The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-11-14

the western COAST VI AAlANAs AONA " tN
land of the Hottentots. She was in full pos
session of this route. and confirmed IN her
title to it by the indisputable sanction OF the
Vicegerent at Rome and as gealuS no
influenced the action of the country,
the spirit of conservatism would conhne IL
self to the line of action already established.
And the then ruler of Portugal, though n
moderately able man. yet he was influenced
by a too frequent jealous and eOnceited spirit
peculiar 10 mediocre men in power, who do
not wish TO appear 10 be led BY outside
ideas, but TO be esteemed sufficient for not
only the government but the enterprise Of
their country, rejected the plan and over
lures of the GenoeSe adventurer, as being
calculated to disturb Portugal in her present
pursuit of Indian dominion. And very like
" Columbus would have acquiesced resign
edly TO the denial of his scheme, aud have
still sought employment for his energies IN
Portuguese African enterprise, had not his
Philiipa died, and broken up his Portuguese
home. Ii was mainly this event, more than
his disappointments in appealing TO those in
power, that induced him 10 abandon the pre-
cincts of the Court of Lisbon, TO seek the
neighboring one of Madrid.24 He felt that
though Spain had derided the maritime en-
terprise of Portugal, yet her jealousy OF her
peninsular ~neighbor, was more likely to
prompt her, more than any other country, 10
engage in an opposition enterprise in an oc-
cidental ocean route which was open to her,
and not in conflict with the potential bulla
of the Vatican which covered the advancing
line of the dominion of Portugal.
And thus Columbus was led 10 seek his
western route TO India.
uNpus rouND MS ScurRr IN poRTran
1t is far from the purpose of this writer TO
exalt one man by detracting from another
but rather he would have the glory of one
esteemed great still enhanced by showing
hts appreciation of the great purposes of an
other. Columbus unquestionablv derived
very largely the knowledge and the inspira-
ton that directed his great achievement from
the mind of the Portuguese Prince. He ar
rived in Portugal as stated in l470, but sup
posed by some writers 10 have arrived there
much earlier in 1867. He had been an adj
venturous warrior and mariner In the Medi-
terranean of some merit before his arrival in
Portugal and there is no evidence that he
came to this kingdom to propose any
scheme of discovery, matured elsewhere, as
that of pursuing a western voyage for
the purpose of discovery. He came in
accordance with the generous spirit of adj
venture that induced so many of his coun-
trymen to seek the new land of enterprise.
He was then a man Of ardent soul, and a
chivalrous soldier of fortune, and though
grey headed, he marries as Irving says for
" mere affection :" but let us mark that this
mere affection was no doubt the foundation
of his glory. He and his young wife were
poor,-so poor that they could not keep a
house of their own, and must live with her
mother. Bat they made a happy home.
The widow and daughter were happy, with
this brave man for a protector. He was the
countryman of the deceased husband and
father, and as he like him had spent the
dearest action of his life in adventurous voy-
ages and in cosmogra phic labors, how happy
must the mother and daughter have been to
find a protector in one who could appreciate,
by his own vivid experience, the life and
work of the departed husband and father,
Perestrello.
Thus the home of Henry's trusted captain
and cosmographer, became the home of Col
umbus. The great adventurer entered into
the innermost recesses of the College of
Sagres, he inherited the records of its cos
mographer, and the mantle of its great
prophet fell upon him. And with all this,
he had love for a teacher. Love, in his
generous u~ncalculating soul, made him WOO
the daughter of a poor widow, who had no
title deeds of lands, but only charts of inn
aginary ocean lines to give him. But those
We're lines sufficient to satisfy a noble soul
whose great hopes were never in the dross
of the earth. Still love and schemes could
not feed the poor young wife amid the arti-
fetal wants of Lisbon, and so the Discoverer
with mighty purposes and no money, went
to seek a living out of the goats and rabbits
of the wild lone ocean island that belonged
to the dead father. But in the valleys and
glens of Puerto Santo, Christopher and
Phillipa saw their happiest days. Here
their Diego was born here the veteran hero
and his youthful bride gathered plants and
shells, and looking out upon the ocean roll
ing in from the westward, the thoughtful
Phillipa spoke of the ardent ocean hopes of
her fathers illustrious patronizing Prince.
She spoke continually of the achievements
of him who unveiled Africa and disclosed
the secrets of the great ocean. And shall
not suppose that the soul of her warrior
and mariner fired as he listened to her dis
course and that as he listened, he resolved
TO fulfill the purposes of the great Naviga-
tor !? Yes, it must have been so,-and as
Christopher and PhilIipa sat fondly together
in their modest island abode, or walked hand
in hand through its woods and by its shores,
of the work of a dear father and of
his illustrious patron,-then the purposes of
a great man, dawned upon another great
one,-and the terminating seeds of Henry's
mind brought forth ample fruit in the fecun-
dating soul and heroic action of Columbus.
Now may it not be said in conclusion,
that when the great American Republic
celebrates her Centennial, and at the time
.,ortemplates the prophetic voices that called
Torth her Continent from the vast unknown
Of the past, that she will nave reason to
give a foremost place in her Temple of Fame
70 the Illustrious Prince who closed the era
IF the dark ages, who was the harbinger of
he first dawn of all modern enlightened
and who hoped for and led the
NJ IN 4