As an argument for use with the English, in addition to what he had given in section 13, the Viceroy added, in a postscript, reference to the instructions given by the English Admiralty to Captain Cook, July 6, 1776. Cook, he said, was not to touch at any port in the Spanish dominions on the west coast of America unless forced by unavoidable accident, in which case he was not to remain longer than absolutely necessary, and was to avoid giving the least cause for complaint to any of the inhabitants of the country or to vessels of His Catholic Majesty.[66]
The vessels sailed from San Blas February 17, 1789.[67] These instructions, as well as those given to the English expedition of the same year, look toward a permanent establishment at Nootka, which was to be used as a basis for future operations on the coast. Each expedition was sent without any knowledge that the other was even thought of. The instructions given to the commander of each were such as to leave no doubt in his mind as to his perfect right to carry them out. It was impossible for both to obey; hence a clash was inevitable. Before studying the occurrences at Nootka a brief examination should be made of the conflicting claims, with an attempt to discover the respective rights in the spring of 1789 before either expedition reached the common destination.
The first Englishman known to have visited Nootka Sound is Capt. James Cook. In the spring of 1778 he spent the month of April in the sound, which he explored and mapped carefully; and, being unable to learn that any European had before visited this particular part of the coast, he gave it the name of King Georges Sound, but later concluded that it would be better to call it by the native name Nootka. He obtained supplies of water, wood, fish, etc. The natives were friendly to him, and he found among them several articles, including the two silver spoons mentioned in the above instructions, which, together with the conduct of the natives, indicated that Europeans had previously been somewhere in the neighborhood, at least. No mention is made of his having taken possession of the place for England.[68] It seems that the Englishmen who were interested in the expedition of 1789 had no knowledge that any European had visited the place earlier than this visit of Captain Cook.[69] If they had such knowledge, they intentionally ignored it. This was looked upon as a real discovery and it was assumed that thereby England acquired such rights as discovery can give. Although Sir Francis Drake’s landing on the California coast in 1579 was mentioned,[70] yet it seems not to have been looked upon as of very much value in establishing a claim, and, of course, was not so far north. During the years subsequent to 1785 English trading ships frequently visited Nootka. Although they were purely private undertakings, this fact had considerable value in strengthening the English claim, since they tended to develop the resources of the country. The details of these voyages are not in place here.[71] These, then, constitute the ground for the English claim up to the visit of Meares in 1788 and his erection of a house and building of a ship, which were treated in the last chapter.
It was clearly brought out in the diplomatic contest of 1790 that a Spanish expedition had examined with some care the whole coast up to about 55°, and had spent some time in this very port of Nootka or its immediate neighborhood four years before Captain Cook’s visit. After the Spanish explorations of the sixteenth century, which had extended some distance up the California coast, there was a long period of inactivity in this part of the world due to the decay of the Government at home. When the temporary revival of national life came under Charles III there was also a revival of exploring enterprises on the western coast of America. Word reached Madrid through the Spanish ambassador at St. Petersburg that the Russians were making settlements on the American coast north of California. In consequence of royal orders issued the previous year, an expedition, under the command of Juan Perez, was sent from Mexico in 1774 to investigate. He had orders to examine the coast as high as 60°, but did not get beyond 55°. As he was returning he anchored early in August in a port which he called San Lorenzo, and which was later identified with Nootka Sound. Some question was raised as to its identity, but there seems to be little doubt. The latitude agrees very closely—too closely, Bancroft says. The anchorage must have been in the immediate neighborhood.[72] Revilla-Gigedo says it is believed that the commander took possession of Nootka, but Bancroft, who examined the diaries, asserts that he did not land anywhere to take possession for Spain. Martinez, who became so important in the expedition of 1789, was second pilot on this expedition of Perez. It was while at San Lorenzo in 1774 that the two silver spoons were stolen from him by the Indians. They are frequently mentioned in the Spanish manuscripts, and are accepted as proof positive that this expedition was at Nootka, and as thereby proving the superiority of the Spanish claim.[73]
In 1775, the next year after Perez’s voyage, another was made by Heceta [Ezeta] with Quadra accompanying in a small vessel. The former approached the coast in the region of Nootka, but did not enter, thereupon turning his course southward. Quadra, in the little vessel, pressed onward to about the fifty-eighth degree. This expedition made landings and took formal possession for Spain of at least three points between 47° and 58°.[74] In 1779 a third expedition sailed from Mexico to explore the coast still farther north. It reached the sixty-first degree, Prince William Sound.[75] By these three expeditions the Spanish Government considered that this entire coast from California northward had been sufficiently explored and that formal possession had been taken at enough places to establish thoroughly the Spanish claim. So a royal order was given in 1780 that voyages for this purpose should cease.[76]
The first two of these Spanish voyages were earlier than that of Captain Cook and included practically all that he explored, though they did not examine it so thoroughly. Hence, as far as discovery alone is concerned, these should have given Spain rights superior to any that England could have acquired by Cook’s enterprise, not only to Nootka Sound, but to the whole of the Northwest Coast. But, unfortunately for the Spanish claim, there is a serious flaw in the title at this point, arising from the fact-that the results of these voyages were not published, except in brief accounts.[77] It is a serious question whether a discovery which was not made known to the world could give a claim superior to one gained by a subsequent voyage whose results were made known. Reason and justice would seem to say it could not. But, besides these explorations, Spain still clung in theory at least to her ancient claim to sovereignty over the entire American continent west of the line drawn by the treaty of Tordesillas (1494), and sanctioned by Pope Alexander VI, who had drawn the arbitrary line the previous year, dividing the world between Spain and Portugal. Only as a matter of necessity had she gradually conceded the right of other nations to occupy the eastern coast of North America, and for the same reason had recently conceded the Russian control of the western coast down to Prince William Sound. This is illustrated by the facts arising out of the forced entrance of the American ship, Columbia, into a port of the islands of Juan Fernandez in 1788, referred to in the instructions of the Viceroy to Martinez above.
The Spanish governor of the islands, Blas Gonzales, after relieving the vessel’s distress, had allowed it to go on its way to the Northwest Coast, knowing its destination.[78] For this act he had been summoned before the captain-general of Chile and cashiered. The captain-general was supported by the Viceroy of Peru and apparently by the home Government.[79] This harsh treatment was based on a royal decree of 1692, ordering all viceroys, governors, etc., to prevent foreign ships from navigating the south sea without permission from Spain,[80] since no other nation had, or ought to have, any territories which it was necessary for them to pass around Cape Horn to reach. It is needless to say that this claim was not respected by other governments. The Viceroy’s assertion of the right of Spain to occupy the coasts and exclude colonies of other nations, quoted above from his instructions to Martinez, is another evidence. It had long been conceded by other nations that discovery alone, or even discovery with formal acts of taking possession, can not give a valid title. It is essential that some effort be made to use the land discovered and to develop its resources; and, before the claim is fully established, actual and continued possession must be taken.
With discovery, exploration, and formal acts of possession Spanish activity ceased, there being no serious effort to make any use of the territory in the way of trade, and no steps being taken to occupy the country until they were aroused to do so by reports coming from the north in 1788 that the Russians were intending to occupy. In other words, either from lack of enterprise or from policy, the Spanish did not seem to care to develop the country or make any use of it themselves, but did wish to prevent any other people from doing so. Their reason for this policy of obstruction was probably an idle pride in retaining a shadowy sovereignty over this vast territory; or, possibly, a wish to retain it as a field for future enterprise; or, more likely, the hope of being able to control the Pacific outlet of any water passage to the Atlantic that might later be discovered along this coast. In the face of modern national enterprise, something more tangible was necessary in order to retain control.