The University of Chicago
FOUNDED BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER

The Nootka Sound Controversy

A DISSERTATION

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS
AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE
OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

(DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY)

BY
WILLIAM RAY MANNING

INSTRUCTOR IN HISTORY AT PURDUE UNIVERSITY; FELLOW OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 1902 TO 1904

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1905

XVI.—THE NOOTKA SOUND CONTROVERSY.

By WILLIAM RAY MANNING, Ph. D.

Instructor in History at Purdue University; Fellow of the University of Chicago, 1902 to 1904.

[The Justin Winsor prize of the American Historical Association was awarded to the author of this monograph.]

THE NOOTKA SOUND CONTROVERSY.

By William Ray Manning, Ph. D.

CONTENTS.

Preface.

The French revolutionary period contains so much of greater importance that historians have neglected the Nootka Sound incident. Of the few writers who have discussed it, the majority have written from a partisan standpoint, or, if impartial themselves, have drawn their information from partisan pamphlets. The consequence is that many errors regarding it have crept into the work of the best writers. The purpose of this monograph is to give a more extended account, drawn largely from unpublished sources, and to correct as many of the errors as possible.

Besides working over the documents that have been published and the accounts that have been written, a thorough search has been made in the archives of the Indies at Seville, in the national historical archives at Madrid, and in the British Museum and the public record office at London. A less thorough search has been made in the archives of foreign affairs at Paris and the archives of the Department of State at Washington. More than 500 pages of unpublished documents relating to the dispute have been transcribed and used. The classified bibliography at the close will make clear the sources of information and their relative value.

My acknowledgments are due to the following persons for valuable assistance: To my wife, who worked with me continually for two and a half months in the Spanish archives and the British Museum, and who has criticised my manuscript and read the proof sheets; to Prof. J. F. Jameson, whose untiring interest has been a constant source of inspiration, and to whose aid and painstaking suggestions are largely due any merits that the monograph may possess; to Prof. A. C. McLaughlin, for research in the archives at Washington; to Prof. F. J. Turner, for manuscripts and other material from his own collection. Besides these, I wish to make special mention of the kindness and assistance of Señor Pedro Torres-Lanzas, director of the archives of the Indies at Seville, and of Señor Vicente Vignau y Ballester, director of the national historical archives at Madrid.

Chicago, July, 1904.

Chapter I.
INTRODUCTION.

Nootka Sound is a small inlet on the western shore of Vancouver Island. It was christened and made known to the world by Captain Cook in 1778. A few years afterwards a flourishing fur trade sprang up between the Northwest Coast and China. Nootka became the center of this trade, though it remained for several years without any settlement except an Indian village. On account of its sudden and growing importance, the Russians, English, and Spaniards all laid plans for occupying the port. It happened that all planned to carry out the project in the year 1789, a year that meant so much for the subsequent history of the world. Though the Nootka incident can make no claim to rank in importance with the great events of that year, yet it was destined to have an influence on the movements then started and to be influenced in turn by them.

The Russian plans were not acted upon, but the plans of the other two were. An English expedition from India and a Spanish from Mexico each sailed in the spring of 1789 to establish a colony at Nootka. The promoters of neither knew anything of the other. The Spanish commander arrived first and took possession. Nearly two months later the Englishman came. A quarrel ensued. The Spaniard seized the Englishman, imprisoned him, his officers and crew, and sent them to Mexico as a prize. A consort vessel arrived a few days later and met the same fate. Two other English vessels had been seized earlier. One of them had been released on bond and the other had been confiscated without adjudication.

The Viceroy of Mexico, instead of acting on his own responsibility, reported the matter to the Government at Madrid. The Spanish Court complained to the British that subjects of the latter had violated the territorial sovereignty of the former, and demanded that the offenders be punished to prevent such enterprises in the future. The British Cabinet rejected the Spanish claim to exclusive sovereignty over the territory in question, and suspended all diplomatic relations until Spain should have offered a satisfactory reparation for the insult which His Britannic Majesty felt that his flag had suffered. Each Court refused to grant the demand of the other and stood firmly on the ground originally taken. To support their respective claims, both Governments made the most extensive armaments. Each nation also called upon its allies for assurances of support and entered negotiations for forming new alliances. For a time it seemed that all Europe would be drawn into war over what, on the face of it, appeared to be an insignificant quarrel between two obscure sea captains.

Speaking of the controversy Schoell says that a few huts built on an inhospitable coast and a miserable fortification defended by rocks were sufficient to excite a bloody war between two great European powers and gave birth to a negotiation which for several months absorbed the attention of all of the maritime powers of Europe.[1] Similar statements were made by other writers within a few years after the incident.[2] Most historians who have touched upon it have either treated it from a partisan standpoint or have considered it of too little importance to merit careful inquiry into the facts.[3]

But far from being merely a dispute over a few captured vessels and a comparatively unimportant trading post, it was the decisive conflict between two great colonial principles, of which England and Spain were, respectively, the exponents. Spain still clung to the antiquated notion that the fact of the Pacific Ocean’s having been first seen by a Spaniard gave his Government a right to all of the lands of the continent which were washed by it. This fact, added to the gift of the Pope, was sufficient to convince the Spanish mind that Spain had a valid title to the whole of the western coast of both Americas. On the other hand, England had long been acting on the now universally accepted principle that mere discovery is an insufficient title, and that land anywhere on the globe not controlled by any civilized nation belongs to that nation which first occupies and develops it.

The controversy is of further importance because of the fact that it tested the triple alliance of 1788 between England, Prussia, and the Netherlands. It also afforded the occasion for overthrowing the Bourbon family compact of 1761. It marked the end of Spain’s new brief period of national greatness, which had resulted from the wise reign of Charles III. It was also the beginning of the collapse of Spain’s colonial empire. Duro, one of the leading Spanish historians of the present, says that it inaugurated a period of degradation disgraceful to Spanish history, and began a series of pictures which cause anyone to blush who contemplates them with love for the fatherland.[4]

The settlement of the controversy determined the subsequent position of England and Spain on the Northwest Coast. Later, after the United States had bought the Spanish claim, the Nootka Sound affair became a part of the Oregon controversy. For a time the dispute threatened to change the course of the French Revolution.[5] It menaced the existence, or at least the expansion, of the United States. It promised to substitute English for Spanish influence in Latin America.

Chapter II.
THE ENGLISH PLANS FOR OCCUPYING NOOTKA SOUND.

As early as 1785 instructions were given looking toward the establishment of an English trading post on Nootka Sound. In this year an English commercial company instructed the commander of one of its vessels to establish a post on the northwest coast of America for “securing the trade of the continent and islands adjacent.” King Georges [Nootka] Sound was suggested as being “in every respect consistent with the intent of forming such establishment.”[6]

The fur trade between the western coast of America and China was at the time in its infancy, but the profits accruing from it soon made it of great importance. Captain Cook, in his voyage of 1778, had brought the possibility of the industry to the attention of English shipowners. “By the accidental carrying away of a small collection of furs, whose great value was learned in Siberia and China, he originated the great fur trade which became the chief incentive of all later English and American expeditions to these regions.”[7] He remained a month in Nootka Sound. A number of English expeditions visited the place between this date and 1789, as did also several Spanish, French, and American. Only such of them will be discussed as have a direct bearing on the Nootka Sound controversy, and these only at such places in the narrative as their bearing becomes important. A sufficiently full account of the others may be found in the first volume of Bancroft’s “History of the Northwest Coast.”

The first English expedition to claim serious attention is that of 1788. It was commanded by John Meares,[8] a retired lieutenant of the royal navy. Two years before this he had been placed in charge of an expedition to the same coast by some merchants under the protection of the East India Company.[9] He had two vessels, the Nootka, commanded by himself, and the Sea Otter, commanded by a subordinate. The latter was lost at sea. The former spent the winter of 1786-87 in Prince William Sound, on the Alaskan coast, where, according to Meares’s account, the most terrible hardships were suffered, and so many of the crew were lost that not enough remained to man the ship.[10] After disposing of his cargo of furs in China[11] he made preparations for the expedition of the following year, during which he set up the first English establishment on the coast. It was this post which, rightly or wrongly, furnished the chief basis for the stubborn persistence of the English ministry in its demands on Spain in the controversy two years later. The purpose of discussing this expedition is to study what Meares did at Nootka and find just what rights, if any, were thereby acquired for England.

It was intended that this expedition should be preliminary to the planting of an English commercial colony. In mentioning the fact that one vessel was destined to remain out much longer than the other, Meares says that she was to leave the coast of America at the close of the year and go to the Sandwich Islands for the winter. The next year she was “to return to America, in order to meet her consort from China with a supply of necessary stores and refreshments sufficient for establishing factories and extending the plan of commerce in which we were engaged.”[12] Probably to prove the feasibility of constructing such factories, Meares took with him on this preliminary trip the material and workmen for building a small trading vessel, which would necessitate the erection of some sort of establishment to protect the workmen and tools during the process of construction. In the instructions for the voyage no mention is made of the vessel to be constructed or of any establishment, either temporary or permanent, but plans were laid for a second expedition. Speaking of the proposed meeting of the two vessels constituting the expedition, which meeting was to be at Nootka at the close of the summer trading season of 1788 previous to the sailing of one vessel to China with the furs collected, the proprietors instructed Meares to appoint “a time and place of rendezvous, that you may receive the instructions and refreshments we may send you next season.”[13]

The larger vessel, the Felice, was commanded by Meares and was to proceed directly to Nootka, arriving as early as possible and remaining the entire season at Nootka and in the neighborhood. During the summer of 1788 it is this vessel and the operations of its commander that furnish the center of interest. The second vessel, the Iphigenia, commanded by Captain Douglas, subject to Meares’s orders, was to spend most of the trading season on the coast of Alaska in Cooks River and Prince William Sound. When trade should slacken she was to move southward, endeavoring to reach Nootka Sound by September 1, where the two vessels were to meet.[14] During the first season the voyage of the Iphigenia is unimportant, but on its return to Nootka from the Sandwich Islands in 1789 it furnishes for a time the chief interest.

It is well to notice at the outset the double instructions and the double national character of the expedition, though the importance of the fact will become more evident later. As far as the instructions to Meares are concerned, or his repetition of them to Douglas, the ships were purely English in character, Daniel Beale, of Canton, China, being the ostensible agent. But later, when one of them came into conflict with the Spaniards, it was just as purely Portuguese to all external appearances. It was flying Portuguese colors and was commanded by a Portuguese captain, with instructions in his own language, given by a merchant of the same nationality living at Macao, China.[15] In these papers the real commanders appeared as supercargoes.

In Meares’s narrative of the voyage no mention is made of the deception, but later, in his memorial to the British Government, he said that it was “to evade the excessive high port charges demanded by the Chinese from all other European nations excepting the Portuguese.”[16] Dixon, in one of his pamphlets, says that the principal motive in using the Portuguese colors was to evade the South Sea Company’s license.[17] Bancroft mentions both of these motives and suggests that the trick is not permissible unless directed against a hostile nation in time of war.[18] It seems to have been expected that it would enable them to avoid some anticipated danger or difficulty. However, as will be seen, this very double nationality was the first thing to arouse suspicion and get the Iphigenia into trouble.

The vessels sailed from China in the latter part of 1788. Besides the regular crew, each carried a number of European artisans and Chinese smiths and carpenters. The latter, Meares says, were shipped on this occasion as an experiment because of their reputed hardiness, industry, and ingenuity, and also because of their simple manner of life and the low wages demanded. He observes that “during the whole of the voyage there was every reason to be satisfied with their services,” and adds: “If hereafter trading posts should be established on the American coast, a colony of these men would be a very important acquisition.” Of the 90 men on the two ships 50 were Chinese. In view of the importance of the Chinese element in the population of the Western States, it is a significant circumstance that they figured so largely in this very first venture. And, considering the subsequent rush of these people to the New World, it is worthy of notice that on this occasion “a much greater number of Chinese solicited to enter into this service than could be received,” and those who were refused “gave the most unequivocal marks of mortification and disappointment.”[19] “On the voyage the artisans were employed in preparing articles of trade for the American market. … The carpenters were also at work in preparing the molds and the models for a sloop of 50 tons that was designed to be built immediately on our arrival in King Georges Sound, as such a vessel would be of the utmost utility not only in collecting furs, but in exploring the coast.” In speaking of the work necessary for the enterprise, Meares says: “Our timber was standing in the forests of America, the ironwork was as yet in rough bars on board, and the cordage which was to be formed into ropes was yet a cable.”[20] On May 13, after a passage of three months and twenty-three days from China, they “anchored in Friendly Cove, in King Georges Sound, abreast of the village of Nootka.”[21]

The natives received them in a friendly manner, and operations were soon begun to carry out their shipbuilding enterprise. Meares says:

Maquilla [the Indian chief, sometimes called “Maquinna”] had not only most readily consented to grant us a spot of ground in his territory whereon a house might be built for the accommodation of the people we intended to leave there, but had promised us also his assistance in forwarding our works and his protection of the party who were destined to remain at Nootka during our absence. In return for this kindness, and to insure a continuance of it, the chief was presented with a pair of pistols, which he had regarded with an eye of solicitation ever since our arrival.[22]

This is Meares’s account of the transaction to which he referred in his memorial two years later as a purchase of land. It was by this transaction that the English Government claimed to have acquired a title not only to this spot, but to the whole of Nootka Sound.[23] There is nothing in his narrative which indicates that at the time Meares had any thought of acquiring a permanent title, either for himself or for his Government. Neither is there any unmistakable indication to the contrary. Under these circumstances any title to sovereignty thus acquired would have to depend on subsequent operations.

With the assistance of the natives, work on the house advanced rapidly, and on May 28, fifteen days after their arrival, it was completed. It had two stories. On the ground floor were a workshop and storeroom and in the upper story were a dining room and chambers for the party. “A strong breastwork was thrown up around the house, enclosing a considerable area of ground, which, with one piece of cannon, placed in such a manner as to command the cove and the village of Nootka, formed a fortification sufficient to secure the party from any intrusion. Without this breastwork was laid the keel of a vessel of 40 or 50 tons, which was now to be built agreeable to our former determination.”[24] While this was being done the ship had been repaired and refitted for a trading cruise to the southward. All was in readiness for departure on June 11. On the day previous the party to be left at Nootka was landed with articles to continue the brisk trade which had sprung up, and also supplies for the completion of the new vessel and enough provisions to fit it for a voyage to China should misfortune prevent the return of the Felice or the arrival of her consort, the Iphigenia. A formal visit was paid to the chief, Maquilla, to acquaint him with the intended departure and to secure his attention and friendship to the party to be left on shore. Meares adds: “As a bribe to secure his attachment he was promised that when we finally left the coast he should enter into full possession of the house and all the goods and chattles thereunto belonging.”[25] This statement is quoted by Greenhow as conclusive proof of the merely temporary character of the establishment.[26] If the promise was made in good faith, it would seem that the position was well taken, did not the subsequent conduct of Meares indicate the contrary! On the occasion of this visit other presents were made to the chief and members of his family. The narrator continues: “Maquilla, who was glowing with delight at the attentions we had paid him, readily granted every request that we thought proper to make, and confirmed with the strongest assurances of good faith the treaty of friendship which had already been entered into between us.”[27] Nothing further is said of this treaty or of its terms. If some more tangible evidence of it appeared, it might be a valuable link. The mere statement that such was made is of interest as indicating the policy of Meares, which, however, would have been the same whether he expected to retain an establishment at Nootka or simply to make subsequent visits for trading. It is possible, too, that the treaty was only a temporary arrangement to last during the one visit.

The Felice, with Meares and most of the crew, spent the next two and a half months in a combined trading and exploring cruise to the southward, returning to Nootka once during the time and remaining two weeks. This trip has no direct bearing on the Nootka incident, but throws some side lights on Meares’s policy and the national character of the expedition. He tells of a treaty made at Port Cox and gives something of its terms. It established trade relations with three chiefs. Apparently it excluded all competitors, though this is not so stated;[28] but on seeing a vessel pass Nootka, some two months later, he at once set out for Port Cox lest the chief should be tempted “to intrude upon the treaty he had made with us.”[29] On reaching the place he found large quantities of furs, indicating that the treaty had been kept. It may be, however, that no opportunity had been presented for breaking it. The chief inquired earnestly concerning Meares’s return next season.[30]

In another place Meares says: “We took possession of the Straits of Juan de Fuca in the name of the King of Britain, with the forms that had been adopted by preceding navigators on similar occasions.”[31] In mentioning this ceremony in his memorial he makes the additional statement that he purchased a tract of land within the said straits. A party sent to examine the straits was attacked by the natives after a few days and abandoned the enterprise.[32] This subsidiary expedition plays an important part in the controversial writings on the conflicting claims to the Oregon country. On August 24 the Felice returned to Nootka. Three days later her consort, the Iphigenia, arrived.

In less than a month more the new vessel was completed. On September 20 it was launched with what Meares considered very impressive ceremonies. It was christened “the North-West America, as being the first bottom ever built and launched in this part of the globe.” He says that the British flag was displayed on the house and on board the new vessel.[33] This statement regarding the use of the British flag should be noticed, since Greenhow states, and Bancroft gives it a qualified indorsement, that “there is no sufficient proof that any other [than the Portuguese flag] was displayed by them during the expedition.”[34] Statements are made by other men that the Portuguese flag was used at Nootka during the summer.[35] In the engraving in Meares’s narrative illustrating the launching, three British flags are represented.[36] There is at least one other very plain indication of the use of the British flag by the expedition. It is found in the instructions of Meares to Funter, who was to command the North-West America. They are dated Friendly Cove, Nootka Sound, September 10, 1788, and say: “You are on no account to hoist any colors until such time as your employers give you orders for this purpose, except on taking possession of any newly discovered land; you will then do it, with the usual formality, for the Crown of Great Britain.”[37] If these instructions were really given, and the statement is true which is quoted above regarding taking possession of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, it must be admitted that Meares considered at the time that his expedition was English and that whatever rights might be acquired by it for any nation were acquired for England.

Four days after the new vessel had been completed Meares departed for China in the Felice, carrying with him the furs collected by both vessels. The North-West America was placed under the orders of Douglas, the commander of the Iphigenia. Before departing, Meares had given him extended orders regarding wintering at the Sandwich Islands, and his conduct on the coast during the next season.[38] On October 27 the two remaining vessels left Nootka for the winter.[39]

In the instructions just mentioned nothing is said regarding any settlement to be made at Nootka the succeeding year. There is a statement, however, in the narrative that indicates unmistakably the intention of planting a colony of some considerable extent. The writer says that early in September, when the natives were leaving for the winter settlement up the sound, “we made these chiefs sensible in how many moons we should return to them, and that we should then be accompanied by others of our countrymen, and build more houses and endeavor to introduce our manners and mode of living to the practice of our Nootka friends.” He speaks of their pleasure at hearing this and of their promise of large quantities of furs; then narrates an elaborate ceremony of coronation performed by the chief, Maquilla, and his companions, which, he says, was intended as a recognition of his superiority and sovereign power over them.[40] If Meares understood that by this childish act of crowning he acquired for Great Britain sovereign rights over the district, he makes no effort to emphasize the fact. The statement, if true, is of more value as showing a definite intention to establish a colony the following year. It is not impossible, however, that both of these are cunningly contrived and rather overdrawn fabrications of a later date to strengthen his case before the Government or in the eyes of the public. Greenhow and Bancroft both seem to draw a line between Meares’s narrative and his memorial, considering the former more trustworthy since the latter was written for the express purpose of convincing the cabinet of the justice of his cause. If the narrative were the original log of the vessel instead of a subsequent account simply using that log as its basis, the reason for the distinction would be clear. But besides the indications in the preface and the date, November 16, 1790, attached to the preface, there are internal evidences that the narrative was not written, at least not completed, until Meares knew of the operations of the Spaniards at Nootka in 1789. Hence there is no reason why it should not be influenced by the same partisanship and selfish interest.[41]

But whether he really did or did not make the statement to the chiefs in September, 1788, concerning planting a colony the next year, he proceeded exactly as he would be expected to have proceeded had he made it. The question as to what became of the house built in 1788, whether it was given to the chief as promised, or whether it was torn down by Douglas before leaving for the Sandwich Islands, according to the testimony of the American captains, Gray and Ingraham,[42] does not greatly affect the case, if the Englishmen really intended to continue the occupation in 1789, as they unquestionably did. If there were nothing else to consider, and if the title to sovereignty rested wholly on actual occupation, whether that occupation be by persons of a public or private character, then England had a better claim than Spain to the sovereignty of Nootka Sound at the beginning of the year 1789. But there are other things to consider. It remains to be seen whether or not they outweigh this English advantage.

The next man to demand careful attention in studying the English preparations for occupying Nootka is Capt. James Colnett, also a lieutenant in the royal navy. He had been a midshipman with Captain Cook and had served for several years on a man-of-war.[43] In the autumn of 1786 he left England, in command of the ship Prince of Wales, owned by Etches & Co., of London. This company held a license from the South Sea Company good for five years after September 1, 1786, for trading in the South Sea and other parts of America.[44] Colnett went to the South Sea by way of Cape Horn. He reached the northwest coast in 1787, collected a cargo, and continued his voyage to China, where he disposed of it.[45] While in China he became identified with Meares’s project for planting a colony at Nootka. The latter, after his arrival in China in the autumn of 1788, had set about preparations for the expedition of the succeeding year. While he was engaged in this, Colnett reached Canton. Since the latter carried a license from the South Sea Company, Meares saw an advantage to be gained by enlisting his services, as this would give governmental sanction and protection to the proposed establishment. Meares and his associates formed a joint stock concern with Etches & Co., through the agency of John Etches, who accompanied Colnett’s expedition as supercargo. As the Prince of Wales was to return to England, a new ship was purchased and named the Argonaut, and Colnett was transferred to it. The small ship, the Princess Royal, which had accompanied him on the former voyage, continued with him on this. Besides having command of the vessels, all of the concerns of the company on the American coast were committed to his charge, including the proposed colony.[46]

A clear notion of the character of the expedition thus placed under the command of Colnett may best be obtained by a careful examination of the instructions given to him before his departure from China. The copy of these that was submitted with Meares’s Memorial is dated Macao, April 17, 1789, and signed “J. Meares, for Messrs. Etches, Cox & Co.”[47] A Spanish translation of the same, copied from the papers that fell into the hands of the Spaniards, is signed “Daniel Beale, for himself and for Messrs. Etches, Cox & Co.”[48] While this discrepancy has no importance in discovering the intent of the expedition, it casts a side light on the veracity of Meares. The Spanish copy is preferably to be trusted, since no motive is apparent for their changing the signature. In these instructions strictly honorable dealings and careful attention to their needs is enjoined in all his intercourse with other vessels, whether English or foreign. Cruelty to the natives is to be prevented under penalty of condign punishment for offenders. He was to form a treaty, if possible, with the various chiefs, especially those near Nootka. The purpose was to monopolize the trade of the district and so conquer competitors honorably and creditably. They were so anxious to form such treaties that he was authorized to protect allies from insult from all persons.[49] The factory planned was to be a “solid establishment, and not one that is to be abandoned at pleasure.” Colnett was authorized to fix it at the most convenient place, so that the colony would be protected from the least sinister accident.[50] It was to receive the name “Fort Pitt.” R. Duffin was to be invested with the superintendence of it.

The object of the post was to attract the Indians for commercial purposes and to furnish a place to build small vessels and to lay them up for the winter season. During each winter some vessels were to be sent to the Sandwich Islands for provisions, and natives of those islands, both men and women, were to be encouraged to embark for the American colony. When this settlement should have been effected trading houses were to be established at other places along the coast where they would be the most advantageous. Preparatory to this rewards were to be offered the first season to men who would reside with different Indian chiefs for the purpose of collecting furs and assuring the natives of the return of the vessels, thus encouraging them to keep back their furs from competitors. The Iphigenia, which went out the preceding year under Meares’s command, and also the North-West America, which he had built on the coast, were to be under the command of Colnett. The rest of the instructions are of no interest to the Nootka Sound Affair.[51]

With these instructions and with provisions for three years the two vessels sailed from China, the Princess Royal in February and the Argonaut in April, 1789.[52] They carried, “in addition to their crews, several artificers of different professions and near 70 Chinese, who intended to become settlers on the American coast.”[53] The plans are seen to have been large with hope for the future, and there seems to have been every reasonable prospect for success. Should they be successful it would mean not only a fortune for the merchant adventurers and a worthy monument to the wisdom of the projectors, but it would mean also the definite planting of the British flag on an unoccupied coast and the extension to that coast of the sovereignty of Great Britain. But while these plans were taking shape other plans were being laid elsewhere, which, before the arrival of Colnett’s expedition, had totally changed the appearance of things at Nootka. A discussion of these will occupy the next two chapters.

Chapter III.
THE SPANISH PLANS FOR OCCUPYING NOOTKA SOUND—THE CONFLICTING CLAIMS BEFORE 1789.

The Spanish name of most importance in connection with affairs at Nootka is that of Estevan José Martinez. Besides playing the chief rôle in the drama enacted there in 1789, which proved to be but the prelude to a greater drama played in Europe the following year, it was he who first suggested the planting of a Spanish colony at this point. This is contrary to the notion prevalent in the minds of the diplomats when the controversy was at its height, a notion which has been more or less accepted ever since, viz, that one or more of the Governments concerned had engaged in the enterprise with malice aforethought, having some ulterior end in view. These suspicions will be discussed in their proper place. At present it suffices to show, from documentary sources, the actual genesis of the original Spanish expedition.

On the return of Martinez, late in 1788, from a voyage to Alaska, where he had gone under a royal commission to investigate the Russian settlements on the coast, he reported to Florez, the Viceroy of Mexico, as follows:

Cusmich also told me that, as a result of his having informed his Sovereign of the commerce which the English from Canton are carrying on at Nootka, he was expecting four frigates from Siberia to sail next year for the purpose of making an establishment at Nootka, situated in latitude 49° 36´ north and in longitude 20° 15´ west from San Blas. He assured me that his Sovereign has a better right to that coast than any other power on account of its having been discovered by the Russian commanders, Behring and Estericol [Chirikov], under orders from the Russian Court in the year 1741. For this reason it seems to me advisable that an attempt should be made next year, 1789, with such forces as you may have at hand, to occupy the said port and establish a garrison in it. According to what is learned from the work of Cook and from what I saw on my first expedition to that place (which I made in 1774), it possesses qualifications which adapt it to this purpose. By accomplishing this we shall gain possession of the coast from Nootka to the port of San Francisco, a distance of 317 leagues, and authority over a multitude of native tribes. [I say this, at the same time] offering myself to carry out the project, and to prove the feasibility of it I will sacrifice my last breath in the service of God and the King, if you approve it.[54]

This letter was written from the port of San Blas on December 5, 1788. Only eighteen days later the Viceroy wrote from the City of Mexico to the home Government that he had determined to occupy Nootka at once, although the royal orders did not warrant him in so doing.[55] On the same day Martinez was commissioned to carry out the enterprise, and his instructions were sent to him.[56] In his letter to Madrid, the Viceroy says “the essential object of this new expedition is no other, as I have indicated, than the anticipation of the Russians in taking possession of the port of San Lorenzo or Nootka.” Ten days later, in justification of his action, he wrote that it was true he was forbidden to incur expenses without special royal order, but since this was an extraordinary case, demanding prompt action, he begged for the royal approval.[57] This approval was granted, but not until April 14, 1789,[58] when Martinez was already well on his way to Nootka. It could not have been known in America in time to affect the events at Nootka. Far, then, from there being any ground for the suspicion that the Spanish Government had ordered the seizure of English vessels, which resulted from this undertaking, the Madrid Government did not so much as know that the expedition was to be sent until long after it had sailed. Further, even in the mind of the Viceroy, there was not the slightest thought of any interference with the English, the expedition being directed solely against the Russians. It is also seen that whatever glory it promised for Spain, or whatever opprobrium attached to Spain because of the unfortunate events connected with it, must be placed largely to the credit of Martinez. But he was not wholly responsible, since his plan was authorized by the Viceroy and later approved by the home Government.

It is a fact of some significance, as an indication of the political sagacity of the Viceroy, that he apprehended much more danger to Spanish dominion on this coast from the new United States than from England or even Russia. While the English were only mentioned in connection with the known plans of Russia, considerable space was devoted to discussing a probable attempt of the American colonies to obtain a foothold on the western coast. As proof he mentioned the fact that an American ship, which had touched at the islands of Juan Fernandez in the same year, had continued its voyage to the coast. He expressed a suspicion that it had this end in view.[59] He told also of an overland trip made in 1766-67 from the English colonies,[60] and closed his observations on this point with the prophetic statement: “We ought not to be surprised that the English colonies of America, being now an independent Republic, should carry out the design of finding a safe port on the Pacific and of attempting to sustain it by crossing the immense country of the continent above our possessions of Texas, New Mexico, and California.” He added: “Much more might be said of an active nation which founds all of its hopes and its resources on navigation and commerce,” and mentioned the immense value to them of a colony on the west coast of America. He continued: “It is indeed an enterprise for many years, but I firmly believe that from now on we ought to employ tactics to forestall its results; and the more since we see that the Russian projects and those which the English may make from Botany Bay, which they have colonized, already menace us.” It was, then, he said, to dissipate for the future the dormant possibilities of the present that he was taking the extraordinary step of formally occupying the port of Nootka without royal authorization.[61]

After thus setting forth to the Government at Madrid the reasons for his action, the Viceroy outlined the plans for the expedition. It was to consist of the two vessels, the Princesa and the San Carlos,[62] which had constituted the expedition of 1788. They were also to retain the same officers—Martinez as commander, and Haro subject to his orders. They were to sail from San Blas early in February. A packet boat would follow in March with supplies and reënforcements, and would bring back an account of the occupation. Later, according to events, explorations of the coast to the northward and southward would be made. A land expedition was to follow, including a chief, a detachment of troops, missionaries, colonists, and live stock.[63]

Since the whole of the Nootka affair grew out of measures taken by Martinez while on this trip, it is worth while to examine in detail the instructions under which he was operating. After alluding to the happy termination of Martinez’s voyage just ended, the Viceroy referred to the Russian plans for occupying Nootka to anticipate the English, and said “these designs of either nation are as pernicious to our country as their claims are unfounded.” The Russian commanders failed to explore the ports, Florez continued, and the English captain, Cook, did not see Nootka until 1778, four years after the expedition of Perez “on which you yourself went as second pilot. For these and many other weighty reasons our just and superior right to occupy the coasts discovered to the northward of California and to forbid colonies of other nations is clear. These important objects, indeed, are embraced in the delicate expedition which I now place in your charge.”

The following are his instructions:

1. The two vessels and their commanders were named.

2. They were to have the same officers and sailors as on the last voyage, with some increase of troops, and an armament corresponding to the crew, and the crew were to be drilled in the use of that armament.

3. The expedition should sail not later than February 15.

4. In March the Aranzazu should follow with reënforcements and supplies for Nootka, as well as other settlements of New California.

5. This vessel should bring back an account of what should have happened and an estimate of the necessary supplies and reënforcements which would be returned by it or by the Concepcion, or both.

6. A plan of the port of Nootka, copied from Cook’s work, was to serve as a guide.

7. Kindness, voluntary trade, and opportune gifts were to capture the good will of the natives: in this endeavor the discretion of the four missionaries was to be used. These were to begin at once to propagate the gospel.

8. A formal establishment was to be set up for a meeting place to treat with the Indians and for protection from the weather and from enemies.

9. This would be a manifestation of Spanish sovereignty. Part of the people were to be kept in this during the day, but returned to the ship at night for greater security.

10. “If Russian or English vessels should arrive, you will receive their commanders with the politeness and kind treatment which the existing peace demands; but you will show the just ground for our establishment at Nootka, the superior right which we have for continuing such establishments on the whole coast, and the measures which our superior Government is taking to carry this out, such as sending by land expeditions of troops, colonists, and missionaries, to attract and convert the Indians to the religion and the mild dominion of our august Sovereign.”

11. “All this you ought to explain with prudent firmness, but without being led into harsh expressions which may give serious offense and cause a rupture; but if, in spite of the greatest efforts, the foreigners should attempt to use force, you will repel it to the extent that they employ it, endeavoring to prevent as far as possible their intercourse and commerce with the natives.”

12. “For use with the Russians, you will keep in mind and avail yourself of the well-founded political reasons for Spain’s being in intimate friendship with their sovereign Empress, viz, that the ships of that nation, both naval and merchant, are admitted to the Spanish ports of the Mediterranean and given such assistance as they may need, without which they could not subsist in those seas; that consequently it would be a grave offense for the vessels of His Catholic Majesty to suffer hostilities in America at the hands of the Russians, furnishing just cause for a breach between two friendly powers; and that in this case Spain would count on the powerful support of her French ally, besides withdrawing from Russia the privilege of obtaining supplies in the Mediterranean at a time when she finds herself engaged in war with the Turks, with Sweden, and possibly with Denmark.”

13. “To the English you will demonstrate clearly and with established proofs that our discoveries anticipated those of Captain Cook, since he reached Nootka, according to his own statement, in March of the year 1778, where he purchased (as he relates in Chapter I, book 4, page 45, of his work)[64] the two silver spoons which the Indians stole from yourself in 1774.”

14. “You will have more weighty arguments to offer to vessels of the Independent American Colonies, should they appear on the coasts of northern California, which hitherto has not known their ships. However, by a letter of the most excellent Señor Viceroy of Peru, it is known that a frigate, which is said to belong to General Washington,[65] sailed from Boston, in September of 1787, with the intention of approaching the said coasts, that a storm obliged her to stop in distress at the islands of Juan Fernandez, and that she continued her course after being relieved.”

15. “In case you are able to encounter this Bostonian frigate or the small boat which accompanied her, but was separated in the storm, this will give you governmental authority to take such measures as you may be able and such as appear proper, giving them to understand, as all other foreigners, that our settlements are being extended to beyond Prince Williams Sound, of which we have already taken formal possession, as well as of the adjacent islands, viz. in 1779.”

16. A plan of Prince Williams Sound was inclosed, for it was intended that a careful survey of the entire coast should be made between it and Nootka.

17. The San Carlos was to make this expedition after the establishment at Nootka should be completed.

18, 19. Instructions for the exploration.

20. The coast from San Francisco to Nootka was to be explored in like manner, the latter port being the rendezvous. The Viceroy would do all he could to contribute to the welfare of the enterprise thus placed under Martinez’s charge.

21. Great care was enjoined in the treatment of the Indians and of any establishments or vessels of foreign nations that might be encountered.

22. The means to be employed to preserve health.

23. Good wishes for Divine favor and for the success of the voyage.

As an argument for use with the English, in addition to what he had given in section 13, the Viceroy added, in a postscript, reference to the instructions given by the English Admiralty to Captain Cook, July 6, 1776. Cook, he said, was not to touch at any port in the Spanish dominions on the west coast of America unless forced by unavoidable accident, in which case he was not to remain longer than absolutely necessary, and was to avoid giving the least cause for complaint to any of the inhabitants of the country or to vessels of His Catholic Majesty.[66]

The vessels sailed from San Blas February 17, 1789.[67] These instructions, as well as those given to the English expedition of the same year, look toward a permanent establishment at Nootka, which was to be used as a basis for future operations on the coast. Each expedition was sent without any knowledge that the other was even thought of. The instructions given to the commander of each were such as to leave no doubt in his mind as to his perfect right to carry them out. It was impossible for both to obey; hence a clash was inevitable. Before studying the occurrences at Nootka a brief examination should be made of the conflicting claims, with an attempt to discover the respective rights in the spring of 1789 before either expedition reached the common destination.

The first Englishman known to have visited Nootka Sound is Capt. James Cook. In the spring of 1778 he spent the month of April in the sound, which he explored and mapped carefully; and, being unable to learn that any European had before visited this particular part of the coast, he gave it the name of King Georges Sound, but later concluded that it would be better to call it by the native name Nootka. He obtained supplies of water, wood, fish, etc. The natives were friendly to him, and he found among them several articles, including the two silver spoons mentioned in the above instructions, which, together with the conduct of the natives, indicated that Europeans had previously been somewhere in the neighborhood, at least. No mention is made of his having taken possession of the place for England.[68] It seems that the Englishmen who were interested in the expedition of 1789 had no knowledge that any European had visited the place earlier than this visit of Captain Cook.[69] If they had such knowledge, they intentionally ignored it. This was looked upon as a real discovery and it was assumed that thereby England acquired such rights as discovery can give. Although Sir Francis Drake’s landing on the California coast in 1579 was mentioned,[70] yet it seems not to have been looked upon as of very much value in establishing a claim, and, of course, was not so far north. During the years subsequent to 1785 English trading ships frequently visited Nootka. Although they were purely private undertakings, this fact had considerable value in strengthening the English claim, since they tended to develop the resources of the country. The details of these voyages are not in place here.[71] These, then, constitute the ground for the English claim up to the visit of Meares in 1788 and his erection of a house and building of a ship, which were treated in the last chapter.

It was clearly brought out in the diplomatic contest of 1790 that a Spanish expedition had examined with some care the whole coast up to about 55°, and had spent some time in this very port of Nootka or its immediate neighborhood four years before Captain Cook’s visit. After the Spanish explorations of the sixteenth century, which had extended some distance up the California coast, there was a long period of inactivity in this part of the world due to the decay of the Government at home. When the temporary revival of national life came under Charles III there was also a revival of exploring enterprises on the western coast of America. Word reached Madrid through the Spanish ambassador at St. Petersburg that the Russians were making settlements on the American coast north of California. In consequence of royal orders issued the previous year, an expedition, under the command of Juan Perez, was sent from Mexico in 1774 to investigate. He had orders to examine the coast as high as 60°, but did not get beyond 55°. As he was returning he anchored early in August in a port which he called San Lorenzo, and which was later identified with Nootka Sound. Some question was raised as to its identity, but there seems to be little doubt. The latitude agrees very closely—too closely, Bancroft says. The anchorage must have been in the immediate neighborhood.[72] Revilla-Gigedo says it is believed that the commander took possession of Nootka, but Bancroft, who examined the diaries, asserts that he did not land anywhere to take possession for Spain. Martinez, who became so important in the expedition of 1789, was second pilot on this expedition of Perez. It was while at San Lorenzo in 1774 that the two silver spoons were stolen from him by the Indians. They are frequently mentioned in the Spanish manuscripts, and are accepted as proof positive that this expedition was at Nootka, and as thereby proving the superiority of the Spanish claim.[73]

In 1775, the next year after Perez’s voyage, another was made by Heceta [Ezeta] with Quadra accompanying in a small vessel. The former approached the coast in the region of Nootka, but did not enter, thereupon turning his course southward. Quadra, in the little vessel, pressed onward to about the fifty-eighth degree. This expedition made landings and took formal possession for Spain of at least three points between 47° and 58°.[74] In 1779 a third expedition sailed from Mexico to explore the coast still farther north. It reached the sixty-first degree, Prince William Sound.[75] By these three expeditions the Spanish Government considered that this entire coast from California northward had been sufficiently explored and that formal possession had been taken at enough places to establish thoroughly the Spanish claim. So a royal order was given in 1780 that voyages for this purpose should cease.[76]

The first two of these Spanish voyages were earlier than that of Captain Cook and included practically all that he explored, though they did not examine it so thoroughly. Hence, as far as discovery alone is concerned, these should have given Spain rights superior to any that England could have acquired by Cook’s enterprise, not only to Nootka Sound, but to the whole of the Northwest Coast. But, unfortunately for the Spanish claim, there is a serious flaw in the title at this point, arising from the fact-that the results of these voyages were not published, except in brief accounts.[77] It is a serious question whether a discovery which was not made known to the world could give a claim superior to one gained by a subsequent voyage whose results were made known. Reason and justice would seem to say it could not. But, besides these explorations, Spain still clung in theory at least to her ancient claim to sovereignty over the entire American continent west of the line drawn by the treaty of Tordesillas (1494), and sanctioned by Pope Alexander VI, who had drawn the arbitrary line the previous year, dividing the world between Spain and Portugal. Only as a matter of necessity had she gradually conceded the right of other nations to occupy the eastern coast of North America, and for the same reason had recently conceded the Russian control of the western coast down to Prince William Sound. This is illustrated by the facts arising out of the forced entrance of the American ship, Columbia, into a port of the islands of Juan Fernandez in 1788, referred to in the instructions of the Viceroy to Martinez above.

The Spanish governor of the islands, Blas Gonzales, after relieving the vessel’s distress, had allowed it to go on its way to the Northwest Coast, knowing its destination.[78] For this act he had been summoned before the captain-general of Chile and cashiered. The captain-general was supported by the Viceroy of Peru and apparently by the home Government.[79] This harsh treatment was based on a royal decree of 1692, ordering all viceroys, governors, etc., to prevent foreign ships from navigating the south sea without permission from Spain,[80] since no other nation had, or ought to have, any territories which it was necessary for them to pass around Cape Horn to reach. It is needless to say that this claim was not respected by other governments. The Viceroy’s assertion of the right of Spain to occupy the coasts and exclude colonies of other nations, quoted above from his instructions to Martinez, is another evidence. It had long been conceded by other nations that discovery alone, or even discovery with formal acts of taking possession, can not give a valid title. It is essential that some effort be made to use the land discovered and to develop its resources; and, before the claim is fully established, actual and continued possession must be taken.

With discovery, exploration, and formal acts of possession Spanish activity ceased, there being no serious effort to make any use of the territory in the way of trade, and no steps being taken to occupy the country until they were aroused to do so by reports coming from the north in 1788 that the Russians were intending to occupy. In other words, either from lack of enterprise or from policy, the Spanish did not seem to care to develop the country or make any use of it themselves, but did wish to prevent any other people from doing so. Their reason for this policy of obstruction was probably an idle pride in retaining a shadowy sovereignty over this vast territory; or, possibly, a wish to retain it as a field for future enterprise; or, more likely, the hope of being able to control the Pacific outlet of any water passage to the Atlantic that might later be discovered along this coast. In the face of modern national enterprise, something more tangible was necessary in order to retain control.

The English people, not from any fixed national policy, but from individual initiative, were taking these necessary steps and the Government was practically compelled to follow them up. As soon as Captain Cook’s voyage of 1778 had made known to the English people the possibilities of the fur trade in this region, shipowners immediately turned their attention thither. Between 1785 and 1790 no fewer than 12 or 15 British vessels visited the coast to trade with the natives, several of them making return voyages, and most of them making shorter or longer stops at Nootka.[81] As has been stated, steps were taken from the very first to establish a post at Nootka as a center for these trading operations. A temporary one was actually set up by Meares in 1788, and an expedition was sent out for the purpose of making this permanent the following year. Thus, up to 1789, the English were exercising more control over the region than the Spanish. Had the English plans of this year not miscarried, and had the Spanish expedition of the same year not been sent, the question as to the respective rights, at least to Nootka and the immediate neighborhood, would probably never seriously have been raised.

Chapter IV.
MARTINEZ’S OPERATIONS AT NOOTKA BEFORE COLNETT’S ARRIVAL.

It was on the 5th[82] of May, 1789, that the Spanish ship anchored in Friendly Cove of Nootka Sound bearing Martinez with his instructions for occupying the port and planting a permanent colony that should be a substantial proof of the Spanish claim and serve as a center for spreading Spanish sovereignty over all the coast. Just ten days before this[83] Colnett had sailed from China with instructions and equipment to make it, an English port.[84] During the next two months, while the Englishman was crossing the Pacific, the Spaniard was making good use of the time. When the latter reached Nootka there seems to have been no visible sign that the English had ever occupied the place or even intended to occupy it. The only evidence of civilization was one vessel under a Portuguese captain with Portuguese instructions and a Portuguese flag. It soon became known that there was also an American ship a few miles away up the sound.

It has never been conclusively proved that the house which Meares built the summer before had entirely disappeared. In a letter written three years later to the Spanish commandant at that time the American captains, who had spent the winter of 1788-89 at Nootka, declared that when Martinez arrived there was no trace of Meares’s house in the cove; that there had been a house, or rather a hut, when they arrived in the fall, but that, prior to his sailing for the Sandwich Islands, Captain Douglas had pulled it to pieces, had taken the boards on board the Iphigenia, and had given the roof to Captain Kendrick, who had used it as firewood.[85]

While there is no proof that the statement of these gentlemen is not true, yet they were too plainly prejudiced in favor of the Spanish to permit their testimony to be taken for its full face value in the absence of any corroborating evidence. There is, however, some indirect evidence to support their statement, and its value is the greater because of its being indirect, and still greater because it comes from the side of the English to whose interest it would have been to maintain the contrary. This appears in the extract which Meares quotes from the journal of the Iphigenia. In the entry made two days after his return from the Sandwich Islands and two weeks before the arrival of Martinez the writer says: “[We] sent some sails on shore and erected a tent to put our empty casks in.”[86]

If their house had still been standing they would doubtless have used it for this purpose instead of erecting the tent. Further, the fact that no mention is made of the house in this journal is pretty conclusive proof that it was not in existence on their arrival. Meares’s narrative of the departure of the Iphigenia in the preceding autumn is silent on the subject. In fact, there is no statement made even in Meares’s memorial that his house was still standing; but the memorial is so written, doubtless intentionally, that the casual reader would infer that the house was still there and that evidences of English occupation were unquestionable. This is doubtless what has led most historians who have touched upon the subject, among whom are some of the best, into the error of implying or openly declaring that there was a substantial English colony when the Spanish expedition arrived.[87]

It was also this failure of Meares to tell the whole truth that led the British Parliament and ministry into the error of believing that their rights to the place were unquestionable and that the conduct of the Spanish commandant was little better than high-handed robbery.[88] It is, then, pretty safe to assert that there was no indication whatever of English occupation when Martinez arrived, and that he was consequently perfectly justified in taking possession for Spain and in maintaining his position by force if it should become necessary. The question, therefore, is not, Was he justified in his first act? but, Were his subsequent acts of violence necessary to maintain his position?

Captain Kendrick, of the American ship Columbia, which Martinez found at Nootka, and Captain Gray, of her consort, the Lady Washington, which was out on a trading cruise at the time, were slightly involved in the relations between the Spanish and English commanders. But the vessel under Portuguese colors furnishes the center of interest for the first month of Spanish occupation.

This vessel was the Iphigenia, which had sailed from China in company with the Felice, under Captain Meares, in the spring of 1788, but which had separated from the latter vessel, had spent the summer in trading on the coast of Alaska and had rejoined her consort in the autumn at Nootka, where they again separated, the Felice, under Meares, sailing for China with the furs collected by both vessels, and the Iphigenia, under Douglas, accompanied by the small vessel, the Northwest America, built at Nootka during the summer, going for the winter to the Sandwich Islands.[89] Returning to the American coast in the spring of 1789, the Iphigenia had reached Nootka sixteen days before the arrival of Martinez. Four days after her the little vessel, her consort, arrived, and preparations were immediately made to send the latter out on a trading cruise, that they might not be worsted in competition by the American sloop, the Lady Washington, which had just returned from a six weeks’ cruise to the southward and would soon set out on a similar trip to the northward. In four days more the necessary repairs were made, and on April 27 the Northwest America set out to trade with the natives to the northward,[90] not returning, and consequently not being of any further interest for six weeks, at the end of which time she assumes considerable importance.

The double national character of the expedition to which the Iphigenia belonged has already been discussed.[91] When, on May 5, the Spanish ship appeared, it was evidently thought better—for reasons which are not disclosed—to present the appearance of a Portuguese rather than an English ship. During the first few days all of the commanders seem to have been on the best of terms. According to the journal of the Iphigenia, Douglas was invited to dine on board the Spanish ship on the day of Martinez’s arrival. Three days later the officers of the Iphigenia and of the Spanish vessel all went to dine with Kendrick, the captain of the American ship, and the next day the officers of the American and Spanish ships dined on board the Iphigenia.

Thus, up to the 9th of May the utmost harmony prevailed. Douglas had acquainted Martinez with the distressed condition of his ship and the latter had promised to relieve him as far as lay in his power. On the 8th the Portuguese instructions and passport of the Iphigenia had been presented to Martinez.[92] These seem to be what started the difficulty. In his account to the Viceroy, Martinez says:

On my arrival in it [the port of San Lorenzo de Nootka] I found a packet boat, with its captain (flag) and passport of the Portuguese nation, but its supercargo (who was really the captain), its pilot, and the greater part of its crew English.[93]

The passport was signed by the governor and captain-general of the port of Macao, in China, and began:

Be it known that from the port of this city is sailing for the coasts of North America the sloop named the Iphigenia Nubiana. It belongs to Juan Carvalho,[94] a subject of the same master of this port, and is of 200 tons burden having artillery, powder, balls, arms, and munitions necessary for its defense, and carrying as its captain Francisco Josef Viana, also a subject of the same Crown, and of competent ability.[95]

The instructions were addressed to Viana, captain of the sloop Iphigenia Nubiana, and signed by Juan Carvalho. Besides the perplexity of the double nationality of the vessel, Martinez’s suspicions were aroused by what he considered an obnoxious clause in the instructions. It read:

In case of your meeting on your voyage with any Russian, Spanish, or English vessels, you will treat them with the greatest possible friendship and permit them (if they demand it) to examine your papers that they may see the object of your voyage, taking care at the same time to avoid surprise, if they should attempt to divert you from your voyage. In such case you will resist force by force and protest against such violent and illegal proceedings before a tribunal at the first port in which you arrive, giving also an estimate of the value of the ships and cargoes. You will send to us at Macao a copy of said protest, with a narrative of all that shall have occurred, and another such to Francisco Josef Bandieras and Geronimo Ribeiro Nores, our correspondents at Lisbon, and likewise to the Portuguese ambassador, at the Court of the nation of the aggressor, in order that our Sovereign may demand satisfaction. If, perchance, in such conflict you should have the superiority, you will take possession of the vessel and its cargo, conducting them, with the officers, to Macao, in order that they may be condemned as legal prize and the officers and crew punished as pirates.[96]

Rightly or wrongly, Martinez thought that these instructions justified him in demanding an explanation. Since this is the first of the vessels seized, and in order to show that the Spanish commander considered that he was acting under instructions and with full authority, the whole of the first of a series of affidavits regarding the affair is here quoted:

On board the frigate of His Majesty named Our Lady of the Rosary, alias the Princesa, on the 13th[97] day of the month of May, 1789, I, an ensign of the royal navy, Don Esteban José Martinez, appointed commander in chief of this expedition by the most excellent Señor Viceroy Don Manuel Antonio Florez for occupying and taking possession of this port of San Lorenzo de Nootka, where I am anchored, declare: That, in virtue of the Instructions and other superior orders, dated the 23d of December of the year last passed, 1788, and according to an order of His Majesty in Arto. 17, Tito. 5, Trato. 6, of the royal orders for the navy, I ought to order and leave ordered to appear before me Don Francisco Josef Viana, an inhabitant of Lisbon and captain of the packet boat named the Iphigenia Nubiana coming from Macao, which I found on the 5th of the present month anchored in this aforesaid port, and likewise that he should be accompanied by the so-called supercargo, M. William Douglas, in order that each one, in so far as he is involved, may vindicate himself, in view of the charges which I have to make against them, according to the cited article of the royal orders, on account of sections 18 and 19 of the instructions which the said captain presented to me on the 8th of the present month.

This affidavit was signed by Martinez before the notary, Canizares. Following it is one by the interpreter of the expedition saying that he delivered the above order, and then comes a long one giving an account of the interview that followed.

Viana, the captain, Douglas, the supercargo, and Adamson, the first pilot, immediately answered the summons, and repaired on board the Princesa. Martinez began by demanding an explanation for their having anchored in a port of the Spanish dominions without a license from that Monarch. They replied that they were there in virtue of their passport from the governor of Macao; that, as to this port’s belonging to the Spanish dominions, they were ignorant of it, since the fact had not been published at the European Courts; and that they were informed by the first article of their instructions that this coast had been discovered by the Portuguese Admiral Fonte in 1640.[98] To this last Martinez responded that Portugal was at that time under the dominion of Spain. He likewise charged them to tell who this Carvalho was that had given such despotic instructions as the minister of a sovereign would hardly have given; to which they answered that he was the owner of the vessel. He then charged them with articles 18 and 19 of their instructions (the objectionable clauses quoted above). They replied that the articles in question had been misinterpreted; that they ordered Viana, in case his crew mutinied and he met with the vessel of a foreign nation, to appeal to that vessel for assistance in imprisoning his own crew and conducting them to Macao, and that the mutinous crew were the ones to be punished as pirates. Martinez insisted that this was not the true import of the articles, but a clumsy pretext. Considering their defense unsatisfactory, according to the cited article of the orders for the royal navy, Martinez demanded in the name of the King that they should surrender themselves as prisoners of war. The affidavit giving account of this was signed by Viana, Douglas, and Martinez before Canizares.[99]

This is Martinez’s account of the arrest, written at the time or very soon thereafter, since it bears the signature of Viana and Douglas, and they would have been most unlikely to sign it if they had not been compelled to do so while in captivity. It is very doubtful whether Martinez was truthful in his report of the clumsy fabrication offered by Viana and Douglas in defense of the objectionable clause. To have offered such, expecting it to be believed, they would have had to be either very stupid or absolutely certain that Martinez and all his associates were entirely ignorant of the Portuguese language—a very unlikely circumstance. This false defense may have been invented by the Spanish commander to give more color to the justice of the arrest. It would be more charitable and possibly more just to suppose that owing to his imperfect understanding of the language that they used, or its imperfect translation by his interpreter, he understood them to say this when they really said something very different. It is quite evident that his first translation of what he considered the objectionable clause in their instructions was incorrect. For in his rendering of it in the above account of the investigation he makes the clause read that Viana was to treat with respect all English, Russian, and Spanish vessels whose force was superior to his own, but, if he had the superior force, he was to seize them and carry them to Macao, where their crews should be tried as pirates. This is what he referred to when he spoke of their being so despotic. It is impossible to understand how, in a correct translation, he could have seen anything so obnoxious as he claimed to see. If, however, this rendering had been the correct one, it would have made the Iphigenia virtually a pirate ship, and Martinez would have been fully justified. But if his first translation was faulty, his later one was correct, as will be seen by comparing the quotation from it given above with the instructions of the Merchant Proprietors to Meares, the English commander of the expedition. They correspond almost word for word, differing only in the details necessary to give the appearance of a Portuguese instead of an English expedition.[100]

This error of Martinez is brought out in Douglas’s account of the investigation. He says:

[Martinez] told me my papers were bad; that they mentioned I was to take all English, Russian, and Spanish vessels that were of inferior force to the Iphigenia, and send or carry their crews to Macao, there to be tried for their lives as pirates. I told him they had not interpreted the papers right; that though I did not understand Portuguese I had seen a copy of them in English at Macao,[101] which mentioned, if I was attacked by any of those three nations, to defend myself, and, if I had the superiority, to send the captain and crews to Macao to answer for the insult they offered. The padries and the clerk read the papers over, and said they had interpreted the papers right.[102]

The American commanders say that the capture was due to a misinterpretation.[103] If Martinez did make this mistake and later was led to restore the vessel by the discovery of it, he remains entirely silent regarding it, giving other reasons for the release, as will be seen.

Between May 13, when the Iphigenia was seized, and May 25, when she was released, part of her officers and crew were detained on board Martinez’s ship, the Princesa, and part on the San Carlos, the other Spanish ship, which had reached Nootka a week later than the commander’s. Of the conduct of the Spanish during these twelve days while they held the Iphigenia prisoner there are the most divergent accounts in the different sources.

According to the account of Douglas, a deaf ear was turned to his plea that he had been forced to enter the port because of the distress of his vessel, which was such that, had he entered a port of the Spanish dominions of South America he would have been allowed to repair his damages and depart in peace, and that consequently to take him prisoner in a port to which the King of Spain had never laid claim was a piece of injustice that no nation had ever attempted before. His offer to leave the port immediately in spite of his distress, if permission should be granted, was refused; he and his crew were most inhumanely treated, and their valuable personal effects and even their very clothes were stolen; Spanish colors were hoisted on their vessel and it was looted of its provisions and articles for trading with the natives and anything else that the Spaniards fancied. When his vessel was restored a very meager supply of provisions was sent on board, and an account presented which listed five times the quantity actually sent and charged five times their cost; he was compelled to sign a paper saying that Martinez had found him in distress and in want of everything, had supplied him with all necessary to take him to the Sandwich Islands, and had not interfered with his navigation; another paper was forced upon him by which he agreed that, if his papers should be found to be bad, the vessel was to be delivered up at Macao, and before he was allowed to sail a letter was demanded from him to Captain Funter, of the North-West America, ordering the latter to sell the schooner to Martinez; but, not having authority either to sell or to order another to sell, he said nothing in the letter that he left about selling the vessel, but advised Funter to act to the best of his judgment for the benefit of his employers.[104]

According to the account of the American captains, on the other hand, the officers of the Iphigenia “were treated with all imaginable kindness, and every attention paid them.”

The vessel while in the possession of the Spaniards, from being a wreck was put in complete order for the sea, being calked, rigging and sails repaired, anchors and cables sent from the Princesa, etc. On the 20th Don Martinez supplied them with every kind of provisions they were in need of, for which Captain Douglas gave him bills on Cravalia, the before-mentioned merchant of Macao. On the 31st the Iphigenia sailed and was saluted by the Spanish fort, and the commodore accompanied them out of the harbor, giving every assistance with boats, etc. When Captain Douglas took his leave of the commodore he declared he should ever entertain a sense of Don Martinez’s kindness, deeming his conduct relative to the vessel no more than his duty as a King’s officer. Upon the whole, we both believe the Iphigenia’s being detained was of infinite service to those who were concerned in her.[105]

Vancouver, in giving the substance of a letter written later by Viana to Quadra, represents Viana as saying that he was imprisoned, was well treated, and on being liberated his vessel and cargo were completely restored and he was furnished what he needed.[106]

It is plain that neither the account of Douglas nor that of the American commanders can be accepted for its full value, but that the truth lies between them. The fact that the former on his release turned northward and spent a month trading, and later made a successful trip to the Sandwich Islands and China, shows that his ship was not so destitute of provisions as his journal would make it seem; and the fact that he purchased a cargo of furs from the natives shows that he had not been so nearly robbed of his articles of trade as he declared. Further, knowing that this journal passed through Meares’s hands before it was published, and knowing this gentleman’s tendency to distort the truth, when there was a possibility of thereby strengthening his case, one can not help suspecting that the journal was tampered with so that it would exhibit Martinez’s treatment of the vessel in as unfavorable a light as possible. But the testimony of the American commanders must be discounted also, since their prejudice in favor of the Spaniards is very conspicuous. This would be suspected because of their intimacy with Martinez; but the extravagant statements of the letter itself show a decided prejudice. It was written three years after the events which it discusses, and errors in date indicate that it was produced merely from memory. The statements from Viana’s letter are too indirect to be of much value.

In the series of affidavits which Martinez submitted to the Viceroy concerning the arrest and detention of the vessel, there is what appears to be a wholly unimpassioned account. These affidavits seem to have been written and sworn to before the notary, each on the day on which the event that it records occurred. The first one, in which Martinez gives his reasons for calling to account the officers of the Iphigenia, is quoted in full above. The second, in which the interpreter says that he delivered Martinez’s orders, has been referred to, and the substance has been given of the third which recounts the investigation of Douglas and Viana and their arrest. The fourth tells of the formal act of seizing the vessel, the replacing of the Portuguese colors by the Spanish, and the imprisonment of the crew. These four are dated May 13. A letter to Martinez, dated May 15, written by Tovar, who had been placed in command of the captured ship, tells of a bundle of papers which he had found belonging to Douglas. In the fifth affidavit, dated May 16, Martinez says that in view of this letter of Tovar he had ordered the papers of Douglas to be taken in charge, and the sixth affidavit, of the same date, is signed by the English interpreter and says that no suspicion attached to Douglas’s papers.[107]

On May 17, in the seventh affidavit, Martinez says that on account of the difficulty of sending the captured vessel to San Blas, owing to the scarcity of men to man her, he has concluded to release her, but has ordered an inventory to be made, that he may bind the owner to pay the value of the ship and cargo in case the Viceroy shall declare her to have been good prize. The inventory was completed May 22, and signed on board the Iphigenia the same day by Tovar, the temporary commander, and by Viana, the Portuguese captain, in whose presence it had been made. The eighth affidavit, signed on May 25, declares that the inventory should be embodied in the account. An itemized list follows, covering five pages of manuscript and indicating that the Iphigenia was by no means destitute of general supplies, though there might have been a lack of those necessary to man the ship. Immediately following the inventory is the bond signed by Viana and Douglas, captain and supercargo of the Iphigenia, for Juan Carvalho, the owner, and by Kendrick and Ingraham, of the American ship, as witnesses, and finally by Martinez, all in the presence of Canizares, the notary. This obliges the owner to pay the value of the ship and cargo, as shown by the attached inventory, in case the Viceroy should decide that the vessel was good prize on account of having been found anchored in the port of Nootka without having a passport, permission, or license from His Catholic Majesty for navigating or anchoring in seas or ports belonging to his dominion.[108] The ninth affidavit, signed May 26, formally submits to the Viceroy the preceding account of the measures taken in view of the instructions submitted by the captain of the Iphigenia.[109]

On May 31, after a dinner on board the Spanish commander’s ship, at which the Iphigenia’s officers and those of the American ship were present, the Iphigenia was accompanied out of the harbor by the officers of the other two, and, after a farewell salute from the Spanish guns, sailed away, ostensibly for Macao, by way of the Sandwich Islands. At midnight Douglas gave orders to turn north for a trading cruise, having, as he says, “no idea of running for Macao with only between 60 and 70 sea-otter skins which I had on board.”[110]

The next occurrence of interest at Nootka was in connection with the North-West America. Mention has been made of Martinez’s futile attempt to get a letter from Douglas ordering Captain Funter to sell the schooner to Martinez. It will be recalled that this vessel, on returning from the Sandwich Islands, had reached Nootka four days later than her consort, the Iphigenia, had been repaired as soon as possible, and had set out on a trading trip before the arrival of the Spanish commander. Having carried on a profitable trade for six weeks, and being seriously in need of provisions, she returned to Nootka June 8 in hope of meeting there the vessel that was expected from Macao with stores. For some reason not wholly plain Martinez took possession of the schooner as soon as she arrived. Meares says that the Spanish commander was angered when he learned that the letter which Douglas had left for Funter was not the desired order for the latter to sell his schooner, and gave vent to his anger by seizing the vessel.[111] The American captains say that when Martinez learned later of the bankruptcy of Carvalho, on whom he had accepted bills in payment for supplies furnished to Douglas, he justified himself as holding the schooner in security for the debt.[112] Martinez gives a partial explanation in an affidavit of June 12. Learning, he said, that the schooner belonged to Carvalho and was connected with the Iphigenia, which he had seized on account of her instructions, he therefore took possession of this vessel also, and submitted an inventory to the Viceroy, together with that of the larger ship. He fails to explain why he did not release her; but he doubtless considered explanation unnecessary, since he had given as his only reason for not detaining the larger vessel his inability to man her.[113] He would not have been consistent in not detaining her unless he had released her also on bond; and there was no need for doing that, since she required so few men. Doubtless the other two motives suggested had their influence also.

The English commanders give the same extravagant account of robbery and barbaric treatment at the hands of the Spaniards that were given in the case of the other vessel—the Spanish flag was hoisted; the officers and men were imprisoned; the vessel was repaired, refitted, rechristened the Gertrudis and sent on a trading trip for the benefit of the Spaniards, in which they bartered away the articles of trade that they found on board; every possible effort was made by bribery and intimidation to induce Funter and some of his men to man the vessel for the Spaniards and show them where trade was good, but without avail; the men were kept in confinement for a month and then shipped for China on board one of the American vessels, which they were compelled to assist in manning to keep from being wrecked.[114] It must be admitted that at the best the provocation was sufficient to excuse some exaggeration, which is the more to be expected when it is noticed that the account was not written until several months after the occurrence of the events recorded. But that the Spanish commander meant to show a certain amount of justice and even generosity is evident from the fact that he later transferred to another English vessel all of the furs collected by the schooner except twelve, which were either lost or detained by the Spaniard.[115] And still later, when Funter and his men were sent to China on the American vessel, Martinez shipped to their credit 96 skins to pay their wages besides the cost of their passage.[116] He also transferred provisions from an English ship to the American captain for the maintenance of Funter and his men.[117] The purpose seems to have been to punish the owners, but to avoid working immediate hardship to the officers and crew.

Another event of the Spanish operations is the taking formal possession of the port, which occurred June 24.[118] In the seven weeks that had intervened since the arrival of the Spanish expedition, besides the seizure and disposition of the two vessels just discussed, a fort had been constructed on the top of a high hill which commanded the entrance to the port, and had been occupied by a garrison and a battery of ten cannon. Three houses had also been built—a workshop, a bakery, and a lodging house.[119] The ceremony had not been performed earlier because they were awaiting the arrival of the Aranzazu, that it might be given greater solemnity; but that ship not coming, it was decided to delay no longer.[120] The instrument of possession is a long, very formal, and high-sounding document. The right of Spain is based on the discovery of Nootka in 1774 and the bull of Pope Alexander VI of May 4, 1493. The instrument bears the signatures of Martinez and Haro, commanders of the two vessels; of Tovar, the first pilot; of the two chaplains, and of the four missionaries, and is attested by Canizares, the notary.[121] From the fort and the vessels a salute of 21 cannon was fired in honor of the King, and at a splendid banquet on board the commander’s ship all of the officers of the Spanish ships, and several foreigners, drank to that sovereign’s health.

These foreigners, Martinez says, were of the English nation and the American Congress [Colonies], and the ceremony was performed without any contradiction by them.[122] Through Kendrick and Ingraham, officers of the American ship, he had made the Englishmen understand that the Spaniards had been the first discoverers of the port. He had proved this by having the Americans—since they also understood the Indian dialect—talk with the natives, who had described the clothes of the first comers. And as a further and more conclusive proof he laid before the Indians the flags of various nations, including the old Spanish flag,[123] and the last was recognized by the old chief as the one borne by the first vessel.[124]

One more occurrence should be noted before the arrival of the English expedition under Colnett that gave rise to the most important event of the summer. This occurrence is the coming of the Princess Royal, commanded by Hudson, subject to the orders of Colnett. This vessel left China earlier than her consort and reached Nootka on June 15[125], where she remained a little more than two weeks. A letter written by Hudson, a copy of which is in the Spanish archives, gives a detailed account of his stay at Nootka on this occasion. On his approach in the evening he was met by two launches. Being alarmed, he demanded to know whether they were armed and received answer in English that they were, but only with a bottle of brandy. Martinez, of the Spanish ship, Kendrick, of the American, and Funter, of the captured English schooner, came on board and remained all night. The next morning, the 16th, they were towed into the harbor, and saluted by the guns of the two Spanish ships and the fort. In the afternoon Hudson and Martinez accompanied Kendrick up the sound 6 miles to his vessel, the Columbia, where they remained that night. On the 11th Hudson returned to his vessel, where he received a note from the Spanish commander demanding his motive for anchoring in the sound, and informing him that the port belonged to the King of Spain. On the 18th Hudson replied that during his voyage of sixteen weeks and three days from Macao in continual storms his ship had been badly damaged; this, with the failure of wood and water, had caused him to anchor where he was, and he hoped that Martinez would permit him to supply his losses, upon which, with permission, he would depart. In a note of the same day Martinez replied that Hudson’s explanation was perfectly satisfactory and that he might supply his needs and depart when he wished.

This shows that the utmost harmony and good will prevailed. Hudson’s vessel was present when the Spaniards took formal possession of the port, and he was doubtless one of the Englishmen who were at Martinez’s sumptuous banquet and are mentioned as not disputing the act of possession. This is the English vessel, also, to which Martinez transferred the furs taken from the North-West America, as mentioned above.

On July 1, his ship being ready to leave, Hudson notified Martinez that he intended to sail the next morning. The latter, after a little hesitation, gave his consent, and also furnished Hudson with a circular letter to all commanders of Spanish ships which he might encounter ordering them to let him pass. The next morning, July 2, the launches from the American ships towed the Princess Royal out of the harbor; and having had to wait all day for a breeze she sailed away at 10 o’clock in the evening, returning eleven days later, at the close of the important events to be discussed in the next chapter.[126]

Comparing the actions of Martinez, which have been discussed in this chapter, with his instructions given in the foregoing chapter, it is seen that it would not be difficult for him to justify his seizure of the Iphigenia and the North-West America. The last clause of the eleventh article orders him to endeavor, as far as possible, to prevent intercourse and commerce with the natives. It is difficult to see how he could have carried this out in any other way. Knowing the general policy of Spain, which was to prevent all foreigners from trading with the Spanish dominions, and feeling himself responsible for maintaining that policy along this whole coast, he might easily have felt it his duty to employ harsh means, being satisfied that nothing less would be effectual. Having in mind the recent treatment accorded to the governor of the islands of Juan Fernandez because he allowed a vessel that had been in his power to continue its voyage to these very coasts, it is not strange that he should be unwilling to incur similar disgrace because of too great leniency.[127] It would seem, however, that he was inconsistent in not seizing also the Princess Royal, unless, indeed, he believed what he embodied in the circular letter which he gave to Hudson for other Spanish commanders. In this he declared that the purpose of the voyage was discovery; that he had seen Hudson’s commission to that effect. Martinez may have known nothing to the contrary at the time, and what he said was doubtless true; but it was not the whole truth. But if he was too lenient this time, he did not err in that direction on Hudson’s return, as will appear.

If Martinez felt it necessary to treat the English ships with such harshness, can his mild treatment of the American ships be justified? These are the very ships that are referred to in articles 14 and 15 of the above-mentioned instructions. It will be recalled that he was there given authority, in case of his meeting with them, to deal with them as appeared proper. The suspicion was mentioned in another place that the purpose of these ships was to find a port in which to establish a colony. On encountering them at Nootka, Martinez inspected their papers and found that this was not their purpose. He says that his interpreter found nothing in their papers derogatory to the rights of Spain; that their purpose was to circumnavigate the globe; that there seemed no reason for interfering with their course nor placing them under bond, as he had done the packet boat from Macao; but that, nevertheless, he had required them, in the name of his Sovereign, not to return to these seas or coasts without bringing a passport and special permit, since that Monarch had prohibited every foreign nation from navigating the coasts of America.[128] His allowing the American ships to trade unmolested for the two months hardly seems consistent, unless his reason was what might be implied from the latter part of the letter just referred to. He tells of the assistance afforded him by the American commanders in his dealings with the English and the Indians, since they conversed in both of those languages. He might have considered it better to allow them for a time to violate the letter of the strict Spanish regulations than to lose their services in establishing himself in a position to prevent all such violations in the future. His intimacy with the Americans was so noticeable that the Englishmen frequently accused the latter of collusion with the schemes of the Spaniard.[129]

Chapter V.
THE QUARREL AND SEIZURE.

The English ship from China, the Argonaut, Captain Colnett, whose equipment and instructions have already been discussed, arrived at Nootka late in the evening of July 2, 1789. She had neared the coast some distance north the previous evening. Sailing southward, she was visited in the morning by some Indians, who told of five vessels in Friendly Cove, but could not identify them. The officers conjectured that the ships belonged to Mr. Etches, one of the merchants interested in their proposed colony. They hastened to join them. As their vessel approached the entrance they saw the sloop Princess Royal pass out and sail away. This increased their confidence, since she was their consort. Shortly after they passed the sloop they saw two launches approach in the growing darkness. A voice in Spanish asked permission to come on board and was answered in the affirmative. The leader of the party was the Spanish commander, Martinez. Two hours earlier he had been notified from the port of the approach of a ship. Thinking it to be the Aranzazu, which he had been anxiously expecting for some weeks from San Blas with provisions, he had hastened to welcome her in.

The events that follow this meeting of Martinez with Colnett, the commander of the English expedition, are the real genesis of the Nootka controversy. Had the vigorous measures of the Spanish commander stopped with the seizure of the two vessels already discussed, the matter would probably never have reached the cabinets of London and Madrid. Since these events are so important, a detailed account is given. This is drawn from five separate narratives, all written by men who were present and took part in them. One is the letter of Martinez, written at the close of the events, giving his official account to the Viceroy. Another is a letter from Colnett to the same official, written some three months later. These two are unpublished. The third is a second account by Colnett, written nine years later, appearing as a footnote to his published narrative of a subsequent voyage. The fourth is a series of letters, written while the events were in progress, by Duffin, second in command to Colnett, but really in control during most of the time. The fifth is the letter, written three years later, by the American captains, who were eyewitnesses of most of the events.[130]

At the first meeting each commander was disappointed at finding the other very different from the person whom he expected. Martinez at once presented to Colnett a letter from Captain Hudson, of the Princess Royal, saying that the bearer was commander of two ships of His Catholic Majesty anchored in Friendly Cove; that the writer had received all possible aid from him and had departed. The letter had been written that very morning, and put Colnett somewhat at his ease. He invited Martinez and his party, among whom were the officers of the American ships, down into the cabin, where they drank freely together. The Spaniard was very courteous, declared that the vessels under his command were in great distress from the want of provisions and other necessaries, and urged the English commander to go into port in order to supply their needs, inviting him to stay for some time. Colnett, in his letter to the Viceroy, says that he consented to stay, provided he should be permitted to build a sloop, for which he had the materials on board; but this being refused, he said that he could not stay longer than the next day.

On the other hand, Martinez says that Colnett claimed to have come under authority from the King of England, with orders to take possession of Nootka, construct a fort, establish a factory, and plant a colony, for which he had brought 29 Chinese laborers; that having learned this his interpreter made the Englishman understand that Martinez had already taken possession of the port in the name and under an order of the King of Spain; that thereupon the English captain claimed the land for His Britannic Majesty on the ground of Cook’s discovery, adding that his company had purchased the rights to the place which were acquired the previous year by the Portuguese company, their vessels, the Iphigenia and the North-West America, being also included in the purchase. To refute the Englishman’s arguments, the Spaniard declared that a Spanish expedition had discovered the port four years earlier than Cook;[131] that he himself had accompanied the expedition, and from him the spoons had been stolen which Cook tells of purchasing; that the Portuguese company had done wrong in selling land which was not theirs but belonged to the King of Spain, not only this port being the property of that Crown, but all the coast as far as Prince Williams Sound. Colnett, the Spaniard continues, was unable to reply to these well-founded arguments. The American captains say:

Colnett asked if he would be prevented from building a house in the port. The commodore, mistaking his meaning, answered him he was at liberty to erect a tent, get wood and water, etc., after which he was at liberty to depart when he pleased; but Captain Colnett said that was not what he wanted, but to build a blockhouse, erect a fort, and settle a colony for the Crown of Great Britain. This was refused.

Colnett, in his published account, says that he hesitated, being uncertain whether to enter the port, but—

The Spaniard, observing my unwillingness to comply with his request, assured me on his word and honor, in the name of the King of Spain, whose servant he was, and of the Viceroy of Mexico, whose nephew he declared himself to be, that if I would go into port and relieve his wants I should be at liberty to sail whenever I pleased.

Martinez’s plea of distress and his solemn promise, with Hudson’s letter, the Englishman says, influenced him to enter the harbor, and, as there was a calm, he allowed the Spanish boats to assist in towing his vessel into the cove. Among the party that had come out in the launches was the pilot of the captured English schooner. He told Colnett of the situation in the cove—the Spanish war ships, the fort, the formal possession, the seizure of the Iphigenia and North-West America, and the arrival and departure of Captain Hudson. He advised Colnett to anchor outside the cove until morning, but the latter, depending on the Spaniard’s honor, entered and brought up between the Spanish ships at about midnight.

The next morning, July 3, everything seems to have been harmonious. Colnett visited the fort and other Spanish establishments, and on invitation of Martinez took breakfast on board the Spanish vessel, the Spanish commander returning the compliment by dining on board the Englishman’s ship. The latter was urged to delay his departure for a day, but being unwilling to do so it was arranged that the Spaniard should send a launch in the afternoon to tow the English vessel out, and on the return of the boat Colnett should send the supplies, a list of which had already been agreed upon. The launch not coming as soon as expected, a request was made that it be sent at once. Martinez asked to see Colnett’s papers before the latter should depart. After some hesitation the Englishman took them on board the Spanish ship. The Spaniard was still in doubt whether he should allow the Argonaut to depart, sometimes saying that she could, at other times that she could not. Finally he declared that she could not go that day. He produced a book in which he showed what he said was an order from the King of Spain to seize all English vessels found on the coast. Colnett declared that he would sail at once, with or without permission, unless the Spaniard fired on him, in which case he would haul down his colors and surrender. Thinking it presumption for Colnett to talk as if he were an agent of the English King, though he was really sent only by a commercial company, Martinez declared himself the personal representative of the King of Spain and commander in chief of the port. Colnett replied that he had been in His Britannic Majesty’s service for twenty years, and that he then carried a governmental license, which he produced. He endeavoured to show the injustice of the Spaniard’s conduct, reminding him of his promise on his word and honor, made the evening before. Warm words followed, and each commander seems completely to have lost his temper. Each tells of violence, either threatened or inflicted, by the other. At Martinez’s order Colnett was seized and made a prisoner.

From the accounts it is impossible to decide which officer was the more at fault in the quarrel. It was the unfortunate outcome of anger on both sides, and doubtless was not premeditated by either. The real explanation appears to be that given in the letter of Duffin. Eight days after the quarrel he wrote: “I have every reason to suspect there was a misunderstanding between the two parties, for the linguist spoke English very imperfectly, and in all likelihood interpreted as many words wrong as right.” It seems, then, to have been a faulty translation that caused the quarrel which later threw two continents into a feverish excitement in anticipation of war.

After the seizure had been made, however, a plausible excuse was not wanting to the Spaniard. He says that he imprisoned Colnett because the latter would likely have gone elsewhere on the coast and established a post from which it would have been impossible to dislodge the English without the force of arms. This is doubtless exactly what would have happened, and in view of Martinez’s instructions and of what he knew to be the policy of his country with regard to the coast, he was entirely justified, from the Spanish standpoint, in preventing by force what he could not have prevented otherwise. Indeed, had he allowed the English expedition to depart unmolested, and had the English colony been established elsewhere, he probably would have been seriously taken to task for not attempting to prevent it. Martinez’s account to the Viceroy was such as to make it seem that he at no time had any intention whatever of allowing Colnett to leave. He says nothing of his promise and pledge to that effect which the English commander says that he made. But though the Spaniard concealed the fact from his superiors, the other accounts indicate unmistakably that he really intended, at first, to allow the Argonaut to depart, and that his promise to her commander was made in good faith. Possibly he had begun to doubt whether the Viceroy would approve his proceedings respecting the two vessels already seized, and did not wish to involve himself further until he had that official’s decision. In view of this he may have concluded to let all other vessels pass without scrutinizing them too closely. His treatment of the Princess Royal indicates such intent, and his promise to Colnett was consistent with it. After a day’s consideration, he may have concluded to go through the form of an investigation, at least, that he might make a plausible report of it, but with the deliberate intention of closing his eyes to anything that might prove derogatory to Spain. However the fact may be accounted for, it is clear that Martinez was wavering between two opinions and that the quarrel forced his decision. Duffin, in his letter of July 12 [11], which seems to be the fairest of all the accounts, speaking of events after the seizure, says:

The commodore’s passion now began to abate a little, and he sent for me from the San Carlos, where I was imprisoned. When I came to him, he seemed to profess a very great friendship for me, and appeared to be exceedingly sorry for what, he said, his officers compelled him to do. He declared to me that he had given Colnett permission to depart, and would have assisted him all in his power but that Captain Colnett insisted on erecting a fort opposite his.

A little further on, after telling of Colnett’s turning over to him all control of affairs, the same writer continues:

I have endeavored to convince the Spaniards, had we known this place had been taken possession by the King of Spain, we would not, on any consideration, have come near it; I have likewise wished to persuade him to peruse the South Sea Company’s grant and our instructions, which he refuses, and tells me it would avail nothing now to do it, as his officers insist on his going on with what he acknowledges he too rashly and hastily began, and without deliberating what might hereafter be the consequence.

That the English captain was somewhat to blame for what had occurred is clear from his own behavior, as related in Duffin’s letter of July 14 [13]. The writer, speaking of Colnett, says:

I have endeavored to persuade him to draw out every particular concerning our being captured, to send to his employers, which he refuses. His objection is that he has involved himself and everyone else in difficulties that he is not able to extricate himself from, and therefore declares to me that he will have no more concern with the charge of the vessel.

This refusal to give the particulars of his arrest occurred after his recovery from what Duffin spoke of at the time as insanity, but what Colnett himself refers to as delirium. Meares’s publication of Duffin’s statement concerning the commander’s insanity caused some hard feeling when Colnett learned of it; and the statement was publicly denied later by Meares.[132] Whatever it may be called, the immediate cause was his capture. The malady lasted for ten days. As a result of it, the whole control was left in the hands of Duffin, the second in command. The latter’s statement concerning the captain is as follows:

Captain Colnett has been in such a state of insanity ever since the vessel has been captured by the Spaniards that we are obliged to confine him to his cabin. Yesterday morning he jumped out of the cabin window, and it was with great difficulty his life was saved. His constant cry is that he is condemned to be hanged. I sincerely hope for his speedy recovery, but am apprehensive he never will recover his former senses again. I understand from the boy, Russell, that it is a family disorder and that they all have symptoms of madness more or less.

The next day he wrote: “Captain Colnett is much better to-day, and, in general, discourses very rationally.” It was at this time that Duffin made his vain attempt to draw out the particulars of the capture. Duffin seems to blame Colnett.

On the afternoon of July 3, immediately after seizing Colnett, Martinez had taken possession of the Argonaut, had run up the Spanish flag, and had imprisoned all of the officers and crew, removed them from their own ship, and confined them on board the two Spanish vessels. Of the events that followed during the next ten days, while preparations were being made to send the vessel to San Blas for the Viceroy to decide whether she was good prize, there are greatly divergent accounts, as in the case of the other captured ships. It is significant that the further the writing was removed from the event the blacker is the picture drawn in the English accounts of the Spaniard’s cruelty. Doubtless the most authentic is the one first written—the letters of Duffin, already referred to.

After a little time Colnett and Duffin, with two other officers, were allowed to return to their own ship. On the 11th Duffin wrote: “I am at present in possession of my cabin, as are also the rest of us, and the commodore behaves with great civility, by obliging us in every liberty that can be expected as prisoners.” This is pretty strong evidence that there was nothing very barbaric about Martinez’s treatment, since Duffin had no motive for concealing the truth. What he wrote had to be by stealth, he says, and was taken by Mr. Barnett, an Englishman of the crew of the North-West America, who was going to China on board the American ship. Under these circumstances he would probably not have represented the Spaniard’s conduct more favorably than it deserved. Many of the supplies and stores on board the English ship were appropriated by the Spaniards; but not without arrangement for compensation, as would be inferred from later English accounts. Speaking of their appropriation, Duffin says:

They have taken of our stores to themselves all our pitch, tar, canvas, twine, some provisions of all kinds, guns, ammunition, the chief of our copper, and many other articles that we were not acquainted with, all the officers being prisoners, some on board one vessel and some on board the other. We have great expectations that the vessel will be delivered up at San Blas. The commodore promises me, if she is, everything that he has taken to himself shall be replaced at that port; but there has been a number of things taken out of the vessel by theft that he knows nothing of. Nevertheless, if any, and the vessel is returned, they must undoubtedly make it good.

According to the same writer, Martinez tried to buy all of the copper on board, offering to give bills for the same, but it was refused on the ground that if his orders allowed him to capture the vessel they would undoubtedly allow him to capture the cargo also. The Spaniard, he says, wanted the copper to trade for furs, which he shipped to Macao by Captain Kendrick [of the American ship Columbia], who traded for him on shares. This is the way in which the man in command at the time spoke of what later accounts designate as plundering by the Spaniards.

That the promise of compensation was made in good faith is proved by the documents which Martinez submitted to the Viceroy. One is dated at San Lorenzo de Nootka, July 5, 1789, and is a “List of the provisions and other stores which have been taken at the expense of the royal treasury from the captured English packet boat Argonaut, for my subsistence in this port; all of which are to be restored to Capt. James Colnett from the royal treasure of the department of San Blas, in case the Most Excellent Señor Viceroy of New Spain releases the vessel.” An itemized statement carefully describing each article is given. Another document dated July 13 is a “List of the artillery, balls, and other armament found on board the captured English ship Argonaut, belonging to the free commercial company of London, which remain in my possession at the disposal of his excellency, awaiting his superior determination.” Inclosed with these is a “List of the names of the captain, officers, crew, and passengers which the Argonaut carried.” Among the officers there were 12 Englishmen and 1 Spaniard; of the sailors, 4 were English, 7 Portuguese, and 3 Filipinos; the passengers were 29 Chinese; to these were added Colnett’s servant, who was a Sandwich Islander, and Duffin’s, who was a Bengalese. In all, there were 58 persons. Another list includes only the 16 Englishmen, and states that they are to be sent to San Blas on board the captured ship Argonaut. Still another list includes the Portuguese, the Filipinos, the Chinese, and the two servants, who were to be sent on the Aranzazu and the other vessels that might come from San Blas. The one Spaniard had entered the service of Martinez.[133]

On July 13, after the above documents relating to the capture of the Argonaut were sealed up and the vessel was ready to be sent as a prize to San Bias, the Princess Royal, which had left ten days before, returned and was seized by Martinez. He says that his motive for the seizure was his wish to prevent her from carrying news of the capture of the other vessel to the company, and thus to forestall their taking measures against him before he could be reënforced.[134] This seems a poor excuse since the Englishmen shipped on board the American vessel could carry the news just as well.

Hudson’s letter to the Viceroy gives his account of the seizure. On leaving Nootka on July 2 he had intended to sail northward, but a storm had driven him southward and he had been unable to return for several days. On July 13 he had succeeded in getting back opposite the entrance to Nootka Sound, and being anxious to know whether Colnett had arrived, and, if he had, wishing to get from him some needed supplies and instructions for his future conduct, he determined to enter in his launch, leaving his vessel in the open. He had no fears of maltreatment since Martinez had dealt so liberally with him before. He was met by a Spanish launch, was told that Colnett was there and was sick and in trouble, was requested by Martinez to enter the port, and was invited on board the Spanish launch. He found it completely armed. His own pistol was taken from him and his launch was taken into possession. When he reached the Princesa Martinez informed him that he was a prisoner, as was also Colnett, and that the fault was all the latter’s. Hudson was urged to give orders for his ship to come in, but refused, and the Spaniards prepared to take her by force. Seeing the futility of resisting, he advised his lieutenant to surrender. The vessel was taken at midnight and brought in the next morning. Captain Hudson does not mention here his brutal treatment at the hands of the Spaniards, which is related in other English accounts.[135] He says that he was allowed to go on board his own ship or anywhere else in the port that he chose.

The two English vessels left Nootka for San Blas, where they were to await the disposition of the Viceroy. The Argonaut sailed July 13, in charge of Tovar as prize captain. In Colnett’s letter to the Viceroy he tells of the hardships that he suffered on the voyage. His belongings had been transferred to the mate’s cabin, a very small room. Each night at 8 o’clock he was locked in this, and the door was not opened until morning. He was not allowed to have any intercourse with his officers except in the daytime. The commandant at Nootka had either asked or taken all of his chickens and other fresh provisions, so that he had a slight attack of scurvy. His mouth, he said, ulcerated, and the captain of the prize refused to allow him to have his bread toasted for fear of destroying his teeth! Whenever there was a storm the hatchways were closed, and he almost smothered. The heat increased each day. One night he asked repeatedly for a glass of water, but it was too great a favor, and he had to wait until morning. His own condition was bad enough, but when he got to San Blas he learned that the men of his crew had suffered much more than he. They had been closely confined in irons for many days, though there were only 8 of them and four times as many to guard them.[136] Their chests had been broken into, and most of their clothes and personal belongings had been taken. Colnett had lost many articles that he valued very highly. After their arrival at San Blas, August 15, they received better treatment.[137] The Princess Royal arrived at San Blas on August 27, just a month after she had left Nootka. She carried 12 English and 2 Portuguese prisoners.[138]

On August 29, Hanson, second pilot of the Argonaut, committed suicide. The only known cause was melancholy, according to the statement of the Viceroy drawn from a detailed account sent to him by the commandant of San Blas.[139] In Colnett’s published account he says that it was because of Hanson’s despair at the treatment which he had received. The same writer states that several others became sick and died.[140] Colnett may have exaggerated somewhat the hardships of the voyage, but the letter seems to be a truthful account. Their condition, at the best, was a bad one, and they were probably confined more closely than was necessary and their wants not attended to as they might have been. It is likely, however, that most of the harsh measures taken by the prize crew were the result of excessive caution rather than wanton cruelty.

Martinez’s operations at Nootka after sending his prizes to San Blas are of minor interest. He carried on some explorations in the neighborhood, studied the customs of the natives, and made, in his diary, a full report of the country and its inhabitants. On December 6 he reached San Blas, having returned in consequence of an order from Florez dated February 25, 1789.[141] This date shows that the events at Nootka during the summer had nothing to do with his recall, since the order was given shortly after the expedition had sailed.

When Martinez reached San Blas he had with him an American ship and schooner which he had captured just as he was leaving Nootka. He had hesitated for some time, uncertain whether he should set them free, but had finally decided to take them to San Blas to be acted on by the Viceroy. Revilla-Gigedo, who had succeeded Florez in the viceroyalty, set them free, on the ground that the Americans had not molested the Spanish settlements.[142] The names of the vessels do not appear in this letter. They were doubtless the Eleanora and the Fair America, under Captain Metcalf.[143]

Martinez also brought with him the 29 Chinese that he had taken from the Argonaut. To save the expense of keeping them the Viceroy said that he had decided to have them brought to Mexico, liberated, and given employment; or, if they preferred, they would be sent to the colonies and mission settlements of California.[144] Meares, in his memorial, declared that these Chinese laborers were detained at Nootka by Martinez and put to work in the mines that had been opened on the land belonging to Meares. Nothing appears in the Spanish documents concerning any such mines. It has been stated elsewhere that Meares gave 70 as the number of Chinese taken to Nootka by Colnett. This is probably an exaggeration, since the number 29 is repeated several times in the Spanish documents, and in two places a complete list of their names is given.[145] From what will be stated later, it seems that the Viceroy’s scheme for liberating them in Mexico was not carried out.[146]

Chapter VI.
THE ENGLISH PRISONERS IN MEXICO.[147]

Florez, the Viceroy, who had sent the Nootka expedition, had no news from Martinez until late in the summer. Shortly after the arrival at San Blas of the first prize, the Argonaut, the commandant of that port dispatched a special messenger to Mexico. This messenger arrived August 26, bearing Martinez’s letters and the papers from the captured ships. The Viceroy’s anxiety was far from being relieved when he found himself involved, not with the Russians, but with the English. The question now was what should be done with the prizes sent for his adjudication. He was embarrassed by the fact that he was to retire from the viceroyalty within a few weeks, and whatever measures he might determine upon would have to be carried out by his successor. He decided to take no decisive step without the new Viceroy’s concurrence. Within a day after the messenger’s arrival the more important documents had been copied and Florez had written his report. They were hurried off to the Government at Madrid. In this report he told briefly of Martinez’s voyage to Nootka, of his taking formal possession of the port and fortifying it, of his finding the American vessels and allowing them to continue their voyage, and of his seizing the Iphigenia and the Argonaut, releasing the former on bond and sending the latter as a prize. To this account he added some reflections concerning the importance of retaining the port of Nootka. He would send reënforcements and supplies to Martinez at once. The question as to whether the vessels were good prize he would leave to his successor.[148]

Two days after sending this account to the home Government, Florez sent orders to the commandant and commissary at San Blas for the temporary disposition of the prize. The officers and men were to be kindly treated and supplied with lodgings and other accommodations according to their rank. Fresh food was to be furnished at public expense, an account being kept of the cost. All of their clothing was to be turned over to them, but no arms. They were to be given complete liberty within the port, but were to be closely watched to see that no one abused his privileges. A complete inventory should be made in the presence and with the help of the English captain. The latter should sign it and receive a copy for his security and protection, whatever the fate of his vessel. The perishable part of the cargo was to be sold and the rest deposited separately in the royal storehouses. The ship, after being unloaded, was to be examined, cleaned, and repaired at governmental expense, with the approval of the English commander, who should have a copy of the account.[149] The fact is not stated in this order, but in a letter to Madrid it appears that the ship, when repaired, was to be used in collecting supplies and reënforcements for Martinez at Nootka.[150] From Colnett’s published account, it seems that the Englishmen were induced to do the work on the ship in the false hope of an early release. He says:

Under a promise that our detention could not be long, they persuaded us to heave down and repair the Argonaut, new copper her bottom, and fit new rigging. The idea of release stimulated us to work on the ship with great alacrity. So much so that our exertions threw several into fevers; and on the vessel being nearly ready, the Government threw off the mask, informing us she was to be employed for their use, and laughed again at our credulity.[151]

After receiving news of the arrival at San Blas of the second English prize, the Princess Royal, Viceroy Florez wrote again to the Madrid Government. This letter was dated September 26, and told of the steps taken with regard to the captured ships since his account written a month before. He had considered the matter carefully, and, although he had decided to leave the disposition of the prizes to his successor, yet he gave his own conclusions. He knew of no precedent for the capture except the conduct of the Viceroy of Peru toward the governor of Juan Fernandez, on account of the latter’s not having detained the American ship Columbia when he found she was bound for California.[152] This, he said, was based on the royal order of 1692, a copy of which he inclosed.[153] He added that conditions had changed in a century. However, he would not disapprove the conduct of Martinez, since, he said: “Article 11 of my instructions, ‘to repel force by force and to prevent hostile ships from making establishments and trading with the Indians of our coasts,’[154] could not have been enforced without detaining the vessels.” He concluded: “For the sake of economizing expenses and avoiding hard feelings between our court and that of London, it seems to me best to allow both vessels to return to Macao, placing their commanders under bond, as Martinez did the captain of the Iphigenia.” Everything taken from the vessels he would restore or pay for, deducting the cost of keeping the men and the expense for repairing the ship. He had not time to attend to this, but would leave it to his successor, if that official approved.[155]

On August 27, the day that Florez had written his first hurried account to the home Government, he had also written an account to Revilla-Gigedo, who was soon to succeed him in the viceroyalty. The correspondence that followed is valuable as showing the divided opinion in official circles regarding the justice of the seizures, and as illustrating the evolution of the new Viceroy’s final decision regarding the prizes. In the first letter Florez explained briefly that, as a result of the last expedition ordered by the King, he had, without loss of time, sent Martinez to take possession of Nootka. He then recounted the grave consequences, which made it necessary to take most prudent measures, and added:

For my part I have not ventured to enter upon them, in view of the fact that I am so soon to surrender the government to your excellency. I look upon this business as more important than any other, and if you rank it the same I hope you will hasten your coming.[156]

Three days later the new Viceroy, who was attending to some public business at Veracruz, replied that he came fully instructed from the higher authorities of all the steps taken by Florez in the Nootka matter, of their approval by the junta of state, and the consequent royal order. In view of the attempt to represent the English expedition as a governmental enterprise, he especially commended Florez for having inserted in Martinez’s instructions the order of the English Admiralty office to Cook telling the latter not to touch at Spanish ports except in case of necessity and then to leave as soon as possible. He thought that that wise council would not now have sent an expedition with such contrary instructions. He believed it had come simply from Botany Bay or some establishment in India. He said that it did not appear necessary for Florez to await his coming to take steps regarding the captured ships, since Florez was so well informed. As to the possibility of another English expedition being sent to dislodge Martinez, he thought there was no danger. England was too remote, and the Spanish could supply reënforcements when necessary. The English Cabinet would not undertake anything so likely to fail. In the end the unhappy affair would be settled between the Spanish and English Courts. However, he would not delay his coming to Mexico a moment longer than necessary.[157]

On September 2, the same day that Florez received the letter just reviewed, he answered it. In his answer there is a tone of impatience which seems to be partly because Revilla-Gigedo had not dropped everything else to attend to the prizes, and partly because the latter’s approval was not enthusiastic. The new Viceroy had suggested, that since the English expedition did not appear to have been sent by the Government it would have been better if Martinez had told the captains to return when they chose to the parts from whence they had come. Florez retorted: “I explained to your excellency that, according to the documents which Martinez sent to me, these prizes have been made with good cause, and I think your excellency will indorse my opinion when you have given careful attention to their contents.” He inclosed copies of them, and called attention to the positive representations of the English captain. He continued: “Whether the English Court had any part in the plan for occupying Nootka, or whether it did not, we have often seen them lay claim to ports and territories occupied by the merchants or subjects of their nation; and there is no doubt but that they have ready naval forces incomparably greater than those which we can send from San Blas.” He enlarged on the insufficiency of vessels in that port for present needs, and told of the preparations that he was making to use the captured ships to convey reënforcements and supplies to Martinez. In closing he said: “But since your excellency can not give it the preferential attention asked I have suspended my orders relative to Nootka affairs until your excellency gives me your final decision concerning the liberating or retention of the English ships.”[158]

The loyalty with which Florez supported Martinez, and his resentment when he found Revilla-Gigedo inclined to disavow the seizures, may have arisen from a personal relation, since, as stated above, Colnett says that Martinez represented himself as the nephew of Florez.[159]

After having read the copies of Martinez’s letters and documents, which Florez had sent, Revilla-Gigedo replied, September 9, that he was pleased to find that his opinion of the unofficial character of the English expedition was confirmed; that Colnett had been sent, not as a governor, but as a merchant; that he was not to establish a fortification but a factory, which was to be located not necessarily at Nootka, but wherever it might be with convenience, and that Fort Pitt was simply the name to be given to the factory. Had the English expedition taken any sort of possession of Nootka, he said that it would doubtless have afforded some subsequent claim. But since it had not succeeded, and since the English captain had asked permission to sail, all such fears ought to have vanished. There was the more reason for this, since not only had England been prevented from taking possession, but Spain actually possessed it. Since Florez had already referred the matter to the Spanish Court, it seemed to him that they could take no further step until the decision of His Majesty should arrive. He agreed that in the meantime the captured ships should be used to convey supplies to Martinez if no others were available. He had read with pleasure the timely and prudent orders of Florez for caring for the captured ships and prisoners. The weakened forces at San Blas were being strengthened and the necessary ships could be constructed. A new commandant of that port with reënforcements had set out from Veracruz the preceding day.[160]

In this Revilla-Gigedo maintained his former position that Martinez had insufficient ground for making the captures. He seems not to have considered what would have been the consequences if the English ships had not been seized and had established a colony elsewhere on the coast. He gave a qualified approval of the steps taken by Florez while awaiting an answer from the home Government, but he did not definitely commit himself on the question to which Florez had tried to elicit an answer—that is, whether he would declare the ships good prize.

On September 16 Florez replied that he had decided to continue his preparations for sending supplies and reënforcements to Nootka, since Revilla-Gigedo had approved using the captured ships for that purpose.[161]

The new Viceroy took control of the government October 18.[162] A few days later he wrote to the home Government concerning Nootka affairs:

When my predecessor, Don Manuel Antonio Florez, surrendered this government to me we had many extended conferences, but either because of forgetfulness or on account of preference for other weighty affairs, he did not mention the matter of the English ships captured at Nootka. He ought to have done it, since he left the business for me to settle. … My verdict has always been opposed to the seizure of the vessels, but since my predecessor has seen fit to refer the matter to the home Government, I have concluded that I ought to do nothing further until I have received the decision of the King. Since there were no others available at San Blas, he had made use of the captured ships, he said, to bring arms from Acapulco to that port. After their return from this trip he would send them in January with supplies and reënforcements for Nootka. By the time these operations should be completed the King’s orders for detention or release would have come.[163]

About the time that the new Viceroy took possession of the government, letters arrived from the captains of the captured English vessels. Mention has been made of the letter which Florez wrote to the commandant and commissary at San Blas immediately after receiving news of the arrival of the first prize. Besides this letter giving orders for the care of the prisoners, the repairing of the vessels, and making an inventory of the cargo, he seems to have given instructions for obtaining a full statement of their case from the English commanders. Their letters were addressed to Florez. These are the accounts of Colnett and Hudson to which frequent reference has been made above.[164] In closing, Colnett said:

Your excellency will pardon me for venturing to write such a long letter, in which I have dwelt on affairs of such little importance. But if I have done so, it has been at the instance of the commandant of this port, who has told me that it was your excellency’s wish. As reflecting the treatment received at San Blas [he said], I beg permission to add that all of the bad treatment which I received at Nootka and the cruelty which was practiced on me in my passage from thence hither has been entirely wiped out by the attentions and humanity of the official whom I find here in the position of commandant, Don José Comancho.[165]

This letter bears no date, but that of Hudson which accompanied it is dated September 18.[166] Inclosed with these letters was a copy of an inventory giving the original cost of each article. It was signed by Colnett and Duffin, and apparently included the cargo of the Argonaut only. On October 1 Colnett wrote another letter, in concluding which he said:

The climate of San Blas has proved to be very bad for me and my officers and crew. We should consider it a great favor if you would permit us to make a journey on horseback some miles inland, or allow part of us to pass a few days at some distance from the port.[167]

It fell to the lot of Revilla-Gigedo to answer the letters. On October 21 he wrote to Colnett:

I have read the representations which you and Captain Hudson made to my predecessor, the Most Excellent Señor Don Manuel Antonio Florez. He has turned over to me all of your complaints against the proceedings of the commandant of Nootka, Don Estevan José Martinez. My dealings shall be based on the laws of reason, equity, and justice. This is all that I can or should say at present. I assure you and Captain Hudson that yourselves and all the people of your vessels shall be treated with such attention as is demanded by the friendship and harmony existing between our Sovereigns.[168]

Having thus temporarily disposed of the question of the captured ships, the Viceroy busied himself about carrying out a “royal order of the 14th of last April for sustaining with vigor our new establishment at Nootka.” He wrote to his superior at Madrid how he had planned to send, in the following January, a new expedition of three vessels with complete equipment, supplies, and reënforcements. It was to be commanded by a military official. He was to succeed Martinez as commandant of Nootka, and was to receive from Martinez complete instruction regarding the country and its inhabitants. This would contribute the greatest possible security to the establishment in that port. But the plan had been completely overthrown by the return of Martinez with all of his ships to San Blas December 6.[169] At first this had caused the Viceroy great inquietude, but soon he had modified his plan and was again pushing it to completion. The new commandant was to be Eliza, and Martinez should accompany him in the office of pilot. The Spanish possession of Nootka was to be vigorously maintained if any foreign power should attempt to dispute it. One of the three ships was to be the captured Princess Royal. The Argonaut had already gone to Acapulco and returned to San Blas loaded with artillery to furnish armament for the expedition.[170] This new enterprise may be dismissed for the present to follow the fate of the English prisoners.

Before turning to the dealings of the Viceroy with the Englishmen it is interesting, though not essential to the narrative, to notice the final exit of Martinez from the stage that his rashness had brought into prominence. In a letter of February 26, 1790, the Viceroy mentioned a royal order of October 13, 1789, “informing me that at the instance of Doña Gertrudis Gonzales, wife of Don Estevan José Martinez, ensign of the navy, the King had resolved that I should arrange to transfer this official to those dominions [Spain], or that in case his continuance at San Blas was necessary to the service that I should withhold a third part of his salary, to be applied to the support of his wife and of one daughter 17 years old.”[171] Thus it appears that while Martinez was getting himself and his Government into trouble in America his family in Spain was in trouble because he had neglected their support. The Viceroy gave orders at once for Martinez’s return from Nootka on the first vessel coming to San Blas, in order that he might go to Spain and rejoin his family. His services were no longer necessary, it was said, there being enough officials without him. It should be noticed that this order was given more than two months before news reached Spain of Martinez’s operations at Nootka. So that could have had no influence on his recall.

The request for a change of climate made by Colnett in his second letter to the Viceroy, mentioned above, was granted. In Colnett’s published account he says: “We were removed 60 miles up the country; here we were allowed great liberty and better treatment,”[172] and permitted to remain “the six latter months of our captivity.”[173] This was at a place called Tepic. Not only was this favor granted, but the English commanders were allowed to go in person and plead their case before the Viceroy. Speaking of Bodega y Quadra, the new commandant of San Blas, Colnett says:

To this officer I am greatly indebted for his kind attention and obtaining permission for me to go to Mexico to claim redress for our past treatment.[174]

In Revilla-Gigedo’s first account of the matter to the home government he had mentioned the English captain’s complaint of the bad faith and worse treatment of Martinez. He said he had offered to give them a hearing in court, but it would be impossible to do this without giving Martinez a hearing at the same time.[175] When writing this he supposed that Martinez was at Nootka and would remain until relieved of his command. But although Martinez returned to Mexico shortly thereafter, still the trial was not held, since he had to go again to Nootka as pilot of the expedition under Eliza. The Viceroy, in his published “Informe,” tells of the promised trial and why it was not held:

The captain of the Argonaut, James Colnett, and that of the Princess Royal, Thomas Hudson, his subaltern, asked and I gave them permission to come to this capital. They produced their complaints against Martinez and I ordered the case to be drawn up. But it could not be continued, because the defendant and some of the witnesses were necessarily employed in the royal service and the plaintiffs wished to be set free as soon as possible.[176]

Speaking of his stay at the capital, Colnett says:

On my arrival at Mexico and during my residence there I was treated by the Viceroy, Don Revilla-Gigedo, with greater politeness and humanity, and, indeed, by all ranks of people in that city.[174]

The time of the arrival of the English captains at Mexico seems to have been about the first of the year. They received no definite answer to the question whether their ships should be condemned or released until late in April. The Viceroy was waiting for an answer from the home Government to the first account of the seizures which Florez had written the previous August. This account had not reached the Government until December 30.[177] Florez’s second account was received three days later.[178] Thus by the second day of the new year the Government had a full account of the seizures and copies of all of the documents. No reply was made until January 26. When this reply reached the Viceroy, greatly to his surprise and disappointment, it gave him no advice, but instead it asked for his determinations concerning the question whether the ships were good prize.

Revilla-Gigedo resolved to wait no longer for advice, and so took the responsibility upon himself. In answer to the request from Madrid, he wrote, on May 1, 1790, his conclusions, as follows:

They have been to liberate the English prisoners on the conditions shown by inclosed letters. Colnett, who came to Mexico with my consent to present his complaints, will now return to San Blas, where he will receive his ship, the Argonaut. Embarking there with all of the English and Chinese,[179] he will return to Macao or wherever he wishes. At Nootka he will receive from the commandant, Don Francisco Eliza, the sloop Princess Royal, which will be turned over to her master, Thomas Hudson. These foreigners are warned not to delay, trade, nor establish themselves on our Spanish coasts under threat of punishment for violation. I have felt compelled to release them, considering that I ought not to hold as good prize a few little vessels found on a distant and deserted coast of our colonies of California; and considering the uselessness of burdening the royal treasury with some 60 men, whose scanty sustenance has to be provided for in the feeble and expensive establishment of San Blas in order that the just sentiments of humanity might not be violated, and that the plans of my predecessor might be carried out.[180]

This action of Revilla-Gigedo and the grounds here given for the release of the English ships are consistent with the position taken by him as soon as he heard of the affair, namely, that the vessels ought never to have been seized. It will be interesting to notice the subsequent change in his position.

Colnett had been informed of the decision of the Viceroy on April 27.[181] On the same day orders were sent to San Blas for carrying it out. The commandant, Bodega y Quadra, was to surrender the Argonaut to Colnett in good condition, and was to give orders to Eliza at Nootka to surrender the Princess Royal to Hudson in the same condition. The small schooner, since it could not be taken apart to be put on the larger vessel, was to be paid for. All belongings were to be returned to the prisoners. The supplies deposited in the royal storehouses were to be given back, an equivalent was to be given for everything applied to the royal service, and whatever had been lost was to be paid for. All this was to be done in such a manner as to avoid complaint.[182] Besides having all of their belongings restored, the commissary was to pay wages to all, extending from the day of their capture until they were released. Colnett was to be paid as a lieutenant of the navy, and all others according to their rank as regulated by the scale of wages for the South Sea. A general account was to be made of all expenses occasioned by the captured ships.[183] The Viceroy argued, in a letter to the home Government, that the English South Sea Company, under whose license Colnett was navigating, should repay to the royal treasury of Spain all expenses occasioned by the captured ships. His reason was that their agents made the seizure necessary by coming to the coast of California, where they could neither establish themselves nor enjoy commercial advantages by right.[184]

In the packet which Revilla-Gigedo sent on May 1 he inclosed a letter from Colnett to the British ambassador at Madrid, presenting his complaints against Martinez.[185] The Viceroy added that he hoped these would be considered when Martinez reached Spain.

The Viceroy considered that he was treating Colnett very liberally, and it does seem that he had allowed about all that could be expected if his orders should be faithfully carried out. Colnett, however, was not fully satisfied and presented a number of formal requests. He enumerated a list of things which he requested should be sent from Mexico to fit out his ships. These were granted. He asked that all of the wages of both crews be paid to him as commander, which was granted also. He demanded payment for himself as commandant of an expedition, but he was allowed pay only for a lieutenant, which was less than half as much. He demanded the return of the schooner which he had brought in the Argonaut, but which Martinez had taken. He was to have pay for it. He wished the Princess Royal to return to San Blas for her crew, but he was compelled to wait until he should get to Nootka for her. He demanded a money payment of not more than £3,000 to reimburse himself for personal valuables and nautical instruments lost. The Viceroy refused this, since he had ordered that all of these should be returned or paid for at San Blas. He asked for a special interpreter to be appointed for him, but this was refused as unnecessary. His request for the return of his servant, a Sandwich Islander, was at first refused, but later granted. The Viceroy was attempting to keep this man, who was said to be chief of one of the islands, ostensibly that he might be converted to the Catholic religion; but probably the real reason was to use him in getting an opening for a Spanish settlement on the Sandwich Islands. He had flattered the vanity of the savage by promising to send him to see the King of Spain. Colnett’s persuasion prevailed. The most important request was that for a passport which should allow greater privileges than the Viceroy’s order for his release had granted.[186]

The Viceroy had forbidden the Englishmen to make any establishment, to trade, or even to tarry on the coast; and in his first reply to Colnett’s demands he repeated the prohibition. Three days later Colnett wrote again, using very plain language. He called attention to the instructions under which he had sailed with a license from the British Government. Those instructions required him to trade with the Indians and to form an establishment for that purpose. The Viceroy’s instructions had ordered him to sail directly to Macao, without stopping on the coast. He pointed out the inconsistent position in which he was placed. The right of Spain to the coast was a point to be settled—he hoped, in a friendly manner[187]—between the Cabinets of Madrid and St. James. It was clear that the right was not recognized by the English, as was shown by the patent and instructions which he bore. That same year the privilege granted to his company would expire. Let Spain see, in a friendly manner, that it should not be renewed, but the Viceroy should not oppose the pacific execution of a commercial undertaking attempted in good faith and at so great an expense. He demanded a passport with only one prohibition, namely, to trade with Spanish ports.[188]

Colnett’s arguments had the desired effect. On May 11 the Viceroy sent him a passport with only the one prohibition and expressly stating that he might carry on his operations in places not actually under Spanish dominion.[189] In the letter inclosing the passport he trusts that they will not think of making an establishment on the coast or of trading to the prejudice of the Spanish nation.[190]

It is noteworthy that in this passport the Viceroy reversed his decision of ten days before and declared that Martinez’s seizure of the vessels was well founded. He cited laws and royal orders which he said not only absolutely forbade the navigation, establishment, and trade of foreign nations on the American coasts of the South Sea, but ordered them to be looked upon and treated as enemies. His reason for freeing the English ships, he now said, was to preserve harmony and a good understanding between the subjects of His Catholic Majesty and the King of Great Britain. The change in his mental attitude seems to have been brought about by the stubborn persistence with which Colnett urged his demands in the meantime. By the latter part of May, when he wrote again to the home Government, the Viceroy had formulated his decision. He declared:

The coasts north of California are truly and justly the dominions of our Sovereign. According to the royal order of November 25, 1692, of which my predecessor sent a copy, and according to the treaty, to which it refers, of 1670, ratified and confirmed by article 2 of that of 1783, all of the vessels which Don Estevan José Martinez, ensign of the royal navy, found in Nootka were legitimate prizes. The release of the packet boat Argonaut and the sloop Princess Royal has been the result of pure generosity.[191]

This is a complete reversal of his decision quoted above from his letter of twenty-six days earlier. In his “Informe” of three years later the Viceroy cited in addition as grounds for his decision an article of the orders of the royal navy, and also a royal order of October 18, 1776, “to detain, seize, and prosecute any foreign ship which arrives in our ports of the South Sea.”[192]

A royal order had been finally given, March 23, definitely instructing the Viceroy to liberate the captured ships. In a letter of June 26 Revilla-Gigedo said that the royal order of March 23 had been completely satisfied by his accounts of May 1 and 27. He was pleased that he had conformed so happily to the decisions of the King.[193]

According to Colnett’s published account, he found on his return to San Blas that the Argonaut was in a bad condition on account of the treatment she had received. He says that the Viceroy’s liberality in allowing wages was counterbalanced by the charges for maintenance, traveling expenses, medical assistance, and an allowance of eight months’ provisions. He says also that before he was allowed to sail he was compelled to sign a paper expressing his complete satisfaction with their usage.[194] That paper was signed July 8, 1790, and is as follows:

I have the honor of informing your excellency that to-day I have been dispatched from San Blas; and I also have the satisfaction of adding that I have reason to be content with the treatment of the commandant and commissary of this department.

With all proper submission, I ask permission of your excellency to add that the money which I have received here is little more than the amount of my individual loss, and is not the fifth part of the damages by the most moderate calculation. Since I shall have to turn matters over to the company which employs me, I hope that your excellency will have consideration in keeping with your known generosity, and will not allow them to suffer such losses.[195]

This, if true, indicates that Colnett’s apprehensions of illiberal treatment at San Blas were well founded. On his arrival at Nootka the Princess Royal was not there. June 11 of the next year she was dispatched from San Blas to be surrendered to Colnett or some other representative of the company in China.[196] Colnett fell in with her and she was handed over at the Sandwich Islands.[197]

This closes the Nootka affair as far as events on the American continent are concerned. Before the Viceroy had finally decided to liberate the prisoners, the matter had been taken up by the home Governments, and all Europe was ablaze with excitement over an expected war. The center of interest now shifts to the diplomatic controversy, which is the most important phase of the Nootka incident.[198]

What has been discussed so far might be briefly summarized as follows: As far as discoveries and explorations, which could give definite claims, are concerned, the Spanish were the earlier; but the English were made in ignorance of the Spanish, and the results of the English were published first. Spain could claim a prescriptive title from the fact that she had maintained for so long an undisputed claim, and from the additional fact that the land was contiguous to her settled Mexican dominions; but the English were the first to attempt to develop the country by exploiting the fur trade. The first actual establishment was made by the English, and, although it was temporarily abandoned in the autumn, it was with the evident intention of renewing, enlarging, and making it permanent in the spring; but unfortunately for what was, in the autumn of 1789, an unquestionably superior claim, it was counterbalanced by the arrival of a Spanish expedition in the spring of 1790, a few days before the English returned to resume their occupation, and when there were no signs of previous or intended occupation. The fact that the Spanish expedition was public while the English was private, favored the former. From these recapitulations it is plain that there was abundant ground for disputing the respective rights.

As to the justice or injustice of the seizures at Nootka, there is also room for dispute. The Iphigenia, by pretending to be a Portuguese when she was really an English ship, aroused a just suspicion, and what was probably a harmless trick, meant solely to deceive the Celestials, assumed a grave appearance when the added suspicion of piracy was aroused. But this suspicion of piracy was based on a mistake made by the Spaniard in translating the ship’s instructions. Having seized her on the ground of this double suspicion, for the sake of consistency and to hide his blunder, Martinez justified his rash act on a totally different ground, but one which was plausible from the Spanish view. When the Argonaut arrived her captain made the mistake of rashly declaring his purpose before he knew his opponent’s strength, and of manifesting too much impatience to get out of the power of a man who would probably have allowed him to depart in peace had he been patient. Then a quarrel, caused largely by the mistakes of a blundering interpreter, ended in the Spaniard’s making another rash seizure, this one without so much as having had the Englishman’s papers translated.

When the matter was transferred to the officials in Mexico, the outgoing Viceroy, instead of shouldering the responsibility and acting at once, attempted to shift it to his successor. The failure of the two to agree led to an awkward delay of several months. Then after the new Viceroy finally declared that the vessels were not good prize, a quarrel with the liberated Englishman led him to reverse his decision, so far as the principle was concerned, though his change did not affect the fact of the Englishman’s freedom.

The whole episode to this point seems to have been a series of blunders, and would not merit careful consideration had not the consequences been so serious for the home Governments.

Chapter VII.
ATTEMPTS AT PEACEABLE SETTLEMENT.

The Spanish name of greatest importance in the diplomatic contest with England in 1790 is that of Count Floridablanca. He was of humble origin. His ability as a diplomatist was established while ambassador to the Papal Court, especially in the suppression of the Jesuit order. “This result [says Tratchevsky] was due in great measure to the skill and energy of the Spanish ambassador at Rome, Don José Moñino. As a recompense, Charles III conferred on him the title Count Floridablanca, and soon made him prime minister (1777).”[199] He retained this position fifteen years. “His integrity and love of labor won for him the entire confidence of Charles III, who found in him the industrious and respectful servant whom he sought.[200] He was a great worker, of clean morals, beneficent, but very proud.”[201] He was a devoted servant of monarchy and an enthusiastic adherent to the principle of aristocracy. But on account of his recent elevation to the rank of a noble he did not enjoy the favor of the upper classes. Zinovief, the Russian ambassador, wrote: “The nobles and the soldiery despise him, and he, in turn, takes no pains to hide his aversion to them. No one of the great nobles enjoys any considerable importance at Court or in the confidence of the King. Floridablanca seems intentionally to push everyone else aside that he alone may enjoy the Sovereign’s favor. Even the King’s confessor, who, it seems, should have nothing to fear, has to yield to him. … Everybody trembles before him.”[202]

This enviable position was enjoyed by the great minister until the death of Charles III (1788). He was retained by Charles IV, but it was not long before his position began to be undermined by court intrigues. Baumgarten says:

The Queen sought occasions to cast reproaches upon him over a multitude of trifles, and, according to the testimony of Sandoz, this mighty man was more busily engaged in these bagatelles than in the weighty affairs of state.[203] … The Queen found willing accomplices among the Count’s associates in the cabinet. By 1790 his power was greatly diminished, so that he entered the contest with England considerably handicapped.[204]

The controversy between England and Spain did not seem so one-sided at that time as it does when viewed in the light of the subsequent history of the two countries. The thirty years’ reign of Charles III, which had just closed, is the most glorious period of Spanish history, with the single exception of her period of preeminence in the sixteenth century. Desdevises du Dezert says: “In Charles III Spain had a real King, the only one she had had since Philip II.”[205] Speaking of his position in Europe, the same author says:

His foreign policy was wise. He rightly considered England as the true enemy of Spain. He feared for the Indies; he beheld them invaded by English merchants and adventurers, by English merchandise and ideas. To protect the colonies he hurled upon them a new current of Spanish emigration, and decreed liberty of commerce between the Peninsula and America. He allied himself with France in order to combat England; and, notwithstanding some reverses, the war was closed to the advantage of Spain, which country in 1783 again took her place as a great European power.[206]

When the conflict came, in 1790, although nearly two years of the reign of Charles IV had passed, little was known of the weakness of the King, the corrupting influence of the Queen, and the intrigues in the ministry. Europe of the time saw in Spain a country rapidly forging to the front, with a rejuvenated kingship, and a minister second only to Pitt.[207] Led by this minister, Spain had less than a decade before been largely instrumental in humiliating England; and since then she had persistently refused to make any commercial concessions to her vanquished antagonist. The same minister now dared to intervene between the Czar and the Porte. He was also negotiating for an alliance between Spain, France, Austria, and Russia.[208] If this quadruple alliance should prove successful the outlook for England would be dark, notwithstanding her triple alliance with Prussia and Holland.

Such, briefly, was the political condition of Spain, internally and externally, when news arrived of the occurrences at Nootka Sound which have been discussed in the foregoing chapters.

As stated above, it was at the very beginning of the year that the intelligence was received which was soon to throw all Europe into a war fever. On January 2, 1790, Valdez[209] sent to Floridablanca the second installment of letters and documents concerning the occurrences at Nootka. Three days earlier he had sent the first bundle.[210] These two packages contained a complete account of the affair, with copies of all the documents. Valdez asked for His Majesty’s pleasure concerning the matter.

On January 4, Anthony Merry, the English chargé d’affaires at Madrid wrote to the Duke of Leeds, British secretary for foreign affairs, giving a very confused account based on rumors. Word had just arrived from Mexico, he said, that a small Spanish ship of war had captured an English vessel in the port of Nootka. There were conflicting accounts of the event. Some said “that the Viceroy of Mexico, having had notice that the English were forming an establishment at the above-mentioned place, ordered a ship there to take possession of it.” Others said that the Spanish ship was there simply to reconnoiter the coast. There were also conflicting accounts of what was done with Russian, Portuguese, and American ships found in the same port, some stating that all were allowed to go free except the English; others, that all were seized and only the American released, Merry had not yet been able to learn the name of the English vessel or her master. All accounts agreed that she had come for the purpose of forming a settlement, that other vessels were to follow, and that the captured ship had been manned with Spanish seamen and sent to Mexico.[211]

This was the first account to reach London.[212] It is not strange that mistaken notions were formed. Fired by hatred for the Spaniards, it was natural that the English should consider the act much more atrocious than it was. The indefiniteness and inconsistency of the accounts gave room for full play of the imagination. The Spanish Court, which had complete accounts, either did not study them carefully enough to get at the whole truth, or intentionally kept the British Court in the dark. No English account arrived for nearly four months. Such a period of uncertainty and suspense prepared a fertile field in which the exaggerated accounts then arriving produced a fruitful crop of error.

Three days after sending the above confused account Merry inclosed an extract from a letter written in Mexico, which he had seen. This letter seems to have been unofficial. Respecting the genesis and purpose of the Spanish expedition it is true to the facts. It tells briefly of the expedition of 1788 to investigate the Russian settlements, of the discovery that the Russians intended to occupy Nootka, and of the Viceroy’s prompt action to anticipate them. But respecting the events at Nootka little is told except the seizure of an English vessel and its arrival in Mexico as a prize.[213] On January 15 the British chargé wrote of a conference with Floridablanca on the subject. “The Count avoided explaining to him the particulars of the transaction, or avowing clearly the seizure of the vessels; neither did he enter upon the question of our right to trade or to form an establishment in that part of the continent of America.” He said that he would direct the Marquis del Campo, the Spanish ambassador at London, to impart the circumstances to the Duke of Leeds.[214]

In virtue of this promise Floridablanca instructed Campo, January 20, regarding the communication which he was to make to Leeds. This communication will be studied presently.[215] A week after sending his harsh instructions the Count attempted to smooth matters over in another conference with Merry. He wished to see the present harmony between the two courts preserved and improved, and “hoped that no event might happen which might cause Great Britain to deviate from her present pacific system.”[216]

The first three letters from Merry had reached London before February 2. On that day the Duke of Leeds wrote cautioning him to be extremely guarded in what he should say, until definite instructions could be sent after Campo’s communication should have been received. He declared that England undoubtedly had a complete “right to visit for the purposes of trade, or to make a settlement in, the district in question.”[217] When this positive declaration by the British Cabinet at the very first is compared with the demand of the Spanish Court, received a few days later, it is seen that a conflict was inevitable unless one side should yield.

The expected communication from Campo was received by Leeds February 11. Since it was this note that started the diplomatic controversy, and since it has not before been made public, it is worth while to quote it in full. It is dated “Manchester Square, February 10, 1790,” and is as follows:

My Lord: Continuing the frequent expeditions which the King, my master, has ordered to be made to the northern coasts of California, the Viceroy of Mexico sent two ships, under the orders of Don Estevan José Martinez, ensign of the navy, to make a permanent settlement in the port of San Lorenzo, situated about the fiftieth degree of latitude, and named by foreigners “Nootka,” or “Nioka,” of which possession had formerly been taken. He arrived there the 24th of last June. In giving his account to the Viceroy, M. Martinez said that he found there an American frigate and sloop, which had sailed from Boston to make a tour of the world. He also found a packet boat and another vessel belonging to a Portuguese established at Macao, whence they had sailed with a passport from the governor of that port. He announced also that on the 2d of July there arrived another packet boat from Macao. This was English, and came to take possession of Nootka in the name of the British King. She carried a sloop in pieces on board.

This simple recital will have convinced your excellency of the necessity in which the Court of Madrid finds itself of asking His Britannic Majesty to punish such undertakings in a manner to restrain his subjects from continuing them on these lands which have been occupied and frequented by the Spaniards for so many years. I say this to your excellency as an established fact, and as a further argument against those who attribute to Captain Cook the discovery of the said port of San Lorenzo, I add that the same Martinez in charge of the last expedition was there under commission in August of 1774. This was almost four years before the appearance of Cook. This same Martinez left in the hands of the Indians two silver spoons, some shells, and some other articles which Cook found. The Indians still keep them, and these facts, with the testimony of the Indians, served M. Martinez to convince the English captain.

The English prisoners have been liberated through the consideration which the King has for His Britannic Majesty, and which he has carefully enjoined upon his viceroys to govern their actions in unforeseen events. His Majesty flatters himself that the Court of St. James will certainly not fail to give the strictest orders to prevent such attempts in the future, and, in general, everything that could trouble the good harmony happily existing between the two Crowns. Spain on her side engages to do the same with respect to her subjects.

I have the honor to be, etc.,

The Marquis del Campo.

His Excellency M. the Duke of Leeds.[218]

One who has read the foregoing chapters will recognize many misleading statements in this letter. The first sentence falsely gives the impression, though it does not make the positive statement, that the King of Spain had ordered the occupation of Nootka. Hence there was some ground for suspecting that the Spanish Government had ordered Martinez’s violent proceedings. Martinez arrived at Nootka almost two months earlier than the date given in the note. June 21 was the date of the formal act of possession. This error seems to have been due to carelessness, since no motive is apparent, and the correct date is given in the documents which Floridablanca had at hand. The note does not mention the fact, clearly stated in the same documents, that the first packet boat and the other vessel accompanying it from Macao were really English, though nominally Portuguese; and the impression is given that they were allowed to go absolutely free as were the American vessels. No mention whatever is made of the Princess Royal which was also sent as a prize to Mexico, though this is plainly stated in the documents. Instead of telling that four English ships were captured, the impression is given that there was only one. The gravest misstatement is that the English prisoners had been liberated. As pointed out above, this was probably inferred from the statement in the second letter of Florez that he thought that they ought to be liberated, but would leave his successor to do it—a very insufficient ground for such a positive assertion. As a matter of fact, they were not liberated for more than three months after Floridablanca wrote the instructions which this note embodied.[219]

But the gravity of the note did not lie in its errors or prevarications. The serious part of it was the demand that the English King should punish his subjects for doing what Leeds had declared to Merry only a few days before they had a perfect right to do, namely, to trade and make settlements on the Northwest Coast. The further request that the English Government should give strict orders to prevent such enterprises in the future was virtually demanding that England should forever refrain from exercising this right. Such demands could only be acquiesced in when made upon a weak government by a strong one. English pride could not brook them.

The narrative which was prepared in the foreign office and published by the Government[220] says:

His Majesty’s ministers conceiving the circumstance of seizing a British ship in time of peace to be an offense against the law of nations and an insult to His Majesty, lost no time in taking the only step in their powers.[221]

A fortnight after receiving the Spanish note Leeds replied in a tone equally imperious. After reviewing the facts as given by Campo and referring to the demands of the Spanish Court, he said:

As yet no precise information has been received relative to the events mentioned in your excellency’s letter, but while awaiting such I have His Majesty’s orders to inform your excellency that the act of violence spoken of in your letter as having been committed by M. Martinez, in seizing a British vessel under the circumstances reported, makes it necessary henceforth to suspend all discussion of the pretensions set forth in that letter until a just and adequate satisfaction shall have been made for a proceeding so injurious to Great Britain.

In the first place it is indispensable that the vessel in question shall be restored. To determine the details of the ultimate satisfaction which may be found necessary more ample information must be awaited concerning all the circumstances of the affair.[222]

This haughty tone surprised the Spanish ambassador. In his note to Floridablanca inclosing Leeds’s answer, he said:

The reply which this ministry has finally given to my letter will surprise your excellency as it has surprised me. I refrain from comments on it. At first I thought of going to the Duke of Leeds to express my astonishment, but after considering the matter carefully I have concluded that I ought to refrain, fearing lest in the heat of conversation something might be said which might exasperate. Since it is a formal reply and in writing I could not have obtained its withdrawal. Besides, anything which I may say in reply will be better if it comes from there (Madrid), which is the source.[223]

This quotation is a postscript to a letter which had been written after delivering the Spanish note to Leeds, but evidently before receiving the answer. In the letter he had said that Leeds listened to him calmly, but avoided any discussion of the matter. He had tarried a little time and then withdrawn to write his account and urge anew that orders be sent disavowing the seizure. He was not convinced that, as might be suspected, the English expedition had been ordered by the Court. He believed it to have been an enterprise of some remote officials.[224]

It should be noticed in connection with this reply to the Spanish Court that Pitt was at this very time listening to the schemes of Colonel Miranda, the famous South American agitator. It is quite possible that this had much to do with the imperious tone assumed by the British Cabinet. As previously stated, the Spanish note was received February 11. On February 14 Miranda met Pitt, on the latter’s invitation. He had previously proposed his “grand plan” for the advantage of England in connection with South America, and that plan was considered at this meeting. Miranda explained the new form of government to be introduced and discussed the existing situation. The plan was admitted to be beneficial, but was to be put into execution only in case of a war with Spain. Pitt asked him to write down the substance of what he had said, adding a statement of all the products of South America, the exports and imports, and the population, and the military and naval forces of both South America and Spain. Miranda did so with as much accuracy and detail as possible, and submitted his statement to Pitt on March 5.[225] In the meantime, on February 25, Leeds’s reply had been delivered to Campo. It will be interesting to watch the progress of these conferences between Pitt and Miranda and note the coincidence of some of them with the critical periods of the Spanish negotiation.

While awaiting the reply from London, nothing out of the ordinary seems to have occurred at the Spanish capital. When Leeds cautioned Merry to be guarded in what he might say, he also asked the chargé for all the information he could obtain concerning recent Spanish naval movements. Merry’s replies indicated a pacific attitude, externally at least, on the part of the Spanish Court. March 1 he wrote:

Count Floridablanca gave me no hint of his having any intention of arming; and, notwithstanding the reports which have continued to prevail here with regard to the naval preparations in the Spanish ports, I can not, on the most diligent inquiry, find that any are yet commenced, except for the equipping of 3 ships of the line, 6 frigates, and 3 sloops of war for the purpose of forming a fleet of exercise. [On March 15 he wrote:] The King of Spain has given orders to grant free license to Prince Edward to pass and repass from Gibraltar to Spain, and to pay him the same honors as to an Infante de Castilla.[226]

After the English reply reached Madrid, Merry’s reports were very different. March 22 he wrote that Floridablanca was much dissatisfied with the English reply, but still seemed anxious that peace should be preserved. Merry thought that the Count’s ill humor was caused by the fear lest Great Britain should use the matter as a ground for a quarrel.[227]

On the same day that Merry wrote the last-mentioned letter an important session of the supreme junta of state was being held. The question considered was as to the reply that should be made to England. The matter had been discussed in the preceding junta. At this meeting of March 22 Valdez, the minister for marine, presented in writing his version of the proper reply. Though it is not given, its import may be divined from the report which accompanied it. He told of abundant military preparations at the principal places in the Indies, of what was needed to complete their equipment, and the orders that could be given to insure their security. He also reported on the state of the Spanish navy, telling of the ships at the three naval stations Cadiz, Ferrol, and Carthagena. There were 45 ships of the line and 32 frigates ready to be armed at once; and in addition 24 of the former and 7 of the latter could be prepared in a short time. The chief of the council for the Indies, Porlier, also presented his opinion in writing. Others gave oral advice, and it was left to Floridablanca to formulate the reply to the English Court. Valdez received royal orders to collect a squadron at Cadiz to be ready for emergencies, and to take the steps necessary to put Honduras, Trinidad, and Porto Rico in a state of defense.[228]

On March 24 an order was sent to the Viceroy of New Spain to liberate the English ship in case this had not already been done.[229] As stated in the preceding chapter, the vessels had not been released at this time, but were liberated before this order reached the Viceroy.

Merry had another conference with Floridablanca on March 27. He reported to his Government that the Count had concluded from Leeds’s reply that the British Court intended to use the matter as a ground for quarreling. The Spanish minister lamented the fact and hoped that the necessity for Spain’s coming to an understanding with other courts might be avoided. He said that he would endeavor to soften his reply to the British Court. Merry thought that in view of the condition of Spain Floridablanca would not suffer the matter to come to extremities.[230]

At the next junta, which was March 29, the minister for marine presented another report. This was dated March 28 and was embodied in the minutes of the session of the following day. In it Valdez says that in consequence of the reply which the junta of one week before had agreed should be sent to the Court of London by Floridablanca, and in compliance with the precautionary measures which the department of marine was ordered to take in the Indies and in Spain, he had proceeded promptly, with His Majesty’s approval, to execute the orders which follow in the report. Vessels were to be armed at once in Ferrol, Carthagena, and Cadiz, and, the real purpose being kept as secret as possible, a sufficient number were to be collected at the last-named port to form a respectable squadron for use in case later occurrences should make it necessary. The vessels that needed it were to be cleaned and repaired as rapidly as possible. Those out of port were to be detained under arms at Cadiz when they returned. Provisions were being collected. The officials of Havana, Santo Domingo, Porto Rico, and Trinidad were ordered to strengthen their positions. At the same session Floridablanca read the reply which Campo, the ambassador at London, was to present to the English Ministry.[231] The contents of this reply will be examined presently.

This glimpse into the inner workings of the Spanish Cabinet reveals a warlike activity. But externally every possible effort was made to maintain a peaceable demeanor. Floridablanca made especial efforts to keep the British chargé in the dark and quiet any alarm which the warlike rumors might arouse. According to the dispatches of the Prussian ambassador, Sandoz, to his Government at Berlin, the Count—

confided to Merry in the greatest secrecy the intelligence that French emissaries had scattered seditious pamphlets in Mexico and Havana, and thereby had stirred up the greatest possible ferment, which threatened an outbreak every moment. The King had concluded that the most efficacious measures must be taken with the greatest haste in order that these first dangerous agitations might be nipped in the bud, and consequently he had decided to employ his whole force against it if necessary. To make this seem more probable, he indulged in a tirade against the French Revolution.[232]