The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-11-12

gators later ia. Wnen eSorDltant requests
were met by more than the usual lbcrality
of royalty. Irving complains because moro
is not dono for his hero. and transforms
the rucrile pride. from which sprang an
intolcrablc pctulance. into the noble amb-
ton conscious Of surprising merit On tho
other hand, Irving omits to cnumerate the mis-
demeanors of Columbus. forsets to tell us that
the benign Admiral was the first to employ
bloodhounds against the naked natives. how he
practised varied crueltics in Espahola be-
yond expression barbarous and how no
stopped upon occasion not only TO vulgar
trickery. but to base treachcry. or course
MIR. Bancroft has no wish to defend the excess
sive harshncss OF the treatment which Column
bus received at the hands OF Bobadila. much
less to excuse tho sending Of the great discov-
crer in chains to Spain. But he shows that
| Ferdinand and Isabella stood by Columbus
much longer than did their subjects. II not
| much longer than the Genoese deserved As a
| mariner and discoverer. Columbus had no
| equal at all events In the Mstre OF his
| achievements: nevertheless. 1t required only
| n brief experiment to demonstrate that as
| colonist and governor he was total
| failure But although his complete ncom-
| petencc for civil admin .stration soon became
glnringly evident to the Spanish settlers. yet
| 1t was only whop their Admiral. Viccroy, and
poNcTuOT vi lUOlcS 30 IUT lprgOt UlIllSeII US
| publicly to strike down and kick royal off,
| cn that tho Spanish soveroIns began to com
| prchcnd the ludicrous unftncss Of the arbitrary
and arrogant temper OF Columbus for tho man
| agement Of colonies. There can be- indeed no
| doubt that Columbus brought upon himself. by
| his misbehavior in the exercise of his vice
| regal powers. the series Of caamitics which
| have commonly been charged upon unsorupu-
| lous rulers and malicious rivals. But, while
| Mr. Bancroft lays rude hand upon some
| features of the Columbus myth. he evinces no
| wish to bclittle the merit Of his great discovery.
Unqucstonably the Mortimer and possibly
some other Europeans had traversed the At
lantic, and landed on the shores of the Now
| World long before the Gcnoese navigator. But
| their voyages had proved sterile. and even the
record Of them WAS we'll nigh forgotten.
| As to the origin of the name America. Mr..
| Bancroft follows Humboldt and other modern
| inqurers. who have made a careful study OF
| the subject. in tracing 1t to a Latin narrative of
Vespucci's voyages. written by a German pro-
| lessor. and published at st. Die in Lorraine in
| 1907. In this treatise occurs the following pas
sage: But now that those parts wiz. the
lands discovered by Columbus. Cabot. and
othcrsl have been more extensively exam
| ined. and another fourth part has been
| discovered by Americas. l do not see why
We should rightly refuse to name 1t wiz.
| the fourth part America" We must bear in
mind that to the northern discoveries Of CO.
! lumbus. Cabot. and Cortereal on the islands
ard coast OF the supposed Asia no general ap
| pcllaton had been given because those regions
were believed to be identical with India. Ca
| thay and other Asiatic countries. Names
we're at first applied by Europeans only TO
particular places and districts on the new
coasts. When Columbus. for example. in 1893.
| discovered the northern coast of South Amcri-
ca. he conceived 1t TO be a portion. though
probably a detached portion. of Asia. and the
terms Paria and the Pearl Coast sufticed to
designate tho region during tho succeeding
| trading voyages. Concerning these voyages
only letter of Columbus and slight account
| OF Pinzons expedition had been printed be-
fore 507 and these documents apparently had
attracted very little attention. Meanwhile. the
Portuguese had explored the coast of Brazil for
n long distance proving the vast extent Of this
southeastern portion Of tho supposed Asia
| whose existence was not indicated on
tho old charts. and which certainly
required name. Now. in 1907. and
for some years aftcrward these Portuguese
| explorations were known To the world almost
| exclusively through n letter OF Vespucci. The
| name America, accordingly. suggested itself
| naturally enough to the German professor Of
| university in Lorraine as appropriate for the
| new region which corrcsp ondud roughly for
| what We now term Brazil. Having once pro-
posed it, his pride and that Of his friends who
| formeda clique possessing great influence Over
| the productions OF the German press at that
| period was enlisted in the furthcraace of liz
adoption. No strenuous opposition seems to
| have been made even by he Portuguese v no
| had applied the name Santa Cruz" to the
| same region; still it was lon.: before the new
| name replaced the old ones. even in the south
| continent which call South
| America. In later years. when the
| called America was found to be joined
| to the northern continent. and all that
| great land was known to be entirely
| distinct from Asia. the name had become too
| hrmiy fixed to be easily superseded, and no
effort that we know OF was made to change it.
| At a still later period, some authors through
mere inadvertence attributed the first dis
coycry OF tho New World to Vespucci This
| ii was that aroused the wrath of La, CaSas and
| others. and provoked discussion that has
| lasted to the present time. There is no evil
| dence however, that Vespucc himself over
| claimed the honor OF discovery. Io was
| intimate terms with the Gonoese Admiral and
| his friends, and is highly spo en- Of by all,
| especially by Fernando Colon. who was ea-
| tromeiy jealous OF every rstonsion which nigh
| seem to challenge tho supcia:ivc quality OF
| his fatnor's merit. IL is certain, moreover.
| that Nespucci himself did not uropos, tho
name America. and NJ Bancroft II Yards it rs
| uui,e possible that he never knew Of MS name
| being applied to any part Ol the Now World,
| since the term did not come into general US,
| until many years aftor has death which oc-
CARED in 1912.
| The present volume brings the story OF the
| conquest Of Central America by Aivaradp and
| others down to tho year 1880 but Mr.. Bancroft
| has reserved for = second volume tn" Lo,,rayal