THE NOOTKA SOUND CONVENTION—ITS RECEPTION AND RESULTS.

After submitting the English ultimatum to the extraordinary junta, as studied in the last chapter, Floridablanca continued his conferences with Fitzherbert. He made strenuous efforts to induce the British ambassador to modify the English demands. In the first article, which declared that the buildings and lands on the Northwest Coast should be restored to the British subjects, the Count pressed earnestly for the insertion of the clause, “notwithstanding the exclusive rights which Spain has claimed.” This would have been almost tantamount to a recognition of the Spanish claim. Fitzherbert would not consent to it. But since the declarations of July had expressly reserved the discussion of those rights, and since the Spanish minister would not be content without some reference to them in the convention, the British ambassador consented to mention them in the preamble. Consequently, he proposed the insertion of the clause, “laying aside all retrospective discussion of the rights and claims of the two parties.” He was very careful to word it so that there would not be in it any admission of the justice of the Spanish claim. After some hesitation the Count accepted it.

In the second article Fitzherbert consented to the omission of one word. The projet had provided that “for all other acts of violence or hostility,” etc., reparation should be made. The Count objected to the word “other” as an unnecessary and invidious reference to the action of Martinez at Nootka in 1789, in view of the fact that satisfactory reparation for it had already been made. The British ambassador consented to omit “other.” The Spanish minister attempted to limit this reparation to offenses committed “on the said continent and the islands adjacent.” Fitzherbert would not agree. This would not have included the violence[451] recently done to Captain Macdonald in the West Indies, mentioned in the last chapter. England apprehended other similar seizures, and such would not have been unnatural under the strained relations existing between the two countries for so many months.

The last clause of the third article, making the privilege of landing anywhere on the coast subject to the restrictions contained in the following articles, was not in the draft without a demarkation of limits which was made the basis of the treaty, but it was in the draft with a demarkation of limits. Fitzherbert compromised on this point and combined the two drafts. He admitted a limitation of the privilege without obtaining a definite demarkation of the boundaries of Spanish exclusive sovereignty. If Floridablanca had not secured this concession, it would have meant that the English could have landed and established colonies in any unoccupied spot on the coast of California, Mexico, Central or South America. This concession was not included in the draft which was examined by the special junta. It was on this point that they so violently opposed conceding the English demands and advised war at all hazards instead.

In the fourth article, regarding the limit of 10 leagues within which English vessels should not approach Spanish establishments, Floridablanca pressed very earnestly for extending the distance to 15 leagues. As a precedent for his contention, he cited the treaty of 1763 between England and France, which fixed 15 leagues as the distance within which French fishermen might not approach the coasts of Cape Breton. He suggested the insertion of the words “in the said seas,” which would confine this restriction to the Pacific. Fitzherbert embodied the last mentioned suggestion, since he conceived that it might be of advantage to the English fisheries on the Atlantic coasts of Spanish America, but he would not admit the extension to 15 leagues. His private instructions, as mentioned in the last chapter, had named 5 leagues as the distance to be first proposed, but had allowed him to concede 8 or even 10.

The fifth and sixth articles contained the stipulations upon which there was the most difficulty in agreeing. In the course of their discussion the negotiation was frequently on[452] the point of being broken off. Floridablanca would not consent to a convention that failed to secure to Spain her exclusive intercourse with her establishments. Neither would he consent to fix any precise line as the boundary of the Spanish possessions, either on the north or the south. He pleaded insufficient information. Fitzherbert wrote to the British Cabinet that the language of the Spanish minister on both of these points was so firm and decisive as to make it evident beyond a doubt that the alternative of peace or war rested on finding or not finding a solution of these difficulties. Neither of the two drafts of the English ultimatum afforded a solution. The one provided that the subjects of the two Crowns should have free access to all unoccupied places and to all establishments formed since April, 1789, or to be formed north of a fixed line on the Northwest Coast and south of a fixed line on the South American coast. The other, omitting any reference to fixed limits, provided that this privilege should extend to the whole Pacific coast of North and South America.

In order to solve this difficulty the English ambassador admitted the restriction at the end of the third article, mentioned above. For the same purpose he consented to insert in the fifth article the clause, “situated to the north of the parts of the said coast already occupied by Spain.” This preserved the Spanish exclusive dominion as far northward as her most northern establishment. The provision in article 6 was materially changed. The draft of the ultimatum had provided that the subjects of neither nation should make any establishment south of a definite line to be fixed so long as no settlement should be formed thereon by the subjects of any other power. Instead of fixing a definite line the negotiators agreed to insert the clause, “in such part of those coasts as are situated to the south of those parts of the same coasts and of the islands adjacent already occupied by Spain.” They added the provision that in such places the respective subjects should have the right of landing and constructing temporary buildings for purposes connected with their fisheries. The clause, “so long as no establishments shall be formed thereon by the subjects of any other power,” was omitted from the article. This had been objected to on the ground that it would be virtually a public[453] invitation to all nations to make settlements there and so join England in despoiling Spain of her dominions. In order to remove the Spanish objection to publicity and still assure England that she would not be compelled to keep her hands off while other nations should do the thing that she had bound herself not to do, the stipulation was embodied in a secret article. This secret clause provided that the stipulation in the sixth article forbidding the subjects of Spain and England to make establishments in such places should remain in force only so long as no settlements should be formed there by the subjects of any other power.[424]

These changes having been agreed to, Fitzherbert presented to Floridablanca on October 23 a new projet embodying them. He said that he had conformed to the ideas of Floridablanca as far as his instructions would permit. In order to discuss the new draft before it should be laid before the King, the British ambassador proposed to call on the Count in the evening of the same day.[425] When their conference closed, the Spanish minister said that he was still in doubt whether the reply which he should give the next morning would be for peace or war.[426] On the morning of October 24 Floridablanca said that the King had agreed to Fitzherbert’s terms and had promised that the convention should be signed with the usual formalities three or four days later.[427] The British ambassador pressed for an immediate signature, but the minister said that he could not consent to it. The Count was at the time with the King at San Ildefonso, whither His Majesty had gone on a hunting trip. Fitzherbert had gone to the same place to continue his conferences with the Count. The latter said that if the convention should be signed while there his enemies would charge him with having taken advantage of the fact that he was almost alone with the King to induce His Majesty to agree to a measure contrary to the interests of his Crown. He said also that he wished, before signing, to send a memorial to the junta to justify himself for signing the convention contrary to their opinion. He pledged His Catholic Majesty’s[454] word that the convention should be signed “verbatim et literatim.”[428] The exchange of full powers took place on October 26, and the wording of the titles of the two negotiators to be inserted in the preamble was arranged on October 27.[429] According to the agreement made four days earlier, the following convention was signed on October 28:

The Nootka Sound convention.

Their Britannic and Catholic Majesties being desirous of terminating, by a speedy and solid agreement, the differences which have lately arisen between the two Crowns, have considered that the best way of attaining this salutary object would be that of an amicable arrangement which, setting aside all retrospective discussions of the rights and pretensions of the two parties, should regulate their respective positions for the future on bases which would be conformable to their true interests as well as to the mutual desires with which Their said Majesties are animated, of establishing with each other, in everything and in all places, the most perfect friendship, harmony, and good correspondence. With this in view they have named and constituted for their plenipotentiaries, to wit, on the part of His Britannic Majesty, Alleyne Fitzherbert, of the privy council of His said Majesty in Great Britain and Ireland, and his ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to His Catholic Majesty; and on the part of His Catholic Majesty, Don Joseph Mo?ino, Count of Floridablanca, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Spanish Order of Charles III, counselor of state to His said Majesty, and his principal secretary of state and of the cabinet, who, after having communicated to each other their full powers, have agreed on the following articles:

Article I.

It is agreed that the buildings and tracts of land situated on the Northwest Coast of the continent of North America, or on islands adjacent to that continent, of which the subjects of His Britannic Majesty were dispossessed about the month of April, 1789, by a Spanish officer, shall be restored to the said British subjects.

Article II.

Further, a just reparation shall be made, according to the nature of the case, for every act of violence or hostility which may have been committed since the said month of April, 1789, by the subjects of either of the contending parties against the subjects of the other;[455] and in case any of the respective subjects shall, since the same period, have been forcibly dispossessed of their lands, buildings, vessels, merchandise, or any other objects of property on the said continent or on the seas or islands adjacent, they shall be replaced in possession of them or a just compensation shall be made to them for the losses which they have sustained.

Article III.

And in order to strengthen the bonds of friendship and to preserve in the future a perfect harmony and good understanding between the two contracting parties, it is agreed that their respective subjects shall not be disturbed or molested either in navigating or carrying on their fisheries in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas, or in landing on the coasts of those seas in places not already occupied, for the purpose of carrying on their commerce with the natives of the country or of making establishments there; the whole subject, nevertheless, to the restrictions and provisions which shall be specified in the three following articles.

Article IV.

His Britannic Majesty engages to employ the most effective measures to prevent the navigation and fishery of his subjects in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas from being made a pretext for illicit trade with the Spanish settlements; and with this in view it is moreover expressly stipulated that British subjects shall not navigate nor carry on their fishery in the said seas within the distance of 10 maritime leagues from any part of the coast already occupied by Spain.

Article V.

It is agreed that as well in the places which are to be restored to British subjects by virtue of the first article as in all other parts of the Northwest Coast of North America or of the islands adjacent, situated to the north of the parts of the said coast already occupied by Spain, wherever the subjects of either of the two powers shall have made settlements since the month of April, 1789, or shall hereafter make any, the subjects of th............