Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/498

472 ■m PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. PART II Outrage on Columbus. tigate the affairs of the colony. The person ap- - — pointed to this delicate trust, was Don Francisco de Bobadilla, a poor knight of Calatrava. He was in- vested with supreme powers of civil and criminal jurisdiction. He was to bring to trial and pass sentence on all such as had conspired against the authority of Columbus. He was authorized to take possession of the fortresses, vessels, public stores, and property of every description, to dispose of all offices, and to command whatever persons he might deem expedient for the tranquillity of the island, without distinction of rank, to return to Spain, and present themselves before the sovereigns. Such, in brief, was the sum of the extraordinary powers intrusted to Bobadilla. ^^ It is impossible now to determine what motives could have led to the selection of so incompetent an agent, for an office of such high responsibility. He seems to have been a weak and arrogant man, swelled up with unmeasurable insolence by the brief authority thus undeservedly bestowed on him. From the very first, he regarded Columbus in the light of a convicted criminal, on whom it was his business to execute the sentence of the law. Ac- cordingly, on his arrival at the island, after an at the admiral's misconduct in this particular, that nothing but the consideration of his great pubHc services saved him from imme- diate disgrace." Qi^uvres, ed. de Llorentc, tom. i. p. 306. ^ Navarrete, Coleccion de Via- ges, lom. ii. Doc. Dipl. nos. 127- 130. The original commission to Bobadilla was dated March 21st, and May 21st, 1499; the execution of it, however, was delayed until July, 1500, in the hope, doubtless, of obtaining such tidings from His- paniola as should obviate the neces- sity of a measure so prejudicial to the admiral.