The commission under which Columbus agreed to undertake the voyage of discovery, invested him with high powers, and secured to him many important pri vileges. From the beginning he had stipulated, "'That he should be admiral on the ocean of all the seas and 'lands which he might discover, with all the allowances, privileges, and prerogatives enjoyed by the admirals of Castile and Leon, in their several seas : That all civil employments, as well of government as in the admini stration of justice, should be entirely at his disposal, in all the islands and continents which he was to discover : That all governments should be given to one of three persons to be named by him ; and that he should ap point judges in all parts of Spain trading to the Indies, to decide upon all causes relating to that trade and to those parts." These conditions, and others, which our limits prevent us from stating, were the more readily agreed to by Ferdinand and Isabella, while the scheme of Columbus remained as a matter of slieculation, and before the discovery of the western continent was ac tually made. But no sooner was it ascertained, that countries hitherto unknown had really been visited, and occupied in the name of the Spanish monarchy, than it was perceived that the commission was too ample, and the powers and privileges too many and great. Such a commission, however, had hecn granted, and it could not openly or immediately he revoked. The mind of Ferdinand, though cultivated in some degree, was nei ther strong nor comprehensive. his temper was sus picious and peevish ; and unfortunately, his ear was open to the insinuations of the enemies of Columbus. Less gold had been obtained from the countries newly occupied than the avarice of the monarch had led him to expect. Indeed, the conquests actually made had never defrayed the expense of securing and maintain ing them. Disturbances likewise had arisen in the co lony of Hispaniola ; and though these disturbances had been queried by the presence of Columbus and by powerful aid from Europe, still the very existence of such disturbances lessened, in the mind of Ferdinand, the hope of undeviating prosperity, which he had uni versally permitted himself to entertain, and rendered his temper yet more suspicious and fretful. Complaints of the misrule of Columbus were daily brought to him ; and in the moment of irritation, this capricious monarch granted a commission to Francis de Bovadilla, a knight of the order of Calatrava, empowering him to proceed to Hispaniola, to inquire into the conduct of the ad miral, and upon finding him guilty, or even upon find ing any plausible reason for a charge against him, to take upon himself the government of the island. The result was exactly what might have been expected, from a commission so utterly preposterous and unjust. Ma terials for a charge against Columbus were collected ; every sort of information, even from persons the most infamous, was greedily received, and the admiral, now advanced in years but still unbroken in spirit, was load ed with irons, and hurried on board a ship. The charge
was then drawn up according to the forms of law ; and the discoverer of the western world was sent to Europe, in order to be tried for his offences, real or supposed, by the government at home.
It is not easy to read the account of this infamous proceeding with any measure of patience. It was not be lieved, even by the tyrannical Ilovadilla himself, that Co lumbus had abused, in any one respect, the authority or the privileges of the situation in which his sovereign had placed him. His life, as a subject of the Spanish crown, was that of uniform obedience and unwearied activity. And his whole conduct was such as to gain, not only the esteem, but the enthusiastic admiration and praise of every one who had the opportunity and the means of becoming acquainted with it. In consequence of this opinion and belief, Alonzo de Vallejo, the captain of the vessel on board of which Columbus was confined, approached his prisoner, immediately after they had quitted the island, with feelings of the highest venera tion and the deepest regret, and offered to release him from the fetters with which he was bound. " No," said Columbus, in a burst of generous indignation, " I bear those irons in consequence of an order from their majesties the rulers of Spain. They shall find me as obedient to this, as to their other injunctions. By their command I have been confined, and their command alone shall set me at liberty." lie never forgot the un just and shameful treatment which he had received. Through the whole of his after life he can led the fetters with him wherever he went, as a memorial of the in gratitude of his country : he hung them up in his cham ber, and at last gave orders that they should he buried with him in his grave.
Upon the arrival of Columbus in Spain, a prisoner and in fetters, the indignation of all men was highly excited, and Ferdinand himself, cold and distant and haughty as he was, felt, for a while, the emotions of shame. He ordered Columbus into his presence, disclaimed all knowledge of his imprisonment, and soothed him with kind words and promises. But after detaining him at ccurt for a long time in fatiguing attendance and fruit less solicitation, he appointed Nicholas de Ovando, a knight of the order of Alcantara, governor of Hispaniola in his stead. Such was the reward which Columbus received, for having devised and carried on to a success ful issue, the most noble enterprise which has ever entered into the mind of man ; and such is the account which impartial history is constrained to give of the jus tice and the gratitude of kings !