of all nations, AMERICA is the name bestowed on this new quarter of the globe. The bold pretensions of the fortunate impostor have robbed the discoverer of the New World of a distinction which belonged to him. The name of Amerigo has supplanted that of Columbus; and mankind may regret an act of injustice which, having received the sanction of time, it is now too late to redress.

While the Spaniards and Portuguese, by successive voyages, were daily acquiring more enlarged ideas of the extent and opulence of that part of the globe which Columbus had made known to them, he himself was struggling with every distress in which the envy and malevolence of the people under his command, or the ingratitude of the court that he served, could involve him. A commission was at length appointed to repair to Hispaniola to inquire into the conduct of Columbus. By such a court it was impossible that this great man should escape. He underwent a mock trial, was condemned, and sent home loaded with chains. Conscious of his own inte

A. D.

1500.

grity, he endured the insult with composure and dignity. The voyage to Spain was extremely short. When he entered the royal presence, Columbus threw himself at the feet of his sovereigns. For some time he remained silent; the various passions that agitated his mind suppressing his power of utterance. At length he recovered himself, and vindicated his conduct in a long discourse, producing satisfactory proofs of his own integrity and honour. Ferdinand received him with decent civility, and Isabella with tenderness and respect. They both expressed their sorrow for what had happened, disavowed their knowledge of it, and joined in promising him protection and future favour. But

3

though

though they disgraced his accuser and judge, yet they did not restore Columbus his jurisdiction and privileges as viceroy of those countries which he had discovered. They were afraid to trust a man to whom they had been so highly indebted; and retaining him at court under various pretexts, they appointed Nicholas de Ovando governor of Hispaniola. Columbus was deeply affected with this new injury, and could no longer conceal the sentiments which it excited. Wherever he went he carried about with him, as a memorial of the ingratitude which he experienced, those fetters with which he had been loaded. They were constantly hung up in his chamber, and he gave orders that when he died they should be buried in his grave.

Notwithstanding the treatment which Columbus had experienced, still the spirit of discovery was not abated; several private persons fitted out ships for this purpose: and in order to limit exorbitant gain which individuals were supposed to make by working the mines, an ordinance was published, directing all the gold to be brought to a public smelting-house, and declaring one half of it to be the property of the crown.

While these steps were taking for seA. D. curing to the government the advantages to 1502. be gained from the discovery of the New

World, Columbus demanded, in terms of the original capitulation, to be reinstated in his office of Viceroy over the countries which he had found out. The circumstance, however, which he urged in support of his claim, determined a jealous monarch to reject it. The greatness of his discoveries, and the prospect of their increasing value, made Ferdinand consider the concessions in the capitulation as extravagant and impolitic. He inspired Isabella

VOL. XXIV.

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with the same views: they eluded all Columbus's requisitions; and after attending the court of Spain for nearly two years, as an humble suitor, he found it impossible to obtain justice from an interested and unfeeling prince. Soon after he applied for ships and men, in order that he might attempt a discovery of the East Indies by a new passage. This was a favourite project of the Spaniards; Ferdinand warmly approved the undertaking, but would allow him only four vessels, the largest of which did not exceed 70 tons burthen. He sailed from Cadiz on the 9th of May; but finding his largest vessel clumsy and unfit for ser1502. vice, he bore away for Hispaniola, in hopes of exchanging her for some other that had carried out his successor. When he arrived off St. Domingo, he found eighteen ships ready loaded and on the point of departing for Spain. Columbus acquainted the governor with the destination of his voyage, and the accident which had obliged him to alter his route. He requested permission to enter the harbour, not only that he might negotiate the exchange of his ship, but that he might take shelter during a violent hurricane, of which he discerned the approach by various prognostics. On that account he advised him likewise to put off for some days the departure of the fleet bound for Spain. But Ovando refused his request, and despised his counsel. Thus was Columbus denied admittance into a country of which he had discovered the existence and acquired the possession. His salutary warning was regarded as the dream of a visionary prophet, who arrogantly pretended to predict an event beyond the reach of human foresight. The fleet set sail for Spain. Next night the hurricane came on with dreadful impetuosity. Columbus, fully apprised

of

of the danger, took precautions against it, and saved his little squadron. The fleet destined for Spain met with the fate which the rashness and obstinacy of its commanders deserved. Of eighteen ships two or three only survived. In this general wreck perished the greater part of those who had been the most active in persecuting Columbus and oppressing the Indians; and together with themselves, all the wealth which they had acquired by their injustice and cruelty. It exceeded in value fifty thousand pounds; an immense sum at that period, and sufficient not only to have screened them from any severe scrutiny into their conduct, but to have secured them a gracious reception in the Spanish court. Among the ships that escaped, one had on board all the effects of Columbus, which had been recovered from the ruins of his fortune. Thus did Providence avenge the wrongs of an innocent man, and punish the oppressors of an innocent people. Many of the ignorant and superstitious, on this occasion, believed that Columbus was possessed of supernatural powers, and imagined that he had conjured up this dreadful storm by magic, in order to be avenged of his enemies.

Columbus soon left Hispaniola; and after a tedious voyage he discovered Guanaia, an island not far distant from the coast of Honduras. He then bore away for the east, towards the Gulf of Darien, and explored all the coast of the continent from Cape. Gracias a Dios to a harbour which, on account of its beauty and security, he called Porto Bello. Here he resolved to plant a small colony, under the command of his brother. But the ungovernable spirit of the people under his command deprived Columbus of the glory of planting the first colony on the continent of America. Their insolence and rapacity

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rapacity provoked the natives to take arms against them. This repulse was followed by a series of other disasters. One of his ships perished; he was obliged to abandon another; and with the two that remained he again bore away for Hispaniola: but it was with the utmost difficulty they reached Jamaica, where he was obliged to run them aground to prevent them from sinking. The measure of his calamities seemed now to be full: his ships were ruined beyond the possibility of repair, and, of course, he had no means of making his situation known to his countrymen at Hispaniola. At length he obtained two canoes from the natives, and Mendez a Spaniard, and Fieschi a Genoese, offered to set out for that island, upon a voyage of above thirty leagues. This they accomplished in ten days, after surmounting incredible dangers, and enduring such fatigue, that several of the Indians who accompanied them sunk under it and died. Eight months did these gallant men spend in seeking assistance from the Spanish commander in vain. The situation of Columbus was now the most alarming: his men mutinied, and threatened him, as the cause of their misfortunes, with death: the natives brought them in provisions with reluctance, and menaced "to withdraw those supplies altogether. Such a resolution must have been quickly fatal to the Spaniards. Their safety depended upon the good-will of the Indians; and unless they could revive the admiration and reverence with which that simple people had at first beheld them, destruction was unavoidable. Columbus, by a happy artifice, not only restored but heightened the high opinion which the Indians had originally entertained of them. By his skill in astronomy he knew there was shortly to be a total eclipse of the moon. assembled

He