USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 22
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 22
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Whilst these preparations were in progress, the Spanish com- mandant altered his intentions, and proposed to release the Iphigenia and her crew, on condition that her officers would sign a declaration to the effect that she had not been interrupted, but had been kindly treated and supplied by him during her stay at Nootka. This proposition was at first refused; an arrangement was, however, afterwards made between the parties, in consequence of which the declaration was signed by the officers of the Iphigenia, and she and her crew were liberated on the 26th of May. Messrs. Viana and Douglas at the same time engaged for themselves, as "captain and supercargo respectively, and for Juan Cavallo, of Macao, as owner of the said vessel," to pay her value, on demand, to the order of the viceroy of Mexico, in case he should pronounce her capture legal.
This seizure of the Iphigenia by Martinez can scarcely be con- sidered unjust or unmerited, when it is recollected that, if, in attempting to enforce, with regard to her, the orders of his govern- ment, -which were perfectly conformable with the principles of national law as then recognized, and with treaties between Spain and the other powers, - he had been resisted and overcome, he, with his officers and men, would have been carried to Macao as prisoners, to be tried in Portuguese courts for piracy. Moreover, he had been informed that Meares was daily expected to arrive at Nootka, with other vessels belonging to the same concern ; and it was his duty to provide against the probability of being overpowered or insulted, by lessening the forces of those from whom he had every reason to apprehend an attack. He was, indeed, specially enjoined, by the viceroy of Mexico, to treat English and Russian
193
THE IPHIGENIA RETURNS TO CHINA.
1789.]
vessels with respect; but the contingency of his meeting with a Portuguese vessel at Nootka, furnished with such instructions as those carried by the Iphigenia, could not have been foreseen ; and the only grounds upon which he could have excused himself to his government for releasing her, even under the pledge given by her officers, must have been, that, at the time when those instruc- tions were written, it was not anticipated, by her proprietors, that Spain would take possession of any place on the north-west coast of America.
That the detention of the Iphigenia by the Spaniards was not injurious to the interests of her owners, is clearly proved. The distressed condition in which she reached Nootka has been already shown from the accounts of her officers; and she must have remained at that place, unemployed, during the greater and better part of the trading season, had she not been refitted and supplied as she was by the Spaniards. According to the narrative of Meares, she sailed from the sound on the 1st of June, to the coasts of Queen Charlotte's Island, where she collected a number of valuable furs in a few weeks: the trade was "so brisk," writes Meares, " that all the stock of iron was soon expended, and they were under the necessity of cutting up the chain plates and hatch-bars of the vessel," in order to find the means of purchasing the skins offered ; thence she departed for the Sandwich Islands, and, after a short stay there, continued her voyage to Macao, where she arrived in October, with about seven hundred sea otter skins, all collected since leaving Nootka Sound. Mr. Meares, in his Memorial, however, presents a very different picture of these circumstances : he there says, "During the time the Spaniards held possession of the Iphigenia, she was stripped of all the merchandise which had been prepared for trading, as also of her stores, provisions, nautical instruments, charts, &c., and, in short, of every article, except twelve bars of iron, which they could conveniently carry away, even to the extent of the master's watch, and articles of clothing;" he then goes on to state that, " on leaving Nootka Sound, the Iphigenia, though in a very unfit condition for such a voyage, proceeded from thence to the Sandwich Islands, and, after obtaining there such supplies as they were enabled to purchase with the iron before mentioned, returned to China, and anchored there in the month of October, 1789" - thus omitting all notice of the trip to the northern coasts, and of the brisk trade with the natives, in which the whole stock of iron
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194
SEIZURE OF THE NORTH-WEST AMERICA.
[1789.
(including, of course, the twelve bars before mentioned) was ex- changed for furs.
Before taking leave of the Iphigenia, it may be added, in evi- dence of her true character, that Douglas quitted her immediately on her arrival in China ; after which she continued to trade under the command of Viana, and under the flag of Portugal.
On the 8th of June, after the departure of the Iphigenia, the schooner North-West America returned from her voyage along the southern coasts, in which she had collected about two hundred sea otter skins, and was immediately seized by Martinez, in consequence, as he at first said, of an agreement to that effect between himself and the captain of the Iphigenia. This agreement is expressly de- nied by Douglas, who declares that both promises and threats had been used in vain to induce him to sell the small vessel at a price far below her real value ; and, in proof, he cites a letter given by him to Martinez, addressed to the captain of the North-West Amer- ica, in which he merely tells the latter to act as he may think best for the interest of the owners. Meares, in his Memorial, however, admits that the letter did not contain what Martinez understood to be its purport when he received it, and that advantage had been taken by Douglas of the Spaniard's ignorance of the English language ; from which circumstances it is most probable that the agreement, whether voluntary on the part of the captain of the Iphigenia, or unjustly extorted from him, was actually made as asserted by Marti- nez. A few days afterwards, the sloop Princess Royal, one of the vessels sent from Macao by the associated companies, entered the sound under the command of William Hudson, bringing infor- mation of the failure of Cavallo, the Portuguese merchant, upon whom, as owner of the Iphigenia, the bills in payment for the sup- plies furnished to that vessel, were drawn. Upon learning this, Martinez announced his determination to hold the North-West America in satisfaction for the amount of those bills: she was thereupon immediately equipped for a trading voyage, and sent out under the command of one of the mates of the Columbia ; but her officers and men were at the same time liberated, and nearly all the skins collected by her were placed on board the Princess Royal, for the benefit of the owners in China.
The Princess Royal remained at Nootka until the 2d of July, during which period she was undisturbed, and her officers and men were treated with perfect civility and respect by the Span-
195
SEIZURE OF THE ARGONAUT AT NOOTKA.
1789.]
iards. As she was leaving the sound on that day, her consort, the ship Argonaut, came in from Macao, under Captain Colnett, who, as already mentioned, had been charged by the associated companies with the direction of their affairs on the American coasts, and the establishment of a factory and fort for their benefit. What followed with regard to this ship has been represented under various colors ; but the principal facts, as generally admitted, were these : -
As soon as the Argonaut appeared at the entrance of the sound, she was boarded by Martinez, who presented to Colnett a letter from the captain of the Princess Royal, and pressed him earnestly to enter the sound, and supply the Spanish vessels with some arti- cles of which they were much in want. Several of the officers of the North-West America and the Columbia also came on board the Argonaut, and communicated what had occurred respecting the Iphigenia and the small vessel to Colnett, who, in consequence, hes- itated as to entering the sound ; but he was finally induced, by the assurances of Martinez, to do so, and before midnight his ship was anchored in Friendly Cove, between the Princesa and the San Carlos.
On the following day, Colnett, having supplied the Spanish ships with some articles, was preparing, as he states, to leave the sound, when he received an invitation to go on board the commandant's ship and exhibit his papers. He accordingly went, in uniform, and with his sword by his side, into the cabin of the Princesa, where he displayed his papers, and informed Martinez of his intention to take possession of Nootka, and erect a fort there under the British flag. The commandant replied, that this could not be done, as the place was already occupied by the forces and in the name of his Catholic majesty ; and an altercation ensued, the results of which were the arrest and confinement of Colnett, and the seizure of the Argonaut by the Spaniards. From the moment of his arrest, Colnett became insane or delirious, and continued in this state for several weeks, during which Duffin, the mate of his vessel, acted as the representa- tive of the proprietors: in the mean time, her cargo had been all placed on board the Spanish ships of war; and, on the 13th of July, she sailed, with her officers and nearly the whole of her crew as prisoners, under the command of a Spanish lieutenant, for San Blas.
If the accounts of these transactions, presented by Meares in his Memorial, and by Colnett in the narrative which he afterwards published, be admitted as conveying a full and correct view of the
196
SEIZURE OF THE ARGONAUT AT NOOTKA. [1789.
circumstances, the conduct of Martinez must be considered as nearly equivalent to piracy. From these accounts it would appear that the ship was treacherously seized, without any reasonable ground, or even pretext, and with the sole premeditated object of plundering her ; and that the most cruel acts of violence, insult, and restraint, were wantonly committed upon the officers and men during the whole period of their imprisonment. Colnett relates * - that, when he presented his papers to Martinez in the cabin of the Princesa, the commandant, without examining them, pronounced them to be forged, and immediately declared that the Argonaut should not go to sea - that, upon his " remonstrating [in what terms he does not say] against this breach of good faith, and forgetfulness of word and honor pledged," the Spaniard rose, in apparent anger, and introduced a party of armed men, by whom he was struck down, placed in the stocks, and then closely confined - that he was after- wards carried from ship to ship like a criminal, threatened with instant execution as a pirate, and subjected to so many injuries and indignities as to throw him into a violent fever and delirium, which were near proving fatal - and that his officers and men were impris- oned and kept in irons from the time of their seizure until their arrival at San Blas, where many of them died in consequence of ill treatment. Meares, in his Memorial, makes the same assertions, many of which are supported by the deposition of the officers and seamen of the North-West America, taken in China, and appended to the Memorial. On the other hand, Gray, the captain of the Washington, and Ingraham, the mate of the Columbia, both of whom were at Nootka during the occurrence of the affair, " were informed by those whose veracity they had no reason to doubt," + that Colnett, in his interview with Martinez on board the Princesa, denied the right of the Spaniards to occupy Nootka, and endeav- ored to impose upon the Spanish commandant, by representing himself as acting under direct orders from the British government ; and that he afterwards insulted the Spaniard by threatening him and drawing his sword. Colnett himself says that he attempted to draw his sword on the occasion, but that it was in defence against those who assailed him ; and it must be allowed to be very difficult to " remonstrate " with a man upon " his breach of faith, and forgetful-
* Account of his Voyage in the Pacific in 1793, note at p. 96; also Vancouver's Journal, vol. iii. p. 492. These two accounts differ in some points.
t Letter of Gray and Ingraham, in the Proofs and Illustrations, letter C.
197
SEIZURE OF THE ARGONAUT.
1789.]
ness of his word and honor pledged," without insulting him. Duffin, the mate of the Argonaut, writing to Meares from Nootka, ten days after the seizure of the ship, gives nearly the same account of the interview, adding that the misunderstanding was probably occa- sioned by the interpreter's ignorance of the English language: he says that Martinez appeared to be very sorry for what had hap- pened, and had " behaved with great civility, by obliging his pris- oners with every liberty that could be expected ; " and he com- plains of no violence, either to the feelings or to the persons of any of the crews of the vessels seized, although he charges the Span- iards with plundering both openly and secretly. Moreover, Duffin declares, and Meares repeats, in his Memorial, that the disease with which Colnett was afflicted after his arrest was a fit of insanity, oc- casioned by fear and disappointment operating upon a mind natu- rally weak and hereditarily predisposed to such alienation.
On the part of Spain, the only statements which have been pub- licly made are those contained in the notes and memorials ad- dressed by the court of Madrid to other governments in 1790; and in the Introduction to the Journal of Galiano and Valdes -all of which, though officially presented, are nevertheless imperfect and evidently erroneous on several important points .*
Upon reviewing the circumstances of the affair, there appears to be no reason to doubt that Colnett entered the sound, relying on the assurances of Martinez, that he should be undisturbed while
" These notes and memorials, which will be mentioned more particularly hereafter, may be found in the Proofs and Illustrations, under the letter D. All that is said in the Introduction to the Journal of Galiano and Valdes respecting the dispute, or the circumstances which led to it, is contained in the paragraph of which the following is a translation : -
" On the 2d of July, the English ship Argonaut, which had been sent by an Eng- lish company from Macao, entered the port. Her captain, James Colnett, came, with authority from the king of England, to take possession of the port of Nootka, to for- tify it, and to establish there a factory for the collection of sea otter skins, and to prevent other nations from engaging in this trade, with which objects he was to build a large ship and a schooner. This manifest infraction of the rights over that region led to a serious quarrel between the Spanish commandant and the English captain, which extended to Europe; and, the two powers being alarmed, the world was for some time threatened with war and devastation, the results of discord. Captain Col- nett refused, repeatedly and obstinately, to exhibit to Martinez the instructions which he brought; and he expressed himself in language so indecorous and irritating, that our commandant, having exhausted all the measures of prudence which he had hith- erto employed, resolved to arrest the British captain in the cabin of his ship, and to declare all the persons on board the Argonaut prisoners of war, and to send them to San Blas, to be there placed at the disposition of the viceroy of Mexico."
198
SEIZURE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL. [1789.
there, and be allowed to depart at his pleasure ; and it seems to be equally certain that the English captain did afterwards conduct himself with so much violence and extravagance towards the Span- ish commandant, as to render his own arrest perfectly justifiable. The seizure of the Argonaut, the imprisonment of her other officers and crew, and the spoliation of her cargo, cannot, however, be defended on those or on any grounds afforded by the evidence of any of the parties ; for Martinez had no reason to apprehend an attack from the Argonaut, and he had been specially instructed, by his immediate superior, the viceroy of Mexico, to suspend, with regard to British vessels on the north-west coasts, the execution of the general orders to Spanish commandants, for the seizure of foreign vessels entering the ports of the American dominions.
Still less excusable was the conduct of Martinez towards the sloop Princess Royal, on her second arrival at Nootka. She appeared at the entrance of the sound on the 13th of July, having made a short trading cruise along the northern coasts; and her captain, Hudson, on coming up to Friendly Cove in a boat, was arrested, after which his vessel was boarded and brought in as a prize by a party of Spaniards despatched for the purpose. On the following day, the majority of her crew were transferred to the Argonaut, which carried them as prisoners to San Blas ; her cargo was then taken out, and she was herself afterwards employed for nearly two years in the Spanish service, under Lieutenant Quimper.
The schooner North-West America was also retained in the national service of Spain; her officers and men, with some of those of the Argonaut and Princess Royal, were, however, placed on board the American ship Columbia, to be carried as passengers to China, one hundred of the sea otter skins found in the Princess Royal being allowed in payment of their wages and transportation. Martinez remained at Nootka until November, when he departed, with his three vessels, for San Blas, agreeably to orders received by him from Mexico.
The Columbia had remained in the sound ever since her first arrival there, in October, 1788; the Washington being, in the mean time, engaged in trading along the coasts north and south of that place, to which she, however, frequently returned, in order to deposit the furs collected. The officers of these vessels were thus witnesses of nearly all the occurrences at Nootka during the summer of 1789, in which, indeed, they frequently took part as mediators ;
199
CONDUCT OF THE AMERICANS AT NOOTKA.
1789.]
and the only evidence, with regard to those events, except the journal of Douglas, which can bear the test of strict examination, is contained in a letter addressed, three years afterwards, to the Spanish commandant of Nootka, by Gray, the captain of the Washington, and Ingraham, the mate of the Columbia .* Meares and Colnett endeavor to cast blame on the Americans for their conduct in these proceedings ; their complaints, however, on exam- ination, seem to rest entirely on the fact that the Washington and Columbia were undisturbed, while their own vessels were seized by the Spaniards. That Gray and Kendrick profited by the quarrels between the other two parties is probable, and no one can question their right to do so ; but no evidence has been adduced that they, on any occasion, took an unfair advantage of either: though it is also probable that their feelings were rather in favor of the Spaniards, by whom they were always treated with courtesy and kindness, than of the British, to whom, if we are to judge by the expressions of Meares and Colnett, they were, from the commencement, the objects of hatred and ridicule.
In one of the above-mentioned trading excursions of the Wash- ington, made in June, 1789, Gray explored the whole east coast of Queen Charlotte's Island, which had never before been visited by the people of any civilized nation, though Duncan, in the Princess Royal, had, in the preceding year, sailed through the sea separating it from the main land and other islands. The American, being ignorant of this fact, as also of the name bestowed on the territory by Dixon, called it Washington's Island ; and thus it was, for a long period, always distinguished by the fur traders of the United States. Meares endeavors, in his narrative, to secure to Douglas, the captain of the Iphigenia, the merit of having first established the insulation of the territory; though Douglas, in his journal annexed to that narrative, expressly alludes to the previous visits of the Washington to many places on the east coast. The assertion of this claim for Douglas was one of the causes of the dispute between Meares and Dixon, in 1791, which will be hereafter men- tioned more particularly.
In a subsequent excursion from Nootka, Gray entered the opening south-east of that place, between the 48th and 49th parallels of latitude, which had been found by Berkely in 1787, and was sup- posed to be the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Through
* See Proofs and Illustrations, under the letter D.
200
RELEASE OF COLNETT.
[1789.
this opening Gray sailed, as he informed Vancouver in 1792, " fifty miles in an east-south-east direction, and found the passage five leagues wide." He then returned to the Pacific, and, on his way to Nootka, he met the Columbia, which had just quitted the sound, with the crew of the North-West America on board as passengers, for China ; and it was agreed between the two captains that Kendrick should take command of the sloop, and remain on the coast, while Gray, in the Columbia, should carry to Canton all the furs which had been collected by both vessels. This was according- ly done ; and Gray arrived, on the 6th of December, at Canton, where he sold his furs, and took in a cargo of tea, with which he entered Boston on the 10th of August, 1790, having carried the flag of the United States for the first time around the world. Kendrick, immediately on parting with the Columbia, proceeded in the Washington to the Strait of Fuca, through which he passed, in its whole length, as will be hereafter more fully shown.
The Argonaut, with Colnett and his men on board as prisoners, arrived, on the 16th of August, at San Blas, near which place they were kept prisoners until the arrival of the commandant of that department, Captain Bodega y Quadra, by whom Colnett was treated with great kindness, and soon after sent to the city of Mexico. There he remained several months, during which the examination of the cases of the seized vessels was in progress ; and it was at length decided - that, although Martinez had acted con- formably with the general laws and regulations of Spain, forbidding all aliens from resorting to the Spanish American coasts, and the vessels might therefore be retained as lawful prizes, yet, in con- sideration of the apparent ignorance of their officers and owners with regard to the laws and rights of Spain, as also for the sake of peace with England, they should be released, with the understand- ing, however, that they were not again to enter any place on the Spanish American coasts, either for the purpose of settlement or of trade with the natives. In virtue of this decision, Colnett returned to San Blas, where he learned that several of his men had died of the fever endemic at that place, and his ship was much injured by the service to which she had been subjected ; she was, nevertheless, refitted, and, with the remainder of her crew, he sailed in her for Nootka, to receive possession of the Princess Royal, for which he had an order. On arriving at the sound, Colnett found the place deserted ; and, not knowing where to seek
201
THE PRINCESS ROYAL RESTORED.
1790.]
the sloop, he sailed for Macao, which he reached in the latter part of 1790. Thence he went, in the following year, to the Sandwich Islands, where the Princess Royal was restored to him, in March, by Lieutenant Quimper, the Spanish officer under whose command she had been employed for nearly two years.
The political discussions between the governments of Great Britain and Spain, which had meanwhile taken place, in con- sequence of the seizures at Nootka, will be related in the en- suing chapter.
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202
CHAPTER IX.
1790.
Controversy between Great Britain and Spain respecting the North-West Coasts of America and the Navigation of the Pacific - The Owners of the Vessels seized at Nootka apply for Redress to the British Government, which demands Satis- faction for the alleged Outrages - Spain resists the Demand, and calls on France for Aid, agreeably to the Family Compact - Proceedings in the National Assembly of France on the Subject - Spain engages to indemnify the British for the Property seized - Further Demands of Great Britain - Designs of Pitt against Spanish America - Secret Mediation of France, through which the Dispute is settled - Convention of October, 1790, called the Nootka Treaty - Proceedings in Parliament, and Reflections on this Convention.
THE Columbia arrived at Macao from Nootka in December, 1789, bringing as passengers the officers and crew of the North- West America, who communicated the news of the capture of that vessel, and of the Argonaut and Princess Royal, by the Spaniards. The owners immediately determined to apply to the British govern- ment for redress ; and Meares was accordingly despatched to Lon- don, where he arrived in April, 1790, provided with depositions, and other documents, in substantiation of their claims. While he was on his way, however, the circumstances on which his applica- tion was to be founded had already become the subject of a serious discussion between the courts of London and Madrid.
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