Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/492

466 466 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. PART II Mutiny in (he colony. illustrious vojager, whose career, forming the most brilliant episode to the history of the present reign, has been so recently traced by a hand which few will care to follow. It will suffice briefly to notice his personal relations with the Spanish government, and the principles on which the colonial administra- tion was conducted. On his arrival at Hispaniola, Columbus found the affairs of the colony in the most deplorable confu- sion. An insurrection had been raised by the arts of a few factious individuals against his brother Bartholomew, to whom he had intrusted the gov- ernment during his absence. In this desperate re- bellion, all the interests of the community were neglected. The mines, which were just beginning to yield a golden harvest, remained unwrought. The unfortunate natives were subjected to the most inhuman oppression. There was no law but that of the strongest. Columbus, on his arrival, in vain endeavoured to restore order. The ery crews he brought with him, who had been unfortunately reprieved from the gibbet in their own country, served to swell the mass of mutiny. The admiral exhausted art, negotiation, entreaty, force, and suc- ceeded at length in patching up a specious recon- ciliation by such concessions as essentially impaired his own authority. Among these was the grant of large tracts of land to the rebels, with permission to the proprietor to employ an allotted number of the p. 215. — Benzoni, Novi Orbis 3, cap. 10, 11. — Mufioz, Hist, del Hist., lib. 1, cap. 10, 11. — Herre- Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 6, sec. 19. ra, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1 lib.