jacent territories for their respective sovereigns; but such acts are, and were then, generally considered as empty pageants, securing no real rights to those by whom, or in whose names, they were performed. Nor does it appear that any portion of the above-mentioned territories had become the property of a foreigner, either by purchase, occupation, or any other title, which can be regarded as valid. It has been already said that Mr. Meares, in his Memorial, addressed to the British Parliament, in 1790, laid claim to certain tracts of land about Nootka Sound, as having been ceded to him by the natives of the country, in 1788; but it was, at the same time, shown that this claim was unsupported by sufficient evidence, and was, moreover, directly, as well as indirectly, contradicted by Mr. Meares himself, in his journal of the same proceedings: and other circumstances will be mentioned hereafter, serving to prove the falsehood of that person's assertions, and of his pretensions to the possession of any part of the American territory.

The right of exclusive sovereignty over these extensive regions was claimed by Spain, in virtue of the papal concession, 1493, of the first discovery of their coasts by Spanish subjects, and of the contiguity of the territories to the settled dominions of Spain. Of the validity of the title derived from the papal concession it appears to be needless, at the present day, to speak. That the Spaniards were the first discoverers of the west coasts of America, at least as far north as the 56th parallel of latitude, has been already shown; and the fact is, and has been ever since the publication of Maurelle's Journal, in 1781, as indisputable as that the Portuguese discovered the south coasts of Africa. The extent of the rights derived from discovery are, however, by no means clearly defined by writers on public law; and the practice of nations has been so different in different cases, that it seems impossible to deduce any general rule of action from it. That a nation whose subjects or citizens had ascertained the existence of a country previously unknown, should have a better right than any other to make settlements in that country, and, after such settlement, to own it, and to exercise sovereignty over it, is in every respect conformable with nature and justice; but this principle is liable to innumerable difficulties in its application to particular cases. It is seldom easy to decide how far a discovery may have been such, in all respects, as should give this strongest right to settle, or to what extent of country a title of sovereignty may have been acquired by a particular settlement: and even where the novelty or priority and sufficiency of the discovery are admit

ted, the right to occupy thus derived cannot surely be regarded as subsisting forever, to the exclusion of all other nations; and the claims of states already occupying contiguous territories are always to be taken into consideration.

Agreeably to these views, it could not with justice be assumed that Spain, from the mere fact of the first discovery of the northwest coasts of America by her subjects, acquired the right to exclude all other nations from them forever; but it would be most unjust to deny that her right to occupy those vacant territories, contiguous as they were to her settled dominions, even if they had not been first discovered by her subjects, was much stronger than that of any other nation. Thus the occupation, and even the exploration, of any part of the north-west coasts by another power, might have been reasonably considered by Spain as an unfriendly, if not as an offensive, act; while she might, on the contrary, have extended her establishments at least as far north as the 56th parallel, and have claimed the exclusive right to occupy all the coasts south of her most northern establishment, without giving just cause of dissatisfaction to any other power. The right to occupy must be here distinguished from the right of sovereignty; as no nation could be justified, by virtue of the former right, and without occupation or the performance of acts indicating an intention soon to occupy, in depriving others of the trade of extensive vacant sea-coasts, unless upon the ground that the exercise of such trade would be injurious to its actual interests in those countries.

Resuming the narrative of events in the North Pacific-It has been mentioned, in the preceding chapter, that Meares sailed in the Felice from Nootka Sound to China, in the end of September, 1789. On reaching Macao, in December following, he learned that during his absence, Juan Cavallo, the Portuguese merchant, whose name appeared on the papers of the Felice and Iphigenia as their owner, had become a bankrupt. What steps were taken immediately, in consequence of this event, is not related; but an arrangement was soon after made between the anonymous merchant proprietors and Mr. Etches, the agent of the King George's Sound Company, who was then at Macao, with the ship Prince of Wales and sloop Princess Royal, for a union of the interests of the two parties. Agreeably to this arrangement, the Felice was sold, and the Prince of Wales returned to England; and a ship called the Argonaut was purchased, in which Colnett, a lieutenant in the British navy, previously commanding the Princess Royal, was despatched, in April,

1789, to Nootka, as captain, and agent for the proprietors on the American coast, accompanied by the Princess Royal, under Captain William Hudson.

The management of the affairs of the association at Macao appears to have been committed entirely to Meares, who drew up the instructions for Colnett. From these instructions, of which a copy is appended by Meares to his Memorial, it is evident that there was really an intention to found a permanent establishment on some part of the north-west coast of America, although no spot is designated as its site, and no hint is given of any acquisition of territory having been already made at or near Nootka Sound. Indeed, the only reference to that place, in the whole paper, is contained in the words, "We recommend you, if possible, to form a treaty with the various chiefs, particularly at Nootka." Yet Meares, in his Memorial, strangely enough says, "Mr. Colnett was directed to fix his residence at Nootka Sound, and, with that view, to erect a substantial house on the spot which your memorialist had purchased in the preceding year, as will appear by a copy of his instructions hereunto annexed." The Argonaut and Princess Royal were, moreover, certainly navigated under the British flag; there being no object in using any other, as they were both provided with licenses from the East India and the South Sea Companies, which afforded them the requisite authorization.*

Whilst these vessels were on their way to Nootka Sound, their first place of destination on the coast, the brig Iphigenia, and schooner North-West America, belonging to the same association, though under Portuguese colors, arrived in that bay from the Sandwich Islands, where they had passed the winter, agreeably to the instructions of Mr. Meares. They entered the sound on the 20th of April, in the most wretched condition imaginable. The Iphigenia was a mere wreck; according to the journal of Douglas, her supercargo or captain, annexed to the Memorial of Meares,

*The following account of the occurrences at Nootka in the summer of 1789 is taken from the journal or narrative of the voyage of Meares, and the documents attached to it, consisting of his Memorial to Parliament, and papers in proof, among which is especially worthy of notice the journal of Douglas, the captain or supercargo of the Iphigenia-the journal of Colnett's voyage, in 1793, in which some of those circumstances are related in a note, at page 96 - the journal of Vancouver's voyage in 1792-the letter addressed by the American Captains Gray and Ingraham to the Spanish commandant at Nootka, in 1792, which will be found at length among the Proofs and Illustrations, at the end of this volume, under the letter C- and the memorials and other papers relative to the dispute which ensued between Great Britain, in the Proofs and Illustrations, under the letter D.

"she had like to have foundered at sea, for want of pitch and tar to stop the leaks; she had no bread on board, and nothing but salt pork for her crew to live on; she was without cables," and, on attempting to moor her in the harbor, it was necessary to "borrow a fall from the American sloop Washington," which, with the ship Columbia, was found lying there. The North-West America was in no better condition; and, as they had no articles for barter with the natives, they must have remained inactive for some time, had they not procured some assistance and supplies from the American vessels, by means of which the schooner was enabled to leave the sound on the 28th of the month, for a short trading trip along the coasts. The Washington, about the same time, also departed on a similar expedition; and the Iphigenia, lying at Friendly Cove, and the Columbia, at Mawhinna, a few miles higher up, were the only vessels in Nootka Sound on the 6th of May, when the Spanish commander Martinez arrived there in the corvette Princesa, to take possession of the country for his sovereign.

Martinez immediately communicated his intentions to the captains of the other vessels, whose papers he also examined; and, appearing to be content, he landed materials and artillery, and began to erect a fort on a small island at the entrance of Friendly Cove. With this assumption of authority on his part, no dissatisfaction appears to have been expressed or entertained by either of the other parties; on the contrary, the utmost good feeling for some time prevailed on all sides: the officers of the different vessels visited and dined with each other, and Martinez readily supplied the Iphigenia with articles of which she was in need, in order to go to sea immediately, accepting, in return for them, bills drawn by her Portuguese captain, Viana, upon Juan Cavallo, the Portuguese merchant of Macao, as her owner.

Things remained thus at Nootka for a week, at the end of which time the other Spanish vessel, the San Carlos, arrived, under Captain Haro. On the following day, the 15th of May, Martinez invited Viana and Douglas to come on board his ship; and, on their doing so, he immediately told them that they were prisoners, and their vessel was to be seized. "I inquired," says Douglas, in his journal, "the cause of his not taking the Washington sloop, as he had orders from the king of Spain to take every vessel he met out on this coast. He gave me no satisfactory answer, but told me my papers were bad; that they mentioned I was to take all English, Russian, and Spanish vessels that were of inferior force to the

Iphigenia, and send or carry their crews to Macao, there to be tried for their lives as pirates. I told him they had not interpreted the papers right; that, though I did not understand the Portuguese, I had seen a copy of them in English, at Macao, which mentioned, if I was attacked by any one of those nations, to defend myself, and, if I had the superiority, to send the captains and crews to Macao, to answer for the insult they had offered." Martinez, however, was not, or did not choose to be, content with this explanation, which certainly did not place the Iphigenia and her owners in a position conformable with the usages of civilized nations; and, in obedience to his orders, that brig was boarded by the Spaniards, her men, with her charts, papers, and instruments, were transferred to the ships of war, and preparations were begun for sending her, as a prize, to San Blas.

Whilst these preparations were in progress, the Spanish commandant 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 considered unjust or unmerited, when it is recollected that, if, in attempting to enforce, with regard to her, the orders of his government, 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