New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-02


Of ideal humanity. Much of the romance 'ha'
snve,ons their deeds. and nearly all the nara
ships which they had to encounter were ou. :"
their ignorance OF the world into when 'hey
forced an entrance.
so,tE QUESTIONS OF GEOGRAPHY AND THE
CULTIVATION OF THE EARIh'
II I. a profound study in human nature 10 see
how slowly mere mental prepossessohs "eie ~
placed by facts in the early history Oh A''ieiioa
The history began not with the discovery Vi VIC
land but with the confusion or NINA a'"o"e
c;,.i,,ved men. The mental certainty at nrst
u,s chat islands had been found lying near the
eastern coast Of Asia. Then followed "i'h equa'
certainty the opinion that the coast OF ASH
itself had been found. Later men were coi'
WINGED that they had come upon marrow
crooked ledge of land which stre'cheo iio'"
north to south troublesome barrier pct"ee"
them and the great ocean that "aSheo NV
shores Of Asia. They reasoned Win 'H' D"i''
after a fashion which had long Deeh pre-"
sch logic as they had was very satisfactory to
them 1t had enabled them 10 oiNlue ne"'1'
ara hell with a typographical precision that Is
s,;,l the envy Of mortals, and TO arrange ti'e
visible universe in nine beautiful and symmetric
exact point in space where the throne or Deny
,,ro,ed they could not but feel that the
barrier which shut them into the Atlantic ocean
uas very irrational fact. They argued tha'
tbere r,ust he hole through 1t somewhere. But
tho moro they searched the broader the barrier
oo, IN he First they thought they could see
across u then they decided that IT was the rin
NJ great central sea, then that 1t was ABOUT
twice as wide as the distance from the sea u
tho first range Of mountains. But there never
was nositiye harmony between the actuai state
Of things and what human reason proposed us
the state of things until somebody hao gone
afoot from ocean to ocean. In snort the NC"
World was a tremendous educator from INC
outset as to the difference between faith ana
knowledge.
A natural inference about this barrier 'hat
hurt the feelings of navigators was that IL must
he very much the same sort OF thing from emu
10 end. II the Spanards got gold by the snip
lead from the coast which they infested II was
ou,,e natural to suppose that every river was
q Pactolus and every hill heap OF precious
NATAL merely covered with soil and rock When
the first colonists in Virginia reached their ocs-
t,nstion. they and the sailors wasted deal
of labor IN loading the ships with SHINING H'ca'
consumed their provisions and put themselves IN
WAS worse than worthless Their first explora-
lions not counting those that were necessarily
made for something to eat, were In search OF
,r,nas NJ gold and silver. They continued to
send fools gold" to England, and the people
,tere tried TO refine what already dross
rbav were going to raise spices in Virginia. TOO,
all the sp,ces Of the Orient out of which Venice
and Portugal had made fabulous wealth. Silks.
also were to be made in Virginia. In fact'
everything which the mother country had to buy
from other nations was to be raised In virginia
at about what it would cost to feed ana ciothe
the colonists. All that history or romance hao
recorded Of the ancient empires OF the East
WAS TO be realized in Virginia. In addition 10
such prosac matters as furnishing England with
ALL her ship timber and naval stores AS years
of hardship and toll and misery went BY the
beautiful romance was given up shred by shred
and King and Court had to put up with what
the King had logically declared to be impossi-
bile He had reasoned in the face Of the world
that tobacco was a vile thing, and he prided
himself on his dialectical Skill But the SOIL IN
Virginia was not to be reasoned with. 1t would
not raise myrrh and frankincense for anybody
but the way 1t raised tobacco was something, as
the Arabs say. to be craven on the eyehos OF
those who could take hint. So tobacco it
James ana MS COuHteIpidSt " 'io wi
trary notwithstanding. Socially and politically
tobacco dictated the evolution of Virginia. 1t
forced the Inhabitants to the perpetual conquest
Of new lands. It facilitated large ownerships
Il encouraged the use Of servile labor and 1t
laytshly rewarded everybody that handled 1t
the planter in the New World, the receiver OF
customs in the Old World. the shipmar. the
merchant the coffee-house keeper and the
manufacturer. 1t made great towns impossible
in the colony, and it created landed aris-
tccracy into whose life 1t gradually infused
romance different from anything that had been
anticipated. The dainty ideals OF artificial hu-
mainly in the Old World were all upset. Vir-
stnia after many sad mishaps. turned out
paving investment but never in the way that
was expected 1t cut no figure in Englands
rivalry with Spain: 1t gave no variety OF prod
nets or Of commerce, and it's early promise OF
treasure. while richly verified was realized only
by indirect ways.
PRACTICAL ELEMENTS IN THE DEVELOP
MENT OF THE COLONIES.
The mishaps and the indirect passage to
wealth were an excellent thing in the end
I--n.,x all Tho