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and realized the hope of centuries, and brought Europe into maritime connection with the lands of gems, spice, and gold. I touch lightly on these great discoveries, the history of them being so familiar, and dwell rather with fuller detail on the less known episodes of that adventurous time.* Gama returned to Europe to report his successes in September, 1499, and was received with most distinguished honours by the Portuguese Court. Meanwhile a greater and more original mind had been at work on the problem. The grant of Martin V. to Portugal of all land which might be discovered along the coast of Africa to the Indies, shut out Spain from any participation in the commerce and empire opened up to the European nations by the enterprises of the Portuguese. Vasco de Gama trod cautiously, after all, in tracks which had been tolerably explored. The southern cape of Africa being discovered, it was known, as a matter of course, that India must lie beyond. Columbus took counsel of the sphere. It was shown to him-are we not bound to believe that such great missions are very directly from on high ?—that a western course over the unknown Atlantic must conduct the voyager to the western sea-boards of the lands whose eastern Gama had approached by the way of Africa. He stood boldly out over the Atlantic, followed by the sympathies of one great queenly heart, as capable of serving a great idea as his own, on the boldest and most heroic quest ever undertaken by man. On Friday, August 3rd, 1492, three little ships stood out from Palos: Sagres lay there to the west, along the coast. On Friday, October 11th, they cast anchor on the coast of St. Salvador; and added, as is expressed nobly in the epitaph of Colon, "a new world to Spain." Thus, in the last decade of the 15th century, Columbus and Gama reached, by pursuing opposite routes, the gold and spice regions of the world. But at the same time the vaguest uncertainty existed as to the exact situation and relations of the lands which they had discovered. Vasco de Gama's course was plain. His India could at once be linked on, by the overland commerce, to the known regions of the earth. But what was this new region to which Columbus had opened the way? The prevalent opinion-nursed, doubtless, by the ancient notion that land, the nobler, must be the preponderating element in the world-magnified unduly the extent of Asia; and pushed its eastern sea-board close on to the American coast. Columbus, leaving the Canaries, steered, as he

I purposely, too, avoid complicating the narrative in this brief paper by the discussion of the vexed questions of the subject. I therefore pass by the voyages of the Corterials, about which there is great difficulty, especially the earliest voyage of John. The Zeni, too, must here be passed by, that we may keep to the firm ground.

believed, for Japan. On October 7th, being in the parallel of 25° 30′, he became uneasy at not discovering Zipangu, which by his reckoning ought to be 216 miles to the eastward of his meridian. Martin Alonzo Pinzon prevailed on him to steer to the south-west. Pinzon, it seems, had seen a flight of parrots heading in that direction; and so by the auspices it was settled, as of old, that Central and not North America should receive the colonies of Spain. Never in old Rome did birds lead such a quest as this.

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Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci remained persuaded till death that the continent which Columbus in his third voyage discovered, about the mouths of the Orinoco, was the mainland of Asia; and the admiral, magnificent as the great Julius, entertained the pose of returning to Spain by Ceylon and the Cape, or overland by Jerusalem and Jaffa-anticipating our steam track by 350 years. The notion that India had been reached by a western course from Spain would, of course, speedily raise questions as to the range of the Papal grant to Portugal, by which Martin had attached to the Portuguese Crown all lands which might be discovered between Bojador and the Indies. The question was at once considered in the Papal councils, and a division of the world was made between the two great discovering peoples, which, while it seemed to make a fair settlement of the contending claims for the moment, in reality raised questions, the determination of which had the most important bearing on the development of science as well as trade. Alexander VI., Roderic Borgia, then occupied the Papal throne. To this man, incest and murders of the most horrible description were freely attributed by songs and epigrams in every court in Europe. From him, as Pope, a decree came forth which was received as absolute throughout Christendom, to divide the undiscovered world equally between two sovereign powers. Taking the meridian of longitude drawn through a point 100 leagues to the west of the Azores, he ordained that the half globe to the east of that line should belong to Portugal, the half globe to the west to Spain. This Bull bears date May 4th, 1493, shortly after the return of Columbus to Spain. Subsequently, by an arrangement between the monarchs, of the 7th of June, 1494, the line was removed westwards to 370 leagues west of the Cape de Verd Islands. We can easily understand how the determination of this meridian, in the then state of nautical astronomy, was a matter of no little difficulty in the Indian seas. The observations of the contending parties doubtless favoured the interests of their respective nations, and it was not until after much strife and discussion that it was settled, that the Moluccas, valuable for their spices, fell within the Spanish hemisphere; and they were actually purchased by Portugal, in 1529, for 350,000 ducats. Impious as these Bulls may seem, they were very real and solemn

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matters in those days. Edward IV. of England, a great trader, fitted out an expedition to trade on the coasts of Guinea; but he abandoned the design at once, keen as he was after gain, when the Pope's Bull was pleaded by the Portuguese king. That we may understand how real the right of the Pope was conceived to be in those days, I will quote the proclamation which Ferdinand founded on it, and by which he took royal possession of the Indies. But that there is something ludicrous in bringing such a battery to bear on the ignorant and helpless Indians, one might reckon this document among the most awful lies ever promulgated in this world.

"The proclamation dwells on the creation of man, and of the dispersion of the one race. Then it declares how God gave charge of all these nations to one man called St. Peter, that he should be the head of the human race, and have rule over them all, and fix his seat at Rome, 'as the fittest place for governing the world.' He was called Father, as the Father and Governor of all men. Then it tells how all men have obeyed St. Peter and his successors, and will obey them to the end of time. It informs the Indians how a certain Pope gave to the Catholic sovereigns all these western islands and the Continent, by ⚫ writings which the Indians may see if they like. Then they are told how well the other islanders had received and obeyed his Majesty, listening without any hesitation or delay to religious men, and becoming Christians, and how kind his Majesty had been to them. 'Wherefore I entreat and require you,' said Ojeda, or any other privateering discoverer, that, after taking due time to consider this, you acknowledge the Church as sovereign lady of the world, and the Pope in her name; and his Majesty, in his place as lord of these isles and this continent, and that you receive these religious men. If you do so, his Majesty will greet you with all love and affection, and leave you your wives and children free, and will give you many privileges and exemptions. But if you do not, by the help of God I will enter with power into your land, and will subdue you, and will take your wives and children and make slaves of them, and sell them as such, and take all your goods, and do you all the mischief I can, as to vassals that do not obey, and will not receive their Lord. And I protest that all the death and destruction which may come from this is your fault, and not his Majesty's or mine, or that of my men.'"

The direct result of this Spanish and Portuguese discovery was the enormous increase of their navies, and the complete division between them of the Empire of the Seas. The Spanish and Portuguese claimed as of right the whole of this new and most valuable commerce; while their knowledge of the navigation, and the multitude of their ships, enabled them to maintain practically the monopoly. The result of this to England was for the time disastrous. It lowered her position both commercially and politi

cally, in comparison with these once inferior monarchies. She lost not a little of the commerce she already enjoyed, traffic being speedily diverted from its old routes to this new highway of the seas. She found herself shut out by two powerful navies from intercourse with the East, and all the advantage it might bring in its train. Very earnestly was this point considered by the English statesmen and merchants during the early part of the 16th century; and several expeditions were organized for the purpose of conducting such explorations as were possible, without trenching on the recognized rights of Spain and Portugal to the newly-discovered regions of the earth. I say, recognized rights. The Reformation let in a flood of light on these as well as other matters. England, we shall see, will soon come to treat these in common with many venerable "rights," to which she had bowed for centuries, as flagrant and even blasphemous wrongs. The Reformation opened the way morally for the enterprise, for which the country was training all unconsciously her physical powers-the wresting of the sceptre of the East from the Catholic monarchies, and the winning the naval supremacy of the world. The first earnest efforts of the English to extend their empire and commerce by discovery, was in the reign of Henry VII. Cabota, or Cabot, is the patriarchal name in English maritime discovery. Cabota was a Venetian, Columbus a Genoese. They were equally famous as pilots, and were reckoned the ablest mariners of their time. Cabot was employed by Henry VII. in Western discovery. The proceedings of the father, John Cabot, are shrouded in mystery, which no research has hitherto been able to dispel. Sebastian, the son, says that his father died "in that time when newes were brought that Don Christopher Colonus Genuese had discovered the coast of India." But it is hard to make the scattered notices agree. Sebastian Cabot, in a report made by him some time after to the Pope's legate in Spain, gives this account from memory of his voyage to the American coast :

"Understanding, by reason of the sphere, that if he should sail by way of north-west, he should by a shorter tract come into India; he thereupon caused the king to be advertised of his device, who immediately commanded two caravels to be furnished with all things appertayning to the voyage, which was, as farre as he remembered, in the year 1496, in the beginning of summer. He began, therefore, to sail toward the north-west, not thinking to find any other land than that of Cathay, and from thence to turn towards India; but after certaine days he found that the land ran toward the north, which was to him a great displeasure. Neverthless, sayling along the coast, to see if he could find any gulf that turned, he found the land still continued to the 56th degree under our pole. And seeing that there

the coast turned to the east, despairing to find a passage, he turned back again, and sayled downe by the coast of that land toward the Equinoctiall (ever with intent to find the said passage to India), and came to that part of this firm land which is now called Florida; where his victuals failing, he departed from thence and returned unto England, where he found great tumults among the people, and preparations for warres in Scotland, by reason whereof there was no more consideration had unto this voyage."

The king did not care to prosecute the enterprise, and Cabot left for Spain. In 1548 he returned, an aged man, and full of wisdom and honour. Edward VI. was so delighted with the old man and his views, that he appointed him by patent "Pilot-Major," with a salary of 500 marks (£166), a very large sum in those days. He dedicated his mature powers to the work of organizing and promoting English discovery. He was placed at the head of the "Mysterie and Companie of the Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of New Trades," better known as the Muscovia Company. Then England fairly entered on the race in which she was destined to outstrip the world. From Italy came the first inspiration, both to Spain and to England. It was so in everything. In art, literature, commerce, politics, and war, Italy led the van though she could not keep it. She lit the torch of modern civilization at the old hearth fires, whose embers were still glowing in her great cities, and then passed it on to stronger and more resolute peoples. But Cabot is our maritime patriarch. All honour be to his memory! He seems to have returned to England at the solicitation of a certain Mr. Robert Thorne, a merchant of Bristol, and a most able man, in the reign of Henry VIII. The first fair notice which I can find of the motif of English discovery towards the north, occurs in a paper addressed to Henry VIII., by this very Mr. Robert Thorne, from which I make the following very significant extract:

"Now I considering this your noble courage and desire, and also perceiving that your Grace may at your pleasure, to your greater glory, by a Godly meane, with little cost, perill, or labour, to your Grace or any of your subjects, amplifie and enrich this your sayd realme, I know it is my bounden duty to manifest this secret unto your Grace, which hitherto, as I suppose, hath beene hid which is that with a small number of ships, there may be discovered divers new lands and kingdomes, withe which without doubt your Grace shall winne perpetualle glory, and your subjectes infinite profite. To which places there is left one way to discover, which is into the North: for that of the foure partes of the worlde, it seemeth three parts are discovered by other princes. For out of Spaine they have discovered all the Indies and seas occidentall; and out of Portingall all the

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