Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1888-06-12
Did Columbus Discover America.

Did Columbus Discover America.
The Mortimer, wandering fragments of
Asiatic tribes, after traversing Europe found
home and founded nation in Norway
only when the sea arrested their progress.
Here they achieved permanent conquest
and founded the mother country, from
whose sea-indented shores proceeded so
many expeditions pregnant with the fate Of
nations. In $50 Naddod, Norwe-
gian pirate, on his voyage to the Ferroes,
was carried far out of his course by tenn
pest, and this accident led to his discovery
of Iceland, the ultima Thulen of the an
clients. This ice-clad island became colo
ny of the mother country. About the year
900 RolIo made the conquest of Normandy.
In 1860 we find Norman prince establish
ed in Apulia. In 1865 William the Con.
queror becomes the master and King OF
England, and founds the present dynasty Of
Great Britain. 1t will thus be seen that the
Mortimer were at the height ftheir power
and activity when they discovered and COL
orized portions OF the Western continent In
the tenth century. The learned ge.
ographers and skillful critics who have re-
viewed all these circumstances have decided
that the first land discovered was Nantuck-
ct, one degree south of Boston the second
Nova Scotia the third Newfoundland y
The observations made of the country and
climate accord with wonderful accuracy in
locating Vinlsnd the Good, Of the North
men, in the region near Newport, R. l. <
This expedition of Left Ericsson was regarded
as the most fortunate of all, for be had dis.
covered Vinland the Good, had rescued five
of his countrymen from death at sea, and
had introduced Christianity into Greenland.
The ecclesastics who accompanied the ex-
pedition were the first Christian priests in
that early age that visited America. They
afterwards became the founders of the
church of Greenland which 1ourished for
several centuries. The remains of the TEN.
Piles are now visited by adventurous tourists
and are familiar to the Moravan mission
aries of Greenland. Left Ericsson was thus
the frat dscoverer of our country. 1t
would certainly be an interesting field OF in
oury to investigate the question whether
Columbus had any knowledge of the Morse
discoveriesin the Western hemisphere, and to
whate extent. There are number of circum-
stances strongly tending to show that Co.
lumbus knew something of these events.
His long and thorough study of the subject
in all its aspects must have guided his mind
to this information. The absolute certainty
he professed to have that be could discover
land in the west could not have rested upon
theory alone it must have been based upon
information of facts alec. He himself states
that he based his certainty on the authority
of learned writers. The visit of Co
lumbue to Iceland, in Februry, l4l7,
brought him in more immediate con.
tact with the traditions and written
accounts in relation to the Morse dis
coveries in the Western continent. He ID
believed to have conversed with the bishop
and other learned men of Iceland, and as
bis visit there was fifteen years before he
discovered America, and only one hundred
and thirty years after the last Morse expedi'
tion to the lands in the Western ocean. he
must have met Icelanders whose grandfath-
ers lived in the time of that expedition and
perhaps were members oft. 1t is unlikely
that Columbus could have been go active ln
his researches for geographical and nautical
information IS all his bographers represent,
and vet have been in the midst of so much
information on these subjects without COM
ing In contact with 1t. Rome WAS
then, as she has been ever since, alive to ge-
ographical discoveries, ss sffording the
channel for conveying the faith to heather
peoples. Rome was represented in the
Western hemisphere by succession OF sew
enteen bishops, and one of them, Bishop
Eric Upsi, became the apostle of Vim land IN
the twelfth century, fact which indicates q
permanent settlement of Mortimer in
Rhode Island. 1t is believed
that the traditions of these expeditions of
the Mortimer to distant lands beyond the
ocean reached the eager ears of Columbus (;
that he not only saw and read &C.
counts of them at Rome, but, on
the occasion of his voyage to Iceland
in the spring of 1477, heard the legends
of Vinland from Morse tongues, and learned
them more minutely from the monastlc
manuscripts preserved in the ancient con
vents. Columbus never divulged to The
public the extent of his knowledge of facts
pointing to lands in the Western ocean. at
Rome also Columbus must have heard Of
the Morse expeditions to Greenland and
Vinland. 1t ia also argued that as
Pope Paschal H., in the year 1112, appointed
Eric Upsi bishop of Gerda, in Greenland,
and the bishop visited Vinland as part of
his spiritual domain, Columbus, in search
of such knowledge, must have found it
where it was most accessible. There is also
some ground for believing, though the fact
is not established, that a map of Vinland
was preserved in the Vatican, and that a
copy of it was furnished to the Pinsous.
Facts such as these must have formed con-
siderable part of the knowledge required BY
Columbus In his many years of study.
Leo XIII. has now opened to historical stu
dents the treasures of the Vatican; may we
not now hope to solve this interesting ques-
ton I? May We not hope to recover the his.
torv of the church of Greenland and Vinlaad
and of the seventeen bishops, and of the nu-
merous missionaries who first carried the
Cross to the West?-American Catholic Quar-