, 1883-06-23
TIE DREAM OF COLUMBUs.

THE DREAM OF COLJMBU3.
The aspect and bearing of the
| Crusade may seem to have but slight
connection with such Il matter as the
llfe-wOrk Of Columbus. But the
great enterprises Of humanity hang
on to each other in a measure Gttle
suspected. Columbus lived and died
in heart and purpose Crusader; he
was the last Of a long and glorious
line. Not st. Louis himself cher
ishcd the idea Of the Crusade with
purer and noblcr passion;'i seems to
have been really the handspring of
his life, and it is the one key to his
vast and, from one point Of view,
extraVagant demands, the patient
and EucOnquerable persistence in
which again and again threatened
his enterprise with utter wreck.
His demands were simply imperial;
but we shall quite misunderstood
the man, if we do not see that they
were based upon imperial plans and
hopes. His dearest hope through
life was to lead Il final and triumph
ant Crusade, and dying he be-
queathcd it as Il dying legacy to his
heirs.
The floating idea Of Il continent in
the far west detract nothing from
the true glory Of ColumbuS%It was
practically an unknownLY1th that he
trod; and he trod it~Nith Il method,
a foresight, purpose, and grasp Of
result, which made the realm that he
conquered all his own.
And whence came the strength to
conquer it? Why, Of all the men
who were busy in that age thinking
and talking about the unknown west,
did this man feel that his great life
work was TO discover it, so that
neither bands nor Affections could
move him from it, nor beggary, nor
cOntumely, nor the near vision Of
death? None who have studied his
letters can hesitate about the answer.
Paul did not believe more absolutely
that Christ had called him to go to
the Gcntilcs than did Columbus that
God had ordained him. to open that
path for mankind. There was in
him Il consuming cagcrncsS, and yet
a grand, and almost divine patience,
which the conviction Of call from
God alone explains. How intensely
the fire burned within him both his
letters and actions reveal. II Is said
that his hair turned quite white
Though the inward travail before he
was thirty years Of age. And yet
there is something altogether sub
lime in the patience with which he
endursd "a auocezlion Of bittar slizal,E
poin;ments which would have broken
utterly the spirit Of all hut the very
strongest and no5lcst of mankind,
and refused even to catch at the full
tillment Of his hope except on terms
which he believed that he had
sacred right to insist upon, and which
aimed at an object yet dearcr than
discovery to his great, aspiring heart.
Columbus was the last great
dreamer that dreamed the dream of
the Crusade. 1t lay deeper in his
mind, if possible, than maritime dis.
COVcry, and nearer to his heart. The
moment that the terms were fairly
settled, he opened his project to the
sovcroigns, and suggested that the
vast wealth which he expected would
accrue from his discovery should be
devoted to the pious purpose DOT
rcscUing the Holy Scpulchre of Jc-
ruSalcm from the power of the in
ldclS." When he came home in
triumph, he made a vow to furnish
within seven years an army consist
ing of five thousand horse and fifty
thousand foot for the rescue OF the
Holy Scpulchre, and a similar force
within the five following years.
How tcnaciOusly he held to tins pur-
pose we may gather from the fact
that when he was brought home in
chains to Spain, and was in the deep
est sorrow and distress, he prepared |
an elaborate appeal to the sovereigns
to undertake the fulfllmCnt Of the
vow which his poverty and weakness
forbade him to redeem. He wrote
at the same time to the Pope, affirm
ing that his enterprise had been
undertaken with the intent of dcdi-
eating the gains to the recovery Of
the Holy Sepulchre; and, that the
evidence may he complete, he re-
affirmed it sOlemnly in death in his !
last testament, and committed II as
the dearest object of his heart, the
most sacred purpose Of his life, for
fulhllment to his heirs -CORtempOr-
arg Rerietc
TIE LAND LAW.
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