The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 | Page 7

the maritime
states of Europe manifested a desire to share with Spain, the glory, the
wealth, and the dominion to be acquired in the new world. By no one of
these states, was this desire carried into action more promptly than by
England, Henry VII. had received communications from Columbus,
during the tedious and uncertain negotiations of that great man, at the
dilatory court of Ferdinand, which prepared him for the important
discoveries afterwards made, and inclined him to countenance the
propositions of his own subjects for engaging in similar adventures. On
the 5th of March 1495, he granted a commission to John Cabot, an
enterprising Venetian who had settled in Bristol, and to his three sons,
Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctius, empowering them, or either of them, to
sail under the banner of England, towards the east, north, or west, in
order to discover countries unoccupied by any Christian state, and to
take possession of them in his name.
[Sidenote: His voyage to America.]
It does not appear that the expedition contemplated at the date of this
commission was prosecuted immediately; but in May 1496, Cabot,
with his second son, Sebastian, sailed from Bristol in a small squadron,
consisting of one ship furnished by the King, and four barks fitted out
by merchants of that city; and, steering almost due west, discovered the
islands of Newfoundland and St. Johns, and, soon afterward, reached
the continent of North America, along which he sailed from the
fifty-sixth to the thirty-eighth degree of north latitude, in the vain hope
of discovering a passage into the Pacific.
Thus, according to the English historians, was first discovered that
immense continent which stretches from the gulf of Mexico as far north
as has yet been explored; and to this voyage, the English trace their title
to the country they afterwards acquired by settlement, and by arms.
France, which has since contested with Britain the possession of a
considerable portion of this important territory, has also advanced
claims to its discovery; but they seem not to be well founded.

[Sidenote: The scheme of making settlements relinquished.]
The ardour which had been excited in the bosom of Henry for making
acquisitions in the new world, expired with this first effort. Cabot, on
his return, found that monarch entirely disinclined to the farther
prosecution of a scheme in which he had engaged with some zeal, the
commencement of which had been attended with encouraging
appearances.
Several causes are supposed to have contributed to suspend the pursuits
of the English in America. Previous to its discovery, the Portuguese
had explored the Azores, or Western Islands; in consequence of which
they claimed this continent, and contended for the exclusion of the
Spaniards from the Western Ocean. The controversy was decided by
the Pope, who, on the 7th of May 1493, of his own "mere liberality and
certain knowledge, and the plenitude of apostolic authority," granted to
Spain, the countries discovered or 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 eastward of that line.
The validity of this grant was probably strengthened, in the opinion of
Henry, by other circumstances. He set a high value on the friendship of
the King of Spain, with whom he was then negotiating the marriage
which afterwards took place between his eldest son and Catharine, the
daughter of that monarch. Ferdinand was jealous to excess of all his
rights; and Henry was not inclined to interrupt the harmony subsisting
between the two crowns, by asserting claims to the country discovered
by Cabot, which was obviously within the limits to which the
pretensions of Spain extended.
[Sidenote: Renewed by Elizabeth.]
The fisheries of Newfoundland were carried on by individuals, to a
considerable extent, and a paltry traffic was continued with the natives;
but no serious design of acquiring territory, and planting colonies in
America was formed until the reign of Elizabeth, when a plan for

making permanent settlements was proposed and patronized by several
persons of rank and influence. To select a man qualified for this
arduous task, and disposed to engage in it, was among the first objects
to which their attention was directed. Sir Humphry Gilbert had
rendered himself conspicuous by his military services, and by a treatise
concerning the north-west passage, in which great ingenuity and
learning, are stated by Dr. Robertson, to be mingled with the
enthusiasm, the credulity, and sanguine expectation which incite men
to new and hazardous undertakings. On this gentleman the adventurers
turned their eyes, and he was placed at the head of the enterprise. On
the 11th of June 1578,