The sun., 1901-10-06
Mr.. VlGNAUD ON COLUMBUS.
OUR SECRETARY or EMBASSY IN
PARIS As A HISTORIAN.
IN Critical stud, ss Toscaneiii's Letter
20 the Disee,eser He Undertakes 20
Prove Q, q fergery The Reason for the
Fraud. and Celumbus's share In u-The
= Admirars Drsthcr the Guilty Person.

' Admirafs nrsther the Guilty rersen.
PAHis. Sept, 3o-It {. well known that
tho ~history of the geographical ezpedi-
tions which led TO the discovery OF the
Cape Of Good Hope In its7. and 20 that
of the New World in i.s2 has been for many
years the subject ~ special study by Mr.
Henri vignaud. First Secretary OF our
embassy here. who is writing an exhaust
i've work th.reon. for the compilation
Of which he has collected remarkabl.
library Of books and maps. He now
submits To the public In a French dress
. chapter Of that larger work under the
title:
Toscanelli's Letter and Chart. on the
Westward Route Ia the lndie-, sent by hlrn
o. the Portuguese Fernam Martins IN l+9t'
and subsequently, 20 Christopher Columbus.
A critical study of their auih"niicity ana
value and Of tho sources ~ tolumbiSs
eo-moRraphical views. followed by several
texts of the lr,ter - it7s. accoml'a med by
translations. notes and fac-simile. Paris
Ernest B-rouS"
Though the French edition appears
frst IN the field. It will h. quickly followed
by an English one. which j. already In
the press The object Of Mr.. Nignauds
work l. to show that. contrary To the
universally reviewed opinion s'nce the
discovery of America, th" letter which
the Florentins astronomer, ro~canelh.
y supposed 20 have sent 70 Columbus.
containing information a. 20 the route
20 the Indies. il spocryphal
Toscanoli is supposed 90 have written
this letter in is5t In reply 20 a request from
Fernam Martins. Counsellor 70 King Al
fon-o V. of Portugal, that he would en-
tighten that monarch a. 90 -" hest route
20 reach tine Fast lndes IN 4 he is repre-
senied as urging the King Ia try the west
ward route across the Atlantic. and not
the eastward one around Africa.
II H. further alleged that Colum bus, get
ting wind of this corre-pond.nce, himself
wrote to Toscanelh for advice. and that
Toscanelli then sent him n copy of this
same letter accompanied by chart In order
60 enlighten him ard encourage him 20 make
the journey
These statements. which have never vet
been seriously called In question. come 20
N. from the original blogrnphers Of Co.
mmbu- his son Ferdinand and Las Casas
the celebrated historian ~ the Indies
and Il is on thcss statements that all the
authors who have written about Columbus
from Washington Irving and Humboldt
down TO Harris-e and Flske. have based the
opinion that IL was Toscanelli who initiated
the discovery of the New World. a discovery
which was. therefore, due TO the application
of a scientific theory and not. a. 50 fire.
quently occurred in others cases. TO mere
chance or the accidental good fortune %
sailors
Now Mr. vignaud shows that the au-
- - -.
too readily admitted. AMI that the facts
alleged rever really happened. AZ
least he adduces excellent reasons for
believing that ToscAnelli never wrote the
N7i letter never trsce1 the chart allesrd
% have accompanied H. and never held
any views a. 20 the route 20 the Indies:
or, II he did. left no trac. thereof behind
him: Furthermore that Columbus never
bold any intercourse with To-canelli and
tina; consequently an tho deductions basel
on these non-cXisting f1cts are necessarily
erroneous
Should the case put forward hy Mr..
yignaud be established and careful
perusal Of his book scarcely leave~ any
other alternative possible. the consequences
are far-reachinR for our entire conception
Of the lmm-lia,e causes which led 20 the
discovery Of America must be altered.
and W. must admit that contrary 10 what
we had every reason TO believe, Toscsneli
no, only had no influence whatever on
Columbuss design. Tut that the design
itself was not based on any scientific basis.
having had quite another origin which
must be sought for elzewhere
Mr.. vignald contends that such Il the
case. He asserts that for the last four
centuries we have been deceived by fraud
which hides from us the real beginning-
Of Columbus's project, and tina, the very
documents ascribed 90 1oscanelli were
fabricated precisely for the purpose of
throwing dus, in our ewes.
Searching for the motive % the fraud.
he states clearly wha; a close study of the
facts reveals. That Columbus had posi-
tive information n 10 20" existence 81
lands TO the west ward that b" knew where
20 look for them, aud that the chart by
which on his first voyage he steered his
cour-- came 10 him from one who had
himself made ,he discoveries traced upon II
Mr. vignaud further shows that these
facts were known a, the time. that they
were freely mentioned IN conversation
by Columbus own companions, and that.
though some of tho writers who report
them doubted their truth. they were calcu-
lated TO injure Columbus, and did IN fact,
injure him.
Prom thee, well-e-t ahlished facts. Mr.
vigna-id draws the conclusion Tint the
t.,,tt-tondenCs be,wcen Columbus and
Toscanel was invented In order u destroy
the damaging effect o' these reports. by
showing that tho great dasnovOry va in no
wav due 10 Information obtained from an
ignorant sailor. who had chhrc-i 20 light
on one % tho Antill.~ but 20 carefully
thought out cosmogrAphical calculation
which had received the suprnval 81 the
greatest living authority IN such matters.
After establishing 10" existence 81 the
forgery and tho motives which prompted
n Mr Vignaud pas~c- in r.vi~w iho-"
Who werr In . position n commit r., IN order
70 FIX on IT, hkeh.s' author. He decides
tha, ono - only four men could have written
thc spurious letter. nhm-lv. La Casas, Who
ART recorded D. ferdinand tho IN of
Cohlnlhu-. ~-ho wrote a lf- ot his iaih-r
IN which tho lciter va printed for M. fr-t
tine. CoNumhus himself AMI he hruth"r
Bar hoiomcw
fur sufficient rrs-pn- D. DISMISS 10"
gruver chargr against the tr-i tw", though