what would seem the desperate experiment of carrying him, thus rendered incapable of resistance, to the Spanish settlement; he was sent a prisoner to Spain, but did not survive to reach Europe. One account states the vessel in which he sailed to have been lost; another ascribes his death to illness, brought on by grief at his humiliation:

"Never, perhaps, were little skirmishes, for such they were on the part of the Spaniards, of greater permanent importance than those above narrated, which took place in the early part of the year 1495. They must be looked upon as the origin in the Indies of slavery, vassalage, and the system of repartimientos. We have seen that the Admiral, after his first victory, sent off four ships with slaves to Spain. He now took occasion to impose a tribute upon the whole population of Hispaniola. It was thus arranged. Every Indian above fourteen years old, who was in the provinces of the mines, or near to these provinces, was to pay every three months a little bell-ful of gold; all other persons in the island were to pay at the same time an arroba of cotton for each person. Certain brass or copper tokens were made-different ones for each tribute time—and were given to the Indians when they paid tribute; and these tokens, being worn about their necks, were to show who had paid tribute. A remarkable proposal was made upon this occasion to the Admiral by Guarionéx, Cacique of the Vega Real, namely, that he would institute a huge farm for the growth of corn and manufacture of bread, stretching from Isabella to St. Domingo (i.e., from sea to sea), which would suffice to maintain all Castile with bread. The Cacique would do this on condition that his vassals were not to pay tribute in gold, as they did not know how to collect that. But this proposal was not accepted, because Columbus wished to have tribute in such things as he could send over to Spain."—pp. 145, 146.

Columbus found himself compelled to modify the tribute which he exacted from the Indians; and, in 1496, service was, occasionally at least, substituted for it. A farm would be given to a Spaniard to be worked by a Cacique and his people.

The admiral had power to grant repartimientos of lands in the Indies to Spaniards. In the patent giving this power, no mention was made of Indians; and some legal doubt arose on the way in which his grants were, after this war with the natives, often made. Columbus, in addition to such rights as his commission from Spain gave,

seemed to claim those of a person who had also the rights of a conqueror. At no time, however, did he assert claims inconsistent with the obedience he owed to the sovereigns in whose name he acted.

The natives, oppressed by exactions of which they saw no end, finding the Spaniards determined to remain permanently, in their turn devised plans to get rid of them. Violence would not do. They thought by not cultivating the land to starve them out. The desperate remedy failed, or rather the evil fell chiefly on the poor natives themselves, who died everywhere in thousands. The Spaniards, though great sufferers, did not depend exclu sively on the produce of the country; they had supplies from Europe.

The complaints against Columbus brought a commissioner from Spain to investigate them; evidence from every quarter was sought and found. "The stones," says Herrera, "rose up against him and his brothers." Columbus thought he had no choice but that of returning to Spain, to repel whatever accusations might be urged against him. He and the royal commissioner returned at the same time, but not in the same vessel. Columbus, whatever the enmity against him, seems at all times to have had the opportunity of personal communication with the sovereigns, and he again triumphed over all opposition. He obtained the means of sending vessels to the colony with such things as it required, but was unable himself to leave Spain for a period of two years.

Columbus must be judged of, not with reference to the feelings of our day, but to those of his own, when we have to speak of him and the slave-trade, or of him and his dealings with his colony. In early life he was in the crew of more than one of the Portuguese voyages along the coast of Africa; and the rightfulness of a traffic with which all men were familiar, it did not occur to him to dispute. The ministers under whose advice the Sovereigns of Castile and Arragon acted, took higher views, as was natural, of the relations of the parent country to its colonies, than even the best of their colonial servants. The state papers of Ferdinand and Isabella often express just indignation at the way in which their Indian subjects for so they regarded the natives

of the newly-discovered lands- were treated. Compassion for them, in all probability, was the principal cause of their now yielding to two measures, said to be proposed by Columbus, who could not do without labourers, and who, could he get the work of the colony done, was, probably, indifferent who the labourers might be. One was, authorising the transportation of convicted criminals to the Indies; the other, allowing criminals, unconvicted, to go to the Indies, at their own expense, and serve, for a fixed period, under the Governor's orders.

During Columbus's absence, the colony was governed by his brother Bartholomew, and wild work went on. War with the Indians was carried on. In this the Spaniards were always successful. It was admitted by all jurists, that captives taken in lawful war might be made slaves; and, at times when the colony produced nothing else, shiploads of slaves were sent to Europe to be sold. What, perhaps, was more severely felt was, that on the conquered districts a tribute was imposed-a personal tax on every one between eighteen and forty years of age, and, in addition to this, a tax on the land itself. The precise grounds of right on which the conquerors placed their demand are not, in all cases, easily ascertained; but it would appear that Columbus's deputy, in some instances, proceeded by demanding tribute from a district with which he had no previous relation. If paid, his object was attained; if not paid, he declared war; and in addition to the tribute, his victory gave him as slaves all such prisoners as he could succeed in making. That the country should rise in arms was not surprising. But that the Spaniards should say a word against it, did astonish the Adelantado-thus was the Governor's deputy styled. There were those among the Spaniards, however, who did speak against this manner of proceeding; and of those, one was the Chief Justice of the colony. Even in modern colonies something of this kind will now and then occur. Governors and chief justices, each with the very best intentions, will squabble. The Governor will seek to do what he deems right, with military dispatch, disregarding all forms of law; the magistrate, if he have any true sense of what is due to justice, will be com

pelled to protect even the admitted criminal, by affording to him all such shelter as these forms give. Thus, without either being in fault, we may suppose continuing discord between Governor and Chief Justice, and each appealing in vain to the parent country, which is unable or unwilling to determine between them. Roldan, the chief justice, thought Bartholomew's proceedings illegal; and Bartholomew thought Roldan factions. Meanwhile Columbus returns. We wish we could pursue his third voyage, in which he discovers Paria, on the continent of America; but we must hasten with him to Hispaniola. Other work than that of discovery is before him now. He finds resistance is made to paying tribute, which, it would appear, is now demanded over the whole island, and he sends home the ships with which he had last come, loaded with slaves, captives taken in resisting those demands. Roldan and he are now at peace. "Roldan kept his chief-justiceship, and his friends received lands and slaves." They received lands, and caciques with their people to work them, and, in addition, slaves, the prisoners of war. Others of Roldan's party, who preferred returning to Spain, were given slaves some one, some two, some three. It is not recorded that Roldan made any legal objections to this arrangement. When the Indians, however, arrived in Spain, they were ordered by the Queen of Castile to be at once sent back. Columbus had no right to dispose of her slaves. She seems to have felt righteous indignation at the whole transaction.

That

It is not unlikely that this incident led to Columbus's being deprived of the administration of the colony. Accusations numberless were made against him the unanswerable one that he was an Italian, not a Spaniard, being, perhaps, at the root of all. gentlemen should work for their bread, and that they should be satisfied with half rations in a time of distress-that they should be whipped like common fellows when they stole wheat;—this was intolerable, still we think he might have got over it. His wars with the Indians were more against him. They were entered into, it was said, for the purpose of making and selling slaves. He was said also, but this seems a calumny, to leave Indians unbaptised,

"because he desired slaves rather than Christians." Bovadilla, the new governor, on his arrival, threw Columbus and his brother into chains, and sent them to Spain.

There is a passage often quoted from Las Casas, in which the Admiral is made say, that the chains were placed upon him by royal authority, and that he would not suffer them to be taken off till his king and queen ordered them to be removed, and that he would ever after keep them by him 66 as relics and memorials of the reward of my services." "He did so," says his son Fernando. "I saw them always hanging in his cabinet; and he requested that when he died they might be buried with him."* "He would not," we transcribe from Cooley's very valuable History of Maritime and Inland Discovery," "allow his fetters to be taken off; but being sensible of his great merits, and more of future fame, he fondly wore those affecting testimonies of his vicissitudes, and even expressed a wish that when he died they might be hung on his tomb."t

We have looked at some half dozen other books, and the same turn is given to this thought. Many changes of feeling on such a subject must have passed through Columbus's mind, yet we think it likely that there was some mistake made, not unnaturally, by whatever compiler first united together the passages from Las Casas and Ferdinand Columbus. Columbus's own letter from Jamaica, written in 1504, seems to have originated all that has been written on the subject; and if we understand that letter rightly, it expresses a very different, and far higher, and juster tone of feeling.

Why did not Bovadilla kill me when he robbed me and my brother of our

dearly-purchased gold, and sent us to Spain in chains, without trial, crime, or shadow of misconduct? These chains are all the treasures I have; they shall be buried with me, if I chance to have a coffin or grave; for I would have the remembrance of so unjust an action perish with me, and, for the glory of the Spanish name, be eternally forgotten." The sovereigns disclaimed the acts of Bovadilla, but thought it better that Columbus should not, at least for the present, resume the government, and Ovando is sent out.

The first act of his government was to take what is called a "residencia of the former governor-an inquisition into the details of his administration. One of the results of that held on Bovadilla was the restoration of property of Columbus and his brothers, seized by the governor.

Ovando's government lasted for seven years. It is not easy to understand the precise position of the natives, either in the theory of the parent state, or in the acts of the colonial governors. In Ovando's instructions from the Court of Castile, he is told "that all the Indians in Hispaniola should be free from servitude, and unmolested by any one, and that they should live as free vassals, governed and protected by justice, as were the vassals of Castile. Like the vassals in Spain, the Indians were to pay tribute; they also were to assist in getting gold, but for this they were to be paid daily wages."§ All officials who had gone to the colony with Columbus were to return to Spain, and a new body of men to accompany Ovando. No Jews, Moors, or new converts were to go to the Indies, but 66 negroes born in power of Christians" might. "This," says Mr. Helps, "is the first notice

§ Herrera, Decade i. 4; Helps, i. 179.

about negroes going to the Indies." These instructions were given in the year 1501:

"Nicholas de Ovando arrived at St. Domingo on the 15th of April, 1502. Las Casas, now in his 28th year, came out in the same fleet; and he mentions, that as the vessels neared the shore, the Spanish colonists ran down to hear the news from home, and to tell their good news exultingly in return, which was, that an extraordinary lump of gold had been found, and that certain Indians were in revolt. I heard it myself,' the historian says; and he is right to chronicle the fact, showing as it does the views which prevailed among the settlers, of the advantage of an Indian revolt in furnishing slaves. This great piece of gold which they talked about, had been found accidentally by an Indian woman at the mines, while listlessly moving her rake to and fro in the water one day during dinner time. Its value was estimated at 1,350,000 maravedis, and in the festivities that took place on the occasion, was used as a dish for a roast pig, the miners saying that no king of Castile had ever feasted from a dish of such value. We do not find that the poor Indian woman had any part in the good fortune. Indeed, as Las Casas observes, she was fortunate if she had any portion of the meat, not to speak of the dish." "-p. 188, 189.

The same tale of distress and famine which was the fate of this settlement for so many years, is again its history. Two thousand five hundred persons 'came out with Ovando. Within a short time a thousand are dead, and the rest a burthen on a society, which had not even provided sufficient food for themselves. Who should suddenly appear on the scene but Columbus? Columbus who is ordered not to landwho cannot consistently with Ovando's instructions be received on the island, asks to be admitted into the harbour. He says that his knowledge of the appearances of the sea and sky satisfy him of an approaching hurri cane. He has to depart and seek shelter where he can. His prediction is distrusted, and the return-fleet sail for Spain. Most of the vessels are lost. Roldan, our old friend the chief justice, perishes. Bovadilla has no chains to throw upon the raging sea. He, too, is gone. The worst vessel in the fleet is that on board of which Columbus's goods have been stored, and this is among the few that escape. "The men of that day saw in this the especial hand of Providence."

Our author seems to approve of what looks rather like sharp practice in the new governor. His habit was, when vessels were about returning to Spain, if any person was regarded as particularly turbulent, to invite him to dinner, talk with him about his neighbours, and inquire on what terms they lived with each other

"The unsuspecting colonist exulted in thinking that he was now in high favour with the Governor, and likely to have more Indians allotted to him: when suddenly Ovando would turn upon him with this question: In which of those ships (probably visible from where they were sitting) would you like to go to Castile?' The contented look of a man who is expecting some benefit, changes to the terrified appearance of one who is about to be sent home ruined to his friends. He falteringly asks, 'Why, my Lord?' The stern Comendador Mayor answers, 'You have nothing else to do but to go.' But, my Lord, I have not the wherewithal, not even for my passage.' 'It shall be my care to provide for that,' replies the Governor and in this summary manner he was wont to ship off a dangerous person at once, and thus to clear the colony of a possible nuisance."-pp. 203, 204.

:

Ovando was a religious man moreover; and on one occasion, Las Casas tells us of thirteen Indians being hanged in honour and reverence of our Lord Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles." The same Las Casas says,

he was a man fit to govern, but not Indians." Of some of these horrors Queen Isabella heard, and said to the President of the Council, “I will have you take such a residencia of him as was never taken before."

This was Isabella's last act in connexion with the Indies. She died before the termination of Ovando's go

vernment.

We must find other opportunities of bringing Mr. Helps's important book before our readers. We regret not being able to pursue the subject at present, but we have exceeded our space. With one part of his subject, and that the most important, he has taken great pains-the repartimiento and encomienda systems. This has hitherto been insufficiently examined, and cannot be well understood in the various changes which it underwent, without a knowledge of the system of vassalage, as prevailing in Spain, more particularly in Castile,

on which Crown the Indies were regarded as depending; and also of the precise relations between the caciques and the lower classes of society in the new lands, previous to the Spanish Conquest. In some instances the demands of tax or tribute would be regulated by the first, and assent or resistance by the second. Neither is very easy of ascertainment, but by any one wishing fully to understand the subject neither can be neglected.

In the gifts of land in the Indies to the Spaniards, it would appear that at first lands only were granted-next lands, with a right to employ for a certain period of the year the labour of the natives; if only of the natives resident on the lands, this would be feudal vassalage, rather than anything properly called slavery. Then fol lowed grants, not of lands, but of men, made to favoured individuals. They were given for a limited period, and the property reverted to the Crown. The labour to be performed was limited and defined. It was confined to the tillage of land. Soon after the Indians thus granted were compelled to work in the mines; but for this a special license was required, and during Columbus's administration the license was given but from month to month. The next governor allowed the Spaniards to employ their Indians as they pleased, as though they were beasts of burthen. "Servitude worse than what Bovadilla thus created in the island," says Charlevoix, "never existed." War and oppression now depopulated this island, which, a few years before, had seemed to Columbus the very paradise our first parents lost. Means were suggested for repeopling the solitude. Criminals from Spain were imported. This was evil, but a worse evil followed, one at least that more shocks the imagination:

"As the Indians in Hispaniola were now beginning to grow scarce, the next thing that was almost sure to happen, was, that importations would be made from other islands to fill up the vacuum produced by the working

The first

at the mines, and by other causes. large transaction of this kind furnishes us with one of the most affecting narratives in history. The King was told that the Lucayan islands were full of Indians, and that it would be a very good action to bring them to Hispaniola, in order that they might enjoy the preaching and political customs' which the Indians in Hispaniola enjoyed. 'Besides,' it was added, they might assist in getting gold, and the King be much served.' The King accordingly gave a licence, and the evil work commenced.

"It will be remembered that the first land seen by Columbus, and called by him St. Salvador, was one of these Lucayan islands; and it is peculiarly shocking to think that this spot should have been signalised by such an atrocity as that about to be recorded.

"The first Spaniards who went to entrap brings to mind the old proverb of 'seething a these poor Lucayans did it in a way that kid in its mother's milk'-for they told the simple people that they had come from the heaven of their forefathers, where these forefathers and all whom the Indians had loved in life were now drinking in the delights of heavenly ease and the good Spaniards would convey the Lucayans to join their much-loved ancestors, and dearer ones than ancestors, who had gone thither. We may fancy how the more simple amongst them, lone women and those who felt this life to be somewhat dreary, crowded round the ships which were to take them to the regions of the blest."—pp. 223– 225.