The Nootka Sound Controversy: A dissertation

by William R. Manning

Revilla-Gigedo resolved to wait no longer for advice, and so took the responsibility upon himself. In answer to the request from Madrid, he wrote, on May 1, 1790, his conclusions, as follows:

They have been to liberate the English prisoners on the conditions shown by inclosed letters. Colnett, who came to Mexico with my consent to present his complaints, will now return to San Blas, where he will receive his ship, the Argonaut. Embarking there with all of the English and Chinese,[179] he will return to Macao or wherever he wishes. At Nootka he will receive from the commandant, Don Francisco Eliza, the sloop Princess Royal, which will be turned over to her master, Thomas Hudson. These foreigners are warned not to delay, trade, nor establish themselves on our Spanish coasts under threat of punishment for violation. I have felt compelled to release them, considering that I ought not to hold as good prize a few little vessels found on a distant and deserted coast of our colonies of California; and considering the uselessness of burdening the royal treasury with some 60 men, whose scanty sustenance has to be provided for in the feeble and expensive establishment of San Blas in order that the just sentiments of humanity might not be violated, and that the plans of my predecessor might be carried out.[180]

This action of Revilla-Gigedo and the grounds here given for the release of the English ships are consistent with the position taken by him as soon as he heard of the affair, namely, that the vessels ought never to have been seized. It will be interesting to notice the subsequent change in his position.

Colnett had been informed of the decision of the Viceroy on April 27.[181] On the same day orders were sent to San Blas for carrying it out. The commandant, Bodega y Quadra, was to surrender the Argonaut to Colnett in good condition, and was to give orders to Eliza at Nootka to surrender the Princess Royal to Hudson in the same condition. The small schooner, since it could not be taken apart to be put on the larger vessel, was to be paid for. All belongings were to be returned to the prisoners. The supplies deposited in the royal storehouses were to be given back, an equivalent was to be given for everything applied to the royal service, and whatever had been lost was to be paid for. All this was to be done in such a manner as to avoid complaint.[182] Besides having all of their belongings restored, the commissary was to pay wages to all, extending from the day of their capture until they were released. Colnett was to be paid as a lieutenant of the navy, and all others according to their rank as regulated by the scale of wages for the South Sea. A general account was to be made of all expenses occasioned by the captured ships.[183] The Viceroy argued, in a letter to the home Government, that the English South Sea Company, under whose license Colnett was navigating, should repay to the royal treasury of Spain all expenses occasioned by the captured ships. His reason was that their agents made the seizure necessary by coming to the coast of California, where they could neither establish themselves nor enjoy commercial advantages by right.[184]

In the packet which Revilla-Gigedo sent on May 1 he inclosed a letter from Colnett to the British ambassador at Madrid, presenting his complaints against Martinez.[185] The Viceroy added that he hoped these would be considered when Martinez reached Spain.

The Viceroy considered that he was treating Colnett very liberally, and it does seem that he had allowed about all that could be expected if his orders should be faithfully carried out. Colnett, however, was not fully satisfied and presented a number of formal requests. He enumerated a list of things which he requested should be sent from Mexico to fit out his ships. These were granted. He asked that all of the wages of both crews be paid to him as commander, which was granted also. He demanded payment for himself as commandant of an expedition, but he was allowed pay only for a lieutenant, which was less than half as much. He demanded the return of the schooner which he had brought in the Argonaut, but which Martinez had taken. He was to have pay for it. He wished the Princess Royal to return to San Blas for her crew, but he was compelled to wait until he should get to Nootka for her. He demanded a money payment of not more than £3,000 to reimburse himself for personal valuables and nautical instruments lost. The Viceroy refused this, since he had ordered that all of these should be returned or paid for at San Blas. He asked for a special interpreter to be appointed for him, but this was refused as unnecessary. His request for the return of his servant, a Sandwich Islander, was at first refused, but later granted. The Viceroy was attempting to keep this man, who was said to be chief of one of the islands, ostensibly that he might be converted to the Catholic religion; but probably the real reason was to use him in getting an opening for a Spanish settlement on the Sandwich Islands. He had flattered the vanity of the savage by promising to send him to see the King of Spain. Colnett’s persuasion prevailed. The most important request was that for a passport which should allow greater privileges than the Viceroy’s order for his release had granted.[186]

The Viceroy had forbidden the Englishmen to make any establishment, to trade, or even to tarry on the coast; and in his first reply to Colnett’s demands he repeated the prohibition. Three days later Colnett wrote again, using very plain language. He called attention to the instructions under which he had sailed with a license from the British Government. Those instructions required him to trade with the Indians and to form an establishment for that purpose. The Viceroy’s instructions had ordered him to sail directly to Macao, without stopping on the coast. He pointed out the inconsistent position in which he was placed. The right of Spain to the coast was a point to be settled—he hoped, in a friendly manner[187]—between the Cabinets of Madrid and St. James. It was clear that the right was not recognized by the English, as was shown by the patent and instructions which he bore. That same year the privilege granted to his company would expire. Let Spain see, in a friendly manner, that it should not be renewed, but the Viceroy should not oppose the pacific execution of a commercial undertaking attempted in good faith and at so great an expense. He demanded a passport with only one prohibition, namely, to trade with Spanish ports.[188]

Colnett’s arguments had the desired effect. On May 11 the Viceroy sent him a passport with only the one prohibition and expressly stating that he might carry on his operations in places not actually under Spanish dominion.[189] In the letter inclosing the passport he trusts that they will not think of making an establishment on the coast or of trading to the prejudice of the Spanish nation.[190]

It is noteworthy that in this passport the Viceroy reversed his decision of ten days before and declared that Martinez’s seizure of the vessels was well founded. He cited laws and royal orders which he said not only absolutely forbade the navigation, establishment, and trade of foreign nations on the American coasts of the South Sea, but ordered them to be looked upon and treated as enemies. His reason for freeing the English ships, he now said, was to preserve harmony and a good understanding between the subjects of His Catholic Majesty and the King of Great Britain. The change in his mental attitude seems to have been brought about by the stubborn persistence with which Colnett urged his demands in the meantime. By the latter part of May, when he wrote again to the home Government, the Viceroy had formulated his decision. He declared:

The coasts north of California are truly and justly the dominions of our Sovereign. According to the royal order of November 25, 1692, of which my predecessor sent a copy, and according to the treaty, to which it refers, of 1670, ratified and confirmed by article 2 of that of 1783, all of the vessels which Don Estevan José Martinez, ensign of the royal navy, found in Nootka were legitimate prizes. The release of the packet boat Argonaut and the sloop Princess Royal has been the result of pure generosity.[191]