In the midst of this disaffection, the admiral appeared with a steady and cheerful countenance, as if pleased with what he had done, and a stranger to despondency. He soothed his companions, and expostulated with them ; he endeavoured at one time to influence their desire of riches, and at another their love of fame; he assumed a tone of authority, and threatened them with the ven geance of their sovereign, and with everlasting infamy, if they should abandon him in the prosecution of the un dertaking. These encouragements and expostulations were not without their effect. But the apprehensions of the crew at length prevailed over the remonstrances of the admiral ; they assembled tumultuously upon deck, and, officers and men, all insisted upon returning im mediately to Spain. In these alarming circumstances, Columbus perceived that opposition would be danger ous : he therefore yielded to their importunity so far, as to propose that they should continue the 1.oyage fn three days more, and that, if at the end of that period no land were discovered, he should instaialy return. Notwithstanding the mutinous disposition ()I the sailors, and their ardent desire to revisit their native country, this proposal did not appear to them xtr.1%.1gant or un fair; and the admiral in making it did not hazard a great deal, by restricting himself to so short a time. The no tices of hind were almost indubitable. The water had gradually become more shallow ; flocks of strange birds were seen ; a stall curiously wrought and adorned had been taken up by the Pinta, and weeds of a kind different. from any which they had hitherto observed. A cane which seemed to have been lately cut, and a thorn with red fruit upon it, were found and examined. A light was perceived at a distance, and appeared to move front place to place, as if carried by some fisherman or travel ler. These tokens were decisive and joyous; and Co lumbus did not fail to make use of them, in elevating the hopes, and diminishing the apprehensions of his as sociates. He gave orders that the ships should lie to; and, at length, on the morning of the 12th of an island appeared about six miles to the north, with extensive, fiat, and verdant fields, furnished w ith woods, and diversified by rivulets. The crew of the Pinta be gan the Te Dcum, and they were instantly joined by the rest of their companions. This expression of gratitude to the Almighty was followed by acknowledgments of their rashness and disobedience towards their command er; and, like those who arc suddenly and greatly moved by the vicissitudes of fortune, they passed front one ex treme to another, and looked up to the man, whom, a few days before, they had reviled and insulted, as one whom the Deity had endowed with penetration anti perseve rance above the common lot of mortals.
When the sun arose, Columbus landed in a gorgeous dress ; and with a drawn sword in his hand and the royal standard displayed, took possession of the island for the crown of Castile and Leon; all his followers kneeling on the shore, and kissing the ground with tears of joy. The natives, who had assembled in great numbers, on the first appearance of the ships, stood around the Spa niards, and gazed in speechless astonishment ; utterly ignorant of what the Europeans were doing, and unable to foresee the dreadful consequences which were to re sult from this visit of the formidable strangers. They considered their new guests as beings of a higher or der, who had the thunder and the lightning at their com mand; they regarded them as the children of the sun, who had descended from heaven to abide for a little among the inhabitants of the earth. Sec Herrera, dec. i. lib. i. e. 13. and the Life of Columbus, c. 22, 23.
Amidst the splendour of discovery, and the success of adventurous speculation, let us pause for a moment, and inquire by what right the Spaniards were authorized to consider themselves as the masters of a country to which they were strangers, and which, a little before, they had only conjectured to exist. They were not
the first occupants, for others were already in posses sion. The mere circumstance of having crossed the Atlantic would surely not entitle them to regard the islands which they had visited as their own. Here the causes which lead to invasion and to conquest among European nations, cannot be allowed to have any place. The Spaniards had no differences to adjust with the inhabitants of America, and no shadow of a pretence for interfering with than in do, management of their concerns. it is trot, that, alter the return of CoAnbus, the pope granted ui full right to we sovereigns of Spain, •111 the countries possessed by infidels, except those which he had be lore girth to the Portuguese ; and, in the ignor,,nce of the fifteenth century, and the plenitude of apostolical power, it was hot dented that it belonged to him to do so. At the present time, how ever, no man will contend lot the authority of the pope, to d sposc of kingdoms. That authority which, by checking inquiry, brought darkness and depression along with it, has been overthrown in a great part of Europe, and restrained and limited where it has not been over thrown. But history records, and laments while she records, that the propagation of the Christian faith was held out as the chief reason for taking possession of America ; and that it was ever thought, that the reli gion of Jesus could be promoted by the injustice, cru elty, bloodshed, and slavery, which the unprotected islanders of the New World w ere destined to experience from their unprincipled invaders.
The island un which Columbus landed was called by the natives Guanahani, but by the admiral, San Salva dor. It is one of that group of islands which are named the Bahamas, and is situated above 300U miles from Go mat a, the most •e::terly of the Canaries, and only four degrees to the south of it. Columbus also discovered, and touched at many of the islands are situated in the neighbourhood of the Bahamas, and, conformably to the theory which he had adopted, he believed them to be at no great distance from India. They were consi dered as attached to that unexplored country ; and, as they had been reached by a western passage, they were called the West Indies. Even when increasing know ledge had detected the error, the appellation was conti nued; and it is still given to these islands. Columbus undertook several voyages to the New World, planted a colony, and built a city, in the island of Hispaniola, or St Domingo. To this city lie gave the name of Isabella, in honour of the queen, under whose patronage he had sailed. At length, in his third expedition, lie discover ed the continent of America, landing at different places on the coasts of Paria and Cumana, and surveying their beauty and fertility With rapturous pleasure. But Americus Vespucius, a Florentine gentleman, who vi sited that continent some years after Columbus, and transmitted to his friends in Europe a history of his ad ventures, written with considerable elegance, and with much vanity, had the address so to frame his narrative as to pass for the discoverer of the main land in the New World, and to rob Columbus of the honour which lie so justly deserved. The consent of all nations has bestow ed the name of America on the western continent; and at this distance of time, we can only regret an act of injustice which custom has forced us to sanction.--(See \ P LTC 'us.) At what period this appellation was given, we have not the means of ascertaining with accuracy.