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

469 REVIEW OF THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 469 dence, were gradually reconciled to his administra- cHAPTca tioii, and testified their sense of its beneficent '- character by celebrating the anniversary of his death, for more than two centuries, with public solemnities, as a day of mourning throughout the kingdom.^°^ But far the most important of the distant acqui- Revenues from the sitions of Spain were those secured to her by the ^"'^'^• genius of Columbus and the enlightened patronage of Isabella. Imagination had ample range in the boundless perspective of these unknown regions ; but the results actually realized from the discover- ies, during the queen's life, were comparatively in- significant. In a mere financial view, they had been a considerable charge on the crown. This was, indeed, partly owing to the humanity of Isa- bella, who interfered, as we have seen, to prevent the compulsory exaction of Indian labor. This was subsequently, and immediately after her death in- deed, carried to such an extent, that nearly half a million of ounces of gold were yearly drawn from the mines of Hispaniola alone.^°^ The pearl fish- 101 Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 29, cap. 4; lib. 30, cap. 1,2,5. — Signorelli, Coltura nelle Sicilie, torn. iv. p. 84. — Every one knows the persecutions, the exile, and long imprisonment, which Giannone suf- fered for the freedom with which he treated the clergy, in his philo- sophical history. The generous conduct of Charles of Bourbon to his heirs is not so well known. Soon after his accession to the throne of Naples, that prince set- tled a liberal pension on the son of the historian, declaring, that " it did not comport with the honor and dignity of the government, to permit an individual to languish in indigence, whose parent had been the greatest man, the most useful to the state, and the most unjustly persecuted, that the age had pro- duced." Noble sentiments, giving additional grace to the act which they accompanied. See the decree, cited by Corniani, Secoli della Let- teratura Italiana, (Brescia, 1804 — 1813.) torn. ix. art. 15. lo^ Herrera, IndiasOccidentales, dec. 1, lib. 6, cap. 18. — Accord- ing to Martyr, the two mints of Hispaniola yielded 300,000 lbs. of