The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-10-19

he was about, and his work of map
making unquestionably gave to his
theories a defniteness which would
otherwise have been vague dreaming.
No; Columbus did not go forth with
his three little craft, having nothing but
his own convictions to support him.
Europe was back of him; he was its
exponent. Far in advance of even the
average of intelligent thought, because
of his practical experience on the seas,
he yet had behind him great cloud of
witnesses who testified, were il ever so
haltingly, in his favor. This much must
be said in the way of correcting the
tendency of the past to make Columbus
detached man of his time-a too highly
inspired prophet. He was not wholly
detached, and his inspiration was not
all his own, for he was part of the
Europe of the fifteenth century-the
Europe whose commerce had been
growing for years, the Europe which
had had a new birth of thought.
But there is no danger that Columbus
will be given too much of adulaton in
these days. The fashion is otherwise.
His life has been subjected to the Sc
verest inspection and criticism, and in
the reaction from the older view of the
man as almost a saint, who had been
abused unjustly from first to last, it has
come to be easy TO paint his character
blacker than it probably is. We are
told that he was a pirate and free
booter; that he was con the make" in
his efforts to get an expedition fitted
out for the new world and IN all his
voyages; that he deceived his crew by
keeping false log-book in which the
daily distance covered was put down
for less than it ought to be, in order to
allay the fears and misgivings of his
crews; that he made up story of hav-
ing seen light on the island of "San
Salvador" on the evening of October
IL, in order to get reward offered to
the one seeing land first, thus cheating
sailor who saw the land itself the next
morning; that he did a slave-trading
business; that he was cruel and unjust
to his men. Thus is the hero of our
school days stripped of his bright armor
and red and purple garments, and now
he stands before us, a cheap, cruel,
sordid and selfish beggar. Even the
pointed beard of the cavalier is gone,
and smooth face looks out at us from
what are said to be the most authentic
pictures. Such is the man whom the
iconoclasts offer us as Christopher Col
umbus.
Much of all this can readily be adj
mitted. Great indeed in the cause of
truth has been the service of those who
have brought to the surface the ugly
stories which -worshipping histo-
rians had sunk out of sight. But may
there not be danger of erring on the
side of severity? Are not the new
criticstrying to make out better case
than they have? No man is either
wholly black or wholly white in char
acter. Even admitting every count of
the indictment now made against the
Genoese, there is enough left to make
out of him very respectable man for
his time. 1t was not time of strict
honesty, and it certainly was a time
when gold was counted worthy of almost
any sacrifice. What though Columbus
did do little free-booting and did carry
on slave-trading for season? Such
things were common all about him; he
could not be very much better than his
time. If he kept a log-book for the
benefit of his doubling crew, who can
say that the operation did not cause the
discovery of the new continent many
years earlier than would have been the
case had he worn his heart on his
sleeve2 Columbus knew better than
his critics what sort of material
he had to deal with. AS to his in
venting the story of seeing light on
shore on the evening of the nth,
he is not to be too much censured for
wishing to make all he could out of the
trip; he had borne the brunt of the
whole long effort to get the expedition
fitted out. This was just four hundred
years ago, and there has been decided
advance in morals since Columbus
sailed the seas with rough, fierce men,
who often could be managed only by
stern authority, or shrewd artifice. He
must be judged by the standard of 1892
Let it be assumed that this man was
several times worse than his unkindest
critic has made him; yet when the two
sides of his personal account are bal.
anced, we find that the discovery of q
new continent is to be credited to him
for he was the discoverer after all