r is
doubtless in the Vatican.[1469]

The other document is the process. The king, immediately after the
arrest of his son, appointed a special commission to try him. It
consisted of Cardinal Espinosa, the prince of Eboli, and a royal
councillor, Bribiesca de Munatones, who was appointed to prepare the
indictment. The writings containing the memorable process instituted by
Philip's ancestor, John the Second of Aragon, against his amiable and
unfortunate son, who also bore the name of Carlos, had been obtained
from the Archives of Barcelona. They were translated from the Catalan
into Castilian, and served for the ominous model for the present
proceedings, which took the form of a trial for high treason. In
conducting this singular prosecution, it does not appear that any
counsel or evidence appeared on behalf of the prisoner, although a
formidable amount of testimony, it would seem, was collected on the
other side. But, in truth, we know little of the proceedings. There is
no proof that any but the monarch, and the secret tribunal that presided
over the trial,--if so it can be called,--ever saw the papers. In 1592,
according to the historian Cabrera, they were deposited, by Philip's
orders, in a green box, strongly secured, in the Archives of
Simancas,[1470]--where, as we have no later information, they may still
remain, to reward the labors of some future antiquary.[1471]

In default of these documents, we must resort to conjecture for the
solution of this difficult problem; and there are several circumstances
which may assist us in arriving at a conclusion. Among the foreign
ministers at that time at the court of Madrid, none took more pains to
come at the truth of this affair,--as his letters abundantly
prove,--than the papal nuncio, Castaneo, archbishop of Rossano. He was a
shrewd, sagacious prelate, whose position and credit at the court gave
him the best opportunities for information. By Philip's command,
Cardinal Espinosa gave the nuncio the usual explanation of the grounds
on which Carlos had been arrested. "It is a strange story," said the
nuncio, "that which we everywhere hear, of the prince's plot against his
father's life." "It would be of little moment," replied the cardinal,
"if the danger to the king were all; as it would be easy to protect his
person. But the present case is worse,--if worse can be; and the king,
who has seen the bad course which his son has taken for these two years
past, has vainly tr