COLUMBUS IS CALLED TO MEET THE KING AND QUEEN-HIS MAGNIFICENT RECEPTION--NEGOTIATIONS WITH THEPOPE AND WITH THE KING OF PORTUGAL--SECONDEXPEDITION ORDERED--FONSECA--THE PREPARATIONS ATCADIZ.
The letter which Columbus sent from Lisbon to the king and queenwas everywhere published. It excited the enthusiasm first of Spain andthen of the world. This letter found in the earlier editions is now one of themost choice curiosities of libraries. Well it may be, for it is the first publicannouncement of the greatest event of modern history.
Ferdinand and Isabella directed him to wait upon them at once at court.
It happened that they were then residing at Barcelona, on the eastern coastof Spain, so that the journey required to fulfill their wishes carried himquite across the kingdom. It was a journey of triumph. The people cametogether in throngs to meet this peaceful conqueror who brought with himsuch amazing illustrations of his discovery.
The letter bearing instructions for him to proceed to Barcelona wasaddressed "To Don Christopher Columbus, our Admiral of the Ocean Sea,Viceroy and Governor of the islands discovered in the Indies." So far washe now raised above the rank of a poor adventurer, who had for sevenyears attended the court in its movements, seeking an opportunity toexplain his proposals.
As he approached Barcelona he was met by a large company of people,including many persons of rank. A little procession was formed of theparty of the Admiral. Six Indians of the islands who had survived thevoyage, led the way. They were painted according to their custom invarious colors, and ornamented with the fatal gold of their countries,which had given to the discovery such interest in the eyes of those wholooked on.
Columbus had brought ten Indians away with him, but one had died onthe voyage and he had left three sick at Palos. Those whom he brought toBarcelona, were baptized in presence of the king and queen.
After the Indians, were brought many curious objects which had comefrom the islands, such as stuffed birds and beasts and living paroquets,which perhaps spoke in the language of their own country, and rare plants,so different from those of Spain. Ornaments of gold were displayed, whichwould give the people some idea of the wealth of the islands. Last of allcame Columbus, elegantly mounted and surrounded by a brilliantcavalcade of young Spaniards. The crowd of wondering people pressedaround them. Balconies and windows were crowded with women lookingon. Even the roofs were crowded with spectators.
The king and queen awaited Columbus in a large hall, where they wereseated on a rich dais covered with gold brocade. It was in the palaceknown as the "Casa de la Deputacion" which the kings of Aragon madetheir residence when they were in Barcelona. A body of the mostdistinguished lords and ladies of Spain were in attendance. As Columbusentered the hall the king and queen arose. He fell on his knee that he mightkiss their hands but they bade him rise and then sit and give an account ofhis voyage.
Columbus spoke with dignity and simplicity which commandedrespect, while all listened with sympathy. He showed some of the treasureshe had brought, and spoke with certainty of the discoveries which hadbeen made, as only precursors of those yet to come. When his shortnarrative was ended, all the company knelt and united in chanting the "TeDeum," "We Praise Thee, O God." Las Casas, describing the joy and hopeof that occasion says, "it seems as if they had a foretaste of the joys ofparadise."It would seem as if those whose duty it is to prepare fit celebrations ofthe periods of the great discovery, could hardly do better than to produceon the twenty-fourth of April, 1893, a reproduction of the solemn pageantin which, in Barcelona, four centuries before, the Spanish courtcommemorated the great discovery.
From this time, for several weeks, a series of pageants and festivitiessurrounded him. At no other period of his life were such honors paid tohim. It was at one of the banquets, at which he was present, that theincident of the egg, so often told in connection with the great discovery, took place. A flippant courtier--of that large class of people who stay athome when great deeds are done, and afterwards depreciate the doers ofthem--had the impertinence to ask Columbus, if the adventure so muchpraised was not, after all, a very simple matter. He probably said "a shortvoyage of four or five weeks; was it anything more?" Columbus replied bygiving him an egg which was on the table, and asking him if he couldstand it on one end. He said he could not, and the other guests said thatthey could not. Columbus tapped it on the table so as to break the end ofthe shell, and the egg stood erect. "It is easy enough," he said, "when anyone has shown you how."It is well to remember, that if after years showed that the ruler of Spainwearied in his gratitude, Columbus was, at the time, welcomed with theenthusiasm which he deserved. From the very grains of gold brought homein this first triumph, the queen, Isabella, had the golden illuminationwrought of a most beautiful missal-book.
Distinguished artists decorated the book, and the portraits ofsovereigns then on the throne appear as the representations of King David,King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba and other royal personages. This bookshe gave afterwards to her grandson, Charles V, of whom it has been saidthat perhaps no man in modern times has done the world more harm.
This precious book, bearing on its gilded leaves the first fruits ofAmerica, is now preserved in the Royal Library at Madrid.
The time was not occupied merely in shows and banquets. There wasno difficulty now, about funds for a second expedition. Directions weregiven that it might be set forward as quickly as possible, and on animposing scale. For it was feared at court that King John of Portugal, thesuccessful rival of Spain, thus far, in maritime adventure, might anticipatefurther discovery. The sovereigns at once sent an embassy to the pope, notsimply to announce the discovery, but to obtain from him a decreeconfirming similar discoveries in the same direction. There was at leastone precedent for such action. A former pope had granted to Portugal allthe lands it might discover in Africa, south of Cape Bojador, and theSpanish crown had assented by treaty to this arrangement. Ferdinand andIsabella could now refer to this precedent, in asking for a grant to them of their discoveries on the western side of the Atlantic. The pope nowreigning was Alexander II. He had not long filled the papal chair. He wasan ambitious and prudent sovereign--a native of Spain--and, although hewould gladly have pleased the king of Portugal, he was quite unwilling todisplease the Spanish sovereigns. The Roman court received with respectthe request made to them. The pope expressed his joy at the hopes thrownout for the conversion of the heathen, which the Spanish sovereigns hadexpressed, as Columbus had always done. And so prompt were theSpanish requests, and so ready the pope's answer, that as early as May 3,1493, a papal bull was issued to meet the wishes of Spain.
This bull determined for Spain and for Portugal, that all discoveriesmade west of a meridian line one hundred leagues west of the Azoresshould belong to Spain. All discoveries east of that line should belong toPortugal. No reference was made to other maritime powers, and it does notseem to have been supposed that other states had any rights in suchmatters. The line thus arranged for the two nations was changed by theirown agreement, in 1494, for a north and south line three hundred and fiftyleagues west of the Cape de Verde Islands. The difference between the twolines was not supposed to be important.
The decision thus made was long respected. Under a mistakenimpression as to the longitude of the Philippine Islands in the East Indies,Spain has held those islands, under this line of division, ever since theirdiscovery by Magellan. She considered herself entitled to all the islandsand lands between the meridian thus drawn in the Atlantic and the similarmeridian one hundred and eighty degrees away, on exactly the other sideof the world.
Under the same line of division, Portugal held, for three centuries andmore, Brazil, which projects so far eastward into the Atlantic as to crossthis line of division.
Fearful, all the time, that neither the pope's decree, nor any diplomacywould prevent the king of Portugal from attempting to seize lands at thewest, the Spanish court pressed with eagerness arrangements for a secondexpedition. It was to be on a large and generous scale and to take out athousand men. For this was the first plan, though the number afterwards was increased to fifteen hundred. To give efficiency to all the measures ofcolonization, what we should call a new department of administration wasformed, and at the head of it was placed Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca.
Fonseca held this high and responsible position for thirty years. Heearly conceived a great dislike of Columbus, who, in some transactionsbefore this expedition sailed, appealed to the sovereigns to set aside adecision of Fonseca's, and succeeded. For all the period while he managedthe Indian affairs of Spain, Fonseca kept his own interests in sight moreclosely than those of Spain or of the colonists; and not Columbus only, butevery other official of Spain in the West Indies, had reason to regret theappointment.
The king of Portugal and the sovereigns of Spain began complicatedand suspicious negotiations with each other regarding the new discoveries.
Eventually, as has been said, they acceded to the pope's proposal anddecree. But, at first, distrusting each other, and concealing their realpurposes, in the worst style of the diplomacy of that time, they attemptedtreaties for the adjustment between themselves of the right to lands not yetdiscovered by either. Of these negotiations, the important result was thatwhich has been named,--the change of the meridian of division from thatproposed by the pope. It is curious now to see that the king of Portugalproposed a line of division, which would run east and west, so that Spainshould have the new territories north of the latitude of the Grand Canary,and Portugal all to the south.
In the midst of negotiation, the king and queen and Columbus knewthat whoever was first on the ground of discovery would have the greatadvantage. There was a rumor in Spain that Portugal had already sent outvessels to the west. Everything was pressed with alacrity at Cadiz. Theexpedition was to be under Columbus's absolute command. Seamen ofreputation were engaged to serve under him. Seventeen vessels were totake out a colony. Horses as well as cattle and other domestic animalswere provided. Seeds and plants of different kinds were sent out, and tothis first colonization by Spain, America owes the sugar-cane, and perhapssome other of her tropical productions.
Columbus remained in Barcelona until the twenty-third of May. But before that time, the important orders for the expedition had been given.
He then went to Cadiz himself, and gave his personal attention to thepreparations. Applications were eagerly pressed, from all quarters, forpermission to go. Young men of high family were eager to try the greatadventure. It was necessary to enlarge the number from that at firstproposed. The increase of expense, ordered as the plans enlarged, did notplease Fonseca. To quarrels between him and Columbus at this time havebeen referred the persecutions which Columbus afterwards suffered. Inthis case the king sustained Columbus in all his requisitions, and Fonsecawas obliged to answer them.
So rapidly were all these preparations made, that, in a little more thana year from the sailing of the first expedition, the second, on a scale somuch larger, was ready for sea.