University of Virginia Library

Of all the great men who have played a momentous part in the history of the modern world, there is probably none of whom so much has been written and said, but of whom so little is positively known, as the discoverer of America.

We have a considerable collection of the letters and the writings of Christopher Columbus. He was known to many of the statesmen and historians of his day, who put on record some interesting incidents of his life. A whole library of books has been produced by later investigators. And yet we do not know where or when he was born; there is uncertainty as to the resting-place of his remains; there is controversy as to his real name and the race to which he belonged.

His character is variously portrayed in the darkest and in the brightest colors; and as for his personal appearance, there is much doubt whether any of the hundreds of existing portraits of Columbus have any authority as likenesses.

Seven cities claimed Homer as a native, but there have been no less than twenty-three conflicting statements or theories as to the scene of the birth of Columbus. True, the navigator himself declared that he was born in Genoa, but the truth of his assertion has been questioned. A building in the suburbs of the old Italian seaport has been shown as the house in which he first saw the light, but apparently without any evidence to support the claim.

In a recent number of Munsey's Magazine there was a picture of the monument in the stately cathedral of Seville, under which the bones of Columbus are said

to rest, having been brought from Havana in 1898, when Spain relinquished her sovereignty in Cuba. But in Santo Domingo, where the great sailor's body lay from 1540 to 1796, the priests of the cathedral assert that they still have it, another corpse having been secretly substituted when it was supposed to have been transferred to Havana.

To touch very briefly upon the controversy as to the character of Columbus, Washington Irving and Prescott praise him to the skies, while Justin Winsor declares these historians to have been guilty of most extravagant hero-worship. De Lorgues pronounces Columbus to have been a saint, but Aaron Goodrich accuses him of cupidity, ingratitude, arrogance, perfidy, and treachery, and asserts that his prevailing traits were hypocrisy and deceit combined with cowardice and cruelty.

In the face of such contradictory pronouncements, one is forced to use one's own judgment in forming an opinion of this remarkable man, whose genius and perseverance opened up a new world to civilization. It is an unquestioned fact that for four centuries he has stood as the embodiment of patient, persistent effort, of untiring enthusiasm and zeal. Until more convincing evidence to the contrary can be found, he will continue to be what he has been—a shining example to the youth of all lands, inspiring each new generation with hope and confidence and ambition to strive nobly for great ideals.