Part 5 (1/2)
Taking with him but six or seven trusty servants, and three esquires, all well arleaders were quartered Confiding probably in the secrecy of their plot, and the late passiveness of the aduarded Columbus came upon them by surprise, seized Moxica and several of his principal confederates, and bore thea was ripe for a revolt; he had the fomenter of the conspiracy in his power, and an example was called for, that should strike terror into the factious He ordered Moxica to be hanged on the top of the fortress The latter entreated to be allowed to confess himself previous to execution A priest was suant in rebellion, lost all courage at the near approach of death He delayed to confess, beginning and pausing, and re-co away ti his own sins, he accused others of criminality, ere known to be innocent; until Colu all patience, in his nation and scorn, ordered the dastard wretch to be swung off from the battlements [63]
This sudden act of severity was promptly followed up Several of the accomplices of Moxica were condemned to death and thrown in irons to await their fate Before the conspirators had time to recover from their astonishment, Pedro Riquelme was taken, with several of his compeers, in his ruffian den at Bonao, and conveyed to the fortress of San Doinal mover of this second rebellion, Hernando de Guevara, the lover of the young Indian princess These unexpected acts of rigor, proceeding fro so lenient, had the desired effect The conspirators fled for the ua, their old and favorite retreat They were not suffered to congregate there again, and concert new seditions The Adelantado, seconded by Roldan, pursued theor of arm It has been said that he carried a priest with hiht be confessed and hanged upon the spot; but the more probable account is that he transo He had seventeen of the their trial, while he continued in indefatigable pursuit of the remainder [64]
These were pro Columbus had borne with these men; how much he had ceded and sacrificed to thes, and the welfare of the colony destroyed by their contemptible and seditious brawls; how they had abused his lenity, defied his authority, and at length attempted his life,-we cannot wonder that he should at last let fall the sword of justice, which he had hitherto held suspended
The power of faction was now coood effects of the various measures taken by Columbus, since his last arrival, for the benefit of the island, began to appear The Indians, seeing the inefficacy of resistance, sub, in so and embraced Christianity
assisted by their labors, the Spaniards now cultivated their lands diligently, and there was every appearance of settled and regular prosperity
Coluht about by the especial intervention of heaven In a letter to Dona Juana de la Torre, a lady of distinction, aya or nurse of Prince Juan, he gives an instance of those visionary fancies to which he was subject in ti winter, he says, about the festival of Christmas, when menaced by Indian war and domestic rebellion, when distrustful of those around hirace at court, he sank for a tilooht a voice addressing him in words of comfort, ”Oh , I will provide for thee The seven years of the ters, I will take care of thee”
The seven years terold herethe New World, and recorded by hins, that within seven years he would furnish, from the profits of his discoveries, fifty thousand foot and five thousand horse, for the deliverance of the holy sepulchre, and an additional force of like a assurance given him by the voice was corroborated, he says, that very day, by intelligence received of the discovery of a large tract of country rich in inary proiven, appeared to hiress of fulfillers of the island had been succeeded by tranquillity He now anticipated the prosperous prosecution of his favorite enterprise, so long interrupted,--the exploring of the regions of Paria, and the establishment of a fishery in the Gulf of Pearls How illusive were his hopes! At thiswhich were to overwhelm him with distress, strip him of his honors, and render him comparatively a wreck for the remainder of his days!
Book XIII
Chapter I
Representations at Court Against Columbus--Bobadilla Empowered to Examine into His Conduct
[1500]
While Columbus was involved in a series of difficulties in the factious island of Hispaniola, his ene his reputation in the court of Spain The report brought by Ojeda of his anticipated disgrace was not entirely unfounded; the event was considered near at hand, and every perfidious exertion was made to accelerate it
Every vessel fro Columbus and his brothers as new men, unaccustomed to coant and insulting towards men of birth and lofty spirit; oppressive of the common people, and cruel in their treatment of the natives The insidious and illiberal insinuation was continually urged, that they were foreigners, who could have no interest in the glory of Spain, or the prosperity of Spaniards; and contemptible as this plea may seem, it had a powerful effect Coluiance to Spain, and either n of the countries he had discovered, or yield them into the hands of soant, was calculated to startle the jealous mind of Ferdinand
It is true, that by every shi+p Columbus likewise sent hoy of truth, setting forth the real cause and nature of the distractions of the island, and pointing out and iht have been efficacious His letters, however, arriving at distant intervals, le and transient impressions on the royal mind, which were speedily effaced by the influence of daily and activecontinual access to the sovereigns, were enabled to place every thing urged against hiest point of viehile they secretly neutralized the force of his vindications They used a plausible logic to prove either bad ement or bad faith on his part
There was an incessant drain upon the mother country for the support of the colony Was this coant pictures he had drawn of the wealth of the island, and its golden mountains, in which he had pretended to find the Ophir of ancient days, the source of all the riches of Solons by designing exaggerations, or grossly wronged theovern his newly-discovered possessions a source of expense instead of profit, was known to press sorely on his mind The wars, dictated by his ambition, had straitened his resources, and involved him in perplexities He had looked with confidence to the New World for relief, and for arew impatient at the repeated demands which it occasioned on his scanty treasury For the purpose of irritating his feelings and heightening his resent ed, by the hostile faction, to put in claims for pay withheld by Columbus, or losses sustained in his service
This was especially the case with the disorderly ruffians shi+pped off to free the island fro their way to the court of Granada, they followed the king when he rode out, filling the air with their co for their pay At one tiabonds found their way into the inner court of the Alharapes, as thealoud at the deceits of Coluovernes to the queen, happening to pass by, they followed theo the sons of the admiral, the whelps of hirave of Spanish hidalgos” [66]
The incessant repetition of falsehood will gradually wear its way into the an to entertain doubts respecting the conduct of Columbus Where there was such universal and incessant complaint, it seemed reasonable to conclude that there ht, they overnn The letters written by Columbus himself presented a laht not this arise fro that the prevalent abuses arose in a great measure from the enmity of the people to the adainst theners, was it safe to intrust so important and distant a command to persons so unpopular with the coht in the candid mind of Isabella, but they were all-powerful with the cautious and jealous Ferdinand He had never regarded Columbus with real cordiality; and ever since he had ascertained the iretted the extensive powers vested in his hands The excessive cla the brief ad out of the faction of Roldan, at length deter to send out soate the affairs of the colony, and, if necessary for its safety, to take upon himself the command This important and critical measure it appears had been decided upon, and the papers and powers actually drawn out, in the spring of 1499 It was not carried into effect, however, until the following year Various reasons have been assigned for this delay The important services rendered by Columbus in the discovery of Paria and the Pearl Islands may have had so out an armaainst the Turks; theof France, Louis XII; the rebellion of the Moors of the Alpuxarra doed as reasons for postponing a ht have important effects upon the newly-discovered possessions [67] Thedisinclination of Isabella to take so harsh a step against a h adth the arrival of the shi+ps with the late followers of Roldan, according to their capitulation, brought matters to a crisis It is true that Ballester and Barrantes came in these shi+ps, to place the affairs of the island in a proper light; but they brought out a host of witnesses in favor of Roldan, and letters written by hi all their late conduct to the tyranny of Columbus and his brothers Unfortunately, the testiht with Ferdinand; and there was a circumstance in the case which suspended for a tireatest dependence of Colu a maternal interest in the welfare of the natives, the queen had been repeatedly offended by what appeared to her pertinacity on the part of Colu to make slaves of those taken in warfare, in contradiction to her knoishes The saht horeat nurant to these ht away clandestinely Ahters of caciques, seduced away froates Sonancy, others had new-born infants The gifts and transfers of these unhappy beings were all ascribed to the will of Columbus, and represented to Isabella in the darkest colors Her sensibility as a wonity as a queen, were instantly in arnantly, ”has the adive away my vassals?” [68] Determined, by one decided and perees upon humanity, she ordered all the Indians to be restored to their country and friends Nay more, her measure was retrospective She commanded that those forht out, and sent back to Hispaniola Unfortunately for Columbus, at this very juncture, in one of his letters, he advised the continuance of Indian slavery for soer, as a measure important for the welfare of the colony This contributed to heighten the indignation of Isabella, and induced her no longer to oppose the sending out of a coate his conduct, and, if necessary, to supersede hily e this commission, between his sense of as due to the character and services of Columbus, and his anxiety to retract with delicacy the powers vested in hith was furnished by the recent request of the admiral that a person of talents and probity, learned in the law, e; and that an iht be appointed, to decide in the affair between himself and Roldan Ferdinand proposed to consult his wishes, but to unite those two officers in one; and as the person he appointed would have to decide in hest functions of the admiral and his brothers, he was empowered, should he find theularpartiality!
The person chosen for this momentous and delicate office was Don Francisco de Bobadilla, an officer of the royal household, and a coious order of Calatrava Oviedo pronounces hiious man; [69] but he is represented by others, and his actions corroborate the description, as needy, passionate, and ahts of judicature in a case requiring the utmost patience, candor, and circue was to derive wealth and power from the conviction of one of the parties