The daily critic., 1890-12-12
ANOTHER VIEW OF COLUMBUS.
a Few Plain Words About His treat.
ment OF the CarIh Race.


There Is one fact worthy OF note Ia
the coming four hundredth year cele-
bration Of the discovery Of the Ameh-
can continent, namely, that not one sin
gle specimen Of the race Columbus DIS
covered will be on hand to defend him
self, writes A. =. Dunlop in the Sdtpr-
ddg ReriCr Not alone has the Carlb
been wiped from the face Of the earth,
but the oldest inhabitants Of the West
Indian Islands have not seen q half
breed even Of that race, nor do any Of
them remember having been told that
they existed in the time Of their fathers
or gTandfathers. Columbus writes Of
these people as the best he had ever
seen, and says they received him with
overwhelming kindness. He says, too
that they were numerous, and that
every island from San Salvador to Santo
Domingo was thiCkly inhabited.
Could one Of these guileless savagcs
arise to say a few words at the opening
Of the Worlds Fair he might somewhat
disarrauge the mantle Of glory which
the Saxon, Celtic and TeutOniC races
have so prottily arranged around the his
toric figures Of Christopher Columbus
and Queen Isabella. The gentle savage
might first ask why the mighty people
Of North America were celebrating the
advent Of n man who bad nothing what.
ever to do with the discovery OF what Is
now the United States He would have
no record Of his own pcople-who have
not even left trace Of their existence
behind thCm-but lac might have looked
into the enemy's camp for information,
and there he would fnd-whethor
proved or not-that Mr.. Columbus was
said by his son Ferdinand 20 have been
a pirate, or the descendant Of one, who
was constantly on the move, and who,
IN the fifteenth century, visited the
home Of the Vikings, and there heard
the story Of the discovery Of Nineland.
lIo could readily reconcile Mr.. Col
umbus' way Of doing things by au.
thentlcated dispatches from Columbus
20 Their liighnesses." Isabella and
Ferdinand, by reading copy Of a letter,
now IN the Spanish archives, IN which
the dlscoyeter informs Their High.
nesses" that he was treated as a brother
by these savage people, that they gave
freely all they had and conducted him
10 their gold mines. The CaTlb might
then read the latter part Of the dispatch,
evidently written as soon a. Columbus
returned from the gold mines, and sug-
Pesis "hoW easy II would be TO overcome
this unarmed people and send them as
slaves 10 Spain.
Repudiating Columbus as a discov-
eTCr, he might on the aupicious occa-
sion, 60 even further, by asking why
Columbus or Isabella should be adj
mired or held up as examples for the
youth Of the lands
The Republican party might also be
told that no two persons In the worlds
history ever went into a slave specula-
tion more deliberately. Columbus
tempted the cupldity Of the Queen with
untold treasures as a return for her IN
yesiment, and in his first letter Is a
request for ships loaded with provisions,
10 come "licensed for the traffic Of
slaves" Did he get thems The answer
now 10 the Madrid archives Is: Their
Highnesses will send the vessels.
If the written account Of these Span
lsh pirates be correct, the CaHb orator
might say that twelve years after Co
lumbus arrived In the West Indies not
one of this prosperous race was alive,
and be could with truth point TO The ac-
counts left by the Dominican fItar, La
Casa, who wrote that 40 900 Of them
were killed on the Lucsnyan group in
side Of a very short time either by the
sword OF the lash Of the slave e-driveTs.
The native West Indian might sum
up his argument by saying that as an
example Of deliberate treaCheTy aud
| cold bl0oded cruelty and hypocrisy, the
worlds history has no parallel 20 Chris
topber Columbus. who eXterminated
race that be himself says received him
as one sent from heaven nor % his
side partner, who went into the real
estate and slave speculation With hard
cold greed for gold, and then permitted
the IisC0yeTeT 70 end his miserable life
as a paupeT