: The Nootka Sound Controversy: A dissertation by Manning William R William Ray - Thesis (Ph. D.); Nootka Sound (B.C.); Vancouver Island (B.C.) History; Spain Foreign relations Great Britain; Great Britain Foreign relations Spain

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PREFACE

The French revolutionary period contains so much of greater importance that historians have neglected the Nootka Sound incident. Of the few writers who have discussed it, the majority have written from a partisan standpoint, or, if impartial themselves, have drawn their information from partisan pamphlets. The consequence is that many errors regarding it have crept into the work of the best writers. The purpose of this monograph is to give a more extended account, drawn largely from unpublished sources, and to correct as many of the errors as possible.

Besides working over the documents that have been published and the accounts that have been written, a thorough search has been made in the archives of the Indies at Seville, in the national historical archives at Madrid, and in the British Museum and the public record office at London. A less thorough search has been made in the archives of foreign affairs at Paris and the archives of the Department of State at Washington. More than 500 pages of unpublished documents relating to the dispute have been transcribed and used. The classified bibliography at the close will make clear the sources of information and their relative value.

My acknowledgments are due to the following persons for valuable assistance: To my wife, who worked with me continually for two and a half months in the Spanish archives and the British Museum, and who has criticised my manuscript and read the proof sheets; to Prof. J. F. Jameson, whose untiring interest has been a constant source of inspiration, and to whose aid and painstaking suggestions are largely due any merits that the monograph may possess; to Prof. A. C. McLaughlin, for research in the archives at Washington; to Prof. F. J. Turner, for manuscripts and other material from his own collection. Besides these, I wish to make special mention of the kindness and assistance of Se?or Pedro Torres-Lanzas, director of the archives of the Indies at Seville, and of Se?or Vicente Vignau y Ballester, director of the national historical archives at Madrid.

INTRODUCTION.

Nootka Sound is a small inlet on the western shore of Vancouver Island. It was christened and made known to the world by Captain Cook in 1778. A few years afterwards a flourishing fur trade sprang up between the Northwest Coast and China. Nootka became the center of this trade, though it remained for several years without any settlement except an Indian village. On account of its sudden and growing importance, the Russians, English, and Spaniards all laid plans for occupying the port. It happened that all planned to carry out the project in the year 1789, a year that meant so much for the subsequent history of the world. Though the Nootka incident can make no claim to rank in importance with the great events of that year, yet it was destined to have an influence on the movements then started and to be influenced in turn by them.

The Russian plans were not acted upon, but the plans of the other two were. An English expedition from India and a Spanish from Mexico each sailed in the spring of 1789 to establish a colony at Nootka. The promoters of neither knew anything of the other. The Spanish commander arrived first and took possession. Nearly two months later the Englishman came. A quarrel ensued. The Spaniard seized the Englishman, imprisoned him, his officers and crew, and sent them to Mexico as a prize. A consort vessel arrived a few days later and met the same fate. Two other English vessels had been seized earlier. One of them had been released on bond and the other had been confiscated without adjudication.

The Viceroy of Mexico, instead of acting on his own responsibility, reported the matter to the Government at Madrid. The Spanish Court complained to the British that subjects of the latter had violated the territorial sovereignty of the former, and demanded that the offenders be punished to prevent such enterprises in the future. The British Cabinet rejected the Spanish claim to exclusive sovereignty over the territory in question, and suspended all diplomatic relations until Spain should have offered a satisfactory reparation for the insult which His Britannic Majesty felt that his flag had suffered. Each Court refused to grant the demand of the other and stood firmly on the ground originally taken. To support their respective claims, both Governments made the most extensive armaments. Each nation also called upon its allies for assurances of support and entered negotiations for forming new alliances. For a time it seemed that all Europe would be drawn into war over what, on the face of it, appeared to be an insignificant quarrel between two obscure sea captains.

Speaking of the controversy Schoell says that a few huts built on an inhospitable coast and a miserable fortification defended by rocks were sufficient to excite a bloody war between two great European powers and gave birth to a negotiation which for several months absorbed the attention of all of the maritime powers of Europe. Similar statements were made by other writers within a few years after the incident. Most historians who have touched upon it have either treated it from a partisan standpoint or have considered it of too little importance to merit careful inquiry into the facts.

But far from being merely a dispute over a few captured vessels and a comparatively unimportant trading post, it was the decisive conflict between two great colonial principles, of which England and Spain were, respectively, the exponents. Spain still clung to the antiquated notion that the fact of the Pacific Ocean's having been first seen by a Spaniard gave his Government a right to all of the lands of the continent which were washed by it. This fact, added to the gift of the Pope, was sufficient to convince the Spanish mind that Spain had a valid title to the whole of the western coast of both Americas. On the other hand, England had long been acting on the now universally accepted principle that mere discovery is an insufficient title, and that land anywhere on the globe not controlled by any civilized nation belongs to that nation which first occupies and develops it.

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