Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1873-10-16
. 1dubte to chrlstopher columbus.

w tAh ~ VIVA
this Atlantic, the toughest aud windi-
est of oceans. If you look at 1t on the
map. 1t doesn't appear to be much,
and. indeed. 1t Is spoken Of rs q ferry.
What with the eight or nine days pas
sage over Ii, and the laying Of the Ca
bic. which aunihilates distance, | had
the impression that its tedious three
thousand and odd miles had been,
somehow, partly done away with; but
they are all there. When one has
sailed a thousand miles due east, and
then finds that he Ia nowhere In par
ticular, but Is still out, pitching about
OH an uneasy sea. under an inconstant
sky, aud that a Thousand miles will
not make any %Perceptible change. he
begins to have some conception Of the
unconquerable ocean. Columbus rises
In my estimation.
| was feeling uncomfortable that
nothing had been done for the memory
Of Christopher Columbus, when 1
heard some months ago that 81 guns
had been fred of for him IN Boston.
1t IL to be hoped that they were some
satisfaction to him. They were dis
charged by couutrymen Of his, who
are Justly proud that he should have
been able. af'er a search Of only a few
weeks. to find a land where the hand
organ had never been heard.
The Italians, rs a people, have not
proflted much by the discovery ; not
so much, indeed, as the Spaniards,
who got a reputation by It which even
now gllds their decay. That Column
bus was born In Genoa entities the
Italians to celebrate the great achieve
ment Of his life though why they
should discharge exactly thlrty-seven
| guns | do not know. Columbus did
| not discover the United States; that
we partly found ourselves. and partly
bought and gouged the Mexicans out
of. lie did not wen appear to know
that there was II continent here. He
discovered the West Indies. which lie
thought were the East, aud ten guns
would be enough for them. 1t Is prob
able that he did open the way to the
discovery Of the New World. IL lie
had waited, however. somebody else
would have discovered 1t perhaps
some Englishman anu then we might
have been spared all the old French
and Spanish wars. Columbus let the
S%paniards Into the New World; ard
their civilization has uniformly been a
curse to It. Ii he had brought ltal-
ians, who neither vt that time showed,
nor since have shown, much lncllna-
ton To come, we should have had the
opera. and made 1t a paying institution
by this time. Columbus was evidently
n person who liked to sail abUu:, and
diln't care much for consequences.
Perhaps 1t Il not an open question
whether Columbus did n good thing In
first coming over herc-onc that we
ought to celebrate with salutes aud
dinners. The Indians never thanked
him, for one party. The Africans had
small ground to be gratilied for the
market no opened for them. Here are
two continents that had no Use for him.
He led Spain into a dance Of great ex-
pectations, which ended In her gor-
geous ruin. He introduced tobacco
into Europe. aud laid the foundation
for more tracts aud ervon diseases
than the Romans had in a thousand
years. He introduced the potato Into
Ireland indirectly, and that caused
such a rapid Increase Of population
that the great famine was the result,
and an enormous emigration to New
York-hencc Tweed and the constitu-
enry Of the Ring. Columbus Is really
responsible for New York. He Is re-
sponSible for our whole tremendous
experiment Of democracy, open to all
corners, the best three In five to win.
We cannot yet tell how 1t Is coming
out. what with the foreigners and the
communists and the women. On our
great stage we are playing q piece OF
mingled tragedy and comedy, with
what denoueInent We cannot yet s1y.
II 1t comes out well, we ought to erect
a monument to Christopher as high rs
the one at Washington expects to be /;
and we presume it Is well to fire q
salute occasionally to keep the ancient
mariner In mind while we are trying
our great experiment. And this re-
minds me that lie ought to have a naval
salute.
There Is something almost heroic In
the Idea OF firing OF guns Tor a man
who has been stone-dead for about four
centuries. It must have had q lively
aud festive sound In Boston, when tile
meaning Of the salute was explained.
No one could hear those great guns
without a quicker beating OF the heart
IN gratitude to the great discovercr
who had made Boston possible. We
are trying to ''realize" to ourselves the
Importance OF the 18th OF October as
an anniversary of our potential exist
ence.
If any one wants to see how vivid Is
the gratitude to Columbus, let him
start out among u business-houses
with a subscription-paper to raise
money for powder to be exploded In
his honor. And yet Columbus was q
well-meaning man ; and, II he did not
discover a perfect continent, he found
the only that was left.-E1change