53 
England, however, was not the first colonizer. European colon- 
izing began on the discovery of America. The Spaniards were 
in the field more than a century before, and it seemed as if the 
French were going to outstrip us in the race. All the wars with 
the French of the Seventeenth Century were carried on not so 
much for European causes as for America, and for the expansion 
of the British Empire. 
Spain was the first to begin the European form of settlement 
beyond the Atlantic. Columbus discovered America in 1492. 
Spain formed a settlement at Hayti or San Domingo. Cortez 
went out and founded the great empire of Mexico, and Pizarro 
founded an empire in Peru, and formed a settlement all along 
the coast of Mexico. The French got hold of Canada. Sebastian 
Cabot, father and son, sailed from Bristol (1497) and discovered 
Newfoundland, and sailed down the coast and discovered the 
mainland. It is a remarkable thing that there was strong evi- 
dence to show that cod-fishing on the coast of Newfoundland 
existed before Cabot’s visit. The people who went out there and 
engaged in cod-fishing were inhabitants of Brittany, and went 
out from St. Malo and Dieppe. These French people formed a 
settlement for drying fish. Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. 
Lawrence, and the French occupied themselves with the valley 
of the St. Lawrence. Some of the most interesting and ro- 
mantic episodes are connected with the French, but they went 
on wrong principles and did not succeed. Cartier had a most 
trying experience with the Canadian winter, for which he was 
unprepared. All this time we heard nothing of England. But 
we have heard of Henry VIII. He founded the British Navy, 
and his reign was a time of great preparation. We were bullied 
by the Spaniards, and had no chance till after the Spanish 
Armada, when the bullying was stopped and the Spanish Fleet 
destroyed. One of the greatest difficulties which England had 
to contend with was this bullying spirit of Spain, a country 
which at that time claimed the whole of North America because 
of the discoveries of Columbus, and because Pope Alexander VI. 
had granted it. They claimed the North American continent and 
Florida. The French colonized in the north, and called it New 
France. It seemed to be a race between the Spaniards and the 
French whether America was to be New Spain or New France. 
The English began to interfere, and to sail what was called ‘‘ the 
Spanish Main” all through the reign of Elizabeth. Just as we 
now start new companies, John Oxenhope or Francis Drake would 
publish that he was fitting up a ship to sail the Spanish main, 
and merchants of the day took shares in the venture. It meant 
going out to fight the Spaniards. They got letters of marque 
from somebody. This sort of desultory warfare accustomed the 
English people to fight the Spaniards, and they found they were 
