USA > Maryland > A sketch of the history of Maryland during the three first years after its settlement : to which is prefixed, a copious introduction > Part 2
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* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 44, p. 60. Hume's Hist. of Eng- land, at the end of Hen. 7th's reign. Other historians place his voyage in 1497 ; but see note (A) at the end of this Vol.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
land, without attempting either settlement or con- SECT. quest in any part of this continent .*
I. 1498.
1 .
It may be proper here to observe, that although Columbus might not have actually been the first discoverer of the continent of America, yet as he was unquestionably the first discoverer of those islands, now denominated the West Indies, and the first navigator who had the fortitude to cross the Atlantic, he is certainly entitled to all the merit of the first discovery of the continent. For the disco- very of the continent, after that of those islands, must, in the nature of things, have been in a short time a necessary consequence. All historians seem to agree, that he first discovered that part of the continent of South America adjacent to the island of Trinidad, on the first of August, 1498, in his third voyage. Supposing the first discovery of the continent of North America by Sebastian Cabot was, as before mentioned, in the same year, to wit, 1498, he probably fell in with the continent only a month or two before Columbus did. Each navi- gator, however, appears to have been distinct from, and unconnected with the other; and therefore, cach entitled to their respective merits, with this
* If the reader should be a native of Maryland, and one of those who place confidence in a right resulting from prior discovery, he will be gratified by the strong probability there is, that Cabot in this voyage first saw and discovered that part of the State of Maryland, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean. If he sailed along the coast from the northward to the 38th degree of latitude, (which is at or near the divisional line be- tween Virginia and Maryland,) he must have had a view of Fenwick's and Assatiegue islands, and possibly looked into Sinepuxent or Chinigoteague inlets.
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SECT. manifest exception, that Cabot would never, in all I. probability, have been sent out on his voyage, had 1498. not the fame of Columbus's prior discoveries led the way.
Portu- guese dis- coveries.
Nor is it easy to deprive the Portuguese nation of a considerable share of merit, which they have just pretences to, in clearing the road, as it were, to the discovery of America. Their indefatigable in- dustry in exploring the coast of Africa during the fifteenth century, in order to get to the East Indies, undoubtedly induced Columbus to think of his western route. And the accidental discovery of Brazil in the last year of that century, by Pedro . Alvarez Cabral, demonstrates, that in the course of a few succeeding years, chance would have thrown on that commander and the Portuguese nation, all the honour and fame which Columbus acquired by his own personal sagacity .*
gal and Spain, in conse-
Dispute between the courts Immediately on the return of Columbus from his - first voyage, in 1492, the Portuguese, who had dis- of Portu- covered and possessed the Azores, claimed also, in virtue thereof, as well as by a former grant of the pope,t all such newly discovered islands and coun-
Harris's Voyages, Vol. 1, p. 666. Robertson's Hist. of America, Vol. 1, p. 214.
t This bull of the pope was made in 1444, through the in- tercession of prince Henry of Portugal, so celebrated for pro- moting the Portuguese discoveries along the coast of Africa. The tenure of this grant of the pope to the crown of Portugal, was, an exclusive right to all the countries, which the Portu- guese should discover, from cape Non, on the coast of Africa, to the continent of India. Ilarris's Voyages, Vol. 1, p. 664. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 9, p. 246. Robertson's Hist. of Ame- rica, Vol. 1, p. 69.
-
!
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
tries as had been visited by Columbus. Their SECT. L
1498. quence of
catholic majesties, by the advice of Columbus, ap- plied to the pope to obtain his sanction of their claims, and his consent for the conquest of the West Colum- bus's dig- Indies. The Spanish queen being a niece of the coveries. king of Portugal, he was induced to agree to a re- ference of their dispute to the pope. The pope then in the chair, was Alexander VI, a Spaniard by birth, and from this circumstance as well as the ge- neral depravity of his character, was not perhaps so impartial a judge as might be wished. Readily acceding to the proposal, he, by a bull, bearing date the third of May, 1493, made the celebrated line of partition, whereby he granted to their catholic ma- The jesties, all the islands and countries already disco- partition. pope's vered, or to be discovered, which should lie west- ward of a line drawn from the north to the south pole, at the distance of one hundred leagues west- ward of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, and which had not been actually possessed by any Chris- tian king or prince, on or before the first day of the same year 1493 .* Although the king of Portugal
* See this bull at large, in the original Latin, in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 3. The curiosity of a free American citizen of the United States, may perhaps be excited to a de- sire to know a little of the character of a man, who once had the power of making a grant of the land they live in. He is thus spoken of by Guicciardini, an Italian historian of great estimation :- In his manners he was most shameless ; wholly divested of sincerity, of decency, and of truth ; without fide- lity, without religion ; in his avarice, immoderate ; in his ambition, insatiable ; in his cruelty, more than barbarous ; with a most ardent desire of exalting his numerous children, by whatever means it might be accomplished ; some of whom
C
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SECT.
1498.
I. had agreed to the reference, he was dissatisfied with this partition. The subject was, therefore, referred again to six plenipotentiaries, three chosen from each nation, whose conferences issued in an agree- ment, that the line of partition, in the pope's bull, should be extended two hundred and seventy leagues further to the west; that all westward of that line should fall to the share of the Spaniards; and all castward of it to the Portuguese : but that the sub- jects of their catholic majesties might freely sail through those seas belonging to the king of Portu- gal, holding through the same a direct course .*
Notwithstanding this apparent reconciliation be- tween the two contending nations, and their modest compromise for half the world, the Portuguese, ha- ving reluctantly agreed to it, did not continue in that respect for the pope's grant, or the partial con- firmation of it by the before mentioned referees, so long as might have been expected from that nation. 1500. Corte- age. In the year 1500, one Caspar de Cortereal, a Por- real's voy- tuguese of respectable family, inspired with the re- solution of discovering new countries, and a new route to India, and probably under the influence of the jealousy of his nation as to the Spanish incroach-
were not less detestable than their father." See Roscoe's Pontificate of Leo X, Vol. 1, p. 196. It cannot be asserted, however, that this pope Alexander was a worse man than Henry the eighth of England, the great royal reformer. What ornaments to Christianity are such characters !
* This agreement was made the 7th of June, 1493. It was sealed by the king of Spain, 2d of July same year ; and by the king of Portugal on the 27th of February, 1494. Mod. Univ. · History, Vol. 9, p. 385-6, Holmes's American Annals, Vol. 1, p. 9.
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ments, and in spite of the donation of the pope, sailed SECT. from Lisbon, with two vessels, at his own cost. In I. 1500. the course of his navigation he arrived at Newfound- land, at a bay, which he named Conception-bay ; ex- plored the whole eastern coast of the island, and pro- ceeded to the mouth of the great river of Canada, the St. Lawrence. He afterwards discovered a land, which he at first named Terra Verde, but which, in remembrance of the discoverer, was afterwards called Terra de Cortereal. That part of it, which being on the south side of the fiftieth degree of north Latitude, he judged to be fit for cultivation, he named Terra de Labrador. Returning, and communicat- ing the news of his discovery to his native country, he hastened back to visit the coast of Labrador, and to go to India through the straits of Anian, which he imagined he had just discovered. Nothing,
however, was afterwards heard of him. It is pre- sumed, that he was either murdered by the Esqui- maux savages, or perished among the ice. On this disastrous event, a brother of Cortereal, under- took the same voyage; most probably in search of his brother : but he is supposed to have met with a similar fate, for he was heard of no more .* Al-
* Holmes's American Annals, Vol. 1, p. 25. Holmes cites, among the authorities for the foregoing account, Harris's Voy- ages, Vol. 1, p. 270. After a careful search through both vo- lumes of that work, I have not been able to find any of the above particulars relative to Cortereal's voyage ; but as it ap- pears from Holmes's Index of authors cited by him in the course of his work, printed at the end of his second volume, that he used the edition of Harris's Voyages published in .1705, and the one here used is of the edition published in the years 1744 and 1748 ; it is possible that this voyage might
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SECT. I. though these voyages were undertaken by indivi- duals, and not by the royal authority of Portugal, 1500. yet as these expeditions seem to have been fitted out openly, and probably must have come to the knowledge of the sovereign power of the Portu- guese nation, and were not prohibited by them, they may therefore be considered as a national trans- gression of the interdicted limits prescribed by the pope. This short notice of them seemed necessary to be made, in order to illustrate more fully the early discoveries of the northern parts of the conti- nent of America.
In England also, as little regard seems to have been paid to this celebrated papal partition, although that country was still under the ecclesiastical power of the Roman pontiff. Some schemes of further discovery and commercial enterprise having been 1502. Patents for disco- very and trade, to some mer- formed about this time by some merchants of Bris- tol, in conjunction with some Portuguese gentle- men, patents for that purpose were granted to them chants of by Henry VII, in the sixteenth and eighteenth Bristol. years of his reign, without noticing the before men-
have been designedly omitted in this last or second edition of that work. In Vol. 2, p. 401, (edit. 1748), where the north- west passage is treated of, there is this short remark, " One Cortereal, a Portuguese, is also said to have passed this strait, and to have bestowed upon it his name; but how, when, or where, is not to be inquired, or at least to be resolved." The authors of the Modern Universal History, in many parts of their work, particularly in Vol. 11, p. 364, pass high enco- miums on this last edition of Harris's Collection of Voyages, though they do not mention the editor's name except by de- scription, as " the sensible author of the Present State of Eu- ropc."
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
tioned line of division .* But these grants do not SEOT. appear to have ever been productive of any effect ; I. for which, some probable reasons may be suggest- 1502. ed. Henry was then engaged in a war with Scot- land, and an insurrection in his own kingdom. He, was also about forming an alliance with Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, by the marriage of his- son to their daughter, which might induce him to dis- countenance undertakings necessarily disagreeable to them. To which may be added also, that agree- ably to the characteristic genius of Henry, he was pot so liberal as to give one penny towards the en- terprise. Nothing further appears to have been done by the English nation, in pursuance of Cabot's discoveries, during the remainder of his reign.
Amidst the enthusiasm excited in Europe by the discovery of America, it was not to be expected that so great a nation as the French would remain totally inactive. It is said, indeed, that they pre- tend to a more early discovery of the northern part of America, than that of the English under Cabot. Though this appears to have but a slender founda- tion, yet it seems to be very well authenticated, that 1504. Voyages as early as the year 1504, some adventurous navi- and disco. veries of gators from Biscay, Bretagne, and Normandy, in the France, came in small vessels to fish on the banks French.
* See the later patent at large in Hazard's Collections, Vol. !, p. 11, in which recital is made of the prior one, dated May 19th, 16 Hen. VII. In each of these patents a clause of do -.. mination was inserted to the three Portuguese gentlemen concerned, in order to prevent them from being considered as foreign merchants, liable to duties and disadvantages in trade from which English subjects were exempt.
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SECT. of Newfoundland. They are alleged to be the
1504.
I. first French vessels that appeared on the coasts of North America ; and from their own account, their fishermen are said to have discovered at this time the grand bank of Newfoundland. In a year or two afterwards, (1506,) Jean Denys, a native of Rouen, sailed from Harfleur to Newfoundland, and published, on his return, a map of the gulf of St. Lawrence, and of the coast of the adjacent country.
1506.
1508.
1 Also, in 1508, Thomas Aubert, in a ship belonging to his father, Jean Ango, Viscount of Dieppe, made a voyage from thence to Newfoundland; and pro- ceeding thence to the river St. Lawrence, is said to be the first who sailed up that great river to the " country of Canada, and on his return carried to Pa- ris some of the natives .*
1
The same causes operating on the conduct of Henry VIII, for the first three or four years of his reign, as in that of his father, they would naturally in like manner paralyze any efforts on the part of the English nation in pursuance of Cabot's discoveries. In the mean-time, however, the Spaniards were go- ing on rapidly in their discoveries and conquests in the islands and southern part of America. One in- cident of which, it may not, perhaps, be unneces- sary to mention, as it bears some relation to our present inquiries :- a certain Juan Ponce de Leon, 1512. Ponce de Leon's discovery being a Spanish officer of some note in the island of Hispaniola, shortly after the conquest and settlement of Florida. of that island, had obtained leave to conquer the
Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 406. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 33, 35, 37.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
neighbouring island called Porto Rico. After per- SECT. I.
1512
forming this, he was for some cause displaced from his office of governor thereof. But, having thereby acquired considerable wealth, he was enabled to fit out some vessels, at his own expense for further discoveries. He was induced to this, not only by that chivalrous spirit of adventure, which appears to have been then, among the Spaniards, the fashion of the times; but also, as it is said, to gratify a ro- mantic curiosity, in ascertaining the truth of a tra- ditional report, which had long existed among the aborigines of the island, relative to the extraordi- tury virtues of a certain river, rivulet, or fountain in the island of Bimini, one of the Lucayos, which had the property of renovating those who bathed in its waters, into their former youth and vigour. Whatever the motives of his voyage might have been, it seems, that in pursuance of his schemes, he fell upon that part of the coast of North America called by him Florida, and which has ever since retained that name. * But it does not appear that he explored that coast more northerly than the river formerly called St. Mattheo, now St. Juan's or St. John's in East Florida, and which is a little to the southward of what is now the boundary line between the United States and the Spanish territories. t
The reader will perceive, that at this period of time, (1512,) even after Ponce de Leon's voyage, there remained a vast space of the continent of
* Called so because it was first discovered by the Spaniards on Easter day, which they call Pasqua Florida, Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 123, and Vol. 44, p. 41.
t Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 57.
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SECT. I. North America along the Atlantic, (from the 30th to the 38th degree of North latitude, from Florida 1512. to the most southern part of the coast of Maryland,). which had never been visited by any European. Although the English court long afterwards, both at the time of granting the patent for Carolina, in 1663, and of their claim to Florida in 1762, pre- tended that Cabot's discoveries included both Caro- lina and Florida, by which, through right of prior discovery, they claimed to the gulf of Mexico,* yet as no authentic history can be found to show that Cabot ever descended so far to the south,t or indeed any lower than the 38th degree of north lati- tude, that right must remain unsupported, unless the discovery of a part of the continent of North America could be construed as giving right to the whole of it. But in such an extensive continent as this, such a right must appear at once futile and vain, and the right of prior occupation, or settle- ment, seems in such case to be the only rational right to be relied on .¿
The Spaniards did not, however, altogether ne- glect this discovery of Ponce de Leon. Being in want of labourers to work their mines in St. Do- mingo, they formed the project of kidnapping the natives on this coast for that purpose. Accordingly
* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 40, p. 419. Oldmixon's British - Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 325.
t This assertion I find made by Oldmixon in the place just above cited from him, and as it seems to be well founded, it is here adopted. But see a further discussion of this subject in note (B) at the end of this volume.
# See note (C) at the end of the volume.
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in the year 1520, two ships were fitted out from St. SECT. I.
Domingo, under the command of a Spaniard whose name was Luke Vasquez. He proceeded to that 1520.
Luke Vas- quez's ex-
part of the continent of North America which was then supposed by the Spaniards to be a part of Ponce pedition. de Leon's discoveries, and as denominated by him Florida: but the place at which Vasquez arrived, was, it seems, that now called St. Helena, a small island at the mouth of Port Royal harbour, in the southem part of South Carolina, in about 32°, 15' wyth latitude. The natives, it is said, seeing his Naps as they drew near the land, with expanded ttlt, never having seen the like before, took them for two monstrous fishes driving towards the shore, grø! ran in crowds to view them; but on a nearer view of the Spaniards, after they had landed, these simple natives were so struck with their clothing and appearance, that they fled with the greatest marks of consternation. Two of them, however, were taken ; and the Spaniards carrying them on board gave them victuals and drink, and sent them back on shore clothed in Spanish dresses. This insi- dious kindness had its desired effect with the unsus- pecting savages. The king of the country admired the Spanish dresses and hospitality so much, that he sent fifty of his subjects to the ships with fruits and provisions ; ordered his people to attend the Spa- niards, wherever they had a mind to visit the coun- try; and made them rich presents of gold, plates of silver, and pearls. The Spaniards, having learned
all they could concerning the country, watered, and re- victualled their ships, and inviting a large num- ber of their generous landlords on board, after ply-
D
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SECT. I. ing them with liquor, they weighed anchor and sailed off with them. This scheme, however, had 1520. not all the success its perpetrators expected. Most of the unhappy savages either pined themselves to death, or were lost in one of the ships that foun- dered at sea; so that only a very few survived for the purposes of slavery. Vasquez, notwithstanding his loss, having acquired some reputation from the expedition, renewed, in the years 1524 and 1525, his attempts to carry on a slave-trade from that part of the continent. But, one of his ships being wrecked near St. Helena, and two hundred of his men being cut off by the natives, he was so discou- raged, that he returned to Hispaniola, and died, it is said, of a broken heart .*
Some schemes for discovery and settlement in America, were now again revived in France. After a lapse of about fifteen years since the expedition of Aubert to Canada, in 1508, before mentioned, and the accession of Francis the first to the throne of France, that excellent monarch began to think of making establishments on the American coast. 1524. Verazzi- age. With this view he fitted out, in the year 1523, Gio- ni's Voy- vanni (or John) Verazzini, a Florentine, to prose- cute further discoveries in the northern parts of America. History has recorded but little worth mentioning of any of the three several and succes- sive expeditions undertaken by him, except the considerable extent of his voyage along the coast of North America. He is said to have explored, with considerable accuracy, a part of the coast of Flori-
* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 40, p. S.9.
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
da; and the whole extent of his discoveries was SECT. about five hundred leagues of the American coast, I. 1524. from the thirtieth to the fiftieth degree of north lati- tudc, all of which he denominated New France. Ile is supposed to have first arrived in this his se- cond voyage, in the year 1524, off that part of America, where the town of Savannah, in Georgia, now stands; " a new land," says he, " never before scene of any man either ancient or moderne."* Having sailed to the southward as far as the 30th degree of north latitude, he then turned back and sald northwardly to the 34th degree, and thence will northwardly until he found the coast " trend
* This assertion of Verazzini himself, is extracted by Mr. Holmes in his Annals, Vol. 1, p. 68, from Hackluyt's Voyages, where Verazzini's own account, which he sent to the king of J'rance, immediately on his return to Dieppe, in July 1524, is published. It is some presumptive proof that Cabot, in the voyage in which he discovered North America, did not sail w low to the southward as Georgia, much less to Cape Flo- rida as before mentioned. As twenty years had then elapsed since Cabot's voyage, it is not probable that Verazzini was ig- norant of the extent of it. It may be said, indeed, that Ca- bot might have coasted the continent down to Cape Florida, and not have seen nor mentioned the Savannah river, or its adjacent lands. But Verazzini's expression, as above, seems to imply that Cabot never could have seen it, and therefore never passed it. It must be acknowledged, however, that there is considerable probability that the Savannah river must have been discovered by or known to Vasquez, in some one of his voyages before mentioned, he being under a necessity of passing close by it in going to St. Helena, which is but a little further to the northward of it. But as these voyages of Vasquez were about the same time with this of Verazzini, and the French and Spaniards were then at war, it is not probable that Verazzini had any knowledge of them.
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1524. ,
SECT. . towards the east;" here (which is supposed to be on I. the coast of New Jersey or Staten Island) he at- tempted to send his boat ashore, but was prevented by the roughness of the sea. In latitude 40° he entered a harbour, which is supposed to be that of . New York. Proceeding thence to the eastward, he found a well cultivated island, (supposed to be Nan- tucket or Martha's Vineyard) and a little beyond it a good harbour. He proceeded thence still north- wardly along the coast of the country, to 50°, nearly to the most northern part of the coast of Newfoundland ; and then, on account of the failure of his provisions, he returned in July, 1524, to Dieppe, in France. He afterwards undertook a third voyage, in which he and all his company pe- rished by some unknown disaster, and were no more heard of .*
1525. Stephen Gomez's voyage.
About this time also a voyage was made by the Spaniards, which is said to be the first performed by that nation, in which the whole of that part of the coast of North America, now composing the Uni- ted States, was attempted to be explored by them. One Estevan Gomez, (called by the English Ste- phen Gomez,) a Portuguese by birth, who, on ac- count of the great reputation he had acquired as an able navigator, had been selected to accompany Ferdinand Magellan, then in the service of Spain, in his remarkable voyage in the year 1520, wherein he discovered the Straits which have ever since borne his name; and who, perfidiously deserting Magellan, soon after they had entered the South
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