The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II)

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Chapter II.

Arrival of Bobadilla at San Domingo--His Violent Assumption of the Command.

[1500.]

Columbus was still at Fort Conception, regulating the affairs of the
Vega, after the catastrophe of the sedition of Moxica; his brother, the
Adelantado, accompanied by Roldan, was pursuing and arresting the fugitive
rebels in Xaragua; and Don Diego Columbus remained in temporary command at
San Domingo. Faction had worn itself out; the insurgents had brought down
ruin upon themselves; and the island appeared delivered from the
domination of violent and lawless men.

Such was the state of public affairs, when, on the morning of the 23d of
August, two caravels were descried off the harbor of San Domingo, about a
league at sea. They were standing off and on, waiting until the sea
breeze, which generally prevails about ten o'clock, should carry them into
port. Don Diego Columbus supposed them to be ships sent from Spain with
supplies, and hoped to find on board his nephew Diego, whom the admiral
had requested might be sent out to assist him in his various concerns. A
canoe was immediately dispatched to obtain information; which, approaching
the caravels, inquired what news they brought, and whether Diego, the son
of the admiral, was on board. Bobadilla himself replied from the principal
vessel, announcing himself as a commissioner sent out to investigate the
late rebellion. The master of the caravel then inquired about the news of
the island, and was informed of the recent transactions. Seven of the
rebels, he was told, had been hanged that week, and five more were in the
fortress of San Domingo, condemned to suffer the same fate. Among these
were Pedro Riquelme and Fernando de Guevara, the young cavalier whose
passion for the daughter of Anacaona had been the original cause of the
rebellion. Further, conversation passed, in the course of which Bobadilla
ascertained that the admiral and the Adelantado were absent, and Don Diego
Columbus in command.

When the canoe returned to the city, with the news that a commissioner had
arrived to make inquisition into the late troubles, there was a great stir
and agitation throughout the community. Knots of whisperers gathered at
every corner; those who were conscious of malpractices were filled with
consternation; while those who had grievances, real or imaginary, to
complain of, especially those whose pay was in arrear, appeared with joyful
countenances. [71]

As the vessels entered the river, Bobadilla beheld on either bank a gibbet
with the body of a Spaniard hanging on it, apparently but lately executed.
He considered these as conclusive proofs of the alleged cruelty of
Columbus. Many boats came off to the ship, every one being anxious to pay
early court to this public censor. Bobadilla remained on board all day, in
the course of which he collected much of the rumors of the place; and as
those who sought to secure his favor were those who had most to fear from
his investigations, it is evident that the nature of the rumors must
generally have been unfavorable to Columbus. In fact, before Bobadilla
landed, if not before he arrived, the culpability of the admiral was
decided in his mind.

The next morning he landed with all his followers, and went to the church
to attend mass, where he found Don Diego Columbus, Rodrigo Perez, the
lieutenant of the admiral, and other persons of note. Mass being ended,
and those persons, with a multitude of the populace, being assembled at
the door of the church, Bobadilla ordered his letters patent to be read,
authorizing him to investigate the rebellion, seize the persons, and
sequestrate the property of delinquents, and proceed against them with the
utmost rigor of the law; commanding also the admiral, and all others in
authority, to assist him in the discharge of his duties. The letter being
read, he demanded of Don Diego and the alcaldes, to surrender to him the
persons of Fernando Guevara, Pedro Riquelme, and the other prisoners, with
the depositions taken concerning them; and ordered that the parties by
whom they were accused, and those by whose command they had been taken,
should appear before him.

Don Diego replied, that the proceedings had emanated from the orders of
the admiral, who held superior powers to any Bobadilla could possess, and
without whose authority he could do nothing. He requested, at the same
time, a copy of the letter patent, that he might send it to his brother,
to whom alone the matter appertained. This Bobadilla refused, observing
that, if Don Diego had power to do nothing, it was useless to give him a
copy. He added, that since the office and authority he had proclaimed
appeared to have no weight, he would try what power and consequence there
was in the name of governor; and would show them that he had command, not
merely over them, but over the admiral himself.

The little community remained in breathless suspense, awaiting the
portentous movements of Bobadilla. The next morning he appeared at mass,
resolved on assuming those powers which were only to have been produced
after full investigation, and ample proof of the mal-conduct of Columbus.
When mass was over, and the eager populace had gathered round the door of
the church, Bobadilla, in presence of Don Diego and Rodrigo Perez, ordered
his other royal patent to be read, investing him with the government of
the islands, and of Terra Firma.

The patent being read, Bobadilla took the customary oath, and then claimed
the obedience of Don Diego, Rodrigo Perez, and all present, to this royal
instrument; on the authority of which he again demanded the prisoners
confined in the fortress. In reply, they professed the utmost deference to
the letter of the sovereigns, but again observed that they held the
prisoners in obedience to the admiral, to whom the sovereigns had granted
letters of a higher nature.

The self-importance of Bobadilla was incensed at this non-compliance,
especially as he saw it had some effect upon the populace, who appeared to
doubt his authority. He now produced the third mandate of the crown,
ordering Columbus and his brothers to deliver up all fortresses, ships,
and other royal property. To win the public completely to his side, he
read also the additional mandate issued on the 30th of May, of the same
year, ordering him to pay the arrears of wages due to all persons in the
royal service, and to compel the admiral to pay the arrears of those to
whom he was accountable.

This last document was received with shouts by the multitude, many having
long arrears due to them in consequence of the poverty of the treasury.
Flushed with his growing importance, Bobadilla again demanded the
prisoners; threatening, if refused, to take them by force. Meeting with
the same reply, he repaired to the fortress to execute his threats. This
post was commanded by Miguel Diaz, the same Arragonian cavalier who had
once taken refuge among the Indians on the banks of the Ozema, won the
affections of the female cacique Catalina, received from her information
of the neighboring gold mines, and induced his countrymen to remove to
those parts.

When Bobadilla came before the fortress, he found the gates closed, and
the alcayde, Miguel Diaz, upon the battlements. He ordered his letters
patent to be read with a loud voice, the signatures and seals to be held
up to view, and then demanded the surrender of the prisoners. Diaz
requested a copy of the letters; but this Bobadilla refused, alleging that
there was no time for delay, the prisoners being under sentence of death,
and liable at any moment to be executed. He threatened, at the same time,
that if they were not given up, he would proceed to extremities, and Diaz
should be answerable for the consequences. The wary alcayde again required
time to reply, and a copy of the letters; saying that he held the fortress
for the king, by the command of the admiral, his lord, who had gained
these territories and islands, and that when the latter arrived, he should
obey his orders. [72]

The whole spirit of Bobadilla was roused within him at the refusal of the
alcayde. Assembling all the people he had brought from Spain, together
with the sailors of the ships, and the rabble of the place, he exhorted
them to aid him in getting possession of the prisoners, but to harm no one
unless in case of resistance. The mob shouted assent, for Bobadilla was
already the idol of the multitude. About the hour of vespers he set out,
at the head of this motley army, to storm a fortress destitute of a
garrison, and formidable only in name, being calculated to withstand only
a naked and slightly-armed people. The accounts of this transaction have
something in them bordering on the ludicrous, and give it the air of
absurd rhodomontade. Bobadilla assailed the portal with great impetuosity,
the frail bolts and locks of which gave way at the first shock, and
allowed him easy admission. In the meantime, however, his zealous
myrmidons applied ladders to the walls, as if about to carry the place by
assault, and to experience a desperate defence. The alcayde, Miguel Diaz,
and Don Diego de Alvarado, alone appeared on the battlements; they had
drawn swords, but offered no resistance. Bobadilla entered the fortress in
triumph, and without molestation. The prisoners were found in a chamber in
irons. He ordered that they should be brought up to him to the top of the
fortress, where, having put a few questions to them, as a matter of form,
he gave them in charge to an alguazil named Juan de Espinosa. [73]

Such was the arrogant and precipitate entrance into office of Francisco de
Bobadilla. He had reversed the order of his written instructions; having
seized upon the government before he had investigated the conduct of
Columbus. He continued his career in the same spirit; acting as if the
case had been prejudged in Spain, and he had been sent out merely to
degrade the admiral from his employments, not to ascertain the manner in
which he had fulfilled them. He took up his residence in the house of
Columbus, seized upon his arms, gold, plate, jewels, horses, together with
his letters, and various manuscripts, both public and private, even to his
most secret papers. He gave no account of the property thus seized; and
which he no doubt considered already confiscated to the crown, excepting
that he paid out of it the wages of those to whom the admiral was in
arrears. [74] To increase his favor with the people, he proclaimed, on the
second day of his assumption of power, a general license for the term of
twenty years, to seek for gold, paying merely one eleventh to government,
instead of a third as heretofore. At the same time, he spoke in the most
disrespectful and unqualified terms of Columbus, saying that he was
empowered to send him home in chains, and that neither he nor any of his
lineage would ever again be permitted to govern in the island. [75]

Chapter III.

Columbus Summoned to Appear before Bobadilla.

[1500.]

When the tidings reached Columbus at Fort Conception of the high-handed
proceedings of Bobadilla, he considered them the unauthorized acts of some
rash adventurer like Ojeda. Since government had apparently thrown open
the door to private enterprise, he might expect to have his path
continually crossed, and his jurisdiction infringed by bold intermeddlers,
feigning or fancying themselves authorized to interfere in the affairs of
the colony. Since the departure of Ojeda another squadron had touched upon
the coast, and produced a transient alarm, being an expedition under one
of the Pinzons, licensed by the sovereigns to make discoveries. There had
also been a rumor of another squadron hovering about the island, which
proved, however, to be unfounded. [76]

The conduct of Bobadilla bore all the appearance of a lawless usurpation
of some intruder of the kind. He had possessed himself forcibly of the
fortress, and consequently of the town. He had issued extravagant licenses
injurious to the government, and apparently intended only to make
partisans among the people; and had threatened to throw Columbus himself
in irons. That this man could really be sanctioned by government, in such
intemperate measures, was repugnant to belief. The admiral's consciousness
of his own services, the repeated assurances he had received of high
consideration on the part of the sovereigns, and the perpetual
prerogatives granted to him under their hand and seal, with all the
solemnity that a compact could possess, all forbade him to consider the
transactions at San Domingo otherwise than as outrages on his authority by
some daring or misguided individual.

To be nearer to San Domingo, and obtain more correct information, he
proceeded to Bonao, which was now beginning to assume the appearance of a
settlement, several Spaniards having erected houses there, and cultivated
the adjacent country. He had scarcely reached the place, when an alcalde,
bearing a staff of office, arrived there from San Domingo, proclaiming the
appointment of Bobadilla to the government, and bearing copies of his
letters patent. There was no especial letter or message sent to the
admiral, nor were any of the common forms of courtesy and ceremony
observed in superseding him in the command; all the proceedings of
Bobadilla towards him were abrupt and insulting.

Columbus was exceedingly embarrassed how to act. It was evident that
Bobadilla was intrusted with extensive powers by the sovereigns, but that
they could have exercised such a sudden, unmerited, and apparently
capricious act of severity, as that of divesting him of all his commands,
he could not believe. He endeavored to persuade himself that Bobadilla was
some person sent out to exercise the functions of chief judge, according
to the request he had written home to the sovereigns, and that they had
intrusted him likewise with provisional powers to make an inquest into the
late troubles of the island. All beyond these powers he tried to believe
were mere assumptions and exaggerations of authority, as in the case of
Aguado. At all events, he was determined to act upon such presumption, and
to endeavor to gain time. If the monarchs had really taken any harsh
measures with respect to him, it must have been in consequence of
misrepresentations. The least delay might give them an opportunity of
ascertaining their error, and making the necessary amends.

He wrote to Bobadilla, therefore, in guarded terms, welcoming him to the
island; cautioning him against precipitate measures, especially in
granting licenses to collect gold; informing him that he was on the point
of going to Spain, and in a little time would leave him in command, with
every thing fully and clearly explained. He wrote at the same time to the
like purport to certain monks who had come out with Bobadilla, though he
observes that these letters were only written to gain time. [77] He
received no replies: but while an insulting silence was observed towards
him, Bobadilla filled up several of the blank letters, of which he had a
number signed by the sovereigns, and sent them to Roldan, and other of the
admiral's enemies, the very men whom he had been sent out to judge. These
letters were full of civilities and promises of favor. [78]

To prevent any mischief which might arise from the licenses and
indulgences so prodigally granted by Bobadilla, Columbus published by word
and letter, that the powers assumed by him could not be valid, nor his
licenses availing, as he himself held superior powers granted to him in
perpetuity by the crown, which could no more be superseded in this
instance, than they had been in that of Aguado.

For some time Columbus remained in this anxious and perplexed state of
mind, uncertain what line of conduct to pursue in so singular and
unlooked-for a conjuncture. He was soon brought to a decision. Francisco
Velasquez, deputy treasurer, and Juan de Trasierra, a Franciscan friar,
arrived at Bonao, and delivered to him the royal letter of credence,
signed by the sovereigns on the 26th of May, 1499, commanding him to give
implicit faith and obedience to Bobadilla; and they delivered, at the same
time, a summons from the latter to appear immediately before him.

This laconic letter from the sovereigns struck at once at the root of all
his dignity and power. He no longer made hesitation or demur, but,
complying with the peremptory summons of Bobadilla, departed, almost alone
and unattended, for San Domingo. [79]

Chapter IV.

Columbus and His Brothers Arrested and Sent to Spain in Chains.

[1500.]

The tidings that a new governor had arrived, and that Columbus was in
disgrace, and to be sent home in chains, circulated rapidly through the
Vega, and the colonists hastened from all parts to San Domingo to make
interest with Bobadilla. It was soon perceived that there was no surer way
than that of vilifying his predecessor. Bobadilla felt that he had taken a
rash step in seizing upon the government, and that his own safety required
the conviction of Columbus. He listened eagerly, therefore, to all
accusations, public or private; and welcome was he who could bring any
charge, however extravagant, against the admiral and his brothers.

Hearing that the admiral was on his way to the city, he made a bustle of
preparation, and armed the troops, affecting to believe a rumor that
Columbus had called upon the caciques of the Vega to aid him with their
subjects in a resistance to the commands of government. No grounds appear
for this absurd report, which was probably invented to give a coloring of
precaution to subsequent measures of violence and insult. The admiral's
brother, Don Diego, was seized, thrown in irons, and confined on board of
a caravel, without any reason being assigned for his imprisonment.

In the meantime Columbus pursued his journey to San Domingo, traveling in
a lonely manner, without guards or retinue. Most of his people were with
the Adelantado, and he had declined being attended by the remainder. He
had heard of the rumors of the hostile intentions of Bobadilla; and
although he knew that violence was threatened to his person, he came in
this unpretending manner, to manifest his pacific feelings, and to remove
all suspicion. [80]

No sooner did Bobadilla hear of his arrival, than he gave orders to put
him in irons, and confine him in the fortress. This outrage to a person of
such dignified and venerable appearance, and such eminent merit, seemed,
for the time, to shock even his enemies. When the irons were brought,
every one present shrank from the task of putting them on him, either from
a sentiment of compassion at so great a reverse of fortune, or out of
habitual reverence for his person. To fill the measure of ingratitude
meted out to him, it was one of his own domestics, "a graceless and
shameless cook," says Las Casas, "who, with unwashed front, riveted the
fetters with as much readiness and alacrity, as though he were serving him
with choice and savory viands. I knew the fellow," adds the venerable
historian, "and I think his name was Espinosa." [81]

Columbus conducted himself with characteristic magnanimity under the
injuries heaped upon him. There is a noble scorn which swells and supports
the heart, and silences the tongue of the truly great, when enduring the
insults of the unworthy. Columbus could not stoop to deprecate the
arrogance of a weak and violent man like Bobadilla. He looked beyond this
shallow agent, and all his petty tyranny, to the sovereigns who had
employed him. Their injustice or ingratitude alone could wound his spirit;
and he felt assured that when the truth came to be known, they would blush
to find how greatly they had wronged him. With this proud assurance, he
bore all present indignities in silence.

Bobadilla, although he had the admiral and Don Diego in his power, and had
secured the venal populace, felt anxious and ill at ease. The Adelantado,
with an armed force under his command, was still in the distant province
of Xaragua, in pursuit of the rebels. Knowing his soldier-like and
determined spirit, he feared he might take some violent measure when he
should hear of the ignominious treatment and imprisonment of his brothers.
He doubted whether any order from himself would have any effect, except to
exasperate the stern Don Bartholomew. He sent a demand, therefore, to
Columbus, to write to his brother, requesting him to repair peaceably to
San Domingo, and forbidding him to execute the persons he held in
confinement: Columbus readily complied. He exhorted his brother to submit
quietly to the authority of his sovereigns, and to endure all present
wrongs and indignities, under the confidence that when they arrived at
Castile, every thing would be explained and redressed. [82]

On receiving this letter, Don Bartholomew immediately complied.
Relinquishing his command, he hastened peacefully to San Domingo, and on
arriving experienced the same treatment with his brothers, being put in
irons and confined on board of a caravel. They were kept separate from
each other, and no communication permitted between them. Bobadilla did not
see them himself, nor did he allow others to visit them; but kept them in
ignorance of the cause of their imprisonment, the crimes with which they
were charged, and the process that was going on against them. [83]

It has been questioned whether Bobadilla really had authority for the
arrest and imprisonment of the admiral and his brothers; [84]
and whether such violence and indignity was in any case contemplated by
the sovereigns. He may have fancied himself empowered by the clause in the
letter of instructions, dated March 21st, 1499, in which, speaking of the
rebellion of Roldan, "he is authorized to _seize the persons and
sequestrate the property_ of those who appeared to be culpable, and
then to proceed against them and against the absent, with the highest
civil and criminal penalties." This evidently had reference to the persons
of Roldan and his followers, who were then in arms, and against whom
Columbus had sent home complaints; and this, by a violent construction,
Bobadilla seems to have wrested into an authority for seizing the person
of the admiral himself. In fact, in the whole course of his proceedings,
he reversed and confounded the order of his instructions. His first step
should have been to proceed against the rebels; this he made the last. His
last step should have been, in case of ample evidence against the admiral,
to have superseded him in office; and this he made the first, without
waiting for evidence. Having predetermined, from the very outset, that
Columbus was in the wrong, by the same rule he had to presume that all the
opposite parties were in the right. It became indispensable to his own
justification to inculpate the admiral and his brothers; and the rebels he
had been sent to judge became, by this, singular perversion of rule,
necessary and cherished evidences, to criminate those against whom they
had rebelled.

The intentions of the crown, however, are not to be vindicated at the
expense of its miserable agent. If proper respect had been felt for the
rights and dignities of Columbus, Bobadilla would never have been
intrusted with powers so extensive, undefined, and discretionary; nor
would he have dared to proceed to such lengths, with such rudeness and
precipitation, had he not felt assured that it would not be displeasing to
the jealous-minded Ferdinand.

The old scenes of the time of Aguado were now renewed with tenfold
virulence, and the old charges revived, with others still more
extravagant. From the early and never-to-be-forgotten outrage upon
Castilian pride, of compelling hidalgos, in time of emergency, to labor in
the construction of works necessary to the public safety, down to the
recent charge of levying war against the government, there was not a
hardship, abuse, nor sedition in the island, that was not imputed to the
misdeeds of Columbus and his brothers. Besides the usual accusations of
inflicting oppressive labor, unnecessary tasks, painful restrictions,
short allowances of food, and cruel punishments upon the Spaniards, and
waging unjust wars against the natives, they were now charged with
preventing the conversion of the latter, that they might send them slaves
to Spain, and profit by their sale. This last charge, so contrary to the
pious feelings of the admiral, was founded on his having objected to the
baptism of certain Indians of mature age, until they could be instructed
in the doctrines of Christianity; justly considering it an abuse of that
holy sacrament to administer it thus blindly. [85]

Columbus was charged, also, with having secreted pearls, and other
precious articles, collected in his voyage along the coast of Paria, and
with keeping the sovereigns in ignorance of the nature of his discoveries
there, in order to exact new privileges from them; yet it was notorious
that he had sent home specimens of the pearls, and journals and charts of
his voyage, by which others had been enabled to pursue his track.