A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 10 | Page 4

with the church
of Rome. By a bull or papal decree, all countries discovered, or to be
discovered, in the East, were declared to belong to the crown of
Portugal, and all that were found in the west were to be the property of
Spain. Yet this measure rather smothered than extinguished the flames
of contention; as both courts readily listened to any proposals that
tended to aggrandise the one at the expence of the other. This spirit of
contention between the courts of Spain and Portugal, gave occasion to
several men of enterprise, who happened to be dissatisfied by the
delays or refusal of either of these courts, in countenancing their
projects, to apply themselves for employment to the other. Among
those who took this method of advancing their fortunes, was Ferdinand
Magalhaens, now generally known by the name of Magellan. He was a
gentleman of good family in Portugal, who had addicted himself from
his youth to maritime affairs, and had acquired great skill both in the
theory and practice of navigation. He seemed formed by nature for the
achievement of great exploits, having all the qualities requisite to
compose the character of a truly great man. With a courage which no
danger could appal, he possessed the utmost calmness of temper and
sweetness of disposition, by which all who conversed with him were
engaged to love and esteem his character. He was naturally eloquent,
both in illustrating and proving the reasonableness of his own opinions,
and in converting others from their erroneous preconceived notions.
Above all, he possessed that steady and persevering resolution, which
not only enabled him to vanquish the greatest difficulties, but gave such
appearance of success to every thing be promised or undertook, as
secured the confidence of all who were under his command. As these
extraordinary qualities would have distinguished him in any station of
life, so they were remarkably useful in the present enterprise, by which
he gained immortal reputation, although he lost his life before its

completion.
[Footnote 1: Harris' Collection, I. 6. The utmost pains have been taken
to narrate this expedition in the clearest manner, by comparing all the
different relations of the Spanish and Portuguese writers. We regret
much, however, the loss of a large history of this voyage, by P. Martyr,
which was burnt in the sack of Rome, when taken by the Constable de
Bourbon.--Harris.]
Don Ferdinand Magellan had served with much credit in India, under
the famous Albuquerque, and thought that he merited some
recompence for his services; but all his applications were treated with
coldness and contempt by the great, which was intolerable to a person
of his spirit. He associated, therefore, with men of like fortunes, whose
merits had been similarly neglected, and particularly with one Ray
Falero, a great astronomer, whom the Portuguese represented as a
conjuror, retiring along with him to the Spanish court, where be made
propositions for new discoveries to Cardinal Ximenes, who was then
prime minister of Spain. The Portuguese ambassador used all
imaginable pains to counteract these designs, and solicited the court to
deliver up Magellan and his companion as deserters, even representing
Magellan as a bold talkative person, ready to undertake any thing, yet
wanting capacity and courage for the performance of his projects. He
even made secret proposals to Magellan, offering him pardon and great
rewards to desist from his present purpose, and to return to the service
of his own sovereign. All these arts were unavailing, as the Spanish
ministry, now competent judges of these matters, were satisfied of the
probability of the discoveries proposed by Magellan and his coadjutor
Falero, who were both received into favour, made knights of the order
of St Jago, and had their own terms granted to them.
The grounds on which this expedition was founded were as follow. The
opinion advanced by Columbus, of the possibility of reaching the East
Indies by sailing to the west, was assumed as certainly well founded,
though he had not been able to accomplish it; and it was asserted, that it
could not be attended with any insuperable difficulty to sail from the
South Sea, then recently discovered, to the Molucca Islands. The grand

desideratum was to find a passage westwards, from the Atlantic Ocean
into the new-found South Sea, which they expected might be met with
through the Rio de la Plata, or by some other opening on that eastern
coast of South America. Should this succeed, Spain might then reap the
benefit of both the Indies; since, if this discovery were made by way of
the west, it would then fall expressly within the grant of the papal bull
to Spain.
In consequence of these proposals, it was agreed that Magellan and the
other adventurers were to be furnished by the crown