THE CABOTS. 0 WHEN a writer produces a work exhibitiig great
power of research, and apparently equal accuraoy, we are bound in justice to appreciate his labours, and he would be an unduly stern critic who would withhold from conscientious industry the mead of praise it so well merits. But an intelligent reader will ask whether the subject of the book is of even moderate importance, whether it has been treated judiciously, and whether the style is such as to render it attractive or even readable, and to these queries we can, in this case, return but a very hesitating and qualified affirmation. We do not con- sider the lives and adventures of the two Cabots by any means as important or interesting as those of very many of our British naval worthies, or even as deserving of comparison with those of foreigners who have rendered good services to our country, especially as that vivid and picturesque power of narrative which can invest the trivial and useless with dignity and charm is nowhere visible. The author has devoted several chapters to the rather unnecessary task of ascertaining the nationality of John Cabot and his son Sebastian, and we see no reason to doubt that the former, wherever he may have been born, was of Genoese race, but a naturalised citizen of Venice, while there seems to be a pre- ponderance of evidence that the latter was born in Venice, but brought up in England. Most probably he was willing to pass for a native of any country where he hoped for lucrative employment, somewhat like Swift, who, though generally and, as we think, rightly claiming to be an Englishman, yet when he posed as a patriot preferred to be deemed an Irishman. But this question was scarcely worth the trouble which Mr. Harrisse has expended on it, and looks too much like what is termed " book-making," though all must approve his industry in the collection of documents, and sagacity in weighing evidence, and he has also given us a brief, but very useful, account of th English chroniclers from whom he has derived much information.
John Cabot seems to have been always of an adventurous disposition, and to have visited Spain and Portugal in the hope of obtaining the means for a voyage of discovery. We find him in Bristol in 1491, where he is said to have employed himself as a maker of charts, but probably also in some department of merchandise. At this date various tales of wondrous islands in the West were in circulation ; scholars had talked of Plato's Atlantis—and some faith was then reposed in ancient philosophy and literature—Scandinavian mariners had told how their Icelandic compatriots had discovered the territory they named " The Land of Vines," most probably some district of New England; and the Celtic traditions of St. Brandon's isle and of the islands called Hy-Brasil, Antilia, and that of the Seven Cities, were certainly known, and very probably credited by English merchants and capitalists, and even in higher and more cultivated circles. It is noteworthy as an instance of the tenacity with which legendary names adhere to real existences that we still retain the appellations Antilles and Brazil. But as by this time the spherical form of the earth was generally accepted, save by theologians, it was hoped that a way could be found to the gorgeous realms of Cathay and Cipango, previously made known by Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville. In 1497, having obtained the Royal license to go on a voyage of discovery at his own expense —for Henry VII. was unduly prudent in pecuniary matters— Sebastian Cabot departed in a small ship with but eighteen bands. We have but very imperfect data as to the point of the American Continent he first descried, but our author gives good reasons for holding it to have been at or near Cape Chud- leigh at the entrance to Hudson Strait, but the explorer cer- tainly was wrong in describing this district as "terra optima et temperate," terms by no means applicable to the inhospitable coast of Labrador. Some have supposed that his first "land- fall," as Mr. Harriette terms it—we had some difficulty in ascer- taining his meaning—was at Newfoundland, and hence he has been honoured as the discoverer of our oldest Colony; but this view seems quite groundless. Sebastian Cabot may well be deemed guilty of having introduced into his charts non- existent islands, as that of San Juan, and frequently displayed a want of accuracy and even of veracity ; it has also been shown that he often merely copied from older maps of very inferior correctness. It is clear that be assumed to himself • John Cabot and Sebastian, his Son. By Henry Herrisse. London: B. Y. Stevens. the credit of his father's two voyages, alleging that the latter was dead before the date of the earlier one,—a transparent fiction refuted by strong documentary evidence. Even in his own day many denied his having taken any part in his father's expeditions ; while the Corporation of London protested against his being sent as an explorer on the ground of his inexperience in naval affairs. When John Cabot returned from his first voyage, either he or his sailors must have drawn largely on their imaginative powers, for the belief was soon diffused that he had discovered the mysterious islands above-mentioned, and even visited the Kingdom of the Grand Khan, hence he was generally termed the " Great Admiral." The following year he started on his second voyage, concerning which we have very little consistent or trustworthy information, and none at all as to the results, the English chroniclers being altogether silent. We can, however, readily believe that he intended to make for Cape Chudleigh, where he first descried land, and perhaps to find a way through Hudson Strait to the Spice Islands of the East ; but being impeded by icebergs, turned south and coasted as far as Florida. Indeed, if Mr. Harrisse's reasonings be accepted, and they seem sound, both the Cabots seem to have exploited with Italian cleverness, English ignorance and credulity, though the father cer- tainly could not equal the son in crafty exaggeration and unblushing mendacity. In our opinion the only question of importance regarding these adventurers is, Did they, or either of them, discover Newfoundland ? for, as this island is virtually, though perhaps not technically, an adjunct of the Dominion of Canada, it would be held that Britain possesses this extensive terri- tory by the right of first discovery. But it is generally believed that the Frenchman Jacques Cartier was the first tc explore the estuary of the St. Lawrence, though it is nearly certain that he was anticipated by some Spaniards, and the very name of the country is a compound of the Spanish aca nada=nothing here,—i.e., no traces of gold, the only object of Spanish enterprise. The claim of first discovery seems therefore vague and unsatisfactory, and if the present writer were asked, as he has often been, by what right Britain bolds Canada, he would answer by the monosyllable " Wolfe," with the added remark that there are some millions of British subjects therein, and any one who likes may try to turn them out. The really valid claim to any foreign possession is conquest, followed by permanent and useful occupation, so guided as to be beneficial to the settlers, the natives, and humanity at large.
Whether Sebastian Cabot ever undertook a third voyage may be doubted, and the author has shown the insufficiency of the evidence for• it, but in 1512 we find him in Spain, and in a short time holding the office of captain of the fleet in. tended for the Indies. Such an appointment did not at this time imply any degree of nautical skill, the working of the ship being entirely in the hands of the sailing-master or the pilot. In 1522, having held this office as well as that of Chief Pilot for some years, and being thus well ac- painted with all the designs of the Spanish Government regarding exploration, he proposed to betray them to the Venetians, alleging also that he had discovered a passage to the Spice Islands,—an impudent falsehood which proves him an impostor as well as a traitor. These overtures the prudent Council of Ten did not see their way to adopt, ind it is obvious that the light galleys of Venice could not !mounter the surges of the Atlantic, nor would the Signory run the risk of a war with Spain, then so powerful. In 1524 a mercantile company was formed at Seville for the purpose of communicating with the Moluccas vici the Strait of Magellan, and Sebastian Cabot was appointed to the 3ommand of four ships and over two hundred men, but Mr. Harrisse need not have tried his readers' patience with the names of the sailors and the pedigrees and biographies of the officers and volunteers. It should be remembered that, in the imperfect knowledge of geography which obtained in those days, the enormous estuaries of the American rivers, and the great indentation of the Gulf of Mexico, would easily have led navigators to suppose that what we now know to be a mighty continent, was a chain of large islands, through which a passage could be found to the eastern shores of Asia, otherwise nothing can be said to palliate Cabot's deliberate disobedience of orders. Having crossed the Atlantic in a south-westerly direction to Pernambuco, he there heard some exaggerated tales of the mineral wealth to be found on the banks of the Rio de la. Plata, and hence determined to explore that river. Here Mr.
Harrisse has given us a tedious and uninteresting list of the rivers, capes, and islands lying along the ooaat of Brazil and Uruguay. Cabot was evidently of a domineering temper, and unduly harsh to his officers, and, like most Spanish com- manders, failed in conciliating the Indians ; but this may have been the fault of his crews. His setting men—who, we may admit, deserved some punishment—ashore among the cannibal natives, must be deemed atrocious cruelty, and he was apparently the inventor of the ruthless prac- tice called marooning ; but theorists—and our author has proved that he was nothing more, and not even that accurately or extensively—are the most merciless of man- kind when they encounter opposition. No gold or silver could be procured on the batiks of the Rio de la Plata, which is in truth a decided misnomer, and if any was obtained by the first explorer, De Solis, it must have been brought from Peru. After navigating the Plata for some time, he turned into its great tributary, the Parana, which in the Indian tongue means " great sea," and reminds us of Virgil's mare proruptum, applied to the comparatively insignificant Timavus. Mr. Harrisse has made an egregious mistake when he tells that this river " forms an elbow, and commences running eastward in the direction of Brazil," when it really rises on the confines of that country, runs west- ward for a considerable distance, and finally bending to the south joins the Plata ; this error is surely an instance of culpable negligence. His attempt to ascend the Paraguay river having been relinquished from the hostility of the natives and want of provisions, and the hope of reaching golden Peru being frustrated, he returned to Spain in July, 1530, after a profitless expedition, with but one ship and a handful of men exhausted by hardship and privation. Im- mediately on landing he was impeached for disobedience of orders in deviating from the course prescribed, and for other serious offences, thus sharing the fate of Clive and Hastings, —men much his superiors, morally and intellectually. Our limits will not permit us to enter into any account of his trial; suffice it to say that he was sentenced to deportation to Morocco, besides heavy damages and costs,—a doom which,. however, never took effect, Charles V. having put a stop to its execution, most probably beguiled thereto by Cabot's untrue representations of the wealth of the district now miscalled Argentina. Restored to his post of Pilot-Major, he was believed not to have discharged his duties with strict integrity, but was in high repute as a theoretic chartographer. In 1548 he returned to England ; but though in receipt of a pension, he never held any definite office, being, however, often consulted on nautical matters,. especially regarding various attempts to reach China and Japan by north-east the passage. Mr. Harrisse has here inter- calated two chapters on English exploration in this direction, but has failed to render them interesting or to give auy important information.
Sebastian Cabot retired from public affairs in 1557, anct died shortly after, leaving a high reputation as a scientific and practical mariner, much of which the author of this book considers—and, it must be admitted, has cogently proved—to be undeserved. Our own verdict would be that he was guilty of much falsehood and intrigue, that he was not as expert a sea- man as he claimed to be, and that in the leadership of men he exhibited neither justice, mercy, nor even ordinary discretion. But let us temper justice with mercy, and in judging of the worthies of past ages, bring to light some extenuating circum- stances. He was of the Italian race, a people who for at least a century bad borne an unenviable character for slyness and underhand proceedings ; be lived in an age when mer- cenary service was in vogue, and strict fidelity to engagements was not to be expected; the languages of all the Latin races are prone to vagueness and exaggeration, and thus often deviated, and even unintentionally, from veracity ; and he had to deal with Spaniards, who deemed his foreign birth a sufficient reason for disobeying his orders. Perhaps his character may be justly comprehended if we apply to him the common phrase " too clever by half."
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