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    THE CONQUERORS OF THE NEW WORLD. The Con...

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    Hawthorne's New Romance. The Miithcdale ...

    affection to an Idea . The tyranny which dominant Ideas exercise over some few energetic souls , coercing them to cruelty as to martyrdom , is finely painted in Hollingsworth , the philanthropist , and in his two victims . What the author says of Hollingsworth deserves a place here : — " Tbis is always true of those men who have surrendered themselves to an overruling purpose . It docs not so much impel them from without , nor even operate as a motive power within , but grows incorporate with all that they think and feel , and finally converts them into little else save that one principle . When such begins to be the predicament , ' it is not cowardice , but wisdom , to avoid these victims . They have no heart , no sympathy , no reason , no conscience . They will keep no friend , unless he make himself the mirror of their purpose ; they will smite and slay

    you , and trample your dead corpse under foot , all the more readily , if you take the first step with them , and cannot take the second , and the third , and * every other step of their terribly straight path . They have an idol , to which they consecrate themselves high-priest , and deem it holy work to offer sacrifices of whatever is most precious ; and never once seem to suspect—so cunning has the devil been with them—that this false deity , in whose iron features , immitigable to all the rest of mankind , they see only benignity and love , is but a spectrum of tbe very priest himself , projected upon the surrounding darkness . And the hi gher and purer the original object , and the more unselfishly it may have been taken up , the slighter is the probability that they can be led to recognise the process by which godlike benevolence has been debased into all-devouring egotism . "

    And only over Zenobia ' s pallid corpse does the philanthropist become aware oi' how much cruel selfishness was cored in his philanthropy . The law of our life is , that we should ray out life , living by all the various activities of a various organization , not suppressing them in favour of one which becomes despotic ; and yet to do great things in the world concentration is necessary . Thus is the individual sacrificed to Humanitygives up his life to become a mere instrument . And there is a sublime aspect to this , as to all other forms of self-sacrifice ; but to give it sublimity we must give it success—we must see that the sacrifice is not wasted . This Hawthorne has failed to do . He has made Hollingsworth the incarnation of an idea , ruthlessly destroying those who come within his influence , yet failing after all , failing because he cannot withstand the consequences of his own acts . Hence the sadness of this book . Failure everywhere . Faiths are shattered , hearts broken , the purpose of a life foregone : nowhere triumph , nowhere hope !

    Those who have read Hawthorne ' s previous tales will not need to be told that in the strong markings of character , and in vivid description , The JBlithcdale liomanee is of different quality from circulating library material , and we know not how to praise it more highly than by saying we did not skip a sentence of the two volumes .

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    The Conquerors Of The New World. The Con...

    THE _CONQUERORS OF THE NEW WORLD . The Conquerors of the Neio World , and their fiondsmen . Being a Narrative of the Principal Events which led to Negro Slavery in tho West Indies and America . Vol . II . Pickering . It is well said by this author , that "The course of history is like that of a great river wandering through various countries ; now , in the infancy of its current , collecting its waters from obscure small springs in plashy meadows , and from unconsidered rivulets which the neighbouring rustics do not know the name of : now , in its boisterous youth , forcing its

    way straight through mountains ; now , in middle life , going with equable current busily by great towns , its waters sullied yet enriched with commerce ; and now , in its burdened old age , making its slaw and difficult way with great broad surface , over which the declining sun looms grandly , to the sen . The uninstrueted or careless traveller generally finds but one form of beauty or of meaning iu the river : the romantic gorge or wild cascade is perhaps the only kind of scenery which delights him . And so it has often been in our estimate of history , Well-fought bat t les , or tbe doings of gay courts , or bloody revolutions , have been the chief sources of attraction ; while less well-dressed events , but not of less real interest or import , have often escaped all notice . "

    Certainly , among Una varied annals of onr race , there are few presenting equal importance with those which tell of the discovery and conquest oi the New World ; and yet how lamentably deficient our historical literature is in works on this subject , at once trustworthy , sagacious , and readable , those only know who have had occasion to seek . Something , no doubt , lies in the want of that associated interest which clusters round events of .. _European history . Our author has seen this , for elsewhere ho says : --

    "Throughout these expeditions in the Terra Pinna , which would else perhaps be as interesting as t . bey are , important , the reader is vexed aud distracted by new and uncouth names of the people and of places . The very words Pome , Constantinople , London , ( ienoa , Venice , stir tho blood and arrest , the attention : any small incident in their fortunes enjoys some of the accumulated interest , which is bound up with these time-honoured names ; while if requires an effort of imagination to care ahout . what , may happen to Comogra , Dabaybe , Poncba , or Pocorosa . It . is only on perceiving the immense importance of those events which happen in the early days of new-found countries , that , we can sufficiently arouse our attention to consider such events at , all .

    " Then , however , we may see that the fate of future empires , antl the distribution of races over the face of the earth depend upon the painful deeds of a few adventurers antl iinrenowned native chieftains they themselves being like players , whoso names and private fortunes we do not care much about , but , who are acting in some great drama , the story of which concerns fhe whole world . " As far as if seems possible to invest these annals with the fur-reaching interest of history , flic delightful author of Friends in Council has unquestionably succeeded in doing so in these volumes , the second of which ,

    after nn interval of four years , lie now places before us . Tht ; tangled thread of events is admirably unravelled , due importance being given fo apparently trifling , but really indicative circumstances ; a , most unwearied and conscientious erudition is brought info unostentatious _application ; _v \ bile the absence of all apparent ell ' orf , and an honourable disdain ol " writing for ellbcf" ( that weakness ami curse of our historical literature , more especially in the biographical portions ) , give a calm dignity fo the style , which has neither frigidity nor stilted pomp to scare the reader .

    The Conquerors Of The New World. The Con...

    Those who know and love ms other writings ( and do any of onr readers consent to remain in ignorance of The Claims of Labour , of Friends in Council , of Companions of my Solitude ?) can readily picture to themselves the calm and luminous style , the gentle traits of humour , the kind and acute thoughtfulness of a large and meditative mind , which serve to make these pages fascinating , and to disguise the immense labour that must have been employed m their composition . For quiet power , his writings always remind us of Goethe . This second volume opens with some brief , yet striking , indications of

    the nature and customs of the Indians , with whom , throughout , it is easy to see he sympathizes , as with an ill-used race . He bids us be cautious how we accept Spanish testimony on this point , not simply because the conquerors were speaking of those they had ill-treated , but also because of the extreme difficulty of one people fairly appreciating another . " "We see in this day that civilized people of the same race , religion , habits , manners , and language , often misunderstand each other utterly . Imagine , then , how great must be the chance of false interpretations , when men of different races talk together in language most imperfectly understood , eked out by signs , about subjects upon which they have scarcely any common ideas !"

    After setting the Indians in a favourable light for sympathy , he proceeds to narrate the various stages in this strange history—such as the establishment of Darien , discovery of the South Sea , occupation of Cuba , and the administration of affairs by Cardinal Ximenes and by the Flemish Courtiers . He narrates these with a breadth of effect not unaccompanied by felicity of detail , which imply a real mastery over historical art , and the reflections are always in the right places . Here is one : " In considering the long tissue of mis-directed efforts narrated in this and the preceding chapters , it is natural to endeavour to think out what would have been tbe best course to have been pursued by men of power in those days . That many of them earnestly desired to do right , is manifest , and it seems hard perpetually to criticise their doings without suggesting what they ought to have done . Had they been contented with a reasonable gain in trade , there is but little doubt in my mind that they would have prospered greatly . We see , I think , that the expeditions

    which were thus conducted , were almost the only successful ones . This would not have prevented the gradual settlement of the Spaniards in America , but would only have made it proceed in the most natural , and , therefore , successful manner . Mercantile forts would have been erected : these would have depended for their supply , not wholly on the surrounding country , but on their fellow countrymen , and by degrees that knowledge of the ways , customs , and especially of the language , of the Indians , would have been learnt , that would have proved most serviceable in further communication with them and in forming more extended settlements of the Spaniards . If , on the other hand , settlements were to be made without reference to trade , it is clear that agriculture should have been the first and the principal object of each new settlement . Trade and agriculture : these are the two chief sources of well-being for au infant colony . No colony is supported for any long time upon conquest ; unless indeed tbe conquerors at once adopt the ways and means of procuring livelihood in use among the subject people .

    " Tt would also have been possible , perhaps , for a more extended colonization to have taken place with good effect , under a strict and limited government , such as might bave been provided if one of the young princes of the house of Spain , Ferdinand , Charles the Fifth ' s brother , for instance , had been sent out to administer tbe Indies , and afterwards to possess what he should there acquire . For the want of unity in government , the distance from the centre of power , and the consequent strength and temerity of faction , were some of the main causes of the deplorable failures which have just been described . " This , however , is all ' ex post facto' wisdom . The recklessness of the conquerors , tbeir love of wild adventure , the attractive power of gold which uses men for its divining rods , drawing them hither and thither through the utmost dangers to the most wretched parts of the earth as it lists—all these together prevented , and must have prevented , anything like patient , steady , forbearing , concentrated colonization .

    " Throughout the history of the peopling of the Terra Firma by the Spaniards , it is impossible not to feel the greatest , pity for the Indians , who seem , from the first , like a devoted people given over to destruction , and for whom there is no chance of gaining anything but despair from the presence of their invaders , who might , however , have brought and taught them so much tbat was good . For the Spaniards , too , seeing their undaunted energy and immense endurance ( it is curious to observe , that tbey make little or no mention , for the most part , of thoso minor miseries which wo know they must , have suffered so mnch from ) , it is _impossible not to have some pity . They are coi >« p . u > rorM , but they seem , after all , like demon-driven men . Little , apparently , is gained for humanity by all they do , and the majority of them , after lilling up their measure of destruction , die , miserably and contemptibly , with the hard eyes of suffering companions , suffering too much themselves to pity others , upon them . " The rentier of these things feels , as the Indian sometimes felt themselves , that great prophecies of old were being unrelentingly fulfilled against them .

    " I am reminded of an old proverb of awful import which in these wars and devastations , applies fo fhe conquerors as to fhe conquered , anil which says , ' . ( hid may consent , but not , for ever' ( I ) ios _etinsicnte , _perti no para si . cnipre ) , and which indicate that there is an end , however remote , to all that is not built up in consonance with His laws . " Turning back to ( he discovery of fhe . Pacific , by Vasco Nunez , we quote the concluding passage , for fhe sake of the remark appended to if : " A little before Vnsco Nunc / , reached the height ,, Qunrequu _' s Indians informed him of" his near approach to it . Jf was a sight which any man would wish to be alone fo see . Vasco Nunc / , bade his men sit down while he alone ascended antl

    looked _tlown upon the vast . Pacific , tbe first . nia . ii of the old world , so far us we I 910 W ; who had done so . Falling on his Juices , Jje gave "thanks to ( Jod for the favour shown to him in his being the lirsf man to discover and behold this sea ; then with bis band be beckoned to bis men to come up ; when they bad come , both be antl they knelt , down and poured forth their thanks to ( bid . lie then addressed them in these words : — ' You see here , gentlemen antl children mine , how our desires are being accomplished , and ( , Ik > _<> ud ol' our labours . Of that we ought to ho certain , for , as it bus turned out true what King ( . _oniogre's son told of this sea to us , who never thought to see it , ho I hold for certain that , what be told us of there being incomparable treasures in it will be fulfilled . Uod and his blessed

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 10, 1852, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10071852/page/20/