COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER, 



157 



would not rob or outrage the country, since 

 reason ivijuiivs that il >hould bo settled, and 

 then gold may Ixs acquired without violence. 



llr was very caurer that public restitution 

 should be made and his interests respected !- 

 fon> his death. As he was unable to travel, and 

 compelled from a disease of the eye to write 

 only at night, Diego .Memle/ was pleading his 

 cause ;ii court. The burden of his Idlers was 

 anxiety for his good name and that of his 



HOCSK IN WHICH COLUMBUS DIED, VALLAUOLID. 



children. He wrote : "I have served their maj- 

 esties with as much zeal and diligence as if it 

 had been to gain paradise; and if I have failed 

 in anything, it has been because my knowledge 

 and my powers went no further." 



Queen Isabella died in November, 1504, and 

 wit h that event the hopes of Columbus sank 

 completely. He went to the court to lay the 

 matter before the King, who consented to arbi- 

 trate on the business; but Columbus saw that 

 IP- referred only to the rents and revenues. 

 What Columbus 'had at heart was the fulfill- 

 ment of the promises to him and his. Las Casas 

 says: "As far as actions went, the King not 

 merely showed him no signs of favor, but, on the 

 contrary, discountenanced him as much as possi- 

 ble : yet he was" never wanting in complimentary 

 expressions." Columbus wrote to entreat that 

 Diego might be appointed to his place, saying : 

 " This is a matter that touches my honor. As 

 to all the rest, do as your majesty t hinks proper ; 

 give or withhold, as may be most for your inter- 

 est, and I shall be content. I believe it is the 

 anxiety caused by the delay of this affair which 

 is the principal reason of my ill health." Again 

 he wrote : "It appears that his majesty does not 

 think fit to fulfill that which he has promised me 

 by word and seal, with the Queen wno is now in 

 glorv. For me to contend for the contrary 

 would be to contend with the wind. I have 

 done all that I can do. I leave the rest to <MM|, 

 whom I have ever found propitious to me in 

 uiv necessities." 



When Columbus heard from his sick bed of 

 the arrival of Queen Juana (daughter of Isabella) 

 a:id King I'hilin to take posses.-ion of the vacant 

 throne of Castile, he wrote to the young sover- 

 eigns, but with no result. He diea in the city 

 of Valladolid, May 19, 1506. Hi- last words 

 were : " Into thy hands, Lord, I commend 

 my spirit." 



Columbus was buried in the Convent of St. 

 Francisco, and a high funeral service was con- 

 ducted in a church at Valladolid. In 1513 his 

 body was removed to Seville, and in 1536 it was 

 again transported, being carried with that of his 

 son Diego to Santo Domingo, whence it was 

 again removed to the cathedral in Havana in 

 1790. Ferdinand had caused a monument to be 

 erected to Columbus, bearing the inscription, 

 " For Castile and Leon Columbus found a New 

 World." 



The day before he died Columbus executed a 

 will, which he had written nearly a year before. 

 It is well authenticated. Its principal pro- 

 visions are : 



I appoint my dear son Don Diego to be my heir of 

 all my property and offices which 1 hold by right 

 and inheritance, as determined in the mayorazyo ; 

 and if he should have no legal male heir, that my 

 son Don Ferdinand shall inherit in the same manner ; 

 and if he should have no legal male heir, that Don 

 Bartholomew, my brother, shall inherit_,in the same 

 manner ; and likewise if he should have no male heir, 

 that my other brother shall inherit. Thus it is in- 

 tended, from one to the other next of kin of my fam- 

 ily, and this continually. And there shall be no 

 female heir unless the males become extinct ; and if 

 that should happen, let it be the female nearest of kin 

 of my family. 



Because heretofore there has "been no revenue re- 

 ceived from the said Indies, so that I could separate 

 therefrom the sums which I will mention below, and 

 we hope that by the clemency of our sovereign it 

 may amount to a very large sum ; my intention 

 would be and is ; that Don Ferdinand, my son, 

 should receive of it 1,500,000 each year; ana Don 

 Bartholomew, my brother, 150,000 maravedis; and 

 Don Diego, my brother, 100,000 maravedis, because 

 he belongs to the Church. And I say that of all the 

 income which Don Diego shall receive by reason of 

 the said inheritance, that he shall have 10 parts every 

 year, and that 1 part of these 10 he shall divide among 

 our relatives who appear to have most need of it, and 

 poor persons, and in other pious works. 



I say that this part which I direct to give to Don 

 Ferdinand, my son, that 1 make of it a mayorazjjo for 

 him, and that to him shall succeed his eldest son, and 

 in like manner from one to the other perpetually, 

 without the power to sell or exchange or give or abuse 

 in any way. 



I say to Don Diego, my son, and I direct that as 

 soon as he shall have income from the said mayor- 

 a/L, r o an inheritance sufficient to maintain a cha]>el, 

 that he shall cause to be appointed 8 chaplains who 

 shall say masses every day 1 to the honor of the 

 holy Trinity, another to the Conception of our Lady, 

 and the oth'er tor the souls of all the faithful dead, 

 and for my soul and that of my father and mother 

 and wife. 



As we read the story of Columbus, the per- 

 sonality of another great Italian, a discoverer in 

 the realm of mind, is strongly suggested. Dante, 

 like Columbus, believed himself to bo invoted 

 with a divine mission, to be a child of destiny. 

 Dante was noble and learned, Columbus was of 

 humble birth and scant education; but both 

 loved the lore they knew in the same fashion, 



