Part II. shows "the historical council at Salamanca; Dominican monks

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[Illustration: COLUMBUS MONUMENT, PIAZZA ACQUAVERDE, GENOA, ITALY.

Sculptor, Signor Lanzio. Dedicated 1862.

(See page 141.)]

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

AND HIS MONUMENT

COLUMBIA

BEING

A CONCORDANCE OF CHOICE TRIBUTES TO THE GREAT GENOESE, HIS GRAND

DISCOVERY, AND HIS GREATNESS OF MIND AND PURPOSE.

_THE TESTIMONY OF ANCIENT AUTHORS, THE TRIBUTES OF MODERN MEN._

ADORNED WITH THE SCULPTURES, SCENES, AND PORTRAITS OF THE OLD WORLD AND

THE NEW.

COMPILED BY J. M. DICKEY.

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK: RAND, MCNALLY & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 1892.

COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY RAND, MCNALLY & CO.

Columbus.

PREFACE.

History places in prominence Columbus and America. They are the

brightest jewels in her crown. Columbus is a permanent orb in the

progress of civilization. From the highest rung of the ladder of fame,

he has stepped to the skies. America "still hangs blossoming in the

garden of time, while her penetrating perfume floats all round the

world, and intoxicates all other nations with the hope of liberty." If

possible, these tributes would add somewhat to the luster of fame which

already encircles the Nation and the Man. Many voices here speak for

themselves.

Six hundred authors and more have written of Columbus or his great

discovery. An endless task therefore would it be to attempt to

enumerate, much less set out, the thousands who have incidentally, and

even encomiastically, referred to him. Equally impossible would it be to

hope to include a tithe of their utterances within the limits of any

single volume, even were it of colossal proportions. This volume of

tributes essays then to be but a concordance of some of the most choice

and interesting extracts, and, artistically illustrated with statues,

scenes, and inscriptions, is issued at an appropriate time and place.

The compiler desires in this preface to acknowledge his sincere

obligations and indebtedness to the many authors and publishers who so

courteously and uniformly extended their consents to use copyright

matter, and to express an equal sense of gratitude to his friend, Stuart

C. Wade, for his valuable assistance in selecting, arranging, and

indexing much of the matter herein contained.

In one of the galleries of Florence there is a remarkable bust of

Brutus, left unfinished by the great sculptor Michael Angelo. Some

writer explained the incomplete condition by indicating that the artist

abandoned his labor in despair, "overcome by the grandeur of the

subject." With similar feeling, this little book is submitted to the

admirers of Columbus and Columbia, wherever they may be found.

J. M. D.

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO., July, 1892.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page

Preface, 5

Table of Contents, 7

List of Illustrations, 9

Life of Columbus, 11-40

Selected letters of Columbus, 41-57

Tributes to Columbus, 61-323

Tributes to Columbia, 327-384

Index of Authors--Columbus, 385-388

Index of Authors--Columbia, 389-390

Index of Head Lines, 391-396

Index of Statuary and Inscriptions, 397

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

The Columbus Statue, Genoa, _Frontispiece_

Columbus at Salamanca, 17

The De Bry Portrait, 24

The Embarkation at Palos, 32

Columbus in Chains, 49

Fac-simile of Columbus' letter to the Bank of St.

George, Genoa, 52

Columbus Statue, on Barcelona Monument, 64

Columbus Monument, Barcelona, 81

The Paseo Colon, Barcelona, 96

Columbus Statue, City of Colon, 113

Zearing's Head of Columbus, 120

Park's Statue of Columbus, Chicago, 128

House of Columbus, Genoa, 145

The Antonio Moro Portrait, 160

Toscanelli's Map, 177

Samartin's Statue of Columbus, Madrid, 192

Sunol's Statue of Columbus, Madrid, 209

Map of Herrera (Columbus' Historian), 224

Modern Map of the Bahamas, 241

Map of Columbus' Pilot, 256

Columbus Monument, Mexico, 273

Columbus Monument, New York City, 288

Bas-relief, New York Monument, 296

Bas-relief, New York Monument, 305

Columbus Statue, Havana, 312

Columbus Statue, Philadelphia, 320

Part of Columbus Statue, New York City, 328

The Convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida, 337

The Santa Maria Caravel, 352

The Columbus Fleet, 360

Vanderlyn's Picture of the Landing of Columbus, 369

Columbus Statue, St. Louis, Mo., 384

Columbus and His Monument Columbia.

THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS.

Christopher Columbus, the eldest son of Dominico Colombo and Suzanna

Fontanarossa, was born at Genoa in 1435 or 1436, the exact date being

uncertain. As to his birthplace there can be no legitimate doubt; he

says himself of Genoa, in his will, "Della sali y en ella naci" (from

there I came, and there was I born), though authorities, authors, and

even poets differ. Some, like Tennyson, having

Stay'd the wheels at Cogoletto

And drank, and loyally drank, to him.

His father was a wool-comber, of some small means, who was living two

years after the discovery of the West Indies, and who removed his

business from Genoa to Savona in 1469. Christopher, the eldest son, was

sent to the University of Pavia, where he devoted himself to the

mathematical and natural sciences, and where he probably received

instruction in nautical astronomy from Antonio da Terzago and Stefano di

Faenza. On his removal from the university it appears that he worked for

some months at his father's trade; but on reaching his fifteenth year he

made his choice of life, and became a sailor.

Of his apprenticeship, and the first years of his career, no records

exist. The whole of his earlier life, indeed, is dubious and

conjectural, founded as it is on the half-dozen dark and evasive

chapters devoted by Hernando, his son and biographer, to the first

half-century of his father's times. It seems certain, however, that

these unknown years were stormy, laborious, and eventful; "wherever ship

has sailed," he writes, "there have I journeyed." He is known, among

other places, to have visited England, "Ultima Thule" (Iceland), the

Guinea Coast, and the Greek Isles; and he appears to have been some time

in the service of Rene of Provence, for whom he is recorded to have

intercepted and seized a Venetian galley with great bravery and

audacity. According to his son, too, he sailed with Colombo el Mozo, a

bold sea captain and privateer; and a sea fight under this commander was

the means of bringing him ashore in Portugal. Meanwhile, however, he was

preparing himself for greater achievements by reading and meditating on

the works of Ptolemy and Marinus, of Nearchus and Pliny, the

Cosmographia of Cardinal Aliaco, the travels of Marco Polo and

Mandeville. He mastered all the sciences essential to his calling,

learned to draw charts and construct spheres, and thus fitted himself to

become a consummate practical seaman and navigator.

In 1470 he arrived at Lisbon, after being wrecked in a sea fight that

began off Cape St. Vincent, and escaping to land on a plank. In Portugal

he married Felipa Moniz de Perestrello, daughter of Bartollomeu

Perestrello, a captain in the service of Prince Henry, called the

Navigator, one of the early colonists and the first governor of Porto

Santo, an island off Madeira. Columbus visited the island, and employed

his time in making maps and charts for a livelihood, while he pored over

the logs and papers of his deceased father-in-law, and talked with old

seamen of their voyages and of the mystery of the Western seas. About

this time, too, he seems to have arrived at the conclusion that much of

the world remained undiscovered, and step by step to have conceived

that design of reaching Asia by sailing west which was to result in the

discovery of America. In 1474 we find him expounding his views to Paolo

Toscanelli, the Florentine physician and cosmographer, and receiving the

heartiest encouragement.

These views he supported with three different arguments, derived from

natural reasons, from the theories of geographers, and from the reports

and traditions of mariners. "He believed the world to be a sphere," says

Helps; "he underestimated its size; he overestimated the size of the

Asiatic continent. The farther that continent extended to the east, the

nearer it came round toward Spain." And he had but to turn from the

marvelous propositions of Mandeville and Aliaco to become the recipient

of confidences more marvelous still. The air was full of rumors, and the

weird imaginings of many generations of mediaeval navigators had taken

shape and substance, and appeared bodily to men's eyes. Martin Vicente,

a Portuguese pilot, had found, 450 leagues to the westward of Cape St.

Vincent, and after a westerly gale of many days' duration, a piece of

strange wood, sculptured very artistically, but not with iron. Pedro

Correa, his own brother-in-law, had seen another such waif near the

Island of Madeira, while the King of Portugal had information of great

canes, capable of holding four quarts of wine between joint and joint,

which Herrera declares the King received, preserved, and showed to

Columbus. From the colonists on the Azores Columbus heard of two men

being washed up at Flores, "very broad-faced, and differing in aspect

from Christians." The transport of all these objects being attributed to

the west winds and not to the gulf stream, the existence of which was

then totally unsuspected. West of the Azores now and then there hove in

sight the mysterious Islands of St. Brandan; and 200 leagues west of the

Canaries lay somewhere the lost Island of the Seven Cities, that two

valiant Genoese had vainly endeavored to discover, and in search of

which, yearly, the merchants of Bristol sent expeditions, even before

Columbus sailed. In his northern journey, too, some vague and formless

traditions may have reached his ear of the voyages of Biorn and Lief,

and of the pleasant coasts of Helleland, Markland, and Vinland that lay

toward the setting sun. All were hints and rumors to bid the bold

mariner sail westward, and this he at length determined to do. There is

also some vague and unreliable tradition as to a Portuguese pilot

discovering the Indies previous to Columbus, and on his deathbed

revealing the secret to the Genoese explorer. It is at the best but a

fanciful tale.

The concurrence of some state or sovereign, however, was necessary for

the success of this design. The Senate of Genoa had the honor to receive

the first offer, and the responsibility of refusing it. Rejected by his

native city, the projector turned next to John II. of Portugal. This

King had already an open field for discovery and enterprise along the

African coast; but he listened to the Genoese, and referred him to the

Committee of Council for Geographical Affairs. The council's report was

altogether adverse; but the King, who was yet inclined to favor the

theory of Columbus, assented to the suggestion of the Bishop of Ceuta

that the plan should be carried out in secret, and without Columbus'

knowledge, by means of a caravel or light frigate. The caravel was

dispatched, but it returned after a brief absence, the sailors having

lost heart, and having refused to venture farther. Upon discovering this

dishonorable transaction, Columbus felt so outraged and indignant that

he sent off his brother Bartholomew to England with letters for Henry

VII., to whom he had communicated his ideas. He himself left Lisbon

many other friends, and here met with Beatrix Enriquez, the mother of

his second son, Hernando, who was born August 15, 1488.

A certain class of writers pretend that Beatrix Enriquez was the lawful

wife of Columbus.[1] If so, when he died she would of right have been

Vice-Queen Dowager of the Indies. Is it likely that $56 would have been

the pension settled upon a lady of such rank? Senor Castelar, than whom

there is no greater living authority, scouts the idea of a legal

marriage; and, indeed, it is only a few irresponsible and peculiarly

aggressive Catholic writers who have the hardihood to advance this more

than improbable theory. Mr. Henry Harrisse, a most painstaking critic,

thinks that Felipa Moniz died in 1488. She was buried in the Monastery

do Carmo, at Lisbon, and some trace of her may hereafter be found in the

archives of the Provedor or Registrar of Wills, at Lisbon, when these

papers are arranged, as she must have bequeathed a sum to the poor,

under the customs then prevailing.

From Cordova, Columbus followed the court to Salamanca, where he was

introduced to the notice of the grand cardinal, Pedro Gonzales de

Mendoza, "the third King of Spain." The cardinal, while approving the

project, thought that it savored strongly of heterodoxy; but an

interview with the projector brought him over, and through his influence

Columbus at last got audience of the King. The matter was finally

referred, however, to Fernando de Talavera, who, in 1487, summoned a

junta of astronomers and cosmographers to confer with Columbus, and

examine his design and the arguments by which he supported it. The

Dominicans of San Esteban in Salamanca entertained Columbus during the

conference. The jurors, who were most of them ecclesiastics, were by no

means unprejudiced, nor were they disposed to abandon their pretensions

to for Spain (1484), taking with him his son Diego, the only issue of

his marriage with Felipa Moniz. He departed secretly, according to some

writers to give the slip to King John, according to others to escape his

creditors. In one of his letters Columbus says: "When I came from such a

great distance to serve these princes, I abandoned a wife and children,

whom, for this cause, I never saw again." The first traces of Columbus

at the court of Spain are on May 5, 1487, when an entry in some accounts

reads: "Given to-day 3,000 maravedis (about $18) to Cristobal Colomo, a

stranger." Three years after (March 20, 1488), a letter was sent by the

King to "Christopher Colon, our especial friend," inviting him to

return, and assuring him against arrest and proceedings of any kind; but

it was then too late.

Columbus next betook himself to the south of Spain, and seems to have

proposed his plan first to the Duke of Medina Sidonia (who was at first

attracted by it, but finally threw it up as visionary and

impracticable), and next to the Duke of Medina Celi. The latter gave him

great encouragement, entertained him for two years, and even determined

to furnish him with the three or four caravels. Finally, however, being

deterred by the consideration that the enterprise was too vast for a

subject, he turned his guest from the determination he had come to, of

making instant application to the court of France, by writing on his

behalf to Queen Isabella; and Columbus repaired to the court at Cordova

at her bidding.

[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS BEFORE THE DOMINICAN JUNTA AT

SALAMANCA, SPAIN.

From the celebrated painting by Senor V. Izquierdo.

(See page 16.)]

It was an ill moment for the navigator's fortune. Castille and Leon were

in the thick of that struggle which resulted in the final defeat of the

Moors; and neither Ferdinand nor Isabella had time to listen. The

adventurer was indeed kindly received; he was handed over to the care of

Alonzo de Quintanilla, whom he speedily converted into an enthusiastic

supporter of his theory. He made knowledge without a struggle.

Columbus argued his point, but was overwhelmed with Biblical texts, with

quotations from the great divines, with theological objections, and in a

short time the junta was adjourned. Senor Rodriguez Pinilla, the learned

Salamantine writer, holds that the first refusal of Columbus' project

was made in the official council at Cordova. In 1489, Columbus, who had

been following the court from place to place (billeted in towns as an

officer of the King and gratified from time to time with sums of money

toward his expenses), was present at the siege of Malaga. In 1490 the

junta decided that his project was vain and impracticable, and that it

did not become their Highnesses to have anything to do with it; and this

was confirmed, with some reservation, by their Highnesses themselves, at

Seville.

Columbus was now in despair. So reduced in circumstances was he that

(according to the eminent Spanish statesman and orator, Emilio Castelar)

he was jocularly and universally termed "the stranger with the

threadbare coat." He at once betook himself to Huelva, where his

brother-in-law resided, with the intention of taking ship to France. He

halted, however, at Palos, a little maritime town in Andalusia. At the

Monastery of Santa Maria de la Rabida[2] he knocked and asked for bread

and water for his boy Diego, and presently got into conversation with

Fray Juan Perez de Marchena, the prior, who invited him to take up his

quarters in the monastery, and introduced him to Garci Fernandez, a

physician and an ardent student of geography. To these good men did

Columbus propound his theory and explain his plan. Juan Perez had been

the Queen's confessor; he wrote to her and was summoned to her presence,

and money was sent to Columbus to bring him once more to court. He

reached Granada in time to witness the surrender of the city by the

Moors, and negotiations were resumed. Columbus believed in his mission,

and stood out for high terms; he asked the rank of admiral at once, the

vice-royalty of all he should discover, and a tenth of all the gain, by

conquest or by trade. These conditions were rejected, and the

negotiations were again interrupted. An interview with Mendoza appears

to have followed, but nothing came of it, and in January, 1492, Columbus

actually set out for France. At length, however, on the entreaty of Luis

de Santangel, receiver of the ecclesiastical revenues of the crown of

Aragon, Isabella was induced to determine on the expedition. A messenger

was sent after Columbus, and overtook him at the Bridge of Pinos, about

two leagues from Granada. He returned to the camp at Santa Fe, and on

April 17, 1492, the agreement between him and their Catholic Majesties

was signed and sealed. This agreement being familiarly known in Spanish

history as "The Capitulations of Santa Fe."

His aims were nothing less than the discovery of the marvelous province

of Cipango and the conversion to Christianity of the Grand Khan, to whom

he received a royal and curious blank letter of introduction. The town

of Palos was, by forced levy, as a punishment for former rebellion,

ordered to find him three caravels, and these were soon placed at his

disposal. But no crews could be got together, Columbus even offering to

throw open the jails and take all criminals and broken men who would

serve on the expedition; and had not Juan Perez succeeded in interesting

Martin Alonzo Pinzon and Vicente Yanez Pinzon in the cause, Columbus'

departure had been long delayed. At last, however, men, ships, and

stores were ready. The expedition consisted of the Gallega, rechristened

the Santa Maria, a decked ship, with a crew of fifty men, commanded by

the Admiral in person; and of two caravels--the Pinta, with thirty men,

under Martin Pinzon, and the Nina, with twenty-four men, under his

brother, Vicente Yanez Pinzon, afterward (1499) the first to cross the

line in the American Atlantic. The adventurers numbered 120 souls, and

on Friday, August 3, 1492, at 8 in the morning, the little fleet weighed

anchor and stood out for the Canary Islands, sailing as it were "into a

world unknown--the corner-stone of a nation."

Deeply significant was one incident of their first few days' sail.

Emilio Castelar tells us that these barks, laden with bright promises

for the future, were sighted by other ships, laden with the hatreds and

rancors of the past, for it chanced that one of the last vessels

transporting into exile the Jews, expelled from Spain by the religious

intolerance of which the recently created and odious Tribunal of the

Faith was the embodiment, passed by the little fleet bound in search of

another world, where creation should be newborn, a haven be afforded

to the quickening principle of human liberty, and a temple be reared to

the God of enfranchised and redeemed consciences.

An abstract of the Admiral's diary made by the Bishop Las Casas is yet

extant; and from it many particulars may be gleaned concerning this

first voyage. Three days after the ships had set sail the Pinta lost her

rudder. The Admiral was in some alarm, but comforted himself with the

reflection that Martin Pinzon was energetic and ready-witted; they had,

however, to put in (August 9th) at Teneriffe to refit the caravel. On

September 6th they weighed anchor once more with all haste, Columbus

having been informed that three Portuguese caravels were on the lookout

for him. On September 13th the variations of the magnetic needle were

for the first time observed;[3] and on the 15th a wonderful meteor fell

into the sea at four or five leagues distance. On the 16th they arrived

at those vast plains of seaweed called the Sargasso Sea; and

thenceforward, writes the Admiral, they had most temperate breezes, the

sweetness of the mornings being most delightful, the weather like an

Andalusian April, and only the song of the nightingale wanting. On the

17th the men began to murmur. They were frightened by the strange

phenomena of the variations of the compass, but the explanation Columbus

gave restored their tranquillity. On the 18th they saw many birds and a

great ridge of low-lying cloud, and they expected to see land. On the

20th they saw two pelicans, and they were sure the land must be near. In

this, however, they were disappointed, and the men began to be afraid

and discontented; and thenceforth Columbus, who was keeping all the

while a double reckoning--one for the crew and one for himself--had

great difficulty in restraining the men from the excesses which they

meditated. On the 25th Alonzo Pinzon raised the cry of land, but it

proved a false alarm; as did the rumor to the same effect on October

7th, when the Nina hoisted a flag and fired a gun. On the 11th the Pinta

fished up a cane, a log of wood, a stick wrought with iron, and a board,

and the Nina sighted a branch of hawthorne laden with ripe luscious

berries, "and with these signs all of them breathed and were glad." At

8 o'clock on that night, Columbus perceived and pointed out a light

ahead,[4] Pedro Gutierrez also seeing it; and at 2 in the morning of

Friday, October 12, 1492, Rodrigo de Triana, a sailor aboard the Nina, a

native of Seville, announced the appearance of what proved to be the New

World.[5] The land sighted was an island called by the Indians

Guanahani, and named by Columbus San Salvador.[6]

The same morning Columbus landed, richly clad, and bearing the royal

banner of Spain. He was accompanied by the brothers Pinzon, bearing

banners of the Green Cross, a device of his own, and by great part of

the crew. When they had all "given thanks to God, kneeling down upon the

shore, and kissed the ground with tears of joy, for the great mercy

received," the Admiral named the island, and took solemn possession of

it for their Catholic Majesties of Castille and Leon. At the same time

such of the crews as had shown themselves doubtful and mutinous sought

his pardon weeping, and prostrated themselves at his feet. Had Columbus

kept the course he laid on leaving Ferrol, says Castelar, his landfall

would have been in the Florida of to-day, that is, upon the main

continent; but, owing to the deflection suggested by the Pinzons, and

tardily accepted by him, it was his hap to strike an island, very fair

to look upon, but small and insignificant when compared with the vast

island-world in whose waters he was already sailing.

Into the details of this voyage, of highest interest as it is, it is

impossible to go further. The letter of Columbus, hereinafter printed,

gives further and most interesting details. It will be enough to say

here that it resulted in the discovery of the islands of Santa Maria del

Concepcion, Exuma, Isabella, Juana or Cuba, Bohio, the Cuban Archipelago

(named by its finder the Jardin del Rey), the island of Santa Catalina,

and that of Espanola, now called Haiti or San Domingo. Off the last of

these the Santa Maria went aground, owing to the carelessness of the

steersman. No lives were lost, but the ship had to be unloaded and

abandoned; and Columbus, who was anxious to return to Europe with the

news of his achievement, resolved to plant a colony on the island, to

build a fort out of the material of the stranded hulk, and to leave the

crew. The fort was called La Navidad; forty-three Europeans were placed

in charge, including the Governor Diego de Arana; two lieutenants, Pedro

Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo; an Irishman named William Ires

(? Harris), a native of Galway; an Englishman whose name is given as

Tallarte de Lajes,[7] and the remainder being Spaniards.

On January 16, 1493, Columbus, who had lost sight of Martin Pinzon, set

sail alone in the Nina for the east; and four days afterward the Pinta

joined her sister ship off Monte Christo. A storm, however, separated

the vessels, during which (according to Las Casas) Columbus, fearing the

vessel would founder, cast his duplicate log-book, which was written on

parchment and inclosed in a cake of wax, inside a barrel, into the sea.

The log contained a promise of a thousand ducats to the finder on

delivering it to the King of Spain. Then a long battle with the trade

winds caused great delay, and it was not until February 18th that

Columbus reached the Island of Santa Maria in the Azores. Here he was

threatened with capture by the Portuguese governor, who could not for

some time be brought to recognize his commission. On February 24th,

however, he was allowed to proceed, and on March 4th the Nina dropped

anchor off Lisbon. The King of Portugal received the Admiral with the

highest honors; and on March 13th the Nina put out from the Tagus, and

two days afterward, Friday, March 15th, dropped anchor off Palos.

The court was at Barcelona, and thither, after dispatching a letter[8]

announcing his arrival, Columbus proceeded in person. He entered the

city in a sort of triumphal procession, and was received by their

Majesties in full court, and, seated in their presence, related the

story of his wanderings, exhibiting the "rich and strange" spoils of the

new-found lands--the gold, the cotton, the parrots, the curious arms,

the mysterious plants, the unknown birds and beasts, and the nine

Indians he had brought with him for baptism. All his honors and

privileges were confirmed to him; the title of Don was conferred on

himself and his brothers; he rode at the King's bridle; he was served

and saluted as a grandee of Spain. And, greatest honor of all, a new and

magnificent escutcheon was blazoned for him (May 4, 1493), whereon the

royal castle and lion of Castille and Leon were combined with the four

anchors of his own old coat of arms. Nor were their Catholic Highnesses

less busy on their own account than on that of their servant. On May 3d

and 4th, Alexander VI. granted bulls confirming to the crowns of

Castille and Leon all the lands discovered,[9] or to be discovered,

beyond a certain line of demarcation, on the same terms as those on

which the Portuguese held their colonies along the African coast. A new

expedition was got in readiness with all possible dispatch to secure and

extend the discoveries already made.

[Illustration: THE DE BRY PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS.]

After several delays the fleet weighed anchor on September 25th and

steered westward. It consisted of three great carracks (galleons) and

fourteen caravels (light frigates), having on board about 1,500 men,

besides the animals and materials necessary for colonization. Twelve

missionaries accompanied the expedition, under the orders of Bernardo

Boyle, a Benedictine friar; and Columbus had been directed (May 29,

1493) to endeavor by all means in his power to christianize the

inhabitants of the islands, to make them presents, and to "honor them

much," while all under him were commanded to treat them "well and

lovingly," under pain of severe punishment. On October 13th the ships,

which had put in at the Canaries, left Ferrol, and so early as Sunday,

November 3d, after a single storm, "by the goodness of God and the wise

management of the Admiral," land was sighted to the west, which was

named Dominica. Northward from this new-found island the isles of Maria

Galante and Guadaloupe were discovered and named; and on the

northwestern course to La Navidad, those of Montserrat, Antigua, San

Martin, and Santa Cruz were sighted, and the island now called Puerto

Rico was touched at, hurriedly explored, and named San Juan. On November

22d Columbus came in sight of Espanola, and, sailing eastward to La

Navidad, found the fort burned and the colony dispersed. He decided on

building a second fort, and, coasting on forty miles east of Cape

Haytien, he pitched on a spot, where he founded the city and settlement

of Isabella.

It is remarkable that the first notice of india rubber on record is

given by Herrera, who, in the second voyage of Columbus, observed that

the natives of Haiti "played a game with balls made of the gum of a

tree."

The character in which Columbus had appeared had till now been that of

the greatest of mariners; but from this point forward his claims to

supremacy are embarrassed and complicated with the long series of

failures, vexations, miseries, insults, that have rendered his career as

a planter of colonies and as a ruler of men most pitiful and remarkable.

The climate of Navidad proved unhealthy; the colonists were greedy of

gold, impatient of control, and as proud, ignorant, and mutinous as

Spaniards could be; and Columbus, whose inclinations drew him westward,

was doubtless glad to escape the worry and anxiety of his post, and to

avail himself of the instructions of his sovereigns as to further

discoveries. In January, 1494, he sent home, by Antonio de Torres, that

dispatch to their Catholic Highnesses by which he may be said to have

founded the West Indian slave trade. He founded the mining camp of San

Tomaso in the gold country; and on April 24, 1494, having nominated a

council of regency under his brother Diego, and appointed Pedro de

Margarite his captain-general, he put again to sea. After following the

southern shore of Cuba for some days, he steered southward, and

discovered the Island of Jamaica, which he named Santiago. He then

resumed his exploration of the Cuban coast, threading his way through a

labyrinth of islets supposed to be the Morant Keys, which he named the

Garden of the Queen, and after coasting westward for many days he became

convinced that he had discovered the mainland, and called Perez de Luna,

the notary, to draw up a document attesting his discovery (June 12,

1494), which was afterward taken round and signed, in presence of four

witnesses, by the masters, mariners, and seamen of his three caravels,

the Nina, the Cadera, and the San Juan. He then stood to the southeast

and sighted the Island of Evangelista; and after many days of

difficulties and anxieties he touched at and named the Island La Mona.

Thence he had intended to sail eastward and complete the survey of the

Carribbean Archipelago. But he was exhausted by the terrible wear and

tear of mind and body he had undergone (he says himself that on this

expedition he was three-and-thirty days almost without any sleep), and

on the day following his departure from La Mona he fell into a lethargy

that deprived him of sense and memory, and had well nigh proved fatal to

life. At last, on September 29th, the little fleet dropped anchor off

Isabella, and in his new city the great Admiral lay sick for five

months.

The colony was in a sad plight. Everyone was discontented, and many were

sick, for the climate was unhealthy and there was nothing to eat.

Margarite and Boyle had quitted Espanola for Spain; but ere his

departure the former, in his capacity as captain-general, had done much

to outrage and alienate the Indians. The strongest measures were

necessary to undo this mischief; and, backed by his brother Bartholomew,

a bold and skillful mariner, and a soldier of courage and resource, who

had been with Diaz in his voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, Columbus

proceeded to reduce the natives under Spanish sway.[10] Alonzo de Ojeda

succeeded, by a brilliant _coup de main_, in capturing the Cacique

Caonabo, and the rest submitted. Five ship-loads of Indians were sent

off to Seville (June 24, 1495) to be sold as slaves; and a tribute was

imposed upon their fellows, which must be looked upon as the origin of

that system of _repartimientos_ or _encomiendas_ which was afterward to

work such cruel mischief among the conquered. But the tide of court

favor seemed to have turned against Columbus. In October, 1495, Juan

Aguada arrived at Isabella, with an open commission from their Catholic

Majesties, to inquire into the circumstances of his rule; and much

interest and recrimination followed. Columbus found that there was no

time to be lost in returning home; he appointed his brother Bartholomew

"adelantado" of the island, and on March 10, 1496, he quitted Espanola

in the Nina. The vessel, after a protracted and perilous voyage, reached

Cadiz on June 11, 1496. The Admiral landed in great dejection, wearing

the costume of a Franciscan. Reassured, however, by the reception of his

sovereigns, he asked at once for eight ships more, two to be sent to the

colony with supplies and six to be put under his orders for new

discoveries. The request was not immediately granted, as the Spanish

exchequer was not then well supplied. But principally owing to the

interest of the Queen, an agreement was come to similar to that of 1492,

which was now confirmed. By this royal patent, moreover, a tract of land

in Espanola, of fifty leagues by twenty, was made over to him. He was

offered a dukedom or a marquisate at his pleasure; for three years he

was to receive an eighth of the gross and a tenth of the net profits on

each voyage, the right of creating a mayorazgo or perpetual entail of

titles and estates was granted him, and on June 24th his two sons were

received into Isabella's service as pages. Meanwhile, however, the

preparing of the fleet proceeded slowly, and it was not till May 30,

1498, that he and his six ships set sail.

From San Lucar he steered for Gomera, in the Canaries, and thence

dispatched three of his ships to San Domingo. He next proceeded to the

Cape Verde Islands, which he quitted on July 4th. On the 31st of the

same month, being greatly in need of water, and fearing that no land lay

westward as they had hoped, Columbus had turned his ship's head north,

when Alonzo Perez, a mariner of Huelva, saw land about fifteen leagues

to the southwest. It was crowned with three hilltops, and so, when the

sailors had sung the _Salve Regina_, the Admiral named it Trinidad,

which name it yet bears. On Wednesday, August 1st, he beheld for the

first time, in the mainland of South America, the continent he had

sought so long. It seemed to him but an insignificant island, and he

called it Zeta. Sailing westward, next day he saw the Gulf of Paria,

which was named by him the Golfo de la Belena, and was borne into it--an

immense risk--on the ridge of breakers formed by the meeting with the

sea of the great rivers that empty themselves, all swollen with rain,

into the ocean. For many days he coasted the continent, esteeming as

islands the several projections he saw and naming them accordingly; nor

was it until he had looked on and considered the immense volume of fresh

water poured out through the embouchure of the river now called the

Orinoco, that he concluded that the so-called archipelago must be in

very deed a great continent.

Unfortunately at this time he was suffering intolerably from gout and

ophthalmia; his ships were crazy; and he was anxious to inspect the

infant colony whence he had been absent so long. And so, after touching

at and naming the Island of Margarita, he bore away to the northeast,

and on August 30th the fleet dropped anchor off Isabella.

He found that affairs had not prospered well in his absence. By the

vigor and activity of the adelantado, the whole island had been reduced

under Spanish sway, but at the expense of the colonists. Under the

leadership of a certain Roldan, a bold and unprincipled adventurer, they

had risen in revolt, and Columbus had to compromise matters in order to

restore peace. Roldan retained his office; such of his followers as

chose to remain in the island were gratified with _repartimientos_ of

land and labor; and some fifteen, choosing to return to Spain, were

enriched with a number of slaves, and sent home in two ships, which

sailed in the early part of October, 1499.

Five ship-loads of Indians had been deported to Spain some little time

before. On arrival of these living cargoes at Seville, the Queen, the

stanch and steady friend of Columbus, was moved with compassion and

indignation. No one, she declared, had authorized him to dispose of her

vassals in any such manner; and proclamations at Seville, Granada, and

other chief places ordered (June 20, 1499) the instant liberation and

return of all the last gang of Indians. In addition to this, the

ex-colonists had become incensed against Columbus and his brothers. They

were wont to parade their grievances in the very court-yards of the

Alhambra; to surround the King, when he came forth, with complaints and

reclamations; to insult the discoverer's young sons with shouts and

jeers. There was no doubt that the colony itself, whatever the cause,

had not prospered so well as might have been desired. Historians do not

hesitate to aver that Columbus' over-colored and unreliable statements

as to the amount of gold to be found there were the chief causes of

discontent.

And, on the whole, it is not surprising that Ferdinand, whose support to

Columbus had never been very hearty, should about this time have

determined to suspend him. Accordingly, on March 21, 1499, Francisco de

Bobadilla was ordered to "ascertain what persons had raised themselves

against justice in the Island of Espanola, and to proceed against them

according to law." On May 21st the government of the island was

conferred on him, and he was accredited with an order that all arms and

fortresses should be handed over to him; and on May 26th he received a

letter, for delivery to Columbus, stating that the bearer would "speak

certain things to him" on the part of their Highnesses, and praying him

to "give faith and credence, and to act accordingly." Bobadilla left

Spain in July, 1500, and landed in Espanola in October.

Columbus, meanwhile, had restored such tranquillity as was possible in

his government. With Roldan's help he had beaten off an attempt on the

island by the adventurer Ojeda, his old lieutenant; the Indians were

being collected into villages and christianized. Gold mining was

actively and profitably pursued; in three years, he calculated, the

royal revenues might be raised to an average of 60,000,000 reals. The

arrival of Bobadilla, however, on August 23, 1500, speedily changed this

state of affairs into a greater and more pitiable confusion than the

island had ever before witnessed. On landing, he took possession of the

Admiral's house, and summoned him and his brothers before him.

Accusations of severity, of injustice, of venality even, were poured

down on their heads, and Columbus anticipated nothing less than a

shameful death. Bobadilla put all three in irons, and shipped them off

to Spain.

Andreas Martin, captain of the caravel in which the illustrious

prisoners sailed, still retained a proper sense of the honor and respect

due to Columbus, and would have removed the fetters; but to this

Columbus would not consent. He would wear them until their Highnesses,

by whose order they had been affixed, should order their removal; and he

would keep them afterward "as relics and memorials of the reward of his

services." He did so. His son Hernando "saw them always hanging in his

cabinet, and he requested that when he died they might be buried with

him." Whether this last wish was complied with is not known.

A heart-broken and indignant letter from Columbus to Dona Juana de la

Torres, the governess of the infant Don Juan, arrived at court before

the dispatch of Bobadilla. It was read to the Queen, and its tidings

were confirmed by communications from Alonso de Villejo and the alcaide

of Cadiz. There was a great movement of indignation; the tide of

popular and royal feeling turned once more in the Admiral's favor. He

received a large sum to defray his expenses; and when he appeared at

court, on December 17th, he was no longer in irons and disgrace, but

richly appareled and surrounded with friends. He was received with all

honor and distinction. The Queen is said to have been moved to tears by

the narration of his story. Their Majesties not only repudiated

Bobadilla's proceedings, but declined to inquire into the charges that

he at the same time brought against his prisoners, and promised Columbus

compensation for his losses and satisfaction for his wrongs. A new

governor, Nicolas de Ovando, was appointed in Bobadilla's room, and left

San Lucar on February 18, 1502, with a fleet of thirty ships. The latter

was to be impeached and sent home. The Admiral's property was to be

restored and a fresh start was to be made in the conduct of colonial

affairs. Thus ended Columbus' history as viceroy and governor of the new

Indies, which he had presented to the country of his adoption.

[Illustration: DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS TO DISCOVER AMERICA, FROM THE PORT

OF PALOS, SPAIN, ON AUGUST 3, 1492.

From the celebrated painting by Senor A. Gisbert.

(See page 19.)]

His hour of rest, however, was not yet come. Ever anxious to serve their

Catholic Highnesses, "and particularly the Queen," he had determined to

find a strait through which he might penetrate westward into Portuguese

Asia. After the usual inevitable delays his prayers were granted, and on

May 9, 1502, with four caravels and 150 men, he weighed anchor from

Cadiz and sailed on his fourth and last great voyage. He first betook

himself to the relief of the Portuguese fort of Arzilla, which had been

besieged by the Moors, but the siege had been raised voluntarily before

he arrived. He put to sea westward once more, and on June 13th

discovered the Island of Martinique. He had received positive

instructions from his sovereigns on no account to touch at Espanola, but

his largest caravel was greatly in need of repairs, and he had no

choice but to abandon her or disobey orders. He preferred the latter

alternative, and sent a boat ashore to Ovando, asking for a new ship and

for permission to enter the harbor to weather a hurricane which he saw

was coming on. But his requests were refused, and he coasted the island,

casting anchor under lee of the land. Here he weathered the storm, which

drove the other caravels out to sea and annihilated the homeward-bound

fleet, the richest till then that had been sent from Espanola. Roldan

and Bobadilla perished with others of the Admiral's enemies; and

Hernando Colon, who accompanied his father on this voyage, wrote, long

years afterward, "I am satisfied it was the hand of God, for had they

arrived in Spain they had never been punished as their crimes deserved,

but rather been favored and preferred."

After recruiting his flotilla at Azua, Columbus put in at Jaquimo and

refitted his four vessels, and on July 14, 1502, he steered for Jamaica.

For nine weeks the ships wandered painfully among the keys and shoals he

had named the Garden of the Queen, and only an opportune easterly wind

prevented the crews from open mutiny. The first land sighted was the

Islet of Guanaja, about forty miles to the east of the coast of

Honduras. Here he got news from an old Indian of a rich and vast country

lying to the eastward, which he at once concluded must be the

long-sought-for empire of the Grand Khan. Steering along the coast of

Honduras great hardships were endured, but nothing approaching his ideal

was discovered. On September 13th Cape Gracias-a-Dios was sighted. The

men had become clamorous and insubordinate; not until December 5th,

however, would he tack about and retrace his course. It now became his

intention to plant a colony on the River Veragua, which was afterward to

give his descendants a title of nobility; but he had hardly put about

when he was caught in a storm which lasted eight days, wrenched and

strained his crazy, worm-eaten ships severely, and finally, on the

Epiphany, blew him into an embouchure, which he named Bethlehem. Gold

was very plentiful in this place, and here he determined to found his

settlement. By the end of March, 1503, a number of huts had been run up,

and in these the adelantado, with eighty men, was to remain, while

Columbus returned to Spain for men and supplies. Quarrels, however,

arose with the natives, the adelantado made an attempt to seize on the

person of the cacique and failed, and before Columbus could leave the

coast he had to abandon a caravel to take the settlers on board, and to

relinquish the enterprise. Steering eastward he left a second caravel at

Porto Bello, and on May 31st he bore northward for Cuba, where he

obtained supplies from the natives. From Cuba he bore up for Jamaica,

and there, in the harbor of Santa Gloria, now St. Anne's Bay, he ran his

ships aground in a small inlet called Don Christopher's Cove.

The expedition was received with the greatest kindness by the natives,

and here Columbus remained upward of a year awaiting the return of his

lieutenant Diego Mendez, whom he had dispatched to Ovando for

assistance. During his critical sojourn here the Admiral suffered much

from disease and from the lawlessness of his followers, whose misconduct

had alienated the natives, and provoked them to withhold their

accustomed supplies, until he dexterously worked upon their

superstitions by prognosticating an eclipse. Two vessels having at last

arrived for their relief from Mendez and Ovando, Columbus set sail for

Spain, after a tempestuous voyage landing once more at Seville on

September 7, 1504.

As he was too ill to go to court, his son Diego was sent thither in his

place, to look after his interests and transact his business. Letter

after letter followed the young man from Seville, one by the hands of

Amerigo Vespucci. A license to ride on mule-back was granted him on

February 23, 1505;[11] and in the following May he was removed to the

court at Segovia, and thence again to Valladolid. On the landing of

Philip and Juan at Coruna (April 25, 1506), although "much oppressed

with the gout and troubled to see himself put by his rights," he is

known to have sent the adelantado to pay them his duty and to assure

them that he was yet able to do them extraordinary service. The last

documentary note of him is contained in a codicil to the will of 1498,

made at Valladolid on May 19, 1506; the principal portion is said,

however, to have been signed at Segovia on August 25, 1506. By this the

old will is confirmed; the mayorazgo is bequeathed to his son Diego and

his heirs male; failing these to Hernando, his second son, and failing

these to the heirs male of Bartholomew. Only in the event of the

extinction of the male line, direct or collateral, is it to descend to

the females of the family; and those into whose hands it may fall are

never to diminish it, but always to increase and ennoble it by all means

possible. The head of the house is to sign himself "The Admiral." A

tenth of the annual income is to be set aside yearly for distribution

among the poor relations of the house. A chapel is founded and endowed

for the saying of masses. Beatrix Enriquez is left to the care of the

young Admiral in most grateful terms. Among other legacies is one of

"half a mark of silver to a Jew who used to live at the gate of the

Jewry in Lisbon." The codicil was written and signed with the Admiral's

own hand. Next day (May 20, 1506) he died.

The body of Columbus was buried in the parish church of Santa Maria de

la Antigua in Valladolid. It was transferred in 1513 to the Cartuja de

las Cuevas, near Seville, where on the monument was inscribed that

laconic but pregnant tribute:

_A Castilla y a Leon,

Nuevo mundo dio Colon._

(To Castille and Leon, Columbus gave a new world.)

Here the bones of Diego, the second Admiral, were also laid. Exhumed in

1536, the bodies of both father and son were taken over sea to Espanola

(San Domingo), and interred in the cathedral. In 1795-96, on the cession

of that island to the French, the august relics were re-exhumed, and

were transferred with great state and solemnity to the cathedral of

Havana, where, it is claimed, they yet remain. The male issue of the

Admiral became extinct with the third generation, and the estates and

titles passed by marriage to a scion of the house of Braganca.

"In person, Columbus was tall and shapely, long-faced and aquiline,

white-eyed and auburn-haired, and beautifully complexioned. At thirty

his hair was quite gray. He was temperate in eating and drinking and in

dress, and so strict in religious matters, that for fasting and saying

all the divine office he might be thought possessed in some religious

order." His piety, as his son has noted, was earnest and unwavering; it

entered into and colored alike his action and his speech; he tries his

pen in a Latin distich of prayer; his signature is a mystical pietistic

device.[12] He was pre-eminently fitted for the task he created for

himself. Through deceit and opprobrium and disdain he pushed on toward

the consummation of his desire; and when the hour for action came, the

man was not found wanting.

Within the last seven years research and discovery have thrown some

doubt upon two very important particulars regarding Columbus. One of

these is the identity of the island which was his first discovery in the

New World; the other, the final resting-place of his remains.

There is no doubt whatever that Columbus died in Valladolid, and that

his remains were interred in the church of the Carthusian Monastery at

Seville, nor that, some time between the years 1537 and 1540, in

accordance with a request made in his will, they were removed to the

Island of Espanola (Santo Domingo). In 1795, when Spain ceded to France

her portion of the island, Spanish officials obtained permission to

remove to the cathedral at Havana the ashes of the discoverer of

America. There seems to be a question whether the remains which were

then removed were those of Columbus or his son Don Diego.

In 1877, during the progress of certain work in the cathedral at Santo

Domingo, a crypt was disclosed on one side of the altar, and within it

was found a metallic coffin which contained human remains. The coffin

bore the following inscription: "The Admiral Don Luis Colon, Duke of

Veragua, Marquis of Jamaica," referring, undoubtedly, to the grandson of

Columbus. The archbishop Senor Roque Cocchia then took up the search,

and upon the other side of the altar were found two crypts, one empty,

from which had been taken the remains sent to Havana, and the other

containing a metallic case. The case bore the inscription: "D. de la A

Per Ate," which was interpreted to mean: "Descubridor de la America,

Primer Almirante" (Discoverer of America, the First Admiral). The box

was then opened, and on the inside of the cover were the words: "Illtre

y Esdo Varon, Dn Cristoval Colon"--Illustrissime y Esclarecido Varon Don

Cristoval Colon (Illustrious and renowned man, Don Christopher

Columbus). On the two ends and on the front were the letters,

"C.C.A."--Cristoval Colon, Almirante (Christopher Columbus, Admiral).

The box contained bones and bone-dust, a small bit of the skull, a

leaden ball, and a silver plate two inches long. On one side of the

plate was inscribed:

_Ua. pte. de los rtos

del pmr. alte D.

Cristoval Colon Desr._

(Urna perteneciente de los restos del Primer Almirante Don

Cristoval Colon, Descubridor--Urn containing the

remains of the First Admiral Don Christopher

Columbus, Discoverer.)

On the other side was: "U. Cristoval Colon" (The coffin of Christopher

Columbus).

These discoveries have been certified to by the archbishop Roque

Cocchia, and by others, including Don Emiliana Tejera, a well-known

citizen. The Royal Academy of History at Madrid, however, challenged the

foregoing statements and declared that the remains of Columbus were

elsewhere than at Havana. Tejera and the archbishop have since published

replies affirming the accuracy of their discovery.[13]

Regarding the identity of the island first seen by Columbus, Capt. G. V.

Fox, in a paper published by the U. S. Coast Survey in 1882, discusses

and reviews the evidence, and draws a different conclusion and inference

from that heretofore commonly accepted. His paper is based upon the

original journals and log-book of Columbus, which were published in 1790

by Don M. F. Navarrete, from a manuscript of Bishop Las Casas, the

contemporary and friend of Columbus, found in the archives of the Duke

del Infanta. In this the exact words of the Admiral's diary are

reproduced by Las Casas, extending from the 11th to the 29th of

October, the landing being on the 12th. From the description the diary

gives, and from a projection of a voyage of Columbus before and after

landing, Capt. Fox concludes that the island discovered was neither

Grand Turk's, Mariguana, Watling's, nor Cat Island (Guanahani), but

Samana, lat. 23 deg. 05 min., N.; long. 75 deg. 35 min., W.

If we accept the carefully drawn deductions of Capt. Fox there is reason

to believe that the island discovered was Samana.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Markham, in his "Life of Columbus," advances the ingenious

suggestion of a marriage invalidated by the pre-contract of Beatrix to

one Enriquez. No authority is adduced for this theory.]

[Footnote 2: The monastery has been restored and preserved as a national

memorial since 1846.]

[Footnote 3: The invention of the mariner's compass is claimed by the

Chinese for the Emperor Hong-ti, a grandson of Noah, about 2634 B. C. A

compass was brought from China to Queen Elizabeth A. D. 1260 by P.

Venutus. By some the invention is ascribed to Marcus Paulus, a Venetian,

A. D. 1260. The discovery of the compass was long attributed to Flavio

Gioja, a Neapolitan sailor, A. D. 1302, who in reality made improvements

on then existing patterns and brought them to the form now used. The

variation of the needle was known to the Chinese, being mentioned in the

works of the Chinese philosopher Keon-tsoung-chy, who flourished about

A. D. 1111. The dip of the needle was discovered A. D. 1576 by Robert

Norman of London. Time was measured on voyages by the hour-glass.

Compare Shakespere:

Or four and twenty times the pilot's glass

Hath told the thievish minutes how they pass.

]

[Footnote 4: Capt. Parker, in _Goldthwaithe's Geographical Monthly_,

argues ably that the myth that a light was seen by Columbus at 8 P. M.

of the night of the discovery should be dropped simply as rubbish; it is

incredible. More than one hundred men in the three vessels were

anxiously looking for signs of land, and two "think" they see a light.

To say that Columbus felt sure that he saw a light is to pronounce him

an imbecile. For if ahead, he would have stopped; if abeam, stood for

it. His log does not say where or in what direction the light was--an

important omission--and Columbus _ran forty sea miles after he saw this

mythical light_.

We may safely decide that Watling Island, named after a buccaneer or

pirate of the seventeenth century, is best supported by investigation as

the landfall of Columbus.

Cronau, who visited Watling Island in 1890, supposes that Columbus'

ships, after making the land, continued on their course, under the

reduced sail, at the rate of four or five miles an hour; and at daylight

found themselves off the northwest end of the island. Mr. Cronau

evidently is not a seafaring man or he would know that no navigator off

an unknown island at night would stand on, even at the rate of one mile

an hour, ignorant of what shoal or reefs might lie off the end of the

island.]

[Footnote 5: The following from Las Casas' epitome of the log is all the

information we have concerning the "sighting" of the New World:

"THURSDAY, October 11, 1492.--_Navego al Ouesudueste, turvieron mucho

mar mas que en todo el viage habian tenido. Despues del sol puesto

navego a su primer Camino al Oueste; andarian doce millas cada hora. A

las dos horas despues de media noche parecio la tierra, de la cual

estarian dos leguas. Amainaron todas las velas y quedaron con el treo

que es la vela grande sin bonetas, y pusierouse a la corda temporizando

hasta el dia viernes que llegaron a una isleta de los Lucayos que se

llamaba en lengua de indios Guanahani._"

That is: "They steered west-southwest and experienced a much heavier sea

than they had had before in the whole voyage. After sunset they resumed

their former course west, and sailed twelve miles an hour. At 2 o'clock

in the morning the land appeared (was sighted), two leagues off. They

lowered all the sails and remained under the storm sail, which is the

main sail without bonnets, and hove to, waiting for daylight; and Friday

[found they had] arrived at a small island of the Lucayos which the

Indians called Guanahani."

It will be observed that these are the words of Las Casas, and they were

evidently written some years after the event.]

[Footnote 6: Helps refers to the island as "one of the Bahamas." It has

been variously identified with Turks Island, by Navarette (1825); with

Cat Island, by Irving (1828) and Humboldt (1836); with Mayaguara, by

Varnhagen (1864); and finally, with greatest show of probability, with

Watling Island, by Munoz (1798), supported by Becher (1856), Peschel

(1857), and Major (1871).]

[Footnote 7: See page 217, _post_.]

[Footnote 8: The greatest blot on the character of Columbus is contained

in this and a succeeding letter. Under the shallow pretense of

benefiting the souls of idolators, he suggested to the Spanish rulers

the advisability of shipping the natives to Spain as slaves. He appeals

to their cupidity by picturing the revenue to be derived therefrom, and

stands convicted in the light of history as the prime author of that

blood-drenched rule which exterminated millions of simple aborigines in

the West Indian Archipelago.]

[Footnote 9: The countries which he had discovered were considered as a

part of India. In consequence of this notion the name of Indies is given

to them by Ferdinand and Isabella in a ratification of their former

agreement, which was granted to Columbus after his return.--Robertson's

"History of America."]

[Footnote 10: The will of Diego Mendez, one of Columbus' most trusted

followers, states that the Governor of Xaragua in seven months burned

and hanged eighty-four chiefs, including the Queen of San Domingo.]

[Footnote 11: Owing to the difficulty in securing animals for the

cavalry in Spain (about A. D. 1505), an edict had been published by the

King forbidding the use of mules in traveling, except by royal

permission.

While Columbus was in Seville he wished to make a journey to the court,

then sitting at Granada, to plead his own cause. Cardinal Mendoza placed

his litter at the disposal of the Admiral, but he preferred a mule, and

wrote to Diego, asking him to petition the King for the privilege of

using one. The request was granted in the following curious document:

_Decree granting to Don Cristoval Colon permission to ride on a mule,

saddled and bridled, through any part of these Kingdoms._

THE KING: As I am informed that you, Cristoval Colon, the Admiral,

are in poor bodily health, owing to certain diseases which you had

or have, and that you can not ride on horse-back without injury to

your health; therefore, conceding this to your advanced age, I, by

these presents, grant you leave to ride on a mule, saddled and

bridled, through whatever parts of these kingdoms or realms you

wish and choose, notwithstanding the law which I issued thereto;

and I command the subjects of all parts of these kingdoms and

realms not to offer you any impediment or allow any to be offered

to you, under penalty of ten thousand maravedi in behalf of the

treasury, of whoever does the contrary.

Given in the City of Toro, February 23, 1505.]

[Footnote 12:

.s.

.s. s .s.

X M Y

XPO FERENS.

COLUMBUS' CIPHER.--The interpretation of the seven-lettered cipher,

accepting the smaller letters of the second line as the final ones of

the words, seems to be _Servate-me, Xristus, Maria, Yosephus_. The name

Christopher appears in the last line.]

[Footnote 13: See Washington Irving, Life and Voyages of Columbus,

London, 1831; Humboldt, Examen Critique de l'Histoire de la Geographie

du Nouveau Continent, Paris, 1836; Sportorno, Codice Diplomatico

Colombo-Americano, Genoa, 1823; Hernan Colon, Vita dell' Ammiraglio,

1571; (English translation in vol. xi of Churchill's Voyages and

Travels, third edition, London, 1744; Spanish, 1745); Prescott, History

of Ferdinand and Isabella, London, 1870; Major, Select Letters of

Columbus, Hakluyt Society, London, 1847, and "On the Landfall of

Columbus," in Journal of Royal Geographical Society for 1871; Sir Arthur

Helps, Life of Columbus, London, 1868; Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages y

Descubrimientos desde Fines del Siglo XV., Madrid, 1825; Ticknor,

History of Spanish Literature, London, 1863.

See also Pietro Martire d'Anghiera, Opus Epistolarum, 1530, and De Rebus

Oceanicis et de Orbe Novo, 1511; Gomora, in Historiadores Primitivos de

Indias, vol. xxii of Rivadaneyra's collection; Oveido y Valdes, Cronica

de las Indias, Salamanca, 1547; Ramusio, Raccolta delle Navigatione et

viaggi iii, Venetia, 1575; Herrera de Tordesillas, Historia de las

Indias Occidentales, 1601; Antonio Leon Pinelo, Epitome de la Biblioteca

Oriental y Occidental, Madrid, 1623; Munoz, Historia del Nuevo Mundo,

Madrid, 1793; Cancellieri, Notizia di Christoforo Colombo, 1809; Bossi,

Vita di Christoforo Colombo, 1819; Charlevoix, Histoire de San Domingo;

Lamartine, Christoph Colomb, Paris, 1862 (Spanish translation, 1865);

Crompton, Life of Columbus, London, 1859; Voyages and Discoveries of

Columbus, sixth edition, London, 1857; H. R. St. John, Life of Columbus,

London, 1850.]

Selected Letters of Columbus

Translation of the letter of Christopher Columbus offering his services

to King Ferdinand of Spain:

_Most Serene Prince: I have been engaged in navigating from my

youth. I have voyaged on the seas for nearly forty years. I have

visited all known quarters of the world and have conversed with a

great number of learned men--with ecclesiastics, with seculars,

with Latins, with Greeks, with Moors, and with persons of all sorts

of religions. I have acquired some knowledge of navigation, of

astronomy, and of geometry. I am sufficiently expert in designing

the chart of the earth to place the cities, the rivers, and the

mountains where they are situated. I have applied myself to the

study of works on cosmography, on history, and on philosophy. I

feel myself at present strongly urged to undertake the discovery of

the Indies; and I come to your Highness to supplicate you to favor

my enterprise. I doubt not that those who hear it will turn it into

ridicule; but if your Highness will give me the means of executing

it, whatever the obstacles may be I hope to be able to make it

succeed._[14]

Translation of a letter written by Christopher Columbus from the court

of Queen Isabella at Barcelona to Padre Juan Perez de Marchena, a

Franciscan monk, Prior of the Convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida,

Huelva, Spain (Date, 1492):

_Our Lord God has heard the prayers of His servants. The wise and

virtuous Isabel, touched by the grace of Heaven, has kindly

listened to this poor man's words. All has turned out well. I have

read to them our plan, it has been accepted, and I have been called

to the court to state the proper means for carrying out the designs

of Providence. My courage swims in a sea of consolation, and my

spirit rises in praise to God. Come as soon as you can; the Queen

looks for you, and I much more than she. I commend myself to the

prayers of my dear sons and you._

_The grace of God be with you, and may our Lady of Rabida bless

you._

COLUMBUS' OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS GREAT DISCOVERY.

Translation of a letter sent by Columbus to Luis de Santangel,

Chancellor of the Exchequer of Aragon, respecting the islands found in

the Indies; inclosing another for their Highnesses (Ferdinand and

Isabella).

R. H. Major, F. S. A., Keeper of the Department of Maps and Charts

in the British Museum and Honorary Secretary of the Royal

Geographical Society of England, states that the peculiar value of

the following letter, descriptive of the first important voyage of

Columbus, is that the events described are from the pen of him to

whom the events occurred. In it we have laid before us, as it were

from Columbus' own mouth, a clear statement of his opinions and

conjectures on what were to him great cosmical riddles--riddles

which have since been solved mainly through the light which his

illustrious deeds have shed upon the field of our observation:

_Sir: Believing that you will take pleasure in hearing of the great

success which our Lord has granted me in my voyage, I write you this

letter, whereby you will learn how in thirty-three[15] days' time I

reached the Indies with the fleet which the most illustrious King and

Queen, our Sovereigns, gave to me, where I found very many islands

thickly peopled, of all which I took possession, without resistance, for

their Highnesses, by proclamation made and with the royal standard

unfurled. To the first island that I found I gave the name of San

Salvador,[16] in remembrance of His High Majesty, who hath marvelously

brought all these things to pass; the Indians call it Guanahani. To the

second island I gave the name of Santa Maria de Conception; the third I

called Fernandina; the fourth, Isabella; the fifth, Juana; and so to

each one I gave a new name._

_When I reached Juana, I followed its coast to the westward, and found

it so large that I thought it must be the mainland,--the province of

Cathay; and as I found neither towns nor villages on the sea-coast, but

only a few hamlets, with the inhabitants of which I could not hold

conversation because they all immediately fled, I kept on the same

route, thinking that I could not fail to light upon some large cities

and towns._

_At length, after proceeding of many leagues and finding that nothing

new presented itself, and that the coast was leading me northward (which

I wished to avoid, because winter had already set in, and it was my

intention to move southward; and because, moreover, the winds were

contrary), I resolved not to wait for a change in the weather, but

returned to a certain harbor which I had remarked, and from which I sent

two men ashore to ascertain whether there was any king or large cities

in that part. They journeyed for three days and found countless small

hamlets with numberless inhabitants, but with nothing like order; they

therefore returned. In the meantime I had learned from some other

Indians whom I had seized that this land was certainly an island;

accordingly, I followed the coast eastward for a distance of 107

leagues, where it ended in a cape. From this cape I saw another island

to the eastward, at a distance of eighteen leagues from the former, to

which I gave the name of "La Espanola." Thither I went, and followed its

northern coast to the eastward (just as I had done with the coast of

Juana) 178 full leagues due east. This island like all the others is

extraordinarily large, and this one extremely so. In it are many

seaports, with which none that I know in Christendom can bear

comparison, so good and capacious that it is wonder to see. The lands

are high, and there are many very lofty mountains with which the island

of Cetefrey can not be compared. They are all most beautiful, of a

thousand different shapes, accessible, and covered with trees of a

thousand kinds, of such great height that they seemed to reach the

skies. I am told that the trees never lose their foliage, and I can well

understand it, for I observed that they were as green and luxuriant as

in Spain in the month of May. Some were in bloom, others bearing fruit,

and others otherwise, according to their nature. The nightingale was

singing as well as other birds of a thousand different kinds; and that

in November, the month in which I myself was roaming amongst them. There

are palm trees of six or eight kinds, wonderful in their beautiful

variety; but this is the case with all the other trees and fruits and

grasses; trees, plants, or fruits filled us with admiration. It contains

extraordinary pine groves and very extensive plains. There is also

honey, a great variety of birds, and many different kinds of fruits. In

the interior there are many mines of metals and a population

innumerable. Espanola is a wonder. Its mountains and plains, and meadows

and fields, are so beautiful and rich for planting and sowing, and

rearing cattle of all kinds, and for building towns and villages. The

harbors on the coast, and the number and size and wholesomeness of the

rivers, most of them bearing gold, surpass anything that would be

believed by one who had not seen them. There is a great difference

between the trees, fruits, and plants of this island and those of Juana.

In this island there are many spices and extensive mines of gold and

other metals. The inhabitants of this and of all the other islands I

have found or gained intelligence of, both men and women, go as naked as

they were born, with the exception that some of the women cover one part

only with a single leaf of grass or with a piece of cotton made for

that purpose. They have neither iron nor steel nor arms, nor are they

competent to use them; not that they are not well-formed and of handsome

stature, but because they are timid to a surprising degree. Their only

arms are reeds, cut in the seeding time,_[17] _to which they fasten

small sharpened sticks, and even these they dare not use; for on several

occasions it has happened that I have sent ashore two or three men to

some village to hold a parley, and the people have come out in countless

numbers, but as soon as they saw our men approach, would flee with such

precipitation that a father would not even stop to protect his son; and

this not because any harm had been done to any of them, for from the

first, wherever I went and got speech with them, I gave them of all that

I had, such as cloth and many other things, without receiving anything

in return; but they are, as I have described, incurably timid. It is

true that when they are reassured and thrown off this fear they are

guileless, and so liberal of all they have that no one would believe it

who had not seen it. They never refuse anything that they possess when

it is asked of them; on the contrary, they offer it themselves, and they

exhibit so much loving kindness that they would even give their hearts;

and, whether it be something of value or of little worth that is offered

to them, they are satisfied. I forbade that worthless things, such as

pieces of broken porringers and broken glass, and ends of straps, should

be given to them; although, when they succeeded in obtaining them, they

thought they possessed the finest jewel in the world. It was ascertained

that a sailor received for a leather strap a piece of gold weighing two

castellanos_[18] _and a half, and others received for other objects, of

far less value, much more. For new blancas_[19] _they would give all

they had, whether it was two or three castellanos in gold or one or two

arrobas[20] of spun cotton. They took even bits of the broken hoops of

the wine barrels, and gave, like fools, all that they possessed in

exchange, insomuch that I thought it was wrong and forbade it. I gave

away a thousand good and pretty articles which I had brought with me in

order to win their affection; and that they might be led to become

Christians, and be well inclined to love and serve their Highnesses and

the whole Spanish nation, and that they might aid us by giving us things

of which we stand in need, but which they possess in abundance. They are

not acquainted with any kind of worship, and are not idolaters; but

believe that all power and, indeed, all good things are in heaven; and

they are firmly convinced that I, with my vessels and crews, came from

heaven, and with this belief received me at every place at which I

touched, after they had overcome their apprehension. And this does not

spring from ignorance, for they are very intelligent, and navigate all

these seas, and relate everything to us, so that it is astonishing what

a good account they are able to give of everything; but they have never

seen men with clothes on, nor vessels like ours. On my reaching the

Indies, I took by force, in the first island that I discovered, some of

these natives, that they might learn our language and give me

information in regard to what existed in these parts; and it so happened

that they soon understood us and we them, either by words or signs, and

they have been very serviceable to us. They are still with me, and, from

repeated conversations that I have had with them, I find that they still

believe that I come from heaven. And they were the first to say this

wherever I went, and the others ran from house to house and to the

neighboring villages, crying with a loud voice: "Come, come, and see the

people from heaven!" And thus they all, men as well as women, after

their minds were at rest about us, came, both large and small, and

brought us something to eat and drink, which they gave us with

extraordinary kindness. They have in all these islands very many canoes

like our rowboats; some larger, some smaller, but most of them larger

than a barge of eighteen seats. They are not so wide, because they are

made of one single piece of timber; but a barge could not keep up with

them in rowing, because they go with incredible speed, and with these

canoes they navigate among these islands, which are innumerable, and

carry on their traffic. I have seen in some of these canoes seventy and

eighty men, each with his oar. In all these islands I did not notice

much difference in the appearance of the inhabitants, nor in their

manners, nor language, except that they all understood each other, which

is very singular, and leads me to hope that their Highnesses will take

means for their conversion to our holy faith, toward which they are very

well disposed. I have already said how I had gone 107 leagues in

following the seacoast of Juana in a straight line from west to east;

and from that survey I can state that the island is larger than England

and Scotland together, because beyond these 107 leagues there lie to the

west two provinces which I have not yet visited, one of which is called

Avan, where the people are born with a tail. These two provinces can not

be less than from fifty to sixty leagues, from what can be learned from

the Indians that I have with me, and who are acquainted with all these

islands. The other, Espanola, has a greater circumference than all

Spain, from Catalonia by the seacoast to Fuenterabia in Biscay, since on

one of its four sides I made 188 great leagues in a straight line from

west to east. This is something to covet, and, when found, not to be

lost sight of. Although I have taken possession of all these islands in

the name of their Highnesses, and they are all more abundant in wealth

than I am able to express; and although I hold them all for their

Highnesses, so that they can dispose of them quite as absolutely as they

can of the kingdoms of Castille, yet there was one large town in

Espanola of which especially I took possession, situated in a locality

well adapted for the working of the gold mines, and for all kinds of

commerce, either with the mainland on this side or with that beyond,

which is the land of the Great Khan, with which there will be vast

commerce and great profit. To that city I gave the name of Villa de

Navidad, and fortified it with a fortress, which by this time will be

quite completed, and I have left in it a sufficient number of men with

arms,[21] artillery, and provisions for more than a year, a barge, and a

sailing master skillful in the arts necessary for building others. I

have also established the greatest friendship with the King of that

country, so much so that he took pride in calling me his brother, and

treating me as such. Even should these people change their intentions

toward us and become hostile, they do not know what arms are, but, as I

have said, go naked, and are the most timid people in the world; so that

the men I have left could, alone, destroy the whole country, and this

island has no danger for them, if they only know how to conduct

themselves. In all those islands it seems to me that the men are content

with one wife, except their chief or king, to whom they give twenty. The

women seem to me to work more than the men. I have not been able to

learn whether they have any property of their own. It seems to me that

what one possessed belonged to all, especially in the matter of

eatables. I have not found in those islands any monsters, as many

imagined; but, on the contrary, the whole race is well formed, nor are

they black as in Guinea, but their hair is flowing, for they do not

dwell in that part where the force of the sun's rays is too powerful. It

is true that the sun has very great power there, for the country is

distant only twenty-six degrees from the equinoctial line. In the

islands where there are high mountains, the cold this winter was very

great, but they endure it, not only from being habituated to it, but by

eating meat with a variety of excessively hot spices. As to savages, I

did not even hear of any, except at an island which lies the second in

one's way coming to the Indies._[22] _It is inhabited by a race which is

regarded throughout these islands as extremely ferocious, and eaters of

human flesh. These possess many canoes, in which they visit all the

Indian islands, and rob and plunder whatever they can. They are no worse

formed than the rest, except that they are in the habit of wearing their

hair long, like women, and use bows and arrows made of reeds, with a

small stick at the end, for want of iron, which they do not possess.

They are ferocious amongst these exceedingly timid people; but I think

no more of them than of the rest. These are they which have intercourse

with the women of Matenino,[23] the first island one comes to on the way

from Spain to the Indies, and in which there are no men. These women

employ themselves in no labor suitable to their sex, but use bows and

arrows made of reeds like those above described, and arm and cover

themselves with plates of copper, of which metal they have a great

quantity._

[Illustration: THE RETURN OF COLUMBUS IN CHAINS TO SPAIN.

Marble statuary by Senor V. Vallmitjana, formerly in the Ministry of the

Colonies, Madrid; now in Havana, Cuba. (See page 31.)]

_They assure me that there is another island larger than Espanola in

which the inhabitants have no hair. It is extremely rich in gold; and I

bring with me Indians taken from these different islands, who will

testify to all these things. Finally, and speaking only of what has

taken place in this voyage, which has been so hasty, their Highnesses

may see that I shall give them all the gold they require, if they will

give me but a very little assistance; spices also, and cotton, as much

as their Highnesses shall command to be shipped; and mastic--hitherto

found only in Greece, in the Island of Chios, and which the Signoria[24]

sells at its own price--as much as their Highnesses shall command to be

shipped; lign aloes, as much as their Highnesses shall command to be

shipped; slaves, as many of these idolaters as their Highnesses shall

command to be shipped. I think I have also found rhubarb and cinnamon,

and I shall find a thousand other valuable things by means of the men

that I have left behind me, for I tarried at no point so long as the

wind allowed me to proceed, except in the town of Navidad, where I took

the necessary precautions for the security and settlement of the men I

had left there. Much more I would have done if my vessels had been in as

good a condition as by rights they ought to have been. This is much, and

praised be the eternal God, our Lord, who gives to all those who walk in

his ways victory over things which seem impossible; of which this is

signally one, for, although others have spoken or written concerning

these countries, it was all mere conjecture, as no one could say that he

had seen them--it amounting only to this, that those who heard listened

the more, and regarded the matter rather as a fable than anything else.

But our Redeemer has granted this victory to our illustrious King and

Queen and their kingdoms, which have acquired great fame by an event of

such high importance, in which all Christendom ought to rejoice, and

which it ought to celebrate with great festivals and the offering of

solemn thanks to the Holy Trinity with many solemn prayers, both for the

great exaltation which may accrue to them in turning so many nations to

our holy faith, and also for the temporal benefits which will bring

great refreshment and gain, not only to Spain, but to all Christians.

This, thus briefly, in accordance with the events._

_Done on board the caravel, off the Canary Islands, on the fifteenth of

February, fourteen hundred and ninety-three._

_At your orders,

THE ADMIRAL._

_After this letter was written, as I was in the Sea of Castille, there

arose a southwest wind, which compelled me to lighten my vessels, and

run this day into this port of Lisbon, an event which I consider the

most marvelous thing in the world, and whence I resolved to write to

their Highnesses. In all the Indies I have always found the weather like

that in the month of May. I reached them in thirty-three days, and

returned in twenty-eight, with the exception that these storms detained

me fourteen days knocking about in this sea. All seamen say that they

have never seen such a severe winter nor so many vessels lost._

_Done on the fourteenth day of March._

The prayer of Columbus on landing at Guanahani on the morning of Friday,

October 12, 1492:

_Lord! Eternal and Almighty God! who by Thy sacred word hast created the

heavens, the earth, and the seas, may Thy name be blessed and glorified

everywhere. May Thy Majesty be exalted, who hast deigned to permit that

by Thy humble servant Thy sacred name should be made known and preached

in this other part of the world._[25]

COLUMBUS AND GENOA.

Columbus in bequeathing a large portion of his income to the Bank of St.

George in Genoa, upon trust, to reduce the tax upon provisions, only

did what Dario de Vivaldi had accomplished in 1471 and 1480, as we read

on the pedestal of his statue, erected in the hall of the bank. This

example was followed by Antonio Doria, Francesco Lomellini, Eliano

Spinola, Ansaldo Grimaldo, and others, as the inscriptions on their

statues testify. A fac-simile letter of Columbus, announcing the

bequest, is shown on the opposite page.

[Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF COLUMBUS' LETTER TO THE BANK OF ST. GEORGE,

GENOA

Dated April 2, 1502.

(See page 52.)]

The letter in English is as follows:

_High noble Lords: Although the body walks about here, the heart is

constantly over there. Our Lord has conferred on me the greatest favor

ever granted to any one since David. The results of my undertaking

already appear, and would shine greatly, were they not concealed by the

blindness of the government. I am going again to the Indies under the

auspices of the Holy Trinity, soon to return, and since I am mortal I

leave it with my son Diego that you receive every year, forever,

one-tenth of the entire revenue, such as it may be, for the purpose of

reducing the tax upon corn, wine, and other provisions.[26] If that

tenth amounts to something, collect it. If not, take at least the

will for the deed. I beg of you to entertain regard for the son I have

recommended to you. Mr. Nicolo de Oderigo knows more about my own

affairs than I do myself, and I have sent him the transcripts of my

privileges and letters for safe keeping. I should be glad if you could

see them. My lords, the King and Queen, endeavor to honor me more than

ever. May the Holy Trinity preserve your noble persons and increase the

most magnificent House (of St. George). Done in Sevilla on the second

day of April, 1502._

_The Chief Admiral of the Ocean, Vice-Roy and

Governor-General of the islands and continent

of Asia, and the Indies of my lords, the King

and Queen, their Captain-General of the sea,

and of their Council._

_"S."

"S. A. S."

"X. M. Y."

"Xpo. FERENS."_[27]

HIS PATIENCE AND NOBILITY OF MIND UNDER SUFFERING AND IN THE MIDST OF

UNDESERVED INDIGNITIES.

The reply of Columbus to Andreas Martin, captain of the caravel

conveying him a prisoner to Spain, upon an offer to remove his fetters:

_Since the King has commanded that I should obey his Governor, he shall

find me as obedient in this as I have been to all his other orders;

nothing but his command shall release me. If twelve years' hardship and

fatigue; if continual dangers and frequent famine; if the ocean first

opened, and five times passed and repassed, to add a new world,

abounding with wealth, to the Spanish monarchy; and if an infirm and

premature old age, brought on by these services, deserve these chains as

a reward, it is very fit I should wear them to Spain, and keep them by

me as memorials to the end of my life._

From a letter to the King and Queen:

_This country (the Bahamas) excels all others as far as the day

surpasses the night in splendor; the natives love their neighbors as

themselves; their conversation is the sweetest imaginable, and their

faces are always smiling. So gentle and so affectionate are they that I

swear to your Highness there is no better people in the world._

From the same:

_The fish rival the birds in tropical brilliancy of color, the scales of

some of them glancing back the rays of light like precious stones, as

they sported about the ships and flashed gleams of gold and silver

through the clear water._

Speech of a West Indian chief to Columbus, on his arrival in Cuba:

_Whether you are divinities or mortal men, we know not. You have come

into these countries with a force, against which, were we inclined to

resist, it would be folly. We are all therefore at your mercy; but if

you are men, subject to mortality like ourselves, you can not be

unapprised that after this life there is another, wherein a very

different portion is allotted to good and bad men. If therefore you

expect to die, and believe, with us, that every one is to be rewarded in

a future state according to his conduct in the present, you will do no

hurt to those who do none to you._

SHIPWRECK AND MARRIAGE.

From the "Life of Columbus," by his son Hernando:

_I say, that whilst the Admiral sailed with the aforesaid "Columbus the

Younger," which was a long time, it fell out that, understanding the

before-mentioned four great Venetian galleys were coming from Flanders,

they went out to seek, and found them beyond Lisbon, about Cape St.

Vincent, which is in Portugal, where, falling to blows, they fought

furiously and grappled, beating one another from vessel to vessel with

the utmost rage, making use not only of their weapons but artificial

fireworks; so that after they had fought from morning until evening, and

abundance were killed on both sides, the Admiral's ship took fire, as

did a great Venetian galley, which, being fast grappled together with

iron hooks and chains used to this purpose by seafaring men, could

neither of them be relieved because of the confusion there was among

them and the fright of the fire, which in a short time was so increased

that there was no other remedy but for all that could to leap into the

water, so to die sooner, rather than bear the torture of the fire._

_But the Admiral being an excellent swimmer, and seeing himself two

leagues or a little farther from land, laying hold of an oar, which good

fortune offered him, and, sometimes resting upon it, sometimes swimming,

it pleased God, who had preserved him for greater ends, to give him

strength to get to shore, but so tired and spent with the water that he

had much ado to recover himself. And because it was not far from Lisbon,

where he knew there were many Genoeses, his countrymen, he went away

thither as fast as he could, where, being known by them, he was so

courteously received and entertained that he set up house and married a

wife in that city. And forasmuch as he behaved himself honorably, and

was a man of comely presence, and did nothing but what was just, it

happened that a lady whose name was Dona Felipa Moniz, of a good family,

and pensioner in the Monastery of All Saints, whither the Admiral used

to go to mass, was so taken with him that she became his wife._

PUT NOT YOUR TRUST IN PRINCES.

From a letter of Christopher Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella:

_Such is my fate that twenty years of service, through which I passed

with so much toil and danger, have profited me nothing; and at this day

I do not possess a roof in Spain that I can call my own. If I wish to

eat or sleep, I have nowhere to go but to the inn or tavern, and I

seldom have wherewith to pay the bill. I have not a hair upon me that is

not gray; my body is infirm; and all that was left me, as well as to my

brothers, has been taken away and sold, even to the frock that I wore,

to my great dishonor. I implore your Highnesses to forgive my

complaints. I am indeed in as ruined a condition as I have related.

Hitherto I have wept over others; may Heaven now have mercy upon me, and

may the earth weep for me._

THE SELF-SACRIFICE AND DEVOTION OF COLUMBUS.

From Columbus' own account of his discovery:

_Such is my plan; if it be dangerous to execute, I am no mere theorist

who would leave to another the prospect of perishing in carrying it out,

but am ready to sacrifice my life as an example to the world in doing

so. If I do not reach the shores of Asia by sea, it will be because the

Atlantic has other boundaries in the west, and these boundaries I will

discover._

THE TRUST OF COLUMBUS.

From a letter of Columbus to a friend:

_For me to contend for the contrary, would be to contend with the wind.

I have done all that I could do. I leave the rest to God, whom I have

ever found propitious to me in my necessities._

SIGNATURE OF COLUMBUS.

_S. i. e. Servidor_

_S. A. S. Sus Altezas Sacras_

_X. M. Y. Jesus Maria Ysabel_

_Xpo. FERENS Christo-pher_

_El Almirante El Almirante._

In English: Servant--of their Sacred Highnesses--Jesus, Mary, and

Isabella--Christopher--The Admiral.

--BECHER.

THE LAST WORDS OF COLUMBUS.

_Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit._

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 14: This letter received no answer.]

[Footnote 15: Columbus left the Canary Isles September 8th, made the

land October 11th--thirty-three days.]

[Footnote 16: Watling's Island.]

[Footnote 17: These canes are probably the flowering stems of large

grasses, similar to the bamboo or to the _arundinaria_ used by the

natives of Guiana for blowing arrows.]

[Footnote 18: An old Spanish coin, equal to the fiftieth part of a mark

of gold.]

[Footnote 19: Small copper coins, equal to about the quarter of a

farthing.]

[Footnote 20: One arroba weighs twenty-five pounds.]

[Footnote 21: There appears to be a doubt as to the exact number of men

left by Columbus at Espanola, different accounts variously giving it as

thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, and forty. There is, however, a

list of their names included in one of the diplomatic documents printed

on Navarrete's work, which makes the number amount to forty, independent

of the Governor Diego de Arana and his two lieutenants, Pedro Gutierrez

and Rodrigo de Escobedo. All these men were Spaniards, with the

exception of two; one an Irishman named William Ires, a native of

Galway, and one an Englishman, whose name was given as Tallarte de

Lajes, but whose native designation it is difficult to guess at. The

document in question was a proclamation to the effect that the heirs of

those men should, on presenting at the office of public business at

Seville sufficient proof of their being the next of kin, receive payment

in conformity with the royal order to that purpose, issued at Burgos on

December 20, 1507.]

[Footnote 22: Dominica.]

[Footnote 23: Martinique.]

[Footnote 24: Of Genoa. The Island of Chios belonged to the Genoese

Republic from 1346 to 1566.]

[Footnote 25: This prayer of Columbus, which is printed by Padre Claudio

Clementi in the "Tablas Chronologicas de los Descubridores" (Valencia,

1689), was afterward repeated, by order of the Sovereigns of Castille,

in subsequent discoveries. Hernando Cortez, Vasco Nunez de Balboa,

Pizarro, and others, had to use it officially.]

[Footnote 26: It is very much to be regretted that Christopher Columbus'

intentions in this respect were not carried out because the Protectors

would have certainly decreed that a marble statue should be erected to

commemorate so great a gift, and we would then possess an authentic

portrait of the discoverer of America, which does not exist anywhere.

Nor do I believe that the portrait of Columbus ever was drawn, carved,

or painted from the life.

There were doubtless painters already in Spain at the close of the

fifteenth century, such, for instance, as Juan Sanchez de Castro, Pedro

Berruguette, Juan de Borgona, Antonio del Rincon, and the five artists

whom Cardinal Ximenes intrusted with the task of adorning the paranymph

of the University of Alcala, but they painted only religious subjects.

It is at a later period that portrait painting commenced in Spain. One

of those artists may have thought of painting a portrait of Columbus,

but there is no trace of any such intention in the writings of the time,

nor of the existence of an authentic effigy of the great navigator in

Spain or any other country.

We must recollect that the enthusiasm created by the news of the

discovery of America was far from being as great as people now imagine,

and if we may judge from the silence of Spanish poets and historians of

the fifteenth century, it produced less effect in Spain than anywhere

else. At all events, the popularity of Columbus lasted scarcely six

months, as deceptions commenced with the first letters that were sent

from Hispaniola, and they never ceased whilst he was living. In fact, it

is only between April 20, 1493, which is the date of his arrival in

Barcelona, and the 20th of May following, when he left that city to

embark for the second expedition (during the short space of six weeks),

that his portrait might have been painted; although it was not then a

Spanish notion, by any means. Neither Boabdil nor Gonzalvo de Cordova,

whose exploits were certainly much more admired by the Spaniards than

those of Columbus, were honored in that form during their lifetime. Even

the portraits of Ferdinand and Isabella, although attributed to Antonio

del Rincon, are only fancy pictures of the close of the sixteenth

century.

The popularity of Columbus was short-lived because he led the Spanish

nation to believe that gold was plentiful and easily obtained in Cuba

and Hispaniola, whilst the Spaniards who, seduced by his enthusiastic

descriptions, crossed the Atlantic in search of wealth, found nothing

but sufferings and poverty. Those who managed to return home arrived in

Spain absolutely destitute. They were noblemen, who clamored at the

court and all over the country, charging "the stranger" with having

deceived them. (Historia de los Reyes Catolicos, cap. lxxxv, f. 188; Las

Casas, lib. i, cap. cxxii, vol. ii, p. 176; Andres Bernaldez, cap.

cxxxi, vol. ii, p. 77.) It was not under such circumstances that

Spaniards would have caused his portrait to be painted. The oldest

effigy of Columbus known (a rough wood-cut in _Jovius_, illustrium

virorum vitae, Florentiae, 1549, folio), was made at least forty years

after his death, and in Italy, where he never returned after leaving it

as a poor and unknown artizan. Let it be enough for us to know that he

was above the medium height, robust, with sandy hair, a face elongated,

flushed and freckled, vivid light gray eyes, the nose shaped like the

beak of an eagle, and that he always was dressed like a monk.

(Bernaldez, Oviedo, Las Casas, and the author of the Libretto, all

eye-witnesses.)--H. Harrisse's "Columbus, and the Bank of St. George, in

Genoa."]

[Footnote 27: What strikes the paleographer, when studying the

handwriting of Christopher Columbus, is the boldness of the penmanship.

You can see at a glance that he was a very rapid caligrapher, and one

accustomed to write a great deal. This certainly was his reputation. The

numberless memoirs, petitions, and letters which flew from his pen gave

even rise to jokes and bywords. Francesillo de Zuniga, Charles V.'s

jester, in one of his jocular epistles exclaims: "I hope to God that

Gutierrez will always have all the paper he wants, for he writes more

than Ptolemy and than Columbus, the discoverer of the Indies."--Harrisse.]

Columbus and Columbia.

COLUMBUS.

Look up, look forth, and on.

There's light in the dawning sky.

The clouds are parting, the night is gone.

Prepare for the work of the day.

--_Bayard Taylor._

_A Castilla y Leon,

Nuevo mundo dio Colon._

To Castille and Leon

Columbus gave a New World.

Inscription upon Hernando Columbus' tomb, in the pavement of the

cathedral at Seville, Spain. Also upon the Columbus Monument in the

Paseo de Recoletos, Madrid.

COLUMBUS

REVERENCE AND WONDER.

JOHN ADAMS, American lawyer and statesman, second President of the

United States. Born at Braintree (now Quincy), Norfolk County,

Mass., October 19, 1735. President, March 4, 1797-March 4, 1801.

Died at Braintree July 4, 1826.

I always consider the discovery of America, with reverence and wonder,

as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence, for the

illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of

mankind all over the earth.

THE GREATNESS OF COLUMBUS.

WILLIAM LIVINGSTON ALDEN, an American author. Born in Massachusetts

October 9, 1837. From his "Life of Columbus" (1882), published by

Messrs. Henry Holt & Co., New York City.

Whatever flaws there may have been in the man, he was of a finer clay

than his fellows, for he could dream dreams that their dull imaginations

could not conceive. He belonged to the same land which gave birth to

Garibaldi, and, like the Great Captain, the Great Admiral lived in a

high, pure atmosphere of splendid visions, far removed from and above

his fellow-men. The greatness of Columbus can not be argued away. The

glow of his enthusiasm kindles our own even at the long distance of four

hundred years, and his heroic figure looms grander through successive

centuries.

ANCIENT ANCHORS.

Two anchors that Columbus carried in his ships are exhibited at the

World's Fair. The anchors were found by Columbian Commissioner Ober near

two old wells at San Salvador. He had photographs and accurate models

made. These reproductions were sent to Paris, where expert antiquarians

pronounced them to be fifteenth century anchors, and undoubtedly those

lost by Columbus in his wreck off San Salvador. One of these has been

presented to the United States and the other is loaned to the Fair.

COLUMBUS AND THE CONVENT OF LA RABIDA.

(ANONYMOUS.)

It was at the door of the convent of La Rabida that Columbus,

disappointed and down-hearted, asked for food and shelter for himself

and his child. It was here that he found an asylum for a few years while

he developed his plans, and prepared the arguments which he submitted to

the council at Salamanca. It was in one of the rooms of this convent

that he met the Dominican monks in debate, and it was here also that he

conferred with Alonzo Pinzon, who afterward commanded one of the vessels

of his fleet. In this convent Columbus lived while he was making

preparations for his voyage, and on the morning that he sailed from

Palos he attended himself the little chapel. There is no building in the

world so closely identified with his discovery as this.

THE EARNESTNESS OF COLUMBUS.

(ANONYMOUS.)

Look at Christopher Columbus. Consider the disheartening difficulties

and vexatious delays he had to encounter; the doubts of the skeptical,

the sneers of the learned, the cavils of the cautious, and the

opposition, or at least the indifference, of nearly all. And then the

dangers of an untried, unexplored ocean. Is it by any means probable he

would have persevered had he not possessed that earnest enthusiasm which

was characteristic of the great discoverer? What mind can conceive or

tongue can tell the great results which have followed, and will continue

to follow in all coming time, from what this single individual

accomplished? A new continent has been discovered; nations planted whose

wealth and power already begin to eclipse those of the Old World, and

whose empires stretch far away beneath the setting sun. Institutions of

learning, liberty, and religion have been established on the broad basis

of equal rights to all. It is true, America might have been discovered

by what we call some fortunate accident. But, in all probability, it

would have remained unknown for centuries, had not some _earnest man_,

like Columbus, arisen, whose adventurous spirit would be roused, rather

than repressed, by difficulty and danger.

EACH THE COLUMBUS OF HIS OWN SOUL.

(ANONYMOUS.)

Every man has within himself a continent of undiscovered character.

Happy is he who acts the Columbus to his own soul.

A SUPERIOR SOUL.

(CLADERA. SPANISH.)

His soul was superior to the age in which he lived. For him was reserved

the great enterprise of traversing that sea which had given rise to so

many fables, and of deciphering the mystery of his time.

COLUMBUS DARED THE MAIN.

SAMUEL ROGERS. (See _post_, page 275.)

When first Columbus dared the Western main,

Spanned the broad gulf, and gave a world to Spain,

How thrilled his soul with tumult of delight,

When through the silence of the sleepless night

Burst shouts of triumph.

THE WORLD A SEAMAN'S HAND CONFERRED.

J.R. LOWELL. (See _post_, page 204.)

Joy, joy for Spain! a seaman's hand confers

These glorious gifts, for a new world is hers.

But where is he, that light whose radiance glows,

The loadstone of succeeding mariners?

Behold him crushed beneath o'ermastering woes--

Hopeless, heart-broken, chained, abandoned to his foes.

THE RIDICULE WITH WHICH THE VIEWS OF COLUMBUS WERE RECEIVED.

JOHN J. ANDERSON, American historical writer. Born in New York,

1821. From his "History of the United States" (1887).

It is recorded that "Columbus had to beg his way from court to court to

offer to princes the discovery of a world." Genoa was appealed to again,

then the appeal was made to Venice. Not a word of encouragement came

from either. Columbus next tried Spain. His theory was examined by a

council of men who were supposed to be very wise about geography and

navigation. The theory and its author were ridiculed. Said one of the

wise men: "Is there any one so foolish as to believe that there are

people living on the other side of the earth with their feet opposite to

ours? people who walk with their heels upward and their heads hanging

down?" His idea was that the earth was flat like a plate.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENTS.

From the third of a series of articles by the Hon. ELLIOTT ANTHONY,

Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago, in

the Chicago _Mail_.

[Illustration: STATUE OF COLUMBUS ON THE BARCELONA MONUMENT.

(See page 81.)]

Bancroft, the historian, says that nearly three centuries before the

Christian era, Aristotle, following the lessons of the Pythagoreans, had

taught that the earth is a sphere and that the water which bounds

Europe on the west washes the eastern shores of Asia. Instructed by him,

the Spaniard, Seneca, believed that a ship, with a fair wind, could sail

from Spain to the Indies in a few days. The opinion was revived in the

Middle Ages by Averroes, the Arab commentator of Aristotle. Science and

observation assisted to confirm it; and poets of ancient and of more

recent times had foretold that empires beyond the ocean would one day be

revealed to the daring navigator. The genial country of Dante and

Buonarotti gave birth to Christopher Columbus, by whom these lessons

were so received and weighed that he gained the glory of fulfilling the

prophecy.

Accounts of the navigation from the eastern coast of Africa to Arabia

had reached the western kingdoms of Europe, and adventurous Venetians,

returning from travels beyond the Ganges, had filled the world with

dazzling descriptions of the wealth of China, as well as marvelous

reports of the outlying island empire of Japan. It began to be believed

that the continent of Asia stretched over far more than a hemisphere,

and that the remaining distance around the globe was comparatively

short. Yet from the early part of the fifteenth century the navigators

of Portugal had directed their explorations to the coast of Africa; and

when they had ascertained that the torrid zone is habitable, even under

the equator, the discovery of the islands of Madeira and the Azores

could not divert them from the purpose of turning the southern capes of

that continent and steering past them to the land of spices, which

promised untold wealth to the merchants of Europe, new dominions to its

princes, and heathen nations to the religion of the cross. Before the

year 1474, and perhaps as early as 1470, Columbus was attracted to

Lisbon, which was then the great center of maritime adventure. He came

to insist with immovable resoluteness that the shortest route to the

Indies lay across the Atlantic. By the words of Aristotle, received

through Averroes, and by letters from Toscanelli, the venerable

cosmographer of Florence--who had drawn a map of the world, with Eastern

Asia rising over against Europe--he was riveted in his faith and lived

only in the idea of laying open the western path to the Indies.

After more than ten years of vain solicitations in Portugal, he left the

banks of the Tagus to seek aid of Ferdinand and Isabella, rich in

nautical experience, having watched the stars at sea from the latitude

of Iceland to near the equator at Elmina. Though yet longer baffled by

the skepticism which knew not how to comprehend the clearness of his

conception, or the mystic trances which sustained his inflexibility of

purpose, or the unfailing greatness of his soul, he lost nothing of his

devotedness to the sublime office to which he held himself elected from

his infancy by the promises of God. When, half resolved to withdraw from

Spain, traveling on foot, he knocked at the gate of the monastery of La

Rabida, at Palos, to crave the needed charity of food and shelter for

himself and his little son, whom he led by the hand, the destitute and

neglected seaman, in his naked poverty, was still the promiser of

kingdoms, holding firmly in his grasp "the key of the ocean sea;"

claiming, as it were from Heaven, the Indies as his own, and "dividing

them as he pleased." It was then that through the prior of the convent

his holy confidence found support in Isabella, the Queen of Castille;

and in 1492, with three poor vessels, of which the largest only was

decked, embarking from Palos for the Indies by way of the west, Columbus

gave a new world to Castille and Leon, "the like of which was never done

by any man in ancient or in later times."

The jubilee of this great discovery is at hand, and now after the lapse

of 400 years, as we look back over the vast ranges of human history,

there is nothing in the order of Providence which can compare in

interest with the condition of the American continent as it lay upon the

surface of the globe, a hemisphere unknown to the rest of the world.

There stretched the iron chain of its mountain barriers, not yet the

boundary of political communities; there rolled its mighty rivers

unprofitably to the sea; there spread out the measureless, but as yet

wasteful, fertility of its uncultivated fields; there towered the gloomy

majesty of its unsubdued primeval forests; there glittered in the secret

caves of the earth the priceless treasures of its unsunned gold, and,

more than all that pertains to material wealth, there existed the

undeveloped capacity of 100 embryo states of an imperial confederacy of

republics, the future abode of intelligent millions, unrevealed as yet

to the "earnest" but unconscious "expectation" of the elder families of

man, darkly hidden by the impenetrable veil of waters. There is, to my

mind, says Everett, an overwhelming sadness in this long insulation of

America from the brotherhood of humanity, not inappropriately reflected

in the melancholy expression of the native races.

The boldest keels of Phoenicia and Carthage had not approached its

shores. From the footsteps of the ancient nations along the highways of

time and fortune--the embattled millions of the old Asiatic despotisms,

the iron phalanx of Macedonia, the living, crushing machinery of the

Roman legion which ground the world to powder, the heavy tramp of

barbarous nations from "the populous north"--not the faintest echo had

aroused the slumbering West in the cradle of her existence. Not a thrill

of sympathy had shot across the Atlantic from the heroic adventure, the

intellectual and artistic vitality, the convulsive struggles for

freedom, the calamitous downfalls of empire, and the strange new

regenerations which fill the pages of ancient and mediaeval history.

Alike when the oriental myriads, Assyrian, Chaldean, Median, Persian,

Bactrian, from the snows of Syria to the Gulf of Ormus, from the Halys

to the Indus, poured like a deluge upon Greece and beat themselves to

idle foam on the sea-girt rock of Salamis and the lowly plain of

Marathon; when all the kingdoms of the earth went down with her own

liberties in Rome's imperial maelstrom of blood and fire, and when the

banded powers of the west, beneath the ensign of the cross, as the

pendulum of conquest swung backward, marched in scarcely intermitted

procession for three centuries to the subjugation of Palestine, the

American continent lay undiscovered, lonely and waste. That mighty

action and reaction upon each other of Europe and America, the grand

systole and diastole of the heart of nations, and which now constitutes

so much of the organized life of both, had not yet begun to pulsate.

The unconscious child and heir of the ages lay wrapped in the mantle of

futurity upon the broad and nurturing bosom of divine Providence, and

slumbered serenely like the infant Danae through the storms of fifty

centuries.

THE DARK AGES BEFORE COLUMBUS.

From the writings of SAINT AUGUSTINE, the most noted of the Latin

fathers. Born at Tagasta, Numidia, November 13, A. D. 354; died at

Hippo, August 28, A. D. 430. (This passage was relied on by the

ecclesiastical opponents of Columbus to show the heterodoxy of his

project.)

They do not see that even if the earth were round it would not follow

that the part directly opposite is not covered with water. Besides,

supposing it not to be so, what necessity is there that it should be

inhabited, since the Scriptures, in the first place, the fulfilled

prophecies of which attest the truth thereof for the past, can not be

suspected of telling tales; and, in the second place, it is really too

absurd to say that men could ever cross such an immense ocean to implant

in those parts a sprig of the family of the first man.

THE LEGEND OF COLUMBUS.

JOANNA BAILLIE, a noted Scottish poetess. Born at Bothwell,

Scotland, 1762; died at Hampstead, near London, February 23, 1851.

From "The Legend of Columbus."

Is there a man that, from some lofty steep,

Views in his wide survey the boundless deep,

When its vast waters, lined with sun and shade,

Wave beyond wave, in serried distance, fade?

COLUMBUS THE CONQUEROR.

No kingly conqueror, since time began

The long career of ages, hath to man

A scope so ample given for trade's bold range

Or caused on earth's wide stage such rapid, mighty change.--_Ibid._

THE EXAMPLE OF COLUMBUS.

Some ardent youth, perhaps, ere from his home

He launch his venturous bark, will hither come,

Read fondly o'er and o'er his graven name,

With feelings keenly touched, with heart aflame;

Till, wrapped in fancy's wild delusive dream,

Times past and long forgotten, present seem.

To his charmed ear the east wind, rising shrill,

Seems through the hero's shroud to whistle still.

The clock's deep pendulum swinging through the blast

Sounds like the rocking of his lofty mast;

While fitful gusts rave like his clam'rous band,

Mixed with the accents of his high command.

Slowly the stripling quits the pensive scene,

And burns and sighs and weeps to be what he has been.

Oh, who shall lightly say that fame

Is nothing but an empty name?

Whilst in that sound there is a charm

The nerves to brace, the heart to warm,

As, thinking of the mighty dead,

The young from slothful couch will start,

And vow, with lifted hands outspread,

Like them to act a noble part.

Oh, who shall lightly say that fame

Is nothing but an empty name?

When but for those, our mighty dead,

All ages past a blank would be,

Sunk in oblivion's murky bed,

A desert bare, a shipless sea!

They are the distant objects seen,

The lofty marks of what hath been.--_Ibid._

PALOS--THE DEPARTURE.

On Palos' shore, whose crowded strand

Bore priests and nobles of the land,

And rustic hinds and townsmen trim,

And harnessed soldiers stern and grim,

And lowly maids and dames of pride,

And infants by their mother's side--

The boldest seaman stood that e'er

Did bark or ship through tempest steer;

And wise as bold, and good as wise;

The magnet of a thousand eyes,

That on his form and features cast,

His noble mien and simple guise,

In wonder seemed to look their last.

A form which conscious worth is gracing,

A face where hope, the lines effacing

Of thought and care, bestowed, in truth,

To the quick eyes' imperfect tracing

The look and air of youth.

* * * * *

The signal given, with hasty strides

The sailors line their ships' dark sides,

Their anchors weighed, and from the shore

Each stately vessel slowly bore.

High o'er the deep and shadowed flood,

Upon his deck their leader stood,

And turned him to departed land,

And bowed his head and waved his hand.

And then, along the crowded strand,

A sound of many sounds combined,

That waxed and waved upon the wind,

Burst like heaven's thunder, deep and grand;

A lengthened peal, which paused, and then

Renewed, like that which loathly parts,

Oft on the ear returned again,

The impulse of a thousand hearts.

But as the lengthened shouts subside,

Distincter accents strike the ear,

Wafting across the current wide

Heart-uttered words of parting cheer:

"Oh, shall we ever see again

Those gallant souls across the main?

God keep the brave! God be their guide!

God bear them safe through storm and tide!

Their sails with favoring breezes swell!

O brave Columbus, fare thee well!"--_Ibid._

THE NAVIGATOR AND THE ISLANDS.

MATURIN MURRAY BALLOU, American author. Compiler of "Pearls of

Thought" and similar works. Born in Boston, Mass., April 14, 1822.

From "Due South," published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston,

1887.

The name of Columbus flashes a bright ray over the mental darkness of

the period in which he lived, for the world was then but just awakening

from the dull sleep of the Middle Ages. The discovery of printing

heralded the new birth of the republic of letters, and maritime

enterprise received a vigorous impulse. The shores of the Mediterranean,

thoroughly explored and developed, had endowed the Italian states with

extraordinary wealth, and built up a very respectable mercantile marine.

The Portuguese mariners were venturing farther and farther from the

peninsula, and traded with many distant ports on the extended coast of

Africa.

To the west lay what men supposed to be an illimitable ocean, full of

mystery, peril, and death. A vague conception that islands hitherto

unknown might be met afar off on that strange wilderness of waters was

entertained by some minds, but no one thought of venturing in search of

them. Columbus alone, regarded merely as a brave and intelligent seaman

and pilot, conceived the idea that the earth was spherical, and that the

East Indies, the great El Dorado of the century, might be reached by

circumnavigating the globe. If we picture to ourselves the mental

condition of the age and the state of science, we shall find no

difficulty in conceiving the scorn and incredulity with which the theory

of Columbus was received. We shall not wonder that he was regarded as a

madman or a fool; we are not surprised to remember that he encountered

repulse upon repulse as he journeyed wearily from court to court, and

pleaded in vain to the sovereigns of Europe for aid to prosecute his

great design. The marvel is that when door after door was closed against

him, when all ears were deaf to his earnest importunities, when day by

day the opposition to his views increased, when, weary and footsore, he

was forced to beg a bit of bread and a cup of water for his fainting and

famishing boy at the door of a Spanish convent, his reason did not give

way, and his great heart did not break with disappointment.

THE FIRST AMERICAN MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS.

From an article in the Baltimore _American_.

To a patriotic Frenchman and to Baltimore belongs the credit of the

erection of the first monument to the memory of Christopher Columbus.

This shaft, though unpretentious in height and material, is the first

ever erected in the "Monumental City" or in the whole United States. The

monument was put up on his estate by Charles Francis Adrian le Paulmier,

Chevalier d'Amour. The property is now occupied by the Samuel Ready

Orphan Asylum, at North and Hartford avenues. It passed into the hands

of the trustees from the executors of the late Zenus Barnum's will.

It has ever been a matter of surprise, particularly among tourists, that

among the thousand and one monuments which have been put up in the

United States to the illustrious dead, that the daring navigator who

first sighted an island which was part of a great continent which 400

years later developed into the first nation of the world, should be so

completely and entirely overlooked. It is on record that the only other

monument in the world, up to 1863, which has been erected in the honor

of Columbus is in Genoa. There is no authoritative account of the

construction of the Baltimore monument. The fact that it was built in

honor of Columbus is substantial, as the following inscription on the

shaft shows:

Sacred

to the

Memory

of

CHRIS.

COLUMBUS,

OCT. XII,

MDCC VIIIC.

It can be seen that the numerals are engrossed in the old English style,

and show eight less than 1800, or 1792, and the date October 12th. The

shaft towers among the boughs of a great oak tree which, like itself,

has stood the storms and winds of nearly a hundred years. It has seen

Baltimore develop from a little colonial town to a great city. The

existence of the monument, strange to say, was known to only a few

persons until the opening of North Avenue through the Barnum estate

about twelve years ago. It looms up about fifty feet, and is attractive.

Tradition says that it is built of brick which was brought from England,

and covered with mortar or cement. At any rate it is substantial, and

likely to stand the ravages of time for many more years. The Samuel

Ready estate is on the east side of the Hartford turnpike and fronts on

North Avenue. The old-fashioned country house, which was built many

years ago, was occupied by the proprietor of Baltimore's famous

hostelry, and is still in use. It is occupied by girls who are reared

and educated by money left by the philanthropist Samuel Ready. Forty or

fifty years ago the elder David Barnum resided there.

In the southeast corner of the beautiful inclosure stands the monument.

It is on an elevated terraced plateau. The plaster or cement coating is

intact, and the inscription is plain. The shaft is quadrangular in form,

sloping from a base six feet six inches in diameter to about two feet

and a half at the top, which is a trifle over fifty feet from the

ground. The pedestal comprises a base about thirty inches high, with

well-rounded corners of molded brick work. The pedestal proper is five

feet six inches in diameter, ten feet in height, and a cornice,

ornamental in style, about three feet in height. From this rises a

tapering shaft of about twenty-eight feet. The whole is surmounted by a

capstone eighteen inches high. Three stories are told about the

monument.

Here is the first: Among the humble people who have lived in that

section for years the legend is that the monument was erected to the

memory of a favorite horse owned by the old Frenchman who was the first

French consul to the United States. For years it was known as the "Horse

Monument," and people with imaginative brains conjured up all sorts of

tales, and retailed them _ad lib_. These stories were generally accepted

without much inquiry as to their authenticity.

This, however, is the true story: Gen. D'Amour, who was the first

representative sent to the colonies from France, was extremely wealthy.

He was a member of a society founded to perpetuate the memory of

Columbus in his own land.

It is said that Gen. D'Amour came to America with Count de Grasse, and

after the fall of Yorktown retired to this city, where he remained until

he was recalled to France in 1797. His reason for erecting the monument

was because of his admiration for Columbus' bravery in the face of

apparent failure. Tradition further says that one evening in the year

1792, while he was entertaining a party of guests, the fact that it was

then the tri-centennial of the discovery of America was the topic of

conversation. During the evening it was mentioned incidentally that

there was not in this whole country a monument to commemorate the deeds

of Columbus. Thereupon, Gen. D'Amour is said to have made a solemn vow

that this neglect should be immediately remedied by the erection of an

enduring shaft upon his own estate.

He bought the property around where the monument now stands, and lived

in grand style, as befitted a man of his wealth and position. He

entertained extensively. It is said that Lafayette was dined and feted

by the Frenchman in the old brick house which is still standing behind

the mansion. In the year and on the date which marked the 300th

anniversary of the discovery of America the monument was unveiled. The

newspapers in those days were not enterprising, and the journals

published at that time do not mention the fact. Again, it is said that

D'Amour died at the old mansion, and many people believe that his body

was interred near the base of the shaft. It is related that about forty

years ago two Frenchmen came to this country and laid claims on the

property, which had, after the Frenchman's death, passed into other

hands. The claim was disputed because of an unsettled mortgage on it,

and they failed to prove their title. They tried to discover the

burial-place of the former owner. In this they also failed, although

large rewards were offered to encourage people to aid them in their

search. It is said that an ingenious Irishman in the neighborhood

undertook to earn the reward, and pointed out a grave in an old Quaker

burying-ground close by.

The grave was opened and the remains exhumed. Examination proved the

bones those of a colored man. Old Mrs. Reilly, who was the wife of

famous old Barnum's Hotel hackman Reilly, used to say that some years

after the two Frenchmen had departed there came another mysterious

Frenchman, who sat beside the monument for weeks, pleading to the then

owners for permission to dig in a certain spot hard by. He was refused.

Nothing daunted, he waited an opportunity and, when the coast was clear,

he dug up a stone slab, which he had heard was to be found, and carried

away the remains of a pet cat which had been buried there.

Frequent inquiries were made of Mr. Samuel H. Tagart, who was the

trustee in charge of the estate of Zenus Barnum, in regard to the old

Frenchman. Antiquarians all over the country made application for

permission to dig beneath the monument, and to remove the tablet from

the face of the shaft. He felt, however, that he could not do it, and

refused all requests.

Early in the present century the Samuel Ready estate was owned by Thomas

Tenant--in those days a wealthy, influential citizen. One of his

daughters, now dead, became the wife of Hon. John P. Kennedy. Another

daughter, who lived in New York, and who is supposed to be dead, paid a

visit in 1878 to the old homestead, and sat beneath the shadow of the

Columbus monument. She stated that the shaft has stood in her early

girlhood as it stands now. It was often visited by noted Italians and

Frenchmen, who seemed to have heard of the existence of the monument in

Europe. She repeated the story of the wealthy Frenchman, and told of

some of his eccentricities, and said he had put up the monument at a

cost of L800, or $4,000.

The old land records of Baltimore town were examined by a representative

of the _American_ as far back as 1787. It appears that in that year

Daniel Weatherly and his wife, Elizabeth; Samuel Wilson and wife,

Hannah; Isaac Pennington and Jemima, his wife, and William Askew and

Jonathan Rutter assigned to Rachel Stevenson four lots of ground,

comprising the estate known as "Hanson's Woods," "Darley Hall,"

"Rutter's Discovery," and "Orange." Later, in 1787 and 1788, additional

lots were received from one Christopher Hughes, and in the following

year the entire estate was assigned by Rachel Stevenson to Charles

Francis Adrian le Paulmier, Chevalier d'Amour, the French consul, the

eccentric Frenchman, and the perpetuator of Columbus' memory in

Baltimore.

The property remained in his possession up to 1796, when Archibald

Campbell purchased it. In the year 1800 James Hindman bought it, and

retained possession until 1802, when James Carere took hold. Thomas

Tenant purchased the estate in 1809. At his death, in 1830, it changed

hands several times, and was finally bought by David Barnum, about 1833.

At his death, in 1854, the estate passed into the hands of Samuel W.

McClellan, then to Zenus Barnum, and subsequently fell to his heirs, Dr.

Zenus Barnum, Arthur C. Barnum, Annie and Maggie Barnum. After much

litigation, about four years ago the estate passed into possession of

the executors of Samuel Ready's will, and they have turned the once

tumbled-down, deserted place into a beautiful spot. All the families

mentioned have relatives living in this city now. In all the changes of

time and owners, the monument to Columbus has remained intact, showing

that it is always the fittest that survives, and that old things are

best.

Mr. E. G. Perine, one of the officers of the Samuel Ready Orphan Asylum,

has collected most of the data relating to the monument.

THE ITALIAN STATUE.

The Italian citizens resident in Baltimore propose to donate a

magnificent statue of Columbus to the "Monumental City," in

commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America.

COLUMBUS--THE FULFILLER OF PROPHECY.

GEORGE BANCROFT, Ph.D., LL.D., D.C.L., America's premier historian.

Born at Worcester, Mass. October 3, 1800; died January 17, 1891.

From "The History of the United States."[28]

Imagination had conceived the idea that vast inhabited regions lay

unexplored in the west; and poets had declared that empires beyond the

ocean would one day be revealed to the daring navigator. But Columbus

deserves the undivided glory of having realized that belief.

* * * * *

The writers of to-day are disposed to consider Magellan's voyage a

greater feat than that of Columbus. I can not agree with them. Magellan

was doubtless a remarkable man, and a very bold man. But when he crossed

the Pacific Ocean he _knew_ he must come to land at last; whereas

Columbus, whatever he may have heard concerning lands to the west, or

whatever his theories may have led him to expect, must still have been

in a state of uncertainty--to say nothing of the superstitious fears of

his companions, and probably his own.

* * * * *

The enterprise of Columbus, the most memorable maritime enterprise in

the history of the world, formed between Europe and America the

communication which will never cease. The story of the colonization of

America by Northmen rests on narratives mythological in form and obscure

in meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary. The intrepid mariners who

colonized Greenland could easily have extended their voyages to Labrador

and have explored the coasts to the south of it. No clear historic

evidence establishes the natural probability that they accomplished the

passage; and no vestige of their presence on our continent has been

found.

Nearly three centuries before the Christian era, Aristotle, following

the lessons of the Pythagoreans, had taught that the earth is a sphere,

and that the water which bounds Europe on the west washes the eastern

shores of Asia. Instructed by him, the Spaniard Seneca believed that a

ship, with a fair wind, could sail from Spain to the Indies in the space

of a very few days. The opinion was revived in the Middle Ages by

Averroes, the Arab commentator of Aristotle; science and observation

assisted to confirm it; and poets of ancient and of more recent times

had foretold that empires beyond the ocean would one day be revealed to

the daring navigator. The genial country of Dante and Buonarotti gave

birth to Christopher Columbus, by whom these lessons were so received

and weighed that he gained the glory of fulfilling the prophecy.

COLUMBUS THE MARINER.

HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT, an American historian. Born at Granville,

Ohio, 1832.

As a mariner and discoverer Columbus had no superior; as a colonist and

governor he proved himself a failure. Had he been less pretentious and

grasping, his latter days would have been more peaceful. Discovery was

his infatuation; but he lacked practical judgment, and he brought upon

himself a series of calamities.

A COLUMBUS BANK NOTE.

[Illustration: COLUMBUS MONUMENT, PASEO COLON, BARCELONA, SPAIN.

Dedicated May 2, 1888]

Since the Postoffice Department has decided to issue a set of stamps in

honor of Columbus, it has been suggested that a Columbus bank note would

also be in good taste at this time. Chief Meredith, of the Bureau of

Engraving and Printing, originated the latter idea and will lay it

before Secretary Foster when he returns to his desk at the Treasury.

Issuing a whole set of Columbian notes would involve not only a great

deal of preparation but cost as well, and hence it is proposed to choose

one of the smaller denominations, probably the $1 note, for the change.

There is an engraving of Columbus in the bureau made by Burt, who was

considered the finest vignette engraver in the country. It is a

full-face portrait, representing Columbus with a smooth face and wearing

a brigandish-looking hat.

THE BARCELONA STATUE.

The historic Muralla del Mar (sea wall) of Barcelona has been effaced

during the progress of harbor improvements, and its place supplied by a

wide and handsome quay, which forms a delightful promenade, is planted

with palms, and has been officially named the Paseo de Colon (Columbus

Promenade). Here, at the foot of the Rambla in the Plaza de la Paz, is a

marble statue of Columbus.

This magnificent monument, erected in honor of the great Genoese

mariner, was unveiled on May 2, 1888, in the presence of the Queen

Regent, King Alfonzo XIII. of Spain, and the royal family; Senor

Sagasta, President of the Council of Ministers, the chief Alcalde of

Barcelona, many other Spanish notables, and the officers of the many

European and American men-of-war then in the port of Barcelona.

It was dedicated amid the thunders of more than 5,000 guns and the

salutes of battalions of brave seamen. The ceremony was such and so

imposing as to be without a parallel in the history of any other part of

the world.

The following ships of war, at anchor in the harbor of Barcelona, boomed

out their homage to the First Admiral of the Shadowy Sea, and, landing

detachments of officers, seamen, and marines, took part in the

inauguration ceremonies.

_American_--United States steamship Winnebago.

_Austrian_--The imperial steamships Tegethoff, Custozz, Prinz Eugen,

Kaiser Max, Kaiser John of Austria, Meteor, Panther, and Leopard.

_British_--H.M.S. Alexandra, Dreadnought, Colossus, Thunderer, and

Phaeton, and torpedo boats 99, 100, 101, and 108.

_Dutch_--The Johann Wilhelm Friso.

_French_--The Colbert, Duperre, Courbet, Devastation, Redoubtable,

Indomptable, Milan, Condor, Falcon, the dispatch boat Coulevrine, and

six torpedo boats.

_German_--The imperial vessel Kaiser.

_Italian_--The royal vessels Etna, Salta, Goito, Vesuvius, Archimedes,

Tripoli, Folgore, Castellfidardo, Lepanto, and Italia.

_Portuguese_--The Vasco da Gama.

_Russian_--The Vestruch and Zabiaca.

_Spanish_--The Numancia, Navarra, Gerona, Castilla, Blanca, Destructor,

Pilar, and Piles.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT.

The monument was cast in the workshops of A. Wohlgemuth, engineer and

constructor of Barcelona, and was made in eight pieces, the base

weighing 31-1/2 tons. The first section, 22-1/2 tons; the second, 24-1/2

tons; the third, 23-1/2 tons; the fourth, 23-1/8 tons; the capital,

29-1/2 tons; the templete, 13-1/2 tons; the globe, 15-1/2 tons; the

bronze ornaments, 13-1/2 tons; the statue of Columbus, 41 tons; the

pedestal of the column, 31-1/2 tons; the total weight of bronze employed

in the column being 210-1/2 tons; its height, 198 feet.

The total cost of the monument amounted to 1,000,000 pesetas. Of these,

350,000 were collected by public subscription, and the remaining 650,000

pesetas were contributed by the city of Barcelona.

The monument is 198 feet in height, and is ascended by means of an

hydraulic elevator; five or six persons have room to stand on the

platform. On the side facing the sea there opens a staircase of a single

flight, which leads to a small resting room richly ornamented, and lit

by a skylight, which contains the elevator. The grand and beautiful city

of Barcelona, the busiest center of industry, commerce, and shipping,

and mart of the arts and sciences, is not likely to leave in oblivion he

who enriched the Old World with a new one, opening new arteries of trade

which immensely augmented its renowned commercial existence; and less is

it likely to forget that the citizens of Barcelona who were

contemporaneous with Columbus were among the first to greet the unknown

mariner when he returned from America, for the first time, with the

enthusiasm which his colossal discovery evoked.

If for this alone, in one of her most charming squares, in full view of

the ocean whose bounds the immortal sailor fixed and discovered, they

have raised his statue upon a monument higher than the most celebrated

ones of the earth. This statue, constructed under the supervision of the

artist Don Cayetano Buigas, is composed of a base one meter in height

and twenty meters wide, and of three sections. The first part is a

circular section, eighteen meters in diameter, ten feet in height; it is

composed of carved stone with interspersed bas-reliefs in bronze,

representing episodes in the life of Columbus.

The second story takes the form of a cross, and is of the height of

thirty-three feet, being of carved stone decorated with bronzes. On the

arms of the cross are four female figures, representing Catalonia,

Aragon, Castille, and Leon, and in the angles of the same are figures of

Father Boyle, Santangel, Margarite and Ferrer de Blanes.

On the sides of the cross are grouped eight medallions of bronze, on

which are placed the busts of Isabella I., Ferdinand V., Father Juan

Flores, Andres de Cabrera, Padre Juan de la Marchena, the Marchioness of

Moya, Martin Pinzon, and his brother, Vicente Yanez Pinzon.

This section upholds the third part of the monument, which takes the

form of an immense globe, on top of which stands the statue of Columbus,

a noble conception of a great artist, grandly pointing toward the

conquered confines of the Mysterious Sea.[29]

LEGEND OF A WESTERN LAND.

Rev. SABINE BARING-GOULD, vicar of Looe Trenchard, Devonshire,

England. Born at Exeter, England, 1834. An antiquarian,

archaeological and historical writer, no mean poet, and a novelist.

From his "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages."

According to a Keltic legend, in former days there lived in Skerr a

Druid of renown. He sat with his face to the west on the shore, his eye

following the declining sun, and he blamed the careless billows which

tumbled between him and the distant Isle of Green. One day, as he sat

musing on a rock, a storm arose on the sea; a cloud, under whose squally

skirts the foaming waters tossed, rushed suddenly into the bay, and from

its dark womb emerged a boat with white sails bent to the wind and banks

of gleaming oars on either side. But it was destitute of mariners,

itself seeming to live and move. An unusual terror seized on the aged

Druid; he heard a voice call, "Arise, and see the Green Isle of those

who have passed away!" Then he entered the vessel. Immediately the wind

shifted, the cloud enveloped him, and in the bosom of the vapor he

sailed away. Seven days gleamed on him through the mist; on the eighth,

the waves rolled violently, the vessel pitched, and darkness thickened

around him, when suddenly he heard a cry, "The Isle! the Isle!" The

clouds parted before him, the waves abated, the wind died away, and the

vessel rushed into dazzling light. Before his eyes lay the Isle of the

Departed, basking in golden light. Its hills sloped green and tufted

with beauteous trees to the shore, the mountain tops were enveloped in

bright and transparent clouds, from which gushed limpid streams, which,

wandering down the steep hill-sides with pleasant harp-like murmur

emptied themselves into the twinkling blue bays. The valleys were open

and free to the ocean; trees loaded with leaves, which scarcely waved to

the light breeze, were scattered on the green declivities and rising

ground; all was calm and bright; the pure sun of autumn shone from his

blue sky on the fields; he hastened not to the west for repose, nor was

he seen to rise in the east, but hung as a golden lamp, ever illumining

the Fortunate Isles.

LEGEND OF A WESTERN ISLAND.

There is a Phoenician legend that a large island was discovered in the

Atlantic Ocean, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, several days' sail from

the coast of Africa. This island abounded in all manner of riches. The

soil was exceedingly fertile; the scenery was diversified by rivers,

mountains, and forests. It was the custom of the inhabitants to retire

during the summer to magnificent country houses, which stood in the

midst of beautiful gardens. Fish and game were found in great abundance,

the climate was delicious, and the trees bore fruit at all seasons of

the year.--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS AN IDEAL COMMANDER.

JOEL BARLOW, American poet, patriot, and politician. Born at

Reading, Conn., 1755; died near Cracow, in Poland, 1812. From the

introduction to "Columbiad" (1807).

Every talent requisite for governing, soothing, and tempering the

passions of men is conspicuous in the conduct of Columbus on the

occasion of the mutiny of his crew. The dignity and affability of his

manners, his surprising knowledge and experience in naval affairs, his

unwearied and minute attention to the duties of his command, gave him a

great ascendancy over the minds of his men, and inspired that degree of

confidence which would have maintained his authority in almost any

circumstances.

MAN'S INGRATITUDE.

Long had the sage, the first who dared to brave

The unknown dangers of the western wave;

Who taught mankind where future empires lay

In these confines of descending day;

With cares o'erwhelmed, in life's distressing gloom,

Wish'd from a thankless world a peaceful tomb,

While kings and nations, envious of his name,

Enjoyed his toils and triumphed o'er his fame,

And gave the chief, from promised empire hurl'd,

Chains for a crown, a prison for a world.

--_Barlow_, "Columbus" (1787).

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 28: By permission of Messrs. D. Appleton & Co.]

[Footnote 29: For the above interesting particulars, and for the

artistic illustration of this beautiful statue, the compiler desires to

record his sincere obligations to the courteous kindness of Mr. William

G. Williams of Rutherford, N. J.]

"ONLY THE ACTIONS OF THE JUST."

Ages unborn shall bless the happy day

When thy bold streamers steer'd the trackless way.

O'er these delightful realms thy sons shall tread,

And following millions trace the path you led.

Behold yon isles, where first the flag unfurled

Waved peaceful triumph o'er the new-found world.

Where, aw'd to silence, savage bands gave place,

And hail'd with joy the sun-descended race.

--_Barlow_, "The Vision of Columbus,"

a poem in nine books (1787).

QUEEN ISABELLA'S DEATH.

Truth leaves the world and Isabella dies.

--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS' CHAINS HIS CROWN.

I sing the mariner who first unfurl'd

An eastern banner o'er the western world,

And taught mankind where future empires lay

In these fair confines of descending day;

Who swayed a moment, with vicarious power,

Iberia's scepter on the new-found shore;

Then saw the paths his virtuous steps had trod

Pursued by avarice and defiled with blood;

The tribes he fostered with paternal toil

Snatched from his hand and slaughtered for their spoil.

Slaves, kings, adventurers, envious of his name,

Enjoyed his labors and purloined his fame,

And gave the viceroy, from his high seat hurl'd,

Chains for a crown, a prison for a world.

--_Barlow_, The "Columbiad," Book I; lines 1-14.

PROPHETIC VISIONS URGED COLUMBUS ON.

The bliss of unborn nations warm'd his breast,

Repaid his toils, and sooth'd his soul to rest;

Thus o'er thy subject wave shall thou behold

Far happier realms their future charms unfold,

In nobler pomp another Pisgah rise,

Beneath whose foot thy new-found Canaan lies.

There, rapt in vision, hail my favorite clime

And taste the blessings of remotest time.

--_Barlow_, The "Columbiad," Book 1; lines 176-184.

COLUMBUS, THE PATHFINDER OF THE SHADOWY SEA.

He opened calm the universal cause

To give each realm its limit and its laws,

Bid the last breath of tired contention cease,

And bind all regions in the leagues of peace.

To yon bright borders of Atlantic day

His swelling pinions led the trackless way,

And taught mankind such useful deeds to dare,

To trace new seas and happy nations rear;

Till by fraternal hands their sails unfurled

Have waved at last in union o'er the world.

--_Ibid._

RELIGIOUS OBJECT OF COLUMBUS.

J. J. BARRY, M. D., "Life of Columbus."

The first object of the discovery, disengaged from every human

consideration, was the glorification of the Redeemer and the extension

of His Church.

THE NOBILITY OF COLUMBUS IN ADVERSITY.

The accumulations of his reverses exceed human proportions. His

misfortunes almost surpass his glory. Still this man does not murmur. He

accuses, he curses nobody; and does not regret that he was born. The

people of ancient times would never have conceived this type of a hero.

Christianity alone, whose creation he was, can comprehend him. * * * The

example of Columbus shows that nobody can completely obtain here below

the objects of his desires. The man who doubled the known space of the

earth was not able to attain his object; he proposed to himself much

more than he realized.--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS BELL.

The congregation of the little colored church at Haleyville, in

Cumberland County, N. J., contributes an interesting historical relic to

the World's Fair. It is the bell that has for years called them to

church. In the year 1445, the bell, it is said, hung in one of the

towers of the famous mosque at the Alhambra. After the siege of Granada,

the bell was taken away by the Spanish soldiers and presented to Queen

Isabella, who, in turn, presented it to Columbus, who brought it to

America on his fourth voyage and presented it to a community of Spanish

monks who placed it in the Cathedral of Carthagena, on the Island of New

Granada. In 1697 buccaneers looted Carthagena, and carried the bell on

board the French pirate ship La Rochelle, but the ship was wrecked on

the Island of St. Andreas shortly afterward, and the wreckers secured

the bell as part of their salvage. Capt. Newell of Bridgeton purchased

it, brought it to this country, and presented it to the colored

congregation of the Haleyville church. The bell weighs sixty-four

pounds, and is of fine metal.

THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF COLUMBUS.

GERONIMO BENZONI of Milan, Italy. Born about 1520. From his

"History of the New World" (1565).

He was a man of a good, reasonable stature, with sound, strong limbs; of

good judgment, high talent, and gentlemanlike aspect. His eyes were

bright, his hair red, his nose aquiline, his mouth somewhat large; but

above all he was a friend to justice, though rather passionate when

angry.

WESTWARD RELIGION'S BANNERS TOOK THEIR WAY.

The Right Rev. GEORGE BERKELEY, Bishop of Cloyne, Ireland. Born at

Kilcrin, Kilkenny, March 12, 1684; died at Oxford, England, January

14, 1754. The author of the celebrated line, "Westward the course

of Empire takes its way."

But all things of heavenly origin, like the glorious sun, move westward;

and Truth and Art have their periods of shining and of night. Rejoice,

then, O venerable Rome, in thy divine destiny! for, though darkness

overshadow thy seats, and though thy mitred head must descend into the

dust, thy spirit, immortal and undecayed, already spreads toward a new

world.

COLUMBUS NO CHANCE COMER.

The Hon. JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE, one of America's leading

statesmen. Born in Washington County, Pa., in 1830.

Columbus was no chance comer. The time was full. He was not premature;

he was not late. He came in accordance with a scientifically formed if

imperfect theory, whether his own or another's--a theory which had a

logical foundation, and which projected logical sequences. * * * Had not

Columbus discovered America in 1492, a hundred Columbuses would have

discovered it in 1493.

THE CERTAIN CONVICTIONS OF COLUMBUS.

BARON BONNAFOUX, a French author. From "La Vie de Christophe

Colombe" (1853).

He was as certain of the truth of his theory as if he had seen and

trodden on the very ground which his imagination had called into

existence. * * * There was an air of authority about him, and a dignity

in his manner, that struck all who saw him. He considered himself, on

principle, above envy and slander, and in calm and serious discussion

always had the superiority in argument on the subjects of his schemes.

To refuse to assist him in his projects was one thing; but it was

impossible to reply to his discourse in refutation of his arguments,

and, above all, not to respect him.

THE COLUMBUS OF MODERN TIMES.

From an editorial in the Boston _Journal_, July 13, 1892.

When John Bright, in Parliament, shortly after the successful laying of

the Atlantic cable, called Cyrus W. Field _the Columbus of modern

times_, he made no inappropriate comparison. Mr. Field, in the early

days of the great undertaking that has made his name immortal, had to

contend against the same difficulties as the intrepid Genoese. The

lineal descendants of the fifteenth century pundits, who vexed the soul

of Columbus by insisting that the world was flat, were very sure that a

cable could never be laid across the boisterous Atlantic; that sea

monsters would bite it off and huge waves destroy it. Both men finally

prevailed over a doubting world by sheer force of indomitable

enthusiasm.

Many men in Mr. Field's place, having amassed a fortune comparatively

early in life, would have devoted themselves to ease and recreation. But

there was too much of the New England spirit of restless energy in Mr.

Field to permit him to pass the best years of his life thus

ingloriously. The great thought of his cable occurred to him, and he

became a man of one fixed idea, and ended by becoming a popular hero. No

private American citizen, probably, has received such distinguished

honors as Mr. Field when his cable was laid in 1867, and the undertaking

of his lifetime was successfully accomplished. And Mr. Field was

honestly entitled to all the glory and to all the financial profit that

he reaped. His project was one that only a giant mind could conceive,

and a giant mind and a giant will could carry on to execution.

As if to make the parallel with Columbus complete, Mr. Field passed his

last few days under the heavy shadow of misfortune. His son's failure,

and the sensational developments attending it, were probably the

occasion of his fatal illness. It is a melancholy termination of a

remarkable career to which the nations of the earth owe a vast debt of

gratitude.

Chicago _Tribune_, July 13, 1892.

The story of the twelve years' struggle to lay an Atlantic cable from

Ireland to Newfoundland is the story of one of the greatest battles with

the fates that any one man was ever called on to wage. It was a fight

not only against the ocean, jealous of its rights as a separator of the

continents, and against natural obstacles which seemed absolutely

unsurpassable, but a fight against stubborn Parliaments and Congresses,

and all the stumbling blocks of human disbelief. But the courage of

Cyrus W. Field was indomitable. _His patience and zeal were

inexhaustible, and so it came to pass, on July 27, 1866, that this man

knelt down in his cabin, like a second Columbus, and gave thanks to God,

for his labors were crowned with success at last._

He had lost his health. He had worn out his nervous forces by the

tremendous strain, and he paid in excruciating suffering the debt he

owed to nature. But he had won a fortune and a lasting fame.

THE BOSTON STATUE.

In 1849 the Italian merchants of Boston, under the presidency of Mr.

Iasigi, presented to the city a statue of Columbus, which was placed

inside the inclosure of Louisburg Square, at the Pinckney Street end of

the square. The statue, which is of inferior merit, bears no

inscription, and is at the present date forgotten, dilapidated, and fast

falling into decay.

YOU CAN NOT CONQUER AMERICA.

FLAVIUS J. BROBST in an article on Westminster Abbey, in the

_Mid-Continent Magazine_, August, 1892.

Sublimest of all, the incomparable Earl of Chatham, whose prophetic ken

foresaw the independence of the American nation even before the battles

of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill had been fought; and who, from

the first, in Parliament, rose with his eagle beak, and raised his

clarion voice with all the vehemence of his imperial soul in behalf of

the American colonies, reaching once a climax of inspiration, when, in

thunderous tones, he declared to the English nation, "_You can not

conquer America._"

THE INDOMITABLE COURAGE OF COLUMBUS.

WILLIAM C. BRYANT, an eminent American poet. Born at Cummington,

Mass., November 3, 1794; died June 12, 1878. From his "History of

the United States."

With a patience that nothing could wear out, and a perseverance that,

was absolutely unconquerable, Columbus waited and labored for eighteen

years, appealing to minds that wanted light and to ears that wanted

hearing. His ideas of the possibilities of navigation were before his

time. It was one thing to creep along the coast of Africa, where the

hold upon the land need never be lost, another to steer out boldly into

that wilderness of waters, over which mystery and darkness brooded.

THE SANTA MARIA CARAVEL.

J. W. BUEL, a celebrated American author.

Oh, thou Santa Maria, thou famous remembrancer of the centuries! The

names of none of those that sailed in search of the Golden Fleece are so

well preserved among the eternities of history as is thine. No vessel of

Rome, of Greece, of Carthage, of Egypt, that carried conquering Caesar,

triumphant Alexander, valiant Hannibal, or beauteous Cleopatra, shall be

so well known to coming ages as thou art. No ship of the Spanish Armada,

or of Lord Howard, who swept it from the sea; no looming monster; no

Great Eastern or frowning ironclad of modern navies, shall be held like

thee in perpetual remembrance by all the sons of men. For none ever bore

such a hero on such a mission, that has glorified all nations by giving

the greatest of all countries to the world.

THE SCARLET THORN.

JOHN BURROUGHS, an American essayist and naturalist. Born at

Roxbury, New York, April 3, 1837. From a letter in the _St.

Nicholas Magazine_ of July, 1892. (See _post_, NASON.)

There are a great many species of the thorn distributed throughout the

United States. All the Northern species, so far as I know, have white

flowers. In the South they are more inclined to be pink or roseate. If

Columbus picked up at sea a spray of the thorn, it was doubtless some

Southern species. Let us believe it was the Washington thorn, which

grows on the banks of streams from Virginia to the Gulf, and loads

heavily with small red fruit.

The thorn belongs to the great family of trees that includes the apple,

peach, pear, raspberry, strawberry, etc., namely, the rose family, or

_Rosaceae_. Hence the apple, pear, and plum are often grafted on the

white thorn.

A curious thing about the thorns is that they are suppressed or

abortive branches. The ancestor of this tree must have been terribly

abused sometime to have its branches turn to thorns.

I have an idea that persistent cultivation and good treatment would

greatly mollify the sharp temper of the thorn, if not change it

completely.

The flower of the thorn would become us well as a National flower. It

belongs to such a hardy, spunky, unconquerable tree, and to such a

numerous and useful family. Certainly, it would be vastly better than

the merely delicate and pretty wild flowers that have been so generally

named.

CAPTAIN AND SEAMEN.

RICHARD E. BURTON, in the Denver (Colo.) _Times_, 1892.

I see a galleon of Spanish make,

That westward like a winged creature flies,

Above a sea dawn-bright, and arched with skies

Expectant of the sun and morning-break.

The sailors from the deck their land-thirst slake

With peering o'er the waves, until their eyes

Discern a coast that faint and dream-like lies,

The while they pray, weep, laugh, or madly take

Their shipmates in their arms and speak no word.

And then I see a figure, tall, removed

A little from the others, as behooved,

That since the dawn has neither spoke nor stirred;

A noble form, the looming mast beside,

Columbus, calm, his prescience verified.

THE BEAUTIES OF THE BAHAMA SEA.

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH, American author. Born in Rhode Island, 1839.

From an article, "The Sea of Discovery," in _The Youth's

Companion_, June 9, 1892.

The Bahama Sea is perhaps the most beautiful of all waters. Columbus

beheld it and its islands with a poet's eye.

"It only needed the singing of the nightingale," said the joyful

mariner, "to make it like Andalusia in April;" and to his mind Andalusia

was the loveliest place on earth. In sailing among these gardens of the

seas in the serene and transparent autumn days after the great

discovery, the soul of Columbus was at times overwhelmed and entranced

by a sense of the beauty of everything in it and about it. Life seemed,

as it were, a spiritual vision.

"I know not," said the discoverer, "where first to go; nor are my eyes

ever weary of gazing on the beautiful verdure. The singing of the birds

is such that it seems as if one would never desire to depart hence."

He speaks in a poet's phrases of the odorous trees, and of the clouds of

parrots whose bright wings obscured the sun. His descriptions of the sea

and its gardens are full of glowing and sympathetic colorings, and all

things to him had a spiritual meaning.

"God," he said, on reviewing his first voyage over these western waters,

"God made me the messenger of the new heavens and earth, and told me

where to find them. Charts, maps, and mathematical knowledge had nothing

to do with the case."

On announcing his discovery on his return, he breaks forth into the

following highly poetic exhortation: "Let processions be formed, let

festivals be held, let lauds be sung. Let Christ rejoice on earth."

Columbus was a student of the Greek and Latin poets, and of the poetry

of the Hebrew Scriptures. The visions of Isaiah were familiar to him,

and he thought that Isaiah himself at one time appeared to him in a

vision. He loved nature. To him the outer world was a garment of the

Invisible; and it was before his great soul had suffered

disappointment that he saw the sun-flooded waters of the Bahama Sea

and the purple splendors of the Antilles.

[Illustration: THE PASEO COLON (COLUMBUS PROMENADE), BARCELONA, SPAIN.

With the Columbus Monument in the background.

See page 81]

There is scarcely an adjective in the picturesque report of Columbus in

regard to this sea and these islands that is not now as appropriate and

fitting as in the days when its glowing words delighted Isabella 400

years ago.

WHEN HISTORY DOES THEE WRONG.

GEORGE GORDON NOEL, LORD BYRON, one of England's famous poets. Born

in London, January 22, 1788; died at Missolonghi, Greece, April 19,

1824.

Teems not each ditty with the glorious tale?

Ah! such, alas, the hero's amplest fate.

When granite molders and when records fail,

* * * * *

Pride! bend thine eye from heaven to thine estate,

See how the mighty shrink into a song.

Can volume, pillar, pile, preserve thee great?

Or must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue,

When Flattery sleeps with thee, and History does thee wrong.

CABOT'S CONTEMPORANEOUS UTTERANCE.

SEBASTIAN CABOT, a navigator of great eminence. Born at Bristol,

England, about 1477. Discovered the mainland of North America. Died

about 1557.

When newes were brought that Don Christopher Colonus, the Genoese, had

discovered the coasts of India, whereof was great talke in all the Court

of King Henry the VII. who then raigned, * * * all men with great

admiration affirmed it to be a thing more divine than humane to saile by

the West into the Easte, where the spices growe, by a chart that was

never before knowen.

THE CAPITULATIONS OF SANTA FE--AGREEMENT OF COLUMBUS WITH FERDINAND AND

ISABELLA.

Sir ARTHUR HELPS. From "The Life of Columbus." [See other extracts,

_post_, _sub nomine_ HELPS.]

1. Christopher Columbus wishes to be made Admiral of the seas and

countries which he is about to discover. He desires to hold this dignity

during his life, and that it should descend to his heirs.

_This request is granted by the King and Queen._

2. Christopher Columbus wishes to be made Viceroy of all the continents

and islands.

_Granted by the King and Queen._

3. He wishes to have a share amounting to a tenth part of the profits of

all merchandise--be it pearls, jewels, or any other thing--that may be

found, gained, bought, or exported from the countries which he is to

discover.

_Granted by the King and Queen._

4. He wishes, in his quality of Admiral, to be made sole judge of all

mercantile matters that may be the occasion of dispute in the countries

which he is to discover.

_Granted by the King and Queen, on condition that this jurisdiction

should belong to the office of Admiral, as held by Don Enriques and

other Admirals._

5. Christopher Columbus wishes to have the right to contribute the

eighth part of the expenses of all ships which traffic with the new

countries, and in return to earn the eighth part of the profits.

_Granted by the King and Queen._

Santa Fe, in the Vega of Granada, April 17, 1492.

COLUMBUS, THE SEA-KING.

THOMAS CARLYLE, "the Sage of Chelsea," celebrated English

philosophic writer. Born at Ecclefechan, Scotland, December 4,

1795; died at Cheyne walk, Chelsea, London, February 5, 1881. From

"Past and Present."

Brave Sea-captain, Norse Sea-king, Columbus, my hero, royalest Sea-king

of all! it is no friendly environment this of thine, in the waste deep

waters; around thee, mutinous, discouraged souls; behind thee, disgrace

and ruin; before thee, the unpenetrated veil of Night. Brother, these

wild water-mountains, bounding from their deep basin--ten miles deep, I

am told--are not entirely there on thy behalf! Meseems they have other

work than floating thee forward; and the huge winds that sweep from Ursa

Major to the Tropics and Equator, dancing their giant waltz through the

kingdoms of Chaos and Immensity, they care little about filling rightly

or filling wrongly the small shoulder-of-mutton sails in this

cockle-skiff of thine. Thou art not among articulate-speaking friends,

my brother; thou art among immeasurable dumb monsters, tumbling,

howling, wide as the world here. Secret, far off, invisible to all

hearts but thine, there lies a help in them; see how thou wilt get at

that. Patiently thou wilt wait till the mad southwester spend itself,

saving thyself by dextrous science of defense the while; valiantly, with

swift decision, wilt thou strike in, when the favoring east, the

Possible, springs up. Mutiny of men thou wilt entirely repress;

weakness, despondency, thou wilt cheerily encourage; thou wilt swallow

down complaint, unreason, weariness, weakness of others and thyself.

There shall be a depth of silence in thee deeper than this sea, which is

but ten miles deep; a silence unsoundable, known to God only. Thou shalt

be a great man. Yes, my World-soldier, thou wilt have to be greater than

this tumultuous, unmeasured world here around thee; thou, in thy strong

soul, as with wrestler's arms, shalt embrace it, harness it down, and

make it bear thee on--to new Americas.

OUTBOUND.

BLISS CARMAN, from a poem in the _Century Magazine_, 1892.[30]

A lonely sail in the vast sea-room,

I have put out for the port of gloom.

The voyage is far on the trackless tide,

The watch is long, and the seas are wide.

The headlands, blue in the sinking day,

Kiss me a hand on the outward way.

The fading gulls, as they dip and veer,

Lift me a voice that is good to hear.

The great winds come, and the heaving sea,

The restless mother, is calling me.

The cry of her heart is lone and wild,

Searching the night for her wandered child.

Beautiful, weariless mother of mine,

In the drift of doom I am here, I am thine.

Beyond the fathom of hope or fear,

From bourn to bourn of the dusk I steer.

Swept on in the wake of the stars, in the stream

Of a roving tide, from dream to dream.

THE TRIBUTES OF THE PHOENIX OF THE AGES.

LOPE DE VEGA CARPIO, a celebrated Spanish poet and dramatist. Born

at Madrid, November 25, 1562; died, 1635.[31]

Lope puts into the mouth of Columbus, in a dialogue with Ferdinand, who

earnestly invites the discoverer to ask of him the wherewithal to

prosecute the discovery, the following verses:

Sire, give me gold, for gold is all in all;

'Tis master, 'tis the goal and course alike,

The way, the means, the handicraft, and power,

The sure foundation and the truest friend.

* * * * *

Referring to the results of the great discovery, Lope beautifully says

that it gave--

_Al Rey infinitas terras

Y a Dios infinitas almas._

(To the King boundless lands, and to God souls without

number.)

HERSCHEL, THE COLUMBUS OF THE SKIES.

E. H. CHAPIN, American author of the nineteenth century.

Man was sent into the world to be a growing and exhaustless force; the

world was spread out around him to be seized and conquered. Realms of

infinite truth burst open above him, inviting him to tread those shining

coasts along which Newton dropped his plummet and Herschel sailed, a

Columbus of the skies.

THE DISCOVERIES OF COLUMBUS AND AMERICUS.

From Chicago _Tribune_, August, 1892. [See also _ante_, Boston

_Journal_.]

The suggestion has been made by Mr. John Boyd Thacher, commissioner from

New York to the World's Fair, that a tribute be paid to the memory of

Amerigo Vespucci by opening the Fair May 5, 1893, that being the

anniversary of America's christening day. Mr. Thacher's suggestion is

based upon the fact that May 5, 1507, there was published at the

College of Saint-Die, in Lorraine, the "Cosmographic Introductio," by

Waldseemuller, in which the name of America "for the fourth part of the

world" (Europe, Asia, and Africa being the other three parts) was first

advocated, in honor of Amerigo Vespucci. As Mr. Thacher's suggestion

already has aroused considerable jealous opposition among the Italians

of New York, who claim all the glory for Columbus, a statement of what

was really discovered by the two great explorers will be of interest at

the present time.

No writer of the present day has shed a clearer light upon this question

than John Fiske, and it may be incidentally added, no student has done

more than he to relieve Amerigo Vespucci from the reproach which has

been fastened upon his reputation as an explorer, by critics, who, as

Mr. Fiske clearly shows, have been misled by the sources of their

authority and have judged him from erroneous standpoints. In making a

statement of what the two explorers really discovered, the _Tribune_

follows on the lines of Prof. Fiske's investigation as the clearest,

most painstaking, and most authoritative that has yet been made.

Christopher Columbus made four voyages. On the first he sailed from

Palos, Friday, August 3, 1492, and Friday, October 12th (new style,

October 21st), discovered land in the West Indies. It was one of the

islands of the Bahamas, called by the natives Guanahani, and named by

him San Salvador; which name, after the seventeenth century, was applied

to Cat Island, though which one of the islands is the true San Salvador

is still a matter of dispute.

After spending ten days among the Bahamas Columbus (October 25th)

steered south and reached the great Island of Cuba. He cruised around

the east coast of the big island, and December 6th landed at Haiti,

another immense island. A succession of disasters ended his voyage and

he thereupon returned to Spain, arriving there March 15, 1493.

Columbus sailed on his second voyage September 25, 1493, and November 3d

landed at Dominica in the Caribbean Sea. During a two-weeks' cruise he

discovered the islands of Marigalante, Guadaloupe, and Antigua, and

lastly the large Island of Puerto Rico. April 24th he set out on another

cruise of discovery. He followed the south coast of Cuba and came to

Jamaica, the third largest of the West Indies, thence returning to Cuba,

and from there to Spain, where he arrived June 11, 1494. On his third

voyage he sailed May 30, 1498. Following a more southerly course, he

arrived at Trinidad, and in coasting along saw the delta of the Orinoco

River of South America and went into the Gulf of Paria. Thence he

followed the north coast of Venezuela and finally arrived at Santo

Domingo.

The story of his arrest there is well known. He was taken in chains to

Cadiz, Spain, arriving there in December, 1500.

On his fourth and last voyage he sailed May 11, 1502. On June 15th he

was at Martinique. He touched at Santo Domingo, thence sailed across to

Cape Honduras, doubled that cape, and skirted the coast of Nicaragua,

where he heard of the Pacific Ocean, though the name had not its present

meaning for him. It was during his attempt to find the Isthmus of

Darien, which he thought was a strait of water, that he was shipwrecked

on the coast of Jamaica. He remained there a year and then went back to

Spain, reaching home November 7, 1504. It was the last voyage of the

great navigator, and it will be observed that he never saw or stepped

foot on the mainland of _North_ America, though he saw South America in

1498, as stated. In 1506 he died in Spain.

Amerigo Vespucci, like Columbus, made four voyages, some of the details

of which are known. His letter, written to his friend Piero Soderini,

September 4, 1504, gives us information concerning his famous first

voyage. Hitherto the only copy of this letter known was a Latin

translation of it published at the College of Saint-Die, April 25, 1507,

but the primitive text from which the translation was made has been

found, and by that text Americus' reputation has been saved from the

discredit critics and biographers have cast upon it, and his true

laurels have been restored to him. The mistake of changing one word, the

Indian name "Lariab," in the original, to "Parias," in the Latin

version, is accountable for it all. The scene of his explorations is now

transferred from Parias, in South America, to Lariab, in North America,

and his entire letter is freed from mystery or inconsistency with the

claims which have been made for him.

It is now established beyond controversy that Americus sailed on the

first voyage, not as commander, but as astronomer, of the expedition,

May 10, 1497, and first ran to the Grand Canaries. Leaving there May

25th, the first landfall was on the northern coast of Honduras of North

America. Thence he sailed around Yucatan and up the Mexican coast to

Tampico ("Lariab," not "Parias"). After making some inland explorations

he followed the coast line 870 leagues (2,610 miles), which would take

him along our Southern gulf coast, around Florida, and north along the

Atlantic coast until "they found themselves in a fine harbor." Was this

Charleston harbor or Hampton Roads? In any event, when he started back

to Spain he sailed from the Atlantic coast somewhere between Capes

Charles and Canaveral. The outcome of this voyage was the first

discovery of Honduras, parts of the Mexican and Florida coasts, the

insularity of Cuba--which Columbus thought was part of the mainland of

Asia--and 4,000 miles of the coast line of North America. The remaining

three voyages have no bearing upon North American discovery. On the

second, he explored the northern coast of Brazil to the Gulf of

Maracaibo; on the third, he went again to the Brazilian coast and found

the Island of South Georgia, and on the fourth returned to Brazil, but

without making any discoveries of importance.

Mr. Fiske's luminous narrative lends significance to Mr. Thacher's

suggestion, for Vespucci discovered a large portion of the mainland of

the North American continent which Columbus had never seen. To this

extent his first voyage gave a new meaning to Columbus' work, without

diminishing, however, the glory of the latter's great achievement.

Americus, indeed, had his predecessors, for John and Sebastian Cabot,

sent out by Henry VII. of England a short time before his discovery, had

set foot upon Labrador, and probably had visited Nova Scotia. And even

before Cabot, the Northern Vikings, among them Leif Ericcson, had found

their way to this continent and perhaps set up their Vineland in

Massachusetts. And before the Vikings there may have been other

migrants, and before the migrants the aborigines, who were the victims

of all the explorers from the Vikings to the Puritans. But their

achievements had no meaning and left no results. As Prof. Fiske says:

"In no sense was any real contact established between the eastern and

western halves of our planet until the great voyage of Columbus in

1492." It was that voyage which inspired the great voyage of Americus in

1497. He followed the path marked out by Columbus, and he invested the

latter's discovery with a new significance. Upon the basis of merit and

historical fact, therefore, Mr. Thacher's suggestion deserves

consideration; and why should Italians be jealous, when Christopher

Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and John Cabot were all of Italian birth?

ALL WITHIN THE KEN OF COLUMBUS.

HYDE CLARKE, Vice-President Royal Historical Society of England, in

his "Examination of the Legend of Atlantis," etc. London: Longmans,

Green & Co., 1886.

At the time when Columbus, as well as others, was discussing the subject

of new lands to be discovered, literary resources had become available.

The Latin writers could be examined; but, above all, the fall of

Constantinople had driven numbers of Greeks into Italy. The Greek

language was studied, and Greek books were eagerly bought by the Latin

nations, as before they had been by the Arabs. Thus, all that had been

written as to the four worlds was within the ken of Columbus.

COLUMBUS A HERETIC AND A VISIONARY TO HIS CONTEMPORARIES.

JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE, an American writer and Unitarian minister.

Born at Hanover, N. H., in 1810; died at Jamaica Plain, June 8,

1888.[32]

We think of Columbus as the great discoverer of America; we do not

remember that his actual life was one of disappointment and failure.

Even his discovery of America was a disappointment; he was looking for

India, and utterly failed of this. He made maps and sold them to support

his old father. Poverty, contumely, indignities of all sorts, met him

wherever he turned. His expectations were considered extravagant, his

schemes futile; the theologians exposed him with texts out of the Bible;

he wasted seven years waiting in vain for encouragement at the court of

Spain. He applied unsuccessfully to the governments of Venice, Portugal,

Genoa, France, England. Practical men said, "It can't be done. He is a

visionary." Doctors of divinity said, "He is a heretic; he contradicts

the Bible." Isabella, being a woman, and a woman of sentiment, wished

to help him; but her confessor said no. We all know how he was compelled

to put down mutiny in his crew, and how, after his discovery was made,

he was rewarded with chains and imprisonment, how he died in neglect,

poverty, and pain, and only was rewarded by a sumptuous funeral. His

great hope, his profound convictions, were his only support and

strength.

LIKE HOMER--A BEGGAR IN THE GATE.

DIEGO CLEMENCIN, a Spanish statesman and author of merit. Born at

Murcia, 1765; died, 1834. From his "Elogio de la Reina Catolica,

Isabella de Castilla" (1851).

A man obscure, and but little known, followed at this time the court.

Confounded in the crowd of unfortunate applicants, feeding his

imagination in the corners of antechambers with the pompous project of

discovering a world, melancholy and dejected in the midst of the general

rejoicing, he beheld with indifference, and almost with contempt, the

conclusion of a conquest which swelled all bosoms with jubilee, and

seemed to have reached the utmost bounds of desire. That man was

Christopher Columbus.

THE FIRST CATHOLIC KNIGHT.

JAMES DAVID COLEMAN, Supreme President of the Catholic Knights of

America, in an address to the members of that body, September 10,

1892.

History tells that the anxious journey was begun by Columbus and his

resolute band, approaching Holy Communion at Palos, on August 3, 1492;

that its prosecution, through sacrifices and perils, amid harrowing

uncertainties, was stamped with an exalted faith and unyielding trust in

God, and that its marvelous and glorious consummation, in October, 1492,

was acknowledged by the chivalrous knight, in tearful gratitude, on

bended knee, at the foot of the cross of Christ, as the merciful gift of

his omnipotent Master. Then it was that Christopher Columbus, the first

Catholic knight of America, made the gracious Christian tribute of

grateful recognition of Divine assistance by planting upon the soil of

his newly discovered land the true emblem of Christianity and of man's

redemption--the cross of our Savior. And then, reverently kneeling

before the cross, and with eyes and hearts uplifted to their immolated

God, this valiant band of Christian knights uttered from the virgin sod

of America the first pious supplication that He would abundantly bless

His gift to Columbus; and the unequaled grandeur of our civil structure

of to-day tells the manifest response to those prayers of 400 years ago.

BY FAITH COLUMBUS FOUND AMERICA.

ROBERT COLLYER, a distinguished pulpit orator. Born at Keighley,

Yorkshire, December 8, 1823.

The successful men in the long fight with fortune are the cheerful men,

or those, certainly, who find the fair background of faith and hope.

Columbus, but for this, had never found our New World.

THE CITY OF COLON STATUE.

In the city of Colon, Department of Panama, Colombia, stands a statue to

the memory of Columbus, of some artistic merit. The great Genoese is

represented as encircling the neck of an Indian youth with his

protecting arm, a representation somewhat similar to the pose of the

statue in the plaza of the city of Santo Domingo. This statue was

donated by the ex-Empress of the French, and on a wooden tablet

attached to the concrete pedestal the following inscription appears:

Statue de

CHRISTOPHE COLOMB

Donnee par

L'Imperatrice Eugenie

Erigee a Colon

Par Decret de la Legislature de

Colombie

Au 29 Juin, 1866,

Par les soins de la Compagnie

Universelle du Canal Maritime

De Panama

Le 21 Fevrier, 1886.[33]

Translation:

Statue of

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Presented by

The Empress Eugenie

Erected in honor of Columbus

By Decree of the Legislature of

Colombia

The 29th of June, 1866,

Under the Supervision of the Universal

Company of the Maritime Canal

Of Panama

The 21st of February, 1886.

THE COLUMBUS OF LITERATURE.

Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, commonly called Lord

Bacon, is generally so called. Born in London January 22, 1561; died

April 19, 1626.

THE COLUMBUS OF THE HEAVENS.

Sir William Herschel, one of the greatest astronomers that any age or

nation has produced, is generally so termed. Born at Hanover November

15, 1738; died August, 1822.

THE COLUMBUS OF MODERN TIMES.

Cyrus W. Field was termed "_the Columbus of modern times, who, by his

cable, had moored the New World alongside of the Old_," by the Rt. Hon.

John Bright, in a debate in the British Parliament soon after the

successful completion of the Atlantic cable.

THE COLUMBUS OF THE SKIES.

Galileo, the illustrious Italian mathematician and natural philosopher,

is so styled by Edward Everett (_post_). He was born at Pisa February

15, 1564; died near Florence in January, 1642.[34]

THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF COLUMBUS.

HERNANDO COLUMBUS, son of Christopher. Born at Cordova, 1488; died

at Valladolid, 1539.

He was tall, well formed, muscular, and of an elevated and dignified

demeanor. His visage was long, neither full nor meager; his complexion

fair and freckled, and inclined to ruddy; his nose aquiline; his cheek

bones were rather high, his eyes light gray, and apt to enkindle; his

whole countenance had an air of authority. His hair, in his youthful

days, was of a light color, but care and trouble, according to Las

Casas, soon turned it gray, and at thirty years of age it was quite

white. He was moderate and simple in diet and apparel, eloquent in

discourse, engaging and affable with strangers, and his amiability and

suavity in domestic life strongly attached his household to his person.

His temper was naturally irritable, but he subdued it by the

magnanimity of his spirits, comporting himself with a courteous and

gentle gravity, and never indulging in any intemperance of language.

Throughout his life he was noted for strict attention to the offices of

religion, observing rigorously the fasts and ceremonies of the church;

nor did his piety consist in mere forms, but partook of that lofty and

solemn enthusiasm with which his whole character was strongly tinctured.

THE SONG OF AMERICA.

KINAHAN CORNWALLIS. From his "Song of America and Columbus; or, The

Story of the New World." New York, 1892. Published by the _Daily

Investigator_.

Hail! to this New World nation; hail!

That to Columbus tribute pays;

That glorifies his name, all hail,

And crowns his memory with bays.

Hail! to Columbia's mighty realm,

Which all her valiant sons revere,

And foemen ne'er can overwhelm.

Well may the world its prowess fear.

Hail! to this richly favored land,

For which the patriot fathers fought.

Forever may the Union stand,

To crown the noble deeds they wrought.

* * * * *

Hail! East and West, and North and South,

From Bunker Hill to Mexico;

The Lakes to Mississippi's mouth,

And the Sierras crowned with snow.

Hail! to the wondrous works of man,

From Maine to California's shores;

From ocean they to ocean span,

And over all the eagle soars.

THE FLEET OF COLUMBUS.

Six sail were in the squadron he possessed,

And these he felt the Lord of Hosts had blessed,

For he was ever faithful to the cross,

With which compared, all else was earthly dross.

Southwestward toward the equinoctial line

He steered his barks, for vast was his design.

There, like a mirror, the Atlantic lay,

White dolphins on its breast were seen to play,

And lazily the vessels rose and fell,

With flapping sails, upon the gentle swell;

While panting crews beneath the torrid sun

Lost strength and spirits--felt themselves undone.

Day after day the air a furnace seemed,

And fervid rays upon them brightly beamed,

The burning decks displayed their yawning seams,

And from the rigging tar ran down in streams.--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS COLLECTION.

Rudolph Cronau, the eminent author and scientist of Leipsic, Germany,

has contributed to the World's Fair his extensive collection of

paintings, sketches, and photographs, representing scenes in the life of

Columbus, and places visited by Columbus during his voyages to the New

World. Doctor Cronau has spent a great part of his life in the study of

early American history, and has published a work on the subject, based

entirely upon his personal investigations.

COLUMBUS' HAVEN.

An indentation of the coast of Watling's Island, in the Bahamas, is

known to this day as Columbus' Haven.

[Illustration: STATUE OF COLUMBUS IN THE CITY OF COLON, DEPARTMENT OF

PANAMA, COLOMBIA.

The gift of the ex-Empress of the French. (See page 109.)]

CUBA'S CAVES--THE MANTLE OF COLUMBUS.

In the caves of Bellamar, near Matanzas, Cuba, are sparkling columns of

crystal 150 feet high; one is called the "Mantle of Columbus."

THE PORTRAITS OF COLUMBUS.

The Hon. WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS, an American journalist, Secretary

of the Bureau of the American Republics, Washington, D. C. Born at

Akron, Ohio. From an article, "The Columbus Portraits," in the

_Cosmopolitan Magazine_, January, 1892.

Although Columbus twice mentioned in his alleged will that he was a

native of Genoa, a dozen places still demand the honor of being

considered his birthplace, and two claim to possess his bones. Nothing

is certain about his parentage, and his age is the subject of dispute.

The stories of his boyhood adventures are mythical, and his education at

the University of Pavia is denied.

The same doubt attends the various portraits that pretend to represent

his features. The most reliable authorities--and the subject has been

under discussion for two centuries--agree that there is no tangible

evidence to prove that the face of Columbus was ever painted or sketched

or graven, during his life. His portrait has been painted, like that of

the Madonna and those of the saints, by many famous artists, each

dependent upon verbal descriptions of his appearance by contemporaneous

writers, and each conveying to the canvas his own conception of what the

great seaman's face must have been; but it may not be said that any of

the portraits are genuine, and it is believed that all of them are more

or less fanciful.

It must be considered that the art of painting portraits was in its

infancy when Columbus lived. The honor was reserved for kings and queens

and other dignitaries, and Columbus was regarded as an importunate

adventurer, who at the close of his first voyage enjoyed a brief

triumph, but from the termination of his second voyage was the victim of

envy and misrepresentation to the close of his life. He was derided and

condemned, was brought in chains like a common felon from the continent

he had discovered, and for nearly two hundred years his descendants

contested in the courts for the dignities and emoluments he demanded of

the crown of Spain before undertaking what was then the most perilous

and uncertain of adventures. Even the glory of giving his name to the

lands he discovered was transferred to another--a man who followed in

his track; and it is not strange, under such circumstances, that the

artists of Spain did not leave the religious subjects upon which they

were engaged to paint the portrait of one who said of himself that he

was a beggar "without a penny to buy food."

THE STANDARD OF MODERN CRITICISM.

The Hon. WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS, in an able article in the

_Chautauquan Magazine_, September, 1892.

Whether the meager results of recent investigation are more reliable

than the testimony of earlier pens is a serious question, and the

sympathetic and generous reader will challenge the right of modern

historians to destroy and reject traditions to which centuries have paid

reverence. The failure to supply evidence in place of that which has

been discarded is of itself sufficient to impair faith in the modern

creation, and simply demonstrates the fallacy of the theory that what

can not be proven did not exist. If the same analysis to which the

career of Columbus has been subjected should be applied to every

character in sacred and secular history, there would be little left

among the world's great heroes to admire. So we ask permission to retain

the old ideal, and remember the discoverer of our hemisphere as a man

of human weaknesses but of stern purpose, inflexible will, undaunted

courage, patience, and professional theories most of which modern

science has demonstrated to be true.

AN ITALIAN CONTEMPORARY TRIBUTE.

GIULIO DATI, a Florentine poet. Born, 1560; died about 1630.

A lengthy poem, in _ottava rima_ (founded upon the first letter of

Columbus announcing his success), was composed in 1493, by Giulio Dati,

the famous Florentine poet, and was sung in the streets of that city to

publish the discovery of the New World. The full Italian text is to be

found in R. H. Major's "Select Letters of Christopher Columbus," Hakluyt

Society, 1871.

THE MUTINY AT SEA.[35]

JEAN FRANCOIS CASIMIR DELAVIGNE, a popular French poet and

dramatist. Born at Havre, April 4, 1793; died at Lyons, December,

1843.

THREE DAYS.

On the deck stood Columbus; the ocean's expanse,

Untried and unlimited, swept by his glance.

"Back to Spain!" cry his men; "put the vessel about!

We venture no farther through danger and doubt."

"Three days, and I give you a world," he replied;

"Bear up, my brave comrades--three days shall decide."

He sails--but no token of land is in sight;

He sails--but the day shows no more than the night;

On, onward he sails, while in vain o'er the lee

The lead is plunged down through a fathomless sea.

The second day's past, and Columbus is sleeping,

While mutiny near him its vigil is keeping.

"Shall he perish?" "Ay, death!" is the barbarous cry.

"He must triumph to-morrow, or, perjured, must die!"

Ungrateful and blind! shall the world-linking sea,

He traced, for the future his sepulcher be?

Shall that sea, on the morrow, with pitiless waves,

Fling his corse on that shore which his patient eye craves?

The corse of a humble adventurer, then.

One day later--Columbus, the first among men.

But, hush! he is dreaming! A veil on the main,

At the distant horizon, is parted in twain;

And now on his dreaming eye--rapturous sight--

Fresh bursts the New World from the darkness of night.

O vision of glory! how dazzling it seems;

How glistens the verdure! how sparkle the streams!

How blue the far mountains! how glad the green isles!

And the earth and the ocean, how dimpled with smiles!

"Joy! joy!" cries Columbus, "this region is mine!"

Ah, not e'en its name, wondrous dreamer, is thine.

HONOR THE HARDY NORSEMEN.

The Rev. B. F. DE COSTA, D. D., a well-known New York divine and

social reformer of the present day. Founder of the White Cross

Society.

Prof. Rafri, in "Antiquitates Americanae," gives notices of numerous

Icelandic voyages to American and other lands of the West. The existence

of a great country southwest of Greenland is referred to, not as a

matter of speculation merely, but as something perfectly well known. Let

us remember that in vindicating the Northmen we honor those who not only

give us the first knowledge possessed of the American continent, but to

whom we are indebted besides for much that we esteem valuable.

BRILLIANTS FROM DEPEW.

CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW, one of the leading American orators of the

nineteenth century. From an oration on "Columbus and the

Exposition," delivered in Chicago in 1890.

It is not sacrilege to say that the two events to which civilization

to-day owes its advanced position are the introduction of Christianity

and the discovery of America.

When Columbus sailed from Palos, types had been discovered, but church

and state held intelligence by the throat.

Sustained enthusiasm has been the motor of every movement in the

progress of mankind.

Genius, pluck, endurance, and faith can be resisted by neither kings nor

cabinets.

Columbus stands deservedly at the head of that most useful band of

men--the heroic cranks in history.

The persistent enthusiast whom one generation despises as a lunatic with

one idea, succeeding ones often worship as a benefactor.

This whole country is ripe and ready for the inspection of the world.

GENOA--WHENCE GRAND COLUMBUS CAME.

AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE, an English poet and political writer. Born,

1814. In a sonnet, "Genoa."

* * * * *

Whose prow descended first the Hesperian Sea,

And gave our world her mate beyond the brine,

Was nurtured, whilst an infant, at thy knee.

THE VISION OF COLUMBUS.

The crimson sun was sinking down to rest,

Pavilioned on the cloudy verge of heaven;

And ocean, on her gently heaving breast,

Caught and flashed back the varying tints of even;

When, on a fragment from the tall cliff riven,

With folded arms, and doubtful thoughts opprest,

Columbus sat, till sudden hope was given--

A ray of gladness shooting from the West.

Oh, what a glorious vision for mankind

Then dawned upon the twilight of his mind;

Thoughts shadowy still, but indistinctly grand.

There stood his genie, face to face, and signed

(So legends tell) far seaward with her hand,

Till a new world sprang up, and bloomed beneath her wand.

* * * * *

He was a man whom danger could not daunt,

Nor sophistry perplex, nor pain subdue;

A stoic, reckless of the world's vain taunt,

And steeled the path of honor to pursue.

So, when by all deserted, still he knew

How best to soothe the heart-sick, or confront

Sedition; schooled with equal eye to view

The frowns of grief and the base pangs of want.

But when he saw that promised land arise

In all its rare and beautiful varieties,

Lovelier than fondest fancy ever trod,

Then softening nature melted in his eyes;

He knew his fame was full, and blessed his God,

And fell upon his face and kissed the virgin sod!

--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS' STATUE IN CHICAGO.

The Drake Fountain, Chicago, presented to the city by Mr. John B. Drake,

a prominent and respected citizen, is to occupy a space between the city

hall and the court house buildings, on the Washington Street frontage.

The monument is to be Gothic in style, and the base will be composed of

granite from Baveno, Italy. The design includes a pedestal, on the front

of which will be placed a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus, seven

feet high, which is to be cast in the royal foundry at Rome. The statue

will be the production of an American artist of reputation, Mr. R. H.

Park of Chicago. The fountain is to be provided with an ice-chamber

capable of holding two tons of ice, and is to be surrounded with a

water-pipe containing ten faucets, each supplied with a bronze cup. The

entire cost will be $15,000. Mr. Drake's generous gift to Chicago is to

be ready for public use in 1892, and it will, therefore, be happily

commemorative of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by

Columbus. The inscription on the fountain reads: "Ice-water drinking

fountain presented to the City of Chicago by John B. Drake 1892." At the

feet of the statue of Columbus, who is represented as a student of

geography in his youth at the University of Pavia, is inscribed,

"Christopher Columbus, 1492-1892."

The fountain is a very handsome piece of bronze art work, and

Commissioner Aldrich has decided to place it in a conspicuous place,

being none other than the area between the court house and the city

hall, facing Washington Street. This central and accessible spot of

public ground has been an unsightly stabling place for horses ever since

the court house was built. It will now be sodded, flower-beds will be

laid out, and macadamized walks will surround the Drake Fountain. The

new feature will be a relief to weary eyes, and an ornament to

Washington Street and the center of the city.

The red granite base for the fountain has been received at the custom

house. It was made in Turin, Italy, and cost $3,300. Under the law, the

stone came in duty free, as it is intended as a gift to the

municipality.

DREAM.

JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER, a celebrated American chemist and scientist.

Born near Liverpool, England, 1811; died January 4, 1882. From his

"Intellectual Development of Europe," 1876. By permission of

Messrs. Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York.

Columbus appears to have formed his theory that the East Indies could be

reached by sailing to the west about A. D. 1474. He was at that time in

correspondence with Toscanelli, the Florentine astronomer, who held the

same doctrine, and who sent him a map or chart constructed on the

travels of Marco Polo. He offered his services first to his native city,

then to Portugal, then to Spain, and, through his brother, to England;

his chief inducement, in each instance, being that the riches of India

might be thus secured. In Lisbon he had married. While he lay sick near

Belem, an unknown voice whispered to him in a dream, "God will cause thy

name to be wonderfully resounded through the earth, and will give thee

the keys of the gates of the ocean which are closed with strong chains."

The death of his wife appears to have broken the last link which held

him to Portugal, where he had been since 1470. One evening, in the

autumn of 1485, a man of majestic presence, pale, careworn, and, though

in the meridian of life, with silver hair, leading a little boy by the

hand, asked alms at the gate of the Franciscan convent near Palos--not

for himself, but only a little bread and water for his child. This was

that Columbus destined to give to Europe a new world.

A PEN-PICTURE FROM THE SOUTH.

The Right Rev. ANTHONY DURIER, Bishop of Natchitoches, La., in a

circular letter to the clergy and laity of the diocese, printed in

the New Orleans _Morning Star_, September 10, 1892.

We cherish the memory of the illustrious sailor, also of the lady and of

the monk who were providential instruments in opening a new world to

religion and civilization.

[Illustration: HEAD OF COLUMBUS.

Designed by H. H. Zearing of Chicago.]

Honor to the sailor, Christopher Columbus, the Christ-bearing dove, as

his name tells, gentle as a dove of hallowed memory as Christ-bearer. In

fact, he brought Christ to the New World. Look back at that sailor, 400

years ago, on bended knees, with hands uplifted in prayer, on the shores

of Guanahani, first to invoke the name of Jesus in the New World; in

fact, as in name, behold the Christ-bearing dove. Columbus was a knight

of the cross, with his good cross-hilted sword, blessed by the church.

The first aim and ambition of a knight of the cross, at that time, was

to plant the cross in the midst of heathen nations, and to have them

brought from "the region of the shadow of death" into the life-giving

bosom of Mother Church.

Listen to the prayer of Columbus, as he brings his lips to, and kneels

on, the blessed land he has discovered, that historic prayer which he

had prepared long in advance, and which all Catholic discoverers

repeated after him: "O Lord God, eternal and omnipotent, who by Thy

divine word hast created the heavens, the earth, and the sea! Blessed

and glorified be thy name and praised Thy majesty, who hast deigned by

me, thy humble servant, to have that sacred name made known and preached

in this other part of the world."

Behold the true knight of the cross, with cross-hilted sword in hand,

the name of Jesus on his lips, the glory of Jesus in his heart. He does

not say a word of the glory which, from the discovery, is bound to

accrue to the name of Spain and to his own name; every word is directed

to, and asking for, the glory of the name of Jesus.

The great discoverer has knelt down, kissed the ground, and said his

prayer; now, look at that Catholic Spanish sailor standing up, in

commanding dignity, and planting his Catholic cross and his Spanish flag

on the discovered land; what does it mean? It means--the Spanish flag in

America for a time, and the Catholic cross in America forever.

Hail, flag of the discoverer! Spanish flag, the flag of the noble and

the daring. That Spanish flag came here first, had its glorious day, and

still in glory went back. Hail, Catholic cross! the cross of the

discoverer. That cross is not to go back, as the Spanish flag; no, not

even in glory. About that cross, only two simple words, and that settles

it; that Catholic cross is here to stay. Hail, American flag!

star-spangled banner; the banner of the brave and of the free. That one,

our own flag, came long after the Spanish flag, but we trust came to

stay as long as the Catholic cross--until doom's-day.

Honor to the lady, Queen Isabella the Catholic. Among all illustrious

women, Isabella alone has been graced with the title of "the

Catholic,"--a peerless title! And truly did she deserve the peerless

title, the lady who threw heart and soul, and, over and above, her gold,

in the discovery by which, out of the spiritual domains of the Catholic

church, the sun sets no more; the lady who paved the way over the

bounding sea to the great discoverer. Bright and energetic lady! She at

once understood Columbus and stood resolute, ready to pave him the way

even with her jewels. Listen to her words: "I undertake the enterprise

for my own crown of Castille, and I will pledge my jewels to raise the

necessary funds."

The generous lady had not to pledge her jewels; yet her gold was freely

spent, lavished on the expedition; and she stood by Columbus, in storm

and sunshine, as long as she lived. Isabella stood by Columbus, in his

success, with winsome gentleness, keeping up his daring spirit of

enterprise; and, in his reverses, with the balm of unwavering devotion

healing his bruised, bleeding heart. Isabella stood by Columbus, as a

mother by her son, ever, ever true to her heroic son.

Honor to the humble monk, John Perez, Father John, as he was called in

his convent. That monk whose name will live as long as the names of

Columbus and Isabella; that monk, great by his learning and still better

by his heart; that humble, plain man inspired the sailor with

perseverance indomitable, the lady with generosity unlimited, and

sustained in both sailor and lady that will power and mount-removing

faith the result of which was to give "to the Spanish King innumerable

countries and to God innumerable souls." As the Spanish poet, Lope de

Vega, beautifully puts it:

_Al Rey infinitas tierras,

Y a Dios infinitas almas._

It is the Spanish throne which backed Columbus; but, mind! that monk was

"the power behind the throne."

We Louisianians live, may be, in the fairest part of the New World

discovered by Columbus. When Chevalier La Salle had explored the land,

he gave it the beautiful name of Louisiana, and he wrote to his king,

Louis XIV., these words: "The land we have explored and named Louisiana,

after your Majesty's name, is a paradise, the Eden of the New World."

Thanks be to God who has cast our lot in this paradise, the Eden of the

New World, fair Louisiana! Let us honor and ever cherish the memory of

the hero who led the way and opened this country to our forefathers.

Louisiana was never blessed with the footprints of Columbus, yet by him

it was opened to the onward march of the Christian nations.

To the great discoverer, Christopher Columbus, the gratitude of

Louisiana, the Eden of the New World.

BARTOLOMEO COLUMBUS.

REV. L. A. DUTTO of Jackson, Miss., in an article, "Columbus in

Portugal," in the _Catholic World_, April, 1892.

Columbus in 1492, accompanied by a motley crew of sailors of different

nationalities, crossed the Atlantic and discovered America. Hence the

glory of that event, second only in importance to the incarnation of

Christ, is attributed very generally solely to him. As reflex lights of

that glory, history mentions the names of Queen Isabella, of the Pinzon

brothers, the friar Juan Perez. There is another name that should be

placed at head of the list. That is, Bartolomeo Columbus, the brother of

Christopher. From the beginning there existed a partnership between the

two in the mighty undertaking; the effect of a common conviction that

the land of spices, Cipango and Cathay, the East, could be reached by

traveling west. Both of them spent the best years of their life in

privation, hardship, and poverty, at times the laughing stock of the

courts of Europe, in humbly begging from monarchies and republics the

ships necessary to undertake their voyage. While Christopher patiently

waited in the antechambers of the Catholic monarchs of Spain,

Bartolomeo, map in hand, explained to Henry VII. of England the

rotundity of the earth, and the feasibility of traveling to the

antipodes. Having failed in his mission to the English king, he passed

to France to ask of her what had been refused by Portugal, Spain,

Venice, England, and Genoa. While he was there, Columbus, who had no

means of communicating with him, sailed from Palos. Had there been, as

now, a system of international mails, Bartolomeo would now share with

his brother the title of Discoverer of America. Las Casas represents him

as little inferior to Christopher in the art of navigation, and as a

writer and in things pertaining to cartography as his superior. Gallo,

the earliest biographer of Columbus, and writing during his lifetime,

has told us that Bartolomeo settled in Lisbon, and there made a living

by drawing mariners' charts. Giustiniani, another countryman of

Columbus, says in his polyglot Psalter, published in 1537, that

Christopher learned cartography from his brother Bartolomeo, who had

learned it himself in Lisbon. But what may appear more surprising is the

plain statement of Gallo that Bartolomeo was the first to conceive the

idea of reaching the East by way of the West, by a transatlantic voyage,

and that he communicated it to his brother, who was more experienced

than himself in nautical affairs.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF LAND.

CHARLES H. EDEN, English historical writer and traveler. From "The

West Indies."

Nearly four centuries ago, in the year 1492, before the southern point

of the great African continent had been doubled, and when the barbaric

splendor of Cathay and the wealth of Hindustan were only known to

Europeans through the narratives of Marco Polo or Sir John

Mandeville--early on the morning of Friday, October 12th, a man stood

bareheaded on the deck of a caravel and watched the rising sun lighting

up the luxuriant tropical vegetation of a level and beautiful island

toward which the vessel was gently speeding her way. Three-and-thirty

days had elapsed since the last known point of the Old World, the Island

of Ferrol, had faded away over the high poop of his vessel; eventful

weeks, during which he had to contend against the natural fears of the

ignorant and superstitious men by whom he was surrounded, and by the

stratagem of a double reckoning, together with promises of future

wealth, to allay the murmuring which threatened to frustrate the project

that for so many years had been nearest his heart. Never, in the darkest

hour, did the courage of that man quail or his soul admit a single

doubt of success. When the terrified mariners remarked with awe that the

needle deviated from the pole star, their intrepid Admiral, by an

ingenious theory of his own, explained the cause of the phenomenon and

soothed the alarm that had arisen. When the steady trade-winds were

reached, and the vessels flew rapidly for days toward the west, the

commander hailed as a godsend the mysterious breeze that his followers

regarded with awe as imposing an insuperable barrier to their return to

sunny Spain. When the prow of the caravel was impeded, and her way

deadened by the drifting network of the Sargasso Sea, the leader saw

therein only assured indications of land, and resolutely shut his ears

against those prophets who foresaw evil in every incident.

Now his hopes were fulfilled, the yearnings of a lifetime realized.

During the night a light had been seen, and at 2 o'clock in the morning

land became, beyond all doubt, visible. Then the three little vessels

laid to, and with the earliest streak of dawn made sail toward the

coast. A man stood bareheaded on the deck of the leading caravel and

feasted his eyes upon the wooded shore; the man was Christopher

Columbus, the land he gazed on the "West Indies."

SAN SALVADOR, OR WATLING'S ISLAND.

San Salvador, or Watling's Island, is about twelve miles in length by

six in breadth, having its interior largely cut up by salt-water

lagoons, separated from each other by low woody hills. Being one of the

most fertile of the group, it maintains nearly 2,000 inhabitants, who

are scattered about over its surface. Peculiar interest will always

attach itself to this spot as being the first land on which the

discoverer of the New World set foot.--_Ibid._

THE MYSTERY OF THE SHADOWY SEA.

XERIF AL EDRISI, surnamed "The Nubian," an eminent Arabian

geographer. Born at Ceuta, Africa, about 1100. In "A Description of

Spain" (Conde's Spanish translation, Madrid, 1799). He wrote a

celebrated treatise of geography, and made a silver terrestrial

globe for Roger II., King of Sicily, at whose court he lived.

The ocean encircles the ultimate bounds of the inhabited earth, and all

beyond it is unknown. No one has been able to verify anything concerning

it, on account of its difficult and perilous navigation, its great

obscurity, its profound depth, and frequent tempests; through fear of

its mighty fishes and its haughty winds; yet there are many islands in

it, some peopled, others uninhabited. There is no mariner who dares to

enter into its deep waters; or, if any have done so, they have merely

kept along its coasts, fearful of departing from them. The waves of this

ocean, although they roll as high as mountains, yet maintain themselves

without breaking, for if they broke it would be impossible for ship to

plow them.

PALOS.

Prof. MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN. From an article, "Columbus the

Christ-Bearer," in the New York _Independent_, June 2, 1892.

The caravels equipped at Palos were so unseaworthy, judged by the

dangers of the Atlantic, that no crew in our time would have trusted in

them. The people of Palos disliked this foreigner, Columbus. No man of

Palos, except the Pinzons, ancient mariners, sympathized with him in his

hopes. The populace overrated the risks of the voyage; the court,

fortunately for Columbus, underrated them. The Admiral's own ships and

his crew were not such as to inspire confidence. His friends, the

friars, had somewhat calmed the popular feeling against the expedition;

but ungrateful Palos never approved of it until it made her famous.

AN UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY.

SAMUEL R. ELLIOTT, in the _Century Magazine_, September, 1892.

You have no heart? Ah, when the Genoese

Before Spain's monarchs his great voyage planned,

Small faith had they in worlds beyond the seas--

And _your_ Columbus yet may come to land!

SAGACITY.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON, the well-known American essayist, poet, and

speculative philosopher. Born in Boston, May 25, 1803; died at

Concord, April 27, 1882. From his essay on "Success," in _Society

and Solitude_. Copyright, by Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,

publishers, Boston, and with their permission.

Columbus at Veragua found plenty of gold; but, leaving the coast, the

ship full of one hundred and fifty skillful seamen, some of them old

pilots, and with too much experience of their craft and treachery to

him, the wise Admiral kept his private record of his homeward path. And

when he reached Spain, he told the King and Queen, "That they may ask

all the pilots who came with him, Where is Veragua? Let them answer and

say, if they know, where Veragua lies. I assert that they can give no

other account than that they went to lands where there was abundance of

gold, but they do not know the way to return thither, but would be

obliged to go on a voyage of discovery as much as if they had never been

there before. There is a mode of reckoning," he proudly adds, "derived

from astronomy, which is sure and safe to any who understands it."

THE VOICE OF THE SEA.

From a poem, "Seashore," by RALPH WALDO EMERSON. Houghton, Mifflin

& Co., Boston.

I with my hammer pounding evermore

The rocky coast, smite Andes into dust,

Strewing my bed, and, in another age,

Rebuild a continent of better men.

Then I unbar the doors; my paths lead out

The exodus of nations; I disperse

Men to all shores that front the hoary main.

I too have arts and sorceries;

Illusion dwells forever with the wave.

I know what spells are laid. Leave me to deal

With credulous and imaginative man;

For, though he scoop my water in his palm,

A few rods off he deems it gems and clouds.

Planting strange fruits and sunshine on the shore,

I make some coast alluring, some lone isle,

To distant men, who must go there, or die.

[Illustration: COLUMBUS AS A STUDENT AT PAVIA.

From the Drake Drinking Fountain, Chicago.

(See page 118.)]

THE REASONING OF COLUMBUS.

Columbus alleged, as a reason for seeking a continent in the West, that

the harmony of nature required a great tract of land in the western

hemisphere to balance the known extent of land in the eastern.--_Ibid._

STRANGER THAN FICTION.

EDWARD EVERETT, a distinguished American orator, scholar, and

statesman. Born at Dorchester, Mass., April 11, 1794; died,

January 15, 1865. From a lecture on "The Discovery of America,"

delivered at a meeting of the Historical Society of New York in

1853.

No chapter of romance equals the interest of this expedition. The most

fascinating of the works of fiction which have issued from the modern

press have, to my taste, no attraction compared with the pages in which

the first voyage of Columbus is described by Robertson, and still more

by our own Irving and Prescott, the last two enjoying the advantage over

the great Scottish historian of possessing the lately discovered

journals and letters of Columbus himself. The departure from Palos,

where a few years before he had begged a morsel of bread and a cup of

water for his way-worn child; his final farewell to the Old World at the

Canaries; his entrance upon the trade-winds, which then for the first

time filled a European sail; the portentous variation of the needle,

never before observed; the fearful course westward and westward, day

after day and night after night, over the unknown ocean; the mutinous

and ill-appeased crew; at length, when hope had turned to despair in

every heart but one, the tokens of land--the cloud banks on the western

horizon, the logs of driftwood, the fresh shrub floating with its leaves

and berries, the flocks of land birds, the shoals of fish that inhabit

shallow water, the indescribable smell of the shore; the mysterious

presentment that seems ever to go before a great event; and finally, on

that ever memorable night of October 12, 1492, the moving light seen by

the sleepless eye of the great discoverer himself from the deck of the

Santa Maria, and in the morning the real, undoubted land swelling up

from the bosom of the deep, with its plains and forests, and hills and

rocks and streams, and strange new races of men. These are incidents in

which the authentic history of the discovery of our continent exceeds

the specious wonders of romance, as much as gold excels tinsel, or the

sun in the heavens outshines the flickering taper.

THE COLUMBUS OF THE HEAVENS--SCORNED.

Dominicans may deride thy discoveries now; but the time will come when

from two hundred observatories, in Europe and America, the glorious

artillery of science shall nightly assault the skies; but they shall

gain no conquests in those glittering fields before which thine shall be

forgotten. Rest in peace, great Columbus of the heavens![36] like him

scorned, persecuted, broken-hearted.--_Ibid._

FAME.

We find encouragement in every page of our country's history. Nowhere do

we meet with examples more numerous and more brilliant of men who have

risen above poverty and obscurity and every disadvantage to usefulness

and honorable name. One whole vast continent was added to the geography

of the world by the persevering efforts of a humble Genoese mariner, the

great Columbus; who, by the steady pursuit of the enlightened conception

he had formed of the figure of the earth, before any navigator had acted

upon the belief that it was round, discovered the American continent. He

was the son of a Genoese pilot, a pilot and seaman himself; and, at one

period of his melancholy career, was reduced to beg his bread at the

doors of the convents in Spain. But he carried within himself, and

beneath a humble exterior, a _spirit_ for which there was not room in

Spain, in Europe, nor in the then known world; and which led him on to a

height of usefulness and fame beyond that of all the monarchs that ever

reigned.--_Ibid._

TRIFLING INCIDENT.

The Venerable FREDERIC WILLIAM FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S., Archdeacon

of Westminster. Born in Bombay, August 7, 1831. From his "Lectures

and Addresses."

There are some who are fond of looking at the apparently trifling

incidents of history, and of showing how the stream of centuries has

been diverted in one or other direction by events the most

insignificant. General Garfield told his pupils at Hiram that the roof

of a certain court house was so absolute a watershed that the flutter

of a bird's wing would be sufficient to decide whether a particular

rain-drop should make its way into the Gulf of St. Lawrence or into the

Gulf of Mexico. The flutter of a bird's wing may have affected all

history. Some students may see an immeasurable significance in the

flight of parrots, which served to alter the course of Columbus, and

guided him to the discovery of North and not of South America.

EXCITEMENT AT THE NEWS OF THE DISCOVERY.

JOHN FISKE, a justly celebrated American historian. Born at

Hartford, Conn., March 30, 1842. From "The Discovery of

America."[37]

It was generally assumed without question that the Admiral's theory of

his discovery must be correct, that the coast of Cuba must be the

eastern extremity of China, that the coast of Hispaniola must be the

northern extremity of Cipango, and that a direct route--much shorter

than that which Portugal had so long been seeking--had now been found to

those lands of illimitable wealth described by Marco Polo. To be sure,

Columbus had not as yet seen the evidences of this oriental splendor,

and had been puzzled at not finding them, but he felt confident that he

had come very near them and would come full upon them in a second

voyage. There was nobody who knew enough to refute these opinions, and

really why should not this great geographer, who had accomplished so

much already which people had scouted as impossible--why should he not

know what he was about? It was easy enough now to get men and money for

the second voyage. When the Admiral sailed from Cadiz on September 25,

1493, it was with seventeen ships, carrying 1,500 men. Their dreams were

of the marble palaces of Quinsay, of isles of spices, and the treasures

of Prester John. The sovereigns wept for joy as they thought that such

untold riches were vouchsafed them, by the special decree of Heaven, as

a reward for having overcome the Moors at Granada and banished the Jews

from Spain. Columbus shared these views, and regarded himself as a

special instrument for executing the divine decrees. He renewed his vow

to rescue the Holy Sepulcher, promising within the next seven years to

equip at his own expense a crusading army of 50,000 foot and 4,000

horse; within five years thereafter he would follow this with a second

army of like dimensions.

Thus nobody had the faintest suspicion of what had been done. In the

famous letter to Santangel there is of course not a word about a new

world. The grandeur of the achievement was quite beyond the ken of the

generation that witnessed it. For we have since come to learn that in

1492 the contact between the eastern and the western halves of our

planet was first really begun, and the two streams of human life which

had flowed on for countless ages, apart, were thenceforth to mingle

together. The first voyage of Columbus is thus a unique event in the

history of mankind. Nothing like it was ever done before, and nothing

like it can ever be done again. No worlds are left for a future Columbus

to conquer. The era of which this great Italian mariner was the most

illustrious representative has closed forever.

VINLAND.

JOHN FISKE, an American historian. Born in Connecticut, 1842. From

"Washington and his Country."[38]

Learned men had long known that the earth is round, but people generally

did not believe it, and it had not occurred to anybody that such a

voyage would be practicable. People were afraid of going too far out

into the ocean. A ship which disappears in the offing seems to be going

down hill; and many people thought that if they were to get too far

down hill, they could not get back. Other notions, as absurd as this,

were entertained, which made people dread the "Sea of Darkness," as the

Atlantic was often called. Accordingly, Columbus found it hard to get

support for his scheme.

About fifteen years before his first voyage, Columbus seems to have

visited Iceland, and some have supposed that he then heard about the

voyages of the Northmen, and was thus led to his belief that land would

be found by sailing west. He may have thus heard about Vinland, and may

have regarded the tale as confirming his theory. That theory, however,

was based upon his belief in the rotundity of the earth. The best proof

that he was not seriously influenced by the Norse voyages, even if he

had heard of them, is the fact that he never used them as an argument.

In persuading people to furnish money for his enterprise, it has been

well said that an ounce of Vinland would have been worth a pound of talk

about the shape of the earth.

CRITICAL DAYS.

JOHN MILNER FOTHERGILL, M. D., an English physician. Born at

Morland in Westmoreland, April 11, 1841; died, 1888.

Columbus was an Italian who possessed all that determination which came

of Norse blood combined with the subtlety of the Italian character. He

thought much of what the ancients said of a short course from Spain to

India, of Plato's Atlantic Island; and conceived the idea of sailing to

India over the Atlantic. He applied to the Genoese, who rejected his

scheme as impracticable; then to Portugal; then to Spain. The fall of

Granada led to his ultimate success; and at last he set out into the

unknown sea with a small fleet, which was so ill-formed as scarcely to

reach the Canaries in safety. Soon after leaving them, the spirits of

his crew fell, and then Columbus perceived that the art of governing the

minds of men would be no less requisite for accomplishing the

discoveries he had in view than naval skill and undaunted courage. He

could trust himself only. He regulated everything by his sole authority;

he superintended the execution of every order. As he went farther

westward the hearts of his crew failed them, and mutiny was imminent.

But Columbus retained his serenity of mind even under these trying

circumstances, and induced his crew to persevere for three days more.

Three critical days in the history of the world.

AN APPROPRIATE HOUR.

JOHN FOSTER, a noted English essayist and moralist. Born at

Halifax, September 17, 1770; died at Stapleton, October, 1843.

The _hour_ just now begun may be exactly the period for finishing _some

great plan_, or concluding _some great dispensation_, which thousands of

years or ages have been advancing to its accomplishment. _This_ may be

the _very hour_ in which a new world shall originate or an ancient one

sink in ruins.

RANGE OF ENTERPRISE.

EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN, a celebrated English historian. Born at

Harborne, Staffordshire, 1823; died at Alicante, Spain, March 16,

1892. From an article on "The Intellectual Development of the

English People," in the _Chautauquan Magazine_, May, 1891.

The discovery of a new world was something so startling as to help very

powerfully in the general enlargement of men's minds. And the phrase of

a new world is fully justified. The discovery of a western continent,

which followed on the voyage of Columbus, was an event differing in kind

from any discovery that had ever been made before. And this though there

is little reason to doubt that the western continent itself had been

discovered before. The Northmen had certainly found their way to the

real continent of North America ages before Columbus found his way to

the West India Islands. But the same results did not come of it, and the

discovery itself was not of the same kind. The Old World had grown a

good deal before the discovery of the New. The range of men's thoughts

and enterprise had gradually spread from the Mediterranean to the

Atlantic, the Baltic, and the northern seas. To advance from Norway to

the islands north of Britain, thence to Iceland, Greenland, and the

American continent, was a gradual process. The great feature in the

lasting discovery of America, which began at the end of the fifteenth

century, was its suddenness. Nothing led to it; it was made by an

accident; men were seeking one thing and then found another. Nothing

like it has happened before or since.

FRIDAY.

Of evil omen for the ancients. For America the day of glad tidings

and glorious deeds.

Friday, the sixth day of the week, has for ages borne the obloquy of

odium and ill-luck. Friday, October 5th, B. C. 105, was marked

_nefastus_ in the Roman calendar because on that day Marcus Mallius and

Caepio the Consul were slain and their whole army annihilated in Gallia

Narbonensis by the Cimbrians. It was considered a very unlucky day in

Spain and Italy; it is still deemed an ill-starred day among the

Buddhists and Brahmins. The reason given by Christians for its ill-luck

is, of course, because it was the day of Christ's crucifixion, though

one would hardly term that an "unlucky event" for Christians. A Friday

moon is considered unlucky for weather. It is the Mohammedan Sabbath and

was the day on which Adam was created. The Sabeans consecrated it to

Venus or Astarte. According to mediaeval romance, on this day fairies

and all the tribes of elves of every description were converted into

hideous animals and remained so until Monday. In Scotland it is a great

day for weddings. In England it is not. Sir William Churchill says,

"Friday is my lucky day. I was born, christened, married, and knighted

on that day, and all my best accidents have befallen me on a Friday."

Aurungzebe considered Friday a lucky day and used to say in prayer, "Oh,

that I may die on a Friday, for blessed is he that dies on that day."

British popular saying terms a trial, misfortune, or cross a "Friday

tree," from the "accursed tree" on which the Savior was crucified on

that day. Stow, the historian of London, states that "Friday Street" was

so called because it was the street of fish merchants who served the

Friday markets. In the Roman Catholic church Friday is a fast day, and

is considered an unlucky day because it was the day of Christ's

crucifixion. Soames ("Anglo-Saxon Church," page 255) says of it, "Adam

and Eve ate the forbidden fruit on Friday and died on Friday." Shakspere

refers to the ill-omened nature of the day as follows: "The duke, I say

to thee again, would eat mutton Friday" ("Measure for Measure," Act 3,

Scene 2).

But to turn to the more pleasing side, great has been the good fortune

of the land of freedom on this ill-starred day. On Friday, August 3,

1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from the port of Palos on his great

voyage of discovery. On Friday, October 12, 1492, he discovered land; on

Friday, January 4, 1493, he sailed on his return voyage to Spain. On

Friday, March 14, 1493, he arrived at Palos, Spain, in safety. On

Friday, November 22, 1493, he arrived at Espanola on his second voyage

to America. On Friday, June 12, 1494, he discovered the mainland of

America. On Friday, March 5, 1496, Henry VIII. gave John Cabot his

commission to pursue the discovery of America. On Friday, September 7,

1565, Melendez founded St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest town in the

United States. On Friday, November 10, 1620, the Mayflower, with the

Pilgrim Fathers, reached the harbor of Provincetown. On Friday, December

22, 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock. On Friday,

February 22, 1732, George Washington was born. On Friday, June 16, 1755,

Bunker Hill was seized and fortified. On Friday, October 17, 1777,

Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. On Friday, September 22, 1780,

Benedict Arnold's treason was discovered. On Friday, September 19, 1791,

Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. On Friday, July 7, 1776, a

motion was made by John Adams that "the United States are and ought to

be independent." On Friday, July 13, 1866, the Great Eastern steamship

sailed from Valentia, Ireland, with the second and successful Atlantic

cable, and completed the laying of this link of our civilization at

Heart's Content, Newfoundland, on Friday, July 27, 1866. In Spanish

history it is noteworthy that on Friday the Christians under Ferdinand

and Isabella had won Granada from the Moors. On a Friday, also, the

First Crusaders, under Geoffrey de Bouillon, took Jerusalem.

A PREVIOUS DISCOVERY.

PAUL GAFFAREL. Summarized from "Les Decouvreurs Francais du XIVme

au XVIme Siecle," published at Paris in 1888.

Jean Cousin, in 1488, sailed from Dieppe, then the great commercial and

naval port of France, and bore out to sea, to avoid the storms so

prevalent in the Bay of Biscay. Arrived at the latitude of the Azores,

he was carried westward by a current, and came to an unknown country

near the mouth of an immense river. He took possession of the

continent, but, as he had not sufficient crew nor material resources

adequate for founding a settlement, he re-embarked. Instead of returning

directly to Dieppe, he took a southeasterly direction--that is, toward

South Africa--discovered the cape which has since retained the name of

Cap des Aiguilles (Cape Agulhas, the southern point of Africa), went

north by the Congo and Guinea, and returned to Dieppe in 1489. Cousin's

lieutenant was a Castilian, Pinzon by name, who was jealous of his

captain, and caused him considerable trouble on the Gold Coast. On

Cousin's complaint, the admiralty declared him unfit to serve in the

marine of Dieppe. Pinzon then retired to Genoa, and afterward to

Castille. Every circumstance tends toward the belief that this is the

same Pinzon to whom Columbus afterward intrusted the command of the

Pinta.

GENIUS TRAVELS EAST TO WEST.

The Abbe FERNANDO GALIANI, an Italian political economist. Born at

Chieti, on the Abruzzi, 1728; died at Naples, 1787.

For five thousand years genius has turned opposite to the diurnal

motion, and traveled from east to west.

OBSERVATION LIKE COLUMBUS.

The Rev. CUNNINGHAM GEIKIE, D. D., a noted English clergyman. Born

at Edinborough, October 26, 1826.

Reading should be a Columbus voyage, in which nothing passes without

note and speculation; the Sargasso Sea, mistaken for the New Indies; the

branch with the fresh berries; the carved pole; the currents; the color

of the water; the birds; the odor of the land; the butterflies; the

moving light on the shore.

THE GENOA INSCRIPTION.

The following inscription is placed upon Columbus' house, No. 37, in the

Vico Dritto Ponticello, Genoa, Italy:

_NVLLA. DOMVS. TITVLO. DIGNIOR.

HAEIC.

PATERNIS. IN. AEDIBVS.

CHRISTOPHVS. COLVMBVS.

PRIMAQVE. JVVENTAM. TRANSEGIT._

(No house deserved better an inscription.

This is the paternal home of Christopher Columbus, where

he passed his childhood and youth.)

THE GENOA STATUE.

"Genoa and Venice," writes Mr. Oscar Browning, in _Picturesque Europe_,

"have much in common--both republics, both aristocracies, both

commercial, both powerful maritime states; yet, while the Doge of Venice

remains to us as the embodiment of stately and majestic pre-eminence, we

scarcely remember, or have forgotten, that there ever was a Doge of

Genoa. This surely can not be because Shakspere did not write of the

Bank of St. George or because Genoa has no Rialto. It must be rather

because, while Genoa devoted herself to the pursuits of riches and

magnificence, Venice fought the battle of Europe against barbarism, and

recorded her triumphs in works of art which will live forever. * * *

Genoa has no such annals and no such art. As we wander along the narrow

streets we see the courtyards of many palaces, the marble stairs, the

graceful _loggia_, the terraces and the arches of which stand out

against an Italian sky; but we look in vain for the magnificence of

public halls, where the brush of Tintoretto or Carpaccio decorated the

assembly-room of the rulers of the East or the chapter-house of a

charitable fraternity."

The artistic monument of Columbus, situated in the Piazza Acquaverde,

facing the railway station, consists of a marble statue fitly embowered

amid tropical palms, and is composed of a huge quadrangular pedestal, at

the angles of which are seated allegorical figures of Religion,

Geography, Strength, and Wisdom. Resting on this pedestal is a large

cylindrical pedestal decorated with three ships' prows, on which stands

a colossal figure of Columbus, his left hand resting on an anchor. At

his feet, in a half-sitting, half-kneeling posture, is an allegorical

figure of America in the act of adoring a crucifix, which she holds in

her right hand. The four bas-reliefs on the sides of the pedestal

represent the most important events in the life of the great discoverer:

(1) Columbus before the Council of Salamanca; (2) Columbus taking formal

possession of the New World; (3) his flattering reception at the court

of Ferdinand and Isabella; (4) Columbus in chains. It is as well that

this, the saddest of episodes, should be remembered, because great

actions are as often as not emphasized by martyrdom.

The first stone of the monument was laid September 27, 1846, and the

completed statue formally dedicated in 1862. It bears the laconic but

expressive dedication: "_A Cristoforo Colombo, La Patria_" (The Nation

to Christopher Columbus).

Genoa claims, with the largest presumption of truth, that Christopher

Columbus was born there. The best of historical and antiquarian research

tends to show that in a house, No. 37, in the Vico Dritto Ponticello,

lived Domenico Colombo, the father of Christopher, and that in this

house the Great Admiral was born. In 1887 the Genoese municipality

bought the house, and an inscription has been placed over the door. To

give the exact date of Christopher's birth is, however, difficult, but

it is believed to have occurred sometime between March 15, 1446, and

March 20, 1447.

Whether Columbus was actually a native of Genoa or of Cogoletto--the

latter is a sequestered little town a few miles west of the former--must

ever remain a matter of conjecture. True enough, the house in which his

father followed the trade of a wool-carder in Genoa is eagerly pointed

out to a stranger; but the inscription on the marble tablet over the

entrance does not state that the future discoverer was really born in

it. This stands in a narrow alley designated the Vico di Morcento, near

the prison of San Andrea.

On the other hand, the little town hall at Cogoletto contains a portrait

of Columbus, more than 300 years old, whose frame is completely covered

with the names of enthusiastic travelers. The room in which he is

believed to have been born resembles a cellar rather than aught else;

while the broken pavement shows how visitors have at various times taken

up the bricks to preserve as relics. As if this undoubted evidence of

hero worship were insufficient, the old woman in charge of the place

hastens to relate how a party of Americans one day lifted the original

door off its hinges and carried it bodily away between them.

As all the world knows, Columbus died at Valladolid on the 20th of May,

1506. It has always been a matter of intense regret to the Genoese that

his body should have been permitted to be shipped across the seas to its

first resting-place in San Domingo. More fortunate, however, were they

in securing the remains of their modern kinsman and national patriot,

Mazzini.

On the 29th of May, 1892, under the auspices of Ligurian Gymnastic

Society Cristofore Columbo, a bronze wreath was placed at the base of

the Columbus monument.

The Ligurian Gymnastic Society Cristofore Columbo is an association

which cultivates athletic exercises, music, and, above all, patriotism

and charity. To awaken popular interest in the coming exhibition, the

society had a bronze wreath made by the well-known sculptor Burlando,

and fitting ceremonies took place, with a procession through the

streets, before affixing the wreath at the base of the monument. The

wreath, which weighed some 500 pounds, was carried by a figure

representing Genoa seated on a triumphal car. There were 7,000 members

of the society present, with not less than fifty bands of music. The

ceremonies, beginning at 10 A. M., were concluded at 4 P. M. The last

act was a hymn, sung by 2,000 voices, with superb effect. Then, by means

of machinery, the bronze crown was put in its proper position. Never was

Genoa in a gayer humor, nor could the day have been more propitious. The

streets were decorated with flowers and banners. There were

representatives from Rome, Florence, Milan, Turin, Venice, Naples,

Leghorn, Palermo, and visitors from all parts of Europe and America. In

the evening only did the festivities close with a grand dinner given by

the Genoese municipality.

In this, the glorification of the grand old city of Liguria, was united

that of its most memorable man, Christopher Columbus, for that mediaeval

feeling, when cities had almost individual personalities, is still a

civic sense alive in Genoa. She rejoices in the illustrious men born

within her walls with a sentiment akin to that of a mother for her son.

In an artistic sense, nothing could have been more complete than this

festival. Throwing the eye upward, beyond the figure of Columbus, the

frame is perfect. The slanting ways leading up to the handsome houses on

the background are wonderfully effective.

Genoa is rich in the relics of Columbus. In the city hall of Genoa is,

among other relics, a mosaic portrait of the Admiral, somewhat modified

from the De Bry's Columbus. Genoa is fortunate in possessing a number of

authentic letters of Columbus, and these are preserved in a marble

custodia, surmounted by a head of Columbus. In the pillar which forms

the pedestal there is a bronze door, and the precious Columbus documents

have been placed there.

GERMANY AND COLUMBUS.

The Geographical Society of Germany will shortly publish a volume

commemorative of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by

Columbus, which will, it is said, be one of the most elaborate

publications ever issued by the society. Dr. Konrad Kretschmer, the

editor of the forthcoming work, has visited all the principal libraries

of Italy in search of material, and has had access to many rare

manuscripts hitherto unused. The memorial volume will contain forty-five

maps relating to the discovery of America, thirty-one of which are said

to have never been published. Emperor William has contributed 15,000

marks toward the expenses of publication, etc., and the work will

undoubtedly be a most valuable contribution to the early history of

America. It is expected that it will leave the government printing

office early in August.

GERMANY'S EXHIBIT OF RARITIES.

Germany proposes to loan a collection of Columbus rarities to the United

States Government for exhibition at the Chicago Exposition, as will be

seen by a communication to the State Department from Consul-general

Edwards at Berlin. In his document, Mr. Edwards says:

[Illustration: HOUSE OF COLUMBUS. No. 37 Vico Dritto Ponticelli, Genoa,

Italy. (See page 140.)]

The German government, appreciating the fact that no time is to be lost

in this matter, has begun to carry its generous and friendly proposals

into practical operation by instituting a thorough search in the various

galleries, museums, and libraries throughout Germany for works of

art, objects, and rarities which are in any way identified with the

Columbus period, and which the German government believes would be

likely to be of general interest to the authorities of the World's

Columbian Exposition as well as the visitors at that great show.

Among other works of art the German government consents to loan

Pludderman's celebrated painting, "The Discovery of America by

Columbus." Under the laws of Germany, as well as under the rules and

regulations of the National Gallery, no person is permitted to

lithograph, photograph, or make any sort of a copy of any picture or

other work of art in the care or custody of any national gallery, in

case when the artist has not been dead for a period of thirty years,

without having first obtained the written permission of the legal

representative of the deceased artist, coupled with the consent of the

National Gallery authorities. Pludderman not having been dead thirty

years, I have given assurances that this regulation will be observed by

the United States Government.

THE REASON FOR SAILORS' SUPERSTITIONS.

His Eminence JAMES GIBBONS, D.D., a celebrated American

ecclesiastic. Born in Baltimore, Md., July 23, 1834.

There is but a plank between a sailor and eternity, and perhaps the

realization of that fact may have something to do with the superstition

lurking in his nature.

ONCE THE PILLARS OF HERCULES WERE THE END OF THE WORLD.

WILLIAM GIBSON.

Thus opening on that glooming sea,

Well seemed these walls[39] the ends of earth;

Death and a dark eternity

Sublimely symboled forth!

Ere to one eagle soul was given

The will, the wings, that deep to brave;

In the sun's path to find a heaven,

A New World--o'er the wave.

Retraced the path Columbus trod,

Our course was from the setting sun;

While all the visible works of God,

Though various else had one.

NEW LIGHT ON CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.

From the Glasgow _Times_.

The discovery by the Superintendent of the Military Archives at Madrid

of documents probably setting at rest the doubts that formerly existed

as to the birthplace of Columbus, must have awakened new interest in the

history of the most renowned discoverer of the past. It is to be noted,

however, that the documents only affirm tradition, for Genoa has always

been the Admiral's accredited birthplace. But if the discovery should

lead to nothing but a more careful investigation of the records of his

later history it will have been of use.

The character of Columbus has been greatly misunderstood, and his 600

biographers have in turn invested him with the glory of the religious

hero and the contumely of the ill-tempered and crack-brained adventurer.

An impartial critic must admit, indeed, that he was something of both,

though more of the hero than the adventurer, and that his biographers

have erred considerably in what Mr. R. L. Stevenson would call their

"point of view."

Educated, as it is supposed, in the local schools of Genoa, and for a

short period at the University of Pavia, the youthful Columbus must have

come in close contact with the scholars of the day. Naturally of a

religious temperament, the piety of the learned would early impress him,

and to this may possibly be attributed the feeling that he had been

divinely selected, which remained with him until his death.

There is little doubt that he began his career as a sailor, at the age

of fourteen, with the sole object of plunder. The Indies were the

constant attraction for the natives of Venice and Genoa; the

Mediterranean and the Adriatic were filled with treasure ships. In these

circumstances it is not to be wondered that the sea possessed a

wonderful fascination for the youth of those towns. This opulence was

the constant envy of Spain and Portugal, and Columbus was soon attracted

to the latter country by the desire of Prince Henry to discover a

southern route to the Indies. It was while in Portugal that he began to

believe that his mission on earth was to be the discoverer of a new

route to the land of gold--"the white man's god." For two years he

resided in Lisbon, from time to time making short voyages, but for the

most part engaged drawing maps to procure himself a living. Here he

married, here his son Diego was born, and here his wife, who died at an

early age, was buried.

Toscanelli at this time advanced the theory that the earth was round,

and Columbus at once entered into correspondence with him on the

subject, and was greatly impressed with the views of the Florentine

scientist, both as to the sphericity of the world and the wonders of the

Asiatic region. Heresy-hunting was then a favorite pastime, and

Columbus in accepting these theories ran no small risk of losing his

life. Portugal and France in turn rejected his offers to add to their

dependencies by his discoveries; and, though his brother found many in

England willing to give him the necessary ships to start on his

adventures, Spain, after much importuning on the part of the explorer,

forestalled our own country.

Then followed his four eventful voyages with all their varying fortunes,

and his death, when over seventy years of age, in a wretched condition

of poverty. The ready consideration of theories, not only dangerous but

so astounding in their character as to throw discredit on those who

advanced them, shows him to have been a man of intellectual courage.

Humility was another trait of his character, and in all his life it can

not be said that he acted in any but an honest and straightforward

manner toward his fellow-men.

It is true, no doubt, that his recognition of slavery somewhat dims his

reputation. He sold many Indians as slaves, but it should be remembered

that slavery prevailed at the time, and it was only on his second

voyage, when hard pressed for means to reimburse the Spanish treasury

for the immense expense of the expedition, that he resorted to the

barter in human flesh. Indeed, his friendly relations with the natives

show that, as a rule, he must have treated them in the kindly manner

which characterized all his actions.

Throughout the reverses of his long career, whether received with

sneers, lauded as a benefactor of his country, put in chains by crafty

fellow-subjects, or defrauded, by an unscrupulous prince, of the profit

of his discoveries, he continued a man of an eminently lovable

character, kind to his family, his servants, and even his enemies.

Americans are to do honor at the Columbian Exhibition to the name of him

who, though not the first white man to land on the shores of the New

World, was the first to colonize its fertile islands. Not only America,

but the whole world, may emulate his virtues with advantage; for, even

now, justice and mercy, courage and meekness, do not always abide

together.

SECRET.

FRANK B. GOODRICH, an American author of several popular books.

Born in Boston, 1826. From his "History of the Sea."

John II. of Portugal applied for an increase of power, and obtained a

grant of all the lands which his navigators could discover in sailing

_from west to east_. The grand idea of sailing from east to west--one

which implied a knowledge of the sphericity of the globe--had not yet,

to outward appearance, penetrated the brain of either pope or layman.

One Christopher Columbus, however, was already brooding over it in

secret and in silence.

THE PERIOD.

FRANCOIS PIERRE GUILLAUME GUIZOT, a distinguished French statesman

and historian. Born at Nimes, October 4, 1787; died September 12,

1874. From his "History of Civilization" (5 vols., 1845).

The period in question was also one of the most remarkable for the

display of physical activity among men. It was a period of voyages,

travels, enterprises, discoveries, and inventions of every kind. It was

the time of the great Portuguese expedition along the coast of Africa;

of the discovery of the new passage to India, by Vasco de Gama; of the

discovery of America, by Christopher Columbus; of the wonderful

extension of European commerce. A thousand new inventions started up;

others already known, but confined within a narrow sphere, became

popular and in general use. Gunpowder changed the system of war; the

compass changed the system of navigation. Painting in oil was invented,

and filled Europe with masterpieces of art. Engraving on copper,

invented in 1406, multiplied and diffused them. Paper made of linen

became common. Finally, between 1436 and 1452, was invented

printing--printing, the theme of so many declamations and commonplaces,

but to whose merits and effect no commonplaces or declamations will ever

be able to do justice.

MORNING TRIUMPHANT.

Rev. F. W. GUNSAULUS, D. D., an American divine and able pulpit

orator; at present, pastor of Plymouth Church, Chicago. From "New

Testament and Liberty."

Look again! It has become so light now that it is easy to see. Yonder in

the West a man has been pleading before courts, praying to God,

thinking, and dreaming. His brave heart sends forth hot tears, but it

will not fail. The genius of God has seized him. The Holy Ghost has

touched him as the spirit of liberty. Humanity cries through him for

more room. Emperors will not hear. But he gains one ear, at last, and

with the mariner's needle set out for the unknown. Civilization has

always walked by faith and not by sight. And do not forget to note,

that, in that log-book, the first mark is, "In the name of our Lord

Jesus Christ." On! brave man, on! over wastes of ocean, in the midst of

scorn, through hate, rage, mutiny, even death--and despair, worse than

death. On! there is an America on the other side to balance. Cheerless

nights, sad days, nights dark with woe, days hideous with the form of

death, weeks sobbing with pity; but in that heart is He whose name is

written in the log-book. "Land ahead!" And Columbus has discovered a

continent. Humanity has another world. Light from the four corners of

heaven. Glory touching firmament and planet. It is morning! Triumphant,

beautiful dawn!

TENDENCY.

ARNOLD HENRY GUYOT, Ph. D., LL. D., a meritorious writer on

physical geography. Born near Neufchatel, Switzerland, 1807.

Professor of geology and physical geography at Princeton College

from 1855 until his death, February 8, 1884. From "Earth and Man"

(1849).

As the plant is made for the animal, as the vegetable world is made for

the animal world, America is made for the man of the Old World. The man

of the Old World sets out upon his way. Leaving the highlands of Asia,

he descends from station to station toward Europe. Each of his steps is

marked by a new civilization superior to the preceding, by a greater

power of development. Arrived at the Atlantic, he pauses on the shore of

this unknown ocean, the bounds of which he knows not, and turns upon his

footprints for an instant; then recommences his adventurous career

westward as in the earliest ages.

NEW LIFE.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE, D. D., a celebrated American author. Born in

Boston, Mass., April 3, 1822. From an article, "Christopher

Columbus," in the _Independent_, June 2, 1892.

What the world owes to him and to Isabella, who made his work possible,

it is impossible in few words to say. The moment was one when Europe

needed America as never before. She had new life, given by the fall of

Constantinople, by the invention of printing, by the expulsion of the

Moors; there was new life even seething in the first heats of the

Reformation; and Europe must break her bonds, else she would die. Her

outlet was found in America. Here it is that that Power who orders

history could try, on a fit scale, the great experiments of the new

life. Thus it was ordered, let us say reverently, that South America

should show what the Catholic church could do in the line of civilizing

a desert, and that North America should show what the coming church of

the future could do. To us it is interesting to remember that Columbus

personally led the first discovery of South America, and that he made

the first effort for a colony on our half of the continent. Of these two

experiments the North America of to-day and South America of to-day are

the issue.

TRIUMPH OF AN IDEA.

The life of Columbus is an illustration constantly brought for the

success which God gives to those who, having conceived of a great idea,

bravely determine to carry it through. His singleness of purpose, his

determination to succeed, have been cited for four centuries, and will

be cited for centuries more among the noblest illustrations which

history has given of success wrought out by the courage of one

man.--_Ibid._

THE EAST LONGED FOR THE WEST.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE, in _Overland Monthly Magazine_. An article on

"A Visit to Palos."

Lord Houghton, following Freiligrath, has sung to us how the

Palm tree dreameth of the pine,

The pine tree of the palm;

and in his delicate imaginings the dream is of two continents--ocean

parted--each of which longs for the other. Strange enough, as one pushes

along the steep ascent from the landing at Rabida, up the high bluff on

which the convent stands, the palm tree and the pine grow together, as

in token of the dream of the great discoverer, who was to unite the

continents.

LIFE FOR LIBERTY.

FITZ-GREENE HALLECK, a noted American poet. Born in Guilford,

Conn., July 8, 1790; died November 19, 1867.

Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word,

And in its hollow tones are heard

The thanks of millions yet to be.

Come when his task of fame is wrought,

Come with her laurel-leaf, blood-bought,

Come in her crowning hour, and then

Thy sunken eye's unearthly light

To him is welcome as the sight

Of sky and stars to prison'd men;

Thy grasp is welcome as the hand

Of brother in a foreign land;

Thy summons welcome as the cry

That told the Indian isles were nigh

To the world-seeking Genoese,

When the land wind, from woods of palm,

And orange groves, and fields of balm,

Blew o'er the Haytian seas.

GENOA.

MURAT HALSTEAD, an American journalist. Born at Ross, Ohio,

September 2, 1829. From "Genoa--the Home of Columbus," a paper in

_Cosmopolitan_, May, 1892.

The Italian coast all around the Gulf of Genoa is mountainous, and the

mountains crowd each other almost into the sea. Land that can be built

upon or cultivated is scarce, and the narrow strips that are possible

are on the sunny southern slopes. The air is delicious. The orange trees

in December lean over the garden walls, heavy with golden spheres, and

the grass is green on the hills, and when a light snow falls the roses

blush through the soft veil of lace, and are modest but not ashamed, as

they bow their heads. The mountains are like a wall of iron against the

world, and from them issues a little river whose waters are pure as the

dew, until the washerwomen use them and spread clothing on the wide

spaces of clean gravel to dry. The harbor is easily defended, and with

the same expensive equipment would be strong as Gibraltar. It is in this

isolation that the individuality of Genoa, stamped upon so many chapters

of world-famous history, grew. There is so little room for a city that

the buildings are necessarily lofty. The streets are narrow and steep.

The pavements are blocks of stone that would average from two to three

feet in length, one foot in width, and of unknown depth. Evidently they

are not constructed for any temporary purpose, but to endure forever.

When, for a profound reason, a paving-stone is taken up it is speedily

replaced, with the closest attention to exact restoration, and then it

is again a rock of ages.

THE CELEBRATION AT HAMBURG.

Among the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of

America, that of the city of Hamburg, in Germany, will occupy a

prominent place. On October 1st an exhibition will be opened at which

objects will be on view that bear on the history of the act of

discovery, on the condition of geographical science of the time, and on

the conditions of the inhabitants of America at the time of the

discovery. Side by side with these will be exhibited whatever can show

the condition of America at the present time. On the date of the

discovery of the little Island of Guanahani--that is, October 12th--the

celebration proper will take place. The exercises will consist of songs

and music and a goodly array of speeches. In the evening, tableaux and

processions will be performed in the largest hall of the city. The

scenery, costumes, and implements used will all be got up as they were

at the time of the discovery, so as to furnish a real representation of

the age of Columbus.

SEEKER AND SEER--A RHYME FOR THE DEDICATION OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

EDWARD J. HARDING, in the Chicago _Tribune_, September 17, 1892.

I.

What came ye forth to see?

Why from the sunward regions of the palm,

And piney headlands by the northern main,

From Holland's watery ways, and parching Spain,

From pleasant France and storied Italy,

From India's patience, and from Egypt's calm,

To this far city of a soil new-famed

Come ye in festal guise to-day,

Charged with no fatal "gifts of Greece,"

Nor Punic treaties double-tongued,

But proffering hands of amity,

And speaking messages of peace,

With drum-beats ushered, and with shouts acclaimed,

While cannon-echoes lusty-lung'd

Reverberate far away?

* * * * *

IV.

Our errand here to-day

Hath warrant fair, ye say;

We come with you to consecrate

A hero's, ay a prophet's monument;

Yet needs he none, who was so great;

Vainly they build in Cuba's isle afar

His sepulcher beside the sapphire sea;

He hath for cenotaph a continent,

For funeral wreaths, the forests waving free,

And round his grave go ceaselessly

The morning and the evening star.

Yet is it fit that ye should praise him best,

For ye his true descendants are,

A spirit-begotten progeny;

Wherefore to thee, fair city of the West,

From elder lands we gladly came

To grace a prophet's fame.

V.

Beauteous upon the waters were the wings

That bore glad tidings o'er the leaping wave

Of sweet Hesperian isles, more bland and fair

Than lover's looks or bard's imaginings;

And blest was he, the hero brave,

Who first the tyrannous deeps defied,

And o'er the wilderness of waters wide

A sun-pursuing highway did prepare

For those true-hearted exiles few

The house of Liberty that reared anew.

Nor fails he here of honor due.

These goodly structures ye behold,

These towering piles in order brave,

From whose tall crests the pennons wave

Like tropic plumage, gules and gold;

These ample halls, wherein ye view

Whate'er is fairest wrought and best--

South with North vying, East with West,

And arts of yore with science new--

Bear witness for us how religiously

We cherish here his memory.

VI.

Yet sure, the adventurous Genoese

Did never in his most enlightened hours

Forecast the high, the immortal destinies

Of this dear land of ours.

Nay, could ye call him hither from his tomb,

Think ye that he would mark with soul elate

A kingless people, a schismatic State,

Nor on his work invoke perpetual doom?

Though the whole Sacred College o'er and o'er

Pronounce him sainted, prophet was he none

Who to Cathaia's legendary shore

Deemed that his bark a path had won.

In sooth, our Western pioneer

Was all as prescient as he

Who cried, "The desert shall exult,

The wild shall blossom as the rose,"

And to a passing rich result

Through summer heats and winter snows

Toiling to prove himself a seer,

Accomplished his own prophecy.

Lo, here a greater far than he,

A prophet nation hath its dwelling,

With multitudinous voice foretelling,

"Man shall be free!"

VII.

Hellas for Beauty, Rome for Order, stood,

And Israel for the Good;

Our message to the world is Liberty;

Not the rude freedom of anarchic hordes,

But reasoned kindness, whose benignant code

Upon the emblazoned walls of history

We carved with our good swords,

And crimsoned with our blood.

Last, from our eye we plucked the obscuring mote,

(Not without tears expelled, and sharpest pain,)

From swarthy limbs the galling chain

With shock on mighty shock we smote,

Whereby with clearer gaze we scan

The heaven-writ message that we bear for man.

Not ours to give, as erst the Genoese,

Of a new world the keys;

But of the prison-world ye knew before

Hewing in twain the door,

To thralls of custom and of circumstance

We preach deliverance.

O self-imprisoned ones, be free! be free!

These fetters frail, by doting ages wrought

Of basest metals--fantasy and fear,

And ignorance dull, and fond credulity--

Have moldered, lo! this many a year;

See, at a touch they part, and fall to naught!

Yours is the heirship of the universe,

Would ye but claim it, nor from eyes averse

Let fall the tears of needless misery;

Deign to be free!

VIII.

The prophets perish, but their word endures;

The word abides, the prophets pass away;

Far be the hour when Hellas' fate is yours,

O Nation of the newer day!

Unmeet it were that I,

Who sit beside your hospitable fire

A stranger born--though honoring as a sire

The land that binds me with a closer tie

Than hers that bore me--should from sullen throat

Send forth a raven's ominous note

Upon a day of jubilee.

Yet signs of coming ill I see,

Which Heaven avert! Nay, rather let me deem

That like a bright and broadening stream

Fed by a hundred affluents, each a river

Far-sprung and full, Columbia's life shall flow

By level meads majestically slow,

Blessing and blest forever!

THE JESUIT GEOGRAPHER.

JEAN HARDOUIN, a French Jesuit. Born at Quimper, 1646; died, 1729.

The rotation of the earth is due to the efforts of the damned to escape

from their central fire. Climbing up the walls of hell, they cause the

earth to revolve as a squirrel its cage.

COLUMBUS DAY.

_By the President of the United States of America. A proclamation:_

WHEREAS, By a joint resolution, approved June 29, 1892, it was resolved

by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of

America, in Congress assembled, "That the President of the United States

be authorized and directed to issue a proclamation recommending to the

people the observance in all their localities of the 400th anniversary

of the discovery of America, on the 21st day of October, 1892, by public

demonstration and by suitable exercises in their schools and other

places of assembly."

Now, THEREFORE, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of

America, in pursuance of the aforesaid joint resolution, do hereby

appoint Friday, October 21, 1892, the 400th anniversary of the discovery

of America by Columbus, as a general holiday for the people of the

United States. On that day let the people, so far as possible, cease

from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express

honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great

achievements of the four completed centuries of American life.

Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment.

The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and

salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly

appropriate that the schools be made by the people the center of the

day's demonstration. Let the national flag float over every school-house

in the country, and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our

youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship.

In the churches and in the other places of assembly of the people, let

there be expressions of gratitude to Divine Providence for the devout

faith of the discoverer, and for the Divine care and guidance which has

directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of

the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 21st day of July, in the year of

our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, and of the

independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth.

BENJAMIN HARRISON.

~~~~~ By the President.

{L. S.}

~~~~~ JOHN W. FOSTER, _Secretary of State_.

THE ADMIRATION OF A CAREFUL CRITIC.

HENRY HARRISSE, a celebrated Columbian critic, in his erudite and

valuable work, "Columbus and the Bank of St. George."

Nor must you believe that I am inclined to lessen the merits of the

great Genoese or fail to admire him. But my admiration is the result of

reflection, and not a blind hero-worship. Columbus removed out of the

range of mere speculation the idea that beyond the Atlantic Ocean lands

existed and could be reached by sea, made of the notion a fixed fact,

and linked forever the two worlds. That event, which is unquestionably

the greatest of modern times, secures to Columbus a place in the

pantheon dedicated to the worthies whose courageous deeds mankind will

always admire.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS, BY SIR ANTONIO MORO.

Used by Washington Irving to illustrate his "Life of Columbus." From the

original in the possession of Mr. C. F. Gunther of Chicago. (See pages

52 and 113.)]

But our gratitude must not carry us beyond the limits of an equitable

appreciation. Indiscriminate praise works mischief and injustice. When

tender souls represent Columbus as being constantly the laughing-stock

of all, and leading a life of misery and abandonment in Spain, they do

injustice to Deza, to Cabrera, to Quintanilla, to Mendoza, to Beatrice

de Bobadilla, to Medina-Celi, to Ferdinand and Isabella, and probably a

host of others who upheld him as much as they could from the start. When

blind admirers imagine that the belief in the existence of transatlantic

countries rushed out of Columbus' cogitations, complete, unaided, and

alone, just as Minerva sprang in full armor from the head of Jupiter,

they disregard the efforts of numerous thinkers who, from Aristotle and

Roger Bacon to Toscanelli, evolved and matured the thought, until

Columbus came to realize it. When dramatists, poets, and romancers

expatiate upon the supposed spontaneous or independent character of the

discovery of America, and ascribe the achievement exclusively to the

genius of a single man, they adopt a theory which is discouraging and

untrue.

No man is, or ever was, ahead of his times. No human efforts are, or

ever were, disconnected from a long chain of previous exertions; and

this applies to all the walks of life. When a great event occurs, in

science as in history, the hero who seems to have caused it is only the

embodiment and resulting force of the meditations, trials, and

endeavors of numberless generations of fellow-workers, conscious and

unconscious, known and unknown.

When this solemn truth shall have been duly instilled into the minds of

men, we will no longer see them live in the constant expectation of

Messiahs and providential beings destined to accomplish, as by a sort of

miracle, the infinite and irresistible work of civilization. They will

rely exclusively upon the concentrated efforts of the whole race, and

cherish the encouraging thought that, however imperceptible and

insignificant their individual contributions may seem to be, these form

a part of the whole, and finally redound to the happiness and progress

of mankind.

THE CARE OF THE NEW WORLD.

DAVID HARTLEY, a celebrated English physician and philosopher. Born

at Armley, near Leeds, 1705; died, 1757.

Those who have the first care of this New World will probably give it

such directions and inherent influences as may guide and control its

course and revolutions for ages to come.

THE TRIBUTE OF HEINRICH HEINE.

HEINRICH HEINE. Born December 12, 1799, in the Bolkerstrasse at

Dusseldorf; died in Paris, February 17, 1856.

Mancher hat schon viel gegeben,

Aber jener hat der Welt

Eine ganze Welt geschenkt

Und sie heisst America.

Nicht befreien koennt'er uns

Aus dem orden Erdenkerker

Doch er wusst ihn zu erweitern

Und die Kette zu verlaengern

(_Translation._)

Some have given much already,

But this man he has presented

To the world an entire world,

With the name America.

He could not set us free, out

Of the dreary, earthly prison,

But he knew how to enlarge it

And to lengthen our chain.

COLUMBUS' AIM NOT MERELY SECULAR.

GEORGE WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL, one of the most eminent

philosophers of the German school of metaphysics. Born at Stuttgart

in 1770; died in Berlin, 1831. From his "Philosophy of History."

A leading feature demanding our notice in determining the character of

this period, might be mentioned that urging of the spirit outward, that

desire on the part of man to become acquainted with his world. The

chivalrous spirit of the maritime heroes of Portugal and Spain opened a

new way to the East Indies and discovered America. This progressive step

also involved no transgression of the limits of ecclesiastical

principles or feeling. The aim of Columbus was by no means a merely

secular one; it presented also a distinctly religious aspect; the

treasures of those rich Indian lands which awaited his discovery were

destined, in his intention, to be expended in a new crusade, and the

heathen inhabitants of the countries themselves were to be converted to

Christianity. The recognition of the spherical figure of the earth led

man to perceive that it offered him a definite and limited object, and

navigation had been benefited by the new-found instrumentality of the

magnet, enabling it to be something better than mere coasting; thus

technical appliances make their appearance when a need for them is

experienced.

These events--the so-called revival of learning, the flourishing of the

fine arts, and the discovery of America--may be compared with that

_blush of dawn_ which after long storms first betokens the return of a

bright and glorious day. This day is the day of universality, which

breaks upon the world after the long, eventful, and terrible night of

the Middle Ages.

THE BELIEF OF COLUMBUS.

SIR ARTHUR HELPS, a popular English essayist and historian. Born,

1813; died, March 7, 1875. From his "Life of Columbus" (1869).

Columbus believed the world to be a sphere; he underestimated its size;

he overestimated the size of the Asiatic continent. The farther that

continent extended to the east, the nearer it came round to Spain.

SPECULATION.

It has always been a favorite speculation with historians, and, indeed,

with all thinking men, to consider what would have happened from a

slight change of circumstances in the course of things which led to

great events. This may be an idle and a useless speculation, but it is

an inevitable one. Never was there such a field for this kind of

speculation as in the voyages, especially the first one, of Columbus.

* * * The gentlest breeze carried with it the destinies of future empires.

* * * Had some breeze big with the fate of nations carried Columbus

northward, it would hardly have been left for the English, more than a

century afterward, to found those colonies which have proved to be the

seeds of the greatest nation that the world is likely to

behold.--_Ibid._

RELIGION TURNS TO FREEDOM'S LAND.

GEORGE HERBERT, an English poet. Born at Montgomery, Wales, 1593;

died, 1632.

Religion stands on tiptoe in our land,

Ready to pass to the American strand.

THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF COLUMBUS.

ANTONIO HERRERA Y TORDESILLAS, an eminent Spanish historian. Born

at Cuellar in 1549; died, 1625.

Columbus was tall of stature, with a long and imposing visage. His nose

was aquiline; his eyes blue; his complexion clear, and having a tendency

to a glowing red; the beard and hair red in his youth, but his fatigues

early turned them white.

AN INCIDENT OF THE VOYAGE.

FERNANDO HERRERA, Spanish poet, 1534-1597.

Many sighed and wept, and every hour seemed a year.

THE EFFECT OF THE DISCOVERY.

C. W. HODGIN, professor of history in Earlham College, Indiana.

From "Preparation for the Discovery of America."

The discovery of America by Columbus stands out in history as an event

of supreme importance, both because of its value in itself and because

of its reflex action upon Europe. It swept away the hideous monsters and

frightful apparitions with which a superstitious imagination had peopled

the unknown Atlantic, and removed at once and forever the fancied

dangers in the way of its navigation. It destroyed the old patristic

geography and practically demonstrated the rotundity of the earth. It

overthrew the old ideas of science and gave a new meaning to the

Baconian method of investigation. It revolutionized the commerce of the

world, and greatly stimulated the intellect of Europe, already awakening

from the long torpor of the Dark Ages. It opened the doors of a new

world, through which the oppressed and overcrowded population of the Old

World might enter and make homes, build states, and develop a higher

ideal of freedom than the world had before conceived.

But this event did not come to pass by accident, neither was it the

result of a single cause. It was the culmination of a series of events,

each of which had a tendency, more or less marked, to concentrate into

the close of the fifteenth century the results of an _instinct_ to

search over unexplored seas for unknown lands.

COLUMBUS THE FIRST DISCOVERER.

FRIEDRICH HEINRICH ALEXANDER, Baron VON HUMBOLDT, the illustrious

traveler, naturalist, and cosmographer. Born in Berlin, September

14, 1769; died there May 6, 1859. He has been well termed "The

Modern Aristotle."

To say the truth, Vespucci shone only by reflection from an age of

glory. When compared with Columbus, Sebastian Cabot, Bartolome Dias, and

Da Gama, his place is an inferior one.

The majesty of great memories seems concentrated in the name of

Christopher Columbus. It is the originality of his vast idea, the

largeness and fertility of his genius, and the courage which bore up

against a long series of misfortunes, which have exalted the Admiral

high above all his contemporaries.

THE PENETRATION AND EXTREME ACCURACY OF COLUMBUS.

Columbus preserved, amid so many material and minute cares, which freeze

the soul and contract the character, a profound and poetic sentiment of

the grandeur of nature. What characterizes Columbus is the penetration

and extreme accuracy with which he seizes the phenomena of the external

world. He is quite as remarkable as an observer of nature as he is an

intrepid navigator.

Arrived under new heavens, and in a new world, the configuration of

lands, the aspect of vegetation, the habits of animals, the distribution

of heat according to longitude, the pelagic currents, the variations of

terrestrial magnetism--nothing escaped his sagacity. Columbus does not

limit himself to collecting isolated facts, he combines them, he seeks

their mutual relations to each other. He sometimes rises with boldness

to the discovery of the general laws that govern the physical

world.--_Ibid._

A FLIGHT OF PARROTS WAS HIS GUIDING STAR.

Columbus was guided in his opinion by a flight of parrots toward the

southwest. Never had the flight of birds more important consequences. It

may be said to have determined the first settlements on the new

continent, and its distribution between the Latin and Germanic

races.--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS A GIANT.

Columbus is a giant standing on the confines between mediaeval and modern

times, and his existence marks one of the great epochs in the history of

the world.--_Ibid._

THE MAJESTY OF GRAND RECOLLECTIONS.

The majesty of grand recollections seems concentered on the illustrious

name of Columbus.--_Ibid._

RELIGION.

JOHN FLETCHER HURST, D. D., LL.D., a noted American Methodist

bishop. Born near Salem, Md., August 17, 1834. From his "Short

History of the Church in the United States." Copyright, 1889. By

permission of Messrs. Harper & Brothers, Publishers.

When Columbus discovered the little West India Island of San Salvador,

and raised upon the shore the cross, he dedicated it and the lands

beyond to the sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella. The "_Gloria in

Excelsis_" was sung by the discoverer and his weary crew with as much

fervor as it had ever been chanted in the cathedrals of Spain. The faith

was Roman Catholic. On his second voyage, in 1494, Columbus took with

him a vicar apostolic and twelve priests, and on the island of Haiti

erected the first chapel in the western world.[40] The success of

Columbus in discovering a new world in the West awakened a wild

enthusiasm throughout Europe. Visions of gold inflamed the minds alike

of rulers, knights, and adventurers. To discover and gather treasures,

and organize vast missionary undertakings, became the mania of the

times. No European country which possessed a strip of seaboard escaped

the delirium.

ARMA VIRUMQUE CANO.

WASHINGTON IRVING, one of the most distinguished American authors

and humorists. Born in New York City, April 3, 1783. Died at

Sunnyside on the Hudson, N. Y., November 28, 1859. From his

"History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus" (4 vols.,

1828). "This is one of those works," says Alexander H. Everett,

"which are at the same time the delight of readers and the despair

of critics. It is as nearly perfect as any work well can be."

It is my object to relate the deeds and fortunes of the mariner who

first had the judgment to divine, and the intrepidity to brave, the

mysteries of the perilous deep; and who, by his hardy genius, his

inflexible constancy, and his heroic courage, brought the ends of the

earth into communication with each other. The narrative of his troubled

life is the link which connects the history of the Old World with that

of the New.

To his intellectual vision it was given to read the signs of the times

in the conjectures and reveries of the past ages, the indications of an

unknown world, as soothsayers were said to read predictions in the

stars, and to foretell events from the visions of the night.

PRACTICAL AND POETICAL.

He who paints a great man merely in great and heroic traits, though he

may produce a fine picture, will never present a faithful portrait.

Great men are compounds of great and little qualities. Indeed, much of

their greatness arises from their mastery over the imperfections of

their nature, and their noblest actions are sometimes struck forth by

the collision of their merits and their defects.

In Columbus were singularly combined the practical and the poetical. His

mind had grasped all kinds of knowledge, whether procured by study or

observation, which bore upon his theories; impatient of the scanty

aliment of the day, "his impetuous ardor threw him into the study of the

fathers of the Church, the Arabian Jews, and the ancient geographers";

while his daring but irregular genius, bursting from the limits of

imperfect science, bore him to conclusions far beyond the intellectual

vision of his contemporaries. If some of his conclusions were erroneous,

they were at least ingenious and splendid; and their error resulted from

the clouds which still hung over his peculiar path of enterprise. His

own discoveries enlightened the ignorance of the age, guided conjecture

to certainty, and dispelled that very darkness with which he had been

obliged to struggle.

In the progress of his discoveries, he has been remarked for the extreme

sagacity and the admirable justness with which he seized upon the

phenomena of the exterior world. As they broke upon him, these phenomena

were discerned with wonderful quickness of perception, and made to

contribute important principles to the stock of general knowledge. This

lucidity of spirit, this quick convertibility of facts to principles,

distinguish him from the dawn to the close of his sublime enterprise,

insomuch that, with all the sallying ardor of his imagination, his

ultimate success has been admirably characterized as a "conquest of

reflection."--_Ibid._

A VISIT TO PALOS.

I can not express to you what were my feelings on treading the shore

which had once been animated by the bustle of departure, and whose sands

had been printed by the last footstep of Columbus. The solemn and

sublime nature of the event that had followed, together with the fate

and fortunes of those concerned in it, filled the mind with vague yet

melancholy ideas. It was like viewing the silent and empty stage of some

great drama when all the actors had departed. The very aspect of the

landscape, so tranquilly beautiful, had an effect upon me, and as I

paced the deserted shore by the side of a descendant of one of the

discoverers I felt my heart swelling with emotion and my eyes filling

with tears.--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS AT SALAMANCA.

Columbus appeared in a most unfavorable light before a select

assembly--an obscure navigator, a member of no learned institution,

destitute of all the trappings and circumstances which sometimes give

oracular authority to dullness, and depending on the mere force of

natural genius.

Some of the junta entertained the popular notion that he was an

adventurer, or at best a visionary; and others had that morbid

impatience which any innovation upon established doctrine is apt to

produce in systematic minds. What a striking spectacle must the hall of

the old convent have presented at this memorable conference! A simple

mariner standing forth in the midst of an imposing array of professors,

friars, and dignitaries of the Church, maintaining his theory with

natural eloquence, and, as it were, pleading the cause of the New

World.--_Ibid._

A MEMORIAL TO COLUMBUS AT OLD ISABELLA.

From the _Sacred Heart Review_ of Boston, Mass.

Early in September, 1891, the proposition of erecting a monument to

Columbus on the site of his first settlement in the New World, at Old

Isabella, in Santo Domingo, was first broached to the _Sacred Heart

Review_ of Boston by Mr. Thomas H. Cummings of that city. As the first

house built by Columbus in the settlement was a church, it was suggested

that such a monument would indeed fitly commemorate the starting-point

and rise of Christian civilization in America. The _Review_ entered

heartily into the project, and steps were at once taken to secure a

suitable plot of ground for the site of the monument. Plans were also

drawn of a monument whose estimated cost would be from $3,000 to $5,000.

A design which included a granite plinth and ball three feet in

diameter, surmounting a pyramid of coral and limestone twenty feet

high,[41] was transmitted, through the Dominican consul-general at New

York to the Dominican government in Santo Domingo. Accompanying this

plan was a petition, of which the following is a copy, setting forth the

purpose of the _Review_, and asking certain concessions in return:

"BOSTON, MASS., October 7, 1891.

"HON. FCO. LEONTE VAZQUES, _Dominican Consul-general_, "_New York

City_.

"SIR: The _Sacred Heart Review_ of Boston is anxious to mark the

spot with a suitable monument where Christian civilization took its

rise in the New World, commonly known as Ancienne Isabelle, on the

Island of Santo Domingo. We therefore beg the favor of your good

offices with the Dominican government for the following

concessions:

"_First._ Free entrance of party and material for monument at

ports of Puerto Plata or Monte Christi, and right of transportation

for same to Isabella free of all coast expense and duties.

"_Second._ Grant of suitable plot, not to contain more than 100 x

100 square yards, the present owner, Mr. C. S. Passailique of New

York having already signified his willingness to concede same to

us, so far as his rights under the Dominican government allowed him

to do so.

"_Third._ The right of perpetual care of monument, with access to

and permission to care for same at all times.

"_Fourth._ Would the government grant official protection to same;

i. e., allow its representatives to aid and protect in every

reasonable way the success of the enterprise, and when built guard

same as public property, without assuming any legal liability

therefor?

"Finally, in case that we find a vessel sailing to one of said

ports above named willing to take the monument to Isabella, would

government concede this favor--allowing vessel to make coast

service free of governmental duties?"

"In exchange for above concessions on the part of the Dominican

government, the undersigned hereby agree to erect, at their

expense, and free of all charge to said government, a granite

monument, according to plan herewith inclosed; estimated cost to be

from $3,000 to $5,000.

"Awaiting the favor of an early reply, and begging you to accept

the assurance of our highest respect and esteem, we have the honor

to be,

"Very respectfully yours,

"Rev. JOHN O'BRIEN and others in behalf of the

Sacred Heart Review Monument Committee."

In reply to the above petition was received an official document, in

Spanish, of which the following is a literal translation:

"ULISES HEUREAUX, _Division General-in-Chief of the National Army,

Pacificator of the Nation, and Constitutional President of the

Republic_:

"In view of the petition presented to the government by the

directors of the _Sacred Heart Review_ of Boston, United States of

America, dated October 7, 1891, and considering that the object of

the petitioners is to commemorate a historical fact of great

importance, viz.: the establishment of the Christian religion in

the New World by the erection of its first temple--an event so

closely identified with Santo Domingo, and by its nature and

results eminently American, indeed world-wide, in its

scope--therefore the point of departure for Christian civilization

in the western hemisphere, whose principal products were apostles

like Cordoba, Las Casas, and others, defending energetically and

resolutely the rights of the oppressed inhabitants of America, and

themselves the real founders of modern democracy, be it

"_Resolved_, Article 1. That it is granted to the _Sacred Heart

Review_ of Boston, United States of America, permission to erect a

monument on the site of the ruins of Old Isabella, in the district

of Puerto Plata, whose purpose shall be to commemorate the site

whereon was built the first Catholic church in the New World. This

monument shall be of stone, and wholly conformable to the plan

presented. It shall be erected within a plot of ground that shall

not exceed 10,000 square yards, and shall be at all times solidly

and carefully inclosed. If the site chosen belongs to the state,

said state concedes its proprietary rights to the petitioners while

the monument stands. If the site belongs to private individuals, an

understanding must be reached with them to secure possession.

"Article 2. The builders of said monument will have perpetual

control and ownership, and they assume the obligation of caring

for and preserving it in good condition. If the builders, as a

society, cease to exist, the property will revert to the

municipality to which belongs Old Isabella, and on them will revert

the obligation to preserve it in perfect repair.

"Article 3. The monument will be considered as public property, and

the local authorities will give it the protection which the law

allows to property of that class. * * * But on no condition and in

no way could the government incur any responsibility of damage that

might come to the monument situated in such a remote and exposed

location.

"Article 4. We declare free from municipal and coast duties the

materials and tools necessary for the construction of said

monument, and if it is introduced in a ship carrying only this as a

cargo, it will be permitted to said ship to make voyage from Monte

Christi or Puerto Plata without paying any of said coast imposts.

In view of these concessions the monument committee will present to

the mayor of the city a detailed statement of the material and

tools needed, so that this officer can accept or reject them as he

sees fit.

"Article 5. Wherefore the Secretary of State, Secretary of the

Interior, and other officers of the Cabinet are charged with the

execution of the present resolution.

"Given at the National Palace of Santo Domingo, Capital of the

Republic, on the twenty-fifth day of November, 1891, forty-eighth

year of independence and the twenty-ninth of the restoration.

(Signed)

"ULISES HEUREAUX, _President_.

"W. FIGUEREO, _Minister of Interior and Police_.

"IGNACIO M. GONZALES, _Minister of Finance and Commerce_.

"SANCHEZ, _Minister of State_.

'Copy exactly conforming to the original given at Santo Domingo,

November 28, 1891.

"RAFAEL Y. RODRIGUEZ,

"_Official Mayor and Minister of Public Works and Foreign Affairs._"

With these concessions in hand, a committee, consisting of Capt. Nathan

Appleton and Thomas H. Cummings, was appointed to go to Washington and

secure recognition from the United States Government for the enterprise.

The committee was everywhere favorably received, and returned with

assurances of co-operation and support. Hon. W. E. Curtis, head of the

Bureau of Latin Republics in the State Department, was added to the

general monument committee.

Meanwhile the _Sacred Heart Review_, through Dr. Charles H. Hall of

Boston, a member of the monument committee, put itself in communication

with the leading citizens of Puerto Plata, requesting them to use every

effort to locate the exact site of the ancient church, and make a

suitable clearing for the monument, at its expense.

In answer to this communication, a committee of prominent citizens was

organized at Puerto Plata, to co-operate with the Boston Columbus

Memorial Committee. The following extract is taken from a local paper,

_El Porvenir_, announcing the organization of this committee:

"On Saturday last, a meeting was held in this city (Puerto Plata) for

the purpose of choosing a committee which should take part in the

celebration. Those present unanimously resolved that such a body be

immediately formed under the title of, 'Committee in Charge of the

Centennial Celebration.'

"This committee then proceeded to the election of a board of management,

composed of a president, vice-president, secretary, and four directors.

The following gentlemen were elected to fill the above offices in the

order as named: Gen. Imbert, Dr. Llenas, Gen. Juan Guarrido, Presbitero

Don Wenceslao Ruiz, Don Jose Thomas Jimenez, Don Pedro M. Villalon, and

Don Jose Castellanos.

"To further the object for which it was organized, the board counts upon

the co-operation of such government officials and corporations of the

republic as may be inclined to take part in this great apotheosis in

preparation, to glorify throughout the whole world the work and name of

the famous discoverer.

"As this is the disinterested purpose for which the above-mentioned

committee was formed, we do not doubt that the public, convinced that it

is its duty to contribute in a suitable manner to the proposed

celebration, will respond to the idea with enthusiasm, seeing in it only

the desire which has guided its projectors--that of contributing their

share to the glorification of the immortal navigator."

The following official communication was received from this committee:

"PUERTO DE PLATA, March 19, 1892.

"Dr. CHARLES H. HALL, _Member Boston Columbus Memorial Committee,

Boston, Mass., U. S. A._

"DEAR SIR: We have the honor of acquainting you that there exists

in this city a committee for the celebration of the

quadro-centennial whose purpose is to co-operate, to the extent of

its ability, in celebrating here the memorable event.

[Illustration: TOSCANELLI'S MAP.]

"This committee has learned with the greatest satisfaction that it

is proposed to erect a monument, on the site of Isabella, over the

ruins of the first Catholic church in the New World. Here, also, we

have had the same idea, and we rejoice that what we were unable to

accomplish through lack of material means, you have brought to a

consummation. And therefore we offer you our co-operation, and

beg your acceptance of our services in any direction in which you

may find them useful. With sentiments of high regard, we remain,

"Your very obedient servants,

"S. IMBERT, _President_.

"JUAN GUARRIDO, _Secretary_.

_Direction_, GEN. IMBERT, _President de la "Junta Para

de la Celebracion del Centenario._"

The statue consists of a bronze figure of Columbus eight feet two inches

high, including the plinth, mounted on a pyramid of coral and limestone

twelve feet high, and which, in its turn, is crowned by a capstone of

dressed granite, on which the statue will rest.[42] The figure

represents Columbus in an attitude of thanksgiving to God, and pointing,

on the globe near his right hand, to the site of the first settlement in

the New World. The statue and pedestal were made from designs drawn at

the Massachusetts State Normal Art School by Mr. R. Andrew, under the

direction of Prof. George Jepson, and the statue was modeled by Alois

Buyens of Ghent.

The plaster cast of the monument, which has now been on exhibition at

the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston for some time, has been removed to the

foundry at Chicopee for casting. In a few months it will be transformed

into enduring bronze, and the Columbus monument will no longer be a

growing thought but a living reality. To say it has stood the critical

test of art connoisseurs in the Boston public is to say but little; for,

from every quarter, comments on the work of the sculptor have been

highly commendatory--the bold and vigorous treatment of the Flemish

school, of which Mr. Buyens is a disciple, being something of a novelty

in these parts, and well calculated to strike the popular fancy, which

always admires strength, especially when combined with gracefulness and

high art. Not a few of the best critics have pronounced it superior to

the average of similar statues to be found in and around Boston, and all

unite in declaring it to be unquestionably a work of art, and one

meriting great praise.

A recent communication from United States Consul Simpson, at Puerto

Plata, announces that he has lately visited Isabella, in the interest of

the monument. He made a careful survey of the site of the ancient town,

and cleared the grounds of the trees and masses of trailing vines that

encumbered the ruins, and after a thorough examination, assisted by the

people of the neighborhood, he found the remains of the first church.

Other communications have been received from the Dominican government

approving of the change of plan, substituting the statue for the simple

stone monument, and offering the memorial committee the hospitalities of

the island. And so the work goes on.

The monument, when erected, will commemorate two things--the

establishment of Christianity and the rise of civilization in the New

World. On the spot where it will stand Columbus built the first church

400 years ago.

One bronze relief shows the great discoverer in the fore-ground on

bended knees with a trowel in his hand, laying the corner-stone. On the

right, sits an ideal female figure, representing Mother Church,

fostering a little Indian child, and pointing with uplifted hand to the

cross, the emblem of man's salvation. Crouching Indians are at her feet,

listening with astonishment to the strange story, while on the left of

the cross are monks with bowed heads and lighted tapers, and in the

distance are Spanish cavaliers and hidalgos.

The conception is thoroughly Catholic, Christian, simple, and artistic;

it tells its own story with a pathos and directness not often found in

works of this kind.

The second tablet is more ideal and more severely classical than the

first. The genius of civilization, bearing gifts, is carried in a

chariot drawn by prancing horses. The Admiral, at the horses' heads,

with one hand points the way for her to follow, while with the other he

hands the reins to Columbia, the impersonation of the New World. An

Indian at the chariot wheels stoops to gather the gifts of civilization

as they fall from the cornucopia borne by the goddess. And thus is told

in enduring bronze, by the genius of the artist, the symbolic story of

the introduction of civilization to the New World.

Upon the face of the pedestal, a third tablet bears the inscription

which was written at the instance of Very Rev. Dr. Charles B. Rex,

president of the Brighton Theological Seminary. Mgr. Schroeder, the

author, interprets the meaning of the whole, in terse rhythmical Latin

sentences, after the Roman lapidary style:

_Anno. claudente. saeculum XV._

_Ex. quo. coloni. Christiani. Columbo. Duce_

_Hic. post. oppidum. constitutum_

_Primum. in. mundo. novo. templum_

_Christo. Deo. dicarunt_

_Ephemeris. Bostoniensis_

_Cui. a. sacro. corde. est. nomen_

_Sub. auspice. civium. Bostoniae_

_Ne. rei. tantae. memoria. unquam. delabatur_

_Haec. marmori. commendavit._

_A. D. MDCCCLXXXXII._

(_Translation of the Inscription._)

Toward the close of the fifteenth century,

Christian colonists, under the leadership of Columbus,

Here on this spot built the first settlement,

And the first church dedicated

To Christ our Lord

In the new world.

A Boston paper, called the _Sacred Heart Review_,

Under the auspices of the citizens of Boston,

That the memory of so great an event might not be forgotten,

Hath erected this monument,

A. D. 1892.

The question is sometimes asked why are Catholics specially interested,

and why should the _Review_ trouble itself to erect this monument. The

answer is this: We wish to locate the spot with some distinctive mark

where civilization was first planted and where Christianity reared its

first altar on this soil, 400 years ago. By this public act of

commemoration we hope to direct public attention to this modest

birthplace of our Mother Church, which stands to-day deserted and

unhonored like a pauper's grave, a monument of shame to the carelessness

and indifference of millions of American Catholics.

Why should we be specially interested? Because here on this spot the

Catholic church first saw the light of day in America; here the first

important act of the white man was the celebration of the holy mass, the

supreme act of Catholic worship; here the first instrument of

civilization that pierced the virgin soil was a cross, and here the

first Catholic anthems resounding through the forest primeval, and vying

in sweetness and melody with the song of birds, were the _Te Deum

Laudamus_ and the _Gloria in Excelsis_. Sculptured marble and engraved

stone we have in abundance, and tablets without number bear record to

deeds and historical events of far less importance than this. For, mark

well what these ruins and this monument stand for.

One hundred and twenty-six years before the Congregationalist church

landed on Plymouth Rock, 110 years before the Anglican church came to

Jamestown, and thirty-five years before the word Protestant was

invented, this church was erected, and the gospel announced to the New

World by zealous missionaries of the Catholic faith. No other

denomination of Christians in America can claim priority or even equal

duration with us in point of time. No other can show through all the

centuries of history such generous self-sacrifice and heroic missionary

efforts. No other has endured such misrepresentation and bitter

persecution for justice's sake. If her history here is a valuable

heritage, we to whom it has descended are in duty bound to keep it alive

in the memory and hearts of her children. We have recently celebrated

the centennial of the Church in the United States; but, for a still

greater reason, we should now prepare to celebrate the quadro-centennial

of the Church in America. And this is why Catholics should be specially

interested in this monument. Columbus himself was a deeply religious

man. He observed rigorously the fasts and ceremonies of the Church,

reciting daily the entire canonical office. He began everything he wrote

with the _Jesu cum Maria sit nobis in via_ (May Jesus and Mary be always

with us). And as Irving, his biographer, says, his piety did not consist

in mere forms, but partook of that lofty and solemn enthusiasm which

characterized his whole life. In his letter to his sovereigns announcing

his discovery he indulges in no egotism, but simply asks "Spain to

exhibit a holy joy, for Christ rejoices on earth as in heaven seeing the

future redemption of souls." And so his religion bursts out and seems to

pervade everything he touches. With such a man to commemorate and honor,

there is special reason why Catholics, and the _Review_, which

represents them, should busy themselves with erecting a Columbus

monument.

But the name and fame and beneficent work of Columbus belong to the

whole Christian world. While Catholics with gratitude recall his

fortitude and heroism, and thank God, who inspired him with a firm faith

and a burning charity for God and man, yet Protestants no less than

Catholics share in the fruit of his work, and, we are glad to say, vie

with Catholics in proclaiming and honoring his exalted character, his

courage, fortitude, and the beneficent work he accomplished for mankind.

Hence Dr. Edward Everett Hale, in his recent article on Columbus in the

_Independent_, voices the sentiment of every thoughtful, intelligent

Protestant when he says, "No wonder that the world of America loves and

honors the hero whose faith and courage called America into being. No

wonder that she celebrates the beginning of a new century with such

tributes of pride and hope as the world has never seen before." It is

this same becoming sentiment of gratitude which has prompted so many

worthy Protestants to enroll their names on the list of gentlemen who

are helping the _Review_ to mark and honor the spot Columbus chose for

the first Christian settlement on this continent.

Thus, so long as the bronze endures, the world will know that we

venerate the character and achievements of Columbus, and the spot where

Christian civilization took its rise in the New World.

FROM THE ITALIAN.

The daring mariner shall urge far o'er

The western wave, a smooth and level plain,

Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel.

SEARCHER OF THE OCEAN.

SAMUEL JEFFERSON, a British author. From his epic poem, "Columbus,"

published by S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago.[43]

Thou searcher of the ocean, thee to sing

Shall my devoted lyre awake each string!

Columbus! Hero! Would my song could tell

How great thy worth! No praise can overswell

The grandeur of thy deeds! Thine eagle eye

Pierced through the clouds of ages to descry

From empyrean heights where thou didst soar

With bright imagination winged by lore--

The signs of continents as yet unknown;

Across the deep thy keen-eyed glance was thrown;

Thou, with prevailing longing, still aspired

To reach the goal thy ardent soul desired;

Thy heavenward soaring spirit, bold, elate,

Scorned long delay and conquered chance and fate;

Thy valor followed thy far-searching eyes,

Until success crowned thy bold emprize.

FELIPA, WIFE OF COLUMBUS.

ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON. From a poem published in _Harper's Weekly_,

June 25, 1892.[44]

More than the compass to the mariner

Wast thou, Felipa, to his dauntless soul.

Through adverse winds that threatened wreck, and nights

Of rayless gloom, thou pointed ever to

The north star of his great ambition. He

Who once has lost an Eden, or has gained

A paradise by Eve's sweet influence,

Alone can know how strong a spell lies in

The witchery of a woman's beckoning hand.

And thou didst draw him, tidelike, higher still,

Felipa, whispering the lessons learned

From thy courageous father, till the flood

Of his ambition burst all barriers,

And swept him onward to his longed-for goal.

Before the jewels of a Spanish queen

Built fleets to waft him on his untried way,

Thou gavest thy wealth of wifely sympathy

To build the lofty purpose of his soul.

And now the centuries have cycled by,

Till thou art all forgotten by the throng

That lauds the great Pathfinder of the deep.

It matters not, in that infinitude

Of space where thou dost guide thy spirit bark

To undiscovered lands, supremely fair.

If to this little planet thou couldst turn

And voyage, wraithlike, to its cloud-hung rim,

Thou wouldst not care for praise. And if, perchance,

Some hand held out to thee a laurel bough,

Thou wouldst not claim one leaf, but fondly turn

To lay thy tribute also at his feet.

INCREASING INTEREST IN COLUMBUS.

JOHN S. KENNEDY, an American author.

The near approach of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America

has revived in all parts of the civilized world great interest in

everything concerning that memorable event and the perilous voyage of

the great navigator whom it has immortalized.

THE MECCA OF THE NATION.

MOSES KING, an American geographer of the nineteenth century.

I have read somewhere that in the northeastern part of Havana stands,

facing an open square, a brown stone church, blackened by age, and

dignified by the name of "cathedral." It is visited by every American,

because within its walls lies buried all that remains of the great

discoverer, Columbus.

THE CAUSE OF THE DISCOVERY.

Was it by the coarse law of demand and supply that a Columbus was

haunted by the ghost of a round planet at the time when the New World

was needed for the interests of civilization?--_Ibid._

MAGNANIMITY.

ARTHUR G. KNIGHT, in his "Life of Columbus."

Through all the slow martyrdom of long delays and bitter

disappointments, he never faltered in his lofty purpose; in the hour of

triumph he was self-possessed and unassuming; under cruel persecution he

was patient and forgiving. For almost unexampled services he certainly

received a poor reward on earth.

THE IDEAS OF THE ANCIENTS.

LUCIUS LACTANTIUS, an eminent Christian author, 260-325 A. D.

Is there any one so foolish as to believe that there are antipodes with

their feet opposite to ours; that there is a part of the world in which

all things are topsy-turvy, where the trees grow with their branches

downward, and where it rains, hails, and snows upward?

THE LAKE FRONT PARK STATUE OF COLUMBUS.

The World's Fair city is a close competitor with the historic cities of

the Old World for the grandest monument to Columbus and the fittest

location for it. At Barcelona, on the Paseo Colon, seaward, a snowy

marble Admiral looks toward the Shadowy Sea. At Genoa, 'mid the palms of

the Piazza Acquaverde, a noble representation of the noblest Genoese

faces the fitful gusts of the Mediterranean and fondly guards an Indian

maid. A lofty but rude cairn marks the Admiral's first footprints on the

shores of the wreck-strewn Bahamas, and many a monument or encomiastic

inscription denotes spots sacred to the history of his indomitable

resolve. These all commemorate, as it were, but the inception of the

great discovery. It remains for Chicago to perpetuate the results, and

most fitly to place an heroic figure of the first Admiral viewing, and

in full view of all.

On the Lake Front Park, in full view of the ceaseless commercial

activity of the Great Lakes, and close by the hum of the hive of human

industry, grandly will a bronze Columbus face the blasts from Michigan's

bosom. There the greatest navigator stands,

Calm, his prescience verified,

proudly through the ages watching the full fruits of that first and

fateful voyage over the waves of the seas of mystery, to found a nation

where Freedom alone should be supreme. Just where the big monument will

be located on Lake Front Park has not been decided, but a site south of

the Auditorium, midway between the Illinois Central tracks and Michigan

Boulevard, will perhaps be chosen. The statue proper will be twenty feet

high. It will be of bronze, mounted on a massive granite pedestal, of

thirty feet in height, and will serve for all time as a memorial of the

Exposition.

The chosen artist, out of the many who submitted designs, was Mr. Howard

Kretschmar, a Chicago sculptor of rare power and artistic talent.

The massive figure of Columbus is represented at the moment the land,

and the glorious future of his great discovery, burst upon his delighted

gaze. No ascetic monk, no curled cavalier, looks down from the pedestal.

The apocryphal portraits of Europe may peer out of their frames in this

guise, but it has been the artist's aim here to chisel _a man, not a

monk; and a noble man_, rather than a cringing courtier. Above the

massive pedestal of simple design, which bears the terse legend,

"Erected by the World's Columbian Exposition, A. D. 1893," stands the

noble figure of the Noah of our nation. The open doublet discloses the

massive proportions of a more than well-knit man. The left hand, pressed

to the bosom, indicates the tension of his feelings, and the

outstretched hand but further intensifies the dawning and gradually

o'erwhelming sense of the future, the possibilities of his grand

discovery. One of the noblest conceptions in bronze upon this continent

is Mr. Howard Kretschmar's "Columbus," and of it may Chicago well be

proud.

COLUMBUS THE CIVILIZER.

ALPHONSE LAMARTINE, the learned French writer and politician. Born

at Macon, 1792; died, 1869. From "Life of Columbus."

All the characteristics of a truly great man are united in Columbus.

Genius, labor, patience, obscurity of origin, overcome by energy of

will; mild but persisting firmness, resignation toward heaven, struggle

against the world; long conception of the idea in solitude, heroic

execution of it in action; intrepidity and coolness in storms,

fearlessness of death in civil strife; confidence in the destiny--not of

an individual, but of the human race; a life risked without hesitation

or retrospect in venturing into the unknown and phantom-peopled ocean,

1,500 leagues across, and on which the first step no more allowed of

second thoughts than Caesar's passage of the Rubicon; untiring study,

knowledge as extensive as the science of his day, skillful but honorable

management of courts to persuade them to truth; propriety of demeanor,

nobleness, and dignity in outward bearing, which afford proof of

greatness of mind and attracts eyes and hearts; language adapted to the

grandeur of his thoughts; eloquence which could convince kings and quell

the mutiny of crews; a natural poetry of style, which placed his

narrative on a par with the wonders of his discoveries and the marvels

of nature; an immense, ardent, and enduring love for the human race,

piercing even into that distant future in which humanity forgets those

that do it service; legislative wisdom and philosophic mildness in the

government of his colonies; paternal compassion for those Indians,

infants of humanity, whom he wished to give over to the

guardianship--not to the tyranny and oppression--of the Old World;

forgetfulness of injury and magnanimous forgiveness of his enemies; and

lastly, piety, that virtue which includes and exalts all other virtues,

when it exists as it did in the mind of Columbus--the constant presence

of God in the soul, of justice in the conscience, of mercy in the heart,

of gratitude in success, of resignation in reverses, of worship always

and everywhere.

Such was the man. We know of none more perfect. He contains several

impersonations within himself. He was worthy to represent the ancient

world before that unknown continent on which he was the first to set

foot, and carry to these men of a new race all the virtues, without any

of the vices, of the elder hemisphere. So great was his influence on the

destiny of the earth, that none more than he ever deserved the name of a

_Civilizer_.

His influence in civilization was immeasurable. He completed the world.

He realized the physical unity of the globe. He advanced, far beyond all

that had been done before his time, the work of God--the SPIRITUAL UNITY

OF THE HUMAN RACE. This work, in which Columbus had so largely assisted,

was indeed too great to be worthily rewarded even by affixing his name

to the fourth continent. America bears not that name, but the human

race, drawn together and cemented by him, will spread his renown over

the whole earth.

THE PSALM OF THE WEST.

SIDNEY LANIER, an American poet of considerable talent. Born at

Macon, Ga., February 3, 1842; died at Lynn, N. C., September 8,

1881. From his "Psalm of the West."[45] Lanier was the author of

the "Centennial Ode."

Santa Maria, well thou tremblest down the wave,

Thy Pinta far abow, thy Nina nigh astern;

Columbus stands in the night alone, and, passing grave,

Yearns o'er the sea as tones o'er under-silence yearn.

Heartens his heart as friend befriends his friend less brave,

Makes burn the faiths that cool, and cools the doubts that burn.

"'Twixt this and dawn, three hours my soul will smite

With prickly seconds, or less tolerably

With dull-blade minutes flatwise slapping me.

Wait, heart! Time moves. Thou lithe young Western Night,

Just-crowned King, slow riding to thy right,

Would God that I might straddle mutiny

Calm as thou sitt'st yon never-managed sea,

Balk'st with his balking, fliest with his flight,

Giv'st supple to his rearings and his falls,

Nor dropp'st one coronal star about thy brow,

Whilst ever dayward thou art steadfast drawn

Yea, would I rode these mad contentious brawls,

No damage taking from their If and How,

Nor no result save galloping to my Dawn.

"My Dawn? my Dawn? How if it never break?

How if this West by other Wests is pierced.

And these by vacant Wests and Wests increased--

One pain of space, with hollow ache on ache,

Throbbing and ceasing not for Christ's own sake?

Big, perilous theorem, hard for king and priest;

'Pursue the West but long enough, 'tis East!'

Oh, if this watery world no turning take;

Oh, if for all my logic, all my dreams,

Provings of that which is by that which seems,

Fears, hopes, chills, heats, hastes, patiences, droughts, tears,

Wife-grievings, slights on love, embezzled years,

Hates, treaties, scorns, upliftings, loss, and gain,

This earth, no sphere, be all one sickening plain.

"Or, haply, how if this contrarious West,

That me by turns hath starved, by turns hath fed,

Embraced, disgraced, beat back, solicited,

Have no fixed heart of law within his breast;

Or with some different rhythm doth e'er contest,

Nature in the East? Why, 'tis but three weeks fled

I saw my Judas needle shake his head

And flout the Pole that, East, he lord confessed!

God! if this West should own some other Pole,

And with his tangled ways perplex my soul

Until the maze grow mortal, and I die

Where distraught Nature clean hath gone astray,

On earth some other wit than Time's at play,

Some other God than mine above the sky!

"Now speaks mine other heart with cheerier seeming;

'Ho, Admiral! o'er-defalking to thine crew

Against thyself, thyself far overfew

To front yon multitudes of rebel scheming?'

Come, ye wild twenty years of heavenly dreaming!

Come, ye wild weeks, since first this canvas drew

Out of vexed Palos ere the dawn was blue,

O'er milky waves about the bows full-creaming!

Come, set me round with many faithful spears

Of confident remembrance--how I crushed

Cat-lived rebellions, pitfalled treasons, hushed

Scared husbands' heart-break cries on distant wives,

Made cowards blush at whining for their lives;

Watered my parching souls and dried their tears.

"Ere we Gomera cleared, a coward cried:

'Turn, turn; here be three caravels ahead,

From Portugal, to take us; we are dead!'

'Hold westward, pilot,' calmly I replied.

So when the last land down the horizon died,

'Go back, go back,' they prayed, 'our hearts are lead.'

'Friends, we are bound into the West,' I said.

Then passed the wreck of a mast upon our side.

'See (so they wept) God's warning! Admiral, turn!'

'Steersman,' I said, 'hold straight into the West.'

Then down the night we saw the meteor burn.

So do the very heavens in fire protest.

'Good Admiral, put about! O Spain, dear Spain!'

'Hold straight into the West,' I said again.

"Next drive we o'er the slimy-weeded sea,

'Lo! here beneath,' another coward cries,

'The cursed land of sunk Atlantis lies;

This slime will suck us down--turn while thou'rt free!'

'But no!' I said, 'freedom bears West for me!'

Yet when the long-time stagnant winds arise,

And day by day the keel to westward flies,

My Good my people's Ill doth come to be;

Ever the winds into the west do blow;

Never a ship, once turned, might homeward go;

Meanwhile we speed into the lonesome main.

'For Christ's sake, parley, Admiral! Turn, before

We sail outside all bounds of help from pain.'

'Our help is in the West,' I said once more.

"So when there came a mighty cry of Land!

And we clomb up and saw, and shouted strong

'_Salve Regina!_' all the ropes along,

But knew at morn how that a counterfeit band

Of level clouds had aped a silver strand;

So when we heard the orchard-bird's small song,

And all the people cried, 'A hellish throng

To tempt us onward, by the Devil planned,

Yea, all from hell--keen heron, fresh green weeds,

Pelican, tunny-fish, fair tapering reeds,

Lie-telling lands that ever shine and die

In clouds of nothing round the empty sky.

'Tired Admiral, get thee from this hell, and rest!'

'Steersman,' I said, 'hold straight into the West.'

* * * * *

"I marvel how mine eye, ranging the Night,

From its big circling ever absently

Returns, thou large, low star, to fix on thee.

Maria! Star? No star; a Light, a Light!

Wouldst leap ashore, Heart? Yonder burns a Light!

'Pedro Gutierrez, wake! come up to me.

I prithee stand and gaze about the sea;

What seest?' 'Admiral, like as land--a Light!'

'Well, Sanchez of Segovia come and try;

What seest?' 'Admiral, naught but sea and sky!'

'Well, but I saw it. Wait, the Pinta's gun!

Why, look! 'tis dawn! the land is clear; 'tis done!

Two dawns do break at once from Time's full hand--

God's East--mine, West! Good friends, behold my Land!'"

PASSION FOR GOLD.

EUGENE LAWRENCE, an American historical writer. Born in New York,

1823. From "The Mystery of Columbus," in _Harper's Magazine_, May,

1892.[46]

In Columbus the passion for gold raged with a violence seldom known. He

dreamed of golden palaces, heaps of treasure, and mines teeming with

endless wealth. His cry was everywhere for gold. Every moment, in his

fierce avarice, he would fancy himself on the brink of boundless

opulence; he was always about to seize the treasures of the East,

painted by Marco Polo and Mandeville. "Gold," he wrote to the King and

Queen, "is the most valuable thing in the world; it rescues souls from

purgatory and restores them to the joys of paradise."

[Illustration: STATUE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS IN THE MARINOL (MINISTRY

OF THE COLONIES), MADRID, SPAIN. Sculptor, Senor J. Samartin.]

THE TRIBUTE AND TESTIMONY OF THE POPE.

POPE LEO XIII., the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

From a letter in Chicago _Inter Ocean_, 1892.

While we see on all sides the preparations that are eagerly being made

for the celebration of the Columbian quadri-centenary feasts in memory

of a man most illustrious, and deserving of Christianity and all

cultured humanity, we hear with great pleasure that the United States

has, among other nations, entered this competition of praise in such a

manner as befits both the vastness and richness of the country and the

memory of the man so great as he to whom these honors are being shown.

The success of this effort will surely be another proof of the great

spirit and active energy of this people, who undertake enormous and

difficult tasks with such great and happy dealing. It is a testimony of

honor and gratitude to that immortal man of whom we have spoken, who,

desirous of finding a road by which the light and truth and all the

adornments of civil culture might be carried to the most distant parts

of the world, could neither be deterred by dangers nor wearied by

labors, until, having in a certain manner renewed the bonds between two

parts of the human race so long separated, he bestowed upon both such

great benefits that he in justice must be said to have few equals or a

superior.

COLUMBUS THE GLORY OF CATHOLICISM.

The Pope held a reception at the Vatican on the occasion of the festival

of his patron saint, St. Joachim. In an address he referred to Columbus

as the glory of Catholicism, and thanked the donors of the new Church of

St. Joachim for commemorating his jubilee.

THE POPE REVIEWS THE LIFE OF THE DISCOVERER.

The following is the text of the letter addressed by Leo XIII. to

the archbishops and bishops of Spain, Italy, and the two Americas

on the subject of Christopher Columbus.

LETTER OF OUR VERY HOLY FATHER, LEO XIII., POPE BY DIVINE

PROVIDENCE, TO THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF SPAIN, ITALY, AND OF

THE TWO AMERICAS, UPON CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.

_To the Archbishops and Bishops of Spain and Italy, and of the two

Americas. Leo XIII., Pope._

VENERABLE BROTHERS, GREETING AND APOSTOLIC BENEDICTION: From the

end of the fifteenth century, since a man from Liguria first

landed, under the auspices of God, on the transatlantic shores,

humanity has been strongly inclined to celebrate with gratitude the

recollection of this event. It would certainly not be an easy

matter to find a more worthy cause to touch their hearts and to

inflame their zeal. The event, in effect, is such in itself that no

other epoch has seen a grander and more beautiful one accomplished

by man.

As to who accomplished it, there are few who can be compared to him

in greatness of soul and genius. By his work a new world flashed

forth from the unexplored ocean, thousands upon thousands of

mortals were returned to the common society of the human race, led

from their barbarous life to peacefulness and civilization, and,

which is of much more importance, recalled from perdition to

eternal life by the bestowal of the gifts which Jesus Christ

brought to the world.

Europe, astonished alike by the novelty and the prodigiousness of

this unexpected event, understood little by little, in due course

of time, what she owed to Columbus, when, by sending colonies to

America, by frequent communications, by exchange of services, by

the resources confided to the sea and received in return, there was

discovered an accession of the most favorable nature possible to

the knowledge of nature, to the reciprocal abundance of riches,

with the result that the prestige of Europe increased enormously.

Therefore, it would not be fitting, amid these numerous

testimonials on honor, and in these concerts of felicitations, that

the Church should maintain complete silence, since, in accordance

with her character and her institution, she willingly approves and

endeavors to favor all that appears, wherever it is, to be worthy

of honor and praise. Undoubtedly she receives particular and

supreme honors to the virtues pre-eminent in regard to morality,

inasmuch as they are united to the eternal salvation of souls;

nevertheless, she does not despise the rest, neither does she

abstain from esteeming them as they deserve; it is even her habit

to favor with all her power and to always have in honor those who

have well merited of human society and who have passed to

posterity.

Certainly, God is admirable in His saints, but the vestiges of His

divine virtues appear as imprinted in those in whom shines a

superior force of soul and mind, for this elevation of heart and

this spark of genius could only come from God, their author and

protector.

It is in addition an entirely special reason for which we believe

we should commemorate in a grateful spirit this immortal event. It

is that Columbus is one of us. When one considers with what motive

above all he undertook the plan of exploring the dark sea, and with

what object he endeavored to realize this plan, one can not doubt

that the Catholic faith superlatively inspired the enterprise and

its execution, so that by this title, also, humanity is not a

little indebted to the Church.

There are without doubt many men of hardihood and full of

experience who, before Christopher Columbus and after him, explored

with persevering efforts unknown lands across seas still more

unknown. Their memory is celebrated, and will be so by the renown

and the recollection of their good deeds, seeing that they have

extended the frontiers of science and of civilization, and that not

at the price of slight efforts, but with an exalted ardor of

spirit, and often through extreme perils. It is not the less true

that there is a great difference between them and him of whom we

speak.

The eminently distinctive point in Columbus is, that in crossing

the immense expanses of the ocean he followed an object more grand

and more elevated than the others. This does not say, doubtless,

that he was not in any way influenced by the very praiseworthy

desire to be master of science, to well deserve the approval of

society, or that he despised the glory whose stimulant is

ordinarily more sensitive to elevated minds, or that he was not at

all looking to his own personal interests. But above all these

human reasons, that of religion was uppermost by a great deal in

him, and it was this, without any doubt, which sustained his spirit

and his will, and which frequently, in the midst of extreme

difficulties, filled him with consolation. He learned in reality

that his plan, his resolution profoundly carved in his heart, was

to open access to the gospel in new lands and in new seas.

This may seem hardly probable to those who, concentrating all their

care, all their thoughts, in the present nature of things, as it is

perceived by the senses, refuse to look upon greater benefits. But,

on the other hand, it is the characteristic of eminent minds to

prefer to elevate themselves higher, for they are better disposed

than all others to seize the impulses and the inspirations of the

divine faith. Certainly, Columbus had united the study of nature to

the study of religion, and he had conformed his mind to the

precepts intimately drawn from the Catholic faith.

It is thus that, having learned by astronomy and ancient documents

that beyond the limits of the known world there were, in addition,

toward the west, large tracts of territory unexplored up to that

time by anybody, he considered in his mind the immense multitude of

those who were plunged in lamentable darkness, subject to insensate

rites and to the superstitions of senseless divinities. He

considered that they miserably led a savage life, with ferocious

customs; that, more miserably still, they were wanting in all

notion of the most important things, and that they were plunged in

ignorance of the only true God.

Thus, in considering this in himself, he aimed first of all to

propagate the name of Christianity and the benefits of Christian

charity in the West. As a fact, as soon as he presented himself to

the sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, he explained the

cause for which they were not to fear taking a warm interest in the

enterprise, as their glory would increase to the point of becoming

immortal if they decided to carry the name and the doctrine of

Jesus Christ into such distant regions. And when, not long

afterward, his prayers were granted, he called to witness that he

wished to obtain from God that these sovereigns, sustained by His

help and His mercy, should persevere in causing the gospel to

penetrate upon new shores and in new lands.

He conceived in the same manner the plan of asking Alexander VI.

for apostolic men, by a letter in which these words are found: "I

hope that it will some day be given to me with the help of God to

propagate afar the very holy name of Jesus Christ and his gospel."

Also can one imagine him all filled with joy when he wrote to

Raphael Sanchez, the first who from the Indies had returned to

Lisbon, that immortal actions of grace must be rendered to God in

that he had deigned to cause to prosper the enterprise so well, and

that Jesus Christ could rejoice and triumph upon earth and in

heaven for the coming salvation of innumerable people who

previously had been going to their ruin. That, if Columbus also

asks of Ferdinand and Isabella to permit only Catholic Christians

to go to the New World, there to accelerate trade with the natives,

he supports this motive by the fact that by his enterprise and

efforts he has not sought for anything else than the glory and the

development of the Christian religion.

This was what was perfectly known to Isabella, who, better than any

other person, had penetrated the mind of such a great man; much

more, it appears that this same plan was fully adopted by this very

pious woman of great heart and manly mind. She bore witness, in

effect, of Columbus, that in courageously giving himself up to the

vast ocean, he realized, for the divine glory, a most signal

enterprise; and to Columbus himself, when he had happily returned,

she wrote that she esteemed as having been highly employed the

resources which she had consecrated and which she would still

consecrate to the expeditions in the Indies, in view of the fact

that the propagation of Catholicism would result from them.

Also, if he had not inspired himself from a cause superior to human

interests, where then would he have drawn the constancy and the

strength of soul to support what he was obliged to the end to

endure and to submit to; that is to say, the unpropitious advice of

the learned people, the repulses of princes, the tempests of the

furious ocean, the continual watches, during which he more than

once risked losing his sight.

To that add the combats sustained against the barbarians; the

infidelities of his friends, of his companions; the villainous

conspiracies, the perfidiousness of the envious, the calumnies of

the traducers, the chains with which, after all, though innocent,

he was loaded. It was inevitable that a man overwhelmed with a

burden of trials so great and so intense would have succumbed had

he not sustained himself by the consciousness of fulfilling a very

noble enterprise, which he conjectured would be glorious for the

Christian name and salutary for an infinite multitude.

And the enterprise so carried out is admirably illustrated by the

events of that time. In effect, Columbus discovered America at

about the period when a great tempest was going to unchain itself

against the Church. Inasmuch as it is permitted by the course of

events to appreciate the ways of divine Providence, it really seems

that the man for whom the Liguria honors herself was destined by

special plan of God to compensate Catholicism for the injury which

it was going to suffer in Europe.

To call the Indian race to Christianity, this was, without doubt,

the mission and the work of the Church in this mission. From the

beginning, she continued to fulfill it with an uninterrupted course

of charity, and she still continues it, having advanced herself

recently so far as the extremities of Patagonia.

Thus, when compelled by the Portuguese, by the Genoese, to leave

without having obtained any result, he went to Spain. He matured

the grand plan of the projected discovery in the midst of the walls

of a convent, with the knowledge of and with the advice of a monk

of the Order of St. Francis d'Assisi, after seven years had

revolved. When at last he goes to dare the ocean, he takes care

that the expedition shall comply with the acts of spiritual

expiation; he prays to the Queen of Heaven to assist the enterprise

and to direct its course, and before giving the order to make sail

he invokes the august divine Trinity. Then, once fairly at sea,

while the waters agitate themselves, while the crew murmurs, he

maintains, under God's care, a calm constancy of mind.

His plan manifests itself in the very names which he imposes on the

new islands, and each time that he is called upon to land upon one

of them he worships the Almighty God, and only takes possession of

it in the name of Jesus Christ. At whatever coast he approaches he

has nothing more as his first idea than the planting on the shore

of the sacred sign of the cross; and the divine name of the

Redeemer, which he had sung so frequently on the open sea to the

sound of the murmuring waves--he is the first to make it

reverberate in the new islands in the same way. When he institutes

the Spanish colony he causes it to be commenced by the construction

of a temple, where he first provides that the popular fetes shall

be celebrated by august ceremonies.

Here, then, is what Columbus aimed at and what he accomplished when

he went in search, over so great an expanse of sea and of land, of

regions up to that time unexplored and uncultivated, but whose

civilization, renown, and riches were to rapidly attain that

immense development which we see to-day.

In all this, the magnitude of the event, the efficacy and the

variety of the benefits which have resulted from it, tend assuredly

to celebrate he, who was the author of it, by a grateful

remembrance and by all sorts of testimonials of honor; but, in the

first place, we must recognize and venerate particularly the divine

project, to which the discoverer of the New World was subservient

and which he knowingly obeyed.

In order to celebrate worthily and in a manner suitable to the

truth of the facts the solemn anniversary of Columbus, the

sacredness of religion must be united to the splendor of the civil

pomp. This is why, as previously, at the first announcement of the

event, public actions of grace were rendered to the providence of

the immortal God, upon the example which the Supreme Pontiff gave;

the same also now, in celebrating the recollection of the

auspicious event, we esteem that we must do as much.

We decree to this effect, that the day of October 12th, or the

following Sunday, if the respective diocesan bishops judge it to be

opportune, that, after the office of the day, the solemn mass of

the very Holy Trinity shall be celebrated in the cathedral and

collegial churches of Spain, Italy, and the two Americas. In

addition to these countries, we hope that, upon the initiative of

the bishops, as much may be done in the others, for it is fitting

that all should concur in celebrating with piety and gratitude an

event which has been profitable to all.

In the meanwhile, as a pledge of the celestial favors and in

testimony of our fraternal good-will, we affectionately accord in

the Lord the Apostolic benediction to you, venerable brothers, to

your clergy, and to your people.

Given at Rome, near St. Peter's, July 16th of the year 1892, the

fifteenth of our Pontificate.

LEO XIII., _Pope_.

TO SPAIN.

CAPEL LOFFT.

O generous nation! to whose noble boast,

Illustrious Spain, the providence of Heaven

A radiant sky of vivid power hath given,

A land of flowers, of fruits, profuse; an host

Of ardent spirits; when deprest the most,

By great, enthusiastic impulse driven

To deeds of highest daring.

WRAPPED IN A VISION GLORIOUS.

The Rev. JOHN LORD, LL. D., a popular American lecturer and

Congregational minister. Born in Portsmouth, N. H., December 27,

1810.

Wrapped up in those glorious visions which come only to a man of

superlative genius, and which make him insensible to heat and cold and

scanty fare, even to reproach and scorn, this intrepid soul, inspired by

a great and original idea, wandered from city to city, and country to

country, and court to court, to present the certain greatness and wealth

of any state that would embark in his enterprise. But all were alike

cynical, cold, unbelieving, and even insulting. He opposes overwhelming

universal and overpowering ideas. To have surmounted these amid such

protracted opposition and discouragment constitutes his greatness; and

finally to prove his position by absolute experiment and hazardous

enterprise makes him one of the greatest of human benefactors, whose

fame will last through all the generations of men. And as I survey that

lonely, abstracted, disappointed, and derided man--poor and unimportant;

so harassed by debt that his creditors seized even his maps and charts;

obliged to fly from one country to another to escape imprisonment;

without even listeners and still less friends, and yet with

ever-increasing faith in his cause; utterly unconquerable; alone in

opposition to all the world--I think I see the most persistent man of

enterprise that I have read of in history. Critics ambitious to say

something new may rake out slanders from the archives of enemies and

discover faults which derogate from the character we have been taught to

admire and venerate; they may even point out spots, which we can not

disprove, in that sun of glorious brightness which shed its beneficent

rays over a century of darkness--but this we know, that whatever may be

the force of detraction, his fame has been steadily increasing, even on

the admission of his slanderers, for three centuries, and that he now

shines as a fixed star in the constellation of the great lights of

modern times, not only because he succeeded in crossing the ocean when

once embarked on it, but for surmounting the moral difficulties which

lay in his way before he could embark upon it, and for being finally

instrumental in conferring the greatest boon that our world has received

from any mortal man since Noah entered into the ark.

BY THE GRACE OF GOD HE WAS WHAT HE WAS.

ROSSELY DE LORGUES, a Catholic biographer.

Columbus did not owe his great celebrity to his genius or conscience,

but only to his vocation, to his faith, and to the Divine grace.

IN HONOR OF COLUMBUS.

Archbishop Janssens of New Orleans has issued a letter to his diocese

directing a general observance of the 400th anniversary of the discovery

of America. The opening paragraph reads:

"Christopher Columbus was a sincere and devout Catholic; his remarkable

voyage was made possible by the intercession of a holy monk and by the

patronage and liberality of the pious Queen Isabella. The cross of

Christ, the emblem of our holy religion, was planted on America's virgin

soil, and the _Te Deum_ and the holy mass were the first religious

services held on the same. It is, therefore, just and proper that this

great event and festival should be celebrated in a religious as well as

a civil manner."

The Pope having set the Julian date of October 12th for the celebration,

and the President October 21st, the archbishop directs that exercises be

held on both these days--the first of a religious character, the second

civic. October 12th a solemn votive mass will be sung in all the

churches of the diocese, with an exhortation, and October 21st in the

city of New Orleans the clergy will assemble at the archiepiscopal

residence early in the morning and march to the cathedral, where

services will be held at 7.30 o'clock. Sermons of ten minutes each are

to be preached in English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian.

THE IMPREGNABLE WILL OF COLUMBUS.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, an American poet. Born in Boston, 1819; died

in Cambridge, 1891. From "W. L. Garrison." Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,

Boston.

Such earnest natures are the fiery pith,

The compact nucleus, round which systems grow.

Mass after mass becomes inspired therewith,

And whirls impregnate with the central glow.

O Truth! O Freedom! how are ye still born

In the rude stable, in the manger nursed.

What humble hands unbar those gates of morn

Through which the splendors of the new day burst.

Whatever can be known of earth we know,

Sneered Europe's wise men, in their snail-shells curled;

No! said one man in Genoa, and that no

Out of the dark created this New World.

Men of a thousand shifts and wiles, look here;

See one straightforward conscience put in pawn

To win a world; see the obedient sphere

By bravery's simple gravitation drawn.

Shall we not heed the lesson taught of old,

And by the Present's lips repeated still,

In our own single manhood to be bold,

Fortressed in conscience and impregnable will?

COLUMBUS THE KING OF DISCOVERERS.

He in the palace-aisles of untrod woods

Doth walk a king; for him the pent-up cell

Widens beyond the circles of the stars,

And all the sceptered spirits of the past

Come thronging in to greet him as their peer;

While, like an heir new-crowned, his heart o'erleaps

The blazing steps of his ancestral throne.--_Ibid._

Columbus, seeking the back door of Asia, found himself knocking at the

front door of America.--_Ibid._

THE PATIENCE OF COLUMBUS.

From "Columbus," a poem by the same author. Published by Houghton,

Mifflin & Co.

Chances have laws as fixed as planets have;

And disappointment's dry and bitter root,

Envy's harsh berries, and the choking pool

Of the world's scorn are the right mother-milk

To the tough hearts that pioneer their kind,

And break a pathway to those unknown realms

That in the earth's broad shadow lie enthralled;

Endurance is the crowning quality,

And patience all the passion of great hearts;

These are their stay, and when the leaden world

Sets its hard face against their fateful thought,

And brute strength, like a scornful conqueror,

Clangs his huge mace down in the other scale,

The inspired soul but flings his patience in,

And slowly that outweighs the ponderous globe--

One faith against a whole world's unbelief,

One soul against the flesh of all mankind.

* * * * *

I know not when this hope enthralled me first,

But from my boyhood up I loved to hear

The tall pine forests of the Apennine

Murmur their hoary legends of the sea;

Which hearing, I in vision clear beheld

The sudden dark of tropic night shut down

O'er the huge whisper of great watery wastes.

* * * * *

I brooded on the wise Athenian's tale

Of happy Atlantis, and heard Bjoerne's keel

Crunch the gray pebbles of the Vinland shore.

Thus ever seems it when my soul can hear

The voice that errs not; then my triumph gleams,

O'er the blank ocean beckoning, and all night

My heart flies on before me as I sail;

Far on I see my life-long enterprise!

* * * * *

LYTTON (Lord). See _post_, "Schiller."

* * * * *

VESPUCCI AN ADVENTURER.

THOMAS BABINGTON, Baron MACAULAY, one of England's most celebrated

historians. Born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, October 25,

1800; died, December 28, 1859.

Vespucci, an adventurer who accidentally landed in a rich and unknown

island, and who, though he only set up an ill-shaped cross upon the

shore, acquired possession of its treasures and gave his name to a

continent which should have derived its appellation from Columbus.

COLUMBUS NEITHER A VISIONARY NOR AN IMBECILE.

CHARLES P. MACKIE, an American author. From his "With the Admiral

of the Ocean Sea." Published by Messrs. A. C. McClurg & Co.,

Chicago.

Whatever were his mistakes and shortcomings, Colon was neither a

visionary nor an imbecile. Had he been perfect in all things and wise to

the point of infallibility, we could not have claimed him as the

glorious credit he was to the common humanity to which we all belong.

His greatness was sufficient to cover with its mantle far more of the

weaknesses of frail mortality than he had to draw under its protection;

and it becomes us who attempt to analyze his life in these later days,

to bear in mind that, had his lot befallen ourselves, the natives of the

western world would still, beyond a peradventure, be wandering in

undraped peace through their tangled woods, and remain forever ignorant

of the art of eating meat. In his trials and distresses the Admiral

encountered only the portion of the sons of Adam; but to him was also

given, as to few before or since, to say with the nameless shepherd of

Tempe's classic vale, "I, too, have lived in Arcady."

Colon did not merely discover the New World. He spent seven years and

one month among the islands and on the coasts of the hemisphere now

called after the ship-chandler who helped to outfit his later

expeditions. For the greater part of that time he was under the constant

burden of knowing that venomous intrigue and misrepresentation were

doing their deadly work at home while he did what he believed was his

Heaven-imposed duty on this side the Atlantic.

THE COLUMBUS MONUMENT IN MADRID.

At the top of the Paseo de Recoletos is a monument to Columbus in the

debased Gothic style of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was unveiled in 1885.

The sides are ornamented with reliefs and the whole surmounted by a

white marble statue. Among the sculptures are a ship and a globe, with

the inscription:

_A Castilla y a Leon

Nuevo mundo dio Colon._

(_Translation._)

To Castille and Leon

Columbus gave a new world.

VISIT OF COLUMBUS TO ICELAND.

FINN MAGNUSEN, an Icelandic historian and antiquary. Born at

Skalholt, 1781; died, 1847.

The English trade with Iceland certainly merits the consideration of

historians, if it furnished Columbus with the opportunity of visiting

that island, there to be informed of the historical evidence respecting

the existence of important lands and a large continent in the west. If

Columbus should have acquired a knowledge of the accounts transmitted to

us of the discoveries of the Northmen in conversations held in Latin

with the Bishop of Skalholt and the learned men of Iceland, we may the

more readily conceive his firm belief in the possibility of

rediscovering a western continent, and his unwearied zeal in putting his

plans in execution. The discovery of America, so momentous in its

results, may therefore be regarded as the mediate consequence of its

previous discovery by the Scandinavians, which may be thus placed among

the most important events of former ages.

[Illustration: STATUE OF COLUMBUS, BY SENOR G. SUNOL, ON THE MONUMENT IN

THE PASEO DE RECOLETOS (DEVOTEES' PROMENADE), MADRID, SPAIN. Erected,

1885. (See page 208.)]

SYMPATHY FOR COLUMBUS.

RICHARD HENRY MAJOR, F. S. A., late keeper of the printed books in

the British Museum; a learned antiquary. Born in London, 1810; died

June 25, 1891.

It is impossible to read without the deepest sympathy the occasional

murmurings and half-suppressed complaints which are uttered in the

course of his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella describing his fourth

voyage. These murmurings and complaints were rung from his manly spirit

by sickness and sorrow, and though reduced almost to the brink of

despair by the injustice of the King, yet do we find nothing harsh or

disrespectful in his language to the sovereign. A curious contrast is

presented to us. The gift of a world could not move the monarch to

gratitude; the infliction of chains, as a recompense for that gift,

could not provoke the subject to disloyalty. The same great heart which

through more than twenty wearisome years of disappointment and chagrin

gave him strength to beg and buffet his way to glory, still taught him

to bear with majestic meekness the conversion of that glory into

unmerited shame.

* * * * *

We look back with astonishment and admiration at the stupendous

achievement effected a whole lifetime later by the immortal Columbus--an

achievement which formed the connecting link between the Old World and

the New; yet the explorations instituted by Prince Henry of Portugal

were in truth the anvil upon which that link was forged.

* * * * *

He arrived in a vessel as shattered as his own broken and careworn

frame.

COLUMBUS HEARD OF NORSE DISCOVERIES.

CONRAD MALTE-BRUN, a Danish author and geographer of great merit.

Born at Thister in Jutland, 1775; died, December, 1826.

Columbus, when in Italy, had heard of the Norse discoveries beyond

Iceland, for Rome was then the world's center, and all information of

importance was sent there.

COLUMBUS AND COPERNICUS.

HELEN P. MARGESSON, in an article entitled "Marco Polo's

Explorations, and their Influence upon Columbus" (being the Old

South First Prize Essay, 1891), published in the _New England

Magazine_, August, 1892.

Columbus performed his vast undertaking in an age of great deeds and

great men, when Ficino taught the philosophy of Plato, when Florence was

thrilled by the luring words and martyrdom of Savonarola, when Michael

Angelo wrought his everlasting marvels of art. While Columbus, in his

frail craft, was making his way to "worlds unknown, and isles beyond the

deep," on the shores of the Baltic a young novitiate, amid the rigors of

a monastic life, was tracing the course of the planets, and solving the

problem in which Virgil delighted[47]--problems which had baffled

Chaldean and Persian, Egyptian and Saracen. Columbus explained the

earth, Copernicus explained the heavens. Neither of the great

discoverers lived to see the result of his labors, for the Prussian

astronomer died on the day that his work was published. But the

centuries that have come and gone have only increased the fame of

Columbus and Copernicus, and proven the greatness of their genius.

COLUMBUS AND THE FOURTH CENTENARY OF HIS DISCOVERY.

Commander CLEMENTS ROBERT MARKHAM, R. N., C. B., F. R. S., a noted

explorer and talented English author. Midshipman in H. M. S.

Assistance in the Franklin Search Expedition, 1850-51. Born July

20, 1830, at Stillingfleet, near York. From a paper read before the

Royal Geographical Society of England, June 20, 1892.

In the present year the fourth centenary of the discovery of America by

Columbus will be celebrated with great enthusiasm in Spain, in Italy,

and in America. That discovery was, without any doubt, the most

momentous event since the fall of the Roman Empire in its effect on the

world's history. In its bearings on our science, the light thrown across

the sea of darkness by the great Genoese was nothing less than the

creation of modern geography. It seems fitting, therefore, that this

society should take some share in the commemoration, and that we should

devote one evening in this session to a consideration of some leading

points in the life of the foremost of all geographers. * * *

Much new light has been thrown upon the birth and early life of

Columbus, of late years, by the careful examination of monastic and

notarial records at Genoa and Savona. At Genoa the original documents

are still preserved. At Savona they no longer exist, and we are

dependent on copies made two centuries ago by Salinerius. But both the

Genoa and Savona records may be safely accepted, and we are thus

furnished with a new and more interesting view of the early life of

Columbus. Our thanks for this new light are mainly due to the laborious

and scholarly researches of the Marchese Marcello Staglieno of Genoa,

and to the work of Mr. Harrisse. We may take it as fully established

that the original home of Giovanni Colombo, the grandfather of the great

discoverer, was at Terrarossa, a small stone house, the massive walls

of which are still standing on a hillside forming the northern slope of

the beautiful valley of Fontanabuona. Here, no doubt, the father of

Columbus was born; but the family moved to Quinto-al-Mare, then a

fishing village about five miles east of Genoa. Next we find the father,

Domenico Colombo, owning a house at Quinto, but established at Genoa as

a wool weaver, with an apprentice. This was in 1439. A few years

afterward Domenico found a wife in the family of a silk weaver who lived

up a tributary valley of the Bisagno, within an easy walk of Genoa.

Quezzi is a little village high up on the west side of a ravine, with

slopes clothed to their summits in olive and chestnut foliage, whence

there is a glorious view of the east end of Genoa, including the church

of Carignano and the Mediterranean. On the opposite slope are the

scattered houses of the hamlet of Ginestrato. From this village of

Quezzi Domenico brought his wife, Susanna Fontanarossa, to Genoa, her

dowry consisting of a small property, a house or a field, at Ginestrato.

About the home of Domenico and his wife at Genoa during at least twenty

years there is absolute certainty. The old gate of San Andrea is still

standing, with its lofty arch across the street, and its high flanking

towers. A street with a rapid downward slope, called the Vico Dritto di

Ponticelli, leads from the gate of San Andrea to the Church of S.

Stefano; and the house of Domenico Colombo was in this street, a few

doors from the gate. It was the weavers' quarter, and S. Stefano was

their parish church, where they had a special altar. Domenico's house

had two stories besides the ground floor; and there was a back garden,

with a well between it and the city wall. It was battered down during

the bombardment of Genoa in the time of Louis XIV., was rebuilt with two

additional stories, and is now the property of the city of Genoa.

This was the house of the parents of Columbus, and at a solemn moment,

shortly before his death, Columbus stated that he was born in the city

of Genoa. No. 39 Vico Dritto di Ponticelli was therefore, in all

probability, the house where the great discoverer was born, and the old

Church of San Stefano, with its facade of alternate black and white

courses of marble, and its quaint old campanile, was the place of his

baptism. The date of his birth is fixed by three statements of his own,

and by a justifiable inference from the notarial records. He said that

he went to sea at the age of fourteen, and that when he came to Spain in

1485 he had led a sailor's life for twenty-three years. He was,

therefore, born in 1447. In 1501 he again said that it was forty years

since he first went to sea when he was fourteen; the same result--1447.

In 1503 he wrote that he first came to serve for the discovery of the

Indies--that is, that he left his home at the age of twenty-eight. This

was in 1474, and the result is again 1447. The supporting notarial

evidence is contained in two documents, in which the mother of Columbus

consented to the sale of property by her husband. For the first deed, in

May, 1471, the notary summoned her brothers to consent to the execution

of the deed, as the nearest relations of full age. The second deed is

witnessed by her son Cristoforo in August, 1473. He must have attained

the legal age of twenty-five in the interval. This again makes 1447 the

year of his birth.

The authorities who assign 1436 as the year of his birth rely

exclusively on the guess of a Spanish priest, Dr. Bernaldez, Cura of

Palacios, who made the great discoverer's acquaintance toward the end of

his career. Bernaldez, judging from his aged appearance, thought that he

might be seventy years of age, more or less, when he died. The use of

the phrase "more or less" proves that Bernaldez had no information from

Columbus himself, and that he merely guessed the years of the

prematurely aged hero. This is not evidence. The three different

statements of Columbus, supported by the corroborative testimony of the

deeds of sale, form positive evidence, and fix the date of the birth at

1447.

We know the place and date of the great discoverer's birth, thanks to

the researches of the Marchese Staglieno. The notarial records, combined

with incidental statements of Columbus himself, also tell us that he was

brought up, with his brothers and sister, in the Vico Dritto at Genoa;

that he worked at his father's trade and became a "lanerio," or wool

weaver; that he moved with his father and mother to Savona in 1472; and

that the last document connecting Cristoforo Colombo with Italy is dated

on August 7, 1473. After that date--doubtless very soon after that date,

when he is described as a wool weaver of Genoa--Columbus went to

Portugal, at the age of twenty-eight. But we also know that, in spite of

his regular business as a weaver, he first went to sea in 1461, at the

age of fourteen, and that he continued to make frequent voyages in the

Mediterranean and the Archipelago--certainly as far as Chios--although

his regular trade was that of a weaver.

This is not a mere question of places and dates. These facts enable us

to form an idea of the circumstances surrounding the youth and early

manhood of the future discoverer, of his training, of the fuel which

lighted the fire of his genius, and of the difficulties which surrounded

him. Moreover, a knowledge of the real facts serves to clear away all

the misleading fables about student life at Pavia, about service with

imaginary uncles who were corsairs or admirals, and about galleys

commanded for King Rene. Some of these fables are due to the mistaken

piety of the great discoverer's son Hernando, and to others, who seem

to have thought that they were doing honor to the memory of the Admiral

by surrounding his youth with romantic stories. But the simple truth is

far more honorable, and, indeed, far more romantic. It shows us the

young weaver loving his home and serving his parents with filial

devotion, but at the same time preparing, with zeal and industry, to

become an expert in the profession for which he was best fitted, and

even in his earliest youth making ready to fulfill his high destiny.

I believe that Columbus had conceived the idea of sailing westward to

the Indies even before he left his home at Savona. My reason is, that

his correspondence with Toscanelli on the subject took place in the very

year of his arrival in Portugal. That fact alone involves the position

that the young weaver had not only become a practical seaman--well

versed in all the astronomical knowledge necessary for his profession--a

cosmographer, and a draughtsman, but also that he had carefully digested

what he had learned, and had formed original conceptions. It seems

wonderful that a humble weaver's apprentice could have done all this in

the intervals of his regular work. Assuredly it is most wonderful; but I

submit that his correspondence with Toscanelli in 1474 proves it to be a

fact. We know that there were the means of acquiring such knowledge at

Genoa in those days; that city was indeed the center of the nautical

science of the day. Benincasa, whose beautiful _Portolani_ may still be

seen at the British Museum, and in other collections, was in the height

of his fame as a draughtsman at Genoa during the youth of Columbus; so

was Pareto. In the workrooms of these famous cartographers the young

aspirant would see the most accurate charts that could then be produced,

very beautifully executed; and his imagination would be excited by the

appearance of all the fabulous islands on the verge of the unknown

ocean.

When the time arrived for Columbus to leave his home, he naturally chose

Lisbon as the point from whence he could best enlarge his experience and

mature his plans. Ever since he could remember he had seen the

inscriptions respecting members of the Pasagni family, as we may see

them now, carved on the white courses of the west front of San Stefano,

his parish church. These Genoese Pasagni had been hereditary Admirals of

Portugal; they had brought many Genoese seamen to Lisbon; the Cross of

St. George marked their exploits on the _Portolani_, and Portugal was

thus closely connected with the tradition of Genoese enterprise. So it

was to Lisbon that Columbus and his brother made their way, and it was

during the ten years of his connection with Portugal that his

cosmographical studies, and his ocean voyages from the equator to the

arctic circle, _combined with his genius to make Columbus the greatest

seaman of his age_.

Capt. Duro, of the Spanish navy, has investigated all questions relating

to the ships of the Columbian period and their equipment with great

care; and the learning he has brought to bear on the subject has

produced very interesting results. The two small caravels provided for

the voyage of Columbus by the town of Palos were only partially decked.

The Pinta was strongly built, and was originally lateen-rigged on all

three masts, and she was the fastest sailer in the expedition; but she

was only fifty tons burden, with a complement of eighteen men. The Nina,

so-called after the Nino family of Palos, who owned her, was still

smaller, being only forty tons. These two vessels were commanded by the

Pinzons, and entirely manned by natives of the province of Huelva. The

third vessel was much larger, and did not belong to Palos. She was

called a "nao," or ship, and was of about one hundred tons burden,

completely decked, with a high poop and forecastle. Her length has been

variously estimated. Two of her masts had square sails, the mizzen being

lateen-rigged. The foremast had a square foresail, the mainmast a

mainsail and maintopsail, and there was a spritsail on the bowsprit. The

courses were enlarged, in fair weather, by lacing strips of canvas to

their leeches, called _bonetas_. There appear to have been two boats,

one with a sail, and the ship was armed with lombards. The rigs of these

vessels were admirably adapted for their purpose. The large courses of

the caravels enabled their commanders to lay their courses nearer to the

wind than any clipper ship of modern times. The crew of the ship Santa

Maria numbered fifty-two men all told, including the Admiral. She was

owned by the renowned pilot Juan de la Cosa of Santona, who sailed with

Columbus on both his first and second voyages, and was the best

draughtsman in Spain. Mr. Harrisse, and even earlier writers, such as

Vianello, call him a Basque pilot, apparently because he came from the

north of Spain; but Santona, his birthplace, although on the coast of

the Bay of Biscay, is not in the Basque provinces; and if Juan de la

Cosa was a native of Santona he was not a Basque. While the crews of the

two caravels all came from Palos or its neighborhood, the men of the

Santa Maria were recruited from all parts of Spain, two from Santona

besides Juan de la Cosa, which was natural enough, and several others

from northern ports, likewise attracted, in all probability, by the fame

of the Santona pilot. Among these it is very interesting to find an

Englishman, who came from the little town of Lajes, near Coruna.

Our countryman is called in the list, "Tallarte de Lajes" (Ingles). It

is not unlikely that an English sailor, making voyages from Bristol or

from one of the Cinque Ports to Coruna, may have married and settled at

Lajes. But what can we make of "Tallarte"? Spaniards would be likely

enough to prefix a "T" to any English name beginning with a vowel, and

they would be pretty sure to give the word a vowel termination. So,

getting rid of these initial and terminal superfluities, there remains

Allart, or Alard. This was a famous name among the sailors of the Cinque

Ports. Gervaise Alard of Winchelsea in 1306 was the first English

admiral; and there were Alards of Winchelsea for several generations,

who were renowned as expert and daring sailors. One of them, I believe,

sailed with Columbus on his first voyage, and perished at Navidad.

Columbus took with him the map furnished by Toscanelli. It is

unfortunately lost. But the globe of Martin Behaim, drawn in 1492--the

very year of the sailing of Columbus--shows the state of knowledge on

the eve of the discovery of America. The lost map of Toscanelli must

have been very like it, with its islands in mid-Atlantic, and its

archipelago grouped round Cipango, near the coast of Cathay. This globe

deserves close attention, for its details must be impressed on the minds

of all who would understand what were the ideas and hopes of Columbus

when he sailed from Palos.

Friday, August 3, 1492, when the three little vessels sailed over the

bar of Saltes, was a memorable day in the world's history. It had been

prepared for by many years of study and labor, by long years of

disappointment and anxiety, rewarded at length by success. The proof was

to be made at last. To the incidents of that famous voyage nothing can

be added. But we may, at least, settle the long-disputed question of the

landfall of Columbus. It is certainly an important question. There are

the materials for a final decision, and we ought to know for certain on

what spot of land it was that the Admiral knelt when he sprang from the

boat on that famous 12th of October, 1492.

The learned have disputed over the matter for a century, and no less

than five islands of the Bahama group have had their advocates. This is

not the fault of Columbus, albeit we only have an abstract of his

journal. The island is there fully and clearly described, and courses

and distances are given thence to Cuba, which furnish data for fixing

the landfall with precision. Here it is not a case for the learning and

erudition of Navarretes, Humboldts, and Varnhagens. It is a sailor's

question. If the materials from the journal were placed in the hands of

any midshipman in her Majesty's navy, he would put his finger on the

true landfall within half an hour. When sailors took the matter in hand,

such as Admiral Becher, of the Hydrographic Office, and Lieut. Murdoch,

of the United States navy, they did so.

Our lamented associate, Mr. R. H. Major, read a paper on this

interesting subject on May 8, 1871, in which he proved that Watling's

Island was the Guanahani, or San Salvador, of Columbus. He did so by two

lines of argument--the first being the exact agreement between the

description of Guanahani, in the journal of Columbus, and Watling's

Island, a description which can not be referred to any other island in

the Bahama group; and the second being a comparison of the maps of Juan

de la Cosa and of Herrera with modern charts. He showed that out of

twenty-four islands on the Herrera map of 1600, ten retain the same

names as they then had, thus affording stations for comparison; and the

relative bearings of these ten islands lead us to the accurate

identification of the rest. The shapes are not correct, but the relative

bearings are, and the Guanahani of the Herrera map is thus identified

with the present Watling's Island. Mr. Major, by careful and minute

attention to the words of the journal of Columbus, also established the

exact position of the first anchorage as having been a little to the

west of the southeast point of Watling's Island.

I can not leave the subject of Mr. Major's admirable paper without

expressing my sense of the loss sustained by comparative geography when

his well-known face, so genial and sympathetic, disappeared from among

us. The biographer of Prince Henry the Navigator, Major did more than

any other Englishman of this century to bring the authentic history of

Columbus within the reach of his countrymen. His translations of the

letters of the illustrious Genoese, and the excellent critical essay

which preceded them, are indispensable to every English student of the

history of geographical discovery who is not familiar with the Spanish

language, and most useful even to Spanish scholars. His knowledge of the

history of cartography, his extensive and accurate scholarship, and his

readiness to impart his knowledge to others, made him a most valuable

member of the council of this society, and one whose place is not easy

to fill; while there are not a few among the Fellows who, like myself,

sincerely mourn the loss of a true and warmhearted friend.

When we warmly applauded the close reasoning and the unassailable

conclusions of Major's paper, we supposed that the question was at

length settled; but as time went on, arguments in favor of other islands

continued to appear, and an American in a high official position even

started a new island, contending that Samana was the landfall. But Fox's

Samana and Varnhagen's Mayaguana must be ruled out of court without

further discussion, for they both occur on the maps of Juan de la Cosa

and Herrera, on which Guanahani also appears. It is obvious that they

can not be Guanahani and themselves at the same time; and it is perhaps

needless to add that they do not answer to the description of Guanahani

by Columbus, and meet none of the other requirements.

On this occasion it may be well to identify the landfall by another

method, and thus furnish some further strength to the arguments which

ought to put an end to the controversy. Major established the landfall

by showing the identity between the Guanahani of Columbus and Watling's

Island, and by the evidence of early maps. There is still another

method, which was adopted by Lieut. Murdoch, of the United States navy,

in his very able paper. Columbus left Guanahani and sailed to his second

island, which he called Santa Maria de la Concepcion; and he gives the

bearing and distance. He gives the bearing and distance from this second

island to the north end of a third, which he called Fernandina. He gives

the length of Fernandina. He gives the bearing and distance from the

south end of Fernandina to a fourth island named Isabella, from Isabella

to some rocks called Islas de Arena, and from Islas de Arena to Cuba.

It is obvious that if we trace these bearings and distances backward

from Cuba, they will bring us to an island which must necessarily be the

Guanahani, or San Salvador, of Columbus. This is the sailor's method: On

October 27th, when Columbus sighted Cuba at a distance of 20 miles, the

bearing of his anchorage at sunrise of the same day, off the Islas de

Arena, was N. E. 58 miles, and from the point reached in Cuba it was N.

E. 75 miles. The Ragged Islands are 75 miles from Cuba, therefore the

Islas de Arena of Columbus are identified with the Ragged Islands of

modern charts. The Islas de Arena were sighted when Columbus was 56

miles from the south end of Fernandina, and E.N.E. from Isabella. These

bearings show that Fernandina was Long Island, and that Isabella was

Crooked Island, of modern charts. Fernandina was 20 leagues long N. N.

W. and S. S. E.; Long Island is 20 leagues long N. N. W. and S. S. E.

Santa Maria de la Concepcion was several miles east of the north end of

Fernandina, but in sight. Rum Cay is several miles east of the north

end of Long Island, but in sight. Rum Cay is, therefore, the Santa Maria

of Columbus. San Salvador, or Guanahani, was 21 miles N. W. from Santa

Maria de la Concepcion. Watling's Island is 21 miles N. W. from Rum Cay;

Watling's Island is, therefore, proved to be the San Salvador, or

Guanahani, of Columbus.

The spot where Columbus first landed in the New World is the eastern end

of the south side of Watling's Island. This has been established by the

arguments of Major, and by the calculations of Murdoch, beyond all

controversy. The evidence is overwhelming. Watling's Island answers to

every requirement and every test, whether based on the Admiral's

description of the island itself, on the courses and distances thence to

Cuba, or on the evidence of early maps. We have thus reached a final and

satisfactory conclusion, and we can look back on that momentous event in

the world's history with the certainty that we know the exact spot on

which it occurred--on which Columbus touched the land when he sprang

from his boat with the standard waving over his head.[48]

The discoveries of Columbus during his first voyage, as recorded in his

journal, included part of the north coast of Cuba, and the whole of the

north coast of Espanola. The journal shows the care with which the

navigation was conducted, how observations for latitude were taken, how

the coasts were laid down--every promontory and bay receiving a

name--and with what diligence each new feature of the land and its

inhabitants was examined and recorded. The genius of Columbus would not

have been of the same service to mankind if it had not been combined

with great capacity for taking trouble, and with habits of order and

accuracy. In considering the qualities of the great Genoese as a seaman

and an explorer, we can not fail to be impressed with this accuracy, the

result of incessant watchfulness and of orderly habits. Yet it is his

accuracy which has been called in question by some modern writers, on

the ground of passages in his letters which they have misinterpreted, or

failed to understand. In every instance the blunder has not been

committed by Columbus, but by his critics.

The Admiral's letters do not show him to be either careless or

inaccurate. On the contrary, they bear witness to his watchfulness, to

his methodical habits, and to his attention to details; although at the

same time they are full of speculations, and of the thoughts which

followed each other so rapidly in his imaginative brain. It was, indeed,

the combination of these two qualities, of practical and methodical

habits of thought with a vivid imagination, which constituted his

genius--a combination as rare as it is valuable. It created the thoughts

which conceived the great discovery, as well as the skill and ability

which achieved it.

Unfortunately, the journals and charts of Columbus are lost. But we have

the full abstract of the journal of his first voyage, made by Las Casas,

we have his letters and dispatches, and we have the map of his

discoveries, except those made during his last voyage, drawn by his own

pilot and draughtsman, Juan de la Cosa. We are thus able to obtain a

sufficient insight into the system on which his exploring voyages were

conducted, and into the sequence in which his discoveries followed each

other. This is the point of view from which the labors of the Admiral

are most interesting to geographers. The deficient means at the disposal

of a navigator in the end of the fifteenth century increase the

necessity for a long apprenticeship. It is much easier to become a

navigator with the aid of modern instruments constructed with extreme

accuracy, and with tables of logarithms, nautical almanacs, and

admiralty charts. With ruder appliances Columbus and his contemporaries

had to trust far more to their own personal skill and watchfulness, and

to ways of handling and using such instruments as they possessed, which

could only be acquired by constant practice and the experience of a

lifetime. _Even then, an insight and ability which few men possess were

required to make such a navigator as Columbus._

[Illustration: MAP OF ANTONIO DE HERRERA, THE HISTORIAN OF COLUMBUS.

(See page 220.)]

The first necessity for a pilot who conducts a ship across the ocean,

when he is for many days out of sight of land, is the means of checking

his dead reckoning by observations of the heavenly bodies. But in the

days of Columbus such appliances were very defective, and, at times,

altogether useless. There was an astrolabe adapted for use at sea by

Martin Behaim, but it was very difficult to get a decent sight with it,

and Vasco da Gama actually went on shore and rigged a triangle when he

wanted to observe for latitude. If this was necessary, the instrument

was useless as a guide across the pathless ocean. Columbus, of

course, used it, but he seems to have relied more upon the old

quadrant which he had used for long years before Behaim invented his

adaption of the astrolabe. It was this instrument, the value of which

received such warm testimony from Diogo Gomez, one of Prince Henry's

navigators; and it was larger and easier to handle than the astrolabe.

But the difficulty, as regards both these instruments,[49] was the

necessity for keeping them perpendicular to the horizon when the

observation is taken, in one case by means of a ring working freely, and

in the other by a plummet line. The instruction of old Martin Cortes was

to sit down with your back against the mainmast; but in reality the only

man who obtained results of any use from such instruments was he who had

been constantly working with them from early boyhood. In those days, far

more than now, a good pilot had to be brought up at sea from his youth.

Long habit could alone make up, to a partial extent, for defective

means.

Columbus regularly observed for latitude when the weather rendered it

possible, and he occasionally attempted to find the longitude by

observing eclipses of the moon with the aid of tables calculated by old

Regiomontanus, whose declination tables also enabled the Admiral to work

out his meridian altitudes. But the explorer's main reliance was on the

skill and care with which he calculated his dead reckoning, watching

every sign offered by sea and sky by day and night, allowing for

currents, for leeway, for every cause that could affect the movement of

his ship, noting with infinite pains the bearings and the variation of

his compass, and constantly recording all phenomena on his card and in

his journal. _Columbus was the true father of what we call proper

pilotage._

It is most interesting to watch the consequences of this seaman-like and

most conscientious care in the results of his voyages of discovery. We

have seen with what accuracy he made his landfall at the Azores, on his

return from his first and most memorable voyage. The incidents of his

second voyage are equally instructive. He had heard from the natives of

the eastern end of Espanola that there were numerous islands to the

southeast inhabited by savage tribes of Caribs, and when he sailed from

Spain on his second voyage he resolved to ascertain the truth of the

report before proceeding to his settlement at Navidad. He shaped such a

course as to hit upon Dominica, and within a few weeks he discovered the

whole of the Windward Islands, thence to Puerto Rico. On his return his

spirit of investigation led him to try the possibility of making a

passage in the teeth of the trade-wind. It was a long voyage, and his

people were reduced to the last extremity, even threatening to eat the

Indians who were on board. One night, to the surprise of all the

company, the Admiral gave the order to shorten sail. Next morning, at

dawn, Cape St. Vincent was in sight. This is a remarkable proof of the

care with which his reckoning must have been kept, and of his consummate

skill as a navigator. On his third voyage he decided, for various

reasons, to make further discoveries nearer to the equator, the result

of his decision being the exploration of the Gulf of Paria, including

the coast of Trinidad and of the continent. His speculations, although

sometimes fantastic, and originating in a too vivid imagination, were

usually shrewd and carefully thought out. Thus they led from one

discovery to another; and even when, through want of complete knowledge,

there was a flaw in the chain of his reasoning, the results were equally

valuable.

A memorable example of an able and acute train of thought, based on

observations at sea, was that which led to his last voyage in search of

a strait. He had watched the gulf stream constantly flowing in a

westerly direction, and he thought that he had ascertained, as the

result of careful observation, that the islands in the course of the

current had their lengths east and west, owing to erosion on their north

and south sides. From this fact he deduced the constancy of the current.

His own pilot, Juan de la Cosa, serving under Ojeda and Bastidas, had

established the continuity of land from the Gulf of Paria to Darien. The

Admiral himself had explored the coast of Cuba, both on the north and

south sides, for so great a distance that he concluded it must surely be

a promontory connected with the continent. The conclusion was that, as

it could not turn to north or south, this current, ever flowing in one

direction, must pass through a strait. The argument was perfectly sound

except in one point--the continental character of Cuba was an

hypothesis, not an ascertained fact.

Still, it was a brilliant chain of reasoning, and it led to a great

result, though not to the expected result. Just as the search for the

philosopher's stone led to valuable discoveries in chemistry, and as the

search for El Dorado revealed the courses of the two largest rivers in

South America, so the Admiral's heroic effort to discover a strait in

the face of appalling difficulties, in advancing years and failing

health, made known the coast of the continent from Honduras to Darien.

All the discoveries made by others, in the lifetime of Columbus, on the

coasts of the western continent (except that of Cabral) were directly

due to the first voyage of the Admiral, to his marvelous prevision in

boldly sailing westward across the sea of darkness, and are to be

classed as Columbian discoveries. This was clearly laid down by Las

Casas, in a noble passage. "The Admiral was the first to open the gates

of that ocean which had been closed for so many thousands of years

before," exclaimed the good bishop. "He it was who gave the light by

which all others might see how to discover. It can not be denied to the

Admiral, except with great injustice, that _as_ he was the first

discoverer of those Indies, _so_ he was really of all the mainland; and

to him the credit is due. For it was he that put the thread into the

hands of the rest by which they found the clew to more distant parts. It

was not necessary for this that he should personally visit every part,

any more than it is necessary to do so in taking possession of an

estate; as the jurists hold." This generous protest by Las Casas should

receive the assent of all geographers. The pupils and followers of

Columbus, such as Pinzon, Ojeda, Nino, and La Cosa, discovered all the

continent from 8 deg. S. of the equator to Darien, thus supplementing

their great master's work; while he himself led the way, and showed the

light both to the islands and to the continent.

Although none of the charts of Columbus have come down to us, there

still exists a map of all discoveries up to the year 1500, drawn by the

pilot Juan de la Cosa, who accompanied him in his first and second

voyages, and sailed with Ojeda on a separate expedition in 1499, when

the coast of the continent was explored from the Gulf of Paria to Cabo

de la Vela. Juan de la Cosa drew this famous map of the world (which is

preserved at Madrid) at Santa Maria, in the Bay of Cadiz, when he

returned from his expedition with Ojeda in 1500. It is drawn in color,

on oxhide, and measures 5 feet 9 inches by 3 feet 2 inches. La Cosa

shows the islands discovered by Columbus, but it is difficult to

understand what he could have been thinking about in placing them north

of the tropic of cancer. The continent is delineated from 8 deg. S. of

the equator to Cabo de la Vela, which was the extreme point to which

discovery had reached in 1500; and over the undiscovered part to the

west, which the Admiral himself was destined to bring to the knowledge

of the world a few years afterward, Juan de la Cosa painted a vignette

of St. Christopher bearing the infant Christ across the ocean. But the

most important part of the map is that on which the discoveries of John

Cabot are shown, for this is the only map which shows them. It is true

that a map, or a copy of a map, of 1542, by Sebastian Cabot, was

discovered of late years, and is now at Paris, and that it indicates the

"Prima Vista," the first land seen by Cabot on his voyage of 1497; but

it shows the later work of Jacques Cartier and other explorers, and does

not show what part was due to Cabot. Juan de la Cosa, however, must have

received, through the Spanish ambassador in London, the original chart

of Cabot, showing his discoveries during his second voyage in 1498, and

was enabled thus to include the new coast-line on his great map.

The gigantic labor wore out his body. But his mind was as active as

ever. He had planned an attempt to recover the Holy Sepulcher. He had

thought out a scheme for an Arctic expedition, including a plan for

reaching the north pole, which he deposited in the monastery of

Mejorada. It was not to be. When he returned from his last voyage, he

came home to die. We gather some idea of the Admiral's personal

appearance from the descriptions of Las Casas and Oviedo. He was a man

of middle height, with courteous manners and noble bearing. His face was

oval, with a pleasing expression; the nose aquiline, the eyes blue, and

the complexion fair and inclined to ruddiness. The hair was red, though

it became gray soon after he was thirty. Only one authentic portrait of

Columbus is known to have been painted. The Italian historian, Paulus

Jovius, who was his contemporary, collected a gallery of portraits of

worthies of his time at his villa on the Lake of Como. Among them was a

portrait of the Admiral. There is an early engraving from it, and very

indifferent copies in the Uffizi at Florence, and at Madrid. But until

quite recently I do not think that the original was known to exist. It,

however, never left the family, and when the last Giovio died it was

inherited by her grandson, the Nobile de Orche, who is the present

possessor. We have the head of a venerable man, with thin gray hair, the

forehead high, the eyes pensive and rather melancholy. It was thus that

he doubtless appeared during the period that he was in Spain, after his

return in chains, or during the last year of his life.

In his latter years we see Columbus, although as full as ever of his

great mission, thinking more and more of the transmission of his rights

and his property intact to his children. He had always loved his home,

and his amiable and affectionate disposition made many and lasting

friendships in all ranks of life, from Queen Isabella and Archbishop

Deza to the humblest _grumete_. We find his shipmates serving with him

over and over again. Terreros, the Admiral's steward, and Salcedo, his

servant, were with him in his first voyage and in his last. His faithful

captains, Mendez and Fieschi, risked life and limb for him, and attended

him on his deathbed. Columbus was also blessed with two loving and

devoted brothers. In one of his letters to his son Diego, he said,

"Never have I found better friends, on my right hand and on my left,

than my brothers." Bartholomew, especially, was his trusty and gallant

defender and counselor in his darkest hours of difficulty and distress,

his nurse in sickness, and his helpful companion in health. The enduring

affection of these two brothers, from the cradle to the grave, is most

touching. Columbus was happy too in his handsome, promising young sons,

who were ever dutiful, and whose welfare was his fondest care; they

fulfilled all his hopes. One recovered the Admiral's rights, while the

other studied his father's professional work, preserved his memorials,

and wrote his life. Columbus never forgot his old home at Genoa, and the

most precious treasures of the proud city are the documents which her

illustrious son confided to her charge, and the letters in which he

expressed his affection for his native town. Columbus was a man to

reverence, but he was still more a man to love.

The great discoverer's genius was a gift which is only produced once in

an age, and it is that which has given rise to the enthusiastic

celebration of the fourth centenary of his achievement. To geographers

and sailors the careful study of his life will always be useful and

instructive. They will be led to ponder over the deep sense of duty and

responsibility which produced his unceasing and untiring watchfulness

when at sea, over the long training which could alone produce so

consummate a navigator, and over that perseverance and capacity for

taking trouble which we should all not only admire but strive to

imitate. I can not better conclude this very inadequate attempt to do

justice to a great subject than by quoting the words of a geographer,

whose loss from among us we still continue to feel--the late Sir Henry

Yule. He said of Columbus: "His genius and lofty enthusiasm, his ardent

and justified previsions, mark the great Admiral as one of the lights of

the human race."

A DISCOVERY GREATER THAN THE LABORS OF HERCULES.

PIETRO MARTIRE DE ANGHIERA (usually called Peter Martyr), an

Italian scholar, statesman, and historian. Born at Arona, on Lake

Maggiore, in 1455; died at Granada, Spain, 1526.

To declare my opinion herein, whatsoever hath heretofore been discovered

by the famous travayles of Saturnus and Hercules, with such other whom

the antiquitie for their heroical acts honoured as Gods, seemeth but

little and obscure if it be compared to the victorious labours of the

Spanyards.

--Decad. ii, cap. 4, Lok's Translation.

GENIUS TRAVELED WESTWARD.

WILLIAM MASON, an English poet. Born at Hull, 1725; died in 1797.

Old England's genius turns with scorn away,

Ascends his sacred bark, the sails unfurled,

And steers his state to the wide Western World.

MISSION AND REWARD.

J. N. MATTHEWS, in Chicago _Tribune_, 1892.

Sailing before the silver shafts of morn,

He bore the White Christ over alien seas--

The swart Columbus--into "lands forlorn,"

That lay beyond the dim Hesperides.

Humbly he gathered up the broken chain

Of human knowledge, and, with sails unfurled,

He drew it westward from the coast of Spain,

And linked it firmly to another world.

Tho' blinding tempests drove his ships astray,

And on the decks conspiring Spaniards grew

More mutinous and dangerous, day by day,

Than did the deadly winds that round him blew,

Yet the bluff captain, with his bearded lip,

His lordly purpose, and his high disdain,

Stood like a master with uplifted whip,

And urged his mad sea-horses o'er the main.

Onward and onward thro' the blue profound,

Into the west a thousand leagues or more,

His caravels cut the billows till they ground

Upon the shallows of San Salvador.

Then, robed in scarlet like a rising morn,

He climbed ashore and on the shining sod

He gave to man a continent new-born;

Then, kneeling, gave his gratitude to God.

And his reward? In all the books of fate

There is no page so pitiful as this--

A cruel dungeon, and a monarch's hate,

And penury and calumny were his;

Robbed of his honors in his feeble age,

Despoiled of glory, the old Genoese

Withdrew at length from life's ungrateful stage,

To try the waves of other unknown seas.

EAGER TO SHARE THE REWARD.

Letter written by the Duke of MEDINA CELI to the Grand Cardinal of

Spain, Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, dated March 19, 1493.

MOST REVEREND SIR: I am not aware whether your Lordship knows that I had

Cristoforo Colon under my roof for a long time when he came from

Portugal, and wished to go to the King of France, in order that he might

go in search of the Indies with his Majesty's aid and countenance. I

myself wished to make the venture, and to dispatch him from my port

[Santa Maria], where I had a good equipment of three or four caravels,

_since he asked no more from me_; but as I recognized that this was an

undertaking for the Queen, our sovereign, I wrote about the matter to

her Highness from Rota, and she replied that I should send him to her.

Therefore I sent him, and asked her Highness that, since I did not

desire to pursue the enterprise but had arranged it for her service, she

should direct that compensation be made to me, and that I might have a

share in it by having the loading and unloading of the commerce done in

the port.

Her Highness received him [Colon], and referred him to Alonso de

Quintanilla, who, in turn, _wrote me that he did not consider this

affair to be very certain_; but that if it should go through, her

Highness would give me a reward and part in it. After having well

studied it, she agreed to send him in search of the Indies. Some eight

months ago he set out, and now has arrived at Lisbon on his return

voyage, and has found all which he sought and very completely; which, as

soon as I knew, in order to advise her Highness of such good tidings, I

am writing by Inares and sending him to beg that she grant me the

privilege of sending out there each year some of my own caravels.

I entreat your Lordship that you may be pleased to assist me in this,

and also ask it in my behalf; since on my account, and through my

keeping him [Colon] _two years in my house_, and having placed him at

her Majesty's service, so great a thing as this has come to pass; and

because Inares will inform your Lordship more in detail, I beg you to

hearken to him.

COLUMBUS STATUE, CITY OF MEXICO.

The Columbus monument, in the Paseo de la Reforma, in the City of

Mexico, was erected at the charges of Don Antonio Escandon, to whose

public spirit and enterprise the building of the Vera Cruz & Mexico

Railway was due. The monument is the work of the French sculptor

Cordier. The base is a large platform of basalt, surrounded by a

balustrade of iron, above which are five lanterns. From this base rises

a square mass of red marble, ornamented with four _basso-relievos_; the

arms of Columbus, surrounded with garlands of laurels; the rebuilding of

the monastery of Santa Maria de la Rabida; the discovery of the Island

of San Salvador; a fragment of a letter from Columbus to Raphael

Sanchez, beneath which is the dedication of the monument by Senor

Escandon. Above the _basso-relievos_, surrounding the pedestals, are

four life-size figures in bronze; in front and to the right of the

statue of Columbus (that stands upon a still higher plane), Padre Juan

Perez de la Marchena, prior of the Monastery of Santa Maria de la

Rabida, at Huelva, Spain; in front and to the left, Padre Fray Diego de

Deza, friar of the Order of Saint Dominic, professor of theology at the

Convent of St. Stephen, and afterward archbishop of Seville. He was also

confessor of King Ferdinand, to the support of which two men Columbus

owed the royal favor; in the rear, to the right, Fray Pedro de Gante; in

the rear, to the left, Fray Bartolome de las Casas--the two missionaries

who most earnestly gave their protection to the Indians, and the latter

the historian of Columbus. Crowning the whole, upon a pedestal of red

marble, is the figure of Columbus, in the act of drawing aside the veil

that hides the New World. In conception and in treatment this work is

admirable; charming in sentiment, and technically good. The monument

stands in a little garden inclosed by iron chains hung upon posts of

stone, around which extends a large _glorieta_.

THE TRIBUTE OF JOAQUIN MILLER.

JOAQUIN (CINCINNATUS HEINE) MILLER, "the Poet of the Sierras." Born

in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 10, 1842. From a poem in the New York

_Independent_.

Behind him lay the gray Azores,

Behind the gates of Hercules;

Before him not the ghost of shores,

Before him only shoreless seas.

The good mate said, "Now must we pray,

For lo! the very stars are gone.

Brave Adm'ral, speak; what shall I say?"

"Why say, 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'"

"My men grow mutinous day by day;

My men grow ghastly, wan and weak."

The stout mate thought of home; a spray

Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.

"What shall I say, brave Adm'ral, say,

If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"

"Why, you shall say, at break of day,

'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'"

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,

Until at last the blanched mate said,

"Why, now not even God would know

Should I and all my men fall dead.

These very winds forget their way,

For God from these dread seas is gone.

Now speak, brave Adm'ral, speak and say--"

He said, "Sail on! sail on! and on!"

They sailed. They sailed. Then spoke the mate,

"This mad sea shows its teeth to-night.

He curls his lip, he lies in wait,

With lifted teeth as if to bite.

Brave Adm'ral, say but one good word;

What shall we do when hope is gone?"

The words leapt as a leaping sword,

"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"

Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,

And peered through darkness. Ah, that night

Of all dark nights! And then a speck--

A light! A light! A light! A light!

It grew, a starlit flag unfurled,

It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.

He gained a world; he gave that world

Its grandest lesson--"On! and on!"

ADMIRAL OF MOSQUITO LAND.

D. H. MONTGOMERY, author of "The Leading Facts of American

History."

Loud was the outcry against Columbus. The rabble nicknamed him the

"Admiral of Mosquito Land." They pointed at him as the man who had

promised everything, and ended by discovering nothing but "a wilderness

peopled with naked savages."

COLUMBUS AND THE INDIANS.

Gen. THOMAS J. MORGAN, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In an

article, "Columbus and the Indians," in the New York _Independent_,

June 2, 1892.

Columbus, when he landed, was confronted with an Indian problem, which

he handed down to others, and they to us. Four hundred years have rolled

by, and it is still unsolved. Who were the strange people who met him at

the end of his long and perilous voyage? He guessed at it and missed it

by the diameter of the globe. He called them Indians--people of

India--and thus registered the fifteenth century attainments in

geography and anthropology. How many were there of them? Alas! there was

no census bureau here then, and no record has come down to us of any

count or enumeration. Would they have lived any longer if they had been

counted? Would a census have strengthened them to resist the threatened

tide of invaders that the coming of Columbus heralded? If instead of

corn they had presented census rolls to their strange visitors, and

exhibited maps to show that the continent was already occupied, would

that have changed the whole course of history and left us without any

Mayflower or Plymouth Rock, Bunker Hill or Appomattox?

INTENSE UNCERTAINTY.

CHARLES MORRIS, an American writer of the present day. In "Half

Hours with American History."

The land was clearly seen about two leagues distant, whereupon they took

in sail and waited impatiently for the dawn. The thoughts and feelings

of Columbus in this little space of time must have been tumultuous and

intense. At length, in spite of every difficulty and danger, he had

accomplished his object. The great mystery of the ocean was revealed;

his theory, which had been the scoff of sages, was triumphantly

established; he secured to himself a glory durable as the world itself.

It is difficult to conceive the feelings of such a man at such a moment,

or the conjectures which must have thronged upon his mind as to the land

before him, covered with darkness. A thousand speculations must have

swarmed upon him, as with his anxious crews he waited for the night to

pass away, wondering whether the morning light would reveal a savage

wilderness, or dawn upon spicy groves and glittering fanes and gilded

cities, and all the splendor of oriental civilization.

THE FIRST TO GREET COLUMBUS.

EMMA HUNTINGTON NASON. A poem in _St. Nicholas_, July, 1892,

founded upon the incident of Columbus' finding a red thorn bush

floating in the water a few days before sighting Watling's Island.

When the feast is spread in our country's name,

When the nations are gathered from far and near,

When East and West send up the same

Glad shout, and call to the lands, "Good cheer!"

When North and South shall give their bloom,

The fairest and best of the century born.

Oh, then for the king of the feast make room!

Make room, we pray, for the scarlet thorn!

Not the golden-rod from the hillsides blest,

Not the pale arbutus from pastures rare,

Nor the waving wheat from the mighty West,

Nor the proud magnolia, tall and fair,

Shall Columbia unto the banquet bring.

They, willing of heart, shall stand and wait,

For the thorn, with his scarlet crown, is king.

Make room for him at the splendid fete!

Do we not remember the olden tale?

And that terrible day of dark despair,

When Columbus, under the lowering sail,

Sent out to the hidden lands his prayer?

And was it not he of the scarlet bough

Who first went forth from the shore to greet

That lone grand soul at the vessel's prow,

Defying fate with his tiny fleet?

Grim treachery threatened, above, below,

And death stood close at the captain's side,

When he saw--Oh, joy!--in the sunset glow,

The thorn-tree's branch o'er the waters glide.

"Land! Land ahead!" was the joyful shout;

The vesper hymn o'er the ocean swept;

The mutinous sailors faced about;

Together they fell on their knees and wept.

At dawn they landed with pennons white;

They kissed the sod of San Salvador;

But dearer than gems on his doublet bright

Were the scarlet berries their leader bore;

Thorny and sharp, like his future crown,

Blood-red, like the wounds in his great heart made,

Yet an emblem true of his proud renown

Whose glorious colors shall never fade.

COLUMBA CHRISTUM-FERENS--WHAT'S IN A NAME?

New Orleans _Morning Star and Catholic Messenger_, August 13, 1892.

The poet says that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but

there is no doubt that certain names are invested with a peculiar

significance. It would appear also that this significance is not always

a mere chance coincidence, but is intended, sometimes, to carry the

evidence of an overruling prevision. Christopher Columbus was not so

named _after_ his achievements, like Scipio Africanus. The name was his

from infancy, though human ingenuity could not have conceived one more

wonderfully suggestive of his after career.

Columba means a dove. Was there anything dove-like about Columbus?

Perhaps not, originally, but his many years of disappointment and

humiliation, of poverty and contempt, of failure and hopelessness, were

the best school in which to learn patience and sweetness under the

guiding hand of such teachers as faith and piety. Was anything wanting

to perfect him in the unresisting gentleness of the dove? If so, his

guardian angel saw to it when he sent him back in chains from the scenes

of his triumph. He then and there, by his meekness, established his

indefeasible right to the name _Columbus_--the right of conquest.

[Illustration: THE WEST INDIES]

And Christopher--_Christum-ferens_--the Christ-bearer? A saint of old

was so called because one day he carried the child Christ on his

shoulders across a dangerous ford. People called him _Christo-pher_. But

what shall we say of the man who carried Christ across the stormy

terrors of the unknown sea? Wherever the modern Christopher landed,

there he planted the cross; his first act was always one of devout

worship. And now that cross and that worship are triumphant from end to

end, and from border to border, of that New World. The very fairest

flower of untrammeled freedom in the diadem of the Christian church is

to-day blooming within the mighty domain which this instrument of

Providence wrested from the malign sway of error. Shall not that New

World greet him as the Christ-bearer? Indeed, there must have been more

than an accidental coincidence when, half a century in advance of

events, the priest, in pouring the sacred waters of baptism, proclaimed

the presence of one who was to be truly a Christopher--one who should

carry Christ on the wings of a dove.

CIRCULAR LETTER OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF NEW ORLEANS ON THE CHRISTOPHER

COLUMBUS CELEBRATION.

From the _Morning Star and Catholic Messenger_, New Orleans, August

13, 1892.

REVEREND AND DEAR FATHER: The fourth centenary of the discovery of

America by Christopher Columbus is at hand. It is an event of the

greatest importance. It added a new continent to the world for

civilization and Christianity; it gave our citizens a home of liberty

and freedom, a country of plenty and prosperity, a fatherland which has

a right to our deepest and best feelings of attachment and affection.

Christopher Columbus was a sincere and devout Catholic; his remarkable

voyage was made possible by the intercession of a holy monk; and by the

patronage and liberality of the pious Queen Isabella, the cross of

Christ, the emblem of our holy religion, was planted on America's virgin

soil, and the _Te Deum_ and the holy mass were the first religious

services held on the same; it is therefore just and proper that this

great event and festival should be celebrated in a religious as well as

in a civil manner.

Our Holy Father the Pope has appointed the 12th of October, and His

Excellency the President of the United States has assigned the 21st of

October, as the day of commemoration. The discrepancy of dates is based

on the difference of the two calendars. When Columbus discovered this

country, the old Julian calendar was in vogue, and the date of discovery

was marked the 12th; but Pope Gregory XIII. introduced the Gregorian

calendar, according to which the 21st would now be the date. We will

avail ourselves of both dates--the first date to be of a religious, the

second of a civil, character. We therefore order that on the 12th of

October a solemn votive mass (_pro gratiarum actione dicendo Missam

votivam de S. S. Trinitate_), in honor of the Blessed Trinity, be sung

in all the churches of the diocese, at an hour convenient to the parish,

with an exhortation to the people, as thanksgiving to God for all his

favors and blessings, and as a supplication to Him for the continuance

of the same, and that all the citizens of this vast country may ever

dwell in peace and union.

Let the 21st be a public holiday. We desire that the children of our

schools assemble in their Sunday clothes at their school-rooms or halls,

and that after a few appropriate prayers some exercises be organized to

commemorate the great event, and at the same time to fire their young

hearts with love of country, and with love for the religion of the cross

of Christ, which Columbus planted on the American shore. We further

desire that the different Catholic organizations and societies arrange

some programme by which the day may be spent in an agreeable and

instructive manner.

For our archiepiscopal city we make these special arrangements: On the

12th, at half-past 7 o'clock P. M., the cathedral will be open to the

public; the clergy of the city is invited to assemble at 7 o'clock, at

the archbishopric, to march in procession to the cathedral, where short

sermons of ten minutes each will be preached in five different

languages--Spanish, French, English, German, and Italian. The ceremony

will close with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the solemn

singing of the _Te Deum_. In order to celebrate the civil solemnity of

the 21st, we desire that a preliminary meeting be held at St. Alphonsus'

Hall, on Monday evening, the 22d of August, at 8 o'clock. The meeting

will be composed of the pastors of the city, of two members of each

congregation--to be appointed by them--and of the presidents of the

various Catholic societies. This body shall arrange the plan how to

celebrate the 21st of October.

May God, who has been kind and merciful to our people in the past,

continue his favors in the future and lead us unto life everlasting.

The pastors will read this letter to their congregations.

Given from our archiepiscopal residence, Feast of St. Dominic, August

the 4th, 1892.

FRANCIS JANSSENS,

_Archbishop of New Orleans_.

By order of His Grace:

J. BOGAERTS, _Vicar-general_.

THE COLUMBUS STATUE IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Stands at the Eighth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street entrance to Central

Park, and was erected October 12, 1892, by subscription among the

Italian citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central

America. From a base forty-six feet square springs a beautiful shaft of

great height, the severity of outline being broken by alternating lines

of figures, in relief, of the prows, or rostra, of the three ships of

Columbus, and medallions composed of an anchor and a coil of rope. In

July, 1889, Chevalier Charles Barsotti, proprietor of the _Progresso

Italo-Americano_, published in New York City, started a subscription to

defray the cost, which was liberally added to by the Italian government.

On December 10, 1890, a number of models were placed on exhibition at

the rooms of the Palace of the Exposition of Arts in Rome, and the

commission finally chose that of Prof. Gaetano Russo.

The monument is seventy-five feet high, including the three great

blocks, or steps, which form the foundation; and, aside from the

historical interest it may have, as a work of art alone its possession

might well be envied by any city or nation. The base, of Baveno granite,

has two beautiful bas-relief pictures in bronze, representing on one

side the moment when Columbus first saw land, and on the other the

actual landing of the party on the soil. Two inscriptions, higher up on

the monument, one in English and one in Italian, contain the dedication.

The column is also of Baveno granite, while the figure of the Genius of

Geography and the statue proper of Columbus are of white Carrara marble,

the former being ten feet high and the latter fourteen. There is also a

bronze eagle, six feet high, on the side opposite the figure of Genius

of Geography, holding in its claws the shields of the United States and

of Genoa. The rostra and the inscription on the column are in bronze.

This great work was designed by Prof. Gaetano Russo, who was born in

Messina, Sicily, fifty-seven years ago. Craving opportunities for study

and improvement, he made his way to Rome when a mere lad but ten years

old. In this great art center his genius developed early, and his later

years have been filled with success. Senator Monteverde of Italy, one of

the best sculptors of modern times, says that this is one of the finest

monuments made during the last twenty-five years. On accepting the

finished monument from the artist, the commission tendered him the

following: "The monument of Columbus made by you will keep great in

America the name of Italian art. It is very pleasant to convey to the

United States--a strong, free, and independent people--the venerated

resemblance of the man who made the civilization of America possible."

On the sides of the base, between the massive posts which form the

corners, are found the inscriptions in Italian and English, composed by

Prof. Ugo Fleres of Rome, and being as follows:

TO

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS,

THE ITALIANS RESIDENT IN AMERICA.

SCOFFED AT BEFORE;

DURING THE VOYAGE, MENACED;

AFTER IT, CHAINED;

AS GENEROUS AS OPPRESSED,

TO THE WORLD HE GAVE A WORLD.

JOY AND GLORY

NEVER UTTERED A MORE THRILLING CALL

THAN THAT WHICH RESOUNDED

FROM THE CONQUERED OCEAN

IN SIGHT OF THE FIRST AMERICAN ISLAND,

LAND! LAND!

ON THE XII. OF OCTOBER, MDCCCXCII

THE FOURTH CENTENARY

OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA,

IN IMPERISHABLE REMEMBRANCE.

Near the base of the monument, on the front of the pedestal, is a

representation of the Genius of Geography in white Carrara marble. It is

a little over eleven feet high, and is represented as a winged angel

bending over the globe, which it is intently studying while held beneath

the open hand.

On the front and back of the base the corresponding spaces are filled

with two magnificent allegorical pictures in bas-relief representing the

departure from Spain and the landing in America of Columbus. The latter

one is particularly impressive, and the story is most graphically told

by the strongly drawn group, of which he is the principal figure,

standing in at attitude of prayer upon the soil of the New World he has

just discovered. To the left are his sailors drawing the keel of a boat

upon the sand, and on the right the Indians peep cautiously out from a

thicket of maize at the strange creatures whom they mistake for the

messengers of the Great Spirit. Towering over all, at the apex of the

column, stands the figure of the First Admiral himself, nobly portrayed

in snowiest marble. The figure is fourteen feet in height and represents

the bold navigator wearing the dress of the period, the richly

embroidered doublet, or waistcoat, thrown back, revealing a kilt that

falls in easy folds from a bodice drawn tightly over the broad chest

beneath. Not only the attitude of the figure but the expression of the

face is commanding, and as you look upon the clearly cut features you

seem to feel instinctively the presence of the man of genius and power,

which the artist has forcibly chiseled.

The Italian government decided to send the monument here in the royal

transport Garigliano. Also, as a token of their good-will to the United

States, they ordered their first-class cruiser, Giovanni Bausan, to be

in New York in time to take part in the ceremonies attending the

unveiling and also the ceremonies by the city and State of New York.

All the work on the foundation was directed gratuitously by the

architect V. Del Genoese and Italian laborers. The materials were

furnished free by Messrs. Crimmins, Navarro, Smith & Sons, and others.

The executive committee in New York was composed of Chevalier C.

Barsotti, president; C. A. Barattoni and E. Spinetti, vice-presidents;

G. Starace, treasurer; E. Tealdi and G. N. Malferrari, secretaries; of

the presidents of the Italian societies of New York, Brooklyn, Jersey

City, and Hoboken; and of sixty-five members chosen from the subscribers

as trustees.

THE COLUMBUS MEMORIAL ARCH IN NEW YORK.

Richard M. Hunt, John Lafarge, Augustus St. Gaudens, L. P. di Cesnola,

and Robert J. Hoguet of the Sub-Committee on Art of the New York

Columbian Celebration, awarded on September 1, 1892, the prizes offered

for designs for an arch to be erected at the entrance to Central Park at

Fifty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue.

The committee chose, from the numerous designs submitted, four which

were of special excellence. That which was unanimously acknowledged to

be the best was submitted with the identification mark, "Columbia," and

proved to be the work of Henry B. Hertz of 22 West Forty-third Street.

Mr. Hertz will receive a gold medal, and the arch which he has designed

will be erected in temporary form for the Columbian celebration in

October, 1892, and will be constructed as a permanent monument of marble

and bronze to the Genius of Discovery if $350,000 can be secured to

build it. The temporary structure is estimated to cost $7,500.

The design which the committee decided should receive the second prize

was offered by Franklin Crosby Butler and Paul Emil Dubois of 80

Washington Square, East, and was entitled, "The Santa Maria." A silver

medal will be given to the architects. The designs selected for

honorable mention were one of Moorish character, submitted by Albert

Wahle of 320 East Nineteenth Street, and one entitled "Liberty," by J.

C. Beeckman of 160 Fifth Avenue.

Mr. Hertz' design was selected by the committee not alone for its

artistic beauty, but because of its peculiar fitness. The main body of

the arch is to be built of white marble, and with its fountains, its

polished monolithic columns of pigeon-blood marble, its mosaic and gold

inlaying, and the bas-relief work and surmounting group of bronze, the

committee say it will be a monument to American architecture of which

the city will be proud.

From the ground to the top of the bronze caravel in the center of the

allegorical group with which the arch will be surmounted the distance

will be 160 feet, and the entire width of the arch will be 120 feet. The

opening from the ground to the keystone will be eighty feet high and

forty feet wide. On the front of each pier will be two columns of

pigeon-blood-red marble. Between each pair of columns and at the base of

each pier will be large marble fountains, the water playing about

figures representing Victory and Immortality. These fountains will be

lighted at night with electric lights. The surface of the piers between

the columns will be richly decorated in bas-relief with gold and mosaic.

Above each fountain will be a panel, one representing Columbus at the

court of Spain, and the other the great discoverer at the Convent of

Rabida, just before his departure on the voyage which resulted in the

discovery of America. In the spaces on either side of the crown of the

arch will be colossal reclining figures of Victory in bas-relief.

The highly decorated frieze will be of polished red marble, and

surmounting the projecting keystone of the arch will be a bronze

representation of an American eagle. On the central panel of the attic

will be the inscription: "The United States of America, in Memorial

Glorious to Christopher Columbus, Discoverer of America." The

ornamentation of the attic consists of representations of Columbus'

entrance into Madrid. Crowning all is to be a group in bronze symbolical

of Discovery. In this group there will be twelve figures of heroic size,

with a gigantic figure representing the Genius of Discovery heralding to

the world the achievements of her children.

Mr. Hertz, the designer, is only twenty-one years old, and is a student

in the department of architecture of Columbia College.

THE SPANISH FOUNTAIN IN NEW YORK.

The Spanish-American citizens also wish to present a monument to the

city in honor of the discovery. It is proposed to have a Columbus

fountain, to be located on the Grand Central Park plaza, at Fifth Avenue

and Fifty-ninth Street, in the near future. The statuary group of the

fountain represents Columbus standing on an immense globe, and on either

side of him is one of the Pinzon brothers, who commanded the Pinta and

Nina. Land has been discovered, and on the face of Columbus is an

expression of prayerful thanksgiving. The brother Pinzon who discovered

the land is pointing to it, while the other, with hand shading his eyes,

anxiously seeks some sign of the new continent.

It is proposed to cast the statuary group in New York of cannon donated

by Spain and Spanish-American countries. The first of the cannon has

already arrived, the gift of the republic of Spanish Honduras.

The proposed inscription reads:

_A

COLON

y Los

PINZONES

Los Espanoles

E Hispano-Americanos

De

Nueva York._

To COLUMBUS and the PINZONS, the Spaniards

and Spanish-Americans of New York.

FESTIVAL ALLEGORY FOR THE NEW YORK CELEBRATION OF THE 400TH ANNIVERSARY

OF COLUMBUS' DISCOVERY, 1892.

One of the features of the New York celebration of the Columbus

Quadro-Centennial is to be the production, October 10th, in the

Metropolitan Opera House, of "The Triumph of Columbus," a festival

allegory, by S. G. Pratt.

The work is written for orchestra, chorus, and solo voices, and is in

six scenes or parts, the first of which is described as being "in the

nature of a prologue, wherein a dream of Columbus is pictured. Evil

spirits and sirens hover about the sleeping mariner threatening and

taunting him. The Spirit of Light appears, the tormentors vanish, and a

chorus of angels join the Spirit of Light in a song of 'Hope and

Faith.'"

Part II. shows "the historical council at Salamanca; Dominican monks

support Columbus, but Cardinal Talavera and other priests ridicule him."

Columbus, to disprove their accusations of heresy on his part, quotes

"sentence after sentence of the Bible in defense of his theory."