174 - Field Columbian Museum, 



raised about their existence, and of the great opposition raised 

 against you both by men of learning and by people of practical 

 knowledge in navigation and matters connected with the sea, who all 

 said that you were joking and that God had never placed any land 

 where you said. Whoever goes now to the Indies, even if he goes 

 to places where you never set your foot, cannot, as against you, 

 be called a discoverer, for he only goes to a district which is already 

 under your jurisdiction as admiral, and enters seas or lands which 

 were discovered by you. Under these circumstances, your rights 

 and authority as Admiral and Viceroy and Governor-General, and 

 your power to make appointments for all offices are to be exercised 

 in and over the whole district, whether on land or on the sea, whether 

 already traveled or to be traveled hereafter, on the other side of the 

 line which has been mentioned before. Beyond that line you are the 

 only one having authority to attend in the name of their Highnesses 

 to all the business of the Government, to hear and decide all cases 

 and causes, to affix the Royal Seal entrusted to you for such pur- 

 poses, to all letters patent to be issued there, to administer justice in 

 civil and criminal matters, and to have and exercise full power and 

 jurisdiction in everything relative to the administration of said Gov- 

 ernment, as more in full described in the ordinances and letters of 

 concession and privileges which I have examined. 



It appears, furthermore, that by a Royal letter of 1497, issued 

 at Medina, their Highnesses freed you from sharing the expenses 

 incurred up to that date on account of this business, and exempted 

 you also from contributing toward defraying the expenses of the ex- 

 pedition which was then being equipped and you had to take to the 

 Indies. The said Royal letter saj^s that you are bound to pay noth- 

 ing on this account, except in case of expenses incurred subsequent 

 to your arrival at Hispaniola. You are free from paying expenses 

 prior to that moment ; but you cannot, either, demand anything out 

 of what was brought here during the same period. 



As you admit to having arrived there on the 31st of August, 

 1489, a liquidation must be made of all the expenses incurred ever 

 since, and you shall be bound to contribute such portion thereof as 

 has been agreed upon. 



From the agreements entered into with the Lord Admiral of 

 Castile, it appears that he is entitled to one-third of all the profits 

 made on the sea, either by him or their Highness' navy. Whereupon, 

 under your own letters of concession, which gave you exactly the 

 same rights and privileges as are given the Lord Admiral of Castile, 

 you are entitled to a third of the profits. 



It appears from the agreements entered into with you, in re- 

 gard to the share you ought to have out of the profits made 

 and to be made in this business of the Indies, that the said 

 share belongs to you under three different considerations and for 

 three different reasons. Your share under each head is clearly 

 stated, and there is no possibility of error or misunderstanding in 

 this respect. The liquidation of the profits is simply a matter of 

 arithmetic, as in the following example : 



