Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1892-06-10
Eric, Not Columbus.


1t has long been boast that Americans
that is, the people OF the United States-lovC
fair play, and delight to place honors crown
on heads to which it rghtiully belongs. Ii
were well if this high claim could be sub
stantiated by irretutable proof, instead OF
resting upon a sell. esteem as universally
cherished as among any people on the globe
II is, however, matter Of genuine and laud-
able pride that large number of our most
scholarly and disnterested minds, joining
hands with the learned lovers of justice in
England and some other lands, have been
for number OF years and still are laboring
assiduSusly and with some encouragement
to disabuse the minds of common readers of
talsehoed whose reception, unqueStioned,
by the masses and many cppylsts of history,
is Us mertifying as it is unfair. Ii basal
authority, the testimony of men living in
the times when the events occurred, or i'm
medately atterward, and who made faith
full and unprejudiced records OF the same,
be allowed any weight, nothing seems
clearer than that America was discovered
not by Columbus, in 1902, but by the Ice
lander, Eric, the Red, in 9S5, five hundred
years before the re discovery, or, rather, the
tracing out and finding a portion OF the
same territory. For about two years,
prompted by the proposal for the Worlds
Fair, now preparing, | have given consid-
cradle attention to the discussion, for per-
sonal satisfaction; but, where it has re-
quired volumes for others to set in order the
multiplied proofs, can only indicate Il very
few of the sources Of evidence that lie at
hand.
Carlyle, in Euly Kings Of Noqqoay, does
not hesitate to affirm the discovery by the
Norsemen of the northern part of this con
tinent, embracing Newfoundland, Canada,
Rhode Island (the Wine land of the Morse
men, because of the vast quantities of wild
grapes they found and which still grow
there,) and of the southern coast as far as
Florida. His conviction, like that of score
Of other careful writers, is based upon the
SdgaS, prepared in their long winter nights
by lcelanders with II peculiar talent for
writing, and who could have had no con
ceivabe motive for misrepresentation, their
discovery, and the frequent subsequent Wis
its, remaining entirely destitute OF any re.
suit save difficulty and danger. The state
ment that no permanent settlements were
made In America is Controverted by several
very dilgent students of the subject and
competent authority, notably, Adam Of Brc-
men, Snorrc Sturleson, and Ion Thordar-
son, the latter being the compiler Of the
sagas of Eric the Red The actual dis,
covery is, however the main point of inter
est At least four hundred years before the
Genoese adyenturer was born the knowl-
edge of the existence Of America was in
possession of the Norsemcn.
Incidental proof is referred to by Slater,
in the case of events occurring in Green
| land, recorded in Icelandc writings OF great
antiquity. Almost all the ancient history
accepted without question rests on precisely
| Int Va
boldt, whose mere name prepares the reader
for believing whatever he may advance, as
serts positively that the voyages of the
| Mortimer are not matters of conjecture but
oil established history StrlnnhOm, "A Swed
| ish historian, sets IL down as certain that
| the northern part of the new world was dis
covered by Vikings near the close Of the
tenth century, and that settlers remained for
two hundred years. Aaron Goodrich, the
American author, IN u learned dissertation,
uses this strong and fearless language as to
the untounded claim of Columbus "lle
was not the dscoverer of America in any
sense Of the term he did not explore the
American continent" and goes on to say
that the manuscript sagas relating to Amer
lea are in work still preserved in the ar
chives of Copenhagen, and that a carefully
printed copy is to be found in Miners Lii
brary at the University Of Wisconsin,
Washington Irving evidently first wrote his
Life of Columbus and then studied the sub
iect aiterward-a very handy way, now
much in vogue-iOr he concludes that there
is nothing improbable in the stories Of Ice
landic discoveries, and admits that if their
manuscripts are genuine, they prove the
fact Laing cites an extract from a brief
OF Pope Nicholas ", in l4i8, dealing with
a complaint from the people of Greenland
who say in their appeal for protection from
robbers that they have been Christians for
six hundred years 1t is perfectly evident
that Greenland had not only been dscov
cred but had possessed the forms of Chris
tianity two hundred and fifty years before
the time of Columbus. Perhaps IN no re-
cent work is the false claim OF the crafty
Genoese more ANONYMOUSLY exposed than
in that of Prof Anderson
But there is one fact Of the utmost i'm
portance as the key to the whole secret ar
rangement through which the dishonest
and dshon0rabe claim came TO be estab.
ished. The facts are taken from the lips of
Columbus himself He says that in li77 he
went 10 Iceland. There he remained for
long time, studying all books, manuscripts,
and charts relating TO the Morse discovery
of Vineland New England returning first
To Italy, and, when all his plans were per
fccted, proceeding TO Spain with all nau-
tical information necessary TO his undertak
| ing full in hand, he dictates the terms on
which he is willing TO discover" the wealth
| for which he drives the very shrewdest of
bargains. His course rresistiblY suggests
the prudence sf the prospector who secretly
| finds gold upon land and then bargains for
the property. In this regard he succeeded
| admHably--or UNANIMOUSLY "skilliul
| navigator" as some say he was, several au-
thorities, among them Prescott, Conquest of
| Peru, Vol. l., say he never did know he had
discovered" America "The object of the
| great navigator was still the discovery Of a
route 10 India, hut by the West, instead Of
the East lie had no expectation oi meet
ing with II continent in his way, and, after
repeated voyages, he remained IN his orig
inal error, dying, as is well known, in the
conviction that it was the eastern shore of
Asia which he had reached"
While | have not mentioned 1.-THE Of the
authorities reliable and accessible, those
cited if read without prejudice, would shake
the faith of the firmest believer in the Co
lumbar tradition. But cut bORO what's the
use In general, none. In particular, much
A lie ought never To be told iftold, it ought
never 10 he repeated, unless TO convict and
punish the liar. The Biographies will con
tinue 10 teach the hoary ialscbQod, and the
teacher of the public school may still feel
bound 10 follow the textbooks furnished,
but should also state the fact Parents, cs
pecially, who regard the truth more whole
some than lie, while impotent utterly TO
reverse the false teaching OF centures, should
root il out OF the minds Of their own chill
dren. Even partial justice is better than
wholesale robbery Of fame.