SCIENTIFIC TRACTS 



NUMBER XVI. 



CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. 



IT is natural, that an interest should be felt in the 

 moral and intellectual character of a man, whose life oc- 

 cupies so large a space in the annals of the world as the 

 life of Columbus. The discovery of America was a 

 grand, a sublime event. It was an era in history. It 

 was the opening of new oceans to commerce, of new 

 continents to civilization and science, never to be again 

 closed or lost. It not only waked up the activity of 

 Spain and Portugal, the countries most immediately 

 concerned in the act itself, but it sent a thrill to the 

 heart of all Europe. A new impulse was thenceforth 

 given to energy and to enterprise, wherever, in all coun- 

 tries and all climes, there was discontent to be quieted 

 poverty to be employed avarice, ambition, the 

 spirit of adventure, of science, of romance, of religion, 

 to be gratified. Well, indeed when the long-lost ves- 

 sel of Columbus was entering the harbor of Palos on its 

 voyage from the far west well might the little commu- 

 nity of that ancient and honored village, break forth into 

 transports of joy, ringing the bells, shutting the shops, 

 and suspending all business in the tumult and triumph of 

 that memorable hour. Well might the progress of the 

 admiral, from that place to the royal residence at Barce- 

 lona, resemble a Roman triumph in its splendor and 

 pomp. Well might the tidings of his fame be spread far 

 and wide ' by the communications of ambassadors, the 

 correspondence of the learned, the negotiations of rner 

 chants, and the reports of travellers,' rilling the whole 

 civilized world with wonder and delight. 



VOL. i. NO. xvi. 34 



