the sanctity of which were
unquestionable in the eyes of the Spaniards, had been
strengthened by a decree of Philip II enjoining the extermi-
nation of all foreigners who should dare to penetrate into
the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico in reality was then
a closed sea into which foreign ships ventured at their own
risk, the risk of imminent capture or destruction.
These facts were well known in France and had called
forth vigorous protests, particularly since 1672, from Louis
XIV, who wanted no compromise and insisted that the
principle of the freedom of the seas should be maintained.