Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/503

477 TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS. 477 ming up his narrative of the transaction, " which chapter I can bring against their Catholic Highnesses is, the unfitness of the agent whom they employed, equally malicious and ignorant. Had they sent out a suitable person, the admiral would have been highly gratified ; since he had more than once re- quested the appointment of some one with full powers of jurisdiction in an affair, where he felt some natural delicacy in moving, in consequence of his own brother having been originally involved in it." And, as to the vast magnitude of the powers intrusted to Bobadilla, he adds, " It can scarcely be wondered at, considering the manifold complaints against the admiral made to their High- nesses."^^ Although the king and queen determined with- out hesitation on the complete restoration of the admiral's honors, they thought it better to defer his reappointment to the government of the colony, until the present disturbances should be settled, and he might return there with personal safety and advantage. In the mean time, they resolved to send out a competent individual, and to support him with such a force as should overawe faction, and enable him to place the tranquillity of the island on a permanent basis. The person selected was Don Nicolas de Ovan- commission ^ to Ovando. do, comendador of Lares, of the military order of Alcantara. He was a man of acknowledged pru- dence and sagacity, temperate in his habits, and 31 Fernando Colon, Hist, del Almirante, cap. 86.