New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-09-08
THE CABoTs.
a BIOGRAPHY WITH NEW VIEWS ON DIS
PITTED POINTS.

rsrducci.s work. and we have the word of the
translator that such variations as the English
shows from the Italian original have been sane
toned by the author The book has therefore the
value Of a second emended edition rather than of
a mere translation According to Professor TAR
ducci the two most important works hitherto on
the Cabots have been written by Americans
Harrisse's Jean ct Sebastien Cabot In French
and Richard Bidde's "A Memoir OF Sebastian
Cabot with n Review OF the History OF Maritime
r,scovcrv" IL was fitting therefore, that his
own work IN a corrected form should appear first
IN America.
So many points in the career OF the Cabots'
father and son. have been involved In obscuriy
that every biography OF them varies in character
between a controversial pamphlet and mono
graph on new-found documents. Disputes have
been carried the birthplace OF both Johh
and Sebastian. their relations to each other
and over the dates OF their expeditions ana ms
eoveries Nobody knows the final resting place OF
r,ther Of them and there other questions raised
nv incidents in their lives which will doubtless long
puzzle the learned For example Professor Tar
ducci calls attention TO one problem which ne docs
not endeavor TO settle. one OF the old authors
who mentions the adventures OF Sebastian 'aoo'
found a phrase which indicated that he hnd oeen
knishted and 80 persstenty called him sir
Sebastian Cabot Now this the mere whih
or error OF individual writer. or had the haVi-
Kator been invested with some title by one OF 'he
various governments which he served In the
volume in hand both Cabots are often mentioned
without any addition 10 their names When the
ayaricious Henry VII thought or gain from ue
discoveries made by the family. ne coiiecten john
Cabot and his Lewis. Sebastian ana sancio
under the natteriug title OF ''our beloved dilectis
nobls" though even here grammatical quiooie
might turn the word beloved to another set OF
objects To Rsnondo da Sonsino John Cabot was
'.Messer zosnne Caboto." In the second patent
Of Henry VII this time in English there Is no
afa
speaks Of our "well-beloved John kabotto." To
the spaniards generally Sebastian was Captain"
The Venetian Council OF Ten knew him somewhat
vaguely 'one Sebastian Cabot" though when he
seemed about 10 transfer his services from Eng
land 20 Venice he became all az "our most |
faithful Sebastiano Gaboto." In old age. as gov
crnor Of the company formed 10 explore north |
east passage 10 China and India he was recognized
as right worshipful" The uncertainty about the |
family name shows how little was known ac- |
rurately about the Cabots In their lifetime. Pro- |
fessor Tsrducci gives the following az partial |
liz; Of variations: Gaboto. Gavoto. Cabota Cabot.
Cabot. Gabato. Cabotto Gavotta. kabot Shabot. |
Babate. Cabotte Caboto. Cabotc. Gabotc. CABOT |
II was only settled by degrees that John Cabot |
was truly a Venetian Some called him Genoese. |
The discovery Of records which showed that he had
pbeen made citizen Of Venice by vote OF the Senate
fhas been held down 20 the present time to prove
THAT ne must have been born somewhere else.
Professor Tarduccl opposes this opinion There
minor privileges within the city. IN. other
p5oyabie everywhere II the latter that was
confcrred on John Cabot. Professor Tarducci cites
numerous acts by which large classes OF persons
were made citizens under specified conditions of
time or place. and maintains that none OF these
acts had any but a temporary effect. But the law
under which John Cabot admitted really
n substitute for the previous variable DEGREES
and intended 20 be permanent. IL contained
no conditions 10 birthplace. but required fifteen
|
understand the matter one must divest himself of
'the modern view of citizenship "A matter Of birth.
II In Venice the gift OF the Senate and might
obviously be withheld from n native. Professor
'Tarducci points out that In the special list OF men
admitted as citizens. which included John Cabot
certain names followed by the city country
from which they came. His inference is that where
place Is specified the name belonged to native
Venetian. and this is the with Cabot
The question to Sebastian Cabots birthplace |
that II whether n Venice Bristol. was made
the more troublesome by the fact that good wit
nesses repeated In his words two contradic
tory statements. on this point Professor Tarducc's
most conclusive argument is drawn from Harrisse
In the patent OF Henry VII dated 1896 John Cabots
three sons figure persons of full age and not
as minors. Therefore. under English law the
youngest. Sancio. could not have been less than
twenty-one. nor Sebastian. the second son. less
than twenty-five years of age But IL Sebastian
twenty-five in 1896 he must have been born
before his father became citizen OF Venice, in
if7s. and while he was doing the fifteen years con-
tinuous residence necessary to citizenship.
Then comes the dispute to the date Of the dis
ccvery OF North America. Was II late 1897
early 1894? Nothing is clearer than that
the elder Cabot. without any knowledge OF what
Columbus doing. had endeavored even be
fore 1892 TO solve the problem. TO use
Professor Tarduccs emphatic words: 'If Column
bus had existed, Cabot would have been
Columbus" But II the date of his first sight OF
the North American mainland is put late as
1887. then other explorers have a good title to
precedence John Cabot. The principal direct
testimony in favor of the date 1894 is a note on
a planisphere made by Sebastian Cabot in 1874
But this testimony may be thought prejudiced
On the other hand the Spanish Ambassador
Ayala asserted that John Cabot had been
western voyages Of discovery every year from
1gi TO 1925. Then came the patent of Henry
VII in 1896. which confirmed Cabot and his three |
sons In their rights under the English flag in all
the lands which they might discover. Now Tar
ducci puts the alternative that either Cabot
seeking this patent from the time OF his first
voyage. say in 1884, he not. If he had been -
seeking IT for five years and every year taken
long voyages without making any discovery, It
r. not to be supposed that so stngy a king as
Henry VII could have been persuaded to favor ,
him. On the other hand, If he had made a dis !
covery. say In 1894. then the grant in 1896 would j
be almost a matter of course Tarduccl argues at a
'ome length to show that Cabots First Seen s.
and was not Newfoundland. but the coast of \
Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island The author
ollows Biddle in credng Sebastian Cabot with -
he discovery of Hudson Bay in 1898. but condemns
hat author for exaltng the younger Cabot at the
Expense Of his father. n
The real test OF Sebastian Cabot a commander ~
anne when he was intrusted with Spanish expe al
ton which in 1926 fitted 70 take advantage y
4 the passage discovered by Magellan around :.
outh America for attack on the Mouccas and n
or acquiring other islands that should belong to
pain under the famous partition with Portugal NJ
lsde by the Papacy. That expedition never got be- NJ
ond the Rio de la Plata. and though IL did good
ervice in tracing that river. the quarrels between n