Individual Energy of Englishmen.

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appear to be successful, or so ably conducted, as those wherein the people themselves, unaided by the higher powers of the state, work out their own views. How different this feature, with its results, to the usual traits and effects visible among the nations of the continent, it is almost needless to observe; for very slight acquaintance with foreign affairs will prove that without the assistance of supreme authority, energy abroad, with few exceptions, seems cramped, and enterprise becomes a chimera.

The first evidences we meet of the constant presence and growth of this inclination for the sea, are the voyages which shortly began to be undertaken to various points which had been hitherto unvisited by Englishmen. New channels of trade began to open, and the cross of St. George to fly in distant havens. Convinced of this fact, Sebastian Cabot quitted the service of Spain, and returned to England. The merchants of Bristol, having fitted out two ships with the view of trading with the southern countries of America, appointed him to the command. This was in 1516. He arrived happily at Brazil, the coast of which he visited; touched at Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, and returned with no great pecuniary advantage, it is true, to those embarked in it, but with extended views of navigation, nautical science, and increased confidence, generated by the safe issue of a voyage of considerable length and difficulty.

There can be no stronger proofs of this fact than the memorials existing of several expeditions immediately following that of Cabot, in vessels furnished by the mercantile community, and despatched from the same port

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of Bristol. These ships, sometimes in pairs, but more frequently alone, would suddenly make their appearance at the Portuguese settlements, and commence trading with the inhabitants of the towns or natives on the coast. The remonstrances of the authorities against this invasion of their pretended rights, were disputed, or openly defied, the sturdy strangers being ever ready to back their intrusion by force of arms; and, from the success attained by many of these adventurers, others were encouraged to pursue the same career, for the Spanish main began to offer irresistible attractions to the needy and the bold.

Nor was this the only direction in which the English merchant sent forth his sturdy bark to seek a market for his woollens, which formed the staple manufacture of the country; many ships directed their course to the Mediterranean-visited the islands in the Archipelago -entered the harbours on the coast of Syria, and disposing of their cargoes, brought back in exchange various productions of those countries hitherto unknown in England, or procured at an exorbitant rate from the Venetian traders.

The accounts of the wealth which had flowed into Venice, and was now directing its stream into Portugal through the direct trade with Cathay or India, excited, as we have elsewhere described, an immense sensation among the different nations of Europe. We have seen it under the genius of Columbus, arousing a whole nation to deeds of naval enterprise, and we have observed it influencing the conduct of Cabot, when he set out on his first voyage in the service of the Bristol merchants.

Voyages to the North-West.

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The desire to reach Cathay and China by a shorter route than the Cape of Good Hope, acquired, with extension of naval skill, increased strength in England. The researches of Columbus having failed to discover any passage through the American continent in a southerly direction, the plan of seeking one by the northwest became the favourite project of the nation, and has, down to our own day, remained a matter considered worthy of investigation. Twice under the administration of Henry VIII., was the scheme attempted; both expeditions, however, failed in a manner most disastrous, and, in the latter case, most appalling. The first was undertaken in 1527, by a company of adventurers who obtained some meagre assistance from the king. On reaching the coast of North America, one of the vessels was wrecked, and the pursuit thereupon relinquished. This mishap did not deter some merchants from fitting out a vessel with the same object, nine years afterwards; but in this case, so ignorant were the providers, of the probable length of the voyage, or so inexperienced in. victualling a vessel, that there was soon a positive dearth of provisions on board. Under such circumstances, it was resolved to abandon the project of continuing the voyage, and the ship was accordingly again steered towards England. Before, however, she could reach the shore, famine, with all its accompanying horrors, had taken possession of the crew. Many perished with hunger; and the survivors, losing all other feeling in that of a craving for food, actually supported their own lives by devouring the bodies of their unfortunate companions. This sad event occurred in 1536.

The commercial spirit of the English nation being now