244 duffin's evidence. [1792. 



he had accompanied Mr. Meares to Nootka in 1788, with his two 

 vessels, which sailed under Portuguese colors and under the name 

 of a Portuguese merchant, for the purpose of avoiding certain 

 heavy duties at Macao, but were, notwithstanding, " entirely British 

 property, and wholly navigated by the subjects of his Britannic 

 majesty ; " that he had himself been present when Mr. Meares 

 purchased " from the two chiefs, Maquinna and Callicum, the whole 

 of the land that forms Friendly Cove, Nootka Sound, in his Bri- 

 tannic majesty's name," for some sheets of copper and trifling 

 articles ; that the natives were perfectly satisfied, and, with the 

 chiefs, did homage to Mr. Meares as sovereign ; that the British flag 

 — not the Portuguese — was displayed on shore on that occasion ; 

 that Mr. Meares caused a house to be erected on a convenient spot, 

 containing three bed-chambers, with a mess-room for the officers 

 and proper apartments for the men, " surrounded by several out- 

 houses and sheds for the artificers to work in, all of which he left 

 in good repair, under the care of Maquinna and Callicum, until he, 

 or some of his associates, should return ; that he, Duffin, was not 

 at Nootka when Martinez arrived there, but he understood no vestige 

 of the house remained at that time ; and, on his return thither in 

 July, 1789, he found the Cove occupied by the subjects of his 

 Catholic majesty, and on the spot on which the house had stood 

 were the tents and houses of some of the people of the ship 

 Columbia. Upon the strength of this testimony, Vancouver pro- 

 nounced the declarations of Messrs. Gray and Ingraham to be en- 

 tirely false ; and he takes pains, in several parts of his work, to 

 animadvert, in severe terms, on what he is pleased to call " the 

 wilful misrepresentations of the Americans, to the prejudice of 

 British subjects." 



On the points to which Duffin's statement relates, it is unneces- 

 sary to add any thing to what has been already said. The evidence 

 is presented to us by Vancouver, in the form of an abstract, of the 

 correctness of which, as well as of the candor of that officer, we 

 may be enabled to form an estimate, by comparing his abstract of 

 the letter from Gray and Ingraham to Quadra, with the letter itself. 

 It will be thus seen, that the British commander has, most unfairly, 

 garbled the testimony of the American traders, by suppressing or 

 altering every part of it which could tend to place his countrymen, 

 or their cause, in an unfavorable light, or to excuse the conduct of 

 the Spaniards towards them. His bitterness towards the citizens 

 of the United States, on this occasion, may, perhaps, be attributed 



