SUSSEX, GILBERT, AND ESSEX IN HISTORY 383 of O'Neil, was as "brave as Raleigh, with the piety of a primitive Christian."* A modern New England writer calls him "one of the children of God."+ Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who was lost in the Atlantic on his return from America in 1583, left to the world the memorable saying, "We are as near to heaven by sea as by land." Froude says of Essex, who died shortly after his exploit at Rathlin, and whose widow married Leicester, that he "was one of the noblest of living Englishmen." + So he doubtless was; he was also a religious man, and, as we have seen, was deeply grieved over the universal wickedness in England. But these being the best, what shall we think of their countrymen at large? It is the very goodness of these men, and their manifest unconsciousness that they have done anything inconsistent with their character as Christians or soldiers, that throw the most light on their condition. § But Ireland furnished only limited opportunities for the exhibition of the character of Englishmen when brought into contact with men of other nationalities. To complete the full outline of the picture, we must now turn to a broader field. In the preceding pages, frequent mention has been "Illustrations of British History" (London, 1791), i. 367. § In selecting the material for this and the preceding chapter, I have gone, not to the writings of the Puritans or satirists, but to official documents and the works of standard English scholars. For my illustrations I have chosen incidents, not in the lives of disreputable characters, such as can be found in all ages of the world, but, with few exceptions, in those of men who come down to us as representing among their contemporaries the very flower of English Christianity and civilization. In made of the pirates who form so important an element of society in the Elizabethan age; but the subject is one which deserves much more than a passing notice. fact, no sketch of the period would be complete which omitted an account of the growth of the industry which these heroes developed, for they were the men who laid the foundation of England's naval greatness. In addition, their spoliations upon the sea had as marked an influence upon the manners and morals of the time as the plundering of the monasteries on the land, and it was largely through connivance at their practices that Elizabeth was finally forced, against her will, into the contest between the Netherlands and Spain. The close of the fifteenth and the opening of the sixteenth century witnessed upon the Continent of Europe an outburst of commercial activity as remarkable as the revival of art and letters which has made that age so famous. England, however, took as little part in the one as in the other. Her commerce was almost wholly in the hands of French, Italian, German, and Netherland merchants, while her people upon the land devoted themselves mainly to raising wool, and those upon the sea to catching fish. About her only contribution to the early explorations, which the mariner's compass now rendered possible, were the discoveries of John and Sebastian Cabot, who sailed under English colors. John Cabot was a Venetian merchant, doing business at Bristol. In 1497, with five vessels fitted out at his own expense, he set sail across the Atlantic, under a patent from Henry VII., to search for countries "which were before that time unknown to all Christian people," the exclusive privilege of trading with such countries being reserved unconditionally, and without limit of THE DISCOVERIES OF THE CABOTS 385 time, to his family and their assigns.* On this first voyage the mainland in the vicinity of Labrador was sighted, and in the next year Sebastian, the son, coasted along the American continent to about the southern boundary of Maryland, or perhaps a little farther to the south. Nothing, however, came from either of these voyages. England at that time was in communion with the Church of Rome, and, in 1493, Pope Alexander VI. had issued a bull which, as then construed, granted the whole American continent to Spain and Portugal. Upon the return of the Cabots, it was evident that their alleged discoveries lay within the boundaries of the papal grant, and the English monarch appears from that time to have abandoned all thought of acquiring the sovereignty of unknown countries.+ *Hazard's "Hist. Coll.," pp. 1-9. The theory of an English title to America by virtue of Cabot's discoveries is a very recent one, and almost too flimsy to find a place in sober history. Down to the time of the Reformation, England never questioned the exclusive rights of Spain; but when the authority of the pope was set aside she began to pick flaws in the papal grant. Still, the fact was admitted that Spain had discovered America several years before the voyage of Cabot. Little, therefore, was said about his voyage, but England advanced the doctrine that actual occupation must follow discovery, or no title could be acquired. This was Elizabeth's maxim in 1580, when speaking to the Spanish ambassador. "Prescriptio sine possessione haud valeat" (Camden). The letters - patent under which Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed and took possession of Newfoundland, in 1583, were based upon this legal principle. They made no reference to Cabot, but authorized Gilbert to discover, occupy, and possess "such remote heathen lands, not actually possessed of any Christian prince or people, as should seem good to him." The patent to Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1584-85, was of the same character. Hazard, i. 24-33. The Virginia Charter of 1606 restricted colonization to lands "which are The discoveries of the Venetian Cabots are of interest to the historians of early American explorations; but they awakened little enthusiasm in England, and produced no effect upon her commerce. That went on as before, being mostly in the hands of foreigners, and limited to a very narrow field, which no one thought of broadening.* Very different were the results which followed the explorations undertaken by the sailors of Portugal and Spain. In 1495, Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and about the same time another Portuguese discovered a way to India by the Isthmus of Suez. Shortly afterwards, their countrymen established at Goa the first European factory in India, and began a commerce which soon grew to large proportions.† Spain in the same way improved her discoveries in the New World. She worked the gold and silver mines of Mexico and Peru, the pearl fisheries of the coast, and the sugar plantations on the islands in the tropics. The colonists shipped to the mother country, which monopolized the whole carrying trade, their surplus products of the fields not now actually possessed by any Christian prince or people," and the Plymouth patent of 1620 contained the same restriction. In 1621, the House of Commons declared the principle that "occupancy confers a good title by the law of nations and nature." Chalmers's "Political Annals," i. 10. This was always the doctrine of James I. Gardiner's "History of England,” iii. 40. * Froude, viii. 435. Several patents were issued to English explorers after the return of the Cabots, but they came to nothing. English Colonies in America" (Virginia, Maryland, etc.), by J. A. Doyle, p. 26, etc. + It was in 1600, more than a century later, that the English East India Company was organized, on a very small scale; and then no factory was established for ten or eleven years. SPANISH AND ENGLISH SHIPPING 387 and woods, and in return took the manufactured products of the European looms and workshops. So rapidly did the commerce of Spain develop that at the time of her greatest prosperity she had a thousand merchantmen upon the ocean.* In one direction England felt the effects of the new markets opened up in America and the East Indies. They increased the demand for her wool and cheap woollen goods, and so raised their prices. In return, she imported so much from the Continent, especially in the way of luxuries-the consumption of wine, for example, having increased fourfold in a few years—that old and conservative statesmen became alarmed. Still, this new trade was mostly carried on by foreigners, and little benefited English shipping. When Henry VIII. broke with the pope, he concluded to strengthen himself upon the ocean, and made some attempts to establish a navy. How little was accomplished is shown by the fact that, upon the accession of Elizabeth, the whole naval force in commission amounted to seven coast-guard vessels, the largest of which was only one hundred and twenty tons, with eight small merchant brigs and schooners altered for fighting. Of ships in harbor fit for service there were twenty-one.† * In 1582, England had no more than two hundred and seventeen vessels above eighty tons burden. Wade, i. 148. The Spaniards studied navigation as a science. The "Contraction House" at Seville was virtually a college of navigation, giving instruction and conferring degrees. Henry VIII. attempted something of the kind in England, but the results were paltry. Doyle, p. 33. In the latter days of Elizabeth, Englishmen needed no colleges of navigation; their school was the ocean. Froude, vii. 59. |