Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-22

An interesting feature of the Discovery day
celebration held under the auspices of the
Washington city presbytery at the New York
Avenue Church yesterday WAS the address of Mr..
A. R. Spofford, the librarian Of Congress. The
address was scholarly presentation of the
salient points in the career OF the great adj
miral. Mr.. Spofford said:
Among the many lives of Columbus that have
been written there exist some twenty-five in
the English language. OF these three or four
only have any historical or critical value. and
one only Of those written by Englishmen Chat
of Arthur Helps is worthy OF notice. The
mass Of biographies, both English and Ameri-
can, are mere echoes or abridgements in other
forms oflanguage, of the great work Of WASH
ington Irving first published IN 1928 This
book was written in Spain, and based upon
collections of documents, manuscript and
printed. not previously used by biographe-s
Hence its value the most copious and
systematic life of Columbus which had ap-
peared in any language. The finished and
graceful style, which ohsractorizes all the
works of Its accomplished author. gave il high
place In literature, which it has maintained for
more than half a century, being constantly re-
printed.
Next in point Of time to Irving, though
treating Columbus with less fullness Of detail,
came the polished historian Prescott, whose
History of Ferdinand and Isabella" vas pub
lished in 1887. This ardent and laborious
scholar was ike Irving, consti.TtiOnaily in
clincd to the optimistic view o: his leading
characters. To magnify the virtues and ID
minimize the faults OF their heroes las ALWAYS
been the easily besetting sin of biographers.
The pomp and picturesque circumstance Of the
Spanish court, the splendid administrative
"bihtles OF Ferdinand, the beauty. amia5LI-y
and devoted piaty of Isabella are depicted in
glowing colors, but The crimes and crueltIaS
which they sanctioned. while condemned On
one page, are softly extenrated upon others.
Columbus appears romantic figure in
history. the glory OF whose successful discovery
atones for his many failin6s.
The latest extended biography Of Columbus
in English is that of Prof. Justin WinGor of
Harvard University, published in 1892. 1t is
characterized by wide ana varied research in 10
the early and recent literature bearing upon
the history of Columbus. critical sitting Of
authorities, and an entire absence of admiration
for its illustrious subject.
ORIGINAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
OF the original sources of information about
Columbus the most important are: First. the
great collection of original documents printed
in Spanish by Navarrete in 1S25-97, and partly
reprinted in French translation in 1928:
second, the "Historia general de las midas" of
Oviedo, also i'll Spanish. partly published in
1885; third. the "IIistoria de las Indias," of
the Spanish bishop Las Casas, composed in
1927 to 1861, which remained in manuscript
until 1875, when il was printed from the
original Spanish fourth, the Letters and the
Decades of Peter Martyr, written in part
contemporaneously with the discovery of Amer
lea, and printed in Latin in 1880 and [partlyl in
English in 1855; fifth. the "Historia de los
Reyes Catolicos" of Andres Bernaldez: and
sixth. the life of the discoverer by Ferdinand
Columbus, first published in 1911, at Venice, in
Italian. The last four writers had personal
kno Wedge or intercourse with Columbus,
while Las Casas, Oviedo, and Ferdinand had the
advantage of residence in America and init
mate knowledge OF the aborigines and of the
men and events OF the period. Modern criti-
cism has cast doubts upon the authenticity Of
the life by Ferdinand Columbus, but the con-
troversy, while it may prove composite
authorship. does not shake our confidence that
the narrative is mainly genuine record of
materials which must have come from Ferdi-
nand. The internal evidence Is even
stronger than the accepted credit of three
centuries, corroborated il is in the
main facts by the history of Las Casas, written
almost contemporaneously. Irving styles it,
not inaptly, 1.-The corner stone of the history of
the American continent"
Besides these original sources Of information,
We owe much to the learned and laborious re-
searches Of Henry Harrisse, a French-Ameri-
can, who for thirty years has pursued the
cl, sest and most fruitful investigations into
the history of Columbus and whose writings
upon it have enriched the literature of the sub
ject with critical contributions Of inestimable
| value.
Summarizing the matter, we have about
twenty five lives Of Columbus in English, six in
Spanish fourteen in Italian. nine in French
and six in German. But these by no means
exhaust the photography Of the subject. There
are numerous treatises on the birthplace of CO.
lumbus, on his parentage, on his nationality,
on his landfall, or place of actual first landing
in America, on his voyages, on his
geographical knowledge, on his cartog-
raphy, on his morality, on his portraits,
ON his descendants, on his place of sculpture,
and on his beatification-or his merits q can
didate for the honors OF caponization. The
catalogue of the British Museum library shows
lis titles under the name of Columbus, while
Mr.. Harrisse, who may fairly be said to know
more on the subject than any one living. asserts
that his researches exhibit 600 titles devoted to
Columbus exclusively, besides the countless
notices of his life and voyages in books OF his
tory, geography, &c.
MATTERS OF CONTROVERSY.
Almost every item involved in the chequered
and eventful life of Columbus has afforded
fruitful theme for controversy. His birth.
even is disputed, under stress of conflicting
evidence, as falling anywhere between I435 snd
1447, a discrepancy of twelve years His birth
place Is cEnlN1eu more toWns IMAM lnat OF
Homer. His knowledge Of astronomy. geogra-
ply and navigation is asserted and denied with
various degrees of pertinacity. His treatment
by the sovereigns of Portugal, CASTLE and Ara
gon is far in question that irreconcilable diff
ferences of opinion exist. How much Column
bus really owed to the aid Of the crown, and
how much to private enterprise, in fitting out
his expeditions of discovery cannot be definitely
ascertained. How far he was hindered by the
bigotry or helped by the enlightenment Of pow
erful ccclesiastics is a theme Of perennial con-
troversy.
The island where he first landed is SO far
from being identified. that many books have
been written to prove the claims of this. that
and the other gem of the sea to be the true land
fall OF Columbus. His treatment OF the natives
has been made the subject of unsparing de-
nunciation and of undiscriminating eulogv
His conduct toward his own often mutinous
crews is alternately haudsc as humane and gen
erous, or denounced IS arrogant and cruel, ac-
cording to the sympathies, the point Of view,
the candor or the bias OF the critic. His i'm
prisonment and attempted disgrace has been
the theme of indignant comment and of cx-
tenuating apology. His moral character and
marital relations are subjects Of irreconcilabie
differences of judgment His deep religious
bias, so manifest ia nearly all hts writings. has
been praised as a mark Of exalted merit by some
writer's, and stigmatized by Others as cant and
superstition. The last resting place of his
bones, even, II in doubt. which il required an