The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1853-06-29

and the native races. Before he sail
ed from Spain. Columbus Was furnish.
ed wiih piece Of parchment BY Fer
dinand and Isabella. CREATING him their
|. yieeros and High Admiral in all the
seas, islands. aud continents which he
should diseoEer.-his heirs forever "a
enjoy the same offers. The yieeroy
OF the absolute monarch Of Aragon and
Castillo.
Thus VAS America conquered before
IL Was discovered. By the Law of ma
tions. as then understood. land | fear
there is less real change IN its doc
trines Al the present day than We are
ready to think sovereign right to
the territory and government Of all
newly disc. vered regions. inhabited by
heathern tribes, Was believed to rest in
the Christian prince under whose auspi
ces the discovery was made, subject to
the ratification Of the Pope. as the uIti-
mate disposer Of the Kingdoms Of the
earth. such was the law Of nations, as
then uniers ood, in virtue Of which.
from the m.ment Columbus, on the
night Of the 18th of October, 1892.
caught. irum the quarterback Of the
Santa Maria. the twinkling beams Of
a taper frnn the shores Of San Saliva
dor. all the territ rial and political
rights Of its simple inhaLitan:s we're ex.
tinguished fme,er. When, ON the fol
lowing uorning. the keel Of his vessel
grated upon the much.longed.for strand,
il completed.' with more than electric
speed. that terrible circuit which con>
nected the islands aud the continent
to the foot-stool Of the Spanish throne.
As he landed upon the virgin shore, its
native inhabitants ii they could have
foreseen the future, would have felt,
il may presume thus to apply the
word, that virtue hagd one out Of it
forever. With some of them this pro-
cess was sharp aud instantaneous; with
others more gradual. but not less sure;
with some even, alter nearly four cen
turtles, il is still going on but with
all it was an irreyocable doom. The
wild and warlike - the indolent aud
semi-civilized--the bloody Aztec--the
inotiensiyc Peruvian-the fierce Arau.
canian-alI Jared alike a foreign rule
and an iron yoke settled, or is settling
!. down upon their necks forever.
Such was the law of nations of thai
day-not invented, however, BY Spain
1t was in reality the old principle o
the right Of the strongest disguised b,
a pretext; a colossal iron talsehoot
gilded over with the thin foil Of seem
ing truth. II was the same principl,
which prompted the eternal wars o
the Greeks and Romans. Aristotl,
asserts. without qualification, that tn,
Greeks had perpetual right Of wal
and conquest against the Barbarians
that is, all the rest of the world; ant
the pupil Of Aristotle proclaimed thi,
doctrine at the head of the Macedonian
phalanx, on the banks Of the Indus
The irruption Of the barbarous race,
into Europe, during the centuries tina
preceded and followed Christianity
rested on as good .principle--rathe
better; the pretext only was varied
although the Gauls and the Goths di,
not probably trouble themselves mucl
! about pretexts. They adopted rathe
the simple philosophy Of the robbie
chieftain Of the Scottish Highland:
Peni in this fortress Of the north,
Think st thou we will not sail, forth,
To spoil the spoiler as we may.
And from the rohber rend his grey.
When the Mohometan races rose t
power, they claimed dominion over al
who disbelieved the Koran. Conver
sion or determination was the alterna
, tive which they offered to the world
aud which was announced in letters q
fire and blood from Spain to the Gan
ges. The States of Christian Europ
/ did but returt the principle and prac
tice, when in five successive crusades
!. kept up for more than three hundre
, years, they poured desolation over tn
t west OF Asia. in order to rescue tn
sepulchre Of peace from the possessio
OF unbel e.ers.
! Such were the principles Of the put
r lie law and the practice under them. 9
$ they existed when the great discov.
!, res Of the fifteenth and sixteenth Ger
{ turies took place. When the Portu
). gese began to push their adventure
: far to the South on the coasts OF Afr
: ca. in order to give to those principle
a the highest sanction, they procured
!. Pope Nicholas ", in l454. the graz
5 Of a right of sovereignty over all Il
4 heathen tribes, nations and countri,
s discovered o. to be discovered by the
I from Africa to India; and the exclusi'
a title thus conferred was recognized t
s all the other nations Of Christendom.
v On the return OF Columbus from h
d first voyage, the King of Spain, not
e tall behind hisneighbors in the streng
4 of his title, lost no time in obtainlr
!. from Pope Alexander W.. simil;
! grant Of all the heather land discove
I ed by Columbus, or which might her
{ after be discovered. in the West J