Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1853-06-17


Ii is truly melancholy, however. 10 comic m
plate the wretched equipment. for which th'
most powerful princess IN Christendom wa
ready to pledge her jewels. Floating .astIe
will soon be fitted out To convey the miserable
natives of Africa to the golden shores o
America; towering galleons Will be dispatched
10 bringI home the gully treasurer 10 Spain
but three small vessels one OF which was with
out deck. and neither of them, probably, eS
ceeding the capacity of pilot boat--and even
these impressed into the public seryiee-com
posed the expedition fiied out under royal pat
ronage TO realize TINT magni6een, Conception
in which the creative mind of Columbus had
planted the germs OF New Wofhi
No chapter of Romance equals the interest
OF the expedition. The most fascinating al
the works of fiction, which have issued from
the modern press. have To my taste aitrac
ton compared with the pages IN which the
first voyage of Columbus is dcscribtd by
Robertson, still more by our own Irving and
Prescott, the last two enjoying the advantage
ovei the great Scottish historian of possessing
the lately discovered journals aud letters OF
Columbus himself Thcdepartnre from Palos
where few years htforc he had begged
morsel of bread anil cup of water for bis
way worn child;-his final farewell 10 the
Old World at the Canalics, his entrances upon
the trade winds which then for the first time
filed European sall,--the porentons garla-
ton of the needle. never before Observed
the fearful course westward and westwa ri day
after day and night after night over tho an.
known ocean,-fhe mnlnous md lll-appeas-
ed crew;-ai length the tokens OF and,-ihe
cloud banks On the western horzon,--tle
logs of drft-w oad the fresh shrub floating
with It's leaves and berries, the fllocks of laud
brds--the shoals Of fish that lnhnbit shallow
water, tho Undesirable smell ofthc shore
the mysterious prcsentiment that ever goes be
fore great event ami finally, on hat ever
memorable night OF the 18th Of October, 1892,
the moving hghi seen by The great discoyercr
himself from The deck of the iSaRta Maria.
and in the morning The real uoJ0ubied land
swelling up from he bosom ofthe deep, and
with lis plains, and hills. and forests, and rocks,
and streams. and strange new races of men,
these incidents IN which The authentic
history OF the discovery of our continent exeels
the specious wonders ofrominee. rs much as
gold exces lnscis, or tho sun IN The heavens
outsLines the Pickering taper.
But 1t IS no part Of my subject 10 dwell uP
on This interesting narrative, or 10 follow cut
this most wonderful of histories sinking rs il
soon did into a tale OF sorrow for Columbus
himself, and before long erding IN one of the
most illghllul tragedies In The annals Of the
world. Su h seems 10 be The Law 81 humanity
that events the most desirable. and acliev
ments the most important, sho aid, ethef IN their
inception progress, be mixed up VIII disas.
tiers. crimes. and SORROWS, which II makes the
heart sick 10 record.
TIE discovery of America. | need hardly
say. produced vast eNtentIon OF the rritorv |
of this Power, under " hose auspices he dis
covery was made. In contemplating this
point, we encounter one Of the n ost terrible |
mysteries in lhe history Of our rae. "Extrn
sion OF territory" yol are ready tn exclaim;
how could Spain acln any territory by the
fact, that nav gator, sailing under her patron
age, had landed upon one OF two islands near
the Continent Of America, and coasled for a
hundred miles along lis shores2 These shores
and islands arc not desert on which Colum
bus, like Robinson Crusoe ola higher or.
der has landed aud taken possession. They
are occupied and sclled--ciowned even with
Observation-Disclosures to the government of their
native chiefs; and neither by inheritance, colo
nlzauon, nor, as yet, 10y conquest, has any hui
man being IN Europe right to rule over them
or to posses square foot Of their territory
Such are the facts of the case, and such, one
"c1'b ouJs ouSuA W Dc tut law dHu equity Oh
the case. But, alas! for the native chiefs and
the native races. Before he sailed from Spain
Columbus was furnished with piece OF
parchment by Ferdinand aid Isabella creating
him their Viceroy and High Admiral in all tho
seas, islands aud continents which he should
dlscoser,-his heirs forever to enjoy the same
Offices. The Viccrov Of the absolute mon
archs Of Aragon and Castle!
Thus was America conquered before il was
discovered. BY the law of nations, as then un
derstood and there Is less real change in its
doctrine at the present day than we arc ready
to think. sovereign right 10 the territory and
government OF all newly discovered regions
Inhabited by hea,hentrbes, was believed to rest
In the Christian prince under whose auspices
the discovery Was made, subject to the rati6ca
ton of the Pope, as the ultimate dsposer o
the Kingdoms of the earth. Such was the law
of nations, as then understood, in virtue o
which, from the moment Columbus, ON thu
night of the 18Th of October 1902 caupbt