The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-14

Traditions Concerning the Landing
by No Means Authentic.
L. o1
Philadelphia Record

A great deal of unnecessary ink is being
wasted in the attempt to prove the worthy
folk of Bristol wrong in their choice or
June "a as the date of the four hundredth
anniversary of John Cabot's landing upon
the coast of the North American continent.
After Mr.. Henry HARNESSES learned eX-
position of the documents of the voyage
in question it is idle to discuss the question
further and no one can possibly tell
what the correct date of Cabots LANDING
was, there is no valid reason why the peo-
pie of Bristol should not accept the tradl-
tional date, which was first put forth,
about 1544 by an obscure spanish pam pam
Maria. The exact day does not matter; II
is an epoch-making event that is TO De cele-
brated
case according to the old traditions, as
John Cabot, taking with him his son Sc
bastian. embarked. after sailing prosper
ously as he reported, for seven hundred
leagues, on the cath of June, 1897, early
in the morning almost fourteen months D ro
in sight of the main, and more than TWO
years before Amerigo Vespucci sailed west
of the Canaries, he discovered the western
Continent -probably in the latitude of
about Sc degrees, among the dismal cliffs
of Labrador He ran along, the coast for
hnnGred leagudes1l landed S1to He planted
on the land a large cross with the nag
of England" c.,ou+.o,,
Cabots claim to special honor. According
to that acute critic the young Cabot at
tempted to cheat his father OF the credll
Continent. Sir Clements Markham, the
president of the Royal Geographical so
ciety, in a long paper read pelore tnaC
body has expressed doubts whether SepaS-
tan was even aboard tbs vessel when
crossed the Atlantic in the summer OF l4SI
At any rate, it seems certain that 10 J9 on
Cabot alone and not to Sebastian Gas Ed
rnund Burke claimed), the gratitude Oh
English-speaking posterity is due.
Concerning even the nationality OF Jonn
Cabot there is still great doubt The old
notion that he was a Venetian has been
exploded by the discovery that ne was
simply naturalized son OF tnaf CITY 81
inclined to believe that the great explorer
was Norman by birth. In the current
issue of The Nineteenth Century ne re-
Where John Cabot was born n? one now
can TELL for he was Wanderer ana aoVenI
turer like his remote Morse ancestors anu
left no records or papers But that ne
drew his blood from the Norseman race OF
the Channel islands his name ana arms
seem to prove beyond qou u was ne Sfef bS
chance that he got his patent from an
English king and sailed on ms memorable
voyage from an English port. Englano
numbered among the great trading ana
commercial nations of Europe; Venice or
Genoa Portugal or Spain offered much
larger opportunities and greater encourage
ment to the merchant or the adVenturer
than England. Yet John Cabot came to
England for his letters patent and set out
from Bristol on his voyage of discovery
We know from Sebastian Cabot's s "a en-
that his father had relations with England
and was much and often in that country
It is not going too far to suppose that,
when he had made up his mind to enter
upon his voyage of discovery In the New
World, he came back to the land of which
the home of his fathers, and perhaps his
own birthplace was a part. 1t is certain
that no other. reason is given in any con-
temporary evidence.