Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia Part 15

JOHN FOSTER, a noted English essayist and moralist. Born at Halifax, September 17, 1770; died at Stapleton, October, 1843.

The _hour_ just now begun may be exactly the period for finis.h.i.+ng _some great plan_, or concluding _some great dispensation_, which thousands of years or ages have been advancing to its accomplishment. _This_ may be the _very hour_ in which a new world shall originate or an ancient one sink in ruins.

RANGE OF ENTERPRISE.

EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN, a celebrated English historian. Born at Harborne, Staffords.h.i.+re, 1823; died at Alicante, Spain, March 16, 1892. From an article on "The Intellectual Development of the English People," in the _Chautauquan Magazine_, May, 1891.

The discovery of a new world was something so startling as to help very powerfully in the general enlargement of men's minds. And the phrase of a new world is fully justified. The discovery of a western continent, which followed on the voyage of Columbus, was an event differing in kind from any discovery that had ever been made before. And this though there is little reason to doubt that the western continent itself had been discovered before. The Northmen had certainly found their way to the real continent of North America ages before Columbus found his way to the West India Islands. But the same results did not come of it, and the discovery itself was not of the same kind. The Old World had grown a good deal before the discovery of the New. The range of men's thoughts and enterprise had gradually spread from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, the Baltic, and the northern seas. To advance from Norway to the islands north of Britain, thence to Iceland, Greenland, and the American continent, was a gradual process. The great feature in the lasting discovery of America, which began at the end of the fifteenth century, was its suddenness. Nothing led to it; it was made by an accident; men were seeking one thing and then found another. Nothing like it has happened before or since.

FRIDAY.

Of evil omen for the ancients. For America the day of glad tidings and glorious deeds.

Friday, the sixth day of the week, has for ages borne the obloquy of odium and ill-luck. Friday, October 5th, B. C. 105, was marked _nefastus_ in the Roman calendar because on that day Marcus Mallius and Caepio the Consul were slain and their whole army annihilated in Gallia Narbonensis by the Cimbrians. It was considered a very unlucky day in Spain and Italy; it is still deemed an ill-starred day among the Buddhists and Brahmins. The reason given by Christians for its ill-luck is, of course, because it was the day of Christ's crucifixion, though one would hardly term that an "unlucky event" for Christians. A Friday moon is considered unlucky for weather. It is the Mohammedan Sabbath and was the day on which Adam was created. The Sabeans consecrated it to Venus or Astarte. According to mediaeval romance, on this day fairies and all the tribes of elves of every description were converted into hideous animals and remained so until Monday. In Scotland it is a great day for weddings. In England it is not. Sir William Churchill says, "Friday is my lucky day. I was born, christened, married, and knighted on that day, and all my best accidents have befallen me on a Friday."

Aurungzebe considered Friday a lucky day and used to say in prayer, "Oh, that I may die on a Friday, for blessed is he that dies on that day."

British popular saying terms a trial, misfortune, or cross a "Friday tree," from the "accursed tree" on which the Savior was crucified on that day. Stow, the historian of London, states that "Friday Street" was so called because it was the street of fish merchants who served the Friday markets. In the Roman Catholic church Friday is a fast day, and is considered an unlucky day because it was the day of Christ's crucifixion. Soames ("Anglo-Saxon Church," page 255) says of it, "Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit on Friday and died on Friday." Shakspere refers to the ill-omened nature of the day as follows: "The duke, I say to thee again, would eat mutton Friday" ("Measure for Measure," Act 3, Scene 2).

But to turn to the more pleasing side, great has been the good fortune of the land of freedom on this ill-starred day. On Friday, August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from the port of Palos on his great voyage of discovery. On Friday, October 12, 1492, he discovered land; on Friday, January 4, 1493, he sailed on his return voyage to Spain. On Friday, March 14, 1493, he arrived at Palos, Spain, in safety. On Friday, November 22, 1493, he arrived at Espanola on his second voyage to America. On Friday, June 12, 1494, he discovered the mainland of America. On Friday, March 5, 1496, Henry VIII. gave John Cabot his commission to pursue the discovery of America. On Friday, September 7, 1565, Melendez founded St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest town in the United States. On Friday, November 10, 1620, the Mayflower, with the Pilgrim Fathers, reached the harbor of Provincetown. On Friday, December 22, 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock. On Friday, February 22, 1732, George Was.h.i.+ngton was born. On Friday, June 16, 1755, Bunker Hill was seized and fortified. On Friday, October 17, 1777, Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. On Friday, September 22, 1780, Benedict Arnold's treason was discovered. On Friday, September 19, 1791, Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. On Friday, July 7, 1776, a motion was made by John Adams that "the United States are and ought to be independent." On Friday, July 13, 1866, the Great Eastern steams.h.i.+p sailed from Valentia, Ireland, with the second and successful Atlantic cable, and completed the laying of this link of our civilization at Heart's Content, Newfoundland, on Friday, July 27, 1866. In Spanish history it is noteworthy that on Friday the Christians under Ferdinand and Isabella had won Granada from the Moors. On a Friday, also, the First Crusaders, under Geoffrey de Bouillon, took Jerusalem.

A PREVIOUS DISCOVERY.

PAUL GAFFAREL. Summarized from "Les Decouvreurs Francais du XIVme au XVIme Siecle," published at Paris in 1888.

Jean Cousin, in 1488, sailed from Dieppe, then the great commercial and naval port of France, and bore out to sea, to avoid the storms so prevalent in the Bay of Biscay. Arrived at the lat.i.tude of the Azores, he was carried westward by a current, and came to an unknown country near the mouth of an immense river. He took possession of the continent, but, as he had not sufficient crew nor material resources adequate for founding a settlement, he re-embarked. Instead of returning directly to Dieppe, he took a southeasterly direction--that is, toward South Africa--discovered the cape which has since retained the name of Cap des Aiguilles (Cape Agulhas, the southern point of Africa), went north by the Congo and Guinea, and returned to Dieppe in 1489. Cousin's lieutenant was a Castilian, Pinzon by name, who was jealous of his captain, and caused him considerable trouble on the Gold Coast. On Cousin's complaint, the admiralty declared him unfit to serve in the marine of Dieppe. Pinzon then retired to Genoa, and afterward to Castille. Every circ.u.mstance tends toward the belief that this is the same Pinzon to whom Columbus afterward intrusted the command of the Pinta.

GENIUS TRAVELS EAST TO WEST.

The Abbe FERNANDO GALIANI, an Italian political economist. Born at Chieti, on the Abruzzi, 1728; died at Naples, 1787.

For five thousand years genius has turned opposite to the diurnal motion, and traveled from east to west.

OBSERVATION LIKE COLUMBUS.

The Rev. CUNNINGHAM GEIKIE, D. D., a noted English clergyman. Born at Edinborough, October 26, 1826.

Reading should be a Columbus voyage, in which nothing pa.s.ses without note and speculation; the Sarga.s.so Sea, mistaken for the New Indies; the branch with the fresh berries; the carved pole; the currents; the color of the water; the birds; the odor of the land; the b.u.t.terflies; the moving light on the sh.o.r.e.

THE GENOA INSCRIPTION.

The following inscription is placed upon Columbus' house, No. 37, in the Vico Dritto Ponticello, Genoa, Italy:

_NVLLA. DOMVS. t.i.tVLO. DIGNIOR.

HAEIC.

PATERNIS. IN. AEDIBVS.

CHRISTOPHVS. COLVMBVS.

PRIMAQVE. JVVENTAM. TRANSEGIT._

(No house deserved better an inscription.

This is the paternal home of Christopher Columbus, where he pa.s.sed his childhood and youth.)

THE GENOA STATUE.

"Genoa and Venice," writes Mr. Oscar Browning, in _Picturesque Europe_, "have much in common--both republics, both aristocracies, both commercial, both powerful maritime states; yet, while the Doge of Venice remains to us as the embodiment of stately and majestic pre-eminence, we scarcely remember, or have forgotten, that there ever was a Doge of Genoa. This surely can not be because Shakspere did not write of the Bank of St. George or because Genoa has no Rialto. It must be rather because, while Genoa devoted herself to the pursuits of riches and magnificence, Venice fought the battle of Europe against barbarism, and recorded her triumphs in works of art which will live forever. * * *

Genoa has no such annals and no such art. As we wander along the narrow streets we see the courtyards of many palaces, the marble stairs, the graceful _loggia_, the terraces and the arches of which stand out against an Italian sky; but we look in vain for the magnificence of public halls, where the brush of Tintoretto or Carpaccio decorated the a.s.sembly-room of the rulers of the East or the chapter-house of a charitable fraternity."

The artistic monument of Columbus, situated in the Piazza Acquaverde, facing the railway station, consists of a marble statue fitly embowered amid tropical palms, and is composed of a huge quadrangular pedestal, at the angles of which are seated allegorical figures of Religion, Geography, Strength, and Wisdom. Resting on this pedestal is a large cylindrical pedestal decorated with three s.h.i.+ps' prows, on which stands a colossal figure of Columbus, his left hand resting on an anchor. At his feet, in a half-sitting, half-kneeling posture, is an allegorical figure of America in the act of adoring a crucifix, which she holds in her right hand. The four bas-reliefs on the sides of the pedestal represent the most important events in the life of the great discoverer: (1) Columbus before the Council of Salamanca; (2) Columbus taking formal possession of the New World; (3) his flattering reception at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella; (4) Columbus in chains. It is as well that this, the saddest of episodes, should be remembered, because great actions are as often as not emphasized by martyrdom.

The first stone of the monument was laid September 27, 1846, and the completed statue formally dedicated in 1862. It bears the laconic but expressive dedication: "_A Cristoforo Colombo, La Patria_" (The Nation to Christopher Columbus).

Genoa claims, with the largest presumption of truth, that Christopher Columbus was born there. The best of historical and antiquarian research tends to show that in a house, No. 37, in the Vico Dritto Ponticello, lived Domenico Colombo, the father of Christopher, and that in this house the Great Admiral was born. In 1887 the Genoese munic.i.p.ality bought the house, and an inscription has been placed over the door. To give the exact date of Christopher's birth is, however, difficult, but it is believed to have occurred sometime between March 15, 1446, and March 20, 1447.

Whether Columbus was actually a native of Genoa or of Cogoletto--the latter is a sequestered little town a few miles west of the former--must ever remain a matter of conjecture. True enough, the house in which his father followed the trade of a wool-carder in Genoa is eagerly pointed out to a stranger; but the inscription on the marble tablet over the entrance does not state that the future discoverer was really born in it. This stands in a narrow alley designated the Vico di Morcento, near the prison of San Andrea.

On the other hand, the little town hall at Cogoletto contains a portrait of Columbus, more than 300 years old, whose frame is completely covered with the names of enthusiastic travelers. The room in which he is believed to have been born resembles a cellar rather than aught else; while the broken pavement shows how visitors have at various times taken up the bricks to preserve as relics. As if this undoubted evidence of hero wors.h.i.+p were insufficient, the old woman in charge of the place hastens to relate how a party of Americans one day lifted the original door off its hinges and carried it bodily away between them.

As all the world knows, Columbus died at Valladolid on the 20th of May, 1506. It has always been a matter of intense regret to the Genoese that his body should have been permitted to be s.h.i.+pped across the seas to its first resting-place in San Domingo. More fortunate, however, were they in securing the remains of their modern kinsman and national patriot, Mazzini.

On the 29th of May, 1892, under the auspices of Ligurian Gymnastic Society Cristofore Columbo, a bronze wreath was placed at the base of the Columbus monument.

The Ligurian Gymnastic Society Cristofore Columbo is an a.s.sociation which cultivates athletic exercises, music, and, above all, patriotism and charity. To awaken popular interest in the coming exhibition, the society had a bronze wreath made by the well-known sculptor Burlando, and fitting ceremonies took place, with a procession through the streets, before affixing the wreath at the base of the monument. The wreath, which weighed some 500 pounds, was carried by a figure representing Genoa seated on a triumphal car. There were 7,000 members of the society present, with not less than fifty bands of music. The ceremonies, beginning at 10 A. M., were concluded at 4 P. M. The last act was a hymn, sung by 2,000 voices, with superb effect. Then, by means of machinery, the bronze crown was put in its proper position. Never was Genoa in a gayer humor, nor could the day have been more propitious. The streets were decorated with flowers and banners. There were representatives from Rome, Florence, Milan, Turin, Venice, Naples, Leghorn, Palermo, and visitors from all parts of Europe and America. In the evening only did the festivities close with a grand dinner given by the Genoese munic.i.p.ality.

In this, the glorification of the grand old city of Liguria, was united that of its most memorable man, Christopher Columbus, for that mediaeval feeling, when cities had almost individual personalities, is still a civic sense alive in Genoa. She rejoices in the ill.u.s.trious men born within her walls with a sentiment akin to that of a mother for her son.

In an artistic sense, nothing could have been more complete than this festival. Throwing the eye upward, beyond the figure of Columbus, the frame is perfect. The slanting ways leading up to the handsome houses on the background are wonderfully effective.

Genoa is rich in the relics of Columbus. In the city hall of Genoa is, among other relics, a mosaic portrait of the Admiral, somewhat modified from the De Bry's Columbus. Genoa is fortunate in possessing a number of authentic letters of Columbus, and these are preserved in a marble custodia, surmounted by a head of Columbus. In the pillar which forms the pedestal there is a bronze door, and the precious Columbus doc.u.ments have been placed there.

GERMANY AND COLUMBUS.

The Geographical Society of Germany will shortly publish a volume commemorative of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, which will, it is said, be one of the most elaborate publications ever issued by the society. Dr. Konrad Kretschmer, the editor of the forthcoming work, has visited all the princ.i.p.al libraries of Italy in search of material, and has had access to many rare ma.n.u.scripts. .h.i.therto unused. The memorial volume will contain forty-five maps relating to the discovery of America, thirty-one of which are said to have never been published. Emperor William has contributed 15,000 marks toward the expenses of publication, etc., and the work will undoubtedly be a most valuable contribution to the early history of America. It is expected that it will leave the government printing office early in August.

GERMANY'S EXHIBIT OF RARITIES.

Germany proposes to loan a collection of Columbus rarities to the United States Government for exhibition at the Chicago Exposition, as will be seen by a communication to the State Department from Consul-general Edwards at Berlin. In his doc.u.ment, Mr. Edwards says:

[Ill.u.s.tration: HOUSE OF COLUMBUS. No. 37 Vico Dritto Ponticelli, Genoa, Italy. (See page 140.)]

The German government, appreciating the fact that no time is to be lost in this matter, has begun to carry its generous and friendly proposals into practical operation by inst.i.tuting a thorough search in the various galleries, museums, and libraries throughout Germany for works of art, objects, and rarities which are in any way identified with the Columbus period, and which the German government believes would be likely to be of general interest to the authorities of the World's Columbian Exposition as well as the visitors at that great show.

Among other works of art the German government consents to loan Pludderman's celebrated painting, "The Discovery of America by Columbus." Under the laws of Germany, as well as under the rules and regulations of the National Gallery, no person is permitted to lithograph, photograph, or make any sort of a copy of any picture or other work of art in the care or custody of any national gallery, in case when the artist has not been dead for a period of thirty years, without having first obtained the written permission of the legal representative of the deceased artist, coupled with the consent of the National Gallery authorities. Pludderman not having been dead thirty years, I have given a.s.surances that this regulation will be observed by the United States Government.