Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/489

463 TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS. 463 glorious purpose of introducing the blessings of chapter Christian civilization among the heathen. ^° She '- —. entertained a deep sense of the merits of Columbus, to whose serious and elevated character her own bore much resemblance ; although the enthusiasm, which distinguished each, was naturally tempered in hers with somewhat more of benignity and dis- cretion. But although the queen was willing to give the most effectual support to his great enterprise, the situation of the country w^as such as made delay in its immediate prosecution unavoidable. Large ex- pense was necessarily incurred for the actual main- tenance of the colony;^' tl^e exchequer was liberal- ly drained, moreover, by the Italian war, as well as by the profuse magnificence with which the nuptials of the royal family were now celebrating. It was, indeed, in the midst of the courtly revelries attend- ing the marriage of Prince John, that the admiral presented himself before the sovereigns at Burgos, after his second voyage. Such was the low condi- tion of the treasury from these causes, that Isabella was obliged to defray the cost of an outfit to the colony, at this time, from funds originally destined for the marriage of her daughter Isabella with the king of Portugal. ^^ 1" See the letters to Columbus, six million maravedies. Muuoz, dated May 14lh, 1493, August, Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 5, 1494, apud Navarrete, Coleccion sec. 33. de Viages, torn. ii. pp. 66, 154, et i- Idem, lib. 6, sec. 2. — Fernan- mult. ai. do Colon, Hist, del Almirante, cap. 11 The salaries alone, annually 64. — Herrera, Indias Occidcnlales, disbursed by the crown to persons lib. 3, cap. 1. resident in the colony, amounted to