appropriation of his father's glory are able to support their opinion
with weighty evidence. The most astounding feature of all is that the
main incidents of a voyage which attracted as much attention as the
first voyage of John Cabot should so soon have passed into oblivion.

Marking the boundary as clearly as possible between what is certain
and what is probable, we find that on March 5th, 1496, Henry VII.
granted a charter in the following terms:

"Be it known to all that we have given and granted to our well-beloved
John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and to Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus,
sons of the said John, and to their heirs and deputies ... authority
to sail to all parts, countries, and seas of the East, of the West,
and of the North, under our banner and ensigns, with five ships, and
to set up our banner on any new found land, as our vassals and
lieutenants, upon their own proper costs and charges to seek out and
discover whatsoever isles ... of the heathen and infidels, which
before the time have been unknown to all Christians...."

No sooner was the patent granted than the vigilant Spanish ambassador
in London wrote to his master King Ferdinand, that a second Columbus
was about to achieve for the English sovereign what Columbus had
achieved for the Spanish, but "without prejudice to Spain or
Portugal." In reply to this communication Ferdinand directed his
informer to warn King Henry that the project was a snare laid by the
King of France to divest him from greater and more profitable
enterprises, and that in any case the rights of the signatory parties
under the Treaty of Tordesillas would thereby be invaded. However, the
voyage contemplated in the charter was begun in 1497, in defiance of
the Spanish warning and arrogant pretensions. It will be noticed that