Sok AE iy BoA. P By RS; 
fon, Spain has preferved her domi- 
nion, which fhe has extended to the 
borders of the Rufan eftablifhments, 
in that part of the world. 
The viceroys of Peru and New 
Spain having been informed, that 
thefe feashad been for fome years 
paft more frequented than formerly ; 
that fmuggling had increafed; that 
feveral ufurpations prejudicial to 
Spain and the general tranquillity 
had been fuffered to be made ; they 
gave orders that the weltern coafts 
of Spanifh America, and iflands and 
feas adjacent, fhould be more fre- 
_ quently navigated and explored. 
They were alfo informed, that 
feverai Ruffian veflels were upon the 
point of making commercial eftab- 
lifhments upon that coaft. At the 
time that Spain demontftrated to Ruf- 
fia the inconveniences attendant up- 
on fuch incroachments, fhe entered 
upon the negociation with Ruffa, 
upon the fuppofition that the Ruffian 
navigators of the Pacific Ocean 
had no orders to make eftablith- 
ments within the limits of. Spanith 
’ America, of which the Spaniards 
were the firft pofleffors, (limits fituat- 
ed within Prince William’s Strait) 
purpofely to avoid all diffentions, 
and in order to maintain the harmo- 
ny and amity which Spain wifhed to 
preferve. 
The court of Ruffia replied, it had 
already given orders, that its fub- 
jets fhould make no fettlements in 
__ places belonging to other powers; 
and that if thofe orders had been 
violated, and any had been made in 
 Spanifh America, they defired the 
king would put a ftop to them in 
a friendly manner. ‘To this pacific 
language on the part of Ruflia, Spain 
‘oblerved, that fhe could not be an- 
_ fwerable for what her officers might 
do at that diftance, whofe general 
Orders and inflruétions were not to 
[295 
permit any fettlements to be made 
by other nations on the continent of 
Spanifh America. 
Though trefpaffes had been made 
by the Englith on fome of the iflands 
of thofe coaits, which had given 
rife to fimilar complaints having been 
made to the court of London, Spain 
did not know that the Engiifh had 
endeavoured to make any fettle- 
ments on the northern part of the 
Southern Ocean, till the command- 
ing officer of a Spanith fhip, in the 
ufual tour of the coaits of Califor- 
nia, found two American veffels in 
St. Laurence, or Nootka harbour, 
where he was going for provifions 
and ftores. Thefe veffels he per- 
mitted to proceed on their voyage, 
it appearing from their papers, that 
they were driven there by diftrefs, 
and only came in to refit. 
He alfo found there the Iphigenia 
from Macao, under Portuguete co- 
lours, which had a padiport. from 
the governor; and though he came 
manifeftly with a view to trade there, 
yet the Spanifh admiral, when he 
faw his inftrutions, gave him leave 
to depart upon his figning an en- 
gagement to pay the value of the 
veilel, fhould the government of 
Mexico declare ita lawful prize. 
With this veflel there came a fe- 
cond, which the admiral detained ; 
and a few days after a third, named 
the Argonaut, from the above-men- 
tioned place. The captain of this 
latter was an Englifhman. He came 
not only to trade, but brought every 
thing with him proper to forma fet- 
lement there, and to fortify it. 
This, notwithftanding the remon- 
ftrances of the Spanifh admiral, he 
perfevered in, and was detained, to- 
ecther with his vefiel. . 
After him came a fourth Englith 
veflel, named the Princefs Royal, and 
evidently for the fame purpofes, 
{7 4] She 
