CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE DISCOVERER OF

AMERICA.

HIS great and good man may be proposed as a model to all future discoverers. Brave, intelligent, patient, persevering, and humane, he appears to realize the ideal perfection of that character. His laurels, unlike those of his successors, were never stained with blood, and he appears to have been as anxious for the safety and well-being of those whom he conquered, as of his own people. Reciprocity of benefit seems to have been his constant aim, yet calumny sullied that reputation which it was so much for the interest of virtue to have continued spotless, and ignominious chains shackled those hands which seemed destined by nature to have borne a sceptre. "The hardships and disappointments suffered on occasion of the conquering of Jamaica, and his sovereign's ingratitude together (for Isabella was then dead)," says an acute and investigating writer, Mr. Bryan Edwards, in his history of the West Indies, "proved too mighty for his generous spirit, and he fell under them on his return to Spain; leaving, however, a name not to be extinguished but with that world whose boundaries he had enlarged."

Columbus thus addresses Ferdinand in a letter dated from Jamaica, 1504:

"Diego Mendez and the papers I sent by him will show your highness what rich mines of gold I have discovered at Veragua; and how I intended to have left my brother at the river Bela, if the judgments of heaven and the greatest misfortunes in the world had not prevented it. However, it is sufficient that your highness and your successors will have the glory and advantage of all, and that the full discovery and settlement are reserved for happier persons than the unfortunate Columbus. May God be so merciful to me as to

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.

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conduct Mendez to Spain! I doubt not but that he will convince you and my illustrious mistress that this will not only be a Castile and a Leon, but a discovery of a world of subjects, lands, and wealth, greater than man's unbounded fancy could ever comprehend, or avarice itself covet; but neither he, this paper, nor the tongue of mortal man can express the anguish and afflictions of my body and mind, nor the miseries and dangers of my son, brother, and friends."

"Alas! piety and justice have retired to their habitations above, and it is a crime to have undertaken and persevered too much. As my misery makes my life a burden to myself, so I fear the empty titles of Viceroy and Admiral render me obnoxious to the hatred of the Spanish nation. It is visible that all methods are taking to cut the thread that is breaking; for I am in my old age oppressed with insupportable pains of the gout, and am now languishing and expiring with that amongst savages, where I have neither medicines nor provisions for the body, priest nor sacrament for the soul.

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"O blessed Father of God, that compassionates the miserable and afflicted, why did not cruel Bovadilli kill me, when he robbed me and my brother of our dearly-purchased gold, and sent us to Spain in chains, without trial, crime, or shadow of misconduct? These chains are all the treasures I have, and they shall be buried with me, if I chance to have a coffin or a grave; for I would have the remembrance of so unjust an action perish with me, and, for the glory of the Spanish name, be utterly forgotten. Let it not bring a further injury on the Castilian name; nor let ages to come know, that there were wretches so vile in this, as to think of recommending themselves to your Majesty by destroying the unfortunate and the miserable Christopher Columbus, not for his crimes but for his services, in giving Spain a New World. As it was Heaven that inspired and conducted me to it, the heavens will weep for me, and show pity; let the earth, and

every soul in it that loves justice and mercy, weep for me; and oh, ye glorified saints of heaven, that know my innocence, and see my sufferings here, have mercy upon me! for though this present age is envious and obdurate, surely those that are to come will pity me, when they are told that Christopher Columbus, with his own fortune, at the hazard of his own life, his brother's life, and with little or no expense to the court of Spain, in ten years and in four voyages, rendered greater services than ever mortal man did to any prince or kingdom, yet was left to perish, without being charged with the least crime, in poverty and misery; all but his chains being taken from him: so that he who gave Spain another world, had neither safety in it, nor yet a cottage for himself and his wretched family. But should Heaven still persecute me, and seem displeased with what I have done, as if the discovery of this new may be fatal to the old world; and, as a punishment, bring my life to a period in this miserable place, yet do you, good angels!-you that succour the oppressed and innocent, bring this paper to my great mistress! She knows how much I have done, and will give credit to what I have suffered for her glory and service; and will be so just and pious as not to let the children of him that has brought to Spain such immense riches, and added to its dominions vast and unknown kingdoms and empires, want bread or subsist only upon alms. She (if she lives) will consider that cruelty and ingratitude will bring down the wrath of Heaven, so that the world I have discovered shall be the means of stirring up all mankind to revenge and rapine; and the Spanish nation will suffer hereafter for what envious, malicious, and ungrateful persons do now."

The whole letter is preserved in Mr. Edwards's inestimable work.

"The common proverb," says Thoret, in his life of this illustrious navigator, "which tells us, that those who promise mountains of gold make promises that can never be accom