Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia Part 38

x.x.xII.

'Tis thou, Columbus, in new zones and skies, That to the wind thy happy sails must raise, Till fame shall scarce pursue thee with her eyes, Though she a thousand eyes and wings displays; Let her of Bacchus and Alcides praise The savage feats, and do thy glory wrong With a few whispers tossed to after days; These shall suffice to make thy memory long In history's page endure, or some divinest song.

NOAH AND COLUMBUS.

EMMA HART WILLARD, an American teacher and educational writer. Born at Berlin, Conn., 1787; died, 1870.

Since the time when Noah left the ark to set his foot upon a recovered world, a landing so sublime as that of Columbus had never occurred.

A GRAND PROPHETIC VISION.

The Rev. ELHANAN WINCHESTER, an American divine. Born at Brookline, Ma.s.s., 1751; died, 1797. From an oration delivered in London, October 12, 1792, the 300th anniversary of the landing of Columbus in the New World. The orator, previous to a call to a pastorate in London, had lived many years in America, being at one time pastor of a large church in the city of Philadelphia. This oration should be prized, so to speak, for its "ancient simplicity." It is a relic of the style used in addresses one hundred years ago.

I have for some years had it upon my mind that if Providence preserved my life to the close of the third century from the discovery of America by Columbus, that I would celebrate that great event by a public discourse upon the occasion.

And although I sincerely wish that some superior genius would take up the subject and treat it with the attention that it deserves, yet, conscious as I am of my own inability, I am persuaded that America has not a warmer friend in the world than myself.

The discovery of America by Columbus was situated, in point of time, between two great events, which have caused it to be much more noticed, and have rendered it far more important than it would otherwise have been. I mean _the art of printing_, which was discovered about the year 1440, and which has been and will be of infinite use to mankind, and _the Reformation_ from popery, which began about the year 1517, the effects of which have already been highly beneficial in a political as well as in a religious point of view, and will continue and increase.

These three great events--_the art of printing_, the discovery of America, and _the Reformation_--followed each other in quick succession; and, combined together, have already produced much welfare and happiness to mankind, and certainly will produce abundance more.

By the discovery of America there was much room given to the inhabitants of the Old World; an asylum was prepared for the persecuted of all nations to fly to for safety, and a grand theater was erected where Liberty might safely lift up her standard, and triumph over all the foes of freedom. America may be called _the very birthplace of civil and religious liberty_, which had never been known to mankind until since the discovery of that country.

But the importance of the discovery will appear greater and greater every year, and one century to come will improve America far more than the three centuries past.

The prospect opens; it extends itself upon us. "The wilderness and solitary place shall rejoice, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." I look forward to that glorious era when that vast continent shall be fully populated with civilized and religious people; when heavenly wisdom and virtue, and all that can civilize, adorn, and bless the children of men, shall cover that part of the globe as the waters cover the seas.

Transported at the thought, I am borne forward to days of distant renown. In my expanded view, the United States rise in all their ripened glory before me. I look through and beyond every yet peopled region of the New World, and behold period still brightening upon period. Where one contiguous depth of gloomy wilderness now shuts out even the beams of day, I see new states and empires, new seats of wisdom and knowledge, new religious domes, spreading around. In places now untrod by any but savage beasts, or men as savage as they, I hear the voice of happy labor, and behold beautiful cities rising to view.

Lo, in this happy picture, I behold the native Indian exulting in the works of peace and civilization; his b.l.o.o.d.y hatchet he buries deep under ground, and his murderous knife he turns into a pruning fork, to lop the tender vine and teach the luxuriant shoot to grow. No more does he form to himself a heaven after death (according to the poet), in company with his faithful dog, behind the cloud-topped hill, to enjoy solitary quiet, far from the haunts of faithless men; but, better instructed by Christianity, he views his everlasting inheritance--"a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

Instead of recounting to his offspring, round the blazing fire, the b.l.o.o.d.y exploits of their ancestors, and wars of savage death, showing barbarous exultation over every deed of human woe, methinks I hear him pouring forth his eulogies of praise, in memory of those who were the instruments of heaven in raising his tribes from darkness to light, in giving them the blessings of civilized life, and converting them from violence and blood to meekness and love.

Behold the whole continent highly cultivated and fertilized, full of cities, towns, and villages, beautiful and lovely beyond expression. I hear the praises of my great Creator sung upon the banks of those rivers unknown to song. Behold the delightful prospect! see the silver and gold of America employed in the service of the Lord of the whole earth! See slavery, with all its train of attendant evil, forever abolished! See a communication opened through the whole continent, from north to south, and from east to west, through a most fruitful country! Behold the glory of G.o.d extending, and the gospel spreading, through the whole land!

O my native country! though I am far distant from thy peaceful sh.o.r.es, which probably mine eyes may never more behold, yet I can never forget thee. May thy great Creator bless thee, and make thee a happy land, while thy rivers flow and thy mountains endure. And, though He has spoken nothing plainly in His word concerning thee, yet has he blest thee abundantly, and given thee good things in possession, and a prospect of more glorious things in time to come. His name shall be known, feared, and loved through all thy western regions, and to the utmost bounds of thy vast extensive continent.

O America! land of liberty, peace, and plenty, in thee I drew my first breath, in thee all my kindred dwell. I beheld thee in thy lowest state, crushed down under misfortunes, struggling with poverty, war, and disgrace. I have lived to behold thee free and independent, rising to glory and extensive empire, blessed with all the good things of this life, and a happy prospect of better things to come. I can say, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation," which thou hast made known to my native land, in the sight, and to the astonishment, of all the nations of the earth.

I die; but G.o.d will surely visit America, and make it a vast flourishing and extensive empire; will take it under His protection, and bless it abundantly--but the prospect is too glorious for my pen to describe. I add no more.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STATUE OF COLUMBUS, IN FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA.

Presented by Italian Citizens. (See page 281.)]

DE MORTUIS, NIL NISI BONUM.

JUSTIN WINSOR, a celebrated American critical historian. Born, 1831.

No man craves more than Columbus to be judged with all the palliations demanded of his own age and ours. It would have been well for his memory if he had died when his master work was done.

His discovery was a blunder; his blunder was a new world; the New World is his monument.

ON A PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS.

GEORGE E. WOODBERRY, in the _Century Magazine_, May, 1892. By permission of the author and the Century Company.

Was this his face, and these the finding eyes That plucked a new world from the rolling seas?

Who, serving Christ, whom most he sought to please, Willed his one thought until he saw arise Man's other home and earthly paradise-- His early vision, when with stalwart knees He pushed the boat from his young olive trees And sailed to wrest the secret of the skies?

He on the waters dared to set his feet, And through believing planted earth's last race.

What faith in man must in our new world beat, Thinking how once he saw before his face The west and all the host of stars retreat Into the silent infinite of s.p.a.ce.

GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT.

JOSEPH EMERSON WORCESTER, a celebrated American lexicographer. Born at Bedford, N. H., 1758; died, 1865.

The discovery of America was the greatest achievement of the kind ever performed by man; and, considered in connection with its consequences, it is the greatest event of modern times. It served to wake up the unprecedented spirit of enterprise; it opened new sources of wealth, and exerted a powerful influence on commerce by greatly increasing many important articles of trade, and also by bringing into general use others before unknown; by leading to the discovery of the rich mines of this continent, it has caused the quant.i.ty of the precious metals in circulation throughout the world to be exceedingly augmented; it also gave a new impulse to colonization, and prepared the way for the advantages of civilized life and the blessings of =Christianity= to be extended over vast regions which before were the miserable abodes of barbarism and pagan idolatry.

The man to whose genius and enterprise the world is indebted for this discovery was Christopher Columbus of Genoa. He conceived that in order to complete the balance of the terraqueous globe another continent necessarily existed, which might be reached by sailing to the west from Europe; but he erroneously connected it with India. Being persuaded of the truth of his theory, his adventurous spirit made him eager to verify it by experiment.

THE FATE OF DISCOVERERS.

It is remarkable how few of the eminent men of the discoverers and conquerors of the New World died in peace. Columbus died broken-hearted; Roldan and Bobadilla were drowned; Ojeda died in extreme poverty; Encisco was deposed by his own men; Nicuesa perished miserably by the cruelty of his party; Balboa was disgracefully beheaded; Narvaez was imprisoned in a tropical dungeon, and afterward died of hardship; Cortez was dishonored; Alvarado was destroyed in ambush; Pizarro was murdered, and his four brothers cut off; Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded by an ungrateful king; the n.o.ble and adventurous Robert La Salle, the explorer of the Mississippi Valley, was murdered by his mutinous crew; Sir Martin Frobisher died of a wound received at Brest; Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Raleigh's n.o.ble half-brother, "as near to G.o.d by sea as by land," sank with the crew of the little Squirrel in the deep green surges of the North Atlantic; Sir Francis Drake, "the terror of the Spanish Main," and the explorer of the coast of California, died of disease near Puerto Bello, in 1595. The frozen wilds of the North hold the bones of many an intrepid explorer. Franklin and Bellot there sleep their last long sleep. The bleak snow-clad _tundra_ of the Lena delta saw the last moments of the gallant De Long. Afric's burning sands have witnessed many a martyrdom to science and religion. Livingston, Hannington, Gordon, Jamieson, and Barttelot are golden names on the ghastly roll.

Australia's scrub-oak and blue-gum plains have contributed their quota of the sad and sudden deaths on the earth-explorers' roll.

Columbus and Columbia.

COLUMBIA.

Hail, Columbia! happy land!

Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band!

_Joseph Hopkinson_, 1770-1842.

And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.