196
HISTORY OF JNDIA.
(BrjOK I.
A I) 1408.
(^harter granted by Henry VII.
Newfoviiul- land (liscov ered.
Sebastian Cnbot.
him if it should prove a failure, that he lost the opportunity, and only Kignified his intention to accef)t the services of the great Genoese navigator when it was no longer possiVjle for him to obtain them. Before Bartolommeo ColumljUK wjul'l return to announce the success of his mission to England, the discovery of the New World had ah-eady been achieved, and his illustrious Vjrother was prose- cuting a second voyage.
The disappointrn.:;nt which Henry felt appears in the readiness with which he entered into a rival scheme of maritime discovery. A Venetian of the name of John Cabot, or Giovanni Caboto, had been settled for some time at Bristol, and to him and his three sons, Ludovico, Sebastiano, and Sanzio, the English monarch, on the 5th of March, 1496, granted a charter, empowering them, in the most unlimited terms, to make voyages of discovery in his name. There was no great liberality in the grant, for it cost him nothing ; and while he refu.se<l to bear any part of the expense, he was niggardly enough to stipulate for a fifth of the whole profit. Simply for the privilege of sailing under the Englisli flag, and becoming governors under the English crown of any lands which might be discovered, they were to bear the whole loss, and in the event of profit allow another to share it with them It gives a high idea of the spirit of maritime enterprise in England at this period, that even when subjected to such rigorous terms, a Venetian stranger, and his three sons, were able to fit out five vessels for an experimental voyage to the West.
As a mercantile specvilation the voyage entirely failed ; but by the discovery of Newfoundland and of the west coast of North America, a foundation was laid for the series of colonies or plantations which, under the united influences of
freedom and commerce, have made the language and not a few of the most valued institutions of England triumphant in the western world. The accounts of the early proceedings of the Cabots are so indistinct, that it is difiicult to say whether one or two voyages were made. If, as seems most probable, there were two, the latter, which took place in 1498, w^as commanded by Sebastian, whose fame as a navigator ultimately thi'ew that of his father and brothers into the shade. At this time, however, the encouragement he received was so small, that he quitted the service of England for that of Spain, which showed the high sense entertained of his merits by giving him a seat in the coimcil of the Indies.
Sebastian Cabot — Syer's History of Bristol.
