moreover, the Portuguese geographers were right in condemning
his scheme, because it really is not so far by sea from Lisbon
around Africa to Hindustan as from Lisbon by any practicable
route westward to Japan! See Luciano Cordeiro, _De la part
prise par les Portugais dans la decouverte d'Amerique_, Lisbon,
1876, pp. 23, 24, 29, 30. Well, I don't know that there is any
answer to be made to this argument. Logic is logic, says the
wise Autocrat:--

"End of the wonderful one-hoss shay,
Logic is logic, that's all I say."

Cordeiro's book is elaborately criticised in the learned work
of Prospero Peragallo, _Cristoforo Colombo in Portogallo: studi
critici_, Genoa, 1882.]

[Footnote 486: "Perciocche essendo l' Ammiraglio di generosi ed
alti pensieri, volle capitolare con suo grande onore e
vantaggio, per lasciar la memoria sua, e la grandezza della sua
casa, conforme alla grandezza delle sue opere e de' suoi
meriti." _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. xi. The jealous
Portuguese historian speaks in a somewhat different tone from
the affectionate son:--"Veo requerer a el rey Dom Joao que le
desse algums navios pera ir a descobrir a ilha de Gypango
[_sic_] per esta mar occidental.... El rey, porque via ser este
Christovao Colom homem falador e glorioso em mostrar suas
habilidades, e mas fantastico et de imaginacao com sua ilha de
Cypango, que certo no que dezia: davalhe pouco credito."
Barros, _Decada primeira da Asia_, Lisbon, 1752, liv. iii. cap.
xi. fol. 56.]

[Footnote 487: It has been urged in the king's defence that
"such a proceeding was not an instance of bad faith or perfidy
(!) but rather of the policy customary at that time, which
consisted in distrusting everything that was foreign, and in
promoting by whatever means the national glory." Yes, indeed,
whether the means were fair or foul. Of course it was a common
enough policy, but it was lying and cheating all the same. "Nao
foi sem duvida por ma fe ou perfidia que tacitamente se mandon
armar hum navio a cujo capitao se confiou o plano que Colombo
havia proposto, e cuja execucao se lhe encarregou; mas sim por
seguir a politica na