History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine ...

PACIFIC COAST. 73
search of her, and did not succeed in obtaining possession until a j^ear hiter at the
Sandwich islands.
The release of Colnett and the restoration of his damaged vessels was by no
means the end of the Nootka affair. England and Spain engaged in a diplomatic
controversy in regard to it, which seriously threatened to involve Europe in a general
war, and that dreadful result was only avoided by the mutual dislike of both nations
to precipitate such a bloody conflict. France, Spain and England had not yet recov-
ered from their recent struggle, and none of them were anxious to renew the contest.
The Columbia arrived in China with intelligence of the Nootka seizures late in
the fall of 1789, and Meares, arming himself with statements and depositions in regard
to the affair, hastened to England, to seek redress for his wrongs and losses. He
arrived in April and found negotiations already in progress. Spain had undertaken
to assert at home the same ideas of universal supremacy in the Pacific that had been
the sole cause of trouble at Nootka, and had sent a communication to the king of Eng-
land on the tenth of February, notifying him that certain of his subjects had been
infringing upon her exclusive rights on the American coast, that in consequence the
ship Argonaut had been seized as a prize and her crew imprisoned, and strongly pro-
testing against his majesty permitting any of his subjects to either make settlements or
engage in fishing or trade on the American coast of the Pacific, and demanding pun-
ishment of all such offenders. England's reply to this liaughty demand was charac-
teristic of that nation, which has always kept a protecting arm around its citizens in
every quarter of the globe. It was brief and to the point, notifying the court of
Madrid that since it was evident from the Spanish protest that English subjects had
been imprisoned and their property confiscated, proper satisfaction for the insult and
reparation of the injury must be made before the merits of the controversy would be
inquired into. The tone of the reply was so belligerent that Spain at once began to
prepare for war, but to avoid this if possible concluded to modify her demands, and
notified England that if his majesty would in future keep his subjects out of the Span-
ish dominions, she would let the matter drop where it was.
Soon after this Meares arrived in England with his version of the affair, which
placed it in entirely a new light. Two large fleets were ordered to be fitted for war,
and a statement of the affair together with the correspondence with Spain was submit-
ted to parliament, which voted ample supplies and endorsed the most vigorous meas-
ures for upholding the rights and maintaining the honor of England. A demand was
made upon Spain for satisfaction. Much controversy followed—messages flying back-
wards and forwards for three months, during which Europe was kept in a high state
of excitement. England made full preparations for a descent upon the Spanish set-
tlements in America, and assembled the greatest armament the nation had ever put
forth. She formed an alliance with Sweden and the Netherlands in anticipation of
the union of Spain and France against her, since it was a well-known fact that a fam-
ily compact for mutual aid existed between the members of the Bourbon familj- occu-
jtying the thrones of those two kingdoms. The king of Spain formally called upon
Louis XVI. of France, for the promised aid, but the nation was even then tottering on
the l)rink of that horrible abyss of revolution into which it soon plunged, and the
doomed monarch was powerless. The national assemldy investigated the treat\% sug-