THE LETTER UNTRUE. I. NO VOYAGE OR DISCOVERY MADE FOR THE KING OF
FRANCE, AS IT STATES.
All the circumstances relating to the existence of the Verrazzano
letter thus prove that it was not the production of Verrazzano at
the time and place it purports to have been written by him. We pass
now to the question of its authenticity, embracing the consideration
of its own statements and the external evidence which exists upon
the subject.
The letter professes to give the origin and results of the voyage;
that is, the agency of the king of France in sending forth the
expedition, and the discoveries actually accomplished by it. In both
respects it is essentially untrue. It commences by declaring that
Verrazzano sailed under the orders and on behalf of the king of
France, for the purpose of finding new countries, and that the
account then presented was a description of the discoveries made in
pursuance of such instructions. That no such voyage of discoveries
were made for that monarch is clearly deducible from the history of
France. Neither the letter, nor any document, chronicle, memoir, or
history of any kind, public or private, printed or in manuscript,
belonging to that period, or the reign of Francis I, who then bore
the crown, mentioning or in any manner referring to it, or to the
voyage and discovery, has ever been found in France; and neither
Francis himself, nor any of his successors, ever acknowledged or in
any manner recognized such discovery, or asserted under it any right
to the possession of the country; but, on the contrary, both he and
they ignored it, in undertaking colonization in that region by
virtue of other discoveries made under their authority, or with
their permission, by their subjects.
I. That no evidence of the Verrazzano discovery ever existed in
France, is not only necessarily presumed from the circumstance that
none has ever been produced, but is inferentially established by the
fact that all the French writers and historians, who have had
occasion to consider the subject, have derived their information in
regard to it from the Italian so-called copies of the letter, and
until recently from that in Ramusio alone. No allusion to the
discovery, by any of them, occurs until several years after the work
of Ramusio was published, when for the first time it is mentioned in
the account written by Ribault, in 1563, of his voyage to Florida
and attempted colonization at Port Royal in South Carolina, in the
previous year. Ribault speaks of it very briefly, in connection with
the discoveries of Sebastian Cabot and others, as having no
practical results, and states that he had derived his information in
regard to it, from what Verrazzano had written, thus clearly
referring to the letter. He adds that Verrazzano made another voyage
to America afterwards, "where at last he died." As Ramusio is the
only authority known for the latter statement, it is evident that
Ribault must have had his work before him, and consequently his
version of the letter, when he prepared this account. [Footnote: The
original narrative of Ribault, in French, has never appeared in
print. It was probably suppressed at the time for political reasons,
as the colony was intended for the benefit of the protestants of
France. It was, however, translated immediately into English and
printed in 1563, under the following title: "The whole and true
discoverye of Terra Florida &c never found out before the last year,
1562. Written in French by Captain Ribault &c and now newly set
forthe in Englishe the XXX of May, 1563. Prynted at London, by
Rowland Hall, for Thomas Hacket." This translation was reprinted by
Hakluyt in his first work, Divers Voyages, in 1582; but was omitted
by him in his larger collections, and the account by Laudoniere, who
accompanied Ribault, of that and the two subsequent expeditions,
substituted in its stead.] In the relation written by Laudoniere in
1566, but not printed until 1586, of all three of the expeditions
sent out from France, for the colonization of the French
protestants, mention is again made of the discoveries of Verrazzano.
Laudoniere gives no authority, but speaks of them in terms which
show that he made his compend from the discourse of the French
captain of Dieppe, published by Ramusio in the same volume, in
connection with the Verrazzano letter. He says that Verrazzano "was
sent by King Francis the First and Madame the Regent, his mother,
into these new countries." In thus associating the queen mother with
the king in the prosecution of the enterprise Laudoniere commits the
same mistake as is made in the discourse in that respect. Louise did
not become regent until after the return of Verrazzano is stated to
have taken place, and after both his letter and that of Carli are
represented to have been written. [Footnote: The edict appointing
Louise regent, was dated at Pignerol, the 17th of October, 1524,
when Francis was en route for Milan. Isambert, Recueil, &c., tom.
XII, part I, p. 230.] In adopting this error it is plain that
Laudoniere must have taken it from the work of Ramusio, as the
discourse of the French captain is found in no other place, and
therefore used that work. He also speaks of the discovered country
being called Francesca, as mentioned in the discourse. [Footnote:
Basanier, L'Histoire notable de la Floride. (Paris, 1586), fol. 1-3.
Hakluyt, III, p. 305. Ramusio, III, fol. 423. (Ed. 1556.)]
The Verrazzano discovery is referred to, for the first time, in any
work printed in France, in 1570, in a small folio volume called the
Universal History of the World, by Francois de Belleforest, a
compiler of no great authority. In describing Canada, he
characterizes the natives as cannibals, and in proof of the charge
repeats the story, which is found in Ramusio only, of Verrazzano
having been killed, roasted and eaten by them, and then proceeds
with a short account of the country and its inhabitants, derived, as
he states, from what Verrazzano had written to King Francis.
[Footnote: L'Histoire Universelle du Monde. Par Francois de
Belleforest. (Paris 1570, fol. 253-4.)] He does not mention where he
obtained this account, but his reference to the manner in which
Verrazzano came to his death, shows that he had consulted the volume
of Ramusio. Five years later the same writer gave to the world an
enlarged edition of his work, with the title of The Universal
Cosmography of the World, in three ponderous folios, in which he
recites, more at length, the contents of the Verrazzano letter, also
without mentioning where he had found it, but disclosing
nevertheless that it was in Ramusio, by his following the variations
of that version, particularly in regard to the complexion of the
natives represented to have been first seen, as they will be
hereafter explained. [Footnote: La Cosmographie Universelle de tout
le Monde, tom. II, part II, 2175-9. (Paris, 1575.)] This publication
of Belleforest is the more important, because it is from the
abstract of the Verrazzano letter contained in it, that Lescarbot,
thirty-four years afterwards, took his account of the voyage and
discovery, word for word, without acknowledgment. [Footnote: Hist.
de la Nouvelle France, p. 27, et seq. (ed. 1609). In a subsequent
portion of his history (p. 244) Lescarbot again refers incidentally
to Verrazzano in connection with Jacques Cartier, to whom he
attributes a preposterous statement, acknowledging the Verrazzano
discovery. He states that in 1533 Cartier made known to Chabot, then
admiral of France, his willingness "to discover countries, as the
Spanish had done, in the West Indies, and as, nine years before,
Jean Verrazzano (had done) under the authority of King Francis I,
which Verrazzano, being prevented by death, had not conducted any
colony into the lands he had discovered, and had only remarked the
coast from about the THIRTIETH degree of the Terre-neuve, which at
the present day they call Florida, as far as the FORTIETH. For the
purpose of continuing his design, he offered his services, if it
were the pleasure of the king, to furnish him with the necessary
means. The lord admiral having approved these words, represented
then to his majesty, &c." Lescarbot gives no authority for this
statement, made by him seventy-five years after the voyage of
Cartier. It is absurd on its face and is contradicted by existing
records of that voyage. No authority has ever confined the
Verrazzano discovery within the limits here mentioned. Cartier is
represented as saying to the admiral that in order to complete
Verrazzano's design of carrying colonials to the country discovered
by him, that is, within those limits, he would go himself, if the
king would accept his services. The documents recently published
from the archives of St. Malo, show that the voyage of Cartier
proposed by Cartier, was for the purpose of passing through the
straits of Belle Isle, in latitude 52 Degrees, far north of the
northern limit of the Verrazzano discovery, according to either
version of the letter, and not with a design of planting a colony,
or going to any part of the Verrazzano explorations, much less to a
point south of the fortieth degree. (Rame, Documents inedits sur
Jacques Cartier et le Canada, p. 3, Tross, Paris, 1865.) Besides,
neither in the commissions to Cartier, nor in any of the accounts of
his voyages, is there the slightest allusion to Verrazzano.] The
latter writer has accordingly been cited by subsequent authors as an
original authority on the subject, among others by Bergeron,
[Footnote: Traiete des Navigations, p. 103, par. 15.] and the
commissioners of the king of France, in the controversy with his
Britannic majesty in relation to the limits of Acadia; [Footnote:
Memoires des Commissaires du Roi, &c., I, 29.] but, as this
plagiarism proves, without reason. Charlevoix, with a proper
discrimination, refers directly to Ramusio as the sole source from
whence the account of the discovery is derived, as do the French
writers who have mentioned it since his time, except M. Margry, who,
in his recent work on the subject of French voyages, quotes from the
Carli version. It is thus seen that no other authority is given by
the French historians than one or other of the Italian versions.
[Footnote: Andre Thevet, who published a work with the title of
Cosmographie Universelle, in two volumes, large folio, in rivalry
apparently with Belleforest, and in the same year, 1575, is referred
to sometimes as an authority on this subject. Speaking of the cruel
disposition of the people of Canada, he mentions in illustration of
it, the fate at their hands of some colonists whom Verrazzano took
to that country. The fact is thus related by him in connection with
this voyage, for which he gives no authority or indication of any.
"Jean Verazze, a Florentine, left Dieppe, the SEVENTEENTH OF MARCH,
one thousand five hundred and twenty-four, by command of King
Francis, and coasted the whole of Florida, as far as the thirty-
fourth degree of latitude, and the three hundredth of longitude, and
explored all this coast, and PLACED HERE A NUMBER OF PEOPLE TO
CULTIVATE IT, who in the end were all killed and massacred by this
barbarous people" (fol. 1002 B.). This statement seems to justify
what the President De Thou, the contemporary of Thevet, says of him,
that he composed his books by putting "the uncertain for the
certain, and the false for the true, with an astonishing assurance."
(Hist. Univ., tom. II, 651, Loud., 1734.) Thevet had published before
this, in 1557, another book, called Les Singularites de la France
Antarctique, autrement nommee Amerique, in which he describes all
the countries of America as far north as Labrador, and says that he
ran up the coast to that region on his way home from Brazil, where
he went in 1555, with Villegagnon. In this earlier work he makes no
mention of Verrazzano; but does say that Jacques Cartier told him
that he (Cartier) had made the voyage to America twice (fol. 148-9).
It is thus evident that Thevet had not heard of Verrazzano in 1557,
or he would necessarily have mentioned him, as he had the subject
distinctly before him; and if he is to be believed in regard to his
intimacy with Cartier, with whom he says he spent five months at his
house in St. Malo (Cos. Univ., fol. 1014, B.), and from whom he
received much information, it is quite as clear that Cartier knew
nothing of the Verrazzano discovery, or he would have mentioned it
to Thevet.] It must, therefore, as regarded as confessed by them,
that no original authority for the discovery has never existed in
France.
If any voyage had taken place, such as this is alleged to have been,
it is morally impossible, in the state of learning and art at that
time in France, and with the interest which must necessarily have
attached to the discovery, that no notice should have been taken of
it in any of the chronicles or histories of the country, and that
the memory of it should not have been preserved in some of the
productions of its press. According to the letter itself, it was one
of the grandest achievements in the annals of discovery, and
promised the most important results to France. It was an enterprise
of her king, which had been successfully accomplished. There had
been discovered a heathen land, nearly three thousand miles in
extent, before unknown to the civilized world, and, therefore, open
to subjugation and settlement; healthy, populous, fertile and
apparently rich in gold and aromatics, and, therefore, an
acquisition as great and valuable as any discovery made by the
Spaniards or Portuguese, except that of Columbus. Silence and
indifference in regard to such an event were impossible. Printing
introduced long previously into the principal cities in France, had
early in this reign reached its highest state of perfection, as the
works issued from the presses of Henri Estienne and others attest.
In 1521 twenty-four persons practiced the art in Paris alone.
[Footnote: Didot in Harrisse Bib. Am. Vet., 189.] The discoveries in
the new world by other nations excited as much attention in France
as they did in the other countries of Europe. The letters of
Columbus and Vespucci, describing their voyages and the countries
they had found, were no sooner published abroad than they were
translated into French and printed in Paris. From 1515 to 1529
several editions of the Italian collection of voyages, known as the
Paesi novamente ritrovati, containing accounts of the discoveries of
Columbus, Cortereal, Cabral and Vespucci in America, and in 1532 the
Decades of Peter Martyr, were translated and published in Paris, in
the French language. Cartier's account of his voyage in 1535-6,
undertaken by order of Francis, in which he discovered Canada, was
printed in the same city in 1545, during the reign of that monarch.
These publications abundantly prove the interest which was taken in
France in the discoveries in the new world, and the disposition and
efforts of the printers in the country at that time to supply the
people with information on the subject; and also, that the policy of
the crown allowed publicity to be given to its own maritime
enterprises. Of the enlightened interest on the part of the crown in
the new discoveries, a memorable instance is recorded, having a
direct and important bearing upon this question. A few months only
after the alleged return of Verrazzano, and at the darkest hour in
the reign of Francis, when he was a captive of the emperor in Spain,
Pigafetta, who had accompanied the expedition of Magellan and kept a
journal of the voyage, presented himself at the court of France.
Louise was then exercising the powers and prerogatives of her son,
and guarding his interests and honor with maternal zeal. Pigafetta
came to offer her a copy of the manuscript which he had prepared,
and which told of the discovery of the newly discovered route to the
Moluccas and Cathay. It was written in Italian; and the queen mother
caused it to be translated into French by Antoine Fabre, and printed
by Simon de Colines, the successor of Estienne. The book bears no
date, but bibliographers assign it that of 1525, the year of the
regency. Certain it is, it was printed in Paris during the life of
Francis, as Colines, whose imprint it bears, died before the king.
Thus by the instrumentality of the crown of France was the account
of the discovery of Magellan, written by one who belonged to the
expedition, first given to the world. It is not probable that the
queen mother, exercising the regal power immediately after the
alleged return of Verrazzano, would have left entirely unnoticed and
unpublished an account of his discovery, so interesting to the
subjects of the king and so glorious to France, and yet have caused
to be put forth within his realm in its stead, the history of a like
enterprise, redounding to the glory of the great rival and enemy of
her son. [Footnote: The little book of Pigafetta, a copy of which,
by the kindness of Mrs. John Carter Brown, of Providence, is now in
our hands, bears the title of Le voyage et navigation faict par les
Espaignols es Isles de Molucques, &c. It is fully described by M.
Harrisse in his Bib. Vet. Am. The concluding paragraph contains the
statement that this manuscript was presented to the queen regent.
Ramusio (vol. I, 346), mentions the fact that it was given by her to
Fabre to be translated. The particulars are detailed by Amoretti
Primo Viaggio, Introd. XXXVII. Premier Voyage, XLIV.]
II. Conclusive as the silence of the history of France is against
the assertion that the Verrazzano voyage and discovery were made by
direction of her king, the life of Francis is a complete denial of
it. He was released from his captivity early in 1526, and lived and
reigned over France for more than twenty years afterwards, active in
promoting the greatness of his kingdom; encouraging science and art
among his people, and winning the title of father of letters; awake
to whatever concerned his royal rights and prerogatives, and
maintaining them with might and vigor abroad as well as at home; and
willing and able to obtain and occupy new countries inhabited by the
heathen. That he was not insensible to the advantages to his crown
and realm of colonies in America, and not without the ability and
disposition to prosecute discoveries there for the purpose of
settlement, is proven by his actually sending out the expeditions of
Jacques Cartier in 1534 and 1535 and Cartier and Roberval in 1541-2,
for the purpose of exploring and developing the region beyond the
gulf of St. Lawrence, through the icy way of the straits of Belle
Isle, in latitude 52 Degrees N.
Yet he never recognized by word or deed the voyage or discovery of
Verrazzano. If any one in France could have known of them, surely it
would have been he who had sent forth the expedition. If Verrazzano
were dead, when Francis returned to his kingdom, and the letter had
miscarried and never come to his hands, the knowledge of the
discovery still would have existed in the bosom of fifty living
witnesses, who composed the crew, according to the story; and
through them the results of the voyage would have been communicated
to the king. But Verrazzano was not dead, at that time, but was
alive, as will appear hereafter, in 1527. There is good reason to
believe that he was well known then to the royal advisers. One of
the first acts of the king after his return from Spain was to create
Phillipe Chabot, Sieur de Brion, the admiral of France, whereby that
nobleman became invested on the 23d of March, 1526, with the charge
of the royal marine. [Footnote: Pere Anselme, IV, 57l.] A document
has recently been brought to light from among the manuscripts in the
Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, purporting to be an agreement made
by Chabot in his official capacity, with Jean Ango, of Dieppe, and
other persons, including Jehan de Varesam, for a voyage to the
Indies with two vessels belonging to the king, and one to Ango, to
be conducted by Varesam, as master pilot, for the purpose ostensibly
of bringing bask a cargo of spices. [Footnote: M. Margry.
Navigations Francaises, p. 194. See Appendix.] This instrument has
no date, but on its face belongs to Chabot's administration of the
admiralty, and must, therefore, have been drawn up in the year 1526
or that of Verrazzano's death, in 1527. If it be genuine, it proves
not only that Verrazzano was alive in that period, but was known to
the admiral, and, consequently, that any services which he had
previously rendered must have been in the possession of the crown.
In either case, however, whether Verrazzano were dead or alive when
Francis resumed his royal functions, there is no reason why the
discovery, if it had ever taken place, should not have been known by
him.
In sending forth the expeditions of Jacques Cartier and the joint
expeditions of Cartier and Roberval, Francis not only showed his
interest in the discovery of new countries, but he acted in perfect
ignorance of the Verrazzano discovery. If it were known to him, upon
what rational theory would he have attempted new voyages of
discovery in a cold and inhospitable region, on an uncertain search,
instead of developing what had been found for him? What could he
have expected to have accomplished by the new expeditions that had
not been already fully effected by Verrazzano? And, especially after
the way to Canada was found out by Cartier, what was there more
inviting in that unproductive quarter than was promised in the
temperate climate, fertile soil, and mineral lands, which the
Florentine had already discovered in his name, that he should have
sent Cartier and Roberval to settle and conquer the newer land?
[Footnote: The letters issued to Roberval have been recently
published, for the first time, by M. Harrisse, from the archives of
France, in his Notes pour servir a l'histoire de la Nouvelle France,
p. 244, et seq. (Paris, 1872.) They are dated the 16th of February
1540. Cartier's commission for the same service is dated in October,
1540. Charlevoix, misled probably by the letters granted by Henry IV
to the Marquis de la Roche in 1598, in which the letters to Roberval
are partially recited, asserts that Roberval is styled in them lord
of Norumbega. The letters now published show that he was in error;
and that France limited the authority of Roberval to the countries
west of the gulf of St. Lawrence (Canada and Ochelaga), so far as
any are named or described, and made no reference to Norumbega as a
title of Roberval or otherwise. As the year commenced at Easter the
date of Roberval's commission was in fact after that of Cartier.]
With the failure of the expedition of Roberval, Francis abandoned
the attempt to discover new countries, or plant colonies in America;
but his successors, though much later, entered upon the colonization
of New France. They inherited his rights, and while they
acknowledged the discoveries of Cartier they discredited those
ascribed to Verrazzano. Of the latter claim all of them must have
known. The publication of Ramusio took place during the reign of
Henry II, who died in 1559; but he made no endeavor to plant
colonies abroad. In 1577 and 1578, the first commissions looking to
possessions in America north of Florida, were issued by Henry III,
to the Marquis de la Roche, authorizing settlement in the terres
neufves and the adjacent countries NEWLY discovered, in the
occupancy of barbarians, but nothing was done under them. In 1598,
another grant was made to the same person by Henry IV, for the
conquest of Canada, Hochelaga, Newfoundland, Labrador, the country
of the river St. Lawrence, Norumbega, and other countries adjacent.
This is the first document emanating from the crown, containing any
mention of any part of the continent north of latitude 33 degrees
and south of Cape Breton.
Norumbega is the only country of those here enumerated which is
included within those limits, and that did not become known through
Verrazzano. [Footnote: Norumbega embraced the region of country
extending from the land of the Bretons to the Penobscot, of which it
was regarded as the Indian name. It was almost identical with what
was subsequently called Acadia. It had become known at an early
period through the French fishermen and traders in peltries, who
obtained the name from the Indians and carried it home to France. It
is described by Jean Alfonse, the chief pilot of Roberval, from an
exploration which he made along the coast on the occasion of
Roberval's expedition to Canada, in 1542. (Hakluyt, III, 239-240.
MS. cosmography of Alfonse, in Bib. Nat. of Paris, fol. 185.)
Alfonse states that he ran down the coast as far as a bay which he
did not penetrate, in latitude 42, between Norumbega and Florida,
showing that Norumbega was considered as north of that parallel of
latitude. He particularly describes it in the manuscript just cited,
which Hakluyt had before him, as the ruttier of Alfonse which he
publishes is found in that manuscript. It appears to have been
written by Alfonse in 1544-5, which was shortly after his return
from Canada with Roberval. the name of Norumbega is found in the
discourse of the captain of Dieppe, written in 1539, and printed in
third volume of Ramusio. This writer distinctly states that the name
was derived from the natives. The description of the country and its
inhabitants given by Alfonse, is important, as showing its extent,
and alluding to the trade there in peltries thus early. It is found
in the cosmography in connection with the ruttier before mentioned
(fol. 187-8), and is as follows: "I say that the cape of St. Jehan,
called Cape Breton and the cape of the Franciscaine, are northeast
and southwest, and take a quarter of east and west and there is in
the route one hundred and forty leagues. And here makes a cape
called the cape of Noroveregue. This said cape is at forty-five
degrees of the height of the arctic pole. The said coast is all
sandy land, low without any mountain. And along this coast there are
several islands of sand and coast very dangerous, with banks and
rocks. The people of this coast and of Cape Breton are bad people,
powerful, great archers and live on fish and flesh. They speak, as
it were, the same language as those of Canada, and are a great
nation. And those of Cape Breton go and make war upon those of
Newfoundland (Terre neufve), where they fish. On no account would
they save the life of a person when they capture him, if it he not a
child or young girl, and are so cruel that if they find a man
wearing a beard, they cut his limbs off and carry them to their
wives and children, in order to be revenged in that matter. And
there is among them much peltry of all animals. Beyond the cape of
Noroveregue [Cape Sable] descends the river of the said Noroveregue
which is about twenty-five leagues from the cape. The said river is
more than forty leagues broad at its mouth, and extends this width
inward well thirty or forty leagues, and is all full of islands
which enter ten or twelve leagues into the sea, and it is very
dangerous with rocks and reefs. The said river is at forty-two
degrees of the height of the arctic pole. Fifteen leagues within
this river is a city which is called Norombergue, and there are in
it good people and THERE IS MUCH PELTRY OF ALL ANIMALS. The people
of the city are clothed with peltry, wearing mantles of martin. I
suspect the said river enters into the river of Ochelaga, for it is
salt more than forty league inward, according to what is said by the
people of the city. The people use many words, which resemble Latin,
and adore the sun; and are handsome and large men. The land of
Norobregue is tolerably high. On the side on the west of the said
city there are many rocks which run into the sea well fifteen
leagues; and on the side towards the north there is a bay in which
there is a little island which is very subject to tempest and cannot
be inhabited."
Two sketches of the coast by Alfonse accompany this description,
which are here reproduced united in one. The map in Ramusio (III,
fol. 424-5), prepared by Gastaldi, shows the Terra de Nurumbega, of
the same extent as here described, that is, from Cape Breton
westerly to a river running north from the Atlantic and connecting
with the St. Lawrence or river of Hochelaga. Gastaldi, or Gastaldo,
published previously an edition of Ptolemy's Geography (12mo.,
Venice, 1543), in which (map 56), Norumbega is similarly laid down,
without the river running to the St. Lawrence. Norumbega was
therefore a well defined district of country at that time.
The word was undoubtedly derived from the Indians, and is still in
use by those of the Penobscot, to denote certain portions of that
river. The missionary Vetromile, in his History of the Abnakis (New
York, 1866), observes (pp. 48-9): "Nolumbega means A STILL-WATER
BETWEEN FALLS, of which there are several in that river. At
different times, travelling in a canoe along the Penobscot, I have
heard the Indians calling those localities NOLUMBEGA."
That the country did not become known through Verrazzano is evident
from the letter, in which it is stated that he ran along the entire
coast, from the harbor to which they remained fifteen days, one
hundred and fifty leagues easterly, that is from Cape Cod to the
Island of Cape Breton, without landing, and consequently without
having any correspondence with the natives, so as to have acquired
the name.
When in particular Alfonse ran along the Atlantic coast is not
mentioned, though it is to be inferred that it was on the occasion
of Roberval's expedition. There is nothing stated, it is true, to
preclude the possibility of its having taken place on some other
voyage previously. It could not have been afterwards, as the
cosmography describing it was written in 1544-5. Some authors assert
that Roberval dispatched him towards Labrador with a view of finding
a passage to the East Indies, without mentioning his exploration
along Nova Scotia and New England. But Le Clerc, who seems to have
been the author of this statement (Premier Etablissement de la Foy
dans la Nouvelle France, I, 12-13. Paris, 1691), and who is followed
by Charlevoix, also alleges that on the occasion of his exploration
towards Labrador, he discovered the straits between it and
Newfoundland, in latitude 52, now known as the straits of Belle
Isle, which is not correct. Jacques Cartier sailed through that
passage in his first voyage to Canada, in 1534. Le Clerc either drew
false inferences or relied upon false information. He probably
derived his impression of the voyage to Labrador and the discovery
of the straits by Alfonse, from a cursory reading of the cosmography
of Alfonse, who describes these straits, but not as a discovery of
his own.
In the printed work, called Les voyages avantureux du Capitaine Jean
Alphonse, Saintongeois, which was first published in 1559, after the
death of Alfonse, it is expressly stated that the river of
Norumbega, was discovered by the Portuguese and Spaniards.
Describing the great bank, he says that it runs from Labrador, "au
nordest et suroest, une partie a oest-suroest, plus de huit cens
lieues, et passe bien quatre vingts lieues de la terre neufue, et de
la terre des Bretons trente ou quarante lieues. Et d'icy va tout au
long de la coste jusques a la riviere du Norembergue, QUI EST
NOUVELLEMENT DESCOUVERTE PAR LES PORTUGALOIS ET ESPAGNOLS," p. 53.
We quote from an edition of the work not mentioned by the
bibliographers (Brunet-Harrisse), printed at Rouen in 1602. This is
almost a contemporary denial by a French author, whether Alfonse
himself or a compiler, as it would rather appear, from his
cosmography, of the Verrazzano discovery of this country.]
No allusion is made, in these letters of de la Roche, to any
previous exploration, although an enormous recital, already alluded
to, is made to a purpose of Francis I, in his commission to
Roberval, to conquer the countries here indicated. [Footnote:
Lescarbot (ed. 1609), 434. Harrisse, Notes de la Nouvelle France, p.
243.] De la Roche made a miserable attempt to settle the island of
Sable, a sand bank in the ocean, two degrees south of Cape Breton,
with convicts taken from jails of France, but being repelled by
storm and tempest, after leaving that island, from landing on the
main coast, returned to France without any further attempt to
colonize the country, and abandoning the poor malefactors on the
island to a terrible fate. [Footnote: The story is told by Lescarbot
(p. 38, ed. 1609), which he subsequently embellished with some
fabulous additions in relation to a visit to the island of Sable by
Baron de Leri, in 1519 (Ed. 1611, p. 22), even before the date of
the Verrazzano letter.] There is therefore no acknowledgment, in the
history of this enterprise, of the pretended discovery. The next act
of the regal prerogative was a grant to the Sieur de Monts, by the
same monarch in 1603, authorizing him to take possession of the
country, coasts and confines of La Cadie, extending from latitude 40
Degrees N. to 46 Degrees N., that is, Nova Scotia and New England,
the situation of which, it is alleged, De Monts understood from his
previous voyages to the country. [Footnote: Lescarbot (ed. 1609),
452-3. La Cadie, or Acadie, as it was for a long time afterwards
known, appears for the first time on any chart on the map of Terra
Nova, No. 56, in Gastaldi's Ptolemy, and is there called Lacadia.]
This document also is utterly silent as to any particular discovery
of the country; but it distinctly affirms that the foundation of the
claim to this territory was the report of the captains of vessels,
pilots, merchants and others, who had for a long time frequented the
country and trafficked with its inhabitants. Accompanying these
letters patent was a license to De Monts to trade with the natives
of the St. Lawrence, and make settlements on that river. It was
under these authorisations to De Monts exclusively, that all the
permanent settlements of the French in Nova Scotia and Canada were
effected, beyond which countries none were ever attempted by them,
within the limits of the Verrazzano discovery, or any rights
asserted on behalf of the French crown.
It is thus evident that the history of France and of her kings is
utterly void on the subject of this discovery, without any
legitimate cause, if it had ever taken place; and that the policy of
the crown in regard to colonization in America has ever been
entirely in repugnance to it. It is incredible, therefore, that any
such could ever have taken place for Francis, or for France.
An important piece of testimony of an affirmative character,
however, still exists, showing that the crown of France had no
knowledge or appreciation of this claim. It comes from France, and,
as it were, from Francis himself. It is to be found in the work of a
French cartographer, a large and elaborately executed map of the
world, which has been reproduced by M. Jomard, in his Monuments of
Geography, under the title of Mappemonde peinte sur parchemin par
ordre de Henry II, roi de France. [Footnote: Les Monuments de la
Geographie ou Receuil d'anciennes cartes, &c., en facsimile de la
grandeur des originaux. Par M. Jomard. No. XIX.] M. D'Avezac assigns
it the date of 1542, which is five years before the death of Francis
and accession of Henry to the throne. [Footnote: Inventaire et
classement raisonne des "Monuments de la Geographie" publies par M.
Jomard de 1842 a 1863. (Communication de M. D'Avezac.) Extrait du
Bulletin de L'Academie des inscriptions et belles lettres. Seance du
30 Aout 1867, p. 7. L'Annee Geographique. Sixieme annee (1867), pp.
548, 554.] But neither of these dates appears to be exactly correct;
as upon that portion of the map representing Saguenay, the person of
Roberval is depicted and his name inscribed, evidently denoting his
visit to that country, which did not take place until June, 1543.
[Footnote: Hakluyt, III, 242.] No information, could possibly have
arrived in France, to have enabled the maker of the map, to have
indicated this circumstance upon it before the latter part of that
year. On the other hand the arms of both the king and dauphin are
repeatedly drawn in the decorated border of the map, showing that it
was made, if not under the actual direction of Henry, at least while
he was in fact discharging the functions of admiral of France, which
he assumed after the disgrace of Chabot, in 1540, and continued to
exercise until the death of Francis, in 1547. It therefore belongs
to the period of 1543-7; and thus comes to us apparently impressed
with an official character. It is the work of an accomplished French
geographer, DURING THE REIGN OF FRANCIS, and it, no doubt,
represents not only the state of geographical knowledge in France at
that time, but also all the knowledge possessed by Francis of this
coast. Mr. Kohl expresses the opinion that it "is not only one of
the most brilliant, but also one of the most exact and trustworthy
pictures of the world which we have in the first part of the
sixteenth century. It gives accurately all that was known of the
world in 1543, especially of the ocean, and the outlines of the
coasts of different countries." He adds, "the author of the map must
have been a well instructed, intelligent and conscientious man.
Where the coasts of a country are not known to him, he so designates
them. For his representations of countries recently discovered and
already known, he had before him the best models and originals."
[Footnote: Discovery of Maine, 351-4.] Yet notwithstanding the
thorough knowledge of the subject displayed by this cartographer,
his French nationality, and the contemporariness of his labors with
the reign of Francis, "no evidence," as Mr. K. further observes,"
appears that the report or chart of the French commander,
Verrazzano, had been used in constructing this chart." On the
contrary, the line of coast from Cape St. Roman in South Carolina to
Cape Breton is copied from the Spanish map of Ribero, with the
Spanish names translated into French. [Footnote: Thus R. del
principe, R. del espiritu santo, B. de Santa Maria (the Chesapeake)
Playa, C. de S. Juan, R. de St. Iago, C. de Arenas (Cape Henlopen),
B. de S. Christoval (the Delaware), B. de S. Antonio (the Hudson),
R. de buena Madre, S. Juan Baptista, Arcipelago de Estevan Gomez,
Montanas, and R. de la buelta, on the map of Ribero, become on the
French map, R. du Prince, R. du St. Esprit, B. de Sa. Marie, Les
playnes, C. St. Jean, St. Jacques, C. des Sablons, G. de St.
Christofle, R. de St. Anthoine, R. de bonne Mere, Baye de St. Jean
Baptiste, Arcipel de Estienne Gomez, Les Montaignes and R. de
Volte.] Many other names occur within the same distance, which are
found on other Spanish charts since that time, and some which were
probably taken from Spanish charts not now known. [Footnote: Of this
class are the R. de Canoes, R. Seche, Playne, Coste de Dieu, R.
d'Arbres, which, on the map XII, of the Munich Atlas, said to have
been taken from the map of the Spanish cosmographer, Alonzo de Santa
Cruz, are given, R. de Canoas, R. Seco, Terra Ilana, Costa de Diego,
R. d'Arvoredos.] Thus within the limits mentioned, embracing the
exploration of Gomez no designation occurs connecting the coast with
Verrazzano. [Footnote: The name of Avorobagra, on the west side of
the great bay, is found in place of C. de Muchas illas of the Ribero
map. This is supposed to have been intended for Norumbega.] From
Cape Breton easterly and northerly along the coast of Newfoundland
the discoveries of the Normand and Bretons and the Portuguese, and
in the river and gulf of St. Lawrence, those of Jacques Cartier, are
shown by the names. The whole coast claimed by the letter is thus
assigned to other parties than Verrazzano. The logical maxim,
expressio unius est exclusio alterius, must here apply. The
expression of the Spanish discoveries, at least exclude those of
Verrazzano; demonstrating almost to a moral certainty that the
latter could never have been performed for the king of France. The
author of this map, whether executing it under official
responsibility or upon his own account, would not have ascribed, or
dared to ascribe, to a foreign nation, much less to a rival, the
glory which belonged to his own sovereign, then living, whose
protection he enjoyed.