His Majesty’s ministers, who till now had proceeded with that caution which the uncertain nature of the intelligence they had received rendered essentially necessary, no longer having room to doubt of the insult offered to the British flag, and the injury sustained by British subjects from the unwarrantable and unprovoked hostility of the Spanish commander, lost no time in taking those measures which were best calculated to vindicate the honor of His Majesty and the British nation.[241]
This event with the arrival of the reports from Merry, mentioned above, caused the British Government to turn its most serious attention to the Nootka business.
At a cabinet meeting held in the night of April 30 the following recommendations to the King were agreed upon, and submitted by Grenville to George III the next day:
Upon consideration of the information which has been received from Mr. Meares of the detention and capture of several British vessels at Nootka Sound, on the coast of America, and of the circumstances of that transaction, as also of the papers which here have been delivered by Monsieur del Campo relative thereto, Your Majesty’s servants have agreed humbly to submit to Your Majesty their opinion that Your Majesty’s minister at the Court of Madrid should be instructed to present a memorial demanding an immediate and adequate satisfaction for the outrages committed by Monsieur de Martinez; and that it would be proper, in order to support that demand and to be prepared for such events as may arise, that Your Majesty should give orders for fitting out a squadron of ships of the line.[242]
In a note of May 1 the King asked whether a press would be necessary for equipping the proposed squadron. The next day Grenville replied that the Cabinet thought a press necessary and that it should take place Tuesday night, May 4, between 12 and 3 o’clock, as that time would create least observation. The same day that Grenville’s note was written the King answered it requesting a privy council for the next day, May 3, to consider the arrangements for the press. The council was to be composed of the cabinet ministers, as the more secret the business could be kept the more possibility there would be of collecting some seamen in the first attempt.[243]
After these days of martial activity in the British Cabinet Leeds replied to Campo’s letter of April 20. He informed the Marquis, May 5, that the unsatisfactory answer which the latter had been instructed to make to the English demand for satisfaction made it necessary for His Majesty to direct his minister at Madrid to renew the representations. Owing to this change in the seat of negotiations, Leeds said it was impossible for him to enter into the particulars of Campo’s letter. He concluded:
I can therefore at present only observe in general to your excellency that although on cases properly stated it will be His Majesty’s desire—which he has manifested in repeated instances—to take any measures necessary for preventing his subjects’ interfering with the just and acknowledged rights of Spain, he can never in any shape accede to those claims of exclusive sovereignty, commerce, and navigation to which your excellency’s representations appear principally to refer; and particularly that His Majesty will consider it his indispensable duty to protect his subjects in the enjoyment of the right of carrying on their fisheries in the Pacific Ocean.[244]
Each nation stood firmly on the ground originally taken. Each had made its first demand apparently expecting immediate compliance. When such was stubbornly refused each suspected that the other had some ulterior end in view and was using the matter in hand only as a pretext. The misunderstanding arose over the fact that neither the Briton nor the Spaniard could understand the mental attitude of the other regarding the matter in dispute. The Spanish mind had for centuries been accustomed to think of the American continent as the exclusive possession of Spain. The accident that had given a portion to Portugal, when the Pope drew his arbitrary line between the dominions of the two maritime nations, was accepted without question by the abnormally religious mind of the Spaniard. That Spain had yielded the bleak northern shore of the Atlantic was of little consequence, since she retained the sunny southern portion, where, alone, the Spaniard could feel at home. With the exception of Portugal’s comparatively insignificant holding, Spain still possessed practically the whole of both Americas south of the northern line of Florida and west of the Mississippi River. That Russia had recently settled on the icebound coast of the far-away northwest was hardly known and less to be regretted. Being accustomed to think of America thus, the Spaniard could not conceive that anyone else would dare to infringe on his right. Little was known in Spain of the colonial development of England and the new principles on which it was based, namely, that unoccupied land anywhere on the globe was the legitimate possession of any nation that would occupy and develop it, and that no other nation could resist such occupation by the mere assertion of an ancient shadowy claim that had never been made good by actual settlement. The Briton was too accustomed to this view to believe that anyone would still advance in good faith the antiquated notion that any real right could be conferred by the gift of a Pope, who, he believed, had no more authority to make such gifts than any other individual, or that a claim not made good by occupying and developing would be seriously urged. It was impossible to reach a harmonious agreement. One party would have to yield.
From this time onward negotiations were conducted at Madrid instead of at London as hitherto. The British minister to the Court of Spain, Alleyne Fitzherbert, had not yet gone to take charge of his post. Affairs were in the hands of the chargé, Merry. Fitzherbert was now dispatched to Madrid.[245] No communication of importance passed between the two Courts until his arrival. In the meantime each Government was putting forth its utmost efforts to raise its naval force to the highest possible efficiency. During the same time the diplomacy of each country was directed toward strengthening its European position by calling on its allies for assurances of support. The outcome of these efforts influenced, considerably, the course of the main negotiation. Besides this influence much of the interest and importance of the controversy lies in the effect of these by-negotiations on France, the country chiefly involved in them. They will be studied in the next chapter.