[Illustration. BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS, COLUMBIAN
EXHIBITION, CHICAGO, 1892-93]
“My Country, ’Tis of Thee!”
OR,
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA;
PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.
A PHILOSOPHIC VIEW OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND OF OUR PRESENT
STATUS, TO BE SEEN IN
THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION.
BY
WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON, A. M.,
AUTHOR OF “STANLEY’S ADVENTURES IN AFRICA,” “HISTORY OF THE JOHNSTOWN
FLOOD,” “A LIFE OF GENERAL SHERMAN,” ETC.
GREAT ISSUES OF THE FUTURE,
AS VIEWED BY
OUR MOST PROMINENT EDITORS AND EMINENT MEN OF
OUR COUNTRY,
INCLUDING
PRESIDENT HARRISON, EX-PRESIDENT CLEVELAND, SENATOR SHERMAN,
JUDGE THURMAN, CARDINAL GIBBONS, BISHOP FOSS, BISHOP
POTTER, T. V. POWDERLY, GENERAL SCHOFIELD,
ADMIRAL PORTER, AND MANY OTHERS.
BY
JOHN HABBERTON,
AUTHOR OF “A LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON,” ETC., AND EDITOR OF
“THE SELECT BRITISH ESSAYISTS.”
ILLUSTRATED.
INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING CO.,
44 N. 4th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 134 E. Van Buren St., Chicago, Ill.
1892.
Copyright, 1892, by B. W. URIAN.
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT.
BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS.
WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
GENTLEMEN:
With reference to your request for an introductory note, allow me to
assure you that it affords me great pleasure to speak to the masses
through the medium of your excellent book.
Thanking you for the courtesy, I am,
Yours most truly,
[Illustration: Signature of Bertha M. H. Palmer
Pres. B. L. M.]
THE PURPOSES
OF THE
BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS
OF THE
WORLD’S COLUMBIAN COMMISSION.
The Board of Lady Managers of the World’s Columbian Commission, having
been created and authorized by the concurrent action of Congress and the
Columbian Commission, to take entire charge of the interests of women at
the coming Exposition, desires to develop to the fullest extent the
grand possibilities which have been placed within its reach.
The Board wishes to mark the first participation of women in an
important national enterprise, by preparing an object lesson to show the
progress made by women in every country of the world, during the century
in which educational and other privileges have been granted her, and to
show the increased usefulness that has resulted from the enlargement of
her opportunities.
The Board of Lady Managers invites the women of all countries to
participate in this great exhibit of woman’s work, to the end that it
may be made not only national, but universal, and that all may profit by
a free comparison of methods, agencies, and results.
It is of the first importance that such a representative collection be
secured from every country as will give an adequate idea of the extent
and value of what is being done by women in the arts, sciences, and
industries.
We will aim to show to the breadwinners, who are fighting unaided the
battle of life, the new avenues of employment that are constantly being
opened to women, and in which of these their work will be of the most
distinct value by reason of their natural adaptability, sensitive and
artistic temperaments, and individual tastes; what education will best
enable them to enjoy the wider opportunities awaiting them and make
their work of the greatest worth, not only to themselves but to the
world.
The Board has decided that at the coming Exposition it will not attempt
to separate the exhibit of woman’s work from that of men, for the reason
that as women are working side by side with men in all the factories of
the world, it would be practically impossible, in most cases, to divide
the finished result of their combined work; nor would women be satisfied
with prizes unless they were awarded without distinction as to sex, and
as the result of fair competition with the best work shown. They are
striving for excellence, and desire recognition only for demonstrated
merit. In order, however, that the enormous amount of work being done by
women may be appreciated a tabulated statement will be procured and
shown with every exhibit, stating the proportion of woman’s work that
enters into it. The application blanks now being sent out to
manufacturers contain this inquiry.
The Board of Lady Managers has been granted by Act of Congress the great
and unusual privilege of appointing members of each jury to award prizes
for articles into which woman’s work enters. The number of women on each
jury will be proportionate to the amount of work done by women in the
corresponding department of classification. The statement as to the
amount of their work will therefore be of double significance, for in
addition to the impressive showing of how large a proportion of the
heavy labor of the world is being performed by the weaker sex, it will
also determine the amount of jury representation to which the Board is
entitled.
Beside the extensive exhibit in the general Exposition buildings, women
will have another opportunity of displaying work of superior excellence
in a very advantageous way in the Woman’s Building, over which the Board
of Lady Managers will exercise complete control. In its central gallery
it is intended to have grouped the most brilliant achievements of women
from every country and in every line of work. Exhibits will be admitted
only by invitation, which will be considered the equivalent of a prize.
No sentimental sympathy for women will cause the admission of
second-rate objects, for the highest standard of excellence is to be
there strictly maintained. Commissions of women organized in all
countries, as auxiliaries to the Board of Lady Managers, will be asked
to recommend objects of supreme excellence produced by women, and
producers of such successful work will be invited to place specimens in
the gallery of the Woman’s Building.
Not only has woman become an immense, although generally unrecognized
factor in the industrial world, but hers being essentially the arts of
peace and progress, her best work is shown in the numberless charitable,
reformatory, educational, and other beneficent institutions which she
has had the courage and the ideality to establish for the alleviation of
suffering, for the correction of many forms of social injustice and
neglect, and for the reformation of long-established wrongs. These
institutions exert a strong and steady influence for good, an influence
which tends to decrease vice, to make useful citizens of the helpless or
depraved, to elevate the standard of morality, and to increase the sum
of human happiness; thus most effectively supplementing the best efforts
and furthering the highest aims of all government.
All organizations of women must be impressed with the necessity of
making an effective showing of the noble work which each is carrying on.
We especially desire to have represented, in the rooms reserved for that
purpose, the educational work originated or carried on by women, from
the Kindergarten organizations up to the highest branches of education,
including all schools of applied science and art, such as
training-schools for nurses, manual training, industrial art and cooking
schools, domestic economy, sanitation, etc. When not practically
exhibited, the work of all such organizations should be shown by maps,
charts, photographs, relief models, etc.; but it is earnestly hoped that
one, at least, the most representative institution in each of these
branches, will be shown from every country, in order that a comparison
may be made of methods and results.
BERTHA M. H. PALMER.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY.
Classic legends of Atlantis--Chinese and Japanese accounts of early
voyages to America--Prince Madoc and the Welsh legends--The voyages
of the Vikings--Eric and Leif and their adventures--Columbus and
his schemes--The most memorable voyage in history--Post-Columbian
voyagers and explorers--Many men from many lands flocking to the
newly-discovered continent--A new world opened to the civilization and
to the greed of Europe.....17
CHAPTER II.
“IN THE GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES.”
Parcelling out the country--Foundation of the earliest
colonies--Jamestown and its settlers--Strange improvidence of the
colonists--Troubles with the Indians--John Smith and Pocahontas--The
Pilgrims and Puritans--Substantial growth of the New England
Colonies--New York--Troubles with the Mother Country--Growth of
the spirit of independence--The War of the Revolution and its
results.....60
CHAPTER III.
THE STORY OF THE NATION.
Establishing a constitutional government--Disputes with
other powers--A second war with England--Territorial
acquisitions--Settlement and admission of new States--The slavery
question--War with Mexico--The rush for gold in California--The Kansas
troubles--How the great war was precipitated--The campaigns from Bull
Run to Appomattox--Political results of the war--Rapid growth of the
country since--The present state of the nation.....105
CHAPTER IV.
WORLD’S FAIRS.
The origin and object of universal exhibitions--New York’s Crystal
Palace--Spirit and hopes of its projectors--Its display of the
nation’s greatness--The Centennial Exposition of 1876--Magnitude of
the enterprise--Description of its hundred buildings--Calendar of
events--An impressive exposition of national development.....146
CHAPTER V.
THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
Preparations for a celebration of the quartercentenary of
Columbus--Chicago chosen as the site--Marvelous history of the Western
Metropolis--How the Columbian Exhibition was organized--Sketches
of its promoters--The principal buildings and grounds--Financial
arrangements--An exhibition surpassing all its predecessors and
fittingly commemorating the birth of a new world.....204
CHAPTER VI.
SOCIETY’S FOUNDATION-STONE.
Marriage Customs in the United States--Shiploads of women disposed
of as wives to the earlier Virginia Planters--The Marriage Relation
should be closely guarded--Divorced people, have they _moral_ right
to remarry?--A rich man and a stupid wife--Drifting apart--Duty of
the Church--Views of a happy wife--Novels, love and marriage--“Beauty
and the Beast”--An insulting imputation--_Is it_ the “best
match?”--Marriage blunders.....247
CHAPTER VII.
THE DEMON OF DIVORCE.
Marriage _not_ a failure--Rev. David Swing’s caustic comment--Views of
Rabbi Silverman--Heartlessness of Divorce Court proceedings--Divorced
persons debarred by the Queen of England--Sufferings of the
children--“Vice is a monster of such hideous mien”--Shall we have a
Constitutional Amendment restricting divorce?--Views of Bishop Foss
and Bishop Whittaker--Position of the Catholic Church and of the
Hebrews--“Church union cannot be combated”--“Burn the bridges”.....260
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FARMER’S TROUBLES.
Encumbered with mortgage--Energy of the farmer--Lack of
capital--Labor--The farmer’s children and city life--“The borrower
is servant to the lender”--The census valuation of farm lands--Hiram
Sibley, the millionaire farmer--Twelve Vermont farms--The Western
farmer and the railroads--Co-operative stores--“Land-poor”--Government
aid for the farmers.....272
CHAPTER IX.
THE RUM POWER.
Harm done by the liquor traffic--Views of Bishop Warren, of the
Methodist Church--Miss Frances Willard’s views--“Petroleum”
Nasby--Rum in politics--Channing’s aphorism--Rev. Theodore Cuyler’s
summary of statistics--Causes of drunkenness--Ways to reclaim the
unfortunates--Control the demon by law--Public opinion--Bishop Foss’
reply--Restrictive measures.....288
CHAPTER X.
NATIONAL DEFENCE.
Our harbors useless--Caught napping by England--Troops and the
Indians--General Sheridan’s last report--General Sherman’s
protests--Congressional inactivity--Admiral Porter hammering at
Congress--A blast from the late Samuel J. Tilden--Desertions from the
army--Statistics from General Schofield’s report--Frontier life for
the soldier--Major Sumner’s plan.....303
CHAPTER XI.
LABOR.
Laboring men--Their mistakes and their grievances--Labor sure to
be imposed upon--Driving a sharp bargain--Low wages resulting from
competition--A laborer in chains recently brought for sale into the
market-place of a New England town--But the people rise in their
wrath--Does _practical_ slavery exist in the United States?--Coal
miners and factory hands compared with the _consistados_ of South
America--The store system of credits--Resulting evils to the
laborers.....318
CHAPTER XII.
SELF-HELP FOR LABOR.
The importance of being a “full-handed workman”--_Successful_
mechanics know more than one branch of business--This quality
developed in new countries--Votes of laborers controlled by
corporations--A curious experience in the West.....336
CHAPTER XIII.
IMMIGRATION.
America is a home--Not an asylum--Liberty is not license--No paupers
need apply--Nor any contract laborers--Skilled labor welcome, if it
comes to stay--Immigrant farmers will do us good--Too much hurry in
granting citizenship--Foreign faction fights must not be kept up
here--Transplanted stock improves rapidly.....351
CHAPTER XIV.
ANNEXATION.
We don’t want the earth--We need more neighbors--Not more
children--Non-assimilative races would weaken us--The Old World’s
experience at land-grabbing--Let Canada alone till she wants
us--Likewise Mexico--We have enough discordant interests now--We don’t
want to pay other nations’ debts.....368
CHAPTER XV.
THE INDIAN.
He has stopped fighting--Let us stop robbing him--The Indian will
work--He has plenty of brains--Capacity for education abundantly
proved--Records of the experiment at Hampton--He knows a good thing
when he sees it--The beneficent effects of the Dawes bill--Even the
Apaches have worked as good as white men.....385
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PRESS.
The editor is the nation’s schoolmaster--Also the most trusty advocate
of the people’s rights--He brings the people together in spirit
and purpose--Always ahead of Congress and the government--Rapid
improvement of the newspaper--Independence in journalism--Trial by
newspaper.....399
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SCHOOL-ROOM.
Boys and girls who are to be men and women--The schools are behind
the times--Too much fuss and too little gain--Discipline which costs
too much--Heads stuffed, but hands and hearts neglected--Faults of
teaching--About faculties benumbed by routine work--What has been
done can be done--The country boy ahead.....410
CHAPTER XVIII.
RAILROADS.
Rights and wrongs of the great transportation corporations--What they
have done for the country and what the country has done for them--Era
of construction closed and an era of restriction and regulation
begun--Why railroad officials become millionaires--Watering stock--A
curious question which will be raised one of these days.....431
CHAPTER XIX.
BANKS AND BANKING.
New York no longer the sole dictator in the money market--Why Western
business men are now independent of metropolitan money-lenders--The
increase of “reserve cities”--Banking methods to dodge the laws--How
unscrupulous bank directors get rich--Why so many cashiers go to
Canada and how to stop them--Noted living bankers.....455
CHAPTER XX.
OUR CITIES.
Cities are necessary evils--But greatly to be avoided--City
life is dangerous to most persons--Unnatural influences are
inevitable--Hard on the purse and hard on the heart--Poverty’s last
refuge--The home of the thief--The touch of nature lost--Temptations
innumerable--Restraints few--No place for country boys and girls--City
forms of government must change--THE DARKER SIDE--The sorrows of the
city poor--Friendless and alone--Miserable homes--Health and morals
menaced--All depends on one life--Chances and misfortunes--Sickness
and death--The story of the Ganges paralleled--The majority are
industrious--An army of heroes--Religion and rum their only
comforts--Child work and child ruin--Benevolence wearied and
despairing.....481
CHAPTER XXI.
RELIGION.
Religion is in no danger--The letter suffers but the spirit
grows--Essentials were never more prominent--The tree is judged by its
fruit--Proselyting has gone out of date--Denominations have ceased to
fight--A life as well as a faith.....509
CHAPTER XXII.
WOMAN AND HER WORK.
One “woman’s right” secured--She has a chance almost everywhere--The
liberation of man--Woman’s wits sharpen quickly--Advantages over male
workers--Woman need not marry for a home--The tables turned--Some
effects upon society--Never enslaved unless stupid--The “Song of the
Shirt”--The coming generation.....517
CHAPTER XXIII.
OUR LITERATURE.
A nation of readers--Books to be found everywhere--The Sunday-School
library--Chautauqua’s great work--The American author is a busy
man--Good books make their way, sooner or later--Abler men should
go into authorship--Our literature making its way abroad--American
writers’ characteristics--Our literature is clean, earnest and
hopeful.....531
CHAPTER XXIV.
AMERICAN HUMOR.
The salt that will save us--A nation of jokers--Our Puritan and
cavalier ancestors were fond of fun--President Lincoln’s jokes--Humor
in the pulpit--Fun in the newspapers--Prentice--Mark Twain--Nasby--Nye
and Riley--Miles O’Reilly--“Uncle Remus”--John Hay--“Bob”
Burdette--All healthy fun--No malignity in our jokes--The best-natured
people alive.....547
CHAPTER XXV.
THE HIGHER EDUCATION.
A land full of colleges--How these institutions began to
exist--Tributes to American regard for intelligence and
education--Something better needed--No lack of money--Views of
Presidents Dwight of Yale, Eliot of Harvard, McCosh of Princeton,
White of Cornell, Bartlett of Dartmouth, and Gilman of Johns
Hopkins--Bishop Potter on the place of the scholar in America.....566
CHAPTER XXVI.
OUR GREAT CONCERN.
Our country first and foremost--No sectional differences--No
foreign interests or entanglements--The people first, the party
afterward--Loyalty to party means disloyalty to the republic--Meddlers
must be suppressed--All in the family--One for all and all for one--E
Pluribus Unum.....597
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FACING
PAGE
Bird’s-eye View of Grounds and Buildings, Columbian
Exposition, Chicago, 1892-93, Frontispiece
Christopher Columbus, 17
Landing of Columbus, 32
Washington, 49
Residence of the President of the United States, 1798, 64
Abraham Lincoln, 81
World’s Fair, New York, 1853, 96
Main Building, International Centennial Exhibition, 1876, 113
Libby Prison, 128
Independence Hall, Philadelphia, 145
Chicago in 1856, 160
Chicago Street Life--Washington Street and Wabash Avenue, 177
U. S. Grant, 192
The Capitol, 209
Bear Pit (Lincoln Park), 224
The Auditorium Hotel, 241
Bird’s-eye View of the Proposed Buildings of the University
of Chicago, 256
Tacoma Building, 273
Residence of Hon Potter Palmer, 288
Mines Building, 305
U. S. Man-of-War, 320
Agricultural Building, 337
Perspective View Looking South, Showing End of World’s
Columbian Exposition, 352
Administration Building, 369
Electrical Building, 384
Gallery of Fine Arts, 401
Transportation Building, 416
Horticultural Hall, 433
Fisheries and Agricultural, 448
Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, 465
Machinery Hall, 480
Woman’s Building, 497
[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.]
“MY COUNTRY, ’TIS OF THEE.”
CHAPTER I.
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY.
Beginning with the year 1492, the date of the first voyage of Columbus,
necessarily leaves a great part of American history untold. Every
nation’s story begins in the middle; back of Leonidas are the Homeric
heroes; Romulus and Remus antedate the Tarquins. So, centuries before
the clear glory of Columbus, we have tradition of various shadowy
explorers whose strange barques visited our shores. Unless we grant the
earliest inhabitants of America an autochthonic origin, it seems most
reasonable to suppose that they came from Asia. Such authorities as
Humboldt, Bancroft, and Prescott declare it their opinion that the
monuments, the systems of cosmogony, the methods of computing time,
etc., all point to an ancient communication with eastern Asia. It is
certain that from time immemorial constant intercourse has been kept up
between the natives of either side of Bering’s Strait, and it is very
probable that the original immigrants came that way. There are other
possible routes--the Aleutian Islands and Polynesia are the two next
favored by the authorities.
There is a distinct trace of Japanese blood in many of the native tribes
of the northwest coast, and we have too many modern instances of
Japanese junks drifting upon the American coast, after floating for
months at the mercy of the Pacific currents, to doubt the possibility of
prehistoric visits of these people. What is known as the “black stream,”
or Japan current, runs northward past the eastern coast of the Japanese
Islands, then curves to the east and south, passing the west coast of
America and moving toward the Sandwich Islands. This current, it is
said, would carry a drifting vessel toward the American coast at the
rate of ten miles a day.
The theory which supposes the people, or at least the civilization, of
America to be of Egyptian origin is based upon analogies existing
between the architecture, hieroglyphics, and various customs of the two
countries. But even where these analogies bear the test of close
examination, they can scarcely be said to prove anything. In western
Asia the Phœnicians--those bold voyagers--and their children, the
Carthagenians, are given the honor of settling America. The records of
their travels show that they knew of a country lying far to the west. In
the writings of Diodorus Siculus is an elaborate account of a wonderful
island in the Atlantic Ocean, far beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and
many days’ journey from the coast of Africa. This happy land, fertile of
soil, beautiful of scenery, and perfect of climate, was accidentally
discovered by Phœnician sailors, whose barque was driven thither by
contrary winds. On their return they gave such glowing accounts of the
new country that large colonies of Tyrians left their native land to
settle there. This may have been America, but is more likely to have
been the Canary Islands.
Volumes have been written to prove that America was settled by the Ten
Lost Tribes of Israel.
In old Welsh annals there is an account of a colony established in the
twelfth century by Madoc, one of the sons of Owen Gwynedd, prince of
North Wales. After the death of this monarch, his sons waged war against
each other for the sovereignty. Madoc became disgusted with contention,
and determined to leave his native country and establish a kingdom of
his own, as far away as possible from the quarreling of his brothers. He
set sail, with what followers he could muster, and for many months bore
westward. At length they came to a large and favorable country, and,
having sailed for some distance along the coast, they found a
landing-place to their liking and disembarked. Some years later, Madoc
returned to Wales and persuaded a large number of his countrymen to
join the colony. Ten ships were fitted out with all manner of supplies,
and many families set sail for the new land. Of their further adventures
the records are silent.
An Irish discovery of America is also claimed. St. Patrick is said to
have sent missionaries thither. There is every reason to believe that
Irish sailors could have reached, by accident or otherwise, the shores
of our continent, but there is no reason at all to believe that they
did.
But these are all speculations, fairy stories, myths. Coming down to
sober facts, there are but two historical documents of real value
bearing upon the discovery of America before Columbus. One of these
documents is Chinese, the other Scandinavian.
The Chinese document is an extract from the official records, and sets
forth the adventures of a Buddhist priest named Hwui Shin, the same
being related by him after his return from a country lying very far to
the eastward. This country is claimed by some to have been Japan, but
others claim that it was America. The weight of evidence certainly
inclines toward the latter theory. The historian begins his account with
the statement that, in order to reach the new continent, it is necessary
to set out from the coast of the province Leao-tong, to the north of
Peking, reaching Japan after a journey of twelve thousand _li_--that
is, about four thousand miles. Sailing northward seven thousand _li_,
one reaches the kingdom of Wen-shin. Five thousand _li_ eastward is the
country of Ta-han. Twenty thousand _li_ beyond is the new world--which
the record names as the country of Fu-sang.
Perhaps we cannot do better than to present the original record, as
translated by Professor S. Wells Williams:
“In the first year of the reign, Yung-yuen, of the Emperor Tung
Hwăn-han, of the Tsi dynasty (A.D. 499), a Shaman priest named Hwui
Shin arrived at King-chau from the kingdom of Fu-sang. He related as
follows:
“‘_Fu-sang_ lies east of the kingdom of _Ta-han_ more than twenty
thousand _li_; it is also east of the Middle Kingdom (China). It
produces many _fu-sang_ trees, from which it derives its name. The
leaves of the _fu-sang_ resemble those of the _tung_ tree. It sprouts
forth like the bamboo, and the people eat the shoots. Its fruits
resemble the pear, but it is red; the bark is spun into cloth for
dresses and woven into brocade. The houses are made of planks. There are
no walled cities with gates. The (people) use characters and writing,
making paper from the bark of the _fu-sang_. There are no mailed
soldiers, for they do not carry on war. The law of the land prescribes a
southern and a northern prison. Criminals convicted of light crimes are
put into the former, and those guilty of grievous offenses into the
latter. Criminals, when pardoned, are let out of the southern prison,
but those in the northern prison are not pardoned. Prisoners in the
latter marry. Their boys become bondmen when they are eight years old
and the girls bondwomen when nine years old. Convicted prisoners are not
allowed to leave their prison while alive. When a nobleman (or an
official) has been convicted of crime, the great assembly of the nation
meets and places the criminal in a hollow (or pit); they set a feast,
with wine, before him, and then take leave of him. If the sentence is a
capital one, at the time they separate they surround (the body) with
ashes. For crimes of the first grade the sentence involves only the
person of the culprit; for the second it reaches the children and
grandchildren; while the third extends to the seventh generation.
“‘The king of this country is termed _yueh-ki_; the highest rank of
nobles is called _tui-li_; the next, little _tui-li_; and the lowest,
_no-cha-sha_. When the king goes abroad, he is preceded and followed by
drummers and trumpeters. The color of his robes varies with the years in
the cycle containing the ten stems. It is azure in the first two years;
in the second two years it is red; it is yellow in the third, white in
the fourth, and black in the last two years. There are oxen with long
horns, so long that they will hold things--the biggest as much as five
pecks. Vehicles are drawn by oxen, horses, and deer, for the people of
that land rear deer just as the Chinese rear cattle, and make cream of
their milk. They have red pears, which will keep a year without
spoiling; water-rushes and peaches are common. Iron is not found in the
ground, though copper is; they do not prize gold or silver, and trade is
conducted without rent, duty, or fixed prices.
“‘In matters of marriage, it is the law that the (intending) son-in-law
must erect a hut before the door of the girl’s house, and must sprinkle
and sweep the place morning and evening for a whole year. If she then
does not like him, she bids him depart; but if she is pleased with him
they are married. The bridal ceremonies are, for the most part, like
those of China. A fast of seven days is observed for parents at their
death, five for grandparents, and three days for brothers, sisters,
uncles, or aunts. Images to represent their spirits are set up, before
which they worship and pour out libations morning and evening; but they
wear no mourning or fillets. The successor of the king does not attend
personally to government affairs for the first three years. In olden
times they knew nothing of the Buddhist religion, but during the reign
Ta-ming of the Emperor Hiao Wu-ti, of the Lung dynasty (A.D. 458), from
Ki-pin five beggar priests went there. They traveled over the kingdom,
everywhere making known the laws, canons, and images of that faith.
Priests of regular ordination were set apart among the natives, and the
customs of the country became reformed.’”
There are several other narratives which relate to Fu-sang, or to
countries near it in situation. This, of them all, seems to describe
most truthfully a real country. Fu-sang may have been Japan, or it may
have been Mexico. Hwui Shin’s account differs very widely in some of its
details, from our knowledge of either.
All the literature of the subject of Chinese discoveries of America has
been examined and reviewed in Mr. E. P. Vining’s excellent book, _An
Inglorious Columbus_. Mr. Vining believes Fu-sang to be Mexico, and the
_fu-sang_ tree, in his view, is the maguey.
When we come to the Scandinavian records, we find much that is not only
plausible but indisputable evidence of the validity of their claims. We
know that the Scandinavian vikings, splendid old rascals, in their
many-oared galleys, often sailed far out into the waters of the
Atlantic. In the year 860, one of these glorious cut-throats, Naddoddr
(pronounce it if you can!), was blown upon the coast of Iceland. In 876
a similar experience befell another viking, and he reported having seen
in the distance the coast of an unknown shore.
In the year 981, Eric the Red, an outlaw of Iceland, sailed in search
of this coast, and, finding it, set a bad example to future real estate
dealers by naming its bleak length Greenland.
Subsequent to this discovery, according to the sagas of Iceland,
frequent visits to the south were made, and one Bjarni, distancing all
previous explorers, found a fertile country to which he gave the name of
Vinland. This was in the year 985, and, although the stories of these
exploits are vague and untrustworthy enough in detail, there seems
little doubt that Bjarni really visited the eastern coast of America at
that date.
No attempt was made at colonization; indeed, it is not recorded that the
galleys of Bjarni stopped at the new land at all. The wind which had
carried them thither changed suddenly, and they were borne back to
Iceland, where it is safe to presume that they all got uproariously
drunk, and did a great deal of bragging on the strength of their
adventure.
The second voyage to the new country was made by Leif, son of Eric the
Red, about the year 1000. He touched first a barren land covered with
icy mountains which he named Helluland. Spreading sail again he turned
the prow of his vessel southward until he reached a level country with
trees and grassy slopes. This he called Markland. Two days sailing
brought the vessel to an island at which the sailors disembarked, for
the weather was warm and the sight of land alluring. They stayed here
for a few hours and then steered for the mainland. A river flowed out
from a lake, and in this lake they anchored, carried the luggage from
the ship, and built themselves houses. It was the most beautiful, the
most fertile land they had ever seen, and they resolved to spend the
winter there. One of the boldest of them left his companions to the
enjoyment of the salmon fishing in the river and lake, and devoted
himself to exploring the surrounding country. He found quantities of
wine-berries (probably grapes), and with these berries and with some
wood they loaded their ship and set sail for Greenland.
Seven years later another expedition was fitted out with three ships,
and under command of this same Leif. They sailed far to the southward
and finally came to a promontory, to the right of which lay a long,
sandy beach. On this beach, or rather on a tongue of land that ran out
from it, they found the keel of a ship. They called this point, Kjlarnes
(Keel Cape), and the beach, Furdustrandir (Long Strand).
When the expedition set out, King Olaf Tryggvason gave Lief two famous
runners, a Scotch man and woman, named Haki and Hekja. These people were
set on shore shortly after they had passed Furdustrandir, and ordered to
run to the south, explore the country and return in three days. At the
end of the designated period they returned, the man bringing a bunch of
wine-berries and the woman an ear of wheat. This was promising, and the
expedition voted to continue the southward course.
Coming to a bay in which was an island around which flowed rapid
currents, they gave it the name of Straumey (Stream Island). The island
was so covered with the nests of eider ducks that it was difficult to
step without treading on the eggs. Here they resolved to tarry, and,
unloading the vessels, built habitations. Whether they stayed a long or
a short time, and what adventures befell them, of good or evil, we know
not.
A fuller record is that of Karlsefne, who with another hero, Snorro, and
our old friend Bjarni, sailed southward a long time until they came to
the river which ran out through the lake into the sea. The river was too
shallow to allow the ships to enter without high water. Karlsefne sailed
with his men into its mouth, and named the place Hop. Here were found
fields of wild wheat, and on the high ground wine-berries grew
abundantly. The woods were full of game and the men found plenty of
amusement for a fortnight. The only remarkable thing they saw was a
number of skin boats filled with swart, ugly people who rowed near the
shore and gazed in astonishment at the Northmen. They had coarse hair,
large, wild eyes and broad faces. They remained gazing at Karlsefne’s
men for a little and then rowed away to the southward.
With these people the explorers soon established communication, trading
red cloth, which the natives seemed to prefer to anything else, for
skins and furs. They wished to purchase swords and spears, but these the
Northmen refused to part with. As long as the red cloth held out their
relations with the Skraelings, as they had named the natives, continued
friendly. But one day, as the saga has it, while they were trafficking,
a bull which Karlsefne had with him ran out of the wood and bellowed so
fiercely that the Skraelings were frightened out of their wits, and fled
in their skin boats, back to the southland.
Three weeks later great numbers of them returned, and, with loud cries,
sprang on shore, prepared to do battle. Their weapons were slings, and
very uncomfortable weapons they proved to be, but the Northmen stood
their ground valiantly, until all of a sudden they saw the Skraelings
raise on a pole something that looked like an air-filled bag of a blue
color. They threw this at the enemy, and when it struck the ground it
exploded violently. At this Karlsefne and his men retreated, never
stopping until they gained a rocky stronghold, where they made another
stand, and at length succeeded in vanquishing the Skraelings.
Shortly afterward the expedition returned to Greenland. Many other
Northmen visited Vinland, according to the sagas, but no effort was made
at colonization. It is a matter of conjecture as to the exact location
of the country explored by them. Some writers believe it to have been
Labrador, and others place it as far south as Rhode Island. The
Skraelings, as they are described in the sagas, certainly resemble
Esquimaux more nearly than Indians. But then we have no positive proof
that the Northmen ever actually visited America at all. The presumption
is that they did, but all matters of detail must necessarily remain
doubtful, even if we accept their narratives in the main as true.
But whatever credit is to be given to the Asiatic, Norse, or other early
discoverers of America, or whatever knowledge of this hemisphere may
have been possessed by Europeans in classic times, to Christopher
Columbus must be ascribed the honor of opening the Western World to
actual settlement by civilized man. This illustrious man was born in
1436, in all but the lowest rank of life. His father was a woolcomber of
Genoa. But the education of the lad was made as complete as the scanty
means of his parents and the limited knowledge of that day would permit.
At an early age he learned to read and write, and obtained some
knowledge of arithmetic, drawing, and painting. Then he was sent to the
college at Pavia, one of the best institutions of learning of those
times. Here he studied grammar and the Latin language; but his
attention, fortunately for the world, was directed principally to
studies bearing upon the maritime profession, which he intended to
follow. He was instructed in geometry, astronomy, and navigation. Like
many of the young men of Genoa, he had an irresistible inclination
toward the sea. This was but natural, as that city was one of the chief
ports of the world. Later in life, Columbus ascribed this inclination to
a direct impulse from God, but this was only after his career had been
crowned with such brilliant success.
Geography was at this time the fashionable fad of the day. The world was
just beginning to recover the lost geographical knowledge, limited as it
was, of the Greeks and Romans. Monks and churchmen were still splitting
hairs over absurdly unimportant problems: How many angels could stand on
the point of a needle? whether a lie, under certain circumstances, was
not truth? whether black might not, in certain cases, be truly called
white? and other questions of equal vitality. But Arabian philosophers,
at the same time, were measuring degrees of latitude and calculating the
circumference of the earth. Their studies and achievements inevitably
found their way to the minds of many Christians in Europe, who, although
detesting the religious creed of the Mohammedans, were able to see that
their science was not to be despised. The works of Ptolemy and Strabo
had also just come into popular circulation, and created as much of a
sensation as any realistic novel of the present day. Prince Henry of
Portugal had made voyages of important discovery along the African
coast, and thus had inspired all the nations of Western Europe with the
hope of lighting upon some yet unknown region of fabulous wealth.
All these circumstances made the time particularly fitting for the most
important event of the ages since the Christian era. The hour had come
and the man also. At fourteen years of age Columbus left the school at
Pavia, and began the life of a sailor. This simply meant to cruise from
one port of the Mediterranean Sea to another, half as a merchantman,
half as a man-of-war. Every vessel was hourly exposed to the attacks of
pirates, especially those of the Barbary States, or of the war vessels
of hostile countries. In the midst of such dangers and difficulties
Columbus spent his early years. But the coarseness, ignorance, and
violence with which he was surrounded did not degrade his noble mind. He
had within him the seeds of greatness, a fine tone of thought, an ardent
imagination, and a loftiness of aspiration. Every leisure hour was
spent in study and profitable observation, thus improving the too meagre
educational advantages of his brief school life.
The year 1470 found Columbus at Lisbon, drawn thither with hundreds of
other navigators and scientific men by the fame of Prince Henry’s
discoveries. Strange tales were told of unexplored regions in the fiery
South, where the rocks were red hot and the water of the ocean forever
boiling. Even to these extravagant tales Columbus gave some heed, but
his thoughts were principally fixed on the possibility of finding a new
world far to the west. Our hero was now in the prime of life, a tall,
muscular man of commanding aspect. His light brown hair was already
prematurely gray, and his expression of countenance was grave and
scholarly. He was simple and abstemious in his diet, affable and
engaging in his manners and a devout Roman Catholic. But under this
exterior was concealed a nature of the most ardent enthusiasm, not less
energetic than that of Peter the Hermit or Ignatius Loyola. His
religious temperament led him often to the services of the Church, and
it was there that he first met a lady of high rank who soon afterward
became his wife. She was the daughter of Don Bartolomeo Monis de
Palestrello, an Italian cavalier, one of Prince Henry’s most
distinguished officers. The use of his father-in-law’s
[Illustration: THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS.]
fine collection of maps and charts was of great service to Columbus, who
now gave his attention to geographical studies more thoroughly than
ever. He talked or corresponded with all the learned men of the day. He
began to trace charts of his own, correcting the popular errors and
traditions by the aid of his own greater knowledge and experience.
Rumor, inspired by the stories of early adventures, had studded the far
western ocean with wondrous islands, on one of which seven Christian
bishops, fleeing from Pagan persecution, had founded seven splendid
cities. There were tales of a lofty mountainous country to be seen on
clear days far to the westward from the Canary Islands. Plato had told
of the ancient continent of Atlantis, which had been sunk beneath the
waves of the ocean. Marco Polo, the Venetian adventurer, had told of the
great wealth of the East Indies, which he said could be reached by
sailing westward from Europe.
However much he discounted the more extravagant of these tales, Columbus
was deeply impressed by them all. He became well convinced that far to
the west there lay an unexplored region, probably a part of the East
Indies, and he believed, with an intense religious zeal, that God had
specially commissioned him to discover and explore it. Thereupon he
consecrated the whole of his remaining life to the execution of this
task. No hazard, nor obstacle, nor disappointment for a moment daunted
him. He first applied to the Portuguese Court, stating the grounds of
his belief in the existence of an undiscovered country in the western
ocean, and asking for the means of ascertaining the truth of it. His
proposition was received with indifference, and finally rejected under
the influences of jealousy and intrigue. Then he returned to his native
Genoa, and there sought the same aid and encouragement; but Genoa was
already declining under the stress of domestic discord and foreign war,
and was unable to do anything for him.
The fortunes of Columbus were now at a low ebb. He had exhausted his
private means, and was in actual destitution. Downcast and disappointed,
often begging his food from door to door, he made his way on foot from
Genoa to the Court of Spain. Leading his little son by the hand, he one
day approached the Spanish capital, and asked for bread and water at a
convent door. The prior saw him, talked with him, became interested in
him and his schemes, and offered to introduce him at Court. Thus
Columbus obtained an interview with Cardinal Mendoza, the chief minister
and confidential adviser of the King and Queen, Ferdinand and Isabella.
The Cardinal was a man of extensive information and liberal mind, who
perceived at once the value of Columbus’s theories and commended them
to the sovereigns. The King, also, was apparently a good judge of men,
and appreciated the character and ability of Columbus. But he was not
willing to embark hastily in so great an enterprise as that proposed. He
first called together a council of all the most learned astronomers and
geographers in his kingdom, and to them referred Columbus, with his maps
and charts and theories.
This council met at Salamanca. It was entirely composed of friars,
priests, and monks, who monopolized all the learning, both secular and
religious, of that age. Some were men of large and philosophic minds;
others, narrow bigots; but all were imbued with the notion that
geographical discovery had reached its limits long before. In the
presence of this learned body, Columbus, a simple seaman, strong in
nothing save the energy of his convictions and the fire of his
enthusiasm, had to appear to defend a scheme which to them must have
appeared the dream of a madman. The difficulties of his position may be
guessed from the nature of some of the objections made to his
undertaking. His mathematical propositions and demonstrations were met
with quotations from the Book of Genesis, the Psalms, the Prophets, the
Epistles, the Gospels, and half a dozen of the Fathers of the Church.
When he argued that the earth was spherical, his opponents quoted one
of the Psalms, where the heavens are said to be extended like a hide.
Some members of the council, for the sake of argument, would admit the
rotundity of the earth, but denied the possibility of circumnavigating
it, first, because of the intolerable heat of the torrid zone, and
second, because it would take at least three years to accomplish the
voyage, in which time the explorers would die of hunger, it being
impossible to carry provisions sufficient for so long a time. Still
others said that if a ship did reach India, she could never return, for
the roundness of the globe would place a hill in her way, up which the
strongest wind could not blow her.
Such were the absurd notions held by the foremost scholars of those
days. It is needless here to recount such arguments further, or the
arguments, now familiar to every school-boy, used by Columbus in support
of his theory. It is enough to say that he was treated with incredulity,
suspicion, and contempt, and narrowly escaped being condemned for
heresy. After a long consultation the assembly broke up without arriving
at any decision. Then the war with the Moors of Granada absorbed the
attention of the Court for several years and exhausted its financial
resources. But after years of weary waiting the wish of Columbus was
granted. Queen Isabella pledged some of her jewels and in other ways
raised a sufficient sum to equip his expedition. In the month of April,
1492, an agreement was drawn up making him Viceroy and Governor-General
of all the lands he might discover and placing a number of ships and men
at his disposal. On the morning of August 3d, 1492, he and his 120
comrades embarked in three small ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the
Santa Maria, and set sail from the little port of Palos, in Andalusia,
on the most important voyage in history.
In a few days the expedition reached the Canary Islands, the then
western boundary of the known world. Beyond this all was speculation.
And of all the members of the expedition Columbus alone had
unquestioning faith in the object of the enterprise. Many of the sailors
believed, when they had lost sight of the European shore, that they were
doomed to inevitable destruction. Thus doubting and murmuring they
sailed onward week after week. At one time their discontent and fears
culminated in actual mutiny, and they proposed to put Columbus in irons
or throw him overboard and return, if possible, to Europe. But he
alternately calmed their discontent by promises of rich rewards and
awakened their fears by threats of immediate punishment. Thus for two
months he kept them in hand. Then as they again grew desperate and bade
fair to defy his authority altogether, indications of land not far ahead
began to appear. Birds hitherto unknown were seen flying above the
waves and wheeling about the ships, and plants and bits of wood were
seen in the water. Then the branch of a tree bearing red berries, and a
curiously carved instrument, were picked up. These things inspired even
the common sailors with hope that they were indeed approaching a shore.
At last, on October 8th, 1492, after sixty-five days of navigation on
unknown seas, they discovered land. It was not the American continent,
but one of the Bahama Islands, to which Columbus reverently gave the
name of St. Salvador. It was inhabited by Indians who received the
strangers kindly. Columbus formally took possession of the country in
the name of the Christian religion and the King and Queen of Spain. And
thus the dream of his youth was fulfilled and the ambition of his
manhood was accomplished. The Western World was discovered. Subsequently
he visited Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, Porto Rico, and other islands, but did
not reach the main land until his third voyage, when he visited
Venezuela. He named the islands the West Indies, supposing them to be a
part of the great East Indian Archipelago.
In the month of April, 1493, he returned to the Spanish Court. The City
of Barcelona was ablaze with flags and the air was vocal with the roar
of artillery, while all the bells of the churches rang peals of triumph
in his honor. Years before Columbus had come thither on foot and in
rags, begging his bread. Now he rode the streets in more than royal
pomp, crowned with the admiration and acclaim of all the populace. Seven
natives of the Western World marched in his train, and there was an
almost endless display of gold and gems, of carven idols and sculptured
masks, of birds and beasts and reptiles, of trees and plants and fruits.
Above all waved two banners, one that of Spain which he had unfurled
above the new continent, and the other the admiral’s flag bearing in
golden letters the inscription,
Por Castilla y por Leon
Nuevo Mundo hallo Colon,[A]
or, For Castile and Leon Columbus has discovered a new world.
Thus he came to the Court where the King and Queen awaited him, and was
greeted by them as their equal. There, seated among the nobles of Spain,
he gave a brief account of the most striking events of his voyage. The
sovereigns listened to him with profound emotion and then fell on their
knees to give thanks to God for so great an achievement. For the time
being no honor was too great to bestow upon Columbus. He was
commissioned to make other voyages to the New World and to take
possession of all lands there in the name of Spain. Yet it was only a
few years after that that the memory of his splendid services was
outweighed by the malice of his foes. He was actually arrested,
imprisoned and loaded with irons, and at the end died in disgrace and
neglect, at Valladolid, May 20th, 1506.
The discovery made by Columbus was followed up by the Spaniards with the
greatest enthusiasm. Within twenty years the four largest of the West
Indian Islands were the seats of flourishing colonies, while as yet
other nations were contenting themselves with occasional voyages of
discovery along the coasts of the continent. The great fertility of the
soil, the mildness of the climate, but above all the finding of gold and
precious stones, kept the Spaniards alive to the importance of their new
possessions and encouraged immigration. Columbus himself made four
voyages to the New World, discovering, in his third voyage, the South
American continent near the mouth of the Orinoco River, and reaching in
his fourth, Honduras and the coast to the south of this region. He never
knew what a great discovery he had made and to his death rested under
the delusion that he had found the eastern shore of Asia.
In 1499 Alonzo de Ojeda, who had previously accompanied Columbus to the
new country, made a voyage on his own account and explored four hundred
leagues of the coast of South America. With him sailed Amerigo Vespucci,
who afterward made three independent voyages to America and wrote the
first account of it; this was published in 1507, and popular prejudice
has supposed that his name came thus to be given to the New World.
At the recent Congress of Americanists in Paris, this point was
discussed with much warmth. M. Jules Marcon asserted that Vespucci’s
name was Alberico instead of Amerigo, and that he changed it after the
new continent was named. The true derivation of the name America is
Amerique, that being the Indian name of a range of mountains in Central
America. Still, some historians declare that very range of mountains to
have been called Amerisque, and it is true that in the Florentine
language Alberico and Amerigo are identical. Then there is extant a map
of the world prepared by one Vallescu of Majorca in 1490, on the back of
which is a note to the effect that the map was purchased for one hundred
and twenty ducats in gold by _Amerigo_ Vespucci, the merchant. This
proves that even if his name was not Amerigo, he sometimes wrote it so.
Other voyagers were Pedro Alonzo Nigno and Vincent Pinzon, the latter
being the first Spaniard to cross the equinoctial line. He discovered
the mouth of the Amazon River and from there sailed north to the
Carribean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. In the same year (1499), Diego
Lope explored the coast of South America far to the southwest.
The discovery and conquest of Mexico and Peru followed. The New World
became the Mecca of every reckless and adventurous spirit in Europe.
Ojeda sailed under a grant from the King of Spain to found a colony at
San Sebastian, and with him went Francisco Pizarro, who thus made the
first step in his adventurous career. The colony at San Sebastian was
abandoned, and on the return voyage one vessel foundered. The other,
commanded by Pizarro, reached Carthagena, where it was met by a fleet
conveying men and provisions to the colony. On one of these ships was
the adventurer Balboa, who had smuggled himself on board to escape his
creditors. Learning that the colony toward which they were sailing had
been deserted, Balboa proposed going to Darien, which coast he had
already visited. The proposal met with favor and a new town was founded
under the name of Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien. Trouble began
immediately, as usual. The man who had brought the fleet thither,
Encisco, a lawyer of San Domingo, was imprisoned and Balboa was made
alcade of the colony.
The natives of Darien viewed their visitors with anything but favor, and
endeavored by strategy to induce them to move on. They represented the
neighboring district of Coyba to be much richer in gold and provisions
than their own, and Pizarro, with only six men, went on an exploring
expedition. The natives were found to be hostile, and on one occasion
the Spaniards were surrounded by four hundred warriors, with whom they
had a very bloody battle. One hundred and fifty natives were killed,
many more wounded, while the Spaniards all escaped with their lives, one
man only being too badly hurt to fly. Retreating to Santa Maria, they
reported their misfortune, and it is to the credit of Balboa that he
obliged them to return and bring back their wounded companion. Coyba was
conquered, and an alliance formed with its ruler. Adjacent to it was a
range of mountains, at the foot of which was a very rich and highly
civilized country called Comagre. The chief invited the Spaniards to his
domain, treated them with hospitality, and astonished them with the
splendor of his possessions. His palace was a wonderful structure of
wood, divided into many apartments. In one of these chambers, the dried
and embalmed bodies of the chieftain’s ancestors, clothed in cotton
robes, richly embroidered with gold and precious stones, were suspended
from the walls. A large amount of gold and seventy slaves were presented
to the Spaniards. One-fifth of the gold was set apart for the King, and
over the remainder the Christians held such a dispute that the savages
were aghast. Finally the young chieftain scornfully remarked that if
they were so greedy for gold, he could direct them to a country where it
was more common than iron was in their land. “When you have passed this
range of mountains,” he continued, “you will behold another ocean, on
which are vessels only inferior to those which brought you hither,
equipped with sails and oars, but navigated by people naked like
ourselves.” Undoubtedly the chief alluded to Peru. This certain proof of
the existence of another ocean filled Balboa with delight. He imagined
that the country described formed a part of the vast region of the East
Indies. Preparations for the enterprise were immediately begun, but in
the midst of it all Balboa was summoned to court to answer the charges
brought against him by Encisco. Instead of obeying the command, however,
he determined to effect the passage to the South Sea before his
successor could arrive from Spain. The Isthmus of Darien is only sixty
miles in breadth, but a chain of mountains, a continuation of the Andes,
runs through its whole extent. Its valleys are marshy and unhealthy,
being inundated by rains which prevail nearly two-thirds of the year.
These marshes are even more impenetrable than the forests which cover
the mountains, and to this day the crossing is not much easier than it
was then.
No man but Balboa could have accomplished it. He was not any more
courageous than his followers, but he possessed great powers of
magnetism as well as prudence, sagacity, and amiability; in a word, he
had genius, the genius of leadership. His soldiers were his children. He
wished to bear the heaviest burdens himself; his post in battle was the
most dangerous of all; his endurance surpassed that of the strongest
men. His army consisted of one hundred and ninety Spaniards, one
thousand Indians, useful to carry baggage, and some fierce blood-hounds.
Balboa set forth on the 1st of September, 1513. The journey was
estimated to be of six days’ duration, but it was only after twenty-five
days of desperate fighting, and of struggles with disease and fatigue,
that they reached the summit of the mountain from which Balboa had been
informed the great ocean could be seen.
Commanding his army to halt, Balboa advanced alone to the apex and there
beheld the South Sea stretching before him in boundless extent. Amid
great exultation he took formal possession of land and sea, cutting the
king’s name on trees and erecting crosses and mounds of stones as
records thereof.
Leaving the greater part of his men where they were, Balboa proceeded
with eighty Spaniards, and under the guidance of a friendly chief,
toward the coast. Arriving at the borders of one of the vast bays, he
rushed into the ocean with drawn sword and called upon the witnesses to
observe that he possessed it in the name of Spain.
He now wished to make conquest of the countries to the south, which the
natives declared to be a great and wealthy empire, but having too few
men to attempt the enterprise, he returned to Darien, carrying with him
a treasure valued at nearly half a million of dollars--the largest
treasure yet collected in America. He sent messengers to Spain, but
before these arrived Don Pedrarias Davila had been sent out to supersede
him in command. The King, however, in consideration of his services,
sent letters appointing Balboa _Adelantado_ or Admiral. The enormous
project of conveying ship-building material across the Isthmus was
accomplished, and two brigantines were constructed. Adverse weather and
other misfortunes prevented the Spaniards from reaching Peru, and
Pedrarias recalled Balboa to Darien. Balboa obeyed, never dreaming of
the treachery awaiting him. He was seized and imprisoned, and finally
condemned to death by the jealous Pedrarias, and the sentence was
carried out in spite of the protests of the colonists.
The conquest of Peru was afterward accomplished by Pizarro, who, while
he was as able a man as Balboa, was much more cruel and unscrupulous.
Three years later Magellan entered the South Sea, after sailing around
the southern extremity of the continent. It was Magellan who gave this
ocean the name Pacific, in recognition of the fine weather he
encountered in crossing it. His fleet reached the islands of the Indian
Archipelago, and returned to Europe by way of the Cape of Good Hope,
thus completing the first circumnavigation of the globe.
In the same year which witnessed the unjust execution of Balboa (1517),
the northern coast of Yucatan was explored, and also the southern coast
of Mexico. Instead of encountering naked savages, the explorers were
surprised to find well-clad and highly civilized people, so bold and
warlike as to drive off the intruders with great slaughter. Velasquez,
governor of Cuba, determined to conquer the wealthy country thus
discovered, and prepared a fleet of ten vessels, which he sent out under
command of Hernando Cortes, a man who had already achieved some military
distinction. He landed in Mexico on March 4th, 1519, where his ships and
artillery, and especially his horses, created the wildest fear and
astonishment among the natives, who regarded the strangers as divine
beings. They were soon to be undeceived, however, for a reign of war and
oppression was begun, which resulted in the death of the Emperor
Montezuma, the levelling of their ancient temples, and the ultimate
extinction of the Aztec nation.
Meanwhile, the mainland of the American continent had been visited and
partly explored.
The first voyage to the northern coast was made by John Cabot in 1497,
under the auspices of Henry VIII of England. His object was less the
discovery of a new continent than the finding of a northwest passage to
the coast of Asia. Cabot sighted land on the 26th of June, probably the
Island of Newfoundland. On the 3d of July he reached the coast of
Labrador. He was then the first of modern navigators to discover the
North American continent, Columbus being a whole year behind him. Cabot
explored the coast for nine hundred miles, in a southerly direction, and
returned to England. The next year his son, Sebastian, visited the same
region, still looking for that northwest passage.
The Portuguese also, made early voyages with the same illusory object in
view. In 1500, Gaspar Cortereal reached the American continent. In his
second voyage his ship was lost, and his brother, who went in search of
him, also perished.
In 1524, Francis I of France resolved to have a share in these new
discoveries. A company of Breton sailors had already partly explored the
coast. As early as 1506 the Gulf of St. Lawrence
[Illustration: WASHINGTON.
Direct Reproduction of the Original Painting, by Gilbert Stuart, in the
Museum of the Fine Arts, Boston. The Property of the Boston Athenæum.]
was discovered. A squadron of four ships, under Giovanni Verrazano, an
Italian navigator in the service of Francis, explored the coast from the
Carolinas northward, probably visiting New York and Narragansett Bays.
He also searched for the northwest passage, and on his return succeeded
in convincing the King that no such passage existed.
In 1534 a second expedition was fitted out under command of Jacques
Cartier, a fearless mariner, who had previously made fishing voyages to
the Banks of Newfoundland. This expedition consisted of two vessels, and
left St. Malo on the 20th of April. After a short stay at Newfoundland,
Cartier sailed northward, passed through the Straits of Belleisle and
entered the St. Lawrence.
Here, on the 24th of July they landed and erected a cross, surmounted by
the lilies of France. The natives proved friendly, and two men were
prevailed upon to accompany the returning voyagers. The following year a
second expedition was sent out under Cartier, with instructions to
explore carefully the St. Lawrence, to establish a settlement, and to
traffic with the Indians for gold. Of this latter commodity they found
none, but the river was explored as far as the spot where now stands
Montreal. The natives seem to have had a very correct knowledge of their
country, for they told Cartier that it would take three months to sail
in their canoes up the course of the river and that it ran through
several great lakes, the largest like a vast sea. Beyond the farthest
lake was another river which ran in a southerly direction. This was the
Mississippi. The Canadian winter had now set in and the explorers
suffered terribly from the cold and disease. As soon as spring appeared
they returned home. Like other adventurers of the age, they repaid the
hospitality of the natives with the blackest ingratitude and treachery.
They kidnapped the chief Donacona--whose village occupied the site of
Quebec, and who had fed and lodged the explorers--and forced him, with
eight warriors, to accompany them to France, where the unhappy savages
died soon after their arrival.
The third expedition under Cartier in a fleet fitted out by De Roberval,
a rich nobleman of France, was not so successful. The Indians had not
forgiven the outrage perpetrated upon their chief, and the white men
were received at Stradacona (Quebec) with every sign of hatred and
enmity. Cartier, finding his position here so unpleasant, not to say
dangerous, moved up the river to Cape Rouge, where he moored three of
his vessels and sent the other two back to France for supplies. An
attempt was made to found a colony, and the summer was spent in an
unsuccessful search for gold. Both the colony and the search for gold
were abandoned after another severe winter and Cartier and his men
returned to France.
It was this same greed for gold which led the Spaniards to attempt the
exploration of the southern part of the American continent. As early as
1512 Juan Ponce de Leon discovered a land which he called Florida,
partly because he first saw it on Easter Sunday (_Pascua florida_), and
partly because it seemed to his delighted gaze a veritable “land of
flowers.” Ponce de Leon had another object beside gold hunting; he was
an old man and he loathed his years. He had come hither lured by a
wonderful tale of a fountain which gave eternal youth to whosoever
bathed in its waters. To find this grand restorer of vigor and bloom,
Ponce de Leon and his followers wandered through terrible forests and
marshes, enduring every hardship and deprivation, running hourly risks
of death. That such a dream could ever have been cherished by
enlightened and educated people need not appear so strange if we
consider what a succession of new and astonishing scenes had passed
before the eyes of the old world in the short space of ten years. No
wonder their imaginations were inflamed and their credulity limitless.
In this new land, of which the preceding ages had been utterly ignorant,
everything was different from that with which the old world was
familiar. Anything seemed possible, after the impossible had happened.
De Leon made two visits after his fountain; in the second one he was
killed by the Indians.
In 1528 Pamphilo de Narvaez made an effort to take possession of Florida
in the name of Charles V of Germany. He met with such hostility from the
natives, however, that after months of wandering he reached the Gulf
with a mere handful of men out of the six hundred with whom he had
landed. Building five miserable boats, these crazy adventurers attempted
to follow the line of the coast to the Mexican settlements. Four boats
were lost in a storm; the survivors landed and sought to cross the
continent to the Spanish colonies at Sonora. It seems incredible, but in
this enterprise four of the men actually succeeded. Among them was
Cabeca de Vaca, treasurer of the expedition. Their appearance in Europe
nine years after their departure caused the greatest sensation, and the
excitement created by their narrative was intense. The passion for
adventure became stronger than ever among the Spaniards, and when the
already celebrated Hernando de Soto, who had been with Pizarro in Peru,
asked for and was granted permission to take possession of Florida in
the name of Ferdinand of Spain, he had a multitude of volunteers to his
standard.
De Soto was first appointed governor of Cuba that he might turn to
account the resources of that wealthy island. His fleet of nine vessels
and force of six hundred men, sailed from Havana on the 18th of May,
1539, and ten days later anchored in Tampa Bay. The first remarkable
adventure that befel them was an encounter with one of the companions of
Cabeca de Vaca, who had been held all this time captive among the
Indians. He had acquired a thorough knowledge of their language, and his
services as mediator and interpretor soon became invaluable.
Led by Ortiz--the captive--the explorers wandered through the unknown
land until spring. Then a native offered to guide them to a distant
country, governed by a woman, and rich in “yellow metal,” which the
Spaniards understood to be gold, but which turned out to be only copper.
The dominion of the Indian queen was reached at last, after much
fighting and bloodshed. The old chronicles give a picturesque and rather
pathetic account of the meeting between the poor cacica and the
invaders. She came forth to welcome them, alighting from her litter and
making gestures of pleasure and amity, taking from her neck a heavy
string of pearls and presenting it to De Soto. He accepted the gift, and
for a time kept up a pretense of friendship; but, having obtained all
the information the queen had to give, he made her prisoner and robbed
her and her people of all their valuables, even pillaging the graves of
dead nobles for pearls. It is gratifying to know that the queen effected
her escape from the guards, and that she regained a box of pearls on
which De Soto set especial store.
The Spaniards now altered their course, and, taking a northwesterly
direction, they found themselves, after a few months, at the foot of the
Appalachian range of mountains, which, rather than cross, they turned
their backs upon, and wandered into the lowlands of what is now Alabama,
ignorant of the fact that these very mountains were rich in the gold
they so ardently coveted.
The autumn of 1540 brought what remained of the party to a large village
called Mavilla, the site of the modern city of Mobile, where a terrible
battle took place. Mavilla was burned to ashes, and when the fight ended
the victorious Spaniards found themselves in a desperate situation--at a
distance from their ships, their provisions gone, and enemies on every
side. The common soldiers, by this time, had had quite enough of
exploration, and wished to return to the coast. But De Soto, who had
received secret information that his fleet was even now anchored in the
Bay of Pensacola, six days’ journey from Mavilla, determined to make one
more effort to redeem his honor by a notable discovery of some sort. He
forced his men to journey northward, and in December they reached a
Chickasaw village, in what is now the State of Mississippi. By spring
they had fought their way completely across the State, and in May they
reached the banks of the mighty river from which the State takes its
name. Not knowing that he had made his great discovery, De Soto went to
work to build boats and barges with which to cross the river. Constantly
harassed by the natives, the explorers continued their northward
wanderings until they reached the region of the present State of
Missouri. Proceeding westward, they encamped for the winter at the
present location of Little Rock, Arkansas. But the spot turned out to be
an unhealthy one; the white men began to succumb to disease; Juan Ortiz,
the chief helper, died; scouts sent out to explore the neighborhood
brought back darkest reports of impenetrable wildernesses, and of bands
of hostiles creeping up from every side to attack them. Saddest of all,
De Soto, broken with disease and long endurance, lay down to rise no
more. Calling his little army around him, he asked their pardon for the
sufferings he had brought upon them, and named Luis de Alvaredo as his
successor. The following day the unhappy De Soto breathed his last, and
was buried secretly outside the camp; but, fearing an immediate attack
from the natives should the death of the hero be made known, and the
newly-made grave exciting suspicion among the Indians in the
neighborhood, Alvaredo had the corpse disinterred in the night, and,
wrapped in clothes made heavy with sand, dropped into the Mississippi.
Alvaredo then led his people westward, hoping to reach the Pacific
coast. But after long months of wandering, and dreading to be overtaken
by winter on the prairies, they retraced their steps to the Mississippi,
where they pitched camp and spent six months building boats in which to
go down the river. A terrible voyage of seventeen days, between banks
lined with Indians, who plied them pitilessly with poisoned arrows,
brought them to the Gulf, and a further weary cruise along the coast of
Louisiana and Texas landed them at the Spanish settlement of Panuco, in
Mexico. This was in October, 1543; they had been wandering for nearly
four years.
The English were rather tardy in following the lead of the Spanish,
French, and Portuguese explorers, but, once started, they pursued their
researches with great vigor. In 1562 one of their adventurers, Sir John
Hawkins, engaged in the slave trade, and carried cargoes of negroes to
the West Indies. In 1577, Sir Francis Drake accomplished the
circumnavigation of the globe. Attempts were made at the same period to
discover the northwestern passage, by Willoughby, Frobisher, Henry
Hudson, and others. The only attempt to found a colony in the New World
during this century was made by Sir Walter Raleigh; his step-brother,
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had obtained the first charter ever granted an
Englishman for a colony, but his project failed, and he himself perished
at sea.
A patent was granted Raleigh, constituting him lord proprietary, with
almost unlimited powers, according to the Christian Protestant faith, of
all land which he might discover between the thirty-third and fortieth
degrees of north latitude. Under this patent Raleigh dispatched two
vessels under the command of Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow. They
landed on the island of Wococken and took possession in the name of
Queen Elizabeth. The country they called Virginia, and such glowing
accounts did they send back to England that seven vessels under Sir
Richard Grenville were sent out, bearing one hundred and fifty
colonists. As soon as these landed, Sir Richard Grenville took the ships
back to England, capturing a rich Spanish prize on the way. The colony
fared very badly after a time, Lane, the governor, being utterly unfit
for his office. The Indians wishing to get rid of their visitors,
induced them to ascend the Roanoke River, on the upper banks of which,
they declared, dwelt a nation skillful in refining gold, whose city was
inclosed with a wall of pearls. After the gold rushed the colonists,
but they found only famine and distress. The Indians, on their return,
refused to give them any more provisions, and even ceased to cultivate
corn, hoping to drive out the Englishmen altogether. In revenge, the
white men, having invited the chief to a conference, fell upon him and
slew him, with many of his people. This was the end of their peaceful
relations with the Indians. The colony was on the verge of starvation
when Sir Francis Drake, the slave-trading nobleman, appeared outside the
harbor with a fleet of twenty-three ships. At the urgent prayer of the
starving settlers, Sir Francis carried them back to England. Hardly had
they gone before a ship laden with supplies, dispatched by Raleigh,
arrived. Finding the colony vanished, the ship returned. Before it
reached England, Sir Richard Grenville arrived at Roanoke with three
ships. After searching in vain for the missing colony, he also returned,
leaving fifteen men on the island to hold possession for the English.
Still undiscouraged, Raleigh sent out a second colony, this time
choosing agriculturists, and sending with them their wives and children.
On reaching Roanoke they found the bones of the fifteen men Grenville
had left, and the fort in ruins. Meanwhile the Spanish invasion was
threatening England. Raleigh was one of the most active in devising
schemes for resistance. It was almost a year before he was able to send
supplies to his colony at Roanoke; this he did at last, but the captain,
instead of proceeding straight on his mission, went in chase of two
Spanish prizes, came to grief, and was obliged to return to England. By
this time Raleigh’s means were almost exhausted, but he managed to send
out the relief ships, but they arrived too late. The island was a desert
and the only clue to the fate of the colony was the word “Croatian” on
the bark of a tree. It has been conjectured that they escaped, through
the kindness of the Indians to Croatian; perhaps they were received into
some tribe and became a part of the wild men; the Indians themselves
have such a tradition. Raleigh sent five different search parties after
his little colony, but none of them ever had the least success.
In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold reached the shores of Massachusetts, and,
sailing southward, landed on a promontory which he called Cape Cod. He
also discovered the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. On the
former they built a store-house and a fort, and prepared to settle, but
when the ships got ready to sail, they lost their resolution and
insisted upon returning to England.