Part 3

If it be remarkable that the Western Continent should have remained unknown for so many centuries to civilized man, it is, perhaps, still more remarkable that since its discovery and settlement, it should have become the theatre of so many signal transactions, and have advanced so rapidly to its present civil, religious, and political importance. The history of every portion of it is interesting and instructive; but more especially that portion occupied by the people of the United States. A great work is in progress throughout the entire continent; but the importance of the American Republic, with which our fortunes are more immediately connected, is becoming apparent with each revolving year. While, therefore, we propose to make an historical survey of the several countries both of North and South America, we shall dwell with greater particularity upon the events which have signalized our own republican America. If not from her present population, which, though increasing by a wonderful progression, is still, in point of numbers, inferior to many other nations; yet, from her wealth, her enterprise, her commercial and political relations, she is entitled to rank among the most powerful and influential nations on the globe. The eyes of the civilized world are upon her; and with wonder, if not with jealousy, do they mark her rapid and surprising advancement.

The _history_ of such a people must be full of interest. By what means has her national elevation been maintained? But a little more than two centuries have elapsed, since the first settlers planted themselves at Jamestown, in Virginia, and the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock. They were then a feeble band. Before them lay a howling wilderness. An inhospitable and intractable race rose up to oppose and harass them. The means of living were stinted and uncertain. Famine pressed upon them, and weakened them. The winters were cold and piercing. Their habitations were rude and unprotective. Disease added its sufferings and sorrows, and death hurried many of the few to an untimely grave. Yet, amidst accumulated calamity, they gathered strength and courage. Accessions from the mother-country were made to their numbers. Other and distant stations were occupied. The forest fell before them. Towns and villages rose in the wilderness, and solitary places became glad. Savage tribes--after years of terror, massacre, and bloodshed--retired, leaving the colonists to the peaceful occupancy of the land, in all its length and breadth.

But they were still a dependant people--subject to the laws, exactions, and oppressions of a proud and arbitrary foreign government. That government, jealous of their growing importance, adopted measures to check their aspirations, and to extend and perpetuate the prerogatives of the crown. But it was impossible that a people, sprung from the loins of fathers whose courage and enterprise had been matured by years of conflict, should be either crushed, or long thwarted in their plans. Oppressions served rather to strengthen them; threats prompted to resolution, and served to inspire confidence. And, at length, they arose to the assertion and maintenance of their rights. They entered the field; and for years, with all the fortunes of war apparently against them, they grappled successfully with the colossal power of the British empire--thwarted her counsels--conquered her armies--established their independence.

But a little more than seventy years has America been free from the British yoke; yet, in that brief period, her advancement has outstripped all the predictions of the most sanguine statesmen. With but three millions of people, she entered the Revolutionary contest; she now numbers more than twenty millions. Instead of thirteen colonies, she embraces thirty free and independent states. Meanwhile, she has continued to gather national strength and national importance. Her wealth is rolling up, while her moral power is becoming the admiration of the world.

These attainments, too, she has made amid convulsions and revolutions, which have shaken the proudest empires, and spread desolation over some of the fairest portions of the globe. On every side are the evidences of her advancement. Genius and industry are creating and rolling forward with amazing power and rapidity the means of national wealth and aggrandizement. An enterprising, ardent, restless population are spreading over our western wilds, and our cities are now the creations almost of a day.

But by what means has this national elevation and prosperity been attained? Shall we ascribe them to the wise, sagacious, and patriotic men, who guided our councils and led our armies? Shall we offer our homage and gratitude to WASHINGTON, FRANKLIN, ADAMS, OTIS, HENRY, JEFFERSON, and a multitude of others, who periled fortune, liberty, life itself, to achieve our independence, and lay the foundation of our country's glory?

Let us do them honor; and a nation's honor and gratitude will be accorded to them, so long as the recorded history of their noble achievements shall last.

Theirs is no vulgar sepulchre: green sods Are all their monument; and, yet, it tells A nobler history than pillar'd pile, Or the eternal pyramid. They need No statue, nor inscription, to reveal Their greatness.

But, while merited honor is paid to the sages and heroes of the Revolution, and to the Pilgrim Fathers of an earlier age, let not the hand of Providence be overlooked or disregarded.

On this point, the Puritans have left a noble example to their posterity. The supplication of the smiles and blessings of a superintending Providence preceded and accompanied all their plans and all their enterprises. "God was their king; and they regarded him as truly and literally so, as if he had dwelt in a visible palace in the midst of their state. They were his devoted, resolute, humble subjects; they undertook nothing which they did not beg of him to prosper; they accomplished nothing without rendering to him the praise; they suffered nothing without carrying up their sorrows to his throne; they ate nothing which they did not implore him to bless." Nor were the actors in the Revolutionary struggle insensible to the necessity of the Divine blessing upon their counsels and efforts. Washington, as well at the head of his army as in the retirement of his closet, or amid some secluded spot in the field, looked up for the blessing of the God of battles. That also was a beautiful recognition of a superintending Providence, which Franklin made in the Convention, which, subsequent to the Revolution, framed the Constitution. "I have lived, sir, a long time," said he; "and the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that _God governs in the affairs of men_. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?"

Let it be remembered by the American people--by men who fill her councils--by historians who write her history--by the young, who are coming up to the possession of the rich inheritance, that whatever human agencies were employed in the discovery, settlement, independence, and prosperity of these states, the "good hand of God has been over and around us," and has given to us this goodly land, with its religious institutions--its free government--its unwonted prosperity.

Let not the historian, who writes--especially if he writes for the _young_--be thought to travel out of his appropriate sphere, in an effort to imbue the rising generation with somewhat of the religious spirit of the fathers--to lead them to recognise the Divine government, in respect to nations as well as individuals--to impress upon them that sentiment of the "Father of his country," as just as impressive, viz: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."

"When the children of the Pilgrims forget that Being who was the Pilgrims guide and deliverer"--should they ever be so faulty and unfortunate--when the descendants of the Puritans cease to acknowledge, and obey, and love that Being, for whose service the Puritans forsook all that men chiefly love, enduring scorn and reproach, exile and poverty, and finding at last a superabundant reward; when the sons of a religious and holy ancestry fall away from its high communion, and join themselves to the assemblies of the profane, they have forfeited the dear blessings of their inheritance; and they deserve to be cast out from this fair land, without even a wilderness for their refuge. No! let us still keep the ark of God in the midst of us; let us adopt the prayer of the wise monarch of Israel: "The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; let him not leave us nor forsake us; that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers."

Such a regard for God--his laws--his institutions, and his service, is obligatory upon the present generation, aside from those blessings which may be justly anticipated as the reward of such reverence and obedience. It is due to the memory of the Pilgrim Fathers. Never can we so worthily and appropriately honor them, as to cherish the pious sentiments which they cherished, and perpetuate the civil and religious institutions which they founded.--It is due to the generation of our Revolutionary era, which, impressed with a sense of the value of the inheritance transmitted to them, periled life and fortune that they might transmit that inheritance in all its fullness and in all its richness to their posterity. We are the children of patriot heroes, who prayed and then fought, and fought and then prayed.--It is due to ourselves, as we would secure the admiration and gratitude of the generations which are to follow us.--It is due to those generations which, by the blessing of God, are to spread over and occupy the vast territory which now constitutes the American republic.

Those generations! I see them rising and spreading abroad, as future years roll on! What shall be their character--their regard for civil and religious liberty--their peace, order, happiness, and prosperity, may depend upon the example which we set, and the principles which we inculcate. We are living and acting not only for the present, but for the future. We are making impressions for all time to come. If, then, our history for the future shall be as our history past--filled up with divine blessings, and signal providential interpositions--if the noble work begun, centuries since, is to go on--if the "fullest liberty and the purest religion" are to prevail as time rolls on--if this vast continent is to be inhabited by enlightened and happy millions--we, who are now on the stage of action, must imitate the example of that pilgrim band, which first landed on Plymouth Rock.

Under the influence of such an example transmitted from generation to generation, we may hope that our beloved country will ultimately become, if she is not already,

"The queen of the world, and the child of the skies."

Impressed with the importance of such sentiments himself, the author will make no apology for offering them as, in his own view, an appropriate introduction to a work chiefly designed for the benefit of the rising generation.

PART I.

UNITED STATES.

I.--EARLY DISCOVERIES.

I. NORTHMEN. Claims for the Northmen--Voyage of Biarné--Leif--Thorwald--Thorfinn--Helge and Finnboge.

II. COLUMBUS. Birth and Education of Columbus--Unsuccessful application to several European Courts--Patronized by Isabella--Sails from Palos--Early Discontent of his crew--Expedients by which they are quieted--Discovery of Land--First appearance of the Natives--Cuba and Hispaniola discovered--Columbus sets sail on his return--Incidents of the voyage--Marks of consideration bestowed upon him--Second Voyage--Further Discoveries--Complaints against him--Third Voyage--Discovery of the Continent--Persecuted by Enemies--sent home in Chains--Kindness of Isabella--Fourth Voyage--Return and Death.

III. SEBASTIAN CABOT. Discovery of the North American Continent by Sebastian Cabot.

I. NORTHMEN.

No event, in the history of modern ages, surpasses in interest the discovery of the American Continent. It has scarcely any parallel, indeed, in the annals of the world; whether we consider the difficulty of the undertaking or the magnitude of its consequences. Without any serious question, the honor of the discovery belongs solely to CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Mankind, hitherto, have so awarded it, and posterity will doubtless confirm the judgment. As, however, a claim to a prior discovery by the _Northmen_ has been brought forward in recent times, it becomes the impartiality of history to notice it, and to give such an account of the circumstances on which the claim is founded, as they may appear to deserve. Whether or not, at the distance of some four or five centuries, the trans-Atlantic continent had been discovered by the Scandinavian voyagers, the merits of the great Italian are far from being affected by the fact.

The prominent incidents in this alleged ante-Columbian discovery, it seems, are given on the authority of certain Icelandic manuscripts, the genuineness, and even the existence of which, have formerly been doubted by many; but which, there is now reason to suppose, are entitled to credence. The general story may be received as probable. In the details, there is often something too vague, if not too extraordinary, to entitle it to any historical importance. The adventurous spirit, and even the naval skill of the Northmen, are not a matter of doubt with any who are acquainted with the history of the times to which reference is here made. The seas and the coasts of Europe were the scenes of their exploits--their piracies, their battles, or their colonization. According to the Icelandic statements, Eric the Red, in 986, emigrated from Iceland to Greenland, and formed there a settlement. Among his companions was Herjulf Bardson, who fixed his residence at a place which was called after him, Herjulfsness. Herjulf had a son, whose name was Biarné, who, with his father, was engaged in trading between Iceland and Norway. Biarné was absent on a trading voyage, when his father accompanied Eric, on the emigration of the latter to Greenland. The son returning to Iceland in a few months, and finding that Herjulf was absent, sailed in pursuit of him. In the course of the sail, having been enveloped in the fogs, he was carried to some unknown distance; but after the fogs were dispersed, land was seen. As, however, it did not answer the description given respecting Greenland, the party did not steer for it. During a sail of several days, they came in sight of land at two different times in succession; and at last, tacking about, and carried by brisk and favorable winds in a north-west direction, they reached the coast of Greenland. This tradition of Biarné's voyage, allowing it to be authentic, would seem to indicate that he was carried far down on the coast of America, and passed on his return the shores of _Newfoundland_ and _Labrador_.

In consequence of this adventure, and the interest which the account of it excited, a voyage of exploration was projected, and at length put into effect. It was conducted by Leif, a son of Eric the Red, an adventurous rover, who selected a company as adventurous as himself, among whom was a German named Tyrker. It was in the year 1000 that the voyage was made. After finding a shore in a direction similar to that in which Biarné took, they landed, calling the region _Helluland_, which was most probably _Labrador_. It was an iceberg-lined shore, without grass or verdure. From this spot they put out to sea, and, steering south, they came to another coast, low like the first, but covered with thick wood, except the portion immediately skirting the sea, which consisted of white sand. It was probably _Nova Scotia_, named by them, however, _Markland_, or _Woodland_. They pursued their voyage for two days, under the favor of a north-east wind, when they discovered land for the third time. Here they disembarked on a part of the coast, which was sheltered by an island. The face of the country was found to be undulating, covered with wood, and bearing a growth of fine fruits and berries. Taking to their vessel again, they proceeded west in search of a harbor, which they were so fortunate as to find. It was at the mouth of a river proceeding from a lake. They first made the river and then the lake; in the latter they cast anchor. In this spot they erected huts in which to pass the winter. When thus established, Leif made a division of his company into two parties, for the purpose, on the one hand, of watching the settlement, and, on the other, of exploring the country.

In performing the latter service it happened, on one occasion, that the German Tyrker, above named, failed to return at night. After much anxiety and search, he was discovered, having found during his wanderings a region which afforded an abundance of grapes. The country, from this incident, was named _Vinland_ or _Wineland_. From the mention which they made of the rising and the setting of the sun, at the shortest day, it has been inferred that the island was _Nantucket_, and the region called Vinland embraced the coast of _Massachusetts_ and _Rhode Island_. They returned to Greenland the following season.

Thorwald, a brother of Leif, next undertook to make a voyage, to the newly discovered land beyond the ocean. This was in 1002. We need not mention the particulars, but may state generally that the adventurers continued in Vinland till the year 1004, and that the expedition terminated unfortunately in the death of Thorwald. He was killed in a skirmish with certain Esquimaux, with whom the party came in contact in three several boats. Before breathing his last, he gave directions as to the spot where they should inter him. The rest returned to Greenland.

Following this adventure, the third son of Eric, named Thornstein, embarked with his wife Gudrida, in search of the body of Thorwald. But he never reached the country. He was eventually driven back to Greenland, where he died.

The next expedition seems to have been a project to colonize the country. The vessels were three in number, on board of which one hundred and forty men embarked, who took with them all kinds of live stock. The leaders on this occasion were Thorfinn, who married the widow of Thornstein, Biarné Grimolfson, and Thorhall Gamlason. The enterprise appears to have been attended with a measure of success. They erected their tents, and fortified them in the best manner they were able, as a protection against the natives. An incident of some interest is mentioned as having occurred in their trade with the latter. These were eager for arms, but as they were not suffered to become an article of barter, one of the natives seized an axe, and, in order to test its efficacy, struck a companion with it, who was killed on the spot. The affair shocked them exceedingly; but in the midst of the confusion, the axe having been seized by one who appeared to be a chief, was critically inspected for a while, and then violently cast into the sea.

The period of their continuance in Vinland was three years. They found it a beautiful country, while residing in it. Thorfinn had a son born to him, whom he named Snorre, the first child of European descent born on this continent, the ancestor of many distinguished personages now living. Among them is the noted sculptor Thorwaldsen. Thorfinn and a part of his company returned at length to Iceland. The remainder still continued in Vinland, where they were afterwards joined by an expedition led by two brothers, Helge and Finnboge, from Greenland. But this latter enterprise ended tragically, a large number of the colonists having been killed in a quarrel, which a wicked female adventurer in the expedition had excited. A few other voyages to Vinland, either accidental or designed, were made by the Northmen during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, some of them connected with attempts to propagate Christianity among the natives, but no interesting results are spoken of, and the whole project of colonizing the new region seems to have been not only abandoned, but to have passed from the minds of men. On the supposition that the records are true, which in general may be admitted, the colony could not have had a long continuance, and it is certain that no remains of it have ever appeared, unless some questionable accounts of the Jesuists, or the more questionable inscriptions on Dighton-rock. It was not until the era of Columbus that the world was awakened to the enterprise, or even to the thought of discovering land beyond the Western ocean. Whether he knew or did not know, respecting the adventures of the Scandinavians in those northern seas, it is hardly to be supposed that he could have the remotest conception that the country they called Vinland was the same as the Indies, which he proposed to reach by sailing due west. The honor, first of his theory, and then of his achievement, is therefore, in no degree diminished, by the facts above narrated, so far as they may be believed to be facts. He after all stands prëeminent among men, as the discoverer of the new world. It was certainly, at that period, new to European knowledge and adventure.

II. COLUMBUS.