160 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. PART unhappy wretch to the dreadful doom of a traitor ; '■ — the preliminary barbarities of the sentence, how- ever, were remitted, at the intercession of the queen. ^ Return of lu thc spriug of 1493, while the court was still Columbus. T-» 1 1 y-~i • at Barcelona, letters were received from Christo- pher Columbus, announcing his return to Spain, and the successful achievement of his great enter- prise, by the discovery of land beyond the western ocean. The delight and astonishment, raised by this intelligence, were proportioned to the skepti- cism, with which his project had been originally viewed. The sovereigns were now filled with a natural impatience to ascertain the extent and other particulars of the important discovery ; and they transmitted instant instructions to the admiral to repair to Barcelona, as soon as he should have made the preliminary arrangements for the further prose- cution of his enterprise. ^ ^L. Marineo, CosasMemorables, if it were needed, of her tender- fol. 186. — Peter Martyr, Opus ness of heart, and the warmth of Epist., epist. 125, 127, 131. — Zu- herconjugal attachment. See Cor- rita, Anales, torn. v. fol. 16. — respondencia Epistolar, apud Mem. Bernaldez, Reyes Catohcos, MS., de la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. Ilust. loo. cit. — Garibay, after harrow- 13. ing the reader's feehngs with half ^ Herrera, Indias Occidentales, a column of inhuman crnelties in- dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3. — Mufioz, flicted on the miserable man, con- Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, eludes with the comfortable assur- sect. 13, 14. ance, " Pero ahogaronle primero Columbus concludes a letter ad- por clemencia y misericordia de la dressed, on his arrival at Lisbon, Reyna." (Compendio, tom. ii. to the treasurer Sanchez, in the lib. 19, cap. 1.) following glowing terms; "Let A letter written by Isabella to processions be made, festivals held, her confessor, Fernando de Tala- temples be filled with branches and vera, during her husband's illness, flowers, for Christ rejoices on earth shows the deep anxiety of her own as in Heaven, seeing llie future re- mind, as well as that of the citizens demption of souls. Let us rejoice, of Barcelona, at his critical situa- also, for the temporal benefit likely tion, furnishing abundant evidence, to result, not merely to Spain, but
