LIBRARY OF THE OF CALIFORNIA A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA. BY JOHN LORD, LL.D., Author of "Beacon Lights of History," etc. It would be difficult to point out an event in the history of the world followed by more important results, certainly in a material and political aspect, than the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus; and as centuries and years roll on, these results appear greater and grander, so that no human intellect can grasp the mighty issues which perpetually arise to view. How little did the great discoverer anticipate the consequences of his adventuresome voyages! How little conscious was he of the boon he rendered to civilization and the human race! It was too great to be measured by any ordinary human services. Nearly a century passed away before the European mind began to appreciate the true import of the discovery. Columbus himself did not imagine the blessings which he had almost unconsciously bestowed. He had no idea even that he had given a new world to Ferdinand and Isabella. He supposed at first that he had reached the eastern shores of Asia-the Zipango of Marco Polo; that he had solved a great geographical problem of vast commercial importance, and was entitled to high reward. Yet it had been the Old and not the New that he was seeking; while it was the New, that has made memora ble the year of our Lord 1492. In taking this introductory glance at the history of four hundred years, which Prof. Patton has told in detail, we wish but to mark a few of the great events, the great men and the great elements that have contributed to make that history most notable in the life of the modern world. It was not long after Columbus, before the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the English, the Dutch and the French perceived that something strange had been discovered, and successive voyagers made it clear that a new continent had really been opened to the enterprise of European nations; that it was rich in mines of gold and silver; that they had only to take possession of it by hoisting a national flag. They found, as their explorations extended, that this new continent was peopled by entirely unknown races, in various stages of barbarism or savagery, whose languages no one could understand -tribes inclined to be friendly and peaceable, but revengeful and treacherous if treated unjustly and unkindly. All the various tribes from Mexico to Canada had the same general peculiarities of feature and color, different from any known type in Asia or Africa. What was the origin of this strange race? Were they aborigines, or did their remote ancestors come from Asia? Their whole history is involved in hopeless mystery. Peaceful relations were not long kept up between the natives and the adventurers who sought the new world with the primary view of improving their fortunes. Hence the first century of American history is the record of conflicts with Indians, of injustice and cruelty, producing deadly animosities on both sides, until the natives were conquered and nearly exterminated. There were few permanent settlements, but there was great zeal in explorations, in which Vespuccius, Ponce de Leon, the Cabots, Cartier, De Soto and other famous captains and navigators distinguished themselves, who, on their return home, reported lands of mineral wealth, natural fertility and great beauty, but uncultivated and sparsely populated. This led to a great emigration of adventurers, chiefly for working the mines. The result was the enrichment of Spain, but not a healthy colonization on the part of that or any other European nation. Nor was the second century of North American history fruitful in those movements and characters which have much interest to the present generation, except that it was the period of colonization. Noting particularly the English and French settlements, the first in importance was that of Virginia under the patronage of James I of England. He gave to his favorites and courtiers immense territories. He also gave charters to companies of merchants and others more or less favored, who hoped to be enriched, not by mines of gold and silver, but by the culture of tobacco through African slaves. The first settlement was at Jamestown, 1607, made chiefly by sanguine adventurers, most of whom were broken-down gentlemen, or younger sons of noble families, who did not know how to work. They were so unfortunate also as to quarrel with the Indians. In consequence they were molested, discouraged and helpless, and their numbers dwindled away by sickness and famine. Though continually reinforced by new arrivals, the Colony did not thrive. In two years the able-bodied men numbered only about two hundred, and only forty acres of land were brought under cultivation. The Colonists were idle and dissolute. When John Smith, who led the first settlers, returned to England discouraged, there were only sixty men left out of the four hundred and ninety who had arrived at different times. In 1612, under Sir Thomas Gates, three hundred additional Colonists arrived, and year after year their number was again increased, and yet in twelve years the settlement contained no more than six hundred persons. At last the Company in England sent over one hundred and fifty respectable young women who became wives of the Colonists, and a better day dawned. In 1619, the London Company granted to the people the right to make their own laws, and the House of Burgesses became the first legislative assembly in the New World, and enacted laws in favor of industry, virtue and good order. In a few years the population of the colony numbered nearly four thousand, chiefly employed in the cultivation of tobacco, then worth on the London docks six shillings a pound. But the people were not all voters. Only those who possessed a landed estate had the right of suffrage. The aristocratic organization of the Colony was not unfavorable to property, since the demand for tobacco continually increased. In a hundred years Virginia was the richest and most populous of the North American colonies; ruled by planters who resembled the county gentlemen of England in their habits, their sentiments and their pride. In religion they were Episcopalians, and in their social life they were aristocrats who disdained manual labor, which was done by African slaves. The next event of importance in American Colonial history was the settlement of New England, by a different class of men, who sought a home in the wilderness to escape religious persecution. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth. I need not dwell on their lofty sentiments, their fervent piety, the privation and sufferings they cheerfully endured, exposed to innumerable dangers, which developed among them extraordinary self-reliance and the spirit of liberty. No rich soil, no crops of tobacco rewarded their hard labors. It was a struggle for existence during two generations. But they were brave, industrious, frugal and moral; they conquered nature when she was most unpropitious. Among them there were no distinctions of rank. They were too insignificant to excite the rapacity of royal govern ors. They were chiefly farmers, mechanics and fishermen who had few wants and ambitious aspirations, with a sprinkling of educated men who took their place naturally as leaders, but all animated by the same sentiments, among which the fear of God was pre-eminenta noble race to lay the foundation of prosperity and power. Progress of settlement was slow but sure. There were no drawbacks, as in Virginia. The word sent back by the Plymouth Colony to their Puritan friends in England resulted in a further emigration in 1628, and the founding of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay; and the settlements spread. The Puritans were honest in their dealings with the Indians, with whom they remained at peace until jealousies among the Indians themselves incited war upon the settlers. Then the English fighting blood aroused and conquered a bloody peace, lasting for half a century. After that, expansion brought conflict, and the Indians were driven westward. The New England Colonists elected their own governor and magistrates, and in their town-meetings freely expressed their sentiments. For a hundred years they produced few distinguished men except ministers. They knew but little of what are called fine arts, either music, architecture or painting. No sciences received an impulse from them, and no literature except sermons. Socially they were not interesting, being narrow and bigoted and indifferent to amusements. But they all were taught the rudiments of education and independence of mind. In fervent religious life they never were excelled by any people on the face of the earth. Nor in individual sense of duty were they ever surpassed. The difficulty of earning a living on a sterile soil prevented the accumulation of property, and perhaps led them to attach undue value to money. Their frugality and poverty made them appear parsimonious. Their whole history is a refutation of the theories of Buckle, |