The Press.
London, England, 1855-08-11 00:00:00

THE. PERS...

Whatever may be the merits of this work by
Mr. Helps, it is not likely to rival the histories
of those admirable writers in point of success.
The style is oftentimes prolix and pedantic.
Mr. Helps is too fond of interrupting the pro-
gress of his narrative by commonplace reflec-
tions. A bad man, he observes iu one part,
has it often in his power to do a great deal of
mischief; and subsequently this not very
original remark is repeated:—" If it be of any
" use to repeat the remark, it may certainly
" here be noticed, what great mischief in
" critical circumstances a bad man may do."
Frequently through the volume we meet with
sententious reflections of this kind :

The child and the rustic, in simple envy of those above
them, who seem to them all-powerful, little dream of the
commanding cares and hungry anxieties which beset the
man who has undertaken to play any considerable part in
the world.

So►netimes the remarks of Mr. Helps are
almost pue►ile. Thus, when he is describing
the discourse on government delivered by
Fonseca in presence of Ferdinand and Isabella
to Ov►tndo previous to his departure for the
New World, the author in a waggish way adds
comments of his own between parentheses.
Ovando is admonished to keep his personal
and his household expenses within due
bounds, on which it is remarked :—" Here I
" fancy the monarchs looked at each other,
" thought of their own frugal way of living,
" and Isabella smiled." Such " fancies " have
no place in a historical narrative of this cha-
racter. The work would be much improved
by liberal pruning.
The opening chapters, relating to the life
and Tabours of Prince Henry of Portugal, have
most pretension to originality. The chronicle
of Azurara, discovered in 1837, supplies the
author with some interesting particulars, as
the chronicler was contemporary with the
events he describes ;
.and it is this portion of
the narrative also which affords most infor-
mation on the rise of negro slave►y. Mr.
Helps appears familiar with the Portuguese
historians ; the great work of Barros is fre-
quently quoted by him ; and we are inclined to
regret that the forty or fifty years of the
Prince's labours in the cause of maritime dis-
covery are not detailed at greater length The
history of this period is hurried and not always
exact.
For example, Prince Henry is said to have
been born in 1394 and to have died in 1463, in
the sixty-seventh year of his age. But if
those dates are correctly given he must have
lived to sixty-nine. The notice of the Prince's
death is taken fro►n Faria y Sousa, not always
a correct historian, and the less to be trusted
as he lived two hundred years after the early
voyages he describes. Our impression is, that
Prince Henry was born in 1393, and (lied in
1460. He is said by Mr. Helps to have been
the third son of Dom John ; he was in reality
the fourth, Alphonse the eldest dying young.
These errors are trivial. By other passages
it seems doubtful whether Mr Helps read the
chroniclers from whom he quotes with sufficient
attention to gain an adequate idea of the
Prince's career. It Sias after the capture of
Ceuta, our author says, that Henry first began
to meditate expeditions of discovery. But the
Portuguese historians relate that from an early
age he was remarkable for his study of naviga-
tion, and for all sciences connected with it ; and
we know that it was in 1412, three years pre
vious to the capture of Ceuta, that he succeeded
in his object of despatching a vessel to pass
Cape Non, until then the boundary of all
voyages to the South. The, story may be
fabulous that about this time a vision appeared
to him in sleep, commanding him to devote his
life to discovery, that he might carry the true
faith to ends of the earth previously unknown ;
but the tale at all events evinces the belief
entertained that very early he devoted himself
with ardour to those maritime studies for which
he subsequently became so famous.

It is to give a very poor idea of the designs
he cherished at Ceuta, and the knowledge he
acquired, to say, " that he had conversed much
" with those who had made voyages in diffe-
" rent pints, of the world, and particularly
" with Moors from Fez and Morocco, so that
" be came to hear of the Azenegues, a people
0 bordering on the•country of the negroaa of
0 Ma" At this time tiler() is every reason

765

to believe that the Prince had formed in .his
mind a fixed conviction that the golden Indies
whose commerce had so wonderfully enriched
Venice, and of which such dazzling accounts had
been given by Venetian adventurers, were to be
reached by following the coast of Africa to the
south and east. So firmly was this conviction
rooted in his mind, that he prosecuted it to
the last hour of his life, and left its realisation
as a splendid inheritance to his country at his
death.
As a discoverer Columbus must yield the
palm to him in originality of view. lie was
the first to dispel those vague terrors with
which the mariners of the time regarded
regions lying beyond the limits already known.
It was from the study of ancient geographers
that he seems first to have formed his opinion
of the general outline of the African continent ;
but it was an inspiration of genius to firmly
seize the idea, in the dark state of geographical
science then prevailing, that a sure route to
the Indies was by turning the southern ex-
tremity of Africa, and that the nation which
first availed itself of this route, and possessed
itself of the rich countries to which it must
lead, would open inexhaustible sources of
wealth and commerce. It was not until after
the soundness of this conception had been
demonstrated, and the world was ringing
with the fame of the Prince who had made so
great a discovery, that Columbus developed
his idea of reaching the Indies by sailing to
the west The sagacious conclusion of the
Prince was exactly fulfilled by the result, but
the error of Columbus proved his safety. Had
the ocean extended, as he supposed, without
intervening land from Europe to Asia, he
would have perished as an obscure adventurer.
He missed the Indies he hoped to attain, but
discovered a new world he never expected to
find. If it be conceded that his idea of reach-
ing the rich coast of Asia by striking out to
the west was yet more bold than that of the
Prince, who sagaciously and rightly sought it
to the south and east, yet to the latter must
be accorded the praise of proving that the
ocean was the great high road of commer
and that the compass was a sure guide
explore the surface of the globe.
Hie exploits at Ceuta form one of
brightest chapters in the romance of the
middle ages. It was his lance which opened
a road to victory through the Moorish
ranks when they were drawn up to oppose
the landing of the Portuguese chivalry; it was
his foot which was first planted on the ram-
parts of Ceuta, and his sword which hewed a
lane through the raging combatants, and kept
the ground ho had won until reinforcements
arrived. In the principal Mohammedan
temple, solemnly consecrated to St. James the
next day, the golden spurs of knighthood were
buckled to his feet. This honour he .shared
with his brothers ; but a certain proof that the
honours of the victory were really adjudged to
him, and that the King appreciated his talents
and character, is fund in the titles conferred
on him of Duke of Viseo and Grand Master of
the Order of Christ. The revenues of the
Order were very considerable, and gave the
Prince ample means of sending out the expe-
ditions which became thereafter the leading
business of his life.

Left Governor of Ceuta, though then but
two and twenty, he gathered round 'him, se
the Portuguese chroniclers relate, seamen.
travellers, and men learue I in every branch of
science, makihg no distinction. of age .or
country, and munificently rewarding all who
could assist his inquiries and enlarge his
knowledge of geography. The Moorish
astronomers, at that time the most skilful in
the world, revealed to him the secrets of thew
art; the Jews, who traded with the East, told
him all they knew of its various countries,
their position and extent, of their cities, their
inhabitants, their riches, and their arts;
Moorish mariners instructed him in the use of
their instruments of navigation; and Arab
traders, whose roving habits led them to dis-
tant parts of Africa, roughly delineated the
windings of the coast, described the continent
us gradually narrowing towards the south,
spoke of' the populousness and fertility of
many of the kingdoms into which it vim
divided, and hinted of lands where the Boil
was Impregnated with gold,

766

The information gleaned from these various '
sources confirmed what previously, perhaps,
was but a vague supposition in his mind, that
an ocean existed south of the African conti-
nent which washed the distant shores of India
and China. At this day we can but faintly
conceive the tumult of wonder and delight
which such conviction must have raised in
his breast. Not only was Asia regarded as the
birthplace of man, and the scene of the
miracles both of the Old and the New Testa-
ment, but as a land which, having once been
visited by the presence of God, yet retained
some marks of His especial favour. It was
the seat of Paradise and the cradle of civilisa-
tion. It was described as possessing " favor-
" able stars and smiling skies." The earth
was said to be watered by innumerable
streams, and to bring forth whatever could
contribute to pleasure and luxury. "It heals
us," said one of the old writers of our own
country, " with its drugs, it clothes us with its
" silks, it adorns us with its gems, it enriches
.' us with its metals, and it refreshes us with
04 its fruits, its spices, and its perfumes." To
.pen a practicable way to this favored land
Ippeared to the ardent imagination of the
bnfante an object worthy the labour of his life ;
ut the difficulties were great. Though igno
antof the real extent of the African coast, he
ust have conjectured that it stretched beyond
th e torrid zone, a region which to mention was
to raise up frightful terrors to the supersti-
tious fancies of the seamen of that day. To
improve their skill and dispel their prejudices,
he kept a few vessels constantly employed in
making experimental trips, while he himself
laboured to diminish the real perils attending
distant voyages, and to smooth the toilsome
track of the mariner across an unknown ocean.
Under his care navigation was elevated into a
science. Improvements were made in the
construction of the compass, and maps and
charts, at that period little known in Europe,
were drawn with tolerable accuracy and brought
into general use.
This portion of the Prince's career is passed
lightly over by Mr. Helps. He tells us that
in 1418 the Infante was settled on the pro-
montory of Sagres, but no mention is made of
the naval college he erected there, of the ex-
tensive storehouses and dockyards he
formed, of the ships he collected, or of the
large encouragement he afforded to the labours
of learned and scientific men. Simple in his
own habits and plain in his expense, he de-
voted the large revenues of his Order to the
one object nearest his heart—an earnest mis-
sionary spirit stimulating his ardoes for dis-
covery. The ocean was always in his view ;
and we can imagine with what anxiety he
must have watched for the return of his
ships from the distant expeditions on which
they were sent.
We have not space to notice the successive
steps by which discovery was advanced, or the
more stirring events of his life, as the expedi
tion he led against Tangier and the unhappy
fate of his brother Ferdinand, who perished
in captivity—his endeavours to compose the
quarrel between his brother the Regent and his
nephew the young king Alphonso. Some narra-
tive of these events might have been appro-
priately introduced by Mr. Helps in his
work. Occupied with schemes of pacific
conquest and colonisation, he looked with little
favour in advanced life on the din of arms. We
think we have read, that a year or two before
his death, when Alphonse had collected a
powerful army to invade Morocco, the Prince
Henry visited the fleet, and was earnestly
urged to join the expedition and give its
leaders the benefit of his wisdom and expe-
rience. He resisted the persuasions ad
dressed to him, returned to his promontory,
and died peacefully in the midst of his labours.
His death cast a gloom over the army in
Africa, and the soldiers suspended their ope-
rations against the foe that they might
mourn in quiet so great a loss to the kingdom.
A noble tribute was paid to his genius when
De Gama passed the Cape, and Lisbon be-
came the emporium of the wealth of the
East. Men then looked back with reverence
to the sagacity which had foreseen and pre-
pared this great result. The little chapel
Which he had built on the banks of the Tagus,
near the sea, was replaced by a magnificent

THE PRESS.

church, with a statute of the Prince in the
centre. His noblest epitaph is the motto he
took to express the aims of his life—" Le
talent de bien faire."
The discovery of Madeira, the Cape Verde
Islands, and the exploration of the African
coast from Cape Non to Sierra Leone, prove
the success of his efforts ; but his superiority
is perhaps best shown by the care with which
his colonising expeditions were sent forth.
To him Madeira owes its wine. Never was an
island planted with more benevolent care ; and
as it had no inhabitants to provoke injustice,
the crimes usually attendant on colonisation
were avoided. From the first the colony was
peaceful and prosperous, and we may fancy
that a special Providence has watched over this
first reward of the pious Prince's labours, and
has kept it attached to the Crown of Portugal.
It does not fall in with Mr. He)ps's design to
notice at any length the discoveries made by
the Portuguese subsequent to the Prince's
death. But the voyages of Columbus and of
the adventurers who followed him, together
with the regulations established from time to
time for the treatment of the Indians, are
copiously related. The second volume is chiefly
occupied with the expedition of Cortes against
Mexico. With this portion of his work Mr.
Helps has taken great pains. It is on the whole
eloquently written, and, being mainly derived
from the statement of eye-witnesses, reads with
great force and freshness. Mr. Helps, with
some questionable peculiarities, has many of
the best qualities of an historian—great dili-
gence, mastery over material, and narrative
power. But we fear that he has not been for-
tunate in his choice of a subject. He should
have adhered more closely to his original de-
sign, or as his work grew on his hands have
completely merged it in his general history.