Authentic Letters of Columbus. i8i 



Princes and great Lords, who have the power of doing it, and whose 

 proper office it is to honor and elevate those who serve them well 

 and faithfully and who are worthy of it on account of their virtues 

 and services; and kings in conferring rewards upon worthy actions 

 show by that their acknowledgement of virtue and love of justice, for 

 justice consists not only in giving an example of punishment as a 

 terror to the wicked, but likewise in recompensing the good, and 

 besides this a signal advantage arises from it, because it excites the 

 good to become better and the wicked to correct themselves, and by 

 not acting thus the contrary might take place, and since among 

 other rewards, and remunerations which Kings have in their 

 power to bestow upon them trulyand faithfully, there is that of 

 honoring and elevating them above all the others of their race and 

 ennobling, decorating and honoring them, and conferring many 

 other kindnesses, favors and graces upon them. 



We, considering and reflecting upon the above said things, will, 

 that, by this our patent of privilege, and by a copy of it signed by a 

 public scrivener, present and future generations may know, that, 

 We, Don Ferdinand and Dona Isabella, by the grace of God, King 

 and Queen of Gastile, Leon, Aragon, Sicily, Granada, Toledo, Va- 

 lencia, Galacia, Majorca, Seville, Sardinia, Corsica, Murcia, Jahen, 

 Algarve, Algesira, Gibraltar, and the Canary Islands, Count and 

 Countess of Barcelona, Lords of Biscay and Molina, Dukes of 

 Athens and Neopatria, Counts of Roussillon and Cerdan, Marquises 

 of Orestan and Goziano, have seen a patent of grace signed with 

 our names, and sealed with our seal, drawn up as follows: 



Don Ferdinand and Dona Isabella, by the grace of God, King 

 and Queen of Castile, Leon, Aragon, Sicily, Granada, Toledo, Va- 

 lencia, Galacia, Majorca, Seville, Sardinia, Cordova, Corsica, Murcia, 

 Jahen, Algarve, Algesira, Gibraltar, and the Canary Islands, Count 

 and Countess of Barcelona, Lords of Biscay and Molina, Dukes of 

 Athens and Neopatria, Counts of Roussillon and Cerdan, Marquises 

 of Orestan and Goziano : Inasmuch as you, Christopher Columbus, 

 are going by our commands to discover and conquer, with some of 

 our vessels and our subjects, certain islands and mainland in the 

 ocean, and as it is hoped, with the assistance of God, that some of 

 the aforesaid islands and mainland in the said ocean will be discov- 

 ered and conquered through your labor and industry; and it being 

 just and reasonable that for exposing yourself to such danger for our 

 service, you should be rewarded : We, desiring on that account to 

 do you honor and favor, declare it to be our will and pleasure, that 

 you, the above said Christopher 'Columbus, when you shall have dis- 



