A RETURN IN DISGRACE
What a discouraging state of affairs to greet the returning "Governor-
General and Viceroy of all the Lands Discovered in the Western Seas!"
What comfort were all these titles that Columbus stood out for so
obstinately, when half his colonists had joined a rebel leader and the
other half were sick and hungry!
By this time Roldan's army was so large that Christopher and his brother
had to admit to each other that there was no chance of subduing the
insurrection by force. In truth, there was no "force"; for those who
were not ill, even the newcomers, were all grumbling against the
government. So there was nothing to do but make a treaty with the rebel
leader, as if he had been the lawful ruler of a state; and in this
treaty he had everything his own way. Columbus had humbly to agree to
give two vessels to carry the discontented ones back to Spain; to fill
these vessels with ample provisions, and to agree to write a letter to
the monarchs stating that Roldan and his men were in no way to blame for
the trouble. Here was humiliation indeed! Fancy a high official of the
Crown being forced to such an undignified treaty with one who had
rebelled against his authority!
But even this did not end the trouble. Columbus could not get the
vessels ready in time, and so the malefactors became more vexatious than
ever. Later another treaty was made, still more humiliating to the
Admiral, for he had to promise, first, that those of Roldan's men who
were most anxious to return should be sent to Spain immediately; second,
that those who chose to remain should receive gifts of land and houses;
third, that he, Columbus, would issue a public proclamation stating that
all that had happened had been caused by the false reports of bad men;
and fourth, that Roldan the leader should remain chief-justice for the
rest of his life! Roldan now condescended to return to San Domingo and
sit in the judge's seat.
No sooner was this turbulent leader appeased than another rebel arose.
This time, sad to say, it was the brave Alonzo de Ojeda. Because he had
succeeded in taking the chief Caonabo prisoner, Columbus had rewarded
and honored him by making him captain of a voyage of discovery among the
islands. All this time, no doubt, Ojeda was loyal to his Admiral; but he
had recently made a trip home to Spain, where, from his friend Bishop
Fonseca, he had learned many things, false as well as true, that
poisoned his mind against his great leader. So he in turn gathered the
discontented into a threatening band.
"I have word from Spain," he told them, "that our good queen lies dying.
She is the only friend Cristobal Colon has; and you may be sure that the
minute she is dead I can easily arrange to have her favorite removed if
you will all rally around me." Many, of course, lent ear to his
treacherous talk, and these had many a skirmish with the few who were
faithful to Columbus.
Ojeda, besides sneering at and opposing the Admiral's authority, wrote
letters back to Fonseca telling him all sorts of unfavorable things
concerning Columbus and his brothers. All the rebels, in truth, were
sending back complaints, for the old and the new world sent little
packet ships monthly. What they did not write was told in Spain by those
of Roldan's men whom Columbus had sent home. Some indeed went straight
to the king himself with their stories, with the result that the queen
had to agree with her husband, who had never been much interested in
Columbus and his savages, that the whole matter must be thoroughly
investigated.
Yet, even after consenting to court-martial Columbus, as it were, the
queen delayed the proceeding as long as possible, as if trying to give
her viceroy time to straighten out his situation. But sad tales of
misrule still kept coming from Espanola, and finally, after more than a
year of waiting, the monarchs sent out Don Francisco de Bobadilla (Boba-
deel'ya) with a letter that began:--
* * * * *
Don Cristobal Colon, our Admiral of the Ocean:
We have ordered the Comendador Francisco de Bobadilla, the bearer of
this, that he speak to you on our part certain things which he will tell
you. We pray you give him faith and credence, and act accordingly.
* * * * *
Christopher, however, was not permitted to give the royal commissioner
faith and credence, for the simple reason that Bobadilla did not show
him the letter. We have already read of the high-handed manner in which
Juan de Agnado acted some years before when sent out to investigate;
but, by comparison with Bobadilla, Agnado had been gentleness itself.
Bobadilla was a stern and rigorous churchman, comendador, or commander,
of one of the famous religious-military orders in Spain. He could
tolerate nothing short of the strictest and most unquestioning obedience
to authority. He also had a great respect for high birth, and he, like
Bishop Fonseca, could never forget that Christopher Columbus was of
humble origin. Both Fonseca and Bobadilla would have been astounded had
they dreamed that their principal claim to remembrance by coming ages
would be from their reluctant association with a certain illustrious man
"of humble origin."
It was on August 23, 1499, that Bobadilla's ship entered the mouth of
the little river on which San Domingo was situated; and on seeing on
either side of the settlement a gallows, and on either gallows the body
of a high-born Spaniard lately executed for rebellion, the sight did not
incline him to feel kindly toward the low-born governor who had executed
them. Columbus and his brother Bartholomew were in the interior at the
time, and Bobadilla had no intention of awaiting their return, so eager
was he to show his power.
Next morning, when all the colony had gathered in church for mass, he
read them the royal letter authorizing him to inquire into the
administration of the Viceroy. The letter stated that their Majesties
empowered Bobadilla to seize evil-doers and their property, and that the
Admiral and all others in authority must aid him in doing so.
Columbus had left his brother Diego in charge of the colony; and Diego,
though weak as a ruler, was strong in words when Bobadilla ordered him
to hand over the remainder of the rebels for trial, together with
evidence against them. Diego replied that the prisoners were held by
order of the viceroy, and that the viceroy's authority was higher than
the comendador's. Such an answer was not likely to mollify the royal
commissioner.
The next morning after mass he opened a second letter and read it to the
colonists, a letter which the monarchs told him to open only in case
Columbus refused to submit to him. This document proclaimed the bearer,
Don Francisco Bobadilla, governor of all the islands. He immediately
took the oath of office, and then opened and read to the astonished
populace a third royal letter in which Christopher Columbus was
commanded to hand over all papers and property belonging to the Crown.
The discontented colonists saw that the day of reckoning had come for
their unpopular governor. They exulted in it; and Bobadilla, who
realized the satisfactory impression he was making, then and there
opened a fourth letter which commanded that he, Bobadilla, should
straightway pay all arrears of wages to the men who had worked on San
Domingo. As nearly all the men had gone unpaid for a long time past
(owing to utter lack of funds), when they heard this last proclamation,
they hailed Bobadilla as a benefactor, and his narrow, mean soul swelled
with pride.
To be sure, the monarchs really had issued all these letters; but
Bobadilla was to read and act upon the second and third letters only in
case Columbus refused to obey the first; and here, without giving
Columbus any opportunity to speak for himself, Bobadilla had gone to the
extreme limit of his powers. It makes one recall Shakespeare's lines
about
"Man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority....
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep."
By the end of the second day the new governor had seized the Admiral's
house. Next he sent a search party to find the two brothers and bid them
return. This Christopher and Bartholomew did at once; and Bobadilla,
whose noble birth had not given him a noble soul, treated the grumblers
and talebearers of San Domingo to the shameful sight of the Discoverer
of the New World marching in chains to prison!
While Columbus had not been a successful ruler, it must be borne in mind
that the men he was expected to rule were a most ungovernable lot. But
even so, it is difficult to believe that among them all there was not
one big enough to forget that the man who had been an unsatisfactory
colonial governor had been the bravest explorer ever known. But no, they
were pitiless. His own cook was ordered to fasten the chains on him. The
onlookers exulted in his disgrace; and their outcries were so loud and
so bitter that Columbus and his brothers expected every moment to be put
to death.
Bobadilla lost no time in deciding what to do with his prisoners. They
must be put out of the way, but not by death. Instead, he ordered a
nobleman named Villejo to take them at once to Spain. When Villejo, with
some soldiers, entered the cell in order to remove the prisoners to the
ship, Columbus thought he was to be escorted to the scaffold. "I see I
am to die," he said calmly. Villejo, who seems to have been the only man
in San Domingo with an ounce of humanity in him, answered kindly, "I am
to escort you to a ship, Your Excellency, and then home to Spain."
As they marched to the shore, a rabble followed, shouting every insult
imaginable. And thus did Christopher Columbus sail away, for the third
time, from the island which he had found so quiet and peaceful that he
once wrote, "The nights are lovely, like May nights in Cordova." Here
was a change indeed!
When the caravel was under way, Villejo offered to remove the Admiral's
shackles.
"No," answered Columbus, with dignity, "their Majesties gave Bobadilla
authority to put me in irons; they alone must issue the authority to
take the irons off."
And so in irons the greatest discoverer the world has ever known made
his sixth crossing of the Atlantic. And in irons he landed in Cadiz in
November, 1500.