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[1504-1506 A.D.]

affected to treat him with every mark of honour and esteem. His complaisance, however, went no further than outward show. Columbus, finding no means of prosecuting his enterprise in this part of the world, returned to Spain, September 12th, 1504, where his miseries were crowned by the intelligence of the death of Isabella, whose favour and protection he had always considered his last resource. This was a blow from which he never recovered. Overwhelmed with calamities, disgusted with the ingratitude of those whom he had faithfully and successfully served, declining in age, and broken in health, he lingered a few years longer in poverty and neglect, making from time to time a fruitless appeal to the honour and justice of those who had given him "chains for a crown, a prison for a world"; and finally closed his life at Valladolid, May 20th, 1506, in the 59th year of his age.

Such was the end of this remarkable man, who, to the astonishment of Europe, added a fourth part to the earth, or rather half a world to this globe, which had been so long desolate and so little known. It might reasonably be expected that public gratitude would have given the name of this intrepid seaman to the new hemisphere, the first discovery of which was owing to his enterprising genius. This was the smallest homage of respect that could be paid to his memory; but either through envy, inattention, or the caprice of fortune even in the distribution of fame, this honour was reserved for a Florentine adventurer, who did nothing more than follow the footsteps of a man whose name ought to stand foremost in the list of great characters.cc

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Sometimes in Wagner's musical dramas the introduction of a few notes from some leading melody foretells the inevitable catastrophe toward which the action is moving, as when in Lohengrin's bridal chamber the well-known sound of the distant Grail motive steals suddenly upon the ear, and the heart of the rapt listener is smitten with a sense of impending doom. So in the drama of maritime discovery, as glimpses of new worlds were beginning to reward the enterprising crowns of Spain and Portugal, for a moment there came from the North a few brief notes fraught with ominous portent. The power for whom destiny had reserved the world empire of which these Southern nations- so noble in aim, so mistaken in policy-were dreaming stretched forth her hand in quiet disregard of papal bulls, and laid it upon the western shore of the ocean. It was only for a moment, and long years were to pass before the consequences were developed. But in truth the first fateful note that heralded the coming English supremacy was sounded when John Cabot's tiny craft sailed out from the Bristol channel on a bright May morning of 1497. -JOHN FISKE.

It is a curious fact that most of the discoveries made concerning America were made indirectly and unintentionally. Even the Norse and other traditions say that their heroes were blown to America by storm; Columbus sought India and stumbled across the West Indies; John Cabot happened upon North America and thought he had found the realm of the great khan of Tatary; Sebastian Cabot sought the Northwest Passage to Cathay and India; the Portuguese Cortereal came for slaves; the French flocked to the cod-fisheries of Newfoundland as early as 1525, little caring where they were.

Verrazano (whose very existence has been questioned), Cartier, and a few others indeed went exploring for the sake of acquiring information and territory, but these were the exceptions.

The veteran Ponce de Leon sought the Fountain of Youth and found a mortal wound in Florida. Pineda in seeking a strait found the Mississippi. Gomez was another Northwest Passager. Coronado made his wonderful Anab

[1493 A.D.]

asis in search of the seven golden cities of Cibola and found the mud huts of New Mexico, the plains of Kansas, and the gorge of the Colorado. Soto was hunting a Peru in North America and found instead of gold only nakedness, fever, and a secret burial in the great river which he was not even the first to reach. Frobisher sought the Northwest Passage and went on a fool's errand to Labrador for gold. Drake circumnavigated the world on a piratical cruise for Spanish galleons. Hudson explored the river and the bay that perpetuate in their names his vain hope of probing his way through the continent that lay like a bar across the path to India. The passage through this continent is yet to be made and artificially, and it can only lead as we know now into an ocean far wider than the Atlantic.

It is interesting to note the division of the labour of discovery among the maritime nations of Europe. The Norse made the first approaches but did not improve their opportunity; as someone has said, "their visit was as profitable as the visit of a flock of sea-gulls." The Portuguese began the great passion for discovery, and Columbus, as we have seen, spent his first ten years of pleading at their court before he turned to Spain. When he returned with his prize, Pope Alexander VI, the Borgia, in his famous bull of May 3rd and 4th, 1493, drew a magnificent line down through the Atlantic ocean and gave Portugal all the un-Christian world east of it; Spain all that lay to the west.

This demarcation restrained the enthusiasm of the English, then a Catholic nation, temporarily, but not long. Rapidly for a time when there were no newspapers and telegraph systems to spread news all the seafaring peoples of the Atlantic coast felt the impetus for exploration, and turned their prows and their hopes westward. The Spanish took the lead in enthusiasm and in numbers, till, as Galvano said in Hakluyt's version, "there grew such a common desire of travaile among the Spanyards, that they were ready to leape into the sea to swim, if it had been possible, into those new-found parts." Once the first voyage had been made imitation was so easy that, as Columbus wrote, "Now there is not a man, down to the very tailors, who does not beg permission to be a discoverer."

But Italy had furnished the inspiration, through Marco Polo and Toscanelli, as well as the men, for many of the best discoveries, though she did not get the credit. In Genoa were born Colombo (known to the Spanish as Colon) and Giovanni or Zuan Cabot (known to his English employers as John Cabot) though he was a naturalised citizen of Venice, whence came also Polo and Cadamosto. In Florence was born the unjustly maligned Amerigo Vespucci (whose name though given only to the part of the continent which he explored soon spread to the whole new world). Florence also lent to France the true discoverer of the Hudson river, Verrazano.

To Spain belong by birth and service the brilliantly fearless and bloodily ruthless cohort of the brothers Pinzon, Ojeda, Solis, Cortes, Pizarro, Ponce de Leon, Grijalva, Cordova, Pineda, Valdivia, Coronado, Lepe, Alamagro, Alvarado, La Cosa, Ayllon, Gil Gonzalez Gasca, Perrelo, and others.

Portugal gave the world not only its splendid explorers of the East, but also Cortereal; Magelãhes (known to us as Magellan), who sailed under the Spanish flag in the most wonderful of all ocean voyages; Cabral, who gave Brazil to Portugal; Gomez, de Cintra, Jacques, and Coelho.

From France came Jean Cousin of Dieppe, who is claimed as a preceder of Columbus, the plucky Breton and Normandy fishermen who swarmed over to Newfoundland immediately after its discovery was rumoured; Fray Marcos of Nice, Léry, Cartier, Roberval, Champlain, Villegagnon, Ribaut, Laudon

[1496 A.D.]

nière, La Salle, Marquette, Joliet, Gourgues, Hennepin, Frontenac, La Vérendrez.

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In return for borrowing Cabot from Italy, England lent Hudson to the Dutch when he rediscovered the river, but bought him back for the fatal bay voyage. She furnished also Frobisher, Drake, Hawkins, Gilbert, Raleigh, John Smith, Gosnold, Pring, Weymouth, John Davis, Willoughby, and

William Baffin.

Holland furnished Barentz and Van Horn, while Juan de la Fuca was a Greek. As a final settlement of the theory that America was part of Asia, the Russian Guosdjeff and the Danish Bering proved in the eighteenth century that Asia and America were not anywhere joined by land.

The rewards of the discoverers make a sad catalogue. Among those who died in obscurity and disgrace were Columbus, Gonzalez, and Cortes. The death penalty was meted out to Pinzon, Grijalva, Balboa, and Pizarro. Among those who perished in battle or died from the hardships of their career were Cordova, De Soto, Magellan, Valdura, Narvaez, Ayllon, Solis, Ribaut, Roberval, Gilbert, and Hudson. When Bering perished in 1741 he was with the exception of those names on the still unfinished death-roll of Arctic exploration the last martyr to the costly cause of the discovery of America. But never have lives and gold been lavished with more profit to posterity, and never have cruelty, avarice, theft, and oppression borne so liberally the fruit of happiness, riches, and liberty. We may now take up in some detail the voyages of discovery and exploration that became the most notable industry of the age.a

THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS

In the new career of western adventure, the American continent was first discovered under the auspices of the English. In the history of maritime enterprise in the New World, the achievements of John and Sebastian Cabot are, in boldness, success, and results, second only to those of Columbus. The wars of the houses of York and Lancaster had ceased; tranquillity and thrifty industry had been restored by the prudent severity of Henry VII; the spirit of commercial activity began to be successfully fostered; and the marts of England were thronged with Lombard adventurers. The fisheries of the north had long tempted the merchants of Bristol to an intercourse with Iceland; and the nautical skill necessary to buffet the storms of the Atlantic had been acquired in this branch of northern commerce. Nor is it impossible that some uncertain traditions respecting the remote discoveries which Icelanders had made in Greenland towards the northwest, "where the lands did nearest meet," as Bacon d says, should have excited "firm and pregnant conjectures. The magnificent achievement of Columbus, revealing the wonderful truth, of which the germs may have existed in the imagination of every thoughtful mariner, won the admiration which was due to an enterprise that seemed more divine than human, and kindled in the breasts of the emulous a vehement desire to gain as signal renown in the same career of daring; while the politic king of England desired to share in the large returns which were promised by maritime adventure.

It was, therefore, not difficult for John Cabot, a Venetian merchant, residing at Bristol, to engage Henry VII in plans for discovery. He obtained from that monarch a patent (March 5th, 1496), empowering himself and his threesons, or any of them, their heirs, or their deputies, to sail into the eastern, western, or northern sea, with a fleet of five ships, at their own proper expense

[1497-1498 A.D.]

and charges; to search for islands, countries, provinces, or regions, hitherto unseen by Christian people; to affix the banners of England on any city, island, or continent, that they might find; and, as vassals of the English crown, to possess and occupy the territories that might be discovered. It was further stipulated, in what Chalmerse has called "the most ancient American state paper of England," that the patentees should be strictly bound in their voyages to land at the port of Bristol, and to pay to the king one fifth part of the emoluments of the navigation; while the exclusive right of frequenting all the countries that might be found was reserved, unconditionally and without limit of time, to the family of the Cabots and their assigns. Under this patent, containing the worst features of colonial monopoly and commercial restriction, John Cabot and [perhaps] his celebrated son Sebastian embarked for the west [May, 1497]. Of what tempests they encountered, what mutinies they calmed, no record has been preserved. The discovery of the American continent (June 24, 1497), probably in the latitude of fifty-six degrees, far, therefore, to the north of the straits of Belle Isle, among the polar bears, the rude savages, and the dismal cliffs of Labrador, was the fruit of the voyage.

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It has been attempted to deprive the father of the glory of having led the expedition. The surest documentary evidence confirms his claims. The navigators hastened homewards to announce their success. Thus the discovery of the continent was an exploit of private mercantile adventure; and the possession of the new-found "land and isles" was a right vested by an exclusive patent in the family of a Bristol merchant. Yet the Cabots derived little benefit from the expedition which their genius had suggested, and of which they alone had defrayed the expense. Posterity hardly remembered that they had reached the American continent nearly fourteen months before Columbus, on his third voyage, came in sight of the mainland, and almost two years before Amerigo Vespucci sailed west of the Canaries. But England acquired through their energy such a right to North America as this indisputable priority could confer. Henry VII and his successors recognised the claims of Spain and Portugal, only so far as they actually occupied the territories to which they laid pretension; and, at a later day, the English parliament and the English courts derided a title founded, not upon occupancy, but upon a grant from the Roman pontiff.

Confidence and zeal awakened; and Henry grew circumspect in the concession of rights which now seemed to become of immense value. A new patent was issued (February 3rd, 1498) to John Cabot, less ample in the privileges which it conferred. A voyage was again undertaken; purposes of traffic were connected with it; and the frugal king was himself a partner in the expenditure. The object of this new expedition was, in part, to explore "what manner of landes those Indies were to inhabit"; and perhaps, also, a hope was entertained of reaching the rich empire of Cathay. Embarking in

[We tell the story of the Cabots as it is generally accepted. It is impossible to enter here into the controversies on every point, and we can only caution the reader to remember that we have not even an allusion, in the narrative form, to the voyages of the Cabots till twenty years after they are said to have occurred, and that inuch of what information we have is based on the reported conversations of Sebastian Cabot of a far later date. How uncertain these are may be seen from the fact that Eden says: "Sebastian Cabot tolde me that he was borne in Bryston," while there is much stronger proof, and his own statement to Contarini, to prove that he was born in Venice about 1473. The first printed account of the Cabots' discovery was in the Decades of Peter Martyr, who was Sebastian's friend, and whose account does not even mention John Cabot. On the other hand there are evidences that lead certain scholars to doubt that Sebastian was present on the first voyage at all. His name is not mentioned in the contemporary documents lately discovered, and there seems to be in the reports of his conversations a hopeless confusion of the first and second voyages.]

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