incredible valour and ability, and worthy therefore of immortal fame. Let
us compare the expedition of Nearchus with that of Columbus; and consider
with how great a fleet and what a number of men and able commanders, the
Grecian admiral accomplished so small a discovery, sailing always in sight
of land, and only from the mouth of the Indus to the head of the Persian
Gulf: Yet how great a figure does his expedition make in the works of the
greatest authors of antiquity, and what mighty rewards were bestowed upon
him for his services. Columbus, with only three vessels, smaller than any
of those of Nearchus, and with scarcely any encouragement or assistance
from those who accompanied him, made the surprising voyage from Spain to
the West Indies, a region before utterly unknown, and paved the way for
wider and more useful conquests than accrued to Alexander by his Indian
expedition. Let us compare the force with which Alexander attacked the
Indians, yet failed to subdue them, with the handfuls of men commanded by
Cortes and Pizarro; and we shall find the latter much greater conquerors
beyond all question, as will be more clearly seen in the accounts of their
respective expeditions. These are only adduced for the present, as proofs
that it was not to the wisdom of the Spanish government, but to the
personal abilities of those individuals who were accidentally employed in
its service, that these events were owing.

We have seen how ungratefully the court of Spain treated the first and
great discoverer of the New World, and how far it was from enabling him to
exert his great capacity in its service. After his disgrace and death, the
management of the affairs of the West Indies fell almost entirely into the
hands of Fonseca, bishop of Burgos, who of all the statesmen belonging to
the court of Spain was least fit to have been entrusted with affairs of
such importance, and who accordingly misconducted them in a most
surprising manner. Listening on the one hand to the proposals of every
needy adventurer, and slighting all those men on the other hand who were
most likely to have pushed the new discoveries to advantage, by the
knowledge they had acquired of the West Indies, by their wise conduct in
the settlement of the new colonies, and the power they possessed for
prosecuting farther discoveries and establishing new colonies; we
accordingly find that not one of all the bishop's instruments succeeded in
their projects, but uniforml