The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-06-21
OLD VIRGINIA SOCIAL LIFE.
Certain Questions Addressed to Dr.. Thomas
Nelson Page.
SONE HISTORICAL ERRORS SUGGESTED.
The Charter 90 John Cabot In 1fo0-fope
Aiexander's BulI--Eariy slsSery--n WI"
oral Structure on Kings, Princes &C
rror WAC Timos by r. r. HOwisOn.l

appeared in THR TIMES OF fnday' '"'0 i-."'
II j. IN the best characteristic style OF INC
gifted author. and It's genial sketches OF VIZ
o;nia life and manners in days gone by nave
called nm pleassnt memories In the o1u anu
stimulated the Young TO worthy deeds.
Rpt humbly believe that the address ~
crll,sbod contains some historical errors on
subjects so important and far-reaching III
their nature and influence that an honest
efyort 10 correct them ought TO be maze WhHe
,ha ,oatter is vet dwelling freshly In our
..;nds Neither DO believe that the writer
Of this address. whom am glad 70 regard as
a personal friend. will resent such effort even
q he sees reasons tor adhering TO his state
Inents.
CHARTER TO JOHN CABOT
The first of these errors seems 10 me 20 ap-
near IN the following paragraph early III tue
address. The first charter TO John Caoo1 IA
14Q6 confined his discoveries to the region ,
de0rees north latitude. recognizing SPAN
right as fixed by the Pope to al thaV ln's"'
lie south of that degree. VII
Now the patent issued by King henry IL
10 John Cabot and 10 his sons. Lewis, SeoaStiah
and Sanctius. bearing date the dh day %
March 1886 IL the most ancient American
state napcr of England" II IS given III run
in Hazards State Papers. and IN other works.
i If mn "nr ACCOMPLISHED friend, the author
nf Tho late address has been
allie 10 find in this patent
any such restriction as that stated by MN.
then he has made a discovery never luaue ny
onv nreyious historian reckoned as authentic.
In ruth il was impossible that King Henry
VII could have put such a restriction IN ms
notent with the idea of thus avoiding con-
Act with the claims Of Spain, for that most
insolent and arrogant bull Of 1893 issued by
one of the most impure and unscTupulous OF
ali the Borpia family-the POntlf Alexander
VI-did not limit the grant TO SPAN. either
nv the paralle OF - north or 10y
any other parallel Of latitude II assumed no
narallel. but audacousy adOpteda meridian,
running from the North pole to the South
pole. one hundred leagues 900 miles west OF
the Azores. and gave to FERDINAND ana
Isabella. King and Queen of CASTLE and
Arragon. all islands and continents .terras
fr1nas") found OF TO be found west OF that
meridianal line excepting only what might be
i'm possession of some other Christian prince
before the year 1888. See the bull IN Nattel
80, 1901
WHY THK SOUTH WAS NOT INCLUDED.
King Henry granted to the Cabot family
power ito sail in all parts of east, west ana
north under the royal banners and epslgns;
10 discover countries of the heather unknown
10 Christians; to set up the Kings banners;
TO occupy and possess as his subjects such
places az they could subdue, giving them the
rule and jurisdiction of the same" subject
only TO payment to the King of one-htth OF
their gains.
The only reason why the South" was not
included was that John Cabot. in addition to
his capacity as a successful Brtish-ltalian
merchant at Bristol was also well acquainted
with all of spherical trigonometry and nnvl-
cation then known. He argued that az the
meridianal lines neared each other rapidly at
the poles the shortest way from England TO
the Indies must be by the North Polar seas.
Therefore, he sailed ENTHUSIASTICALLY, dis
covered Newfoundland, discovered the Ameri-
can continent (some time before either
Ameripo Vespucci or Columbus), but came
upon It near the cold and forbidding cliffs of
Labrador, in latitude So degrees north. He
actually believed that he had reached
the regions reigned over by the great Cham Of
Tartary. and as they were heather he set
I'D the Kings banner and claimed the coun-
try according TO the so-called Christian"
teachings of that day. But, finding little
prospect of gold or gems III Labrador he
sailed southwesterly along the American
coast laI below the 44th parallel OF latitude,
landing occasionally and certainly came as
far south as Virginia and probably TO Florida:
Sebastian his heroic son, afterwards followed
him and made even wider discoveries on the
coast of America The original patent never
was superseded. although second grant was
Inaue Dy TIE Ming
ALExANDER's BULL NOT RECOGNIZED.
All this distinctly negatives the assumption
that any act of King Henry VII. recognized
any right whatever as conveyed TO Spain by
the bull of Alexander VI. Even the right OBJ
tanned by discovery is. by the laws of nations
an imperfect and inchoate right. and unless
seasonably followed up by actual occupancy,
colonization and protection by armed power
is a claim TO which other nations have never
yielded. A learned and careful historian says
Henry VII. and his successors recognized
the claims of Spain and Portugal only so far
as they actually occupied the territories to
which they laid pretensions, and at later day
the English Parliament and the English courts
decided a title founded not upon occupancy,
but upon a grant from the Roman Pontiff"
Therefore it seems to me evident that Mr..
Pare has fallen into error as to the fact and
the motive involved i'll the patent of Henry
VII. 10 the Cabot family. And the question
has assumed u new interest in view OF the
Chicago Exposition and the pontfical bene-
diction sought. TO be bestowed on tin advance
The Roman Church has never been known
voluntarily TO abandon a claim once dellber-
ately made.
FIRST CARGO OF SLAVES
The most historical error in the address is
the statement that the first cargo of African
slaves were but twenty. who were brought in
Dutch ship which put into Hampton Roads
in 1919" The first cargo alluded to was prob
ably much larger. but we do not know how
many may have been sold of at various points
among the islands before the ship came into
Hampton Roads. But we know positively
that the twenty were not brought into Viz
GINA in 1919 They were brought in August
of the year 1920, as we learn from
the writer in Smiths General History
H.. 80 who tells us Of "a Dutch
man-of-war that sold us twenty negars." And
this date is confirmed by the authority of
Beverly. Stith. Graham. Burk. Marshall,
Bancroft, Beknap. Gordon and OldmIxOn.
The only writer Of pTOessed history who sus-
tains Mr.. Pages views OF the date IS the late
Professor Alexander Johnston IN has work
entitled The United States-Its Constitution
and History" and he connects the coming Of
African slavery with the establishment of the
first free House of Burgesses in Virginia.
which was under Sir George Yeardley in 1919.
AN INADEQUATE VIEW.
And feel bound 10 say in conclusion that
though Mr.. Page has given US, in his address,
very delightful and entertaining reproduc-
ton OF the state of feeling and life among the
wealthy people the mon, women. children
and slaves on the large plantations Of the
ture presents a somewhat inadequate and mis-
ginia." We hope the boys of Emory and
Henry will not be very seriously guided
by il. Civil and religious freedom
Of life on those plantations. Not
long before the Revolution odd Virginia"
contained $4,000 people of whom 300, 900
81. l.. L l..