[Footnote w: It may naturally be supposed that many Historical Documents perished, when the Bards were destroyed by King Edward the Ist.]
Objections shall be more particularly considered when I come to consider what Lord Lyttlelton and Dr. Robertson have advanced on this Subject.
The Antients were incapable of pursuing foreign discoveries by Land or Sea. Their notion of the Figure of the Earth was not just, for most of them thought that it was a flat extensive plain. Their Knowlege of Astronomy was very much confined; and their Ignorance of the Properties of the Loadstone would prevent their undertaking any Voyage of Consequence. Supposing the Country which Madog discovered was not America, yet to say the Story is a late Invention, and forged after the discovery of that Continent by Columbus, with a View to set up a prior Claim to it, is plainly false; for, besides the testimony of Peter Martyr, respecting Names and Customs, we know that the Fact had been celebrated by Welsh Bards before Columbus first sailed to the West.[x]
[Footnote x: The Welsh Bards were also Historians. They were retained in great Families to record the actions of their Ancestors, and their own, in Odes and Songs. Their poems, therefore, may be considered, as History, sometimes, probably, in some degree, embellished. Out of Hatred to the Church of Rome, they seem, occasionly, to have written something in the name of Taliossyn, &c. But the Voyage of Prince Madog had nothing to do with Religion.]
Some Writers have said, that it was not to America our Welsh Prince sailed, and in proof say, that America was well known in the 9th and 10th Centuries. It is most certain that it was well known to its Inhabitants for thousands of Years. But that it was at all known to any European before the 12th Century, at soonest, is incredible. (See page 12th, &c. for there is not even the Shadow of Authority for it. We are also told that Greenland was the Country to which Madog sailed, which is by no means probable, nor, indeed, possible; because it contradicts every historical Evidence that we have. Had he sailed to Greenland, he must have left Ireland to the South, on his left Hand, whereas we are expressly told that he left it to the North, on his right Hand. Besides, it is said, by all Writers on the subject, that the Country which Madog discovered was fair, fruitful and pleasant, but Greenland is a miserable, poor Country; so excessively cold that all attempts to settle in it, have failed; for the persons left there have always perished. In comparison with Greenland, therefore, this Prince's Native Country, was a Paradise. Farther, I cannot learn that the Greenlanders in their Persons, Manners, and Customs bear any resemblance to the Ancient Britons; which some American Tribes plainly do. When we compare circumstances together, we shall be led, with Hakluyt, to conclude that Madog landed on some part of New England, Virginia, &c. and that in process of time the Colony extended itself Southward to Mexico, and other places; and that those Foreign Ancestors of the Mexican Chiefs, of whom the Spanish Writers often speak in their accounts of Cortez's Adventures, were Ancient Britons.
The probability that Madog sailed to, or was driven upon some part of the American Continent seems, evident, though perhaps, we have not facts sufficiently clear to demonstrate it.
In those ages, before the Invention of the Compass, of the art of Printing, and of Gun-powder, the Welsh had very few advantages to boast of above the Native Americans: thence we may conclude that Madog and his Colony landed amicably, and that they were received by the Natives with Cordiality.
That so extraordinary an Event should not excite either the English or the Welsh to attempt a Discovery of their hardy Countrymen, and their New Settlement, can only be accounted for by the Ignorance and poverty of the times. It is most natural to suppose that the English knew nothing of this Expedition from a Province which acknowleged not their Authority, and with which they were almost continually at War, and whose Inhabitants they would have been exceedingly glad to hear were all gone away: and the poverty of the Welsh, robbed of their Inheritance by the usurping Saxons, Normans, and Flemings, would effectually prevent their making any attempts.
In short, Mr. Jones's recital of his Travels confirms the Truth of Prince Madog's Emigration and settlement in some part of America; for it expressly says, that in the Year 1660, there were some whole Tribes in North America, who spoke Welsh, and therefore most have descended from the Ancent Britons.[y]
[Footnote y: I am obliged to a learned Welsh Divine for several of the above Observations.]