D.] PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 423 



account of the ignorance of the proprietors, and the friendship which 

 subsisted between the two courts of London and Madrid. 



He also gave them leave to return to Macao with their cargo, after 

 capitulating with them in the same manner as with the Portuguese cap- 

 tain, and leaving the affair to be finally determined by the Count de 

 Revillagigedo, his successor, who also gave them their liberty. 



As soon as the court of Madrid had received an account of the 

 detention of the first English vessel at Nootka Sound, and before that of 

 the second arrived, it ordered its ambassador at London to make a report 

 thereof to the English minister, which he did on the 10th of February 

 last, and to require that the parties who had planned these expeditions 

 should be punished, in order to deter others from making settlements on 

 territories occupied and frequented by the Spaniards for a number of years. 



In the ambassador's memorial, mention was only made of the Spanish 

 admiral that commanded the present armament, having visited Nootka 

 Sound in 1774, though that harbor had been frequently visited, both 

 before and since, with the usual forms of taking possession. These forms 

 were repeated more particularly in the years 1755 and 1779, all along the 

 coasts as far as Prince William's Sound; and it was these acts that gave 

 occasion to the memorial made by the court of Russia, as has been 

 already noticed. 



The Spanish ambassador at London did not represent in this memo- 

 rial at that time, that the right of Spain to these coasts was conformable 

 to ancient boundaries, which had been guarantied by England at the 

 treaty of Utrecht, in the reign of Charles II., deeming it to be unneces- 

 sary ; as orders had been given, and vessels had actually been seized on 

 those coasts, so far back as 1692. 



The answer that the English ministry gave, on the 26th of February, 

 was, that they had not as yet been informed of the facts stated by the 

 ambassador, and that the act of violence, mentioned in his memorial, 

 necessarily suspended any discussion of the claims therein, till an adequate 

 atonement had been made for a proceeding so injurious to Great Britain. 



In addition to this haughty language of the British minister, he fur- 

 ther added, that the ship must in the first place be restored ; and that, 

 with respect to any future stipulations, it would be necessary to wait for a 

 more full detail of all the circumstances of this affair. 



The harsh and laconic style in which this answer was given, made the 

 court of Madrid suspect that the king of Great Britain's ministers were 

 forming other plans ; and they were the more induced to think so, as 

 there were reports that they were going to fit out two fleets, one for the 

 Mediterranean and the other for the Baltic. This, of course, obliged 

 Spain to increase the small squadron she was getting ready to exercise 

 her marine. 



The court of Spain then ordered her ambassador at London to pre- 

 sent a memorial to the British ministry, setting forth that, though the 

 crown of Spain had an indubitable right to the continent, islands, harbors, 

 and coasts, of that part of the world, founded on treaties and immemorial 

 possession, yet, as the viceroy of Mexico had released the vessels that were 

 detained, the king looked upon the affair as concluded, without entering 

 into any disputes or discussions on the undoubted rights of Spain ; and, 

 desiring to give a proof of his friendship for Great Britain, he should rest 

 satisfied if she ordered that her subjects, in future, respected those rights. 



