, 1876-05-27

eoust nf Africa, IA 10 o,tnc by that chance In
sight ri the op|'ostc land where, .liuvlng Il To
tDik Po.s.HsIon In the na1ne Of Portugal.
The expedition oi, Vapueri, nevertheless,
WI. d hold one, and Inn'io Important A'Ill-
lions u, nstrutni,nf eclrnre IN lts nhs"ry:.-
iEtIns IT the Heavenly hAles Vt tl'c Bnuthcrn
irn'alnrnt, especially 'f The "Sonthcrn Crust,"
Pltrntlnn uf the Honthcrn rGntIncnt anil sea OF
ihc Western Hemisphere, After leaving Cspe
Ecr.lc, lr was slxty.scvrn '!ays at sca before ho
ltoy'1e, on the 18th ii August. Thence hu
winter III IT. explorations, till IN The following
Apri! hc was a. fnr south rs the nfty-
gator hn;l been before. The nights were III
teen hours long; tilr weatlcr tonpestuoua n,,tl
logsy and very cold. THE last land lie saw is
ssnii'',sed y tie the Island Of Georgia, wl!crr,
cspe from these savaEe seas, where perpetual
wfn'er aud almost perpetual darkness seemed
to,rc'9n. They reached fhbon agaiu In l5t.
letter 10 Loreso dc Per Franrfseo al te d. EelIe,
ni Florence; wllich wn. published Mt Augsburg
IN 1j0L No wonder that, as It was
probn!,!y the frat, printed narrative Of
aey II 81 souh G t, @ na Gl ,en tne
tion. Several editions anIcared In tho courbc Of
tic next four yeara, In Latin aud italian, and
unong them ono vt Strasbnurg in 1bG5 underline
stltortllip of ono Matthias KlnY,nann, anat!vc OF
tho Rhine, 2' miles from 6ttasluurg.
student, that he uppentscd TO The narrative Of
tho voyage letter and Eonc verses OF his own
IN praise Of the navigator, and lc gave " tho
buok thr tltlc Of "A,Hcrleus Vcsputim: DE- Ora
Antarctica per Regem Portuga1liR prtleln in
vrnta" (A,ncricus VcspuceLus: Concerning
Southern region recent1Y discovered under the
Eit.frt #
aa.ncw southern continent as distlnct from the
Northern conttne1I. Of Asta, 10 which the discov-
cries hitherto mainly north Of the equator were
supposed to belong. And. this supposition Of
such new quarter Ut the Elolo
GAVE NtsE, Two YHAAs AFTgnwARD, TO NAME,
all growing naturally enough out Of the ontlu-
siat,n III thts KtngmAnn for Vsspucd, and cum
mHncatc1 l,y him to utllorB.
bot,ry, III liz province u Lorraine, was gym
the Secretary u lie D6se Of Lorraine. ia W Wti.is
cn'leKe vas set up one of those ncwly-fnvcntM
nnd ,,,,s ,na1velous machines printing ard
giate Professor u LutLn, hut to tllt important
lost of proof reader. In 1907, Lu,1, tflr 'Dukc'a
Secretary, and Tie hcaa, apparently. Of this lit
tie seminary OF learning, published from tile
leaves rtlating TO narrative of four voyages
10 tic New World by Amc5igo Vespucct; tllts,
IL is sau BY the writer, was sent to the Duke,
aud l,r q.nd) had caused IL to be Transmitted
from tue French, in which It was written, into
Latin; and, Us 4 In recognition Of The
iufluetnn which Ilng.naun had exercised
upon tsle subject among Ills fellows of
y, Ne1 Lud Immediately adsls: "And the
Of our Phtlcslns {Rtngmsnn} In little bot,k
Of Vespusc't, trt,slatva from Itlltan ln,o IaI,.
by lito1Gn.it Of Varona, the architect from Ve1,-
tee." THIS refers to the strasbourE edition
ii ap wsspees two s'eoSa ysar. 'oy~ SyIse ea a y
which he attached his Mandatory verses. Thle
little book of Luds, "spcculi orbIs Dcclarat!u,t'
etc, uao Gostalus soIne Latin vcrsca,-rersic'di
de s''e'gaita terru,-the last lines III which are
tltls translated:
But hold. enousht OF the American race,
NcW found. the hume, the manners here you trace
by our small book set forth In little space,
Tie na1rutive itself, OF Vespuccls fomr yoy-
salllc ycaf, 1507, In hook cRIcd Costnograpllln
INtroductIo,H of which It made about nItc-tnf.
THIS was the work OF Martin Wa!dsecmueler,
aad rubllsl'ed unisr his Grceo-atlnized uatl,c
ST. Die College, where he was teacher Of ecog-
rapl,y, and llis "lntro.luctio" was printed ii,
thr college printing Whether the letter
Nua sent to 81. Dtc addressed to tie Duke Of
ef t,or " e eli Of Of as nssss5 T. M ras pre-
.lrcss altered without the knowledge Of Vcs-
pucsi arc Interesting questions: interesting, be-
cause thu letter falling by sotne mea,1s Into thc
AATu6 u Ltlu hllA " tl1fluCUflIT-
lus) the nuiIlu Of It's autl,ur ta1uc tn he
IMPOSED UPON TtH WHOLE wnsTENR uEMls.
rHEttB.
The same letter subsequently appeared In
Italian, addressed to an eminent citizen Of
Venice, named SodcrlnI, who ts known to
have been nn carly companion and school-
fellow OF FcspuccI. That it was written urIgi.
nally to Solcrlni, Is evident from curtain alll1-
sfona in II to youthful days and associations
which could not refer to the Duke Of Lorrlinc,
hut DrGhGf EpnI1plI WhpN Hfbft4f n Ia
Venetian citizen. II Vespucci himself hutl thr
letter translated into French, altered Its I'D
dress, aud then sent tl.e .opy to Klng1nann, or
st h wus IL coas I'll tsn ss J
rectiy Or sugEcstiycly, in tlo bcstoval upon hin,
vi nIs honor tint w:.s mt rislltfully f,is Such
eusptc1on may be altogether unjust; Vcspucci
inAy nettticr, have seit the letter to the Duke
nor hnre made any suggestion In regard to it.;
alid perhnps no accusation would havs tvcr
been brought agaIl,st him were tlcre nat scrou.
doubts as to the Number of voyages he US
suuses to l!nve mads, whcthcr they were
IN Wl'ich he declares he went upon
tic first one; nnd by q certain coiafu-
eion in tho letter which might have been in
tended to mislead, and certainly did mislca,l,
whether Intentional OF not.
We 10 not intend to enter into any cxamt,,a-
ttun Of nlucstion which Is one OF urcumttntl-
'tial rather than positive, evidence; and which
probably WILL never bc dednitcly settled. Civ
lug to Vespurc! tho benefit OF the doubt, there
Is much In the fortuitoua circumstances of Tic
case to explain tho nan.inK of tlls newly ydlscny-
cred country By incn who, perhaps, had never
lnokcI upon tic sea, and WHO may haye known
expeditions Of the 12yientors 1t Spain and Pur.
tngal and still less tho personal intcrests at
tachcl 70 their fortunes and decda. The Duke
nf Lorraine was patron Of learning; tho young
lrofe..oss 81 TIC c%llcse under ls prossctioi.
their literary lRburs: It would bring no tiuu1h