To settle these national differences the notable congress of Badajos was convened in the spring of 1524. The king of each country sent to it special commissioners, among which number were Fernando Columbus, Sebastian Cabot, Diego Ribero, and Estevan Gomez. For a number of days the two parties angrily disputed concerning the indefinite position of the line of demarkation as established by the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. It was a question not easily decided where among the Cape Verd Islands the point was, through which, at the distance of three hundred and seventy leagues from it, the line of limitation passed to the poles, for the group of the Cape Verd Islands occupies a space in extent from east to west of about one hundred and fifty miles. Wherever, east or west, they decided this point should be established each party was aware that so much space would be gained or lost on the opposite side of the earth by the one or the other of the two countries. The congress, after many exciting disputations, finally ended its session on the last day of May, without reaching any decision respecting the position of the papal line of limitation. The admission that Spain had full title to the Spice or Molucca Islands and that Portugal had acquired the right of possession of a part of Brazil, were the chief concessions made by this contentious body of learned men.[360] CHAPTER IX. 1504-1524. The competitive zeal which Portugal, Spain, and England had displayed, in searching for a short water-way to the eastern coast of Asia, in time quickened the ambition of France to emulate these maritime powers in discovering a desirable route across the Atlantic to the vast domains of the Grand Khan of Cathay. The Gulf of St. Lawrence, as early as the year 1504, was frequented by the fishing vessels of France. The exploration of the coast of the New Land, north of the present Atlantic territory of the United States of America, is described by a famous French sea-captain of Dieppe, in 1539. “The said land, that part running east and west [Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia?], was discovered about thirty-five years ago by the Bretons [Britons?] and Normans; hence this land has been called the Cape of the Bretons [Britons?]. “The other part [Newfoundland?] running north and south from Cape Ras to Cape Buona Vista, including nearly seventy leagues, was discovered by the Portuguese, and the remainder, as far as the Gulf of Castiles [north of the Strait of Belle Isle], and still farther, was discovered by the said Bretons [Britons?] and Normans.[361] “About thirty-three years ago, a ship of Honfleur first went there, of which vessel Jean Denis was captain, and Gamart, of Rouen, pilot. In the year 1508, a ship of Dieppe, called La Pensée, owned by Jean Ango, father of the captain and viscount of Dieppe, sailed there, the master or patron of the said ship being Thomas Aubert, and he was the first person who brought here people from that country.”[362]