[10] “This country with its institutions belongs to the people who inhabit it.”—President Lincoln.
[11] This short chapter has been added since the author’s death, by another hand.
THE DOMINION OF CANADA.
CHAPTER I.
THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY.
The dazzling success which had crowned the efforts of Columbus awakened in Europe an eager desire to make fresh discoveries. Henry VII. of England had consented to equip Columbus for his voyage; but the consent was withheld too long, and given only when it was too late. Lamenting now the great mischance by which the glory and the profit of these marvellous discoveries passed away from him, Henry lost no time in seeking to possess himself of such advantage as Spain had not yet appropriated. There was living then in Bristol a Venetian merchant named John Cabot. This man and his son Sebastian shared their great countryman’s love of maritime adventure. 1496 A.D. Under the patronage of the King, who claimed one-fifth of the gains of their enterprise, they fitted out, at their own charge, a fleet of six ships, and sailed westward into the ocean whose terrors Columbus had so effectually tamed. They struck a northerly course, and reached Newfoundland. 1497 A.D. Still bending northwards, they coasted Labrador, hoping as Columbus did to gain an easy passage to the East. They pierced deeper into the unknown north than any European had done before. But day by day, as they sailed and searched, the cold became more intense; the floating masses of ice became more frequent and more threatening; the wished-for opening which was to conduct them to Cathay did not reveal itself. Cabot, repulsed by unendurable cold, turned and sought the more genial south. He steered his course between the island of Newfoundland and the mainland, and explored with care the gulf afterwards called by the name of St. Lawrence. Still moving southwards, he passed bleak and desolate coasts which to-day are the home of powerful communities, the seat of great and famous cities. He had looked at the vast sea-board which stretches from Labrador to Florida. He had taken no formal possession; his foot had scarcely touched American soil. But when he reported to Henry what he had seen, the King at once claimed the whole as an English possession.