XXVIII EOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



tainly tliscoveivd bv Cabot at some time during his tirst voyage, and 

 doubtless will join in a Cabot celebration. 



'• 1 do not presume to conjecture what shape such a commemoration 

 ma}- take ; but I am satisfied it will be one that will be worthy of the 

 great name of Cabot and worthy of the great confederacy that initiates 

 and carries out such a centenary celebration. 



*' Sincerely yours, 



"M. Harvey." 



The founder of the society, the Mai*quess of Lome, takes much inter- 

 est in the project, and writes most approvingly to the secretary, and it is 

 proposed to invite both him and Mr. Markham to be present on the occa- 

 sion of the celebration. 



In directing the attention of the society once more to the subject, the 

 council need only remark that in honouring the famous Italian navigator 

 there is no thought of detracting in the slightest degree from the fame of 

 the intrejiid sailor of St. Malo, who was assuredly the first to enter the 

 great valley of the St. Lawrence, and see the ancient villages of Caiiada 

 on the banks of the great river, which he followed to Hocheiaga. But 

 all historians agree that John Cabot discovered the continent of North 

 America before the Spaniard had even landed on the shores of Florida, 

 and an eminent Spanish pilot, the Basque, Juan de La Cosa, who accom- 

 panied Columbus on his voyages^ has recognized beyond dispute the 

 claim of English discovery on the Atlantic coast of North America by 

 his remarkable map. England, therefore, owes much to Cabot, since it is 

 on his discover}- that her claim to the country on the Atlantic seaboard 

 of the continent was first based. Verrazano, on whose misty later voy- 

 age the French also based a claim, came to America twenty-seven years 

 later. It seems, then, only fitting that the people of the Canadian 

 Dominion, who own so large a portion of the continent on which (Jabot 

 tirsl landed, should at last ]jay a tril)ute of respect to the memory of a 

 great navigator, whose name must always be recorded on the scroll on 

 which the names of Columbus, Corte Real, Verrazano and Cartier 

 ali'cady find so conspicuous a place. 



18. The Archives op Canada. 



As anticipated in the minutes of the society for 1805, the report by 

 Dr. Brymner at the close of that year contains the calendar for the other 

 maritime proxnnces, that for Nova Scotia being given in the report for 

 1894 ; that of Prince Edward Island begins in 17(59, and the documents are 

 given consecutively from that date, but pi'cvious to the disjunction from 

 Nova Scotia Lord Egmont in 1763 and 1764 made abortive proposals for 

 settling the island of which some information is given. New Brunswick 

 and Cape Bretim were disjoined from Nova f^cotia in 1784. The calendar 

 for the three ])r(n'inces is brought down to the end of 1801. The papers 



