D.] PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 419 



majesty recommends it to his faithful Commons, on whose zeal and public 

 spirit he has the most perfect reliance, to enable him to take such meas- 

 ures, and to make such augmentation of his forces, as may be eventually 

 necessary for this purpose. 



It is his majesty's earnest wish that the justice of his majesty's demands 

 may insure, from the wisdom and equity of his Catholic majesty, the sat- 

 isfaction which is so unquestionably due, and that this affair may be termi- 

 nated in such a manner as to prevent any grounds of misunderstanding in 

 future, and to continue and confirm that harmony and friendship which 

 has so happily subsisted between the two courts, and which his majesty 

 will always endeavor to maintain and improve, by all such means as are 

 consistent with the dignity of his majesty's crown and the essential interests 

 of his subjects. 



G. R. 



(2.) 



Declaration of the King of Spain to all the other Courts of Europe. 



Aranjuez, June 4th, 1790. 



The king, being apprized of the particulars laid before his ministers, 

 on the 16th of May, by Mr. Merry, his Britannic majesty's minister, 

 relative to the unexpected dispute between this court and Great Britain, 

 as to the vessels captured in Port St. Lawrence, or Nootka Sound, on the 

 coast of California, in the South Sea, has commanded the undersigned, 

 his majesty's first secretary of state, to answer to the said minister of 

 England, that he had the honor to make known personally, and in writing, 

 to the said minister, upon the 18th of the same month, that his majesty 

 at no time pretended to any rights in any ports, seas, or places, other than 

 what belongs to his crown by the most solemn treaties, recognized by all 

 nations, and more particularly with Great Britain, by a right founded on 

 particular treaties, the uniform consent of both nations, and by an imme- 

 morial, regular, and established possession ; that his majesty is ready to 

 enter upon every examination and discussion most likely to terminate the 

 dispute in an amicable way, and is willing to enter into immediate con- 

 ference with the new ambassador, and, if justice requires it, will certainly 

 disapprove of the conduct, and punish his subjects, if they have gone 

 beyond their powers. This offer and satisfaction will, it is hoped, serve 

 as an example to the court of London to do as much on its part. 



As the two courts of London and Madrid have not yet received proper 

 and authenticated accounts and proofs of all that has really passed in 

 these distant latitudes, a contradiction in the development of facts has by 

 this means been occasioned. Even at this moment, the papers and min- 

 utes made up by the viceroy of New Spain on this matter are not arrived. 

 Posterior letters, indeed, say that the English vessel, the Argonaut, had 

 not been seized and confiscated till legally condemned, and that the small 

 vessel, called the Princess Royal, which had afterwards arrived, was not 

 seized or confiscated, but that, on the contrary, full restitution was made 

 by the viceroy, and an obligation only taken from the captain to pay the 

 price of the vessel, if she was declared a lawful prize; and on the precise 

 same terms he had liberated a Portuguese vessel belonging to Macao, and 

 two American vessels. These particulars will be more explicitly proved 

 and elucidated on the arrival of the necessary papers. 



