The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-06-03
CoLUMBUs,s FAILURE IN PORTUGAL.

Had Columbus persistently held out to
him the promise of immense dominions,
fabulous wealth, and far-reaching
empire, Dom John might have yielded
to the potent fascination. But the sailor
demanded two things, both incompatible
with the policy of Dom John-a policy
in thorough accord with his nature and
his life; he claimed rich return, which
was not tasteful to the covetous king,
and great power and authority, in
compatible with the royal prerogative,
which had risen to supreme dominion
and had become an article of faith to be
accepted of all men. 1t was impossible
to induce Dom John, who, had stripped
the Lusitanian mobiles of allarge part OF
their revenues, to consent to another's
sharing in the profits of the territories to
be discovered, and even more Impossible
to win from him recognition of such a
perpetual gOvernorship as Columbus
asked; copartnership, as it were, with
himself, who at such cost and by such
stern means had set himself upon the
backs of his mobiles after stru gle so
bitter that he had perforce sought aid In
it from the internal powers OF crime, to
insure the unity, the integrity, and the
totality of his monarchy.
The indispensable acceptance of the
preliminary and preparatory scheme was
therefore frustrated by the same causes
that so nearly defeated it afterward,
namely, the excessive claims of COM
mand and tribute for himself put for
ward by the acknowledgements. ~ y The
king appointed commission to look
into the matter; and this commission
rendered an opinion in perfect con-
sonance with Lusitanian precedents,
which were all in favor of seeking
Southern Africa and the East Indies by
shaping longer courses toward the south.
Two learned Doctors, Maestro Joseph
and Maestro Rodrigues, jointly with two
prelates of Ceuta and Viseu, were the
members of the commission which was
charged with that most difficult investi-
CATION.
But Dom John could not have been
satisfied with the adverse report of the
wiseacres, for he called together the
High Council of the crown. This body,
essentially political, composed in greater
part of those jurists to whom the science
and knowledge of the Roman law sug,
gcstyd the modern idea of absolute
power and the creation of powerful
States, set aside the purely scientific
views of the commission of technical
cosmographers, and laid stress upon the
| the pretensions to authority and revenue
advanced by Columbus, deeming them
| in conflict with the supreme rights OF
the monarchy and the absolute power OF
the monarch. In truth, the Technical
junta and the political council assigned
the two motives of Tefusal-the usua
course of the Portuguese voyages anc
discoveries, and the recently established
principal of monarchical unity. One
report opposed the project itself, the
other opposed the reward demanded by
Columbus. And now arose the design
in the mind of Dom John to appropriate
the Columbian achievement and to get
rid of Columbus.
BY the detailed explanations of the
project, by his frequent conferences
with the discoyerer, by the consultations
held with the wisest men of the century
by the data collected for drawing up thu
report, Dom John had learned all tina
it was possible for him to learn; and h
straightway put it into practice. HI
summoned the most expert among thu
Portuguese pilots, Pero Vazque!, tn
school-fellow of Dom Henry, and IL
stealth and silence, with all secrecy ant
caution, sent him, under pretense o
provisioning the Cape Verde Islands, t.
follow the course mapped by Columbus
Then was it clearly apparent tina
mechanical and superficial knowledge
mere calculation, the soldiers watch
word and the kings command, could no
take the place of the effort, the zeal, tn
research, the reasoning, and, above all
the sorrows of a true genius. Tn
| ,,,a,houfnal ff1nf tnrrif ri
when he became entangled in the sea Q
floating sargasso, whose rank growt
chung to the keels and checked his pre-
gress; he was more terrified when struc
by tempest and hurricane, and yet NOR
on sailing and sailing, day after day
without sighting land; and in his terro
he put about, steering homeward to POI
tugal, and excusing his failure by e1
aggerating the peril. The secret becam
known. AS soon as Columbus knew
it, his indignation, only comparable