CHARACTER OP COLUMBUS. 391 



was ever more thoroughly tried, or more honorably ac- 

 quitted, by adversity or by prosperity. He endured every 

 hardship, privation, ignominy, disappointment, distress, 

 desertion, ridicule and contempt; and he bore up against 

 all, and triumphed over all, silently, slowly and alone, 

 but completely and gloriously. But he had to triumph 

 also over the strong temptations of flattery, of unbounded 

 and magnificent success, of popular admiration, and of 

 royal favor ; and these were not the least of his trials. 

 We have but to imagine him, as he frequently was, 

 surrounded by doubt and danger ; a foreigner among a 

 jealous people ; an unpopular commander in a mutinous 

 island ; distrusted and slighted by the government he 

 was seeking to secure ; and creating suspicion by his 

 very services.' To these circumstances must be added his 

 loneliness, the hardships of a wandering and perilous life, 

 and the extreme physical sickness and suffering which 

 several times brought him to the brink of the grave. 



Is not such a man prepared, and does he not deserve 

 to relish, whenever and wherever they may meet him, 

 the luxury of indolence and plenty, the ostentation of 

 success, the pride of popularity, the opportunity of safe 

 revenge, the sweetness of adulation, and the glory of 

 fame ? In the very shackles of the culprit, then, as he 

 leaves one shore of the Atlantic, hooted at by the mob, 

 let him be landed upon the other. There let his chains 

 fall ; let his purse be filled, his success acknowledged, 

 his innocence proved, his favor solicited, his enemies and 

 his rivals humbled at his feet, his person followed from 

 town to town, over all Spain, with the splendor of noble 

 processions, and the welcoming shouts of admiring mul- 

 titudes, while his glory sounded throughout the civilized 

 earth as the Discoverer of a new world. All this affected 

 not the equanimity of Columbus. He forgave his ene- 

 mies the moment they were prostrate at his feet; and 

 humbled himself before Heaven, for his success, as the 

 poor instrument of its will. 



And yet, as we have intimated, there are abundant 

 proofs that the moderation, the courage, the fortitude of 

 Columbus were not founded upon his want of feeling. 

 On the other hand, his natural passions were uncommonly 



