"With this letter I send you another letter of credit for the said merchants"

"With this letter I send you another letter of credit for the said merchants. I have already
explained to you the reasons why expenses should be moderated. Show your uncle due
respect, and treat your brother as an elder brother should treat a younger. You have no
other brother, and praised be our Lord, he is such a one as you need very much. He has
proved and proves to be very intelligent. Honour Carbajal and Jeronimo and Diego
Mendez. Commend me to them all. I do not write them as there is nothing to write and
this messenger is in haste. It is frequently rumoured here that the Queen, whom God has,
has left an order that I be restored to the possession of the Indies. On arrival, the notary of
the fleet will send you the records and the original of the case of the Porras brothers. I
have received no news from your uncle and brother since they left. The water has been so
high here that the river entered the city.
"If Agostin Italian and Francisco de Grimaldo do not wish to give you the money you
need, look for others there who are willing to give it to you. On the arrival here of your
signature I will at once pay them all that you have received: for at present there is not a
person here by whom I can send you money.
"Done to-day, Friday, December 13, 1504
"Your father who loves you more than himself.
.S.
.S.A.S.
XMY
Xpo FERENS."
Letter written by CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS to his Son, DON DIEGO, December 21,
1504.
"VERY DEAR SON, The Lord Adelantado and your brother and Carbajal left here
sixteen days ago to go to the Court. They have not written me since. Don Ferdinand
carried 150 ducats. He must spend what is necessary, and he carries a letter, that the
merchants may furnish you with money. I have sent you another letter since, with the
endorsement of Francisco de Ribarol, by Zamora, the courier, and told you that if you had
made provision for yourself by means of my letter, not to use that of Francisco de
Ribarol. I say the same now in regard to another letter which I send you with this one, for
Francisco Doria, which letter I send you for greater security that you may not fail to be
provided with money. I have already told you how necessary it is to be careful in the
expenditure of the money, until their Highnesses give us law and justice. I also told you
that I had spent 1200 castellanos in bringing these people to Castile, of which his
Highness owes me the greater part, and I wrote him in regard to it asking him to order the
account settled.
"If possible I should like to receive letters here each day. I complain of Diego Mendez
and of Jeronimo, as they do not write me: and then of the others who do not write when
they arrive there. We must strive to learn whether the Queen, whom God has in His
keeping, said anything about me in her will, and we must hurry the Lord Bishop of
Palencia, who caused the possession of the Indies by their Highnesses and my remaining
in Castile, for I was already on my way to leave it. And the Lord Chamberlain of his
Highness must also be hurried. If by chance the affair comes to discussion, you must
strive to have them see the writing which is in the Book of Privileges, which shows the
reason why the third, eighth, and tenth are owing me, as I told you in another letter.
"I have written to the Holy Father in regard to my voyage, as he complained of me
because I did not write him. I send you a copy of the letter. I would like to have the King,
our Lord, or the Lord Bishop of Palencia see it before I send the letter, in order to avoid
false representations.
"Camacho has told a thousand falsehoods about me. To my regret I ordered him arrested.
He is in the church. He says that after the Holidays are past, he will go there if he is able.
If I owe him, he must show by what reason; for I make oath that I do not know it, nor is it
true.
"If without importunity a licence can be procured for me to go on mule-back, I will try to
leave for the Court after January, and I will even go without this licence. But haste must
be made that the loss of the Indies, which is now imminent, may not take place. May our
Lord have you in His keeping.
"Done to-day, December 21.
"Your father who loves you more than himself.
.S.
.S.A.S.
XMY
Xpo FERENS."
"This tenth which they give me is not the tenth which was promised me. The Privileges
tell what it is, and there is also due me the tenth of the profit derived from merchandise
and from all other things, of which I have received nothing. Carbajal understands me
well. Also remind Carbajal to obtain a letter from his Highness for the Governor,
directing him to send his accounts and the money I have there, at once. And it would be
well that a Repostero of his Highness should go there to receive this money, as there must
be a large amount due me. I will strive to have these gentlemen of the Board of Trade
send also to say to the Governor that he must send my share together with the gold
belonging to their Highnesses. But the remedy for the other matter must not be neglected
there on this account. I say that 7000 or 8000 pesos must have passed to my credit there,
which sum has been received since I left, besides the other money which was not given to
me.
"To my very dear son Don Diego at the Court."
All this struggling for the due payment of eighths and tenths makes wearisome reading,
and we need not follow the Admiral into his distinctions between one kind of tenth and
another. There is something to be said on his side, it must be remembered; the man had
not received what was due to him; and although he was not in actual poverty, his only
property in this world consisted of these very thirds and eighths and tenths. But if we are
inclined to think poorly of the Admiral for his dismal pertinacity, what are we to think of
the people who took advantage of their high position to ignore consistently the just claims
made upon them?
There is no end to the Admiral's letter-writing at this time. Fortunately for us his letter to
the Pope has been lost, or else we should have to insert it here; and we have had quite
enough of his theological stupors. As for the Queen's will, there was no mention of the
Admiral in it; and her only reference to the Indies showed that she had begun to realise
some of the disasters following his rule there, for the provisions that are concerned with
the New World refer exclusively to the treatment of the natives, to whose succour, long
after they were past succour, the hand of Isabella was stretched out from the grave. The
licence to travel on mule-back which the Admiral asked for was made necessary by a law
which had been passed forbidding the use of mules for this purpose throughout Spain.
There had been a scarcity of horses for mounting the royal cavalry, and it was thought
that the breeding of horses had been neglected on account of the greater cheapness and
utility of mules. It was to encourage the use and breeding of horses that an interdict was
laid on the use of mules, and only the very highest persons in the land were allowed to
employ them.
Letter written by CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS to his Son, DON DIEGO, December 29,
1504.
"VERY DEAR SON,—I wrote you at length and sent it by Don Ferdinand, who left to go
yonder twenty-three days ago to-day, with the Lord Adelantado and Carbajal, from whom
I have since heard nothing. Sixteen days ago to-day I wrote you and sent it by Zamora,
the courier, and I sent you a letter of credit for these merchants endorsed by Francisco de
Ribarol, telling them to give you the money you might ask for. And then, about eight
days ago, I sent you by another courier a letter endorsed by Francisco Soria, and these
letters are directed to Pantaleon and Agostin Italian, that they may give it to you. And
with these letters goes a copy of a letter which I wrote to the Holy Father in regard to the
affairs of the Indies, that he might not complain of me any more. I sent this copy for his
Highness to see, or the Lord Bishop of Palencia, so as to avoid false representations. The
payment of the people who went with me has been delayed. I have provided for them
here what I have been able. They are poor and obliged to go in order to earn a living.
They decided to go yonder. They have been told here that they will be dealt with as
favourably as possible, and this is right, although among them there are some who merit
punishment more than favours. This is said of the rebels. I gave these people a letter for
the Lord Bishop of Palencia. Read it, and if it is necessary for them to go and petition his
Highness, urge your uncle and brother and Carbajal to read it also, so that you can all
help them as much as possible. It is right and a work of mercy, for no one ever earned
money with so many dangers and hardships and no one has ever rendered such great
service as these people. It is said that Camacho and Master Bernal wish to go there—two
creatures for whom God works few miracles: but if they go, it will be to do harm rather
than good. They can do little because the truth always prevails, as it did in Espanola,
from which wicked people by means of falsehoods have prevented any profit being
received up to the present time. It is said that this Master Bernal was the beginning of the
treason. He was taken and accused of many misdemeanours, for each one of which he
deserved to be quartered. At the request of your uncle and of others he was pardoned, on
condition that if he ever said the least word against me and my state the pardon should be
revoked and he should be under condemnation. I send you a copy of the case in this
letter. I send you a legal document about Camacho. For more than eight days he has not
left the church on account of his rash statements and falsehoods. He has a will made by
Terreros, and other relatives of the latter have another will of more recent date, which
renders the first will null, as far as the inheritance is concerned: and I am entreated to
enforce the latter will, so that Camacho will be obliged to restore what he has received. I
shall order a legal document drawn up and served upon him, because I believe it is a
work of mercy to punish him, as he is so unbridled in his speech that some one must
punish him without the rod: and it will not be so much against the conscience of the
chastiser, and will injure him more. Diego Mendez knows Master Bernal and his works
very well. The Governor wished to imprison him at Espanola and left him to my
consideration. It is said that he killed two men there with medicines in revenge for
something of less account than three beans. I would be glad of the licence to travel on
muleback and of a good mule, if they can be obtained without difficulty. Consult all
about our affairs, and tell them that I do not write them in particular on account of the
great pain I feel when writing. I do not say that they must do the same, but that each one
must write me and very often, for I feel great sorrow that all the world should have letters
from there each day, and I have nothing, when I have so many people there. Commend
me to the Lord Adelantado in his favour, and give my regards to your brother and to all
the others.