Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia Part 8

He opened calm the universal cause To give each realm its limit and its laws, Bid the last breath of tired contention cease, And bind all regions in the leagues of peace.

To yon bright borders of Atlantic day His swelling pinions led the trackless way, And taught mankind such useful deeds to dare, To trace new seas and happy nations rear; Till by fraternal hands their sails unfurled Have waved at last in union o'er the world.

--_Ibid._

RELIGIOUS OBJECT OF COLUMBUS.

J. J. BARRY, M. D., "Life of Columbus."

The first object of the discovery, disengaged from every human consideration, was the glorification of the Redeemer and the extension of His Church.

THE n.o.bILITY OF COLUMBUS IN ADVERSITY.

The acc.u.mulations of his reverses exceed human proportions. His misfortunes almost surpa.s.s his glory. Still this man does not murmur. He accuses, he curses n.o.body; and does not regret that he was born. The people of ancient times would never have conceived this type of a hero.

Christianity alone, whose creation he was, can comprehend him. * * * The example of Columbus shows that n.o.body can completely obtain here below the objects of his desires. The man who doubled the known s.p.a.ce of the earth was not able to attain his object; he proposed to himself much more than he realized.--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS BELL.

The congregation of the little colored church at Haleyville, in c.u.mberland County, N. J., contributes an interesting historical relic to the World's Fair. It is the bell that has for years called them to church. In the year 1445, the bell, it is said, hung in one of the towers of the famous mosque at the Alhambra. After the siege of Granada, the bell was taken away by the Spanish soldiers and presented to Queen Isabella, who, in turn, presented it to Columbus, who brought it to America on his fourth voyage and presented it to a community of Spanish monks who placed it in the Cathedral of Carthagena, on the Island of New Granada. In 1697 buccaneers looted Carthagena, and carried the bell on board the French pirate s.h.i.+p La Roch.e.l.le, but the s.h.i.+p was wrecked on the Island of St. Andreas shortly afterward, and the wreckers secured the bell as part of their salvage. Capt. Newell of Bridgeton purchased it, brought it to this country, and presented it to the colored congregation of the Haleyville church. The bell weighs sixty-four pounds, and is of fine metal.

THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF COLUMBUS.

GERONIMO BENZONI of Milan, Italy. Born about 1520. From his "History of the New World" (1565).

He was a man of a good, reasonable stature, with sound, strong limbs; of good judgment, high talent, and gentlemanlike aspect. His eyes were bright, his hair red, his nose aquiline, his mouth somewhat large; but above all he was a friend to justice, though rather pa.s.sionate when angry.

WESTWARD RELIGION'S BANNERS TOOK THEIR WAY.

The Right Rev. GEORGE BERKELEY, Bishop of Cloyne, Ireland. Born at Kilcrin, Kilkenny, March 12, 1684; died at Oxford, England, January 14, 1754. The author of the celebrated line, "Westward the course of Empire takes its way."

But all things of heavenly origin, like the glorious sun, move westward; and Truth and Art have their periods of s.h.i.+ning and of night. Rejoice, then, O venerable Rome, in thy divine destiny! for, though darkness overshadow thy seats, and though thy mitred head must descend into the dust, thy spirit, immortal and undecayed, already spreads toward a new world.

COLUMBUS NO CHANCE COMER.

The Hon. JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE, one of America's leading statesmen. Born in Was.h.i.+ngton County, Pa., in 1830.

Columbus was no chance comer. The time was full. He was not premature; he was not late. He came in accordance with a scientifically formed if imperfect theory, whether his own or another's--a theory which had a logical foundation, and which projected logical sequences. * * * Had not Columbus discovered America in 1492, a hundred Columbuses would have discovered it in 1493.

THE CERTAIN CONVICTIONS OF COLUMBUS.

BARON BONNAFOUX, a French author. From "La Vie de Christophe Colombe" (1853).

He was as certain of the truth of his theory as if he had seen and trodden on the very ground which his imagination had called into existence. * * * There was an air of authority about him, and a dignity in his manner, that struck all who saw him. He considered himself, on principle, above envy and slander, and in calm and serious discussion always had the superiority in argument on the subjects of his schemes.

To refuse to a.s.sist him in his projects was one thing; but it was impossible to reply to his discourse in refutation of his arguments, and, above all, not to respect him.

THE COLUMBUS OF MODERN TIMES.

From an editorial in the Boston _Journal_, July 13, 1892.

When John Bright, in Parliament, shortly after the successful laying of the Atlantic cable, called Cyrus W. Field _the Columbus of modern times_, he made no inappropriate comparison. Mr. Field, in the early days of the great undertaking that has made his name immortal, had to contend against the same difficulties as the intrepid Genoese. The lineal descendants of the fifteenth century pundits, who vexed the soul of Columbus by insisting that the world was flat, were very sure that a cable could never be laid across the boisterous Atlantic; that sea monsters would bite it off and huge waves destroy it. Both men finally prevailed over a doubting world by sheer force of indomitable enthusiasm.

Many men in Mr. Field's place, having ama.s.sed a fortune comparatively early in life, would have devoted themselves to ease and recreation. But there was too much of the New England spirit of restless energy in Mr.

Field to permit him to pa.s.s the best years of his life thus ingloriously. The great thought of his cable occurred to him, and he became a man of one fixed idea, and ended by becoming a popular hero. No private American citizen, probably, has received such distinguished honors as Mr. Field when his cable was laid in 1867, and the undertaking of his lifetime was successfully accomplished. And Mr. Field was honestly ent.i.tled to all the glory and to all the financial profit that he reaped. His project was one that only a giant mind could conceive, and a giant mind and a giant will could carry on to execution.

As if to make the parallel with Columbus complete, Mr. Field pa.s.sed his last few days under the heavy shadow of misfortune. His son's failure, and the sensational developments attending it, were probably the occasion of his fatal illness. It is a melancholy termination of a remarkable career to which the nations of the earth owe a vast debt of grat.i.tude.

Chicago _Tribune_, July 13, 1892.

The story of the twelve years' struggle to lay an Atlantic cable from Ireland to Newfoundland is the story of one of the greatest battles with the fates that any one man was ever called on to wage. It was a fight not only against the ocean, jealous of its rights as a separator of the continents, and against natural obstacles which seemed absolutely unsurpa.s.sable, but a fight against stubborn Parliaments and Congresses, and all the stumbling blocks of human disbelief. But the courage of Cyrus W. Field was indomitable. _His patience and zeal were inexhaustible, and so it came to pa.s.s, on July 27, 1866, that this man knelt down in his cabin, like a second Columbus, and gave thanks to G.o.d, for his labors were crowned with success at last._

He had lost his health. He had worn out his nervous forces by the tremendous strain, and he paid in excruciating suffering the debt he owed to nature. But he had won a fortune and a lasting fame.

THE BOSTON STATUE.

In 1849 the Italian merchants of Boston, under the presidency of Mr.

Iasigi, presented to the city a statue of Columbus, which was placed inside the inclosure of Louisburg Square, at the Pinckney Street end of the square. The statue, which is of inferior merit, bears no inscription, and is at the present date forgotten, dilapidated, and fast falling into decay.

YOU CAN NOT CONQUER AMERICA.

FLAVIUS J. BROBST in an article on Westminster Abbey, in the _Mid-Continent Magazine_, August, 1892.

Sublimest of all, the incomparable Earl of Chatham, whose prophetic ken foresaw the independence of the American nation even before the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill had been fought; and who, from the first, in Parliament, rose with his eagle beak, and raised his clarion voice with all the vehemence of his imperial soul in behalf of the American colonies, reaching once a climax of inspiration, when, in thunderous tones, he declared to the English nation, "_You can not conquer America._"

THE INDOMITABLE COURAGE OF COLUMBUS.

WILLIAM C. BRYANT, an eminent American poet. Born at c.u.mmington, Ma.s.s., November 3, 1794; died June 12, 1878. From his "History of the United States."

With a patience that nothing could wear out, and a perseverance that, was absolutely unconquerable, Columbus waited and labored for eighteen years, appealing to minds that wanted light and to ears that wanted hearing. His ideas of the possibilities of navigation were before his time. It was one thing to creep along the coast of Africa, where the hold upon the land need never be lost, another to steer out boldly into that wilderness of waters, over which mystery and darkness brooded.

THE SANTA MARIA CARAVEL.

J. W. BUEL, a celebrated American author.

Oh, thou Santa Maria, thou famous remembrancer of the centuries! The names of none of those that sailed in search of the Golden Fleece are so well preserved among the eternities of history as is thine. No vessel of Rome, of Greece, of Carthage, of Egypt, that carried conquering Caesar, triumphant Alexander, valiant Hannibal, or beauteous Cleopatra, shall be so well known to coming ages as thou art. No s.h.i.+p of the Spanish Armada, or of Lord Howard, who swept it from the sea; no looming monster; no Great Eastern or frowning ironclad of modern navies, shall be held like thee in perpetual remembrance by all the sons of men. For none ever bore such a hero on such a mission, that has glorified all nations by giving the greatest of all countries to the world.