The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-08-05
BEGINNING OF THE oUApRENNIAL.


The first pageant TO commemorate the
discovery of the New World by Columbus
400 years ago took place on "Wednesday at
the harbor of Palos, in Spain, when the
| Santa Maria, built on the lines OF the us
coverer's flagship. was towed to sea through
a lane of modern men-of-war, eaeh OF
which thundered a salute as she passed.
The first stage of the memorable historical
event has thus been reproduced; other
successive stages Will probably be similarly
repeated Columbus kept diary OF his
voyage, which has unfortunately been lost,
but Bishop Las Casas obtained access to II
and wrote an abstract.
From this we learn that on the 9th, which
comes this year on next Tuesday, the fleet
put in TO Teneriffe to reft, and that Column
bus did not resume his voyage till Septem-
Der 6. Thirty-six days afterward on Octo-
Der l2, land was sighted from the Nina, and
on the following day Columbus landed in
the New World, probably on Watkiings
Island. As Teneriffe was in constant COM
munication with The coasts of Spain and
Portugal, the voyage of discovery really
began on September 6. and that day. ii
would seem, is tie one which ought to be
celebrated 1t chances that it comes three
days before Admission day, which is a legal
holiday.
The memorials of the early settlement of
this continent by white men are of interest
to dwellers on the Pacific, because the in
vader was well known on this side of the
mountains long before his face had become
familiar 10 the aborigines of the most pros
porous portion of the present United States.
Alone of the Eastern States Florida ante
dated in European occupation the countries
on the Pacific. Ponce de Leon landed in
Florida seven years before Cores set foot
on the soil OF Mexico. But De Soto's expe-
dition dates from 1889, and three or four
| years before that time Cortes and his lieu
tenants had discovered California. had
| marched through Arizona and New Mexico
| and may have founded Santa Fe. This was
| fifty years before the foundation Of James
| town, Va, and over eighty years before the
| landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock.
| Champlain had landed at the base of the
rock on which Quebec stands in the year
! that Cortes dispatched vessel up the Gulf
| of California, but the city itself was not
/ founded till some seventy odd years after
ward. Residents of this slope may thus be
! said to be closer to the old rowing mariners
| of the sixteenth century than the people of
! the Atlantic States.
! 1t - curious 10 ) ptCNIalb W ildl leDt HAVE
! been the fate Of this continent if the affairs
of Spain after the discoveries Of Columbus
and the conQuests of Cortes had been adj
| ninistered with wisdom and breadth Of
| view. Ferdinand died just before Cortes IN
vaded Mexico. Charles the Fifth. who sue
ceeded him, raised Spain to the position Of
the foremost power Of Europe. But under
| the Phillips and the ChaTleses who followed,
| ii speedily sank to that OF very second
rate power indeed. Bigotry, an iusatiate
! propensity for war, and an adherence TO
| economic error were the cornerstones of
| their policy. and under their rule industry
| was crippled. trade crushed and agriculture
| neglected; the people wero ground by taxa
| ton, the educated classes deprived Of a
! proper share in the Government tire army
| lost its yalor, the courts OF justice their
| repute for purity, the universities their
thirst for learning; a dark cloud of ignOr-
ance settled over the kingdom, and the pop
ulation declined from twenty millions to
eight. 1t needs no argument to show that
a nation sinking into such decrepitude could
not begeI sturdy colonies. Spanish America
made little real progress after the death of
! Charles the Fifth.
Meanwhile another country, in hich the
spirit of religious inquiry bad developed
mental activity, was rapidly forging to the
| front EnglishmeH were building up a ma
ti0n on the solid foundation of popular
rights. They were beginning to cover the
sea with vessels which, though not as large
or as splendid as the Spanish galleons,
were tanned by sailors equally daring and
more skillful; and they, too, were planting
colonies, which were self-goyerning from
the start, and which haughtily resented
interference from home. Both they and the
mother country from which they derived
re-enforcements were growing decade by
decade in knowledge and bOliuess. and the
noble qualities which 20 to build up great
| commemorative. Against such rivals the
decaying SpaniardS could not hope to hold
their own.
If Philip Ii had called into his councils
men Of the highest ability, and had
been guided by them, it is curious
TO speculate what difference II
might have made in this country. 1t is
quite possible that the Spsniards. dominant
as they were in Mexico, with a trained army
at their command, might have marched
north at the time the Pilgrim Father:
landed and Roanoke Island was being PEG.
pied. They might easily have conquered
the country TO the St Lawrence. There
was no power anywhere to Withstand them
And. instead of being the larger and greater
branch Of the Englisli-speaking race, the
people OF this country might now have been
Spaniards. perpetuating on this continent
the Latin race which once dominated En-