At length, on March 25, Osep Nepea had his first formal audience of their Majesties, and the negotiations for a treaty were commenced. It appears from a Venetian report—a source, however, which we have seen to be very untrustworthy in this connexion—that, besides discussing commercial matters, the ambassador requested a loan of artillery and ammunition for the Czar, and that the Swedish ambassador protested strongly, threatening war.[[299]] No trace of any military question appears in any other evidence as to the negotiations. Among the Cecil papers are some memoranda for a treaty with Russia.[[300]] The concessions proposed for the Muscovites were very similar to those granted by Ivan to the English; but, in fact, the treaty was rather ornamental than useful. There was no necessity for it, for the simple reason that no subjects of the Czar were likely to resort to London for many a year to come. Russia’s sole outlets to the ocean were at that time the shores of Lapland and the White Sea; her sailors were nothing more than fishermen, and their craft were quite unsuited for a voyage to England, being for the most part undecked rowing-boats; while her merchants were landsmen and not seamen, accustomed to carry their goods for immense distances over the rivers and plains, but having none of the knowledge or inclination requisite for a sea-borne commerce. Hence the intercourse between the two countries was necessarily very one-sided, and the privileges already granted by the Czar were all that was needed in the shape of diplomatic regulation. The real utility of Osep Nepea’s visit was to learn something of the power and civilization of England, and to open up an interchange of civilities between the two courts.
An interesting glimpse of the Muscovite at Mary’s court is afforded by a letter from Josse de Courteville, one of Philip’s Flemings, to the President Viglius:
‘Je tiens que vous aves esté adverty de l’arrivée du Moscovitte en ce royaulme, que l’on dict estre passé par la Mer Froide et que l’on tenoit innavigable. La royne l’a faict icy tarder jusques a l’arrivée du roy; et aujourd’huy a-t-il esté mené vers Leurs Majestés, au droict costel de l’evesque de Londres, accompagné de plusieurs chevaliers de l’ordre et autres, accoustré, assez à la turquesque, d’ung habillement long jusqu’en terre, de velour pourfillé d’or, et sur la teste force pierreryes.... Il y marchoit quatre de ses serviteurs devant luy, accoustrés à l’advenant d’une mesme fachon, et deulx derrière, qui portiont chascun ung fardeau que aucuns disiont estre sables, aultres aultre chose, pour en faire présent à Leurs Majestés. Et, comme je me voulus enquérir du surplus, j’eus nouvelles du partement de ce courier, qui ne me sembloit se debvoir oublier; et par ainsy je suis forcé vous laisser le compte à demy.‘[[301]]
The Company had prepared four ships for the Russian voyage in the spring of 1557, three of which had already been used in the voyages to the Guinea coast. They were the Primrose, the John Evangelist, the Anne, and the Trinity. In the first-named went as admiral Anthony Jenkinson, who was henceforward to take a foremost place in the exploration of Russia and Central Asia. Osep Nepea also took passage in the Primrose, bearing a letter from Philip and Mary to the Czar, together with numerous costly presents for himself and his master. Their Majesties’ letter gave a summary of the commercial treaty which the ambassador had concluded, and expressed the customary hopes of amity and good will between the two nations. The Russian merchants—if any should ever come to England—should have liberty to come and go, and carry on their business in all parts of the kingdom, selling their goods wholesale or retail without impediment. While in England they should be under the special protection of the queen, and should be free from the payment of the taxes and dues which all other foreigners had to pay. They might set up warehouses in London and other cities. For their greater security the Lord Chancellor should be assigned as their judge and legal adviser, and should decide impartially all disputes. The letter concluded by giving a testimonial to the conduct and ability of Osep Nepea, who would be able to describe at greater length the matters referred to.[[302]]
THE ENGLISH DISCOVERIES IN THE NORTH-EAST.
From William Borough’s Chart of Northern Navigation,
Royal MS. 18 D. iii. 124.
With the departure of the ambassador and the arrival in Russia of Anthony Jenkinson, the story of the Russia Company enters on a new phase. The business of the Company, in spite of the maritime disasters of its early years, was now firmly established. It had three principal factories, at Colmogro, Vologda, and Moscow; and a third agent, Henry Lane, was sent out in 1557 to assist the two already appointed. Numerous subordinate merchants and apprentices were employed, and craftsmen of various kinds—rope-makers, coopers, skinners—were set to work at the establishments in Russia so that freight might be saved by exporting manufactured goods instead of raw material. A regular service of letters through Poland and Danzig was established.
After Stephen Borough’s voyage in 1556 the search for the sea passage to Cathay was for a time discontinued, but the marvellous journeys of Anthony Jenkinson by land more than maintained the reputation of the Company for the promotion of discovery. His adventures, however, and the further history of the Company, fall mainly in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and outside the scope of this work. One point deserves to be emphasized: King Philip, by giving his full countenance and support to the north-eastern discoveries, had tacitly admitted that the papal division of the globe was not by him considered as extending to the Arctic regions. Once the literal interpretation of the great bull was broken down, it was impossible to say where the line should be drawn, and the way was prepared for the retreat of Spain from an untenable position to the more reasonable one of maintaining her monopoly in the lands already colonized by her.
CHAPTER XIII
SHIPS AND MEN. ENGLISH PORTS
The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries witnessed great developments in English shipbuilding. In the former the feeble, untrustworthy vessels of the Middle Ages were improved and strengthened until they were sufficiently sound for regular voyages to all the waters of Europe, the Mediterranean included; and in the latter an ocean-going type was evolved, capable of keeping the sea for weeks and months at a stretch, and of making such voyages as those of Drake and Cavendish, which constituted an astonishing advance on anything that had previously been possible.