from this imminent peril, and preserve inviolate the bond of peace, agree
to take possession of his kingdom and divide it between them. It is then
provided that the northern portion, comprehending the Terra di Lavoro and
Abruzzo, be assigned to France, with the title of King of Naples and
Jerusalem, and the southern, consisting of Apulia and Calabria, with the
title of Duke of those provinces, to Spain. The _dogana_, an important
duty levied on the flocks of the Capitanate, was to be collected by the
officers of the Spanish government, and divided equally with France.
Lastly, any inequality between the respective territories was to be so
adjusted, that the revenues accruing to each of the parties should be
precisely equal. The treaty was to be kept profoundly secret, until
preparations were completed for the simultaneous occupation of the devoted
territory by the combined powers. [17]

Such were the terms of this celebrated compact, by which two European
potentates coolly carved out and divided between them the entire dominions
of a third, who had given no cause for umbrage, and with whom they were
both at that time in perfect peace and amity. Similar instances of
political robbery (to call it by the coarse name it merits) have occurred
in later times; but never one founded on more flimsy pretexts, or veiled
under a more detestable mask of hypocrisy. The principal odium of the
transaction has attached to Ferdinand, as the kinsman of the unfortunate
king of Naples. His conduct, however, admits of some palliatory
considerations, that cannot be claimed for Louis.

The Aragonese nation always regarded the bequest of Ferdinand's uncle,
Alfonso the Fifth, in favor of his natural offspring as an unwarrantable
and illegal act. The kingdom of Naples had been won by their own good
swords, and, as such, was the rightful inheritance of their own princes.
Nothing but the domestic troubles of his dominions had prevented John the