III. Transactions during the Government of Martin Alfonso de Sousa, from
1542 to 1543.
IV. Government of India by Don Juan de Castro, from 1545 to 1548.
V. Transactions of the Portuguese in India, from 1545 to 1564, under
several Governors.
VI. Continuation of the Portuguese Transactions in India, from 1564 to
the year 1571.
VII. Portuguese Transactions in India from 1571 to 1576.
CHAP. IV. SECT. VIII. Transactions of the Portuguese in Monomotapa,
from 1569 to the end of that separate government.
IX. Continuation of the Portuguese Transactions in India, from 1576 to
1581; when the Crown of Portugal was usurped by Philip II. of Spain on
the Death of the Cardinal King Henry.
X. Transactions of the Portuguese in India, from 1581 to 1597.
XI. Continuation of the Portuguese Transactions in India, from 1597 to
1612.
XII. Continuation of the Portuguese Transactions, from 1512 to 1517.
A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.
PART II. BOOK II. CONTINUED.
CHAPTER XI.
EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY TO AMERICA.
INTRODUCTION.
Although we have already, in the Introduction to the _Second_ Chapter of
this Book, Vol. III. p. 346. given some notices of the voyages of John
and Sebastian Cabot to America in the service of Henry VII. and VIII. it
appears proper on the present occasion to insert a full report of every
thing that is now known of these early navigations: As, although no
immediate fruits were derived from these voyages, England by their means
became second only to Spain in the discovery of America, and afterwards
became second likewise in point of colonization in the New World. The
establishments of the several English colonies will be resumed in a
subsequent division of our arrangement.
It has been already mentioned that Columbus, on leaving Portugal to
offer his services to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain for the discovery
of the Indies by a western course through the Atlantic, sent his brother
Bartholomew to make a similar offer to Henry VII. King of England, lest
his proposals might not have been listened to by the court of Spain.
Bartholomew, as has been formerly related, was taken by pirates; and on
his arrival in England was forced to procure the means of living, and of
enabling himself to appear before the king, by the construction and sale
of sea-charts and maps, in which he had been instructed by his brother.
Owing to this long delay, when he at length presented himself to King
Henry, and had even procured the acceptance of his brothers proposals,
so much time had been lost that Isabella queen of Castille had already
entered into the views of his illustrious brother, who had sailed on his
second voyage to the West Indies, while Bartholomew was on his journey
through France to announce to him that Henry King of England had agreed
to his proposals.
The fame of the astonishing discovery made by Columbus in 1591, soon
spread throughout Europe; and only four years afterwards, or in 1595, a
patent was granted by Henry VII. to John Cabot, or Giovani Cabota, a
Venetian citizen, then resident in England, and his three sons, Lewis,
Sebastian, and Sancius, and their heirs and deputies, to sail to all
parts countries and seas of the east west and north, at their own cost
and charges, with five ships; to seek out discover and find whatsoever
islands, countries, regions, or provinces belonging to the heathen and
infidels, were hitherto unknown to Christians, and to subdue, occupy,
and possess all such towns, cities, castles, and islands as they might
be able; setting up the royal banners and ensigns in the same, and to
command over them as vassals and lieutenants of the crown of England, to
which was reserved the rule, title, and jurisdiction of the same. In
this grant Cabot and his sons, with their heirs and deputies, were bound
to bring all the fruits, profits, gains, and commodities acquired in
their voyages to the port of Bristol; and, having deducted from the
proceeds all manner of necessary costs and charges by them expanded, to
pay to the king in wares or money the fifth part of the free gain so
made, in lieu of all customs of other dues; of importation on the same.
By these letters patent; dated at Westminster on the 5th of March in the
eleventh year of Henry VII. all the other subjects of England are
prohibited from visiting or frequenting any of the continents, islands,
villages, towns, castles, or places which might be discovered by John
Cabot, his sons, heirs, or deputies, under forfeiture of their ships and
goods[1].
[Footnote 1: Hakluyt, III. 26.]
No journal or relation remains of the voyages of Cabot and his sons in
consequence of this grant, and we are reduced to a few scanty memorials
concerning them; contained in the third volume of _Hakluyt's Collection
of the Early Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries of the English Nation_.
We quote from the new edition, with additions, published at London in
1810.
Two years after the before-mentioned letters patent, or on the 18th of
February 1497, a licence was granted by the same king of England, Henry
VII. to John Cabot, to take six English ships in any haven or havens of
England, being of 200 tons burden or under, with all necessary
furniture; and to take also into the said ships all such masters,
mariners, or other subjects of the king as might be willing to engage
with him.
It would appear that the patent of 1495 had never been acted upon; but
in consequence of this new licence, John Cabot and his son Sebastian
proceeded from the port of Bristol and discovered an island somewhere on
the coast of America to which they gave the name of Prima Vista,
probably the island of Newfoundland.
