This Island Is At Least Forty Leagues Long By Fifty In Breadth, And
Measures 120 Leagues In Circumference.
The south coast is in latitude 17 deg.,
and the north coast in 18 deg., both N. It formerly produced much gold, though
not quite so pure as that of Hispaniola, yet not much inferior.
SECTION III.
Don James Columbus is appointed to the Government of the Spanish
Dominions in the West Indies.
We have already had occasion to notice the mean and scandalous behaviour
of King Ferdinand to Columbus, in depriving him and his family of their
just rights, for services of such high importance, that hardly any rewards
could be a sufficient recompense. After the death of the discoverer of
America, his eldest son and heir, James Columbus, succeeded to his
father's pretensions, along with which he inherited the dislike of King
Ferdinand, and the hatred of Bishop Fonseca. He long endeavoured by
petitions and personal applications at court to obtain his rights, but
could never procure any satisfaction, being always put off with fair words
and empty promises. Being at length wearied with ineffectual applications
for redress, he petitioned the king to allow his demands to be decided
upon by the courts of law; and as that could hardly be denied with any
decency, it was granted. This suit, as may well be supposed, was tedious
and troublesome; yet at length he obtained a clear decision in his favour,
and was re-established by the judges in all those rights which had been
granted to his father; in which he assuredly obtained nothing more than a
judicial recognition of a clear right which ought never to have been
disputed.
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