in the opinion of the infallible donor, not entitled to the possession of the territory in which their Creator had placed

covered the only expedient which was left him. He obtained from the natives two of their canoes; each formed out of a single tree. In these, two of his most faithful friends offered to set out on a voyage of thirty leagues. They reached Hispaniola in ten days: but, they solicited relief for their companions eight months, in vain. Ovando was governed by a mean jealousy of Columbus, and was willing that he should perish. In the mean time, Columbus had to struggle with the greatest difficulties. His seamen threatened his life, for bringing them into such trouble. They seized a number of boats, and went to a distant part of the island. The natives murmured at the long residence of the Spaniards among them, and, with reluctance, began to bring in their provisions. But, the ingenuity of Columbus again relieved him from his difficulties. He knew that a total eclipse of the moon was near. On the day before it was to take place, he assembled the principal Indians, and told them that the great Spirit in heaven was angry with them for withdrawing their assistance from his servants the Spaniards; that he was about to punish them; and that, as a sign of his wrath, the moon would be obscured, that very night. As the eclipse came on, they ran to Columbus loaded with provisions, and entreated his intercession with the great Spirit, to avert the evil which threatened them. From this time, the natives were very ready to bring their provisions; and they treated the Spaniards with the greatest respect.

At length, a vessel which was purchased by one of the friends of Columbus, who had gone to Hispaniola for his relief, came to Jamaica, and released him from his unpleasant situation. Columbus prepared for his return to Spain. In September, he set out accompanied by his brother and his son; and, after a long voyage, in which he encountered violent storms, and sailing seven hundred leagues, with only jury masts, he reached at length the port of St. Lucar, in December. Here he was informed of the death of his patroness Isabella. He soon repaired to court; and, after spending about a year in fruitless expostulation against the violation of his rights, and calling in vain upon a sovereign to respect his engagements, he died at Valladolid, May 20th, 1506; in the 59th year of his age. He was buried magnificently in the cathedral of Seville, with an inscription on his tomb, which, rendered into English, is:

To Castile and Leon,

Columbus gave a new world.

In the character of Columbus, were combined the qualities which constitute real greatness. He possessed a strong and penetrating mind; was fond of great enterprizes; and capable of prosecuting them with the most unwearied patience. He surmounted difficulties, which would have utterly discouraged men of less firmness and constancy. His invention extricated him from many perplexities, and his prudence enabled him to conceal or subdue his

them. This extravagant pretension of a right to dispose of the countries of heathen nations was too absurd to be universally regarded even in that superstitious age: and in defiance of it, several European sovereigns, though devoted to the see of Rome, undertook and successfully prosecuted further discoveries in the western hemisphere. Henry VII. of England, by the exertion of an authority similar to that of the Pope, granted to John Cabot,* and his three sons, a

own infirmities; while he took advantage of the passions of others; adjusting his behaviour to his circumstances; temporizing or acting with vigour, as occasion required.

The following instance of the ingenuity of Columbus, in vindicating his claim to respect for his discoveries, is related by Peter Martyr. Not long before his death, at a public dinner, the nobility insinuated that his discoveries were rather the result of accident than of well-concerted measures. Columbus heard them decry his services for some time; but, at length called for an egg, and asked them to set it upright, on its smaller end. When they confessed it to be impossible, he flatted its shell, by striking it gently upon the table, till it stood upright. The company immediately exclaimed, with a sneer, any body might have done it. "Yes," said Columbus, "but none of you thought of it. So, I discovered the Indies; and now every pilot can steer the same course. Remember the scoffs which were thrown out at me, before I put my design into execution. Then, it was a dream, a chimera, a delusion; now, it is what any body might have done as well as I."

Such were the services and sufferings of the man, who introduced the Old to an acquaintance with the New World; in the latter of which the United States, in less than three centuries, unfurled the banners of free and representative government. Most other important discoveries were the result of accident. But that of Columbus, the most important of all, was the fruit of profound reasoning and reflection. By a great effort of mind, he proved to his own satisfaction, "that the earth and sea composed one globe or sphere ;" and that there must be land to the west, to be a counterbalance to the immense quantity of it, which was known to be in the east. Pursuing that conviction, he set out in quest of something to correspond with the result of his reasonings; and in thirty-six days, he succeeded in finding it. The consequences of his discovery vibrated round the world. They gave a new turn to the spirit of enterprize, and of commerce in Europe. In less than three hun. dred years they eventuated in the establishment of the United States, and are beginning, in the nineteenth century, to be more extensively unfolded, by the translation of empire from Europe, to the western shores of the Atlantic.

John Cabot, a Venitian, who first discovered the continent of America, was perfectly skilled in all the sciences, requisite to form an accomplished mariner. He had three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctius; all of whom

commission" to navigate all parts of the ocean for the purpose of discovering islands, countries, regions, provinces, either of Gentiles or Infidels, which have been hitherto unknown to all Christian people; with power to set up his standard, and to take possession of the same, as vassals of the crown of England." By virtue of this commission, Sebastian Cabot took possession of a great part of the North American continent, in the name, and on behalf of the king of England.

The country thus discovered by Cabot, was possessed by numerous tribes or nations of people. As these had been, till then, unknown to all other princes or states, they could not possibly have owed either allegiance or subjection to any foreign power on earth. They were independent communities, and as such, capable of acquiring territorial property. Of the various principles on which a right to the soil has

were able seamen. Encouraged by the success of Columbus, who returned in 1493, from his first voyage, Cabot was determined to attempt the discovery of unknown lands; particularly, of a north west passage to the East Indies: having obtained a commission from Henry VII. of England, empowering him and his three sons, to discover unknown lands, and to conquer and settle them. Cabot sailed from Bristol, with two vessels freighted by the merchants of London and Bristol, with articles of traffic, and 300 men, in the beginning of August, 1497. He sailed toward the north west, till he reached the latitude of fifty-eight degrees; when the floating ice which he met, and the severity of the weather, induced him to alter his course to the south west. He discovered land on the morning of the 24th of June; which, as it was the first he had seen, he called Prima Vista. This is generally supposed to be a part of the island of Newfoundland. A few days afterwards, a smaller island was discovered, to which he gave the name of St. John. Continuing his course westwardly, he soon reached the continent; and then sailed along the coast northwardly, to the latitude of sixty seven and a half degrees. As the coast stretched to the East, he turned back, and sailed along the coast toward the equator, till he came to Florida. The provisions now failing, and a mutiny breaking out among the mariners, he returned to England; without attempting a settlement or conquest in any part of the New World.

In this voyage, Cabot was accompanied by his son Sebastian; and to them is attributed the honour of first discovering the continent of North America: for, it was not till the following year, 1498, that the continent was seen by Columbus.

been founded, there is none superior to immemorial occupancy. From what time, the aborigines of America had resided therein, or from what place they migrated thither, were questions of doubtful solution; but it was certain, that they had long been the sole occupants of the country. In this state, no European prince could derive a title to the soil from discovery; because, that can give a right only to lands or things, which have neither been owned, nor possessed, or which, after being owned or possessed, have been voluntarily deserted. The right of the Indian nations, to the soil in their possession, was founded in nature. It was the free and liberal gift of Heaven to them; and such as no foreigner could rightfully annul. The blinded superstition of the times, regarded the Deity as the partial god of Christians; and not as the common father of saints and savages. The pervading influence of philosophy, reason, and truth, has, since that period, given us better notions of the rights of mankind, and of the obligations of morality. These, unquestionably, are not confined to particular modes of faith, but extend universally to Jews and Gentiles; to Christians and Infidels.

Unfounded, however, as the claims of European sovereigns to American territories were, they severally proceeded to act upon them. By tacit consent, they adopted, as a new law of nations, that the countries which each explored, should be the absolute property of the discoverer. While they thus sported with the rights of unoffending nations, they could not agree in their respective shares of the common spoil. The Portuguese and the Spaniards, inflamed by the same spirit of national aggrandizement, contended for the exclu sive sovereignty of what Columbus had explored. Animated by the rancour of commercial jealousy, the Dutch and Portuguese fought for the Brazils. Contrary to her genuine interests, England commenced a war, in order that her contraband traders on the Mexican coast, claimed by the king of Spain, might no longer be searched. No farther back than the middle of the eighteenth century, a contest concerning boundaries of American territory, belonging to neither,

occasioned a long and bloody war between France and England.

Though queen Elizabeth and James the first denied the authority of the pope of Rome, to give away the country of Infidels, yet, they so far adopted the fanciful distinction, between the rights of heathens, and the rights of Christians, as to make it the foundation of their respective grants. They freely gave away what did not belong to them, with no other proviso, than," that the territories and districts so granted, be not previously occupied and possessed, by the subjects of any other Christian prince or state." The first English patent which was given, for the purpose of colonizing the country, discovered by the Cabots, was granted by queen Elizabeth, to Sir Humphrey Gilbert; but this proved abortive. She soon after licensed Walter Raleigh, to search for "heathen lands, not inhabited by Christian people ;" and granted to him in fee, "all the soil within 200 leagues of the places where his people should make their dwellings and abidings." Under his auspices, an inconsiderable colony took possession of a part of the American coast, which now forms the state of North Carolina. In honour of the Virgin Queen, his sovereign, he gave to the whole country the name of Virginia. These first settlers, and several others who followed them, were either destroyed by the natives, removed by succeeding navigators, or died without leaving any behind to tell their melancholy story: for they were never more heard of.

No permanent settlement was effected, in what is now called the United States, till the reign of James the first. He possessed a laudable genius for planting colonies; and being fond of novelties, was pleased with a proposal made to him, by some of the projectors of that age, "for deducing a colony into that part of America, commonly called Virginia." He therefore granted letters patent to Thomas Gates, and his associates, by which he conferred on them, "all those territories in America, which were not then possessed by other Christian princes or people, and which lay between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degree of north latitude." The ad