Adelantado; the brothers of Columbus were highly unpopular; he imagined it
possible to ruin them, both with the colonists and with the government at
home, and by dextrous cunning and bustling activity to work his way into
the command of the colony. The vigorous and somewhat austere character of
the Adelantado for some time kept him in awe; but when he was absent from
the settlement, Roldan was able to carry on his machinations with
confidence. Don Diego, who then commanded at Isabella, was an upright and
worthy man, but deficient in energy. Roldan felt himself his superior in
talent and spirit, and his self-conceit was wounded at being inferior to
him in authority. He soon made a party among the daring and dissolute of
the community, and secretly loosened the ties of order and good
government, by listening to and encouraging the discontents of the common
people, and directing them against the character and conduct of Columbus
and his brothers. He had heretofore been employed as superintendent of
various public works; this brought him into familiar communication with
workmen, sailors, and others of the lower order. His originally vulgar
character enabled him to adapt himself to their intellects and manners,
while his present station gave him consequence in their eyes. Finding them
full of murmurs about hard treatment, severe toil, and the long absence of
the admiral, he affected to be moved by their distresses. He threw out
suggestions that the admiral might never return, being disgraced and
ruined in consequence of the representations of Aguado. He sympathized
with the hard treatment they experienced from the Adelantado and his
brother Don Diego, who, being foreigners, could take no interest in their
welfare, nor feel a proper respect for the pride of a Spaniard; but who
used them merely as slaves, to build houses and fortresses for them, or to
swell their state and secure their power, as they marched about the island
enriching themselves with the spoils of the caciques. By these suggestions
he exasperated their feelings to such a height, that they had at one time
formed a conspiracy to take away the life of the Adelantado, as the only