Part 26 (1/2)
MOST REVEREND SIR: I am not aware whether your Lords.h.i.+p knows that I had Cristoforo Colon under my roof for a long time when he came from Portugal, and wished to go to the King of France, in order that he might go in search of the Indies with his Majesty's aid and countenance. I myself wished to make the venture, and to dispatch him from my port [Santa Maria], where I had a good equipment of three or four caravels, _since he asked no more from me_; but as I recognized that this was an undertaking for the Queen, our sovereign, I wrote about the matter to her Highness from Rota, and she replied that I should send him to her.
Therefore I sent him, and asked her Highness that, since I did not desire to pursue the enterprise but had arranged it for her service, she should direct that compensation be made to me, and that I might have a share in it by having the loading and unloading of the commerce done in the port.
Her Highness received him [Colon], and referred him to Alonso de Quintanilla, who, in turn, _wrote me that he did not consider this affair to be very certain_; but that if it should go through, her Highness would give me a reward and part in it. After having well studied it, she agreed to send him in search of the Indies. Some eight months ago he set out, and now has arrived at Lisbon on his return voyage, and has found all which he sought and very completely; which, as soon as I knew, in order to advise her Highness of such good tidings, I am writing by Inares and sending him to beg that she grant me the privilege of sending out there each year some of my own caravels.
I entreat your Lords.h.i.+p that you may be pleased to a.s.sist me in this, and also ask it in my behalf; since on my account, and through my keeping him [Colon] _two years in my house_, and having placed him at her Majesty's service, so great a thing as this has come to pa.s.s; and because Inares will inform your Lords.h.i.+p more in detail, I beg you to hearken to him.
COLUMBUS STATUE, CITY OF MEXICO.
The Columbus monument, in the Paseo de la Reforma, in the City of Mexico, was erected at the charges of Don Antonio Escandon, to whose public spirit and enterprise the building of the Vera Cruz & Mexico Railway was due. The monument is the work of the French sculptor Cordier. The base is a large platform of basalt, surrounded by a bal.u.s.trade of iron, above which are five lanterns. From this base rises a square ma.s.s of red marble, ornamented with four _ba.s.so-relievos_; the arms of Columbus, surrounded with garlands of laurels; the rebuilding of the monastery of Santa Maria de la Rabida; the discovery of the Island of San Salvador; a fragment of a letter from Columbus to Raphael Sanchez, beneath which is the dedication of the monument by Senor Escandon. Above the _ba.s.so-relievos_, surrounding the pedestals, are four life-size figures in bronze; in front and to the right of the statue of Columbus (that stands upon a still higher plane), Padre Juan Perez de la Marchena, prior of the Monastery of Santa Maria de la Rabida, at Huelva, Spain; in front and to the left, Padre Fray Diego de Deza, friar of the Order of Saint Dominic, professor of theology at the Convent of St. Stephen, and afterward archbishop of Seville. He was also confessor of King Ferdinand, to the support of which two men Columbus owed the royal favor; in the rear, to the right, Fray Pedro de Gante; in the rear, to the left, Fray Bartolome de las Casas--the two missionaries who most earnestly gave their protection to the Indians, and the latter the historian of Columbus. Crowning the whole, upon a pedestal of red marble, is the figure of Columbus, in the act of drawing aside the veil that hides the New World. In conception and in treatment this work is admirable; charming in sentiment, and technically good. The monument stands in a little garden inclosed by iron chains hung upon posts of stone, around which extends a large _glorieta_.
THE TRIBUTE OF JOAQUIN MILLER.
JOAQUIN (CINCINNATUS HEINE) MILLER, ”the Poet of the Sierras.” Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 10, 1842. From a poem in the New York _Independent_.
Behind him lay the gray Azores, Behind the gates of Hercules; Before him not the ghost of sh.o.r.es, Before him only sh.o.r.eless seas.
The good mate said, ”Now must we pray, For lo! the very stars are gone.
Brave Adm'ral, speak; what shall I say?”
”Why say, 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'”
”My men grow mutinous day by day; My men grow ghastly, wan and weak.”
The stout mate thought of home; a spray Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
”What shall I say, brave Adm'ral, say, If we sight naught but seas at dawn?”
”Why, you shall say, at break of day, 'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'”
They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, Until at last the blanched mate said, ”Why, now not even G.o.d would know Should I and all my men fall dead.
These very winds forget their way, For G.o.d from these dread seas is gone.
Now speak, brave Adm'ral, speak and say--”
He said, ”Sail on! sail on! and on!”
They sailed. They sailed. Then spoke the mate, ”This mad sea shows its teeth to-night.
He curls his lip, he lies in wait, With lifted teeth as if to bite.
Brave Adm'ral, say but one good word; What shall we do when hope is gone?”
The words leapt as a leaping sword, ”Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!”
Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, And peered through darkness. Ah, that night Of all dark nights! And then a speck-- A light! A light! A light! A light!
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled, It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world Its grandest lesson--”On! and on!”
ADMIRAL OF MOSQUITO LAND.
D. H. MONTGOMERY, author of ”The Leading Facts of American History.”
Loud was the outcry against Columbus. The rabble nicknamed him the ”Admiral of Mosquito Land.” They pointed at him as the man who had promised everything, and ended by discovering nothing but ”a wilderness peopled with naked savages.”