The Life of Christopher Columbus from his own Letters and Journals | Page 9

the Genoese,
the importance of his great plan; and tried to interest them to make the
great endeavor, for the purpose of reaching the Indies by a western
route. As it proved, the discovery of the route by the Cape of Good
Hope was, commercially, a great injury to Genoa and the other
maritime cities of Italy. Before this time, the eastern trade of Europe
came by the ports of the eastern Mediterranean, and the Italian cities.
Columbus's offer to Genoa was therefore one which, if her statesmen
could have foreseen the future, they would have considered eagerly.
But Genoa was greatly depressed at this period. In her wars with the
Turks she had been, on the whole, not successful. She had lost Caffa,
her station in the Crimea, and her possessions in the Archipelago were
threatened. The government did not accept Columbus's proposals, and
he was obliged to return with them to Spain. He went first to
distinguished noblemen, in the South of Spain, who were of liberal and
adventurous disposition. One was the Duke of Medina Celi, and one
the Duke of Medina Sidonia. Each of these grandees entertained him at

their courts, and heard his proposals.
The Duke of Medina Celi was so much interested in them, that at one
time he proposed to give Columbus the direction of four vessels which
he had in the harbor of Cadiz. But, of a sudden, he changed his mind.
The enterprise was so vast, he said, that it should be under the direction
of the crown. And, without losing confidence in it, he gave to
Columbus an introduction to the king and queen, in which he cordially
recommended him to their patronage.
This king and queen were King Ferdinand of Aragon, and Queen
Isabella of Castile. The marriage of these two had united Spain. Their
affection for each other made the union real, and the energy, courage
and wisdom of both made their reign successful and glorious. Of all its
glories the greatest, as it has proved, was connected with the life and
discoveries of the sailor who was now to approach them. He had been
disloyally treated by Portugal, he had been dismissed by Genoa. He had
not succeeded with the great dukes. Now he was to press his adventure
upon a king and queen who were engaged in a difficult war with the
Moors, who still held a considerable part of the peninsula of Spain.
The king and queen were residing at Cordova, a rich and beautiful city,
which they had taken from the Moors. Under their rule Cordova had
been the most important seat of learning in Europe. Here Columbus
tarried at the house of Alonso de Quintinilla, who became an ardent
convert to his theory, and introduced him to important friends. By their
agency, arrangements were made, in which Columbus should present
his views to the king. The time was not such as he could have wished.
All Cordova was alive with the preparation for a great campaign
against the enemy. But King Ferdinand made arrangements to hear
Columbus; it does not appear that, at the first hearing, Isabella was
present at the interview. But Ferdinand, although in the midst of his
military cares, was intereste in the proposals made by Columbus. He
liked the man. He was pleased by the modesty and dignity with which
he brought forward his proposals. Columbus spoke, as he tells us, as
one specially appointed by God Himself to carry out this discovery.
The king did not, however, at once adopt the scheme, but gave out that

a council of men of learning should be called together to consider it.
Columbus himself says that he entered the service of the sovereigns
January 26, 1486. The council to which he was referred was held in the
university city of Salamanca, in that year. It gave to him a full
opportunity to explain his theory. It consisted of a fair representation of
the learning of the time. But most of the men who met had formed their
opinions on the subjects involved, and were too old to change them. A
part of them were priests of the church, in the habit of looking to sacred
Scripture as their only authority, when the pope had given no
instruction in detail. Of these some took literally expressions in the Old
Testament, which they supposed to be fatal to the plans of Columbus.
Such was the phrase in the 104th Psalm, that God stretches out the
heavens like a curtain. The expression in the book of Hebrews, that the
heavens are extended as a tent, was also quoted, in the same view.
Quotations from the early Fathers of the church were more fatal to the
new plan than those from the Scripture.
On the other hand