were made by his own subjects, for engaging in CHAP. I. adventures, similar to that which had already 1492. been so successful.

of Cabot.

1496.

But England, whose ships now cover every Commission ocean, and whose fleets triumph in every sea, did not then furnish a single individual, well enough acquainted with navigation, to be trusted with the direction of such an expedition. The chief command of the armament, destined to explore these unknown regions, was given to Giovanni Gaboto (John Cabot) a Venetian adventurer who had settled in Bristol. To him, and to his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctius, a commission was issued on the 5th of March, less than two years after the return of Columbus from America, empowering them, or either of them, and their, and each of their heirs and deputies, to sail under the banner of England, towards the east, north, or west; in order to discover countries then unknown to all christian people. The terms of this commission very strongly marked, the genius and character of the monarch who gave it. It empowered the Cabots to take possession of the countries they should discover, in the name of the king of England, and to carry on an exclusive trade with the inhabitants; but the discoveries were to be made at their own expense, and their commerce was to be charged with a fifth part of the clear profit on every voyage, payable to the crown.

CHAP. I.

The expedition contemplated at the date of 1498. this commission, appears not then to have been made; but in May 1498, Cabot with his second son Sebastian, embarked at Bristol, on board a ship furnished by the king, which was accompanied by four barks, fitted out by merchants of that city.

His voyage to America.

pas

The opinion of Columbus, that a shorter sage to the East Indies was to be opened, by holding a western course, and that the islands he had discovered were contiguous to the great continent of India, was then generally received. Cabot therefore, who was in quest, not so much of establishments, as of the rich commerce of the east, deemed it probable that, by steering to the north-west, he might reach India by a shorter course than that which Columbus had taken. After sailing for some weeks due west, he discovered a large island which was called by him Prima Vista, and by his sailors, Newfoundland; and, in a few days, he descried a smaller isle to which he gave the name of St. John. Continuing his course westward, he soon reached the continent of North America, and sailed along it from the fifty-sixth, to the thirty-eighth degree of north latitude, from the coast of Labrador to that of Virginia. He was not a little chagrined at being unable further to prosecute his commercial views, and to discover some inlet which might open a passage to the west. It does not appear that he landed any where, during this ex

tensive run; and he returned to England with- CHAP. I. out attempting either settlement or conquest.

Thus, according to the English historians, was first discovered that immense continent which stretches from the gulf of Mexico to the north pole; and as far back as to this discovery, the English traced their title to the country they afterwards acquired, partly by settlement, and partly by arms.

1498.

the French

discovery

The French, who have since contested with Claims of Great Britain the possession of a very consi- to the derable portion of this important territory, have of North also their claims to its discovery, although they seem not to be very well founded.

L'Escarbot, who visited America in 1606, avers, that the language then spoken on the eastern parts of the coast of Newfoundland, and the great bank, was half Biscayan; from which fact it was very correctly inferred, that the fishermen from the western coasts of France, had, for a long time, navigated those seas,

As no certain account had been preserved of the first enterprise made by those people, it was argued that they must have been in the habit of undertaking such voyages, before that of Sebastian Cabot in 1498. With equal probability might a date be given them anterior to that of Columbus. However insufficient this evidence may be deemed, to support the claim of original discovery, it seems very well authenticated, that as early as 1504 the Biscayans,

America.

CHAP. I. the Bretons, and the Normans, frequented, for 1498. the purpose of fishing, the great bank of New

All further views of

discovery,

or settle

quished by

Henry VII.

foundland, the coasts of the adjacent continent, and the whole gulf of St. Lawrence; that in 1506 a map of those coasts was published by Jean Denis de Honfleur; and that in the year 1508 a Canadian was brought into France by a pilot from Dieppe..

The ardour for discovery which had been, excited in the bosom of Henry, seems to have ment, relin- expired with this first effort. Although the success of Cabot in this respect, must have equalled any expectation which could have been formed from the expedition, yet, on his return to England, he found Henry entirely disinclined to prosecute further a scheme, in which he had engaged with some degree of zeal, and of which the commencement had been attended. with appearances by no means discouraging.

Several causes are supposed to have con-tributed to this abandonment of the prosecution of all further pursuits in America. Previous to the discovery of that country, by Columbus, the Portuguese had explored the Azores, or western islands; in consequence of which they claimed America, and contended for the exclusion of the Spaniards from the western ocean. This controversy was decided by the pope who, on the 7th of May 1493, out of his Own "mere liberality and certain knowledge, and the plenitude of apostolic authority,"

1498.

granted to Spain the countries discovered, or CHAP. I. to be discovered, by her, to the westward of a line to be drawn from pole to pole a hundred leagues west of the Azores; (excepting such countries as might be in the possession of any other christian prince, antecedent to the year 1493) and to Portugal her discoveries to the eastward of that boundary.

Much respect was at that period paid to this decision and grant of the pope. Its sanctity however was, most probably, in the opinion of Henry, considerably increased by his particular situation. He set a high value on the friendship of the king of Spain, and was then actually negociating with him, the marriage which af terwards took place between his eldest son and the princess Catharine, daughter of that monarch. Ferdinand was jealous to excess of all his rights, and Henry was not inclined to interrupt the harmony subsisting between them, by asserting claims to the countries discovered by Cabot, which were obviously within the limits to which the pretensions of Spain extended. In addition to this consideration, the state of his own kingdom restrained this cautious prince, from engaging further in distant enterprises of uncertain profit, which might require expense

and attention.

Sebastian Cabot, finding no encouragement for his active talents in England, entered into the service of Spain.