Christopher Columbus. By C. K. Adams, LL D. (Gay and
Bird.) —This volume contains a careful estimate, derived from the latest research, of the character and work of Columbus. Dr. Adams has tried, he tells us, to " avoid the common error of bringing him to the bar of the present age for trial, and, on the other, not to shrink from judging him in accordance with those canons of justice which are applicable to all time. " In point of character "—so be sums up the matter—" we shall probably not find much to admire." If he was not worse than the average of his contemporaries, he was not better ; and he was certainly below their highest standard. 1f—to take the most important part of his career—Las Cases had so clear a view of the evil of his dealings with the Indians, why should not a man of genius such as Columbus was, have had some insight at least into it ? We must not suppose, however, that Dr. Adams's estimate of the great dis- coverer falls in all respects below that which is commonly held of him. He alone, of all the men of his generation, was possessed with the lofty enthusiasm, the ardent prescience, the everlasting and unresting courage, that were the harbingers of glorious suc- cess.''--Along with this may be mentioned The Journal of Christopher Columbus (the First Voyage, 4.c.) Translated, with Notes and Introduction, by Clements R. Markham. (Printed for the Hakluyt Society.)—Besides the Journal of Columbus, we have various documents relating to the two Cabots, John and Sebastian, and to the voyages of Gaspar Corte-Real. Captain Markham prefixes an interesting introduction. The account of Corte-Real's voyages will be the most novel. They were tho first practical outcome of Columbus's discoveries.
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