Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/512

486 CHAPTER IX. SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY. Careful Provision for the Colonies. — License for Private Voyages. — Important Papal Concessions. — The Queen's Zeal for Conversion. — Immediate Profits from the Discoveries. — Their moral Consequences. — Their geographical Extent. PART II. C areful pro- vision for the colonies. A CONSIDERATION of the colonial policy pursued during Isabella's lifetime has been hitherto defer- red to avoid breaking the narrative of Columbus's personal adventures. I shall now endeavour to pre- sent the reader with a brief outline of it, as far as can be collected from imperfect and scanty mate- rials ; for, however incomplete in itself, it becomes important as containing the germ of the gigantic system developed in later ages. Ferdinand and Isabella manifested from the first an eager and enlightened curiosity in reference to their new acquisitions, constantly interrogating the admi- ral minutely as to their soil and climate, their va- rious vegetable and mineral products, and especially the character of the uncivilized races who inhabited them. They paid the greatest deference to his sug- gestions, as before remarked, and liberally supplied the infant settlement with whatever could contrib-