The star of the west

Front matter

Glass.

Book.

C-

Chapter I

Americans pensioners upon foreign governments, fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, in respect to nautical knowledge— Spain's advancement at that "me— The Italians and Portuguese— The Danes and Norwegians— Knowledge of the Torrid

t

Zone— Of the Krigi.l Zone— Russia's discoveries and tlieir extent— England s explora

tions- Transfer of the Whale Fisheries— Owen— King— England's tenacity in piirsm

of a northwest passage— The tirsi American who proposed a scientific exploration —

Hon. J. N. Reynolds— His enviable distinction, 13

Section I —Act of Congress authorizing Expedition— The universal concession as to its authorship— Its elTects upon iMen of science— Its benefit to France and England— The Geographical Society of England, France, and the United States make the Southeru Continent on the same day— President Jackson— Mr. Reynolds' attainments as a scholar— His enthusiasm in the cause of Science— His address in the hall of the House of Representatives— His resolution to accomplish this undertaking— Mr. Jefferson, 16

Sbctios II.— The tonnage of the United States— Tlie early settlers— John Smith's survey —The Pilo'rims- The jealousy of England— New England enterprise— New York— The Indians— The envy of France and England— Cause of the French Wars— Ammunition obtained from the enemy, which saved the American cause— The institution of the American navy,

Bection III.— Tlie American spiritr-The carrying trade— Berlin and Milan decrees— The extension of our commerce— Introduction of cotton— Internal improvements— Their effects upon national interests— The demand for the merchants— Discovery of the Pacific Ocean— lialboa, '-'

Section IV.— Charles V.— Magellan— Columbus— Court of Seville— What led to the discovery of the North American Continent— Hudson Bay Company— Reynolds' belief in a northwest passage— .Memorials for a survey of a N.irthwest Expedition i)resented to Congress — The Press in its favor— The commercial community— The inhabitants of Nantucket— Resolution of Congress, in its favor, passed, 26

Sbction v.— The Navy Department— Samuel L. Southard— The next Session of Congress-Governor Branch— Administrattbn of General Jackson— Mr. Reynolds goes abroad, ' ^^

Chapter II

Discoveries by whale ships— European constructors of maps— American fishermen— The mariners of New Itedford and Nantucket consulted— The Seal Trade— Emperor Alexander of Rus.-ia— Captain Palmer, 82

SKCnoN I —East India Marine Society- The want of nautical knowledge In the American Navy— Island of Sumatra— Sunday Isles— Feejee Isles— English bounties— Friends of the country — Ship Mentor, . . * ^

Section II.— French Expedition— Kines of Denmark — Kngland—Want of American charts— Our consul at Oahce— The national dignity of the Expedition— Its purpose- Its accordance with Mr. Jefferson's views *><

Section III.— The religious view— Outlets of the Northern Polar Seas— The North Polar Seas inhabited— Cause of the ice in tho.se regions- .\ million and a half of square miles unexplored by man— Captain Cook in sear, h of a Southern Continent— His want of proper information, '*'*

Sbction IV.— Weddell—Briscol— Reynolds in the Antarctic Ocean— Isabella— Catherine

ol Russia— Cause of the introduction of Philology, *8

Til

VIU CONTENTS.

BlCTiON v.— Advantages of the Exploration in the eyes of statesmen — Con^atulatory letters— Hon. J. K. Paulding — Jumes E. De Kay— Prof. Silliman— Hon. Benj. Kodnian —Hon. Joseph Delafield, 4^5

Bbction VI. — Payment of the debt for practical science and intelligence — Winslow Lewis, Jr.— Hon. H. D. Gilpin— Henry Junius Nott — Caleb Cashing, . . . 49

Chapter III

Origin of the Aborigines— Mr. Duponceau— Woman's influence — President Washington — Sir Humphry Davy — Cuvier — Origin of the Gipsies— Sandwich Islanders — Hon. John Pickering, 63

Bkctios I —Prof. Charles Anthon— Prof. Josiah F. Gibbs — Prof. Charles Grey — Botany — Zoology- Dr. Charles Pickering- The patriotism of Rt-ynolds- The final passage of the Bill— Ilamer's speech — The eight States wliich recommended it — The distinguished coumianilers, S5

Section II.— Kight years before Congress — Twice adopted by the House— The first impediment to its being carried into effect — Its correspondence with the views of Jefferson and Monroe— Channel of New York — Our commercial marine, . . . .59

gKCTios III— Hon. Michael Hoffman— Mr. Ripley— Reynold's Report of 1S2S — His knowledge extraordinary— His Declarations— Tlie want of proper maps aud charts for the country— Tyre, Greece, etc. — Foreign nations keeping our commerce in leading strings — Reynold's remarks, 63

Skction IV. — Capture of America by the Barbary Powers — Burke — Coast of California — Four liundred islands made known by KeynoliN — The tonnage, men, and capital engaged in the wh;iling business — Tiie wealth of the fiilieries, . . . .66

Skction V. — Did the execution of the Ex])edition meet the design of its projector, and the intention of Congress? — Incompetent officials — Hon. Mahlon Dickenson — The French Government — Energy of Americans — President Jackson — The attempt to strangle the Expedition — The action of Congress judged by a committee — Instructions of the Secretary, 69

Skction VI. — Forbearance towards the dead — Willful perversion of the object — General Ripley's report — Dutee J. Pierce — Commodore Downes' letter — Attempt to curtail the Expedition — Lord Byron — Commodore Hull — Samuel L. Southard, . . .73

Chapter IV

The effect of the delay on Congress — Vacillation of the Department — General Jackson's order— Jealousy fomented between olficer and citizen— Treatment of tlie Scientific Corps — The American Revolution — Reasons assigned for the delay of the Expedition, 78

Section I.— Commodore Jones — Refusal of money by the Department— Extra pay provided by Congress — Prevarication of the cabal — Incongruous report of the Head of the Department — .\necdote, 82

Suction II. — The draw on the Treasury — A national Expedition — American Artists — Lieutenant Wilkes — His ridiculous purchase in Europe — The Naval Board appointed, 85

Section III.— The Instruments detained— Degradation put upon Science — American seamen shipwrecked — Tiie effect of a frigate, 89

Section IV. — Hull, Biddle, and Aulick — Tlie Peacock— Commodore Jones resigns — C:iptain Kearney — Poinsett appointed to direct the Expedition — Captain Gregory — Lieut. Gedney — \\ dkes declares his superior's want of talents, . . . . .92

eECTioN V. — Captain James Armstrong — Commodores Chauncy, Bainbridgc, and Hull — The instrument of the cabal — Appointment of Wilkes, ...... 96

CHAPTER Y.

Celebrated Report of 1887 — The Macedonia — Expedition delayed three years after being ordered by Congress — Governor Wise's speech— Ingham's defense — The force given to Wilkes 105

Bkctiok I. --The Macedonia withdrawn^Wilkes' Squadron — The squadron under Jones — Dodging Congress — Van Buren and Poinsett — Wilkes' falsehood, . . . 109

Skction II. — Kniomology — Crustaceology — Paleontology— Cuvier — Deshaye — Agassii — Hostility to Reynolds, 112

CONTENTS. ix

Section III.— Deception practised on Genera! Jackson— Prof. William R. Johnson — Kearney's squadron— Dr. Keynell Coates — ■\Vilkfs' .subterfuge to thwart Koyiiold.s— Reynolds' letter to Poinsett, 116

Sbctios IV. — Collision between Poinsett and Van Buren — Attempt to implicate Paulding —Various letters from Members of Congress favoring Reynolds' appointment to control the civil department of the Expedition — Cincinnati Republican — The results accruing to Science from Reynold's efforts, 120

THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

Chapter I

Invention and elTects of printing — The commerce of the world controlled by a railroad through this continent — Anglo-American enterprise — Joel Barlow — Krie Canal — Railroad from Portland, Maine, to Nova Scotia, 13T

Chapter II

Four and a half daj-s' travel from New York to California by railroad — Columbus — Twenty-four days between New York and China — The opium trade — Tobacco versus opium — English jealousy — Tea trade — The road in a moral and educational view — The three routes, 148

Chapter III

Value of the whaling trade — Grants of Texas lands to aid the road — The central route — Canals, 160

Chapter IV

Romanism opposed to the road — Gold of California and Australia— Silver mines of Sonora — Laborers and mauufacturers benefited by the road, 171

Chapter V

Effects of the gold of California upon real estate, commerce, currency, labor, and manufactures — Telegraph — Method of laying the submarine telegraph — Congress an<i the Pacific Railroad — The democratic administration against the road — The American party and Millard Fillmore committed to the road, ISO

LOSS OF THE SLOOP OF WAR ALBANY, COMMANDER GERRY, OFFICERS, AND CREW.

Chapter I

The Author's apology — Commander Gerry — Captains Eagle and Mitchell sent in search of tlie Alban.v — Ports visited by the Albany — Elbridge Gerry — His participation in the Declaration and Constitution — Governor of Massachusetts — One of the original seven signers of the Declaration of Independence — Presided over the United States Senate, in 1818 — Captain Gerry — His official acts — Names of the oflBcers of the Albany, . 1ST

Chapter II

Last seen of the Albany — Anecdote — Long Cruise — Captain Gerry's religious character — He was a Communicant — Elbridge Gerry, Jr. — Lieutenant Bleecker — Nicholas Fish Morris 199

CULPABILITY INVOLVED IN THE LOSS OF THE

ALBANY.

CHAPTER I.

Who caused the loss — The Albany's Defects — Secretary's letter to Newton — Newton's letter at the Gulf of Samana — Dobbin's approval — The order for the fatal cruise — Newton's excuse— Officer-like conduct of Gerry, 209

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER II.

Elbridge Gerry first proposed an American Navy — Jefferson's opposition — Newton's life saved by Gerry— Yellow fever— Newton's antecedents— Loss of the Fulton— Accidents to the Missouri — Dobbin's call on Newton for Commander Gerry's letter — Newton's Staten Island letter, 219

Chapter III

Commodore Perry — Japan expedition — Captains Graham, Inman, and Levy — Abolishment of flogging in the navy— Conduct of Pierce, 25T

CHAPTER lY.

Cost of a naval education — Corruption — Mallory, a foreigner, aims to destroy the navy — Insufficiency of the bureaus, 269

AN AMERICAN HERO THE VICTIM OF A CONSPIRACY. CAPTAIN BARTLETT'S VINDICATION.

Chapter I

Chief Justice Gilchrist — Lieutenant Bartlett on duty when broken in the service — No official notice — The devotion of his wife, 278

Bhction 1. — Tistimonials of his Commodore, commanders, associates,.and subalterns — Extr:iordinary strength of this evidence — Letters of Commodores Lavallette and Montgomerj-, 283

Skction II. — Captain Bartlett in command of the Ewing — Prof. Bache's testimony — Bartlett at the mouth of the Columbia River — Wilkes' ignorance as to the mode" of entering the channel of the Columbia — Benton's prophecy — Bartlett's Report, . 2S9

Skction III. — Contrast between the sea service of Wilkes and Bartlett — Lieutenant Moffat, a naval Comni'xlore — The military ami civil services of Bartlett in California — Montgomery's letter — S^-veral high nfhici filled by Bartlett in California — Ilis legal attainments — Elected by the people to the chief magistracy — His extraordinary tact In administering the government — Conduct as Judge 295

SeCTtoN IV. — Bartlett the first to suggest lighting the approaches to San Francisco — Hi.^ improvements upon the old sy.stem — Why lie was sent to Paris — How he was Instructed, 3112

Chapter II

The appropriation of his labors by the Lighthouse Board— Plenary power with which Barthit was invested — Misronn's falsehood — Testimony of Professors Bache and Henry, . . . • 807

Pectkis I.— Bartlett goes to Paris before the creation of the Lighthouse Board— His dl<cretioimry power continues— The Board's Report — The number of lights purchased by Bartlett— The interest exhibited among tlie Sarans of Europe — Letter of the Auditor of the Treasury, 3U

CONTENTS. XI

Sbction II.— Bartlctt's inteprity unimpeachable — His services — His lawful claim— The unjust ileductions of tlio Seciclary of tlie Treasury, ..._.. .818

Section III. — Tlie Secretary's knowledge of Hartlett's services — Bartlett's philanthropy — Incident — His appeal in behalf of "the Cape de Verde Island sufferers— Misroon his enemy — Bartlett'.s associations, 323

Skctio.s IV.— The American Consul, H"art— Bartlctt's generosity— Ilis family — Commencement of his naval career — Uis galhmt action as a midshipman, . . . 331

SECTION V. — Bartlett's messmates on the Fairfield — His advantages as a linguist — Comnioilore Wailsworth — His friendship with Captain Montgomery — Commodore Perry's letter — Banlett's first naval services, . 83T

Skction VI. — Bartlett as a llydrographer — Joins the Portsmouth — His conduct there — Tlie Autlior's defense founded upon data and vouchers, 340

CENTRAL AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.

Our commercial relations — The Federal Republic of Central America — General Francisco Morazan— Destruction of tlie repulilic— General 'William Walker — Ilis first expedition — President of Lower California — Invasion of Sonora- Commercial company formed in California — Grant of land — Castellan, the republican democrat— Chamorra. Ihe aristocrat — Cabaaos — The priesthood unite with the autocrat Cliamorra, . . 345

CHAPTER II.

The battle of Rivas- Its effect upon the Nicaraguans — Battle of Virgin Bay — Granada — Romish church used as a fort — Battle of Granada — Walker is offered the jiresidency of Nicaragua — He declines in favor of General Corral — St. George cannonaded — Walker reinfurceci^.\rrival of CiiUinel Fry and Parker II. French — Kxpeditiim against San Carlos— Padre Vijil — Walker's forces augmented — Display of firmness — Treason of General Corral— His execution — Rivas president— The " ^i<.'f/ra(7!/f-n*e" newspaper started— Col. French sent as ijuni>ter })lenipotentiary to Washington — Is not received — Shamefully treated by the Pierce administration — Natural scenery of Nicaragua — Schlessinger, 855

Chapter III

Encyclical letter of Pope Gregory XVI.— Arrogated power of the priesthood— Rome persecutes beyond the grave — Political agents of llie Papacy in America— Blighting effects of Popery — History of the interdict of Venice fulminated by Pope Paul V., 410 xii CONTENTS.

Chapter III

The bishop's oath— The Jesuits— The Bible— Forgery— The commentary of Menochius— Bellarmine— Curse of Pope Benedict VIII.— The Council of Constance— Maynooth College— Uens' theology— Pope Urban II.— Pope Sixlus V.— The Inquisition— Romanism unchangeable- lUustrations of tlie spirit of Popery— The nature of Romanism, 477

A PROTESTANT EDUCATION FOR AMERICAN

CITIZENS.

Chapter V

Cardinal Wiseman— Ribbon societies— Pope Barberini— St. Peter and Jupiter— Rome persecutes genius — The power of Popery in America, 684

BIOGRAPHICAIi SKETCH OF EDWIN 0. PERRIN, 641

" " " SIDNEY KOPMAN, 661

•• " " NATHAN RAMSEY, 655

THE

FffiST MERICM EXPLORING EXPEDITION.

Chapter I

Whatever tends to increase the stimulus to commercial or maritime research, adds to our national resources, and becomes an important element to the foundation of our national power.

For fifty years after our independence as a nation had been acknowledged by the civilized powers of the earth, and more than forty after our present matchless form of government had been adopted, we remained, for maritime and scientific knowledge, wholly pensioners upon foreign governments.

We had not given a single impetus to a national enterprise ; we had not contributed a single dollar for the promotion of scientific intelligence ; we had not taken a step to advance navigation as a science ; our ships sailed by charts which we had no part in making ; and not a mathematical instrument had we then constructed. Even Spain, with her exclusive system of monopoly, had shamed us by contributions to geographical knowledge, in the form of numerous charts. The Italians and Portuguese had ventured into unknown seas and made important discoveries. The Danes and Norwegians had pushed into the Arctic regions and planted colonies on the ice-bound shores of Greenland. The torrid zone, supposed to have nothing but sandy deserts and a vertical sun, had been found to teem with organic life, and with a denser population than the temperate zone. The frigid, too, no longer lay under perpetual snows, and navigators had seen plants grow, and flowers bloom, in its partial summer. Russia had made discoveries in every part of the globe. Her expeditions liad penetrated into Tartary, north of Thibet, and under the snowcapped ranges of the Himalaya and Imans, and the northwest portion of our own continent. "While in the Southern Ocean, she had gone as far as the 70th parallel of latitude, and boasted

EXrLOKING EXPEDITION. 15

of having discovered islands that Cook never saw.

England, however, had been preeminent in her scientific explorations. Under her auspices the whale-fishery was transferred from East to West Greenland. She had sent Owen to the southeastern coast of Africa, King to the Straits of Magellan, and constructed charts for that almost unknown passage to the Pacific ; while, for three centuries, she had persevered in her attempt to find a northwest passage, no generation having yielded to its supposed impracticability.

Thus were we occupying a national position which humiliated the American character in the sight of the whole scientific world, when the first man, who was a citizen of our country, a son of our soil, appeared, to elevate by his eff"orts, the scientific intelligence of the people, and to equalize our condition, in this repect, with every foreign government of the Old World. Hon. J. N. Reynolds, of New York, was the projector of the first exploring expedition in the United States. An expedition which, though shorn of much of the magnitude of its original design b}' the scandalous action of weak, incompetent, and unfaithful officials of the government, has, nevertheless, been pregnant with beneficial results to this nation — the greatness or limit of which no human eye can foresee ? This American, then, conceived and accomplished for his country, what the most undaunted navigator had not before imagined, or had the moral courage to propose. And he stands alone, at an unapproachable distance, possessing a claim to this distinction, not merely for having attempted, but having actually accomplished his purpose !

Section I

The act of Congress which passed the 14th of May, 1836, authorizing the First Exploring Expedition, was the result of the arduous labors of that single individual. No one within the precincts of Congress ignored that fact ; while he received from the scientific professions and the country, the highest evidences of honor it was in their power to bestow. And when we consider the immense public benefit which has resulted to the country in its commerce, science, literature, and arts, by the services of Mr. Reynolds, we cannot but invoke the judgment of the American people to these results.

His labors have become to all the subsequent expeditions which we have accomplished, what the " tamping bar " of England is to miners.

They have guided our men of science in their explorations, as that bar guides the miner througli inflammable gases, without the fear of being fired by the rocks. Nor was the effect of that first efficient action of our American Congress confined to our exclusive national benefit. The governments of France and England very soon appropriated the valuable information elicited by Mr. Reynolds in maturing out that expedition. The Geographical Society of England was in session when the news of our contemplated exploration reached Europe, and the deepest interest was so instantly awakened, that similar expeditions were at once fitted out by both England and France. And soon the Lion, the Lily, and the American Eagle appeared in the same constellation ; and, what is more singular, the ensigns of France and the L^nited States made the Southern Continent the same day!

Americans will remember that it was under the administration of President Jackson that this exploring expedition obtained the sanction of Congress, and in the success of which Jackson felt the deepest solicitude.

Mr. Reynolds having been early distinguished for excellence and eminence in classical attainments among his contemporaries, soon became noted not only for science, but for literary distinction ; and, with all his acknowledged ability, he seems to have singularly striven for that modest incognito which, fortunately for his country, he has not been able to maintain. His love of wild adventure, and his travel around the circumference of the earth, had given him extraordinary experience as a navigator, and his enthusiasm in the cause of science had brought him into notice through his works at an early age. While his address in the Hall of the House of Representatives, on the 3d of April, 1836, on the subject of the surveying and exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean, and South Seas, with his inimitable discussions upon the manner, that expedition was finally dispatched, will ever remain among the classical productions of the English language in this country, and wherever that tongue is spoken or read.

It is not wonderful that when this American surveyed the earth in its magnitude, and beheld the natural greatness of his native land, her unequalled institutions, the genius, enterprise, and energy, of his countrymen, that he should have mourned to see American libraries filled with the maps, charts, and histories, of what science had done in other nations, and that he mada the resolution of the boy, voluntarily acted out in the man, his purpose to stimulate and develop these national resources. The only wonder is, that this had not been done before ! For, although the survey of the coast had been recommended by Mr. Jefferson, the work had but then been commenced. And much of its merit was, therefore, neutralized by such national neglect.

Section II

In the meantime, we had more tonnage than all the nations of Europe together when Columbus discovered America, and owned a navy larger than was all the effective force of the Old World at that day.

Americans, do you wish to know what made you SO early able to compete with England in familiarity with the ocean ? It was the severe hardships to which the early settlers of our country were inured. Six years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, John Smith had coasted from the James River to Portsmouth, and surveyed all the islands and harbors of New England. This was in 1614. When the Pilgrims came, in 1620, they went to work and built ships at once, in order to survey the southern coast, and traffic with the natives. In less than fifty years after that, the American tonnage was great enough to excite the jealousy of England ! Even when, in 1665, Massachusetts had a militia of but four thousand, she owned one hundred and forty vessels of between twenty and one hundred tons burden. So of New York, at that time in British power. The very first thing her colonists did was to hollow out a tree, to cross the adjacent waters, and commune with the settlers. Indeed, maritime enterprise has been the earliest characteristic of the American people. And this drew the seafarer and emigrant to the Atlantic shores. The Indians, at the dawn of the seventeenth century, prowled around the dwellings of the emigrants, and the necessaries of life were raised in scanty supplies, because these sagacious adventurers were busied in fitting out expeditions to ascertain the indentures on our coast, its rivers and harbors. The fisheries, then, were more ardently pursued than any other enterprise, and from them, in connection with lumber, and the fur trade, the nation received its first impulse, and its first resources.

Yery soon this maritime enterprise of America excited the envy of France against England, and this was the primary and efficient cause of the first and second French wars, in which America became the common battle-ground. The American privateers displayed, at that crisis, naval skill which rendered them the pride of the mother country, while they added wealth to their own enterprise. These French wars then made the trying ordeal by which the American people were trained for the battle of Independence. We took, by these means, a step from base subserviency to England to the rank of a maritime nation, of no small account ! Nearly two thousand vessels were captured by American enterprise, from the enemy, in the War of the Revolution. It was by this success solely, that ammunition and clothing were obtained for our cause, in the darkest and most critical periods of that contest. General Washington declared that this saved him from a retreat, and from the possible necessity of being obliged to disband the American forces. At one time, when besieging Boston, there were but two barrels of gunpowder for twenty thousand men ; two English ships, laden with military stores, came in sight just at that crisis, which were captured by Captain Manly, and appropriated to American use.

The maritime affairs of the country, after the War of Independence, were managed by a Committee^ and we had no navy until 1794, several years after the present Constitution was adopted. In 1798, four years after its organization, our little navy humbled the fierce corsair in the Mediterranean, and gave promise of the future glory which it achieved for the country in 1812.

Section III

It is remarkable that, as Colonists, more genuine American spirit was discoverable in behalf of commerce, than after we attained our nationality. Then it penetrated into dangerous shoals and s;ni(l-banks. It sent men of science twice into distant parts to observe the transit of Venus over the sun, and which duty, in consideration of the imperfect construction of instruments at that period, was performed with astonishing accuracy. But, from the Declaration of Independence to the Second War with England, in 1812, not a dollar was expended by government to aid a scientific exploration, with the exception of the small amount appropriated for an expedition to the Rocky Mountains.

The Americans enjoyed the entire carrying trade during the French Revolution, when all Europe was in arms, and this gave our country an impetus to greatness, and an increase in wealth, without a modern parallel.

This, as might have been anticipated, awakened jealousy on the part of France and England, and, in 1806, led to exactions on our commerce. The Berlin and Milan decrees followed in 1807, and caused non-intercourse, which resulted in the war of 1812. Our navy had not been then properly increased, and though it won imperishable glory on the seas, we merged from the conflict with a weak commercial marine. But, after the war, commerce again took its onward march, our fisheries extended themselves from our own coasts to the shores of Brazil, around all the capes of the Pacific and Indian oceans to the Maldives and Islands of Japan.

Cotton, which had been several years before introduced into the country merely as a botanical experiment, now became an article of primary importance, and took rank over all else, while the machinery of the North was at once ready to fabricate it, and millions of the race were soon clothed in this material.

From that period manufacturers began to influence national economy. The sugar of the South, and Jiaz of the West, were then brought into general use. Internal improvements soon developed new markets for both agricultural and manufacturing articles ; the necessaries of life were at the command of all ; the inhabitants of the interior sought the commerce of the seaboard, while the traveller from the seaboard penetrated into the interior. Thus was the great impulse given to individual labor, which indirectly opened the resources of the nation. In laboring for themselves they benefited their neighbors, and soon, almost by intuition, concluded that this labor, divided among the three great interests of the nation, would best subserve the happiness of the whole. This called for the merchants. They sent their keels into unknown seas, and, in a sober business spirit, they sacrificed to utility. They caused the national industry to combine all the elements of productiveness, so that every atom should bear its fair proportion in the great result.

Our fathers, in the midst of gloom and adversity, saw with prescience the rising glory of the western orb. They beheld afar the gardens they planted and the treasures which would be unfolded to their children through the shedding of their blood !

The knowledge of the most enlightened nations

was confined to a circuit of but a few thousand

miles, several years after G-alileo had taught the

sublime doctrine, that the eighty millions of fixed

stars seen through a telescope were centres of

other systems. The mere existence of the Pacific

ocean was unknown until 1513. Then Balboa, a

Spanish commander, crossed the ridge, which

divides the Andes Mountains at the Isthmus of

Darien. Immediately it became a desideratum

to open a passage, by sea, to this unexplored

ocean, and thus to reach the Moluccas and Ea«t

India possessions of the Spanish crown.

Section IV

Charles the Fifth sent MageHan, in 1520, for that purpose, and the straits of his name bear witness how he fulfilled the trust !

He ascertained the southern limit of this western continent ; and is said to have wept in triumph, as this mighty ocean appeared before him. And while the Pacific was traversed and the Spice Islands reached, Magellan fell ingloriously by the spear of a native. His labors and successes were second to no voyager, save Columbus. And he must ever bear the palm of immortality, because he opened the pathway to a new hemisphere ! which was soon penetrated by others, who found New Holland, New Zealand, and numerous other islands in the Indian, Pacific and Southern oceans. When the fact became known, as to what ]\[agellan and his successors had done, the greatest excitement prevailed among commercial nations. The Court of Seville tried to keep secret this new route to the Moluccas. But this only roused other nations ; the Hollanders soon doubled Cape Horn, and with incredible energ}' the extent of the southern hemisphere, in this western world, was made known. The history of the enterprise of our own land teaches the impossibility of computing the results of scientific research in advance.

We know that England's efforts for a northwest passage to India led to the discovery of the North American continent. We know that the Hudson Bay Company was opened by the same means. And neither Cabot, Hudson, Davis, or Baffin dreamed of the Newfoundland cod fisheries and the whale fisheries of Davis' Straits, which were opened in the same unexpected manner. Mr. Reynolds declared that no insuperable obstacle remained to prevent the final and complete success of English enterprise for this northwest passage. He showed that nearly the whole extent had been traced on a map, and that the effort was commended by all men of sense. "Let her have it," said the true American, "a nobler field and a wider range has opened the South to us," as he pressed upon the attention of Congress the necessity of a voyage of discovery, with scientific apphances, to increase our national knowledge of the Southern and Pacific oceans.