Page images
PDF
EPUB

against sedition, and called upon heaven to judge between the men and him. He did not shrink. He pledged his life on his promise, speaking with the air of a prophet, confident as to the future, he said "Suspend your incredulity and determination to return for three days." He swore that if during the third day land was not seen on the horizon, he would yield to their wishes and take them back to Europe.

Columbus had seen what others had not seen. Things visible to all tell different tales. The oath was politic, it was bold, but not so reckless as to some it might then appear.

At sunrise on the second day fresh broken boughs were seen floating on the water, as also a plank that bore the marks of human labour, and other signs of not far distant land.

The admiral had promised a reward to the man who first should discover and announce the land. When pacing the deck alone at midnight of the second day, the 11th and 12th October, 1492, peering through the darkness into the distance, he saw, or thought he saw, a fire-light, alternately appearing and disappearing. In an under voice he summoned Gutheriz, a Spanish gentleman of the court of Isabella, to his side, and, pointing in the direction, told him what he thought he saw and asked if he saw the same. Gutheriz said that he saw a light that seemed to be going in and out. Columbus summoned Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovie, another of his confidants. He also confirmed the fact. At early dawn, when all but the night watch slept, the Pinta fired her gun and startled Columbus from the reverie into which he had fallen after the night's discovery.

The sleepers aroused, looked and beheld the promised land. The sails were furled. As the rising sun dispersed the mist, a lovely country, rich in foliage, grew upon the eye; before them lay a vast amphitheatre dropping into the waters on either side, rising to the summits of the mountain background. The fragrance of the perfumes, mingling with the sweet song of birds, left no sense ungratified.

Huts, scattered here and there, some in clusters, others isolated, indicated a numerous population, and as the vessels neared the land, groups of men, women, and children, rather astonished than frightened, were seen between the trees coming timidly toward the shore.

Columbus restrained the impetuosity of his crews, now mad with joy. He determined that the landing should be effected with the dignity becoming the occasion. He dressed himself in full uniform, threw his purple mantle over his shoulders, and taking in his right hand the imperial flag bearing the emblem of the cross and the initials of Ferdinand and Isabella, surmounted by the crown, entered his launch and led the van, followed by the launches of Alonzo Pinzon and Yones Pinzon. When he reached the shore, going on his bended knees, he kissed the earth and wept.

Rising and recovering himself, he said in Latin-" Eternal and Almighty God, who, by the creative power of thy word, brought the firmament, the water, and the earth into being; let thy name be universally adored and glorified; let thy majesty and universal sovereignty be exalted from generation to generation, by the meanest of thy servants; let thy holy name be known and spread throughout this hitherto unknown portion of thine empire."

He baptised the island in the name of Christ—the island of San-Salvador. His lieutenants, his pilots, and his sailors, in a rapture of joy and reverence for the mighty man, fell at the feet of the admiral, kissed his hands and garments, and for the moment realized the majesty, if not the divinity of genius. Columbus, satisfied that the island belonged to the mainland of India, styled its inhabitants Indians.

Referring to the island of Cuba, Columbus wrote "This is the most lovely island that the eye of man ever rested on. One would like to live here for ever. The notion of pain or death

never enters the mind."

Writing of the people, he says—“Nature here is so prodigal,

that possession has not created the sentiment of avarice or cupidity. These people seem to live in a golden age, happy and content, in the midst of gardens without fence or ditch. They are loyal, the one to the other, without laws, books, or judges. They regard anyone who takes pleasure in ill-doing as a detestable being. The horror of the good at the evil-doer, appears to be their one governing principle." "They are naked, it is true, but they are clothed with modesty and candour."

Las-Casas tells us that once, when the natives and Spaniards could converse together, an old chief who had witnessed one of the Spanish religious ceremonies, after expressing pleasure, said to Columbus- "Learn from me what our ancestors told our fathers, and what they have told us. After the spirits of men are separated from their bodies, by the will of the divine beings, some go into a country where there is no sun and no trees, the others go into regions of light and delight, according as they have merited good or ill while here, by doing good or ill to their fellows. If, then, you die like us, take care not to do harm to us and to those who do not injure you."

I have endeavoured to sketch so much of the life of Columbus

as is necessary for the purpose of this essay. The fair fame of Spain is stained with stains never to be obliterated of barbarity to those happy, innocent people, and of ingratitude toward the man of whom Lamartine says—"He completed the universe, he achieved the physical unity of the globe. He far exceeded any man who had lived before him in advancing the work of God-the moral unity of the human race. The work which he accomplished was too vast to be worthily recompensed by giving to the fourth continent his name. America does not bear The human race brought together and made one by

his name.

him will bear it over the whole earth."

MACHIAVELLI, NICHOLAS-1469-1527.*

Machiavelli was born at Florence, of a noble family, the members of which had enjoyed the highest dignities in the state, though at the time of his birth they were poor. His talents secured for him at an early age the office of chancellor of the Second Court, and not long after advanced him to the post of secretary to the Council of Ten. He was four times plenipotentiary at the French court, twice at that of the Pope, and twice also at that of the Emperor Maximilian. He was sent on an important mission to Cæsar Borgia, the natural son of Pope Alexander VI., and followed him to Sinigaglia. He remained in Borgia's camp for three months, till January, 1503. In short, his services were called into requisition upon every important occasion. Scarcely had he returned from one embassy before he was directed to prepare for another, till the government by which he had been employed was overthrown by the arms of Spain, in September, 1512, when the family of the Medici returned to their native walls under the protection of a foreign ally. No sooner was the new government installed than it commenced the persecution of the partisans of the old. Machiavelli was deprived of his office and banished; the sentence of banishment was, however, commuted to exclusion from the palace. In 1513 an extensive conspiracy against the Medici was discovered. Machiavelli, suspected of participation in it, was accused, put to the torture, and thrown into a loathsome dungeon. No admission, however, of complicity was wrung from him, nor did his fortitude forsake him, for from his prison he wrote a humorous sonnet to his brother. When ultimately released, he retired to his country house at San Cascians, about eight miles from Florence, where, to divert his mind from his misfortunes and the miseries of poverty, he wrote his immortal

* The book adopted is Bohn's Standard Library, "Machiavelli," 1854.

work—“The Prince," intended in the first instance for the private perusal of Giuliano, and subsequently for that of Lorenzo de Medici. It was first published at Rome in 1532, five years after its author's death, under the sanction of Pope Clement VII. As no literary work has possibly given rise to more conflicting comment, and as I regard it as the foundation of the modern sciences of political and moral philosophy, such extracts as will give the reader not familiar with it, a fair notion of its contents, may prove acceptable, and will facilitate our present enquiry.

The writings of Machiavelli may be arranged under four heads-history, politics, belles-lettres, and military treatises. His history of Florence, written at the command of Clement VII., and which covers the period from 1215 to 1492, is admittedly a master-piece. His numerous letters, preserved in the Florentine Archives, show that his efforts were uniformly directed to the peaceful settlement of his country's difficulties, to the providing of an upright and strict administration of justice, to the making of the taxes as light as possible, and to the keeping of a watchful eye on all matters that could affect the public good. In the dedication of his "Prince" to Lorenzo de Medici, Machiavelli declares his most valuable possession to be the knowledge that he has of the actions of celebrated men, acquired by a long experience of modern times, and a diligent perusal of the ancients. The result of that experience and study is summarised by him in "The Prince" in twenty-six short chapters. He enunciates distinct propositions, most of which are illustrated by historical facts in a manner which conclusively proves the author to be a man of extraordinary attainments, penetration, and frankness. His avowed object was to induce the prince to undertake the task of driving the foreigners out of Italy, to show how monarchy had been attained and maintained, and, consequently, how it might then be attained and maintained. He addressed himself in the

language of his times to a man of his times, embued with the

« PreviousContinue »