Sect. V.—: Vasco De Gama and Columbus.

The voyages of the Genoese and Venetians to France and Great Britain, and the vast improvement which the art of steering by the compass had introduced into navigation, prepared the way for the extraordinary discoveries which will for ever distinguish the close of the 15th century. From about the year 1400, the Portuguese were engaged in a series of exploratory voyages along the west coast of Africa, principally in the view of ascertaining whether it were not possible to reach India by that route. And at length this grand object was achieved by the famous Admiral Vasco de Gama, who, having doubled the southern extremity of Africa in November 1497, arrived, after a prosperous voyage, at the port of Calicut, on the Malabar coast. It would not be easy to exaggerate the importance of this discovery. It dispelled the notions that had come down from antiquity, with respect to the uninhabitable nature of the Torrid Zone; and it opened a new route for the intercourse between Europe and the East. Egypt ceased to be the centre of the commercial world. And Lisbon, Amsterdam, and other ports on the Atlantic, became the entrepôts of the trade which had been so long engrossed by Venice, Genoa, and other Italian cities. Few revolutions have been more complete. But, as previously seen, another great change is now going on, and the trade with the East is once more reverting to the channels from which it was diverted by the voyage of De Gama.

The discovery of America took place nearly at the same time with the discovery of the route to the East by the Cape of Good Hope. This unparalleled achievement was the result of the genius and enterprise of Christopher Columbus or Colon, a citizen of the Genoese republic. Having been brought up to the sea, being also well versed in geometry and astronomy, and of a thoughtful and determined character, Columbus was well fitted to make discoveries. A residence of some length in Lisbon, made him acquainted with the views and proceedings of the Portuguese navigators. And as the route to India by Africa was already occupied, he formed the bold and novel project of attempting to reach it by sailing directly westward. Having convinced himself of the practicability of this plan, he communicated it to the rulers of his native state, craving their assistance to enable him to carry it into effect. Being rejected by them, he appealed with no better success to the courts of Lisbon and London. At length, after a tedious and protracted suit, Queen Isabella of Castile interested herself in the fortunes and schemes of Columbus. She gave him the title of Admiral, and supplied him with money, raised by pledging her jewels, to fit out a small flotilla. He set sail from the port of Palos, in Andalusia, on the 3d of August 1492. And after a voyage, the most magnificent in its design, the most difficult in its execution, and the most stupendous in its results, of any that have ever been undertaken, the New World was discovered on the 12th of October 1492.

Columbus returned to Europe in about seven months from the time he had set out on his arduous undertaking. And though none could then foresee a hundredth part of the consequences of his great discovery, it struck the whole world with astonishment, and gave a vast impulse to the spirit of adventure and enterprise. This was especially manifested in Spain. Its government did little towards the subjugation of Mexico, Peru, and its other dominions in the New World. But its neglect or indifference was amply compensated by the zeal and energy of individuals; and in about fifty years from the period when Columbus set out from Palos the greater portion of America, from the northern frontier of Mexico to the southern frontier of Chili, was occupied by Spaniards, and willingly acknowledged the supremacy of the Spanish crown.

But notwithstanding the splendour of the discoveries made by Vasco de Gama and Columbus, philosophers and moralists have not been wanting who have doubted whether they have been beneficial to the human race. The flimsy paradoxes of Rousseau and Raynal may be dismissed without notice; but their prejudices have been entertained by writers of a very different cast. “What mankind,” says Dr Johnson, “has lost and gained by the genius and designs of Prince Henry of Portugal, it would be long to compare, and very difficult to estimate. Much knowledge has been acquired, and much cruelty been committed; the belief of religion has been very little propagated, and its laws have been outrageously and enormously violated. The Europeans have scarcely visited any coast but to gratify avarice and extend corruption; to arrogate dominion without right, and practise cruelty without incentive. Happy had it been for the oppressed, that the designs of De Gama and Columbus had slept in their bosoms; and surely more happy for the oppressors. But there is reason to hope that out of so much evil good may sometimes be produced; and that the light of the Gospel will at last illuminate the sands of Africa, and the deserts of America.” And elsewhere he says, “Columbus was under the necessity of travelling from court to court, scorned and repulsed as a wild projector, an idle promiser of kingdoms in the clouds; nor has any part of the world yet had reason to rejoice that he found at last reception and employment.”

But although the conduct of the Spaniards, and other Europeans, in America and elsewhere, has been in many respects objectionable, still there can be no reasonable doubt that mankind have gained immeasurably by the discoveries in question. It has been said, indeed, that the settlements in the New World and in Australia are founded on injustice, and that we had no right, other than that of being the stronger party, to take possession of these countries, and subdue, or exterminate their inhabitants. And we concede that it may sometimes be not a little difficult to decide in how far civilised and powerful nations may be justified in subjugating and coercing those which are less advanced than themselves. But, from the remotest antiquity down to the present times, the former have never scrupled to subject the latter to their authority, and, if necessary, to dispossess them of their territories. And every unprejudiced individual, in any degree acquainted with history, must admit, looking at it in a practical point of view, that this conduct has been of inestimable advantage. A salutiferous and fertilising stream cannot, however, have its source in impure and poisonous fountains; nor can proceedings which have prevailed in all ages, and which have done more than anything else to increase population and diffuse civilisation and the arts, be truly said to be unjustifiable, or inconsistent with the beneficent arrangements of Providence. Great political questions of this sort are not to be decided by à priori reasonings, or the dogmatism of schoolmen and divines, but by carefully attending to and weighing their results.

“Ipsa utilitas justi prope mater et æqui.”

It is true that cultivated nations, in dealing with their inferiors, have not unfrequently abused their greater power and intelligence. But while we admit and regret the fact, it is no less true that, but for their dictating to, and appropriating the possessions of others, more than half the civilised world would at this moment have been immersed in the grossest barbarism. Those who may be disposed to question this statement, have only to compare the America discovered by Columbus with the America of the present day. At the former period, the far greater part of that immense continent was occupied by the scanty population of savage tribes, ignorant of almost every useful art; making war on each other with a deadly and implacable ferocity; subsisting on the precarious produce of the chace; and often involved in the most dreadful privations. It would be a libel on Providence to suppose that it was intended that this state of things should be perpetual, that these vast and fruitful regions should be occupied only by hunters and wild animals. And as the red man could effect no great object—as he could neither replenish the land, nor exercise dominion over it, his subjugation, if not his extermination, was indispensable to enable the foundations of a better order of things to be laid; and would, therefore, appear to be consonant to enlarged and just views of benevolence, as well as to expediency.

Even in Mexico and Peru, where some advances had been made in civilisation, the condition of the population was abject and wretched in the extreme. In the former, crowds of slaves were sacrificed at the obsequies of every important personage. And at their great religious and state festivals, there was a wholesale butchery to the extent of thousands, not merely of captives taken in war, but of innumerable victims drawn from the conquered provinces, and from all classes of the community. However we may blame the cruelty by which it was accompanied, it is impossible not to rejoice at the destruction of so sanguinary and atrocious a system. The superstition of the Peruvians was of a less bloody and diabolical character than that of the Mexicans. But even among them it was not unusual to slaughter children as a propitiatory sacrifice for the health of a sick Inca; and at his death, a number of his attendants and favourite concubines, amounting sometimes it is said to a thousand or upwards, were immolated on his tomb.

The invasion of the Spaniards swept over these miserable countries like the irruption of an Attila, or the course of a hurricane, involving the despots and the priests, with their sacrifices and their dupes, in one universal ruin. But dreadful as this visitation was, its destructive effects were not of an enduring character. It was not, like the bloody and barbarous superstition which it subverted, fitted to perpetuate itself by debasing its victims. And though their religion, and the vicious system of colonial policy adopted by the Spaniards, have done much to retard the progress of the countries which they overran, they have attained to a respectable degree of population and civilisation.

It may be said, perhaps, that this desirable change might have been effected by less violent means, by the instruction and kindly treatment of the Indians; and it were much to be wished that this had been the case. But, unhappily, there does not appear to be any good ground for entertaining such an opinion. The attempts that have been made to civilise and improve the Indians, have proved complete failures. So long as they are treated like children, as was the case with those in Paraguay during the lengthened ascendancy of the Jesuits, their progress seems to be perfectly satisfactory. But the moment they are left to themselves, the factitious nature of their improvement becomes evident, and they speedily relapse into their original barbarism. All experience shows that the red man is incapable of making any considerable progress in civilisation. Most probably, indeed, this is the case with all savage tribes. With the single and very questionable exception of the Maorians of New Zealand, none of them have had sagacity to profit by the example of the civilised races with whom they have come into contact. Their barbarism would seem to be inherent in their nature, and uneradicable. And supposing such to be really the case, to complain of their extinction is hardly more reasonable than it would be to complain of the drainage of marshes, or the disappearance of wild animals.

But in deciding this great question, we must not refer to the case of Spanish America only. Let us turn, our eyes from Mexico and Peru to the United States. Who will presume to say that the interests of humanity have not gained incalculably by the settlement of this great republic? Here, where, not more than two hundred and fifty years ago, a few half-starved hunters were the only inhabitants, large cities are built, filled with an enterprising, an intelligent, and a wealthy population; canals and railways unite the most distant portions of the Union; agriculture and its subsidiary arts have been widely spread over what were formerly impenetrable thickets; manufactures on a large scale are everywhere established and vigorously prosecuted; gigantic rivers that were crossed only by some wandering savage in his rude canoe, are covered with ships laden with the produce of every country and every climate; education is universally diffused; and a moderate and liberal government secures alike the independence of the nation and the rights of the citizens. And besides the direct gain to humanity by the introduction of religion, literature, science, and arts, into the huge wilderness of America, her settlement has conferred inestimable advantages on Europe, and especially on England, by the infinite variety of new and desirable products she has supplied to stimulate and reward the industry and invention of our manufacturers and merchants; and by the all but unlimited field she has afforded for the profitable employment of the idle, the discontented, and the rejected population of the old world. To these America has been “a city of refuge.” The hosts of paupers and outcasts who have fled, or been driven, to her hospitable shores, have mostly risen from poverty to affluence; and have become industrious and deserving citizens of free and flourishing communities. It will ever be the boast of England, that she was the magna virum mater, that she formed and bred the men who established this vast transatlantic empire. And it has been truly said, that she is more illustrious in having done this than in her many triumphs in arts and arms, great and unequalled as these have been.

The following extract from Locke’s “History of Voyages and Travels,” is worthy of attention. That great philosopher had no doubts in regard to the signal advantages conferred on mankind by the discovery of America, and of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope.—“After so long a discourse of voyages and discoveries, it may seem superfluous to treat of the advantages the public receives by navigation, and the faithful journals and accounts of travellers. The matter is natural; and no man can read the one without being sensible of the other; and therefore a few words may suffice on this subject, to avoid cloying the judicious reader with what is so visible and plain, and to save running out this introduction to an unreasonable length. What was cosmography, before these discoveries, but an imperfect fragment of science, scarce deserving so good a name? when all the known world was only Europe, a small part of Africa, and the lesser portion of Asia; so that of this terraqueous globe not one-sixth part had ever been seen or heard of. Nay, so great was the ignorance of man in this particular, that learned persons made a doubt of its being round; others, no less knowing, imagined all they were not acquainted with desert and uninhabitable. But now geography and hydrography have received some perfection by the pains of so many mariners and travellers, who, to evince the rotundity of the earth and water, have sailed and travelled round it, as has been here made appear, to show there is no part uninhabitable, unless the frozen polar regions; have visited all other countries, though never so remote, which they have found well peopled, and most of them rich and delightful; and to demonstrate the antipodes, have pointed them out to us. Astronomy has received the addition of many constellations never seen before; natural and moral history is embellished with the most beneficial increase of so many thousands of plants it had never before received; so many drugs and spices; such variety of beasts, birds, and fishes; such varieties in minerals, mountains, and waters; such unaccountable diversity of climates and men, and in them of complexions, tempers, habits, manners, politics, and religions. Trade is raised to the highest pitch, each part of the world supplying the other with what it wants, and bringing home what is accounted most precious and valuable; and this not in a niggard and scanty manner, as when the Venetians served all Europe with spice and drugs from India by the way of Turkey and the Red Sea; or as when gold and silver were only drawn from some poor European and African mines; but with plenty and affluence, as we now see most nations resorting freely to the East Indies and the West yearly, sending forth prodigious quantities of the most esteemed and valuable metals. To conclude, the empire of Europe is now extended to the utmost bounds of the earth, where several of its nations have conquests and colonies. These, and many more, are the advantages drawn from the labours of those who expose themselves to the dangers of the vast ocean, and of unknown nations, which those who sit still at home abundantly reap in every kind: and the relation of one traveller is an incentive to stir up another to imitate him, whilst the rest of mankind, in their accounts, without stirring a foot, compass the earth and seas, visit all countries, and converse with all nations.”