The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-05-30
PLEh FOR COLUMBUs.
Many Damaging Traditions Reiuted-Iho
Lending Motives of Ills Life

In this age OF fcverish unrest and In
satiable thirst for novelty. IS il not well
that attention should be directed 20 men
whose deeds excite a lingering, conserve
tive faith i'm truths taught I'm the days
gone by? Yet when attention Is turned
10 Columbus, does his history take On
the form of unques,ioned truth? Egh-
teen Italian cities claim the honor Of
his birth, and President Grevy approved
the erection of a monument TO him
in Calvi, town Of Corsica. suppOsins
that city 10 have been the place Of his
nativity. An article recently published
I'm "A newspaper allows that whatever
else may be said about Columbus, De
enjoys the distinction OF having been
buried four times" lie died I'm 1906.
His body was deposited in the convent OF
San Francisco. in Nalladolid, where he
died, having como there. where Tho court
was at the time. His remains were
carried to SeVlNe-that had been his
home They were removed 10 Santo Do
mingo I'm l556, ard buried. On tire ccs-
sion of Santo Domingo TO the French. ina
1896, the remains were carried to Cuba
and placed I'm a vault opened beside the
high altar IN tho cathedral in Habana."
In the estimation Of an American schol-
ar. there rests upon the name Of Co
lumbus the suspicion OF almost every
known crime. as he is declared to De
pirate. slavc-dealcr-in short a fiendish
character, to whom tho world owes exc
Grafton.
Such teaching shocks those who have
learned 10 think that Columbus conceived
a mighty thought, for which he planned,
labored. endured neglect and contempt,
TO which he devoted his life with fixed
ness of purpose and fOrtitude, and re-
joiced exceedingly when his conception re-
suited IN the browning discovery Of the
fifteenth century, that age Of unparal-
lelled activity ana adventure.
While claiming for Columbus. not saint
ship, nor undue exaltation of character,
may not his life be regarded as the
outcome OF tendencies. surmises, and
studies pursued for centuries, and lie. as
the representative man of the fifteenth
century, chosen as the expression OF its
needs? Not an adventurer. but an in
strument chosen by jehovah 10 open a
new continent, that It might afford an
asylum for the oppressed and dissatisfied
portion OF the population of Europe
which, If remaining pent up might create
revolutions more terrible than any yet
recorded.
Patient perseverance given 10 one OBJ
ject. provided the object be worthy, be-
tokens elements OF heroism in Its pro-
jector. Now, Columbus must have eN-
ercised these virtues during the years
he devoted to the study of ancient and
modern cosmography and astronomy
learning OF voyages from Aristotle. Sene-
ca, and trabo; OF the circumference of
the earth from Ptolemy and Marinus. or
Tyre. and from Toascanelii, that by
crossing the ocean west OF Europe, which
is only one-third of the whole sphere.
and by sailing 5000 miles westward. CT
pango and Cathay Uapan and China)
will be reached" II such views do not
stamp Toscanelli as deficient i'm nautical
information, but rather excite wonder
that no should have come so near the
truth, why should Columbus be pro-
nounced ignorant and unskilled for found
ing his plans on such basis?
COLUMBUS JOURNEY TO ICELAND.
The detractors of Columbus state that In
his probable mercantile journey 10 Ice
land. he gained Information concerning the
discovery Of America by the Norsemen