Origimal D'fcovery of AmerUat IC9 



But fliould it be aflced, Why we take from Chiiftopher Columbus the reputation which alt 

 Europe has to this day allowed him ? — why fearch into the archives of an imperial 

 city for the caufes of an event which took place in the molt weftern extremity of Europe ? 

 — why the enemies of Chriftopher Columbus, who were numerous, did not take ad- 

 vantage of the pretended Chevalier Behem to leflen his confequence at the Spanilh Court? 

 —why Portugal, jealous of the difcovery of the New World, has not protefted againft the 

 aflertions of the Spaniards ? — why Behem, who died only in 1506, had not left to pofteritjj 

 any writing to confirm to himfelf fo important a difcovery? 



To anfwer all thcfe queftions, I ftiall fubmit to the impartial reader the following 

 remarks : 



1. Before Columbus, the great merit of a navigator confilled rather in conceiving the 

 poffibility of the exiftence of a new continent, than in fearching for lands in a region 

 where he was fure to find them. If it is then certain that Behem had conceived this bold 

 idea before Columbus, the fame of the latter mud be confiderably diminilhed. 



2. The hiftorical proofs which we have given above leaving us no doubt of the fa£l, we 

 have only to explain the moral caufes of the filence of the Spanilh and Portuguefe authors, 

 of the enemies of Columbus, and of Behem himfelf. 



3. It is well known that, previous to the reign of Charles V. there was little communi- 

 cation between the learned men of different nations. Writers were fcarce, excepting fome 

 monks, who have related, well or ill, the events which came to their knowledge, in chro- 

 nicles which are no longer read ; or they had but little notion of what paffed in foreign 

 countries. Gazettes and Journals were unknown, and the Learned were obliged to travel, 

 to inform thenifelves of the progrefs of their neighbours. Italy was the centre of the arts, 

 and what are called fciences, at that time. The frequent journeys of the German emperors 

 to Rome gave them an opportunity of knowing perfons of merit, and of placing them in the 

 different univerfities of the empire. It is to this circumftance that we ought to attribute the. 

 great progrefs which the Germans made, particularly in mathematics, from the four- 

 teenth to the fixteenth century; during which time they had the bed geographers, the 

 beft hiftorians, and the moft enlighteneil politicians. They were particularly attentive to 

 what paffed in Europe ; and the multiplied connexions of different princes with foreign 

 powers affifted them greatly in coUeding, in their archives, the original pieces of the molt 

 import,int events of Europe. It is to this fpirit of criticifm and enquiry that we are in- 

 debted for the reformation of Luther ; and we cannot deny that, particularly in the fifteenth 

 century, there was more hiftorical and political knowledge in Germany than in all the reft 

 of Europe, Italy excepted. It is not then aftonifliing that we fliould find, in the archives of 

 one of the moft ancient imperial cities, the particulars of an expedition planned upon the 

 banks of the Tagus, by a German, a man of great repute in his own country, and whofe 

 every action became very interefling. 



4. It was different in Portugal, where the whole nation, except the king, was plunged in 

 the moft profound ignorance. Every one was either merchant, failor or foldier; and 

 if this nation has made the moft important difcoveries, we muft afcribc them rather to 

 avarice than to a dcfirc of knowledge. They were fatisficd with fcraping together gold in 

 every quarter of the known world, whilft the German and the Italian took up the pen to 

 Iraiifmit to poftcrity the remembrance of their riches and cruelties. The Spaniards were 



