The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-10-13
THE RESULTS OF COLUMBUS,

The celebration Of the landing of Colum-
bus which is being held at New York
ignores the difference between the old
style and new style calendar. 1t was at
A. NJ. GU Friday, October u, 1882. that
Columbus on board the Santa Maria and a
sailor on board the Nina first sighted land
it was on the same 18th that Columbus
landed on what is now generally believed
to be Watlings Island. 1t was the 18th,
according to the old style; according to the
new style, which was only adopted two and
a half centuries afterward, it would have
been the 23d.
In the accounts of the discovery, humor
and pathos are strangely mingled. Column
| bus landed richly dressed; he and bis
! companions fell on their knees, weeping,
and kissed the ground, of which they pro-
| ceeded without further ado to take possess
sion in the name of their Catholic majesties
| Of CASTLE and Leon. They felt, of course
| exultant at the triumph of their enterprise /;
their eXultation might have been moderated
If they had foreseen how slow the develop
| nient OF It's results were destined to be. 1t
promised differently at first. Columbus
made his discovery in 1892. Cortes landed
10 1913. PiZarro's conquest of Peru was in
1881 Mendoza founded Buenos Ayres in
1885. Thus in little over forty years from
the discovery, the Spaniards had made good
their footing on the edge of the whole
southern continent, and an important
country of the northern. But here Euro
pean occupation of America stopped for
two centuries. There was a French settle
ment at Quebec in 1608, the Pilgrim Fathers
landed in 1920, New ork was founded by
the Dutcn IN 1914, colony was planted on
the James River in 1907, Penn sent colony
TO Pennsylvania and LaSalle occupied
Louisiana with a few French in 1852. But
none of these settlements could have APP
peared to a spectator as the founder now OF
an empire. They formed no part of the
living world. If they had all been over.
thrown by an earthquake, neither civiliza.
ton nor commerce would have seriously
suffered. They were not of much more &C
count in the economy of the planet than the
village OF Sitka is now
The middle Of the eighteenth century had
been reached before North America begar
to take place among the civilized portion.
Of the globe. The true history Of thi:
continent dates from the defeat of Braddock
at Fort Duquesne. and the victory of Wolfe
at Quebec. Not till then was there an
American people as contradistinguishe
from the European peoples. And this was
more than go years after Columbus.
yerythng-population, wealth, means
of transportation, the taste for expatria-
tiOn-has increased so vastly since the six
teenth and seventeenth centuries that COM
parsons between the actions Of men IN
those times and the actions of men in the
present day would be unfair. But if we
can fancy the discovery Of another new
Z -
centuries and half would elapse before il
was populated. II it was neglected for SC
long period the fact would i'm ply that il
was either wilderness like Green land oil
inaccessible like the Antarctic continent
The slow development OF North America
was due to many causes. 1t was not the
policy Of European sOvereignS to encourage
their people to emigrate. They were wanted
at home to fiji armies. In the south the
Spanish soYereigns regarded their Amer
can colonies as treasure fountains; they
wanted to get as much gold and silver from
them as they could without parting witt
men whom they needed for their expedi
tons. The French and English sovereign;
regarded the new country as a windfal
which they could divide among courtieri
who had claims upon their gratitude
They signed liberal concessions, bu
took no concern for laborer5 TO worl
them with. Hence grew the African slave
trade. II was the imp0ssibility OF procurln
European labor and the valaelessness OF
Indian labor which drove the planters of the
southern colonies to fall back on the negro
Then again it was no trifing matter TO eros!
the Atlantic ia the eighteenth century in
quest of pastures new. There were few yes
sells sailing out of Bristol or ST. MglO &c
America, and the rates Of passage were faI
beyond the means of the working class
Liverpool ship-owners could make money by
conveying negroes from Africa TO the
American plantations, but that was because
the passenger was sold on arrival and hi:
| passage money was taken out Of the sum he
brought. The white man could only be sold
for stipulated term of years, and as he
had a fashion Of running away he did no
fetch enough to pay his passage money.
Taking all the circumstances into con
sideration the conditions of life must have
been cruel indeed in England IN the eigh
teenth century for so many Englishmen t
have made themselves homes on this cont
;, nent before the Revolution. But the loni
gap between the discovery by Columbus ant
the evolution of an American people is non
the less curious.
|