Señor Navarrete asserts and would have us believe that all this extravagant wickedness of conduct emanated from the unauthorized madness of Bobadilla alone; and yet in the same breath undertakes to insinuate that there were concealed causes to justify such harshness. The assertion and the insinuation are alike utterly groundless. As to the latter, it is impossible to credit the suspicion, that the Admiral's supposed offences were stifled, out of delicacy towards him. Wonderful delicacy, to seize the governor of a colony and to put him in irons, without even the name of a trial! There is no foundation whatsoever for the idea, except a single obscure expression of Oviedo's.* And how could that remain concealed to this day, which hundreds of Spanish emigrants were eager to publish in the most aggravated shape, and of course all Spaniards must have understood? During these troubles, a crowd of fifty persons, on one occasion, surrounded Ferdinand in the square of the Alhambra at Granada, clamoring for vengeance on Columbus. Would they make a secret of his alleged crimes? On the contrary, they would promptly and loudly sound them abroad into every corner of the country. Rigor, injustice, and ambition,-these were the offences of which he was accused. But the plain, unvarnished truth is, that the profligate wretches who flocked to the New World at that period, partly to plunder its pacific inhabitants, and partly to escape condign punishment for their crimes at home, were outrageous to find the colony governed by a man, who felt no sympathy with their vices, who would not wink at their misconduct, who preferred the permanent good of the settlement to the gratification of their cruelty and avarice, whose manners were simple, temper austere, discipline exact, and who was a foreigner elevated by his virtues from humble condition to be a Spanish cavalier and viceroy of the Indies.

And the assertion that Bobadilla exceeded his authority is equally untenable. It is a familiar expedient of tyrants to disclaim the acts of their subordinate agents, and sacrifice the obsequious tools of their injustice, to appease the indignation it has aroused. So it fared with Bobadilla, selected by the king to depose Columbus, and disavowed and punished for his compliance when the deed was done. Assuredly, he never would have attempted, or attempting never would have been suffered,

* Historia Gen. de las Indias, 1. 3. c. 6.

to send home a Spanish admiral and viceroy in chains, without ample warrant for so violent a stretch of authority. We feel confident that no candid person, who attentively considers the tenor of Bobadilla's published instructions,* can resist the conviction that he had other and private directions which he precisely followed to the letter. He bore two commissions; one, as juez pesquisidor, giving him general power to examine into the causes of the disturbances in Hispaniola, and apply justice according to his discretion, similar to that afterwards granted to the famous Vaca de Castro, and exercised by him so admirably in settling the disputes between the first conquerors of Peru; and another, as governor. The authority delegated to him by these commissions was as arbitrary and despotic as language could bestow. What is very remarkable, although the deposition of Columbus was professedly the object of his mission, yet the Admiral was aimed at in terms guardedly general and indirect. Take this clause for example; Informations being taken, and the truth ascertained, you will seize the bodies of those whom you find guilty, and sequester their goods.' And again; And again; If he shall deem it proper for our service and the execution of our justice, that any cavaliers and other persons, of those who are now or hereafter shall be in said islands and mainland, should quit the same, and not enter nor continue therein, and that they should come and be present before us, he may command it on our part, and compel them to quit.' No explanatory letter was despatched to Columbus from the king; but he was peremptorily commanded to deliver up all the fortified places, and this without the usual intervention of a king's messenger as required by the laws; and received orders to submit himself to Bobadilla in this extraordinary letter of credence;

The King and the Queen: D. Christopher Columbus, our Admiral of the ocean: We have commanded the Comendador - Francisco de Bobadilla, the bearer of this, to speak to you, on our part, of certain things which he will mention : we desire you to give him faith and credence, and to comply therewith. Madrid, May twentysixth, the year ninetynine.-I the King.I the Queen.-By command.-Miguel Perez de Almazan.'

We have translated this memorable document verbatim, to prove how cruelly every form of decency was violated, in the

* Printed in Navarrete's Col. Dip. nos. 127-130. Tom II. pp. 235–240.

manner of removing Columbus, and to prove that Bobadilla had secret instructions, for the direction of his movements; in confirmation of which is the fact before stated, that he possessed letters in blank with the royal sign manual, to be employed according to his discretion.

6

We feel perfectly satisfied, therefore, that Ferdinand is justly responsible to posterity for the acts of Bobadilla. For even suppose the latter to have conducted something more harshly than his master intended; what then? Ferdinand is equally censurable; because he should not have delegated such excessive power, and subjected the great Columbus to the tyrannical caprice of a petty official, drunk with a little brief authority.' And although Ferdinand made much ostentation of compassion for Columbus on his return, and promised to redress his wrongs, yet it was all mere hollow profession. For not only was the rightful proprietor never again restored to his government; but when, wearied out with fruitlessly soliciting for justice, he set sail on his fourth voyage, he was forbidden to touch at Hispaniola, except on his homeward passage, and in case of necessity. We refrain from recounting his sufferings in that expedition. A prominent place among them is occupied by the barbarous neglect of Ovando, who basely compelled him to remain for eight months on the island of Jamaica, where he was shipwrecked, and well nigh perished with famine. His death, it is undeniable, was hastened by the shameful treatment of his king after the conclusion of this voyage. Señor Navarrete boasts that his privileges and honors were, nevertheless, restored to his family in the person of his son, Diego; but under what circumstances were they restored? Diego sued to the king for the space of two years in vain. At length he commenced an action against Ferdinand before one of his. own tribunals, and succeeded in obtaining judgment against the king; and then, with the aid of the powerful family of Toledo, exacted by interest and by compulsion, what he never would have gained from Ferdinand's sense of justice. We regret that Señor Navarrete should bring imputations upon his own candor and discrimination, by undertaking the desperate task of justifying or extenuating ingratitude so profligate as that of Ferdinand towards Columbus.

ART. II.-Rough Notes taken during some rapid Journeys across the Pampas and among the Andes. By Captain F. B. HEAD. 12mo. pp. 264. Boston. Wells & Lilly. AMONG the results, which have already grown out of the revolutions in South America, the mining speculations and enterprises hold a place not the least conspicuous. The thirst for gold, and the glowing visions of treasures buried in the mountains of the New World, which impelled the Spaniards to their original conquests and discoveries, are again revived, and made the efficient springs of hazard and adventure. New regions are explored, and new El Dorados sought after. By a happy issue of events, however, there has been a great change in the motives and means of searching for mineral treasures. The first acts of the Spaniards were bloody and cruel; their subsequent oppressions were an outrage equally upon humanity, justice, and freedom. Gold was coveted to pamper the pride and luxury of a few, to give splendor to the pageantry of the monarch, and consequence to a haughty nobility. The world has profited little by the gains of Spain from her colonies, and the nation itself has been ruined by the excess of its ill gotten treasure. Gold has done for degraded Spain what the arms of the foe could never do, and from the influence of this cause more than all others, she now finds herself at the bottom of the scale of nations, dragged along at the very heels of the improvements of the present age, the derision of enlightened men, and the pity of those, in all parts of Europe, who are still struggling to smother the lights of liberty and intelligence, and to support the falling fabric of legitimacy.

The

But very different ends are now proposed, and different means pursued, in disinterring the precious metals. chains of slavery are broken, free governments established, and the mining operations thrown open to individual enterprise, and protected as an important branch of national industry. With these encouragements, companies have been formed, both in Europe and America, for working the mines of the southern republics. Various success will attend their efforts, but the results on the whole cannot fail to be exceedingly, beneficial, not only to these republics themselves, but to the whole world. The metals thus brought to light will be immediately put into direct and speedy channels of commerce, and

will give an impulse to trade, and secure a confidence, which could only be derived from a substantial currency. In this respect it is of no consequence whose capital, or whose labor, is employed in digging up and coining the precious metals; the great purpose is attained when these are actually put in circulation. Hence the general advantage will be the same, whether the mines are wrought by foreign companies, individuals, or the governments in whose territories they are found. It should be the policy of these governments, indeed, to put the mines into such hands, or, which is the same thing, to afford encouragements that will naturally bring them into such hands, as can apply to the working of them the greatest amount of capital. Thus far this policy has been in the main adhered to by the larger portion of the republics, although some symptoms of jealousy and ignorance have occasionally been manifested. A party in the Mexican congress had a project for imposing a heavy tax on the exportation of silver, but a majority was opposed to it. Such a scheme would be extremely unwise, inasmuch as the tax would fall on those engaged in working the mines, and in many cases increase the expense so much, as to render it impossible to carry on the work without loss. It is plainly the interest of all the new republics to give every facility to this branch of industry, for it is one which in the shortest time will communicate life, energy, and effect to all the other branches.

That there will be many dreams and wild speculations, disappointed hopes, and ruinous undertakings in this business of mining, is to be expected. There is sufficient uncertainty connected with the subject, and yet sufficient promise of bright things in prospect, to inflame adventurous minds, and take the imagination captive. Many will be amused with the beautiful castles they build in the air, and be led away by the delusions of their own fancy. This has always been the case in mining operations, and among those who have followed this profession, it is probable that ten have been ruined, to one who has been made rich. In this pursuit, however, as in every other, there is security in caution; failure has commonly sprung from desperate hazard, or has followed unwarranted expectation. Companies are as likely to be misled in this way as individuals, and it may be safely calculated, that some of those, which have engaged with eagerness recently in the mining schemes of South America, will have their anticipations but imperfectly realized.

$