1788.] INSTRUCTIONS TO MEARES. 173 



connived at the whole deception, permission to navigate under the Por- 

 tuguese flag, and thereby to evade the excessive port charges demand- 

 ed, by the Chinese authorities, from vessels of all other European 

 nations ; and that Messrs. Meares and Douglas were really the 

 commanders of the vessels in which they respectively sailed, instead 

 of the Portuguese subjects, who figure as such in all the papers. 

 Some of these assertions may have been true ; yet the documents 

 annexed to the Memorial conclusively prove that all these deceptive 

 appearances were kept up at Nootka Sound, where there were no 

 Chinese authorities ; though, in the narrative of the voyage, pub- 

 lished by Mr. Meares, with the Memorial and documents, no hint 

 is given that either of the vessels were, or ever seemed to be, other 

 than British. 



The instructions, of which an English copy or version — dated 

 China, December 24th, 1787, and signed The Merchant Proprietors 

 — is appended to the Memorial, contain general directions for the 

 conduct of the voyage, but no allusion whatsoever to the acquisition 

 of lands, the erection of buildings, or the formation of settlements or 

 establishments of any land, in America or elsewhere. The Felice 

 was to go to Nootka Sound, from which she was to make trips 

 northward and southward, for the purposes of trade and explora- 

 tion ; the Iphigenia was to sail first to Cook's River, and thence to 

 trade along the coasts, southward, to Nootka, where she was ex- 

 pected to arrive in September : all the furs collected were then to 

 be placed in one of the vessels, and brought to Macao, the other 

 vessel remaining, until the spring, either on the American coast or 

 at the Sandwich Islands. These instructions conclude with the 

 following remarkable order to the commanders of the vessels : — 

 " Should you, in the course of your voyage, meet with any Russian, 

 English, or Spanish vessels, you will treat them with civility and 

 friendship, and allow them, if authorized, to examine your papers ; 

 but you must, at the same time, guard against surprise. Should 

 they attempt to seize you, or even to carry you out of your way, 

 you will prevent it by every means in your power, and repel force 

 by force. You will, on your arrival in the first port, protest, before 

 a proper officer, against such illegal procedure, and ascertain, as 

 nearly as you can, the value of your vessel and cargo, sending your 

 protest, with a full account of the transaction, to us at China. 

 Should you, in such a conflict, have the superiority, you will take 

 possession of the vessel that attacked you, and bring both, with the 



