The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18

Moreover, n man immeamrabiy inferior
to him, a q who could not write his
name - Francisco Pisarro. whose career
in its glory and its shame was q servile
imitation, almost a parody. OF that, Of the
conqusror OF Mexico--sncoeeded thereby
in establishing a South American, empire
equal to that of CorteE in the north. Pizarro
did even more for the Spanish exchequer
than his greater rival. There were 1900. 900
duOats in the treasury Of the Inca and he
filed his prison with gold as high az he
could reach for the ransom which did not
save his life. The mines were soon in work.
ing order. and a. the expanse Of fertile soil
was 5000 miles long It o o became clear
that Peru. added to Mexico, was to oon-
stitute an important factor in European
finance.
3 Lord Acton pronounces Magellan q navi-
gator greater than Columbus, reminding
US that without q chart Magellan made his
way through the perilous strait that. per-
petuates his name In twelve days sailing.
whereas Drake, who came next in 1917, took
seventeen days and Wallis one hundred and
sixteen. Magellan's acquisition OF the
Philippines lasted 70 1898, but his design on
the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, had to be
given up. Nobody knew, indeed. until
che voyage Of Dsmpler. TO whom, by the
accepted boundary between the Spenish
and the Portuguese possessions, those
islands belonged; and in 1929 Spain abau-
doned its claim TO them for $4,000 ducats.
The Portuguese paid that price for what
was by right their own. For Magellan had
been wrong in his calculation. both as to
the meridian Of the Moluccas and as TO the
length OF the route by the strait which bears
his name. "
One OF the most interesting facts brought
out in the lecture on the New World is this.
that to the suspicious persisteucy Of Column
bus in error Americans owe their existence.
The argument which Columbus laid before
the learned men Of Spain, and which most Of
them rightly rejected, was the following:
The Eastern sea route to Asia, even II the
Portuguese should succeed in finding 1t,
would be Of no use to them, as the voyage
70 Cipango (Japan), Csthay CChina), or even
20 the Spice Islands, would be too long for
profit. II was better, Columbus said, 70
sail out into the Wet, for that route would
be scarcely three Thousand miles TO tho
eastern extremity Of Asia; the other would
be fifteen thousand. apart from the tremen-
dous circuit Of Africa, the extent OF which
was ascertained by Diaz while Columbus
was pursuing his uphill struggle. The
basis OF the entire calculation was that the
circumference OF the earth Is 1900 miles
at the EQUATOR, and that Asia begins, az Ia
shown in T~oscanelli's chart, somewhere.
about California. Misled by his belief in
cosmographers. Columbus blOtted ollt tho
Pacific, and estimated the extent Of water
To be traversed at one-third the reality.
The Spanish savants who were consulted
pointed out the aaw in the premises OF the
Genoeee, for the true dimensions were
known; but they were unable TO demonstrate
the truth against the great authorities cited
on the other side. The sophisms OF Column
bus were worth more h all the science OF
Salamanca. The directors who called him
a visionary were in the right, and he luckily
wss ~obstinately wrong. .
III.
In the chapter on The Puritan Revolu-
ton" Lord Acton enters a field in which he
invites comp arison with Carlyle. Macaulay
and Goodwin Smith, to say nothing Of later
students of the period. He begins by
pointing out that the reign Of the first stuart
profoundly influenced the modern world
by reason OF three remarkab events,
flrst, the contest Of the King with the Par
lament; secondly, the plantation of English
settlements in America, and, thirdly, the
rise of a sect which We cab Congregational
when we think Of II as a church, and indie
pendent when we think Of II as a party.
With regard to the contest betw cen che
King and the Parliament Lord Acton holds
that originally the issues were not IA plain
nor was the edge as sharp az we suppose
when we look pack on the results. In his
opinion the Stuart cause reeembled that Of
constitutional monarchy on the Continent
az II was presented In France under Louis
XVIII. and in Prussia under the Fmreror
William, and he thinks that II Bismarck
had lived in England in the frat half Of the
seventeenth century he would have been
the strength OF the Royalists and ,Crom-
we'll might have met his match. When in
1901 the Commons, guided by the most
famous English lawyer, Coke, struck down
Bacon they deprived the Stuarts Of the
ablest counsellor they ever had. As regards
the beginning OF Colonial emrire under the
reign Of James l., the lecturer does not
fail to note that at the outset OF the Amen-
can revolutionary epoch the descendants
Of the Cavaliers, h went out to Virginia
in the time OF the nTbJ oLuATtS, buTPHssou
the fugitives OF the MsyhOwer. IL was
the former who produced the Declaration
OF Independence and who bequeathed to
America religious liberty and the political
functions OF the United States Supreme
Court. Due significance Is accorded to
the fact that OF the first five Presidents four
we're Virginians. We should add that each
OF the four bad two terms, while the two
Chief Magistrates from Massachusetts, had
each but a single term. On the other hand,
Lord Acton reminds US that In English
political history the sbleet OF the men who
resisted Crcmw ell-Sir Henry vane,. Jr..
for examrle-had studied practical politics
In NJ Massachusetts Bay. 20
When he comes 20 consider the part
played in the Puritan revolution by the
Congregationalists or Independents Lord
Acton directs attention TO the far reaching
political consequences OF the ecclesiastical
principle that zach congregation should
govern itself independently and that every
member thereof should participate In the
administration. Among the Congregation
alists there was consolation but not.
subordination. Their ecclesiastical sys-
tenn embodied the ideal OF local self vern-