were found to be closer to the New World, and, in a measure, closer to the Spice Islands, which they could reach all the way by ship, instead of having to pay expensive land freights.  The trade routes through Germany became at once neglected, and it is only in the present century that she has at all recovered from the blow given to her by the discovery of the new sea routes in which she could not join.  But to England, France, and the Low Countries the new outlook promised a share in the world’s trade and affairs generally, which they had never hitherto possessed while the Mediterranean was the centre of commerce.  If the Indies could be reached by sea, they were almost in as fortunate a position as Portugal or Spain.  Almost as soon as the new routes were discovered the Northern nations attempted to utilise them, notwithstanding the Bull of Partition, which the French king laughed at, and the Protestant English and Dutch had no reason to respect.  Within three years of the return of Columbus from his first voyage, Henry VII. employed John Cabot, a Venetian settled in Bristol, with his three sons, to attempt the voyage to the Indies by the North-West Passage.  He appears to have re-discovered Newfoundland in 1497, and then in the following year, failing to find a passage there, coasted down North America nearly as far as Florida.

In 1534 Jacques Cartier examined the river St. Lawrence, and his discoveries were later followed up by Samuel de Champlain, who explored some of the great lakes near the St. Lawrence, and established the French rule in Canada, or Acadie, as it was then called.

Meanwhile the English had made an attempt to reach the Indies, still by a northern passage, but this time in an easterly direction.  Sebastian Cabot, who had been appointed Grand Pilot of England by Edward VI., directed a voyage of exploration in 1553, under Sir Hugh Willoughby.  Only one of these ships, with the pilot (Richard Chancellor) on board, survived the voyage, reaching Archangel, and then going overland to Moscow, where he was favourably received by the Czar of Russia, Ivan the Terrible.  He was, however, drowned on his return, and no further attempt to reach Cathay by sea was attempted.

The North-West Passage seemed thus to promise better than that by the North-East, and in 1576 Martin Frobisher started on an exploring voyage, after having had the honour of a wave of Elizabeth’s hand as he passed Greenwich.  He reached Greenland, and then Labrador, and, in a subsequent voyage next year, discovered the strait named after him.  His project was taken up by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on whom, with his brother Adrian, Elizabeth conferred the privilege of making the passage to China and the Moluccas by the north-westward, north-eastward, or northward route.  At the same time a patent was granted him for discovering any lands unsettled by Christian princes.  A settlement was made in St. John’s, Newfoundland, but on the return voyage, near the Azores, Sir Humphrey’s “frigate” (a small boat of ten men), disappeared, after he had been heard to call out, “Courage, my lads; we are as near heaven by sea as by land!” This happened in 1583.