Pole to Pole, three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. All of the territory west of the boundary line belonged to Spain, all of the territory east of the boundary line belonged to Portugal. By the terms of the decree Spain received all of the continent of North America and the west half of the continent of South America. The Spaniards accepted the decree as a valid title to their possessions in the new world. Acting on the principle of preferred rights, the King of Spain by royal decree in 1692, forbid foreign vessels the right to navigate the South Sea, (Pacific Ocean).

The Spanish decree restrained British commerce with the East Indies. The commercial interests of Great Britain sought other means for entering the East India trade by searching for a Northwest Passage, suitable for ocean commerce, across the North American continent. During the search, England sent out over two hundred voyages. A reward of 20,000 pounds sterling was offered to the successful navigator. The north Atlantic coast was searched without success. Captain James Cook, one of the most eminent of England's celebrated navigators, offered his services which were accepted, to make a search of the north Pacific coast. He sailed from Plymouth England, July 12, 1776, just eight days after the Declaration of Independence by the Congress of the United States of America. The 26th day of March, 1778, he entered Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island and remained a month refitting his ships. During his stay he accidentally discovered the Fur Trade.

In the year 1785, British merchant vessels entered the Fur Trade between Nootka Sound and Canton China. The first cargoes found ready markets at fabulous prices. The report of the success of the British fur traders having reached Boston it excited that spirit of enterprise so characteristic of American merchants. In the year 1787, a company of Boston merchants associated themselves together for the purpose of entering the Nootka Sound Fur Trade. Two ships were purchased and fitted out for the voyage, one, the Columbia, was placed under the command of John Kendrick; the other, Lady Washington, was placed under the command of Robert Gray. The two ships sailed out of Boston harbor, October 1, 1787. The Washington outdistanced the Columbia, arriving at Nootka Sound, September 16, 1788, the Columbia arrived Sep

tember 23, 1788. The Americans found in the harbor a British captain named John Meares who had a crew of laborers busily at work building a ship. The ship was launched a few days after the arrival of the Americans. The British took their departure for the Sandwich Islands and China a few days after the launching of the ship. The Americans wintered at Nootka Sound. During the winter months they learned the Indian language.

During the voyage from Boston to Nootka Sound the American vessels sailed through the forbidden South Sea. The Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico) learning that American ships had entered and navigated the Pacific Ocean, dispatched Don Estevan Martinez in pursuit with instructions to "take such measures with the American vessels as you may be able and such as appear proper." Martinez overtook the Columbia at Nootka Sound during April, 1789. Captain Gray was out on a trading excursion to the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Before leaving Boston the owners of the ship armed Captain Kendrick with the strongest weapon that can possibly be put into the hands of an American citizen, "civility and respect." When Martinez called upon Kendrick and demanded his papers, Kendrick used the weapon which had been placed in his hands and politely produced his sea-letters. Martinez examined them and finding nothing in them derogatory to the interests of Spain permitted the Americans to continue their operations unmolested.

Martinez remained at Nootka Sound, during the months of May and June the British returned from China leaving Meares behind. During their discussions, Martinez and the British sea captains became involved in an imbroglio. Martinez seized the British ships and took the officers and crews prisoners and sent them as prizes to the Spanish station at San Blas, Mexico. The Viceroy of Mexico reported the circumstance to the King of Spain. In turn the King of Spain sent a demand on the King of England to keep his subjects away from the Northwest Coast of America. The Spanish note angered the King of England and he in turn demanded of the King of Spain that his subjects should be set at liberty and redressed for the damage done to their persons and property. For a time all Europe was aflame with the war spirit. Spain and England began preparations for a sanguinary conflict. The United States became involved, George Washington called upon his chief advisers what he should tell England if she should ask the privilege or should un

dertake without asking the privilege of marching an army from Detroit to the lower Mississippi valley. The advice given to President Washington is the beginning of the Monroe Doctrine. Before coming to an open conflict, the two governments came to an amicable understanding which led to the signing of a Convention by the Ministers of both nations wherein it was agreed that Spain would restore the lands and buildings belonging to British subjects at Nootka Sound, previous to April, 1789. Under the terms of the Convention, each nation was to appoint a commissioner who should meet at Nootka Sound and establish the limits of the territory to be restored. George Vancouver was authorized by the King of England to receive the disputed territory from a Spanish commissioner. Quadra was appointed by the King of Spain to restore to a British commissioner the disputed territory.

Quadra arrived at Nootka Sound the 29th day of April, 1792. He commissioned all of the vessels under his command to inspect the coast and as they passed to enquire into the events which preceded the imbroglio between Martinez and the British sea-captains. Captain Gray had returned to Boston in command of the Columbia, he returned to the coast on a second voyage. Before leaving Boston he was instructed by the owners of the ship to sweep the Northwest Coast of North America. During the sweeping process, Captain Gray ran his ship on a hidden rock in Queen Charlotte Sound. Not having material with which to repair his ship he decided to take her to the Spanish port at Nootka Sound. Arriving at Nootka Sound he received a cordial welcome from the Spaniards. Quadra invited Captain Gray to lodge at his house during his stay in port, Captain Gray gladly accepted the invitation. Quadra always on the alert for information respecting the imbroglio between Martinez and the British sea-captains, requested of Captain Gray a written statement of the events that transpired during the imbroglio. Joseph Ingraham in command of the American brig Hope arrived at Nootka Sound, August 9, about fifteen days after the arrival of Captain Gray. Ingraham was first officer on board the Columbia during its first voyage around the world and was present in the harbor during the trouble between Martinez and the British. Captain Gray requested Ingraham, who was an excellent penman, to write the letter of reply to Quadra's questions and he would sign it. Ingraham did as requested, the letter is an impartial statement of the facts in

the case as far as the American captains knew. Captain Gray signed the letter jointly with Ingraham. Such is the origin of the famous joint letter that prevented the British from obtaining the Spanish claims to the Northwest Coast of North America.

Vancouver arrived off the mouth of the Columbia River the 27th day of April, 1792. Seeing some whitish water he hauled his wind to the northwest to avoid getting into shallow water, which left him in an uncertainty concerning the Great River of the West. The morning of the 29th he fell in with Captain Gray, off the coast of Washington near Destruction Island. At the name of Gray he conjectured that it was the very same man who it was reported in England had sailed up the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1789. Requesting Captain Gray to bring his vessel to, he sent two of his officers on board the Columbia for the purpose of obtaining such information as would be serviceable to his expedition in the future. Captain Gray gave the British officers all of the information in his power, especially that relating to the navigation of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Captain Gray was quite familiar with the navigation of the Straits before the coming of Vancouver.

The information obtained from Captain Gray enabled Vancouver to enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca and begin a minute examination of the continental shore of the inland navigation lying on the Northwest Coast of North America. The 4th of June, 1792, Vancouver landed on the south point of land at the entrance of Tulalip Bay, about twenty miles north of Everett Washington, and took possession of the region in the name of the King of England, his heirs and successors.

Vancouver arrived at Nootka Sound, August 28, 1792, four months after he entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The morning of the 29th the two commissioners, Vancouver and Quadra, met for the first time. The usual formalities were observed. Quadra boarded the Discovery, Vancouver's ship, and breakfasted with Vancouver; in return Vancouver and his officers dined with Quadra. The morning of the 29th an Indian chief named Maquinna attempted to board the Discovery but was prevented from doing so by the sentinel on duty. Maquinna took offence at the action of the British sentinel. At the dinner table Maquinna brought up the subject and raised an objection to the Spaniards ceding the port to the British. Quadra tried to pacify the chief by telling him that ignorance of his

station on the part of the sentinel was the reason he had been denied admission to the ship, and that the English people would treat him and his people with kindness, with which assurances he appeared to be perfectly satisfied.

During the forenoon of the 29th, a Spanish officer placed in Vancouver's hands a very long letter from Quadra respecting the cession of territory to Great Britain. Previous to the arrival of Vancouver a storeship had arrived from England with supplies for the expedition. On board the storeship, Daedalus, was a young man named Dobson who could translate the Spanish language correctly, he very politely offered his services to Vancouver and Quadra, who very gladly accepted his offer. Unexpectedly to Vancouver, Quadra enlarged upon the Spanish principle of preferred rights. Vancouver was not prepared to accept Quadra's interpretation of Spanish rights. His instructions leaving him totally in the dark what measures to pursue in an event of this nature. Accompanying his letter, Quadra enclosed copies of two other letters, one from Captain Franco Joseph de Viana, master of the Iphigenia at the time she was seized by Martinez in 1789; and the joint letter of the American captains. Vancouver at no time during the diplomatic discussion raised an objection to the letters written by Viana or the American captains.

In his letter to Vancouver, dated August 29, 1792, Quadra set up the Spanish principle of preferred rights in the following language:

By solemn treaties; by discoveries; and by a possession immemorial, well confirmed; it has been known by all nations the propriety which ours has in the coast to the north of California. Founded in this right we have gone without violence, gaining the love of the natives, with the cost of innumerable sums, in the different expeditions by sea and land, and in sustaining the department of Sn. Blaz, without any other view than as an auxiliary to the other establishments, and to extend them. Who then can take it ill that Dn. Estevan Martinez disputed the preference of this port; if they know that in the year 1774 it was seen by the Spaniards, and in 1775 possession was taken two degrees to the Southward and six to the Northward, and that with his arrival he met with no kind of establishment whatever.

Quadra entered into a general discussion of the imbroglio between Martinez and Colnett, the British sea-captain. He offered to