inst which it would have been
odious for the Government to contend. The ignominious manner in which
Columbus had been treated created murmurs of astonishment at the Court
at Grenada, and a letter written by him on board reached the
noble-minded Isabella before the document sent home by Bobadilla. She
saw how grossly Columbus had been wronged and the royal authority
abused, and her heart was filled with mingled sympathy and indignation.

The Queen and Ferdinand instantly sent off to Cadiz, directing that the
prisoners should be set at liberty and treated with all distinction; and
they wrote a letter to Columbus, expressing their grief at what he had
suffered, and inviting him to Court. Conscious of his integrity, his
heart was cheered, and he anticipated an immediate restitution of all
his rights and dignities.

He appeared in Grenada, not as a disgraced man, but richly dressed, and
attended by a noble retinue. He was received with unqualified favour
and distinction, and as he beheld tears in the benign eyes of Isabella,
he threw himself on his knees, and for some time could not utter a word
for the violence of his tears and sobbing. Enabled to speak, he
defended himself fully; indeed, the imputations of his enemies had been
his best advocate.

Meantime the Pinzons and several other explorers had sailed forth,
chiefly in search of pearls and gold.

While we feel indignant at the treatment received by Columbus, we must
not forget the miseries of the helpless natives his discoveries had
brought within the power of so-called civilised Europeans.

The excellent Las Casas gives a vivid and faithful picture of the
tyranny exercised over the Indians by worthless Spaniards; wretches who
in their own country had been the vilest of the vile, but had in the New
World assumed the tone of grand cavaliers. Over much of their conduct
it is necessary to draw the veil. Their very pleasures were attended
with cruelty. At the least freak of ill humour they inflicted blows,
and lashes, and even death itself, on their helpless slaves.

Such were some of the evils which had sprung up under the rule of
Bobadilla. The wrongs of the natives reaching the benevolent heart of
Isabella, she urged that a new governor, Don Nicolas de Ovando, should
be sent out to supersede him, to inquire into the conduct of Columbus.
Ovando shortly afterwards sailed in command of one of the largest fleets
that had yet proceeded to the New World.

We