Turn back now to Columbus’s time. England, destined to dominate the continent of North America, was also practically the discoverer of the same. On St. John’s day, June 24, 1497, thirteen months and a week before Columbus saw South America, John Cabot, a Venetian in the service of King Henry VII, from the deck of the good ship Matthew, of Bristol, described land somewhere on the coast either of Labrador or Nova Scotia. Cabot, of course, supposed this prima vista of his to belong to Asia, and expected to reach Cipango next voyage. The subsequent year Cabot made a second voyage, inspecting the American coast northward till icebergs were met, southward to the vicinity of Albemarle Sound. Possibly in his first expedition, probably in the second, John Cabot was accompanied by his more famous son, Sebastian. For many years after the Cabots, England made little effort to explore the New World. Henry VII was a Catholic. He therefore submitted to the Pope’s bull which gave America to Spain. Henry VIII had married Catherine of Aragon. . . .

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