USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 28
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 28
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At Owyhee, the English ships were visited by Tamahamaha, who was, by this time, acknowledged as king of the island by all the other chiefs except Tamaahmoto, the murderer of the crew of the Fair American. Vancouver immediately recognized the authority of Tamahamaha, to which he endeavored, but in vain, to prevail on the others to submit; he then sailed to Mowee, where he succeeded in negotiating a peace between Titeree, king of that island, and the sovereign of Owyhee, and thence to Woahoo, where he superintended the trial and execution of three natives, who had been delivered up to him as the murderers of Hergest and Gooch, the officers of the Daedalus. The particulars of these judicial proceedings are detailed with precision by Vancouver, who seems to have been perfectly content with their regularity and correctness ; nevertheless, when Broughton visited the island, in 1796, he was assured, as he says, " that the men who were exe- cuted alongside of the Discovery had not committed the murders, but were unfortunate beings whom the chief selected to satisfy Captain Vancouver." * This appears to be certain from subsequent accounts ; and it seems to be somewhat strange, that Vancouver should not have suspected it to have been the case, at the time of the trial.
Having performed these acts of diplomacy and justice in the Sandwich Islands, Vancouver proceeded to the American coasts ; and, after examining the portion near Cape Mendocino, including the place called Port Trinidad by the Spaniards, in 1775, so as to connect his surveys north and south of that portion, he sailed to Nootka, where he arrived on the 20th of May, 1793. The remain- der of the warm season was passed by the British navigators in making a minute and laborious examination of the shores of the
* Journal of a Voyage to the Pacific, from 1793 to 1797, by Captain Robert Broughton, p. 42.
32
250
PRETENDED CESSION OF OWYHEE TO GREAT BRITAIN. [1794.
continent, and the islands in its vicinity, from the northern entrance of the Strait of Fuca, near the 51st degree of latitude, northward, as far as the 54th parallel ; tracing to their terminations, as in the preceding year, all the passages which appeared to run eastward, as well as many others, which were found to be channels separating islands from each other or from the main land. Several open- ings still remained unexplored beyond the 54th parallel ; but the weather became so stormy at the end of September, that the survey could no longer be continued with safety or advantage : Vancouver accordingly returned along the western side of Queen Charlotte's Island to Nootka, and thence took his departure for Port San Francisco, which he reached on the 19th of October.
From Port San Francisco the British navigators sailed along the shores of California - which Vancouver takes care always to call New Albion-as far south as San Diego, near the 33d degree of latitude, visiting every important point on their way, and observing the coasts with great exactness ; and thence, in the middle of De- cember, they went to Owyhee, where they found that the supremacy of Tamahamaha was admitted, though with some qualifications, by the people and the other chiefs. Here Vancouver succeeded in effecting a reconciliation between the king and Tahowmannoo, his sultana, (since better known as Kaahumanu,) from whom he had been for some time separated on account of her open and repeated infidelities ; and he soon after gave further proof of his talents as negotiator, in a transaction the particulars of which do not appear to have been understood in the same light by both the parties.
The navigator states that a strong disposition had been manifested by several chiefs, at the time of his first visit, to place their island under subjection to the British king, but that it had been opposed by other chiefs, on the ground that they should not surrender themselves to a superior foreign power, unless they were assured that they would thus be really protected against distant and neighboring enemies. At the time of his second visit, however, he found the disposition to submit much increased, and, as he says, " Under a conviction of the importance of these islands to Great Britain, in the event of an extension of her commerce over the Pacific Ocean, and in return for the essential services we had derived from the excellent productions of the country, and the ready assistance of its inhabitants, I lost no opportunity for encour- aging their friendly dispositions toward us, notwithstanding the
251
1794.] PRETENDED CESSION OF OWYHEE TO GREAT BRITAIN.
disappointments they had met from the traders, for whose conduct I could invent no apology; endeavoring to impress them with the idea that, on submitting to the authority and protection of a superior power, they might reasonably expect they would in future be less liable to such abuses." Acting under these views, he conciliated Tamahamaha by building for him a small vessel, on which the guns taken from the schooner Fair American were mounted ; and, having induced all the principal chiefs to meet him on the shore near his ships, it was determined, at the assembly, that Owyhee should be ceded to his Britannic majesty ; it being, however, clearly understood, that no interference was to take place in the religion, government, and domestic economy, of the island-" that Tamahamaha, the chiefs, and priests, were to continue, as usual, to officiate, with the same authority as before, in their respective stations, and that no alteration in those particulars was in any degree thought of or intended." So soon as this resolution was announced, Lieu- tenant Puget, the commander of the Chatham, landed, displayed the British colors, and took possession of the island in the name of his sovereign ; after which a salute was fired from the vessels, and a copper plate was deposited in a conspicuous place at the royal resi- dence, bearing the following inscription : " On the 25th of February, 1794, Tamahamaha, king of Owyhee, in council with the principal chiefs of the island, assembled on board his Britannic majesty's sloop Discovery, in Karakakooa Bay, and, in presence of George Vancouver, commander of the said sloop, Lieutenant Peter Puget, commander of his said majesty's armed tender the Chatham, and the other officers of the Discovery, after due consideration, unani- mously ceded the said island of Owyhee to his Britannic majesty, and acknowledged themselves to be subjects of Great Britain."
That Vancouver assumed more than was warranted, in thus asserting the cession of Owyhee, and the subjection of its chiefs to Great Britain, is clear ; not only from the subsequent declarations of the chiefs, that they only intended to place themselves under the protection of that power, but also from the understanding estab- lished between them and the navigator, that there was to be no interference in their internal concerns. At farthest, the transaction, even if ratified by the British government, can only be viewed as . an engagement, on the part of the islanders, not to cede their country to any other nation, and, on the part of Great Britain, to secure them against conquest or oppression by any other. Most probably each of the parties merely desired to obtain for itself as
252
TAMAAHMOTO RECEIVED BY VANCOUVER.
[1794.
many advantages as could be derived from the transaction, without any intention to observe concomitant obligations. Tamahamaha expected to receive assistance from Great Britain in conquering the remaining islands of the group; and Vancouver wished to prevent other nations from resorting to Owyhee. It may be added, that Great Britain has, to this day, been little, if at all, benefited by the Sandwich Islands ; and that Tamahamaha, though he lived and flourished for twenty-five years after the transaction above men- tioned, never received a present, or even a message of any kind, from his brother King George, to whom he, however, occasionally sent a message by a whaling captain, reminding him that Vancou- ver's promise of a ship of war had not yet been fulfilled. No such promise is recorded in the journal of Vancouver; though it there appears that the islanders had reason to believe that a vessel of war would be sent, for their protection, from Great Britain.
Another circumstance connected with this pretended cession of Owyhee to the British deserves particular notice. The consumma- tion was delayed for some time, on account of the absence of Tamaahmoto, or Kamamoko, one of the most powerful chiefs, the same who, in February, 1790, captured the schooner Fair American, and murdered her crew, as already stated. Vancouver had, at first, refused to receive this man, or to have any intercourse with him ; but when it was found to be indispensable for the cession, that Tamaahmoto should give his vote in favor of it, the British commander began " seriously to reflect on all the circumstances that had attended his visits to the islands ; " and he, in the end, became "thoroughly convinced that implacable resentment or un- relenting anger, exhibited in his own practice, would ill accord with the precepts which he had endeavored to inculcate for the regulation of theirs." He therefore "determined, by an act of oblivion in his own mind, to efface all former injuries and offences," which he probably found no difficulty in doing, as the injuries and offences were committed against citizens of the United States ; and he accordingly intimated that he would " no longer regard Tamaah- moto as undeserving forgiveness, and would allow of his paying the compliments as he had so repeatedly requested, provided he would engage, in the most solemn manner, that neither himself nor his people (for he generally moved with a numerous train of attendants) would behave in any manner so as to disturb the subsisting harmony." On receiving this intimation, Tamaahmoto readily came forward ; he was admitted to the table of the British commander, and was
253
1794.] VANCOUVER COMPLETES THE SURVEY OF THE COAST.
one of the seven chiefs who assented to the cession. It is not necessary to show what inference the natives of the Sandwich Islands might draw from a comparison between the favor thus shown to the murderer of citizens of the United States, and the trial and execution of the persons who were charged with causing the deaths of the officers of the British vessel at Woahoo .*
Soon after these transactions, the British navigators took their final leave of the Sandwich Islands, and, returning to the north-west coasts of America, examined every port which they had not previ- ously visited, from the peninsula of Aliaska, eastward and southward, to Queen Charlotte's Island. They began at Cook's River, and, having ascertained that no great stream entered that bay, they changed its name to Cook's Inlet, which is now most commonly applied to it. They then proceeded to Prince William's Sound, the shores of which were completely surveyed ; and thence along the bases of Mounts St. Elias and Fairweather, to the great opening in the coast, near the 58th degree of latitude, which had been called by Cook Cross Sound. In Cook's Inlet and Prince William's Sound, they visited all the Russian establishments, of which Van- couver presents full and satisfactory accounts; and, having succeeded in proving that the place in which Bering anchored on his last expedition could be no other than that called Admiralty Bay, at the foot of Mount St. Elias, on the east, they gave to it the name of Bering's Bay, and as such it generally appears on English charts : the Russians call it the Bay of Yakutat.
Through Cross Sound, Vancouver passed into a labyrinth of channels, some among islands, others running far inland, and termi- nating in the midst of stupendous mountains ; and, having succeeded in threading nearly all these passages, particularly those taking a northern or eastern direction, and thus joined his survey with that of the preceding year, he considered his task accomplished. He had made known the existence of an almost infinite number of islands, between the 54th and the 58th parallels, in the position assigned to the Archipelago of St. Lazarus, in the story of Fonte's voyage : but whilst a part of that story thus seemed to be confirmed, the remainder was supposed to be entirely disproved, as no great river
* Tamaahmoto did not, however, scruple to declare, two years afterwards, that he would take the first vessel which might come within his reach; and so little effect had the executions at Woahoo, that Captain Brown, of the British ship Butterworth, was killed, in January, 1795, by the natives of that island, in an attack which they made on his vessel with the intention to take her. - See Broughton's account of his voyage in the Pacific, p. 43.
254
STIKINE RIVER. [1794.
was found issuing from the continent opposite these islands ; and Vancouver became well satisfied " that the precision with which his survey had been conducted would remove every doubt, and set aside every opinion of a north-west passage, or any water communi- cation navigable for shipping, between the North Pacific and the interior of the American continent, within the limit of his re- searches." The belief thus expressed by the navigator has been completely confirmed. It must, nevertheless, be admitted that, con- sidering the intricacies in the coasts between the 48th and the 58th parallels, many passages, by which vessels could penetrate into the interior of the continent, might have long escaped the notice of the most careful observer ; and in evidence of this is the fact, that a river called the Stikine,* three miles wide at its mouth, and a mile wide thirty miles higher up, has been, since Vancouver's voyage, found entering the arm of the sea named by him Prince Frederick's Sound, in the latitude of 56 degrees 50 minutes. Vancouver's failure to discover the mouth of the Columbia should have ren- dered him distrustful of the entire accuracy of his observations in such cases.
After completing these discoveries, Vancouver took possession of the part of the continent extending north-westward of that around the Strait of Fuca, which he had named New Georgia, as far as the 59th degree of latitude, and of all the adjacent islands, " in the name of his Britannic majesty, his heirs and successors," with the formalities usual on such occasions, including a double allow- ance of grog to the sailors. He also bestowed upon the various territories, straits, bays, &c., names derived almost entirely from the lists of the members of the royal family, the ministry, the Par- liament, the army and the navy of Great Britain ; the importance
Vancouver mentions Stikeen as the name of a country or nation on the conti- nental shore of Prince Frederick's Sound ; and he heard, from the natives farther south, of a place in that sound called by them Uon-nass, which word seemed to mean great channel. The first intimation of the existence of the river was probably com- municated to the world by the captain of the ship Atahualpa, of Boston, from whose journal an extract is published in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society for 1804, p. 242. The captain there says, -
" August 25th, 1802. I had some conversation with Con (a chief of an island ncar Queen Charlotte's Sound) respecting the natives who inhabit the country back of Stikeen : he had his information from Cokshoo, the Stikeen chief. * *
* Cou also informs me that the place called Nass, or Uon-nass (spoken of by Vancouver) by the natives in Chebassa Strait, (Prince Frederick's Sound,) is the mouth of a river of very considerable extent, but unknown, navigable for vessels or large canoes." Near this place, the Atahualpa was attacked, in January, 1805, and her captain, mate, and six seamen, were killed : the others of her erew succeeded in escaping with the vessel.
255
NAMES OF PLACES ON THE NORTH-WEST COAST.
1794.]
of the place thus distinguished being generally in proportion to the rank of the individual. Thus we find upon his chart of the north- west archipelago, the large islands or groups of King George the Third, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and the Admiralty ; with the smaller ones of Pitt, Hawkesbury, Dundas, and Burke ; between which are the Duke of Clarence's Strait, Prince Frederick's Sound, Chatham Canal, Grenville Canal, and Stephens's Passage : a small group, near the 55th parallel, partially surveyed by Caamano, in 1791, was allowed to retain the name of Revillagigedo Islands, in honor of the enlightened viceroy of Mexico. The capes, bays, and smaller points or channels, are distributed among the Windhams, Walpoles, and other high families, principally those belonging to the Tory party; one little point being, however, vouchsafed to Charles James Fox. Without questioning the right of the discov- erer to impose these names, it may be observed, that none of them will, in all probability, ever be used by the inhabitants of the region in which the place so called is situated. The Russians, who occupy the islands and coasts of the main-land north of the 54th parallel, rigorously exclude from their charts, and from use in every way, the appellations assigned to places in their dominions by people of other civilized countries ; and even the British traders, whose posts extend through the parts of the continent distinguished by Vancouver as New Georgia, New Hanover, New Cornwall, and New Norfolk, appear to be entirely ignorant of those names.
From the northern coasts, Vancouver, when his labor was ended, went to Nootka, where he found the Spaniards still in possession, under the command of Brigadier Alava ; Quadra having died in the preceding spring, at San Blas. As no information had been received there from Europe respecting the surrender of the territories, the British commander sailed to Monterey, where he learned that the question had been "adjusted by the two courts amicably, and nearly on the terms which he had repeatedly offered to Quadra in Sep- tember, 1792;" and also " that the business was not to be carried into execution by him, as a fresh commission had been issued for the purpose by the court of London." Under these circumstances, he resolved to return immediately to Europe ; and he accordingly quitted Monterey on the 2d of December, 1794. On his way southward, he examined the Californian coast, though not minutely, as far as Cape San Lucas, from which he took his departure for Valparaiso, in Chili. After a short stay at that place, he passed around Cape Horn, and arrived in England in November, 1795;
256
END OF THE NOOTKA CONTROVERSY
[1796.
having completed, in the most effectual manner, the most extensive nautical survey which had ever been made in one expedition .*
No account has yet transpired of the negotiation between the courts of London and Madrid, respecting the extent of territory, and the buildings on the north-west coasts of America, which were to be restored to British subjects, after the reference of that question to them by their commissioners. Lieutenant Broughton, who had been despatched to England by Vancouver in 1793, was thence sent by the government on this business to Madrid; and, on his return to London, he was ordered to proceed to the North Pacific, in the sloop Providence, for the purpose of surveying the coasts of Asia, near Japan, being commissioned, at the same time, to receive possession of the territories at Nootka, in case the restitution should not have been previously made. He accordingly sailed from Eng- land for Nootka, where, in April, 1796, he was informed, by letters left in charge of Maquinna,t " that the Spaniards had delivered up the port of Nootka, &c., to Lieutenant Pierce, of the marines, agreeably to the mode of restitution settled between the two courts,"
* Vancouver's journal and charts were published at London in 1798, before which period the navigator had sunk into the grave. His journal is a simple record of obser- vations and occurrences, written in a plain and intelligible, though homely and un- pretending style ; and it is entirely free from those displays of imagination, in the shape of long political and philosophical disquisitions, with which such works are often overloaded. The charts and views of the land are admirably executed, and their accuracy has been since generally confirmed. We are, in fact, indebted to Vancouver and his officers for our knowledge of the outline of the whole western coasts of Amer- ica, from the peninsula of California to the peninsula of Aliaska ; of which all the principal points have been ascertained with the utmost precision, so that succeeding navigators have only had to make corrections in the intermediate spaces. Vancouver himself was certainly a man of great courage, perseverance, and professional skill, possessing also good temper and good feelings, except with regard to citizens of the United States, against whom and their country he cherished the most bitter animosity. While admitting, with frankness, the merits of subjects of other nations, as discoverers or as men, he did not hesitate to adopt unworthy means to deprive the Americans of the reputation which they had justly earned by their labors in exploring, and to blacken their characters as individuals : for this object, he made use of misrepresentations, misstatements, insinuations, and concealments, whenever occasions presented them- selves; and that which he would have commended in a Briton, or excused in a Rus- sian or a Spaniard, became criminal in his eyes when committed by a citizen of the hated republic. IIe, nevertheless, appears to have given satisfaction to all with whom he came personally into communication. Ingraham speaks of him with the utmost respeet, and acknowledges his obligations for the uniform kindness of the British navigator. In the Sandwich Islands his memory is universally cherished. He was long expected to return and establish himself there, as a commissioner from his sovereign ; and he probably would have been admitted among the number of their gods, if the ship which he is said to have promised to Tamahamaha had ever been sent.
t Journal of a Voyage in the Pacific, by Captain Robert Broughton, p. 50.
257
END OF THE NOOTKA CONTROVERSY.
1796.]
in March, 1795, after which the place had been entirely evacuated by both parties. This is the account given by Broughton in his journal, which, however, affords no information as to the mode of restitution thus settled. On the other hand, Belsham, an historian who, notwithstanding the violence of his prejudices, cannot be sus- pected of want of attachment to the honor or interests of his country, and who possessed ample means of ascertaining the fact, writes, in 1805,* " It is nevertheless certain, from the most authentic subse- quent information, that the Spanish flag flying at Nootka was never struck, and that the territory has been virtually relinquished by Great Britain." It indeed seems very improbable that the British government, which had just concluded a treaty of alliance with Spain, and had induced that power to declare war against France, when Broughton was sent to the Pacific, should at the same time have required the surrender of this territory, or that Spain should have assented to it while she possessed the right, by the convention, to indemnify the British claimants for all such losses of land or build- ings, as they could prove to have been sustained by them, since the month of April, 1789. It is more reasonable to suppose that the Spaniards merely abandoned the place, the occupation of which was useless and very expensive .; Since that period, no civilized nation has ever attempted to form an establishment at Nootka Sound, nor have the Spaniards occupied any spot on the Pacific coast of America north of Port San Francisco.
In July, 1796, Spain, having been unsuccessful in her hostile operations against the French republic, was obliged to make peace with that power ; and, in October following, she was likewise obliged
* History of Great Britain, vol. viii. p. 337.
t In the library of Congress, at Washington, is an interesting Spanish manuscript presented by General Tornel, during his residence in the United States as minister from Mexico, entitled " Instruccion reservada del Reyno de Nueva Espana que el Exmo. Señor Virrey Conde de Revillagigedo dió á su Sucesor el Exmo. Señor Mar- ques de Branciforte en el Año de 1794" - Secret Instructions respecting the Kingdom of New Spain, giren, in 1794, by the Viceroy, Count de Revillagigedo, to his Successor, the Marquis de Branciforte. This work, which abounds in curious details relative to the administration of affairs in Mexico, has been carefully examined with reference to the objects of the present memoir. Nothing, however, has been collected from it, except in confirmation of statements elsewhere made. The paragraphs from 703 to 713, in- clusive, are devoted to the Marine Department of San Blas, to which, as already men- tioned, the care of the Spanish colonies in California was committed. The count recommends to his successor the maintenance of those colonies, as the best means of preserving Mexico from foreign influences ; advising him, at the same time, however, not to extend the establishments beyond the Strait of Fuca. With regard to Nootka, it is merely stated, in paragraph 713, that orders had been sent to the commandant to abandon the place, agreeably to a royal dictamen.
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