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such all rights of person or property were of course denied. The earth and the fulness thereof was God's gift to his people; the Muhammadan or the pagan who chanced to be in possession was logically to be regarded as a usurper of the Christian's inheritance, and force or fraud were weapons which might be freely used in order to deprive him of that to which, in the sight of the Almighty, he had no just claim. It was in this spirit that the Papal Bulls divided the newly discovered earth between the kings of Spain and Portugal; it was in this spirit that the filibusters set to work to give effect to those sweeping decrees; and it was in this spirit that deeds were wrought in Asia which have done more than aught else to rear up between the brown and the white races barriers which few, even in our own day, have the tact, the patience, the sympathy or the energy to surmount.

With the first few fleets which sailed from Portugal during the years that succeeded the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope, we have at present no concern, since their goal was India, and they did not penetrate to the seas or ports of southeastern Asia. In 1508, however, on April 5th, of that year, Diogo Lopez de Siqueira, the Chief Almotaçel of the kingdom of Portugal, set sail as captain of four vessels with royal instructions to explore and conquer Malacca, a rumour concerning the wealth and importance of that city having reached the Portuguese in India, and having by them been reported to headquarters. A great deal has been made of the treachery of the Sultan of Malacca,