, 1875-01-25

own country hardly rcmombsr that Sebastian
Cabot is our great prroEenitoF IN TIM limo Of na-
tIonaiity; that by hiB enterprise and genius rhB
tho right Of tho Anrlo-Baxnn race given to their
Ahars Of tho Now World. His tlipcoycriea from
14y2 to '93 il tho germ that ghyo tho English
nation stlo territorial right, a. they wero tLon
construed, to tlIat portion Of tho earth mainly
which VIC now hold a. the people Of tho United
States. Conflicting titlas, 1t il true hn7h como
In aud haTo been ItGuitstod, Yet lie las met
with no popular li.tnt'an..no monument prob
bis nouorJ.-only QUO painted portrait of him
probably e1iHta,-no ono knows where lIn WAS
busic1, and lle fills but few |,ages IN 1iatory
specially given to his achievements. ye. to was
a born Epgliahman, and national explorer, and
THE MAN ABOVE ALL OTHERS
whom We, nj people And nation, should cherish
In tho mrmory OF our first things.
At tho time when rcnowctl interest was created
In the lives Of tho carly navigator by tho pub
lcltion Of that fascinating hHtory, 1ryinga Life
Of Columbus, aB we'll AZ tho acficA OF 1lis Com
pa,,io,ls, there woro few to think that Cabot
had aomo claims to be better known bv tho
world. Irving found much valuable material III
the Archyes Of the Spanish Gpvcrnsnent wllicl,
had boon overlooked or suppressed. IIe was
eracioualy permitted to u-o them AZ we'll lle
might havo boon, for ho opened up how cue OF
tho moat valuable eras in thcjs history. rho
Bpan,ards, though ttiey have given m,lcl! e1ecu-
two history to mankind, Acem to be poor hHtor-
ana. 1t III known that Cabot preserved MANY
inrunorab!e Charts altl mAJB that would not
ouly throw much valuable light on Lls own
ADVENTUROUS HISTORY,
but on the discoveries Of tho perio1. Dut tboy
are now nowhere to bo found. Some hayo bur-
posed they wero dosignedly suppressed, or that
they sleep In m,isty pigeoa-lucs ot the Spanish
archives, and arc now furgotton.
In Br1atol at the present time, there exists in
full vigor tho Society of tie Merchant youtur-
ers Which Was founded by Sopartian Cabot in
1861 There Is long, gloo.ny-looklng two-storv
Htono building. with drecian postsco, situated
noAr IIor Alajestys CuBtoni-1Ionse, at the
northern entrance to Queen Square, and this is
Tho Merchant venturera' Hall. There tley hold
tneir annual dinnor, which is confined most
strictly to tho mercantile aristocracv; but they
HAVE KErT NO RECORD
of tho dougs OF Cabot. In his day. 1IolbeIu
paintol his portrait. duplicate of wl.lch in some
nav got out. Tho original iB held b7 Charles
Jainos Hartford, ESQ.,, OF 1lan Castle, near Hrls-
tol, tho son of tile great friend and executor Of
Hannah Moro, who bolongsto the inerchant ars-
tocracy. ....
Nearly fifty years ago. tho great injustice OF
allowing tue memory OF Sebastian Catot to be
forgotten attracted tile attention Of gentleman
thor and jurist, who felt impelIed to do some
thing to hunt out the history OF this man from
tho dark chalnbera OF tho past. This gentleman
WAS
RICHARD u1Dn1E, ESQ, ..
brother of tho eminent Ntchnlas Bddle. the then
President Of tho United StAtes Dabk. Me. BID
die went to Europe TO Eearch cut fragments Of
history and official documents pertaining to tic
career of Sebastian Cabot, in view Of rescring
Ills name from forgetfulneBa. Previous to TINT
timo everything important in tho history Of his
voyages MAS crude aud uncertain mixed in with
tho tloings OF others. Tho date OF his discovery
Of Newfoundland WAS uncertain. 1ir. D,lle
found and purchased at q large price tile dupli-
cate Of tile original painted portrait by Iiobein.
for trauhnssion 10 this country; and ho also Ind
4 steel engraving made Of the picture, and linl-
I tied number OF imprcesons printed thsrefrom.
! lie also discovered number Of important doc,l-
n,ents in possession of the slastar OF tho Rolls,
! nt London. Mhic. had noyer before been pub
! lishcd. Among them were the ettcrs patent, or
| charter contract, whereby tho King entered into
league with John and Sebastian Cabot to iii
| out exploring shlps from tho port Of Bristol,
| At Fasis, probably a. the last remnant OF all OF
| Sebastian Cabots charts and maps, which III
| Home unwar1antable manner had found Its way
into tho French archiyos, ho discovered orig
| inal drawing Or sketch, by Cabot himself Of tho
| section of the New World which he first discpv-
] cred, which represents the Prima Vista, or view
first seei,, tho Island OF st. john, the Sowfouud-
| land represented az an archipelago a. lie then
tho ut. Lawrence, aud the northotn shore reacll-
| ing toward Labrador. Tho map iB very imper-
foct. aa it necessarily woald bo, from first view,
but the general outline eau be ideultlol with the
known geography OF tho locality. This 1nap il
tho only positive record Of Cabot's dlacoyory
| aud it fxea tho dato at juno "a. 1854 Tie
I description on the map is both III Latin aud
| Spanish. II was made nifty years aftor tho dis
covery. and while getting near thu end Of his
lifo, aud in the aerviee OF the Emperor Charles
a. Lis Grand Eliot. It has tLis inscription upon
| it:
| sEBtsTIAH CABOT,
c.ntatn snd Pilot. aajDr of ns Sacred Imperial
Name, md King Lord nAls th's figure extended
sus sn .Ls year Of the Birth ii our Saviour Jesus
The general descriptive account Of tbs map IL
| it stands inscribed IN l.atnl, ID translated "a
! follows: "Ilis land formerly unknown to liz.
john Cabot. Veuotisn and his son Sebastian
Cabot, discovered, IN tho year Of tue salvation q.
o'clock in tho evening. which lind they called
| EiRt Seen, aud un.ned also an island opposite to
| it tho Island Of 1t. John. because 1t wRs dis
| covered on the solemn feast OF st. JOHN" Tie
Hnkluyt aflir1ned IA great part of tho
Confident, All well as tho islands, waa first dis
covered by tho King Of England by Sebastian
john dabote, iii 1496 (1nap Says 14a4); mayo
moro, Gaboto discovered this largo tracto Of trln
lauda two Jeares before Columbus saw any part
Ut the Contipont."
| THE DOCUMENTS WE'RE PuDIiauEn
| by Mr.. Diddle III Pilsdeiphia and in London in
1881 under tho title: "a Memoir Of Sebastian
| Cabot: With = lteyiew Of tho History Of Mari
timo Discovery. illustrated By Documents from
tho lsolls, now arse published ~ IL anything
| but All interesting narrative, except for the
| vnlno Of tho documents Which it contains, It ls
| about ~ attractive in appearance A. an annual
collection Of Congressional documents. l. is
| tue only book that existed at tho time which
contained the main facts reclted In tho forc-
| going sketch. Tho book. ~ unsatisfactory Ia
i is, can rarely bs found. A fow years ago al
! EngleEman published memoir, made mainly
from Biialo'a compilation, which also }acks the
attractions Of conservative and descriptive lifo
Of the great explorer, aud has probably had but
| q limited sale. Tho portrait purchased fur this
country at great cost BY Mr.. l,iddlo was, q tow
years nftor, destroyed by fse aud the memoir
has failed to swalon any popular inso1st.
limo OF ita appearxnce, spoke Of tho book In
these fiattering terIns: "a most elaborate aud
! successful examination Into tho records Of the
acter ot nu eminent man, WlloBe inertia hare
boen strangely overlooked by moat historiana md
| biographers. The author has accomplished his
tssE with signal ability aid Las liapaIod the
darkness which prejudice aud carelsssneHs had