36 i:he V O Y 
Spain^ to give their Catholic Majeilies an Account of all 
Things in the Colonies. 
9. At the very Time thofe Diforders fell out in the 
Colonies, many of the Rebels from Hifpmiiola, and 
others that were returned into Spain^ did not ceafe to give 
in falfe Informations to the King and his Council againft 
die Admiral and his Brother •, alledging they were cruel, 
and unfit for that Government, as well becaufe they were 
not Spaniards^ as becaufe they had not formerly been in a 
Condition to learn by Experience how to govern People 
of Condition *, affirming, that if their Flighneffes did 
not apply fome Remedy, thofe Countries would be 
utterly deftroyed j or, in cafe they were not quite ruined, 
by their ill Government, the Admiral would revolt, and 
procure fome Prince to fupport him, by pretending that 
all was his own, as having been difcovered by his In- 
duftry and Labour and that the better to compafs his 
Defign, he concealed the Wealth of the Country, and 
would not have the Indians ferve the Cliiiftians, or be 
converted to the Faith, becaufe by making much of 
them, he hoped they would be on his Side, to do what 
he pleafed againft their Highneffes. 
They therefore importuned their Catholic Pdajefties to 
remove him, complaining there were kveral Years Pay 
due to them, which gave Occahon to all that were at 
Court to rail. And their Impudence was fo great, that 
if the Catholic King went abroad they all got about him, 
crying, Pay^ Pay, and if the Admiral’s Sons, who were 
Pages to her Majefty paffed by where they were, they 
cried out in a hideous Manner, making the Sign of the 
Crofs, and faying. There are the Admiral ot the Muf- 
quito’s Sons, he that has found out talfe and deceitful 
Countries, to be the Ruin and Burial-place of the Spa- 
nijh Gentry. Their Complaints running fo high, it was 
refolved to fend a Judge to Hifpaniola, to enquire into 
all thefe Affairs, ordering him, in cafe he found the Ad- 
miral guilty of what was alledged, to fend him to Spain, 
and ftay there himfelf as Governor. The Perfon their Ma- 
jefties made Choice of for this Purpofe, was one Francis 
de Bovadilla, a poor Knight of the Order of Calatrava, 
who, on the 21ft of May, 1499, had full and ample 
Commiffion given him at Madsrid, and blank Letters fub- 
feribed by their Majefties to fuch Perfons as he ftiould 
think fit, in Hifpaniola, commanding them to be aiding 
and affifting to him. 
Thus furniflied, he arrived at Sa 7 ito Domingo at the lat- 
ter End of Augufi, 1 500, at fuch time as the Admiral 
was at the Conception fettling the Affairs of that Province, 
where his Brother had been attacked by the Rebels, and 
where there were more Indians, and thofe more under- 
ftanding People than in the reft of the Eland ; fo that 
Bovadilla, at his Arrival, finding no body to keep him in 
awe ; the firft thing he did was to take up his Quarters 
in the Admiral’s Palace, and feize and make ufe of all 
he found there, as if it had fallen to him by Inheritance •, 
and, gathering together all he could find that had been 
in the Rebellion, and many others- that hated the Ad- 
miral and his Brothers, he prefently declared himfelf 
Governor ^ and, to gain the Affedlion of the People, he 
caufed a general Freedom to be proclaimed for twenty 
Years to come •, requiring the Admiral to repair to him 
without any Delay, becaufe it was convenient for his 
Majefty’s Service he fhould do fo. And to back his 
Summons, on the 7th of September fent him the King’s 
Letter, by F. John de la Sera, containing no more, in 
effeft, than that their Majefties had fent the Bearer to ac- 
quaint him with their Pleafure, which he was diredted to 
obey. This Order was dated at Madrid, 21ft di May, 
1499, which Order was figned both by the King and 
by the Queen. 
10. The Admiral having feen their Majefties Letter, 
came away prefently to Santo Domingo, where the new 
Judge was •, who having been eager to eftablifh himfelf 
Governor there, in the beginning of Oliober, without any 
legal Information, fent him Prifoner aboard a Ship, to- 
gether with his Brother James, putting them in Irons, and 
a good Guard over them ; and ordered on fevere Penalties 
that none fliould dare to fpeak to them •, after this he 
began to draw up a Procefs againft them, admitting the 
I 
Rebels as Witneffes, and publickly favoured all that- came 
to fpeak ill of them ; v/ho, in their Depofitions, gave in 
fuch Incoherencies, that he imift'have been blind that had 
not plainly perceived th^y were falfe and malicious. For 
this Reafon their Catholic Majefties would not admit of 
them, and cleared the Admiral, repenting that they had 
fent fuch a Man, and not without Caufe •, for this Bova- 
dilla ruined the Ifland, and fquandered the King’s Reve- 
nues, gaining Numbers to be his Friends, by faying 
their Majefties would have nothing but the Dominion, 
and that die Profit fliould be for their Subjedls •, yet he 
negledlednothis own Share, but, fiding with the richeft and 
moft powerful Men, gave them Indians to ferve them, 
upon Condition, they fliould fliare with him all they got 
by their Means, and fold by Auftion the Poffeflions and 
Rights the Admiral had required for their Majefties, fay- 
ing they were no Labourers, nor did not defire to make 
a Profit of thofe Lands, only kept them for the Benefit 
ot their Subjedts. 
He thus on one Side felling all things under this Co- 
lour, endeavoured on the other, that they fliould be 
bought by fome of his own Confederates, for one third 
of the Value ; Befides all this, he made ufe of his judicial 
Power to enrich himfelf, and gain the Affeddons of the 
People ; being ftill afraid, that the Lieutenant, who was 
not yet com.e from Xaragua, fliould put a Stop to his 
Proceedings, and endeavour to fet the Admiral at Li- 
berty by Force of Arms ; in which Particular the Bro- 
thers behaved themfelves very prudently, for the Admi- 
ral fent them Word, immediately, that they fhould come 
peaceably to him, the King’s Service fo requiring, that 
the Ifland might not be put into an Uproar ; for when 
they were in Spain, they fhould more eafily obtain the 
Punifliment of fuch a Perfon, and Satisfadlion for the 
Wrongs done them. 
Yet this did not divert Bovadilla from putting him and 
his Brother into Irons, allowing the bafer Sort to rail at 
them publickly ; blowing Horns about the Port where they 
were fhipped, befides fcandalous Libels fet up at Corners of 
Streets againft them. When they were to fail, he defired 
Andrew Martin, the Mafter of the Ship, to look to him, 
and to deliver him in Irons as he was,, to the Bifhop D. 
John de Fonceca, by whofe Advice and Direction, it was 
concluded, he did all thefe things ; though when they 
were at Sea, the Mafter, being fenfible of Bovadilla’?, Un- 
worthinefs, would have knocked off the Admiral’s Irons, 
which he v/ould not permit, faying, That flnee their Ca- 
tholic Majefties, by their Letter, direefted him to perform 
whatfoever Bovadilla, in their Name, commanded him 
to do ; in Virtue of which Commiffion he had put him 
into Irons, he would have none but their Highneffes them- 
felves to do their Pleafure herein ; and he was refolved to 
keep thefe Fetters as Relicks, and Memorials of the Re- 
ward of his many Services, as accordingly he did ; for 
thefe Irons hung up in his Room, and he ordered them 
to be buried with him. Notwithftanding that, having on 
the 20th of November, 1500, v/ritten to their Highneffes, 
acquainting them with his Arrival at Cadiz ; they im- 
mediately gave Orders that he fhould be releafed, and fent 
him very gracious Letters in which they declared they 
were very forty for his Sufferings, and the unmannerly 
Behaviour of Bovadilla towards him, directing him to 
come to Court, where Care fliould be taken that he 
fhould be fpeedily difpatched with full Reftitu.tion of his 
Honour, as, indeed, was but reafonable, ftnceall he had 
done, and which had brought upon him fo many Trou- 
bles, was purely out of Regard to the Intereft of their 
Majefties ; and from the earneft Defire he had to hinder 
private Avarice from overturning the Meafiires taken for 
the public Benefit •, and for the Intereft of the Crown of 
Cajiile, at whofe Expence the firft Difeoveries had been 
made. 
II. Their Majefties Orders came on the 12th of De- 
cember for him to be fet at Liberty, and to repair to 
Granada-, where he was received by their Majefties 
with a favourable Afped, and kind Words, importing 
that his Imprifonment had not been by their Defire or 
Command, therefore they were much offended at it, and 
they would take care thofe that were in Fault fhould 
be 
