PROCEEDINGS FOR 1897 CVII 



have been ransacked, their hidden treasures brought to light, and have 

 now become common property. These documents, together with extracts 

 from Peter Martyr, Eamusio, and other writers, bearing on the subject, 

 may be consulted in various works, especially in Tarducci's " John and 

 Sebastian Cabot," by those who have not time or opportunity for orig- 

 inal investigation. A judicious use of the material supplied by writers 

 contemporary and almost contemporary with the Cabots should deter- 

 mine the point at issue. 



Of those who have written on the site of the landfall, some have 

 been intent on making a hero of the father ; others, of the son ; others 

 again have set out with a preconceived theory as to the point discovered ; 

 whilst still others have, no doubt unconsciously, allowed national preju- 

 dice to bias their judgment regarding the trustworthiness of writers not 

 open to suspicion. Now, we are not warranted in drawing any conclusion 

 not contained in authentic documents; our predilections, or wishes, or 

 aversions are not to be wrought out into concrete historical facts. 



On what part of these western shores did John Cabot land in 1497 ? 

 Some say on the Labrador coast ; a few maintain that it was on the 

 north of Newfoundland, say Cape St. John or Bona Vista ; whilst others 

 assert that the Island of Cape Breton is the spot. Were the parties 

 equally armed with evidence, there would be an interesting literary 

 tournament, for there be brave knights in each list. Our society can 

 claim a very conspicuous one in the person of Dr. S. E. Dawson, a 

 champion of Cape Breton's right to the honour of being the first land 

 discovered. That on the 5th of March, 1496, John Cabot asked of King 

 Henry VII. letters-patent for himself and his three sons empowering 

 them to cai-ry the English flag and to search all seas, and to plant the 

 flag on such islands or regions as they should find, and which had hither- 

 to been unknown to Christians ; and that on the same day the king 

 granted these letters is proved from papers still preserved in the Public 

 Record Oftice, London.' 



As Cabot did not sail until May, 1497, some have conjectured that 

 the delay was owing to remonstrances on the part of the Spanish Govern- 

 ment. The theory is ingenious, but not required to account for the 

 dela3^ Cabot was a poor man ; it was no easy matter for him to procure 

 a ship and the necessary outfit by the beginning of summer. As he was 

 to sail to the north of the Spanish possessions, on an unknown sea, ho 

 would scarcely venture to leave later than that. Hence he was obliged 

 to defer his departure until the following year. 



Early in May, 1497, he sailed from the port of Bristol on his epoch- 

 making voyage in a small vessel called the " Matthew," carrying eighteen 

 persons, nearly all of whom belonged to that place." Regarding the 



1 We do not consider it necessary to give them in full. 

 -Raimondo da Soncino's letter, Appendix B. 



