The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 2

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062

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sons.

*See note (A) at the end of the volume.

3 1833 02256 2547

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

of such burthen, and manned with as many men as they might SECT. I. choose, at their own cost and charges, to discover such islands, 1496. countries, regions, or provinces of any nation of infidels what- soever, or wheresoever situated, which were then before unknown to any christian people ; and as his vassals, governours, lieu- tenants, and deputies, to subjugate, occupy, and possess such countries or islands, as shall be discovered by them : so that nevertheless they should return to Bristol after every voyage, and that they should pay him a fifth part of the nett profits of such voyage ; granting to them and their heirs, to be free from all customs on any goods or merchandize brought with them from such countries so discovered ; and that no English subject what- ever should frequent or visit such countries so discovered by them, without the license of the said John, his sons, or their heirs, or deputies, under the penalty of a forfeiture of their ships and goods ; willing and strictly commanding all his subjects, as well by land as by sea, to be aiding and assisting to the said John and his sons and deputies, in arming and fitting out his ships, to be done at their own expense." *

There are some circumstances necessary to be noticed here, which will plainly account for the delay which took place with the Cabots in availing themselves of the benefits of this patent. The restrictive clause in the letters, that the equipment of their expedition was " to be done at their own expense," so conso- nant to the parsimonious or frugal policy of the monarch who granted them, will readily suggest, that much difficulty might drobably occur in the way of these enterprizing navigators, be-

*See this patent at large in the original Latin in Hazard's Collections, vol. 1, p. 9, and a translation of it in Chalmers' Annals, ch. 1, note 7. Chalmers has inserted it in his book, as he says, " because it is the most ancient American State-paper of England." It may be proper also to take notice here of what is al- leged in Harris' collection of Voyages, (ed. 1748, vol. 2, p. 190,) that " the year before this patent was granted, John Cabot, with his son Sebastian, had sailed from Bristol upon discovery, and had actually seen the continent of Newfoundland, to which they gave the name of Prima Vista, or First Seen ; and upon the report made by them of this voyage, the before mentioned patent was granted." But as I do not find this circumstance recognized by any historian, except in the obscure assertion made by the authors of the Mod. Univ. Hist., vol. 44, p. 2, " that Sebastian Cabot was sent by Henry VII. a year before the discovery of Columbus, and, having first discovered Newfoundland, sailed along the coast as far as Florida ;" which certainly being without foundation as to time at least, if not extent, I have not thought it proper to be inserted in the text. It is possible, however, that those authors might have meant, that Cabot was sent a year be- fore Columbus discovered the continent in his third voyage. If so, it is some corroboration of what is said in Harris.

INTRODUCTION TO A

SECT. I. fore they would be able to procure the means of preparing such

1498.

John Ca- bot's death

Sebastian Cabot's voyage.

1496. equipment out of their own finances. This consideration neces- sarily leads to point out the real cause of a subsequent grant or license by the same king, on the 3d of February, 13 Hen. VII. (nearly two years after their first patent,) whereby he authorised John Cabot " to seize upon six English ships,* in any port or ports of the realm of England, of 200 tons burthen, or under, with their requisite apparatus," &c. Before the license hereby granted could be carried into effect, John Cabot died. ; But Sebastian, his son, making application to the king, and propos- ing to discover a north west passage to the Indies, the grand de- sideratum of those days, the ruling passion of the king was touched, and he ordered a ship to be manned and victualled for him at Bristol at the royal expense. Some merchants also of that city fitted out for him, at their own charges, three or four other ships. With this little fleet, Sebastian was now ready to undertake his long projected voyage. He accordingly, in May, 1498, ¿ embarked at Bristol for that purpose. Animated by the example of Columbus, he had adopted the system of that great man, concerning the probability of opening a new and shorter passage to the East Indies, by holding a western course. He accordingly deemed it probable, that by steering to the north west, he might reach India by a shorter course than that which Columbus had taken. After sailing for some weeks due west, and nearly in the parallel of the port from which he took his de- parture, he discovered a large island, which he called Prima Vista (First Seen,) and his sailors (being Englishmen) New- foundland ; and in a few days he descried a smaller isle, to which he gave the name of St. John's. He landed on both these, made some observations on their soil and productions, and brought off three of the natives. Continuing his course west- ward, he soon reached the continent of North America, and sailed along it from thence to the thirty-eighth degree of lati- tude. Their provisions now failing, and a mutiny breaking out among the mariners, they returned to England, without attempt-

* The words are, " quod ipse capere possit," &c. See it at large in Hazard's Collections, vol. 1, p. 10.

+ Harris' Voyages, vol. 2, p. 190.

į Mod. Univ. Hist., vol. 44, p. 60. Hume's Hist. of England, at the end of Hen. 7th's reign. Other historians place his voyage in 1497; but see note (A) at the end of this volume.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

ing either settlement or conquest in any part of this conti- SECT. I. nent .*

1498.

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 cer- tainly entitled to all the merit of the first discovery of the conti- nent. For the discovery 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 adja- cent to the island of Trinidad, on the first of August, 1498, in his third voyage. Supposing the first discovery of the conti- nent of North America by Sebastian Cabot was, as before men- tioned, in the same year, to wit, 1498, he probably fell in with the continent only a month or two before Columbus did. Each navigator, however, appears to have been distinct from, and un- connected with the other; and therefore, each entitled to their respective merits, with this manifest exception, that Cabot would never, in all probability, have been sent out on his voyage, had not the fame of Columbus' sprior discoveries led the way.

Nor is it easy to deprive the Portuguese nation of a consider- Portuguese able share of merit, which they have just pretences to, in clear- ing the road, as it were, to the discovery of America. Their indefatigable industry in exploring the coast of Africa during the fifteenth century, in order to get to the East Indies, undoubt- edly 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 com- mander and the Portuguese nation, all the honour and fame which Columbus acquired by his own personal sagacity. }

* 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 between Virginia and Maryland,) he must have had a view of Fenwick's and Assatiegue islands, and possibly looked into Sine- puxent or Chinigoteague inlets.

+ Harris' Voyages, vol. 1, p. 666. Robertson's Hist. of America, vol. 1, p 214.

discoveries.

INTRODUCTION TO A

SECT. I. Immediately on the return of Columbus from his first voyage, 1498. in 1492, the Portuguese, who had discovered and possessed the Dispute between Azores, claimed also, in virtue thereof, as well as by a former the courts grant of the pope,* all such newly discovered islands and coun- of Portugal tries as had been visited by Columbus. Their catholic majesties, and Spain, in conse- quence of Columbus' discoveries by the advice of Columbus, applied to the pope to obtain his sanction of their claims, and his consent for the conquest of the West Indies. The Spanish queen being a niece of the king of Portugal, he was induced to agree to a reference 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 majesties, all The pope's the islands and countries already discovered, or to be discovered, partition. which should lie westward of a line drawn from the north to the south pole, at the distance of one hundred leagues westward of the Azores and Cape de Verd Islands, and which had not been ac- tually possessed by any christian king or prince, on or before the first day of the same year 1493 .; Although the king of Portu-

* This bull of the pope was made in 1444, through the intercession of prince Henry of Portugal, so celebrated for promoting the Portuguese discoveries along the coast of Africa. The tenor of this grant of the pope to the crown of Portu- gal, was an exclusive right to all the countries which the Portuguese should dis- cover, from cape Non, on the coast of Africa, to the continent of India. Harris' Voyages, vol. 1, p. 664. Mod. Univ. Hist., vol. 9, p. 246. Robertson's Hist. of America, vol. 1, p 69. It is said by Chalmers (in his Annals, ch. 1, note 19,) that-" Pope Nicholas V. in January, 1454, granted to Alphonsus, king of Por- tugal, and to the infant Henry, the empire of Guinea, with authority to subdue it; and he at the same time prohibited all persons from sailing thither, without their permission ;" for which he cites " the bull in Leibnitii codex juris gent. ·diplomat. p. 165." But, as Robertson (ibid.) seems positive in ascribing the original grant to prince Henry to have been by the pontiff Eugene IV. and the date affixed to it ( Anno 1444,) in Harris' Voyages and in the Mod. Univ. Hist. :(ibid.) corresponds thereto, wherein it is also said, that Nicholas V. and Sixtus IV. confirmed the original grant to Henry, it appears that the grant, alluded to by Chalmers, was in the nature of a deed of confirmation, supposed to be neces- sary as the Portuguese advanced in their discoveries.

t 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 per- haps be excited to a desire 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 fidelity ; without religion ; in his avarice, immoderate ; in his ambition, insatiable ; in his cruelty, more than barbarous; with a most ardent desire of

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

gal had agreed to the reference, he was dissatisfied with this par- tition. The subject was, therefore, referred again to six plenipo- tentiaries, three chosen from each nation, whose conferences is- sued in an agreement, that the line of partition, in the pope's bull, should be extended two hundred and seventy leagues fur- ther to the west; that all westward of that line should fall to the share of the Spaniards ; and all eastward of it to the Portuguese : but that the subjects of their catholic majesties might freely sail through those seas belonging to the king of Portugal, holding through the same a direct course .*

Notwithstanding this apparent reconciliation between the two contending nations, and their modest compromise for half the world, the Portuguese, having 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 the religious bigotry of that nation.t In the year 1500, one Caspar de Cortereal, a Portuguese of re- 1500. voyage. spectable family, inspired with the resolution of discovering new Cortereal's countries, and a new route to India, and probably under the influ- ence of the jealousy of his nation as to the Spanish encroachments, and in spite of the donation of the pope, sailed from Lisbon, with two vessels, at his own cost. In the course of his navigation he arrived at Newfoundland, at a bay, which he named Conception bay; explored the whole eastern coast of the island, and proceed- ed to the mouth of the great river of Canada, the St. Lawrence. He afterwards discovered a land, which he first named Terra Verde, but which, in remembrance of the discoverer, was after- wards called 'Terra de Cortereal. That part of it, which being

exalting his numerous children, by whatever means it might be accomplished ; some of whom were not less detestable than their father." See Roscoe's Ponti- ficate 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' American Annals, vol. 1, p. 9.

t It should be remembered, however, that some of the causes which have obstructed the cultivation of science in Portugal during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, did not exist in the fifteenth century. The court of inqui- sition, which effectually checks a spirit of liberal inquiry and of literary im- provement, where it is established, was unknown in Portugal in the fifteenth century, when the people of that kingdom began their voyages of discovery. It was not introduced there until about the year 1525, in the reign of John III .- Robertson's Hist. of America, vol. 1, p. 59. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. xxii. p. 227.

SECT. 1.

1498.

INTRODUCTION TO A

SECT. I. on the south side of the fiftieth degree of north latitude, he judg- 1500. ed to be fit for cultivation, he named Terra de Labrador. Re- turning, and communicating the news of his discovery to his na- tive 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 presumed, that he was either murdered by the Es- quimaux savages, or perished among the ice. On this disastrous event, a brother of Cortereal undertook 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 .* Although these voyages were undertaken by individuals, and not by the royal authority of Portugal, 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 Portuguese nation, and were not prohibited by them, they may therefore be considered as a national transgression 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 continent 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 1502. Patents for discovery schemes of further discovery and commercial enterprise having been formed about this time by some merchants of Bristol, in and trade, conjunction with some Portuguese gentlemen, patents for that merchants purpose were granted to them by Henry VII., in the sixteenth to some of Bristol. and eighteenth years of his reign, without noticing the before

* Holmes' American Annals, vol. 1, p. 25. Holmes cites, among the authori- ties for the foregoing account, Harris' Voyages, vol. 1, p. 270. After a careful search through both volumes of that work, I have not been able to find any of the above particulars relative to Cortereal's voyage ; but as it appears from Holmes' 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' 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 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 re- solved." The authors of the Modern Universal History, in many parts of their work, particularly in vol. 11, p. 364, pass high encomiums on this last edition of Harris' Collection of Voyages, though they do not mention the editor's name except by description, as " the sensible author of the Present State of Europe."

HISTORY OF MARYLAND. '

mentioned line of division .* But these grants do not appear to SECT. I. have ever been productive of any effect; for which, some proba- 1502. ble reasons may be suggested. Henry was then engaged in a war with Scotland, and an insurrection in his own kingdom. He was also about forming an alliance with Ferdinand and Isa- bella of Spain, by the marriage of his son to their daughter, which might induce him to discountenance undertakings neces- sarily disagreeable to them. To which may be added also, that agreeably to the characteristic genius of Henry, he was not so liberal as to give one penny towards the enterprise. Nothing further appears to have been done by the English nation, in pur- suance 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 pretend 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 foundation, yet it seems to be very well authenticated, that as early as the year 1504, some adven- turous navigators from Biscay, Bretagne, and Normandy, in Voyages France, came in small vessels to fish on the banks of Newfound- eries of the land. They are alleged to be the first French vessels that ap- French. peared 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 1506. of St. Lawrence, and of the coast of the adjacent country. Also, in 1508, Thomas Aubert, in a ship belonging to his father, 1508. Jean Ango, Viscount of Dieppe, made a voyage from thence to Newfoundland; and proceeding thence to the river St. Law- rence, is said to be the first who sailed up that great river to the - country of Canada, and on his return carried to Paris some of the natives.t

The same causes operating on the conduct of Henry VIII. for

* See the later patent at large in Hazard's Collections, vol. 1, 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 denization 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.

+ Mod. Univ. Hist., vol. 39, p. 406. Holmes' Annals, vol. 1, p. 33, 35, 37 VOL. I .- 3

1504. and discov-

INTRODUCTION TO A

SECT. I. the first three or four years of his reign, as in that of his father,

1512. Ponce de covery of Florida.

1508. 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 going on rapidly in their discoveries and conquests in the islands and southern part of America. One incident of which, it may not, perhaps, be unnecessary to mention, as it bears some relation to our pre- sent inquiries :- a certain Juan Ponce de Leon, being an officer of some note in the island of Hispaniola, shortly after the con- quest and settlement of that island, had obtained leave to con- quer the neighbouring island called Porto Rico. After perform- Leon's dis- ing 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 gratity a romantic curiosity, in ascertaining the truth of a traditional report, which had long existed among the aborigines of the island, relative to the extraordinary 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 pursu- ance of his schemes, he fell upon that part of the coast of North America called by him Florida, and which has ever since retain- ed 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 North America along the Atlantic, (from the 30th to the 38th degree of north latitude, from Florida 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 Caro- lina, in 1663, and of their claim to Florida in 1762, pretended

* 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.

+ Harris' Voyages, vol. 2, p. 57.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

that Cabot's discoveries included both Carolina and Florida, by SECT. I. which, through right of prior discovery, they claimed to the gulf 1512. 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 latitude, that right must remain unsupported, unless the discovery of a part of the conti- nent 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 settlement, seems in such case to be the only rational right to be relied on. Į

The Spaniards did not, however, altogether neglect this dis- covery of Ponce de Leon. Being in want of labourers to work their mines in St. Domingo, they formed the project of kidnap- ping the natives on this coast for that purpose. Accordingly in the year 1520, two ships were fitted out from St. Domingo, 1520. under the command of a Spaniard whose name was Luke Vas- Luke Vas- quez. He proceeded to that part of the continent of North quez's ex- America which was then supposed by the Spaniards to be a pedition. part of Ponce 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 southern part of South Carolina, in about 32° 15' north latitude. The natives, it is said, seeing his ships as they drew near the land, with expanded sails, never having seen the like before, took them for two monstrous fishes driving towards the shore, and 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 insidious kindness had its desired effect with the unsuspecting 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

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The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 2

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823 Publication date: 1837 Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver Number of Pages: 1062

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062