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Arredondo refuted Oglethorpe's claim re Henry Cabot discovery

Source: Historical proof of the right of the Catholic King to the territory held to-day by the British King under the name of New Georgia #558

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20. None of the many authors who speak of the voyage of Cabot say that he reached 29°. Examine all those who have written of the Western Indies and it will be seen that they unanimously state that his exploration was from 60° northward.

21. Juan Bautista Rhamucio, 75. [Bolton note: This passage is identical with that in Barcia, "Introduction," p. 4, where Rhamusio is quoted. Evidently Arredondo did not see Rhamusio, but followed Barcia (Cardenas).] on folio 4 of his introduction to the third volume of his Navigations, states that "Cabot sailed to New France at the expense of Henry VII, King of England, and arrived at sixty-seven degrees and thirty minutes latitude; and, finding the sea always open and navigable, he imagined he might discover a road to Gran Cathay, but, in the midst of his plans, his crew mutinied and compelled him to return." In his discourse on the land of Labrador, folio 417, he says that "at the expense of Henry VII he discovered that of Baccalaos, reaching 67°, whence he was compelled to return because of the cold."

22. Francis Bacon, 76. [Bolton note: This passage from Bacon, and those below from De Fer, Bernard, and Peter Martyr, are nearly identical with corresponding passages in Barcia (Cardenas), Ensayo Cronologico, "Introduction," pp. 4-6. In all probability Arredondo did not have access to the works quoted.] of Verulam, author of the personal history of Henry VII, recounts as an event pertaining to it, that "Sebastian Cabot, emulating Christopher Columbus, and conjecturing that there were many lands north of the Western Indies up to that time unknown, which he might discover, his belief being based on sounder reasons than those of Columbus, urged Henry VII to aid him, assuring him that he would find an island abounding in riches and commodities for trade. His British Majesty, being convinced of his ability, gave him a ship provided with everything necessary, in which he set out, and, sailing west by north, reached the land of Labrador in sixty-seven degrees thirty minutes north latitude, finding the sea always open and navigable."

23. Nicolas de Fer asserts that "the banks to which they go to catch codfish were discovered by Cabot, with the islands of Newfoundland;" and Jean Frederic Bernard, in The Collection of the Voyages to the North, folio 19, says that"John and Sebastian Cabot, with some other Venetians, set out from England by order of Henry VII, and on their return reported some countries situated to the northwest."

24. Peter Martyr de Angheria relates that "Cabot ran along the coast of the land of Baccalaos;" and it is to be remarked that entire credence must be given to this author, both because of his reputaton, erudition, and carefulness, and because when he was councillor of the Indies, or appointed to attend to their business, he was able to secure, at the time of writing his Decades, the most reliable information, since he dealt constantly with the discoverers, particularly with Cabot, with whom he was in very close communication.

25. However that may be, it is clear that the voyage of Cabot was of no consequence whatever to the rights of the Crown of England, not only because he did not take possession in any place, but contented himself with merely seeing the coasts (as Liu's Morery says in his great Historical Dictionary) ,t [Arredondo note t At the word "Florida."] and returned without examining the country or learning anything about it, as Herrera states; but also because the lands of Bacallaos, Labrador, and Newfoundland have no connection with Florida in general, and still less with the particular province of Guale and Santa Elena, the regions under discussion. And if the claim of England to these dominions is based without dispute upon the discovery of Cabot, as Oglethorpe alleged, let him and all his adherents say to what end the Court of London consented, by Article 7 of the Treaty of Madrid of 1670, that the British Crown should be deprived of this right, and should admit that its possession of the lands held at that time in the Western Indies was by the mere favor and consent of Spain—proof that Great Britain lacked any basis or foundation to allege in favor of its claim on the ground of the exploration of Cabot.