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

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Even the late tumults, now that the rebels were admitted as evidence, were
all turned into matters of accusation. They were represented as spirited
and loyal resistances to tyranny exercised upon the colonists and the
natives. The well-merited punishments inflicted upon certain of the
ring-leaders were cited as proofs of a cruel and revengeful disposition,
and a secret hatred of Spaniards. Bobadilla believed, or affected to
believe, all these charges. He had, in a manner, made the rebels his
confederates in the ruin of Columbus. It was become a common cause with
them. He could no longer, therefore, conduct himself towards them as a
judge. Guevara, Riquelme, and their fellow-convicts, were discharged
almost without the form of a trial, and it is even said were received
into favor and countenance. Roldan, from the very first, had been
treated with confidence by Bobadilla, and honored with his
correspondence. All the others, whose conduct had rendered them liable
to justice, received either a special acquittal or a general pardon. It
was enough to have been opposed in any way to Columbus, to obtain full
justification in the eyes of Bobadilla.

The latter had now collected a weight of testimony, and produced a crowd
of witnesses, sufficient, as he conceived, to insure the condemnation of
the prisoners, and his own continuance in command. He determined,
therefore, to send the admiral and his brothers home in chains, in the
vessels ready for sea, transmitting at the same time the inquest taken in
their case, and writing private letters, enforcing the charges made
against them, and advising that Columbus should on no account be restored
to the command, which he had so shamefully abused.

San Domingo now swarmed with miscreants just delivered from the dungeon
and the gibbet. It was a perfect jubilee of triumphant villany and dastard
malice. Every base spirit, which had been awed into obsequiousness by
Columbus and his brothers when in power, now started up to revenge itself
upon them when in chains. The most injurious slanders were loudly
proclaimed in the streets; insulting pasquinades and inflammatory libels
were posted up at every corner; and horns were blown in the neighborhood
of their prisons, to taunt them with the exultings of the rabble. [86]
When these rejoicings of his enemies reached him in his dungeon, and
Columbus reflected on the inconsiderate violence already exhibited by
Bobadilla, he knew not how far his rashness and confidence might carry
him, and began to entertain apprehensions for his life.

The vessels being ready to make sail, Alonzo de Villejo was appointed to
take charge of the prisoners, and carry them to Spain. This officer had
been brought up by an uncle of Fonseca, was in the employ of that bishop,
and had come out with Bobadilla. The latter instructed him, on arriving at
Cadiz, to deliver his prisoners into the hands of Fonseca, or of his
uncle, thinking thereby to give the malignant prelate a triumphant
gratification. This circumstance gave weight with many to a report that
Bobadilla was secretly instigated and encouraged in his violent measures
by Fonseca, and was promised his protection and influence at court, in
case of any complaints of his conduct. [87]

Villejo undertook the office assigned him, but he discharged it in a more
generous manner than was intended. "This Alonzo de Villejo," says the
worthy Las Casas, "was a hidalgo of honorable character, and my particular
friend." He certainly showed himself superior to the low malignity of his
patrons. When he arrived with a guard to conduct the admiral from the
prison to the ship, he found him in chains in a state of silent
despondency. So violently had he been treated, and so savage were the
passions let loose against him, that he feared he should be sacrificed
without an opportunity of being heard, and his name go down sullied and
dishonored to posterity. When he beheld the officer enter with the guard,
he thought it was to conduct him to the scaffold. "Villejo," said he,
mournfully, "whither are you taking me?" "To the ship, your Excellency, to
embark," replied the other. "To embark!" repeated the admiral, earnestly;
"Villejo! do you speak the truth?" "By the life of your Excellency,"
replied the honest officer, "it is true!" With these words the admiral was
comforted, and felt as one restored from death to life. Nothing can be
more touching and expressive than this little colloquy, recorded by the
venerable Las Casas, who doubtless had it from the lips of his friend
Villejo.

The caravels set sail early in October, bearing off Columbus shackled like
the vilest of culprits, amidst the scoffs and shouts of a miscreant
rabble, who took a brutal joy in heaping insults on his venerable head,
and sent curses after him from the shores of the island he had so recently
added to the civilized world. Fortunately the voyage was favorable, and of
but moderate duration, and was rendered less disagreeable by the conduct
of those to whom he was given in custody. The worthy Villejo, though in
the service of Fonseca, felt deeply moved at the treatment of Columbus.
The master of the caravel, Andreas Martin, was equally grieved: they both
treated the admiral with profound respect and assiduous attention. They
would have taken off his irons, but to this he would not consent. "No,"
said he proudly, "their majesties commanded me by letter to submit to
whatever Bobadilla should order in their name; by their authority he has
put upon me these chains; I will wear them until they shall order them to
be taken off, and I will preserve them afterwards as relics and memorials
of the reward of my services." [88]

"He did so," adds his son Fernando; "I saw them always hanging in his
cabinet, and he requested that when he died they might be buried with
him." [89]

Book XIV.

Chapter I.

Sensation in Spain on the Arrival of Columbus in Irons.--His Appearance at
Court.

[1500.]

The arrival of Columbus at Cadiz, a prisoner and in chains, produced
almost as great a sensation as his triumphant return from his first
voyage. It was one of those striking and obvious facts, which speak to the
feelings of the multitude, and preclude the necessity of reflection. No
one stopped to inquire into the case. It was sufficient to be told that
Columbus was brought home in irons from the world he had discovered. There
was a general burst of indignation in Cadiz, and in the powerful and
opulent Seville, which was echoed throughout all Spain. If the ruin of
Columbus had been the intention of his enemies, they had defeated their
object by their own violence. One of those reactions took place, so
frequent in the public mind, when persecution is pushed to an unguarded
length. Those of the populace who had recently been loud in their clamor
against Columbus, were now as loud in their reprobation of his treatment,
and a strong sympathy was expressed, against which it would have been
odious for the government to contend.

The tidings of his arrival, and of the ignominious manner in which he had
been brought, reached the court at Granada, and filled the halls of the
Alhambra with murmurs of astonishment. Columbus, full of his wrongs, but
ignorant how far they had been authorized by the sovereigns, had forborne
to write to them. In the course of his voyage, however, he had penned a
long letter to Dona Juana de la Torre, the aya of Prince Juan, a lady high
in favor with Queen Isabella. This letter, on his arrival at Cadiz,
Andreas Martin, the captain of the caravel, permitted him to send off
privately by express. It arrived, therefore, before the protocol of the
proceedings instituted by Bobadilla, and from this document the sovereigns
derived their first intimation of his treatment. [90] It contained a
statement of the late transactions of the island, and of the wrongs he had
suffered, written with his usual artlessness and energy. To specify the
contents would be but to recapitulate circumstances already recorded. Some
expressions, however, which burst from him in the warmth of his feelings,
are worthy of being noted. "The slanders of worthless men," says he, "have
done me more injury than all my services have profited me." Speaking of
the misrepresentations to which he was subjected, he observes: "Such is
the evil name which I have acquired, that if I were to build hospitals and
churches, they would be called dens of robbers." After relating in
indignant terms the conduct of Bobadilla, in seeking testimony respecting
his administration from the very men who had rebelled against him, and
throwing himself and his brothers in irons, without letting them know the
offences with which they were charged, "I have been much aggrieved," he
adds, "in that a person should be sent out to investigate my conduct, who
knew that if the evidence which he could send home should appear to be of
a serious nature, he would remain in the government." He complains that,
in forming an opinion of his administration, allowances had not been made
for the extraordinary difficulties with which he had to contend, and the
wild state of the country over which he had to rule. "I was judged," he
observes, "as a governor who had been sent to take charge of a
well-regulated city, under the dominion of well-established laws, where
there was no danger of every thing running to disorder and ruin; but I
ought to be judged as a captain, sent to subdue a numerous and hostile
people, of manners and religion opposite to ours, living not in regular
towns, but in forests and mountains. It ought to be considered that I have
brought all these under subjection to their majesties, giving them
dominion over another world, by which Spain, heretofore poor, has suddenly
become rich. Whatever errors I may have fallen into, they were not with an
evil intention; and I believe their majesties will credit what I say. I
have known them to be merciful to those who have willfully done them
disservice; I am convinced that they will have still more indulgence for
me, who have erred innocently, or by compulsion, as they will hereafter be
more fully informed; and I trust they will consider my great services, the
advantages of which are every day more and more apparent."

When this letter was read to the noble-minded Isabella, and she found how
grossly Columbus had been wronged and the royal authority abused, her
heart was filled with mingled sympathy and indignation. The tidings were
confirmed by a letter from the alcalde or corregidor of Cadiz, into whose
hands Columbus and his brothers had been delivered, until the pleasure of
the sovereigns should be known; [91] and by another letter from Alonzo de
Villejo, expressed in terms accordant with his humane and honorable
conduct towards his illustrious prisoner.

However Ferdinand might have secretly felt disposed against Columbus, the
momentary tide of public feeling was not to be resisted. He joined with
his generous queen in her reprobation of the treatment of the admiral, and
both sovereigns hastened to give evidence to the world, that his
imprisonment had been without their authority, and contrary to their
wishes. Without waiting to receive any documents that might arrive from
Bobadilla, they sent orders to Cadiz that the prisoners should be
instantly set at liberty, and treated with all distinction. They wrote a
letter to Columbus, couched in terms of gratitude and affection,
expressing their grief at all that he had suffered, and inviting him to
court. They ordered, at the same time, that two thousand ducats should be
advanced to defray his expenses. [92]

The loyal heart of Columbus was again cheered by this declaration of his
sovereigns. He felt conscious of his integrity, and anticipated an
immediate restitution of all his rights and dignities. He appeared at
court in Granada on the 17th of December, not as a man ruined and
disgraced, but richly dressed, and attended by an honorable retinue. He
was received by the sovereigns with unqualified favor and distinction.
When the queen beheld this venerable man approach, and thought on all he
had deserved and all he had suffered, she was moved to tears. Columbus had
borne up firmly against the rude conflicts of the world,-he had endured
with lofty scorn the injuries and insults of ignoble men; but he possessed
strong and quick sensibility. When he found himself thus kindly received
by his sovereigns, and beheld tears in the benign eyes of Isabella, his
long-suppressed feelings burst forth: he threw himself on his knees, and
for some time could not utter a word for the violence of his tears and
sobbings. [93]

Ferdinand and Isabella raised him from the ground, and endeavored to
encourage him by the most gracious expressions. As soon as he regained
self-possession, he entered into an eloquent and high-minded vindication
of his loyalty, and the zeal he had ever felt for the glory and advantage
of the Spanish crown, declaring that if at any time he had erred, it had
been through inexperience in government, and the extraordinary
difficulties by which he had been surrounded.

There needed no vindication on his part. The intemperance of his enemies
had been his best advocate. He stood in presence of his sovereigns a
deeply-injured man, and it remained for them to vindicate themselves to
the world from the charge of ingratitude towards their most deserving
subject. They expressed their indignation at the proceedings of Bobadilla,
which they disavowed, as contrary to their instructions, and declared that
he should be immediately dismissed from his command.

In fact, no public notice was taken of the charges sent home by Bobadilla,
nor of the letters written in support of them. The sovereigns took every
occasion to treat Columbus with favor and distinction, assuring him that
his grievances should be redressed, his property restored, and he
reinstated in all his privileges and dignities.

It was on the latter point that Columbus was chiefly solicitous. Mercenary
considerations had scarcely any weight in his mind. Glory had been the
great object of his ambition, and he felt that, as long as he remained
suspended from his employments, a tacit censure rested on his name. He
expected, therefore, that the moment the sovereigns should be satisfied of
the rectitude of his conduct, they would be eager to make him amends; that
a restitution of his viceroyalty would immediately take place, and he
should return in triumph to San Domingo. Here, however, he was doomed to
experience a disappointment which threw a gloom over the remainder of his
days. To account for this flagrant want of justice and gratitude in the
crown, it is expedient to notice a variety of events which had materially
affected the interests of Columbus in the eyes of the politic Ferdinand.

Chapter II.

Contemporary Voyages of Discovery.

The general license granted by the Spanish sovereigns in 1495, to
undertake voyages of discovery, had given rise to various expeditions by
enterprising individuals, chiefly persons who had sailed with Columbus in
his first voyages. The government, unable to fit out many armaments
itself, was pleased to have its territories thus extended, free of cost,
and its treasury at the same time benefited by the share of the proceeds
of these voyages, reserved as a kind of duty to the crown. These
expeditions had chiefly taken place while Columbus was in partial disgrace
with the sovereigns. His own charts and journal served as guides to the
adventurers; and his magnificent accounts of Paria and the adjacent coasts
had chiefly excited their cupidity.

Beside the expedition of Ojeda, already noticed, in the course of which he
touched at Xaragua, one had been undertaken at the same time by Pedro
Alonzo Nino, native of Moguer, an able pilot, who had been with Columbus
in the voyages to Cuba and Paria. Having obtained a license, he interested
a rich merchant of Seville in the undertaking, who fitted out a caravel of
fifty tons burden, under condition that his brother Christoval Guevra
should have the command. They sailed from the bar of Saltes, a few days
after Ojeda had sailed from Cadiz, in the spring of 1499, and arriving on
the coast of Terra Firma, to the south of Paria, ran along it for some
distance, passed through the Gulf, and thence went one hundred and thirty
leagues along the shore of the present republic of Columbia, visiting what
was afterwards called the Pearl Coast. They landed in various places;
disposed of their European trifles to immense profit, and returned with a
large store of gold and pearls; having made, in their diminutive bark, one
of the most extensive and lucrative voyages yet accomplished.

About the same time, the Pinzons, that family of bold and opulent
navigators, fitted out an armament of four caravels at Palos, manned in a
great measure by their own relations and friends. Several experienced
pilots embarked in it who had been with Columbus to Paria, and it was
commanded by Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who had been captain of a caravel in
the squadron of the admiral on his first voyage.

Pinzon was a hardy and experienced seaman, and did not, like the others,
follow closely in the track of Columbus. Sailing in December, 1499, he
passed the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, standing southwest until he lost
sight of the polar star. Here he encountered a terrible storm, and was
exceedingly perplexed and confounded by the new aspect of the heavens.
Nothing was yet known of the southern hemisphere, nor of the beautiful
constellation of the cross, which in those regions has since supplied to
mariners the place of the north star. The voyagers had expected to find at
the south pole a star correspondent to that of the north. They were
dismayed at beholding no guide of the kind, and thought there must be some
prominent swelling of the earth, which hid the pole from their view.
[94]

Pinzon continued on, however, with great intrepidity. On the 26th of
January, 1500, he saw, at a distance, a great headland, which he called
Cape Santa Maria de la Consolacion, but which has since been named Cape
St. Augustine. He landed and took possession of the country in the name of
their catholic majesties; being a part of the territories since called the
Brazils. Standing thence westward, he discovered the Maragnon, since
called the River of the Amazons; traversed the Gulf of Paria, and
continued across the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, until he found
himself among the Bahamas, where he lost two of his vessels on the rocks,
near the island of Jumeto. He returned to Palos in September, having added
to his former glory that of being the first European who had crossed the
equinoctial line in the western ocean, and of having discovered the famous
kingdom of Brazil, from its commencement at the River Maragnon to its most
eastern point. As a reward for his achievements, power was granted to him
to colonize and govern the lands which he had discovered, and which
extended southward from a little beyond the River of Maragnon to Cape St.
Augustine. [95]

The little port of Palos, which had been so slow in furnishing the first
squadron for Columbus, was now continually agitated by the passion for
discovery. Shortly after the sailing of Pinzon, another expedition was
fitted out there, by Diego Lepe, a native of the place, and manned by his
adventurous townsmen. He sailed in the same direction with Pinzon; but
discovered more of the southern continent than any other voyager of the
day, or for twelve years afterwards. He doubled Cape St. Augustine, and
ascertained that the coast beyond ran to the southwest. He landed and
performed the usual ceremonies of taking possession in the name of the
Spanish sovereigns, and in one place carved their names on a magnificent
tree, of such enormous magnitude, that seventeen men with their hands
joined could not embrace the trunk. What enhanced the merit of his
discoveries was, that he had never sailed with Columbus. He had with him,
however, several skillful pilots, who had accompanied the admiral in his
voyage. [96]

Another expedition of two vessels sailed from Cadiz, in October, 1500,
under the command of Rodrigo Bastides of Seville. He explored the coast of
Terra Firma, passing Cape de la Vela, the western limits of the previous
discoveries on the main-land, continuing on to a port since called The
Retreat, where afterwards was founded the seaport of Nombre de Dios. His
vessels being nearly destroyed by the teredo, or worm which abounds in
those seas, he had great difficulty in reaching Xaragua in Hispaniola,
where he lost his two caravels, and proceeded with his crew by land to San
Domingo. Here he was seized and imprisoned by Bobadilla, under pretext
that he had treated for gold with the natives of Xaragua. [97]

Such was the swarm of Spanish expeditions immediately resulting from the
enterprises of Columbus; but others were also undertaken by foreign
nations. In the year 1497, Sebastian Cabot, son of a Venetian merchant
resident in Bristol, sailing in the service of Henry VII of England,
navigated to the northern seas of the New World. Adopting the idea of
Columbus, he sailed in quest of the shores of Cathay, and hoped to find a
northwest passage to India. In this voyage he discovered Newfoundland,
coasted Labrador to the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude, and then
returning, ran down southwest to the Floridas, when, his provisions
beginning to fail, he returned to England. [98] But vague and scanty
accounts of this voyage exist, which was important as including the first
discovery of the northern continent of the New World.

The discoveries of rival nations, however, which most excited the
attention and jealousy of the Spanish crown, were those of the Portuguese.
Vasco de Gama, a man of rank and consummate talent and intrepidity, had,
at length, accomplished the great design of the late Prince Henry of
Portugal, and by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, in the year 1497, had
opened the long-sought-for route to India.

Immediately after Gama's return, a fleet of thirteen sail was fitted out
to visit the magnificent countries of which he brought accounts. This
expedition sailed on the 9th of March, 1500, for Calicut, under the
command of Pedro Alvarez de Cabral. Having passed the Cape de Verde
Islands, he sought to avoid the calms prevalent on the coast of Guinea, by
stretching far to the west. Suddenly, on the 25th of April, he came in
sight of land unknown to any one in his squadron; for, as yet, they had
not heard of the discoveries of Pinzon and Lepe. He at first supposed it
to be some great island; but after coasting it for some time, he became
persuaded that it must be part of a continent. Having ranged along it
somewhat beyond the fifteenth degree of southern latitude, he landed at a
harbor which he called Porto Securo, and taking possession of the country
for the crown of Portugal, dispatched a ship to Lisbon with the important
tidings. [99] In this way did the Brazils come into the possession of
Portugal, being to the eastward of the conventional line settled with
Spain as the boundaries of their respective territories. Dr. Robertson,
in recording this voyage of Cabral, concludes with one of his just and
elegant remarks.

"Columbus's discovery of the New World was," he observes, "the effort of
an active genius, guided by experience, and acting upon a regular plan,
executed with no less courage than perseverance. But from this adventure
of the Portuguese, it appears that chance might have accomplished that
great design, which it is now the pride of human reason to have formed and
perfected. If the sagacity of Columbus had not conducted mankind to
America, Cabral, by a fortunate accident, might have led them, a few years
later, to the knowledge of that extensive continent." [100]

Chapter III.

Nicholas de Ovando Appointed to Supersede Bobadilla.

[1501.]

The numerous discoveries briefly noticed in the preceding chapter had
produced a powerful effect upon the mind of Ferdinand. His ambition, his
avarice, and his jealousy were equally inflamed. He beheld boundless
regions, teeming with all kinds of riches, daily opening before the
enterprises of his subjects; but he beheld at the same time other nations
launching forth into competition, emulous for a share of the golden world
which he was eager to monopolize. The expeditions of the English, and the
accidental discovery of the Brazils by the Portuguese, caused him much
uneasiness. To secure his possession of the continent, he determined to
establish local governments or commands, in the most important places, all
to be subject to a general government, established at San Domingo, which
was to be the metropolis.

With these considerations, the government, heretofore granted to Columbus,
had risen vastly in importance; and while the restitution of it was the
more desirable in his eyes, it became more and more a matter of repugnance
to the selfish and jealous monarch. He had long repented having vested
such great powers and prerogatives in any subject, particularly in a
foreigner. At the time of granting them, he had no anticipation of such
boundless countries to be placed under his command. He appeared almost to
consider himself outwitted by Columbus in the arrangement; and every
succeeding discovery, instead of increasing his grateful sense of the
obligation, only made him repine the more at the growing magnitude of the
reward. At length, however, the affair of Bobadilla had effected a
temporary exclusion of Columbus from his--high office, and that without
any odium to the crown, and the wary monarch, secretly determined that the
door thus closed between him and his dignities should never again be
opened.