Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/499

473 TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS. 473 ostentatious parade of his credentials, he command- chapter ed the admiral to appear before him, and, without ' affecting the forms of a legal inquiry, at once caused i ^ ^ ^. O to M ^ ' Aug. 23. him to be manacled, and thrown into prison. Co- lumbus submitted without the least show of resist- ance, displaying in this sad reverse that magnanim- ity of soul, which would have touched the heart of a generous adversary. Bobadilla, however, dis- covered no such sensibility ; and, after raking to- gether all the foul or frivolous calumnies, which hatred or the hope of favor could extort, he caused the whole loathsome mass of accusation to be sent back to Spain with the admiral, whom he com- manded to be kept strictly in irons during the pas- sage ; " afraid," says Ferdinand Columbus bitterly, " lest he might by any chance swim back again to the island." 2' This excess of malice served, as usual, however, to defeat itself. So enormous an outrage shocked the minds of those most prejudiced against Colum- bus. All seemed to feel it as a national dishonor, that such indignities should be heaped on the man, who, whatever might be his indiscretions, had done so much for Spain, and for the whole civilized world ; a man, who, in the honest language of an old writer, " had he lived in the days of ancient Greece or Rome, would have had statues raised, ^ Fernando Colon, Hist, del Al- las Indias, cap. 23. — Herrera, In- mirante, cap. 86. — Garibay, Cora- dias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 10. — pendio, torn. ii. lib. 19, cap. 7. — Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, cap. 12. dec. 1, lib. 7. — Gomara, Hist, de VOL. II. 60