This country of ours; its great achievements and wonderful progress from the fifteenth to the twentieth century ...

Front matter

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Introduction

THIS book is designed to impress upon the mind of American youth the principal great events in our history ; to acquaint them with the manners and customs of different periods and in different sections, and to stimulate in them such a love for American history that they will seek its fuller details in the volumes of our great historians.

It was the custom among some nations ot antiquity to repeat to each fresh generation the noble deeds of their ancestors, thus making history a great oral tradition, and turning it from a dead record into a living romance. The Athenian boys learned Homer by heart ; the " Iliad " and " Odyssey " took the place of the pile of books which the schoolboy of to-day carries under his arm when he sets his "morning face" schoolward. In this way boys learned beauty and eloquence of speech, and imbibed the spirit of art while they were yet at their games. But they learned even greater things than these ; they grew up with the heroes of their race and took part in their great deeds. The bravest and most poetic things which their race had done were familiar and became dear to them while their natures were most receptive and responsive. The past was not dim and obscure to them as it is to too many Americans; it was a living past, full of splendid figures and heroic deeds. To boys so bred in the very arms and at the very heart of their race it was a glorious privilege to be an Athenian ; to share in a noble history, to be a citizen of a beautiful city, to have the proud consciousness of such place and fame among men. It is not surprising that as the result of such an education the small city of Athens produced more great men in all departments in the brief limits of a century than most other cities have bred in the long course of history. There was a vital inspiring education behind that splendid flowering of art, literature, philosophy, and statesmanship.

This book endeavors to do for American boys and girls what such training o c (11)

1 2 INTRO D UCTION.

as the above did for the young Athenian, by setting before them in true but glowing narrative the most heroic and most interesting things in the history of our grand and glorious country.

It is doubtful if any country has ever developed greater energy of spirit or greater variety of character than this; and this is the chief reason why our history has such significance and such fruitage of achievement.

To know this history is a duty and a delight. A man whose brave ancestors have carried the name he bears far, and made it a synonym for courage and honor, is rightly proud of his descent and gets from it a new impulse to bear as brave a part in his own day. Americans can honestly cherish such pride ; it is justified by what lies behind them. No man can be truly patriotic who does not know something of the nation to which he belongs, and of the country in which he lives. Such knowledge is a part of intelligent citizenship. In this country, where the government rests on the intelligence and virtue of the entire population, such a knowledge is a duty and a necessity. Not to know these things is to miss a noble and inspiring landscape which we might see simply by the lifting up of the eyes.

The American boy and girl ought to have the same education, and this book is for them both. Too many women and almost as many m.en grow up with the most indefinite ideas of their own country. They do not know what has been done here ; they do not even know how people live in other parts of the broad land. They know something of their own communities, but they are ignorant of the greater community to which they belong. The story of the country's birth and growth, of its struggles and achievements, of its wonderfully diversified life, of its heroic men and noble women, ought to be familiar to every boy and girl from earliest childhood. This knowledge is the A B C of real education, and to furnish this knowledge was an object in the preparation of this volume.

It is a book for the family and for fireside reading. America is pre-eminently the country ot homes; that is, the country which, by its free institutions and its large social and industrial conditions, makes comfortable homes possible to its entire population. These homes are not only the sources of happiness and the nurseries of purity and prosperity, they are also the schools of citizenship. From these schools are graduated year after year, in unbroken and never-ending classes, the men and women who continue and enlarge the work and the influence of the nation. The Bible has been and will remain the o-reat text-book in these schools; but other books are needed, and this book aims to take its place as an indispensable book of instruction and entertainment. The history of a race is the best possible material for the education of the children of that race.

There is no romance so marvelous as this record of fact; none so full of incident, adventure, heroism, and human vicissitude. From the voyages of the earliest Spanish, French, and English explorers to the inventions and discoveries

INTRODUCTION. 13

of modern times ; from the struggles for our own freedom in 1776 to our heroic battle for Cuban liberty from Spanish oppression in 1S9S, the story never fails of thrilling interest. It is a romance of humanity written by the hand of Providence on the clean, broad page of a new continent. It is a Bible for new illustration of the old laws of right and wrong which underlie all history; but it is a modern version of The Arabian Nights for marvels and miracles of human skill and achievements. The building of Aladdin's palace was a small affair compared with the building of some of our States; and the rubbing of Aladdin's lamp was but a faint burnishing compared with the glow of prosperity which hard work has brought out on the face of this continent. There is no romance so wonderful as the story of life told, not by novelists of varying degrees of skill, but acted out by great multitudes of eager, energetic men and women as recorded in tliis volume, for the education and inspiration of the boys and girls, young men and women of America.

America ! What heart does not thrill with patriotic pride at the mention of the word? Of her glorious history how truly has the poet sung:

" Land of tlie Wt-st, though passing brief The record of thine age, Tiiou hast a name that darkens all On history's wide page."

Yet, if we may dare to prophesy, the past with all its achievements is not to be compared to the future greatness of our country, from whose fires on freedom's altar the torch of liberty is being lighted throughout the world, and

" We behold, as in a vision, stern Columbia, sword in hand, And we hear tlie tramp of legions marshaling at her command; Listen to the ringing challenge that she sends across the sea, 'They that wield the rod oppression must account for it to me.' We beliold her, God commissioned, striking ancient error down. Wresting from the cruel despot sword and sceptre, throne and crown ; All the watching world applauds her when she cuts the captive's thongs And, full fortified by justice, rights the martyred nation's wrongs."

LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I. The Story of Christopher Columbus and what He Did ... i

Discovery and discoverers — The Norsemen — Did they discover America ? — The evidence — Conclusions — Columlius- Early ye^irs — Characters of his time — Leaves Italy for Portugal — His plan — Sees the king — The king's indifTerenc — Visits Spain— A true friend — Disappointment and delay — Ferdinand — His coolness to Columbus's project- Isabella — Exorbitant terms — At last success — The expedition from Palos — Mutiny — Columbus's firmness — Mi: taken signs — Land at last — A new world found — Returns to Spain — Voyages and discoveries — Humiliation — H death at Valladolid.

CHAPTER II. Great Discoverers and Explorers who Followed Columbus .... 4

Columbus and his discoveries — Their effect — Other nations aroused — The Cabots and Labrador — Americus Ve^pucii — The name America — Cannibals and their sacrifices — Pinzon turns voyager — His discoveries — Da Gama — E Cabral — Bastidas — De La Cosa — Ponce De Leon — His campaign in Florida — Verazzano — Balboa — He di^cove the Pacific — Davila — Ferdinand De Soto — Attempts to conquer Florida — A long march — Onward to the far we — De Soto discovers the Mississippi — Death and burial.

CHAPTER III. Thrilling Experiences of Our Forefathers in Early Days .... 6

Beginnings of immigration — Condition of Europe — First attempt at colonization — The Thirty Years' War — First Roi noke colony — Women and the colonists — Raleigh assigns his patent — Acadie — The Virginia charter — Laziness an ill feeling — Obtaining a new charter — -The Pocahontas myth — John Smith — His character — The Plymouth color — .A cruel winter — Miles Standish — Picturesque charters — Massachuseits Bay Colony — Indian wars — Boundary di putes — Town meetings — Hendrick Hudson — New Amsterdam — I'enn — The Friends — Rapid success ol tl Quakers.

CHAPTER IV. Curious Manners and Customs in Old Colonial Times 8

Home and social life — Isolation of communities — The typical Puritan home — Friendliness and repression — Horr industries — The loom and the spinning-wheel — Habits of the people — Books and reading — School and meetini house — Minister and squire.

Chapter V

The Romantic Story of Captain Kidd and Other Buccaneers and Pirates . 9

Tortuga — The first home of the buccaneers— Spain jealous of the French — The capture of a war-ship — Character c

LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS. i5

FAGB

the buccaneers — Pierre Francois and the pearl fishers — A change of base — Porlugues — Supposed death of the pirate — Rejoicing of the Spaniards — Braziliano — The profligacy of Port Royal — Davis's strategy — Defeat and vengeance of Lolonois — Wealth of the Spanish-American cities — The defense of Merida — An old soldier of Klandcrs — The last of the buccaneers — Henry Morgan — His career — The taking of Puerto Bello — St. Catherine's Falls — Mnracaibo rfgain — The Spanish admiral's ultimatum — How Morgan answered it — Theatrical civility — Morgan approaches Panama — In sight of Panama — An arduous battle — Rich booty — Treachery of Morgan — Other pirates — Kidd — Blackbeard — How Kidd got his commission, etc.

Chapter VI

The Story of the Revolution, its Battles and Heroes . . . . iii

Character of the war — The British plan of campaign — Bunker Mill — Ticonderoga — The Declaration of Independence — Battle uf Long Island — Harlem Heights — Washington's crossing the Delaware — Trenton and Princeton — Hurguyne's expedrtion — Surrender of Burgoyne — Howe at Philadelphia — Battle of Germantown — Washington at Valley Forge — The French alliance — Monmouth court-house — invasion of Georgia and South Carolina — Gates's failure — Greene's strategy — Benedict Arnold's treachery — Paul Jones and the"Serapis" — At Yorktown — Washington's decisive move — Surrender of Cornwalhs — Independence acknowledged.

Chapter VII

The Eventful Story of Daniel Boone, Fremont, and other Pathfinders and Pioneers 133

Daniel Boone — A picturesque character — -Walker — Stewart — Ilolden — Moncey — Finley — Cool— A first view of Kentucky — The bivouac — A Kentucky fort — Indian captures — David Crockett — A fascinating career — Lewis and Clark — Their westward travels — Fremont — Kit Carson — Arctic explorers— Behring — Van Wrangel — Ross — Parry — Sir John Franklin — The Grinnell expedition — Kane — Dr. Hayes — Schwalker — The Bennett expedition — Captain Long — Death and rescue.

Chapter VIII

The P.urnino of Washington City and the Story of the War of 181 2 . . 149

Meaning of the war — Its causes — Neutral rights — Impressing American sailors — Insults and outrages — The " Chesapeake " and the " Leopard " —Injury to American commerce — Paper blockades — The orders in council — Embargo as retaliation — Our naval glory in this war — Failure of the campaign against Canada — Hull's surrender at Detroit — Splendid victories at sea — The " Constitution " and the " Guerriire " — The " Wasp " and the " Frolic " — Other sea-duels — American privateers — On the lakes — Perry's great victory — Land operations — Battle of the Thames — ■ Wilkinson's fiasco — The " Shannon " and the " Chesapeake " — English reinforcemenis — Lundy's Lane and Plattsburg — The burning of Washington — Baltimore saved — General Jackson at New Orleans— The treaty of peace — The Hartford convention.

Chapter IX

The Story of the Indian from the Coming of the White Man to the Present Time 165

BY HON. HENRY L. D.\WES,

CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, U. S. SENATE.

Our relations to the Indian — Period of Disciivery — Ilospit.ality to first settlers — Abuse of hospitality — Distrust and warfare — Colonial period — Early outbreaks and massacres — French and English Wars — Revolutionary W.ar — Indian struggle for territory — Nalional period — Conflict between two civilizations — Indian bureau — Government policy — Treaties — Reservation plan — Removals under it — Indian wars — Plan of concentration — Disturbance and fighting — Plan of education and absorption — Its commencement — Present condition of Indians — Nature of education and results — Land in severalty la^v — Missionary effort — Necessity and duty of absorption.

1 6 LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS.

Chapter X. Page

The Storv of the Black Man in Slavery and in Freedom .... 195

The negro in America — The first cargo — Beginning of the slave traffic — As a laborer — Increase in numlier — Slavery; its different character in different States — Political disturbances — Agitation and agitators — John Brown — War and how it emancipated the slave — The free negro.

CHAPTER XI. The St(1ry of Our Great Civil War 210

Secession — Not exclusively a Southern idea — An irrepressible conflict — Coining events — Lincoln — A nation in arms — Sumter — Anderson — McClellan — Victory and defeat — " Monitor" and " Merrimac" — Anlietam — Shiloh — Buell — Grant — George H. Thomas — Kosecrans-— Porter — Sherman —Sheridan — Lee — Gettysburg — A great fight — Sherman's march — The Confederates weakening — More victories — .Appomattox — Lee's surrender — From war to peace.

CHAPTER Xn.

Lessons and Recolleltions of the Civil War by an Old Soldier . . 234 By ALEX.\NDER K. McCLURE,

FDITOK AND FKOPHIETOK OF THE PHILADELPHIA TIMES

Emancipation — Reluctance of the North to fight — Fort Sumter — False estimates on both sides — The (piestion of the right to coerce — Naval warfare revolutionized — Gloomiest period of the war — Sherman at .\tlanta— Battle of Gettysburg — Lee — Sherman — Jackson — Lincoln — Grant, etc.

CHAPTER XHI.

The Story of Our Navv and Ctkeat Naval Battles 255

The origin of the American navy — John Paul Jones and his famous victory — Sights on gull^ and what lluy did — Suppressing the Barbary pirates — Opening Japan — Port Royal — Passing the forts- The " Monitor" and " Merrimac" — In Mobile Bay — The " Kearsarge" and the "Alabama" — Naval architecture revolutionized — The Samoan hurricane — Building a new navy.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Storv nr CioLn and Silver Mining, where the Precious Metals are

Opening the way to California — iJiscovery of gold — Marshal and Sutter — Profits one dollar per minute — San Francisco with fifty houses — Five times destroyed by fire — Discovery of silver in 1857 — The fate of early miners — Mining life — Vigilance committees, etc.

CHAPTER XV.

The Story of the Farmer and His Farm from Primitive Colonial Days

Id the Present Time . 289

The homestead system — Importance of the agricultural industries — 'i'he great grain harvests — Truck-farming — Niir^eries — Floriculture — Seed-farms — Fruit culture — Oranges, bananas and grapes — The neglected farms of New Engliiad an.l the great plantations of the West — The cottonfields of the South.

LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS

CHAPTER XVI.

The Marvklous Stokv of Our Great Industries -,07

In the rock-ribbed hills-Buried treasures ol earth-Rare stones-Variegated marbles-Granites-lIow to ..n'tlustones out-A young ind«s.ry-The great flour mills-Old-time milling-The new process-The great flot.r nulls of the West-lhe,r vast outputs, etc.-The great oil wells-A wonderful industry-More light-PetroIeum-It. h,story-Development-Gas wells-The great pipe-lines-" Cushers "-Suggestive figures, etc.

CHAPTER XVH.

The TnKii.i.iNr, Story oe Life on the Frontier ..... 71"

The squatter and his train-The settler and his homestead-Cattle ranges and the cowboys-Scenes on the great plains — A cattle luneral — The women of the ranch.

CHAPTER XVTH,

The Interesting Story of Our Difficulties \vith F(,reign Powers. . . 331

Perpetual peace in,possibl^The Barbary Sta.es-Iluying peace-Uncle Sam aroused-Thrashes the Algerian pirates- A sp cndKl victory Kn>g Uomba brought to terms-Austria and the Kos.ta case-Captain Ingrahan,-H,: llraverv - Dehverorl U sink you "-Austria yields-The Paraguayan trouble- Lopez comes to terms-The Chilian >mbrogl,o-Balmaceda-Ihe insultto the United States-American seamen attacked-Matta's tn.pudent letterliackdown— Peace — All's well that ends well, etc.

CHAPTER XIX.

The Story of Our War \vith Spain f.,r Cup.a's Freedom . . ... 351

A war for humanity's sake-Ereak,„g off relations-Call for troops-Bombardment of Matanzas-Pri.es capture^l-

Batt e of Mandla-Dewey's method of fighting-Terrible destruction wrouglU-The thanks of a nation-First loss

olhfeonAmencanstde-Bombardmentof San Juan-Chasing C erver.a-Bottled up at l.ast-IIobson sinks the

Merrmtac -Sha ter s army of invasion-The battle of Santiago-Destruction of Ccrvera's fleet-Fall of the

city-Other notable battles-Effects of the war in America and Spain,

CHAPTER XX.

AffatrsmCttba and Porto K.co- Dewey's promotion and return-The Ph.lippine situation-Aguinaldo's insurrection -The „.>r n, Lu^on-The Phd.ppnre commission-Amnesty proclain,ed-Presidential nominations in 19CX.- Party pktforms-AITa.rs ,n Chtna-The Boxer ou.break-The foreigners in Peking-The new census, ,90.^

CHAPTER XXI.

The United States and the 20TH Century Proiu.em ... ,0-

^'"^^rThe1Jlr°?^'^f7T"^"~'''^ '"^^^^^""" ^^"^'-■■"^ liay-Pauncelote Treaty-Pan-An^eriiaJ Co,> Prussk Th r 'm w T ^".1"'^>r''-^''°""°"' °' industry-Cuba and sugar duty-V.sit of Prince Henry , 1 Prussia— The Danish West Indies— Philippine affairs. ^

CHAPTER XXII.

How Our National (Iovernment Does its \Vork

The National Govemment-Congress-IIow composed-Duties-Executive-Election of Prcsident-Cabinet-Uidil rnL"~UrrStates.'""" '°"''-^"^'^"^' system-Rdation of States to Na.ion-The rights and duties of citizens

:yy.m'i:i.f&:S

AN APACHE HOME.

The 5tory of Christopher Columbus and

What He Did.

When civilization had grown hoary with age in the orient, there still remained in the western hemisphere a vast land of marvelous wealth and resources — a continent undiscovered and undreamed of.

True, three hundred years before Christ Aristotle had said the world was round, and that by sailing west from Athens one might touch the shores of eastern Asia. Nearly four hundred years later, Seneca, the philosopher of Rome, under Nero, made a similar affirmation. Fully nine hundred years further down the vistas of time the Norsemen first planted foot upon American soil, and they claim to have done so more than once again during the next three hundred years.

But they either lacked the intelligence or the enterprise to make their discoveries known, and America lay in oblivious darkness until Columbus came.

It was the glory of Italy to furnish the greatest of the discoverers of the New World. Not only Columbus, but Vespucci (or Vespucius), the Cabots, and Verazzani were born under Italian skies; yet singularly enough the country of the Csesars was to gain not a square foot of territory for herself where other nations divided majestic continents between them. So, too, in the matter of Columbus biography and investigation, up to the present time but one Italian, Professor Francesco Tarducci, has materially added to the sum of the world's knowledge in a field pre-eminently occupied by Washington Irving, Henry Harrisse, and Roselly de Lorgues, a Frenchman — these comprising the powerful original writers in Columbian biography.

CriRISTOl'HER COLUMBUS.

THE STORY OF AMERICA.

In treating- our subject we naturally begin at the starting point of biography, the birthplace. The generally accepted statement has been that Columbus was born at Genoa, especially as Columbus begins his will with the well-known declaration, "I, being born in Genoa."

But it has been asserted by numerous writers that in this Columbus was mistaken, just as for a long time General Sheridan was mistaken in supposing himself to have been born in a little Ohio town, when he learned

within a year or two of his death.^ that he was born in Albany, N. Y. ■ ' ■ " But passing this, it remains to be

k. said that the evidence of the Geno-

ese birth of Columbus may now be considered as fully established. As to the time of his birth there has been not a little question. Henry Harrisse, the American scholar already referred to, placed it between March 25th, 1446, and March 20th, 1447. This, however, we can hardly accept, especially as it would make Columbus at the time of his first naval venture only thirteen years of age. Tarducci gives 1435 or 1436 as the year of his birth. This is also the date given by Irving, and it would seem to be the most probable. This is the almost decisive testimony of Andres Bernaldez, better known as the Curate of Los Palacios, who was most intimate with Columbus and had him a great deal in his house. He says the death of Columbus took place in his seven tieth year. His death occurred May 20th, 1506, which would make the year of his birth probably about 1436. And now starting with Genoa as the birthplace of Columbus and about the year 1435 or 1436 as the time of his birth, we proceed with our story.

Christopher Columbus (or Columbo in Italian) was the son of Dominico Columbo and Susannah Fontanarossa his wife. The father was a wool carder, a business which seems to have been followed by the family through several generations. He was the oldest of four children, having two brothers,

MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS AT GENOA.

COLUMBUS AT PORTUGAL. 21

Bartholomew and Giacomo (James in English, in Spanish, Diego), and one sister. Of the early years of Columbus little is known It is asserted by some that Columbus was a wool comber — no mean occupation in that day — and did not follow the sea. On the other hand, it is insisted — and Tarducci and Harrisse hold to that view — that, whether or not he enlisted in expeditions against the Venetians and Neapolitans (and the whole record is misty and uncertain), Columbus at an early age showed a marked inclination for the sea, and his education was largely directed along the lines of his taste.s, and included such studies as geography, astronomy, and navigation. Certain it is that when Columbus arrived at Lisbon he was one of the best geographers and cosmographers of his age, and was accustomed to the sea from infancy.* Happily his was an age favorable for discovery. The works of travel were brought to the front. Pliny and Strabo, sometime forgotten names, were more than Sappho and Catullus, which a later but not a better age affected. The closing decade of the fifteenth century was a time of heroism, of deeds of daring, and discovery. Rude and unlettered to some extent, it may be conceded it was ; yet it was far more fruitful, and brought greater blessings to the world than are bestowed by the effeminate luxury which often characterizes a civilization too daintily pampered, too tenderly reared. Life then was at least serious.

Right here it may be in place to state how invention promoted Columbian discovery. The compass had been known for six hundred years. But at this time the quadrant and sextant were unknown ; it became necessary to discover some means for finding the altitude of the sun, to ascertain one's distance from the equator. This was accomplished by utilizing the Astrolabe, an instrument only lately used by astronomers in their stellar work. This invention gave an entirely new direction to navigation, delivering seamen from the necessity of always keeping near the shore, and permitting the little ships — small vessels they were — to sail free amidst the immensity of the sea, so that a ship that had lost its course, formerly obliged to grope its way back by the uncertain guidance of the stars, could now, by aid of compass and astralobe, retrace its course with ease. Much has justly been ascribed to the compass as a promoter of navigation ; but it is a question if the astralobe has not played quite as important a part.

The best authorities place the arrival of Columbus at Lisbon about the year 1470. It is probable Columbus was known by reputation to Alfonso V, King of Portugal. It is unquestionable that Columbus was attracted to Portugal by the spirit of discovery which prevailed throughout the Iberian peninsula, fruits of which were just beginning to be gathered. Prince Henry of Portugal,

♦ Tarducci, I, 41.

THE STORY OF AMERICA.

who was one of the very first of navigators, if not the foremost explorer of his day, had estabUshed a Naval College and Observatory, to which the most learned men were invited, while under the Portuguese flag the greater part of the African coast had been already explored. Having settled in Lisbon, at the Convent of All Saints, Columbus formed an acquaintance with Felipa Monis de Perestrello, daughter of Bartholomew de Perestrello, an able navigator but poor, with whom and two others Prince Henry had made his first discovery. The acquaintance soon ripened into love, and Columbus made her his wife. Felipa' s father

COLUMBUS'S ARRIVAL AT THE CONVENT OF I.A RABIDA.

soon died, and then with his wife and her mother Columbus moved to Porto Santo, where a son was born to them, whom they named Diego. Felipa hence forth disappears from history ; there is no further record of her. At Porto Santo Columbus supported his family and helped sustain his aged father, who was living poorly enough off at Savona, and who was forced to sell the little property he had, and whose precarious living led him to make new loans and incur new debts.

COLUMBUS AND THE KING OF PORTUGAL.

Meanwhile Columbus was imbibing to the full the spirit of discovery so widely prevalent. It was not his wife who materially helped hitn at this time, as has been asserted, but his mother-in-law, who, observing the deep interest that Columbus took in all matters of exploration and discovery, gave him all the manuscripts and charts which her husband had made, which, with his own voyages to some recently discovered places, only renewed the burning desire for exploration and discovery. The leaven was rapidly working.

But the sojourn at Portugal must be briefly passed over. The reports that came to his ears while living at Porto .Santo only intensified his convictions of the existence of an empire to the West. He heard of great reeds and a bit of curiously carved wood seen at sea, floating from the West ; and vague rumors reached him at different times, of "strange lands" in the Atlantic — most if not all of them mythical. But they continued to stimulate interest as they show the state of public thought at that time respecting the Atlantic, whose western regions were all unknown. All the reports and all the utterances of the day Columbus watched with closest scrutiny. He secured old tomes for fullest information as to what the ancients had written or the moderns discovered. All this served to keep the subject fresh in his mind, nor would it "down," for his convictions were constantly ministered to by contemporary speculators. Toscanelli, an Italian mathematician, had written, at the instance of King Alfonso, instructions for a western route to Asia. With him Columbus entered into correspondence, which greatly strengthened his theories.

Now they came to a head. Constant thought and reflection resulted in his conception of an especial course to take, which, followed for a specific time, would result in the discovery of an empire. And the end ! He would subdue a great trans-Atlantic empire, and from its riches he would secure the wealth to devote to expeditions for recovering the Holy Land, and so he would pay the Moors dearly for their invasion of the Iberian peninsula, — a truly fanciful but not a wholly unreasonable conception, as the times were.

COLUMBUS AND THE KING OF PORTUGAL.

At last he found means to lay his project before the King of Portugal. But the royal councillors treated the attempt to cross the Atlantic as rash and; dangerous, and the conditions required by Columbus as exorbitant. The adventurous King, John II, — Alfonso had died in 1481 — had more faith in his scheme than his wise men, and, with a dishonesty not creditable to him, attempted at this time to reap the benefit of Columbus' studies and plans by sending out an expedition of his own in the direction and by the way traced in his charts. But the skill and daring of Columbus were wanting, and at the first mutterings of the sea the expedition sought safety in flight. It turned back to the Cape de Verde islands, and the officers took revenge for their disappointment by ridiculing the project of Columbus as the vision of a day dreamer. O, valiant voyagers ! — New Worlds are not discovered by such men as you !