Ch. 2. BOOK II. unseemly things, which they kept repeating. Such was their effrontery, that when the Catholic King came forth they all surrounded 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 most serene Queen, happened to pass where they were, they shouted to the very heavens, saying, 'Look at the sons of the Admiral of Mosquito-land, of that man who has discovered the lands of deceit and disappointment, a place of sepulchre and wretchedness to Spanish hidalgoes adding many other insulting expressions, on which account we excused ourselves from passing by them."* Unjust clamour, like the above, would not, alone, have turned the hearts of the Catholic Sovereigns against Columbus; but this clamour was supported by serious grounds for dissatisfaction in the state and prospects of the colony: and when there is a constant stream of enmity and prejudice against a man, his conduct, or his fortune, will some day give good way for it to rush in upon him. However this may be, soon after the return of the five vessels from St. Domingo, mentioned above, which first told the news of the revolt of Roldan, Ferdinand and Isabella appear to have taken into serious consideration the question of suspending Columbus. He had, himself, in the letters transmitted by these ships requested that some one might * Hist. del Almirante, BARCIA, cap. 85. be sent to conduct the affairs of justice in the BOOK II. colony; but if Ferdinand and Isabella began by Ch. 2. merely looking out for such an officer, they ended in resolving to send one who should take the civil as well as judicial authority into his hands. This determination was not, however, acted upon hastily. On the 21st of March, 1499, they authorized Francis de Bobadilla "to ascertain what persons 1499. have raised themselves against justice in the island of Hispaniola, and to proceed against them according to law."* On the 21st of May, 1499, Bobadilla they conferred upon this officer the government, and signed an order that all arms and fortresses in the Indies should be given up to him.† On the 26th of the same month, they gave him the following remarkable letter to Columbus. "Don Christopher Columbus, our Admiral of the Ocean: We have commanded the Comendador Francis de Bobadilla, the bearer of this, that he speak to you on our part some things which he will tell you: we pray you give him faith and credence, and act accordingly."‡ "I THE KING, I THE QUEEN. "By their command. "MIGUEL PEREZ DE ALMAZAN." Bobadilla, however, was not sent from Spain until the beginning of July, 1500, and did not * NAVARRETE, Col. Dip., Núm. 127. + Ibid., Núm. 128-29. ‡ Ibid., Núm. 130. appointed. 1500. Ch. 2. arrives in BOOK II. make his appearance in Hispaniola till the 23rd of August of the same year. Their Highnesses, Bobadilla therefore, must have taken time before carrying Hispaniola, their resolve into execution; and what they meant by it is dubious. Certainly not that the matter should have been transacted in the coarse way which Bobadilla adopted. It is a great pity, and a sad instance of mistaken judgment, that they fixed upon him for their agent. I imagine him to have been such a man as may often be met with, who, from his narrowness of mind and distinctness of prejudice, is supposed to be highBobadilla's principled and direct in his dealings; and whose character. untried reputation has great favour with many The author's view of people: until placed in power some day, he shows that to rule well requires other things than onesidedness in the ruling person; and is fortunate if he does not acquire that part of renown which consists in notoriety, by committing some colossal blunder, henceforth historical from its largeness. The first thing that Bobadilla did on arriving at St. Domingo was to take possession of the Admiral's house (he being at the fort La Concepcion), and then to summon the Admiral before him, sending him the royal letter. Neither Columbus the Admiral nor his brothers attempted to make any resistance; and Bobadilla, with a stupid brutality, which, I suppose, he took for vigour, put them in chains, and sent them to Spain. There is no doubt that the Castillian population of Hispaniola were rejoiced at Bobadilla's coming, and that they abetted him in all his violence. and his brothers sent to Spain in chains. 99 Ch. 2. tions Columbus. Accusations came thickly against Columbus: Book II. "the stones rose up against him and his brothers,' says the historian HERRERA, emphatically. The people told how he had made them work, even sick men, at his fortresses, at his house, at the mills, and other buildings; how he had starved them; how he had condemned men to be whipped for the slightest causes, as, for instance, for stealing a peck of wheat when they were dying of hunger. Considering the difficulties he had to deal with, and the scarcity of provisions, many of these accusations, if rightly examined, would Accusaprobably have not merely failed in producing against anything against Columbus, but would have developed some proofs of his firmness and sagacity as a governor. Then his accusers went on to other grounds, such as his not having baptized Indians "because he desired slaves rather than Christians:" moreover, that he had entered into war unjustly with the Indians, and that he had made many slaves, in order to send them to Castille. It is highly unlikely that these latter charges were preferred by a single colonist, unless, perhaps, by some man in religious orders. The probability is, that they came from the other side of the water; and this does give considerable strength to the report, that the 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 so, it speaks largely for the continued admirable intentions of the Spanish Court in this matter. BOOK II. Ch. 2. in chains. Poor Columbus! His chains lay very heavily upon him. He insisted, however, upon not having them taken off, unless by royal command, and would ever keep them by him ("I always saw them in his room," says his son Ferdinand), ordering that they should be buried with him. He did not know how many wretched beings would Columbus have to traverse those seas, in bonds much worse than his, with no room allowed to them for writing, as was his case,-not even for standing upright; nor did he foresee, I trust, that some of his doings would further all this coming misery. In these chains Columbus is of more interest to us than when in full power as Governor of the Indies; for so it is, that the most infelicitous times of a man's life are those which posterity will look to most, and love him most for. This very thought may have comforted him; but happily he had other sources of consolation in the pious aspirations which never deserted him.* We have come now to the end of Columbus's administration of the Indies. Whatever we may think of his general policy, we cannot but regret his removal at the present time, when there appeared some chance of solidity in his govern * 66 Hope in him who created all men sustains me; his succour was always very speedy. At another time, and not long ago, when I was lower still, he raised me with his divine arm, saying, 'O man of little faith, arise, it is I, be not afraid."" "La esperanza de aquel que crió á todos me sostiene: su socorro fué siempre muy presto. Otra vez, y no de lejos, estando yo mas bajo, me levantó con su brazo divino, diciendo: 'ó hombre de poca fé, levántate, que yo soy, no hayas miedo.'"-NAVARRETE, Col., vol. 1, p. 265. |