He did appear there on the seventeenth of December, attended by an honorable retinue, and in the proper costume of a gentleman in favor with the king and queen.
When the queen met him she was moved to tears, and Columbus, finding himself so kindly received, threw himself upon his knees.

For some time he could not express himself except by tears and sobs.

His sovereigns raised him from the ground and encouraged him by gracious words.
So soon as he recovered his self-possession he made such an address as he had occasion to make more than once in his life, and showed the eloquence which is possible to a man of affairs.

He could well boast of his loyalty to the Spanish crown; and he might well say that, whether he were or were not experienced in government, he had been surrounded by such difficulties in administration as hardly any other man had had to go through.

But really, it was hardly necessary that he should vindicate himself.
The stupidity of his enemies, had injured their cause more than any carelessness of Columbus could have done.