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Page 45
The appellation of corsair, does not necessarily imply a pirate. It
was applicable to any one engaged in the capture of vessels on the
high seas, whether authorized to do so or not. The state of
hostilities between France and Spain, protected Verrazzano under the
rules of war, as a subject of Francis, in capturing Spanish vessels,
as long as it continued; and the anomalous condition of affairs
existing at that time, according to the Portuguese historian,
Andrade, of private war between the subjects of the kings of France
and Portugal, without any public war between the sovereigns, would
seem to have justified him in similar acts in regard to the commerce
of the Portuguese, as long as the practice was not forbidden by the
kings of the two countries.
The first adventure of the kind, in which we hear of Verrazzano, was
in 1521. At this time a valuable commerce had grown up between Spain
and her conquests in the West Indies, and large amounts in gold,
pearls, sugar, hides and other articles were sent home. A ship, on
her way from Hispaniola, was captured by him, in the year just
mentioned, having on board eighty thousand ducats in gold, six
hundred pounds weight--eight ounces to the pound, of pearls and two
thousand arrobas, of twenty-five pounds each, of sugar.
[Footnote: Peter Martyr, Dec. v. c. 8. Epistola 771 (ed. 1671). In
this letter which is dated at Valladolid 19th November 1522, Martyr
writes: "Anuo quippe superiore Florinus quidam Gallus pirata navim
unam ab Hispaniola venientem, auro ad sommam octoginta millium
dragmarum, unionum vero libris octuolibus sexcentis & ruborum
saecari duobus millibus rapuit."]
In the following year, he took possession of seven vessels bound
from Cadiz to the Canary islands, with emigrants, but being
overhauled off the point of Gando, by vessels sent in pursuit, was
compelled to relinquish his prizes. [Footnote: Don Bartholome Garcia
del Castillo in Noticias de la historia de las islas de Canaria, by
Don Joseph de Viera y Clavijo. (Madrid 1772-84).]
He is next found apparently meditating an expedition against the
Portuguese possessions in Brazil, upon the pretext of discovering
other countries in the east, which that nation had not found. The
mention of this project is positive, and becomes curious and
interesting in the history of his life, as it affords the only
authentic evidence extant of any suggestion of a voyage of
discovery, contemplated by him towards Cathay. The design, if really
entertained, appears, however, to have fallen through and to have
been abandoned; but it may, nevertheless, have been the foundation
of the story of the alleged voyage. It is related by Francisco
d'Andrade, in his Chronicle of John III, the then reigning king of
Portugal. After referring to the death of Magellan, as an event
which removed a cause of difference between the crowns of Portugal
and Castile, growing out of the famous expedition of that navigator,
Andrade thus speaks of the state of affairs between the crowns of
France and Portugal.
"At that time, the king was told by some Portuguese, doing business
in France, that one Joao Varezano, a Florentine, offered himself to
Francis, to discover other kingdoms in the East, which the
Portuguese had not found, and that in the ports of Normandy a fleet
was being made ready under the favor of the admirals of the coast,
and the dissimulation of Francis, to colonize the land of Santa
Cruz, called Brazil, discovered and laid down by the Portuguese in
the second voyage to India. This, and the complaints every where
made of the injuries inflicted by French corsairs, rendered the
early attention of the king necessary.
"Accordingly he sent to France an ambassador, Joao da Silveyra, son
of Fernao da Silveyra, who delayed his going no longer than was
necessary to get ready. The purpose of his mission was to ask
Francis, inasmuch as there never had been war between them, but
rather an ancient peace and friendship, that he would give orders
throughout his kingdom for the many robberies and injuries,
perpetrated at sea on each other by the Portuguese and French, to
cease, (which tacitly was a private and not an open war, as in
general they were friends); that whatever could be found in his
ports taken from the Portuguese, should be restored, as what might
be found in the harbors of Portugal, taken from the French, should
be forthwith given up, and that to all who should ask justice in
this particular it should he rendered immediately and fully. The
king then required Francis likewise, to prevent his vessels from
making outfits to go to parts of the Portuguese conquest, whither it
was not lawful for even Portuguese vessels to sail or the people to
traffic.
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