Chap. ni. C H R I S T O P H E 
Colonel Thefe fet out in Pehruary, 1498 and the Ad- 
miral ftaid to negotiate the obtaining fuch a 'Fleet as v/as 
requifite for him to return to the Indies. But lie was 
forced to flay above a Year at Burgos and at IVLudefa dxl 
Canipo., where, in the Year 1499, their Catholic Majefties 
granted him many Favours, and gave the neceffary Or- 
ders for his Affairs, and lor the Government and Settling 
of the Indies. 
His Credit with their Catholic Majefties was ftill tol- 
Icrably good, tho’ he had met with fome Enemies in 
Spain^ as v/ell as the Indies.^ v/ho laboured all they could 
to decry his Merit, and to propagate an Opinion, that he 
had not done lo much as he had pretended, or as at firft, 
and upon his immediate Return from the Indie s.^ was uni- 
verfally allowed him. For fuch is the Nature of Envy, 
that, though often ftruck dumb by the Liiftre of true 
Merit, it is a Monfter never to be flain, at leaft fo long 
as the Hero lives againft whom it direfts its Rage. In 
time, therefore, and after brooding in Silence, Itnvy hiffes 
again as loud as ever : And as Meannefs is a Quality infe- 
parable from the Multitude, thofe Hiffes, tho"* over and 
over exploded, are a-frefli liftened to and regarded. This 
has been the Cafe of all the great Men that the World 
has produced, and therefore we need not wonder it was 
the Cafe of Columbus. But to vindicate his Memory, to 
fupport the Truth, and, as far as it is in our Power, to 
curb the Malice of fucceeding Times towards Men of 
equal Worth, we will beftow a few Remarks upon this 
Sedtion likewife, in order to render it more ufeful and in- 
ftrudlive to our inquifitive, generous, and public-fpirited 
Readers. 
II. In order to explain clearly the Controverfy between 
the Admiral and his Opponents, we are to obferve, that 
they adled and reafoned upon very different Principles. 
The Admiral at firft intended to difcover Lands hitherto 
unknown to this Part of the World ; which, from the 
Notion he had of their Situation, he believed to be a Part 
of the Indies., and confequently abounding in thofe Com- 
modities which are brought from the Indies., and are moft 
efteemed in Europe. His Conjedlure, certainly, was not 
improbable, nor can it be faid that he failed of Succefs, 
fmce he opened a Paffage to the new World, and plainly 
made it appear that he had Skill fufficient to navigate a 
Ship to thofe Coafts, of which he had no Notice what- 
ever, but from the Light of ‘ his own Reafon. He 
brought over from thofe Countries Gold, fome forts of 
Spice, Birds of beautiful Colours, feveral kinds of rich 
Woods, both in Colour and Scent, and People of quite a 
different Complexion from the Inhabitants of Europe. In 
this fecond Voyage he had profecuted and improved his 
former Difcoveries to fuch a degree, as to be able to af- 
firm, that there v/ere innumerable Hands in thefe new 
Seas ; that they were all of them Countries pleafantly 
fituated, bleffed, for the moft part, v/ith a rich Soil, and 
abundance of fine Rivers, plentifully flocked with Wood, 
and in all Appearance v/ith Metals *, inhabited by a Crew 
of weak, timorous, and flavifhiy-inciined People, who were 
able to make little or no Refiftance againft the Europeans., 
and who were likely, therefore, together with their Lands 
and Goods, to fall entirely into their Power, and become 
a Part of their Poffeffion. He had formed a Scheme of 
Civil Government, and fettled a very effe6lual Difcipline 
among the Soldiers he left behind him, in order to fecure 
all he had thus difcovered, to the Ufe of their Catholic 
Majefties, as well as to fearch out and render manifeft 
all the Advantages that might be derived to the Spani- 
ards from his Difcoveries. In this Light, to be fure, he 
had performed all he had promifed •, was well intitled to 
all the Grants that had been made him, and merited the 
R Columbus. 27 
Favour of his Sovereigns, as well as the Applaiife of their 
Subjefts. 
But thofe who endeavoured to leffen his Merit, to ob^ 
fcure his Fbime, and to bring him into Difcredit with 
their Catholic Majefties, went upon this Pretence, that he 
had undertaken to difcover a Country exceedingly rich, 
and that on his Return fro|Ti his firft Voyage he had 
boafted of entire Succefs in this refpedl j whereas they 
who went over with him in his fecond Voyage had found 
no fuch Matter, had not been able to colled; any great 
Quantities of Gold, or to make vaft Fortunes at once, 
as they had promifed themfelves. It is very remarkable 
that when their Catholic Majefties applied to the Pope - 
for his Grant of thefe Lands which were already difco- 
vered, and of thofe that by the Skill and Induftry of the 
Admiral, and fuch as profecuted his Defigns, fhould be 
difcovered, the principal Reafon affigned for the ob- 
taining this Grant, was the converting thefe Indian Nati-- 
ons to the Chriftian Faith, and thereby enlarging the 
Bounds of the Church. It was therefore altogether ab- 
furd and ridiculous to pretend, that becaufe there were 
not as many Gold Mines found as were expefted, or that 
thofe Mines were not fo rich as they at firft flattered 
themfelves they Were, this Difcovery fhould be either ne- 
gledled or defpifed, inafmuch as fuch a Behaviour was 
altogether inconfiftent with thofe high Profeffions of Zeal 
for the Chriftian Faith, from whence their Majefties had 
affumed the Title of Catholic. Yet, what was no lefs re- 
markable, the Perfon who was at the Head of the Admi- 
ral’s Enemies, was Father Boyl, the very firft Chriftian 
Prieft that, in Compliance with the Reafons offered to the 
Pope, their Catholic Majefties Had fent over to convert 
the Indians. This Man, with all his Pleat and Malice, 
could not deny, but there were People enough to be 
preached to, and that they were traftable enough in point 
of Religion his only Objedlion was, that it did not ap- 
pear that there was fo much Gold in the Country where 
he had been as he expedled j and this Objedtion wrought 
fo powerfully with many of the Spanijh Clergy, that from 
being great Promoters of this new Difcovery, and warm 
Admirers of this great Man who had made it, they be- 
gan now to treat the thing flightly, and to mifreprefent 
the Admiral as one who had not kept his Word. 
The wife Columbus forefaw all this in the Indies, which 
induced him to take the Meafures he did of putting the 
Indians under a Tribute, that he might fend over con- 
fiderable Quantities of Gold, that the Credit of this 
Difcovery might be kept up, and tpat he might be able 
to perfeA, for their Catholic Majefties Benefit and his 
own, that Defign in which hitherto he had beyond all 
reafonable Expedlation fucceeded. This exceffive and ill- 
timed Appetite for Gold produced all thofe Mifchiefs and 
Inconveniencies in the firft SpaniJIo Colonies to Which we 
have feen them expofed in the Courfe of this Section, and 
which there is no doubt the Admiral himfelf forefaw, at 
the fame time that he was fenfible he could not avoid 
them. It v/as to fet thefe things in a clear Light, to 
juftify his own Condudl, to prevent the new World'from 
being loft again as foon as it was found, and to fecure 
if poffible a Reward for his paft Labours, by obtaining, 
the Means of rendring them effeftual, that he came over 
to Spain •, wjiere we have feen how he v^as received, and 
what Difficulties he met with in procuring the Supplies 
that were neceffary for undertaking a third Voyage to 
the JVeft Indies, the Hiftory of which is to be the Subjedl 
of the next Sedlion, and which will contain Events ftill 
more curious, and more entertaining, than thofe which 
have been already related. 
SECTION IV, 
Third V oyage of Don Christoph er Columbus, to the Weft Indies, m which 
he faw the Contine?it of America, including the Troubles to which he was expofed^ 
and his being fe?n home in Irons. 
1 . Phs 
