COLUMBIAN INTRODUCTION.

THE CAREER OF COLUMBUS.

EVERY circumstance relating to the discovery and settlement of America is an interesting object of inquiry. Christopher Columbus was born in the republic of Genoa, about the year 1447,' at a time when the navigation of Europe was scarcely extended beyond the limits of the Mediterranean Sea. The mariner's compass had been invented and in common use for more than a century; and yet, with the help of this sure guide, prompted by a most ardent spirit of discovery, encouraged by the patronage of princes, the mariners of those days rarely ventured beyond the sight of land. They acquired great applause by sailing along the coast of Africa and discovering some of the neighboring islands, and, after pushing their researches with the greatest industry and perseverance for more than a half a century, the Portuguese, who were the most fortunate and enterprising, extended their discoveries southward as far as the equator. The rich commodities of the East had for several ages been brought into Europe by the way of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean; and it had now become the object of the Portuguese to find a passage to India by sailing round the southern extremity of Africa and then taking an eastern course. This great object engaged the general attention of mankind, and drew into the Portuguese service adventurers from every maritime nation of Europe. Every year added to their experience

1 Mr. Irving gives 1435 as the year of the birth of Columbus. Mr. Justin Winsor, librarian of Harvard College, in his elaborate "Life of Columbus," published in 1892, places the date as between March, 1446, and March, 1447, thus sustaining the view of Mr. Webster.

in navigation and seemed to promise a reward for their industry.

But Columbus, by an uncommon exertion of genius, formed a design no less astonishing to the age in which he lived than beneficial to posterity. This extraordinary man, who was now about twenty-seven years of age, appears to have united in his character every trait and to have possessed every talent requisite to form and execute the greatest enterprises. He was early educated in all the youthful sciences that were taught in that day. He had made great proficiency in geography, astronomy, and drawing, as they were necessary to his favorite pursuit of navigation. He had been a number of years in the service of the Portuguese, and had acquired all the experience that their voyages and discoveries could afford. His courage and his perseverance had been put to the severest test, and the exercise of every amiable and heroic virtue rendered him universally known and respected. He had married a Portuguese lady, by whom he had two sons, Diego and Ferdinand, the youngest of whom is the historian of his life. Such was the situation of Columbus when he formed and thoroughly digested a plan which, in its operation and consequences, unfolded to the view of mankind one half of the globe, diffused wealth and dignity over the other, and extended commerce and civilization over the whole.

To corroborate the theory which he had formed of the existence of a western continent, his discerning mind, which always knew the application of every circumstance that fell in his way, had observed several facts which by others would have passed unnoticed. In his voyages to the African Islands he had found floating ashore, after a long western storm, pieces of wood carved in a curious manner, canes of a size unknown in that quarter of the globe, and human bodies with very singular features. Fully confirmed in the opinion that a considerable portion of the earth was still undiscovered, his genius was too vigorous and persevering to suffer an idea of this importance to rest merely in speculation, as it had done in the minds of Plato and Seneca, who appear to have had conjectures of a similar nature. He determined, therefore, to bring his favorite theory to the test of actual experiment.

A design so extraordinary met with all the obstructions, delay, and disappointments which an age of superstition could invent, and which personal jealousy and malice could magnify and encourage. Happily for mankind, in this instance a genius capable of devising the greatest undertakings associated in itself a degree of patience and enterprise, modesty and confidence, which rendered him superior not only to these misfortunes, but to all the future calamities of his life. Prompted by the most ardent enthusiasm to be the discoverer of new continents, he had the mortification to waste away eighteen years of his life, after his system was well established in his own mind, before he could obtain the means of executing his design.

As a duty to his native country, he made his first proposition to the Senate of Genoa, where it was soon rejected. Conscious of the truth of his theory and of his own ability to execute his design, he retired, without dejection, from a body of men who were incapable of forming any just ideas upon the subject, and applied with confidence to John II., King of Portugal, who had distinguished himself as a great patron of navigation, and in whose service Columbus had acquired a reputation which entitled him and his project to general confidence and approbation. But there he suffered an insult much greater than a direct refusal. While Columbus was amused with hopes of having his scheme adopted and patronized, a vessel was secretly despatched, by order of the king, to make the intended discovery. Want of skill and perseverance in the pilot rendered the plot unsuccessful, and Columbus, on discovering the treachery, retired with an ingenuous indignation from a court capable of such duplicity. He had communicated his ideas. to his brother Bartholomew, whom he sent to England to negotiate with Henry VII. At the same time he went himself to Spain to apply in person to Ferdinand and Isabella, who governed the united kingdoms of Aragon and Castile.

In this negotiation Columbus spent eight years in the various agitations of suspense, expectation, and disappointment, till at length his scheme was adopted by Isabella, who undertook, as Queen of Castile, to defray the expenses of the expedition, and declared herself ever after the friend and patron of the hero who projected it. He obtained from Ferdinand a full stipula