^■^^ lll.STOJJV OF INDIA. [Book I.
A.D. 1517. ]>iaiiches off" between the coasts of Greenland and Labrador, the vessels parted comi)any, in order that each mi<^ht explore a separate entrance. The expe- dient seemed judicioas, ])ut the result jjioved disa.stroas. Only two of the vessels returned 'to Portugal: in the third Miguel appears to liave met the same fate as Gasj)ar. A third h)rother, Vasco Eanes, inspired by the heroic spirit of his family, volunteered to head a new expedition ; but the king, tiiinking that enough had already been sacrificed in enteq)ri.ses the .succe.ss of which seemed now more than problematical, refased liis consent, and the Portuguese desisted from any further attempt to discover a north- we.st [)assage to India. British Shoi'tly after the accession of Henry VIII. to the throne of England an
to the attempt was made to revive the spirit ot maritime enterpnse, which his father during the latter years of his life had allowed to langui.sh, but other occupa- tions more congenial to his taste, though less conducive to his honour, soon began to engross Henry's attention, and during his long reign English maritime discovery presents an almost continuous blank. The only important exception is an expedition to the north-west in 1517. Sebastian Cabot had probably expected that Spain, to which he had transferred his services, would employ them in an endeavour to ascertain the practicability of a north-west passage. If tliis was his hope, it was disappointed ; for the magnificent territories which Spain was ac(][uiring in the more genial latitude of Mexico, and the immen.se wealth which had in consequence began to flow into her treasury, left her little inclination to prosecute a hazardous and doubtful enterprise in the frozen regions of the North. Cabot, however, having gained his earliest laurels in this field, was determined not to abandon it, and returned to England, where he had the satisfaction to learn that liis services, again volunteered, were accepted. He was confident of success ; and after entering Hudson's Bay, considered him- self on the fair way to Cataia, or China, to which, according to his own strong expression, he "both could and would have gone," when the opposition of Sir Thomas Peart, under whom, as Vice-admiral of England, he held only a sub- ordinate command, and a failure of courage on the part of liis crew, obliged him to retui-n. Robert The failure of this expedition seemed to justify Henry in the a^^athy he
memorial to had prcviously manifested, and ten additional years had passed away, when his attention was once more called to the subject by an English merchant of the name of Robert Thome, who, after a long residence at SeTlle, had finally settled in London. This gentleman, while in Spain, had formed a close con- nection with Sebastian Cabot, and become thoroughly imbued with his ideas a.s to the practicability of reaching the East Indies by some northern outlet from the Atlantic. Seeing how completely the subject had fallen into abeyance, he presented a memorial to the king, in which, after adverting to the natural desire which all princes have to extend their dominions, and which Hemy himself had evinced by his recent expedition to France, he thus proceeds: —
