1790.] DEMANDS OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 205 



at the same time, as a principle which would be maintained by his 

 government, that " British subjects have an indisputable right to the 

 enjoyment of a free and uninterrupted navigation, commerce, and fish- 

 ery, and to the possession of such establishments as they should form, 

 with the consent of the natives of the country, not previously occu- 

 pied by any of the European nations." 



To these formal exactions of the British government, the court of 

 Madrid replied, at first indirectly, by a circular letter addressed, on 

 the 4th of June, to all the other courts of Europe. This letter was 

 couched in the most conciliatory language : it contained a recapitu- 

 lation of the circumstances of the dispute, according to the views 

 of Spain ; denying all intention, on her part, to commit or defend 

 any act of injustice against Great Britain, or to claim any rights 

 which did not rest upon irrefragable titles ; insisting that the cap- 

 ture of the British vessel had been repaired by the conduct of the 

 viceroy of Mexico in immediately restoring her ; and declaring the 

 readiness of his Catholic majesty to satisfy any demands which 

 should prove to be well founded, after an investigation of the ques- 

 tion of right between the two crowns. This reply not being con- 

 sidered sufficient by the British ambassador, a Memorial was deliv- 

 ered to him, on the 13th of the same month, by count de Florida 

 Blanca, the Spanish minister of state, not differing essentially in its 

 import from the circular letter ; which, however, served only to 

 render the ambassador still more urgent for a specific answer to the 

 demands of his government. At length, after repeated conferences, 

 the Spanish minister, on the 18th, officially signified that his sove- 

 reign, having approved the restitution of all the vessels and their car- 

 goes seized at Nootka, was willing to indemnify the owners for their 

 losses, and also to make satisfaction for the insult to the dignity of 

 the British crown ; provided, that the extent of the insult and of the 

 satisfaction should be settled, in form and substance, either by one 

 of the kings of Europe, to be selected by his Britannic majesty, or 

 by a negotiation between the two governments, in which no facts 

 were to be admitted as true, except such as were fully established; 

 and that no inference affecting the rights of Spain should be drawn 

 from the act of giving satisfaction. 



This offer of reparation was accepted by the court of London ; 

 and, on the 24th of July, count de Florida Blanca presented to 

 Mr. Fitzherbert, the British ambassador at Madrid, a Declaration, 

 in the name of his sovereign, to the effect — that he would restore 

 the vessels and indemnify the owners for their losses, so soon as the 



