"forth they all furrounded him, and got him " into the midst of them, saying, ' Pay! Pay!' " and if by chance I and my brother who were pages to the moft ferene Queen happened to pass where they were, they shouted to the very "heavens faying, 'Look at the fons of the Ad"miral of Mosquito-land, of that man who has "discovered the lands of deceit and disappoint"ment, a place of fepulchre and wretchedness to Spanish hidalgoes:' adding many other infulting expreffions, on which account we excufed our"felves from paffing by them."* Unjuft clamour, like the above, would not, alone, have turned the hearts of the Catholic Sovereigns against Columbus; but this clamour was not unfupported by ferious grounds for dif satisfaction in the state and prospects of the colony: and when there is a conftant stream of enmity and prejudice against a man, his conduct, or his fortune, will fome day give good way for it to rush in upon him. However this may be, foon after the return of the five veffels from St. Domingo, mentioned above, which firft told the news of the Roldan revolt, and which brought * Barcia, Hift. del Almirante, cap. LXXXV. 1499. back the first Indian flaves to Spain, Los Reyes appear to have taken into serious confideration the queftion of fufpending Columbus. He had, himself, in the letters fent over in these ships requested that fome one might be sent to conduct the affairs of justice in the Colony; but if Ferdinand and Isabella began by merely looking out for fuch an officer, they ended in refolving to send one who should take the civil as well as judicial authority into his hands. This determination was not, however, acted upon haftily. On the 21st of March, 1499, they give commiffion to Francis de Bobadilla "to ascertain what perfons have "raised themselves against Juftice in the island "of Hifpaniola, and to proceed against them ac"cording to law."* On the 21st of May, 1499, they confer upon him the Government, and fign an order that all arms and fortreffes in the Indies should be given up to him.† On the 26th of the fame month, they give him the following remarkable letter to Columbus. "Don Chriftopher Columbus our Admiral of the "Ocean: We have commanded the Comendador "Francis de Bobadilla, the bearer of this, that he * Navarrete, Col. Doc. Dip. vol. 2. Núm. cxxvII. "talk to you on our part fome things which he will "tell you: we pray you give him faith and cre"dence, and act accordingly.* "I THE KING, I THE QUEEN. arrives in la. Bobadilla, however, was not fent from Spain until the beginning of July, 1500, and did not 1500. make his appearance in Hifpaniola till the 23rd Bobadilla of Auguft of the fame year. So their Highneffes Hifpaniomust have taken good time before carrying their refolve into execution, and what they meant by it is dubious. Certainly not, that the matter should have been transacted in the way which Bobadilla managed it. It is a great pity they fixed upon a perfon like Bobadilla. I imagine him to have been fuch a man as one fometimes fees, who from his narrowness of mind and diftinctness of prejudice is supposed to be high-principled and direct in his dealings; and whofe untried reputation has great favour with many people: till placed in power fome day, he shows that rule requires quite other things than onefidedness in * Navarrete, vol. 2, Núm, cxxx. M and his brothers fent to Spain in chains. the ruler; and is fortunate if he does not acquire that part of renown which confifts in notoriety, by committing fome coloffal blunder, henceforth hiftorical from its largeness. The first thing that Bobadilla does on arriving at St. Domingo, is to take poffeffion of the Admiral's house, (the Admiral was at the fort La Concepcion) and he then fummons the Admiral, Columbus fending him the royal letter. The Admiral and his brother the Adelantado do not attempt refiftance and Bobadilla with a stupid brutality which, I suppose, he took for vigour, puts them in chains and fends them to Spain. There is no doubt that the Caftilian population of Hispaniola were rejoiced at Bobadilla's coming, and that they abetted him in all his violence. Accufations came thick against Columbus: "the ftones rose up against him and his brothers," fays the Hiftorian Herrera emphatically. The people told how he had made them work, even fick men, at his fortreffes, at his house, at the mills, and other buildings; how he had starved them; how he had had men whipped for the slightest causes, as for inftance, for stealing a peck of wheat when they were dying of hunger. Confidering the difficulties he had to deal with, and the scarcity of provifions, many of these accufations, if rightly examined, would probably have not only fallen to the ground, but would have developed proofs of Columbus's firmness and fagacity as a Governor. Then his accufers go on to other grounds, such as his not having baptized Indians " because he defired flaves " rather than Chriftians:" moreover, that he had entered into war unjustly with the Indians, and that he had made many flaves, in order to fend them to Castile. I do not believe that these latter accufations were uttered by a fingle colonist, unless, perhaps, by fome man in religious orders. probability is, that these accufations came from the other fide of the water, and this does give confiderable strength to the report, that displeasure of the Court with respect to the Admiral's proceedings against the Indians, had to do with his removal from the Government of the Indies. If fo, it speaks largely for the continued admirable intentions of the Spanish Court in this matter. The Poor Columbus! His chains lie upon him very grievously. He infifts upon not having them taken off though, unless by Royal command, and will keep them by him ("I always faw them "in his room" fays Ferdinand Columbus) and will order that they fhall be buried with him. He does not know how many wretched beings will traverse those seas in bonds much worse than his, with no room allowed to them for writing, as was his cafe,-not even for standing upright; nor |