1789.] CLAIMS OF SPAIN EXAMINED. 187 



by means of this geographical obscurity, to leave undefined the del- 

 icate question as to the limits of Spanish America in the north- 

 west. The empress of Russia answered — that orders had been 

 given to her subjects not to make settlements in places belonging 

 to other nations ; and, if those orders had been violated with regard 

 to Spanish America, she desired the king of Spain to arrest the en- 

 croachments, in a friendly manner. With this answer, more cour- 

 teous than specific, the Spanish minister professed himself content ; 

 observing, however, in his reply, that Spain " could not be respon- 

 sible for what her officers might do, at places so distant, whilst they 

 were acting under general orders to allow no settlements to be 

 made by other nations on the Spanish American continent." * 



In the mean time, however, the viceroy of Mexico, Don Manuel 

 de Flores, had, in virtue of his general instructions, taken a decisive 

 measure with regard to Nootka Sound. For that purpose, he de- 

 spatched Martinez and Haro from San Bias, early in 1789, with their 

 vessels manned and equipped effectively ; ordering them, in case any 

 British or Russian vessel should appear at Nootka, to receive her 

 with the attention and civility required by the peace and friendship 

 existing between Spain and those nations, but, at the same time, 

 to declare the paramount rights of his Catholic majesty to the place, 

 and the adjacent coasts, firmly, though discreetly, and without using 

 harsh or insulting language.f 



Before entering upon the narrative of the events which followed, 

 it should be observed, with regard to the right of the Spanish gov- 

 ernment thus to take possession of Nootka, that, before the 6th of 

 May, 1789, when Martinez entered the sound with that object, no 

 settlement, factory, or other establishment whatsoever, had been 

 founded or attempted, nor had any jurisdiction been exercised 

 by the authorities or subjects of a civilized nation, in any part of 

 America bordering upon the Pacific, between Port San Francisco, 

 near the 38th degree of north latitude, and Prince William's Sound, 

 near the 60th. The Spaniards, the British, the Russians, and the 

 French, had, indeed, landed at many places on those coasts, where 

 they had displayed flags, performed ceremonies, and erected monu- 

 ments, by way of taking possession — as it was termed — of the ad- 



* Memorial addressed by the court of Spain to that of London, dated June 13th, 

 1790, among the Proofs and Illustrations, in the latter part of this volume, under the 

 letter D, No. 3. 



t Abstract of these instructions to Martinez, in the Introduction to the Journal of 

 Galiano and Valdes, p. 106. 



