Such were the arguments which had been used in the sixteenth century to induce the crown of England to fit out another expedition and discover an easier route to the world of “gold, balmes, and spices;” but beyond the failure of Cabot’s enterprise, a fearful scourge, the _sweating sickness_, had, from July to December of the year 1517, spread death and dismay, not only through the English court and city of London, but throughout the whole kingdom.[67] Suspending even the ordinary operations of commerce, it necessarily checked any further expeditions of discovery, so that Cabot would probably have remained for a time without employment, had he not been induced by the more promising aspect of affairs in Spain to return to that country. In 1518 he was appointed Pilot-Master to the Spanish monarchy, returning to Spain with Charles V. from England in 1520. Though the functions of this office were of so much importance that no pilot was allowed to proceed to the Indies without previous examination and approval by him, they supply few incidents for record in his life. But a misunderstanding between Spain and Portugal soon brought him conspicuously forward in connection with the discoveries then being made by adventurous Spaniards, who were directing their attention to the Moluccas, through the passage which Magellan had been fortunate enough to find near the extreme southern point of the American continent. Portugal maintained that these discoveries fell within the limits assigned to her under the Papal Bull, and remonstrated in the strongest terms against any attempt on the part of Spain to carry on commerce in that quarter of the world.[68] A conference was consequently held to consider the claims of Portugal, to which the men most famed for their nautical knowledge and experience were invited. At the head of the list[69] stands the name of Sebastian Cabot, and in the roll of those present there will also be found that of Ferdinand, the son of Christopher Columbus. This conference was held at Badajos in April, 1524, and, on the 31st of May, its members solemnly proclaimed that the Moluccas were situate by at least twenty degrees within the Spanish limits. [Sidenote: and afterwards (1525) the head of a great trading and colonising association.]