Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/497

471 TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS. 471 more concerned for the welfare of their own bodies, chapter than for the souls of their benighted flock. But VIII. others, imbued with a better spirit, wrought in the good work with disinterested zeal, and, if we may credit their accounts, with some efficacy. ^* In the same beneficent spirit, the royal letters she sends back the In- and ordinances urged over and over again the para- Jian slaves. mount obligation of the religious instruction of the natives, and of observing the utmost gentleness and humanity in all dealings with them. When, there- fore, the queen learned the arrival of two vessels from the Indies, with three hundred slaves on board, which the admiral had granted to the mutineers, she could not repress her indignation, but impa- tiently asked, " By what authority does Columbus isoo. 1 T c 1 • 1 11 Oil June 20. venture thus to dispose of my subjects : " She nstantly caused proclamation to be made in the southern provinces, that all who had Indian slaves in their possession, granted by the admiral, should forthwith provide for their return to their own country ; while the few, still held by the crown, were to be restored to freedom in like manner. ^^ After a long- and visible reluctance, the queen Authority to . ... Bobadiila. acquiesced in sending out a commissioner to inves- 24 "Among other things that fear of the admiral, and at the the holy fathers carried out," says same time so desirous to oblige Robles, " was a little organ and him, that they voluntarily became several bells, which greatly de- Christians!" Hist, del Almirante, lighted the simple people, so that cap. 84. from one to two thousand persons ^5 Herrera, Indias Occidentales, were baptized every day." (Vida lib. 4, cap. 7. — Navarrete, Colec- de Ximenez, p. 120.) cion de Viages, tom. ii. Doc. Dipl., I'erdinand Columbus remarks no. 134. with some naivete, that " the In- Las (Jasas observes, that " so dians were so obedient from their great was the queen's indignation