430 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. [E. 



(8.) 



Decree of the National Convention of France, on the Subject of the 

 Application of the King of Spain for Aid in resisting the Demands 

 of Great Britain. Paris, August 6th, 1790. 



The National Assembly, deliberating on the formal proposition of the 

 king, contained in the letter of the minister, dated the 1st of August, 



Decree, that the king be supplicated to make known to his Catholic 

 majesty, that the French nation, in taking all proper measures to maintain 

 peace, will observe the defensive and commercial engagements which the 

 French government have previously contracted with Spain. 



They further decree that his majesty shall be requested immediately 

 to charge his ambassador in Spain to negotiate with the minister of his 

 Catholic majesty to the effect of perpetuating and renewing, by a national 

 treaty, the ties so useful to the two nations, and to fix with precision and 

 clearness every stipulation which shall be strictly conformable to the 

 views of general peace, and to the principles of justice, which will be 

 forever the policy of the French. 



The National Assembly further taking into consideration the arma- 

 ments of the different nations of Europe, their progressive increase, 

 and the safety of the French colonies and commerce, decree, that the 

 king shall be prayed to give orders that the French marine force in 

 commission shall be increased to forty-five ships of the line, with a 

 proportionate number of frigates and other vessels. 



E. 



Documents relative to the Discovery of the Columbia 

 River by the Spaniards and the Americans. 



(!•) 



Extract from the Report of Captain Bruno Heceta, commanding the 

 Spanish Corvette Santiago, in a Voyage along the North-West Coast 

 of America, in 1775, containing the Particulars of his Discovery of 

 the Mouth of the Great River, since called the Columbia* 



original. 



El dia diez y siete, [de agosto, 1775,] recorri la costa, hasta el grado 

 cuarenta y seis ; y vi que desde la latitud de cuarenta y siete grados y 



* From the original Report, preserved in the Hydrographical Office at Madrid, 

 copied under the supervision of Don Martin Fernandes de Navarate, the chief of 

 that department, whose certificate in proof of its authenticity is appended to the 

 copy. — See p. 120 of this History. 



