When New York tries her hand with expositions she will
doubtless deal with facts. The truth is, Columbus was human like the
rest of us, and followed in the wake of others for his own personal
aggrandizement. He was not the first man to discover America. The
Norsemen antedated him by five centuries."
"What if the Norsemen did first discover America?" said Colonel Harris.
"The discoveries of the vikings were not utilized by civilization. It is
held by the courts that a patent is valid only in the name of the
inventor who first gives the invention a useful introduction. Columbus's
discovery was fortunately made at a time when civilization was able with
men and money to follow up and appropriate its advantages."
"The true discoverer of America," said Henley, "I believe to be Jean
Cousin, a sea captain of Dieppe, France, who crossed the Atlantic and
sailed into the Amazon River in 1488, four years before Columbus reached
San Salvador. Then Spain, Portugal, the States of the Church, Ferdinand,
Isabella, and Columbus attempted to rob Cousin of his bold adventure. In
brief these are the facts: Jean Cousin was an able and scientific
navigator. In 1487 his skill so contributed in securing a naval victory
for the French over the English that the reward for his personal valor
was the gift of an armed ship from the merchants of Dieppe, who expected
him to go forth in search of new discoveries.
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