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BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY
field compared to Spain and Portugal. In the first place, the movement, towards the discovery of unknown lands, was part of that general movement we term the Renaissance, and England here, as in other matters, felt the impulse of the new movement late in date. It is significant that the first discoverer for England was a foreigner, and if his son Sebastian was born in England, the Venetian Records 1 plainly show that he was no loyal Englishman. Moreover, so long as England remained Roman Catholic, the Papal Bull which claimed to divide the unknown world between Spain and Portugal must have greatly discouraged exploration. It is noteworthy, in this connection, that the letters patent to Cabot in 1498 only deal with lands above 44° N. latitude, thus by implication recognising the Spanish claim. Expeditions were indeed sent out, such as those 1527 and of Rut and Hore, but the results were trifling, and on I536 ‘ the whole the business of the reign of Henry VIII. was to begin the creation of that sea-power on the strength of which ultimately a Colonial Empire depends. Mr Oppenheim has borne striking testimony to the work of Henry VIII. in this respect. 2 “ For almost thirty-eight years nearly every year marked some advance in construction or administration, some plan calculated to make the navy a more effective fighting instrument. So far as numbers went he made it the most powerful navy in the world, remembering the limited radius within which it was called upon to act. ... He discarded the one mediaeval officer of the Crown and organised an administration so broadly planned that in an extended form it remains in existence to-day. . . . He trod a path that some of his predecessors had indicated but none had entered. ... His mistakes were those of the scientific ignorance and feudal spirit of his age, his successes were of a much higher order and informed with the statesmanship of a later time.” Compare the words of the shrewd Venetian observers, who speak of Henry’s navy as constantly keeping “the sea clear of Flemish and
1 Calendar of Ven. Papers , Dec. 1522.
2 The Administration of the Royal Navy, 1509-1660. 1896, p. 98,