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THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND
by
THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD BIRKENHEAD
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
Honorary Fellow of Wadham and Merton Colleges, Oxford
New and Enlarged Edition
London
Horace Marshall & Son
Temple House And 125 Fleet Street, E.C.
1920
Printed in Great Britain
by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh
PREFACE
Twenty-two years ago the enterprise of Horace Marshall & Son produced
a series of small books known as "The Story of the Empire Series."
These volumes rendered a great service in bringing home to the
citizens of the Empire in a simple and intelligible form their
community of interest, and the romantic history of the development of
the British Empire.
I was asked more than twenty-one years ago to write the volume which
dealt with Newfoundland. I did so. The little book which was the
result has been for many years out of print. I have been asked by my
friends in Newfoundland and elsewhere to bring it up to date for the
purpose of a Second Edition. The publishers assented to this proposal,
and this volume is the result.
The book, of course, never pretended to be anything but a slight
sketch. An attempt has been made--while errors have been corrected and
the subject matter has been brought up to date--to maintain such
character as it ever possessed.
I shall be well rewarded for any trouble I have taken if it is
recognized by my friends in Newfoundland that the reproduction of this
little book places on record an admiration for, and an interest in,
our oldest colony which has endured for considerably more than
twenty-one years.
BIRKENHEAD.
HOUSE OF LORDS,
_May_ 1920.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 7
II. THE AGE OF DISCOVERY 22
III. EARLY HISTORY 45
IV. EARLY HISTORY (_continued_) 64
V. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 81
VI. THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS 95
VII. SELF-GOVERNMENT 114
VIII. MODERN NEWFOUNDLAND 126
IX. THE REID CONTRACT--AND AFTER 143
X. THE FRENCH SHORE QUESTION 171
MAPS--
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR 6
NEWFOUNDLAND IN RELATION TO WESTERN EUROPE 33
INDEX 188
[Illustration: NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR]
THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND
CHAPTER I
THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE
The island of Newfoundland, which is the tenth largest in the world,
is about 1640 miles distant from Ireland, and of all the American
coast is the nearest point to the Old World. Its relative position in
the northern hemisphere may well be indicated by saying that the most
northern point at Belle Isle Strait is in the same latitude as that of
Edinburgh, whilst St. John's, near the southern extremity, lies in the
same latitude as that of Paris. Strategically it forms the key to
British North America. St. John's lies about half-way between
Liverpool and New York, so that it offers a haven of refuge for needy
craft plying between England and the American metropolis. The adjacent
part of the coast is also the landing-place for most of the
Transatlantic cables: it was at St. John's, too, that the first
wireless ocean signals were received. From the sentimental point of
view Newfoundland is the oldest of the English colonies, for our brave
fishermen were familiar with its banks at a time when Virginia and
New England were given over to solitude and the Redskin. Commercially
it is the centre of the most bountiful fishing industry in the world,
and the great potential wealth of its mines is now beyond question. On
all these grounds the story of the colony is one with which every
citizen of Greater Britain should be familiar. The historians of the
island have been capable and in the main judicious, and to the works
of Reeves, Bonnycastle, Pedley, Hatton, Harvey, and above all Chief
Justice Prowse, and more recently to J.D. Rogers,[1] every writer on
Newfoundland must owe much. Of such elaborate work a writer in the
present series may say with Virgil's shepherd, "Non invideo, miror
magis"; for such a one is committed only to a sketch, made lighter by
their labours, of the chief stages in the story of Newfoundland.
To understand that story a short account must be given at the outset
of the situation and character of the island. But for the
north-eastern side of the country, which is indented by deep and wide
inlets, its shape might be roughly described as that of an equilateral
triangle. Its area is nearly 43,000 square miles, so that it is larger
than Scotland and considerably greater than Ireland, the area of which
is 31,760 square miles. Compared to some of the smaller states of
Europe, it is found to be twice as large as Denmark, and three times
as large as Holland. There is only a mile difference between its
greatest length, which from Cape Ray, the south-west point, to Cape
Norman, the northern point, is 317 miles, and its greatest breadth,
from west to east, 316 miles from Cape Spear to Cape Anguille. Its
dependency, Labrador, an undefined strip of maritime territory,
extends from Cape Chidley, where the Hudson's Straits begin in the
north, to Blanc Sablon in the south, and includes the most easterly
point of the mainland. The boundaries between Quebec and Labrador have
been a matter of keen dispute. The inhabitants are for the most part
Eskimos, engaged in fishing and hunting. There are no towns, but there
are a few Moravian mission stations.
The ruggedness of the coast of Newfoundland, and the occasional
inclemency of the climate in winter, led to unfavourable reports,
against which at least one early traveller raised his voice in
protest. Captain Hayes, who accompanied Gilbert to Newfoundland in
1583, wrote on his return:
"The common opinion that is had of intemperation and extreme cold that
should be in this country, as of some part it may be verified, namely
the north, where I grant it is more colde than in countries of Europe,
which are under the same elevation; even so it cannot stand with
reason, and nature of the clime, that the south parts should be so
intemperate as the bruit has gone."
Notwithstanding the chill seas in which it lies, Newfoundland is not
in fact a cold country. The Arctic current lowers the temperature of
the east coast, but the Gulf Stream, whilst producing fogs, moderates
the cold. The thermometer seldom or never sinks below zero in winter,
and in summer extreme heat is unknown. Nor is its northerly detachment
without compensation, for at times the _Aurora borealis_ illumines the
sky with a brilliancy unknown further south. A misconception appears
to prevail that the island is in summer wrapped in fog, and its shores
in winter engirt by ice. In the interior the climate is very much like
that of Canada, but is not so severe as that of western Canada or even
of Ontario and Quebec. The sky is bright and the weather clear, and
the salubrity is shown by the healthy appearance of the population.
The natural advantages of the country are very great, though for
centuries many of them were strangely overlooked. Whitbourne, it is
true, wrote with quaint enthusiasm, in the early sixteenth century: "I
am loth to weary thee (good reader) in acquainting thee thus to those
famous, faire, and profitable rivers, and likewise to those delightful
large and inestimable woods, and also with those fruitful and enticing
lulls and delightful vallies." In fact, in the interior the valleys
are almost as numerous as Whitbourne's adjectives, and their fertility
promises a great future for agriculture when the railway has done its
work.
The rivers, though "famous, faire, and profitable," are not
overpoweringly majestic. The largest are the Exploits River, 200 miles
long and navigable for some 30 miles, and the Gander, 100 miles long,
which--owing to the contour of the island--flows to the eastern bays.
The deficiency, however, if it amounts to one, is little felt, for
Newfoundland excels other lands in the splendour of its bays, which
not uncommonly pierce the land as far as sixty miles. The length of
the coast-line has been calculated at about 6000 miles--one of the
longest of all countries of the world relatively to the area. Another
noteworthy physical feature is the great number of lakes and ponds;
more than a third of the area is occupied by water. The largest lake
is Grand Lake, 56 miles long, 5 broad, with an area of nearly 200
square miles. The longest mountain range in the island is about the
same length as the longest river, 200 miles; and the highest peaks do
not very greatly exceed 2000 feet.
The cliffs, which form a brown, bleak and rugged barrier round the
coasts of Newfoundland, varying in height from 300 to 400 feet, must
have seemed grim enough to the first discoverers; in fact, they give
little indication of the charming natural beauties which lie behind
them. The island is exuberantly rich in woodland, and its long
penetrating bays, running in some cases eighty to ninety miles inland,
and fringed to the water's edge, vividly recall the more familiar
attractiveness of Norwegian scenery. Nor has any custom staled its
infinite variety, for as a place of resort it has been singularly free
from vogue. This is a little hard to understand, for the summer
climate is by common consent delightful, and the interior still
retains much of the glamour of the imperfectly explored. The cascades
of Rocky River, of the Exploits River, and, in particular, the Grand
Falls, might in themselves be considered a sufficient excuse for a
voyage which barely exceeds a week.
Newfoundland is rich in mineral promise. Its history in this respect
goes back only about sixty years: in 1857 a copper deposit was
discovered at Tilt Cove, a small fishing village in Notre Dame Bay,
where seven years later the Union Mine was opened. It is now clear
that copper ore is to be found in quantities almost as inexhaustible
as the supply of codfish. There are few better known copper mines in
the world than Bett's Cove Mine and Little Bay Mine; and there are
copper deposits also at Hare Bay and Tilt Cove. In 1905-6 the copper
ore exported from these mines was valued at more than 375,000 dollars,
in 1910-11 at over 445,000 dollars. The value of the iron ore produced
in the latter period was 3,768,000 dollars. It is claimed that the
iron deposits--red hematite ore--are among the richest in the world.
In Newfoundland, as elsewhere, geology taught capital where to strike,
and when the interior is more perfectly explored it is likely that
fresh discoveries will be made. In the meantime gold, lead, zinc,
silver, talc, antimony, and coal have also been worked at various
places.
A more particular account must be given of the great fish industry, on
which Newfoundland so largely depends, and which forms about 80 per
cent. of the total exports. For centuries a homely variant of Lord
Rosebery's Egyptian epigram would have been substantially true:
Newfoundland is the codfish and the codfish is Newfoundland. Many,
indeed, are the uses to which this versatile fish may be put. Enormous
quantities of dried cod are exported each year for the human larder, a
hygienic but disagreeable oil is extracted from the liver to try the
endurance of invalids; while the refuse of the carcase is in repute as
a stimulating manure. The cod fisheries of Newfoundland are much
larger than those of any other country in the world; and the average
annual export has been equal to that of Canada and Norway put
together. The predominance of the fishing industry, and its ubiquitous
influence in the colony are vividly emphasised by Mr Rogers[2] in the
following passage, though his first sentence involves an exaggerated
restriction so far as modern conditions are concerned:
"Newfoundlanders are men of one idea, and that idea is fish. Their
lives are devoted to the sea and its produce, and their language
mirrors their lives; thus the chief streets in their chief towns are
named Water Street, guides are called pilots, and visits cruises.
Conversely, land words have sea meanings, and a 'planter,' which meant
in the eighteenth century a fishing settler as opposed to a fishing
visitor, meant in the nineteenth century--when fishing visitors ceased
to come from England--a shipowner or skipper. The very animals catch
the infection, and dogs, cows, and bears eat fish. Fish manures the
fields. Fish, too, is the main-spring of the history of Newfoundland,
and split and dried fish, or what was called in the fifteenth century
stock-fish, has always been its staple, and in Newfoundland fish means
cod."
The principal home of the cod is the Grand Newfoundland Bank, an
immense submarine island 600 miles in length and 200 in breadth, which
in earlier history probably formed part of North America. Year by year
the demand for codfish grows greater, and the supply--unaffected by
centuries of exaction--continues to satisfy the demand. This happy
result is produced by the marvellous fertility of the cod, for
naturalists tell us that the roe of a single female--accounting,
perhaps, for half the whole weight of the fish--commonly contains as
many as five millions of ova. In the year 1912-13 the value of the
exported dried codfish alone was 7,987,389 dollars, and in 1917 the
total output of the bank and shore cod fishery was valued at
13,680,000 dollars; and at a time when it was incomparably less, Pitt
had thundered in his best style that he would not surrender the
Newfoundland fisheries though the enemy were masters of the Tower of
London. So the great Bacon, at a time when the wealth of the Incas was
being revealed to the dazzled eyes of the Old World, declared, with an
admirable sense of proportion, that the fishing banks of Newfoundland
were richer far than the mines of Mexico and Peru.
Along the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk the codfish is commonly caught
with hook and line, and the same primitive method is still largely
used by colonial fishermen. More elaborate contrivances are growing in
favour, and will inevitably swell each year's returns. Nor is there
cause to apprehend exhaustion in the supply. The ravages of man are as
nothing to the ravages and exactions of marine nature, and both count
for little in the immense populousness of the ocean. Fishing on a
large scale is most effectively carried on by the Baltow system or one
of its modifications. Each vessel carries thousands of fathoms of
rope, baited and trailed at measured intervals. Thousands of hooks
thus distributed over many miles, and the whole suitably moored. After
a night's interval the catch is examined.
In 1890 a Fisheries Commission was established for the purpose of
conducting the fisheries more efficiently than had been the case
before. Modern methods were introduced, and the artificial propagation
of cod and also of lobsters was begun. In 1898 a Department of Marine
and Fisheries was set up, and with the minister in charge of it an
advisory Fisheries Board was associated.
Though the cod-fishery is the largest and the most important of the
Newfoundland fisheries, the seal, lobster, herring, whale and salmon
fisheries are also considerable, and yield high returns. As to all
these fisheries, the right to make regulations has been placed more
effectively in the hands of Great Britain by the Hague arbitration
award, which was published in September 1910, and which satisfied
British claims to a very large extent.
A pathetic chapter in the history of colonization might be written
upon the fate of native races. A great English authority on
international law (Phillimore) has dealt with their claims to the
proprietorship of American soil in a very summary way.
"The North American Indians," he says, "would have been entitled to
have excluded the British fur-traders from their hunting-grounds; and
not having done so, the latter must be considered as having been
admitted to a joint occupation of the territory, and thus to have
become invested with a similar right of excluding strangers from such
portions of the country as their own industrial operations covered."
It is better to say frankly that the highest good of humanity required
the dispossession of savages; and it is permissible to regret that the
morals and humanity of the pioneers of civilization have not always
been worthy of their errand.
It rarely happens that the native, as in South Africa, has shown
sufficient tenacity and stamina to resist the tide of the white
aggression: more often the invaders have gradually thinned their
numbers. The Spanish adventurers worked to death the soft inhabitants
of the American islands. Many perished by the sword, many in a species
of national decline, the wonders of civilization, for good and for
bad, working an obsession in their childish imaginations which in time
reacted upon the physique of the race.
Sebastian Cabot has left a record of his standard of morality in
dealing with the natives. When he was Grand Pilot of England it fell
to his lot to give instructions to that brave Northern explorer, Sir
Hugh Willoughby:
"The natives of strange countries," he advises, "are to be enticed
aboard and made drunk with your beer and wine, for then you shall know
the secrets of their hearts." A further practice which may have caused
resentment in the minds of a sensitive people, was that of kidnapping
the natives to be exhibited as specimens in Europe.
The natives of Newfoundland were known distinctively as Boeothics or
Beothuks (a name probably meaning red men), who are supposed to have
formed a branch of the great Algonquin tribe of North American
Indians, a warlike race that occupied the north-eastern portion of the
American continent. Cabot saw them dressed in skins like the ancient
Britons, but painted with red ochre instead of blue woad. Cartier, the
pioneer of Canadian adventure, who visited the island in 1534, speaks
of their stature and their feather ornaments. Hayes says in one place:
"In the south parts we found no inhabitants, which by all likelihood
have abandoned these coasts, the same being so much frequented by
Christians. But in the north are savages altogether harmless."
Whitbourne, forty years later, gives the natives an equally good
character: "These savage people being politikely and gently handled,
much good might be wrought upon them: for I have had apparant proofes
of their ingenuous and subtle dispositions, and that they are a people
full of quicke and lively apprehensions.
"By a plantation" [in Newfoundland] "and by that means only, the poore
mis-beleeving inhabitants of that country may be reduced from
barbarism to the knowledge of God, and the light of his truth, and to
a civill and regular kinde of life and government."
The plantation came, but it must be admitted that the policy of the
planters was not, at first sight, of a kind to secure the admirable
objects indicated above by King James's correspondent. In fact, for
hundreds of years, and with the occasional interruptions of humanity
or curiosity, the Boeothics were hunted to extinction and perversely
disappeared, without, it must be supposed, having attained to the
"civill and regular kinde of life" which was to date from the
plantation.
As lately as 1819 a "specimen" was procured in the following way. A
party of furriers met three natives--two male, one female--on the
frozen Red Indian Lake. It appeared later that one of the males was
the husband of the female. The latter was seized; her companions had
the assurance to resist, and were both shot. The woman was taken to
St. John's, and given the name of May March; next winter she was
escorted back to her tribe, but died on the way. These attempts to
gain the confidence of the natives were, perhaps, a little brusque,
and from this point of view liable to misconstruction by an
apprehensive tribe. Ironically enough, the object of the attempt just
described was to win a Government reward of £100, offered to any
person bringing about a friendly understanding with the Red Indians.
Another native woman, Shanandithit, was brought to St. John's in 1823
and lived there till her death in 1829. She is supposed to have been
the last survivor. Sir Richard Bonnycastle, who has an interesting
chapter on this subject, saw her miniature, which, he says, "without
being handsome, shows a pleasing countenance."
* * * * *
Before closing this introductory chapter a few figures may be usefully
given for reference to illustrate the present condition of the
island.[3] At the end of 1917 the population, including that of
Labrador, was 256,500, of whom 81,200 were Roman Catholics and 78,000
members of the Church of England. The estimated public revenue for the
year 1917-18 was 5,700,000 dollars; the estimated expenditure was
5,450,000 dollars. In the same year the public debt was about
35,450,000 dollars. The estimated revenue for 1918-19 was 6,500,000
dollars; expenditure, 5,400,000 dollars. In 1898 the imports from the
United Kingdom amounted to £466,925, and the exports to the United
Kingdom to £524,367. In the year 1917-18 the distribution of trade was
mainly as follows: imports from the United Kingdom, 2,248,781 dollars;
from Canada, 11,107,642 dollars; from the United States, 12,244,746
dollars; exports to the United Kingdom, 3,822,931 dollars; to Canada,
2,750,990 dollars; to the United States, 7,110,322 dollars. The
principal imports in 1916-17 were flour, hardware, textiles,
provisions, coal, and machinery; the chief exports were dried cod,
pulp and paper, iron and copper ore, cod and seal oil, herrings,
sealskins, and tinned lobsters. In 1917 there were 888 miles of
railway open, of which 841 were Government-owned; and there are over
4600 miles of telegraph line. The tonnage of vessels entered and
cleared at Newfoundland ports in 1916-17 was 2,191,006 tons, of which
1,818,016 tons were British. The number of sailing and steam vessels
registered on December 31st, 1917, was 3496.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "A Historical Geography of the British Colonies." Vol. v. Part 4.
Newfoundland. (Oxford, 1911.)
[2] _Op. cit._, p. 192.
[3] In view of the nature and object of the present book, only a few
figures can be given here; fuller information can easily be obtained
in several of the works referred to herein, and more particularly in
the various accessible Year Books.
CHAPTER II
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY (1497-1502)
"If this should be lost," said Sir Walter Raleigh of Newfoundland, "it
would be the greatest blow that was ever given to England." The
observation was marked by much political insight. Two centuries later,
indeed, the countrymen of Raleigh experienced and outlived a shock far
more paralyzing than that of which he was considering the possible
effects; but when the American colonies were lost the world destiny of
England had already been definitely asserted, and the American
loyalists were able to resume the allegiance of their birth by merely
crossing the Canadian frontier. When Raleigh wrote, Newfoundland was
the one outward and visible sign of that Greater England in whose
future he was a passionate believer. Therefore, inasmuch as
Newfoundland, being the oldest of all the English colonies, stood for
the Empire which was to be, the moral effects of its loss in infancy
would have been irretrievably grave. How nearly it was lost will
appear in the following pages.
Newfoundland, as was fitting for one of the largest islands in the
world, and an island, too, drawing strategic importance from its
position, was often conspicuous in that titanic struggle between
England and France for sea power, and therefore for the mastery of the
world, which dwarfs every other feature of the eighteenth century. Nor
did she come out of the struggle quite unscathed. Ill-informed or
indifferent politicians in the Mother Country neglected to push home
the fruits of victory on behalf of the colony which the struggle had
convulsed, and the direct consequence of this neglect may be seen in
the French fishery claims, which long distracted the occasional
leisure of the Colonial Office. Newfoundland has indeed been hardened
by centuries of trial. For years its growth was arrested by the
interested jealousy of English merchants; and its maturity was vexed
by French exactions, against which Canada or Australia would long ago
have procured redress. Newfoundland has been the patient Griselda of
the Empire, and the story of her triumph over moral and material
difficulties--over famine, sword, fire, and internal dissension--fills
a striking chapter in the history of British expansion.
That keen zest for geographical discovery, which was one of the most
brilliant products of the Renaissance, was slow in making its
appearance in England. Nor are the explanations far to seek. The bull
(1494) of a notorious Pope (Alexander VI.)--lavish, as befits one who
bestows a thing which he cannot enjoy himself, and of which he has no
right to dispose--had allocated the shadowy world over the sea to
Spain and Portugal, upon a fine bold principle of division; and
immediately afterwards these two Powers readjusted their boundaries in
the unknown world by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which could
not, however, be considered as binding third parties. The line of
longitude herein adopted was commonly held to have assigned
Newfoundland to Portugal, but the view was incorrect. England was
still a Catholic country, and for all its independence of the Pope in
matters temporal, the effects of such a bull must have been very
considerable. Nor did the personal character of Henry VII. incline him
to the path of adventure; and on the few occasions when he was goaded
to enterprise, almost in spite of himself, we are able to admire the
prudence of a prince who was careful to insert two clauses in his
charter of adventure: the first protecting himself against liability
for the cost, the second stipulating for a share of the profits. It is
to the robust insight of Henry VIII. into the conditions of our
national existence that the beginnings of the English Navy are to be
ascribed, and it was under this stubborn prince that English trade
began to depend upon English bottoms. But the real explanation of
Anglo-Saxon backwardness lies somewhat deeper. Foreign adventure and
the planting of settlements must proceed, if they are to be
successful, from an exuberant State; neither in resources, nor in
population, nor, perhaps it must be added, in the spirit of adventure,
was the England of King Henry VII. sufficiently equipped. Hence it
happened that foreign vessels sailed up the Thames, or anchored by the
quays of Bideford in the service of English trade, at a time when the
spirit of Prince Henry the Navigator had breathed into the Portuguese
service, when Diaz was discovering the Cape, and the tiny vessels of
Da Gama were adventuring the immense voyage to Cathay.
It is now clearly established that the earliest adventurers in America
were men of Norse stock. More than a thousand years ago Greenland was
explored by Vikings from Iceland, and a hundred years later Leif
Ericsson discovered a land--Markland, the land of woods--which is
plausibly identified with Newfoundland. Still keeping a southern
course, the adventurer came to a country where grew vines, and where
the climate was strangely mild; it is likely enough that this landfall
was in Massachusetts or Virginia. The name Vinland was given to the
newly-discovered country. The later voyages of Thorwald Ericsson, of
Thorlstein Ericsson--both brothers of Leif--and of Thorfinn Karlsefne,
are recounted in the Sagas. The story of these early colonists or
"builders," as they called themselves, is weakened by an infusion of
fable, such as the tale of the fast-running one-legged people; but
with all allowances, the fact of Viking adventure on the American
mainland is unquestioned and unquestionable, though we may say of
these brave sailors, with Professor Goldwin Smith, that nothing more
came of their visit, or in that age could come, than of the visit of a
flock of seagulls.
It has been asserted by some writers that Basque navigators discovered
the American continent a century before Cabot or Columbus; but
evidence in support of such claims is either wanting or unconvincing.
"Ingenious and romantic theories," says a critic of these views, "have
been propounded concerning discoveries of America by Basque sailors
before Columbus. The whale fishery of that period and long afterwards
was in the hands of the Basques, and it is asserted that, in following
the whales, as they became scarcer, farther and farther out in the
western ocean, they came upon the coasts of Newfoundland a hundred
years before Columbus and Cabot. No solid foundation can be found for
these assertions. The records of the Basque maritime cities contain
nothing to confirm them, and these assertions are mixed up with so
much that is absurd--such as a statement that the Newfoundland Indians
spoke Basque--that the whole hypothesis is incredible."[4]
The question has been much discussed whether Columbus or Cabot in
later days rediscovered the American mainland. It does not, perhaps,
much matter whether the honour belongs to an Italian employed by Spain
or an Italian employed by England; and it is the less necessary to ask
whether Cabot explored the mainland before Columbus touched at Paria,
that in any event the real credit of the adventure belongs to the
great Spanish sailor. It is well known that Columbus thought, as Cabot
thought after him, that he was discovering a new and short route to
India by the west. Hence was given the name West Indies to the islands
which Columbus discovered; hence the company which administered the
affairs of Hindostan was distinguished as the East India Company.
Hence, too, the spiritual welfare of the Great Khan engaged the
attention of both Columbus and Cabot, whereas, in fact, this potentate
(if, indeed, he existed) was secluded from their disinterested zeal by
a vast continent, and thousands of miles of ocean. These
misconceptions were based on a strange underestimate of the
circumference of the world, but they add, if possible, to our wonder
at the courage of Columbus. Sailing day after day into the unknown,
with tiny ships and malcontent crews, he never faltered in his
purpose, and never lost faith in his theory. When he landed at
Guanahana (Watling's Island) he saw in the Bahamas the Golden
Cyclades, and bethought him how he might convey to the Great Khan the
letters of his Royal patron. He saw in the west coast of Juana the
mainland of Cathay, and in the waters which wash the shores of Cuba he
sought patiently, but vainly, for the Golden Chersonese and the
storied land of the Ganges.
John Cabot inherited both the truth and the error of Columbus. His
career is one of those irritating mysteries which baffle the most
patient inquiry. Born at Genoa, and naturalized in 1476 at Venice
after fifteen years' residence, he seems to have settled in England
eight or nine years before the close of the fifteenth century. Already
his life had been an adventurous one. We catch glimpses of him at long
intervals: now at Mecca, pushing curious inquiries into the region
whence came the spice caravans; now in Spain, under the spell,
perhaps, of the novel speculations of Toscanelli and Columbus; now
plying his trade as a maker of charts in Bristol or on the Continent.
The confusion between John Cabot and his son Sebastian adds to the
uncertainty. Those who impute to Sebastian Cabot a cuckoo-like
appropriation of his father's glory are able to support their opinion
with weighty evidence. The most astounding feature of all is that the
main incidents of a voyage which attracted as much attention as the
first voyage of John Cabot should so soon have passed into oblivion.
Marking the boundary as clearly as possible between what is certain
and what is probable, we find that on March 5th, 1496, Henry VII.
granted a charter in the following terms:
"Be it known to all that we have given and granted to our well-beloved
John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and to Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus,
sons of the said John, and to their heirs and deputies ... authority
to sail to all parts, countries, and seas of the East, of the West,
and of the North, under our banner and ensigns, with five ships, and
to set up our banner on any new found land, as our vassals and
lieutenants, upon their own proper costs and charges to seek out and
discover whatsoever isles ... of the heathen and infidels, which
before the time have been unknown to all Christians...."
No sooner was the patent granted than the vigilant Spanish ambassador
in London wrote to his master King Ferdinand, that a second Columbus
was about to achieve for the English sovereign what Columbus had
achieved for the Spanish, but "without prejudice to Spain or
Portugal." In reply to this communication Ferdinand directed his
informer to warn King Henry that the project was a snare laid by the
King of France to divest him from greater and more profitable
enterprises, and that in any case the rights of the signatory parties
under the Treaty of Tordesillas would thereby be invaded. However, the
voyage contemplated in the charter was begun in 1497, in defiance of
the Spanish warning and arrogant pretensions. It will be noticed that
the charter extends its privileges to the sons of John Cabot. It is
better, with Mr Justice Prowse, to see in this circumstance a proof of
the prudence of the adventurer, who prolonged the duration of his
charter by the inclusion of his infant sons, than to infer in the
absence of evidence that any of them was his companion. According to
one often quoted authority, Sebastian Cabot claimed in later life not
merely to have taken part in the expedition, but to have been its
commander,[5] and placed it after his father's death. Against this
claim, if it was ever made, we must notice that in the Royal licence
for the second voyage the newly found land is said to have been
discovered by John Cabotto. It is impossible to say with certainty how
many ships took part in Cabot's voyage. An old tradition, depending
upon an unreliable manuscript,[6] says that Cabot's own ship was
called the _Matthew_, a vessel of about fifty tons burden, and manned
by sixteen Bristol seamen and one Burgundian. It is probable that the
voyage began early in May, and it is certain that Cabot was back in
England by August 10th, for on that date we find the following entry
in the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII., revealing a particularly
stingy recognition of the discoverer's splendid service, which,
however, was soon afterwards recognized less unhandsomely:
"1497, Aug. 10th.--To hym that found the New Isle, £10."[7]
The only reliable contemporary authorities on the subject of John
Cabot's first voyage are the family letters of Lorenzo Pasqualigo, a
Venetian merchant resident in London, to his brother, and the official
correspondence of Raimondo di Raimondi, Archpriest of Soncino. The
latter's account is somewhat vague. He says, in his letters to Duke
Sforza of Milan, August 24th, and December 18th, 1497, that Cabot,
"passing Ibernia on the west, and then standing towards the north,
began to navigate the eastern ocean, leaving in a few days the north
star on the right hand, and having wandered a good deal he came at
last to firm land.... This Messor Zoanni Caboto," he proceeds, "has
the description of the world in a chart, and also in a solid globe
which he has made, and he shows where he landed." Raimondo adds that
Cabot discovered two islands, one of which he gave to his barber and
the other to a Burgundian friend, who called themselves Counts, whilst
the commander assumed the airs of a prince.[8]
We have from the Venetian, Pasqualigo, a letter, dated August 23rd,
1497, which was probably a fortnight or three weeks after the return
of Cabot. According to this authority, Cabot discovered land 700
leagues away, the said land being the territory of the Great Khan (the
"Gram cham"). He coasted along this land for 300 leagues, and on the
homeward voyage sighted two islands, on which, after taking possession
of them, he hoisted the Venetian as well as the English flag. "He
calls himself the grand admiral, walks abroad in silk attire, and
Englishmen run after him like madmen."[9] It is easy to overrate the
reliability of such letters as those of Pasqualigo and Raimondo, and
Pasqualigo's statement that Cabot sailed from Bristol to this new
land, coasted for 300 leagues along it, and returned within a period
of three months, is impossible to accept. At the same time, the
accounts given by these writers occur, one in the frank intimacy of
family correspondence, the other in the official reports of a
diplomatic representative to his chief. They are both unquestionably
disinterested, and are very much more valuable than the later
tittle-tattle of Peter Martyr and Ramusio, which has plainly filtered
through what Mr Beazley would call Sebastianized channels.
[Illustration: NEWFOUNDLAND in Relation to WESTERN EUROPE]
A keen controversy has raged as to the exact landfall of John Cabot in
his 1497 voyage, and it cannot be said that a decisive conclusion has
followed. A long tradition (fondly repeated by Mr Justice Prowse)
finds the landfall in Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland. It is difficult to
say more than that it may have been so; it may too have been in Cape
Breton Island, or even some part of the coast of Labrador. In any
case, whether or not Cabot found his landfall in Newfoundland, he must
have sighted it in the course of his voyage. It may be mentioned here
by way of caution that the name Newfoundland was specialized in later
times so as to apply to the island alone, and that it was at first
used indifferently to describe all the territories discovered by
Cabot.
As no true citizen of Newfoundland will surrender the belief that Cape
Bonavista was in fact the landfall of Cabot, it seems proper to insert
in the story of the island, for what they are worth, the nearest
contemporary accounts of Cabot's voyage. They are more fully collected
in Mr Beazley's monograph,[10] to which I am indebted for the
translations which follow. The first account is contained, as has
already been pointed out, in a letter written by Raimondo di Raimondi
to the Duke of Milan:
"Most illustrious and excellent my Lord,--Perhaps among your
Excellency's many occupations, you may not be displeased to learn how
His Majesty here has won a part of Asia without a stroke of the sword.
There is in this kingdom a Venetian fellow, Master John Cabot by name,
of a fine mind, greatly skilled in navigation, who, seeing that those
most serene kings, first he of Portugal, and then the one of Spain,
have occupied unknown islands, determined to make a like acquisition
for His Majesty aforesaid. And having obtained Royal grants that he
should have the usufruct of all that he should discover, provided that
the ownership of the same is reserved to the Crown, with a small ship
and eighteen persons he committed himself to fortune. And having set
out from Bristol, a western port of this kingdom, and passed the
western limits of Hibernia, and then standing to the northward, he
began to steer eastwards [meaning westwards], leaving, after a few
days, the North Star on his right hand. And having wandered about
considerably, at last he fell in with _terra firma_, where, having
planted the Royal banner and taken possession in the behalf of this
King; and having taken several tokens, he has returned thence. The
said Master John, as being foreign-born and poor, would not be
believed, if his comrades, who are almost all Englishmen and from
Bristol, did not testify that what he says is true.
"This Master John has the description of the world in a chart, and
also in a solid globe which he has made, and he [or it] shows where
he landed, and that going toward the east [again for west] he passed
considerably beyond the country of the Tansis. And they say that it is
a very good and temperate country, and they think that Brazil wood and
silks grow there; and they affirm that that sea is covered with
fishes, which are caught not only with the net but with baskets, a
stone being tied to them in order that the baskets may sink in the
water. And this I heard the said Master John relate, and the aforesaid
Englishmen, his comrades, say that they will bring so many fish, that
this kingdom will no longer have need of Iceland, from which country
there comes a very great store of fish called stock-fish
('stockfissi'). But Master John has set his mind on something greater;
for he expects to go further on towards the east [again for west] from
that place already occupied, constantly hugging the shore, until he
shall be over against [or on the other side of] an island, by him
called Cimpango, situated in the equinoctial region, where he thinks
all the spices of the world and also the precious stones originate.
And he says that in former times he was at Mecca, whither spices are
brought by caravans from distant countries, and these [caravans] again
say that they are brought to them from other remote regions. And he
argues thus--that if the Orientals affirmed to the Southerners that
these things come from a distance from them, and so from hand to
hand, presupposing the rotundity of the earth, it must be that the
last ones get them at the north, toward the west. And he said it in
such a way that, having nothing to gain or lose by it, I too believe
it; and, what is more, the King here, who is wise and not lavish,
likewise puts some faith in him; for, since his return he has made
good provision for him, as the same Master John tells me. And it is
said that in the spring His Majesty aforenamed will fit out some ships
and will besides give him all the convicts, and they will go to that
country to make a colony, by means of which they hope to establish in
London a greater storehouse of spices than there is in Alexandria, and
the chief men of the enterprise are of Bristol, great sailors, who,
now that they know where to go, say that it is not a voyage of more
than fifteen days, nor do they ever have storms after they get away
from Hibernia. I have also talked with a Burgundian, a comrade of
Master John's, who confirms everything, and wishes to return thither
because the Admiral (for so Master John already entitles himself) has
given him an island; and he has given another one to a barber of his
from Castiglione, of Genoa, and both of them regard themselves as
Counts, nor does my Lord the Admiral esteem himself anything less than
a prince. I think that with this expedition will go several poor
Italian monks, who have all been promised bishoprics. And as I have
become a friend of the Admiral's, if I wished to go thither, I should
get an Archbishopric. But I have thought that the benefices which your
Excellency has in store for me are a surer thing."
To those who, in the teeth of contemporary evidence, prefer the claims
of Sebastian, the following extracts may be offered; the first from
Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, who wrote in the early sixteenth century, the
second from Ramusio. Martyr writes:
"These north seas have been searched by one Sebastian Cabot, a
Venetian born, whom, being yet but in matter an infant, his parents
carried with them into England, having occasion to resort thither for
trade of merchandises, as is the manner of the Venetians to leave no
part of the world unsearched to obtain riches. He therefore furnished
two ships in England at his own charges; and, first, with 300 men,
directed his course so far towards the North Pole, that even in the
month of July he found monstrous heaps of ice swimming in the sea, and
in manner continual daylight, yet saw he the land in that tract free
from ice, which had been molten by heat of the sun. Thus, seeing such
heaps of ice before him, he was enforced to turn his sails and follow
the west, so coasting still by the shore he was thereby brought so far
into the south, by reason of the land bending so much southward, that
it was there almost equal in latitude with the sea called Fretum
Herculeum [Straits of Gibraltar], having the North Pole elevate in
manner in the same degree. He sailed likewise in this tract so far
toward the west that he had the Island of Cuba [on] his left hand in
manner in the same degree of longitude. As he travelled by the coasts
of this great land, which he named Baccallaos [cod-fish country], he
saith that he found the like course of the water towards the west
[_i.e._ as before described by Martyr], but the same to run more
softly and gently than the swift waters which the Spaniards found in
their navigation southward.... Sebastian Cabot himself named those
lands Baccallaos, because that in the seas thereabout he found so
great multitudes of certain big fish much like unto tunnies (which the
inhabitants called Baccallaos) that they sometimes stayed his ships.
He found also the people of those regions covered with beasts' skins,
yet not without the use of reason. He saith also that there is great
plenty of bears in those regions, which used to eat fish. For,
plunging themselves into the water where they perceive a multitude of
those fish to lie, they fasten their claws in their scales, and so
draw them to land and eat them. So that, as he saith, the bears being
thus satisfied with fish, are not noisome to men."
Ramusio represents Sebastian Cabot as making the following statement:
"When my father departed from Venice many years since to dwell in
England, to follow the trade of merchandises, he took me with him to
the city of London while I was very young, yet having nevertheless
some knowledge of letters, of humanity, and of the sphere. And when my
father died, in that time when news were brought that Don Christopher
Colombus, the Genoese, had discovered the coasts of India, whereof was
great talk in all the Court of King Henry the Seventh, who then
reigned; in so much that all men, with great admiration, affirmed it
to be a thing more divine than human to sail by the west into the
east, where spices grow, by a way that was never known before; by
which fame and report there increased in my heart a great flame of
desire to attempt some notable thing. And understanding by reason of
the sphere that if I should sail by way of the north-west wind I
should by a shorter track come to India, I thereupon caused the King
to be advertised of my device, who immediately commanded two caravels
to be furnished with all things appertaining to the voyage, which was,
as far as I remember, in the year 1496 in the beginning of summer.
Beginning therefore to sail toward north-west, nor thinking to find
any other land than that of Cathay, and from thence to turn towards
India, after certain days I found that the land ran toward the north,
which was to me a great displeasure. Nevertheless, sailing along by
the coast to see if I could find any gulf that turned, I found the
land still continent to the 56th degree under our Pole. And seeing
that there the coast turned toward the east, despairing to find the
passage, I turned back again and sailed down by the coast of that land
toward the equinoctial (ever with intent to find the said passage to
India) and came to that part of this firm land which is now called
Florida; where, my victuals failing, I departed from thence and
returned into England, where I found great tumults among the people
and preparation for the war to be carried into Scotland; by reason
whereof there was no more consideration had to this voyage."[11]
The discoveries of Cabot were appreciated by Henry VII., a prince who
rarely indulged in unprovoked benefactions, for on December 13th,
1497, we find a grant of an annual pension to Cabot of £20 a year,
worth between £200 and £300 in modern money (a pension that was drawn
twice):
"We let you wit that we for certain considerations as specially
moving, have given and granted unto our well-beloved John Cabot, of
the parts of Venice, an annuity or annual rent of £20 sterling."[12]
It is material to notice that Sebastian, so considerable a figure in
the later accounts, is not mentioned in this grant. So it has been
observed that John Cabot is mentioned alone in the charter for the
second voyage; the authority is given explicitly to "our well-beloved
John Kabotto, Venetian." Apparently the second voyage was begun in
May, 1498, but a cloud of obscurity besets the attempt to determine
its results. It is noted in the Records under 1498 that Sebastian
Gaboto, "a Genoa's son," obtained from the King a vessel "to search
for an island which he knew to be replenished with rich commodities."
It is likely enough that Sebastian Cabot took part in this voyage, as
indeed he may have done in the earlier one; but it is clear that John
Sebastian was present in person, for Raimondo describes an interview
in which John unfolds his scheme for proceeding from China (which he
imagined himself to have discovered) to Japan.
This brief account of the Cabots, so far as their voyages relate
particularly to Newfoundland, may be closed by some further citations
from the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII.:
"1498, March 24th.--To Lanslot Thirkill of London, upon a prest for
his shipp going towards the New Ilande, £20.
"April 1st.--To Thomas Bradley and Lanslot Thirkill, going to the New
Isle, £30.
"1503, Sept. 30th.--To the merchants of Bristoll that have been in the
Newfounde Lande, £20.
"1504, Oct. 17th.--To one that brought hawkes from the Newfounded
Island, £1.
"1505. Aug. 25th.--To Clays goying to Richemount, with wylde catts and
popynjays of the Newfound Island, for his costs 13s. 4d."[13]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Stanford's "Compendium of Geography and Travel" (New Issue). North
America, vol. i. Canada and Newfoundland. Edited by H.M. Ami (London,
1915), p. 1007.
[5] See the excellent contribution of Mr Raymond Beazley to the
"Builders of Greater Britain" Series--"John and Sebastian Cabot."
[6] The Fust MSS., Mill Court, Gloucestershire.
[7] S. Bentley, "Excerpts Historica" (1831), p. 113.
[8] These letters, together with other relative documents, are given
in the publication of the Italian Columbian Royal Commission: "Reale
Commissione Colombiana: Raccolta di Documenti e Studi" (Rome, 1893),
Part 3, vol. i., pp. 196-198.
[9] "Reale Commissione Colombiana: Raccolta di Documenti e Studi"
(Rome, 1893), Part 3, vol. ii., p. 109: "Calendar of State Papers,"
Venetian Series, vol. i., p. 262.
[10] The more authoritative Italian source has already been indicated.
[11] The testimony of both Peter Martyr and Ramusio, and of others,
like Gomara and Fabyan, who support the claims of Sebastian as against
John Cabot, does not now find favour; _cf._ Rogers, _op. cit._, p. 14.
[12] Custom's Roll of the Port of Bristol, 1496-9, edited by E. Scott,
A.E. Hudd, etc. (1897).
[13] See Hakluyt Society Publications (1850), vol. vii., p. lxii.
Bentley, _op. cit._, pp. 126, 129, 131.
CHAPTER III
EARLY HISTORY. AGE OF IMPERFECT COLONIZATION
The motives and projects of the early English colonizers are thus
aptly described by a recent writer already referred to:[14] "The
colonizers were actuated by three different kinds of definite ideas,
and definite colonization was threefold in its character. In the first
place, there were men who were saturated in the old illusions and
ideas, and intended colonization as a means to an end, the end being
the gold and silver and spices of Asia. Secondly, there were
fishermen, who went to Newfoundland for its own sake, in order to
catch fish for the European market, who were without illusions or
ideas or any wish to settle, and who belonged to many nations, and
thwarted but also paved the way for more serious colonizers. Thirdly,
there were idealists who wished to colonize for colonization's sake
and to make England great; but in order to make England great they
thought it necessary to humble Spain in the dust, and their ideas were
destructive as well as creative. All these colonizers had their
special projects, and each project, being inspired by imperfect
ideals, failed more or less, or changed its character from time to
time. The first and third projects were at one time guided by the same
hand; but the first project gradually cast off its colonizing slough,
and resolved itself once more into discovery for discovery's sake; and
the third project ceased to be a plan of campaign, and resolved itself
into sober and peaceful schemes for settling in the land. Even the
second project, which was unled, uninspired, unnational, and almost
unconscious, and which began and continued as though in obedience to
some irresistible and unchangeable natural and economic law, assumed
different shapes and semblances, as it blended or refused to blend
with the patriotic projects of the idealists. These three types of
colonization..., though they tended on different directions, ... were
hardly distinguishable in the earlier phases of their history. Perhaps
a fourth type should be added, but this fourth type was what
naturalists call an aberrant type, and only comprised two colonizers,
Rut and Hore, whose aims were indistinct, and who had no clear idea
where they meant to go, or what they meant to do when they got there."
After the first discovery of Newfoundland and the adjoining coast,
English official interest in the island declined, and English traders
were occupied for the time being with their intercourse with Iceland,
whence they obtained all the codfish they had need of. The new field
of exploration and enterprise was thus left for some twenty years to
others. At the beginning of the sixteenth century Gaspar Cortereal, a
brave Portuguese sailor, having obtained a commission from the King of
Portugal, made two voyages (in 1500 and 1501) with the object of
discovering a north-west passage to Asia, explored the coasts of
Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland, and finally lost his life on
the coast of Labrador (1501).[15] On the ground of these discoveries,
reinforced by the title conferred by the bull of Alexander VI., the
Portuguese asserted their claim to Newfoundland. Henceforward
Portuguese fishermen began to share the dangers and profits of the cod
fishery with the hardy folk of Normandy and Brittany, and with
Spaniards and Basques, who had followed fast in the footsteps of the
earliest discoverers. Hence we find that many names of places and the
east coast of the island are corruptions of Portuguese words, whilst
names on the south coast show a French or a Basque origin.[16]
In a sense it is true that Newfoundland has owed everything to its
fisheries, but it is unfortunately also true that a sharp dissidence
between the interests of alien fisheries and the policy of local
development did much to retard the days of permanent settlement. That
the more southern races of Europe took a large part in the development
of the fisheries was only natural, inasmuch as the principal markets
for the dried and salted codfish were in the Catholic countries of
Europe. Continuously from the beginning of the sixteenth century the
opening of each season brought vessels of many nationalities to a
harvest which sufficed for all. We cannot say that at this time any
primacy was claimed for English vessels, but there is no reason to
doubt that Englishmen soon played a conspicuous part in opening up the
trade. By the time of Henry VIII. the Newfoundland industry was
sufficiently well known to be included with the Scotch and Irish
Fisheries in an exception clause to a statute which forbade the
importation of foreign fish.
This statute is sufficiently noteworthy as an economic curiosity to be
set forth _in extenso_.
"ACT 33 HENRY VIII., c. xi.
"The Bill conceryning bying of fisshe upon the see.
"Whereas many and dyvers townes and portes by the see side
have in tymes past bene in great welthe and prosperitie well
buylded by using and exercysing the crafts and feate of
fisshing by the whiche practise it was not onelie great
strengthe to this Realme by reason of bringing up and
encreasing of Maryners whensoever the King's Grace had neede
of them but also a great welthe to the Realme and habundance
of suche wherebie oure sovereigne Lorde the King the Lords
Gentilmen and Comons were alwais well served of fisshe in
Market townes of a reasonable price and also by reason of the
same fisshing many men were made and grewe riche and many
poure Men and women had therebie there convenyent lyving--to
the strengthe encreasing and welthe of this realme.
"And whereas many and dyvers of the saide fissherman for their
singular lucre and advantage doe leve the said crafte of
fisshing and be confederate w Pycardes Flemynghes Norman and
Frenche-men and sometyme sayle over into the costes of
Pycardie and Flaunders and sometyme doo meete the said
Pycardes and Flemynghes half the see over.
"Penalty on subjects bying fishe in Flaunders &c., or at sea
to be sold in England, £10.
"And be it furder enacted by the auctoritie aforesaide that it
shall be lawful to all and every fissher estraunger to come
and to sell.
"Provided furthermore that this Act or any thing therein
conteyned shall not extende to any person whiche shall bye eny
fisshe in any parties of Iseland, Scotlands, Orkeney,
Shotlande, Ireland, or Newland [Newfoundland]."
The caution, however, suggested above must be borne in mind in
noticing the earliest mention of Newfoundland; the name was
indiscriminately applied to the island itself and to the neighbouring
coasts, so that it is for some time impossible to be sure whether it
is employed in the wide or narrow sense. It is certain, however, that
the island was becoming well known. Its position as the nearest point
to Europe made it familiar to the band of Northerly explorers.
Verrazzano, a Florentine, in the service of France, determined to
discover a western way to Cathay, sailed along America northward from
North Carolina, and placed the French flag on the territory lying
between New Spain and Newfoundland, which newly acquired territory was
thenceforth designated Norumbega or New France. All such original
annexations, whether pretended or real, were in the circumstances
extremely ill-defined; and maps of the time were frequently vague,
confusing, and contradictory. Cartier, on his way to sow the seeds of
a French Empire in North America, sailed past the coast (1534), and on
his second voyage (1535) foregathered with Roberval in the roadstead
of St. John's. Still earlier, in 1527, a voyage was made to the island
by John Rut, with the countenance of Henry VIII. and encouragement of
Cardinal Wolsey, but the authorities for this voyage are late and
unreliable. Purchas reproduces a valuable letter from John Rut (who
was a better sailor than scholar) to the King, from which it appears
that he found in the harbour of St. John's "eleven saile of Normans
and one Brittaine, and two Portugall barks, and all a fishing," as
well as two English trade-ships.[17]
The later adventure--"voyage of discovery"--of Master Hore, in 1536,
which was undertaken "by the King's favour," is inimitably told by
Hakluyt. His co-adventurers are described as "many gentlemen of the
Inns of Court and of the Chancerie"; there were also a number of
east-country merchants. After missing their proper course, and almost
starving, they were succoured by a French vessel off the coast of
Newfoundland. The gentlemen of the long robe had been out of their
element up to this encounter, but Judge Prowse notes with proper
professional pride the tribute of Hakluyt: "Such was the policie of
the English that they became masters of [the French ship], and
changing ships and vittailing them, they set sail to come into
England." The extremities to which these adventurers were reduced
before their relief is horribly illustrated by the narrative of
Hakluyt:
"Whilst they lay there they were in great want of provision and they
found small relief, more than that they had from the nest of an
osprey (or eagle) that brought hourly to her young great plenty of
divers sorts of fishes. But such was the famine amongst them that they
were forced to eat raw herbs and roots, which they sought for in the
maine. But the relief of herbs being not sufficient to satisfie their
craving appetites, when in the deserts in search of herbage, the
fellow killed his mate while hee stouped to take up a root, and
cutting out pieces of his body whom he had murthered, broyled the same
on the coals and greedily devoured them. By this means the company
decreased and the officers knew not what was become of them."[18]
For many years we must be content with the knowledge that the fishing
resources of Newfoundland were growing in reputation and popularity.
Now and then the curtain is lifted, and we catch a glimpse of life on
the island. Thus Anthony Parkhurst, a Bristol merchant, who had made
the voyage himself four times, notes in 1578, in a letter written to
Hakluyt containing a report of the true state and commodities of
Newfoundland, that "there were generally more than 100 sail of
Spaniards taking cod, and from 20 to 30 killing whales; 50 sail of
Portuguese; 150 sail of French and Bretons ... but of English only 50
sail. Nevertheless, the English are commonly lords of the harbours
where they fish, and use all strangers' help in fishing, if need
require, according to an old custom of the country."[19]
Clearer still is our information when the ill-fated Sir Humphrey
Gilbert, the half-brother of Raleigh, visited the island in 1583.
Already in 1574 Gilbert, together with Sir Richard Grenville, Sir
George Peckham and Christopher Carleill, applied for a patent with a
view to colonizing "the northern parts of America"; but, though a sum
of money was raised in Bristol for this object, the scheme fell
through. Gilbert's perseverance, however, was by no means checked. For
in 1577 he submitted a project to Lord Burleigh, asking for authority
to discover and colonize strange lands, and incidentally to seize
Spanish prizes and establish English supremacy over the seas. The
following year he received a patent to discover, colonize, fortify,
own and rule territories not in the possession of friendly Christian
Powers--subject to the prerogation of the Crown and the claims of the
Crown to a fifth part of the gold and silver obtained. His settlements
were to be made within a period of six years. Having obtained the
support of such men as Sir George Peckham, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir
Philip Sidney, Richard Hakluyt, Thomas Aldworth, as well as of Sir
Francis Walsingham, the anti-Spanish minister, and of Bristol
merchants,[20] Gilbert set sail on June 11th, 1583, from Plymouth
with five vessels--the _Raleigh_ (200 tons) which was equipped by Sir
W. Raleigh, acting as vice-admiral, the _Delight_ (120 tons) on which
was Gilbert, as admiral, the _Swallow_ (40 tons) the _Golden Hind_ (40
tons), and the _Squirrel_ (10 tons). Two days later the _Raleigh_
returned on the ground, it seems, that her captain and many of her men
had fallen sick. The entire crew consisted of 260 men, including
shipwrights, masons, carpenters, smiths, miners, and refiners. They
took with them a good variety of music "for solace of our people, and
allurement of the savages"; a number of toys, "as morris dancers,
hobby horsse, and many like conceits to delight the savage people,
whom we intended to winne by all faire meanes possible"; and also a
stock of haberdashery wares for the purpose of barter. Gilbert reached
St. John's on August 3rd, 1583, with his four vessels, and found in
the harbour twenty Spanish and Portuguese ships and sixteen English
ships. The latter made ready to give battle to the newcomers; but as
soon as the English vessels were informed of the mission, "they caused
to be discharged all the great ordnance of their fleet in welcome,"
and soon afterwards entertained their guests at their "summer garden."
The great importance of the errand was recognized, for it had no less
an object than to take possession of the island in the name of Queen
Elizabeth, by virtue of Cabot's discoveries, and the later acts of
occupation. Even then the small town of St. John's was not without
pretension to the amenities of social life. One, Edward Haie (or
Hayes), who was present--indeed he was the captain and owner of the
_Golden Hind_--and who has left us an account of the expedition,[21]
speaks of it as a populous and frequented place. According to the same
account, possession was taken of the territory on August 5th: "Munday
following, the General had his tent set up, who being accompanied with
his own followers, sommoned the marchants and masters, both English
and strangers to be present at his taking possession of those
countries. Before whom openly was read and interpreted unto the
strangers of his commission: by vertue whereof he tooke possession in
the same harbour of S. John, and 200 leagues every way, invested the
Queenes Majestie with the tith and dignitie thereof, had delivered
unto him (after the custome of England) a rod and a turffe of the same
soile, entring possession also for him, his heires and assignes for
ever: and signified unto al men, that from that time forward, they
should take the same land as a territorie appertaining to the Queene
of England, and himself authorized under her majestie to possesse and
enjoy it. And to ordaine lawes for the government thereof, agreeable
(so neere as conveniently might be) unto the lawes of England: under
which all people comming thither hereafter, either to inhabite, or by
way of traffique, should be subjected and governed." Gilbert's
authority was not seriously questioned; by virtue of his commission he
"ordained and established three lawes to begin with." They are given
by Hayes as follows:
1. Establishment of the Church of England.
2. Any attempt prejudicial to Her Majesty's rights in the
territory to be punished as in a case of High Treason.
3. Anyone uttering words of dishonour to Her Majesty should
lose his ears and have his goods and ship confiscated.
"To be brief," concludes the same authority, "Gilbert dyd lette,
sette, give, and dispose of many things as absolute Governor there by
virtue of Her Majesty's letter patent."
The passage in which Captain Hayes describes the Newfoundland of his
day must be of such interest to its present inhabitants that it is
worth while to set it out in full:
"That which we doe call the Newfoundland, and the Frenchmen Bacalaos,
is an island, or rather (after the opinion of some) it consisteth of
sundry islands and broken lands, situate in the north regions of
America, upon the gulph and entrance of the great river called S.
Laurence in Canada. Into the which navigation may be made both on the
south and north side of this island. The land lyeth south and north,
containing in length betweene three and 400 miles, accounting from
Cape Race (which is in 46 degrees 25 minuts) unto the Grand Bay in 52
degrees of septentrionall latitude. The iland round about hath very
many goodly bayes and harbors, safe roads for ships, the like not to
be found in any part of the knowen world.
"The common opinion that is had of intemperature and extreme cold that
should be in this countrey, as of some part it may be verified, namely
the north, where I grant it is more colde than in countries of Europe,
which are under the same elevation: even so it cannot stand with
reason and nature of the clime that the south parts should be so
intemperate as the bruit hath gone. For as the same doe lie under the
climats of Briton, Aniou, Poictou, in France, between 46 and 49
degrees, so can they not so much differ from the temperature of those
countries: unless upon the out coasts lying open unto the ocean and
sharpe winds, it must in neede be subject to more colde, then further
within the lande, where the mountaines are interposed, as walles and
bulwarkes, to defende and to resiste the asperitie and rigor of the
sea and weather. Some hold opinion, that the Newfoundland might be the
more subject to cold, by how much it lyeth high and neere unto the
middle region. I grant that not in Newfoundland alone, but in Germany,
Italy, and Afrike, even under the Equinoctiall line, the mountaines
are extreme cold, and seeldome uncovred of snow, in their culme and
highest tops, which commeth to passe by the same reason that they are
extended towards the middle region: yet in the countries lying beneth
them, it is found quite contrary. Even so all hils having their
discents, the valleis also and low grounds must be likewise hot or
temperate, as the clime doeth give in Newfoundland, though I am of
opinion that the sunnes reflection is much cooled, and cannot be so
forcible in the Newfoundland nor generally throughout America, as in
Europe or Afrike: by how much the sunne in his diurnall course from
east to west passeth over (for the most part) dry land and sandy
countries, before he arriveth at the West of Europe or Afrike, whereby
his motion increaseth heate, with little or no qualification by moyst
vapours, where on the contraire, he passeth from Europe and Africa
unto America over the ocean, from whence it draweth and carrieth with
him abundance of moyst vapours, which doe qualifie and infeeble
greatly the sunne's reverberation upon this countrey chiefly of
Newfoundland, being so much to the northward. Neverthelesse (as I sayd
before) the cold cannot be so intollerable under the latitude of 46,
47, and 48, especiall within land, that it should be unhabitable, as
some doe suppose, seeing also there are very many people more to the
north by a great deale. And in these south partes there be certain
beastes, ounces or leopards, and birdes in like manner which in the
sommer we have seene, not heard of in countries of extreme and
vehement coldnesse. Besides, as in the monethes of June, July, August,
and September, the heate is somewhat more than in England at those
seasons: so men remaining upon the south parts neere unto Cape Rece,
until after Hollandtide, have not found the cold so extreme, nor much
differing from the temperature of England. Those which have arrived
there after November and December have found the snow exceeding deepe,
whereat no marvaile, considering the ground upon the coast is rough
and uneven, and the snow is driven into the places most declyning, as
the like is to be seen with us. The like depth of snow happily shall
not be found within land upon the playner countries, which also are
defended by the mountaines, breaking off the violence of the winds and
weather. But admitting extraordinary cold in these south parts, above
that with us here: it cannot be so great as that in Swedland, much
less in Muscovia or Russia; yet are the same countries very populous,
and the rigor of cold is dispensed with by the commoditie of stoves,
warme clothing, meats and drinkes; all which neede not to be wanting
in the Newfoundland, if we had intent there to inhabite.
"In the south parts we found no inhabitants, which by all likelihood
have abandoned those coastes, the same being so much frequented by
Christians: but in the north are savages altogether harmlesse.
Touching the commodities of this countrie, serving either for
sustentation of inhabitants, or for maintenance of traffique, there
are and may be made; so and it seemeth Nature hath recompensed that
only defect and incommoditie of some sharpe cold, by many benefits:
viz., with incredible quantitie and no less varietie of kindes of fish
in the sea and fresh waters, as trouts, salmons, and other fish to us
unknowen: also cod, which alone draweth many nations thither, and is
become the most famous fishing of the world. Abundance of whales, for
which also is a very great trade in the bayes of Placentia, and the
Grand Bay, where is made trane oiles of the whale. Herring, the
largest that have been heard of, and exceeding the alstrond herring of
Norway: but hitherto was never benefit taken of the herring fishery.
There are sundry other fish very delicate, namely the bonits,
lobsters, turbut, with others infinite not sought after: oysters
having pearle but not orient in colour: I took it by reason they were
not gathered in season.
"Concerning the inland commodities as wel to be drawen from this land,
as from the exceeding large countries adioyning; there is nothing
which our east and northerly countries doe yeelde, but the like also
may be made in them as plentifully by time and industrie: namely,
rosen, pitch, tarre, sope, ashes, deel boord, mastes for ships, hides,
furres, flaxe, hempe, corne, cables, cordage, linnen-cloth, mettals,
and many more. All which the countries will aford, and the soyle is
apt to yeelde.
"The trees for the most in those south parts, are firre trees, pine
and cypresse, all yielding gumme and turpentine. Cherrie trees bearing
fruit no bigger than a small pease. Also peare trees, but fruitlesse.
Other trees of some sorts to us unknowen.
"The soyle along the coast is not deepe of earth, bringing foorth
abundantly peason, small, yet good feeding for cattel. Roses, passing
sweet, like unto our mucke roses in forme, raspases, a berry which we
call harts, good and holesome to eat. The grasse and herbe doth fat
sheepe in very short space, proved by English marchants which have
caried sheepe thither for fresh victuall, and had them raised
exceeding fat in lesse than three weekes. Peason which our
countrey-men have sowen in the time of May, have come up faire, and
bene gathered in the beginning of August, of which our generall had a
present acceptable for the rarenesse, being the first fruits coming up
by art and industrie, in that desolate and dishabited land.
"We could not observe the hundredth part of these creatures in those
unhabited lands: but these mentioned may induce us to glorifie the
magnificent God, who hath superabundantly replenished the earth with
creatures serving for the use of man, though man hath not used the
fift part of the same, which the more doth aggravate the fault and
foolish slouth in many of our nation, chusing rather to live
indirectly, and very miserably to live and die within this realme
pestered with inhabitants, then to adventure as becommeth men, to
obtaine an habitation in those remote lands, in which Nature very
prodigally doth minister unto mens endeavours, and for art to worke
upon."
The story of Gilbert's disastrous expedition and voyage home is well
known; how some of his men sailed off in a stolen vessel, some ran
away into the woods, and others falling sick were sent home in the
_Swallow_; how he set sail on August 20th (that is, after a stay on
the island of only a fortnight) with his three remaining vessels,
overloaded and under-manned as they were; how his vessels, after the
wreck of the _Delight_ off Sabre Island, were reduced to the _Golden
Hind_ and the _Squirrel_; how in a prodigious hurricane he refused to
transfer himself from the tiny _Squirrel_ to the larger vessel; and
how he died encouraging his ill-fated company--"We are as near heaven
by sea as by land." Though the expedition ended in disaster, and the
intention to found a settlement failed utterly, the bold enterprise
could not but exert a salutary influence on the hearts and souls of
other adventurers and promotors of colonization. As has been well
said:[22] "a halo of real enthusiasm illumines this foolish founder of
the greatest colonial empire in the world, and where a hero leads,
even though it be to ruin, others are apt to follow with enthusiasm,
for tragedies such as these attract by their dignity more than they
deter." More particularly, Gilbert's voyage is of great interest,
because we may reasonably associate him with the colonial ideas of his
greater half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh. The slow and difficult
process was beginning which was to make Newfoundland a permanent
settlement instead of the occasional resort of migratory fishermen.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[14] Rogers, _op. cit._, pp. 18-19.
[15] The name Labrador is derived from the Portuguese word
"llavrador," which means a yeoman farmer. The name was at first given
to Greenland, and was afterwards transferred to the peninsula on the
assumption that it was part of the same territory as Greenland. The
origin of the name itself is due to the fact that the first
announcement of having seen Greenland was a farmer ("llavrador") from
the Azores.
[16] Compare such names of places as Frenchman's Arm, Harbour Breton,
Cape Breton, Spaniard's Bay, Biscay Bay, Portugal Cove, Cape Race,
Port-aux-Basques, etc.
[17] _Cf._ Purchas, "Pilgrims," vol. xiv. pp. 304-5.
[18] Hakluyt, "Principal Navigations," vol. viii. p. 3.
[19] Hakluyt, _op. cit._, vol. iii.
[20] _Cf._ J. Latimer, "History of the Society of Merchant Venturers
of Bristol" (1903).
[21] "A report of the voyage and successe thereof, attempted in the
yeere of our Lord 1583 by Sir Humfrey Gilbert Knight, with other
gentlemen assisting him in that action, intended to discover and to
plant Christian inhabitants in place convenient, upon those large and
ample countreys extended Northward from the cape of Florida, lying
under very temperate climes, esteemed fertile and rich in minerals,
yet not in the actuall possession of any Christian prince, written by
M. Edward Haie gentleman, and principall actour in the same voyage,
who alone continued unto the end, and by God's speciall assistance
returned home with his retinue safe and entire." See Hakluyt (ed.
1904), vol. viii. pp. 34 seq.
[22] Rogers, _op. cit._, p. 40.