1788.] VOYAGE OF MARTINEZ AND HABO. 185 



minions in America thrown into alarm and agitation, by the appear- 

 ance of a trading ship from the United States on the Pacific: yet 

 Teodor Lacroix, the viceroy of Peru, and Ambrose O'Higgins, cap- 

 tain-general of Chili, were men of education and experience, distin- 

 guished for their courage and sagacity ; but such was the jealous 

 system which they were bound to support.* 



For the expedition of inquiry to the north-west coasts of America, 

 the viceroy of Mexico employed two vessels, the corvette Princesa, 

 commanded by Estevan Martinez, (who had been the pilot in the 

 voyage of Juan Perez, in 1 774,) and the schooner San Carlos, under 

 Lieutenant Gonzalo Haro. They were instructed to proceed direct- 

 ly to Prince William's Sound, and to make every possible inquiry 

 and examination respecting the establishments of the Russians there 

 and in other parts of America adjacent ; having completed which, 

 they were to explore the coasts southward to California, if time 

 should be left for that purpose, seeking particularly for places 

 convenient for the reception of Spanish colonies : and they were 

 especially enjoined to treat the natives of the places which they 

 might visit with kindness, and not to engage in any quarrel with the 

 Russians. 



Of this voyage of Martinez and Haro, a short account will suffice. 

 They quitted San Bias on the 8th of March, 1788, and, on the 

 25th of May, they anchored in the entrance of Prince William's 

 Sound, where they lay nearly a month, without making any attempt 

 to examine the surrounding shores. At length, in the end of June, 

 Haro, having sailed, in the San Carlos, along the coast of the ocean 

 farther south-west, discovered a Russian establishment on the east 

 side of the Island of Kodiak, under the command of a Greek, named 

 Delaref, with whom he was able to communicate ; and from this 

 person he received detailed accounts of all the Russian establish- 

 ments in that quarter. On the 3d of July, Haro rejoined Martinez, 

 who had, in the mean time, explored the coasts of Prince William's 

 Sound ; and they proceeded together along the eastern side of the 



* The petition of Gonzales, with copies of his reports to the captain-general, and 

 the sentence pronounced against him, remain in manuscript in the archives of the 

 Department of State at Washington. Mr. Jefferson, secretary of state of the United 

 States, recommended his case to the Spanish government, in a letter to Mr. Carmi- 

 chael, then plenipotentiary at Madrid, dated April 11th, 1790, with what success is 

 not known. The other particulars here related of this curious affair are derived from 

 the General Report, or Instructions, left by the viceroy of Peru to his successor, on 

 his retirement from that office, which was published at London in 1822, in the Biblio- 

 teca Americana. 



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