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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 9rrata to peture, m d n 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 r r R E P O R T OF THE CABOT PROCEEDINGS AT TIIK HALIFAX MEETING OK Cf)e Eopal ^ocietp of Canalia Junk 21-2r) 1897 BY KKV. KDWARI) (J. roRTEIi [Prkbkntki) at the Octohku Mki-.ting of the Massachi'SETts m i stoh i (■ a i, s()(^ i kt v 1 / CAMBRinCE JOHN W I I- SON AND SON Knibrrsitu ytrss 1897 THE CABOT CELEBRATION AT HALIFAX. ■jt\ At a meeting of the Massachusetts Histohical Society, held in Boston, on Thursday, October 14, 1897, the following paper by the Rev. Edward G. Porter was presented : — At the request of the President, I had the honor to represent the Society as its delegate at the meeting of the Royal Society of Canada, last June. Tiiis meeting was made especially memorable by the observance of two important anniversaries ; namely, the fourth cetitenary of Cabot's landfall, and the Diamond Jubilee of her Majesty Queen Victoria. Tiie Royal Society ordinarily holds its meetings at Ottawa ; but this year Halifax was selected on account of its advanta- geous position upon the seaboard much nearer the scene to be commemorated. The Society had also planned to erect a memorial of Cabot's great achievement ; and as no one spot could be agreed upon as the " land first seen," the committee wisely decided to phice a bronze tablet in the Province IIou.se at Halifax. All the arrangements for the meeting were carried out on a generous scale. The Society invited as its guests delegates from the city of Bristol, the city of Venice, tlie Royal Geo- graphical Society of London, and from several Universities and Historical Societies in Canada and the United States. The government of Nova Scotia and a committee of the citizens of Halifax joined the committee of the Royal Society in extending the courtesies of the occasion. The meeting.s con- tinued from the 21st to the 25th of June, and were generally held ill the Logishitive Council Cliiiml)er of the Provincial IJuildinfj, — ix fnu! stone structure of modest proportions, en- closed in shaded ^Mounds, reniindin<,' one of the older puhlic l)uildinj];s of the mother country, and (|uite as dingy and ven- erable in aj)itearan(;e. T\\v. 22d was given up to the Queen's Jul)il(!e, and tlie 24th to the dedication of the Cabot tablet. Among the papers read befoie the Historical section were three which attracted special attention, as they related to the great discovery. The iirst was by the Hon. John lioyd Thacher, mayor of Albany and author of the recent sumptu- ous volume entitled " 'i'he Continent of America : Its Discovery and liaptism." Mr. Thacher carefully laid out the course of the "Mftthew," following the scanty information furnished by Pasqualigo and Soncino. He imagined a fixed course and a fixed measurement of distance, and was led thereby to favor Labrador, "somewhere near Hudson's straits," as the landfall. " We '7 '40', with three remarkable hills. Tlu; small island near the second (lag is in 48 .")0', and must he Salile Island. Other places are identilied after the same fasliion ; and the author seems to have convinced himself, if not others, that this is a chart of the wliole coast-line from Caj)e Henry to the north of Iludsoi-'s Hay. lie finds another proof in the names on the chart, wliieh hear marks of ("osa's classical condensation from Cabot's rough English phrases, according to the rules of the time. Tlie writer thinks he has reason for believing that Jolin Cabot did not die during the second voyage, but returned unsuccessful, and dropped out of sight, as indeed Sebastian did for several years. Men forgot the achievements of the father, hearing so much afterward of the son who gained a European rei)Utation. In the eyes of the commercial world the father liad failed. Some day, in the crypt, or amid the other dark nooks of St. Mary Kedcliffe at Bristol, a slab will yet be found which will tell us when and how John Cabot died. The crowning feature of the ( ccasion was the unveiling of the tablet at the Province House on the afternoon of the 24th. The inscription, which was carefully prepared by Messrs. Bourinot and Dawson, does not commit the Society to any one of the theories as to the landfall. Through the kindness of E. (Jilpin, Escp, F. U S. C, one of the Halifax committee, I have obtained an excellent facsimile of the tablet which I take pleasure in presenting to the Society. It sliows the artistic decorative bt)rder representing the royal arms in the centre, with those of Bristol and Venice on either side, and the good ship sailing away from the old-world port toward the sun, which is setting behind the distant shore. The ceremony of unveiling was worthily performed by his Excellency the CJovernor-(!eneral, who was accoujpanied by Lady Aberdeen and a large nund)er of distinguished guests re})resenting the Army and Navy, the Dominion, the Province, the City, and foreign lands. Among the speakers were the Bristol delegates, Messrs. Barker and Davies, — both of them recent mayors of that city, — United States Coiisul-(Jeneral Ingi'ahara, Mayor Thacher of Albany, and Consul-General 8 SoliniherRo, who represented, he said, the City of Venice, tlie Italian (ieo^'iapliit'al Society, and the Ministry of I'uhlic In- struction. He gave a glowing address (|iiite charauteristic of THIS TAni.F/r IS IN IKiNOl'U OK Till: KAMOl'S NAVIC.ATOU John Cahot Who under .'uitliority of icttt'is-patfint of IIKN'IIV VM dirccliiif^ him "/(> coiii/ior nrcii/ii/ mid poitsc.iii" for K\(iLA\l) all lands he might find "in irhnlirrr pitrl of the irorlil tlii'i/ lie,'' sailed in a BRISTOL Ship TlIK MATTUKW. and first planted the flags of EN(;F.AN1) and VKNICE on the 'Jl'!' of June 14it7 on the north eastern seaboard of NOIITII AMKKICA, and hy iiis discoveries in this and the following year gave to IC\(iLAM) a claim ujion the Continent wliich the coloni/.ing spirit of her sons made good in later times. -i3- -[>- T/ils laldct was p/iireil in llii.t hull bij the Uoyai. Socikty of Canada in JiiNK 1S!»7 when the Bitrrisil Kmi'IUK icas celehralinf/ the sixTlKTil Aunirersnry oflhe Accession of Her Mn/'esli) Qukk.n Victokia during whose hene/icent reifjn the Dnininion o/" Canada has ertende.d from Ike shores first seen In/ Cahot and Enijlish sudors four hundred ifears before to the far l'a>:ifie coast. His Kxcki.i.kncy tiii; ICaim. ok Akkudekn (lonrnor-Geiiend of Camilla. C O'MiuKN, D.l). PiiKS. H.S.C. „,^ iioNouii M. B. Daly [Archuisi.o.. ov Hau.fax] ,j,,,„„„„t Gorernor of Nova Scotia. .7. G. BouKiNor, C. M. G. Hon. Skc. R. S. C. CiTV OF BniSTOL DKLKIiATES Wll.I.lAM ROHKUTS BaUKKK, J. 1*. WlI.MAM HoWKM. DaVIKS, J. 1'. his race. Speaking of the adventurous seamen who had gone fortl) from the Italian maritime republics to conduct distant voyages of discovery, he said, " The Cabotos were like feathers 9 from the winged Lion of St. >riirk," (lyiii<; to tlii'se wehttMii shores, then (hisuhitt', l»nt now swarniin