The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1901-05-24
SPANISH CONQUEST
IN AMERICA

The new relations of Cuba and Porto
Rico as the result of our war with
Spain have revived public interest in
the history of the discovery Of the new
world and made the reproduction of a
very complete work, now out of print,
a timely contribution to the literature
of this subject.
Sir Arthur Helps, the author, was
born in 1913, and died in 1878. lie
was graduate of Cambridge and
served in various minor diplomatic re-
lations, but was chiefly known as a
writer upon historical AMI philosophi-
cal subjects. In the former sphere his
prediction was for the history of the
new world, his life of Pizarro supple
menting that under dicussion. He was
early interested in the question OF
African slavery, which received its
greatest impetus by the new fields
opened by Columbus, and in the pros
ecution of his Investigations visited
Madrid. where he obtained the most
important material for his conquest
in America from the oli inal MSS.
there.
Preliminary to his accounts of the
voyage of Columbus he gives review
of the antecedent exploits of the Por-
tugucsc in the field of discovery and
the Inauguration of the African slave
trade as their incidental outcome,
which he shows to have been compara-
lively modern. The first phase Of slav-
very in the abstract was where captives
were taken in war, lived in the houses
of their conquerors and labored on
their lands. 1t was probably substi-
tuition for the more cruel custom of
putting captives to the sword, and
from that aspect was regarded as hu-
name and beneficiary reform. This
system eliminated with the Romans
and was gradually modified by Christ
ianity and advancing civilization. 1t
declined by imperceptible degrees into
serfage and vassalage as the feature of
the feudal systems, and became extinct
or nearly 50 when the second period
of slavery, chiefly African, suddenly
ensued. This was marked by a CON-
mercial character. The slave was no
longer an accident of war, but became
tue object Of it, and no longer an &C
cidental subject Of barter. He was
sought for and became an object of com
merce.
Many remarkable characters were
connected with the history of modern
slavery. Its prosecution furnished a
stimulus to navigation and discovery,
and the development Of civilization in
remote regions The first of note con-
nected with it were members of the
royal family Of Portugal, in the tf-
teenth century most conspicaously rep
resented by Prince Henry. Then fol-
lowed Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
with Columbus and his successors in
the discovery and conquest of Spanish
America including Charles V. Aimines,
Las Casas and numerous statesmen
and occlestiastics, until comparativ..-
ly modern period.
1t is claimed that the early voyages
of discovery prior to those Of Colum-
bus were not projected either for the
hope of gain or gold, or for slaves, but
for the cause of religion, and that the
first negroes obtained in the Portu-
guese voyages were secured for the
purpose of converting them for the
glory of the Church. Bat gradually
covetousness was developed, and not
only did gold act as stimulus to voy-
ages of discovery, but as early as l444
a company was formed with the per-
mission of prince Henry to undertake
discovery along the coast of Africa by
which he was to receive one fifth of its
captures, and when it returned with
200 slaves he received his stipulated
share. This is the first transaction
of the kind on record. Numerous voy-
ages of discovery and trade, and in
quest of slaves were made to the
Western coast of Africa, until in l476
Bartholomew Diaz went as far as the
southern end of the continent which
he called the stormy cape. 1t was ii
years later visited by Vasso de Game,
who gave it the name of Cape of Good
Hope and extended his voyage to India
and Cochin China. Thus the slave
trade increased, incidentally, the spirit
OF discovery and the extension Of com
merce towards the East.
Near the latter part Of the Fifteenth
century the Portuguese slave trade
had fallen off and other objects of trade
and adventure engrossed attention.
The Portuguese, who were at that
time the most enterprising mariners,
had limited their attention in the way
OF colonization to the AZ)r and Can
ary Islands and as to trade and discov-
cry to the Eastern hemisphere along
the African coast. 1t remainad for
Columbus to conceive the idea of the
Western passage as the most direct
route to India and Cathay, the name
by which China was known. He had
made many minor voyages, and been
to the lower coast of Africa, while