HIS RECEPTION, AND PREPARATION FOR A SECOND EXPEDITION.
[Æt. 57; 1493]
Everybody who could hire a horse or a boat came from the surrounding
country to see the ship that had crossed the Atlantic. The Portuguese
nobly forgot the years in which Columbus had lived in Portugal and
talked their fellow-countrymen into untimely graves, and they gave him
as enthusiastic reception as an American town gives to a successful
pedestrian. Presently there came a letter from King John of Portugal,
inviting Columbus to come to his palace at Valparaiso, near Lisbon.
The crew of the _Niña_, having reached a Christian country where, by
the orders of the King, they were supplied with wine without limit and
without price, were perfectly contented to defer returning to their
families at Palos, and were, on the whole, rather anxious that their
commander should leave them for a few days. Columbus, much against his
will, felt compelled to accept the King’s invitation, and was kindly
received at Valparaiso.
Of course Columbus, when he described the results of his voyage, could
not deny himself the pleasure of reminding King John that he might have
had the glory of sending out the expedition. He told the King that he
was really sorry for him, and hoped it would be a lesson to him never
to refuse an offer made by a meritorious Genoese to find new continents
for him. King John expressed his pleasure at the success of Columbus,
but incidentally remarked that he presumed his seafaring friend was
aware that, by the provisions of an ancient treaty and a papal bull,
all the countries that Columbus had discovered undoubtedly belonged to
Portugal.
This conversation was not altogether satisfactory to Columbus, but he
would have been still more dissatisfied had he known the advice which
the King’s councillors gave him. They said there was not the least
doubt that the native Indians on board the _Niña_ had been stolen from
the Portuguese East Indies, and that Columbus ought to be immediately
killed. The King did not favor the death of Columbus, but suggested
that the truly honorable course to pursue would be to dismiss Columbus
in the respectful manner due to his gallant conduct, and to send
immediately a secret expedition to take possession of the countries
which he had discovered. In accordance with this decision, Columbus was
treated with great politeness, and returned to his ship, quite ignorant
of his narrow escape from death, and in excellent spirits with the
exception of a slight uneasiness as to the amount of truth that might
exist in the King’s remark about ancient treaties and papal bulls.
Sailing from the Tagus, he reached Palos in two days, and landed on the
15th of March.
The return of Columbus created immense surprise, and with the exception
of the wives of his sailors, who, having assumed that their husbands
never would return, had married again, everybody received him with
enthusiasm. The shops were closed, all the boys in the schools were
given a half-holiday, and the entire population flocked to the church
whither Columbus and his men betook themselves as soon as they landed,
to return thanks for their preservation. Columbus was no longer, in
public estimation, the tedious foreigner who ought to be sent out of
the country at any cost; he was one of the most remarkable men in
Spain, who deserved all sorts of honors. There were any number of men
who now recollected that they had always said he was a great man and
would certainly discover a first-class continent, and there were very
few persons in all Palos who were not confident that the encouragement
which they had given to Columbus had been one of the chief causes of
his success.
The King and Queen were at Barcelona, but the Admiral, having had all
the sea-voyaging that his system seemed to require, decided to go
to Barcelona by land instead of by water, and after writing to the
monarchs, announcing his arrival, he set out for Seville, to wait for
orders.
The same day on which Columbus landed, and about twelve hours later,
the _Pinta_ arrived. Pinzon had been driven by the storm which
separated him from the _Niña_ into Bayonne. Making up his mind that
Columbus was safely drowned, he wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella,
announcing that he had made remarkably valuable discoveries; that he
would hasten to Spain to report to them in person; and that he was
sorry to say that Columbus had found a watery grave. When he entered
the harbor of Palos, and saw the _Niña_ at anchor, he felt that life
was a hollow mockery. He went quietly to his own house, and wrote to
the monarchs a letter which, we may assume, differed somewhat in its
tone from the one he had written from Bayonne. The reply was extremely
cold, and forbade Pinzon to present himself at court.
The people of Palos, having already celebrated, to the utmost of
their power, the arrival of Columbus, were rather annoyed at Pinzon’s
appearance, and thought that on the whole it was an unwarrantable
liberty. That Pinzon was a really intelligent man is proved by the fact
that he hastened to die a few days after he had received the monarch’s
unpleasant letter. There was obviously nothing else left for him to do,
and he deserves credit for thus clearly perceiving his duty.
Columbus, soon after his arrival at Seville, received a flattering
letter from Ferdinand and Isabella, who thanked him for his services,
invited him to come to court, and mentioned that the sooner he could
fit out a new expedition the better it would be. Accompanied by six
Indians and a quantity of parrots, together with a collection of
stuffed animals and specimens of novel trees and late West Indian
designs in minerals, the Admiral proceeded to Barcelona, exciting
immense enthusiasm at every town on the road, and being mistaken by
the youth of Spain for some new kind of circus. On his arrival at
court, the monarchs received him in great state, and asked him to take
a chair and make himself at home; this being the first time within the
memory of man that they had ever asked any one to be seated.
As has been said, Columbus had greatly improved in point of reticence
after his discovery of the New World, but on this occasion he appears
to have relapsed into his old habits. At any rate, the lecture which
he proceeded to deliver was of such appalling length that when it was
finished the King and Queen both fell on their respective knees in
thankful prayer, and afterward ordered the _Te Deum_ to be sung.
There was a slight portion of truth in the remarks made by King John
of Portugal to Columbus concerning a papal bull assigning certain
countries to the Portuguese Crown. It was conceded by all Christian
nations of that period that the Pope owned in fee simple all the
heathen countries wheresoever situated. One of the Popes had assigned
to the Portuguese all those certain heathen lands situate, lying,
and being in the continent of Africa, together with all and singular
the heathen and other objects thereunto belonging or in any wise
appertaining. This was the bull to which King John referred. It is true
that it did not give him any right to lands and heathen in America, but
the Spanish monarchs thought it would be wise to obtain a bull formally
assigning America to them. They therefore wrote to Pope Alexander
VI., informing him that they had discovered a new continent full of
desirable heathen admirably fitted for conversion, and requesting a
formal grant thereof. At the same time, Columbus, in order to prove the
pious character of his expedition, ordered his six best Indians to be
baptized.
The Pope issued the desired bull, and, in order to avoid any objection
on the part of the Portuguese, divided the Atlantic by a meridian one
hundred miles west of the Azores, giving to the Portuguese all the
heathen lands which they might discover east of this meridian, and to
the Spaniards all that they might discover west of it. This was very
handsome on the part of the Pope, and showed that he was liberal and
open-handed.
The news of the return of Columbus filled every European monarch with
the conviction that the discovery of new continents was the only proper
occupation for a monarch of spirit, and with the determination to make
discoveries first and to call on the lawyers to find flaws in the
Pope’s bull afterward. It was therefore important that there should be
no delay in sending out a second Spanish expedition. Orders were issued
by the monarchs of Castile and Aragon, authorizing Columbus to buy,
hire, or seize any vessels that he might find in the ports of Andalusia
that were suited for exploring purposes, and to impress any officers or
sailors that might suit his fancy. For ships, provisions, stores, and
men thus seized fair prices were to be paid, and money was raised for
this purpose from all available sources, though no man seems to have
thought of the expedient of printing paper-money, and thus creating out
of nothing currency enough to defray the cost of a voyage to America,
and to move the West India gold and slave crops.
To assist Columbus and to conduct the business of exploration and
colonization, Archdeacon Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca was made a sort of
Secretary of Exploration and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and was
given very extensive powers. It may seem to us strange that a priest
should have received this appointment, but priests were as numerous in
Spain as Colonels now are in South Carolina, and probably all the men
who were not priests were either in jail or had volunteered to join
Columbus as sailors and gold-hunters. It was this able Archdeacon who
chiefly organized the second expedition of Columbus, and he engaged
twelve active priests well acquainted with the screw, the pulley, the
wheel, and the other theologico-mechanical powers, and commanded by
the Apostolic Vicar Rev. Bernardo Boyle, to convert the heathen as fast
as they should be discovered.
It would violate all precedent if the story of Columbus and the egg
were to be spared the readers of this volume. It is briefly as follows:
Soon after his return to Spain he dined with Cardinal de Mendoza, an
eminent clergyman with a talent for dinner. An objectionable young man
who was present, and who undoubtedly had taken more champagne than
was good for his fellow-diners, asked the Admiral if he did not think
that if he had not discovered the New World some one else would very
shortly have discovered it. He was unquestionably an impertinent young
man, but he was undoubtedly right in assuming that sooner or later
the Atlantic would have been crossed, even if Columbus had never been
born. Historians tell us that Columbus, in reply, asked the young man
if he could stand an egg on its little end; and when the young man,
after rudely inquiring what Columbus was giving him, was constrained
to admit that he could not perform the feat in question, the great
explorer simply flattened the little end of the egg by knocking it
against the table, and then easily made it stand upright. The whole
company instantly burst into tears, and exclaimed that Columbus was the
greatest and noblest of mankind.
If this trick of flattening an egg was really regarded as a brilliant
repartee, by which the impertinent young man ought to have been utterly
withered up, it gives us a melancholy view of the state of the art of
repartee among the Spaniards. The real facts of the case are probably
these: Cardinal De Mendoza, the dinner, and the impertinent young man
doubtless existed in the form and manner specified; and the impertinent
young man, in an advanced state of champagne, probably said something
insulting to the Admiral. The latter, disdaining to notice the affront
by words, and reluctant to cause any unpleasant scene at the Cardinal’s
dinner-table, merely threw an egg at the offender’s head, and pursued
his conversation with his host. Subsequent writers, determined to give
a profoundly scientific character to everything the Admiral did, built
up from this slight basis of fact the egg-balancing story. In point of
fact, any one can balance an egg on its little end by the exercise of
little care and patience, and it is rather more easy to do this with an
egg that has not been flattened than with one that has.
There is another contemporaneous story which is far more credible,
and requires no explanation. While Columbus was enjoying the honors
which were everywhere lavished upon him, and was on visiting terms
with the King and Queen, and dining with Cardinals and Aldermen and
Chambers of Commerce, the unhappy sailor who first saw land, but whose
promised reward was appropriated by Columbus, went to Africa and turned
Mahometan, in disgust at his treatment. Probably Columbus thought that,
in the circumstances, this was a delicate and considerate act, for
the sight of the man could hardly have given much satisfaction to the
Admiral who had pocketed the reward.
Meanwhile King John of Portugal was busy fitting out an expedition
ostensibly to explore the coast of Africa, but really to discover
transatlantic countries. He tried to induce the Pope to give him the
islands discovered by Columbus, and informed Ferdinand and Isabella
that he was advised by his counsel that, under the authority of the
early bull already referred to, any countries that might be discovered
south of a line drawn westward from the Canaries were, in the eye of
the law, a part of Africa, and as such would belong to Portugal. The
Spanish monarchs conducted the diplomatic dispute with him in the
ablest manner, sending to Portugal their most tedious ambassadors, and
thus prolonging the negotiations as long as possible.
Columbus, refusing all offers to lecture before the Spanish lyceums,
hurried forward his own expedition so as to sail before the Portuguese
fleet could be made ready. With the aid of Fonseca and the latter’s
two chief assistants, Francisco Pinelo and Juan de Soria, he collected
seventeen ships, their crews, and a large company of colonists, and all
the supplies and live-stock needed for planting an imposing colony.
There was no lack of volunteers. Every man who thirsted for adventure,
and every ruined nobleman who wanted to repair his broken fortunes,
was eager to accompany Columbus; and even the small-boys, excited
by a desire to scalp Indians, were anxious to run away and ship as
cabin-boys on board the fleet. No less than fifteen hundred persons
were either accepted as volunteers or accompanied the expedition as
stowaways, and among them was as fine and varied a collection of
scoundrels as had ever set sail from an alleged Christian country.
The expedition was not organized without several disputes between
Columbus and Fonseca. The latter complained that the Admiral wanted
too many servants, including footmen, coachmen, and other gaudy and
useless followers; while the Admiral, in his turn, insisted that the
Archdeacon could not be made to understand that footmen were absolutely
necessary to the work of exploration. The King, when appealed to,
always decided that Columbus was right; but it is doubtful if Fonseca’s
affection for the Admiral was thereby greatly increased. Finally all
was ready, and on the 25th of September, 1493, the second personally
conducted transatlantic expedition of Christopher Columbus set sail
from Cadiz.