VERRAZANO VETO. 



735 



walking register or volume of reference, ever at the 

 service of his colleagues." In 1834 he was Whig can- 

 didate for mayor and was narrowly defeated. After that 

 he sat for some time in the State Senate, and was 

 active in its judicial functions. In 1833 appeared his 

 Discourses and Addresses, ami three volumes of Mis- 

 cellanies reprinted from The. Talisman, which he had 

 conducted with Bryant and II. C. Sands. 11 is reputa- 

 tion was enhanced by college addresses on Tiie ll'ujlit 

 Jl'irn! Influence nnd Use <>f Liberal Studies at Geneva, 

 1833, on The Influence of Moral Causes mi Opinion, 

 Science, and Literature, at Aniherst, 1834, and on 

 The Aihmtage* and Ditadoantaytt of tlie Ameri- 

 can Sclwlar, at Union, 1836. He issued an annotated 

 edition of Shakespeare (3 vols., 1844-47), but the 

 plates were destroyed in the fire at Harper's, 1S.">1. 

 Verplanek's position in New York may be compared to 

 that of Ticknor in Boston. (See TiCKNORin the ENCY- 

 CLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA.) From 1829 he was vice- 

 chancellor of the University of New York, and from 

 1846 president of the commissioners of emigration, 

 and writing most of their reports. Much of his later 

 years was spent in his ancestral homo at Fishkill. 

 He died in New York March 18, 1870, and Bryant 

 delivered a memorial address before the Historical 

 Society in May following. 



VERRAZANO, GIOVANNI (c. 1480-1527), Italian 

 navigator ami explorer, is supposed to have been born 

 shortly after 1480 in Florence, Italy, where members 

 of his family had attained high office. He is said to 

 have travelled extensively, particularly in Egypt and 

 Asia, and is even doubtfully reported to have com- 

 manded one of Aubert's ships in that mariner's 

 expedition from Dieppe to America in 1508. In 1521 

 Verrazano appears in history as a French corsair under 

 the name of Juan Florin or Florentin, preying on the 

 commerce of Spain with her new possessions. In 

 particular he is said to have captured in 1522 the rich 

 treasure-ship in which Cortez was sending to Charles 

 V. of Spain the spoils of Mexico, valued at $1,500,- 

 000. While following this occupation he seems to have 

 attracted the notice of Francis I., King of France, 

 under whose auspices he started in 1523 with 4 ships, 

 professedly to reach Cathay by a westward voyage, 

 "expecting to penetrate any intervening land," al- 

 though it may be questioned whether his real object 

 was not piracy as well as a desire to reach the new 

 regions discovered by Cabot and Cord real that is. 

 North America. His little fleet encountered violent 

 storms and he was obliged to put back to some port in 

 Brittany with only two vessels, in one of which, the 

 Daitphine, he made a fresh start Jan. 17, 1524, from 

 the Island of Madeira, with 50 uicn. In 50 days he 

 made the land in N. lat. 34, not far from Cape Fear 

 in North Carolina, and began his search for a harbor 

 by coasting 50 leagues to the south. Failing in this 

 object, he turned along the shore northward, and 

 while at anchor (perhaps near Raleigh Bay) sent a 

 boat ashore for water and found the natives (whom he 

 describes as black, of moderate stature and good pro- 

 portions, and naked save for a breech-cloth) friendly 

 and hospitable. Still following the shore, in fifty 

 leagues he reached a pleasant place where heanchored, 

 and found the natives fairer than those first seen and 

 the country as fertile but colder. Hence his crew car- 

 ried off a boy and brought him with them to France. 

 After coursing a hundred leagues farther to the north- 

 east, he arrived at a spot between small steep hills 

 where a great stream poured its watci-s into the sea. 

 Anchoring in the river, Verrazano sent his bont in, and 

 this, after going half a league, found that the entrance 

 widened into a lake of three leagues circuit, upon 

 which at least 30 native boats were passing from 

 shore to shore. A sudden squall frightened the 

 boatmen and they returned to their ship without 

 further exploring this pleasant harbor, which seems 

 to have been that of New York. Sailing thense 

 east, they then discovered about 10 leagues from the 



mainland an island of triangular shape and " about 

 the size of Rhodes," to which they gave the name 

 of Louisa, mother of Francis I. From this island 

 (supposed to be Block Island) Verrazano steered 

 landward and in fifteen leagues came to a most beau- 

 tiful harbor which he places in the parallel of Rome. 

 41 40' N., when the natives in their boats crowded 

 around the ship and showed themselves curious and 

 friendly, being easily persuaded to come aboard. 

 They are described as fine-looking, the handsomest 

 seen on the voyage, of taller stature than Europeans, 

 of light color, sharp faces with long black hair and 

 black eyes, but with a mild expression. In this 

 agreeable harbor, which has been identified as New- 

 port, Verrazano tarried 15 days, and then, through 

 the kindness of the inhabitants having supplied 

 himself with all necessaries, he sailed for 150 leagues 

 farther along the coast, the next landing being made 

 in a country colder, full of thick woods, and where 

 the natives were rude, shy of strangers, and clothed 

 in skins. This landing has been placed not far from 

 Portsmouth, N. H. Continuing the voyage hence, 

 in a north-easterly direction, 52 islands were dis- 

 covered, all near the shore, but without stopping to 

 examine these Verrazano held on another 150 leagues, 

 when he attained about latitude 50 N. Here, 

 haviuz reached the country already discovered by 

 the adventurous fishermen of Brittany, and finding 

 liis stores almost exhausted, he decided to return to 

 France, having, as he says, discovered more than 

 7(K) leagues of unknown territory. His arrival at 

 Dieppe is placed early in July, 1524, for his letter 

 to the king giving an account of his discoveries is 

 dated from that port, July 8, 1524. We lose trace 

 of Verrazano after his return from this voyage. 

 It has been suggested that he went to England and 

 offered his services to Henry VIII., and contempo- 

 rary allusions give color to the suggestion. Biddle, 

 in his Memoirs of Sebastian Cabot, suggests he was 

 the Piedmontese pilot who was killed and eaten by 

 the savages in Rut's expedition of 1527, which would 

 harmonize Ramusio's statement that Verrazano made 

 a second voyage to America and lost his life there. 

 But Spanish official documents show that Juan 

 Florin, with other French pirates, was captured at 

 sea in 1527, and in November hanged at Colmenar, 

 between Salamanca and Toledo. A letter is said to 

 have been found, bearing date Paris, Nov. 14, 1527, 

 which speaks of Verrazano as preparing an expedition 

 of five shins for America. It is not possible, indeed, 

 to reconcile the statements regarding him after his 

 return from America. (j. H.) 



VETO. During the colonial period in the history 

 of this country, all legislative authority being ulti- 

 mately in the crown and parliament of Great Britain, 

 the veto power as now recognized had no existence ; 

 as all colonial legislation took effect under the assent 

 of the British power, that specific limitation known as 

 the veto power was merged in that which had a more 

 universal nature. The people of the colonies naturally 

 regarded with disfavor that which appeared to them, 

 to be an arbitrary interference with the right of popu- 

 lar government. With the assertion of the right of 

 self-government by the colonies, the effect of this sen- 

 timent was not dissipated, and hence we find that the 

 necessity for an executive veto was not readily recog- 

 nized by them. 



Massachusetts in her constitution of 1780 adopted 

 the provisions that, with hardly any change of sub- 

 stance or form, have passed into the Constitution of 

 the United States and of the States generally. These 

 provisions required that the acts of legislation should 

 be signed by the governor or that he should return 

 them to the legislature with his objections, whereupon 

 they could only take effect when passed by a two-thirds 

 vote. Until the charter o_f 1726 the governor had an 

 absolute veto upon the legislation. 



Under the frame of government for Pennsylvania in 



