Henry Tudor had the thrift of a youth spent in poverty, and the turn for finance inherited from Welsh ancestors, but his kingdom was not rich, and his throne not over-secure.  He was prejudiced against doing anything rash, both by nature and by the very limited income of the crown.  He had given an audience to Bartholomew Columbus while the older brother was still haunting the court of Castile with his unfulfilled plans, and had gone so far as to tell the Genoese captain to bring his brother Christopher to England that he might talk with him.  Had it not been for Queen Isabella’s impulsive decision England instead of Spain might have made the lucky throw in the great game of discovery.  But by the time Bartholomew could get the message to his brother the matter had been settled and the expedition was already taking shape.  Henry VII. always kept one foot on the ground, and until he could see some other way to bring wealth into the royal treasury he let the monopolies go on.

In 1495 he took a chance.  He gave to John Cabot and his sons a license to search “for islands, provinces or regions in the eastern, western or northern seas; and, as vassals of the King, to occupy the territories that might be found, with an exclusive right to their commerce, on paying the King a fifth part of the profits.”

It will be noted that this license did not say anything about the southern ocean.  Already troops of Spanish cavaliers were pouring into the seaports, eager to make discoveries by the road of Columbus, and Spain would regard as unfriendly any attempt to send English ships in that direction.  Whatever could be got from the Spanish territories Henry would try another way of getting.  The year before he had arranged to have Prince Arthur, the heir to his throne, marry the fourth daughter of the King of Aragon, Catherine, then a little Princess of eleven.  Prince Arthur died while still a boy, and Catherine became the first wife of Henry, afterward Henry VIII.  With a Spanish Princess as queen of England, there might be an alliance between the two countries.  That would be better than quarreling with Spain over discoveries which were at best uncertain.  If Cabot really found anything valuable in the northern seas the move might turn out to be a good one.  It would make England a more powerful member of the Spanish alliance, without taking anything which Spain appeared to value.

In May, 1497, properly furnished with provisions and a few such things as might show what England had to barter, the little Matthew sailed from Bristol under the command of John Cabot with his nineteen-year-old son Sebastian and a crew of eighteen—­nearly all Englishmen, used to the North Atlantic.  The King’s permission was for five ships, but the wise Cabot had heard something of the hardships of the first expeditions to Hispaniola, and preferred to keep within his means, and sail with men whom he could trust.