172 SECOND VOYAGE OF MEARES. [1788 



dispute, and the first treaty, between civilized nations, relative to 

 that part of the world. 



For the expedition in question, two vessels were fitted out at the 

 Portuguese port of Macao, near Canton, in China, from which, as 

 already mentioned, several voyages had been previously made to 

 the north-west coasts of America, in search of furs. They were 

 both placed under the direction of John Meares, a lieutenant in the 

 British navy, on half pay, who sailed in the ship Felice as super- 

 cargo ; the other vessel, the brig Iphigenia, also carried a British 

 subject, William Douglas, in the same capacity : both vessels were, 

 however, commanded, ostensibly at least, by Portuguese captains ; 

 they were both furnished with passports, and other papers, in the 

 Portuguese language, granted by the Portuguese authorities of 

 Macao, and showing them to be the property of Juan Cavallo, a 

 Portuguese merchant of that place ; the instructions for the conduct 

 of the voyage were written only in the Portuguese language,* and 

 contained nothing whatsoever calculated to afford the slightest 

 grounds for suspicion that other than Portuguese subjects were 

 interested in the enterprise ; finally, the vessels sailed from Macao 

 on the 1st of January, 1788, under the Portuguese flag, and there 

 is no sufficient proof that any other was displayed by them during 

 the expedition. 



Notwithstanding these evidences of ownership and national char- 

 acter, which appear to be complete and unequivocal, Mr. Meares, 

 in the Memorial f addressed by him to the British government, in 

 May, 1790, asserts that the Felice and Iphigenia, as well as their 

 cargoes, were actually and bona fide British property, employed in 

 the service of British subjects only ; that Cavallo had no concern 

 nor interest in them, his name being merely used, with his consent, 

 for the purpose of obtaining from the governor of Macao, who 



* See the Journal of Douglas, the captain or supercargo of the Iphigenia, attached 

 to the Memorial of Meares, and the quotation from it in the ensuing chapter, at 

 page 192. 



t The London Annual Register for 1790 contains what purports to be the Substance 

 of the Memorial of Lieutenant Meares, &/-c, drawn up by Meares himself, or some one 

 in his interests. In this Substance, the word Portuguese does not occur, nor is any 

 thing mentioned relative to the apparent character of the vessels, which are, on the 

 contrary, directly asserted to have been British in all respects, and navigated under 

 the British flag. Meares's explanations, in his Memorial, relative to the arrangements 

 with Cavallo, are all omitted, the following short paragraph being inserted in their 

 place : — " Here Mr. Meares, by way of illustration, introduces a transaction no 

 otherwise connected with his narrative, but as it proves the merchandise, &c, of 

 which the British ships were plundered, to have been British property." ' ! ! Such 

 are the materials from which histories are generally composed. 



