Copyright 2000 - 2003 - Janine M. Bork
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Union County, OR AGHP
CHAPTER VII.
(1785 - 1796.)
The Nootka Treaty Between Spain and Great Britain, and the Events Culminating Therein - Nootka Sound the Resort for Vessels Engaging in the Fur Trade - The King George's Sound Company - Voyages of Portlock and Dixon - The Latter Discovers the Channel Separating Queen Charlotte's Island from the Continent - Meares and Tipping on Northwest Coast Under License of East India Company - Voyages of Meares Under Portuguese Flag - Makes Settlement at Nootka, and Builds Schooner Northwest America - Arrival at Nootka of American Vessels Washington and Columbia - Martinez Seizes Iphigenia and Northwest America - Arrival of Princess Royal and Argonaut - Martinez Seizes Them - Difficulties Between Spain and Great Britain - The Nootka Treaty, or Convention of the Escurial - Arrival at Nootka Sound of Captain Vancouver, British Commissioner, to Receive Restitution of Property of British Subjects - Unsuccessful Negotiations Between Señor Quadra and Vancouver - Final Restitution to British Subjects of Seized Property - Spain and Great Britain Abandon Nootka Sound.
THE principal harbors of the northwest coast of America resorted to by vessels engaged in the fur trade were Nootka, Norfolk and Prince William's Sounds. Nootka had become the rendezvous and usual port of departure of vessels laden with return cargo. At these ports collections of furs were concentrated, preparatory to shipment to China or the East Indies, there to be exchanged for the commodities of Eastern Asia, which, in turn, were shipped via Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Horn, to European or American ports.
The British government had granted to the South Sea Company a license of commerce and trade in all seas and countries westward of Cape Horn, excluding all other British subjects. The British East India Company had secured a similar license in the regions east of the Cape of Good Hope. By these grants, all British subjects, except the two companies, had been restricted from engaging in commerce in all the seas, territories and islands in that vast portion of the world lying between the Cape of Good Hope eastward to a line drawn north and south through Cape Horn, or, vice versa, westward from the meridian of Cape Horn to the meridian passing through the Cape of Good Hope. British subjects who desired to engage in Pacific commerce, in the fur trade on the northwest coast of America, or in the China or East India trade, were obliged to obtain permission of the one or the other of these companies.
In 1785, a mercantile association was formed in London, styled the "King George's Sound Company." Its purposes were the procurement of furs on the northwest coast of America, exchanging them for the commodities of the East Indies or China and shipping the latter to Europe. Permission having been granted by the South Sea and East India companies, the "King George's Sound Company" fitted out a voyage to the northwest coast of America via Cape Horn. The expedition consisted of the ships King George and Queen Charlotte, respectively commanded by Captain Nathaniel Portlock and George Dixon. They sailed in August, 1785, and reached Cook's river in July, 1786.
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The East India Company, by the Governor-General of India, had granted permission to Lieutenant John Meares, British navy (on leave), to make a venture in Northwest America in the Nootka, commanded by himself, accompanied by the Sea Otter, Captain Tipping. Under the East India Company's flag, Meares and Tipping sailed form Calcutta in March, 1786. The Sea Otter arrived and left Prince William's Sound before Meares had arrived, in September. Meares never met Tipping; the Sea Otter and all on board were lost off the Kamtchatkan coast. The Nootka spent the winter at Prince William's Sound. Captain Meares returned to China in the fall of 1787.
During the summer of 1787, Captain Dixon in the Queen Charlotte cruised along the coast, and demonstrated by sailing through the channel, now called Dixon's Channel, in honor of its discoverer, that the land between fifty-two degrees and fifty-four degrees north latitude, theretofore supposed to be the continent, was an island. To this island he gave the name of Queen Charlotte's, after his vessel. In the fall of 1787, Portlock and Dixon sailed for China. Before their departure the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales, of the King George's Sound Company, respectively commanded by Captain Colnett, of the British navy (on leave), and Captain Thomas Hudson, had arrived at Nootka Sound.
The Chinese government required excessive port charges from vessels of all European nations, except the Portuguese (1). To evade such exaction, several British merchants residing in India, who desired to pursue the fur trade on the northwest coast of America and exchange firs in China, in the latter part of 1787 associated themselves with and used the name of Juan Cavalho, a Portuguese merchant. Through the intimacy of Cavalho with the Governor of Macao, this association of merchant-proprietors secured permission for the ships Felice and Iphigenia to sail under the Portuguese flag to the northwest coast of America. The expedition was intrusted to the command of Captain Meares in the Felice, Captain William Douglas, master of the Iphigenia. The papers of both vessels were made out in Portuguese, and in the name of Portuguese captains. Don Francisco Joseph de Viana accompanied the Iphigenia, and is referred to as second captain by Meares in his memorial to the British government, in the year 1788, complaining of the Spanish authorities at Nootka Sound.
This enterprise in its inception was divested of all claim to British nationality, notwithstanding Meares, its intended and real commander, held a commission in the British navy. The merchant-proprietors fraudulently concealed their nationality, and thereby forfeited their rights as British subjects in the conspiracy to defraud the Chinese government of the payment of port charges, for which as British subjects they would have been liable. Neither could they as British subjects have lawfully engaged in such commerce, violating as it did the Crown grant to the East India Company. But no claim as English subjects was then intended to have been made by the merchant-proprietors. It was a Portuguese voyage, under the Portuguese flag; and by the letter of instructions of December 24, 1787, of the merchant-proprietors, all doubt is removed as to the national character which must be ascribed to this adventure. It was alike hostile to English as to Russian or Spanish authority.
Those instructions will be found at length, appended to the memorial of Captain Meares. In them the following occurs:
"Should you, in the course of your voyage, meet with any Russian, English or Spanish vessels, you will treat them with civility and friendship, and allow them, if
(1) In 1785,
Captain James Hanna, an Englishman, had made a very successful voyage under
the Portuguese flag to the North Pacific by permission of the Governor
of Macao. Exempt from Chinese port charges, the voyage had proven very
profitable.
authorized, to examine your papers, which will show the object of your voyage. But you must, at the same time, guard against surprise. Should they attempt to seize you, or even carry you out of your way, you will prevent it by every means in your power, and repel force by force. You will, on your arrival in the first port, protest before a proper officer against such illegal procedure, and ascertain as nearly as you can the value of your cargo and vessel, sending such protest, with a full account of the transaction, to us in China.
"Should you, in such conflict, have the superiority, you will then take possession of the vessel that attacked, and also her cargo, and bring both, with the officers and crew to China, that they may be condemned as legal prizes, and their crews punished as pirates."
Meares, in his instructions to Captain Douglas, reiterates this direction: "If they are of superior force, and desire to see your papers, you will show them, should they be either Russian, English, Spanish or any other civilized nation. Force is to be used if it can be successfully; and he is strictly charged to have as little communication with them as possible." The Iphigenia sailed directly for Cook's river, where she continued trading during the summer. The Felice sailed directly for Nootka Sound, where she arrived May 13, 1788. On the 25th, Mazuilla, or Maquinna, chief of the native tribe, granted to Meares "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 in Nootka during our absence. In return for his kindness, and to insure a continuance of it, the chief was presented with a pair of pistols." On the 28th, the house was completed and occupied, and the building of the schooner Northwest America commenced. Everything being in readiness for the voyage down the coast, Captain Meares interviewed Maquinna regarding the portion of crew who were to remain at Nootka. Maquinna agreed with Meares to "show every mark of attention and friendship to the party we (Meares) should leave on shore; and, 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 chattels thereunto belonging." Such is the character of the first establishment upon the coast, as given by Captain Meares, its founder. It was a mere temporary shelter and stockade for the purposes of defense, reverting to the native chief who granted the privilege of its erection as soon as the grantees should take their departure. This was the first attempt at a settlement on the northwest coast of America, south of the Russian settlements.
The statement of these transactions, with the animus of their projectors and the actors employed, is essential to the due understanding of the events which were their natural and necessary consequence. These acts of Captain Meares and his associates were assumed by the British government as the legitimate enterprise of British subjects, entitled to national recognition and justification. Indeed, they mark the initiation of territorial claim by the British crown for these coasts and the adjacent territory.
Leaving the crew at work upon the schooner, Captain Meares occupied the summer in a voyage of exploration down the coast, returning to Nootka on the 27th of August.
The Iphigenia soon after
arrived. By Meares' instructions to Captain Douglas, that vessel was to
spend the summer months on the northern coasts, and meet him at Nootka
Sound about the 1st of September. It having been determined that the Iphigenia
and Northwest America should continue upon the coast, the furs collected
were transferred to the Felice, which sailed September 28th for
Macao.
On the 17th of September, the American sloop Washington, Captain Robert Gray, arrived at Nootka, followed shortly by the American ship Columbia, Captain John Kendrick. October 27th, the Iphigenia and Northwest America sailed for the Sandwich Islands. The two American vessels remained at Nootka Sound that winter and all the next summer.
These voyages of the fur traders occasioned great uneasiness to Spain. The acts of the Russians were the most serious cause of alarm. The latter had crowded their settlements to the southward. The apprehension that Russian traders would attempt to form an establishment at Nootka Sound had occasioned the Spanish government to remonstrate with the Russian Emperor against the encroachment of Russians upon the possessions of Spain, which were claimed to extend as far north as Prince William's Sound, latitude sixty-one degrees north. In 1789 the Viceroy of Mexico, with the purpose of anticipating and preventing occupancy of Nootka Sound by traders of other nations, had dispatched Martinez and de Haro, in the ships Princesa and San Carlos, with instructions to occupy that port. Martinez was to take possession of it as Spanish Territory, by right of discovery by Perez in 1774. Russians and English were to be treated with proper courtesy; but the formation of an establishment prejudicial to the claim or interests of Spain was to be resisted.
The Princesa reached Nootka on the 5th of May, 1779, and was joined by the San Carlos on the 10th. When the Spanish vessels arrived, the American ship Columbia was in the sound, at a place called Mahwinna; the Iphigenia was anchored in the bay. Martinez demanded the papers of both vessels, and their explanation for being at anchor in Nootka Sound, apprising them that it belonged to the King of Spain. The captain of the Iphigenia (Viana) replied that he had put there in distress, and was waiting the arrival of Captain Meares in the Felice, who was daily expected. This answer satisfied Martinez. But, having learned that the Iphigenia sailed under orders to capture any Russian, Spanish or English vessel she was able to capture, he seized her. Martinez, however, being advised that the orders were intended to apply only to the defense of the vessel, released the Iphigenia and her cargo, and generously furnished her with necessary supplies from his own ship. On the 8th of June the Northwest America returned from a cruise and was seized by Martinez the next day.
While these events had been transpiring, Cavalho (whose name served as a cloak to confer Portuguese nationality upon these voyages, and to remove British national character from the ships Felice and Iphigenia, whereby China could be defrauded and the East India Company's exclusive grant evaded) had become bankrupt.
The merchant-proprietors, as
a matter of necessity, had combined their interests with the King George's
Sound Company. By the new arrangement, the Felice had been sold,
the Prince of Wales returned to England, the ship Argonaut
was purchased, Colnett, late of the Princess Royal, was put in command,
and the Princess Royal was transferred to Captain Hudson. To Captain
Colnett was assigned the charge of the enterprise. In the instructions
to him, the Iphigenia and Northwest America were henceforth
placed under his orders, and were to engage in trade on account of the
company. Captain Douglas was to return in the Argonaut, and to transfer
to Colnett the Iphigenia and Northwest America. "We also
authorize you to dismiss from your service all persons who shall refuse
to obey your orders, when they are for our benefit; and in this case we
give you to understand, the Princess Royal, Northwest America,
or other small craft, are always to continue on the coast of America. Their
officers and people, when the time of
their services are up, must be embarked upon the returning ship to China. On no account whatever will we suffer a deviation from these orders." Captain Colnett's instructions were further "to establish a factory to be called Fort Pitt, for the purpose of permanent settlement, and a center of trade around which other stations may be established."
The Princess Royal arrived first at Nootka, and was not molested by the Spanish commander. On the 2d of July, the Argonaut was about entering the bay, when Captain Colnett, being advised of the seizure of the Iphigenia and the Northwest America, at first declined to enter with his ship, but changed his resolution. A day or two afterwards Captain Colnett called on Martinez. He informed the Spanish governor that he intended to take formal possession of Nootka Sound in the name of Great Britain, and hoist the British flag; that, in conjunction with Captain Meares and other gentlemen at Macao, a colony was to be established and a fort to be erected. To this the Spanish governor replied: "That possession had already been taken in the name of Spain, and that his orders and presence there were to prevent such acts as he (Colnett) contemplated, and that they would not be allowed." Colnett then asked if the Spanish commander would prevent him from building a house in the port. Martinez consented to the erection of a tent, to wood and water, after which Colnett was at liberty to depart in his vessel when he pleased. The English captain replied that such was not his intention, but that he was there to build a blockhouse, erect a fort and settle a colony in the name of Great Britain, not under its flag, nor was he (Colnett) authorized to transact business of that nature. Colnett plead his commission to the British navy. Martinez replied: "You are on leave, and in the merchant service, and the commission secures you no consequence." After which an altercation occurred in the cabin of the Princesa between Captain Colnett and Martinez. The next day the Spanish commander ordered the seizure of the Argonaut, and the arrest of Colnett and his crew. The Princess Royal soon after returned, and she also was seized. Both vessels were sent to San Blas as prizes. The American vessels in the harbor of Nootka were not interfered with by Martinez. These events becoming known in Europe, Spain complained to the British government of the encroachment upon her rights of territory; and England haughtily demanded of Spain immediate reparation for the insult to her flag. The King of Great Britain, May 5, 1790, in a message to Parliament, communicated a detail of those acts, and asked for an augmentation of the army and navy, "to put it in his Majesty's power to act with vigor and effect in support of the honor of his Crown and the interests of his people." On the 4th of June, 1790, the King of Spain published a declaration "to all the other courts of Europe," temperately reciting the rights of territory of the Spanish government "to the continents and islands of the South Sea." It states, in conclusion: "Although Spain may not have establishments or colonies planted upon the coasts or in the ports in dispute, it does not follow that such coast or port does not belong to her. If this rule were to be followed, one nation might establish colonies on the coast of another nation, in America, Asia, Africa and Europe, by which means there would be no fixed boundaries, - a circumstance evidently absurd."
"But whatever may be the issue
of the question of right, upon a mature consideration of the claims of
both parties, the result of the question of fact is, that the capture of
the English vessels is repaired by the restitution that has been made,
and the conduct of the Viceroy; for, as to the qualifications of such restitution,
and whether the prize was lawful or not, that respects the question of
right yet to be investigated; that is to say, if it has
been agreeably to, or in contradiction to, the treaties relative to the rights and possessions of Spain. Lastly, the King will readily enter into any plan by which future disputes on this subject may be obviated, that no reproach may be upon him as having refused means of reconciliation, and for the establishment of a solid and permanent peace not only between Spain and Great Britain, but also between all nations."
Such being the attitude of Spain, negotiations commenced between that nation and Great Britain. Mr. Alleyne Fitzherbert, the British Ambassador at the Court of Madrid, claimed:
"Such full and adequate satisfaction as the nature of the case evidently requires." Count de Blanca, the Spanish Minister of State, on the 13th of June, presented to Mr. Fitzherbert the memorial of the Court of Spain, in which having recited the stipulation prescribed by the Treaty of Utrecht, "that Spain should never grant liberty or permission to any nation to trade to, or to introduce their merchandise into, the Spanish-American dominions, nor to sell, cede or give up to any other nation its lands, dominions or territories, or any part thereof," Count de Blanca boldly claims: "The vast extent of the Spanish territories, navigation and dominion, on the continent of America, isles and seas contiguous to the South Sea, are clearly laid down and authenticated by a variety of documents, laws and formal acts of possession in the reign of King Charles II. It is also clearly ascertained, that notwithstanding the repeated attempts made by adventurers and pirates on the Spanish coasts of the South Sea and adjacent islands, Spain has still preserved her possessions entire, and opposed with success those usurpations, by constantly sending her ships and vessels to take possession of such settlements. By these measures, and reiterated acts of possession, Spain has preserved her dominion, which she has extended to the borders of the Russian establishments in that part of the world." The memorial then refers to the affairs at Nootka harbor. Mr. Fitzherbert, for the British government (June 16), after requiring that matters at Nootka should be put in their original state, adds: "As certain acts have been committed in the latitudes in question by vessels belonging to the Royal Marine of Spain, against several British vessels, without any reprisals having been made, of any sort, on the part of Great Britain, that power is perfectly in the right to insist, as a preliminary condition, upon a prompt and suitable reparation for these acts of violence; and, in consequence of this principle, the practice of nations has limited such right of reparation to three articles, viz.: the restitution of the vessels; a full indemnification for the losses sustained by the parties injured; and, finally, satisfaction to the sovereign for the insult offered to his flag. So that it is evident that the actual demands of my court has, far from containing anything to prejudice the rights or dignity of his Catholic Majesty, amounted to no more, in fact, than what is constantly done by Great Britain herself, as well as other maritime powers, in similar circumstances. Finally, as to the nature of the satisfaction which the Court of London exacts on that occasion, and on what your excellency appears to desire some explanation, I am authorized, sir, to assure you, that if his Catholic Majesty consents to make a declaration in his name, bearing in substance that he had determined to offer to his Britannic Majesty a just and suitable satisfaction for the insult offered to his flag, such offer, joined to the promise of making restitution of the vessels captured and to indemnify the proprietors, will be regarded by his Britannic Majesty as constituting in itself the satisfaction demanded; and his said Majesty will accept of it as such by a counter-declaration on his part."
Under date of June 18th, Blanca
replies: "I cannot give my consent to the principles laid down in your
last letter; as Spain maintains, on the most solid grounds, that the
detention of vessels was made in a port, upon a coast, or in a bay of Spanish America, the commerce and navigation of which belongs exclusively to Spain, by treaties with all nations, even England itself. The principles laid down cannot be adapted to the case. The vessels detained attempted to make an establishment at a port where they found a nation actually settled; the Spanish commander at Nootka having, previous to their detention, made the most amicable representations to the aggressors to desist from their purposes."
"However, that a quarrel may not arise about words, and that two nations friendly to each other may not be exposed to the calamities of war, I have to inform you, sir, by order of the King, that his Majesty consents to make the declaration which your Excellency proposes in your letter, and will offer to his Britannic Majesty a just and suitable satisfaction for the insult offered to the honor of his flag, provided that to these are added either of the following explanations:
"1. That in offering such satisfaction the insult and the satisfaction shall be fully settled, both in form and in substance, by a judgment to be pronounced by one of the Kings of Europe, whom the King, my master, leaves wholly to the choice of his Britannic Majesty; for it is sufficient to the Spanish monarch that a crowned head, from full information of the facts, shall decide as he thinks just.
"2. That, in offering a just and suitable satisfaction, care shall be taken that, in progress of the negotiation to be opened, no facts be admitted as true but such as can be fully established by Great Britain with regard to the insult offered to her flag.
"3. That the said satisfaction shall be given on condition that no inference be drawn therefrom to affect the rights of Spain, nor the right of exacting from Great Britain an equivalent satisfaction if it shall be found, in the course of the negotiation, that the King has a right to demand satisfaction for the aggression and usurpation made on the Spanish territory, contrary to subsisting treaties."
The proposition to refer the subject to a European Sovereign being declined by Great Britain, the required declaration was made July 24th, by the Spanish Minister of State, which Fitzherbert accepted, and filed a counter-declaration. Up to this stage, neither the Royal message, the speeches in Parliament, nor the correspondence or statements of the British negotiator, make the slightest allusion to a claim by Great Britain of any right of territory, nor any denial of the sovereignty so persistently avowed by Spain. On the 16th of June, Spain appealed to France to assist her in resisting the power of Great Britain, should war ensue out of these matters. On the 6th of August the National Convention of France passed a decree stating that "France will observe the defensive and commercial engagements which the French government have previously contracted with Spain."
Hope being abandoned of assistance
from France, the negotiations proceeded and terminated, October 28th, in
the Nootka Treaty, or Convention of the Escurial. By its provisions, the
building and tracts of land on the northwest coast of America, of which
British subjects had been dispossessed in 1789, by Martinez, were to be
restored. Reparation was to be made for all acts of hostility or violence
subsequent to April, 1789. British subjects were to be re-established in
possession of property and vessels of which they had been dispossessed.
Just compensation was to be made to them for the looses which they had
sustained by the acts of the Spanish officer. A right in common was secured
to the subjects of both nations to navigate the Pacific Ocean and the South
Seas or to land on places on the coast thereof not already occupied, to
carry on commerce with the natives, and to make settlements with the following
restrictions: The King of
Great Britain engaged to prevent navigation or fishery in those seas being made the pretext for illicit trade with Spanish settlements. No British subject was to navigate or carry on a fisher in said oceans within ten leagues of any part of the coast occupied by Spain. When settlements were made by subjects of either power, free access to, and full privilege to trade, were confirmed without molestation. Such was the treaty of Nootka. Belsham, the British historian, thus comments upon these transactions, this negotiation and treaty:
"By the treaty of 1763, the river Mississippi, flowing from north to south, in a direct course of 1,500 miles, was made the perpetual boundary of the two empires; and the whole country to the west of that vast river belonged to his Catholic Majesty by just as valid a tenure as the country eastward of the river to the King of England. Exclusive of the recent and decisive line of demarcation, by which the relative and political rights of both nations were clearly ascertained, the Spanish Court referred to ancient treaties by which the rights of the Crown of Spain were acknowledged in their full extent by Great Britain."
Having referred to the British refusal to arbitrate, Belsham proceeds:
"No assistance being had from France, Spain, yielding to necessity, complied with the harsh demands for restitution and indemnification; and at length, on the 28th of October, 1790, a convention was signed at Escurial by which every point in dispute was conceded to Spain. The settlement of Nootka was restored, free navigation and right of fishing in the South Pacific were confirmed to Great Britain; a full liberty of trade, and even of settlement, was granted to all the northwest coast of America, beyond the most northerly of the Spanish settlements, unaccompanied, however, by any formal renunciation of their rights of sovereignty."
These transactions are of vital historic moment, as they afterwards became prominent features in the adjustment of the limits of coast and territory inuring to the respective claimants. As the United States of america afterwards succeeded to whatever rights Spain had acquired to Northwest America, it is interesting to learn how, if at all, Spain had become divested by the Nootka Treaty of territorial claim upon the North Pacific coast.
The British government appointed Captain George Vancouver commissioner to receive the property recited in the first article. With that leading object, an expedition was intrusted to his command.
Vancouver sailed from England
January 6, 1791, in the ship Discovery, accompanied by the brig
Chatham,
Lieutenant Robert Broughton. On the arrival of Captain Vancouver at Nootka
August 28, 1792, he found the Spanish commissioner, Bodega y Quadra, in
command. Negotiations commenced on the 30th and continued till the 18th
of September. Señor Quadra finally offered to surrender the land
actually occupied by british subjects in 1789, the Spanish settlement at
Nootka to continue until the decision of the English and Spanish governments
had been obtained. This was the extent of Quadra's powers, - of his concessions.
Captain Vancouver demanded "Nootka in toto, and Clayoquot or Port Cox.
The former is the place which had been occupied by the officers of the
Spanish Crown. This place, therefore, with Clayoquot or Port Cox, were
comprehended under the first article of the convention, and were by that
treaty to be restored without any reservation whatsoever; on these terms
and on these only could he receive restitution of them." Quadra was inexorable
and would consent to nothing except to place Vancouver in possession. He
utterly refused to make formal surrender of the territory of any claim
thereto of Spain. Vancouver adds: "He would not entertain an idea of hoisting the British flag on the spot of land pointed out by Señor Quadra, not extending more than one hundred yards in any direction." And so the Quadra-Vancouver negotiations ended without practical result. The territory was not surrendered. Captain Vancouver was never put in possession of Nootka harbor and the adjacent coast; not even the "small spot of ground," for the use of which, while the party should be building a schooner, Captain Meares had presented to Maquilla, the native chief, a pair of pistols.
Notwithstanding their unsuccessful negotiations, the social relations between these two illustrious navigators were of the most friendly character. Vancouver relates "that on the 5th September, after a pleasant joint excursion to Friendly Cove, Quadra earnestly requested him to name some port or island after both to commemorate the meeting and the very friendly intercourse that had taken place. Conceiving no spot so proper for this denomination as the place where we had first met, which was nearly in the center of the tract of land that had first been circumnavigated by us, forming the southwestern side of the Gulf of Georgia and the southern side of Johnstone's Strait and Queen Charlotte' Sound, I named that country the island of Quadra and Vancouver, with which compliment he seemed highly pleased."
The two commissioners, in the hope that more specific instructions might be received, arranged to meet again at Monterey, in Mexico. Vancouver had determined on sending the Chatham to England with advices as to the failure of settlement. But Señor Quadra generously offered Lieutenant Broughton a passage in his ship to San Blas, and thence to secure him a transit across Mexico, thereby materially hastening the journey to London, which Vancouver accepted. The Chatham remained on the coast, Lieutenant Puget succeeding to command. On reaching England, Lieutenant Broughton was dispatched to Madrid, and upon his return was assigned to the sloop Providence, with orders to proceed to Nootka and receive the possessions due to the British subjects under the first article of the Nootka Treaty. Broughton arrived at Nootka on the 17th of March, 1796, but found the place deserted by the Spanish. By letters left, he was informed that the restoration had been made March 28, 1795, "agreeably to the mode settled by the two courts." Lieutenant Broughton then departed from Nootka. Lieutenant Pierce of the marines was the English officer to whom the restoration had been made, General Alava representing the Spanish government. In the letter to the Duke of Portland, april 25, 1795, Lieutenant Pierce, after stating that the fort at the entrance of the harbor had been dismantled and the ordnance placed aboard the Spanish ships, writes:
"Brigadier-General Alava and
myself then met, agreeably to our respective instructions, on the place
where formerly the British buildings stood, where we signed and exchanged
the declaration, and counter-declaration, for restoring those lands to
his Majesty, as agreed upon between the two courts. After which ceremony
I ordered the British flag to be hoisted, in token of possession; and the
General gave directions for the troops to embark." Such is the British
version of the Spanish surrender at Nootka Harbor. The contents of the
exchanged declaration and counter-declaration, for restoring those lands
to his Majesty, there is no means of ascertaining. After the unsuccessful
negotiations between Vancouver and Quadra had been communicated to their
respective governments, it would seem that both nations agreed that neither
should assert exclusiveness of title to the territories of the North Pacific;
that question as to the sovereignty of the territory had been reserved;
and that matters at Nootka were intended to have been placed in their original
state. The vessels and property seized by Martinez had been restored;
and the sum of two hundred and ten thousand dollars had been accepted as reparation for damages growing out of his acts. Whatever surrender General Alava had made to Lieut. Pierce was merely a matter of ceremony. Certain it is, no concession was at that time made by Spain of her territorial claim upon the northwest coast. Belsham, who never apologizes for his country's wrong-doing, who believes that history should censure, where deserved, thus forcibly characterizes this temporary yielding to might:
"But though England, at the expense of three millions, extorted from the Spaniards a promise of restoration and reparation, it is well ascertained: first, that the settlement in question never was restored by Spain, nor the Spanish flag at Nootka ever struck; and, secondly, that no settlement had been subsequently attempted by England on the California coast. The claim of right set up by the Court of London, it is therefore plain, has been virtually abandoned, notwithstanding the menacing tone in which the negotiation was conducted by the British Administration, who cannot escape some censure for encouraging these vexatious encroachments on the territorial rights of Spain."
In 1796, Spain declared war against Great Britain, and never afterwards made any attempt to reoccupy Nootka Sound. Whether such war abrogated the Nootka Treaty, and reinstated in their original condition territorial rights claimed to have been regulated or acquired under such treaty, are questions which have been greatly discussed. Those unsettled questions of international law upon which publicists have so widely differed were divested of all political significance by the Treaty of Limits of June 15, 1846, between the United States, assignee of the Spanish title, and Great Britain. As Nootka is in the territory which was ceded to Great Britain by the United States, it is of no real moment whether Lieut. pierce was invested by General Alava with the territory surrounding Nootka Sound, or whether he receive only a possessory title to the spot upon which they stood, the spot of ground Maquilla had granted to Meares for a temporary shelter, while his crew built the Northwest America.
With Broughton's brief visit to Nootka Sound terminated the visits of the English. No more acts were ever performed by any British subjects, or attempted within the harbor or upon its adjacent soil, as a result of the Nootka Treaty, or of the ceremony in which Lieut. Pierce and General Alava participated. Great Britain never acquired, much less exercised, any territorial rights over Nootka Sound or the adjacent territory by virtue of the first article of the Nootka Treaty, which reads:
ARTICLE I. It is agreed that
the buildings and tracts of land situated on the northwest coast of the
continent of North America, or on islands adjacent to that continent, of
which the subjects of his Britannic Majesty were dispossessed about the
month of April, 1789, by a Spanish officer, shall be restored to the said
Britannic subjects.