Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

which he expected to acquire in his expedition; obtained from Ferdinand and Isabella a full flipulation of every article contained in his firft propofals.

28. He was conftituted high Admiral and Viceroy of all the Seas, Islands and Continents which he should discover, with power to receive one tenth of the profits arifing from their productions and commerce. These offices and emoluments were to be hereditary in his family.

29. Thefe articles being adjufted, the preparations for the voyage were brought forward with rapidity, but they were by no means adequate to the importance of the expedition. Three fmall veffels, fcarcely fufficient in fize to be employed in the coafting bufinefs, were appointed to traverfe the vaft Atlantic; and to encounter the forms and currents that might be expected in fo lengthy a voyage, through diftant and unknown feas

30. Thefe veffels as might be expected, in the infancy of navigation, were ill conftructed, in a poor condition, and manned by feamen unaccustomed to diftant voyages. But the te dious length of time which Columbus had spent in folicitation and fufpenfe, and the prospect of being able foon to obtain the object of his wishes, induced him to overlook what he could not eafily remedy, and led him to difregard those circumstan. ces which would have intimidated any other mind.

31. He accordingly equipped his fmall fquadron with as much expedition as poffible, manned with ninety men, and victualled for one year. With these on the third of Auguft, 1492, amidst a vast croud of anxious fpectators, he fet fail on an enterprife, which, if we confider the ill condition of his ships, the inexperience of his failors, the length and uncertainty of his voyage, and the confequences that flowed from it, was the moft daring and important that ever was undertaken.

32. He touched at fome of the Portuguese fettlements in the Canary Isles, where although he had but a few days run, he found his veffels needed refitting. He foon made the neceffary repairs, and took his departure from the westernmost ifands that had been hitherto difcovered. Here he left the former track of navigation, and fteered his courfe due weft.

33. Not many day after he had been at fea, he began to experience a new fcene of difficulty. The failors now began to comtemplate the dangers and uncertain iffue of a voyage, the nature and length of which was left entirely to conjecture. 34. Besides ficklenefs and timidity, natural to men unac

K

customed to the difcipline of a feafaring life, feveral circum ftances contributed to infpire an obftinate and mutinous difpofition which required the moft confummate art as well as fortitude in the admiral to control.

35. Having been three weeks at sea, and experienced the uniform courfe of the trade winds, which always blow in a western direction, they contended, that should they continue the fame courfe for a longer period, the same wind would nev permit them to return to Spain.

36. The magnetic needle began to vary its direction. This being the first time that phenomenon was every discovered, it, was viewed by the failors with aftonishment, and confidered as an indication that nature itself had changed her course, and that providence was determined to punished their audacity, in venturing fo far beyond the ordinary bounds of man.

37. They declared that the commands of their fovereign had been fully obeyed, in their proceeding fo many days in the fame direction, and fo far furpaffing the attempts of all former navigators, in queft of new difcoveries. Every talent, requifit for governing, foothing and tempering the paffions of men, is confpicuous in the conduct of Columbus on this occafion.

38. The dignity and affability of his manners, his furprifing knowledge and experience in naval affairs, his unwearied and minute attention to the duties of his command, gave him a complete afcendency over the minds of his men, and infpired that degree of confidence which would have maintained his authority in almoft any poffible circumftances.

39. But here, from the nature of the undertaking, every man had leifure to feed his imagination with all the gloominefs and uncertainty of the profpect. They found, every day, that the fame fteady gales carried them with great rapidity from their native country, and indeed from all countries of which they had any knowlegde.

40. Notwithstanding all the variety of management with which Columbus addreffed himself to their paffions, fometimes by foothing them with the prognostics of difcovering land; fome times by flattering their ambition and feafting their avarice with the glory and wealth they would acquire from discover ing those rich countries beyond the Atlantic, and fometimes by threatening them with the difplesfure of their fovereign, fhould timidity and disobedience defeat fo great an object, their uncafinefs ftill increased.

41. From fecret whifpering it arofe to open mutiny and

dangerous confpiracy. At length they'determined to rid themfelves of the remonftrances of Columbus, by throwing him into the fea. The infection fpread from ship to ship, and involved officers as well as common failors.

42. They finally loft all fenfe of fubordination, and addreffed their commander in an infolent manner, demanding to be conducted immediately back to Spain; or, they affured him, they would feel their own fafety by taking away his life. Co. lumbus, whofe fegacity and penetration had difcovered every fymptom of the diforder, was prepared for the laft ftage of it, and was fufficiently apprifed of the danger that awaited him. He found it in vain to contend with paffions he could no longer contrel.

43. He therefore propofed that they fhould obey his orders for three days longer; and fhould they not difcover land in that time, he would then direct his courfe for Spain.

44. They complied with his propofa!; and, happily for mankind, in three days discovered land. This was a small. iland to which Columbus gave the name of San Salvador. Their first interview with the natives was a scene of amufement and compaffion on the one part, and of astonishment and adoration on the other.

45. The natives were entirely naked, fimple and timorous; and they viewed the Spaniards as a fuperior order of beings," defcended from the fun, which in that ifland, and in most parts of America, was worshipped as a deity. By this it was cafy for Columbus to preceive the line of conduct proper to be ob ferved toward that fimple and inoffenfive people..

46. Had his companions and fucceffors, of the Spanish na. tion, poffeffed the wifdom and humanity of that difcoverer, the benevolent mind would feel no fenfations of regret, in con templating the extenfive advantages arifing to mankind from the difcovery of America.

47. In this voyage Columbus difcovered the islands of Cuba and Hifpaniola on the latter of which he erected a finall fort; and having left a garrifon of thirty-eight men, under the command of an officer by the name of Arada, he fet fail for Spain. Returning acrofs the Atlantic, he was overtaken by a violent form which lafted feveral days, and increased to fuch a degree as baffled all his naval fkill, and threatened immediate deftru&tion.

48. In this fituation, when all were in a state of despair, and it was expected that every fea would swallow пр the crazy vef

fel, he manifected a ferenity and presence of mind perhaps ne ver equalled in cafes of like extremity. He wrote a fhort ac count of his voyage, and of the discoveries he had made, wrap. ped it in an oiled cloth, enclosed it in a cake of wax, put it in an empty cafk, and threw it overboard; in hopes that fome accident might preferve a depolit of fo much importance to

the world.

49. The ftorm however abated, and he at length arrived in Spain; after having been drived, by stress of weather, into the port of Lisbon, where he had an opportunity, in an inter view with the King of Portugal, to prove the truth of his fyf tem, by arguments more convincing than thofe he had before advanced in the character of an humble and unfuccefstul fuitor.

50. He was received every where in Spain with royal honors; his family was ennobled, and his former ftipulation, refpecting his offices and emoluments, was ratified in the most folemn manner, by Ferdinand and Isabella; while all Europe refounded his praifes and reciprocated their joy and congratu lations on the discovery of a new world.

51. The immediate confequence of this was a fecond voyage; in which Columbus took charge of a fquadron of feventeen fhips of confiderable burthen. Volunteers of all ranks and con ditions folicited to be employed in this expedition.-He carri ed over 1500 perfons together with all the neceffaries for estab lishing a colony, and extending the discoveries.

52. In this voyage he explored most of the Weft-India illands; but on his arrival at Hifpaniola, he found the garrifon he had left there had been totally destroyed by the natives, and the fort demolished. He however proceeded in the planting of his colony; and by his prudent and humane conduct tow. ards the natives, he effectually established the Spanish authority in that island.

53. But while he was thus laying the foundation of their future grandeur in South.America, fome difcontented perfons, who had returned from the colony to Spain, together with his former enemies in that kingdom, confpired to accomplish his ruin.

54. They reprefented his conduct in fuch a light at court, as to create uneafinefs and diftruft in the jealous mind of Ferdinand, and made it neceffary for Columbus again to return to Spain, in order to counteract their machinations and to ob tain fuch further fupplies as were necessary to his great politic el and benevolent purposes.

[ocr errors]

55. On his arrival at court, and ftating with his ufual digni ty and confidence the whole hiftory of his tranfaction abroad, every thing wore a favourable appearance. He was received with ufual honors, and again folicited to take charge of ano. ther fquadron, to carry out further fupplies, to purfue his difcov eries, and in every refpect to ufe his difcretion in extending the Spanish empire in the new world. In this his third voyage he difcovered America, at the mouth of the river Oronoke.

56. He rectified many disorders in his government of Hif paniola, which had happened in his abfence; and every thing was going on in a profperous train, when an event was announced to him, which completed his own ruin, and gave a fa tal turn to the Spanish policy and conduct in America.-This was the arrival of Francis de Bovadilla, with a commiffion to fupercede Columbus in his government; and with power to arraign him as a criminal, and to judge of his former adminiftra

tion.

57. It feems that by this time the enemies of Columbus, defpairing to complete his overthrow by groundlefs infinuations of mifconduct, had taken the more effectual method of exciting the jealoufy of their fovereigns.

58. From the promifing famples of gold and other valuable commodities brought from America, they took occafion to reprefent to the king and queen, that the prodigious wealth and extent of the countries he had difcovered, would foon throw fuch power into the hands of the Viceroy, that he would trample on the royal authority, and bid defiance to the Spanish power.

59. Thefe arguments were well calculated for the cold and fufpicious temper of Ferdinand, and they must have had fome effect upon the miad of Ifabella. The confequence was the appointment of Bovadilla, who had been the inveterate enemy of Columbus, to take the government from his hands.This firft ty rant of the Spanish nation in America, began his administration by ordering Columbus to be put in chains on board a fhip, and fending him prifoner to Spain.

60. By relaxing all difcipline, he introduced diforder and licentioufnels throughout the colony. He fubjected the na tives to a moft miferable servitude, and apportioned them out in large numbers among his adherents. Under this fevere treatment perished in a fhort time many thousands of those innocent people,

« AnteriorContinuar »