368 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[May, 
During the sixteenth century, the merchants of Bristol had ex- 
tended their trade to the Canary Islands ; those of Plymouth to 
the coast of Guinea and Brazil ; the fisheries were prosecuted 
on the banks of Newfoundland ; the exclusive trade of Russia 
was in their hands ; while to the Mediterranean, Germany, and 
the central ports of Europe, their trade was prosecuted with such 
vigour as to elicit the open jealousy of the Hanse Towns. 
The Protestant inhabitants of France and the Netherlands, fly- 
ing at that time from the persecutions of their bigoted govern- 
ments, contributed largely to the commercial resources of Eng- 
land, not more by the introduction of capital than of mechanical 
skill. 
Spain was followed to the new world, and Cabot, in fourteen 
hundred and ninety-seven, traced these shores from Labrador to 
Virginia. In fifteen hundred and twenty-seven, a project was pre- 
sented to Henry the Eighth, which was intended to put England 
on a footing with Portugal, at that time claiming an exclusive 
privilege, and defending, by an armed force, the passage to the 
-east by the Cape of Good Hope. And this project was a north- 
west passage. Two eff"orts were made during the reign of that 
prince, and though unsuccessful, reflected the highest credit on 
the nautical skill of the English. Indeed, so ardent was the desire 
of England to share in the trade of the east, and so anxious to 
find a channel to which the monopohzing Portuguese could have 
no claim, that repeated eff'orts were made to make voyages to 
India, by the northwest, and also by the northeast passage. 
These voyages, though they extended the hmits of geographical 
knowledge, and opened new channels of trade with the north of 
Russia, were unsuccessful, and several of them tragical in their 
results. 
During the many years spent in these unsuccessful projects, 
England had steadily increased in wealth and naval power ; so that 
in fifteen hundred and eighty-two, throwing aside all disguise, ves- 
sels to India were despatched by way of the Cape of Good Hope. 
Others followed, with a letter from Elizabeth to the Emperor of 
China. These voyages, though far from being profitable, did not 
in the least damp the commercial spirit of the people ; which, in 
fact, at this time, received a new impulse from the remarkable 
• voyage of Drake, who returned to Plymouth in fifteen hundred 
