AMERICA. 



ITS DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST. 



HE are now to treat of a country of vast extent and fertility, and 

 which, though little cultivated by the hand of art, owes in many re- 

 spects more to that of nature than any other division of the globe. 

 The particular circumstances of this country require that we should 

 in some measure vary our plan, and before describing its present 

 state, afford such information with regard to its discovery as is most 

 necessary for satisfying our readers. 



Towards the close of the 15th century, Venice and Genoa were 

 the only powers in Europe who owed their support to commerce. An 

 Interference of interests inspired a mutualrivalship ; but in traffic Ve- 

 nice was much superior. She engrossed the whole commerce of India., 

 then, and indeed always, the most valuable in the world, but hitherto 

 entirely carried on through the inland parts of Asia, or by the way 

 of Egypt and the Red Sea. In this state of affairs, Christoval, or 

 Christopher Colon, more generally known by his Latinized name 

 Columbus, a native of Genoa, whose knowledge of the true figure of the 

 earth, however attained, was much superior to the general notions of 

 the age in which he lived, conceived a project of sailing to the Indies 

 by a bold and unknown route, and of opening to his country a new 

 source of opulence and power. But this proposal of sailing westward 

 to the Indies was rejected by the Genoese as chimerical, and the 

 principles on which it was founded were condemned as absurd. Stung 

 with disappointment and indignation, Columbus retired from his 

 country, and laid his scheme before the court of France, where his 

 reception was still more mortifying, and where, according to the 

 practice of that people, he was laughed at and ridiculed. Henry VII, 

 of England was his next resort ; but the cautious politics of that 

 prince were the most opposite imaginable to a great but uncertain 

 design. In Portugal, where the spirit of adventure and discovery 

 about this time began to operate, he had reason to expect better suc- 

 cess. But the Portuguese contented themselves with creeping along 

 the coast of Africa, and discovering one cape after another : they had 

 no idea of venturing boldly into the open sea. Such repeated disap- 

 pointments would have broken the spirit of any man but Columbus. 

 The expedition required expence, and he had nothing to defray it. 

 His mind, however, still remained firm ; he became the more intent 

 on his design the more difficulty he found in accomplishing it, and 

 was inspired with that noble enthusiasm which always animates an 

 adventurous and original genius. Spain was now his only resource ; 



