USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 9
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 9
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In 1564, the Spaniards made another attempt to gain a footing in the East Indies, which was successful. The Philippine Islands were in that year subjugated by Miguel de Legazpi, who had been despatched from Mexico with a small squadron for the purpose ; and a discovery was also made in the course of this expedition, without which the conquest would have been of no value. Before that period, no European had ever crossed the Pacific from Asia to America; all who had endeavored to make such a voyage having confined themselves to the part of the ocean between the tropics
67
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE NAVIGATION OF THE PACIFIC.
1564.]
where the winds blow constantly from eastern points. Three of Legazpi's vessels, however, under the direction of Andres de Urdaneta, a friar, who had in early life accompanied Magellan in his expedition, and had subsequently acquired great reputation as a navigator, by taking a northward course from the Philippine Islands, entered a region of variable winds, near the 40th parallel of latitude, and were thus enabled to reach the coast of California, along which the prevailing north-westers carried them speedily to Mexico.
The Spaniards thus gained, what they had so long coveted, a position in the East Indies ; and the practicability of communicating, by way of the Pacific, between Asia and America, was placed beyond a doubt. At the same time, also, Juan Fernandes discov- ered the mode of navigating between places on the west coast of South America, by standing out obliquely to a distance from the continent ; and other improvements of a similar kind having been moreover introduced, the Spanish commerce on the Pacific soon became important. Large ships, called galleons, sailed annually from Acapulco to Manilla, in the Philippine Islands, and to Macao, in China, laden with precious metals and European merchandise, in return for which they brought back silks, spices, and porcelain, for consumption in America, or for transportation over the Atlantic to Europe; while an extensive trade in articles equally valuable was carried on between Panamá and the various ports of Peru and Chili. These voyages on the Pacific were usually long, but com- paratively safe, at least so far as regards exemption from injury by winds and waves, though the crews of the vessels often suffered dreadfully from scurvy occasioned by filth and want of good water and provisions ; * and, as that ocean remained for some years undis- turbed by the presence of enemies of Spain, little care or cost was bestowed upon the defence, either of the vessels or of the towns on the coasts.
The galleons, proceeding from Mexico to India, were wafted, by the invariable easterly or trade winds, directly across the ocean, in about three months ; in the return voyage, they often occupied more than double that time, and they always made the west coast of California, the principal points on which thus became tolerably well known before the end of the sixteenth century. Accounts of
* For accounts of the miseries of a voyage from Manilla to Acapulco, in 1697, see Gemelli Carreri's narrative, in the fourth volume of Churchill's collection of voyages, which, if not true, is very like truth.
68
VOYAGE OF GALI.
[1584.
some of these voyages have been preserved, but they are of little value at present, from their want of precision. One of them is a letter from Francisco Gali, addressed to the viceroy of Mexico, describing his passage from Macao to Acapulco, in 1584, in the course of which he sailed along the west coast of America, from the latitude of thirty-seven and a half degrees southward to Mexico .* It has, however, been maintained, on the evidence of papers found in the archives of the Indies,t that Gali arrived on that coast in the latitude of fifty-seven and a half degrees, and is therefore to be considered as the discoverer of the whole shore between that par- allel and the forty-third: but this assertion is supported by no evidence sufficient to overthrow the express statement of the navigator in his letter, the genuineness of which is not denied ; and Gali, moreover, there declares that the land first seen by him was " very high and fair, and wholly without snow," which could not have been the case with regard to the north-west coast of America, under the parallel of fifty-seven and a half degrees, in the middle of October. In 1595, Sebastian Cermenon, in the ship San Augustin, on his way from Manilla to Acapulco, examined the same coasts, by order of the viceroy of Mexico, in search of some harbor in which the galleons might take refuge, and make repairs, or obtain water; but nothing has been preserved respecting his voyage, except that his ship was lost near the Bay of San Francisco, south of Cape Mendocino.
The Spanish government was, in the mean time, engaged in devising, and applying to its dominions in the New World, those measures of restriction and exclusion, which were pursued so rigidly, and with so little variation, during the whole period of its supremacy in the American continent. The great object of this system was simply to secure to the monarch and people of Spain the entire enjoyment of all the advantages which were supposed to be derivable from those dominions, consistently with the perpetual maintenance of absolute authority over them ; and, for this object, it
* In Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 526, the letter from Gali to the viceroy is given at length, as "translated out of the original Spanish into Dutch, by John Huyghen Van Linschoten, and out of Dutch into English." In Linschoten, as in Hakluyt, thirty- seven and a half degrees is given as the northernmost part of the coast seen by Gali. t See the note in the Introduction to the Journal of Galiano and Valdes, at page 46, in which two letters from the viceroy of Mexico to the king of Spain, relative to the voyage of Gali, are mentioned ; but the account there given differs in nothing, except as to the latitude, from that in the letter published by Linschoten and Hak- lnyt. Humboldt adopts the opinion of the author of the Introduction, without, however, adding any information or reasoning on the subject.
69
SPANISH GOVERNMENT OF AMERICA.
1570.]
was deemed expedient not only to exclude the subjects of other Euro- pean states from the territories claimed by Spain, - that is, from the whole of the New World except Brazil, - but also to prevent the rapid development of the resources of the Spanish provinces them- selves .* In these views the Spaniards have not been singular ; but no other power, in modern times, has employed measures so extreme in fulfilling them. Thus no Spaniard could emigrate to America, no new settlement could be formed there, and no new country or sea could be explored, without the express permission of the sov- ereign ; and, when expeditions for discovery were made, the results were often concealed, or tardily and imperfectly promulgated. No article could be cultivated or manufactured for commerce in Amer- ica, which could be imported from Spain ; and no intercourse could be carried on between the different great divisions of those posses- sions, or between either of them and the mother country, except in vessels belonging to or specially licensed by the government, or otherwise under its immediate supervision. With the rest of the world, the Spanish Americans could have no correspondence ; and all foreigners were prohibited, under pain of death, from touching the territories claimed by Spain, and even from navigating the seas in their vicinity. "Whoever," says Hakluyt, at the end of the sixteenth century, " is conversant with the Portugal and Spanish writers, shall find that they account all other nations for pirates,
* The Spanish dominions in America, together with the Canary and the Philippine Islands, formed one empire, called the Indies, of which the king of Spain was, cx officio, the sovereign. The territories were divided into great sections, or kingdoms, each entirely independent of the others, except in certain prescribed contingencies ; the general direction of the whole being committed to the Supreme Council of the Indies, a special ministry, residing in the palace of the king, in whose name all its orders were issued. The larger kingdoms of the Indies were under the immediate government of viceroys, representing the authority and person of the sovereign; the others were governed by captains-general, or by presidents, whose powers werc more limited. All these high officers were, however, kept in check by the courts called Audiencias, resembling the Supreme Council in their organization and attributes, one or two of which were established in each kingdom. The commerce of those countries was under the superintendence of a board, called the House of Contracts of the Indies, sitting at Seville, to and from which port all expeditions, from and to America, were, for a long time, obliged to pass.
The laws and regulations of the Supreme Council were, from time to time, revised ; and those which were to remain in force were published in a collection entitled the Recopilacion de Leyes de Indias, (Compilation of Laws of the Indies,) containing the rules for the conduct of all the officers of the government. The provisions of this celebrated code are, in general, remarkable for their justice and humanity ; the enforcement of them, being, however, left to those who had no direct interest in the prosperity and advancement of the country, was most shamefully neglected.
70
FREE TRADERS AND FREEBOOTERS.
[1570.
rovers, and thieves, which visit any heathen coast that they have sailed by or looked on."
Against these exclusive regulations the English and the French at first murmured and protested, and then began to act. The English government, having thrown off its allegiance to the head of the Roman Catholic church, denied the validity of the Spanish claims founded on the papal concessions, and required from Spain the recognition of the rights of Englishmen to navigate any part of the ocean, to settle in any country not occupied by another Chris- tian nation, and to trade with the Spanish American provinces. These demands having been resisted, Queen Elizabeth * openly, as well as covertly, encouraged her subjects, even in time of peace, to violate regulations which she pronounced unjustifiable and inhuman ; and the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indian seas were, in conse- quence, haunted by bands of daring English, who, under the equivocal denominations of free traders and freebooters, set at defiance the prohibitions of the Spaniards, as to commerce and territorial occupation, and plundered their ships, and the towns on their coasts. About the same time, the French Protestants began their attempts to plant colonies in Florida and Carolina, which were not defeated without considerable expenditure of Spanish blood and treasure ; and the revolt in the Netherlands, which ended in the liberation of the Dutch provinces, soon after produced a formidable addition to the forces of these irregular enemies of Spain. The efforts of the English, and of their government, to establish com- merce with the Spanish dominions in America, have, in fact, been the principal causes or motives of nearly all the wars between those nations since the middle of the sixteenth century. In these efforts the English have constantly persevered ; and the Spanish govern- ment has resolutely opposed them, during peace, during war, and
* Queen Elizabeth's reply to the Spanish ambassador, who complained of the plunder of one of his sovereign's vessels by the English, in the West Indies, during peace between the two nations, is characteristic of her disposition, as well as reason- able. She said " that the Spaniards had drawn these inconveniences npon themselves, by their severe and unjust dealings in their American commerce; for she did not understand why either her subjects, or those of any other European prince, should be debarred from traffic in the Indies ; that, as she did not acknowledge the Spaniards to have any title, by donation of the bishop of Rome, so she knew no right they had to any places other than those they were in actual possession of; for that their having tonched only here and there upon a coast, and given names to a few rivers or capes, were such insignificant things as could in no ways entitle them to a pro- priety farther than in the parts where they actually settled, and continued to inhabit." - Camden's Annals of Queen Elizabeth's Reign, for 1580.
71
ALARMS AND PROHIBITIONS OF THE SPANIARDS.
1570.]
even during alliance between the two powers, until the last moment of the existence of the Spanish authority in the American continent.
Could Spain have so long retained the possession of her colonies in America, if she had adopted any other system with regard to them ?
The Pacific was, for some years, preserved from the ravages of these daring adventurers, by the dread of the difficulties and dangers attending the passage of vessels into that ocean, from the Atlantic, through the Strait of Magellan ; and the Spanish govern- ment began to regard as bulwarks of defence those natural obstacles to maritime intercourse between Europe and the western side of America, to remove or counteract which so many efforts had been previously made. Thenceforward, the expeditions of the Spaniards, in search of new channels connecting the two oceans, were undertaken only with the object of securing the passage, if it should be found, against the vessels of other nations ; and the heaviest penalties were denounced against all persons who should attempt, or even propose, to form artificial communications by canals across the continent .* These circum- stances, on the other hand, served to stimulate the enemies of Spain in their endeavors to discover easier routes to the Pacific ; to effect which, the Dutch and the English navigators perseveringly labored, during the latter years of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries.
'In the mean time, the reports of the extent and value of the Spanish commerce on the Pacific, and of the wealth accumulated in the towns on the American coasts of that ocean, overcame all the fears of the English, who at length spread their sails on its waters, and carried terror and desolation along its coasts.
* Alcedo, in his Geographical and Historical Dictionary of the West Indies, under the head Isthmus, says, "In the time of Philip II., it was proposed to cut a canal through the Isthmus of Panama, for the passage of ships from one ocean to the other ; and two Flemish engineers were sent to examine the place, with that object. They, however, found the obstacles insuperable; and the Council of the Indies at the same time represented to the king the injuries which such a canal would occasion to the monarchy ; in consequence of which, his majesty decreed that no one should in future attempt, or even propose, such an undertaking, under pain of death."
The same author, speaking of the River Atrato, in New Granada, emptying into the Atlantic, -between which and the San Juan, falling into the Pacific, it was also proposed to make a canal, - says, "The Atrato is navigable for many leagues; but all persons are forbidden, under pain of death, from navigating it, in order to prevent the injuries which New Grenada would sustain, from the facility thus afforded for entering its territory."
72
VOYAGE OF DRAKE.
[1577.
The first irruption of the English into the Pacific was made in 1575, by a party of freebooters, under John Oxenham, who crossed the isthmus a little west of Panama, and, having then built a vessel on the southern side, took many valuable prizes before any attempt could be made, by the Spaniards, to arrest their progress. They, however, in a few months, fell successively into the hands of their enemies, and were nearly all executed with ignominy at Panamá. Their fall was, three years afterwards, signally avenged by another body of their countrymen, under the command of the greatest naval captain of the age. It is scarcely necessary to say that this captain could be no other than Francis Drake, of whose celebrated voyage around the world - the first ever performed by one crew in one vessel - an account will be here given, as he, in the course of it, visited the north-west side of America, and is supposed, though erroneously, as will be proved, to have made important discoveries in that quarter.
Drake sailed from Plymouth on the 13th of December, 1577, with five small vessels, which had been procured and armed by himself and other private individuals in England, ostensibly for a voyage to Egypt, but really for a predatory cruise against the dominions and subjects of Spain. The governments of England and Spain were then, indeed, at peace with each other : but mutual hatred, arising from causes already explained, prevailed between the two nations ; and the principles of general law or morals were not, at that period, so refined as to prevent Queen Elizabeth from favor- ing Drake's enterprise, with the real objects of which she was well acquainted.
For some months after leaving England, Drake roved about the Atlantic, without making any prize of value: he then refitted his vessels at Port San Julian, on the eastern coast of Patagonia; and he succeeded in conducting three of them safely through the dread- ed Strait of Magellan, into the Pacific, which he entered in Sep- tember, 1578. Scarcely, however, was this accomplished, ere the little squadron was dispersed by a storm; and the chief of the expedition was left with only a schooner of a hundred tons' burden, and about sixty men, to prosecute his enterprise against the power and wealth of the Spaniards on the western side of America.
Notwithstanding these disheartening occurrences, Drake did not hesitate to proceed to the parts of the coast occupied by the Span- iards, whom he found unprepared to resist him, either on land or on sea. He accordingly plundered their towns and ships with little
73
VOYAGE OF DRAKE.
1579.]
difficulty ; and so deep and lasting was the impression produced by his achievements, that, for more than a century afterwards, his name was never mentioned in those countries without exciting feelings of horror and detestation.
At length, in the spring of 1579, Drake, having completed his visitation of the Spanish American coasts, by the plunder of the town of Guatulco, on the south side of Mexico, and filled his vessel with precious spoils, became anxious to return to England ; but, having reason to expect that the Spaniards would intercept him, if he should attempt to repass Magellan's Strait, he resolved to seek a northern route to the Atlantic. Accordingly, on quitting Guatulco, he steered west and north-west, and, having sailed in those directions about 1400 leagues, he had, in the beginning of June, advanced beyond the 42d degree of north latitude, where his men, being thus "speedily come out of the extreme heat, found the air so cold, that, being pinched with the same, they complained of the extremity thereof." He had, in fact, reached the part of the Pacific, near the American coasts, where the winds blow con- stantly and violently, during the summer, from the north and north- west, accompanied, generally, by thick fogs, which obscure the heavens for many days, and even weeks, in succession ; and, find- ing these difficulties increase, as he went farther, "he thought it best, for that time, to seek the land." He accordingly soon made the American coast, and endeavored to approach it, so as to anchor ; but, finding no proper harbor there, he sailed along the shore south- ward, until the 17th of the month, when " it pleased God to send him into a fair and good bay, within 38 degrees towards the line." *
In this bay the English remained five weeks, employed in re- fitting their vessel, and obtaining such supplies for their voyage as the country offered. The natives, " having their houses close by the water's side," at first exhibited signs of hostility : but they were soon conciliated by the kind and forbearing conduct of the strangers ; and their respect for Drake increased, so that, when they saw him about to depart, they earnestly prayed him to con- tinue among them as their king. The naval hero, though not disposed to undertake, in person, the duties of sovereignty over a
* These quotations are from the Famous Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, by Francis Pretty, one of the crew of Drake's vessel, written at the request of Hakluyt, and published by him in 1589. It is a plain and succinct account of what the writer saw, or believed to have occurred, during the voyage, and bears all the marks of truth and authenticity.
10
74
NEW ALBION.
[1579.
tribe of naked or skin-clad savages, nevertheless " thought not meet to reject the crown, because he knew not what honor or profit it might bring to his own country ; whereupon, in the name, and to the use, of her majesty Queen Elizabeth, he took the crown, sceptre, and dignity, of the country into his own hands, wishing that the riches and treasure thereof might be so conveniently transported, for the enriching her kingdom at home." The coro- nation accordingly took place, with most ludicrous solemnities, which are gravely described with minuteness, in the accounts of the voyage ; and Drake, having assumed the dignity and title of Hioh, bestowed on his dominions the name of New Albion.
The vessel having been refitted, Drake erected on the shore a pillar, bearing an inscription, commemorating the fact of this cession of sovereignty ; and, on the 22d of July, he took leave of his new-made subjects, to their great regret. Having, however, by this time, abandoned all idea of seeking a northern passage to the Atlantic, he sailed directly across the Pacific, to the vicinity of the Philippine Islands ; and thence, pursuing the usual course of the Portuguese, through the Indian Seas, and around the Cape of Good Hope, he arrived at Portsmouth, with his booty undiminished, on the 26th of September, 1580.
With regard to the harbor on the North Pacific side of America, in which Drake repaired his vessel, nothing can be learned from the accounts of his expedition which have been published, except that it was situated about the 38th degree of latitude, and that a cluster of small islets lay in the ocean, at a short distance from its mouth ; and this description will apply equally to the great Bay of San Francisco, and to the small Bay of Bodega, a few leagues farther north.
As to the extent of the portion of the north-west coast of America seen by Drake, considerable difference of opinion exists. In the earliest, and, apparently, the most authentic, account of the expedition,* the vessel is represented as being in the 43d degree of latitude, on the 5th of June, about which day it was determined to seek the land ; but when, and under what parallel of latitude, the American coast was first seen, is not stated. In another account, compiled long after the period of the voyage, it is said that the vessel was in latitude of 42 degrees on the 3d of June, and that, on the 5th of the same month, she anchored near the shore, in a "bad bay," in latitude of 48 degrees, from which being soon driven
* The Famous Voyage, by Pretty.
75
PART OF THE NORTH-WEST COAST SEEN BY DRAKE.
1579.]
by the violence of the winds, she ran along the coast southward, to the harbor near the 38th degree, where she was refitted .*
Thus the two accounts are at variance, with regard to the vessel's position on the 5th of June, on or about which day, it is most probable, from both, that the land was first seen. Hakluyt, who seems to have taken great interest in the geography of the North Pacific coasts of America, and to have endeavored to obtain the most correct information as to the occurrences of Drake's voyage, gives the 43d degree of latitude, in several parts of his works, as the limit of his countrymen's discoveries in that quarter ; and Purchas, in his Pilgrims, first published in 1617, declares expressly that " Sir Francis Drake sailed, on the other side of America, to 43 degrees, and, with cold, was forced to retire."
On the contrary, the famous navigator John Davis, in his World's Hydrographical Discovery, published in 1595, asserted that, "after Sir Francis Drake was entered into the South Sea, he coasted all the western shores of America, until he came into the septentrional latitude of 48 degrees ;" and Sir William Mon- son, another great naval authority of the following century, says, in his Naval Tracts, "From the 16th of April to the 15th of June, Drake sailed, without seeing land, and arrived in 48 degrees, thinking to find a passage into our seas, which land he named New Albion." The opinion of Davis cannot, however, be received as of much value ; for it is by no one else pretended, that Drake saw any part of the west coast of America, between Guatulco, near the 16th degree, and the harbor in which he refitted his ship, near the 38th : and, unfortunately for Sir William Monson's consistency, he maintains, in other parts of his Tracts, that "Cape Mendocino (near the 40th parallel) is the farthest land discovered," and " the farthermost known land." Burney, who has examined the question at length, in his History of Voyages in the South Sea, pronounces that " the part of the coast discovered by Drake is to be reckoned as beginning immediately to the north of Cape Mendocino, and extending to 48 degrees of north latitude ; " considering as explicit on the subject the statement in the latter of the two accounts of the
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