named seas; but the British were, at the same time, specially prohibited from approaching the territories under the actual authority of Spain, and were thus debarred from the exercise of a privilege advantageous to themselves and most annoying to Spain, which they previously possessed in virtue of their maritime superiority. Both parties were by the convention equally excluded from settling on the vacant coasts of South America, and from exercising that jurisdiction which is essential to political sovereignty, over any spot north of the most northern Spanish settlement on the Pacific: but the British and the Russians were the only nations who would be likely to occupy any of those territories, and the British would not, probably, concede to the Russians any rights greater than those which they themselves possessed; and any establishment which either of those powers might form in the north, under circumstances so disadvantageous, would be separated from the settled provinces of Spain by a region of mountains, forests, and deserts, of more than a thousand miles in extent. The convention, in fine, established new bases for the navigation and fishery of the respective parties, and their trade with the natives on the unoccupied coasts of America; but it determined nothing regarding the rights of either to the sovereignty of any portion of America, except so far as it may imply an abrogation, or rather a suspension, of all such claims, on both sides, to any of those coasts.

It is, however, probable that the convention published, as the result of this negotiation, did not contain all the engagements contracted by Great Britain and Spain towards each other on that occasion. It was generally believed in Europe that a secret treaty of alliance was at the same time signed, by which the two nations were bound, under certain contingencies, to act together against France, with the understanding that the stipulations of the convention published should remain inoperative; and this supposition is strengthened by the third article of the treaty of alliance between those powers, concluded on the 25th of May, 1793, setting forth that, "Their majesties having perceived just grounds of jealousy and uneasiness for the safety of their respective dominions, and for the maintenance of the general system of Europe, in the measures which have been for some time past adopted by France, they had already agreed to establish between them an intimate and entire concert, upon the means of opposing a sufficient barrier to those dangerous views of aggression and aggrandizement," &c. It was even

supposed, and insinuations to that effect were thrown out in the debates in Parliament on the convention, that the dispute with Spain was prolonged by Mr. Pitt in order to have a pretext for assembling a large force, which might serve to overawe the revolutionary party in France, and also to suppress tendencies of the same nature in England. The preparations for war cost three millions of pounds sterling; but the result proved that this sum was wisely bestowed; for the fleets thus armed in 1790 did "yeoman's service" under Howe four years afterwards.

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CHAPTER X.

1790 To 1792.

Vancouver sent by the British Government to explore the Coasts of America, and receive Possession of Lands and Buildings agreeably to the Convention with Spain Passage of the Washington, under Kendrick, through the Strait of Fuca, in 1789- Nootka reoccupied by the Spaniards-Voyages of Fidalgo, Quimper, Elisa, Billings, Marchand, and Malaspina - Voyages of the American Fur Traders Gray, Ingraham, and Kendrick - Discovery of the Washington Islands by Ingraham.

IN execution of the first and second articles of the convention of October, 1790, between Spain and Great Britain, commissioners were appointed on each side, who were to meet at Nootka Sound, and there to determine what lands and buildings were to be restored to the British claimants, or what amount of indemnification was to be made to them by Spain. The British government at first selected Captain Trowbridge as its agent for this purpose; but the business was afterwards committed to Captain George Vancouver, who was then about to sail on a voyage of exploration to the Pacific.

Vancouver was instructed to examine and survey the whole shores of the American continent on the Pacific, from the 35th to the 60th parallels of latitude; to ascertain particularly the number, situation, and extent of the settlements of civilized nations within these limits; and especially to acquire information as to the nature and direction of any water-passage, which might serve as a channel for commercial intercourse between that side of America and the territories on the Atlantic side occupied by British subjects. For this last-mentioned object, he was particularly to "examine the supposed Strait of Juan de Fuca, said to be situated between the 48th and the 49th degrees of north latitude, and to lead to an opening through which the sloop Washington is reported to have passed in 1789, and to have come out again to the northward of Nootka.” *

* Introduction to Vancouver's narrative of his voyage.

With these orders, Vancouver sailed from England in January, 1791, in the ship Discovery, accompanied by the brig Chatham, under the command of Lieutenant Robert Broughton. The instructions for his conduct as commissioner were afterwards despatched to him in the store-ship Dædalus.

The account of the passage of the Washington through the Strait of Fuca, mentioned in the instructions to Vancouver, had appeared in the "Observations on the probable Existence of a North-West Passage," prefixed by Meares to the narrative of his voyages, which had then been recently published at London. Meares there says, "The Washington entered the Straits of John de Fuca, the knowledge of which she had received from us; and, penetrating up them, entered into an extensive sea, where she steered to the northward and eastward, and had communications with the various tribes who inhabit the shores of the numerous islands that are situated at the back of Nootka Sound, and speak, with some little variation, the language of the Nootkan people. The track of this vessel is marked on the map, and is of great moment, as it is now completely ascertained that Nootka Sound and the parts adjacent are islands, and comprehended within the great northern archipelago. The sea also which is seen to the east is of great extent, and it is from this stationary point, and the most westerly parts of Hudson's Bay, that we are to form an estimate of the distance between them. The most easterly direction of the Washington's course is to the longitude of 237 degrees east of Greenwich. It is probable, however, that the master of that vessel did not make any astronomical observations, to give a just idea of that station; but, as we have those made by Captain Cook at Nootka Sound, we may be able to form a conjecture, somewhat approaching the truth, concerning the distance between Nootka and the easternmost station of the Washington in the northern archipelago; and consequently this station may be presumed to be in the longitude, or thereabout, of 237 degrees east of Greenwich." In another place, Meares speaks of the proofs brought by the Washington, "which sailed through a sea extending upwards of eight degrees of latitude," in support of his opinion, that the northwestern portion of America was a collection of islands: and in the chart annexed, "the sketch of the track of the American sloop Washington in the autumn of 1789," is represented by those words running in a semi-oval line from the southern entrance of the Strait of Fuca, at Cape Flattery, eastward, to the longitude of 237 degrees, then north-westward, to the 55th parallel of latitude, then west

ward, through the passage north of Queen Charlotte's Island, to the Pacific. The sea through which the track extends is represented as unlimited in the east, and communicating, in the west, with the Pacific by channels between islands: no pretension to accuracy is, however, made in this part of the chart, the object being merely to show that the Washington sailed from the southern entrance of the strait eastward to the longitude of 237 degrees, and northward to the latitude of 55 degrees.

The name of the person under whose command the passage was said to have been effected is not given; but, Gray being frequently mentioned by Meares, in his narrative and accompanying papers, as the captain of the Washington, it was naturally supposed that, if that sloop did pass through the strait, she must have done so under the command of Gray; and when Vancouver, who met Gray near Nootka in 1792, as will be hereafter related, was assured by him that he had entered the opening, but had only advanced fifty miles within it, the entire erroneousness of the account given by Meares was regarded as established.

However, about the time of Vancouver's departure from England, an angry discussion was carried on through the medium of pamphlets, between Meares, and Dixon the captain of the ship Queen Charlotte, (one of the vessels sent to the Pacific by the King George's Sound Company of London,) in consequence of the severe remarks made by Meares, in his work, on the character of Dixon, and on many parts of his journal, which had been published in 1789. Dixon, in his first pamphlet,* particularly attacked and ridiculed the account given by his opponent of the passage of the Washington, and sneeringly summoned him to "inform the public from what authority he had introduced the track of that vessel into his chart." To this Meares, in his Answer, † says, "Mr. Neville, a gentleman of the most respectable character, who came home in the Chesterfield, a ship in the service of the East India Company, made that communication to me which I have communicated to the public. Mr. Kendrick, who commanded the Washington, arrived at China, with a very valuable cargo of furs, previous to the departure of the Chesterfield; and Mr. Neville, who was

Remarks on the Voyages of John Meares, in a Letter to that Gentleman, by George Dixon, late Commander of the Queen Charlotte in a Voyage around the World. London, 1790.

↑ An Answer to Mr. George Dixon, &c., by John Meares; in which the Remarks of Mr. Dixon are fully considered and refuted. London, 1791.