1790.] NOOTKA CONVENTION. 211 



adjoining seas, they shall be reestablished in the possession thereof, 

 or a just compensation shall be made to them for their losses. 



For the future, it was agreed, by the third article of the conven- 

 tion, that the subjects of the two parties shall not be disturbed in 

 navigating or fishing in the South Seas, or the Pacific Ocean, or in 

 landing on the coasts thereof, in places not already occupied, for 

 the purposes of settlement or of trade with the natives ; the whole 

 subject, nevertheless, to the restrictions specified in the three 

 following articles, to wit : — that his Britannic majesty shall take 

 the most effectual means to prevent his subjects from making their 

 navigation or fishery in those seas a pretext for illicit trade with 

 the Spanish settlements ; with which view it is agreed that British 

 subjects shall not navigate or fish within ten leagues of any part of 

 the coast already occupied by Spain ; that the subjects of both 

 nations shall have free access and right of trading in the places 

 restored to British subjects by this convention, and in any other 

 parts of the north-west coasts of America, north of the places 

 already occupied by Spain, where the subjects of either party shall 

 have made settlements since the month of April, 1789, or may in 

 future make any ; and that no settlement shall in future be made, 

 by the subjects of either power, on the eastern or the western coasts 

 of South America, or the adjacent islands, south of the parts of 

 the same coasts or islands already occupied by Spain ; though the 

 subjects of both remained at liberty to land on those coasts and 

 islands, and to erect temporary buildings only, for the purposes of 

 their fishery. 



Finally, it was agreed, by the seventh article, that, in cases of 

 infraction of the convention, the officers of either party shall, with- 

 out committing any act of violence themselves, make an exact 

 report of the affair to their respective governments, which would 

 terminate such differences in an amicable manner. The eighth 

 article relates merely to the time of ratification of the convention.* 



The convention, together with the declaration and counter 

 declaration preceding it, were submitted to Parliamenfon the 3d 

 of December, unaccompanied by any other papers relative to the 

 negotiation ; and they became the subjects of animated debates, in 

 which the most distinguished members of both houses took parts. 

 The arrangements were extolled by the ministers and their friends 

 in general terms, as vindicating the dignity of the nation, and 



* The convention will be found at length among the Proofs and Illustrations, in 

 the latter part of this volume, under the letter K, No. 1. 



