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BOOK I

THE PERIOD OF BEGINNINGS

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1497-1650

ἐπὶ τῷ δοῦλοι ἀλλ ̓ ἐπὶ τῷ ὁμοίοι τοῖς λειπομένοις εἶναι ἐκπέμπονται.

CHAPTER I

towards

THE definition of a colony being thus settled, at what First steps date are we to fix the beginning of our Colonial system? In Colonizaa sense we may say that it dates from the grant by Henry tion. VII. to the Cabots in 1498 of the lands discovered in the previous year.1 But no attempt was made to establish effective occupation, and we must wait for more than a hundred years for the first successful English Colony. Nevertheless the importance of the Newfoundland fisheries as a nursery for seamen (attested as it is by an Act of Parliament of Edward VI.), which were the main practical result of Cabot's efforts, helped very much in the direction of colonization. The Newfoundland trade was by far the greatest English enterprise in America in the middle of the seventeenth century. There were said to be employed 2 in it "270 sail of ships," and "twenty thousand seamen." Raleigh's words may be cited, "If thos should be lost, it would be the greatest blow that was ever geven to Ingland."

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Sir Clements Markham has shown that the Cabot voyages did not mark an epoch. Voyages of discovery preceded them, and they also followed them in quick succession. Their importance lay in their success."4 Nevertheless, so far as conscious effort on the part of rulers was concerned, it is not difficult to give reasons why England was late in the

1 The first land viewed would seem to have been the northern part of Cape Breton. Those who have not the inclination or leisure to pursue the very copious Cabot literature, will find a summary of the learning on the subject in the essay in Vol. III. of Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America:

2 Petition, Dec. 23, 1670, in Calendar of State Papers (Colonial Series), 1669. 1674, ed. by W. Noël Sainsbury.

$ Letter to Cecil, July 20, 1594, Edwards' Life of Raleigh, Vol. II. p. 95. The Royal Navy, Vol. I. ch. xvi.

field compared to Spain and Portugal. In the first place, the movement, towards the discovery of unknown lands, was part of that general movement we term the Renaissance, and England here, as in other matters, felt the impulse of the new movement late in date. It is significant that the first discoverer for England was a foreigner, and if his son Sebastian was born in England, the Venetian Records 1 plainly show that he was no loyal Englishman. Moreover, so long as England remained Roman Catholic, the Papal Bull which claimed to divide the unknown world between Spain and Portugal must have greatly discouraged exploration. It is noteworthy, in this connection, that the letters patent to Cabot in 1498 only deal with lands above 44° N. latitude, thus by implication recognising the Spanish claim. Expeditions were indeed sent out, such as those 1527 and of Rut and Hore, but the results were trifling, and on 1536. the whole the business of the reign of Henry VIII. was to begin the creation of that sea-power on the strength of which ultimately a Colonial Empire depends. Mr Oppenheim has borne striking testimony to the work of Henry VIII. in this respect.2 "For almost thirty-eight years nearly every year marked some advance in construction or administration, some plan calculated to make the navy a more effective fighting instrument. So far as numbers went he made it the most powerful navy in the world, remembering the limited radius within which it was called upon to act. . . . He discarded the one mediæval officer of the Crown and organised an administration so broadly planned that in an extended form it remains in existence to-day.... He trod a path that some of his predecessors had indicated but none had entered. . . . His mistakes were those of the scientific ignorance and feudal spirit of his age, his successes were of a much higher order and informed with the statesmanship of a later time." Compare the words of the shrewd Venetian observers, who speak of Henry's navy as constantly keeping "the sea clear of Flemish and

1 Calendar of Ven. Papers, Dec. 1522.

2 The Administration of the Royal Navy, 1509-1660. 1896, p. 98.

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