Emulation Is A
Noble Principle, And One Of The Most Valuable Secrets In Government Is To
Excite This; For Every Thing That Finds Favour From The Great, Or That
Meets With Popular Encouragement, Is Almost Always Carried To A Great
Degree Of Perfection.
When a spirit is once raised, even the most
disastrous reverses are not able to extinguish it.
Thus the numbers of
Spaniards who perished in the first attempts to colonize the continent, by
shipwreck, famine, and disease; and the unfortunate catastrophes of Hojeda,
Nicuessa, and Cordova, had no effect to deter others from embarking in
similar enterprises. As all agreed that gold and pearls were to be
acquired in these parts; the thirst of gain in some, and the desire of
glory in others, soon overcame the terrors of such unfortunate examples,
and many attribute the miscarriage of those attempts to the imprudence or
misconduct of the commanders; and as slanders always find an easy belief,
so the imputations on the dead served to encourage the living, and men
were easily led to believe that their own superior abilities or their
better fortune would carry them through, where former adventurers had
failed.
There were several other concurring circumstances which gave life and
vigour to these enterprises, which we shall briefly enumerate under three
principal heads. In the first place, the marriage of Don Diego Columbus
with Donna Maria de Toledo, induced many young gentlemen and ladies of
good families to go over to Hispaniola, which proved of infinite
importance to the new colony; as the strong tincture of heroism or romance
in the Spanish character, was the fittest that could be conceived for
promoting such exploits.
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