illiberal insinuation was continually urged, that they were foreigners,
who could have no interest in the glory of Spain, or the prosperity of
Spaniards; and contemptible as this plea may seem, it had a powerful
effect. Columbus was even accused of a design to cast off all allegiance
to Spain, and either make himself sovereign of the countries he had
discovered, or yield them into the hands of some other power: a slander
which, however extravagant, was calculated to startle the jealous mind of
Ferdinand.

It is true, that by every ship Columbus likewise sent home statements,
written with the frankness and energy of truth, setting forth the real
cause and nature of the distractions of the island, and pointing out and
imploring remedies, which, if properly applied, might have been
efficacious. His letters, however, arriving at distant intervals, made but
single and transient impressions on the royal mind, which were speedily
effaced by the influence of daily and active misrepresentation. His
enemies at court, having continual access to the sovereigns, were enabled
to place every thing urged against him in the strongest point of view,
while they secretly neutralized the force of his vindications. They used a
plausible logic to prove either bad management or bad faith on his part.
There was an incessant drain upon the mother country for the support of
the colony. Was this compatible with the extravagant pictures he had drawn
of the wealth of the island, and its golden mountains, in which he had
pretended to find the Ophir of ancient days, the source of all the riches
of Solomon? They inferred that he had either deceived the sovereigns by
designing exaggerations, or grossly wronged them by malpractices, or was
totally incapable of the duties of government.

The disappointment of Ferdinand, in finding his newly-discovered
possessions a source of expense instead of profit, was known to press