spirit to venture upon an undertaking where so little was to be risked,
and which might redound so highly to the glory of God and the propagation
of the faith, not without great benefit and honour to her kingdoms and
dominions. That, should any other prince accept the offer of Columbus, the
injury which her crown would sustain was very obvious; and that then she
would justly incur much blame from her friends and servants, and would be
reproached by her enemies, and all the world would say that she deserved
the misfortune and disappointment; and, although she might never be
sensible of the evil consequences of her refusal, her successors must.
That, since the proposal seemed well grounded in reason and sound argument,
and was made by a man of wisdom and knowledge, who demanded no other
reward but what might arise from his discoveries, and who was willing to
bear a proportion of the charges, and to adventure his own personal safety
on the event, her majesty ought certainly to make the attempt. That she
ought not to believe the undertaking was such an impossibility as had been
alleged by those learned men to whom the proposal had been referred,
neither to consider its possible failure as any reflection upon her wisdom;
for in his opinion it would be universally looked upon as a mark of
generous magnanimity to attempt discovering the secret wonders of the
world, as had been done by other monarchs to their great honour and
advantage. That, however uncertain the event might be, even a considerable
sum of money would be well employed in the endeavour to ascertain the
certainty of so very important an affair; whereas the admiral only
required 2500 crowns to fit out a fleet for the discovery; and that
therefore she ought not to allow it to be said hereafter that the fear of
losing so small a sum had kept her from patronizing the enterprise.

The queen was much impressed by these representations of Santangel, of
whose sincere attachment to her service and honour she was extremely
sensible. She thanked him for his good counsel, and said that she was