Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-21
TIE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA n1
THE IRISH.
Col. Edward c antweIl's Address for the
Benefit of the Jasper Monument Fund
LAST <s-f,r

= l.
Benefit of the Jasper Monument Fund
Last Night.
The Masonic Temple hall was filed last
night by large and cultivated audience
to hear the address Of Col. Edward Cant
well. The subject Of the address was the
Discovery Of America by the Irish and
it was delivered by invitation Of the
Jasper Monument Association for the
benefit of the monument fund.
The speaker was introduced 70 the au-
dience BY the Chairman Of the Committee
of Arrangements, J. Il. Estill, and was
received with hearty applause.
Col. Cantwell introduced his lecture by
referring TO his kindly welcome and TO the
patriotic purposes of those who had under
taken the work Of erecting q monument
TO Jasper. He said that his address would
be devoted to the statement Of we'll
authenticated historical facts gathered
from sources which were within the reach
of everyone. His Introductory remarks Oc-
cupied about twenty minutes. He then
proceeded 70 prove by historical evidence
that America was known 10 the irish
many centuries before the time Of Column
bus. Col. CantWell continued:
II is a commonly received opinion that
America was wholly unknown to Europeans
proposition Is that. recent Investigations Of
learned men. and particularly the investiga-
tlOns OF Carl Christian RAIN, distinguished
Danish archaOlogist and Secretary Of the
Royal Society OF Antiquaries at Copenhagen,
establish beyond dispute that, the Europeans
mad knowledge Of America centuries before
the time Of Columbus. This proposition /
shall maintain by evidence which viii not be
questioned, because IL viii carry conviction
with on its face. Upon testimony which l be-
lieve you viii ind TO be satisfactory. I shall
ask yOu TO say with me that some Of the ma
tons living In America at the time Of Column
bus were Of Irish origin.
? IL Is commonly received opinion that
America ls OF recent geological formation.
ana hence It's appeiatiOn OF the New World"
Ny second proposition Is that. according
/ 70 the opinion Of Louis Agassiz, the most emil
nent geOl0glSt Of modern times-and geology
Is altogether a modern science-the palisades
Of the Hudson were "hOary with age when
the mountains Of the Hlmalaya. the lOftiest
submits Of the globe. were vet in their in
fancy. Agasslz, and kmmOns OF North Caro-
INA nave established Dy testimony apprecla-
bic to every understanding, and which is in
dorsed by Sir Chas. Lyell. the highest living
authority IN this science, that America was
| the scene Of active. organized animal life, I'M
! counted and uncOuntaDle seons Of ages before
/ the plains Of Europe rose above the prImeval
! seas by which the whole globe was formerly
/ enclrcled. | DO not anticipate that any state
/ ment OF geological fact mdOrsed by these au-
| thorites VIII be controversial, because there
/ Is no higher living testimony attainabe
! IL being a commonly received opinion,
/ in accordance with the pretentious
/ inscription placed upon his tomb by
/ Ferdinand, Of spain. that Christopher Co
/ lumbus did in a. d. 1892, actually
! america to CASTLE and Leon" under
/ some accident or direct inspiration. I shall
/ show by testimony, which You viii de-
/ clare 10 be satisfactory in its character
| that for five hundred years prior to that
voyage and pretended discovery, the continent
/ Of America from the head OF Banin's Bay to
I Florida, was familiar TO the NOrWeglans and
I Danes; that they, IN TACT, made repeated Yoy-
\ ages to the American coasts. and had colonies
( ia what Is now called Massachusetts and New
I England. shall show that far from
I being inspired or acting from an ''im-
pulse Columbus had the same
knowledge We possess Of all these vOy-
| ages and settlements; that lac knew before he
Z left spain the distance of ocean he had 10 ira
verse, and that he formed the opinions he adj
! vanced upon ii chain OF logical deductions.
based upon thorough study and labUrious re-
| searches continued for many years. and not
/ on Guesses or zine piratiOns.'
Lastly. l shall relate how IN the year
/ a. y. 545, nearly LOCO years before this
/ pretended first discovery the coasts Of
/ Georgia and North Carolina. in America
I were visited and settled by an Irish
monk named Brandon, who returned to
! his native country and died there,
and that the same colony was again visited bv
/ two other IRISH monks, named respectively
! krnulphus and Bu0 later. in \. d. 79a. or l9l
/ years before the first Morse expedition
I 20 y MtElcti. tue tNlQeuct or MUlcu
have referred to with So much conf
! dence. This same evidence Of tine Morse
VOYAGES and discoveries is equally con-
/ elusive of and sustains the prior existence of
/ an original Irish settlement in North Caro-
! lima.
/ TIE first voyage 70 America Of which any
account is gwen was that Of Biarne Her
/ julfs0n, 4. ID. 1856. Returning to Iceland from
! a voyage to Norway in this year, and finding
his father had removed to Greenland, he also
/ sailed in that direction. They sailed west for
! three days. and the saga says the wind failed
/ them. Then q north wind drove them south
| and they knew not where they were. At last
! they sighted the outlines Of AN unknown land
stretching far away Ike a blue cloud to the
south and west, altogether unlike Greenland,
for 10 was nat and covered with trees. Turning
/ their bow away and catching a southwest
| wind, after four days they reached Greenland
! and related their adventure. From the cir
! cumstances Of the voyage, the course of the
! wind and currents, 1t is believed that this land
/ Was the present Nantucket.
I Four Years later. A. ID. 1000, Left Erikson,
/ son Of Eric the Red, bought Barnes shin
| and. with q crew OF thirty five men. found the
/ lands Bjarne deserted, and. landing in
| Newfoundland, explored that country and
/ Nova scotia.
In the year 1902 another expedition was
/ fitted out by his brother ThOrwaid EriksOn.
I who went to Nlnland. and after remaining
three years. died in the country and was
buried there. In the year 1881 an ancient
skeleton in armOr was found in Massachusetts,
! which il is supposed may have been that of
/ Thorwald Eri6son. The next voyage was
| that OF Thorstein il 1905, but the most distn-
| guished explorer Of Ninland was Th0rfnn
/ Karsefuc in 1907. His party consisted Of one
| hundred and lifty-One men and seven women.
/ ThOrlinn had son born to him at what snow
! called BuZZard's BaV in Massachusetts, His
name was Snorre Thorfnson, and from him the
| celebrated sculptor ThOrWaldsen claimed to
! have been descended.
On the right bank Of the Taunton river. in
| Bristol county, Mass, IN the very region
! which the NOr-emcn so claimed TO have visit
/ ted. the earliest English settlers discovered
rock upon which there is an ancient inscrip-
ton in the Morse language. This inscription
was copied several times by learned men Of
America and Europe long before there was
anything said or claimed about these Morse
discoveries.
OF its authenticity there never has been "a
question, and this inscription has but recently
been translated. Prof. Rain devoted his life
to the matter and succeeded at last in de-
ciphefing 10. ii reads as follows in
Engllgh: Here ThOrfum, with $50 seafar-
ing men Of that country. took possession
of this land This rock and this Inscription
are yet to be seen by the incredulOus and
they leave no stone unturned. we may safely
say. in the great work Of proving the ante
Columbian discovery of Northern America by
the NOrsemen.
In a letter which Columbus wrote. and
which Is quoted in Washington Iryiug's CO.
lumbus. vol. l.. page 50, we read that in Feb
ruary. l477, he made voyage Of exploration
70 Iceland and penetrated 100 lea CUES north
west Of that country towards America. In
ms conversations with the learned men Of the
island he must have been informed Of these
extraordinary facts / have just related and
that the people Of Iceland had discovered a
great continent beyond the Western ocean,,
and which seemed TO extend southwark TO a
great distance. RecOllect, only 100 wears have
elapsed since the last Morse expedition to
Vinland and the grandchildren Of the navi-
gators must have been living. It was about
this time also that Alfonso V. Of Portu-
gal invited the celebrated Italian COS
mographer, Paolo de la PozzO better known
as Foscanelli, to express his views on "a west
ern massage to India" The venerable philos-
opher, then is his 18th year, replied in a letter
dated Florence, June p, l474, furnishing q
Chart in lchich the east coast Of AsjG 1Cds placed
ODD0sit6 tie lCest coast Of 4 fricG, with an ocean
lying between them. Columbus Immediately
opened a correspondence with Eoscauelli, who
replied, Il praise your desire to navigate to-
wards the west. The expedition YOU wish to
undertake is not easy. but the route from the
west coast of Europe to the Indies is certain
if the track | have marked be followed"
This was the track Columbus followed.
When NaddOd first reached Iceland in
A. d. $50 he found Irish books, mass
bells and other objects left by earlier visi-
tors or settlers. His testimony would lead us
10 conclude that these objects had belonged TO
some Irish monks, SAYS Humboldt. termed in
the native Sagas.
In the Oldest Icelandic documents, the first
settlers are called both Westmen and
Irishmen. and Arngrimur Johnson ex-
Dressly Save that those irish monks, the frst
settlers Of Iceland, who had thus come from
the west and also from ireland, were Ernul-
phus, an Irish Christian, and BuO, young
man from the same province.
ireland. we know. is To the east of Iceland.
and not west, and those Irish monks could not
be Western men In any sense unless they had
reached Iceland from some country to the
west known to The Sagas and to them as Ire
land
Now where was that country? According to
the Irish monk Dicuilus who wrote geog-
81. knaa III hoo