Is it just, in a book purporting to give a general account of discovery in the northwestern seas of America, thus to slur over the voyages of other nations? Is it consistent with common honesty? "The chief exertions of Spain were made from Mexico along the northwest coast of America; but these we do not propose to include in the present narrative." And why not? The next sentence tells. “Britain," it says, "now took up this train of discovery, and made it almost exclusively her own." What? have Russia and Spain done nothing to explore the northwest coast? France nothing? The United States nothing? It would seem so, according to this book; for Russia, important as her northwestern voyages have been, is treated by Mr. Murray still more cavalierly than Spain. To be sure, the Preface apologizes for the omission to give "an account of the expeditions performed by land or in boats, to ascertain the northern boundaries of America and Asia ;" but this explanation cannot apply to the great nautical explorations of Russia and Spain. Well might this copartnership of authors say of the Spanish voyagers from Mexico, "These we do not propose to include in the present narrative;" for, if they had been included, they would have proved, that instead of Britain having "made it almost exclusively her own," Spain and Russia had done as much at least in this respect as Great Britain. But then what shall we say to the solemn and circumstantial statement, that Spain furnishes only one very early voyage (that of Gomez) to the northern seas? Was this ignorance? It must have been. Yet, as authentic accounts existed, and those very curious and interesting ones, of several early Spanish voyages, the total ignorance exhibited in this particular, is not less remarkable than the bad faith betrayed in the other. And this is history, the history of American affairs, by British writers! There is another popular modern work, the "History of Maritime and Inland Discovery," in Lardner's "Cabinet Cyclopædia," wherein we shall have occasion, by and by, to signalize the same kind of suppression in regard to the enterprises of other nations, while every English expedition of the least note, national, commercial, or piratical, is described with edifying particularity. They are no unapt examples of the political tendency of that modern English literature, which constitutes the chief reading of the people of the United States. In addition to the great mistake, or misrepresentation, pervading the passage cited, which will appear from the narrative we shall presently give, it contains others, of less importance, but of the same complexion. The first sentence implies a volume of untruth, namely, that Spain took no particular interest in the general exploration of America. The reverse is the fact. All our most familiar histories, as the writings of Robertson, Irving, and Southey, abound with details of the extraordinary daring, perseverance, and disregard of hardship and personal suffering, with which the Spaniards pursued the exploration of the coasts, mountains, rivers, and interior wilds of the entire continent of South America, in the period immediately following its discovery. These incidents are now incorporated in the popular literature of all Europe; and not to know them, argues a singular ignorance of American history and geography. Nor, in later times, has the government of Spain been neglectful of such objects. The treasures of the Depósito Hidrográfico, at Madrid, as we ourselves know from personal examination, may well compare with what even modern France or England has done of this kind; and quite put to shame the as yet imperfect efforts of the United States in the same line. It is true, Spain did not, in the middle period of her empire over the New World, make ostentation of the voyages or journeys of exploration in South America, undertaken by her people. The accounts of many of these remained unpublished in the archives of the government. The reason of this is obvious. The piratical expeditions of other European powers, and especially of England, against the settlements in the Spanish colonies, expeditions in all respects resembling the ravages of the old Danes and Normans along the coasts of Holland, England, and France, these enterprises, in connexion with the contraband trade of the same nations, and their continual attempts to wrest from Spain her colonies by force, compelled her to adopt a policy of reserve and partial concealment, in regard to her possessions in America. But there is an end of all this, since the separation of those colonies from the mother country; and Professor Leslie and his associates could have known this, if they had sought the knowledge in the proper quarter. As to North America, the case is still stronger. We reserve the Pacific side of it for detailed explanation; and it will then be seen, whether "the glittering treasures of Mexico and Peru" withdrew the attention of Spain from "the bleak confines of the northern pole." But neither did Spain neglect the Atlantic side of North America. To say nothing of minor expeditions into the interior of the United States, it is sufficient to indicate the remarkable one of Hernando de Soto, who spent several years at the head of an army, exploring the whole of the vast region now occupied by the Southern States.* Spain, however, could not supply men to colonize the entire New World at once; in the progress of events, the northeastern parts of it fell into the hands of England and France; and of course these two nations were more naturally impelled to explore the coasts of their own possessions. But Spain had her share in the earlier discoveries. Forster even suggests whether the Biscayans, in common with the Bretons, had not visited Newfoundland prior to the voyage of Columbus. † But Navarrete, with his accustomed candor, after careful inquiry into this point, comes to the conclusion, that such is not the fact; and that the resort of the Biscayans to the Grand Bank, dates only from the voyage of Esteban Gomez. ‡ England has the honor of projecting and conducting the voyages, in which the Cabots discovered and explored the northeastern coast of America. Their discoveries immediately attracted the notice of Spain; and Navarrete supposes that the enterprise contemplated by Juan Dorvelos, under the protection of the Catholic Kings, in 1500, had for its object to follow the track of the Cabots.§ Certain it is, that a contract was made by Ferdinand with Juan de Agramonte, a Catalan, in the year 1511, for a voyage of discovery to Newfoundland; though what came of this is unknown. But the expedition of Esteban Gomez, also undertaken by the government, and for the express object of discovering a northwest passage to the Pacific, in 1525, is described by Herrera and Gomara; and, as he explored the entire Atlantic coast of North America, it hardly de Garcilaso de la Vega, Florida. Northern Voyages, Book III. chap. iii. and v. Ibid. Tom. III. p. 42. § Ibid. Tom. III. p. 41. serves to be summarily dismissed, in the manner Purchas treats it, and after him Professor Leslie and his associates, as memorable only for a jest. Purchas tells the story in these words; "Of Stephen Gomez little is left but a jeast. This Gomez having been with Magellan, a few years before, in his discoverie of the South Sea, enlarged with hopes of new straits, in the yeare 1525 set forth to search this northerly passage. But finding nothing to his expectation, he laded his shippe with slaves, and returned. At his returne, one that knew his intent was for the Moluccas by that way, enquiring what he had brought home, was told esclavos, that is, slaves. He, forestalled with his owne imagination, had thought it was clavos, and so posted to the court to carrie first newes of this specie discoverie, looking for a great reward. But the truth being knowne caused hereat great laughter."- Pilgrims, 620. But we must hasten to our main object. The conquerors of Mexico were very far from being disposed to revel among its rich plains, to the neglect of the northwestern region of America. On the contrary, their expeditions by sea and land in that direction were numerous; and the Great Conqueror himself set the example by undertaking several of the earliest of these at his own charge, and conducting one of them in person. The Emperor had exhorted him to explore the northern seas in search of "the secrete " of a strait, which should abridge the voyage from Spain to the East Indies. Unquiet and ambitious in temper, and disgusted with the spectacle of inferior persons administering the rich realms which his courage and skill had conquered, Cortes willingly engaged in the new enterprise of extending the Spanish power into other and (as yet) unexplored regions, and perhaps of solving the long-studied problem of a direct passage by the north to Cathay. He fitted out, first, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza; then, Diego de Becerra and Hernando de Grijalva.* In one of these voyages, Cortes, through Hernando de Grijalva, his lieutenant, discovered California, in 1534. In another, Cortes himself, and in defiance of infinite hardships, and obstacles without number, explored the Gulf of California. Returning in safety, after "Gomara, Con. de Mex., fol. 116; Herrera, Hist. de las Ind., Dec. IV. and V. ↑ Gomara, fol. 117. the general belief in Mexico that he had perished, he continued the progress of discovery,* by fitting out Francisco de Ulloa in the same direction. These voyages, of which the common books, such as Herrera and Robertson, give an account, were munificently carried on by Cortes, at an expense of two hundred thousand ducats, out of his own private property. The discoveries thus made would alone have sufficed to immortalize any meaner man than Cortes; but the fame of them is comparatively lost in the splendor of his other great achievements. He thus led the way to the eventual settlement of California by the Spaniards, and to subsequent voyages of discovery along the northwestern coast of America. At this period, the northwestern expeditions of the Mexican Spaniards began to be animated by very peculiar inducements. We have already seen, that they hoped to find a northern passage to connect the two oceans. In addition to which, a travelling monk, Fray Marcos de Nizza, had propagated the idea, that to the north of California, there was a magnificent city called Cibola, of great population, and equal in riches and civilization to Mexico. The particulars of Nizza's story are contained in Ramusio † and in Hakluyt.‡ Humboldt conjectures, that these fables may have had relation to the extensive ruins of an old Aztec city, existing on the banks of the river Gila, in Sonora.§ Associated with, or succeeding to, this story of the wonders of Cibola, there was another, which combined the two ideas, of a northwestern passage, and of a great city upon its waters. It is briefly related by Torquemada, as follows; "His Majesty (Philip the Third) found among certain other papers the information, which certain foreigners had given to his father, in which are told some notable things, which they had seen in that land (the northwest coast), driven thither by stress of weather, in a vessel from the coast of Labrador, which is by Newfoundland; giving account therein of how they had passed from the North to the South Sea, by the Strait of Anian, which is beyond Cape Mendocino; and that they had seen a populous and rich city, well fortified and walled, and very rich in people, politic and court-like, and well-treated; and other *Herrera, Dec. VII. Vol. III. p. 366. + Tom. III. p 356. § Nouv. Esp., Tom. I. pp. 287, 310. |